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Outcast – A New Beginning features dated storytelling, poor writing, and an overliance on tropes we’ve all seen a thousand times by now. If none of that matters to you, however, you’re in for a pretty ok gameplay experience, with some unique mechanics and freedom that thankfully allows you to bypass a lot of the game’s storytelling, no matter how confidently it seems to throw it in your face.
Though rich in unit and character variety and full of phenomenal art, Iron Marine Invasion doesn’t deliver so well on the gameplay aspect. While certainly not the worst RTS on the market, the game could use a few improvements and expansions on its combat before I would consider it living up to its full potential.
Dark Envoy has interesting gameplay mechanics locked behind some of the worst presentations I’ve seen in a while. It felt like the team behind the game was missing a few core pieces to make something special; With some better writers, animators, and artists, this game could have been a new favorite. As it stands, however, it’s an okay game with a lot of hiccups you have to look past to enjoy it.
Long Gone Days presents an interesting story and likable characters, and that alone is worth giving it a try. However, a failure to fully commit to the game’s message can make emotional moments feel a bit hollow at times, devoid of the weight it should be having. That paired with missing basic features like an autosave function and uninspiring, boring gameplay can make the game a bit hard to get through. Focus on the story, the wonderful pixel art, and the great soundtrack though and you will find something worth appreciating in this game.
Paleo Pines is a competent farming game with some interesting takes on Dinosaur care, and if that’s all you’re looking for you will most certainly find it here. Unfortunately, the game follows many other releases in the genre in its lack of imaginative or meaningful changes on tired and familiar gameplay, with the things it does right few and far between. If you don’t mind the lack of imagination and lackluster visual presentation, Paleo Pines would be a good game for you, but might be better for a younger audience or someone who’s yet to play a farming game.
Beyond the new enemy types, fancy new graphics, and a handful of well-designed levels, I’d say it’s business for usual for the Payday series. With improvements over the second game and the promise of continued dev support for what could be years, I’d definitely say it’s worth upgrading to the new title if you’re a big fan of the second. However, these promises are blindsided by serious server issues and simple quality-of-life problems that need to be addressed first, so I suggest you keep Payday 2 installed for the time being. If you aren’t a die-hard Payday fan and you’re looking into an entry into the series, I’d give this one a pass and hit up Payday 2 until these problems are addressed.
AEW: Fight Forever is undeniably a unique and unconventional game. The game’s charm lies in its distinctiveness, using its captivating licensed soundtrack and departure from traditional gameplay mechanics to make something strange and unique. The unusual control scheme, cartoony graphics, and limited player customization may deter newcomers and those outside of the target audience from picking it up, but the game was made for fans, and for those fans I say go ahead and give it a try.
While Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow might lure players in with its cute designs and promise of Little Nightmares-like gameplay, it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. The gameplay itself is frustrating, often leading to unnecessary and pointless deaths, with no real understanding of how to do better the next time. On top of a myriad of other bugs, it would be hard to recommend this game, unfortunately.
In a world filled with 2D rogue-lites competing for our attention, Death or Treat isn’t able to stand up to the competition. There seems to be a myriad of visual and technical bugs that are keeping this game from reaching its full potential, but even that seems to be only half of what it could be. It’s not a bad game, but players should likely wait until it’s fixed and goes on a discount before they decide to purchase.
Despite the rough state of balancing, Wildfrost is a game with a lot of love put into it, and rests on a solid foundation. With a little bit of TLC, I could easily see this game being an 8 or 9 out of 10, and I encourage players to keep an eye on the patch notes.
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a delightfully presented game with a short story that manages to be insightful without deviating from its cute aesthetic. While I personally feel the price of the game does not justify the length and unambitious gameplay, I can see others enjoying Bittersweet Memories if they don’t mind the cost of entry.
We Are The Caretakers has a lot of really good ideas, However, the gameplay itself is a bit uninspired and can be a drag to get through, even with a pretty short total runtime. Fans of turn-based combat should have fun with this game, even if they don’t find it totally compelling.
Aka is a game with a great idea at its core. The promise of a peaceful, directionless experience can be something that greatly attracts a certain type of player, who will definitely find the game worth the time. However, Aka sort of fumbles in the execution. This is a game I recommend picking up after a few updates and quality of life changes, because the potential, much like the game, is limitless.
I have mixed feelings about Crisis Core Reunion. To the die-hard Final Fantasy fan who has yet to experience it or someone whose favorite game of all time was the original Crisis Core, I recommend it. But if you’re just looking to learn the story that came before FF7, you might want to look to Youtube instead.
So many good ideas went into making this game, and it leads with such a strong opening. Unfortunately, The Callisto Protocol can’t help but fumble in the second half. As disappointing as it may be, the game will definitely appeal to some players, and the flaws shouldn’t be glaring enough to stop those who loved the game’s opening to see it through to the end, though they might be disappointed.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong feels like something that might’ve been released five years ago when it would be hailed as something special. However, it doesn’t do anything new besides telling a story that is already too complicated by the time players first take on a role. The mechanics are tightly contained, never allowing the player to fully explore the better parts of this game.
Total Warhammer III has some flaws in its core gameplay loop that can make long-drawn-out campaigns feel a little tedious, and I find myself starting more new games than I do finishing them. However, what this game does for the Total Warhammer series makes it undeniably the best of the three, and the factions available to play are by far my favorite in the franchise.
I feel like I’m being a little generous with this rating, as 99% of what I enjoy in Lost Ark is the promise of what comes after the level 50 grind. Lost Ark certainly isn’t a bad experience before reaching the end-game content, there’s definitely a lot you can enjoy on your way there. It’s just hard for me to suggest a game on the merit of “Once you get 20 hours into the game, it really starts to pick up!”
Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel is the best you can get from a digital version of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG. However, the game is remarkably unfriendly to new players. If you don’t have a detailed understanding of every card in your deck, games can be a little slow. An experienced or meta-conscious player, which Master Duel has a lot of, can win a game in one turn, often after a frustratingly long series of plays that you can do nothing but watch. If this doesn’t deter you, or you’re someone who’s happy with Yu-Gi-Oh’s current competitive state, Master Duel is the game for you.
Strangers of Paradise is a game that feels a lot like an experiment, and it wasn’t exactly a failure. If I could give the production team at Square Enix some advice, it would be that their storytellers should return to their roots, and their gameplay developers should keep the new ideas coming.