I still cannot decide whether I love or hate Ghostrunner, however, I definitely can say that I had an enjoyable time with the game. I have to admit that this game frustrated me a lot, although that only means that I was even more delighted when I finally managed to complete a level. The fast-paced gameplay and gorgeous graphics stood out and managed to offer me a one of a kind experience. That being said, if you’re into challenging games then Ghostrunner is the game you’ve been looking for, although you’ve been warned; This game might make your blood boil.
Mythic Ocean contains an interesting premise but, ultimately, didn’t use its full potential. While it creates a stunning world, the gameplay is rather lacking and nonexistent after finding all the pages as all that’s left to do is talking. I genuinely felt like this game turned into a pure Visual Novel and it doesn’t help that that game ‘fast travelled’ me right to the Gods, removing the need to manually swim to them. However, I loved interacting with each God and getting to know them better, although that was sadly the only thing I truly enjoyed about this game as I didn’t care much for the main story.
I had a blast playing through Control, I was a bad-ass woman with amazing supernatural powers. I found the theme utterly appealing and loved that the special abilities of Jesse were both used to progress within the story and defeat the enemies in various ways – which was pretty cool and exciting. Admittedly, the plot does take a while to pick up, however, everything made sense at the end, which is an accomplishment I’d say with how confusing the game started. Despite being almost constantly confused, I was invested in this game and felt determined enough into wanting to know what this game is about and why the strange things were happening.
The title ‘Lovingly Evil’ already tells you everything you need to know; Evil villains are romanceable within this inclusive dating simulator. If that’s not already enough of a reason to give this game a try, the comedy is splendid, the visuals are lovely, and I couldn’t help but complete a full playthrough in one sitting. I really appreciate light-hearted games and this one was definitely an entertaining title I couldn’t stop playing. Besides all the interesting facts for each villain, you can even participate within a variety of mini-games with your chosen love interest in order to create a stronger bond with them.
I enjoyed discovering the world in Death Stranding and although the gameplay didn’t seem ‘special’ at first, it ended up being much more complex than I initially thought. Sadly, the story does take a while to pick up, however, as soon as my confusion got untangled it became more enjoyable for me. My favourite thing about this game is the stunning environmental and character graphics which made it a joy for me to traverse through the areas, even if I was mostly simply delivering cargo. That being said, Death Stranding is an entertaining game, with an interesting premise, which I recommend to anyone who is looking for something more unique to experience.
Röki is a lovely game that revolves around rather dark fairy tales. While I got stuck here and there, which frustrated me, I loved the overall presentation of the game. Exploring the world of this game was a delight to me and I never wanted it to end. Each time I managed to figure out what I was supposed to do or solve a puzzle, it felt rewarding to me, especially when the story continued so I finally manage to find out more about Tove and the villain. I absolutely appreciate the theme of this game, that no one is bad per se but they still have their own demons they have to face. That being said, Röki offers a splendid narrative and was hard for me to put down.
Just hearing the high heel sounds, in The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters, absolutely terrified me and made it impossible to remain calm. There are moments when I simply didn’t want to come out of my hiding spot for fear that I’d run into the spooky enemy that was chasing poor Mina around the school. However, the point of playing a horror-themed game is to get scared, so in that respect, The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters perfectly fulfilled its purpose. The challenge here is to get past the traps and to find your way to the next quest, all whilst trying to avoid the enemy that is chasing after you; However, this simple premise isn’t an easy task as even hiding requires a QTE, and although they’re not too difficult, it’s very easy to mess it up. That being said, The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters is a terrifying continuation of The Coma universe that turned out to be even more enjoyable than its predecessor.
Despite looking like a full-on action game, Devil’s Hunt focuses on its story and narrative heavily. While cutscenes are often used in this game, I never felt like they were too much nor too long and was well balanced between fighting scenes and story elements. This game is very linear and thus, it’s impossible to get stuck, and the gameplay is fairly easy as well. Sadly, Devil’s Hunt has a few graphical and framerate issues, but it has decent visuals overall. That being said, I can highly recommend Devil’s Hunt if you enjoy a narrative-driven game with battle elements throughout.
I found Blair Witch to be one of the most stunning and scary games that I’ve played in a while, with the bonus of hanging out with Bullet. The thing I appreciated is that Blair Witch relies on creating an utterly creepy atmosphere instead of only relying on jumpscares, which there are plenty of.
Remnant: From the Ashes is a thrilling and enjoyable co-op game which I really enjoyed playing with my friends as we fought off enemy mob groups together, although I feel like the scaling system is a little off and could use some improvements/adjustments. I also found the navigation within the game a bit confusing as I found myself getting a bit lost at times with little advice on what to do next. However, I was very delighted to see that Remnant: From the Ashes focuses on the story whilst also procedurally generated the levels to keep things fresh and free from repetition. Well, the story stays the same but the land is randomly generated each time and whichever boss you end up facing is the luck of the draw!
Yuppie Psycho is an entertaining horror survival game within a new genre I’m calling: survival at the workplace. I wasn’t expecting a serious plot between the zany happenings, yet the creative narrative kept me playing right until the end when everything started to finally make sense to me. Yuppie Psycho had so many great little touches which helped it stand out from the crowd, for me it was the fact you have to investigate and learn your foes patterns in order to survive, rather than running at them with a weapon. Although I found the save function a bit annoying, there should be no problem finding enough resources within the game. That being said, I can easily recommend Yuppie Psycho to anyone who appreciates an atmospheric horror game with a nice plot, great character building, adorable artwork and soundtracks which will give you goosebumps. Yuppie Psycho is a special game which is much more than your everyday survival horror game.
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is such a lovely turn-based tactical RPG which I can easily recommend to anyone who is into the genre. I was amazed by its storyline, high customisable appearances, numerous classes and its various unique features. Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is a challenging TRPG with a gripping story and optional character events for better character development to top it off, all of which managed to utterly entertain me and had me sympathising with the characters while playing it.
I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed Tales of the Neon Sea, it delivered so much more than I was expecting. Not only do you get a good storyline which manages to hook you until the end, but you also get a wide variety of puzzles, investigations, interactions and fun gameplay. Tales of the Neon Sea is an indie game which deserves much more coverage and exposure as it’s such a great game, even though it’s technically incomplete right now. I can easily recommend Tales of the Neon Sea to anyone who enjoys puzzles and appreciates a good story. Even if you’re only somewhat interested in puzzles, please play this wonderful game as it’s one of a kind.
Ultimately, while The World Next Door is quite short, it ended up being such a lovely game to me. This game is kept rather light-hearted, and while there are choices implemented, they won’t make a big impact on the story. Although this might turn some people off, I still liked the way the choices were presented as I felt like I was actually able to form Jun’s personality. The relationships between the characters and its storytelling are definitely the main aspect of the game and I found The World Next Door is a quite relaxing and uncomplicated game with beautiful art and a unique battle system.
To sum it up, I absolutely fell in love with Yakuza Kiwami 2 and its series in general. While I never thought I would be able to love a game where it’s core component is fighting, I am absolutely glad I decided to give this game a try. While I have to admit there’s something really satisfying about beating up thieves, the story totally threw me off and got me hooked right until the end. Yakuza Kiwami 2 managed to make me care about its characters a lot and surprisingly, the mini-games were unbelievably fun.