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Atomic Heart is undoubtedly one of the best first-person shooter campaigns I’ve played in years.
Company of Heroes 3 is a splendid and rewarding RTS game. Tense battles, brilliant map design, and streamlined unit management make it easily one of the best in the genre, with the Italian campaign acting as an exciting blueprint for the series’ future. If Relic wants to use Company of Heroes to tell serious and significant stories, though, the team needs to commit to actually doing that beyond just giving them a surface treatment.
I give Square Enix and ACQUIRE Corp props for ambition, but there's still a ways to go before the Octopath Traveler lives up to its potential and reaches its final form.
Though Like a Dragon Ishin! is rough around the corners, its complex story and rich world with an abundance of side adventures are well worth the cost of admission. The game’s reinterpretation of Japan’s Bakumatsu period is a transporting experience that explores a moment in history that is not often available to Western audiences. Ishin has some trouble upgrading the combat system and camera controls to today’s standards, and it’s not a graphical powerhouse despite some visual upgrades. But anyone who is a fan of the Yakuza Kiwami series will likely forgive these faults to a degree. Like a Dragon Ishin! may be just a remake of a spin-off, but its blades are sharp enough to ignite your inner samurai.
I love Monster Hunter, and Wild Hearts isn’t perfect, but it improves and diversifies on that formula in ways I don’t think any fan of this genre should overlook. I want to keep being in this world and I can’t wait to see how Koei Tecmo continues to expand upon it.
Pharaoh: A New Era’s visuals, music, and gameplay tweaks make for a very easy-to-grasp, complex-to-master setup, and there are loads of options to soften the challenge whenever you feel like it. More than that, when you get your cities bustling with farms, markets, industry, entertainment, religion, and monuments the whole thing is a busy spectacle of beauty. Some archaic bits can make things difficult, and this isn’t my favorite city builder I’ve played, but it’s still an excellent spin on a classic.
The only negative that really stands out to me is if you want access to absolutely everything song wise you may find yourself compelled to spend a bit more money on things like the game’s Digital Deluxe edition as it has 27 exclusive songs. That said, the standard version should still have more than enough content to satiate most Theatrhyhm, Final Fantasy, and rhythm game fans.
There’s an action game underneath all of Wanted: Dead’s problems that is not half bad, especially if you liked games like No More Heroes, Devil’s Third, and Wet. It’s ridiculous in its context and action. Unfortunately, for everything good I could say about this game, there was at least one or two things keeping me from enjoying it. Between cringe-worthy dialogue, game crashes, clashing moods, random and ridiculously difficult moments, and broken mechanics, Wanted: Dead takes a lot of effort just to play, let alone enjoy. Here’s hoping they can smooth out some of the technical issues after launch, but even then, this might be a title only the truly dedicated will tolerate for long.
Deliver Us Mars is a decent narrative adventure, even with a fairly unmemorable story and some dull characters. The puzzles were simple enough and the beautiful environments were enough to make me want to keep going. Some control quirks and unpleasant character models did bog the experience down slightly, however. This game isn't bad to the point that I'd want to blast it into the sun, but it has enough quirks that it never fully reaches the stars like it should.
Hi-Fi Rush delivers energizing gameplay that is smoother than slide guitar. It's accessible, satisfying, and just pure fun. The touching narrative explores themes of friendship and loyalty, while satirizing corporate culture with an unparalleled wit. Tango Gameworks have knocked it out of the park with their first foray away from the horror game genre and I am eager to see what comes next.
Nitpicks aside, Rhythm Sprout serves as a brilliantly executed delight in the rhythm game genre that delivers an experience as polished as its AAA competitors despite being a debut title from a small indie team. Developer SURT should be incredibly proud of what they've accomplished here, and I can't wait to see even more from them in the future.
The game shows that not only can Purple Lamb Studios give games the proper remake treatment, they can also follow them up with something refreshingly new, and I can’t wait to see what else the studio cooks up in the future. Especially if it’s another SpongeBob game, because if Cosmic Shake is any indication, Purple Lamb Studios clearly “gets it” concept wise, and are fully able to execute that concept to the fullest.
Scavengers Studio delivers a beautiful and poetic narrative with Season: A Letter to the future.
Not only is the 2023 Dead Space remake good, it takes everything that made the 2008 game good and makes it better, even outright swapping out certain weak points of the original to make a top-to-bottom must play for anyone looking for a good scare in their games.
Forspoken's magical parkour system has a lot of potential and can be fun. It offers a novel means of traversal, if nothing else. However, the combat and the vast world aren't enough for me to overlook many of Forspoken's other issues, which mainly start with Frey Holland herself.
Despite fumbling at the finish line, Children of Silentown presents an intriguing story that illustrates how fear can cause people to lose sight of what’s important. The puzzles are reasonably challenging and varied, with appealing visuals that help amplify the game’s moody atmosphere. Although the pacing drags in certain areas, Children of Silentown is an enjoyable point-and-click game overall and I would recommend it for both fans of the genre and puzzle game aficionados alike.
Fire Emblem Engage's story might be shaky, but the tactics game excels in every other way.
Lone Ruin will test your patience, but let’s all be grateful the arcade action comes without the arcade cost. The “just one more try” gameplay benefits greatly from the snappy load screens and menus, even on the Nintendo Switch version, making it easier to recommend this brutally difficult and magical indie hit from Super Rare Games.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is great in a lot of ways. Even if it stays almost too close to the Mega Man X formula, it still utilizes it well. The visuals and music are definite highlights that put this game apart, but it also just feels satisfying to play. The ride is over all-too-soon, but I’m happy to have taken it. It was another good challenge and we cut up tons of machines, fascists, and fascist machines along the way. More than that, I’d love to see some speedruns of this game because it looks ripe for excellent players to learn and master. If you want a decent action platformer to kick 2023 off with, you can’t go wrong with Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider.
One Piece Odyssey is a wonderful trip down memory lane for fans of the series. The game’s original story is earnest and the endearing bond between the Straw Hat Pirates comes through loud and clear. The engaging combat system and a decent number of side quests don’t hurt either. Sure, new players might get overwhelmed by some of the rushed chapters in the midgame and the flow between chapters could be better, but it’s hard not to notice the amount of heart and soul that was poured into the game. More than just a fantastic anime-based video game, One Piece Odyssey is an impressive JRPG and already one of the best surprises this year.