Evil Dead: The Game is just fun. Even when the game is invoking ‘jump scares’ (of which there are a ton) heck, even when losing I still had a ball and was excited to try and take down evil again. And with a promised new map based on Castle Kandar from ‘Army of Darkness and a noticeably absent Ruby from the Ash vs Evil Dead show; I think its safe to say that the team has Saber is going to keep us battling the Evil Dead for quite some time.
While my friends and I loved playing RiffTrax: The Game; I don’t think its going to appeal to the masses like the movie clip, trivia game Scene it once did. (Please bring Scene It back) The lack of a real single player mode is going to hurt the appeal to some people out the gate, but then also this is a very niche game. Unless you are the type of person or surround yourself with the type of people who are quick witted when something ridiculous happens or just enjoys making fun of bad movies in a group; there won’t be much here that players will find interesting. But for those that fit the bill, and are fans of RiffTrax; you will have a ball, all for the low price of $9.99.
Loot River is not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination; it, like many new IP’s just needs some tweaking to iron out some of its technical issues and I have no doubt that with its truly unique blend of traditional roguelikes with a dash of a block puzzler, that Loot River will quickly carve out a place for it on the ever-growing roguelike mountain.
Blast Brigade vs The Evil Legion of Dr. Cread is the mash-up I never knew I wanted. With its rewarding exploration, thoughtful map design and some genuinely funny writing; Blast Brigade manages to shine bright in a field already crowded with stars.
Roguebook is essentially a roguelike- deckbuilder game, with the cards, gems and relics being the loot that players will have to blend into a perfect strategy to escape. While each of the characters will start with a default deck that will be upgraded as they level up; most upgrades players receive will be lost upon death. These games depend on having a tight replay, fun and consistent replay loop and with Roguebook, Abrakam has succeeded here.
It’s not that Serious Sam: Tormental is a bad game, its just one that doesn’t do anything new. In an already increasingly crowded market for indie, rougelite games this one is bound to be missed simply because it doesn’t do anything new to push the genre forward. Of course, the opposite side of that is that it doesn’t really do anything negative either, it is a solidly made top-down shooter.
With all the improvements, Godfall Ultimate Edition feels like just that; with all the previously released DLC and expansions this is truly the ultimate experience for anyone who desires to take down a would-be God.
Gearbox did a great job of crafting the classes and making them feel unique enough to fit in this fantasy world. While I would have liked to see more synergy between them ala real Dungeons and Dragons tabletop games there is just enough here to make players feel like they are contributing to the group dynamic. With some tweaks here and there, I’d love to be given the opportunity to play in Tiny Tina’s world again. She can BM for me anytime.
With its low barrier of entry for controls and special moves; Omina is easy to pick up and just moderately difficult to master and with its rollback netcode for online multiplayer when you need a break from some of the bigger anime fighters, I recommend checking out Phantom Breaker: Omina.
I was pleasantly surprised at In Nightmare, as I said horror is not usually my thing but the subject matter here and the way it’s handled is quite masterful. I mean the whole game is extremely relatable as Bill discovers the thing that some of us have already; and that thing is that more often than not we create our own monsters via our subconscious. The situations or people we monster-fy were never as bad as we thought they were. And hopefully I haven’t said too much, because this game is a wonderful experience, despite the wonky jump button and iffy sonar system I enjoyed my time in this nightmare very much. And while there isn’t much replay value outside of trying to 100% everything; at a value price In Nightmare is more than worth it just on the story alone.
Minor issues aside, I loved my time with Weird West on PS5 so much so that I plan to double dip and play it again on Xbox since it’s on Game Pass when it releases. The story, characters and even the very world that Wolfeye Studios have created for their freshman outing is so very unique and dare I say ‘weird’ that you can’t help but become wrapped up in them. I haven’t enjoyed a mash up of supernatural and westerns since Darkwatch and if you played that game, you know that’s high praise.
The only issue I had with Gunborg was the games length, being able to be cleared in just over 2 hours; just when I felt like everything was coming together and all the systems clicked the game ended.
I gotta say that Tentacular is vastly different from what I thought it was going to be based on the trailers I’d seen. And this is very much a wonderful thing, because like I said I’ve played lots of games focused on destruction; which I initially thought this was. But much to my delight and surprise, Tentacular turned out to be a wonderful, heartfelt game that touches on things like being adopted, and being different and how those differences can really be a boon to those around us. Developer Firepunchd Games did a wonderful job with creating Tentacular. I very much enjoyed the gameplay but most of all the story was so touching and the sense of discovery as you peel back the mystery of the kaiju’s origins is very well done. If you need a break from constant destruction, Tentacular might be the fresh sea breeze for you.
Like most RPG’s Jax will not save the world alone, Elex 2 does offer some companions to take along on the journey. Only one at a time can accompany the player but because the AI is so laughably bad in this game, they really only serve a purpose as a ‘meat shield’. Honestly, my companions were getting dropped more than they were hitting enemies in almost every instance. It was about this time that I really began to wonder what people were talking about when they praised the original game so much. Maybe it is that much better than this one, but Elex 2 is pretty bad. Worse than that I personally didn’t find it fun, no disrespect to those that love it. As I said at the outset, I don’t mind ‘janky’ games, but Elex 2 was just ‘bridge too far’ for me.
Shadow Warrior 3 for is just dumb fun. It doesn’t do anything to make you think that its going to be anything other than it is. Running around with a varied array of weapons AND a sword, killing monsters while dashing and swinging around is right up there with the fun to be had in Doom Eternal. But for me it’s the humor that sets Shadow Warrior 3 apart, while not for everyone those that find comfort and chuckles in ‘derp’ type comedy will have a ball playing with Wang.
Babylon’s Fall is not an awful game, its just not a very good one and while I would never tell anyone what to do with their money, I will strongly suggest you avoid this one as it’s fate will surely be the same as the tower for which its named.
Conan Chop Chop pleasantly surprised me, while I was drawn to it solely based on the Conan brand it really turned out to be a quite enjoyable, co-op romp through the lands of Hyboria. I mean for $20 this is a game that is complete, offers lots of replay ability and has tons of unlockables to chase by way of completing the collection of weapons, armor and runes. The family friendly approach is another great move in my opinion as it will surely help to attract a new audience, in fact after playing it my daughter has asked questions about Conan. I smiled at her and told her we can talk about when she’s older, but for now we can play some more Conan Chop Chop.
Sadly, as it is, I can’t really recommend this to anyone because whatever little good it may do, the bad outweighs it by quite a bit.
As for me, I’ll give this a few patches and come back and see if the game has improved because right now, I most assuredly did not get caught up in CrossfireX.
As I said the future seems bright for the Pokémon franchise, I just hope Game Freak can avoid what many studios do and end up taking ‘two steps back’ after moving their game forward; but time will tell.