Ali Hashmi's Reviews
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.
All in all, I’m having a great time with Power Chord. I really like the playable characters, their designs, and how I have to account for multiple synergies. The presentation and attention to detail put it way above most other deck builders, and the dedication to heavy metal aesthetics encompassing every part of the game is truly commendable. With some balancing, especially with how it handles difficulty, I think Power Chord can become an even better title with hours of enjoyment and replayability.
A Little to the Left celebrates tidiness and observation with excellent presentation. Its comforting gameplay loop relaxes and engages your mind with a balanced difficulty curve. The generous hint system doesn’t ruin the fun of figuring things out on your own, and despite minor annoyances with a few puzzles, this is a cozy, beautifully crafted experience that’s hard to come by in the genre.
Cultic is a fantastic shooter that encourages experimentation with how you approach combat. Its vast arsenal and movement mechanics allow for various viable options against many enemy types and bosses. With top-notch presentation and horror aesthetics, Cultic does enough to stand out in the heap of excellent retro-style shooters.
Serial Cleaners is a fun stealth action game that pairs varied gameplay with excellent art direction. It doesn’t have the best enemy AI in the world but makes up for it with its smart level design, great pacing, and engaging narrative. It manages to do a lot with its premise and makes cleaning crime scenes a cleansing experience.
Saints Row is a return to form, and some of the most fun I’ve had in an open world in a while. It manages to strike a good balance between the wackiness of previous entries with grounded combat mechanics, and tone. The Boss is hilarious as ever, and a true murder machine completely loyal to their friends through thick and thin. It’s bogged down by a number of bugs that take you out of the experience and uneven presentation with dated elements and plenty of pop-in. Despite these issues, it manages to remain true to its roots with smart additions to the series’ open-world formula.