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I had a fun time with Captain Blood even if it’s clearly dated. For a forgotten game that should have been released back during the end of the Bush administration, the idea still feels fresh to this day. A pirate-themed God of War clone was appealing back then, and still is now. Just bear in mind the quality of life enhancements you’d expect from the 2020s aren’t featured in this game, and that it wouldn’t have even been a masterpiece for its intended generation of consoles.
My summarised answer as to whether or not you should pick up Haste is: “yeah, duh”. Do it right away. It stands out from a sea of generic roguelites by being completely focused on just a few core concepts, namely momentum, speed, and platforming. Thankfully, Haste delivers in all of these aspects, so what we have here is an incredibly charming game that is easy to pick up, hard to master, and even harder for you to stop playing.
The return to the Savage Planet was a long road, but it’s been worth it. Becoming more of a collectathon and metroidvania than the first game was a great choice, making the game a bit more focused on what your goal is. While you can just push the main story missions, much like any game, it’s way too easy to get distracted and just lose yourself jumping around on mushrooms to get to higher ground to find another goo-egg to increase your health, or to find a new piece of clothing to wear so you can look like a raccoon. The perfect change for a game of this style.
Honestly, I’m really disappointed that The Wickie: Journey of a Lighthouse Keeper wasn’t released more fully developed. I love the concept of being dropped into a strange world with no exposition dumps, and only your exploration and puzzle solving skills being able to guide you through and make sense of things. I’d love to revisit this game someday when it’s in a more playable state, but as of now it’s more of a frustration than a challenge.
I think this is the best way to sum up KIBORG: a neat premise that just ended up feeling like a mixed bag. For every admittedly interesting aspect, such as its visuals, ultraviolence and combat, there’s something else that brings it down a handful of notches, such as the awful voice acting, difficulty spikes, and bugs.
Despelote is not awful… it’s just very confusing. I appreciate the interesting premise and presentation, but it’s just somewhat devoid of elements that make it a proper “game”. Even the football-related gameplay (or what little of it is present) feels clunky and shallow. I also think the story could have been more focused on the innocence and lack of urgency in the life of a child – it would have made it a lot more relatable.
I still fail to understand the idea behind dropping these terrible Neptunia spinoffs every six months or so. Is this Idea Factory’s plan to keep the franchise under the spotlight at all times? Because I don’t think we are constantly being reminded of them for the good reasons. Neptunia Riders Vs. Dogoos is yet another example of an unfunny, uninteresting, short and lazy spinoff that relies way too much on fanservice to mask how shallow it really is. I don’t get who this is for, and I really struggled to have any kind of fun with it.
It’s honestly a good time, and twinstick enthusiasts will find something to love with the smoothness of control and the ramping difficulty of the stages. You’re not going to necessarily keep dipping back in once the bag is empty, but you will be satisfied. It’s a good snack.
Both Lunar and Lunar 2 are utterly adorable JRPGs with lovable characters and great plots you can’t help but want to experience as much as possible. To have them available in an accessible and polished remastered package is more than just a lot of bang for you buck, but also a great way to preserve two cult hits from the 90s, finally making them easily accessible to a wider audience. It’s a good thing they are charming as hell, as their gameplay is grindy and dated. If you can put up with the clichés and limitations of old-school JRPGs, then Lunar Remastered Collection is a very easy recommendation.
It is still janky, occasionally ugly, and featuring some inexcusable bugs, but the core game is so good, so damn immersive and entertaining, you will keep on playing it for hours on end. It’s an updated and (ever so slightly) improved way to experience a classic RPG that doesn’t feel like it’s already 19 years old. Grab an axe, improve your charisma stats, completely ignore the plot and the urgency behind the main critical path, and immerse yourself in the land of Cyrodiil.
Even if you aren’t a fan of roguelikes, Blue Prince feels much more like an elaborate puzzle box. There’s a satisfying feeling in making it further than you did before, finding clues to a puzzle, then stumbling onto another piece of that puzzle a few runs later. Blue Prince is certainly one of the most interesting games of this year. It takes a fairly novel concept in a roguelike puzzle game, adding elements of deckbuilding and base crafting. It all comes together for a gameplay experience unlike anything else out there today.
Steel Seed has everything that I love: explosive set pieces, stealth-focused gameplay and souls-like combat. Unfortunately, none of these elements work together here. Each part felt undercooked for an experience that I cannot recommend to anyone. Despite this, there’s a lot of potential there for something greater, and I hope we get to see a more focused game next.
Sacre Bleu is a silly but lighthearted adventure with some inventive platforming and level design. I loved how the game managed to progressively teach me all of its mechanics through some organic difficulty growth, and also gave me reasons to replay each level by adding little secrets and unlockables here and there. It’s just occasionally hampered by some less than spectacular combat sections, but the puzzle-solving more than makes up for it. At the end of the day, even if it’s not spectacular, it’s a pretty fun game, of très bonne qualité.
The Last of Us Part II: Remastered is a beautiful mess. An ambitious title that had all the right ingredients, but didn’t always pan out the way it should. The excellent survival action gameplay that showcases humanity’s brutality is often let down by a story that is trying too much and has poor pacing. Thankfully, Part II’s debut on PC improves on the last game, making it the best place to play, even with its imperfections.
There’s quite a bit of content, and the gameplay itself is sound enough, but City of Wolves felt less like Fatal Fury and more like a smaller The King of Fighters outing with a different (and by that, I mean smaller) roster. Speaking of roster, the baffling celebrity inclusions didn’t feel entertaining, they felt like a desperate and distraction attempt to draw attention. If I had to choose, I’d certainly suggest picking up KoF XV or even KoF XIV instead; even if City of Wolves is fully functional, with great rollback netcode and decent controls, I feel like SNK’s other outings felt more cohesive and entertaining in comparison.
It’s not a perfect title, but it’s wonderfully memorable, and I highly encourage anyone and everyone to take a chance on Star Overdrive. The beauty is simple, in the end: Bios and Nous are one, and that drives their entire future to the stars and beyond.
Not every sequel is going to outstrip its predecessor, but it’s so bizarre and self-sabotaging to implement choices that defy what made the previous game work. Grim Guardians, for better or worse, married the twin protagonists and swapped necessity with a solid storyline and a well-built gameworld. Comparatively, Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark seems to have sacrificed something that wasn’t broken to begin with in order to add…nothing.
It’s a funny little puzzler with a very creative and innovative gameplay loop. When it works, it works oh so well. It’s just way too punishing and demotivating due to its lack of either a rewind function or some kind of mid-level checkpoint. If this could be added later down the line in an update, then ignore my complaints and pick it up right away. As for now, just be aware of some harsh consequences for your mistakes; if that’s something you can deal with, then go for it and give this little indie title a go.
Bionic Bay features some of the best and most creative platforming I’ve experienced in a good while, coupled with some fantastic graphics, and most importantly, really tight controls. I was really impressed by the level design, the puzzles being thrown at me, and the fact I very rarely complained about a roadblock being way too difficult to solve – the game never felt overly easy, but rarely, if ever, made me want to ragequit.
Again, it’s not that #Drive Rally is a bad game; it’s just yet another arcadey rally game. What disappointed me the most was the fact that the original #Drive felt unique enough back then. Removing the auto runner aspects from the game, and just making it feel like yet another indie racer inspired by Sega Rally just made it look like everybody else.