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Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a lot of character and base building built into a unique deck building Strategy RPG. There are some story pieces that just aren’t entirely enthralling, and you may find the exploration to be lacking. What Midnight Suns does happen to do exceptionally well, is provide a purely satisfying strategy game, once you wade through all of the monotonous upgrades to get you to the combat. With plenty of characters to unlock, and multiple difficulty levels to amp up the strategy required, this is one of the best Marvel games to release in years. The best part is, whether you’re a Marvel fan, or you’re just a strategy buff, Midnight Suns delivers. Do not make the mistake of passing on this one.
Dragonflight has been the revitalization that World of Warcraft sorely needed after Shadowlands. Yes, there are some issues that still could use some work, but that’s the nature of MMO development, especially when you change things up to such a degree as this expansion did. I’m also heartened to see them willing to make big adjustments like they have planned in 10.0.5. I honestly thought Guardians were going to have to suck it up until 10.1, at the least for a talent tree rework. If they can keep this up and regularly deliver content and adjustments, Dragonflight could be the best expansion World of Warcraft has ever done.
With routine patches and dedicated bug fixes, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could end up being a transcendent moment in franchise history. The ambition of its branching paths, the size of its open world, and the selection of different Pokemon available are all massive, signaling that Game Freak and The Pokemon Company wanted this to be a flagship moment for the series. Unfortunately, all of that ambition is marred by the technical trials left in its wake, creating some truly infuriating moments during a game where I should be adventuring with a smile on my face. The foundation of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is strong, but there are too many technical shortcomings in the experience to truly call it great.
Embers Adrift has a lot of fantastic ideas, but I just don’t feel that it is quite there yet. I do genuinely hope that the Embers Adrift team continues to make improvements and listen to their passionate community, because they will be critical in those days ahead as they start to iron out improvements and optimization issues. Maybe one day in the future I will return to Embers Adrift, but for now, I would just honestly rather play anything else.
I really wanted to enjoy Dual Universe, and at first I was. I truly did enjoy the grind early on, until I realized that, for the most part, the grind was all there was. The ambitious systems that define Dual Universe also doom it, and as a result there just isn’t much to do aside from harvest, sell and rinse and repeat, even if you add layer and layer of industrial complexity to the loop. While player ingenuity and artistry will make some of these systems more and more interesting, especially with LUA scripting and more, for me, it just doesn’t make for a compelling experience I can recommend.
God of War: Ragnarok is, simply put, the complete package. It tells one of the best stories in video games, one that will have you run the gamut of emotions while playing through it. Fighting the enemies of the realms feels a lot like the previous game, but there's enough new and refined elements to help it stand on its own.
The content of Wrath Classic is still great and has held up over time really well. However, the many issues and bugs of the launch have dulled the experience, particularly for players on very high-population servers or players who were hoping to join friends already on high-population servers. I’m hopeful that as we move through phase one and into phase two Blizzard will continue to polish things up and get everything righted. However, their history of solid Classic launches has been a bit tarnished with this one.
And for me, that is high praise. As someone for who it takes quite a bit to really hook me, Victoria 3 certainly has in a big way. In fact, I think I’ll start my next campaign right now.
When A Plague Tale: Innocence was released in 2019, it quickly became my favorite game of the year. It was dark and emotional while combining puzzles and combat in a way that separated it from other games released at the time. Therefore, it should be no surprise that I found A Plague Tale: Requiem to be absolutely brilliant. It expands on and surpasses everything that the original did well. The only difference is the competition is a bit stiffer and it has to settle for my second favorite game of the year.
If you aren’t a Batman fan, I’m not sure that there is enough that stands out that dropping full retail on Gotham Knights is a smart move. The game could certainly use some patches, the full four-player mode isn’t out yet at release and I feel like holiday releases may quickly overshadow this game. That isn’t to say that there isn’t a great concept, but like Batman, it's crushed to death under all the debris.
That said, none of these additions are net negatives to the game either. Overwatch 2 simply exists in an awkward transition phase between the game it was and the game it wants to be. It's not a revolution by any stretch, at least not how the original game was, but it's still Overwatch and that means it's still a ton of fun.
At the end of the day, the story is the one thing - the only thing - that differentiates The Last Hero of Nostalgaia from the rest of the pack. Everything else lacks any innovation. The names of certain elements (memory, beacons, etc.) may have been changed to match the theme of the storyline, and although character creation, progression, and combat are all done very well, they are all extremely by the book Souls-like.
If you’re a Pokémon fan you need to pick this one up, even if you’re not the casual laid back play is enjoyable for creature hunters of all levels!
Besides grabbing a truck and running supplies to the front line or possibly playing as a medic, Siege Camp has done little to support solo-minded players. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by how well Foxhole accommodates both casual and hardcore gamers. As a casual gamer, I can jump in at any point during a war, grab some gear, and head straight to the front lines to join up with a group of players. After a couple of hours, I can switch to a Logi role, run supplies for a while, and then jump back off again. I can jump back in the next day or the following week and do it all over again. All the while, hardcore players will happily be trudging along, gaining or losing ground. They won’t even notice my absence but will have no problem filtering me into their plans whenever I’m around. Sure, the hardcore players will most likely be part of a regiment and have more access to armored vehicles and other powerful weapons, but casual players can always find a place in the overall scheme of things. Grunts still make up the bulk of any real-world army, after all.
Monolithsoft has culminated in an ending that they’ve had their sights on for over a decade, and it shows in the level of detail and quality of life improvements that they’ve made emanating from that ten-plus years’ worth of experience. It’s a robust conclusion to the JRPG franchise and spans well over a hundred hours of gameplay, leading up to a finale that long-time fans will thoroughly enjoy without leaving newer players wanting. Although the true potential of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 feels held back by the limitations of the Switch’s hardware, developer Monolithsoft has clearly taken all of the lessons and experiences that they’ve accumulated over the years and crafted a gem that even Riku the Nopon would consider priceless.
Tower of Fantasy is a whirlwind of enjoyable combat, exploration and mini-games, mixed with a nefarious gacha system and the annoying proclivity to time and level gate progression. The ability to create your own character, team up with other players, participate in a huge guild, and battle hordes of monsters with a deep yet simplistic combat system tips the scales just enough to warrant the hype that it has been given. Tower of Fantasy dips its toe into greatness through extensive gameplay systems and an accessible game loop that has broad appeal. No matter what you like doing, whether it’s team play, exploration, PvP, or dungeon running, you can find it here. Just temper this fantasy with the realization that you should never spend more than you can afford. Hotta built Tower of Fantasy as a marathon, so there’s no better time than now to enjoy the journey at your own pace.
Chimeraland by Pixel Soft is an unpolished experience with minor bugs, but it is still weirdly fun. Player races and various creatures are some of the oddest things I have seen in any MMO. The layout of the UI for PC is not intuitive compared to mobile, and there are localization issues. Players may be turned away by some of the graphics and the initial learning curve. But if you can get by these issues, there is a lot of game here for players who enjoy exploration, survival building mechanics, and pet collection/evolution. While many of Chimeraland’s systems at a base level can feel familiar, it is a unique experience.
There’s nothing new to see here, just a port of an old classic. For some, I’m sure that this is all that they want or need, but for others I feel that it’s a shame Dark Alliance II hasn’t been modernized - at least a little bit - to bring the gameplay more in line with the times so that it would feel more accessible to newer players. Even still, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II’s price tag at $29.99 feels too steep for what it is. Unless you’re a diehard fan of the Dark Alliance series, I’d wait for a hefty sale before picking this up.
It's not going to unseat some of the bigger titles of the year, but as a fun and unique experience Stray is the cat's meow.
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle brings with it many great moments, and the landscape of the Systres is a joy to explore, especially the jungle prison of Amenos. While its story is predictable, I’m not uninterested as I look forward to the rest of the year’s content drops. In the end, it's this formulaic malaise that keeps The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle from being truly great.