Gameffine's Reviews
Immortals of Aveum is a work of art and truly reflects the ideas and love the game has been made with. The FPS magical shooter may have a worrying start, but that quickly turns into excitement, followed by a crucial turn of events, keeping you hooked. The combat and enemy variety grows as your progress, controlling the flow of combat enjoyable throughout. Topped with excellent voiceovers from talented artists and a brilliant hip-hop-styled ambience, Immortals of Aveum was a big box of surprises for us.
Blasphemous 2 is the perfect sequel fans could ever ask for. The sequel doubles down on everything Blasphemous is beloved for, and then proceeds to add a slew of new features. The result is a beautifully rendered action platformer with challenging combat, varied character builds, rewarding exploration, a plethora of side content and some great music. I would have liked to see more epic screen-filling boss fights, some post-campaign modes and reasonable regional pricing, but I guess the last wish is not up to the developer. Team17, if you’re reading this, fix your prices. Blasphemous 2 is a gem of a game otherwise.
Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition is hands down one of the best remasters ever made that will no doubt please all fans yearning for a sourceport. It’s one of the rare cases when the recreation outshines the original product. Rise of the Triad may be a divisive game, but there’s nothing divisive about Ludicrous Edition. Nightdive has once again upped the standards for remasters. If you’re a fan of the original, Ludicrous Edition is a must-buy at full price. If you’re wanting to try the game for the first time, try out the demo and see if it’s for you. They hardly make games like these anymore.
Venba is a gorgeous-looking, sonically-rich game with minimal gameplay but a heartfelt and nuanced story about cultural identity, parenthood, and self-acceptance that more than makes up for it. A couple of omitted accessibility features and the short length aside, Venba is a beautiful representation of the immigrant experience, messiness and all, thus cleverly avoiding glorification in favor of authenticity.
As it stands in its current state, Arcadian Atlas is rather difficult to recommend. Despite its rather serviceable plot and great visuals, the game struggles a lot due to its rather mismatched battle classes, where ranged combat reigns superior to melee. With some quality-of-life improvements in its combat and navigation, this title might get the second chance it deserves.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is an appreciable attempt from a small team of devs who are well-versed in its legacy. Huge character variety, Tag system and the Roguelite elements are welcome additions to the long-stagnant IP, and it can be a genuinely fun game at times. However, it does not always hit the right notes. A criminally short campaign, the lack of additional gameplay modes and the TBA online co-op makes it a tough sell when SoR and TMNT have offer so much more at a cheaper price point. If I were you, I’d wait for some content updates before taking the plunge.
Rather than being outright terrible, the problem with Testament is that everything is mediocre to the point of being utterly boring. The ideas are there but it doesn’t quite stick the landing. At least, the game is perfectly playable from start to finish. Definitely not worth the asking price and as it currently stands, not worth your time either. Hopefully, the developer can come up with a more cohesive product the second time around.
System Shock (2023) is a fantastic remake of the groundbreaking 1994 original with an eagle eye for attention. Above everything else, it’s a love letter to the original made by folks who knew the ins and outs of the Looking Glass classic. The striking visual design, rewarding exploration, challenging puzzles, and a menacing performance by Terri Brosius make System Shock not just a great remake, but one of the best games of this year. The wait was worth it.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a competently made FPS that’s exactly what it’s advertised to be – a no-nonsense, Boomer Shooter with tight controls and satisfying combat loop. The fact that it looks amazing is the Daggerfruit on top. While the game plays it safe and doesn’t deviate from the established formula, it nevertheless offers over 10 hours of entertaining gameplay. At the same time, there is plenty of room for improvement. Even though multiplayer is out of the question, the addition of an endless mode, extra challenges, and even a map editor will go a long way in ensuring that the game is replayable. Boltgun is a purchase retro FPS fans won’t regret.
Miasma Chronicles take the ideas introduced in Mutant Year Zero and polishes them to a shine. What results is a beautiful (though trope-ish) and lore-filled post-apocalyptic adventure with plenty of challenging handcrafted combat scenarios that will surely give master tacticians a run for their money. It goes without saying that if you liked its predecessor, you’ll surely love this one. There are improvements to be made in the performance and bug department to be sure. But, all in due course, I suppose. The ladies with beards have struck gold once again.
The Last Case of Benedict Fox bolster a stunning art direction, interesting puzzles and an engaging story. However, that’s just not enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. Clunky gameplay, unsatisfying combat and a general sense of aimlessness drags down the whole experience. The developers are said to be working on a patch that adds control remapping, performance improvement and puzzle difficulty rebalancing. But it’s a pass for now.
Darkest Dungeon 2 is not trying to replace the first game. It aims to occupy a spot right beside its predecessor. There are some things the sequel does well and some things it doesn’t. The streamlined (in a good way) combat, reduced grind and improved character dynamics comes at a cost of the removal of the comfy base management of the original.
While it may appear as a Hotline Miami clone, OTXO does enough things to set itself apart. Satisfying gunplay, an assortment of random upgrades and an alluring art design combined with great music makes it worth playing. However, since Steam is filled with some standout indie games, $13.49 seems a bit too steep for a standard Roguelite. If you feel like that is the case, wait for a sale on this one.
I wanted to like Troublemaker, I really did. But despite the decent story (which is genuinely funny at times), the gameplay of Troublemaker is just too clunky and unrewarding to warrant a 20-dollar purchase. It’s evident that the developers really tried to make a competent product. But in a crowd of excellent indie games, trying just isn’t enough.
Despite the caveats, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a brilliant game with thoroughly enjoyable combat and a compelling story that keeps you going. It improves on many things than the previous game and introduces many new aspects like character customization, new stances, perks, specials, bounty hunters, and much more. While the performance may not be the best and most polished, it still delivers a fair playable experience
If it’s not obvious already, we do not recommend purchasing The Last of Us Part I on the PC at its current state. What could have been an easy moneymaker has turned into one of the most disastrous PC launches of recent times. The premium price makes the whole thing even more painful. The quality of the PC port is only doing a disservice to the otherwise excellent experience. The only logical thing to do is wait patiently until the glaring issues are fixed and pick the game when a sale comes around.
If you stare long into an abyss, the abyss gazes back at you. Dredge stops just a tad short of greatness owing to its occasional repetitive nature and indie budget, but that is but a small nitpick against the overwhelming positives it provides. Fishing, inventory management, saving for upgrades and exploration – each aspect of Dredge is gamified just right, and sandwiched effectively to keep you coming back for more. Clocking in at a good 12–15 hours to complete the story, this thalassophobic collect-a-thon provides enough fun, excitement, horror and mystery to tide you through this quaint fishing adventure!
Tchia is definitely a game worth checking out if you are looking for an open-world adventure that offers freedom, fun, and diversity. It celebrates New Caledonian culture and showcases its rich history, folklore, and traditions. However, it is also a bit too ambitious for its own good. It's overwhelmingly cluttered map size and navigation system may be frustrating at times. Despite its simplistic visuals, it is capped at a low frame rate of 30 fps on PS5 and is riddled with quite a few technical glitches. Still, the fact that the game comes free with the Playstation Plus Extra makes it a must-try for folks who love a calm pacific adventure.
The tag line for WWE2K23 is “Even Stronger”. In all fairness, that’s a pretty accurate statement. Everything that the last game did has become better and “Stronger”. However, high load times, finicky online play, and weird collision detection remains the game’s weakness. So much so that they stand in even more contrast than last time, because how vastly improved other areas of the game are. 2K tried a few different things last year, and got a lot of feedback on them. I am happy to say they took most of it and resolved it in WWE2K23. Its a huge improvement over the last iteration and speaks well of the team behind it promising even better things in the future.
Despite Scars Above’s stellar visual presentation and challenging combat, it suffers from lackluster story-telling and repetitive gameplay. Thankfully it does manage to redeem itself to some extent by effectively blending its exploration with combat and puzzle-solving even though it may get frustrating at times. If you like titles like Dead Space, Returnal, or Control, it may be worth checking out. But considering its inconsistent animations and glitches, it’s best to wait for a sale on this one.