Screen Rant
HomepageScreen Rant's Reviews
While players shouldn't go into Monorail Stories expecting a Telltale Games-level of branching storylines, it's a simple and charming title that despite its elements of conflict is an overall relaxing player experience. The replay aspect of the game ensures nothing ever feels too high stakes - if players make a mistake, they can simply readjust their approach the next time around. While the repeated playthrough element may not be for everyone, it's an interesting concept that's easy for players to jump into for short play sessions. Although sometimes repetitive, Monorail Stories tells a mostly engaging and charming story that seems to have a bright future ahead of it.
So far, it's looking good with FIFA 23.
As it stands, Dome Keeper is still left wanting for more content to flesh out its addictive gameplay concept. At the ten-hour mark, many players will have seen the breadth of its unlocks and will then decide if simply pumping more time into it for the love or leaderboard placement is worth it; a special “prestige” mode is specifically geared towards a risk/reward competitive score style. It’s hard not to simply want more weapons, base mods, and artifacts, even if the gameplay otherwise remains the same. With enough sales, maybe the game will come even more into its own, but Dome Keeper’s unusual mix of combat, time management, and resource-drilling is a magical combo.
Overall, Penko Park is a real joy. Although its simplicity may leave those after a more complex experience wanting more, it's an enjoyable photography game with a great setting. And above all else, its various creatures will keep players coming back for more.
Moonscars is an amalgamation of different ideas merged into one 2D Soulslike package, and while a few feel undercooked, the rest manage to tie everything together into an excellent action-RPG experience. The gorgeous visuals are also worth experiencing, as it's rare to see a gameplay pull off an art style as well as Moonscars. The dark world of the clayborne is a fascinating and deadly one, and like its clay protagonist, the player only gets stronger as each death reshapes them.
If players are looking for a sandbox game where they plan to solely focus on building, Hokko Life may be the answer. The customizable crafting elements of the game are strong, and players can even share their designs with other players online in the game's city center. However, if players are looking for a new life simulation experience, Hokko Life will likely not provide the depth or addicting fun they're looking for.
In the end, Shovel Knight Dig is more Shovel Knight. The basic gameplay and boss fights are the stars of the show, and they more than make up for the ways that the game struggles in its capacity as a roguelite. It’s got a healthy supply of that just-one-more-attempt magic, which should serve folks hankering for more shovel-swinging action just fine. The irony remains that Shovel Knight Dig is just not exceptionally deep.
With the presence of multiple pro skaters including Daewon Song and Samarria Brevard, as well as a semi-open world with legendary skate spots like Black Hubbus and FDR Park, Sessions: Skate Sim is a well-written love letter to the sport. While some may feel underwhelmed by the lack of customization and find the controls too difficult to adjust to, players that have a love of skating and are itching to dive into a new skateboarding title will eventually feel right at home.
At its core, Wylde Flowers is much more of a narrative-driven social simulation game than a game about farming and other such activities. The surface-level nature of some of the game's elements could be a problem were it not for the fact that Wylde Flowers absolutely excels at the story it's trying to tell utilizing a brilliant cast of characters. With Wylde Flowers, players get an eclectic game where they can brew potions and cast spells while somehow also enjoying a fairly grounded, small-town life alongside unique characters. While it may not be the most complex title on some fronts, Wylde Flowers succeeds at telling a bewitchingly beautiful story.
Readers may notice the lack of story details in this review, and it's for good reason. The risk of spoiling parts of the story is high because it takes twists and turns the moment it begins, and the best to experience this story is going in completely blind. Overall, Beacon Pines is a fantastic game with clever systems that enrich its characters, world, and masterful storytelling. With a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass, this is a must-play for fans of narrative-focused games and leaves one excited about what Hiding Spot Games will make next.
In the end, HYPER DEMON is a fabulous evolution over the core concept of Sorath's previous game, but it won't be for everyone. The high level of difficulty and demand for skillful play, in addition to the slightly higher price tag of $15 USD, will keep many players away. Others will balk at a game that has only one singular mode to work through, and no amount of leaderboards, interactive tutorials, or its meaty replay and clip feature are likely to make much of a difference. But for HYPER DEMON's target audience, there's really nothing else out there that scratches the same itch, and it's balanced with every bit of the innovation, artistry, and design - to say nothing of the knife-edge precision - that made Devil Daggers such an underrated classic.
Thankfully, abilities and weapons like these become accessible in the mid-game and make later combat encounters much more manageable. Even then, Soulstice manages to maintain a good balance overall and while some hits may feel unfair, no fight ever ends that way. They all feel satisfying and exciting in a way that motivates the player to continue towards the next one. The moments of exploration between fights also encourages players to take in the stunning art design of the world and Briar's armor and weaponry, which look like they're lifted straight from the pages of Berserk; but this only scratches the surface of Soulstice. This is a challenging, beautiful, and engrossing game with a ton to offer and shouldn't be passed over.
The only real issue with Trails From Zero is one that most other games in the series have, too - sometimes, exposition dumps can feel a bit tedious and some scenes overstay their welcome. Even with a story and characters as great as these, some parts just feel longer than they should be. Regardless, The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero is fantastic and continues Trails' trend of setting the bar incredibly high for character-driven narratives. It's also a wonderful feeling to finally have the Crossbell arc localized, but it was worth the wait.
Another potential hurdle for Akane is that it takes place in a single square level and requires players to defeat the same enemies ad infinitum, which runs the risk of getting stale. Thankfully it's an intriguing gameplay experience, so players may not play it for long sittings but the desire to jump back in later is strong. One impression that came up time and again while playing is that this game would be perfect for mobile, with its limited setting, simple controls, and "jump in and play" mentality. While Akane is unfortunately not available on mobile platforms, it's made a solid transition to consoles and is well worth picking up.
However, despite these frustrations players will likely still find themselves returning to Potion Permit for hours at a time - it's incredibly easy to get in a "just one more day" loop despite some of the game's duller moments, because the puzzling and progression elements like improving as a chemist, forging friendships, and upgrading the clinic are so satisfying. At its core, Potion Permit is a unique and cozy indie game that clearly has a large amount of effort and ambition behind it, which helps it overcome some - but not all - of its flaws. For players looking to sink dozens of hours into a different style of simulation title, brewing up a life in Potion Permit may be just what the doctor ordered.
Overall, Wayward Strand is an interesting game that explores humanity in a way that few games have, while its time limit to each day means choosing who to spend time with has an added importance. Technical issues hold the game back, alongside a lack of dialogue depth as the weekend rolls on. However, overall this is still an engaging game for players who want a more cerebral title.
As a hybrid game concept, both sides of the Sunday Gold experience don’t always feel fully fleshed out, and it’s better to look at the game as an experimental piece with a terrific aesthetic. Specific puzzles or moments absolutely stood out and felt like premium adventuring, with the turn-based combat pulling the shorter straw. For anyone waiting for a lovely point-and-click adventure that experiments with the genre and never wears out its welcome, Sunday Gold is absolutely worth a look.
Like 2009's Brütal Legend, Metal: Hellsinger is a love letter to heavy metal gamers rather than a game being made to pander to a demographic. Hellsinger is a lot of fun for any casual FPS player with even a vague interest in metal music. Even though the game feels on the short side, The Outsiders have achieved a beautiful hybrid of sound design and fun FPS gameplay that will hopefully inspire more combat rhythm games in the future. The music will get stuck in the player's head, and the levels are more than fun enough to warrant replaying.
Isonzo’s gameplay mechanics are simple and easy to pick up, despite the game lacking any real tutorial other than a quick and very easy-to-miss instruction video that plays before the player’s first match. On the other hand, the combat itself is brutal and unrelenting, meaning that would-be soldiers looking to dive into Isonzo’s historical battlefield will have to face constant deaths and reloads while touring through BlackMill Games’ latest history-based shooter.
The main critique that can be thrown at Justice Sucks is that the abilities are easily forgotten about while playing. Enemies move at a variety of different speeds and so much of the time spent in each encounter consists of figuring out which traps will do maximum damage and how to get the most enemies in those traps as possible. This doesn't detract from the fun in any way, but there's no need for anything other than the Dusty's best passive abilities since each level is filled with everything players need to deal damage. There's plenty more to be said about this game, such as its killer soundtrack and heart-warming story, but the most important takeaway is that Justice Sucks is simply so much fun to play.