Superbly written characters, the dark allure of its world, and an engrossing main story make up for Weird West's wonky action.
A fantastical setting and solid story can't disguise the fact that Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok has us running through the same motions as the main game a year and a half later.
OlliOlli World's approachability and poppy, colourful presentation make diving into its densely packed levels and chasing high scores feel like a warm hug before the white-knuckle drop in.
Fights in Tight Spaces recreates that action movie feeling of stylishly dismantling a room full of goons.
Clid the Snail is a twin-stick shooter that's radula-deep in mediocrity. The slimy graphics and sluggish combat keep its decent story and characters from thriving outside of its shell.
1C Entertainment's attempt to reinvigorate the long-dormant series proves two things: its turn-based tactical combat is timeless, and making a compelling open-world experience is harder than it looks.
Despite its satisfyingly open Infiltrations and the brisk bite of its scythes, The Siege of Paris doesn't feel like an essential addition when Valhalla already has Mjolonir's weight in nearly identical content.
Knockout City's fantastic spin on dodgeball combat has surprising depth, making it one of the best team-based PvP games in years.
Solasta's tactical battles shine brightly, even in the shadow of a drab and by-the-numbers fantasy story.
A strong Irish story and a few interesting battles amid a sea of run-of-the-mill recycled quests make Wrath of the Druids worth a return trip to Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
For a few brief moments Fuser reinvigorates the glory days of social music gaming and in the right hands can be effectively be an instrument of music creation, but outside of the campaign there's little for the rest of us to do.
This is a fun, fresh take on classic JRPG tropes and modern roguelike design, but it's in danger of running out of steam too quickly.
To say Frostpunk is fun would be like saying watching The Road is fun. It's engaging, challenging, inventive and unique. It cleverly re-purposes old genre tropes, and embraces the rigors of micromanaging dire people in a dark time with such earnest that it's hard not to get charmed into hours of sadistic yet satisfying struggle.
At a budget price and launching with a last minute ad bumrush, Remnant: From the Ashes is the kind of title you'd expect to come out and vanish quickly. But for fans of tough RPGs, action shooters, or post-apocalyptic fiction, passing up on Remnant would be a devastating mistake. It easily joins the ranks of games like Vampyr, that stubbornly outgrow their financial constraints to truly innovate and elevate a genre that has long since needed new ideas.
Alas, if you're coming to Age of Wonders: Planetfall for a brand new angle on games you've played before, then you've come to the wrong place. It's novel to see several different recognizable mechanics blended into one genre soup. The final product isn't better than the sum of its parts, though. It makes the 4X a faster game to play, but not a better one, ultimately.
That said, there's really something here to enjoy in They Are Billions. Taken as a whole, it is an entirely new and interesting take on genres that are as old as gaming. Billions has such great moments at times that it's rather surprising that these genres hadn't been smashed together already. Billions leaves plenty to be desired everywhere else though—in visual fidelity, art direction, sound design, and even game balance. Clearly, this is a first step on a new and mysterious frontier. Hopefully, not the last.
That said, for the budget price, there could be room on your digital shelf for Blast Zone! Tournament. At its core, you can get mostly the same experience out of it. I don't know the reasons why you wouldn't just spring for the real thing, but I don't judge. So long as you are willing to get over the strange music and art choices, and can work around how they can adversely affect your play, you can absolutely get something from BZT.
This remaster seems only well suited for folks who've experienced the series before. It's tailor-made for folks who want to take a trip down memory lane. Even then, you'll find the same surprise I did—that Onimusha: Warlords is a game remembered as being better than it actually was.
So here Jagged Alliance Rage is, splashing around in the now dormant waters of that fountain of youth. It doesn't have scope to be the successor to JA2 that much of the Internet seems to want. It also lacks the execution and originality necessary to be the beginnings of a new generation of the long-running franchise. Any charm Rage! has is hidden under thick and ugly jungle, and undermined by its weak execution and a narrative that is at its best boring. Save yourself the rage, and look elsewhere.
The survival genre is so crowded that there's little ground left to break, but The Forest has done it. Leveraging complex enemy AI and subverting expectations of the sort of terrible things waiting for you in the wild, Endlight Games creates a new sort of thriller. With some more polish, and a better emphasis on making all of the systems more coherent and intuitive, The Forest could truly be a very huge deal. That said, there's a reason it's sold 5 million copies. It's laser focus on executing specific ideas well pays off. It's worth trying to work around its shortcomings for at least a few playthroughs.