Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Reviews
The Outer Worlds is alright, innit. It’s good fun. Sit back and let the orange and neon wash over you. Boo the cartoonishly evil corporations. Exhale through your nose at their Diet Toothpaste. I bet I’ll play it again, in fact. But you can tell it could have been great, if it had taken a few more risks.
I rather liked its undemanding nature, as it meant I was better able to enjoy this five hour romp and relish its superb character work. Yes, it’s a rather slight detective game compared to your heavyweights of the genre, but its winsome cast, gorgeous music and sharp writing go a long way to make up for it.
Even though Kine does a great job of drip-feeding you its complexities, I hit a wall once I reached the main stage.
A masterpiece, but flawed, and proof positive that if ZA/UM can do flawed masterpiece for their first outing, they might already be chipping away the flaws in time for their next.
Even Felix’s sweet, sweet dance moves can’t throw the game’s glaring design flaws into shadow.
Even if Destiny’s horizon does seem as featureless as the moon itself, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in gobbling up everything in sight on the way there.
I had a great time with John Wick Hex. It tiptoes the line between tactics and puzzler in an engaging way, has a ton of character, and feels exactly as minimal as it needs to be
For me, I saw the beginnings of a truly exceptional game, and feel a bit like I just finished its demo. But what a lovely demo!
Warsaw has the makings of a genuinely fascinating, unyielding tactical game with a lot of heart and reverence for the events it’s based on. Still, as is, it’s currently a hard sell unless you’re really intent on a challenge that, while thematically resonant, often feels more arbitrary than it is complex.
In 2019, a massive and meticulously-crafted open world just doesn’t cut it. Any life breathed into Ghost Recon Breakpoint will have to be pumped into it by you and your friends, and you’d do better to save your breath for other games.
Neo Cab is certainly strongly anti-corporate. I already agree with that, so I don’t know if Neo Cab has the power to change minds. But it does excel at capturing how messy things are becoming. How it can be difficult to know what the right thing to do even is. How some people have more breathing room to be ‘good’ than others.
If you enjoy the tabletop CCG then, mate, you need to play MtG: Arena.
The only good part of Code Vein is its combat, but for me, that turns out to be enough.
It’s such a warm game. Touching and heartfelt, masterfully capturing the cosy excitement of the places and stories we explore as children.
Overland isn’t that one friend on a road trip who has packed emergency supplies, and has the itinerary worked out to the hour.
If you missed the first Surge, but always meant to take a look, hop into this one instead. Think of it as a shortcut to a better game.
A visually stunning game, belying its origins as a creation of two animators, alongside some delightful writing, weaving a complexity of narrative that completely surprised me. But one that offers the player far too little actual investigating, and in the end, far too much tiresome wandering.
This is a beautiful game not just about trying to help people, but about the desire to help people.
Brief as it may be, Untitled Goose Game leaves a lasting impression
This is objectively good game design, but it’s also desperately endearing.