Leif Johnson's Reviews
Mortal Shell is an extremely loyal Dark Souls homage with just enough clever new ideas to make fighting through its gorgeous world feel like something more than a rehash.
Choices with major consequences, satisfying combat, and a boldly distinctive and humorous post-apocalyptic world make Wasteland 3 a memorable RPG.
Bastion remains as strong of a game as it was in 2011, but there's no need to buy this version if you already own it.
Technobabylon combines tricky puzzles with fantastic world-building and storytelling.
Oblitus is a entertaining and challenging 2D roguelike inspired by Dark Souls, with only a few issues marring its success.
Hearthstone is a free-to-play collectible card game that embraces new players through its presentation and simplicity and satisfies veterans with complex strategies hidden between the lines.
XCOM: Enemy Within is a feature-packed expansion that makes a great game even greater.
The Sexy Brutale is a beautiful puzzler that skillfully combines time loops and elements of Clue.
As the millions of people still streaming into the game show, if Blizzard sees Battle for Azeroth as a struggle to keep our hearts and interest, it's clearly already won.
The Elder Scrolls Online will never feel like a proper Elder Scrolls game for many people who flock to it, but while we wait for whatever comes after Skyrim, it's a damn fine way of passing the time.
Endless Space 2 is a beautiful and capable 4X game, with memorable personality that's seemingly calculated down to the pixel level. It doesn't deviate much from the genre's norms, but it delivers a generally satisfying 4X experience with only a few missteps in combat and diplomacy. Provided you're also okay with tackling a steep learning curve, it's also a satisfying entry point for the genre.
If you can stomach the plodding matches, Scrolls delivers a rewarding melange of collectible card and tabletop gameplay.
Blackguards 2 removes much of the chaff from the original game, but you'll still need some patience.
Grow Up doesn't feel terribly different from Grow Home other than its larger world, but its main achievement is to strengthen some of its predecessor's weak points. The drive to climb to the top of everything remains, but here it's improved on with new methods of climbing and flying, and the option to toss down plants that serve as tools for any situation. The camera sometimes complicates this, but not enough to bury the charm of the original.
Styx: Shards of Darkness greatly resembles the earlier Styx: Master of Shadows from 2014, but Cyanide improved the gameplay this time around with the inclusion of craftable weapons, the lack of a lock-on in combat, and expanded abilities. It presents an interesting world to explore but wastes its potential by recycling environments from early missions late in the game. Co-op mode is fun, too, but only selectively as some stealth-only missions seem far more manageable on one's own.
Dawn of War 3 has overly dominant elites, and a merely serviceable campaign, but it captures the power of mass battles well.
Hellblade could benefit from more exploration and enemy variety, but it's a powerful portrait of the strength of will over personal demons.
Sundered takes the 2D Metroidvania platforming formula augments it with some successful ideas that all but reward you for dying. Its procedurally generated levels are hit and miss, as the dynamic parts come off as bland in comparison to Sundered's impressive hand-drawn areas and epic boss fights. In addition, its randomly appearing enemy hordes sometimes lead it to devolve into mere button mashing and random deaths, but the knowledge that I'll come back a little stronger each time makes it hurt less.
Hob is a beautiful Zelda-like puzzler with fun combat elements that takes place on an enchanting world where nature and machinery alter the landscape as easily as a twist of a Rubik's cube. The wordless approach to the story creates some confusion and the fix camera sometimes results in unnecessary deaths, but never does the time spent with Hob feel wasted.
Heart of Thorns expands Guild Wars 2 in meaningful ways, but hasn't yet mastered its own masteries system.