Kurtis Seid
The fate of a nation teeters between political ideologies.
Within the Blade has a good amount of customization and fun combat. However, those that need stable and fair level design may be put off by the random seeding.
Midnight Protocol nicely recreates the experience of hacking.
Chorus winds up being very open-ended, and players may have a greatly altered experience. How one builds and modifies the Forsaken will play a big part in how the game feels.
Eternal Embers can be great fun for hardcore Titan Quest fans. However, despite having all sorts of quick onboarding options Eternal Embers is not the right place to start the whole experience.
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem adds directly to Serious Sam 4 without changing much. Despite being a standalone expansion, players should go through Serious Sam 4 first. Only after, should Siberian Mayhem be considered for purchase?
ELEX II is completely for the fans of the first game that want more of the same. It doesn’t change enough to impress those that didn’t already love ELEX, nor is it in a good place for first-timers. Still for those returning, ELEX II will offer lots of action and tough choices.
The Ascent can be great fun with three other like-minded players. There are lots to explore in Veles and many challenges. On the flip side, much of the game falls apart or is otherwise tedious solo.
Jurassic World Evolution 2: Dominion Biosyn has some great new features like interconnected buildings and ferocious dinosaur species. Its tie-in to the Jurassic World Dominion film is rather flimsy and sometimes takes away from the immersion.
Loopmancer will be repetitive for a very long time, but after collecting e-Coins and Cores will eventually become far too easy. The game has a great foundation but needs tweaks to balance performance and level generations. Maybe with three to six months of more work and patch updates, Loopmancer will become a side-scrolling classic.
Wayward Strand is great for players who love talking with NPCs and hearing their thoughts and opinions. However, this is very much in the form of a journalistic interview; Casey lacks the charisma or drives to shape the outlooks of seasoned adults. Still, it can be great fun to unravel the mysteries and stories by just happenstance.
Indoorlands has a lot of neat pieces and ideas, but almost none of them wind up meshing cohesively. There is something very enjoyable at the core itself, but players will need to weed through the sparse tutorials and cluttered subsystems. Worst of all, bugs and other errors can be blindsiding. Hopefully, Pixelsplit can patch out these problems and wind up with a fantastic game.
Railway Empire 2 adds a lot of nice features and quality of life over the first title. Diehard fans of train simulators will get a kick out of the game and shouldn’t hesitate about considering a purchase. Still, for those new to the genre, it can be a bit overwhelming to grasp all of the logistics and years of planning to create a multinational business.
Sovereign Syndicate highly focuses on the narrative and story aspects. Getting into a skill check and using many different Tarot options can be great. However, it is up to you to show restraint and simply not reload after a back card draw. Additionally, many exploration mechanics, like quality of life or customization. You may consider the game if story choice far outweighs good movement controls.
Against the Moon is a challenging deck building strategy game in need of more content.
In The Invisible Hand insider trading will destroy lives in the name of wealth.
Patron is great for city builder fans that absolutely like the planning and early elements of starting a town.
Aiko’s Choice is a great follow-up for one that already loved every aspect of Shadow Tactics. Those that never played the original should definitely play that first before considering the expansion.
Syberia: The World Before is a significant next step in the franchise's storyline. Longtime fans will find both challenges and joy in this installment. But being this deep into the narrative means that it is no place for newcomers, even diehard point and click adventure fans.
Kaiju Wars is a fun but all too brief tactical experience. While each individual campaign battle is engaging, with only six acts Kaiju Wars doesn’t have enough content on its own. Players will need to rely on building their own maps and finding others produced by the Steam community.