A Fisherman's Tale tells a charming story with surprising depth that is unfortunately marred by technical issues. Within its brief playtime, the game's story packs in enough thought provoking content that I found myself thinking about it for days after playing. Though I'm not recommending A Fisherman's Tale, I wouldn't blame you if you decided to play it anyhow.
NightCry goes beyond the usual borders of broken games and into new nightmarish territory. I have frankly never played a game as rife with issues as this one. If ever there were a game that could be labelled "unplayable", NightCry is the game. Outside of not loading at all, I can't think of another way this game could fail. If NightCry were the last game on Earth, I would not play it. I mean that literally. It's that bad.
While it's hampered by blurry visuals and some difficult object handling, The Mage's Tale still comes out on top with goofy surprises, fantastic puzzles, and satisfying exploration. Delivering up to 10 hours of play, this is a sizable experience that remains entertaining from start to finish. All in all, this is a welcome addition to the PlayStation VR library.
Anyone's Diary might be worth a look for anyone interested in game development and this game's particular history. The visuals on display are often impressive. But for the average player, I suspect that the game's bugs and short length will be deal breakers. When a game is regularly erasing your progress, the best intentions in the world won't save it.
While there are a few rough edges, Intruders: Hide and Seek is well worth a look for stealth fans seeking something different. Crawling around in the shadows of your family's ultra-lux vacation home with only your wits standing between your family and certain doom is far more engaging than I expected. Despite some wooden performances and a rough checkpoint system, Intruders is fun and amusing. A great game for a snowy afternoon.
Far Cry New Dawn reskins the entire map of Far Cry 5, adding enough new mechanics to prevent it from feeling like a retread. While the new villains are lackluster, the return of Joseph Seed is very welcome, giving new depth to the character and his world. With Outpost invasions, Expeditions, and treasure hunts, there is a ton of content here, and almost all of it is fun. There is very little filler in Far Cry New Dawn, and by streamlining the content, Ubisoft has delivered a game that is razor sharp.
While the story in Eden Tomorrow is intriguing, there are simply too many frustrating mechanics to look past. The quality of the narrative is overwhelmed by repetitive puzzles, and a strange combination of completely linear gameplay and an occasional lack of direction. This is a game that would have been much better had the developers given up on the puzzles, and simply told a story.
Beautiful visuals and a cool gesture-based magic system can't save The Wizards: Enhanced Edition from an inscrutable progression system and some dire technical issues. Fantasy fans will find some enjoyment from the puzzles and the fun narrator, but some strange design decisions end up kneecapping the experience.
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a sprawling epic of a game. With satisfying combat, incredibly well defined characters, and enough story to satisfy the most demanding visual novel fan, Trails of Cold Steel has earned its place in the JRPG Hall of Fame. It's time to call it like it is: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a classic.
With plenty of modes, options, and three mildly customizable factions, Warparty offers RTS fans a lot of content to chew on. Much effort was obviously spent building this unique world and its intricate mechanics. While the lack of multiplayer is disappointing, Warparty will keep fans busy with its blistering difficulty and fast-paced strategy action.
Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs delivers more of the time-tested Angry Birds gameplay that fans love, this time in 3D. With no learning curve and zero barriers to entry, this is about as accessible as VR gaming gets. Angry Birds offers a decent amount of content and a reasonable level of challenge. Some technical issues mar the experience, but the sheer fun of playing overcomes the deficit.
Vaporum slaps a fun Steampunk skin on an old-school grid-based dungeon crawler, and the results are engaging and fun. With plenty of customization for players to dig into, numerous puzzles to solve, and winning real-time (but pause-able) combat, Vaporum hums along on all cylinders. Thought the overly complex control system could be substantially streamlined, the charms of the game overcome the struggle to control it.
With a great, intriguing story aimed at adults (but not inappropriate for kids) and a fantastic stable of characters and jobs, Fell Seal is the sort of game that lets you dive in and play around with its systems in any way you like. Clearly crafted with love for the genre, and with almost intimidating longevity, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is the heir apparent to the tactics-RPG throne.
Trover Saves the Universe is slick, unexpected, and vulgar beyond belief. You likely already know if the sort of humor in Trover is for you, and if its not, you should give Trover a wide berth. But if you are the sort of sicko that likes this sort of stuff, there is a surprisingly solid game lurking beneath the rapid-fire jokes and bizarre imagery.
Blood and Truth takes known VR gaming mechanics and inserts them into a delightfully well-realized London, sending the player through chase scenes, heists, and gun fights. While there is nothing revolutionary happening with the controls and gameplay, the presentation, story and characters are top notch. Once you get started, you will want to see the action-packed story through to the end, and that's really what we wanted, isn't it?
Warhammer Chaosbane is a great start to a new ARPG, but it definitely feels like a "start". The skill system feels too restrictive, the loot drops come too slow, and the environments and enemies are repetitive. That said, the game still manages to be fun to play, but more development is needed to make Chaosbane one for the ages.
Dauntless comes bursting out of early access with one of the best, most original, and most polished games in the free-to-play space. With tons of content, amazing battles, a great matchmaking system, and endless room to grow, Dauntless is going to be around for a long, long time. Beyond highly recommended, Dauntless is compulsory, obligatory, required gaming.
Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted is a great introduction to the franchise, packaging a number of levels from various games in the series. Though the first three games are the strongest, some of the other levels are fun in their own right. Less fun is wrestling with the controls, particularly since a giant demonic chicken is going to scream in your face if you mess up. The scares are there, but the controls could use some additional polish.
Mini-Mech Mayhem has all the trappings of a fun game. The colorful visuals, cheery gameplay, and online representation of the player are all top-notch. But the core gameplay is somewhat questionable, due to the fact that it forces the player to strategize on unstable ground. There is a fine line between "anticipating" other players moves and "guessing", and in Mini-Mech Mayhem, that line is fuzzier than PSVR's graphics.
Whether you are a fan of Ark, voxel-based construction games, or survival games in general, you will find something to hate about PixARK. A wild mess of a game, PixARK is one of the most off-putting experiences on PlayStation 4. Avoiding PixARK is imperative.