Naraka: Bladepoint offers a refreshing alternative to both the tired sci-fi or high fantasy settings and mechanics of familiar battle royale games, with a focus on fast and skillful melee combat and movement that can feel like an awesome martial arts film come to life. But the focus almost entirely on close quarters fighting can grow repetitive and frustrating, too, especially against the much better players that seem to dominate the space. Although it pushes microtransactions past the point of annoyance, they don’t radically impact the game, which is ultimately much more skill-based than that of other games in the genre.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is an exemplar of the CRPG genre, allowing the player to go on a very specific and incredibly rich fantasy journey, with mechanics and systems to add depth, variety and replayability at every turn. While it is much more welcoming to casual players than Kingmaker, there are still a great number of things to comprehend, manage and optimize in the course of play and the game is not without some jank and bugs. The new Mythic Path element is a literal game changer, the story and characters are engaging and although still just a bit intimidating, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous improves on its predecessor in significant ways. There are a lot of excellent ARPGs on the market, and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous certainly deserves a place among them.
Surgeon Simulator 2: All Access absolutely does what it sets out to do, which is turn “surgical precision” upside down and allow the player to make an absolute mess of what should be the most delicate of procedures, adding physics-based puzzles and escalating objectives that will either frustrate or challenge. In this case, the awkward controls are a feature, not a bug. For anyone who has already played the game, this new version doesn’t add much, but for console owners or anyone new to the title it’s definitely the version to pick up.
What we can agree on is that mechanics and gameplay are at least as important as the setting and story, and this is where Rustler fails to deliver a consistently fun experience.
Although as of this writing it is no longer a free download, The Virtuous Cycle is probably an easy to recommend purchase for fans of the base game. The new roguelike game mode is punishing fun (if that’s your thing) and the new Shell and weapon are a welcome addition to the arsenal. If you bounced off Mortal Shell due to its difficulty, this new DLC won’t change your mind, but it’s good news for most everyone who enjoys Cold Symmetry’s homage to Dark Souls.
While Humankind can’t compete with the current state of Civ VI with all that game’s major expansions and wealth of DLC, it should be remembered that at launch, Civ VI was a pretty basic product. Humankind is a solid, if not especially revelatory, take on what has become a pretty ossified genre. Its changes — in particular the opening Neolithic stage, and its combat systems — are not dramatic shifts, but they are enough to make an experienced 4X player pay attention. Just like our hunter-gatherer ancestors, Humankind (the game) is off to a good start.
So many videogames treat their human characters as singularly good or evil, or worse, as disposable cannon fodder that exist only to be killed. In addition to its excellent platforming, puzzles, and action, Psychonauts 2 impresses the most because it treats human frailty and failure with warmth, compassion, and humor that is never cruel or demeaning. Inside our heads, we’re all just bundles of doubt, random connections, ill-considered motivations, and weird memories mixed with kindness, aspiration, and delight. I’m grateful to Psychonauts 2 for the reminder.
Apart from a camera that despises the view from a corner, some buggy and inconsistent team matchmaking mechanics, and the curious decision to add punishing roguelike elements, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a polished and potentially fun and action-filled romp through a corner of the Alien universe and lore. Played without human squadmates and reliant on AI stand-ins at anything but the easiest difficulty, the game’s more repetitious aspects begin to grate, as failure will be inevitable. Played with a trio of living beings possessing some situational awareness, reflexes and the ability to communicate, using an arsenal of cool guns and toys against swarms of iconic Xenomorphs is a mindless, if not mind-blowing, good time.
Despite some bugs (unfortunately, not a playable race but the game crashing kind) and a feeling of complexity that might be off-putting at first, Banners of Ruin is a smart and creative take on two very familiar genres. With a world, story, and characters that are a refreshing departure from the usual dark fantasy tropes, and gameplay that is engaging and addicting, the biggest knock against it might be players’ potential reticence to dive into yet another deck builder/roguelike. That would be a shame, and anyone who has grown weary of the genre might be pleasantly surprised by Banners of Ruin.
Some racing sims split the difference between arcade-like accessibility and realism, but RiMS Racing leans pretty hard towards the latter. While not entirely unfriendly to novices, this is a game geared towards the motorcycle enthusiast. With its emphasis on what happens in the shop between races at least as much as on the races itself, RiMS Racing has a supply-your-own-drama career mode, but excels in supplying an exacting and sometimes thrilling simulator of racing on two wheels.
In one sense, spending hours mowing virtual lawns in a game could be considered a ridiculous waste of time. But aside from being a satisfying management sim, the act of mowing lawns in Lawn Mowing Simulator can be surprisingly relaxing and maybe even a little inspiring.
On the PS4, Fort Triumph is exactly the same experience it was on PC, which is to say that it is an approachable, turn-based tactical RPG with a fantasy setting and a strong sense of humor that deflates some heroic stereotypes along the way. There’s plenty of content and while nothing about the original game, or the port, is wildly innovative, the destructible environments add a bit of tactical interest to the battles. The game’s humor may or may not work for you, but the mechanics and gameplay are probably a great introduction to the genre for younger players or experienced gamers looking for a more casual tactical approach, layered with a bit of satire and fun.
Crimson Spires is a visual novel that has interesting characters and a relatively unexplored setting for the genre. Combining romance, science fiction, horror, mystery, vampires and the supernatural into one tasty soufflé, Crimson Spires isn’t a perfect meal but it’s definitely worth tasting.
With its more focused campaign less burdened by irrelevancy, The Siege of Paris is a leaner, tighter and brisker expansion than Wrath of the Druids or much of the main story. The new/old Infiltration mechanic is a welcome changeup from the usual routine of explore and battle, but maybe not enough to entirely wipe away the feeling that the Siege of Paris is sticking a little too close to the template. What it lacks in creativity, bold new mechanics and mission structures, The Siege of Paris delivers in art direction, atmosphere and story. Though I personally enjoyed the visit to Ireland a little more, Eivor’s trip to Francia is by no means lacking in quality. For better or worse, it’s just more of the same.
The Hero’s Journey does yeoman’s work as a structure for Seed of Life, and the game boasts some imaginative environments and challenging puzzles in service of a classic tale of discovery. Where action, platforming and precise input are called for, Seed of Life shows its mechanical limitations and wonder is sometimes replaced by frustration, but fans of puzzle adventure games with a sci-fi twist might find something to appreciate about Seed of Life despite its issues.
For the Dark Souls fan who sees every From Software game as a validation of the “git gud” mentality, Eldest Souls will probably scratch a persistent itch. For everyone else, especially those who appreciate Souls-like games for their journeys and not their boss destinations, Eldest Souls may seem too focused on doing one thing, no matter how well it succeeds. Eldest Souls is designed around frustration and challenge, and if that’s your idea of a good time, then this game is for you.
Listen up: your parents, grandparents and other elders you might know are almost certainly a little lonely, insecure, potentially afraid of sickness and death, haunted by memories and beset by many of the same demons as you are. If that sounds depressing, remember they are also quite possibly wise and focused on making the most of their remaining time on the planet. Given the ticking clock, they’d probably never waste their precious moments playing Retired Men’s Nude Beach Volleyball League. Learn from them, and remember that the most wildly ironic or intentionally bad game might succeed in meeting its goals without coming close to giving the player the respect of a good time.
One could make a long list of things that Jupiter Hell isn’t, but that would be missing the point and the prize. Jupiter Hell is an easy-to-understand, but challenging and addictive roguelike, with turn-based action that never gets bogged down with the minutiae of facing, hexes, grids, or overly-complex mechanics. Instead, it zeroes in on cover, position, tactics, and the smart use of the tools at hand. The procedurally generated elements are the stuff of hit and miss, luck of the draw, run-ending frustration, and occasionally some pretty barren levels. Aside from that, Jupiter Hell is a focused and fun homage to an era of shooter where you never knew what was around the next dark corner.
Thanks to offering only two factions and a limited number of modes, Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector might not be the deepest or most complete strategy game ever made, but it’s definitely one of the best and most authentic uses of the license to date. Challenging strategic battles, appropriately melodramatic voice work, more than decent graphics, and a respectful translation of the tabletop game to a digital format make this a must-have for fans of the franchise, and even appealing for casual strategy fans who are not yet invested in all things Warhammer.
Ultimately, Grime is an overall successful transposition of the 2D Soulslike subgenre into a new and engaging world. Although it lacks the emotional richness of the best Souls games, Grime’s striking environments, solid combat, imaginative enemies and original mechanics all work together in harmony, and it clearly establishes a formula that is open to refinement and possibility.