Jesse Norris's Reviews
If you love the idea of taking a floppy tube, pointing it at something hot, and spraying all over it until everything is cold and you’re filled with regret then Firefighting Simulator - The Squad can be done alone, but it’s far better with some friends.
Monster Hunter Rise benefits from a tighter focus and massive quality-of-life improvements over its predecessors. The performance is excellent, and your hunts are more enjoyable than ever. With it releasing day one on Game Pass it’s a world worth visiting by yourself or with some buddies.
Chasing Static is a boring, slog of a game.
Afterglitch attempts to bring a moving art experience to the low-budget indie-space, but it misses the mark by never looking or being interesting in any way. It is boring to navigate through after a few minutes, and an assault on the senses.
GRIME is a series of good to great-pieces that are slightly held back by performance issues. Depending on when you’re reading this review I hope those are fixed because this game is fantastic. It’s beautiful, ugly, terrifying, and something any Metroidvania Soulslike fan should love.
Prison Simulator is $20, and I can’t recommend it. While it may be halfway decent on PC control wise it is a mess on console. There is not a single part of the game that is enjoyable to play, and even if it was the overall structure grew stale after a couple of hours of gameplay. This is one Simulation to stay far away from.
For $12 if you are desperate for something to play while you listen to a podcast or some music, get this game on PC. It runs terribly on consoles and feels awful to play. The overall setup and amount of content is its best point, but in execution, it simply isn’t fun.
Aery Path of Corruption is only $10, and even at that price, it’s too much. It is an ugly, boring, poorly paced, and thought-out fever dream of a game that even the most freakish feather head would do their best to avoid.
BLACKTAIL is a well-made, highly polished title that is easy to recommend. Make sure you have the time to properly level up and explore. This beautiful, haunting world is one I hope to come back to time and time again.
High On Life is absolutely fantastic, and you should play it.
The Witcher 3 is nearly a masterpiece. If the combat and movement were better, it would be for me. As is this is one of the best experiences in gaming, and everyone should play this version of it.
The third expansion for Back for Blood is more of the best parts of the game. It’s short, packs a huge punch, and is a lot of fun to go through alone or with friends. The gold edition of the game goes on sale routinely now for pretty cheap, and the base game is still on Game Pass for console and PC.
Finding the Soul Orb is a boring game that plays poorly. The storytelling is amateurish, and the overall plot makes no sense. It does have some nice store-bought musical tracks, even though they don’t match each other well in style or tone. Even at $7 avoid this one at all costs, unless you want to get really drunk and play something bad for kicks.
The Callisto Protocol is a gorgeous mess. I cannot recommend it at the full launch price. The combat is miserable, and the story is simply not interesting. If you are a massive fan of survival horror it lets you down by not being scary either, instead relying on jump scares the entire time. It is highly competent technically though, and I hope the team at Striking Distance gets more time for their next title, which very well could be a sequel to this one.
Hilarious banter, ridiculous fights, a great mission structure, and satisfying progression show that Fatshark is only getting better. Being available day one on Game Pass for PC means no one, either alone or with friends should pass on giving this one a go.
Intrepid Izzy takes aim at both those nostalgic for games of 30 years ago and a younger crowd. It’s not that long and no part of it is truly terrible. If you’re in the mood for a light and easy action platformer, then this one might be up your alley.
Poor writing and some technical issues are not enough to hold back what is otherwise a blast to play. Solo or co-op if a turn-your-brain-off type of kill-a-thon sounds appealing I think this one is worth it.
Pentiment is not going to be popular. I do think however that it will become a cult classic. I can’t think of another game from a 1st party publisher to tackle a subject like this. Nothing about it feels forced to try and earn the most money, instead, it is a labor of devotion to telling a brilliant story at a specific period and place in our past. Life may rarely go the way we want, but there is power in our choices and I’m glad that Xbox allowed this game to be made. It’s a unique, dazzling work of art that will stand the test of time for as long as we remember it.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers has zero redeeming qualities. It takes a serious position, which has had a lot of public issues since its inception in America and makes a truly awful game out of it. If you love the idea of playing hall monitor and giving people tickets for jaywalking, find something else. There is no fun to be had here in this ugly broken mess of a game.
Return to Monkey Island is great. It takes the adventure game to new heights of hilarity with a clever narrative, fantastic stylized graphics, wonderful music, and a huge amount of heart.