Although it may not be as inventive and thoughtfully designed as its inspirations, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty thrives on gameplay that’s satisfying and intuitive enough to win over newbies, while providing enough challenge to keep Soulslike veterans engaged and happy.
It might not nourish your body, but it nourishes your soul, each taste leaving yet another joyful memory. The wrapper may be different, but the insides are still the same consistent and sublimely tasty treat. You don't mess with the perfect junk food; they changed the flavor of Coke once and it almost caused national riots.
Is it a repetitious, randomized roguelike that rewards a player's persistence, or an optimized golf simulator that promotes patience and planning? It's not really either one, instead standing in the middle of the two options: a golf game that simultaneously wants you to be efficient with your swings while also taking as many as possible. And if you really want to get out of hell, you will be swinging a lot. To that I only have two things to say: Godspeed and fore!.
From start to end, As Dusk Falls is all about moments-small interactions full of humanity that ground the flawed ambition of the experience and make the sum of the parts almost greater than the whole. The cliffhanger that the first half ends on-the narrative is charmingly divided into two books, Collision and Expansion-will be burned into my memory for a long time, both for its sheer audacity and how it pushes everything into new directions. It's not a perfect package, but it's one that will engross you for its entire seven hour playtime while dangling its many loose threads to entice you into yet another playthrough.
We may not have been enjoying it the way Supermassive intended, but that made the experience that much better. I'm thankful that summer camp is over, but I will hold a piece of Hackett's Quarry in my heart for at least a week. It's the slogan of the camp, after all: "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger.
The story does hint at further DLC to come — you can unlock something called “The Triplicate area” that answers a few questions left from the game’s cryptic ending while setting up more buglore. But, if this DLC is anything to go by, that adventure too might not be as filling as we’d like.
Shouldice and crew looked back to the past and pulled from the present to craft an endlessly engaging puzzle-box that's chock full of secrets, many of which I still haven't found. I can already hear the siren call of discovery pulling me back, and it sounds a lot like ambient techno. Are you curious enough to heed it?
I really like OlliOlli World, but I dislike both how I played it and what it becomes. It’s whimsical and relaxed, propelled by vibes and an incredibly addicting gameplay loop, until it isn’t.