Gameplay is certainly more of the same, wrapped in a new narrative, but it matches the same high standard set by the original.
Average execution across the board makes for an experience that, while not terrible in moment-to-moment gameplay, leaves no lasting impression.
Mr. Shifty often feels like a low-violence, puzzle-oriented, super-powered version of Hotline Miami. At its very best, it captures the stop-start flow of the original Hotline Miami — observe, plan, and then engage in a glorious display of speed, skill, and violence.
Played back-to-back, the Outlast Trinity collection begins to feel a little stale as the basic gameplay loop barely changes. That said, each title features its own slowly unravelling narrative, intimidating foes, terrifying locations and slowly builds up in intensity towards the conclusion.
Fast-paced combat, limb-specific attacks, easy to understand crafting, and flexible levelling is what sets The Surge apart from its peers and, at times, puts it ahead of the Souls series. The bulk of the gameplay, and indeed much of the narrative pacing, is lifted straight from Lords of the Fallen and should be familiar to fans of the genre.
I kept going back to it this time and found myself getting swept up in cathartic violence and juvenile insults for hours at a time.
For all my complaints about the mission structure and repetitive semi-randomised maps, I never once stopped playing thanks to excellent gunplay, and fun upgrade system, and just enough narrative to keep me interested. It is always difficult for developers to create decent narrative in these games and the story in Shadow Warrior 2 seems more ambitious than the game can effectively convey.
If you’re desperate to complete your remastered Resident Evil collection, and have never played Resident Evil: Revelations before, the low price point is appealing. The game is certainly worth experiencing for Resident Evil fans, if only for the ridiculous and entertaining plot.
The World to the West was a real surprise for me after Teslagrad. The dark, oppressive fairy-tale world gives way to a more light-hearted adventure story that focuses on the joy of exploration and puzzling, rather than tough platforming and unforgiving boss encounters.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a massive expansion that, with some expanded mechanics and refined cutscenes, could have been sold as a fully-fledged sequel and I would still have been impressed paying full price.
The music is great and the new voice work, although often campy, keeps the Chosen hovering somewhere between menacing and humorous, providing some much needed levity.
When the gruesome pixel art, amazing soundtrack and arcade-like gunplay come together, Let Them Come is an experience.
Performance and controller nit-picks aside, Pinball FX3 is a solid pinball simulator with an impressive amount of content, only let down by the inclusion of overbearing progression systems and annoying UI design.
Overall, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a great sequel that once again demonstrates MachineGames' mastery of combining fun, fast-played gunplay with a serious narrative and complex characters. Is it as good as The New Order? In terms of mechanics and visuals, even better.
Piranha Bytes sticks to what they know best, providing another distinctly Gothic-like RPG, for better and worse.
A fun but ultimately limited quiz game that’s a great way to entertain guests for a few hours.
If you’re looking for an accessible, light-hearted platformer with music and rhythm-based challenges, LocoRoco 2 is packed full of content and can be played by just about anyone, regardless of skill.
If you’re looking for more Life is Strange, Deck Nine has delivered a fantastic and consistent prequel that is a must-play for fans.
Legrand Legacy is a strange proposition: it’s a love letter to JRPGs, produced by a small indie team with AAA ambitions but a small budget, capable of providing over two dozen hours of classic gameplay brought down by some rough edges and bland writing, all priced at what you’d expect for a AA game.
In summary, Owlboy is a near-perfect retro adventure that doesn’t emulate classic 16-bit titles so much as it gives us what we remember them to be. Sprawling and epic, even in the confines of a 2D plane, full of likeable protagonists, nefarious villains, tough encounters, and an uplifting story that you’ll walk away from satisfied.