I've come out through all the trials and tribulations of the Zone and all that was left on the other side was I, Stalker. That's all I wanted from this game, and it fully delivered.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard shares no true DNA ancestry with RPGs. It is at best an Assassin’s Creed look-alike, a Hogwarts Legacy wannabe, but its infantile and banal storytelling makes it more of a Roblox game in a grown-ups’ graphics engine. There’s an argument to be made that this game was made by the new generation for the new generation of gamers. The point of its existence is not to raise and discuss serious topics or explore dark emotions. It’s here to provide good fun. Its target audience seems to be your average high schooler. You don’t want to bother him with topics of racism, religion, oppression, inequality, dogmatism, relationships, social interactions and other big topics previous games in the series tackled. Give him positive reinforcement, fairy-tale cartoonish looking worlds and loot. I think Bioware thinks very little of the new generation if this is their vision of what a game for them should look like.
From the graphical presentation, that is top notch, to almost completely bug free gameplay, Star Wars Outlaws is a game hard to find a fault with.
The sequel to the iconic Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen from 2012. doesn’t radically depart from its predecessor. Instead of revolutionary changes, it brings refinement across the board. It’s big, content-rich, and complex but very easy to jump into.
Although not perfect, with its clumsy combat and a limited variety of foes, the things that’ll stick with you are the story and the characters, and those ooze zing in abundance.
It is filled with some great ideas and I can see that it could have been something exceptional. Unfortunately, there’s simply not much here apart from the calming effect of sailing through a rather pretty world and several thrills that can soon become chores.
Banishers is a long and content-rich game, with an excellent combat system, over-the-top love melodrama, and an open world that’s exciting but arduous to explore.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could have been something special. The immense effort and resources they spent on animation and acting set the standard for the superhero/villain games, but the cancerous, live-service looter shooter layer nullified most of it.
It draws inspiration from the great progenitor of the series from 1989, splicing the platforming formula with the modern Metroidvania concepts. In mixing the classic with the new while avoiding unnecessary gimmicks, it becomes the ultimate Prince of Persia.
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora is a gorgeous looking game with positive messages of protecting nature, respecting different cultures and enjoying life instead of always striving for more. It is a breath of fresh air in this cynical world we’re living in. If you allow yourself to, just for once, not succumb to your cravings for non-stop, adrenaline inducing, action you’ll find a beautiful world to explore, filled with stories worth hearing.
I have mixed feelings about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. The bad side of the amplitude is mostly related to some cast members and the predictable narrative. The game is a technical masterpiece and an exciting, functional sandbox. If you are looking forward to web the bad guys whilst paying less attention to the plot, this game could fill your soul coffers. If you also require a compelling narrative, you better be young and unfamiliar with the rich Spider-Man lore. Long-time fans have seen everything on offer here multiple times.
Lords of the Fallen (2023) is a competent soulsborne game with everything it needs to have to be considered an instant classic. Unfortunately, some very bad game design choices and execution of most basic game mechanics hampers the experience considerably.
On one hand, the game is tight, focused and has that unmistakable classic feel people asked for after Valhalla. On the other, it feels derivative and stuck in the past.