Jay Krishnan
System Shock (2023) is a fantastic remake of the groundbreaking 1994 original with an eagle eye for attention. Above everything else, it’s a love letter to the original made by folks who knew the ins and outs of the Looking Glass classic. The striking visual design, rewarding exploration, challenging puzzles, and a menacing performance by Terri Brosius make System Shock not just a great remake, but one of the best games of this year. The wait was worth it.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a competently made FPS that’s exactly what it’s advertised to be – a no-nonsense, Boomer Shooter with tight controls and satisfying combat loop. The fact that it looks amazing is the Daggerfruit on top. While the game plays it safe and doesn’t deviate from the established formula, it nevertheless offers over 10 hours of entertaining gameplay. At the same time, there is plenty of room for improvement. Even though multiplayer is out of the question, the addition of an endless mode, extra challenges, and even a map editor will go a long way in ensuring that the game is replayable. Boltgun is a purchase retro FPS fans won’t regret.
Miasma Chronicles take the ideas introduced in Mutant Year Zero and polishes them to a shine. What results is a beautiful (though trope-ish) and lore-filled post-apocalyptic adventure with plenty of challenging handcrafted combat scenarios that will surely give master tacticians a run for their money. It goes without saying that if you liked its predecessor, you’ll surely love this one. There are improvements to be made in the performance and bug department to be sure. But, all in due course, I suppose. The ladies with beards have struck gold once again.
The Last Case of Benedict Fox bolster a stunning art direction, interesting puzzles and an engaging story. However, that’s just not enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. Clunky gameplay, unsatisfying combat and a general sense of aimlessness drags down the whole experience. The developers are said to be working on a patch that adds control remapping, performance improvement and puzzle difficulty rebalancing. But it’s a pass for now.
Darkest Dungeon 2 is not trying to replace the first game. It aims to occupy a spot right beside its predecessor. There are some things the sequel does well and some things it doesn’t. The streamlined (in a good way) combat, reduced grind and improved character dynamics comes at a cost of the removal of the comfy base management of the original.
While it may appear as a Hotline Miami clone, OTXO does enough things to set itself apart. Satisfying gunplay, an assortment of random upgrades and an alluring art design combined with great music makes it worth playing. However, since Steam is filled with some standout indie games, $13.49 seems a bit too steep for a standard Roguelite. If you feel like that is the case, wait for a sale on this one.
I wanted to like Troublemaker, I really did. But despite the decent story (which is genuinely funny at times), the gameplay of Troublemaker is just too clunky and unrewarding to warrant a 20-dollar purchase. It’s evident that the developers really tried to make a competent product. But in a crowd of excellent indie games, trying just isn’t enough.
If it’s not obvious already, we do not recommend purchasing The Last of Us Part I on the PC at its current state. What could have been an easy moneymaker has turned into one of the most disastrous PC launches of recent times. The premium price makes the whole thing even more painful. The quality of the PC port is only doing a disservice to the otherwise excellent experience. The only logical thing to do is wait patiently until the glaring issues are fixed and pick the game when a sale comes around.
Tails: The Backbone Preludes is the developers’ move of getting rid of the sour taste left behind by Backbone. The move largely pays off thanks to an emotionally moving narrative that emphasizes player-agency, relatable characters and extremely good-looking visuals. The gameplay may be a bit too bare bones, but the story more than makes up for it. Now that the past is fixed, can we have the full-blown sequel with all the unrealized gameplay mechanics the series very much deserves?
Despite all these complaints, the boys and I found ourselves playing the game non-stop until 3 in the morning. There’s something oddly satisfying in the gameplay loop that makes you return for more. Most of the game’s shortcomings can be easily fixed by patches and content updates. Speaking about patches, the fourth one just dropped as I was writing this review. The patch increases enemy spawns, made an enemy less spongy and introduced a slew of bugfixes. So yeah, I see Perish becoming a sleeper hit among the co-op crowd if this keeps up. Plus, the reasonable price-point is also a boon. But… I’m not sure if I can recommend the game at its current state wholeheartedly. There’s fun to be had with friends, but your mileage will vary significantly. A safe bet would be to keep an eye on this one.
Loretta is a highly engaging and expertly crafted psychological thriller that wears its inspirations on its sleeves. The snappy presentation and player agency manage to elevate the gripping story to a whole new level. The branching narrative and the replayability that comes with it are bonuses. An essential recommendation from Gameffine!
For all intents and purposes, Wanted: Dead ironically captures all the worse aspects of a seventh-generation action game. The generic story capable of putting an insomniac to sleep is accompanied by awful voice acting, bad editing and flashy but shallow combat. The finishers look cool as hell but that isn’t enough to save the game from being a dud. Wanted: Dead is a hard pill to swallow even for the most hardcore jank lover.
As a platformer, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake doesn’t reinvent the wheel (few games have). It’s a fairly standard platformer, but has all the ingredients that make a fan go “jumping jellyfish!”. A fun story and the signature humour, combined with varied, good-looking levels and a campaign that doesn’t overstay its welcome, do help in negating some of its glaring flaws such as the lacklustre combat and unrewarding exploration. If you’re not familiar with SpongeBob and want just want to buy in for the platforming experience, there are better games out there. But if you’re in for SpongeBob, The Cosmic Shake won’t disappoint.
Whether you’re a fan of the OG or a newcomer, Dead Space is the first great AAA offering of this year. Hopefully it means more great things in the pipeline for the series. They have largely succeeded in breathing new life into the long-dormant IP with such a quality remake. Sure, it’s not a 1:1 remake like most purists wanted but, Dead Space will surely impress newcomers and fans (at least most of them anyway) with excellent audiovisual design, an even brutal combat system, reworked lore and an immersive campaign that’ll last you anywhere from 12 to 14 hoursMaybe we’ll finally get the definitive Dead Space 3 experience at the hands of Motive. But that’s food for thought.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a good action-platformer and an even better retro throwback. Amidst a sea of retro-inspired games, Moonrider does enough things to make itself stand out. The controls could have been smoother and a game bit longer. But, as it stands, the satisfying gameplay loop and the excellent aesthetics make it a must-have for folks like you and me.
If you don’t mind the boring story, dated level design and buy in for the explosive combat alone, then Evil West will come across as a cathartic experience. Although the combat experience, too, is riddled with difficulty spikes and some repetition, the sheer chaotic satisfaction the game offers is worth experiencing. Even with all of these drawbacks, I did have a great time shutting off my brain and slaying vampires left and right. That says a lot about the current state of the industry. If you aren’t sure about shelling out 2k INR for such an experience, there will always be a sale down the line.
CULTIC: Chapter One, with its horror themes, retro art design, beefy gunplay and well-designed levels is hands down the best old-school inspired shooter released this year. There is so little to complain about the game that are not on a technical level. It’s crafted with so much love and care that it’s easy to envision CULTIC becoming one of the, if not, the best throwback FPS ever made by the time all the chapters are released. Kudos also goes to the publisher for launching the game with a fair regional pricing.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is great on PS4, PS5 and it’s greater on PC. If you have a decent RTX-friendly setup, this is how the game should be experienced. The lack of regional pricing and non-inclusion of Miles Morales did end up a sour taste in my mouth. The perks of living in an uber-captialist world I suppose. As for the game, it’s pure superhero bliss.
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition has managed to ruin the unique aesthetic and feel of the original largely thanks to an inaccurate AI-upscaling method and some questionable design choices. To be honest, the only ‘upgrade’ in the remaster over the original is the addition of cutscenes and controller support. The decision to de-list the original from GOG was also a crappy move. But, as an apology, Nightdive is giving away the original, titled Blade Runner Classic when you purchase the Enhanced Edition on Steam (it was limited to GOG at launch). Both of these classic versions are powered by the ScummVM project and there is even an option to play a version with cut content. If you ask me, you’re better off playing the original than this so-called “Enhanced Edition”. But, if the only selling point of your remaster is the ability to play the unaltered version, then what’s the point of remastering it in the first place? That being said, Nightdive has a good record of patching their remasters until they’re in an acceptable state (reference: Blood: Fresh Supply). I do not know how much they can salvage from this messy launch but until then, it’s better to stay away from Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition. But if you’re desperately itching to revisit the classic, you can buy it for a reasonable $9.99 and play the original with ScummVM.
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge is both a celebration of the long-running franchise as well as a bold attempt to revive the video game series. As a fan of both the IP and retro gaming, Shredder’s Revenge offered me everything I wanted in a TMNT game. While I believe that more could have been introduced to the classic formula, the game at its present state is more than enough to satisfy fans and new players alike. The attention to detail in the levels, satisfying combat loop, the smooth controls, sexy pixel art and bombastic music make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge an easy recommendation. Now, let’s kick some shell!