Hob is a beautiful puzzle action adventure game with an enjoyable sense of discovery. Bringing the world back to life by solving the dungeons was a pleasure, and the painterly quality of the visuals are a treat. The game emphasis exploration over the combat, so the mechanics may feel lacking when compared to other games in the genre. There are plenty of hidden secret for you to find once you complete the main narrative.
Destiny 2 is an absolute marvel, outperforming its predecessor in every aspect. The strong cinematic narrative focus is both refreshing and much needed. Destiny 2 respects its fan base time with the way content is structured in each location. The game's sweeping score is simply astonishing, ramping up during key moments, but helps elevate the game's strong atmosphere even just exploring the forests of the European Dead Zone or the oceanic surface of Titan. The game's first raid is both remarkable and uniquely designed, putting less focus on boss encounters, and instead highlights the strong gameplay mechanics and puzzles from the game's designers. Some may be turned off by the consumable nature of mods and shaders but considering by the time you finish the narrative and hit level 20; you'll be overflowing with more shaders than you'll ever use.
Yakuza Kiwami is a worthy follow up to Yakuza 0, and a top-notch remake of the entry title into the Yakuza franchise. Majimi Everywhere is a great inclusion, adding substance and random elements to just running around the city to the narrative waypoints. Side stories feel a bit dated, but there are more than enough worthwhile ones that you'll enjoy.
Sine Mora EX is the definitive version of the game, adding a slew of new options, and bringing the game to the current generation for the first time. Even after five years, the art style and colorful aesthetics still help the game standout. The game's brutal difficulty and optional challenge modes help keep you playing after completing the story, especially if you want to experience it with a second player.
Theseus is a cinematic VR experience for the PlayStation VR, but is over all too soon. The atmosphere inside the labyrinth and beyond is incredible, you really need to see it, but the puzzles and exploration feel quite linear. Combat isn't overly complicated, but fighting multiple creatures at once can lead to frustrating deaths. There is a second ending in the game if you are able to locate all of the corpses scattered throughout.
Fantastic Contraption loses some of its charm with the lack of room-scale functionality, but the game is still enjoyable. The puzzles are purposely obtuse, letting players use their imagination on how to use the various types of objects to build a functional and moving apparatus.
For the price of a cup of coffee, Castle Steps provides a 15-minute amusement park quality ride through two separate haunted locations. I enjoyed the ghost-filled manor much more than the abandoned hospital, but both desperately need more player interaction. The candle-burning lantern provides you with minimal light in the darkened corridors, but outside of opening some doors or pulling a lever, you'll spend your time watching.
Superhot VR is one of the most unique shooters on the market and is without a doubt a must-have VR experience. The PlayStation VR build does have its issues with tracking when compared to the Rift or Vive experiences, but it is still one of the best options on the platform. Once you finish the game's story mode, which lasts less than five hours, you'll unlock bonus levels that are some of the best moments in the game. I never got the hang of tossing items at enemies, but thankfully the shooting mechanics are top-notch.
Ancient Amuletor is an enjoyable PSVR experience but sorely lacks in terms of content. Playing alone or with others online is enjoyable, and I found all of the playable heroes to have their own purpose. Some are better for long-range attacks and others focus on waiting until the enemies come to them to dish out destruction. Multiplayer is the best way to play the game, but I've found it nigh impossible to find anyone else playing outside of launch week. It's a shame, as it is one of the better PlayStation VR games to be released if it had increased the amount of content in the game as well as add more variety to the gameplay.
I appreciate the desire to do something unique with a vertical shooter, but some key elements hold Pressure Overdrive from being great. Local coop is appreciated, but outside of the starting machine gun, I found the additional weapon choices to be lackluster due to a low rate of fire. Not only that, but the lock-on mechanic of the lightning firing weapon would miss half of the time, firing into the ground instead. Boss fights are quite challenging, especially on highly difficulties, but the lack of customizable controls is questionable.
Black The Fall's uniquely varied puzzles are what kept me playing from start to finish. Without repeating the same element throughout, it always feels fresh, especially with the platforming sections breaking up the different puzzles. There were a few frustrating parts that required me to retry them more times than I would like to admit, but with an instant restart and generous checkpoints, Black The Fall ensures players can keep advancing. As the name implies, there is one section in the game that takes place entirely in darkness, serving as a real highlight of the experience.
Before playing Drifting Lands, it didn't occur to me that adding role-playing game mechanics into a shoot ‘em up was something that I needed in my life, but after playing the game, I can't put it down. The narrative is lacking and serves as a launching point for the missions, but the gameplay is king in Drifting Lands. The visuals are crisp and sharp, and the backgrounds have some great looking effects, such as flying through a lightning storm complete with devastating tornadoes. The soundtrack is comprised of hard rocking beats, but levels tend to be on the shorter side, so it doesn't feel like the repeating tracks overstay their welcome. There are no multiplayer options, but some levels do feature an online leaderboard, which is a nice touch.
Dungeon Defenders II is a vast improvement over the previous game, even with its move to a free-to-play model. Sure, it may take some time to unlock the new heroes with in-game currency, but the option is there for those that don't want to spend money. Even with the UI shortcomings and the tutorials being out of date with the current version of the game, Dungeon Defenders II is quite enjoyable. The colorful visuals and stylized characters are a joy to play.
Perception is a unique and is a downright frightening title. The narrative is well-written, and I was satisfied with my decision to listen to Cassie talk to herself as she explores the haunted estate. As you journey through the lives of the past residents, the house changes, keeping it from growing stale.
Valkyria Revolution fails to live up to the previous games in the series, and although it serves as a spinoff, the new system mechanics don't blend. The narrative approach is admirable; however, most sequences are dull and feel lifeless. Not to mention, the long loading times between each sequence leads to quite a bit of down time before you need to pick up the controller.
Although Nex Machina lacks online multiplayer, the game's euphoric use of bright neon colors and impressive use of voxels is only surpassed by the tight gameplay mechanics. At its heart, Nex Machina is a modern day arcade shooter, with plenty of secrets and the addicting element that will have you challenging for a higher position on the leaderboards well into the wee hours of the night.
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception crosses genres, blending visual novels with a slick strategy role-playing game (SRPG) battle system. The game focuses more on the narrative side, so don't expect anything too deep in the combat. There are some highlights to it, including customizing the stats for characters and staying engaged with critical hits, but for the most part, you should experience Mask of Deception for the story.
There is no other way to say it, but RiME has certainly surprised me, in its ambitious narrative approach, enjoyable environmental puzzles and stunning visual/audio combination. The journey lasted much longer than I was expecting, roughly six to eight hours depending on your playstyle. Seeking out the collectibles is the main reason to explore the game multiple times.
Narcosis feels designed for VR, and as such, it's a relatively short experience, lasting only a handful of hours. The game runs smoothly on Xbox One, and even without VR, I found the game unnerving. The fear of the pitch dark unknown on the ocean with all sorts of nightmarish creatures is enough to give me nightmares. Combine it with the disturbing imagery and the death of all your colleagues, and you have an intriguing premise with some great narrative set pieces.
The Surge is without a doubt one of the best Souls-like titles to be released. Deck 13 has certainly proven that they have listened to the feedback from their previous game, and has crafted an epic sci-fi action RPG. While boss encounters are vastly unique, the journey to their location is the highlight in The Surge. Even so, The Surge still puts up quite a challenge, but rewards players that equip gear and implants that match their play style.