But Why Tho?
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Despite some annoying glitches, Little Nightmares 2 is a game any horror fan should play. The controls are simplistic, but the puzzles and enemies provide plenty of challenge. While still charming, the horror feels darker, and the themes will have you thinking for a long time after you finish the game. While you won’t need to play the first game to understand the events of Little Nightmares 2, any fan of the series will have fun piecing together how these two games connect.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood had a lot of potential. The World of Darkness universe is clearly full of interesting lore, creatures and characters, so it’s a shame that the game drops the ball so hard. While some players may find some surface-level enjoyment in the game’s stealth and combat, the lack of depth or player growth makes them feel old fast. Even if you are a World of Darkness superfan, it’s probably best to skip Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, at least until it’s heavily discounted.
Nioh 2: Complete Edition offers an absurd amount of content. With dozens of hours of story-driven content, a solid three-player multiplayer mode, and multiple new difficulties for new game+ playthroughs, there’s a lot of great content to play through, even if you do not want to touch the grindy end game known as the underworld. The story can be largely ignored, but the core gameplay and the complexity of the mechanics are satisfying to master make Nioh 2: Complete Edition a great option for any fan of the genre.
As Yacht Club Games’s first non-Shovel Knight IP, and as a work of individual love and passion developed over many, many years, there has been a ton of hype around Cyber Shadow among lovers of indie platformers. Cyber Shadow does not disappoint. While its simplicity compared to another recent Ninja Gaiden-inspired game may leave you wanting a tad more, the game as it is is challenging, creative, and absolutely a blast to play.
Overall, The Medium is a great game, when it comes to the actual nuts and bolts the game is superb. It’s scary, it’s visceral, and it showcases how Bloober Team understands horror and how to execute concepts unrestricted by location. That said, its story is less than stellar, but at 8-10 hours of gameplay, with its fantastic cinematics, it’s a hurdle you can get over.
Overall, Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy delivers an exciting adventure JRPG game full of more action and adventure than the previous game. It brings back a majority of the original gameplay, making it accessible for newcomers and longtime fans of the game. In addition to bringing back a lot of the original gameplay, Atelier Ryza 2 also introduces new features that open up more movements and actions in the game that adds to the adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed this game so much and could play it for hours on end. And for $59.99, it’s reasonably priced for the quality of the game you get.
The Unexpected Quest was unexpectedly charming and quite fun to play. Its toybox feel and unique blend of resource management, adventure, and puzzle-solving elements made my time with the game quite fun and enjoyable to look at.
When all is said and done, Hitman 3 has a few hiccups, but it’s a stunning finale to the series and a fantastic game to play even if you haven’t played the ones before it. The way the writing of the game lays out past events helps ensure that even if you didn’t beat the last two in the franchise, you’re up to speed with the story so far. Throw in the added elements to get you playing missions multiple times and the more expansive online elements I have not mentioned here and you have a game worthy to pick up on launch day.
While I have been rather harsh on a many aspects of Rhythm Fighter, overall, I enjoy the game thoroughly and recommend it to enjoyers of rhythm games and roguelikes alike. It’s a creative blending of the game types that isn’t overly complicated in its mechanics despite a steep learning curve for its controls.
I really enjoyed playing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition. A lot of my excitement for the game came from nostalgia, but playing it ultimately increased the appreciation I had for the original game. With most of the mechanics still the same, it wasn’t too difficult to pick up the game and get used to the controls. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game offers non-stop action with a story that new and old fans will have fun playing.
Overall, Iris.Fall is a phenomenal game. It’s gorgeous, emotive, and not exhaustively long. It’s an immersive game that aims to blend a somber tone with an innovative design. While there are some tedious moments and less than ideal elements that don’t map to controllers well over a mouse, this isn’t enough to make it a game to pass on. Having found success on PC, I’m excited for fans of the genre to play Iris.Fall on their consoles. For the beautiful world and score alone, this is one game that I want more of.
Super Meat Boy Forever is a fun and just-challenging-enough platformer with endless replayability and lots of polish.
Calico is nothing grand or over the top, but that’s the point. This small, quaint game is filled with lovely people and adorable animals for you to pet, collect, and ride as you resolve simple tasks and sell cute pastries in a beautiful little world.
Space Invaders Forever is a nice celebration of the franchise. Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders are both quite fun and could make for great occupation on a long trip or while trying to kill time. They’re quite replayable and offer challenges in a tight package. Space Invaders Gigamax 4 SE is hardly even worth a glance though, and makes the $30.00 price tag a bit hard to justify.
Overall, the Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack expands on the lacking water dimension of the game. The addition of the seals and penguins along with finally pre-made waterfalls are the shining parts of this DLC. The time-challenge will be good for players that are already a fan of them but can lead to issues if they are missing prior DLC. The Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack was also released with a free content update (Update 1.4) that is available to all players. This brought some new features that really help players and additional content along with some improvements.
Cyberpunk 2077 offers players an interesting world to explore, great storytelling, and loveable and deep characters. But the main story is light on cyberpunk themes, and the bugs and bad graphics really hinder the playability. Once the technical bugs are hammered out, Cyberpunk 2077 will be a game I would recommend.
When all is said and done, John Wick Hex delivers an interesting experience that provides a unique, and brutally difficult time. If you are looking for that brutal difficulty to bang your head against, this game might be for you. For anyone else, however, I think this one will be a hard pass.
Evolution is an exciting and unique board game with a little bit of everything when it comes to playing solo and competing with others near and far. It’s a great game to add to your library if you’re missing that connection that board games bring when we’re all together.
Per Aspera is a unique planetary simulation game that brings a narrative, exploration, and even combat to the genre. There is plenty to do with tons to build in Per Aspera as you get to experience terraforming and colonizing Mars that is based on real-life science. I really enjoyed this game and think there is plenty of potential for this game as it continues its life cycle and things are only going to get better.
When all is said and done, what sells Haven is its characters. If a deep rich character-driven narrative that centers around two exceptionally realized characters is something you believe is worth a few gameplay hiccups to experience then this game is worth every second of your time. It’s characters deliver in every way I could ask for. Crafting a tale that was the most emotionally impactful gaming experience I’ve had since I played Sea of Solitude last year. And to put a little perspective here, that was my game of the year last year. And while its gameplay shortcomings keep it from quite reaching that level of gaming perfection, its story is as close to perfect as I could ask for.