The terror and hindrance effects make each run feel uniquely challenging, and the story events and Disciple traits are where Rogue Lords really shines. Unfortunately, as it stands, Rogue Lords suffers significantly from its lack of balance and the repetitive nature of both runs and combat. It can be difficult to strategize when RNG constantly feels stacked against the player, and being forced to restart a book after a surprise, impossible boss fight is demoralizing. With some retuning, however, Rogue Lords could better capitalize on its great ideas and innovate for the roguelike genre.
Overall, however, New World shows a lot of promise and has plenty of room to continue introducing unique and genre-defining ideas to the MMO space.
While there is a lot of content in this update to bring players back to the game, it may not be quite extensive enough to satiate fans long-term. Hopefully, the time between content patches will shorten as Valheim continues its Early Access period, and players can look forward to further updates as solid as this one.
For players who enjoyed the base game, Barn Finders Amerykan Dream offers more of the same. There are new opportunities to explore abandoned buildings and bid on valuable storage units, more ways to earn quick money, and a few new puzzles to solve. Like the base game, however, this DLC lacks the challenges, length, and variety needed to maintain player momentum and increase replayability. It feels like developer Duality Games missed an opportunity to introduce more new mechanics and deeper, varied challenges to Barn Finders, and without much extra content in this DLC, it's difficult to justify the price.
The Sims 4 Cottage Living has the potential to become one of The Sims 4's essential Expansion Packs in the eyes of the community, forever altering gameplay like Seasons and Parenthood did. There is a lot to like about The Sims 4 Cottage Living, and with luck, Sims 4 fans will see more like it in the near future.
Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood is a solid expansion to ZeniMax's popular MMORPG, explaining the rise of Mehrunes Dagon and introducing new mechanics that can be expanded upon in future chapters. Fans of Elder Scrolls Online are likely to find something they really enjoy about the Blackwood zone and story despite some of the drawbacks, and new and solo players can have a much better experience diving in and facing challenges if they start with Blackwood, thanks to the new features.
Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life is by far one of the best additions to Sea of Thieves in recent memory. The crossover with Pirates of the Caribbean is a natural fit, and it feels like the two IPs work together rather than vie for supremacy. The new enemies also feel appropriate, bringing much-needed variety to the lineup of foes players may face both in and outside Tall Tales. The beginning homage to the Disney Parks ride is a subtle and effective touch fans are sure to appreciate, and Jack Sparrow himself is exceptionally crafted. Rare has created something special with Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life, and it will be exciting to see how these new mechanics lead to future growth for the pirate-themed co-op.
A short but wildly enjoyable puzzle game.
A beautiful adventure awaits in the Deep Woods.
A challenging puzzle game that lacks autonomy.