Neil Bolt's Reviews
If Dynasty Warriors 9 was the volatile reboot the series desperately needed to endure, the Empires is proof the mixture isn't quite settled yet. What Empires adds in terms of being an engrossing strategy sim, it loses in paring back its open world warfare to something that feels far too much like the series back at its worst. Persevere with its shortcomings, though, and Empires can bring you riches.
While the game itself hasn’t aged particularly well in every sense, the work done by Nightdive to modernize it respectfully is commendable. Visually it’s been cleaned up and had a few rough edges smoothed out without polluting the original design, and there’s no denying that every effort has been made to tighten the controls in much the same way it did with last year’s Quake remaster. Short of messing with the core of what made PowerSlave Exhumed the game it is, there’s probably little else that could make it more appealing.
This is a confident sequel at heart. One that effortlessly switches between precarious leaps of faith from high-rise buildings and nervous crawls through undead-infested interiors. One that finds time to indulge in dread-inducing horror and explosive intensity. Where it perhaps lacks in structural ingenuity, it more than offsets by finely-tuning the things that made the original a success.
A lean and mean addition to the Serious Sam family that experiments with a few new toys, and offers more of the same Serious Sam goodness we've been accustomed to. It has the odd instance of unnecessary padding via one too many gunfights, but overall keeps a breezy, brutal pace.
It’s not a particularly lengthy experience, but Sucker For Love probably doesn’t need all that much more to it. As it is, it’s a punchy, fun, and occasionally grim, dating sim that prefers to steer clear of the darker, dirtier lanes of cosmic horror and the raunchier, saucier side of dating sims. Yet mixes up just enough of both to make for an enjoyable treat for horror fans with a sense of humor.
Let’s be honest, there simply aren’t enough Christmas horror games out there. This solves that, evoking the holiday spirit of Silent Night, Deadly Night to create a manic, mean-spirited slasher game that doesn’t linger like a badly-cooked Christmas dinner.
As a celebration of all things Jurassic, Jurassic World Evolution 2 serves as a worthy successor to the original. As a park management game, it struggles to find a meaningful focal point. Given Frontier's expertise in this exact department elsewhere, that's more than a little disappointing. A light, messy sim that acts as a tribute to the prehistoric pandemonium of the Jurassic Park/World series.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Definitive Edition isn't exactly the disaster it's been made out to be, but it is still a frustrating, underwhelming attempt to modernize three very important games. The quality of life improvements are generally welcome, and in many places, there's a faithful upgrading of the iconic visual style of the PS2 era titles. Unfortunately, not every change is welcome, and in the case of San Andreas, perhaps a little less of it might have done it a few favours.
The strength of Frogwares previous works is retained within more ambitious, freeform packaging. Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One can be abrasive, both in gameplay terms and in its depiction of an iconic character, but it offers such rich and rewarding depth to its detective drama that it's much easier to accept.
There could be an argument it outstays its welcome, and I’d understand that as a criticism, but personally, the ambition and invention put into the ever-expanding nuttiness on display in Inscryption makes this a forgivable sin. Inscryption has breezily waltzed into the game of the year conversation for me thanks to its ever-changing blend of folk horror-infused card-battling, dark humor, and its increasingly strange, yet compelling story.
I was already fairly sure I’d enjoy Sunshine Manor before playing it. After all, it had authentic horror ingredients I’m very much into, but I still managed to come away from the finished product surprised. It’s elevated by a sturdy gameplay cycle of fetch and return, gentle subversions of expectations, and an engaging cast of characters.
While Maiden of Black Water may not be the best example of the Fatal Frame series, it’s been long enough that a whole new potential audience has emerged in the last few years, and this, flaws and all, will be something of a new experience. It’s more important that Maiden of Black Water got this multi-platform remaster for that reason than any other. If Fatal Frame is to have a future, it will need more than a handful of existing fans championing the good old days. It needs new blood too, and Maiden of Black Water’s remaster for a wider audience gives the series that chance.
For all the grumbling and faults I might have with Back 4 Blood, it excels where it matters most, and ends up as a solidly entertaining zombie shooter. It could be better, and probably will be in time, but for now, if you fancy a decent new horror-led game to play with your friends, Back 4 Blood is worth a shot.
Phoenix Point manages to blend the very numbers-based approach of classic X-Com with some of modern XCOM's streamlining. The result is a colossal, cavernous tactical strategy game that struggles to hold its shape at times. Its wealth of information and systems requires patience, but if you can persevere, it's very much worth the time.
I’ve recently written that with remasters, I truly appreciate them when they don’t try to forget the flaws of the original, but instead just smooth the edges off them in a subtle manner. Alan Wake Remastered is one of those, and while it has its moments of frustration and you can sometimes laugh at the overzealous, but admirable, dedication to having Alan narrate the fuck out of everything, it truly is a part of the package, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
This is primarily for those who whittled away many a night in front of their PC two decades ago raiding dungeons, bludgeoning skeletons, and swimming in glorious loot. A remaster for archival purposes if you will. The only modern stain on the original tapestry has been the online issues that plagued the game’s launch, but even those will be but a distant memory before long.
In Sound Mind manages to be a confident full debut for We Create Stuff that shows its successful time experimenting with the Source engine was of great benefit.
All in all, Bloodwash takes a couple of hours to finish, with a little of that time put aside for finding its rather ace comic books, and chatting to all the locals about the latest scrap of evidence you’ve found. Again, this is just right. A movie-length experience that really nails a lot of the cheap, scuzzy, mean-spirited tone of a certain kind of slasher film, whilst still very much behaving like a video game. When you hear of games trying to be more cinematic or movie-like, the way it’s meant is usually in terms of acting, or blockbuster set pieces. Bloodwash encapsulates the unseemly, dead-of-night accidental discovery of a rude, crude horror flick, and that is, for me at least, a far more appealing way to go about it.
Perhaps my favorite thing about BEESWAX’ GAMES' SPOOKWARE is how it takes the crumb of an idea (Wario Ware but spooky) and runs with it to the point that it becomes something else entirely.
As everything started to fall together and the end of the loop was finally in sight, I felt a tinge of sadness that my first experience of Deathloop was almost over. I dragged out that finale as long as I could, uncovering every possible route, secret, tidbit on the Visionaries, Blackreef, as well as the unclear history between Colt and Julianna. As with Dishonored’s Dunwall and Karnaka, or Prey’s Talos-I, Blackreef has life to it. Diseased, hateable life that often deserves to end, but that in itself drives the grim wonder of the place, and exploring its stories never got old. It’s a place I’m absolutely going to revisit from the start again at some point, with all the accrued knowledge that matters almost undoubtedly set to make the next visit to Blackreef feel as fresh as it is warmly familiar.