WayTooManyGames
HomepageWayTooManyGames's Reviews
KARMA: The Dark World delivers a mind-bending, unsettling, and utterly heartbreaking experience, the likes of which are rarely seen in the realm of walking sims. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. With a runtime of about six hours, it’s perfect for one or two sessions to see everything it has to offer. With a narrative full of twists, compelling mysteries, and a host of well fleshed-out, complex characters, KARMA: The Dark World will have you hooked until the final screen and pondering it long after it’s over.
I think I really enjoyed Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade because I didn’t spend a lot of time chasing the next Hades clone after the success of the progenitor. There have been attempts, but I missed them, and I didn’t get into the sequel early access yet. So something that reminds me that isometric, fast paced, incrementally improving titles are fun as hell is important, and Yasha hits those notes with aplomb.
Ignoring one or two slightly dated titles, plus a truly terrible one, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 goes to show that no one is doing arcade gaming preservation as well as Capcom right now. Just the inclusion of Capcom vs. SNK 2 by itself, in such a pristine, rollback-supported stated, is enough of a reason for you to purchase it, but add in games like two Power Stones and the best version of the best Street Fighter, and what you have here is more than a lot of bang for your buck. What we have here is an infinitely enjoyable collection of fighting works of art.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy is a good pickup for those who are curious as to what all the fuss is about the franchise and how S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 came to be after being so long in development. These are the foundation upon what development outside the Japan-USA norm was built upon, and if it weren’t for the efforts of GSC Game World and a handful of other similar studios like CD Projekt Red, you would not be seeing videogames as they are today. Yeah, the games in this collection can be hard to approach and often don’t seem like they want you to be playing them, but the effort is worth it and there’s plenty of value to dig out for sure.
Skin Deep is a one-of-a-kind experience. It’s an immeowsive-sim game that doesn’t take itself seriously at all, leading to a unique and exciting stealth adventure. The responsive system drives the game, giving you a ton of flexibility in otherwise limiting scenarios, which leads to some hilarious shenanigans. Also, cats!
Overall, Care Bears: Unlock the Magic is a neat little game if the purpose is to introduce a very young audience, or non-gamers, to the world of multiplayer minigames, as the ones seen in Mario Party. If you are even just vaguely adept at gaming, you will likely want to fall asleep after a little bit, but let me reiterate: you are not the audience this game was made for. It is a great way to encourage those around you to play games with you, but you might want to push them onto other games pretty quickly after that.
If it wasn’t for the excessive emphasis on a story I simply couldn’t care about, Doom: The Dark Ages would have easily, without a shadow of a Cacodemon-shredding doubt, been my favorite title in the modern Doom games. It perfected combat and exploration in ways I never thought would ever be able. By ditching platforming puzzles in favor of just letting you rip like a madman onto dozens of demons at a time, iD Software managed to create something truly spectacular.
It’s great for developers to try a new idea, and for a New Zealand dev to move to Japan, get inspired by the world and craft an original game in a unique setting is a feat, and kudos for that. Labyrinth of the Demon King is going to be fun for the right crowd who enjoy getting brutalized by things beyond their control and hoping for the best in what felt like an arbitrary generation of items and consumables. For me, though, this was a disappointing, frustrating and honestly exhausting waste of my time. Have fun storming the castle, I’m going back to bed.
I just wasn’t amused. Grandma No! goes for cheap humor, almost expecting further comment and dialogue from a Twitch streamer showcasing it to their followers. It’s short, uninteresting, and somewhat devoid of replayability. I’m not saying you can’t laugh a bit with some of its sections (I certainly did, like twice), but there are better comedic and slapstick-focused titles out there. It’s just a forgettable novelty.
I wanted to like Post Trauma more than I did. A survival horror game that emphasises exploration and puzzle solving in a desolate world sounds like it should have been a good time. However, a weak plot and lacklustre combat make Post Trauma an uneven game that would be tough to recommend if it weren’t for its incredibly reasonable asking price. Though you could also always wait for a midyear sale if you want to…
All in all, you will only have a crack with this game if it’s literally the only kart racer at your disposal. And I highly doubt that will ever happen to literally anyone out there.
I cannot stress enough just how much I enjoy Spirit of the North 2. It takes the all the strongest elements of the first game and builds upon them, while simultaneously eliminating the aspects that didn’t work as well before. It’s not without its share of flaws, but those are easily overlooked in favor the remarkable, wondrous adventure that lies before you.
I really tried to enjoy my time with Memoriapolis, especially with how good-looking it is, but constant soft locking scenarios and a lack of map variety resulted in me losing my interest with it fairly quickly. It’s out of Early Access now, so I truly expected it to have just a bit more content, maybe some randomly generated maps, and a less punishing lack of resources.
I have to commend the development team at Foreign Gnomes for coming up with a sequel to such a unique game like Everhood, without making it feel like more of the same. In some regards, sure, Everhood 2 retains what made the original so fun and weird, whilst trying to be a bit more action-focused and a bit more combat-oriented.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero was made because NIS said a survey of fans demanded these characters return for another installment, so I have to believe that someone is emphatically excited about this title. And there is a lot to see and do: randomly generated maps, tons of equipment to find and buy, customization through skills learned and taught, and generally fun combat that requires little higher brain power.
I guess that what made me feel so disappointed about Shotgun Cop Man was the fact that I had just played a vastly superior game with the same gimmick, but no control issues whatsoever. In Sacre Bleu, I could perform small jumps before blasting myself with the recoil of my bunderbluss. Combat was fun there. It wasn’t here. Shotgun Cop Man ended up being a torturous patience test, with a control scheme that just didn’t fit in with the level design, really poor presentation, and a level of difficulty that never felt like I was being tested; I felt I was being made fun of.
I lost my mind with 13 Sentinels back in the day, and my time with The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy was similar. It’s clever, engrossing, and it breaks up the reading with the right level of engagement and action.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is truly something special, combining some fantastic turn-based combat and RPG progression with a heartfelt and well-told story about dealing with loss and paving the way for the future. It’s one of the finest RPGs in years and will likely be remembered for years to come.
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.