Ali Hashmi's Reviews
Ultimately, The Cub is a fun, if not a bit safe, 2D platformer. The desolate world created by Demagog Studio is a joy to traverse again, and while the gameplay doesn't evolve meaningfully in its short run time, The Cub manages to pull you in with its excellent visuals, and catchy soundtrack.
Outer Wilds is a masterpiece, and it's still a masterpiece on the Nintendo Switch. The unmatched sense of exploration and discovery is preserved on the platform. The superb soundtrack and excellent art direction persist despite some aliasing concerns. There are some minor performance issues in complex scenes, but none of those detract from the overall experience.
House Flipper 2 is another great addition to the simulation genre that turns mundane busywork into relaxing and engaging gameplay. There's enough variety in tasks to keep things fresh, and the sandbox mode takes things even further with limitless freedom. The PC version has some performance issues, and you'll run into a few bugs here and there, but it's still an enjoyable experience that's both addictive and cathartic.
Jusant is a celebration of climbing that makes full use of its premise. It offers a relaxed experience that allows you to go at your own pace while offering enough challenge that rewards mastery of its mechanics. Its excellent art direction, paired with a soothing soundtrack elevates the climbing adventure even if the worldbuilding suffers from excessive use of text to tell stories. Jusant is a hike worth taking, that's rewarding, memorable, and full of heart.
Ghostrunner 2 is a must-play action game that expertly blends fast-paced action with smooth parkour gameplay. Its stunning art direction, memorable antagonists, and engaging upgrade system add up to an experience that meaningfully builds on the original. The undercooked semi-open world sections and stuttering issues on PC get in the way of perfection, but this is a worthy sequel that never loses steam throughout its thoroughly entertaining campaign.
Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a faithful recreation of Mike Mignola's world, and Lance Reddick does an incredible job voicing everyone's favorite cambion. Despite its excellent presentation and world-building, Web of Wyrd has numerous issues with its combat design which feels basic and dull, never evolving throughout its campaign. The roguelite elements aren't fully realized and feel unrewarding with bonuses that feel largely passive. It's clear that there is a lot of love for comics here, and it's certainly worth checking out if you want another Hellboy adventure, but the combat annoyances and camera issues make it a bit hard to recommend.
Gunbrella is a beautifully animated, focused, and satisfying 2D-action title that delivers on its premise in spades. Gliding around with your Gunbrella as you blast away enemies never gets old, and while the game does suffer from a lack of challenge and minor readability issues, it's one of the most memorable and often funny titles of the year.
Lies of P does enough to stand out in a sea of soulslike imitators, and its weapon assembly system adds a layer of customization that is a lot of fun to play around with. Its solid presentation, rewarding exploration, and twisted world-building make it an easy game to recommend if you can ignore some caveats tied to its parrying and lack of poise.
Armored Core 6 is a fantastic action title that is demanding and rewarding in equal parts. It encourages players to get creative with their builds by offering endless customization, and an accessible economy system where nothing is really lost. With stunning art direction, and memorable voice acting, FromSoftware has revived its action franchise with an uncompromising entry that feels modern and offers a feature-rich experience with tons of replayability.
Shadow Gambit The Cursed Crew is an exceptional stealth strategy game with a staggering amount of depth, variety, and creativity. Each crew member can radically change how you tackle different objectives and the increasing sandbox challenges force you think outside the box. It's Mimimi Games' best title yet, and there is a lot to love here with dozens of hours of meaningful content to sink your teeth into.
En Garde! is a really fun action game full of heart that rewards skillful play, and mastery of its mechanics. Adalia is a charming protagonist, and her unmatched wit cripples her opponents as she kicks, parries, and dodges her way through a series of hilarious episodes. The beautiful presentation, varied levels, and excellent pacing add up to a solid adventure worth taking. The boss fights are a bit disappointing due to the reliance on mobs, but En Garde! does way more right than wrong.
Remnant 2 is one of the best co-op experiences you can have right now, and it improves on the original in every single way. Its satisfying mix of melee and ranged combat, memorable boss fights full of creativity, tons of enemy variety scattered in each biome and excellent presentation make it Gunfire Games' best title to date.
My Friendly Neighborhood pays a fitting homage to classic and modern Resident Evil titles with a polished, well-paced experience and plenty of creativity on display. The solid voice acting, coupled with a believable setting, strategic combat, and some fun puzzles result in an extremely memorable survival horror experience that doesn't always deliver on the scares.
Crime O'Clock is a fun hidden object game with an engaging time-traveling twist. The ability to visit different ticks in a timeline is well-realized, and the attention to detail in each level is quite impressive. It's bogged down by frequent mini-games that feel tacked on, and excessive dialogue that hurt the pacing by inducing boredom.
Trepang2 has some of the best gunplay since the original F.E.A.R, with devastating destruction routinely on display. It often eclipses its inspiration during combat encounters, but almost every other aspect doesn't reach the same heights. With the inclusion of an unnecessary HUB area, cheap horror elements, and a predictable plot, Trepang2 is worth it for its thoroughly enjoyable gunplay, but not much else.
Planet of Lana is a lovely puzzle platformer with a lot of heart. The lead characters, Lana and Mui are meaningfully integrated into each puzzle, and their journey across different regions of a beautiful world is equally touching and compelling. The puzzles lack the creative punch you'd see in similar titles and don't fully leverage the setting, but the strong presentation depicting the resilience of nature rejecting an alien invasion is breathtaking.
Storyteller is a fantastic puzzle game full of charming characters, and excellent humor, presented on a beautiful interface. Its intuitive controls, dynamic gameplay, and open-ended levels make it accessible, exciting, and appropriately challenging. Its absorbing take on classical stories is hilarious, and you develop a personal attachment to each tale as you progress through its multiple thematically designed chapters.
Wo Lang Fallen Dynasty is a challenging action RPG that stands out with its excellent deflection based combat, and tense morale system. It forces you to perfect its core mechanics and offers a rewarding experience with a lot of freedom in traversal and exploration. The uneven presentation and subpar PC port keep it from being perfect, but it's a worthy addition to Team Ninja's action RPG catalog.
Blanc is an exercise in empathy and trust. It's a lovely short experience that uses cooperative play in a meaningful way with its absorbing puzzles where both players feel equally involved. With stellar presentation and animations, Blanc is a wonderful adventure worth playing.
Overall though, I had a fun time with this game, and the additional EX levels will keep me busy for a while. The game has enough content to entertain you for hours, with tons of memorable music in a bunch of different genres. Controls are responsive, though I wish there was more refinement in how the game handles its visual cues. The humor doesn’t always land, but there are enough visual gags here to get a laugh out of you. It’s easy to learn and hard to master, with plenty of challenging bosses to dance with.