4News.it's Reviews
Mecha Therion marks an important transition for Steel Mantis. After the success garnered with the first Valfaris, the development team decides to revolutionize its creature, abandoning a successful play structure in favor of a scrolling arcade shooter with bullet hell overtones. The courage is rewarded with a title that is once again compelling and unscrupulous, if much more contained and less dazzling. In the impossibility of comparing two such different titles, it becomes mere subjective taste to prefer one or the other but one thing remains certain: the metal continues to flow powerfully.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Thanks to The Iron Rig, Black Salt Games' title gets a new, rich and multifaceted addition. A final adventure among the mysterious seas of DREDGE, between the specter of environmentalist destruction at the hands of capitalism to nature's violent response thanks to incomprehensible forces. A quest that will accompany the now-tried sailors to challenges old and new, dredging full nets in the title's morbid and fascinating play loop of daring fishing trips and sophisticated upgrades. The perfect complement to the production's ludic offering, as long-lived as it is exciting. Hoist anchor for the last time, there is still work to be done... and a few threats to face, with the wind in your sails.
Review in Italian | Read full review
We didn't want to stop playing Astro Bot, and we guarantee that in the past year, no game has grabbed us like Team Asobi's IP. Astro Bot is the missing piece of the puzzle, a 3D platformer that is nothing short of perfect and that arrives - given the lack of Sony-branded games of weight (with the exception of Concord, which unfortunately didn't get the right response) - at the right time, not only for Sony and PS5 - which needed it like crazy - but for all avid fans of 3D platformers. Astro Bot is a real gem, an outstanding platformer of the modern era that will be much talked about now and also in the near future.
Review in Italian | Read full review
At the budget price of $19.99, Squirrel with a Gun offers a very good platforming experience that is just the right amount of fun and wacky. If you're a fan of games like Goat Simulator, you're sure to love stepping into the shoes of a gun-wielding squirrel runaway. Too bad about the lack of variety (but content coming in the next few months should add that extra bit of spice) and some technical smears, but considering the price, they can absolutely fit.
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TIEBREAK launches on the market with an excellent roster and really solid gameplay. Unfortunately, some issues, especially regarding the lack of content, highlight that the game wasn’t quite ready to leave Early Access. Today, TIEBREAK is 'just' a fun game that may only entertain you for a short time. However, the foundation is solid, and if Big Ant Studios can complete the work in the coming months, the numerical rating accompanying this review could rise by half a point. Will the studio manage to win this tie-break?
Review in Italian | Read full review
Doom + Doom II is simply one of the best video game compilations around and is an excellent tribute (both for seasoned gamers and those who have never had a chance to play the aforementioned titles) to id Software's legendary shooter created back in 1993. In short, Doom and Doom II represent, even today (and thanks to the juicy new additions), two wonderful and timeless FPSs!
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We likedMadden NFL 25. The action on the field is the best we have ever seen in an American football game, thanks to the new Boom Tech and additions stemming from EA Sports College Football 25, making it a better game than Madden NFL 24. The new animations, lighting system, shadows and all the surrounding elements are excellent. And in case you're wondering, even last year's stubborn and slow menus have been overhauled (thanks EA). Too bad, on the other hand, for the modes, which are pretty much unchanged, but you can't have everything, can you?
Review in Italian | Read full review
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. Moving away from the AAA blockbusters to which it has accustomed us, however, Capcom does not forget the requirement for the high quality of its offerings, this time surprising with a hybrid of action and tower defense that proudly pays homage to some powerful cultural aspects of the Land of the Rising Sun. Ludically layered, artistically off-par and content-wise generous, the quest of priestess Yoshiro and guardian Soh is a rare treat to savor. Not everything is perfect and a few smears subsist, let's be clear. But exactly as the Japanese tradition of Wabi-sabi dictates, sometimes it takes not only to accept imperfection, but to find in it the beauty of small things.
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Tomba! Special Edition is the definitive version of the classic Whoopee Camp, finally made available in a revised and corrected offering for a wider contemporary audience. Now as then, the title is fun and rich in detail, almost futuristic in its blend of linear and nonlinear play styles. Practically mandatory for more seasoned gamers, conversely it may be a dive into the past all too edgy for everyone else.
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Cultist Simulator: Initiate Edition is a very unique production. On the one hand, it experiments ardently by bringing together deckbuilding, roguelike and narrative against the backdrop of a story that puts you in the shoes of an aspiring founder of an esoteric cult in the 1920s. On the other hand, it decides to undertake each of his choices with an infuriating hermeticism to the point of deliberately not explaining any gameplay dynamics. The end result is undoubtedly fascinating, but also so cryptic as to alienate the vast majority of the audience if not those who are willing to immerse themselves with extreme dedication in Weather Factory's proposition. Man forewarned...
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mika and the Witch's Mountain is a pleasant and gentle tale about a little witch chasing her dream and the difficulties she will have to overcome to make it. A light and dreamy title graced by a touching art direction as much in the aesthetics as in the soundtrack. The courage to create a title without action overtones but rather anchored solely in a simple and relaxing gameplay loop cannot be underestimated. However, the production's peculiarities are at the same time its own limitations, due to pacing (and control) problems that could compromise audience engagement. Dedicated to the youngest as well as to those who feel like relaxing without thinking too much about complex game mechanics and prohibitive difficulty.
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The Devil's Playhouse Remastered marks the culmination of Skunkape Games' excellent work on the Telltale-era Sam & Max titles. Now as then, the ramshackle freelance cop duo experiences its most paranormal and bizarre adventure, but also its most experimental gameplay side, while preserving every feature beloved by fans of the series and the genre. A fantastic title that, however, is most appreciable only by respecting its peculiar lashing humor, and only if experienced after dealing with the events of Save the World and Beyond Time and Space.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Deathbound is a product with an original idea at its base that has a bivalent function. On the one hand it characterizes the narrative quite effectively. On the other it allows for an original combat system. It is a pity, however, that between the idea and the merely playful realization the right synergy was not found.
Review in Italian | Read full review
After its debut on PC, Darkest Dungeon 2 arrives on consoles marking the return of one of the most interesting roguelike games on the independent scene. Red Hook Studios does not simply improve on the excellent foundation of the first chapter, but rather takes its best features to revolutionize others by putting us at the reins of a caravan engaged in a real journey of hope between darkness and damnation. The end result, though high-level, nevertheless has to contend with high difficulty, a significant degree of randomness and an almost endless sea of tactical possibilities among items, altered statuses and more. A summation of elements that make it, paradoxically, less accessible than its predecessor and perhaps even less enjoyable. For all those who are not afraid of a rough, complex and challenging experience, you will find bread for your teeth here.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Bleak Faith: Forsaken is a proverbial rough gem. It is, indeed, a gameplay experience that lacks polish, but it has a strong identity. Thanks to the synergy between the interconnectedness of the game world, an art direction that pushes the majesty and scale of the environments and a reward system that is always on point, it will literally keep you glued to the screen, provided you can “adapt” to its edges.
Review in Italian | Read full review
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing started out with a glorious purpose: to renew and modernize the bullet hell genre. It was an ambitious goal that aimed to bring enough novelty to the contemporary landscape to be able to make a ludic typology born to satisfy the masochistic desire of a few more attractive to the general public. Unfortunately, not everything went right: while the graphical and musical aspects are fully promoted, the gameplay adopts some ideas that make it not only punishing but also far too confusing. The result is a title that, instead of opening up to the general public, ends up speaking to an even smaller, Mesozoic circle of fans.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Kaku: Ancient Seal is - albeit with the many limitations due to budget constraints - a good representative of the third-person action-adventure genre. The basic mechanics are engaging enough, and the game world, thanks to the variety of biomes, offers an impressive overview. Unfortunately, the narrative is not as deep as it should be and the combat system, although there is a wealth of new moves that players can learn above average, is not balanced very well, which makes combat too mundane and simplified. Fans of the genre will certainly appreciate the four continents and the unique content associated with each. But the whole experience would certainly have benefited if the developer had focused more on the content than on the game map (which is too large and bare of elements).
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak is yet another demonstration of how much Nihon Falcom has worked on the series over the years. From being an extreme niche product to progressively wider audiences on the strength of irrepressible writing and progressively refined gameplay, Daybreak represents both a point of arrival and a new departure for the saga. On the one hand, it embodies the highest and fullest expression of the maturity achieved by the series, which, net of a modest technical compartment, will reward you with a great JRPG that is rich and layered narratively and ludically. On the other hand, the decision to shed some of the constraints of the past allows the title to be the best entry point to finally approach this saga, provided you get along with English. You will not regret it.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Anger Foot is a unique FPS/beat 'em up, wacky, violent, wild and nothing short of racy and irreverent. A true action-packed combat simulator. It's stylish and frenetic, and incredibly challenging, but also damn fun thanks to its wild, colorful and highly accessible gameplay with levels full of optional challenges. Perfectionists will be faced with an arduous mountain to climb, but the journey of mighty kicks, once completed, will be even more rewarding. Whether you use the assisted options or work your way up on your own merits, Anger Foot is an explosive title that is truly worth playing. Considering also the price, €24.99, if you are looking for a different experience from the canonical ones, you cannot pass up this cheerfully exaggerated and lighthearted speedrunner FPS, developed by Free Lives and published by Devolver Digital.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate confirms all its good qualities, already appreciated at the time of its launch on Apple Arcade. A light and fun (yet challenging) action roguelike that is clearly inspired by the top of the class, that Hades capable of garnering major recognition even at The Game Awards in 2020. The excessive similarity to the Supergiant Games masterpiece is both a virtue and a flaw of the Super Evil Megacorp production, on the one hand wise in shaping an accessible and cooperative-friendly declination of the genre, on the other hand far too conservative in ideas. Kind of like a good all-you-can-eat pizza: you never turn it down, but there's definitely something more delicious out there.
Review in Italian | Read full review