Due to an erratic AI and far too many glaring technincal issues, Necromunda: Underhive Wars will appeal to a very narrow audience who cannot get enough of XCOM-style games.
Players looking to simply loot, slash, shoot, and fireball their way through dungeons will not be disappointed. However, those looking for an exceptionally deep experience won’t feel fulfilled.
Empire of Sin is a good game held back only by a lack of variety in ways to win, leaving most forms of diplomacy and expansion feeling useless long-term.
Jumping in to the game to sail the seas searching for the next upgrade and for clues to what happened to Tilia’s family is an interconnected and wholesome endeavor, leaving the player plenty to enjoy and experience.
With no payoff to the game-hopping the release feels longer and is just a detriment to two otherwise average games. If neither game has been played before this is a handy collector’s pack but there is no real need to delve too deeply for returning players unless a collect everything attitude is undertaken.
Poison Control is one of these games, as the anime-inspired story and musical accompaniment are well worth being held in high regard. Those can only take a game so far, however, and are brought down by the clunky gameplay and copy-and-paste visuals accompanying them.
Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards simply plays things too safe in creating a game that is functional but not interesting.
It is rare to see a game so fully embrace the type of game it wants to be, as the roguelite nature symbolizes the growth of the protagonist to fully understand their surroundings.
The game is a very fun roguelite tactical RPG that introduces some very creative choices, such as the entire Mythic class and transformations. With simple combat that does not get boring even after many sessions, replayability is very high.
A colourful cast of playable characters, along with entertaining combat highlighted by the ability to devour enemies to gain new skills, are countered by plot threads that just end suddenly and bring the otherwise adequate story to a halt, as well as restrictive end-affecting mechanics that make the pacing fall flat. It amounts to an average game that has some fine moments but is murky to wade through.
Making it to the big top is a mechanically sound journey with a lot of great characters to choose and varied enemies making each combat fun. Unfortunately, the journey to each combat is fraught with graphical gaffes, sound repetition, and story doled out in odd intervals.
There is scope for the humour to work, but factoring in fighting with the camera and struggling with the controls the whole experience is just not worthwhile. In a self-fulling prophecy, Naomi points out a lot of faults in games that The Good Life just blithely repeats itself.
It is ultimately a refreshing time that embellishes the best parts of a dungeon crawler, while simultaneously highlighting the genre's pitfalls.
Melding real-time and turn-based mechanics cannot be easy, but Nova-111 does it deftly, with its gameplay being the top priority. Unfortunately, this interactive puzzle game has no story or substance to make it feel like more than a collection of mini-games.
Dying Light 2 is a delightfully fast paced game, which has a few persistent issues bogging it down.
In short, Triangle Strategy weaves all of its elements into an immensely thoughtful and fun experience.
Loot River‘s mileage will vary, with refreshing timing-based combat it can feel like a fun distraction or a listless drift down the river.
The Hand of Merlin is a quick tactical roguelite game with enough otherworldly energy packed into it that causes the short completion time to breeze by. With each run being only a few hours, players have the opportunity to try out new combinations that combine classes with various abilities to find new ways to create unstoppable machines of destruction.
Although Fallen Angel suffers from some annoying performance issues and long load times when reloading after death, it also does some things right.
Square Enix’s remake of Live A Live shows that even nearly thirty-year-old games can use narrative tricks to have a game shine brilliantly. Modern sensibilities, such as easier quest tracking and voice acting help widen its appeal, but the core experience remains outstanding after all these years.