Way of the Hunter is one of the best hunting simulators, not labelled as a simulator, that I have ever played. Once you move past (or just simply ignore) the story missions that can drag down the experience, you get to a hunting game that offers the right kind of ease and complexity. While there are some annoyances with movement, pop-ins, and strange perks, you have a beautiful game that offers co-op and two full maps with their own types of animals to hunt for. If you’re a hunting game fan, I recommend this one.
Mothergunship: Forge is a decent VR shooting gallery on its own, however, I expected so much more after the stellar original version. The content here isn’t very deep, and it relies too heavily on unlocking a couple new weapons or modifiers as new content. These unlocks are great, but when you can easily beat the game on your second run, you don’t really need a majority of the unlocks.
For the most part I can overlook a bad story. Hell, I enjoy Call of Duty campaigns from time to time. However, with how thin it already is and with a very anticlimactic ending, I didn’t feel like much was accomplished. Luckily, the gameplay made up for a lot of what was missing story wise. All-in-all I was left with the feeling of wanting more. I want the game to be longer because I want to keep fighting.
Madden NFL 22, I feel, is the first Madden in a long time that has added something significant, with a few smaller additions as well, without taking steps backwards. The full revamp of the Franchise Mode is really great and finally something done for the fans that isn’t around MUT or selling packs. While there is still plenty of greed here and even an added way for them to sell even more MT’s, the focus on some single player aspects is appreciated.
With the various scenarios and modifiers, arena combat, and a full roguelite mode, there is plenty to do here. If you’re looking to pick up something you can shut your brain off and have a little over the top gory fun, pick this one up.
DARQ is an experience that I’m glad I finally got to play. It offers unique puzzles and mechanics within a macabre theme that I love. It really made an effort to create a seamless experience that had me playing all the way through and enjoying every moment. I will mention that it is quite short, but I don’t mind as it offered a tight experience that had me engaged the entire time.
I absolutely loved Blue Fire and think it is an amazing indie title worth your time. From its clear inspirations from the greats and its way of incorporating those action, adventure, RPG, and platforming elements into one game is fantastic. However, it does suffer that unpolished feeling of an indie.
BPM is a a combination of great ideas and for the most part it nails what it’s going for. The melding of the intense FPS combat set to the beat of metal makes for some really great moments. Unfortunately, the roguelike and RNG aspects that rule the game need a bit of work.
PGA Tour 2K21 is a well-made golf game that features a ton of gameplay options for its audience. Being able to choose through a large list of options to fully tailor your type of gameplay is incredible. However, I feel like it can’t decide whether it wants to dip more into arcade territory or just remain as a simulator. I hope they will find a way to cater to both eventually, but this is a big step in the right direction.
The TakeOver is a really great salute to the old school beat ’em up genre, and if you enjoyed Streets of Rage 4, then I totally recommend you picking this one up. It’s easy to overlook its handful of shortcomings due to its excellent moment-to-moment gameplay.
Arizona Sunshine 2 is a fun game that I would recommend to anyone who wants a good campaign driven zombie game. Sure, the new additions may not be revolutionary, but they are certainly a step up from the first game.
Spider-Man 2 is a sequel that is superior to the first game in a lot of gameplay ways, but also falls short in the narrative and writing. It’s a more streamlined experience that still offers a ton of blockbuster action, but then it hits you with some head scratching character decisions and pace killing side activities. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man then it is still an absolute must play game, and I would hope that at this point a lot of the issues I had while playing have been ironed out.
Party Animals is a really fun time to play, whether online with others, or sitting with some friends and family on some good, old-fashioned local multiplayer. This truly feels like a next step up from previous silly physics-based brawlers, even if it does have its own bits of frustrations. However, I think if you don’t try to take it seriously, and are in it for some lighthearted fun, Party Animals can easily be in your rotation of fun party games.
At its heart, Scorn is a puzzle game with a clear design and structure that knew exactly what it wants to achieve and in that aspect it achieved it perfectly. It’s not a game that will please everyone, but these are the type of art games I enjoy. The weaving of the art design and puzzles is so cohesive that I could truly believe these could be part of some living alien world. Combat does drag the experience down quite a bit from the controls to the enemies, but if you’re looking for a macabre puzzle game, there aren’t many games that do it this well.
Sniper Elite 5 is definitely the best of a series that continues to grow with each installment. I’m happy to say that this one has some of the most meaningful updates to its formula to date. The heavy focus on more involved maps, and gameplay freedom within them is a breath of fresh air and exactly what this series needs.
Weird West is a fantastic ARPG Immersive Sim that really gets you invested within its world. The veteran skill behind this game surely shines throughout this title offering something fun and fresh. I easily spent over fifty hours in Weird West and that’s even having to rush the last couple chapters. I enjoyed losing myself in this world and its characters experimenting with the gameplay tools and options provided.
While I personally would have liked more difficulty in the portals and bosses, I also think this is a solid game to offer someone being introduced to roguelites that aren’t amazing on FPS games. Plus, it has its own unique ideas here that will make you feel like a bad ass powerful mage, and that always makes me feel happy.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is a game designed for my taste. It offers me a buffet of different gameplay options, tech, stealth opportunities, and sniping that I love. It mixes the action stealth gameplay and long distance sniping simulation very well, and while it may not be super exciting, it gives methodical players like myself something to obsess over.
Chivalry 2 is a great time and the controls are intuitive enough to be able to jump in and chop down some enemies. While content is a bit light at launch and there isn’t any evolution to the mechanics for veterans, I can’t deny the frantic fun.
Rising Hell is a surprisingly good game that took a simple level design idea and made it work with the roguelite genre. If you’re into demon slaying to heavy metal and enjoy the roguelite loop then this will be a title to pick up.