Ultra Despair Girls' loop of exploring dungeon-like areas, mowing down waves of Monokuma bots, and switching between the ranged combat of Komaru and melee barrages of Genocide Jack… means you've got a third person shooter unlike any other.
Despite having its roots firmly set in survival horror, Yomawari: Night Alone is really not all that scary. It’s creepy for sure, but in terms of pure jumps or shivers, these reactions were a no go.
Rolling Bob, though by no means groundbreaking, is perhaps best described as harmless side-scrolling fun. It may not excel in the visual department and may suffer from some technical issues early on, but when knee-deep in one of the game’s fun puzzle-platformer levels it’s hard not to find yourself tense and gripped.
Despite its few narrative drawbacks, Uncanny Valley remains a genuinely creepy and interesting indie horror experience, and one that should be applauded for its unique consequence system.
Last Stitch Goodnight carves out its own unique place in the metroidvania genre, largely thanks to its whimsical take on presentation, puzzle-solving, and narrative.
Jump into Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception expecting a traditional Japanese visual novel experience, and you'll no doubt be a little disappointed… but look past its intermittent battle sections and there's a fulfilling character-driven tale just waiting to be uncovered.
Metroid: Samus Returns will satisfy most, but leaves too much to be desired to be considered a true leap forward.
At its best, League of Evil is a simple but challenging ride suited to short bursts of play. One that controls exceptionally, but struggles to fully amaze where its peers do so elsewhere.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a different kind of survival game, one that's ambition sees it continually ride a fine line between being enthralling and infuriating. To refine 10 million years of human history into roughly 50 or so hours of playtime (providing your clan survives) is a staggering feat, for sure, but some mechanics are so abstract that it'll leave certain players at a loss. Providing you have the patience for it, however, Ancestors can be a rewarding trip throughout human evolution.
Is XCOM: Chimera Squad as good or as deep as XCOM 2? Not by a long shot. But I do appreciate Firaxis willing to try new things in the lead up to whatever comes next.
The main draw here is getting to spend time with Kyle Reese, and this standalone adventure does indeed succeed in rounding him out as a character. This being Terminator: Resistance, though, expect to see lots more Easter eggs sprinkled in. That’s why, much like before, Annihilation Line delivers another ho-hum FPS experience that only true franchise veterans will fully have fun with.
I hope Mad Head Games gets another chance to build upon these ideas in a future sequel. But for now, as it stands, Scars Above is still a perfectly serviceable and surprisingly challenging shooter primed to indulge Sci-Fi fans.
If you enjoy score-chasing, levelling and some seriously hard enemy waves towards the latter halves of your games, Castle Invasion: Throne Out is a neat little package.
Even with fairly decent driving gameplay and a somewhat unique career progression system, Moto Racer 4 simply doesn’t do enough to wow veteran racing game fans or woo in newcomers who might be tempted to put pedal to the metal.
There is a great adventure game here just begging to be broken out, however for now as Syberia 3 stands, Kate Walker's story is one best left washed ashore.
In a world plagued by stripped-back indie experiences grasping to evoke an element of nostalgia, I can at least praise I and Me for attempting something wholly original for the puzzle/platforming genre. But what could have been a mighty stride forward disappointingly feels more like a half step.
David Tennant does infuse this story with a lot of life in the short time he’s featured, and a particular end sequence set on a cybership sets the pulse racing by tapping into the show’s mild horror. However, neither detract from the original experience’s flaws. The chief appeal of playing in VR was being able to immerse yourself into an episode, and even that has now been lost in translation.
The few interesting ideas Zombeer has with regards to art-style, setting and voice talent, are all squandered due to an overall lack of presentation and polish.
For all of Aqua Moto Racing Utopia’s light sense of fun and nostalgic reminiscence of past games like Wave Race 64 and Jet Moto, the act of taking to the waves is unfortunately tarnished by some frustratingly aggressive AI and a general lack of polish.
Blue Collar Astronaut is an experience that is simply devoid of any merit or creativity, and I very much doubt any player will find it at all fair or enjoyable.