VG247's Reviews
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is full of heart and soul. It’s also got some great ideas. Conversely, many of those ideas feel like they struggle to get out of first gear - and those that do find it harder still to make it to third. Sometimes the cleverest ideas are undermined by other systems or decisions. Simultaneously feeling polished to within an inch of its life in places and utterly half-baked in others, it’s as baffling as it is engaging; as frustrating as it is fascinating.
All told, this feels like a solid offering from Sega and Sonic Team. Generations remains a perfect history lesson for younger fans, while Shadow’s new narrative provides a tantalizing introduction to the character before he hits the Hollywood big time just before Christmas. It’s one of Sonic’s better recent outings made just that little bit better - and you can’t really complain about that.
Every individual strand weaves together to form something utterly exceptional in Metaphor. It may well be Atlus’ masterpiece; well-presented, well-realised, and totally unashamed to be a big, silly, fantastical piece of role-playing genius.
Bloober Team… You made me happy, and after playing Silent Hill 2, I am eager to see what the studio does alongside Konami in future. Perhaps a Silent Hill 1 and Silent Hill 3 remake isn’t such a bad idea, after all…
Overall, the release version of Golden Lap, even with those couple of areas where it could be better, is still very much the game I enjoyed in a short burst earlier in the year. It knows exactly what it wants to deliver, and does so in the wonderfully characterful manner that’s come to define Funselektor’s games and help them stand out from the racing crowd. Without giving you an actual whiff of the petrol fumes, properly deafening you with engine roar from behind the wheel or offering you a mouthful of podium bubbly, it manages to capture the spirit of what it depicts, and with a few tweaks, its pull could be even more irresistible.
Hollowbody is a testament to the work of Hamley, and is phenomenal within its own right, but the dedication to various cult classic horror and sci-fi games only adds to how enamored I was with the game; this is how you make a game heavily inspired by other media while making a whole new experience entirely, in a nutshell. But don’t get me wrong, Hollowbody is so much more than its inspirations, made up of multiple moving parts that provide fans of the survival horror genre with something new and refreshing.
Astro Bot doesn't care about such baggage, but if it did you'd probably use your mechanical arms to throw it at a giant robotic ape before smashing in said ape's teeth and propelling yourself into its soon-to-be exploded head. Astro Bot only cares about fun, and I genuinely can't think of a single moment it made me wish something had been handled differently, tweaked to be easier, or expanded upon. It's just perfect.
Those who have always wanted to know more about how Dead by Daylight’s cast of characters came to be trapped in a never-ending nightmare by The Entity will be wholly pleased to finally have some answers, especially if the DBD-stylised achievements and endless Easter eggs didn’t already have you foaming at the mouth. If you’re a fan of Dead by Daylight or The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Casting of Frank Stone is an absolutely must-play for you. Even then, those unfamiliar with the series’ will still find something to appreciate during this entertaining, albeit fleeting, experience
Sure, Concord’s premium model over a nightmare FPS full of passes and paid skins sounded great on paper, but the package has to be enticing enough to warrant the purchase, and simply put, the juice isn’t there. A part of me wants it to find its audience and improve, but this is looking like another Suicide Squad situation.
Overall, if you’re looking for more Dredge, or a reason to delve back into the game for the first time since The Pale Reach, The Iron Rig more than likely has at least a weekend worth of fun to offer you. Even if it feels in places like it could have been a bit more than just another fish added to the catch of a good and spooky net.
Sarepta Studio’s latest work is all about diving deep to unearth the truth behind tragedy.
You’re bound to make mistakes with such an emotionally-driven narrative at play, but with some hope from beyond the grave in Closer the Distance, you can help Yesterby move on. And if you had as wonderful a time as I did and are wondering how you can do things differently, there’s nothing stopping you from going back in time and trying to pick up the pieces all over again.
So, while the start of Shadow of the Erdtree can come off as a regression, really, the DLC as a whole is FromSoftware flexing all of its creative muscles - including some it hasn’t used in a while and others it might be building up for the future. The depth of storytelling in the Lands of Shadow, as well as the new weapons, spells and items (all of which add to the lore themselves, of course), only better your experience of the Lands Between, and make for a worthy upgrade to what is already an unforgettable adventure.
A smart choice of game to remake - it deserves it. Smartly designed, smartly pitched - arguably smartly-placed, dropped here, towards the end of the Switch’s lifespan, a victory lap for a classic from generations past. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a richly-deserved, lovingly-crafted redo of a classic. It takes one of Mario’s finest spin-offs and does just enough to refresh it while retaining everything that made it beloved in the first place. I only hope this leads to more Paper Mario games in this vein.
Though Hellblade 2 has the power to force your jaw open and give you goosebumps, too often the whole project ends up feeling like a very expensive tech demo – an absolute tour de force of technical achievement bogged down in its own sense of gravitas and mystery. Keeping you off the stick for so many of its most impactful moments, and not giving you enough to play with when you do have control, hobbles the potential of this visual and aural masterpiece enough to make the whole experience feel like it was constantly trying to find a foothold on that dread Icelandic scree, and never really getting to its feet until you come staggering over the finish line.
There are golden moments here, without a doubt. But Die by the Blade is burdened by issues that I fear will stand out for many casual players interested to try it out. But as the only modern fighting game to really approach this sub-genre of 3D one-strike action perhaps it'll find its audience. I'd recommend this to genre diehards and those who don't mind a lower budget title. For the average player, I'd give this a miss for now.
Ultimately, the more you give to Indika, the more you get out of it; whether it’s pondering the philosophical questions it asks you or soaking in the environment… just don’t anticipate any concrete answers. Indika wants you to come to those conclusions yourself, much like its troubled protagonist.
If you can stomach that pesky cake-carrying elephant, Stellar Blade is well worth your time. It's not perfect - there's room for improvement, sure - but having experienced Shift Up's first venture into a triple-A console release I'm along for the ride from here on out.
Sucker for Love: Date to Die For doesn't do anything completely groundbreaking, but it is perhaps one of the best examples out there of the thing it is doing, and it would be a shame to see it buried in the avalanche of dating sims of admittedly variable quality available on Steam. It's a stylish and well-written visual novel that finds the balance between horror story and love story, while managing to maintain both throughout. But there's more to admire. It's also a fine example of how a black comedy dating sim can simultaneously be an irreverent vehicle to admire the assets of well-endowed anime women and an inclusive experience that not only makes players not typically included in the genre feel welcome, but gracefully and authentically centres an underserved perspective.
Children of the Sun is a short but special game that is definitely bang for your buck.