Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical's murder mystery is predictable, but worth playing through a couple of times for its strong voice cast and customizable songs.
The game’s name refers to the reappearance in a painting of an element that an artist had painted over. As much as characters in “Pentiment” might fight to maintain the status quo, or to turn away from history and heartbreak, they’re no match for the forces that send humanity hurtling forward. While I initially started “Pentiment” hoping for a riveting distraction, what I ended up with was a game about uncovering history and past trauma. In many ways, it is more admirable, brutal and perhaps healing to just face these problems head on.
For what the game is — a sequel to “Three Houses” with real-time Musou combat — it delivers what it promised. There’s a mystery to “Three Hopes” that can only be unraveled with dozens of hours of combat and cutscenes, and the game assumes substantial preexisting knowledge of “Three Houses.” Fans will enjoy reuniting with their favorite characters, but the derivative plot and built-in grind make it a tougher sell to anyone else.
“Jackbox Party Pack 8” is a bundle of mostly entertaining games. Two of them — “The Wheel of Enormous Proportions” and “Weapons Drawn” — don’t always work. “Poll Mine” is exceedingly good. Taken together, “Party Pack 8” is a solid addition to a franchise that keeps attracting more players while they largely stay home during the pandemic.
True Colors is worth exploring in its entirety, but it glosses over the rougher parts of life, painting them in a romantic light.
Perhaps it’s a good sign that Boyfriend Dungeon leaves players wanting more — it means that it’s compelling, even if only for a short time.
After traversing nearly a dozen brains, I, along with Raz, couldn’t help but feel empathy for people along all walks of life. The moral of the story, delivered rather obviously by Raz’s supervisor Hollis Forsythe, is that institutions are flawed, people are flawed, but we are all just trying our best.
Is nostalgia and love of golf enough to carry “Mario Golf” as a whole? It has enough just to keep players interested. During a multiplayer session with Nintendo, I got to run around in Battle Golf and Speed Golf. Much of the fun came from other people’s reactions to landing bogeys or particularly clean shots. If you happen to have a gaggle of friends who love golf, this just might be the game for you. Otherwise, “Mario Golf” falls flat on its own.
For anime lovers and anyone who enjoyed “Fire Emblem: Three Houses,” the game will be a hit.
Playing “Chicory” feels like a kind act of self-care in a brutal time. It reminds players to slow down, enjoy the finer things in life, take care of the community, but also, just do you.
The game excels at giving people a small taste of programming, but the game’s pupils will have to seek unabridged coding lessons elsewhere. It’s hard to give the game a final score in its current form, because what people design in free programming and post online will ultimately add to the game’s potential.
It gives the player just enough story and intrigue to press on through a grindy midgame focused on revisiting maps.