Transpose is a pleasant, complicated surprise puzzle VR game that will put your patience to the test, as well as your cognitive skills. If you enjoy puzzle games, such as The Witness, then this one will probably be up your alley.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a beautiful game that doesn't beat around the bush with story or gameplay design. It opens up the series just a bit and loosens the restrictions on how the game can be played, or rather should be played. While the adventure isn't quite as long as Dishonored 2, it certainly is made fun with non-linear gameplay and additional fun through contracts/challenges.
Playing Skyrim on the go is amazing and makes it a must-have for Nintendo Switch owners.
Assassin's Creed III Remastered on the Nintendo Switch is impressive. It's refined stealth tools and tactics mixed with additional gameplay design upgrades makes this a must-have for any AC fan dying to play something on the Switch that is guaranteed to occupy them for a long period of time.
Heroes of Hammerwatch: Ultimate Edition is a game that works best with friends, and does a great job with how it balances gameplay and grind. This indie game is something you should add to your list of 'must-haves'.
Arcadia Fallen is a wonderful game with very well-thought-through underlying messages that are wrapped up in a branching narrative. While its story-heavy personality may not fit the fancy of some folks, its intentions are good enough to entertain most.
The Warmind expansion is a change in gear from the usual. Warmind brings the promised grind from Bungie, but rewards the player for their efforts. People thought that the previous expansions were too simple, and they were right, so Bungie kicked it in the other direction and now we have gotten what we have asked for, even if it feels like it's too difficult. The balance between effort and reward is now a right of passage and something that is respectful instead of expected. Warmind is a good way for Bungie to begin to right the ship of their D2 game and make it closer to what was promised at the beginning of this Destiny journey.
Kaze and the Wild Masks starts off as an innocent platformer from the 90s but goes from first to fifth gear quickly in difficulty. Ramping up to large amounts of difficulty and enjoying the scenery is what made platformers in the 90s good. With Kaze, the difficulty is such a dramatic shift that you're stuck not having the ability to stop and smell the flowers that PixelHive has worked so hard to grow.
Evasion is a decent FPS for the PSVR, but it needed just a bit more variety to make it fun and engaging. The initial structure of the gameplay is spot-on, but the enemies and level design are just a bit too stale. Hopefully, Archiact continues to make VR titles because I think they're onto something.
The PlayStation 5 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the best in the bunch. It tells a solid campaign with branching narrative choices, contains some of the best visuals that you’ve seen on a system not called ‘PC’, and it has some good, new faces on the multiplayer scene. Is it all perfect? Not at all, but it’s a good way for Call of Duty to start on the next generation of consoles.
As free-to-play games come, Orcs Must Die! Unchained is quite good. The game is crafted meticulously to serve you humor and playfulness, as well as complicated strategy-led gameplay that will have you hooked after an hour or so. While the term microtransactions will be the dirty word with this game, they're not necessary to have some real fun.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy is impressive. Rarely does a trilogy of games get better and better, yet stay so closely embedded with each other in terms of looks and gameplay design. This trilogy does just this and even fits right in with the fourth game. You would expect some large gap between gaming experiences, but it's all consistent in scope and delivery.
ECHO was a very pleasant surprise. It will most certainly test intelligence and patience of gamers with its puzzle of enemies in tightly built rooms, while testing the amount of anxiety one can take with jump scares and pressure to get to the next checkpoint. That's the charm of the game. Ultra Ultra did a fantastic job with ECHO and it shouldn't be missed.
If you're a younger gamer that has never jumped into an RPG experience, then this simplistic adventure might be the game to start with, as it contains all the traditional elements of a turn-based RPG. For more seasoned gamers out there looking for an RPG good time this may not be for you, as your eyes should be on the Xenoblade-type experiences of the world, rather than entertained with a Mii world.
Overall, Dragon Quest Heroes II is an upgrade over its predecessor. It's packed with plenty of content, long action sequences and a healthy dose of role-playing elements to keep your interest firmly hooked. The balance between action and RPG helps make this more than just a Dragon Quest title with the beating heart of Dynasty Warriors. It's a worthy sequel. Just excuse the A.I. here and there.
Overall, this collection is accurate to a fault, packed with some additional goodies and reminds us how absolutely insane we all must have been when we played these games the first time around. Bravo to Digital Eclipse and Capcom for taking a chance on some classics.
The Yakuza Remastered Collection shows that Sega understands the importance of this series and how much it means to its worldwide fandom. By updating the visuals, framerate, adding characters and content, and just proving that they are invested in the long haul for this series, shows that Sega is starting to get itself back in the game. This collection is worthy of any Yakuza fan's money.
Overall, I did really enjoy Shop Titans more than I thought I would. It’s more complex than just a casual gaming experience and while it does have a traditional path of Free-to-Play gameplay structure, where real-world pay is involved, there are enough options for you to avoid that if that isn’t your thing. It just requires patience. I’m not crazy about the controls when compared to the iOS version, which is probably my biggest knock on the game.
Overall, the mixture of multiple genres is nearly pulled off well, but the difficulty gums the gears up on Disjunction's gameplay just a bit. If there were fewer enemies and more push forward then I think this game excels beyond expectations. As it stands with the gameplay, you're getting an interesting mix that tells a good story, but can only go as far as you can take it with the difficulty pushing back so hard at times.
Akabaka made a fun dating simulator based on a crazy narrative with Sucker for Love: First Date. Much like in real life, as each date occurs the game gets better and better, but also like in real life, it is still flawed in some areas.