If you’re looking to get the same experience you got playing Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life 19 years ago, you’re going to mostly get that in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. Plenty has been touched up and improved, but there are also some jarringly-different character models – so much so to the point that my partner didn’t recognize some characters. Newcomers like myself who’ve dipped their feet into this type of game should still have a good time, as there’s no shortage of content and there’s a lot of satisfaction to be had in making your farm as strong as it can be.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan and one that’s partaken in dozens of the video game iterations over almost three decades, I can safely say that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor sits at a close number two in the best of the best, number one going to 2005’s Star Wars Battlefront II. This is a Star Wars game that not only honors and expands its canon, but delivers a rewarding combat experience that will make fans of the source materials’ imaginations go wild.
I dove with both feet into the turn-based strategy genre with Showgunners and came out pleasantly surprised. This is a mechanically-sound, polished experience with a strong blend of challenge and gratification. It also never managed to be stale, as it introduced new enemies and upgrades at a steady rate.
If you’re wanting to stay up-to-date with your WWE video gaming roster, are looking to delve into the two-decade career of John Cena with an autobiography flair, or just want to experience WWE on your own terms with no questions asked, WWE 2K23 can do all that and more.
Crossovers can be hit-or-miss, but this one makes more sense than the majority of them – the difficulty, tone, and slow approach to fighting is positively seamless and ensures this game will not only appeal to fans of each/both franchises, but will serve as a nice entry point to those even slightly interested.
Deciding if purchasing the Remake is worth it is a point of contention that players familiar with the original Dead Space franchise will have. The case that the 2008 game still plays fantastically today is undeniable – I had a rollicking good time getting frightened by it just last year. Luckily, Dead Space Remake does just enough to be a cruise down memory lane, whilst perfecting the formula and expanding the universe where it has room to be expanded.
GRIS is a moving, excellent trek through processing grief and battling inner demons. It’s presented in such pristine fashion and is as worth it to pick up for those who played in 2019 as it is for newcomers. It’s marketed as “free of danger, frustration, or death”, so don’t expect a massive challenge aside from nabbing every collectible, but expect to feel some strain when the plot comes together as it concludes. GRIS is an easy recommendation for anyone in the market for a touching experience to sink your teeth into.
Evil West isn’t going to be for every gamer, as it caters to the hyper-action-savvy players that want everything turned up to 11, and not for those who want to sail through and experience just the story. While it isn’t impossible, it’s a worthy challenge to play through Evil West on Normal or higher, as you can be taken out in a few hits, but the game warrants high-risk-high-reward players with wiping the floor with these enemies once they get a handle on how the game plays.
I knew I’d be a bit biased going into Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PC – not only because I’m a fanatic of the web-slinger, but because I already experienced it in full last winter on my PS5. That being said, there’s never a bad time to revisit a game that you love, and doing so on a beefy PC made for an amazing time during my PC playthrough. Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC runs like a dream, is full of gusto, and is just a joy from start to finish. While some may decry it for being shorter than Marvel’s Spider-Man, it’s more of a case of never overstaying its welcome.
Temtem is a perfectly-playable game; there’s no pesky bugs or glitches, or anything glaring that the QA team didn’t catch before the game saw its 1.0 release in September. But when it comes to the fun factor, it’s evident what went wrong for me to not get the same enjoyment that I would out of a Pokémon title. While Temtem executes all of its systems to the T to entice fans of Pokémon, it needs to do more than that to make it stand out and reach the immensely-high bar that Pokémon has set.
Not everyone is going to love Gotham Knights – it caters to an audience, but is so tailor-made for those individuals that it’s a worthwhile game. For those that love DC, powering through open-worlds, and have fond memories of the Arkham series, Gotham Knights is going to be a blast. I was glued to my screen just about the whole time, and can’t imagine how much more fun this would be if I had someone to blaze through the entire campaign with.
Session: Skate Sim is the Dark So- I’m not going to use that analogy, but I will say it is a game where you will fall tons of times before you nail the landing. Hell – I was legitimately holding my controller sideways half the time to best pedal and steer. But, like most difficult games, when you finally get the hang of it, it’s a rewarding experience like no other in its genre. Skate fans have been foaming at the teeth for more content, and this is exactly what they’re looking for.
It’s impossible to recommend Lost Epic to everyone, but it certainly has an audience that will enjoy it. I certainly would have warmed up to the title more if I weren’t stuck for a half hour, but that may not happen to everyone that plays (even if there were multiple forum posts about it). If a difficult combat challenge, a vivid art style, and a sense of progression is what you seek, Lost Epic should be up your alley.
There’s quite a difference between loading up a friendly 50cc Mario Kart 8 race and zooming into a RedOut II 2000kmph free-for-all with no room for error. Whether you’re good at it or not, RedOut II can get your blood pumping and serves to immerse you well. If you don’t mind struggling, losing, and not feeling yourself improve at the game, RedOut II is definitely not for you.
If you’re as rabid for roguelikes as I am, you’ll surely enjoy TOKOYO. Sitting at a nice $12 price tag before sales, its replayability is well worth the entry fee. If the aspect of only attacking in short bursts sounds intimidating, I can assure you it’s a novel concept that adds a layer of suspense to your runs as opposed to impeding your survivability. It’s definitely worth trying out each character to find your favorite, too.
The combat, once mastered, flows seamlessly and keeps you on your toes, especially in the harder difficulties where one mistake meets your end. My only complaint is that enemies got a little too predictable after learning their patterns – nothing more than a nitpick in the grand scheme.
Right off the bat, Shadow Warrior 3 wears its influences on its sleeves. Anyone familiar with the tightly-packed bang-bangs of recent years, whether it be the DOOM series or perhaps a Painkiller, when you come across a baddie, you’re bound to come across tons more – and you’re stuck fighting in that area until either your enemies die or you do. These battles are insanely intense – you’ll have to manage prioritizing tougher enemies, conserving your ammunition, finding opportunities to regain health, and much more.
A lot of doubt was cast over a single-player, narrative-driven, linear game still being worth the risk in a multiplayer, shared-world climate of gaming, but this game hearkens back to a time where you paid full price for a full experience. Nothing held back behind future DLC, no lack of polish due to a rushed schedule, no need for a persistent online connection. It’s a relief to have this much fun with no strings attached, and for that, the game gets my full endorsement.
Not only will you be hitting notes, you’ll have to swipe in designated directions and hold notes when their shapes appear. You’ll have an understanding of when to hit these notes based on the shapes closing in on the outline of the note. As such, it gets tricky when you have to move to different sides of the screen rapidly.
Anyone who’s cut their teeth on the combat of a roguelite will have a headstart in Dreamscaper. With the ever-present threat of losing your life in just a few hits, your moves are calculated and careful – you’re put to the test with scaling baddies between each level and you’re bound to die. This is where my favorite part of roguelite comes in – you can manage some upgrades to make subsequent runs a bit more do-able.