DayOne's Reviews
If you’re a big fan of bullet heaven shooters, do keep an eye out for Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel, though perhaps it’s not quite an essential buy just yet.
Metal Eden can’t, nor it wants to hide its Doom Eternal inspiration in a more sci-fi theme, but it’s hard to fault a game for trying to live up to one of the best shooters ever made. Metal Eden is an adrenaline rush of a high speed shooter with excellent shooting, great traversal, lovely visuals and soundscapes, one that keeps throwing fancy new moves and brutal new weaponry to play with. It’s a short ride, ending just around 4 hours, and a couple technical gremlins and perhaps its lack of innovation may deny it a spot among the gods of the genre.
I still feel like recommending Hell Is Us, to some people at least, because it is a unique experience worth digging into. Just, remember to arm yourself with a lot of patience – and maybe a guide or two.
Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek is a kid-friendly adventure with a few weird design choices related to the puzzles and combat, but ultimately, it’s quirky and charming enough to be blasted through, whether you’re a pre-teen or an adult who has fond memories of the iconic book series by R. L. Stine. I certainly had my fun with it, and would recommend it to those seeking a horror game that’s ideal for a younger audience.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Twirlbound’s open world adventure, as its cute visuals, on point humor, infectious sympathy and solid gameplay loop kept me more than intrigued enough to keep pushing on, with the end credits rolling before the game’s relatively limited scope would start hurting. Keep an eye out for this one, as it’s a pretty fun ride.
Gears of War: Reloaded is a solid graphical update to one of Xbox's most important games. It is nearly 20 years old now, though, and some of that age is starting to show.
Just like it was at launch, Helldivers 2 is a fantastic video game, one on which you can hop on for quick mission to just complete a daily objective, or team up with your besties as you settle in for a long night of patriotism, comradery and impromptu comedy when that misplaced airstrike hits. It’s pure, unadulterated chaos, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a 10 when it comes to combat and visuals. Incredible replayability, a decent story, and a good soundtrack are let down by frustratingly imprecise platforming. Still, the other parts are so strong that I can easily recommend this game to damned near anyone.
Herdling is a special experience, full of emotion and beauty.
Dorfromantik is a brilliantly crafted single player puzzle game that just happens to look like a board game, as it’s all about placing hexagon-shaped tiles in the most optimal ways possible, creating beautiful landscapes in the process. What seems like a simple formula that may bore you quick, may keep you up way too long at night – and it certainly did so for me, so you can trust my word on that.
It’s a good-looking, if not very well-performing Unreal Engine 5 game that shows us a cool world, it populates it with an interesting lore and rich characters, and gives them just enough meat to get through a couple sessions’ worth of single player third person action adventure campaign, with a combat that is just enjoyable enough to last the ride.
Giant Squid have taken a giant leap forward with Sword of the Sea, fusing gameplay, music and art together to form what I feel is their best work yet. Sword of the Sea might be on the shorter side, but through some sublime ‘hover-swording’ and wonderful design, they’ve given us an imaginative skatepark to play in for as long as we’d like.
I enjoyed my time with Discounty quite a bit, in part thanks to the pacing of the game’s narrative beats and because I can run a store from the comfort of my home.
While Viewfinder’s story didn’t pull me in or leave me desperate to unravel the narrative threads, the concept, level design and puzzles on offer here are fantastic, filled with clever ideas and creativity. This is pure video game magic, manipulating imagination itself. Is there any better game than one that makes you exclaim aloud – “Look how cool this is!“?
Dead Take is a solid four or five hours of classic horror puzzle fun, mixed with some excellent (and some mediocre) live-action scenes. It isn’t looking to break any ground, instead targeting a good, scary time, and nailing it.
Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2 is about as much of a continuation as one should expect from an arena fighter sequel. You’re here for the spectacle, for Demon Slayer, and a game you can pull out to play with friends on a whim and not much more. The fights are extravagant as they are beautiful and for me, that’s more than enough. And I’m sure anyone eyeing this game feels the exact same way. ∎
NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound looks great, and is a lot of fun. A few balance issues and a short run-time vs. its $40 price hold it back from greatness.
The core strengths of the original are here and intact, from the gorgeous world and solid survival mechanics, to another intriguing story to unpack, but I can’t help but feel there should have been more from the start that feels truly new. Still, it is a lot of fun, and as we begin another early access journey, this peblet and clay foundation is pretty solid – I can’t wait to see what else is in store.
Star Overdrive has a lot of great ideas and a beautiful presentation while also being encumbered by frustrating platforming and combat systems. It’s hard to ignore the latter when the game’s best part is frequently put on hold to engage with tedious platforming puzzles and enemies that send out protagonist flying into the sand with no reserve.
Ultimately, Wheel World is a small and charming open world, presenting a stylish look, an enjoyable biking gameplay loop, and various high adrenaline races, up and down the hills of this magic island. With rather formulaic open-world activities and slightly unpolished physics, the game doesn’t quite reach its full potential, but it’s also a pleasant experience that ends before some of its shortcomings could start to bore or frustrate. And, well, it’s out today and is on Game Pass, so it doesn’t cost much to give it a shot yourself. So, hop on your magical apocalypse-avoiding bikes, and let’s roll!