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The Quarry is a celebration of horror with enough twists and turns to excite even the most jaded aficionado. It manages to avoid the tropes inherent with its summer camp setting by giving each of the protagonists a thorough opportunity for characterization and makes you care enough about each of them for their fates to matter.
Unfortunately, Salt and Sacrifice discarded way too much to place the focus on multiplayer. The aspects I do like, the exploration and combat, are carried over from the original game. The core Mage Hunt gameplay loop is tedious, and the lack of fast travel made me sick of seeing the same scenery repeatedly. You’ll probably find something to love here if you have a friend to place this game with and enjoy the original. However, as a solo adventure, it’s severely lacking.
Invasion Mode is the saving grace in Sniper Elite 5, rescuing a safe sequel that would otherwise be tough to celebrate. With that said, I still need to experience the competitive multiplayer side of things, which could also be a highlight.
Nintendo has been criticized for porting Wii and Wii U games to the Switch and selling them at a high MSRP. However, in this case, I feel like we’d have gotten a better deal if Nintendo had just updated Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort to use the Joy-Cons. Nintendo Switch Sports has a weird emphasis on online play, a frustrating unlock system, and is sadly underwhelming compared to its predecessors, which launched over a decade ago.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a hearty appetizer for Hundred Heroes. I think Natsume Atari accomplished its mission of giving players a taste of what the world of Hundred Heroes has to offer, and I’ve gotten less enjoyment out of much more expensive games. You can’t ask for much more for a budget title that was created as a stretch goal for a Kickstarter project.
Trek to Yomi is a fun enough five hours for the money. I wasn’t expecting Ghost of Tsushima for $19.99, so I wasn’t disappointed with what I got. However, I’m a big weeb, love Kurosawa, and think katanas are cool. I’m not sure if those unfamiliar with the design principle behind the game will understand where it’s coming from. It might serve as a gateway drug to Japanese cinema for some, but I think many people will just be wondering why it’s in black and white instead of color. Overall, it’s like a samurai with a dull sword: flashy, but lacking the razor edge needed to cut its way through the shadow of its contemporaries.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga providing such a huge toybox of characters, worlds, vehicles, and more to unlock and play will make it essential for many Star Wars fans. In terms of sheer scale, size, and scope, this is far beyond anything Traveller’s Tales have put out before with the LEGO brand. Unfortunately, some of that ambition is undermined by the lackluster implementation of certain ideas that are supposed to be its big selling points, such as its improved combat and new camera angle. This is arguably not quite the Star Wars game you’re looking for, but it does more than enough right.
Truth be told, Kirby has lacked an essential game throughout his entire history, despite being one of the most recognizable video game mascots around. While Kirby and the Forgotten Lands may not quite be up there with the greats of the genre, it’s an incredibly pleasant experience with a great degree of thoughtfulness put into it, from the charming touches littered throughout its overgrown and unkempt world, through to its unabashed emphasis on fun as best evidenced in its hub world. This is a great Switch exclusive for players of all skill levels.
Wonderlands is the safest, most paint-by-numbers, product-of-the-time game I’ve played in a while, and a serving of the same thing Gearbox has been dishing up for 10 years minus the humor. It’s the absolute opposite of avant-garde and simply reuses the Borderlands formula without improving on it in any tangible manner. While it’s more tolerable as a multiplayer game given that you’ll more readily be able to overlook its story and writing, it’s still a disappointing spin-off that takes away more from the source material than it gives back.
Despite these issues, it has a compelling story, and I enjoyed the journey from start to finish.
From its photo-realism to its pinpoint handling and extensive amount of additional features, Gran Turismo 7 is another first-party PS5 success and a new benchmark for performance and visuals on the console.
It’s also not a long game — it took me just under 6 hours to finish on Medium, and I can’t imagine playing it again. I love short games but it feels like a lot was cut out — for example. there are only two boss battles in the whole thing, and there were many times where I thought I could go somewhere and couldn’t. While the shooting and free-running gameplay are enjoyable when everything works, Shadow Warrior 3 remains both fun and frustrating in equal measure — while it lasts. There isn’t even any rabbit humping…
Games like Elden Ring only come once or twice in a generation and raise the bar on what the medium can offer.
Aside from some very minor bugs, Forbidden West was a treat to play and is an early contender for Game of the Year.
For its flaws, Pokemon Legends: Arceus does have a decent gameplay loop, even if it is a bit too tight. I hope that with Nintendo’s next console, we can maybe see a game that doesn’t have to make such significant compromises when it comes to graphics vs. performance. For now, let’s just clap our hands and try to forget that any other studio would be roasted alive for releasing a game like this in 2022.
With Sifu, developer Sloclap is asking a lot from players. From the punishingly difficult combat that takes hours to learn and tens of hours to master, to the need to repeat and near-perfect levels to lower your starting age, this fighter can be an absolute slog. However, for those who can grit their teeth through the losses and frustration, you’ll come out smiling on the other side having played one of the best games of the year.
OlliOlli World finally sees the series’ visual style matching its frenetic, fun gameplay. Mostly every new feature added by Roll7 works in its favor, providing a satisfying and impressively deep skateboarding game with immense replayability, tons of customization options, and a fun multiplayer mode. OlliOlli has always been slept on as a series, but with World, this could — and hopefully will — all change.
While Dying Light 2 does a lot right with its gameplay and new-gen presentation, it’s still a far cry from zombie gaming greatness. The weak story, uninspired mission design, limitations on initial player skills, and bugs let it down in a big way. Sure, a lot of this will be easy to ignore when fighting the undead as a four-man squad, but “it’s fun with friends” is an excuse that can only get you so far.
It’s an easy flex for PS5, but that doesn’t make it any less of a must-play for those who missed out on the last-gen launch, or hardcore fans who want to scrutinize every pore on Nate and friends’ higher-resolution faces.
How impressive God of War is on PC really gives credit to Santa Monica Studio’s work on this game. It’s still a gorgeous journey through a unique take on Norse mythology, and a great way to play the game for the first time or revisit it before God of War Ragnarok releases. I’m as impressed with it now as I was the first time through it, and I look forward to seeing what’s in store for Kratos and Atreus in the sequel.