Elijah Gonzalez's Reviews
Between its cohesive aesthetic, the bounty of clever features, and crisp central gameplay, it’s one of the most impressive entries the genre has seen in some time.
The climax comes in a little hot, but even here, the game feels true to itself: it may literally be about following in the footsteps of those who came before, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ultimately charts its own path.
But between its engrossing central loop and genuinely brilliant conclusion, it delivers an affecting mixture of grandiose and heartfelt. Together, it allows you to say something rarely true about big budget games these days, or honestly, most blockbuster media: there’s very little else like it.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector fleshes out its predecessor’s RPG systems, develops a convincing cast of characters, and gives you the tools to be the space captain of your dreams, but its greatest accomplishment is how it makes you feel the full force of that quote in each fleeting moment.
It’s large enough to create moments of surprise but has a more hand-crafted scope that moves you through novel locales and largely engaging boss fights at an impressive clip, finding a middle ground between the scale of FromSoft’s past work and Elden Ring. Here, there is a sense of falling down rabbit holes, as one obscure discovery leads to another until you’re deep beneath the surface or in the middle of a strange ritual ground you can’t comprehend. This studio deeply understands how to wring the divine out of this world where deities and mortals mingle, resulting in the same type of awe-inspiring ambiance and unforgettable backdrops that put Elden Ring in a league of its own. While I wish it solved more of the base game’s issues so there weren’t such steep valleys here, particularly around some of its slash-happy big bads, overall, Shadow of the Erdtree not only reaches the peaks of the of its predecessor but, in many ways, surpasses them.
All in all, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist doesn’t just take inspiration from the best games in this style; it has its own essential lessons to impart.
Astral Chain feels like the culmination of Platinum Games’ work, combining sleek character-action gameplay with well-defined progression mechanics, a striking world, and more than a few memorable moments.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards is a successful union of its disparate halves, existing as both a platformer with consistently inventive level design and an engaging collectible card game. Joustus and the platforming offer a well-choreographed sequence of challenges that deliver constant variation.
It’s a sequel that understands what makes these games tick, both in the moment-to-moment particulars of being trapped in a fog bank where you can’t see five feet in front of you, and in the deeper specifics of using scares to navigate the fraying psyche of its protagonist.
Still, even with these notable accessibility issues and other flaws, I can’t help but be extremely impressed with Rivals of Aether II for catching lightning in a bottle. It not only mimics but also builds on one of the best competitive games ever made, emulating its expressive battles so fast they make eyeballs bleed and finger joints explode. The cast is varied, the combos are dynamic, and the core movement is electric. Like with any fighting game, I’m sure there will be some competitive hiccups (some are already unhappy with how strong crouch canceling is), but what we have here is a rewarding platform fighter that controls like a dream—I wish that it did more to on-board new players, and was less limited outside of multiplayer, but for genre veterans, this core feel is the most important piece. While it’s way too early to tell if the game will fully capture Melee’s magic, it’s come closer than I thought possible, and that’s no small feat.
Tekken 8 may not be a sea-change sequel, but it hones what came before, reducing pain points for newcomers without reducing the complexity that makes this series special.
Altogether though, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a game with vision. It wraps intriguing puzzles in a digital gothic framic. It makes the most of its chosen medium as it forces us to navigate the tenuous details of this backdrop. Just about every layer of the experience is creatively risky, from its fragmented narrative to its uncompromising barrage of challenges, but these gambles largely pay off to deliver something with purpose and direction. Crafting this kind of maze isn’t easy; it takes a combination of subtle guidance and faith in your audience. But despite these challenges, Simogo never loses sight of how to stoke curiosity about what’s lurking around the next corner, whether it’s a treasure you’ve been seeking or, conversely, something horrible lurking in the dark.
It may not reinvent the wheel, but Monster Train 2’s clever modifications ensure this train keeps chugging along smoothly.
Absolum was developed by Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks, and published by Dotemu and Gamirror Games. Our review is based on the PC version. It is also available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
But even as its second half failed to match what came earlier, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a finely honed delight. Its action is precise and responsive, and learning the intricacies of each adversary is exceedingly fulfilling. While I wish its back stretch was either pared down or had a wider variety of foes, this is a rare title that induces trance-like focus and euphoric moments of victory. It may not quite reach the heights of the works that inspired it, but it’s not far off.
While I wish it was a tad more punishing, I still had a blast orchestrating complicated turns that involved teleporting allies across the map, utilizing diverse powers, and, of course, knocking hapless cronies out windows. But, perhaps its greatest accomplishment is how it escapes the inertia of countless other modern war games that feel like the product of the military-industrial complex. I guess all it took to avoid these tropes was not being in the back pocket of the US armed forces, a bit of empathy, and a guy who looks like Gandalf with a magic-infused M16. Who knew?.
While Mouthwashing certainly won’t be for everyone, its unsettling sights and slow-burn narrative are difficult to scrub from memory. It builds toward brutal reveals with style and purpose as its fragmented storytelling forces us to fill in the gaps—its suggestions of violence are often worse than the real thing. It has plenty of terrifying sights, but perhaps its scariest element is how it puts us in the headspace of someone committing increasingly awful acts, all conveyed via distressing moments of interactivity that make you feel complicit in the butchery. Through its portrayal of desperation and crushing guilt, Mouthwashing is as cold as the vacuum of space.
The game comes across as a direct successor to Telltale’s lineage that’s similarly defined by sharp dialogue, fleshed-out characters, and difficult choices (which are of dubious narrative importance). Having played the first two chapters out of eight, I’ll be there weekly to see where this superpowered workplace comedy goes next.
All that said, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising largely achieves its central tasks. It lowers the barrier to entry for newcomers while also offering a well-designed roster with enough complexities to keep things exciting for seasoned hands. I found myself pulled into matches that balanced flashy techniques with the more deliberate pacing of old-school genre entries, creating compelling duels I’m eager to return to. Perhaps most notably, it addresses the core issue with the last game, adding rollback netcode that makes online play dramatically more stable. Although there are a few whiffs, such as the inability to filter opponents by connection speed and regressions in its story mode, it generally hits as hard as its colorful cast of combatants.
Although The Midnight Walk’s interactive elements can’t match the artistry of its hand-molded clay figures, that doesn’t dampen how impressive this audiovisual journey is at its best.