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But as someone who went out and got a PlayStation 3 just to play “Demon's Souls” (2009), and, moreover, loved Housemarque’s last two games, Returnal makes me rue the influence that Souls games have exerted on the industry. In my view, Returnal’s severe difficulty level does a disservice to its entertainment value.
It gives the player just enough story and intrigue to press on through a grindy midgame focused on revisiting maps.
‘MLB The Show 21’ is great for new Xbox users. What about long-time PlayStation fans?
Nier Replicant is a must-play for anyone who loved “Automata,” a game some praise as one of the finest ever created.
Alas, what should be a runaway creative success for the game’s director, Josef Fares, is marred by a tone-deaf narrative element which shows that asinine ethnic caricatures unfortunately still exist in video games.
“Valheim” is a good, even great, game. But these days, games have to be more than just games. And “Valheim” is pretty good at that, too.
This year is looking pretty dry for big title releases as the world continues to grapple with the pandemic, and huge titles are seeing delays. The Nintendo Switch in particular has had a bit of a dry spell, but “Rise” comes in like a kaiju out of the tide. This is probably the best “Monster Hunter” game to date, and an easy, early contender for 2021′s best game.
Even with the Bowser’s Fury miss, the content is worth it. If you want one of the best and most versatile multiplayer experiences to date for the Nintendo Switch, online or offline, go with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.
“Little Nightmares 2″ shattered my expectations. I expected something scary, but the impeccable sound design, terrifying enemy encounters and clever puzzles make it worth revisiting, even after completion. This nightmarish experience has a lot to offer. Just don’t expect to get much sleep after playing.
The Medium is uninspired, from puzzles to characters. If you’re looking for an interesting world to explore, it delivers with stunning art direction, but for those looking for a richer experience, The Medium feels skin deep.
Although “The Medium” is billed as a psychological horror game, I found it to be consistently unsettling rather than scary. There is a vengeful monster that Marianne must deal with intermittently, but except for one breathtaking scene where he chases her through different realities — resulting in shifts in perspective that strike like tidal waves — I didn’t think much of him. Nothing robs a creepy game of its power as forcing a player to confront the same monster too many times so, thankfully, the monster encounters are nicely spread out. “The Medium” might not have the most nightmarish adversary but its blanketing, foreboding atmosphere and uncompromising ending amply makes up for it.
Now that it’s over, I can confidently call IO Interactive’s “Hitman” trilogy one of the most consistently great series of games ever created. No other trilogy has expressed this much confidence and consistency in its execution. Agent 47′s story may be over for now, but these three games offer countless ways for you to tell your own stories.
And as painful as the end of a run can be, “Dead Cells’” steady introduction of new mechanics made it easy for me to pine for one more go. In my view, that’s the hallmark of a successful arcade experience.
The game itself is an all-time classic. The settings FromSoftware created in 2009 have the complexity of real places, which is why the game played so vividly to fans of role-playing games. And now Bluepoint has given “Demon’s Souls” all the details and polish needed to fully realize this game’s idealized concept of “role playing immersion.” It was a game of boundless creativity, and to have it reimagined so vividly by Bluepoint Games is nothing short of a minor miracle.
I’d wager that Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be remembered as the year’s most ingratiating family-friendly video game. It is a feel-good, unabashed spectacle that controls well, looks great and has a hyper-efficient story line that never tries to overdeliver.
With a running time a little short of an hour, Promesa is meant to be played in a single sitting. For those intrigued by the more artistic side of gaming, it is a dream worth having.
Can you be enamored with a game and downright horrible at it? I’m talking about being so bad that it’s a struggle to get past its opening set of levels? If “Spelunky 2” has convinced me of anything, it's that the answer is a perverse “yes.”
By cleverly leaning on the conventions of YA fiction — supernatural elements, family conflicts and the like — the studio has hit emotional peaks rarely, if ever, seen before in gaming (both the first and the second Life is Strange games left me misty-eyed).
Ghost of Tsushima is a vast game. I have poured at least a couple dozen hours into it but have much left to see. I suspect it will keep me enjoyably busy until the leaves fall from their trees and the next console cycle begins.
If the idea of zoning out and basking in the serenity of being an unstoppable predator sounds appealing, then consider this an inviting summertime snack.