Wccftech's Reviews
Gods Will Fall is a well-focused action-oriented dungeon-crawling soulslike with procedural generation. Only the procedural generation is on the difficulty, allowing for developers Clever Beans to have handcrafted each dungeon in a stunning hand-brushed art style and have each playthrough feel that bit different, as the increased difficulty of a particular dungeon brings new creatures, paths, and opportunities. While not perfect, some things like the rather barren overworld as well as some bugs standing out, the character development, emergent storytelling and tight combat does more than enough to let this stand out.
A New God is a worthy expansion of Immortals Fenyx Rising, bringing some new gear and abilities to play with, and some more excellently designed puzzles that challenge the player's knowledge of the game's mechanics in interesting ways. Sadly, the expansion lacks the wealth of activities found in the main campaign, making the new one a little more repetitive in the long run. Still, a worthy purchase for fans of the puzzles seen in the main game.
Marianne might be able to jump between two realities, but The Medium is trapped somewhere between being a worthy Silent Hill successor and another mediocre hide and seek horror game.
Hitman 3 is the definitive case for careful refinement over needless reinvention. While not that fundamentally different from its predecessors, Hitman 3 has been polished to a high sheen, offering up fantastic frictionless stealth gameplay and an eye-catching array of unique, exciting stages. At times it's felt like luck was against this trilogy, but Agent 47 would be proud of how IO Interactive's well-laid plans have come together in the end.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is a negative net sum, with so much content vaulted in favor of a meager campaign set in Europa. So much is teased and promised to bring the original Destiny vision together with Destiny 2 that we can't hope but be excited to see what Bungie is promising in seasons to come. However, what's available right now is less than the exotic content that players might've hyped themselves up for.
Scott Pilgrim Versus the World Complete Edition certainly aims to be a faithful collection of this decade-old RPG brawler but with a near-zero list of improvements, it's tough to call Scott Pilgrim's adventure anything more than a pre-wrapped gift to the fans.
Despite its appeal to nostalgia and the phenomenal success of the first game, Super Meat Boy Forever fails to deliver its promises and ends up undermining the IP and design of the game it's based upon.
Sackboy's first foray outside of the Media Moleculeverse without an editor to guide his way is not only a fantastic 3D platformer for all ages but also one of the best PlayStation 5 launch titles for younger audiences
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond isn't the return to the series that I would have hoped. As a VR game is has a lot to offer, the gameplay is engaging, the missions varied, and both the single-player and multiplayer can be fun to play. However, the story is woefully mismanaged, with a cast of mostly unlikeable and unsympathetic characters - a tragedy when it comes with an incredibly powerful piece of work in the form of the gallery, a collection of documentaries and interviews with veterans of the war.
Shady Part of Me is a decent puzzle platformer, which offers some inventive challenges and an overall polished presentation. That said, almost everything about the game, including its story, aesthetic, and core mechanics, are lifted wholesale from more memorable indie games like Braid, Limbo, Little Nightmares, and Contrast. Like a shadow cast upon your bedroom wall, Shady Part of Me may be fleetingly interesting, but it won't leave a lasting impression.
Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition is every bit as good as the original release, if not even more, thanks to the many additions like playable Vergil, Turbo Mode and Legendary Dark Knight difficulty. While ray tracing and DualSense support are not massive game-changers, they round up the package nicely and help making it a worthy purchase for every Devil May Cry fan and for those who did not have yet the pleasure to experience one of the best character action games released in recent years.
Call of the Sea is a gripping, interesting, and creative take on the Lovecraftian formula. It moves away from the oft-trodden horror roots and creates an imaginative and immersive puzzle adventure with none of the lingering racism you might expect.
Released as both a remaster and an expansion, Observer: System Redux manages to fully deliver its promises, improving the original's experience with new meaningful content, quality of life changes, and massive visual improvements that leverage the power of the new consoles. The game hasn't changed a whole lot since the original, so those who did not like it in the first place will not change their minds with Observer: System Redux, but those that did will find the remaster to be a worthy purchase.
NBA 2K21 makes a solid debut on next-gen consoles, but may fall short of some fans' razzle dazzle expectations. The game looks impressive, if slightly uneven, and new animations make for silky-smooth on-court action, but a lack of unique, worthwhile content holds the overall package back. If you've been waiting for NBA 2K21 on PS5 and Xbox Series X, or bought the Mamba Forever Edition that comes with a free upgrade, this is certainly the best version to play. That said, if you don't have access to the upgrade (or a PS5 or XSX for that matter) you don't need to feel too bad about sticking to the G League this year.
The quality of life changes, the return of an orchestral soundtrack, the new side stories and Tockington challenges all add up to make Dragon Quest XI S the best way to play this JRPG classic (as long as you mind the graphical downgrades), but with no new content that wasn't already added to last year's Nintendo Switch release, it's a tough sell for players that have already enjoyed the Luminary's adventure once or twice already.
Twin Mirror is a fun, pulp detective story filled with interesting plot beats and characters, hampered only by the inclusion of strange mini-games and a really boring central character.
Chronos: Before the Ashes is an interesting enough title, one that does feature some interesting environments that really support a strong level of world-building. Even those not familiar with Remnant would find this interesting. However, looking beyond the environment and storytelling, you're going to find aspects of the game lacking. The combat is far too forgiving, and you'll have completed the game before encountering most of the perks to the fascinating ageing system. Do I recommend this? For an easy-going souls-lite title, it's not bad, but it isn't great either.
Empire of Sin is a sincere love letter to a fascinating moment in American history and delivers all the style, swagger, and Tommy-Gun-inflicted violence you'd expect. Unfortunately, somewhat shallow sim elements, pushover AI, and a serious lack of polish means this probably won't be your next great strategy obsession. That said, if you love gangster stuff, Empire of Sin might still be an offer you can't refuse.
Despite a huge lack of innovation, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Zelda: Breath of the Wild's central mechanics, Immortals: Fenyx Rising is a great open-world game featuring a light-hearted, humorous tone, great combat, tons of content, and a well-designed main quest. It's also reminiscent, in a good way, of 3D puzzle games from the PlayStation 2 and GameCube era. Sure, the game does suffer a bit from the usual Ubisoft open-world design bloat, but do not let this put you off: Fenyx's journey to save the Greek Gods and restore the world to its former beauty is one worth experiencing.
The Falconeer doesn't do anything glaringly wrong, and yet, the overall experience doesn't really click. The game looks lovely, controls well, and offers surprising depth considering it was created by a single developer, but an uninvolving world, repetitive missions, and combat that isn't as visceral as it should be grounds its potential. Like many flights, The Falconeer is kind of exciting when you first take off, but by landing time you just want the experience to be over.