Wild Bastards has a lot of charm and style, and that’s enough of a hook to want to dive in and see what the game has to offer. Using a sizable roster of characters who are the major differentiators for gameplay as the main motivator to keep going is effective as well. But once you’ve got the Bastards roster filled out and you have combat figured out well enough, that’s about where the buck stops in this sci-fi western. It’s a chaotic and challenging experience, but promises a lot of complexity and nuance that seems bountiful at first, but fizzles a bit given time. Some balancing issues hold it back the most from being truly fulfilling, but there’s a little bit of genre fatigue talking on my part as well. On its own merits, Wild Bastards is ambitious and kinetic, and will definitely put FPS fans’ skills to the test.
What the Car? was a nice, little moment of silliness in a packed summer, full of games that have demanded a lot of time and energy. It made my hardened critic's face crack a smile multiple times, even if it had just annoyed me moments before. I’m not ready to turn all the way around and start banging the “wiggly game” drums just yet, but it was nice to know there’s still hope out there for this particular brand of video game foolishness.
The bottom line is that Fate/Stay Night is a keystone work in a genre that’s never been more popular on our side of the globe. For decades, it seemed like this historically important (and good as heck by itself anyway) visual novel would never be readily available and professionally localized like this. Anyone with an interest in anime, gaming, and alternative forms of digital storytelling owes it to themselves to check this story out. It’s one of the all-time greats, and if you do take the time (and it does take a lot of time), you’ll easily understand why Fate is such a big deal nowadays. And if this is your first time, welcome to one of the most absurd, yet rewarding rabbit holes you can dive into.
Ultimately, Bloodless is an interesting, straightforward kind of game that is exactly what it says it is on the box. There’s a central premise, and the gameplay revolves (almost) entirely around it, even if it wavers a little out of an apparent necessity. And even then, takes the care to justify the shift in a way that lines up in the fiction. The non-lethal combat is fun to engage with, and doesn’t simply feel like another samurai game about parrying. There also isn’t a ton more to Bloodless than that, which is totally fine. There’s a target, the game lines up its shot, and hits it dead center. Good stuff.
The first mainline Mana in over a decade is a wholehearted vision for a different kind of modern RPG
Meta progression isn’t a necessary facet of the genre, but when those systems do show up in more obtuse and fumbly ways it can be kind of tiresome to engage with them. I’d rather have something more straightforward, or just focus on the core mechanics entirely. And a game like this, with its smaller scope but explosive energy thanks to the Fairy Tail stuff, really thrives on a foundational level. The art is sharp and colorful, the series’ personality shines from every angle, and the combat itself is fun to grapple with. The game even has some interesting ideas with its checkpoint-like boss stages meant to challenge your saved builds. Making use of such a burly anime/manga IP as Fairy Tail to hoist up indie games is an awesome idea, and it’s great to see Fairy Tail: Dungeons come out swinging the moment the door opens.
They simply don’t make games like this anymore, for the most part. To be fair Monkey Island totally came back, and there was an… attempt at a new Sam & Max game (in VR form, which went as well as it sounds). But adventure games in the pre-Walking Dead Telltale style, the sort of zombified fusion of LucasArts’s classic SCUMM system with modern (at the time) PC game conventions are long gone. Skunkape Games’ remasters of all three Sam & Max seasons are the best ways to go back and experience a point in history that still doesn’t feel real sometimes. This is technically a review for The Devil’s Playhouse, but I can’t insist strongly enough how crucial it is to play all three games and take them in as not just a whole work, but a moment in time that won’t easily be replaced. Snag Hit the Road too while you’re at it; it’s only like six bucks on Steam. Long live the Freelance Police!
The Crush House feels like a victim of its own confidence. It’s so self-sure of its premise and big-brained twist that it fails to dig a little deeper under the surface to actually justify any of it. The gameplay itself is incredibly shallow and dull when it isn’t being a frustrating exercise in dice-rolling. The characters are basically all the same person and interact with each other the same ways, repeating the same small set of possible events over and over. Your involvement in the whole equation is to sit there and watch, and hope the emojis and numbers on the screen are doing the good thing instead of irritating you. The payoff is just as shallow as the gameplay, making the whole subversive twist as commentary gimmick a bust.
Aside from those moments when you have to grind, Cat Quest 3 is a cute, breezy experience that shows why making more of these has been a good idea. And there are hints of plenty more to come, which is exciting considering how much playing with the setting has been established. The writing remains simple but fun and silly, and the number of secrets and side activities has grown a lot. There’s a winning formula here, and so long as the series doesn’t get too ahead of itself, there’s plenty of potential for Cat Quest 3 as a springboard to even greater adventures.
World of Goo 2 is exactly as it presents itself. It’s a lot more World of Goo, with more levels, gameplay mechanics, fancier visuals, and a new/continued storyline. As cute (in a sinister way) as its style looks, this is as hardcore as physics-based puzzlers can get. The game does not hold your hand, often has really tight margins of error, and only offers the bare minimum of guidance when it feels like it. That said, there’s a surprising amount of variety, and you’re allowed to skip levels without being penalized. Even if you struggle, there’s a lot of cool, smart design and an interesting world to experience. For fans of the first game, of course, World of Goo 2 is a no-brainer.
It may be easy, at a glance, to look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate and dismiss it as “we have Hades at home.” There’s a nugget of truth there, as we are looking at an action roguelike clearly inspired by Hades, with a smaller scale in many ways. But does Hades have co-op, or the TMNT? Nah, dudes. Splintered Fate has a specific goal, and it definitely delivers on that goal. It’s a fun time, with a lot of structural solidity and the fun co-op gaming vibes you should expect from a TMNT game. It doesn’t feel cheap or sloppy at all, and even singleplayer can keep your attention for several runs over dozens of hours. I’m still working on it despite winning several loops already, and spinning around like a maniac with my boy Mikey still doesn’t feel old yet.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Gestalt: Steam & Cinder! It has a story that left me a little frustrated by the end, but the way there was full of good mechanical writing, solid character development, and a healthy amount of proper noun-led mystery world-building. The top-shelf visual quality cannot be understated, with incredibly detailed and well-animated 2D art that can hang with the classics easily. And while combat was the messiest part, there was still fun to be had running around the world, fighting weird enemies, and using skills and combos powered by cool animations. I would definitely keep paying attention to Metamorphosis Games, especially if there are more stories to come from this world in particular.
Anger Foot has a laser-targeted feel to its approach, and I can certainly see a specific group of FPS sickos losing their minds over it. There are tons of challenge, built-in speedrunning, and lots of flashing colors. There’s enough toilet humor to decimate an underfunded transit station bathroom, too. But if you fall outside of those extremely specific (and smelly) parameters, potential interest in Anger Foot is going to plummet. I don’t see the humor being enough to encourage casual audiences to stick around, even with the ability to turn dying off. Personally, I’m happy to wash my hands, uh, literally.
It’s the cookie jar. I want to play and praise MultiVersus for everything it does right. But everything it does poorly, or even wrong in a sense, has me wanting to slap my own wrist. MultiVersus has even managed to bungle those aspects of the games-as-a-service model that players have largely come to accept. There has been some course-correcting since launch, but the fact that was even necessary only shows how some forces behind these kinds of games are always ready to push the boundaries on monetization. It feels wrong, ethically, to participate in, and especially to recommend this game to others. But at the same time, it’s so good! Not even in the skinner box kind of way; MultiVersus is a legitimately well-made and lovingly constructed platform fighter that celebrates cartoons and movies I enjoy in effective, gameplay-centric ways. Rick and Morty are there too, I guess.
This remixed approach could be confusing to a newcomer. Luckily, Vengeance accounts for that too, and the choice of which version to pursue is presented in-game in a way that’s practically seamless. It simply feels like yet another option in a game and series full of choices that impact where the narrative goes. There isn’t special attention drawn to it, nor does it feel like an awkward attempt to replace or undermine the original. It’s just more SMT V to dive into, which for an already jam-packed RPG full of narrative agency and monster-collecting action, is more food on the table for the feast. And it was a hell of a feast to begin with.
Like I said, I watched in awe as my wife absconded with my Steam Deck and steamrolled Rolling Hills like it was the most delicious plate of sushi the world has known. But then the feeding frenzy was over, and it was almost like it hadn’t happened afterwards. There’s magic in Rolling Hills for sure. But it’s a very fleeting magic, and a little more sauce would have made it a much more impactful source of wonder. It was definitely cute, though!
Astor: Blade of the Monolith reflects one of the coolest aspects of video games as a medium with a deep history of iteration. You can take a familiar set of concepts, add new context, and come up with something that stands on its own rather than feeling like a ripoff. Astor does this with an impressive sense of knowledge and understanding of not only Zelda-style exploration, but character action-style combat. The latter is much more niche and specialized, therefore harder to pull off. It’s not quite a bullseye, but gets respectfully close and has me curious about further updates, as well as what this studio does next.
XDefiant feels like a niche, that knows it’s a niche, and tries to sprinkle some broad appeal on top. Just enough to draw in more than the hardcores, without risking alienating them too much. At the same time, it’s a line in the sand moment for all the FPS hardcores who are sick and tired of SBMM. On top of all that, crossing over Tom Clancy series has the appeal of mixing a bowl of potato chips from different brands that are all the same flavor. And Watch Dogs? Anyway, there’s a solid foundation here with rock-solid arena shooter mechanics. If the matchmaking experiment works out and some key adjustments are made, I can see this game sticking around for a good while.
Digital Eclipse’s new take on Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is an impressive and ambitious attempt to bring historical flavor and contemporary approachability and appeal into one neat, modern package. I may prefer the sprites and chiptunes of the Game Boy Wizardry remakes, but the effort and passion for video game history is just as powerful here as it is in other Digital Eclipse works. I would have loved some more museum-style content these folks are known for, but the laser focus on the game here is a fascinating new approach.
Despite the snags I’ve mentioned, I’m still thinking about Read Only Memories: Neurodiver well after I finished the story. It’s such a pitch-perfect execution on its premise, mixing the worlds of modern cyberpunk with ancient PC technology and western anime fandom. I had a blast spending several hours with these characters and the world they inhabit, and would gladly have spent several hours more. A little more narrative depth and some puzzle guardrails and we’d have a true all-timer on our hands. But as it is, Neurodiver still stands out as a dope slice of niche gaming in a month stupidly crowded with that kind of thing.