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Guardians of the Galaxy isn't going to set the world on fire but it is a lot of fun. If you love the characters, have a thing for 80's music, and want something that won't take you a weekend to finish, then I think you will have a good time with this.
Horizon: Forbidden West is undoubtedly a beautiful game, with expanded lore and a pretty good story (minus a disappointing sequel-baiting third act.) The platforming is still terrible though, some of the design choices are questionable and Aloy’s constant chatter is borderline game-breaking. Having said that, there’s been a good deal of improvement and care put into fighting machines – which is still this game’s biggest draw. There’s nothing quite like the adrenaline-soaked fights with the larger behemoths in this world. Forbidden West is not perfect but this is a solid sequel to one of the better open worlds in recent times.
There’s a whole bunch of Easter eggs here, not to mention an expansive world brimming with secrets and plenty of busywork to keep you playing long after the main quest has finished. The combat is pretty fun, especially late on when you can mix and match spells, and you can tell a lot of care and attention has been putting into this. Hogwarts Legacy isn’t the best open world game on the market but it is a surprisingly polished experience and the perfect thrill-ride for Potter fans.
Octopath Traveler II manages to bring everything together in the end, and the 50+ hours you’ll spend getting through the main missions certainly won’t feel wasted. Whether this will be crowned best RPG at year’s end is debatable, but it’s a damn good game all the same and well worth playing.
Nearly 20 years after its original release, Resident Evil 4 is still as much fun to play through as it was in 2005. The game offers an astounding experience from beginning to end.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and when it comes to Lies of P, this game pays homage to Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls beautifully. It’s not going to win any contests for originality, but the original content here is certainly worth of remembrance. The puppet aesthetic is excellent, the story engaging, and the sheer amount of customization, alongside some memorable boss fights, makes this one of the best Souls-like games outside FromSoft’s catalogue.
Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown is a great Metroidvania. It’s very easy to get addicted to exploring every nook and cranny of this world, and it helps that the visuals are gorgeously rendered too. It’s certainly no Hollow Knight or Castlevania, but Lost Crown is a solid, highly enjoyable game with a harmonious balance of combat, puzzles and exploration.
Superliminal is a game that values quality over quantity and is all the stronger for it. With simple, inventive mechanics and an involving play-time between 2-4 hours, Pillow Games have produced a wonderful little puzzle game here.
Amidst the ongoing PR fiasco of Fallout 76 and Bioware's disastrous looter-shooter Anthem, The Outer Worlds could not have dropped at a more opportune time. Acting as the spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds is a reasonably polished, refreshing roleplaying title that puts story and dialogue at its forefront in favour of robust gameplay and mechanics. It's a timely reminder of how good these RPGs can be when you focus on creating a good game rather than a polished monetised model and the result is something that immediately feels familiar and enjoyable to anyone who's played Obsidian's previous games.
Blending the best elements of Final Fantasy, anime and Pokemon, Ni No Kuni’s arrival on the PlayStation 3 was met with critical acclaim when it dropped back in 2011. The game was certainly not without its issues though but this 50+ hour adventure was well written, well paced and incredibly fun to play. Returning to the current generation of consoles, Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch adds updated graphics and a smoother frame-rate but gameplay-wise remains the exact same game that launched all those years ago.
These things aside, as an authentic Devil May Cry experience, DMC 5 absolutely nails it. The fighting is smooth, the graphics stunning and there’s a slick fluidity to the action that makes it a highly refined hack’n’slash and one of the better ones released in this genre for quite some time. Even if you’re not a fan of Devil May Cry, there’s enough here to enjoy and it’s absolutely a title I’d recommend checking out.
Despite its short length, Donut County is a brilliantly polished, refined little Indie game. Its premise is simple, well executed and incredibly addictive. There's something profoundly satisfying with dropping items into a hole, and seeing this expand and grow offers up a really satisfying feeling of progression. Donut County is quite simply a really well put together game and one of 2018's biggest surprises - even if it is a little short.
Book Of Demons is an action hack’n’slash RPG that gets almost everything right. Inspired by the original Diablo, Indie company Thing Trunk have put together the perfect love letter to that game, mixing a range of challenging enemies to boot with a well-implemented card deck system. Unfortunately, the game is let down by some clunky gameplay and an awkwardly convoluted UI that’ll likely make or break the experience for you.
SuperEpic: The Entertainment War may not be the best Metroidvania-style game, but it is the first I’ve played that manages to turn the topic of microtransactions into a positive gameplay mechanic. When it comes down to it, SuperEpic is a satirical, surprisingly balanced 16-bit platformer that juggles its simplistic premise with enough visual flair and charm to make it well worth the cost to play. While the actual gameplay loop remains unchanged through much of the play-time, the changing aesthetic and added enemy variety is a welcome sign and a clear conscious effort to inject the game with some excitement to prevent it stagnating.
If you’re a fan of Where’s Wally and other books where you have to scan the pages meticulously to find hidden items, Hidden Through Time is essentially the video game equivalent of this. It’s such an ingeniously developed game and this simplicity makes it the perfect Indie to sit back and relax with. It’s a great coffee break game to play between big blockbusters and one that certainly has a lot of scope to expand in the future.
Roki is a wonderfully imaginative point and click adventure game. While it doesn’t do anything particularly outstanding that hasn’t been seen before in this genre, it is a tightly written, enjoyable title nonetheless.
There are plenty of jump scares to be had and a good, varied number of interesting interactions to be made, but the question I always find myself going back to is “but does it surpass Until Dawn?” and the answer to that is no. However, it succeeds in delivering yet another chilling experience that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish and remains to be an absolute pleasure to play.
In a year that’s already brought us some stunning platforming titles, Astro’s Playroom feels like another well-oiled cog in a larger, towering machine. The nostalgia is enough to carry this one though and as someone who’s grown up with gaming since the early Amiga days right the way through to Sony’s 5 different PlayStation consoles, Astro’s Playroom is an incredibly fun, beautiful trip down memory lane.
Alex Chen’s journey is a good one and the five chapters provide a concise, slick story that gets the job done without much fuss. Unfortunately this also exemplifies how often certain areas are reused and the relatively simple choices given to players. Thankfully, True Colors dazzles its flaws with a vibrant, enjoyable adventure that’s well worth checking out
This is a solid, well-written entry in the Dark Pictures Anthology, typified by excellent characterization for Jason and Salim. It may not be the best game of the year, but like an old acquaintance who drops by around the holidays, this is a welcome distraction and a fun way to pass some time.