Combining Metroidvania with monster collecting seems like a match made in heaven when you think about it. That’s why, all those years ago, GameFreak and Creatures Inc did just that. Now, Monster Sanctuary comes along and barely improves on the template set by Pokémon Red & Green (& Blue [& Yellow]). While it definitely has its merits, it lacks a certain level of thought and care to set it apart from the average indie game.
Combining meaningful decisions with largely grounded tactical combat, Broken Lines hopes to pull the player into its world. With the ”The Dead and the Drunk” expansion recently released, we thought now is a good time to look at the title as a whole and see if it’s worth picking up. How much fun can a game about death, despair, and the occasional war crime possibly be? Let’s find out!
From Inkle, the creators of Heaven’s Vault and 80 Days, comes Pendragon, a rogue-like narrative strategy game. It hopes to blend writing and gameplay, to constantly have one influence the other. While it succeeds in some ways, it falls short in so many others.
What do you get when you mix Breath of the Wild and Persona in a Rogue-lite shaker and pour it all into a tall glass of Adventure Time? Easy: A horribly forced metaphor that tries to explain how incredibly good the underlying ideas of Aggro Crab’s debut title Going Under are. It might very well be the buggiest game I have ever considered a masterpiece.
Detalion Games’s Plastic Rebellion takes Tower Defense and FPS mechanics and shrinks them down to toy size. The result is a charming - yet deeply flawed - three to four hour game. Set up your defenses, break out your NERF… sorry, I mean, FERN gun and help the green army men beat the black army men. A thoroughly nostalgic experience to many readers, I’m sure.
Obsidian’s excellent The Outer Worlds has finally received its first expansion. Aside from adding a new map to explore, Peril on Gorgon offers new quests, characters, enemies, loot and lore, as well as a level cap increase from 30 to 33. While having more to do in a great game is always a good thing, one question remains: Is this DLC worth the asking price of $14.99?