Andrew Agress
- Final Fantasy VII
- Uncharted 3
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Call of Cthulhu proves that Lovecraftian horror is still alive, as the role-playing game has players investigate mysterious events on their own terms through an interactive adventure. The story is creepy, unsettling, and fascinating to the point that it sucks you in and pulls you under. Despite some minor gameplay and design hiccups, Call of Cthulhu is an atmospheric mystery game worthy of H.P. Lovecraft himself.
While it doesn't quite live up to the ridiculous levels of hype set out for it, “Kingdom Hearts 3” delivers satisfying resolutions to a long story. Most importantly, it's an incredibly fun game with a wide variety of activities to take part in and beautiful Disney worlds to explore.
Layers of Fear 2 provides an atmospheric horror story that uses scares to its advantage. Despite some buggy mechanics, the game contains beautiful and haunting visuals, varied gameplay, and satisfying plot elements incorporating classic films.
Confession time, I've never fully played the original Final Fantasy VII. Yet Final Fantasy VII Remake kept me engaged through inventive combat, great world-building, and an approach to narrative that made me care about these characters that most players probably grew fond of over 20 years ago. Midgar is a delight to visit in all of its fully realized glory, with tons of areas to explore and even more things to do in it. In finding the balance between tradition and innovation, the game walks a delicate line. While it sometimes stumbles, it otherwise pulls it off elegantly.
With new stories, secrets, soundtracks, Sayori snacks, and so much more, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus proves the definitive way to experience an already great game.
The Forgotten City boasts a rich gameplay experience that lives up to the ingenuity of its clever premise. As a role-playing choice-based mystery, the game offers a compelling narrative with some engaging existential questions at its center. With four distinct endings, it gives players a decent enough amount of leeway for approaching moral quandaries. And as a way of both solving puzzles and fixing mistakes, the time travel mechanic is worth its weight in… some sort of precious transition metal.
Frightence has some good ideas behind it and builds a creepy ambience around its eerie apartment building, but technical, durational, and gameplay limitations plague it alongside a scarce amount of content.
The Quarry may have a fairly predictable plot, but the horror tale gets help up by its all-star cast of veteran actors and up-and-coming performers. They help imbue decisions with both a sense of meaning and weight, so that making a choice provides all the front-seat fun of your favorite horror flick. The game rewards clever reasoning and gathering information for satisfying gameplay, which is only occasionally hindered by bugs and a rushed final act.
Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel offers an embarrassment of riches for horror game fans, but throwing all of the best scary game mechanics into one title and hoping they make for a great game doesn't quite pan out. Still, this hotel should satisfy those players looking for some old-school scares, even if others may want to consider spending the night elsewhere.
Inscryption is a Frankenstein creation like one of its gruesome hybrid cards. It takes a bunch of different pieces, sows them all together, and creates a game that's a bit wonky in some places but otherwise inventive and unique.
SpiderHeck can absolutely bring out the competitive spirit in people. But its natural charm lies in providing laughs when the chaos lets loose and somebody swings right into a laser sword or accidentally blows up a chunk of the map. It would benefit from a bit more variety in game modes and content, but as it stands it offers a fun and unique spin on the couch brawler genre.
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed serves up short, sharp shocks of supernatural asymmetrical play. It may prove a bit too simplistic for some, but the game will likely hand out more of a treat and less of a trick for longtime Ghostbusters fans.
Mysteriousness proves tricky to sustain, but Dredge reels it in and mostly keeps it aboard through its run. Bolstered by beautiful music and visuals, the game features engaging episodic quests that promote exploration. With addicting fishing mechanics and the promise of something new on the horizon, the game sails full steam ahead with fish to catch and secrets to uncover. Dredge may have some dings in its hull, but this boat is more than seaworthy.
With an engaging story about urban legends bolstered by a branching storyline, Paranormasight hovers over other visual novels with its many interactive elements. It suffers from the curses of certain puzzles that prove arbitrary and a story that gets spread too thin. But the captivating characters and central mystery keep the tale of this mystery-adventure title as one legend worth spreading.
Meet Your Maker antes up the adventure of pulling off a heist and the artistry of building an impenetrable base. Some players may get put off by the paltry upgrades, but those who crave other kinds of variety will marvel at the many heists to pull off and bases to design right at their fingertips.
Layers of Fear serves as a kind of director's cut for the horror series. With lavish visuals, new content, and a new framing device, it proves the definite way to experience the series. Those who've already played the games won't find much they haven't seen before, but The Final Note chapter adds a fun, spooky new layer.
Slay the Princess is a must-play for fans of branching narratives. Choices have consequences, and how much horror you encounter falls to you. Along the way, enjoy the macabre visuals and audio. While the game can't put a bow on every decision, replaying for extra routes proves a royal pleasure. Turn down the lights, cozy up with a nice cup of tea (may I suggest blood orange?), and decide whether or not to commit regicide.
Alan Wake 2 takes its action-horror predecessor and dregs it out of the water with a fresh survival horror overhaul. Though certain mechanics seem like they're still stuck in 2010, the vast majority of the sequel feels ahead of its time. The story is stylish, suspenseful, and scary, yet isn't afraid to get a little silly. Alan Wake 2 is one of Remedy's best games yet, and certainly its most artistic.
Drawing from horror authors and their creations, World of Horror builds its own web of eldritch beings and cosmic occurrences. The roguelike nature of mysteries in the game ensures that no two runs remain the same. Though certain mechanics rise above others, World of Horror keeps things fresh with creepy visuals, multiple plot resolutions, and degrees of customization, even as its coastal town falls into decay.
Rebirth arrives as one of the best games of the past decade.