We’re through the initial burst of Blood/Souls enthusiasm and into the second era, when “It’s like Bloodborne/Dark Souls, but…” is the pitch on the lips of every would-be cash-in. Code Vein is one of those.
With space combat that feels just like the 90s and some nice, new quality of life features, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is the game your 14 your old self would’ve killed for.
Close to the Sun wants to be Big Important Art, but it tries so hard to be Big Important Art that it undercuts itself.
This one’s a very niche game, but if a puzzle game that could turn into a six figure salary sounds intriguing–or if you just like dressing up cats–it beats another run through CodeAcademy.
The tongue is in cheek but not far enough.
That said, despite the frustrations, there’s no other series out there that captures the thrill of running around with a detailed fighter plane model in your hand blasting bad guys.
Ultimately, I feel like you have to buy in. If you want to start picking plot threads or quibble about level design, you can, but I don’t think there’s a lot of value to it. Get in, loser, we’re going to find humanity.
It’s not cutting edge. I mean “Souls-like” is a genre of its own now, not just an interesting experiment. So we wind up with Below, which is like one of those weird evolutionary offshoots that is never quite successful.
Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is a beer-and-pretzels tactical game. It’s not hard or demanding. It’s more like a puzzle game than something like Final Fantasy Tactics.
Ultimately, The Bard’s Tale IV is a very good game, but it’s an old school launch in both senses.