Quinn Hiers
“Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck” was by far a fun DLC. It brought back a few Borderlands 2 characters, including the “meat bicycle” man himself, Krieg, and the humor was nonstop. Gearbox has a wonderful talent for developing characterization through humor and dialogue and it continues to show in this DLC.
Tell Me Why is turning out to be a gorgeous game. The first chapter was wonderful but Chapter 2 breeds a narrative of acceptance and learning to love yourself that I think everyone needs to experience.
Overall, the way the game broaches on mature themes and difficult choices feels natural and true-to-life. This is only made possible by the characters themselves who are realistic, deep, and imperfect, especially Tyler.
Overall, Mortal Shell feels like a Souls game. It’s difficult, the enemies are punishing, and the combat mechanics are familiar. Mortal Shell is undoubtedly a love letter to Dark Souls, but Cold Symmetry has added enough novel mechanics and intriguing landscapes to make a game that stands out from the crowd.
There are a few elements that separate this battle royale from others but the battles tend to be repetitive, the weapons lackluster, and the map becomes stale quickly. Currently, with how Hyper Scape is structured, there’s little to keep me entertained.
Hellpoint is, mechanically, a typical game in the Dark Souls genre. However, the sci-fi theme is really what separates it from other games. Although the upgrade systems aren’t always intuitive and the game has a few other minor issues, the unique enemies and story make up for it. Hellpoint is a hard game but well worth the struggle.
Given that Corsus in the base game felt like the weakest planet in terms of content and storyline, “Swamps of Corsus” brings some much-needed content. The enemies and story are great in Adventure mode and Survival mode is really addicting.
The developers of Those Who Remain have crafted a game that excellently takes advantage of atmosphere to enhance the horror. The puzzles are simplistic yet fun, and how this game challenges your moral compass makes it more impactful than many other games in the same genre.
With its procedurally generated levels, infinite leveling system, a plethora of items and characters to unlock, and some beautiful and intelligent world designs, Risk of Rain 2 is a co-op experience you won’t forget anytime soon.
Pathologic 2 is odd and very unsettling. Just to make sure you never get a breath of fresh air in a town that’s going insane, the game is extremely punishing, and your 12 days of hell pass by sluggishly. Although the game will be getting a difficulty setting, the difficulty of the game was personally enjoyable. The only true downsides were the arguably unusable combat system and repetitive models.
Close to the Sun has a great premise and gorgeous graphics. However, the execution falls short due to the short plotline, use of jump scares, and clunky movements.
In the end, Moons of Madness was an interesting game that certainly fed my psychological horror hunger. The game was great at building chilling atmospheres that play with the themes of isolation and paranoia, but small changes to some of the game mechanics would have made this game even better.
Untitled Goose Game is an easy-going game that is super simplistic but also super fun. The slapstick humor is great and the objectives shouldn’t cause anyone much frustration. If you’re looking for a cute, easy, but fun game that’ll only take you a few hours to finish, check out Untitled Goose Game.
Remnant: From the Ashes offers a healthy dose of punishing enemies while soothing a player's wounds with an adequate amount of storyline and interesting places to explore and characters to meet.
The campaign was entertaining even though it felt redundant due to the reuse of old enemies and was rather short for something so anticipated. Returning to the moon brought back great memories and it’s wonderful to have Eris Morn back.
Borderlands 3 is just another Borderlands game. I came for a Borderlands game and I definitely got one. The game is not novel, at least in regards to mechanics, but it's a fantastic game nonetheless, especially for its story and characters. It feels the same, plays the same, and all my expectations have been met. It's a game I would recommend to anyone.
Although less scary than the previous game, Layer of Fear 2 is a beautiful but chilling game with wonderful writing and voice-acting. It maintains pieces of the first game that many loved while changing enough so that it doesn't feel repetitive.
Throughout A Plague Tale, Amicia has to face reality and do horrible things; she is constantly faced with the question of how much is she willing to lose to keep Hugo safe. Just how far will they go to survive? It’s a beautiful, poetic game filled with human monsters who are willing to commit unspeakable atrocities. But, at its core, it's about the bond formed between two siblings.
Observer is a wonderful game from start to finish. It is both fear-instilling and intriguing. So, if you're looking for a horror game that is visually striking and insightful enough to warrant self-reflection, Observer is a wonderful choice.