I'm having a hard time directly recommending this game. Classic fans are going to love the HD remaster, but newcomers, especially ones to the RTS genre, are going to be in for a tough time. It's got a deceptively tough learning curve, and it's not very forgiving, but it's also a challenging and engaging game. Plus, who doesn't love being the Roman Empire and rolling over your enemies? If you're looking to reclaim some classic glory, go with this Praetorians, but otherwise, this might be one to miss. I should mention that during my time with the game, I never saw any multiplayer games active.
Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a solid if kind of empty title simultaneously. The cooperative experience is great, and I've enjoyed killing my combined favorite type of faceless enemy (Nazis AND zombies!). Still, without that co-op experience with someone else, it didn't feel as enjoyable on my own. That being said, if you and a few friends are down to shoot up some zombies and get some ridiculous kill cam shots afterward, this might be your title.
Much like the original Frostpunk game, this is a ridiculously tough, but rewarding challenge of a game.
Children of Morta reminds me of titles like Secret of Mana crossed with recent procedural titles, such as Enter the Gungeon. The inclusion of local cooperative play opens up the experience for two-players to battle together. Tack on a fun story where you learn about each family member's past, their fears, and the driver for them to help, adding a flair to the game. While combat can be a bit of a pain and dying repeatedly is still never a good time, the game still offers a substantial experience.
WARSAW is a solid tactical strategy role-playing game. It suffers from some of the same antics that drive me crazy in other games in the genre, with a bizarre way of calculating hit ratios. The randomized events and absolutely stunning graphical depiction of the game more than makeup for it. For those doubly interested in World War 2 and tactical strategy, this is a great title to look into.
An unabashedly fun title, Warhammer: Chaosbane slams itself into the nerve center of the hack-and-slash dungeon crawler genre dominated by titles like Diablo III, Path of Exile, and Victor Vran.
Given that it is a free-to-play title, I'm genuinely surprised and actually delighted by the polished feel of the title. There are several available modes (requiring a constant internet connection), an active community to play against, and ways to get by without having to pay for anything out of pocket. Considering there are some pay-to-play titles can really put the onus on gamers almost requiring buying something from the developer, overall it's a nice change of pace, making Age of Sigmar: Champions a solid title.
Rival Megagun, as I said, is a fun experience. For those that played a lot of these types of titles back in the day, it'll draw some serious nostalgia. Even now listening to the music while writing this, it sounds very reminiscent of the 16-bit era. My only major concerns with the game are the keyboard controls (easily fixed by using a controller) and the shortness of it. Like I mentioned earlier, the story mode is excellent, but once you've run through the handful of levels with multiple characters, it loses some of its charm. Sure you can play on harder difficulties, but that's mostly in the form of challenge only so you can collect some more cards. Expect to win some and lose some while playing online, which I hope will continue to have some legs. I was able to find matches quickly, but it's hard to judge what the community will look like in 6 months to a year.
I wanted to enjoy this game, I honestly did. However, The One We Found suffers from a case of "no polish." There's a lot of good ideas and gameplay in theory, but the practical aspect falls short of expectations. If this had received some more time to fix the overall buggy experience and improve upon some of the clunky control aspects and elements, I feel this review would be in a much different tone entirely.
2064: Read Only Memories draws its inspirations from the greats of the old-school adventure games like Grim Fandango, Myst, and Monkey Island. This point-and-click adventure title has all of the trappings of games made upwards of 20 years ago contained in a beautifully rendered pixel art world with a fun, quirky cast of characters behind it. For fans of slower, puzzle-based games, this will be a must-have on their consoles. However, it is better suited for the PC and feels a little sluggish and off-putting using an Xbox controller when trying to manipulate objects. Plus, with how the game is slower paced and requires a lot of backtracking and managing of objects to help fill out the game's world and provide humor, those seeking faster and more direct gameplay/humor will turn away quickly.