GAMEtainment

Bravely Default 2 convinces with its gameplay mechanics in all cases. Even though you have to be aware that the difficulty level is already hard as nails on the normal setting. You don't need to have played the predecessors for this spin-off, since the game tells its own story. It takes some time for the story to pick up speed. But once you reach this point, you won't want to turn off the console. If you liked Octopath Traveler, you'll definitely enjoy Bravely Default 2. If you are not a fan of turn-based, lengthy JRPGs, you should reconsider the purchase.

Review in German | Read full review

You don't need any previous knowledge of the Darksiders universe to enjoy the twinstick shooter. Graphically, the game is very impressive. The cutscenes could have been more than just comics. As already mentioned, Darksiders Genesis is a bit more difficult than one would initially think. The balancing certainly has little problems at the bosses at the latest, because you clearly see that the bosses wear the pants. The jumping passages really got on my nerves, which is largely due to the inflexible camera. All in all, the developer Airship Syndicate has brought an entertaining video game onto the market with Darksiders Genesis, which knows how to captivate for around 15+ hours in solo as well as in co-op mode.

Review in German | Read full review

The game knows how to inspire, but it wasn't a full-length title for me personally. That means that after an hour I already felt like playing something else. Then again, I was looking forward to the next session of PixelJunk Raiders. If you're not sure, you should definitely check out the gameplay before buying. For me, the game definitely remains on the active list and will be played regularly.

Review in German | Read full review

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is an excellent collection that offers both tried-and-true and new content. If you played Super Mario 3D World back on the Wii U, you might have a hard time buying it. There are new features, but they are marginal. However, considering that Bowser's Fury is also included in this bundle, you probably won't be able to keep your hands off it if you're a Super Mario fan. Even though this part is only eight hours long, you'll be well entertained throughout the entire game. The open world characteristic is fun and I hope that the next installment will also have a completely open world.

Review in German | Read full review

Visage is for me the wet dream come true of the unfortunately not released Silent Hills.

Review in German | Read full review

Ys IX Monstrum Nox is a role-playing pearl that I wouldn't want to miss. The ninth part also convinced me with its battle system and story. Especially the plot is, in my opinion, the best story of the series. Unexpected twists combined with exciting character relationships have me under their spell. The graphics are, as in the other sequels, unfortunately outdated and could use a beauty treatment. With 20 to 30 hours and six different difficulty levels, you can spend quite some time in Balduq. The New Game Plus mode also invites you to collect forgotten items and explore all the secrets of the prison city. All in all, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a solid JRPG title that you won't regret buying.

Review in German | Read full review

It took me about 20 hours to play through Skul: The Hero Slayer for the first time. That's unusual for a roguelike title, but it was all the more satisfying when I got to see the credits roll. The little skeleton captivated me more than I thought it would. Even if the story is only secondary, the concept with the different classes was convincing. Since the gameplay is always different, there is no boredom. However, once you've reached the point where you've explored the most, the urge to explore naturally subsides. On the whole, however, the game offers enough to provide many hours of fun and motivation. If you're looking for a roguelike title with cool new features, Skul: The Hero Slayer will certainly not disappoint.

Review in German | Read full review

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is the perfect entry into the gaming year 2021! The story follows directly after its predecessor. Despite the fact that the game takes place three years after the first part, you don't necessarily need to know anything about it. The story leads the player by the hand and doesn't leave him alone. The alchemy is as good as usual and the battle system is fun. Fast and crisp fights on three different difficulty levels invite you to enjoy the gameplay. Perhaps the only downer is that larger areas can take longer to load. Also, the fact that the audio output is only in the original Japanese version might deter some people. If you have played the first part, you will probably not miss this part of the series.

Review in German | Read full review

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light presents in a classic way how the famous hero Marth grows from a little prince to a shining hero. But the path is long and arduous, and not only for him. When playing this spin-off of the series, you have to be aware that you'll have to do without certain features. No battle prediction or fade-in movement radius. But instead, a certain thrill kept coming up for me during the game, which I miss in modern games. But if you get into the gameplay, you'll experience a captivating story. An absolute must for veterans of the series, but newcomers should perhaps go for a newer part with more beginner-friendly features.

Review in German | Read full review

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a worthy "continuation" of the saga for me. Personally, I like the amount of open combat and acting from the shadows. Fans will have to break free a bit from Ezio and the awesome missions where you weren't allowed to be discovered. That rarely happens. Valhalla is just great, fun and offers a lot of playtime for the money. This is marred by the sheer number of bugs. On the one hand, there are some people who were fortunately not affected by them, and on the other hand, like me, where everything just goes wrong. With patch 1.0.2 I was on the verge of leaving the game for now, if I hadn't gotten it for a test. 1.0.4 is unfortunately not much better. There, completely different errors have crept in with me. Against Valhalla, Unity was a smooth release, to put it in perspective. Unfortunately, all these errors overshadowed the really well-done game, whereby there were probably also problems with digital pre-orders at the time of release and fans couldn't even start on time. So much went wrong that the mixed ratings don't surprise us. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is definitely a worthy Assassin's Creed, if you look past the flaws and take in the overall concept. Hardcore fans can already grab it, but if you don't necessarily want to play AC "right away", wait for a few more patches until a certain stability is established and you can play without fear of your score being destroyed or a quest not starting.

Review in German | Read full review

In short, Immortals Fenyx Rising is my game of the year 2020, it has everything that a good game has to have in my world. A setting which is fascinating and beautiful at the same time. The huge world just screams "Explore me, experience me", and I followed this scream with skin and hair. I found myself swinging onto my blue horse and just riding around in the area, simply because I liked the surroundings so much. The urge to explore is satisfied throughout the whole game and leaves nothing to be desired. If you want to do dungeons, no problem. If you want to improve the health bar of Fenyx, well, then you just have to look for it. You can invest more than a hundred hours in the game without getting really bored. The only thing that disturbed me was the funny slapstick humor that is present throughout the game. If you have a preference for Open World titles and can relate to Greek mythology, the title is a must buy. If you want to dive into the genre for the first time, the title is a must buy. If you want to make your dearest (gambling) person happy for the upcoming Christmas, then Immortals Fenyx Rising is a compulsory purchase.

Review in German | Read full review

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity bridges the time until the release of Breath of the Wild 2, but unfortunately only briefly. While the environment and enemy types may seem varied at first, you become dulled as the game progresses. However, the search for crogs or the prey hunt for special items and weapons remains particularly motivated. There are more than enough side tasks to complete. Besides the simple booty hunts, you can also sit down in the huge colossuses to defeat even more enemies in a short time. But especially when a lot of enemies appear on the screen, the performance of the Switch can reach its limits. All in all Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a decently made Warriors game that you will have fun with if you are a fan of such Musou titles.

Review in German | Read full review

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a homage to the entire series. The background music has always been an essential part of the franchise. That's why I was all the more pleased when this game was announced. The story sections are told in their most essential features, which is good for newcomers, but simply too little for veterans. Also the scope is exhausted relatively quickly and the other modes are nice, but it doesn't have a real added value. The enemy types are also exhausted after a while. The real highlight is and remains the music, because every single track reminded me of the wonderful events around Kingdom Hearts. If you want to remember such moments, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a must buy. If you don't have any nostalgic memories of it, you will have to think twice about buying it.

Review in German | Read full review

Need for Speed as a series is not easy at the moment, although most games were not bad at all. But with every new announcement a large part of the fans hopes that either "Underground" will appear in the name or even better that the game will pick up the concept. Especially Need for Speed Underground 2 has a huge fanbase. If a remaster is announced, the fans have a justified hope that it could be their favorite. If you leave the disappointment that it didn't happen like that aside, you have to say objectively that you made a comprehensible choice with Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. The title came off quite well, basically reflects the concept of the series and is quite fun. One will like the single player area, the other one prefers the multiplayer mode and surely there are many who find good entertainment in both variants. Visually the game is no revelation even as a remaster, if you look at Need for Speed Heat for example. But they managed to eliminate the technical flaws of the original version, like edge flickering and muddy textures, and with greater visibility, higher resolution, new environment elements and better performance they made the whole thing a fun title even in 2020. Since this is not a full-price title either, a fan of action-packed frenzies is definitely entitled to strike.

Review in German | Read full review

SNES flair and a really good soundtrack are a good basis for a video game. All in all, the difficulty level of Cadence of Hyrule - Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda is noticeably lower than NecroDancer, but for the target group it is certainly still relatively high. If this is not enough, simply activate permanent death in the settings. Personally, the game demanded a lot of patience from me, especially in the beginning. It wasn't until I finished Cadence of Hyrule that I got a taste of NecroDancer, which I found to be much harder. Nevertheless, I describe the gameplay as easy to learn, but difficult to master. Mistakes are severely punished and often result in a loading screen and the loss of all rubies. A run-through of the story doesn't take that long, but the randomly generated map offers a certain amount of replayability, although exactly this can lead to frustration under certain circumstances. A vicious circle! 🙂 For me personally, the difference between Link and Zelda was/is not big enough. The characters are quite similar, but all in all, Cadence of Hyrule - Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda can definitely be recommended, especially since it's not really expensive with an RRP of 24.99€.

Review in German | Read full review

Mario Kart Live - Home Circuit is a new version of the classic racing game. The AR features are refreshing and a lot of fun. Bringing the aspect of the race track into the living room was a clever move by Nintendo. With the right size there are no limits to your fantasy. The co-op mode is unfortunately not possible online. You are limited here to the local version. Why Nintendo considered this step, I did not understand. I imagine it to be especially funny to play with players all over the world in their living rooms.

Review in German | Read full review

All in all I like the new season quite well. At the start, I guess we had some problems to keep the servers stable. I had frequent connection problems and opponents that were lying so hard that I couldn't hit them and was dead on the ground the next moment. In fact you can feel an improvement from night to night. There seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes. I finally think Horizon is great again, because I personally didn't like the last newcomers that much. But everyone has to decide that for himself. Since I take a look in every season and play more or less actively, I can say that the seventh season turned out to be so interesting that I will stay on the ball. See you on Olympus!

Review in German | Read full review

Yakuza: Like a Dragon has made the leap into the RPG genre with flying colors. The story is kept exciting and you can't stop following Ichiban's vendetta. The abundance of side tasks can be a bit overwhelming for the player at the beginning. But once you have played the game for a few hours, you know the most important points in the city. Time passes very quickly when playing darts or karting. By no means you need to believe that these actions are a waste of time. You get personality points which finally strengthen the fighting actions. The fights bring a breath of fresh air to the row and put a smile on the players' faces. Through the different creative classes you attack the opponents with pigeons or wrestling moves instead of casting disdainful fireballs. Unfortunately, the invisible AoE range of abilities spoils the fun of the game. Also the unusually long races until a comrade reaches the enemy seem strange. A timeline showing the next actors would have been helpful too. If you like the Yakuza series and are open for new things, you definitely have to go for Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Review in German | Read full review

The Dark Pictures: Little Hope offers proven scary food, as you are used to from Supermassive Games. Alone or with friends, you have the opportunity to influence the course of history and become master of life and death of your protégés. All in all, The Dark Pictures: Little Hope is good material for a scary evening with a thrilling story, which also has a very unexpected twist at the end.

Review in German | Read full review

Watch Dogs: Legion offers many missions, activities, side jobs and customization options. Grinders will certainly get their money's worth, even if it is quite monotonous. But for a lot of gamers in front of their screens this might not be enough to justify the purchase at or near the release. Watch Dogs could have been or rather should have been much better, especially since it will be released in a year or quarter when real hits like Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla will be released. Personally, I call myself a Ubisoft fanboy, because I play and enjoy almost all the big games of the publisher. Also Watch Dogs: Legion is one of them and is my current choice for a chilly evening or afternoon, even a longer session. I like to grind and drive and fly all tech points and other collectable items. But the concept does not work for the general public. For this reason, the game objectively scores relatively poor. There would have been much more in it.

Review in German | Read full review