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There are a few annoying flies in the ointment — item descriptions don't always fit on screen, weapons occasionally miss enemies within range, and in-dungeon inventory management sometimes feels too time-consuming — but otherwise, the game's engaging blend of active shopkeeping and dungeon crawling should be more than enough to keep retro-styled action RPG fans smiling.
What makes Detroit: Become Human a great game, though, is that even after going back through alternate narrative branches and winding down my play time, I'm still invested. The world that Quantic Dream gave me to explore is only a short leap from the one we're living in now, and the ideas presented have left me contemplating the role AI could play in our lives sooner rather than later.
All things considered, the inherent value of Mega Man Legacy Collections one and two can only be determined by specific player interest. These collections might be nice and new, but the experiences within are distinctly old-school, providing the sort of gritty, challenging platforming action that feels increasingly rare in the current era of gaming.
All things considered, the inherent value of Mega Man Legacy Collections one and two can only be determined by specific player interest. These collections might be nice and new, but the experiences within are distinctly old-school, providing the sort of gritty, challenging platforming action that feels increasingly rare in the current era of gaming.
State of Decay 2 is repetitive, but fun when it works.
The true heart of Runner3 once again comes down to how well its gameplay suits rhythm game and platforming fans with a knack for perfecting their craft. Getting a Perfect or a Perfect+ on a level involves learning the patterns for its various obstacles — and this is particularly true for the game's three different knight variants — but players truly driven toward perfect runs will have to use their ears to get a feel for when to execute different maneuvers. Every jump to a gold pile or slide beneath a box feels deliberately synced with the music, and finding the groove introduces sometimes-subtle, sometimes-obvious musical cues that help keep the player on track.
As long as everyone knows what they're getting into though I would definitely recommend this game to fans of the Dynasty Warriors franchise regardless of their familiarity with Zelda. I'd also give a thumbs up to fans of the Zelda games that are into arcade-style action every now and again.
Wizard of Legend is a satisfying and thoroughly challenging roguelike with plenty of arcana to discover, relics to purchase, and several ways to help players feel as though they're customizing the game to make it totally theirs.
Fans will most definitely enjoy their time in the VR world of Virtual Rick-ality, but they shouldn't go in expecting to have their minds totally blown either.
Laser League is delightfully chaotic. It's easy to grasp just by looking at it, but for those who need a few pointers, there's a robust tutorial system, as well as a Playbook mode that helpfully explains the game's more nuanced elements, like the individual classes and power-ups. It's a game that gets more intense with more players, which is why 3v3 online speaks particularly well to me. But it's just as easy to set up local multiplayer, along with bots of varying skill levels.
The game does lose a bit of its luster after you beat the main scenario, but the two additional stories do put what you learned to the test. I'm eager to see what new situations 11 Bit Studios adds to the Frostpunk in the future, as the concept has a ton of untapped potential.
The original Pillars of Eternity is a tough act to follow, but Obsidian has knocked it out of the park once again.
Light Fall shows potential with its central premise and its core mechanic, but short levels, a run-of-the-mill story, and an all-too-brief campaign make it feel like there's some unrealized potential here.
Monster Prom had so much potential and so much to offer that I couldn't wait to tear into it. And on a superficial level, it's an interesting experiment that I thought I would love. Unfortunately, just like the monsters you're courting, once you get to know it it's only a great-looking shell with some fairly rotten insides.
There just needs to be more below the surface to keep a game like Guns of Icarus Alliance engaging. For now, though, it's another example of a game with a great idea that flew too close to the sun.
Tropical Freeze isn't perfect by any means, but having run through it a second time, I feel like it's aged well in the last four years. The challenge can be soul-crushing, but it's satisfying to finally make it across that one jump or beat that one boss. There are enough tools available to make the journey a little bit easier this time around, but not so much to completely diminish the challenge outright.
As it stands right now, Super Mega Baseball 2 is now the top dog of baseball games on the PC.
If Nintendo can tweak the included games to make a more substantial set of electronic components, Labo will evolve into a near-perfect experience. The adult in me is totally here for that. The kid in me, however, just wants more fish to catch.
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom intensifies the action in its JRPG foundation, mirroring some of Level-5's best work instead of leaning more heavily on the charm of Studio Ghibli. It's resulted in a game I continue to enjoy a great deal and a desire for Level-5 to distance itself even further from the animation giant to get a peek at what the developer can do, again, when completely uninhibited in any way.
God of War was never the deepest experience, especially with what feels like limited enemy types. But the PlayStation 4 makes up for this in spades with an incredibly vast world and a heartwarming story. Beyond Kratos and Atreus, the game is filled with some surprisingly lovable characters. On top of that, finishing the main story doesn't truly feel like the end. While previous games made it feel like treading old territory to find everything, the post-game in this God of War makes it feel like the world has truly opened up.