Stephanie Carmichael


16 games reviewed
73.4 average score
80 median score
53.3% of games recommended
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85 / 100 - Torchlight II
Sep 20, 2012

Torchlight II is undoubtedly worth the price, and it’s high on replay value with new classes to discover. The problems it does have are mostly minor, but it’s not for gamers looking for an involved story. And in some places, it could use a little more depth.

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70 / 100 - Neverwinter
Jun 19, 2013

Neverwinter is a fun game, and it's an excellent introduction to the MMO genre. It doesn't feel like you need to dump hundreds of hours into it, either, which may be a drawback for those concerned about endgame. However, I only made it so far through, and Cryptic seems prepared to support the game with new content like Gauntlgrym and the free expansion Fury of the Feywild, which is due this summer.

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Unscored - Contrast
Nov 20, 2013

Contrast conjures a children's magic show - and is about as believable as one

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This is one dungeon better left unexplored. Unlike what the title says, I know plenty of reasons why.

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Jan 17, 2014

Broken Age can't quite overcome the problem that's plagued the adventure genre for decades: obscure puzzle solutions that force players to use every item in their inventory in as many ways as they can think of.

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Mar 8, 2014

You're going to get a lot of play out of TowerFall: Ascension, which is likely going to be the best version of this deep, clever, and wildly fun game. I loved what I got, and I wanted more. If you thought local multiplayer was dead, you might want to give Ascension a try.

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46 / 100 - DreadOut
May 14, 2014

"Winners don't do drugs," the game tells me as it cycles through its scroll of finite messages for the third time as I inch my way toward the light, the way out of limbo. I can hear Linda growing tired, her breathing laborious. Soon I'll have to slow her to a walk so she doesn't deplete her stamina, the length of which I can only guess at. Mine's just about gone.

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Jun 23, 2014

I've never been much of a history buff, but maybe I would be if more games like Valiant Hearts: The Great War existed. Between the artistic backdrops and the soldierly tasks you commit, both right and wrong, Ubisoft Montpellier retells the events of World War I in amazing detail. Yet, the story is always about the people on the frontlines and what they endured, not the politics.

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87 / 100 - Velocity 2X
Sep 1, 2014

If you're looking for a good game to play on the PlayStation 4 or the Vita, Velocity 2X is a fantastic choice, with its crisp, bright visuals and energetic soundtrack (I never got sick of it once). Just keep in mind that outer space can be an unfriendly place, and if you're a sucker for story, you've got a lot of playing ahead of you if you want to finish all 50 levels.

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75 / 100 - Never Alone
Dec 3, 2014

You are not the greatest force in the world, one video tells us. And you feel it—through wind, through ice, through snow. Through the spirits bigger than you, and your dependency on the fox that keeps you alive and moving with its magic—on the backs of fish that dance across the waves, or breathing in the belly of a whale. Yet the humble hero, as fragile as a little girl, can still stop a blizzard.

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68 / 100 - Gravity Ghost
Feb 1, 2015

You have to find a way to fill it and restore the balance, as with anything in life. A sense of humor's just part of the symmetry.

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Oct 6, 2015

At the core of The Talos Principle is the startling idea that man is not so different from machine, and that our truest purpose lies in the contributions we leave for our children, and our children's children. Though we die, our legacy remains through them, and through what our small actions help them accomplish, even in the face of total destruction.

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Oct 11, 2015

MidBoss could have focused solely on LGBT issues, but it didn't. What it took is a broader, more inclusive approach that is made doubly effective by the fact that underneath lies an all-around enjoyable video game.

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I almost wish Earth Defense Force 4.1 offered the ability to upgrade your weapons rather than crossing your fingers and hoping you'll get some good weapon drops after each mission. More bizarre, though, is the absence of any sort of mission score screen. Nobody seems to care how long you took, how many of your fellow EDF soldiers died alongside you, or how many pedestrians became bug lunch, although these factors seem to be mysteriously tied into what sort / caliber of weapon drop you get afterward.

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Dec 14, 2015

But little moments don't sustain a whole game, and Among the Sleep deals with a real monster — just one it doesn't quite know how to talk about.

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9 / 10 - Firewatch
Feb 26, 2016

I'm not sure where I left Henry at the end of the story, let alone Henry and his wife or Henry and Delilah, but I'm okay with not knowing. The experience in Wyoming might have complicated things in a way they weren't ready for, and it might have veered into the surreal, but I think it's what they both needed to move on — in whatever way that might be.

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