For fans of the series it’s really entertaining. It might not set the world on fire, but you can set some virtual bits on fire yourself if you want.
Look, it’s certainly very possible to spend an enjoyable evening playing Little Hope. But you have to calibrate your expectations towards B-movie, janky schlock-fest. If you go in wanting to have a spooky time that actually freaks your nut, I fear you’ll be disappointed.
An accomplished horror adventure from accomplished horror developers, Amnesia: Rebirth is a worthy entry in the Amnesia series that never quite gets as original as you might hope.
Likewise, as you listen to the stories of the locals (all voice-acted very well, to various levels of eccentricity) and gradually uncover the history of Shelmerston, you realise how much everyone who lives there really loves the place. The love is deep in their very bones, and it makes you love it too. For the six to eight hours it took me to reach the end credits, it even fooled me into thinking I liked my own hometown, which is not true. I hate where I’m from. That’s okay though, because I choose to be from Shelmerston now.
I’m just far less interested in “two dudes who are creative musical forces have a falling out and weirdly obsess over each other for years” than I am seeing the semi-incestuous manoeuvrings of guitarists between different bands in one big music scene, as in Family. I feel like the relationship in Rivals is one that I have seen versions of a lot already, and one that gets talked about loads in real life all the time. The perpetual cycle of John and Paul.
I think the rules are still a bit too opaque for my liking. But they are, typically for Inkle, very elegant, and trust them to be the developers to weave them in with stories of knights and chivalry in such a neat way. Inkle are still better at story than strategy, though. I’ll beat Mordred one day. I just suspect it will take me a long while, is the only thing.
A tough but super stylish investigate ’em up that’ll have you dancing all the way to the murder trial. Probably through some blood from a ritual massacre. But that massacre was a legal one, you can ignore it.
It’s less dramatic than some of Dontnod’s other outings (and probably not for those with short attention spans given the pacing), but Tell Me Why remains a good entry in their the library of stories about families and sad magic – and it’s probably the most hopeful one yet.
No Straight Roads feels like a less good version of Sayonara Wild Hearts, and if you want a rhythm action game I can’t really recommend the former over the latter.
Ultimately, everything in Spiritfarer is like that. Measured, thought out, detailed, kind.
Maid Of Sker is more frightening when it’s not trying to scare you.
Eco Lifestyle adds some of the most interesting stuff to The Sims 4 I’ve ever seen.
Oh Saints Row. It is not you that have changed, but I.
It’s only a couple of hours long, but Old Gods Rising stewed me in my own juices so thoroughly that I woke up, confused, at about 2am, looked at my aforementioned boyfriend as he slept, and thought “he was definitely in on it with Maz… he looks too smug”. That’s got to be a well crafted story, hasn’t it? As long as you don’t mind not having all the answers at the end.
I have, to borrow a metaphor, a lot of Fatigue cards in my deck some days.
The Procession To Calvary is better than Monty Python, because it’s probably more consistent and, perhaps surprisingly for the content, less surreal. But your mileage, as they say, may vary.
It is really very good, though. It’s very meditative. Calming. It’s possibly exactly what you need right now.
While both aspects of Murder By Numbers are pretty good, neither of them are given enough space to really breathe.
The most glaring problem is how The Suicide Of Rachel Foster fails to meaningfully engage with its central themes.
The Pedestrian is surprising and astonishing and delighting, it’s true. But for about the first hour and the last.