The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II is a much better showing than the original. It's what a sequel should be; it improves on nearly everything while adding brand new ideas to the pile. Best of all, the core gameplay mechanics are still a blast to use and really spice up a genre that if often left untouched. It certainly has its shortcomings, but fans of games like the Diablo series, Torchlight, Titan Quest, or Path of Exile will love it.
Blackguards is a wonderful tactics game with some rough edges. The core gameplay and character progression elements are easily some of the best in the genre, but as battles tend to drag on and more and more enemies scream "owAUGH," the interest tends to fade. The story is easy enough to follow and interesting enough to keep players interested, so fantasy buffs should feel engaged the entire time. Even if the sound effects weren't satisfying, the gameplay itself more than made up for that, and it's easy to see that Daedalic Entertainment has a bright future ahead of them in the strategy sphere.
TowerFall: Ascension has something for just about everybody. If you're at all intrinsically motivated, you will find something to love in the deep well of content available here. I've (intentionally) not even mentioned the fact that there are hidden secrets scattered throughout the game for the treasure-seekers out there until now, as if the fact that there are secrets was a secret of its own until just now! If you do have some local friends who can come over and hold a controller, buy this game immediately and invite them over, because TowerFall: Ascension is easily one of the best things you can do on a couch.
Each new combination of guns and perks can create a brand new playstyle in order to keep things fresh. Tower of Guns is a beautiful marriage of two of my favorite genres, the first-person shooter and the roguelike. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my run I paused to finish this review.
The Castle Doctrine is certainly an experience unlike any other, but I also find it hard to recommend since it's so obtuse and seems to want to put new players at a huge disadvantage, increasing the skill gap between the best and the worst. Intense research and work must be put forth to succeed, but there's no real motivation except bigger and better death traps. If you have a penchant for creating complex death traps with a limited toolset, The Castle Doctrine may be just for you. Otherwise,do some research before moving into the most dangerous neighborhood of all time.
It did propose some thought-provoking questions about mortality, but I was too busy being frustrated at the controls to give any of it a second thought while playing.
Regardless of all that, Nidhogg stands as one of the true kings of competitive gameplay, and that doesn't need to be patched one bit.
All the convenient and nice additions in the world wouldn't matter though if the core game wasn't so damn brilliant, which it still is. Baldur's Gate II lives up to its reputation as one of the all-time best RPGs, and if you're looking for a no-fuss way to play it, Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition is exactly that.
The lack of depth hurts Foul Play the most, and it's really a shame considering how brilliant the aesthetic is. I wanted to run around the stage, but playing the game made me exit stage left.
As a solo venture, the game can feel boring and tedious as it starts off way too slowly, despite throwing in some interesting boss fights later on. My recommendation is that you play it with friends, chat over some third-party voice program, and forget about your worries as you mindlessly slay hundreds upon hundreds of worms and skeletons and bugs and bats.
With zero cost to play and one of the highest skill ceilings of any game I've ever encountered, Dota 2 is a modern multiplayer masterpiece.
The visual glitches and lack of enemy variety do little to take away from what is a lovingly crafted game unlike any other I've played before. This is a game that won't just eat up your time, but devour it. If you somehow manage to stop playing after one or two runs, then you are a stronger-willed person than myself. I still feel as if I have a lot to master and can't wait to do so for months and months to come.