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With the right execution, Wanted Dead could have found a ready-made audience for its old-fashioned approach. But what the developers of Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood and particularly Evil West did so well, Soleil has done very badly. A game built so totally on combat simply cannot afford to have combat which is implemented in such a tiresome, frustrating way. Wanted Dead is a confusing, disappointing miss which will likely fall far below the quality of forthcoming action games in 2023.
If you haven’t experienced Metroid Prime before, my friend, do yourself a favor and get started with this at your earliest convenience. You’re in for a treat. It’s a cliché because it’s true: there’s no better way to get into it than now, with the remaster. Metroid Prime Remastered makes one of the best games ever, which was previously somewhat expensive to obtain, readily available on the Switch for a fraction of the price that’s very much worth it regardless of the level of experience you might have with the original game.
The ease with which A Space for the Unbound can bounce between tonal shifts – the goofy and sincere, the difficult and moving, the supernatural and the grounded – without feeling at odds with itself speaks to the strength of both the story and the writing as a whole. It’s a carefully crafted game, one that succeeds at almost every turn, spinning a deeply moving and touching story all the while. After last year’s cavalcade of strong stories in games, with any luck, A Space for the Unbound will herald another coming of incredible stories in games this year.
It will take awhile to complete the main story, acquire the best cards, solve all the mysteries surrounding The Abbey, hunt down all the collectibles, unlock all the outfits, and increase your friendship with all the various heroes. You may well find yourself burning the midnight oil or watching the daylight slowly disappear as you hunt down the minions of Chthon. Like a flickering candle, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a bright spot among strategy games, yet it is also a slow burn that will melt the hours away.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider certainly isn’t the most unique or downright original game that ever was. But it’s just so well conceived and fun to play that it would be a crime for you not to give it a go. It’s readily available on just about every single modern platform, so I would urge you to give it a shot. It’s also not terribly long – if you know what you’re doing, you can finish it in a couple of hours leisurely, so it’s a fantastic pick up and play in short bursts. I had my eye on this game ever since it was announced and I’m overjoyed it turned out so well.
With elements of Pokemon, The 7th Saga, Super Mario Bros and even a little Dark Souls thrown in for good measure, Dragon Quest Treasures is an island hopping, booty finding good time.
It seems clear that Need for Speed is in safe hands now that it has been passed back to Criterion Games. The British studio has taken what Ghost Games achieved with Heat, and improved on it in numerous ways. The refined handling model and tighter economy make for some of the most tense and exciting racing around, and it helps that the game is rock-solid on the technical side. Need for Speed Unbound is a surprisingly excellent racer, and one which will hopefully continue to improve in the months to come.
Chained Echoes is a must-play both for fans of old school JRPGs as well as story-centric role-playing games.
River City Girls 2 is an awesome way to close out 2022, which has been a very good year for beat ’em up games. Alongside June’s brilliant Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, this is proof that the genre still has plenty of punch left when dedicated and passionate developers such as DotEmu and WayForward have any say in regards to the matter. If you have even an inkling of enjoying brawlers, you’ll definitely won’t want to miss River City Girls 2.
Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song Remastered is a lost niche JRPG from the past that makes a most welcome return to modern platforms.
If The Devil in Me is any indication of the quality of the other entries in The Dark Pictures Anthology, it seems I have my work cut out for me. Those are bound to be enough to keep busy until the new season begins sometime next year. There’s already been a teaser to the new entry in the franchise, Directive 8020, which is set to take a sci-fi approach to scaring the ever-living bejesus out of us. Count me in for that, sirs, yup.
I wanted so much to bask in the intended horror that The Calisto Protocol promised in the months leading up to release, but that wasn’t the case when the time came to play it. While it’s surely not an awful game by any means, with flawed but in the end very crunchy feeling combat, it’s simply not in the same league as its inspiration when it comes to providing a scary or even tense experience. It’s still a very graphically impressive and positively disgusting game for sure, and for some that might be enough as it is.
This new version of the classic Oregon Trail pays homage to its history while also introducing plenty of new content.
Miles Morales is another fantastic PC version of a previous PlayStation exclusive.
In sum, God of War Ragnarok is the perfect case of a game that’s impeccably designed in all aspects of its presentation and writing, that still fails to have the necessary focus and drive to keep me engaged. It’s unnecessarily long and drags too much to hold my attention like the original game did. And it’s a shame, because there’s surely plenty to be enjoyed all throughout it, and I’m positively ecstatic to get more of the excellent setting that started four years ago. But having to wade through so much to get to that is driving me absolutely nuts!
Rogue Legacy 2 is a thoroughly recommended pick-up for just about anyone, and now that it’s on the Switch, that’s even more the case since it becomes a portable “just one more run affair” alongside other modern classics like Hades and Loop Hero. You should waste no time in adding this game to your game library, it’s well worth it!
If you’re in the mood for some over-the-top action and can stomach some repetitive shooting, Gungrave G.O.R.E. will satisfy that itch.
Evil West is a great antidote to today’s sprawling, open world “forever games”. Its refreshingly tight focus recalls classics from earlier generations. Vampire hunting in the Old West is simply a perfect framework for the gory but cleverly crafted combat which Flying Wild Hog does so well. Those with an Old West action game on their “most wanted” list need look no further.
With the addition of cross-play, Them’s Fightin’ Herds‘ console debut makes an already great game even better.. As more and more games steadily adopt that standard, for fighting games especially, it becomes easier and easier to grow and keep a community alive since there’s no worrying over which platform is the most populated, as has so often been the case for many fighting games over the years. Them’s Fightin’ Herds has already been getting by just fine, but now, so many more avenues to play, it’ll hopefully be able to thrive even more.
The Entropy Centre doesn’t dwell too much on the story, though. While the slow reveal of what’s going on is delivered well and the growing friendship between Aria and Astra works and is fun to watch, it’s much more focused on being a great puzzle game first and foremost, which it is unequivocally a success at. The Entropy Centre‘s light use of time manipulation serves as the basis for some clever and satisfying puzzles, easily putting it among some of the best of the genre.