While Royal Court’s new additions are enjoyable, they don’t particularly affect the core gameplay loop.
(Console port review) Evil Genius 2: World Domination is certainly another management game, in that it doesn’t do anything which its predecessors haven’t already done before, playing it pretty safe. But as it manages to pull everything it attempts off without a hitch and also provides the pretty unique aesthetic of pretending to be a criminal mastermind, I’m happy to give credit where it is due. For lovers of management sims it’s an easy recommendation, and if you’re limited to only having access to consoles, it’s a good choice for experiencing this style of game in an approachable and streamlined way.
Jett: The Far Shore has an interesting and deep world, but it takes far too long to actually get around to telling you about it. It’s also sadly just boring to play thanks to the glacial pacing, which leaves your enjoyment purely hinging on your engagement with the characters and story. If you’ve got the patience to enjoy Jett’s deliberately slow approach, you’ll certainly find an interesting world to learn about and explore, filled with unique alien lifeforms.
Industria doesn’t outstay its welcome, but it could have done with more narrative meat on its bones, especially for the ending. It sets up a fascinating world I was interested to learn about, and left me eager for more. The shooting is nicely satisfying and the robot design is appropriately unnerving, meaning the dark hallways of the buildings of Hakavik always felt atmospheric and spooky. It needs some more patches to make the performance adequate, but I will be very interested to see what Bleakmill does next. I hope we’ll return to the world of Industria in the future.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is truly a unique game, and despite its bland gameplay, feels like a genuine cult classic.
Deathloop is genuinely refreshing in how different it is. It took me a while to get used to not saving, and being more daring in my battles against the Eternalists, most of which ended successfully and only occasionally ended with me being shot to pieces. The world is fascinating and the way you gradually learn new tidbits of information each loop means that even if you are killed prematurely, you still feel you have meaningfully progressed. Each zone has loads of secrets to uncover and will respond to Colt’s actions in different ways, meaning that mastering the maps and their layouts is crucial to fully upgrading Colt’s weaponry and hopefully bringing about a final end to the time loop. Deathloop is a brave change of direction for Arkane, and one which I think is overall extremely successful. It might not be an immersive sim, but it’s still a hell of a fine game.
If you enjoy turn-based combat and are looking for a fantasy game to whittle away the hours, King’s Bounty II delivers.
No Longer Home doesn’t out stay its welcome and is a relatively short experience, but I generally found it interesting and inventive. It clearly borrows heavily from Kentucky Route Zero, but wisely doesn’t try to imitate it, but rather borrows narratively and structurally. Ao and Bo’s relationship is very well fleshed out, and they are honest and truthful to each other in a refreshing way, their dialogue never feeling forced or unnatural. This is commendable, as realistic romantic relationships are often difficult to accurately convey in video games. It’s a game which pauses and asks you to value the small moments in life. I took this lesson to heart, using every opportunity I could to pet the flat’s two cats, Luna and Autumn. Sometimes, just petting a cat can spark joy. Life consists of a multitude of small moments, and at some point, we all must move from old homes and build new ones. No Longer Home, like Gone Home before it, proves the adage “you can’t go home again” remains as true as ever.
Samurai Warriors 5 is an extremely over-the-top, ridiculous game. It’s a game where your character can slice his enormous sword at a battalion of soldiers, obliterating them in a massive fireball. It’s a game where you can ride your horse through hundreds of archers, cutting them down while barely getting a scratch on you. It’s a game where if you pull off the correct combination of moves, your character can basically “fly”, zipping around with inhuman speed while inflicting devastating power attacks. All of this from what is on paper supposed to be a realistic, historical action game. This juxtaposition of a relatively serious story with the ludicrous action is a formula that works surprisingly well, creating a core gameplay loop which is engaging, if sometimes a bit repetitive. If you accept the game for what it is, you’ll find a satisfying hack-and-slash with plenty of replayability.
Despite the brevity, Backbone has one of the most fascinating and rich settings for a video game I’ve visited in years, and it left me craving even more.
Although it covers fairly deep emotional subject matter, The Magnificent Trufflepigs is generally an extremely relaxing, easy-going game with no fail states; a “walk-‘em-up” where you wander across several fields, digging up old bits of rubbish while reminiscing with an old friend.
Biomutant sags under the weight of its various disparate elements, leading to a game which looks gorgeous, but is frustratingly mediocre.
Operation Eagle doesn’t particularly change the Iron Harvest formula, but it does add another very enjoyable campaign, complete air units for all factions.
If you’ve the patience of a saint to be at the whim of the gods, Gods Will Fall is your kind of game.
Loop Hero is a satisfyingly rich experience, and you don’t have to be a Roguelike masochist to enjoy it.
Billed as a more stripped down and linear experience perhaps set within a Deus Ex-style hub world, Cyberpunk 2077 could have lived up to expectations. But as an “Ur-game” which would allow players to do just about anything they wanted, and which the marketing relentlessly teased, Cyberpunk 2077 is just a shadow. A pretty shadow, but a shadow nonetheless.
Kosmokrats has a funny, well-written story and a great soundtrack, but the somewhat frustrating puzzle design and control can occasionally hamper your enjoyment.
Watch Dogs: Legion is another competent Ubisoft open-world adventure with plenty to do, and while it manages to communicate its message better than anticipated, it can’t manage to fully commit to it.
Iron Harvest is a decidedly old-school RTS with some modern trappings, with a bombastic main campaign with a surprisingly well written story.
Windbound is fine for a short pleasure cruise, but you're unlikely to want to complete the full voyage.