The Pillars of the Earth is an adaptation of the best-selling homonymous novel by Ken Follet, set in a historical period of civil war in the 12th century England. With over a thousand pages of story to tell, the game is divided into three books, this being the first. It is practically an interactive novel, allowing the player to have a proactive involvement in the story by controlling three of their characters and making decisions about how they respond and act, thus shaping their personality. This will likely modify the story, but that is yet to be proven on the next books. Despite being packed with a lot of political and religious intrigues, the game has a very slow pace in the dialogues and actions of the characters, which hopefully may be improved in the future.
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The adventure continues for Jesse and his/her gang of old and new friends. The second episode for this season of Minecraft: Story Mode introduces the new villain: the Admin. This all-powerful being will put the characters to the test in deadly challenges, in order for them to prove their worth and save, once again, Beacontown from destruction. The story is well-paced, with small surprises and twists throughout the episode, making it far superior when compared with previous ones.
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Eliosi's Hunt is the debut title of TDZ Games. Inspired by games such as Crash Bandicoot and Metal Slug, it mixes action and platforming in extremely challenging stages that will put the player's skills to the limit, being a rewarding experience. There's an interesting mechanic at checkpoints, in which players have to choose between saving their progress or receive a bonus on speed. It is a clever and tricky feature, with checkpoints placed on critical locations. The campaign tends to be short, but collectibles and other challenges give it a good replay value. It is a fair package given its small price and the good amount of challenge and fun provided.
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Theseus has some elements and characters from the greek myth 'Theseus and the Minotaur' in order to create its own narrative, adding philosophical reflections on the perpetual cycle of life and death, good and evil. It is an example that third-person games work well in virtual reality, albeit there's still room for improvements and refinements in order to avoid weird angles. The player should keep in mind that the focus here is on the narrative, with a small touch of exploration and a combat with basic mechanics. The game has colossal environments and the figure of the Minotaur is terrifying, making this experience, yet short, very positive.
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Tiny Trax brings nostalgia to older players by recollecting the fun provided by slot-cars from past decades. Although easy to play, the game takes time to be mastered until the player feels comfortable against an AI that almost never commits a mistake. There is little variety in tracks and cars, however, each track is unique and surrounds the player in a fun and immersive way, taking advantage of virtual reality.
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What was already an excellent game reaches a new level with virtual reality. Superhot VR is a very entertaining and immersive title that, based on a simple idea, manages to deliver levels well designed and elaborated, placing the player in critical situations, where each movement is precious. Although tracking is not always perfect, the freedom of moving your hands and even your body is satisfying, especially when you feel like a hero in Matrix, gracefully dodging bullets in slow motion. It is a must-buy to every PSVR owner.
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Jesse and friends return for another season of adventures throughout the world of blocks of Minecraft. In a period of relative peace, the Order of the Stone use their time to deal with administrative duties, with adventures being relegated to second plan. The situation changes when Jesse and Petra investigate a mine and a prismarine gauntlet gets stuck on the protagonist's hand. The story takes longer than it should to get interesting, which happens only towards the end of the episode. New players can start their journey from here, since (unfortunately) decisions from last season only bring subtle and aesthetic changes, and important characters appear for a short moment or are briefly mentioned.
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Bringing an unusual proposal of being the person responsible for cleaning the mess left by criminals, Serial Cleaner is an isometric stealth game well-polished and entertaining. Each stage has a clever level design, responsible for creating moments of tension and the necessity of a good timing in cleaning the scene while dodging the field of vision of guards. Besides the campaign, which holds a good story, there are also bonus levels and a variety of challenges, contributing to hours of fun. The soundtrack is amazing, with each level having a well-fit theme, wrapping up a highly recommended game.
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Arizona Sunshine is a game developed for Virtual Reality devices that was well acclaimed on PCs. The release for the Playstation VR, however, brings an inferior experience, partially due to the tracking technology of the PSVR, which suffers with occlusion problems and interference from other light sources. One of the highlights of the game is the way players aim and shoot, which is very similar to real life. The game has a campaign mode with a good length, but the player will probably enjoy and spend most of the time in the Horde mode, facing infinite zombie waves.
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Between ups and downs, we arrive at the end of the third season of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. 'From the gallows' is an episode that provides constant fear for the life of each character, which will be put in critical situations. The Garc'a family has a closure in their journey; however, the game ends with a loose end that will upset some players. It's obvious the story will continue, either by an epilogue DLC or as a beginning to a fourth season.
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Bringing an unusual proposal, Oh...Sir! The Insult Simulator allows the player free to duel against a CPU or another player in a competition for the best insult. Sentences are based on humor and fun, instead of heavy swearing. It's a casual game that entertains in short sessions, given the small roster of characters and scenarios.
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Deliriant is more like an interactive artistic experience than a game itself. There isn't much to do besides exploring a house of the 1970s and observing its objects and furniture, in an attempt to understand the story they hold. For patient players, the game opens up to different interpretations, which may involve themes like abuse, neglect and dreams given up due to other responsibilities in life (whether planned or not).
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Spellspire has a nice concept and a creative gameplay, mixing a letter scramble game with quick battles. There is good diversity of items, equipment and enemies. However, since the game holds the same structure of its mobile version, with the absence of microtransactions, its qualities are overshadowed by an excessive grinding that discourages in the medium term.
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Deck13 did their homework with The Surge. When compared to Lords of the Fallen, the developer's previous title, this new action-RPG has greater technical quality and is more polished. The game still has some inspiration on games from the SoulsBorne franchise, but it's good to see that the developer has found its own identity, bringing new mechanics that refresh the model created by FromSoftware. Combat is tactical, based not only on beating an enemy, but also on choosing which body part should be hit, being possible to remove pieces of armor that later can be added to your own arsenal. This is an action-RPG with a focus on the action part. The RPG aspects are a little bit simplified, but still detailed and deep enough to offer a personalized experience to the players and their character. Despite still having a generic protagonist and NPCs that you don't really care about, as well as places that can be a real maze to memorize, The Surge is a great game with high difficulty that should be on the radar for players who like real challenges and a sci-fi theme.
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What Remains of Edith Finch grabs the player's attention until the end, to wonder what the hell happened with the Finch family. Along with Edith, the last Finch alive, the player experiences the last moments of various family members, going through different generations. Each memory fills in a tiny gap of the mystery, which, in the end, is not what matters the most. What's really important here are the rich experiences that each moment conveys, by means of the story itself or by the diversity of gameplay mechanics applied on each of them. It's a worthwhile title.
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Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is an ambitious action RPG, developed by a small indie studio that struggled a lot to make this project happen. There are several references to 90s animes as wells as JRPGs. The combat system is the highlight of the game, a mix of action and traditional fighting games, creating a dynamic environment and fast paced combat. The story ends abruptly, leaving the gamer wanting to know more about it. Despite some technical problems and graphic limitation, this is a game that provides several hours of entertainment and it's worth the purchase, supporting the developer into making sequels of the game.
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Telltale's third season of The Walking Dead had a great start, but it's getting worse every new episode. Thicker than Water is the weakest point in the story, bringing an unbalanced and inconsistent narrative. Its climax rests upon Javi's flashback, which reveals more about the relationship with his brother David. Remaining only one more episode to save this season, it's time to question if the series can hold another one, or if Telltale's formula is already saturated.
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Symphony of the Machine is a zen VR puzzle, more focused on a soothing atmosphere and observation than on intense gameplay. With simple and intuitive controls, and its core mechanic based on manipulation of light, this could be an entry point for non-VR players, as well as a good entertainment for those more experienced. Despite being fun, the game is too short, which is why you should probably wait a price drop to get it.
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Late Shift is an interactive movie of cinematic quality. Players have the power to decide what the protagonist should do next, shaping the narrative with their decisions and leading to seven possible endings. Every decision you take is shown seamless on screen, without abrupt transitions that may disrupt your immersion. It is an enjoyable thriller, even though some events may happen without so much development, making them hard to believe. For the same price of a DVD release, it is worth a shot.
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Blackwood Crossing is a touching coming of age story about overcoming losses. We watch two orphans siblings, Scarlett and Finn, in confrontation of emotions while they try to put differences aside and find again the strong bond that once united them, during a strange train trip filled with symbolism and surreal events. There's a strong focus on narrative, accompanied by puzzles of low difficulty. If you like touching moments, prepare your heart and embark on this journey.
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