I have a lot of love for this new reboot of Saints Row, and I have high hopes they will put it right with bug fixes. When they do, I hope to come back and amend this review and make it a glowing one. Until then, I have to caution you to hold off on spending your money, but hopefully not for too long.
The Quarry is everything the vision of a Supermassive Games production can be; a loving rendition of a classic horror story told with reverence, levity, and many, many buckets of blood.
There are so few positive things to say about Dolmen. It combines Dark Souls and Dead Space together into something not nearly as good as either. It is such a generic game, that it looks like someone bought a bunch of sci-fi assets from the Unity store and hastily slapped them together. Even still, it is so unoptimized, it could be running totally smoothly one second and then start chugging the next. It is riddled with bugs, one day there was absolutely no sound and the next day the game tried to launch SteamVR every time I started it. The framerate is so inconsistent, especially during cutscenes, most flipbooks are smoother viewing experiences. Dolmen is a dull, incompetent clone of a FromSoftware game whose reach far exceeds its grasp.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt has a unique selling point in its presentation and universe that can, and should, carry it forward. The game is more than good enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the titans of the genre, which is fortunate because that puts them right in line with all their necks.
Instead, the folks at Cellar Door Games focused on making the best sequel they could for the game that Rogue Legacy is. They have absolutely catered to fans of the original, without leaving new players behind. They have not been intimidated by advancements in the genre of roguelites into making a totally different game, which is especially admirable. The only thing Rogue Legacy 2 wants to be is the most fun version of Rogue Legacy it can be, and it absolutely succeeds in that endeavour.
Ghostwire Tokyo is a bit of a surprising game. The freaky enemies and cool magical powers were expected, but I did not expect to be so engaged by the story and the characters, nor did I expect to be running and jumping across the rooftops of Tokyo in a beautiful rendering of the city. I certainly didn’t expect to smile and laugh as much as I did. Don’t get me wrong, this game is tense and the stress often had me on the edge of my seat, but it struck such a beautiful balance that I loved every twist and turn.
Horizon Forbidden West is an exceptional game. Its greatest pitfall is that the combat isn’t always great and while it's immensely satisfying most of the time, those moments of frustration cannot be ignored. For those looking to get lost in exploring a beautiful landscape, this may be the greatest open-world ever made. The writing is world-class, both on a personal character level and in its grander sci-fi scope. Where the first game washed over me as just another open-world game, Horizon Forbidden West enraptured me and took me for a wild ride I did not expect at all.
All of this boils down to one of the best King of Fighters games ever made. The series has abandoned many of its traditions and embraced modernity, meaning it has found its look and feel in a 3D space, and will be a solid base for all future entries. This is the KoF game of the future thanks to being flush with features and cutting-edge online technology, so the future looks bright. Right now, King of Fighters XV has absolutely found itself rubbing shoulders with the other giants of the genre.