AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is a masterfully crafted murder mystery visual novel that smoothly blends in detective gameplay elements and puzzle sequences. It features an outstanding cast of characters and a competently crafted narrative that will keep you on your toes until the end. Even though the game has a smaller flowchart in terms of diverging narrative paths than the first game and may feel drawn out at times, it remains well worth checking out if you are into games of this genre.
Stray is more than just a cat simulator; it's a love letter to cats and cat owners alike. It is an absolute spectacle from beginning to end, with a heart wrenching narrative and enough cat-centric puzzles to have you meowing for more. BlueTwelve Studio did an immaculate job bringing this project to life, immersing you in a dystopian world filled to the brim with mystery, all the while making you truly feel like an adorable feline. We need more games like this in the industry, ones that stand tall on their own and don't bank on the success of their inspirations.
Outriders is a game that launched with an array of bugs, glitches, and crashes during its initial launch. It's probably the best time to jump in and play Outriders right now, especially after the free New Horizons update along with this massive Worldslayer DLC. The new expansion comes at a steep price point, but shines with its polished endgame content and loot pool. Sure, it can get repetitive, grindy, and tedious, but that shouldn't be a problem if you're into this type of game. Just make sure you have two buddies who are down to play with you because playing solo just isn't that fun.
Bloodious Games has been developing MADiSON since 2016, and it's incredible to see a project of this magnitude come to fruition from a team of only two people. MADiSON creates a harrowing experience for fans to feast on, with its outstanding atmospheric tension, eccentric camera mechanic, and psychedelic puzzles. Apart from being a horror game, it also showcases some truly artistic stages and mythos. There are some beautiful landscapes to explore and investigate as you plunge into a spiral of insanity. After all, you are the Mad Son.
If you enjoy modern Resident Evil titles such as Resident Evil 7 and Village, then you will feel right at home with Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel. It's an obvious love letter to the franchise that contains plenty of lore, mystery, horror, and puzzles. Unfortunately, the janky controls take away from what otherwise is an indie game with lots of heart and promise.
Redout 2 is a game that looks amazingly sleek and fun through pictures, descriptions, and videos. The facade is dropped when you actually play the game for yourself, and find a slew of poor design choices, unnecessary difficulty curves, incomplete features, and repetitive gameplay. This doesn't even include the atrociously implemented HDR that burned my eyes and gave me a headache. Even if you're a fan of the genre, I recommend sticking with the first Redout until this sequel is heavily patched or discounted.
Kao the Kangaroo is an excellent revisit to the golden age of 3D platformers. Though it doesn't reinvent the wheel of the genre, it provides enough nostalgia and competence to solidify itself as a staple in today's market.
Salt and Sacrifice to Salt and Sanctuary is like Dark Souls 2 to Dark Souls 1. It diverges a lot from the original, with some ideas that work well and some that don't. All in all, it's still an excellent 2-D Souls-like Metroidvania that brilliantly infuses Monster Hunter elements with challenging combat. Despite some poor design choices and questionable difficulty spikes, it's still astonishing to think this game was created by a team of just two people.
Evil Dead: The Game brings a lot to the table within the realm of asymmetrical multiplayer horror experiences, with its cast of iconic characters, locations, and dialogue. It is an absolute blast to play as Ash Williams - voiced by Bruce Campbell himself - against the Forces of Darkness. There's even a solo mission mode that pays homage to famous scenes from the movies and tv series. Unfortunately, there's a slight lack of content due to repetitive objectives, and many quality of life concerns that the developers need to address if they want to prolong the longevity of their passion project.
I had a lot of high expectations for Dolmen, considering the premise and gameplay genre. Unfortunately, it botches just about every aspect of being a Souls-like game. There were many concerns that I could look past in the demo, but are inexcusable in a full release. Not only are the technical mechanics poorly implemented with inaccurate hitbox detection and animations, the artificial difficulty and long spans of nothingness make the game frustrating for all the wrong reasons.
Eternal Threads is a narrative driven, time manipulation game that ends up being nothing more than a walking simulator and cutscene watcher. If you're into making some binary decisions to alter some future events on the timeline, then I recommend checking out the demo first. This game is much better watched, because it's just not fun to play.
Counterplay Games did a commendable job enhancing, tweaking, and extending Godfall into one complete package. The core issues are still there though, with poorly implemented combat, boring narrative, and endless grind. But for the amount of content you are getting at a finally reasonable price-point, it's worth a try for those that are into the looter genre. At least it's pretty!
I didn't know what to expect with Ghostwire: Tokyo at first. It uniquely meshes aspects of horror and action with the deep mythos of Japanese folklore. The game absolutely crushes it in terms of visual and technical performance, utilizing every feature of next-gen on the PlayStation 5. However, its disappointing narrative and repetitive open world features hold it back from being truly amazing.
Kazunori Yamauchi wasn't lying when he promised a paradise that celebrated car culture. Gran Turismo 7 is undoubtedly the most immersive driving sim out there today. It celebrates the series' rich history from 1997 and brings many new additions into the formula. For all fans, from those who just want to drive some cool looking cars to those who are die-hard competitive racers, this game has got something for you.
Martha is Dead had all the right ideas, touching upon themes of loss, war, and personal identity in a meaningful way in a horror game. It unfortunately failed to deliver on an experience that cohesively weaved together those great ideas, along with a slew of technical and performance issues.
Shadow Warrior 3 is oftentimes a lot of fun, especially if you're keen on dirty jokes, visceral violence and stunning vistas. However, repetitive gameplay and a lack of overall content bring the experience done.
FromSoftware effortlessly immerses you into the beautiful world of The Lands Between, with challenging enemies, secret treasures, and deep lore tucked away into every corner. This is, without a doubt, FromSoftware's best project yet, showcasing a culmination of all their previous games. I can't wait to jump back in The Lands Between… See you there, fellow Tarnished.
Sifu is the epitome of a well-made martial arts video game that infuses cultural storytelling, brutal combat and a dash of roguelike. With its beautiful art direction, excellent soundtrack, and immaculate attention to detail, it is sure to rivet the attention of anyone interested.
The Uncharted series have always been at the forefront of the action-adventure genre. The Legacy of Thieves Collection is undoubtedly the definitive way to play through the last two chapters of this long running series, with lightning fast load times, excellent visuals, boosted frame rates, and immersive utilization of the DualSense controller and 3D audio. Don't skip out on this narrative masterpiece!
Solar Ash defines the new standard for open-world indie games by providing an absolutely lovely world to traverse, with a beautiful soundtrack to listen to. From the flow of movement and smooth platforming, to the giant colossi and heartwarming story, I had to step back to discover I was playing a fine piece of art.