Caveblazers is a sharply put together game. If I had received it as a birthday present for my Gameboy in the late 90s, I would have played it on every long car ride.
If you're looking for a challenging diversion, Enlightenment could be the absorbing game you need. If you're looking for something more relaxing or polished, you're more likely to encounter horror than wonder in the Ark.
There’s a lot to unpack there, right? But it’s about something fundamental to gaming. A transcendentally beautiful or superlatively fun game can overcome storytelling weaknesses.
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I unfortunately can’t recommend Sentinels of Freedom as an introduction to that world. If you’ve got the money and a group of friends, maybe try to original card game, Sentinels of the Multiverse. Or if you are more into digital games (and you’re here aren’t you?) you would do well to try out the excellent video game version from Handelabra Games. There’s also the official podcast, which is a gas. But I’ll be honest with you, I’m really hoping you come back and play Sentinels of Freedom. Because despite the unappealing looks, this is a really fun way to explore the Sentinels universe and I hope you’ll come back and play this. There’s an ineffable alchemy at the heart of Sentinels of Freedom, one that goes beyond scores and polygon counts. If you invest the time, maybe you’ll learn to love this troubled little game as I have.
So is the Dance With Dragons DLC good? Yeah, absolutely! Does it reshape the game? Maybe, arguably, a little bit. Not much. Does it give you more ways to play an already fun game? You bet! But is it worth it? That I do not know my friend. All I know is that thing about winning or dying, and with this new DLC I’ve won quite a bit.
The entire game is based around exploration, puzzles, and atmosphere. It lives and dies on those three things.
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If you need to scratch that survivor game itch, 60 Parsecs will definitely do you good, but it's not going to blow any minds.
The bright side is, the strategy layer of Sheltered 2 is better than ever. If this kind of game is your jam and the original flew under your radar, it’s worth checking out. And if you played the original to death (as I did) and you’re looking for a reason to fall back into it, think of this as a sort of pricey update. If that doesn’t repel you, Sheltered 2 is just fine. Or maybe that sounds really appealing to you. Despite some of the underwhelming changes, I anticipate putting a lot more time into Sheltered 2. The core gameplay is just that appealing. That makes Sheltered 2 a game where the core mechanic is strong, but none of the set dressing is all that exciting.
All that said… Into the Pit is still relentless. It’s a fast paced shooter, that feels really tight as a first person shooter. It’s meant to be played in fast bursts, so maybe it’s the perfect exciting thing to get you pumped while commuting on the bus. Or the kind of game where you breeze through the dialogue, turn off the sound and play while listening to a 25 hour audiobook. Into the Pit is a well-constructed roguelike shooting game and if you’re the kind of person who hears those words and yells, “I’m sold!” then you will probably have a lot of fun. But it’s not going to make believers out of genre-skeptics.
Ultimately, MachiaVillain needs a lot of cleaning up, explanations and balance fixes. Then maybe we can all come together to have a bloody good time.
Diehards of the genre will find a love letter to all things big and clanky, and if your dream is to pilot something big and fast and humanoid shaped, Project Nimbus will make you feel great.
Wytchwood isn’t a bad game because it’s easier than Dark Souls. Difficulty is not the only reason to play a game. But Wytchwood does let the player down with such a vague and uninteresting story. A game needs a hook, and this story ain’t it. Crafting games make me uniquely aware of how much time I am wasting by playing them. But in the end, I like to look back at the little work of art I made by building a house, or a city, or a space station. In Wytchwood I am just collecting ingredients because the game told me to collect those ingredients. It’s an attractive enough game, but it needs something else substantial.
With a couple more years of open-world games behind us, I think it’s clear that Mafia 3 is middle of the pack. It looks good and sounds good, but the core gameplay tasks aren’t as tight as they should be. The story is well presented but lacks the spark you find in more straightforward RPGs. The documentary framing device is brilliant, but beyond that, there’s not much happening that you won’t find done better elsewhere. Mafia 3: Definitive Edition is exactly that – the definitive version of a so-so 2016 action game.
While Dark Train is a beautiful game, its largely atmospheric experience is hard to engage with.
I would recommend Siege Survival: Gloria Victis to players who like difficult management games and muddy depressing fantasy. I know you guys are out there. I’m one of those people. And despite my many criticisms of the game, I intend to keep playing it after this review has gone live. That’s not necessarily always the case! But there is a spark of something at the core of Siege Survival: Gloria Victis. It’s a puzzle, and if I can just line all the pieces up, I know I’ll feel the satisfaction of solving a difficult gaming challenge. But I will not be able to help imagining the game this could have been; brighter, sleeker, and more imaginative.
It's beautiful and enchanting. If only there was something more to do there.
But there’s still a question of why. Why remake these games? Why put a fresh coat of paint on this weird little action shooter that is not so fondly remembered? I’m sure there are compelling business reasons, but nothing that makes sense to me as a gamer. Mafia II is an imperfect fix to a game that was already pretty flawed. Now it’s just as flawed, but in a way that can be appreciated by modern audiences.
The gameplay is fun for a time, but once you see what Curious Expedition 2 has to offer, you will start to look beneath the surface. If you do that and you still like what you see, maybe you’ll have a new indie favorite. Or maybe you’ll find that your curiosity is quickly sated, and you’ll move on to the next thing.