TheGamer's Reviews
I’m old enough to have grown up with unforgiving games, and so I can appreciate a project that goes against the grain at the risk of alienating modern audiences. Even coming in as a genre appreciator, I felt alienated by Shadow Labyrinth.
Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact might not be a looker and would be laughed out the door for more lore-focused anime games, but it manages to just about come around as soon as you sit down to play it.
Despite the pervasive perversion from Kaname Date himself, the puzzles were fun and the story was wild enough to get me to forgive and forget in the name of a killer visual novel.
Donkey Kong Bananza is a fantastic platformer with a lot of ideas hidden inside of its barrels, but falls short of the perfection it aims for by playing a little safe.
Mecha Break is kind of like a beautiful 8oz filet mignon from the fanciest restaurant in town, with a thick layer of Heinz ketchup splattered on top. Sure, you can scrape off the ketchup and still enjoy the steak, but it would be a lot better if the ketchup just wasn’t there at all.
Whether I stick with it because the narrative and gameplay steal my attention (and my heart), or whether I bounce off because I get too frustrated by monetisation roadblocks remains to be seen. But, for the time being, I’m a fan of The Phantom X.
All in all, Nightdive has done right by System Shock 2, and with this remaster, the next generation of players can enjoy this classic with all of the bells and whistles of a modern release: It's a net good for gaming, and, as a result, something worth doing.
It’s about human connection, losing loved ones, and stepping out into the wild regardless of the horrors that may await. Learning to go on that journey and accept a willingness to grow is half the battle, and after reaching the end of this ordeal, you’ll never be the same again. Keep on keeping on.
Its compelling early story beats can’t save it from its repetitive battle system and lack of meaningful connections, and I came away from my experience feeling like this was a rare miss for a company that is usually so consistent. It’s certainly a weird choice for a remaster.
Lies of P: Overture is just an extension of an already terrific game, and that’s great. It’s almost nostalgic, reminding me of a decade ago when DLC was the norm, and not every game was bombarded with monthly updates or roadmaps. It’s a great expansion that attempts to give Lies of P its own identity, and while it doesn’t really improve or build upon the features that you’ve grown used to over the course of dozens of hours trawling the streets of Krat, it didn’t need to. I’m more than happy with a second helping of Lies of P.
It never quite shakes off the feeling of being a budget Hades; it’s, at the very least, a fine way to kill a few hours, even if you forget about it immediately after.
Firebreak is neat, but it will only take a night or two to see everything it has to offer. There’s not quite enough here to justify the cost, especially when my other games have limited-time events, and I’d just so hate to miss out.
The first couple of runs of Battle Train feel magical, until you realize that’s pretty much it, and the rest of the game is just a lousy version of Archer and a lot of trips down the same old tracks.
From the masterful writing depicting earnest and meaningful character stories, to the organic design and dating mechanics, and a legendary voice cast to top it all off, Date Everything succeeds in creating a delightful experience that showcases an immense amount of love for video games and the stories and characters they are capable of giving us.
Many games feel like they mirror film and television in the stories they tell and the cinematography they present, but The Alters feels like a best-selling sci-fi novel. The intricacies, branching storylines, decisions that actually matter, and world-building that makes you feel at home on a planet millions of light years away is a terrific accomplishment. This is the story of a singular man I cannot recommend enough. And who knows, perhaps along the way you might even learn something about yourself.
It's mildly amusing to rattle Joy-Con like maracas, but a Nintendo table setter should strive to be better than 'mildly amusing'. And that's the strangest part here - Nintendo has not failed with Welcome Tour. It has succeeded in its ambitions. But if the Switch 2 is to match its predecessor, those ambitions had better grow, and quickly.
World is more playful, more unpredictable, and more willing to give players all the toys they need to have fun and put the pedal to the metal. Even days after launch as the only proper exclusive title for Nintendo Switch 2, there is a foundation here I cannot wait to see iterated upon.
Siege X is a bold, uneven evolution that both honors and undercuts what made Rainbow Six special in the first place. It’s more polished and more ambitious, but also less focused, less grounded, and occasionally less fun. Whether you love it or hate it will depend entirely on what you want from Siege in its tenth year.
But when your biggest complaint about a game is that it left you wanting more, you know it’s something special. Like this year’s Expedition 33, Tactical Takedown overcomes the most common complaints about turn-based games to deliver a strategically action-packed experience. This is an excellent showcase of what makes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so beloved, and as a fan, I’m so happy to see the turtles finally get the kinds of games they deserve.
It’s a gorgeous pixel-art game that liberally borrows from Diablo in all the right ways, and as a big fan of both ARPGs and roguelikes, Dragon is Dead was a refreshing mash-up of both that ends up being greater than the sum of its parts. It doesn't quite hold up into the end game, but by that point I’d had so much fun cosplaying as a certain Norse deity that I found it hard to complain.