Carli Velocci
It's not the gamey aspects that are remembered, but the small, personal elements that make up a relatable narrative. It just all happens to involve time travel.
The latest from Dejobaan therefore seems like a stepping stone, a strong premise and peaceful beginning with little longevity and little to do outside the foundation of the game. You have to wonder if there will be more to write in the future.
Detective Pikachu Returns is yet another mystery whodunit in the Pokemon universe, but it’s tough to deduce who this is for, despite having all the clues.
Wizard with a Gun is an entertaining co-op action game, but balance issues and an unsatisfying ending leave it feeling unfinished and in need of updates.
The Bradwell Conspiracy is a game that gets in its own way when it comes to its most important element: puzzles.
It's a game that wanted to be Icarus and fly, ahem, too close to the sun, but couldn't even manage to get too far off the ground.
Control's AWE Expansion will satisfy a lot of Alan Wake fans who have been theorizing for nearly a decade about what happened to the writer. While it does introduce some great ideas, you'll ultimately have to wait for whatever Remedy does next to get real resolution.
In a way, the game, too, is a shell of what it once was. Season one was a slow build and a horrible pull. There was a lot of humanity to it, focusing on its characters above anything else. The sequel has a lot of that pull, but none of that subtlety or ease. So far, it's just a list of tragic events. This is, of course, just the first episode. As we've learned from the first game, it only gets worse from here. Maybe it'll also get better.
The heroes in film noir aren't flawless—they stumble through the story, rarely win a fight, and often pay a heavy price in the end. At least they try, though, and the same can be said for White Night.
It's easy to forget that, as with Clementine, there is still more to come. Episode 5 is on the horizon. We just had to sit through something else to get there.
Mineko’s Night Market has lovely art, but its boring chores and lifeless NPCs make it much harder to get caught up in its rhythm than it is in other life sims.
Shadow Warrior 2 feels hollow
In this series we look at Clementine, see a child, and then experience where she ends up, getting to feel the disconnect between what it means to be a kid and how to be an adult. You can make the argument that being an adult requires making the hard decisions, and that's what The Walking Dead series comes down to.
Lovecraft fans will have to look elsewhere. While Moons of Madness has some exciting ideas and goes a long way on its premise alone, the story is too dense, and the gameplay is too simple to make it worth your time... unless you need to kill five hours.
Twin Mirror has some great ideas, including a visually and narratively appealing Mind Palace system, but the weakness of its main character and its "tell don't show" method of storytelling drag the whole endeavor down.