Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a marked improvement upon the first game, despite suffering from some of the woes I had with the 2019 title. Cal Kestis’ journey across the galaxy is fraught with danger and the supporting cast are a treat to chat with whether in the midst of a mission or as you explore Koboh. While the combat and movement is still quintessentially Star Wars, it feels like the game has yet to reach its full potential. The good news is that, if you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re going to have a great time in this galaxy.
Remnant 2’s action, loot, and bosses are cranked up to 11. It’s a marked improvement over the first game, with the fat trimmed and all the good parts ready for devouring right from the start. There’s a lot to love here, with more surprises and reasons to play even after multiple playthroughs. Though I do have a few gripes, they fade into the background as there’s just so much to enjoy here in the minute-to-minute gameplay.
One More Level has nailed the important bits in Ghostrunner 2: the combat, the movement, the visuals, the soundtrack, and the challenge. It’s all a cacophony of intense action and pulse-pounding exhilaration – it’s just that the connective tissue keeps it from being a cohesive vision. By increasing the scope and breadth of the game, Ghostrunner 2 loses part of the essence of what made the first game so great. And yet, for the faults I do have with Ghostrunner 2, it’s still an awesome game that had my head bobbing to synthwave beats as I slow-moed around lasers and turned my foes into giblets with a flick of my cybernetic katana.
Larian Studios has tapped into the Weave and conjured up a near-impossible miracle, bringing the creativity of Dungeons & Dragons to life in Baldur’s Gate 3. Players are given real agency to pursue the narrative in a way that suits them and to dive into combat and experiment with a dizzying number of options. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a truly phenomenal game that has managed to sweep up the imaginations and dreams of players and developers alike. Baldur’s Gate 3 may just go down as one of the greatest games of all time.
Unfortunately, Sons of the Forest doesn’t quite manage to bring all of its elements together in a tidy package. While the building, crafting, and survival elements are neat, they’re not intertwined with the story, with both feeling like they’re completely separate ideas. Even the story seems unsure of what it wants to be, with odd pacing and poor audio design. I feel that fans of the original Forest game will relish the experience on offer here, but for everyone else, there are far better survival games out there.
South Park: Snow Day! does a great job at delivering a new type of genre in the South Park setting while nailing everything we’ve come to love about the franchise. As vulgar and hilariously uncouth as it can be, there’s a charm to it that takes me back to my childhood, enjoying a day off and playing with friends, even if I’ve never had a snow day. If you’re looking for a roguelike you can play with a few pals, South Park: Snow Day! will have you laughing and yelling as you hack, slash, and cast spells at kids, and of course, fart on Cartman whenever possible.