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Perception was an opportunity. It was a real, genuine opportunity to do something remarkable with the horror genre, and join a couple of other experimental 'walking simulators' such as Layers of Fear, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture, and the recently-released The Town Of Light, in proving that the horror genre in video games can be cerebral, rather than visceral, but this one largely misses the mark.
The general ignorance of the west towards Japanese folk stories and philosophy mean that this is a game that a lot of people will scratch their heads over. This includes those that generally likes the games that Japanese creators make with the western market in mind. But I hope it's a game that others embrace as a stepping stone towards understanding a history and culture that too many are too eager to dismiss as "weird" or different.
Victor Vran is a cut-price Diablo clone that has a really delightful sense of humour, superb production values, and genuinely entertaining gameplay.
Neko Navy is a delightful little indie shmup, full of cute characters and oddball humour. It may lack the depth of some of its more established peers, but it's got plenty of challenge to offer nonetheless, while a smooth difficulty curve means newcomers aren't entirely left out in the dark. It's probably not going to go down as one of the shmup greats, but its quirky charm alone is enough to warrant a look.
Mages of Mystralia has a lot of heart, and was very easy for me to put aside the flaws that I encountered because working through the game was incredibly fun.
With the right crowd of people, AstroDuel is a neat distraction which remixes classic game mechanics into a frenetic party experience. It doesn't last long however, and once the initial novelty has worn off there's not much reason to return to this one.
Mighty Gunvolt Burst is a great example of a mixed game.
Players may feel like a change of pace, and driving headlong into traffic is always fun in video game land, but quite how the developers managed to make something like this so lacking in excitement is quite beyond me.
If you've somehow missed all the other Harvest Moon games on the 3DS, then you could get a real kick out of Skytree Village, but at this stage the only people in that position will be the people that either don't own a 3DS (and this game won't be enough to buy one for, that's for certain), or people who aren't interested in Harvest Moon in the first place, and this game won't turn them onto the series either
Empathy wants to be a narrative-first game, that much is clear. But the constant distractions, menial busywork, and tedious puzzles constantly distract from the pacing that's so critical to a story like this, and the end result is something that doesn't really work well as either a puzzle game or a narrative experience.
It might not have the charm of Harvest Moon, but there's a purity to the experience in Farming Simulator 18 that also means it avoids the irritants.
I cannot thank the developer enough for The Town of Light. Not only are we beginning to acknowledge the injustices our ancestors committed, we are exploring how to prevent it from happening again by telling these important stories instead of burying them.
If you come at Lethal League looking for a smart, well-designed, quirky, deep, creative fighting game that cuts right to the core of what makes the genre so exciting, you'll find it in spades.
It might look like Civilization on the surface, but once you realise it's actually a hybrid of card game, gamebook, RPG, and strategy game you'll be hard pressed to think of anything that you've played this year that's more fundamentally fascinating than this one. [OpenCritic note: Matt Sainsbury reviewed both the PS4 and PC versions. Their scores have been averaged.]
Conarium overall captures the mood of Lovecraft, if not the more extreme bizarreness present in his stranger stories. If you want a game that plays like a Lovecraft story, Conarium is probably the most accurate, accessible option available.
I can see people who enjoy the aesthetic and the intensity of the battles spending a lot of time in playing this one, and it will sit with Splatoon as Nintendo's quirky, creative, fundamentally different take on competitive gaming. I just don't think I'll ever play it again, having now wrapped up the review.
Chroma Squad is a fun little RPG that doesn't take itself too seriously and is happy to be silly nonsense. It's not the most lasting of games, and some glitches to wear the experience down, but I think Behold Studios could really turn a sequel into something special - and I hope they do!
I love this game. I really, truly love it. It's the realisation of a genuine fantasy, and, as I said at the start of the review, this is the kind of completely immersive experience that is exclusive to VR that makes for the most compelling argument for the technology.
It's an interactive metaphor for grief, and all those strange, complex emotions that all seem get balled into one when you're grieving. RiME is a beautiful game in so many ways, but this is what makes truly special.
Impact Winter is a beautiful and thoughtful game, and at least initially, it ticks all the boxes in terms of emotional delivery, narrative execution, and sheer atmospheric mastery. However, the mechanical flaws are an unfortunate counter to the ambition and care that has gone into the title.