Eric Switzer's Reviews
I’m old enough to have grown up with unforgiving games, and so I can appreciate a project that goes against the grain at the risk of alienating modern audiences. Even coming in as a genre appreciator, I felt alienated by Shadow Labyrinth.
Mecha Break is kind of like a beautiful 8oz filet mignon from the fanciest restaurant in town, with a thick layer of Heinz ketchup splattered on top. Sure, you can scrape off the ketchup and still enjoy the steak, but it would be a lot better if the ketchup just wasn’t there at all.
Firebreak is neat, but it will only take a night or two to see everything it has to offer. There’s not quite enough here to justify the cost, especially when my other games have limited-time events, and I’d just so hate to miss out.
The first couple of runs of Battle Train feel magical, until you realize that’s pretty much it, and the rest of the game is just a lousy version of Archer and a lot of trips down the same old tracks.
But when your biggest complaint about a game is that it left you wanting more, you know it’s something special. Like this year’s Expedition 33, Tactical Takedown overcomes the most common complaints about turn-based games to deliver a strategically action-packed experience. This is an excellent showcase of what makes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so beloved, and as a fan, I’m so happy to see the turtles finally get the kinds of games they deserve.
It’s a gorgeous pixel-art game that liberally borrows from Diablo in all the right ways, and as a big fan of both ARPGs and roguelikes, Dragon is Dead was a refreshing mash-up of both that ends up being greater than the sum of its parts. It doesn't quite hold up into the end game, but by that point I’d had so much fun cosplaying as a certain Norse deity that I found it hard to complain.
It’s a streamlined Monster Hunter that goes to great lengths to avoid all of the fiddly (and often confusing) systems the series is known for. That’s a noble goal and one that I ultimately found to be refreshing, but in its simplification, it naturally sacrifices some interesting complexity.
The only concession you have to make is that it looks like a VR game, but honestly, that’s just fine for a series that hasn’t had a new entry in a decade. Arkham Asylum is the one I regularly come back to for a replay, but I suspect Arkham Shadows will be taking its place from now on.
It’s a fun story with some decent gameplay variety that’s authentically Indy. You won’t miss much by strictly sticking to the main quest, and in fact, your experience will be better for it. It’s a shame the rest of it falls so flat.
This is the first Mario & Luigi on Switch and it very much feels like the series’ first big-budget home console entry. It's so much bigger than any of the older games, not just in terms of play time, but in terms of ideas too. The only bad thing about Brothership is that it sets the bar so high there’s no going back to the originals now.
The original Diablo 4 campaign ended with a promise that the worst was yet to come, and Vessel of Hatred ends the same way. It gives us a better idea of what that eventuality will look like, and raises the stakes in some pretty compelling ways, but some are going to walk away wishing they’d just waited for the full story to come out before diving back in. I’m glad I didn’t wait though, because I think this might be the moment Diablo 4 finally hooks me.
It’s also the most welcoming a WoW expansion has ever been before. This is the start of a new story - one steeped in the long history of WoW to be sure, but one that makes a huge effort to catch new players up. Its brisk story supports new players too by asking for a small investment upfront and giving them ample opportunity to constantly re-invest. If you’re just starting out or returning without the safety net of your old clan, it’s easier than ever to be a solo player and not feel left behind. There’s so much consideration towards renewing WoW, rather than becoming further entrenched in the wants and whims of the most hardcore players. I imagine these weren’t easy choices to make, but I can see the long game that begins here in The War Within, and I’m more excited than ever for the journey ahead.
I love the world of SteamWorld. Heist 2 is as flavorful as ever, with great characters, funny writing, and a great soundtrack by Steam Powered Giraffe. The overworld exploration is charming too, with its own pirate ship progression system and simple naval combat. I really want to like SteamWorld Heist 2, but I can’t get past the more tedious aspects of the grind, or the long, punishing missions in the late game. It’s an improvement over the original to be sure, but I’ll have to wait patiently for SteamWorld Heist 3 to see if this series can finally reach its full potential.
I’ve been emotionally preparing myself to hang up my Arbalest and ride off into the sunset after The Final Shape. Destiny 2 is a game that means a lot to me, so much that I’m not prepared to watch it slowly turn into a shadow of what it once was. But this expansion restored my faith in Destiny and made me eager to see what the frontiers the future has in store. There’s been ups and downs over the years, but this proves the trajectory of Destiny 2 is onward and upward. It proves we can expect Bungie will learn from mistakes and that there are bigger and better things in Destiny’s future. I worried this would be the end, but now The Final Shape just feels like the end of the beginning.
This is a game best played alongside friends who can go in without any expectations and work through obstacles together. Don’t expect to be able to solve everything on your own, but at the same time, do everything you can not to ask for help. If you can be comfortable with contradictions like that, you’ll find a lot to love in Animal Well.
The Fabulous Fear Machine is a metaphor, but not really. The propaganda machine that shapes society is very real, and it's used to tell us what to believe, what to buy, who to hate, and how to behave, all to benefit and enrich those of us who deserve it the least. The titular Fear Machine is based in power dynamics, class consciousness, and the susceptibility of society at large, but after playing, I’m not sure if Fictiorama Studios understood how its own machine actually works.
Diablo 4 has a solid foundation, but Blizzard is going to have to keep finding new ways to justify this slower take on the series forever, or else revert back to the mindless grind of D3, which isn’t what I want to see. Players are going to push for faster gameplay and less friction, and it's going to be up to Blizzard to stick to its guns here and maintain the vision of Diablo 4, while also managing the natural effects of power creep over time. It’s an unenviable position, but I respect the hell out of this team for choosing the path of most resistance and pursuing a unique identity for this game, especially in light of what Diablo Immortal is and what Overwatch has become.
Redfall isn’t a total disaster, and there’s fun to be had in slaying vampires, especially with a couple of friends. But to call Redfall a shallow experience would be an understatement. I’m happy to loot and shoot and make my own fun, but there still needs to be something there to pull me through it. Nothing in Redfall, from the loot to the characters to the exploration to the power climb, ever made me want to keep playing, or feel like there was something more to achieve. No amount of bug fixes or updates will be able to improve Redfall’s fundamental gameplay flaws. It’s not just rough around the edges, it’s rutted all the way through.
Resident Evil 4 has been reimagined with a better pace, clearer story, and without all of the bloat that held the original back from reaching perfect.