Lawrence Le's Reviews
The sequel to FAR: Lone Sails scours off the rust and polishes the rest to an acceptable shine. It's a well-oiled machine that runs for twice as long, with a lot more adventure hiding under its hood to compensate for the series' shortcomings.
An authentic reimagining of the first act as a 30+ hour action-oriented thrill ride with new sub-plots, characters, and an elegant, modern interpretation of the ATB combat system. The remake is still best experienced on consoles, however, where solid performance and controls can be guaranteed.
A shiny time capsule housing six years of sci-fi shooter evolution. Performance-wise, the Switch is two for three, with the Crysis remaster struggling to keep up with the sequels. If you're in it for the visuals and not just the nostalgic flavors of the previous decade, then the remastered trilogy is best experienced on more powerful hardware.
A quirky, bite-sized roguelike all about slick plays you make and highscores you break. It does a lot with relatively little, but you'll quickly find its limits.
Everything you wanted from an Outer Wilds DLC in a package you never thought to expect. Echoes of the Eye puts its own twists on the base game's formula without a single misstep.
A beautiful blend of whimsical golfing and sardonic commentary wrapped in a blanket of nostalgia and straight-up vibes. Golf Club: Wasteland is a brilliant narrative experience that can't resist imbuing anything and everything with stories.
The pinnacle of ceaseless, contextless voxel violence. It's hard to top the high-octane, improvisation combat of Paint the Town Red, but those highs don't always survive across its many modes.
A deeply personal two-hour meditation on saying goodbye that invites you to channel your lived experiences and walk alongside its characters. It's a little sparse on the details, but No Longer Home still gives players plenty to chew on.
Chernobylite's trifecta of gun combat, survival, and base management serves the game's unique narrative system. With more features comes more shortcomings, but nothing drastic enough to take away from an otherwise compelling experience.
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! is both a celebration of visual novels and a deep dive into the potential of interactive fiction. This updated version introduces new content that continues to weaponize the game's mastery over the visual novel format to land even more emotional gut punches.
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! is both a celebration of visual novels and a deep dive into the potential of interactive fiction. This updated version introduces new content that continues to weaponize the game's mastery over the visual novel format to land even more emotional gut punches.
The Invisible Hand is a deceptively absurd take on the corporate circus that is Wall Street day trading. It's at its best when it lets the player wreak havoc however they please, but in trying to juggle both stock market shenanigans and its satirical story, it fumbles on both fronts.
Mechanically, it falls short of its true potential, but you can't help but get swept up in the journeys of these characters. The game's got heart, and none of its flaws can really take that away.
The Fabled Woods collects all the necessary ingredients for a solid, meditative casual adventure, but its awkward execution leaves its narrative beats without any real weight.
A visceral assault on the senses, Little Nightmares II drowns you in its thick, moody atmosphere and renders you helpless against the Pale City's many horrors. It is a meticulously crafted, devilishly clever puzzle-adventure that weaponizes every tool the medium has to offer to terrify you. While it retains many of the flaws that hurt its predecessor, its length, polish, and ambition propel it to the upper echelon of horror games.
Slick, intuitive stealth gameplay serves as Disjunction's backbone, though the supporting systems and level design could do more to lighten its burden.
The turmoil of a revolution gone wrong is conveyed through nothing more than a few mouse clicks and quick decisions. It's flawed and frustrating, but there's an undeniable elegance to the game.
The zaniness of PHOGS!'s character controller combined with its elegant and diverse puzzle design is a recipe for a fun. The game ensures that every second is a new opportunity for friendship-fueled hilarity.
In lieu of what many community theories predicted is a cute and casual adventuring experience with an adorkable cast of Grumpuses and Bugsnax. But all that being said, Bugsnax isn't without its tricks.
A slick noir mystery with an intoxicating atmosphere and unmatched aesthetics. Combined with its sharp, campy writing and an intriguing storyline, Chicken Police is an indie gem that shouldn't be missed.