TJ Denzer's Reviews
There’s a lot going on in Empire of Sin. Romero Games and Paradox Interactive build quite a hybrid of business management, character growth, and turn-based combat, and the 1920s Prohibition-era backdrop makes for an interesting story. The gang leaders are varied in so many ways between their business, combat specialties, and personal stories. Meanwhile, the overall flow of business expansion, hostile takeovers, and diplomacy or confrontation with other gangs also makes for a mostly engaging gameplay loop.
As far as an action-RPG goes, Demon’s Souls is as tough, but rewarding as I’d expect a Soulborne game would be. Bluepoint did an incredible job of pulling this 2009 title into 2020 and giving all the gloss and polish the PlayStation 5 can wring out of it while still playing perfectly smooth and mostly free of loading.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a game no Zelda or Musou fan should pass up.
Disc Room wants to cut you in so many ways. It wants to chew you up, dismantle you, and make you say a swear or 50 creatively woven into the same sentence. It’s bullet hell without the regular therapy of being able to return fire. But for all of those aspects, it's also horribly addicting. The ease of picking up where you left off and trying your darndest to survive just a little bit longer to unlock a room left me putting down my controller, rubbing my head, and then often picking it up to say, “this will be the time I get it. This time.” It’s not a ridiculously long or complex romp. But it also doesn’t really need to be. It knows what it wants to be. It wants to be your murderer. And the only way you’re going to thwart it is by surviving just long enough to open its next doors and beat its myriad of challenges.
Amnesia: Rebirth is a solid return to form for Frictional. It has everything I’ve come to expect from the folks behind SOMA and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but ups the horror game in meaningful ways appropriate to this particular entry.
I Am Dead has a very interesting story to tell, a colorful and varied environment in which to tell it, and a very cool way of going about the telling. The use of ghostly powers to explore, but never directly interact with the world, yet still solve puzzles was quite fun and unique. The more I unraveled of the mystery, the more intrigued I was and the more I wanted to know about each of the people presented to me, their lives, their connections, and the island they lived on.
Whether you’re looking for a challenging action game or just want to enjoy a beautifully illustrated and orchestrated story, Hades might be my preferred recommendation for romps through Hell.
Ultimately, what I’m getting at is that Best Friend Forever plays like it’s two games inhabiting the same space that only briefly come into contact with one another.
Overall, Iron Harvest presents a fascinating alternate reality of which I’d like to see more.
All things considered, Crusader Kings 3 is perhaps one of the most immersive and flexible strategy games ever put together.
genuinely enjoy when a game can innovate meaningfully in this evermore cramped space. Hyper Scape brings a lot of concepts to the table that, in theory, I thought were interesting, but the execution… this ain’t it.
All in all, this is the functional 3D battler that Gundam fans have demanded for a long time, but the balance and obscurity of guidance may stifle the enjoyment of players unfamiliar with Gundam or the Gundam Vs games.
Fae Tactics has only a few bumps in its lengthy and magical road, but these are mere speedbumps along the vast and enjoyable journey full of deep technical strategy, colorful fae and characters, and winding stories.
With a grand number of game modes, maps, and interesting characters with unique abilities alongside their personalized explosives, Rocket Arena certainly has more than enough personality to set itself from the pack.
Whether you’re new to John Cooper and his bounty-hunting gang or an old hand on the quickdraw, Desperados 3 may be one of the most fleshed out mixes of challenging, accommodating, and satisfying tactical strategy experiences around, Western or otherwise.
Even though I thought I knew exactly what I was walking into, it still found ways to surprise and delight me constantly. Its challenge is unending and the ceiling for the best players will likely be raised for a good long time.
The game offers a solid experience of squad customization and tactical turn-based battle, but still keeps some of the most satisfying head explosions to ever come out of an action game.
Resident Evil Resistance could be so much more with what it has on the surface, but what’s under the hood needs some thoughtful tweaking if Resistance is indeed a cause worth fighting for.
Having played Fortnite, Apex Legends, PUBG, and other battle royales extensively, I can safely say Call of Duty: Warzone does a lot of things that really make me happy.
As it is, I feel like I have to genuinely and methodically take notes of where each failure lies so as not to do it again, barring the fact that a mole and mastermind, or a grapple with a persnickety UI, won’t heck up my plans anyways. Save Koch is impressive in the weight of its narrative choices, but a little cushioning could have gone a long way in making unraveling its mystery more enticing.