Serial Gamer Italia

The final result is inconsistent, and what we find on our hands is an empty shell with gameplay mechanics inserted by force to give a semblance of meaning, to create what by definition would be a "video game" but which in practice it turns out to be a not very successful attempt to tell a story, unfortunately not so compelling. If two slices of bread enclosed a single lettuce leaf technically we would have a "sandwich", but it would be very difficult to call it such, and above all it wouldn’t satisfy anyone's palate.

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Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Hearthblood is a game that manages only at a narrative level to make a worthy use of the prestigious brand of Werewolf: The Apocalypse. At the level of gameplay it performs a sufficient task without ever taking risks and with only sketchy RPG options while at a technical level, despite not having particular bugs, it never reaches an adequate yield for the platforms on which the title is launched. A game that we recommend at full price only to those who love in a visceral way the settings of the World of Darkness and the paper RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse published by White Wolf, while lovers of action RPGs should think about it only after a drastic drop in price.

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Everhood struck me in the heart, arousing my deepest curiosity already after the first hour, in which I realized that within it there was a much deeper philosophical reflection than one might think looking at it in a superficial way. It has rarely happened to me to face an indie title so well crafted and full of possibilities even in its simplistic realization. But despite all this, it may not be able to conquer everyone, precisely because of this strangeness that may not be appreciated and understood by many. Everhood absolutely doesn’t claim to have the best storyline of the decade, but its purpose must be carefully sought in all the details wisely placed by the Foreign Gnomes inside it, and only in this way the player will be able to access the real ending. A videogame experience that I highly recommend because of what it left me and absolutely replayable to discover the various narrative possibilities it offers.

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Kill It With Fire is an idea that hits really hard and leaves the player wondering what madness has hit him, but it doesn't take much and the storm passes away. The longevity of a work like this is obviously decided by the user, and with Kill It With Fire the desire to go on killing spiders will arise spontaneously in each of us. It isn’t a question of being afraid of spiders or feeling disgusted: we have an entire city as an arsenal at our disposal, and destroying our enemy in the most fun way possible is a moral duty.

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The latest effort by Gust and Koei Tecmo is still promoted, as it really takes a step forward compared to the previous chapter. Even in the face of the limitations of the plot and some uncertainty in terms of the graphics sector, the product is completely satisfactory and offers players exactly what they expect. There is no reason to be disappointed: Atelier Ryza 2 doesn’t risk anything and can only win, and indeed it is. The future of the series is assured and even this latest entry does nothing but consolidate the tracks that are already extremely solid. We, for our part, will stay on board and see where the Atelier saga will take us, perhaps still in the company of the solar Ryza Stout.

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Hellpoint has interesting and original ideas while showing a decidedly (perhaps too much) strong inspiration to all its predecessors, but which, due to a too rough workmanship, is often not very pleasant to play. In this regard, in particular, I report the problem of totally wrong hitboxes which, added to the aforementioned absolutely not indifferent technical problems, often lead the player to frustration. The porting on the Switch could have been a way to remedy this, but the persistence of the problems is certainly not the best way to inaugurate it.

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Control Ultimate Edition is a title that you absolutely must retrieve, if you have not had the opportunity to play it on old-gen consoles yet. One of the best productions, on an artistic, technical and narrative level, by Remedy Entertainment. It boasts a well-scripted plot, full of twists; a gameplay that can truly amaze, which offers the players multiple opportunities thanks to the combination of Jesse's different powers. If, on the other hand, you have already played the Xbox One or PS4 version, it is certainly worth giving it a thought, especially considering it being free in the February PS5 PlayStation Plus list, and the bargain price that practically amounts to the previous retail price of the DLCs alone.

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The Medium is the best work of the Polish guys from Bloober Team. It is a valid horror game, both on a narrative and on a graphic level. Moreover, it is enriched by the novelty - gameplay-wise - brought by Dual Reality, which lets the game rejuvenate the genre via new types of puzzles.

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Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is a very interesting product that combines two very different souls from each other, the first one with a more classic structure of the old Mario’s games that is still winning and enjoyable in all its well-characterized levels, the second one with a more innovative and modern soul that takes its cue from the recent Odysseytrying to experiment by embracing the open world component but maintaining the engine and content base of the accompanying game and keeping faith with the collectathon creed. All this can be also played both alone and with friends locally or online, taking the cooperative platform to new heights of fun.

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Pumpkin Jack is a pretty enjoyable and fun game if you want to spend a few hours in a Halloween themed world. It certainly isn’t a masterpiece, but being a game made entirely by a one man band, it is pretty much a great starting point. It has linear and simple levels, a good variety of puzzles, basic fighting mechanics and below average difficulty which make it a perfect starting point for those who want to dive into 3D platform games. Its festive context and colourful places will definitely conquer you for the 5 hour game.

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Nioh 2: Complete Edition gives the same basic sensations of the previous chapter, but expands its content greatly making the gamer’s new objective not to ends the story, but more the improving of his digital alter ego with mechanics taken from the games with online component or MMO. As a fan of the genre and noting the vast array of options available for building the character, I feel the lack of a PVP component, even restricted to arenas or various modes, but which would give that final touch of fun to a title that offers hundreds of hours of content. The lack of a more intricate level design in favor of a mission progressions system continues to be a flaw, as well as in the first chapter, but in the same way it allows for longer content in the plot and in the single-player progression. For those who have already played the title until the last DLC a few months ago, this Complete Edition doesn’t offer substantial news, but for all new players on PC hungry for high difficulty and Japanese action it is a real godsend. On the technical side there are improvements compared to the basic version, but not those improvements as clear as could be expected.

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Chronicle of Innsmouth: Mountains of Madness is a fantastic title, able to fully experience the horror of the lovecraftian novel by the same name to anyone who approaches it: in fact, all the topical and typical elements of the father of the occult can be found in it, outlining an intricate narrative sequence, mysterious at the right point and full of well-characterized characters. Once again the graphic adventure proves to be the best videogame genre for Lovecraftian works of inspiration and / or transposition, as they are mainly focused on investigation. In short, a game that harks back to the glories of the past, managing to characterize itself and impress its mark, demonstrating the true strength of the Italian videogames industry.

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Mutropolis is a pretty enjoyable game, with sometimes interesting puzzles and ideas. It was enjoyable when it comes to the egyptian symbology and the quirky references related to the current nerdy culture and past literature. It didn’t deliver though when it comes to a willingness on the player’s part, mine in this case, to keep going or to keep me interested in the long run. The plot and story were overall very simple and not so engaging.

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The Nioh Collection is certainly a work of good workmanship with the Team Ninja who wanted to dust off above all the old chapter of the series and bring it, hand in hand with the most recent Nioh 2, on PlayStation 5 with mainly technical improvements thanks to the granites 60 fps and to the novelty of 120 fps in full versions with all DLCs (which can also be purchased separately from the collection with the names of Nioh Remastered - The Complete Edition and Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition). In addition, both productions enjoy almost lightning-fast loading screens and support the possibility of cross-save with PS4, with the possibility of importing your own saves from PS4 directly to PS5 using the cloud (PlayStation Plus is required).

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This Dead Cells DLC completely passes the test. The Motion Twins devs had already created a solid game with the first Dead Cells, and this DLC only enriches it further with its new expansion. New players, just like the old timers, will be able to experience something fun which will satisfy the eyes with the amazing artistic compartment but especially the player’s want for a challenge.

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Yaga is a real videogame fairy tale, which is evident not only from the narrative premises, but also from the way in which the game unfolds in its various aspects. The graphic rendering evidently recalls the books that accompanied our childhood, just like the narrative tenor of the amusing and rhyming dialogues. Fairy tale in which the player will outline the main character aspects of his blacksmith; all these elements make the game in question worthy of the attention of any player.

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Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption is undoubtedly a particular game, which clearly is not suitable for all palates, not even for those who are familiar with graphic adventures or RPGs. If caught from the right perspective, it manages to fully capture the player in that fantastic glimpse of Shawn's student life, more precisely in that journey of personal growth to discover a great mystery that has enveloped his life for years now. Faced with a more detached spirit, it will simply be a teen drama game with a rather tedious pace. It is precisely because of this ambivalent nature that I cannot go too far in the final evaluation of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption; even with numerous graphic adventures in my repertoire, this title didn’t manage to involve me as I hoped thanks to the premises offered. A slightly wasted opportunity which, however, finds luck in its porting to the Switch, in particular thanks to the possibility of interfacing with it using the touch screen, which greatly simplifies things within a graphic adventure transposed to the console.

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Sadly, this game is more on the no side, due to its price but mostly because of its overall faults such as the gameplay with unstable frames (especially on PS4) when more enemies are on the screen, unprecise inputs, mutiple bugs, repetition of same levels. Moreover, the level of difficulty becomes all the more easier as one progresses in the game, and the repetition of enemies and dungeons doesn’t push the player to want to replay the game.

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In conclusion, we are faced with a simple work but with ambitions: the developers have focused a lot on the gameplay, which is genuinely fun and engaging, with its ease and directness. On the other hand, the graphics sector is the main limitation of the product: however technically stable, the glance is heavily sacrificed and honestly crude: a second side of the coin that is really dark and punishing. War, on the other hand, is war and substance will always be more important than form. We might as well get on board the truck and start doing our job.

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Project Winter is an excellent title for those who love this type of multiplayer games, which also thanks to the Game Pass will really provide many hours of fun in the company of friends or strangers. The games are varied and fun thanks above all to the need to interpret, even vocally, one's characters and having to conceal one's identity when one is a traitor. Given the presence in the Game Pass and the non-prohibitive price, I absolutely recommend everyone to give this product a chance. In our hours of testing, mainly played with foreign players who played on PC, we really got to see a myriad of fun and satisfying situations, and also to insult ourselves a little, because we know that when there are betrayals involved, even if in the game, you have to be careful not to ruin friendships (obviously, I’m joking).

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