It’s a relatively stress-free handful of hours that can be spent instead in a state of wonderment.
While it isn’t a flawless experience and absolutely refuses to hold the player’s hand, it does manage to set itself apart by virtue of its unrelenting difficulty, all while telling a story that comes closer to Lovecraftian fiction than many of its contemporaries.
Unique it may be, but that alone does not constitute a quality game that should be experienced by others.
It’s easy to pick up and play, and just as hard to put back down.
While the game’s structure feels immediately familiar, A Knight’s Quest does manage to set itself noticeably apart in several key areas, usually in a favorable way, though not without some flubs that are of major consequence.
With a time-traveling story, turn-based combat system, and cast of characters that could have been lifted from such classics as Chrono Trigger — complete with robotic party member — it’s a shame that it is ultimately let down by an unengaging narrative, extremely tedious gameplay loop, and a combination of a lack of challenge and crushingly high encounter rate.
Expertly executed designs, visuals, voiceovers, and musical score still make Indivisible a great joy to behold, but its shortcomings do take away some of the triumph of actually playing it.
The Surge 2 is like a juicy, metal-plated bone that gamers looking for a well-crafted yet brutal combat experience can really sink their teeth into: it will push them to their limits, hurt and punish in all the right ways, but offers that sweet, sweet payoff when you finally emerge victorious.
The whole package gels together to make a game that stands out, though not always for the right reasons.
The game is a triumph in world-building and character-driven storytelling, and its combat system is versatile enough to support it through its mammoth eighty-plus-hour runtime.
Originally conceived as DLC for the game’s Switch port, the franchise’s catalog of celebrated musical compositions and Nintendo’s unusual interest in lending its crown jewel to an indie developer quickly turned Cadence of Hyrule into a standalone entry that somehow manages to combine the best of both worlds.
Although its story isn’t always flawlessly compelling, it manages to be an overall fairly enjoyable experience that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Fell Seal is a game that is easy to recommend simply because it does everything well.
To the average gamer, the game’s repetitive nature in the face of its overall lack of multiplayer alternatives will spell anathema.
There’s just an overall lack of polish to the combat system, storytelling, and flow of gameplay that belies any goodwill I might have carried into this experience.
At times spooky, at times brutal or corny, on the whole this rabbit hole is one that casual and hardcore fans alike should feel comfortable diving into.
But the game, though having a clean and perfectly adequate presentation, doesn’t do very much to put its best foot forward to wow the player presentation-wise, and the finger-numbing clicky gameplay might be just a bit too underwhelming for some to ride this train all the way to its final stop.
The grindy battle system with little enemy and environmental variety is also nothing to write home about. Cthulhu Tactics sounds like an intriguing mix of its two titular elements, but fails to deliver on the promise of either.
The game may not manage to surpass what has come before, but, if nothing else, it does manage to hold its own and provide series fans with another fun chapter in the series.
Labyrinth of Refrain will not disappoint those looking for a thorough first-person dungeon grind.