The whole package gels together to make a game that stands out, though not always for the right reasons.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s easy to pick up and play, and just as hard to put back down.
Unique it may be, but that alone does not constitute a quality game that should be experienced by others.
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.
It’s a relatively stress-free handful of hours that can be spent instead in a state of wonderment.
Underneath it all lies an engaging combat system, though it’s a shame the story and writing under-serve what could have been an interesting world and cast of characters.
It would be easy to dismiss it merely as a novelty, as other peripheral-based games certainly have been in the past. But that would be doing a disservice to the ingenuity with which the designers have found a way to get players to try out a workout routine and, even more impressively, stick to it.
For those okay with being given very little to actually do, apart from one actual puzzle and a few token situations, and just being relegated to soaking up the atmosphere, this game will deliver a good time, even if it is only for a few hours.
Nice graphics, a tuneful soundtrack, and an interesting supporting cast, each with their own compelling stories, round out the package that should be a no-brainer for those who haven’t yet played it.
The end result is a highly entertaining and challenging take on a modern classic, with both innovations and rough edges alike.
Death end re;Quest 2 carries over most of the first installment’s major aspects — both good and bad — while also distancing itself enough from its predecessor to make it feel almost standalone. However, the removal of a number of unique ideas previously implemented means the shortcomings are much more apparent this time around, and the formula established by the first game is starting to wear woefully thin.
Even after having completed the game, it’s hard to know exactly what to make of Paradise Killer. The concept of an open-world murder mystery is very intriguing, and the world offers enough piecemeal rewards to spur on thorough exploration. But the flip-side of that same coin is the potential to severely hamstring the pacing of the already difficult-to-navigate narrative.
Ghost of a Tale is and does a lot of things, some impressive but not all of them great triumphs.
When judged simply on how successful it is in providing a horror game as rich in atmosphere as it is in enjoyable inventory-based and traditional puzzles, the game effortlessly scores high marks.
It’s a solid and certainly unique game that can be quite enjoyable when approached with the right expectations.
Some rather important missteps with the combat make the experience far too toothless, annulling the sense of fast-paced action and dramatically lowering stakes upon defeat.