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The strength of the Citizen Sleeper series, especially in this sophomore release, is realizing this very message. Home isn’t where you await the next cycle to begin but where you have the freedom and space to make mistakes.
As a day-one fan, every Assassin's Creed game has meant something to me. Ezio's trilogy is an all-consuming conspiracy through my favorite period of world history; Edward's journey is the best pirate game out there;
With Avowed, the team at Obsidian manages the rare feat of grasping the scope of the project they’re building, and hitting the mark on most of the places it aims for. It’s not the biggest role-playing game, or the most innovative, but as I played, I was constantly aware of how much fun I was having by just letting the game carry me forward.
Wanderstop does not emulate the same fourth-wall breaking revelations of developer Ivy Roads’ previous work, but what’s impressive about it all is that’s sort of what Alta’s adventure is about. I admire the game for being able to use video game genre conventions to tell a pensive, funny, and surprising story set in a charming location with enjoyable characters.
The Forbidden Lands are an enticing new playground for the series, and I look forward to spending dozens more hours uncovering the rest of its secrets.
irate Yakuza may not be the best entry to get players on board with the ongoing Like a Dragon narrative. I was more entranced by the loop of upgrading Majima and his ship and recruiting new crewmates than I was by the story, but it delivers on everything the series has become renowned for. An absurd tone with surprising pockets of earnest pathos, fun characters, and bombastic action are all present and accounted for here.
CD2, for all the ways it impressed, challenged, engaged, and enraged me, is an RPG whose adventure will likely forever be etched in my mind.
Ender Magnolia is a solid sophomore effort for this series, and while the exploration is protracted and occasionally confusing, the combat steps up its game in a big way. While not a gigantic leap forward, chalk up another good outing in this hidden gem of a Metroidvania series.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a fantastic reminder that the franchise that began on the Super Nintendo in 1994 is a real competitor for Nintendo’s best 2D platforming series, an extremely competitive landscape.
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle doesn’t reinvent the action-adventure wheel. In a weird backward way, it’s more or less a first-person version of an Uncharted or Tomb Raider game – franchises that probably wouldn’t exist without Indiana Jones in the first place.
Ultimately, Marvel Rivals is not a revolution in game design, but a culmination of the successful shooters that came before it. Its gameplay is tight and balanced, its characters are satisfying to use, and I'm coming back to play more every night. I have gripes with the distribution of hero roles, but it doesn't spoil the game as a whole. Marvel Rivals isn't finding success because it's a cash grab, it's finding success because it's earned it.
As it stands now, Rita’s Rewind doesn’t shatter the genre’s mold. The action is a step above many contemporaries, but still falls prey to the genre’s inherent monotony and the Zord segments can be irritating at worst. But if you’re a ‘90s kid itching to pull out your Morpher one more time, Rita’s Rewind is the Rangers’ best cooperative outing to date.
Ultimately, Veilguard delivers on the promise of every Dragon Age with its strong characters, engaging combat, and a classic BioWare role-playing experience.
The potent combination of Sonic and Shadow Generations makes a strong case for being the best package of 3D Sonic content we’ve ever seen. It’s simultaneously a celebration of the series’ past while hinting at the exciting future on the horizon.
Batman: Arkham Shadow is a great Batman: Arkham game without any qualifiers needed for its virtual reality platform. Narratively it fits in well with the rest of the series, and mechanically Camouflaj somehow simply figured it out.
Neva’s immaculate presentation, enjoyable action, and moving narrative prop it up among 2024’s best indies. Despite boasting thrilling cinematic sequences and jaw-dropping visuals, Neva’s best moments are often its smallest: watching a relieved Alba call her furry friend after a brutal fight to share an affectionate and appreciative embrace.
Despite the overly drawn-out final act and the poorly tuned final boss, Metaphor: ReFantazio’s journey is well worth embarking upon.
Despite the difficult revelations Silent Hill 2 unveils along the way and how uncomfortable the experience made me (by design) I was eager to immediately start the journey again after seeing the credits.
... In the end, I finally got to experience a full, proper, no-asterisk Zelda adventure without having to explain, “Actually, you play as Link,” and I am grateful for the experience.
At multiple points in the game, text flashes on the screen saying, "I hope this hurts," an ambiguous message from one character to another. We never learn who says it to who, but it's a particularly dark line: an explicit desire for suffering in a story where everyone is suffering in their own ways already.