Gaming Nexus
HomepageGaming Nexus's Reviews
Minabo: A walk through life has an interesting idea at its core, but ultimately it is not a jaunt worth taking. A lack of heart and the absence of a compelling gameplay hook are obstacles simply too large to overcome.
A tightly contained VR experience that performs it's one trick very well. This is a game that is short on mechanics but long on charm. Players' tolerance may vary, depending on how much they enjoy tilt mazes in the real world. An inexpensive way to experience a fairly unique - and cozy - implementation of VR technology.
Strayed Lights surprised me into liking it, though the action/combat genre isn't regularly my jam. The interesting mechanics kept me coming back - sometimes against my better judgement - and the beautiful visuals went a long way towards keeping me engaged. The combat in the game is deceptively straightforward, but the ways you are forced to use it continuously ramp up the difficulty in an enjoyable way. This game might feel simple for some, but it was difficult enough for me that I felt pretty proud when I would down one of the bigger baddies. Recommended.
Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is what I look for when playing a remastered title. A nice graphical update, plenty of quality-of-life changes, and new content that is not in the original but still adds to the enjoyment without feeling forced in. I love how easy it was to get into the game, and I liked the challenging aspect of Rewind. The new rewind feature is interesting and doesn't break the already solid game experience. If you've never played a roguelike then Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is a great jumping on point to the genre. If you've been a fan of them for a while, this one should be added to your collection.
Dead Island 2 is a fun FPS action romp that succeeds at making you feel like a zombie-slaying god. It's not going to set the gaming world on fire, and yes, there are some issues, but slaughtering my way across LA never got old.
Creepy enough in a low-budget, cookie-cutter sort of way, Afterlife VR gets a lot of milage out of darkness and sound design. VR horror fans won't find much new here, but the gameplay isn't offensively bad, and I enjoyed my two hour playthrough well enough. Decent puzzles, some functional - though limited - shooting. Worth a look, especially for it's very reasonable selling price.
Have a Nice Death is not only this game's title, it's an interjection. It's the bully at the gaming playground. It's the ex that keeps coming back to your house to get their belongings, one thing at a time. You beat these types of games before, right? All of that is gone. Still a little buggy, but at it's price point, you'll have a hard time blaming the glitches, and spend more time telling yourself that you're not good at the game.
A mix of RTS, tower defense, and open world epics, Minecraft Legends feels completely unique; a strategic breath of fresh air with interesting mechanics and an amazingly fun gameplay loop. But the absolutely stellar game design in Minecraft Legends is ultimately undone by bugs and AI/pathfinding issues. There is an amazing game at the core of Minecraft Legends, addictive and compelling. I'm frankly obsessed over it. But that makes it all the more disappointing that the technical implementation of the game can't support it's lofty ambitions.
Overall, Mayhem in Single Valley can be an enjoyable game, but its flaws prevent it from being a must-play experience.
Hunt the Night requires a lot of skill and a lot of patience, but becomes more enjoyable once you learn how everything works. Everything looks, sounds, and controls great, and you'll definitely begin to feel the challenge even in the opening areas of the game.
As it turns out, Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition is a killer VR fitness app disguised as a fun boxing game. If you're looking for a sparring partner for some simple boxing fun, to blow off some steam in the ring, or even for a decent cardio workout, then look no further.
The Last of Us Part I could have launched cleaner, to be sure. But my personal experience with the game was far better than some of what I'm seeing reported online. I was experiencing a stellar game for the first time, and it behaved itself for me well enough that I had a great time. If you are worried about your PC handling TLOU, give it a bit of time for the technical issues to be resolved, but rest assured that the game that everyone loves is intact.
Diablo-like gameplay, hysterical writing, a AAA cast, and a winning story all combine to make this one of the best kid-appropriate games of the year. Some technical issues mar the Switch version, but this game is still miles above what you might expect. Get Cosmic Chaos for your kid, but expect to take the controller yourself, as the game is just too good to sit and watch.
Anno 1800 is one of the most addictive city builders that I've played on console, full of gameplay intricacies that create an intoxicating experience. With so many moving parts, it suffers a bit from the typical PC-to-console control issues that plague the genre, but I doubt that will stop you from spending hours building an empire.
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator nails the minutia of cooking, with impressively detailed recipes that most people could only dream of making in real-life. Unfortunately, the gameplay loop struggles to keep you engrossed, and the experience is rigid in ways that won't be palatable for some.
What the Bat? isn't going to set the VR world on fire with it's ground-breaking use of VR tech, but it is going to make VR fans looking for a simple, fun game smile and laugh for a few hours. With a barrage of minigames and weirdo mechanics, this game radiates creativity and fun. Just, uh, don't expect any baseball.
An oddly addicting fishing game that, at times, will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The story is merely a means to an end, but fishing in the dark has never been this much fun, or this creepy.
If for whatever reason you skipped out on the initial Meta Quest 2 release of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution, then the PS VR2 version is definitely the way to go. While Chapter 2 doesn't reinvent the wheel or present a full-fledged sequel, Skydance Interactive has still provided enough polish and content to the experience to warrant a revisit to post-apocalyptic New Orleans.
WWE 2K22 set the foundation and WWE 2K23 pushes the series forward with another great wrestling game. My Rise is fantastic, War Games is a ton of fun, GM Mode has been updated, and created wrestlers look better than ever. If 2K keeps up this momentum, WWE 2K24 could be up there along side Here Comes the Pain and No Mercy as one of the all time greats.
Sanctuary Saga strives for greatness, but just doesn't quite get there. While there are a lot of good elements to Sanctuary Saga, they don't feel like great or amazing ones. It feels like a SNES game from the early nineties in a lot of great ways, but also feels like it is trapped in that style, which is holding it back. I needed more variation in enemies, dungeons, and a bit more focus on story progression to fall in love with Sanctuary Saga. As it stands, I only have slight flirtatious feeling for the game.