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If you didn't dig Persona 4, this is your gateway back into the Velvet Room. Persona 5 manages to differentiate itself not only from the rest of the market, but its own franchise in a lot of standout ways. It still has the rigid backbone of a JRPG, but the organs, skin, and soul are teeming with more personality than most of us could even dream up.
As someone who absolutely loved every member of the bro-trip party, I was hoping for a little bit more from the first major round of Final Fantasy XV DLC. The game has already received a ton of fantastic free updates, but so far the "Episode" format seems to be something all of us should enjoy in the Game of the Year edition, and not piecemeal.
I feel so badly for this game in a way. It seems so close to being something special and wonderful, but is just undermined at every turn by baffling design choices, poor controls, and frustration. Maybe some of these issues will be addressed in a future patch and Rain World will become the game it feels like it should have been. Someone else will have to let me know. As far as I'm concerned, my days of being a slugcat are officially behind me and I won't be looking back.
Isn't that why we gravitate towards stories like these? We look for something we can empathize with; we like it when the relatable is juxtaposed against the fantastic. That concept is the basis of good sci-fi/fantasy/horror storytelling, and A New Frontier understands that more than most video games. I'm invested in the story of the Garcia family. I'm excited to see how their drama plays out amidst the backdrop of the zombie apocalypse. If Above the Law is any indication, the next two episodes are going to be something special.
If The Ringed City really is the end of Souls, it manages to hang its head high with the rest of the series. From Demon's to Dark III we have more than enough macabre settings to pore over in the years to come. They aren't all created equal, and some of them aren't even created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, but I'll remember each and every one of them for as long as I live. It's been a wild ride.
If it isn't clear, Hollow Knight is not only what I'd say is the best game so far this year, it also very well may be the best metroidvania title out there right now, and it is easily one of my favorite games of all-time.
Kona is a wonderful and lovingly crafted accomplishment. It's charming, magical, and smart enough to instill real motivation in its players and layer its cast in realist ways. Kona might be the first of four planned games, but it also happens to be a great standalone adventure that'll have you reaching for the thermostat in no time.
As a console game, I can't recommend it, but if you're the type of person who plays your Nintendo Switch on the go, it at least is something you can pick up and play for a bit without much thought. Has-Been Heroes would benefit greatly with touchscreen controls on a mobile device, as the gameplay seems tailor made for it, but alas it doesn't support the Switch's touch capabilities and isn't available on phones. But hey, at least it features HD Rumble, which is easily the most over-hyped and overrated feature of the Switch, so there is that.
Maybe the $10 price tag is a bit much for a now five year old game (especially one that has been on sale), but if you like pondering your own enjoyment of gaming and want to do it both on the go and at home, this version offers the opportunity.
It is cute, short, simple, and a nice nostalgic trip back down memory lane, even if these are new yet forgettable memories. I appreciate how much the developer was able to capture the N64 look and feel, and also the Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope cameo (he has one of the only voiced lines in the game; he didn't work on the soundtrack). I think with some time, money, and a bigger team I could see Siactro making an honest to goodness great modern N64 game, but as it stands this feels a little too simple and shallow for my tastes.
Mass Effect: Andromeda spends a lot of time not really feeling like a Mass Effect game. If anything, it feels like a spin-off -- the sort of thing created by another studio that's unsure about what direction to take it. Like in the game itself, there are problems with the atmosphere. But Andromeda is very clear that it doesn't aim to be like the other Mass Effects. New beginnings, not funerals -- for better and for worse.
Everything feels to me like a mellow, less aggressive take on Katamari Damacy or Noby Noby Boy, a curious, reflective novelty that, for players in the right kind of mindset, can spark something profound.
From a presentational and mechanical standpoint, I Am Setsuna manages to lay the foundations for an incredibly solid role-playing game. Unfortunately, this experience is often marred by a wholly predictable story, forgettable characters, and dungeons that feel completely uninspired.
If you're new to World of Goo, there's no shortage of people who will plead its case or platforms to play on. I'm right there with them. After all these years, it remains a delight from damn near top to bottom.
Wildlands is a bad f***ing game -- it completely fails at everything it aspires to be. It's a bad co-op game, it's a bad shooter, it's a bad open-world game, and the writing is terrible. At best, the game is boring.
Poi is a competent love letter to the 3D Mario games we know and love that manages to give players a nice taste of nostalgia while still having its own charm. If you're hankering for a good 3D platformer, look no further. Your move, Yooka-Laylee, Hat in Time, and Super Mario Odyssey.
And really, pleasant surprises are what we're talking about with Styx: Shards of Darkness. Don't let the reduced price tag or the fact that Styx's previous titles aren't exactly household names fool you. Once you get past the slightly budget look of the UI and occasional control jank, there is a solid core of a pretty damn good stealth game here. Give him a chance, and Styx might just steal your heart (only to pawn it at a fraction of its value, the little bastard).
It's not the most challenging game around (especially if you opt for co-op, as no concessions are made to make it tougher), but it's another welcome indie that's made its way into my shmup folder on Steam.
There is no other way to put this: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is brilliant. It is magnificent. It is marvelous, amazing, fantastic, and every other synonym for the word wonderful that can be found in the thesaurus. If The Legend of Zelda was the flint that ignited the passion I have for video gaming, Breath of the Wild is the 500lb bag of charcoal that will keep that fire burning for decades to come.
That rather stunted value proposition alone is enough to sour the deal, as frankly better, more fully-realized efforts in the VR space are available for less or free of charge. Credible as it is taken solely on its own, DYING: Reborn VR comes across as a cynically motivated cash grab rather than a genuinely developed standalone product. And in an age where what's considered acceptable for a VR game is changing, that renders the game's prospects dead on arrival.