The Sinking City 2 left me with mixed emotions. The developers nail the world design, lore, and audio incredibly well, but the erratic nature of its level connectedness, lack of actual investigation, and staccato story flow will keep you painfully confused. It left me with a sinking (pun unintended) feeling about all the things it could have gotten right to make it a stalwart in its genre. As a sequel, it goes two steps forward but takes one step back. Frogwares’ The Sinking City 2 might feel a little rough at the seams, but it’s a bold step in the survival horror genre. The game betters its combat, scares, and atmosphere from its predecessor and manages to hold on to its dark linear narrative till the very end. A confident sequel that begs for the adage: third time’s the charm.
If you stare long into an abyss, the abyss gazes back at you. Dredge stops just a tad short of greatness owing to its occasional repetitive nature and indie budget, but that is but a small nitpick against the overwhelming positives it provides. Fishing, inventory management, saving for upgrades and exploration – each aspect of Dredge is gamified just right, and sandwiched effectively to keep you coming back for more. Clocking in at a good 12–15 hours to complete the story, this thalassophobic collect-a-thon provides enough fun, excitement, horror and mystery to tide you through this quaint fishing adventure!
Miles Morales is an intense streamlined experience, that provides some much-needed perspective on the ongoing story of the Spider-Man saga. With the sequel coming up soon, where an epic team-up of the spider-men is teased, this part of the story becomes quintessential to understanding where Miles comes from, and how he has grown. With powers and a personality that set him apart from Peter Parker, Miles Morales uplifts himself from the misnomer that he is just the other Spider-Man. This is a fresh take, which makes him equally important to the story that Insomniac wants to passionately tell. Miles, from the game, might sometimes make a misstep owing to the fact that he is an amateur, but the game does not. Insomniac ain’t new to this, and the mastery with which they wield this game shows that they are in the big leagues now.
Horizon Forbidden West will leave you spellbound when you notice the ease with which it juggles the machinations of its technical wizardry and the pure unadulterated heart of the story. Guerrilla Games demonstrates an obsession with detail that borders on downright insanity and punches up. Really hard. Very much like a David versus Goliath. With every part of its franchise soul becoming bigger, better and badder, Horizon Forbidden West takes not just a small step, but a giant leap in the evolution of open-world video games. This is not only a GOTY contender for 2022 – it is going to break down the doors on the Hall of Eternal Fame.