It isn’t that SkateBIRD is bad, there is just nothing there to make any part of it more than ok. It feels as if Glass Bottom Games spent all their energy high fiving each other over the idea of putting tiny birds on tiny boards and making real world environments into skate parks. There just wasn’t anything left in their tank to make the rest of the game as interesting.
The end result of Foreclosed is, as I said, “ish”. It is a mixed bag, a good little game that stumbles to some fantastic moments. It’s an interesting game with some overall design issues. You breathe in a visually stunning world, both in design and in execution, but struggle to care about the who and why with a story that doesn’t pick up much after the opening act. Foreclosed is a game that absolutely has moments you will enjoy, but it will be deleted from your data banks not long after.
Where the Heart Leads doesn’t want you to play and after a while, I just stopped fighting it.
Insomniac did something great in reminding us that the best of games can still just be fun. That doesn’t mean to toss away narrative or to do without seriousness, but that a game doesn’t need to rely on them. PlayStation has been knocking them out of the park this gen, yet somehow Ratchet & Clank finds itself standing a Rift Apart of the competition.
Mundaun is one last story from Grandpa. You’ve just got to deal with some snoring now and again to get through it.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood comes across like an accidental homage to a time best left to nostalgia. Games back in the PS3 era were excelling despite obvious limitations. This game exists in a time when those limitations are all but removed, yet still feels like it comes up short because while it plays like them, it just wasn’t intentional.
Olija never sets out to be more than it is. It plays it safe, delivering an action platformer with a traversal mechanic and never straying too far from what works. But Olija has an undeniable depth of charm and character that some higher budget productions just can’t grasp. Olija is a tale that deserves to be heard at least once.
If you are a fan of Warhammer’s fantasy universe, then there is a lot to enjoy. If you just need more isometric loot slashers in your life, then you can’t go wrong. But even with that, I just kept thinking, “I could be playing Diablo right now.”
There is no reason not to visit this delightful world. Whether you focus on catching every single bugsnax available or mixing it with the mystery, wit, boss fights, charm and an overall system that appeals to adults while accessible to kids, it is a treat. Bugsnax is an excellent entry point to story driven narrative adventures.
I can’t say that I disliked A Tale of Paper. In fact, I can very much say that I enjoyed my short experience. I just didn’t get it. I didn’t get the why, I didn’t get the where, I didn’t get the who. It is a solid game that, on paper, just isn’t as memorable as those that have come before it.