I had fun playing Redfall, both solo and with friends. There’s a definite Salem’s Lot vibe to a New England town oppressed by a vampire apocalypse. All the characters are interesting to play and the monsters are varied. Still, Redfall does not revolutionize the open-world shooter, or even really evolve Arkane Austin’s by-now familiar formula. Redfall feels like the product of a reliable game plan that’s due for an update.
Meet Your Maker starts with a great concept, but it takes time, patience, and the willingness to fail a lot to really enjoy what the game has to offer. Player made levels range from brilliant to annoying, and unfortunately building is locked behind hours of grinding, which just seems like poor design. Negatives aside, Meet Your Maker does have a pretty compelling loop for both sadists and masochists.
It’s a shame when a game is built around a mechanic, only to have that element not live up to its potential. Stray Blade is all about dodges, parries and rolls, but they’re sluggish and imprecise and just don’t work very well. Aside from that frustration, Stray Blade has attractive art and level design, familiar action RPG mechanics, and maybe even some potential, if the combat can be patched into better shape.
The team at Bithell Games has an obvious love for their subject. This is true for writers of most fanfic. The challenge is creating an engaging narrative experience for those not on the inside, so the casual gamer can sweep away the jargon and lore, and be swept away by the story. This is where TRON: Identity struggles. TRON fans will probably enjoy spending a little bit of stylish time in their favorite fictional world. For everyone else, the claustrophobic story and lack of a high stakes payoff might be disappointing.
Dead Island 2 is gory and gruesome, with action that is often ridiculously entertaining. It has just enough narrative and social satire to push the game along, and enough depth, systems and mechanics to make killing thousands of zombies engaging for its substantial run time. Dead Island 2 might not be the deepest swimming pool in Bel Air, but playing it was the most creative, scary fun I’ve had with a shooter in quite some time.
Obviously, no fan needs every faction and race. But if you love Total War: Warhammer III and the Chaos side of things, Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs is an excellent addition to the game. The Chaos Dwarfs bring a unique style of play and offer an engaging new way to experience the campaigns. The Chaos Dwarfs are also a ton of fun in skirmishes. It’s on the pricey side compared to prior DLC, but absolutely worth it for fans of the game.
Everspace 2 has a substantial story, solid flight and combat mechanics, and incredibly addictive, satisfying action. If looter/shooter and space combat don’t seem compatible, Everspace 2 proves they can work together quite well. The narrative, breathless arcade space battles, and deep customization keep Everspace 2 engaging for its full running time and beyond.
Ravenbound’s limited successes do not come from an abundance of new ideas, but combining or juxtaposing old ones. If Ravenbound was a full-price, triple-A game I’d be a lot less forgiving of its flaws. No matter the price, it’s still derivative, janky and in serious need of optimization and bug fixes. But at less than 30 bucks, it’s maybe worth a gamble for fans of open world RPGs and action roguelikes. Provided, that is, that they temper their expectations and can overlook the game’s sometimes messy mechanics and other shortcomings.
Doing its best to make a long-ago conflict come alive, The Great War: Western Front is ambitious and complex. Like the actual war, it requires patience, determination, and the ability to suffer repeated failures to make a small amount of progress. It isn’t so much a hardcore sim that novices can’t decipher it. The problem for me is more with the subject matter, combined with the weight of many systems. Victories never feel jubilant. In World War 1, winning was a matter of losing slightly less than the enemy. History lovers and wargamers will find a lot to enjoy, but for me, playing The Great War: Western Front felt a bit too much like homework and not enough like fun.
In most ways, Gal Guardians Demon Purge sticks very close to the retro-Castlevania template. The best parts of the game are those ideas and mechanics which add something new, like the swappable sisters with unique strengths. For those gamers tired of uber-challenging action platformers, Gal Guardians Demon Purge’s streamlined gameplay and accessible difficulty might be a welcome change, if not a particularly revelatory experience.
Titles like Transport Fever 2 are not made for the general gamer. Tutorial aside, it’s a game for lovers of detail, challenge, and lots of moving parts. For those folks, Transport Fever 2 delivers on consoles the same experience as on PC. It’s a daunting but rewarding good time.
Tchia’s story and characters might be slanted to younger players, but older gamers will enjoy its open-world mechanics and relaxing vibe. Thoroughly rooted in the culture, music, traditions, and geography of New Caledonia, Tchia is an appealing and respectful window into an unfamiliar slice of paradise, translated into a game that’s full of charm.
Bleak Faith Forsaken’s screenshots are impressive. The game’s art direction and atmosphere suggest an oppressive future world, but Bleak Faith Forsaken is all window dressing. Behind the façade, a seriously unpolished Soulslike filled with broken dreams awaits.
If you’re a fan of the sim/building/cleaning genres and games like House Flipper, you’ll probably enjoy Hotel Renovator, though it doesn’t exactly break new ground. The process of demolishing and refurbishing the rooms is relaxing and chill enough, as it should be. That’s probably enough, but I wish the controls and camera were a bit more responsive and the campaign a little less skip-worthy. In the end, Hotel Renovator was engaging enough to keep me away from actual cleaning around the house, so goal accomplished.
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos takes some chances and adds some interesting mechanics to the action game formula. Not everything works, unfortunately, and the game can be striking, engrossing, and frustrating in equal measure.
Overall, Scars Above just can’t rise above its AA roots. This translates to some cut-rate animations, character models, and environments. The game’s primary weapon is good enough, as is the story and combat. But just being adequate is a tough sell. It’s hard to imagine Scars Above moving to the front of the Soulslike line.
Despite a lack of imagination in its story and setting, Redemption Reapers is not without appeal. Strong production values, excellent music, and solid core combat mechanics promise an engaging experience. Its stabs at originality are both appreciated and a mixed success. Better balance, less oppressive mechanics, and shorter, streamlined missions could make Redemption Reapers an attractive choice for fans of tactical RPGs.
Like Sekiro and Team NINJA’s Nioh games, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty demands a lot from the player, specifically persistence, creativity and let’s be honest, decent timing and reflexes. In lots of key areas it’s a pretty traditional Soulslike, with all the challenges and rewards that come with the genre. Wo Long’s particular brilliance lies in its new mechanics and the way they flow in and out of every encounter. While some moments and fights can seem like insurmountable, immovable walls, getting around, through, or over them is never boring. Wo Long both honors the genre and pushes it forward in an exciting way.
Where Blood Bowl 3 fumbles is in its lackluster forward motion from the previous game. Its offline play is pretty limited, and too much has been recycled from Blood Bowl 2. It’s very rough around the edges for a game so long in the oven. All that aside, Blood Bowl 3 can be amusing, tactically engaging, and still great fan service for tabletop players and the Warhammer faithful.
Given the excellence of the two earlier games, I wasn’t surprised that Company of Heroes 3 won me over once again. The addition of Total War-style campaign layer adds a little variety without being overwhelming. Even without it, though, the battles are still endlessly fun, chaotic, and challenging. Skirmishes and the Essence Editor will keep players busy until the next entry in the series. Company of Heroes 3 reminds us that there’s still a lot of joy to be found in the best real-time strategy games.