Paul Broussard's Reviews
There's a lot to love here, and if you're a fan of strategy titles, roguelite elements, or ideally both, you'd really be doing yourself a disservice by not trying it.
With some work, I think there could be something enjoyable here, but as it stands at launch it’s very difficult to recommend.
While it won’t be the best hour of gameplay you experience this year, it’ll probably be one of the more memorable.
The Thaumaturge is certainly competent enough, if the prospect of a mystery with some light RPG elements sounds appealing, but don’t expect it to light your world on fire.
There is a lot to like, and even love about Persona 3, but it’s all buried underneath an incredible amount of tediousness.
Infinite Wealth takes and reuses a lot of ideas from Yakuza: Like a Dragon (and other titles), and they’re still fun to see and use, but they don’t quite capture the same feeling of never knowing what's around the next corner, which is what made Yakuza: Like a Dragon so exceptional.
Overall, Apollo Justice Trilogy stands as the best way to experience three games with a somewhat controversial legacy within the series.
The puzzles, combat, boss fights, and general progression all make The Lost Crown a joy to play, notwithstanding some frustrating technical issues and lackluster optional discoverable items.
Consistently amazing combat isn’t a prerequisite to succeed in the Metroidvania genre, and Momodora: Moonlit Farewell succeeds at enough other things to ultimately make it a solid recommendation for fans of the genre. It understands good item-based progression, makes exploration rewarding without undervaluing its powerups, and presents a varied & interesting world that invites players back and makes them want to explore more.
I’m still not entirely convinced The Man Who Erased His Name needed to exist, but it's a fun & mostly enjoyable 10-15 hour intermission until Infinite Wealth drops in January.
Instead of being a title that defines the generation - and perhaps even the medium - Ghostrunner II has to settle for being 'merely' great. Hopefully a third entry in the series can strike a better balance between mixing things up and maintaining the well-refined gameplay as the centerpiece of attention.
Yes, the Payday magic is still here… sort of.
Lies of P goes from imitating From Software’s concept to tearing off its skin and wearing it around like a poncho.
It’s hard to recommend Unholy. Outside of the environmental design, the mechanics don’t do much to scare or otherwise engage the player, the story is flat and uninteresting, and the characters are about as wooden as their animations.
Exoprimal is, as it stands, a dreadfully unfinished experience that I couldn't realistically recommend to anyone.
A mostly-good collectathon with some occasional leaps into greatness that showcase its true potential as a series, but it doesn’t commit enough to these to become truly great.
A feast for the eyes and a famine for everything else.
I appreciate System Shock for laying the groundwork for future immersive titles, but it definitely feels dated now, and the few changes made in the remake are a mixed bag that don’t do enough to fix its problems, while also adding new ones of their own.
The best way I think I can describe The Bunker is that it is an exceptional proof of concept. There's immense potential here, and the first couple of hours or so are genuinely great horror, but the game doesn't have enough tricks up its sleeve to maintain momentum.
Darkest Dungeon II reminds me of Salt and Sacrifice; both sequels to cult classic titles that tried to innovate by mashing up with entirely different genres, both significantly worse off as a result.