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At the end of the day, you’ll probably have fun with Warlander if you’re a fan of Team Death Match style games. Whether that means Mordhau or a first-person shooter like Team Fortress 2, the action is chaotic and the deaths aren’t punishing so you can always just sign in and get to fighting, and you should.
The engineers who worked on Forspoken should be commended for refining the game engine, as well as the combat system programmers. The tech that makes the game possible is the showstopper- not the game itself. Aside from the game’s engine, Forspoken has dated open-world gameplay, a lame story, embarrassing dialogue, and the lighting sucks.
It must have taken a lot of guts from JoyMasher to release a linear 2D action platformer that relies on a “lives” system in 2023. The spectacle and lavish pixel art are some of the best around and it is apparent that the artists poured all their sweat, blood, and tears into every dot for Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider. They went for it and crafted what is possibly one of the greatest examples of its genre.
What I can say now is that I believe the foundation for a good game is here within Tower of Fantasy. It mainly comes down to the support by Hotta Studio to make it a strong title that can contend with the now established Genshin Impact. I don’t believe Tower of Fantasy could ever topple that, but it could turn into a good alternative for those getting bored of the former.
If you love FPS games but aren’t into PvP deathmatch style games like Halo, or you just miss the gameplay of Left 4 Dead (and Back 4 Blood wasn’t your thing), then Darktide should be right up your alley. After dozens of hours of gameplay you’ll only just be getting to the end game and the most hardcore of missions.
Forever Entertainment has proven they are effective at remaking old titles with new visuals while keeping the gameplay as faithful as possible. While Front Mission 1st is a worthy alternative to the old version, maybe an HD-2D reimagining with snappier battles would have been better. Time will tell how their efforts will pay off on the more ambitious upcoming entries in the Front Mission series.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a perfect strategy RPG. It mostly improves upon the original, though it is sad that there isn’t an original mode so players can experience how the game used to be. The sprites won’t impress, but after dumping over a 100 hours into pouring so much attention into building these characters, you will hardly care.
At the end of the day, High on Life seems like too short of an experience rushed through using minimal enemy types and linear story progression. The game could be so much more but feels like it was more of a movie rather than its own universe.
Fans of the series will be disappointed that Syberia: The World Before strays far from what was great. It should have been like Tintin, but it’s more like a made-for-TV Lifetime movie. The visuals look awesome but the gameplay and story are vulgar steps backward in the worst ways.
Then it was just released without any time spent on expanding the basics, and that’s the worst part about Gotham Knights. The potential is there but it constantly seems to stop itself from delivering on literally anything, getting in its own way, and ultimately poisoning its own well by refusing to be more than what it is.
Compromised though it may be, Reunion is interesting enough to check out – a large reason why is because Final Fantasy VII‘s world is still compelling enough to endure a superfluous story. The core gameplay will only get you by if you play it in small doses on a small screen.
The Callisto Protocol has a lot of care to make it a more unique experience than just being another third-person shooter.
Overall, Kukoos: Lost Pets is a fun arcade-type video game for those who enjoy lite gaming experiences. It does not stretch itself too far or try anything out of the ordinary. Most players will likely complete it in five or ten hours.
Evil West‘s action provides an intense adrenaline rush of visceral action and gnarly finishers. It can be overly scripted at times- most fights always happen in very obvious arena-like areas and there is little to no interaction with the world. Evil West is a very dumb game that puts markers on what you are allowed to touch, but in spite of that- it is still a worthy guilty pleasure for its radical violence and spectacle.
Sonic Frontier’s kinesthetics are not perfect, but it is hard to not be engrossed by the intense sense of speed and be in awe by the visuals. Shockingly, this game aimed at children has a lot of respect for them. When the tutorials are done, there is no hand-holding and it is on the player to blaze their own trail.
This game, like Pokemon Arceus, is arguably what many Pokemon fans have requested for years. If Nintendo can keep the positives while fixing the graphical issues, they could easily win Game of the Year in the near future. These two new games do a lot of things right with only a few issues to complain about in the long run. If you are a fan of the Pokemon franchise, we definitely recommend checking out Pokemon Violet and Scarlet.
If you don’t and are looking into this as a fan of old school platformers, then Trifox is still a good fun option to go for. Only keep in mind that the game’s short length and relative ease could be a turn off if you’re looking for a challenge.
Fans of the Yakuza series will find something to like about Kamiwaza. It has a lot of the absurd and over-the-top humor and bouts of intense drama seen in those games. Gamers who grew up playing Tenchu or the Way of the Samurai games will especially adore Way of the Thief.
Diving into The Quarry, we were expecting a suspenseful character-driven narrative based on experiences with other Supermassive Games titles. Needless to say, we got exactly that. The characters are relatable with each character’s personality resembling an aspect of at least one person we all know. Although the monster at Summer camp genre can be rather cheesy based on previous excerpts and adaptations in the genre. The game offers a variety of outcomes for the player to experience with over 100 possible variations.
For some gamers, The DioField Chronicle‘s brevity will be positive feature. The reality is that The DioField Chronicle lacks enough substance to be any longer than it already is and even then- it still ends up recycling content and lacks variety.