Chad Johnson's Reviews
I would hate to discourage you from buying Perish because of the online community, or obvious lack thereof. It is an enjoyable, although slightly repetitive shooter that doesn’t rely on other players, but it definitely elevates the experience.
The Outlast Trials is a prime example of how horror can work in a cooperative setting with its downright disturbing series of events, shocking endings, and horrific antagonists. It’s an easy game for me to recommend with the disclaimer that your mileage is going to vary depending on who and how many players you have available to you. My best runs were over a mic with a few beers in hand alongside friends whom I could revel in victory with and laugh at failure as we figured out the mechanics together, while the worst were with some randoms who didn’t want to participate or lacked the communication skills to truly make the best aspects of the game shine.
Good graphics can only carry a game so far when the gameplay is overly basic and the story is so convoluted. Everything else feels like it was just a means to presenting them without adding anything new or exciting to the groundwork that Limbo, Deadlight, or Inside did years back.
Shines Over - The Damned is advertised as a horror walking sim adventure and doesn't really do any of the genres justice. The horror elements are there, the walking is minimal, and the adventure is nowhere to be found. It's a weird game, but one that fails to accomplish anything else.
As it stands, the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection is nothing more than a shameless cash grab that will eat up your money and your hard drive space and spit out nothing but frustration and annoyance in return. While it may be patched into a somewhat playable state in the future, it's currently in a state that I couldn't recommend even at a deep discount.
There are a lot of retro games that stand the test of time: Resident Evil, Super Mario Bros, Halo: Combat Evolved, and so many others are timeless classics that most people could revisit and still love for the same reasons they did in the original. I feel like Tomb Raider isn't one of these and as a new player, I can't recommend Tomb Raider I-III Remastered unless you are someone who holds this as a fond memory, but it may be one better left in the past.
I would recommend Bahnsen Knights if you enjoyed the other entries in the trilogy. It features a more mature narrative that is a little too lean for its own good, but has just enough action and suspense to keep you engaged for its relatively short trip through Hell.
Dead Tomb isn’t a terrible NES tribute, but it isn’t one of the best out there either. I appreciate the effort put into being faithful to the 8-bit formula and also seeing Acclaim’s name appearing in the credits, as they were a standout brand from my childhood, but the gameplay didn’t live up to the pedigree for me.
Trinity Fusion really never had a chance of taking the place of my favorite roguelikes, but it’s a solid effort that with time could easily remain in my top three and has broken the cycle of disappointment I’ve found with similar games. If you’ve seen everything Dead Cells has to offer, it’s a worthwhile, albeit slightly flawed successor. Hopefully Angry Mob will show the same level of devotion and care for it in post-release content. Be it free or paid, I’ll use it to lift its bronze pedestal up just a little more with each new addition.
If you’re a pinball fan, Pinball M is yet another worthy addition to your catalog, even if it’s just the free base game. With the additional tables being offered in a package or a la carte, you really don’t have an excuse to not at least give them a try.
In the Silent Hill fan community, most of the post Team Silent games are shit on regularly and looked at like bastard children. I personally loved most of the entries, even if they lacked that spark that made the originals so damn satisfying. Initially, this felt like one of the best Western developed games in the series without the name attached, but by the time the credits rolled, I would say Stray Souls is only beaten out by how bad Shattered Memories was.
If you’re a fan of point-and-click games, Desolatium is an easy recommendation, even more so if you’re a fan of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Despite not quite sticking all of the landings when it comes to the presentation, the end result is a slower-paced horror adventure that does more right than wrong.
Like a rancid fart, Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier left an impression on my household thanks to being one of the most difficult yet addicting games I have played with my son in a casual setting, passing the controller back and forth. Even when frustration mounted, the gross-out humor and puns were there to hold me back from pouring salt all over my Switch.
At the end of the day, Hero Survival reminds me of all the times growing up when I’d ask my mom for McDonald’s on the way home and got that stereotypical response we all heard, “we have food at home.” In this instance, Vampire Survivors is the McDonald’s and Hero Survival is the ramen at home, but it’s from that discounted bulk pack that our family got because they forgot to include the flavor packets.
World of Horror is an easy recommendation if you’re looking for something new and very different than the normal run-and-gun or hide-and-seek horror game. Just be mindful of the fact that the visuals will vary in their delivery and may require you to put a little more thought into what is haunting you.
It’s been a little over a day since I finished The Gap and I am still processing everything that I experienced within the walls of Joshua’s mind, and if you choose to enter it, it will likely draw you in akin to the way What Remains of Edith Finch or your favorite narrative based walking sim would. Despite suffering due to a lack of direction on a few of the puzzles, it’s a game that you won’t forget.
I didn’t hate my time with Warm Snow, but after the first few runs, I was ready to revisit some of the better options in the roguelike genre that I openly place on a pedestal after the first few hours. If you like Hades, which I do not, this is an easy recommendation that will offer you hours of gameplay thanks to all of the various systems and upgrades that will likely overwhelm newer players who may not have the resolve to see it through to its end.
If you like difficult games that push you to your limit without doing so for the sake of just being difficult, Ghostrunner 2 is the game for you. It’s got everything the original game offered and then some. Here’s hoping that when Ghostrunner 3 inevitably releases at the end of the current console cycle (sooner would be cool too I guess), we’ll be able to revisit the motorcycle chase with the same level of improvement and care that went into every other area of this release.
Trepang2 may not have the star power, seasonal content, expansion passes, or eSport following that other shooters have, but what it does have is a lean, thrilling shooter that is free from bloat and easy on the wallet.
Since my experience is limited to the Xbox version of Anthology of Fear I would have to say this game is a pass for me, mostly due to the horrendous teeth extraction and complete inability to finish the game; however, I would recommend picking up the PC version if you have a machine that will run it since it does seem to be in working order. I wouldn’t put it up there with my own short list of indie-horror greats, but it’s worth a weekend viewing.