video games are good
Homepagevideo games are good's Reviews
The Good Life isn't for everyone in the same way that Swery65 himself isn't for a lot of people. But I encourage you to ask if it's for you and go find out. When you give a game like this a chance, you just might sink into the oddities and fall in love with a world of animorphing British folk who ask absurd tasks of you. Undoubtedly, you'll find yourself upset with more than a few decisions made by Swery and his team at White Owls. But amidst the hodgepodge, you also might find something golden that fits you like a glove.
Whether you’re jumping into the game for a few hours of a campground romp, or you’re craving a new ambient game that you can return to when you want to turn your brain off, Haven Park fits the bill.
On the whole, the Jack Axe juggling act of dodging one-hit-kill obstacles, dispatching enemies, and nailing teleporting axe throws teeters on the edge of too hard. But Keybol keeps it just attainable enough to keep you going, pushing you forward despite the pain points. A few control issues make for a more frustrating experience that departs from the "if you fail it's your fault" experience of games like Celeste and Super Meat Boy. But if you and your axe can hack your way through it, there's a fun platformer waiting for you underneath. Non-masochists need not apply.
Century: Age of Ashes has built a fantastic groundwork that, even months down the line, is worth investing time into. If Playwing could find a way to patch up holes in the new user experience, add a few new maps and modes by the end of Year 1, and pump up the player base, this would be one of the easiest recommendations I could make. As it stands though, it's a very tentative thumbs up from VGG. You might need to invest way more time than you might be interested in to get to the best of it, and that might be a hard sell, but I promise you there's something great waiting for you inside this rough and scaly surface.
My view on Sifu is so complicated. Sloclap clearly has a lot of talent and their team has made something special on the pure gameplay side of things, although some decisions have been a bit misguided. Even with the best intentions, the impact is clear. We need to be more thoughtful with the stories that we tell and I hope that Sloclap takes this moment to listen rather than push away. Utilizing imagery of a culture carelessly is a bad look through and through, particularly in a time when members of the AAPI community are facing unprecedented harassment and violence. Ultimately, it's your decision to buy this game or not. I loved a lot about Sifu, in learning and growing through its death mechanics; in its musical and visual artistry; and in its deeply satisfying combat systems. But we can't ignore the conversation surrounding the game and its impact on the communities it claims to represent.
In nearly every way, this game is absurd. And it delights in its own absurdity. It only attempts to get weirder and weirder as it goes, and I love it for that. Strange Scaffold made a game that revels in late-stage capitalism (like...the latest stage possible) and THEY ADDED KINECT SUPPORT TO IT. Let your freak flag fly, Strange Scaffold.
Moonglow Bay is a frustrating one, mainly because we wanted to love it so much more. It tries a lot of new things with varied success, focuses on a few core gameplay systems that we wish were a little more engaging, all while telling a story about loss and community that's a cut above in its genre. It's just a shame that a few major glitches and pacing issues really hold it back from reaching its full potential. With Bunnyhug still hard at work with fixes, we just hope it gets closer to that apex we wanted to see it reach. Bunnyhug has a lot to offer, that much is clear. And if you can see your way through the storm to witness the beautiful dawn that waits for you at the end of the game, Moonglow Bay is well worth a visit. Just be warned: The water might be a little choppy in the meantime.
Tribute Games, working with a property so near and dear to a whole generation's sentimental hearts, somehow managed to honor TMNT's roots both in gaming and in general while providing an experience worthy of a pedestal right alongside its many inspirations, if not above them. This cover band has become so much more — and I look forward to the day when we look back and see Tribute Games' greatest hits laid out in front of us.
Coin Crew Games delivered something special with Escape Academy. A true-to-its-roots escape room experience (and in our opinion, one of the most successful attempts to recreate this digitally). A compelling world. Puzzles that are just difficult enough that you are constantly surprising yourself with your own brain's ability. It's all quality. While their focus has primarily been on the arcade space, we hope this establishes Coin Crew's foothold in the at-home gaming world. As long as their next few games don't feature pipe puzzles. Please.
I cannot recommend this game in its current state and do not want to let it slide that this game released in a very buggy and incomplete condition, but I want to believe in developers. I've seen many games surprise with their growth years after launch and I want to believe that Bleeding Tapes is capable of doing just that. I want to believe that the team believes in Neon Blight, and so I'll leave my thoughts here and hope the team takes something away from this feedback. Bleeding Tapes, there is a lot of work ahead of you, but your output since launch shows you're more than ready to face that challenge.
Even with Barlow's previous games in mind, I've never played anything like IMMORTALITY and might never again. It's a 10-15 hour experience that speaks to people who love stories, and to those who love creating and consuming art. It's a love letter to the oral tradition, to cave drawings, plays, films, dance, music, and games. It blends so many mediums, it contains so many different forms of art, and it examines it all through these displaced films — and through its characters, it reveals in the end that at the root of humanity are stories and storytellers. And we can't wait to see what else these storytellers do because it sure does feel good to just feel human in this chaotic time. It's for that reason, and a million others that could add to our pages and pages of notes we took during our playthrough, that VGG is giving IMMORTALITY the highest honor we can bestow.
All in all, Symphony of War is a mechanically sound turn-based tactical RPG that hearkens back to the best games in its genre. Dancing Dragon is clearly a team full of passionate folks who have bright futures ahead of them. It shines through in every layer of this experience, with its chapters of lore, a serious approach to war, a light approach to characters, and an intricately detailed visual style and gameplay system.
When the last sips of tea are finished, Lord Winklebottom Investigates proves to be a more than enjoyable entry into the modern point-and-click adventure library. Taking key lessons — both good and bad — from the legends of the genre, Winklebottom's got all the pieces to endear itself to fans of the genre. If you've been burned by point and clicks in the past, there's nothing new that Winklebottom does to pull you in. But if a posh giraffe in a suit does something for you, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. We hope to see Lord Winklebottom back sooner rather than later and look forward to seeing what else this universe might provide in the years to come.
Card Shark is a one-of-a-kind experience, one that has the potential to completely immerse you in the life of a card cheat in ways you'd never expect. Nerial has gaming's equivalent of a pair of aces in Card Shark, and I wouldn't even mind if they'd cheated to get this winning hand. I mean, as they say, cheaters always prosper.
Retreat to Enen requires you to fully give yourself over to its experience to enjoy it. It requires you to go full zen, to release all the stressors, to breathe out all the negative energy that the game places in your lap and enjoy only the good. But sometimes in life, you can't do that. Sometimes you have to face the negatives and accept them. Take them and learn a lesson for the future. And that's what I hope Head West does, because Retreat to Enen proposes some ideas worth honing.
It took a lot to Return to Monkey Island. Like I said in my intro, there was a lot of hesitation that came with me starting this game. Media revivals are extremely hit-and-miss, and I couldn't stand to watch a franchise so close to me fall apart. But when the credits rolled and I wiped the tears from my eyes, I realized why I was actually scared. I already knew when I started that I didn't want it to be over.
Jack Move is exactly what you'd expect. Maybe too much so, bordering on generic at times. Other than a same-y but enjoyable narrative, a few fun battles, and some light puzzle work, there are no exciting twists to pull you in. But you don't always need that. Not all RPGs need to be 40-60 hour epics and Jack Move proves there's a place for the shorter contained experiences too. It proves that some great aesthetics and some fun writing can be more than enough to anchor otherwise generic RPG action.
In short: if you have 1 - 3 friends, love punny restaurant names and micromanagement, and are unafraid of failure, put PlateUp! on the menu. And for the love of all that is holy, please look out for those beige puddles the customers left on the floor. We really don’t know what’s in them, but judging by the sound effects, it can’t be anything good.
The Fridge is Red is a fascinating horror game. Essentially six short experiences in one, this package highlights the best and the worst of the indie horror genre all in one. It simultaneously features some of the most innovative and interesting mechanics I've seen in horror games in a long time and some of the stalest. But with its satisfying ending and an overall dedication to establishing a sense of dread through its atmosphere and liminal settings, The Fridge is Red is still ultimately a batch of traumas worth exploring.
Serial Cleaners is a unique game, one that asks you to clean up the kinds of messes you'd usually leave behind in some other violent game. It pushes forth a stylish story with compelling characters, wrapped up in a package that some may be understandably disappointed by and others might be surprised (and relaxed) by. With its easy-to-dupe AI, the need to be perfect in your work fades away, and instead a calming, weird sense of comfort lures you in. And in this world, sometimes "weirdly comforting" is all you can ask for in your pastimes.