VDGMS's Reviews
Although Big Walk might look like another sheep in the friendslop herd, Big Walk is a wolf that more closely resembles 2016’s The Witness. An open world game about exploration, solving puzzles without any tutorials and slowly understanding the world around you. Big Walk is layered experience chocked full of aha moments, but the major contrast to The Witness is that it all happens with friends. Unlike the rest of the friendslop genre, the fun in Big Walk isn’t derived from unscripted chaos, it’s from a meticulously designed world, intelligent gameplay and extremely well engineered puzzles. Big Walk is proof that a lot of little details can make a big difference
Game Freak have smartly embraced their strengths working on the Pokemon franchise for over 30 years. Beast of Reincarnation combines some of the best features of souls-likes with some of the best features of Pokemon creating a refreshing genre fusion. Beast of Reincarnation might look like just another Action-RPG with bonfires and parries, but between the Pokemon inspired combat with a trusty companion at your side that gives the real time combat a turn based feel, the blighted traversal, the hauntingly beautiful post apocalyptic world, as well as many other souls-like staples, Beast of Reincarnation is a must play for any fan of the genre.
As expected from the mind of a Disney Imagineer, Lifted is a retro inspired platformer that feels like a trip to Disney. It's an experience that channels your inner-child with charm, whimsy and fun, but it’s also full of frustrations like long lines, sweltering heat, high prices, rude people and crying kids. In the case of Lifted, it’s unrefined gameplay, minimal challenge, forgettable story, and extremely short runtime. How much you enjoy your adventure will depend on what part of the experience you focus on?
Dive or Die isn’t a roguelike, but it does feature a similar addictive nature, as you always want do just one more dive. Drop Rate captures the tension of diving and ratchets it up with waters full of Lovecraftian horrors. From a studio of just three people, Dive or Die is a sublime diving experience. Dive or Die combines the excursion gameplay loop of Dave The Diver with the camp management of Darkest Dungeon and submerges it all in the Eldritch waters from Dredge, but still manages to feel like a novel experience. If you’re a fan or diving games, Dive or Die is a must.
You could easily copy any review for Yoshi’s Wooly World or Yoshi’s Crafted World, paste it and change the title to Yoshi and the Mysterious Book and it would be about 85-90% accurate. These three games in question are all whimsical, overflowing with Nintendo charm, bursting with creativity, and full of plenty of Yoshi series nostalgia, with minimal challenge and resistance. However, the last 10-15% is what really differentiates Yoshi and the Mysterious Book since it doesn’t feel like a traditional platformer, it feels more like an explorer and unlike any other Nintendo experience. If you're expecting the second coming of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, you’ll have to keep waiting, but if you’re looking for a more casual and whimsical experience like Wooly or Crafted World, you’ll be delighted and surprised.
With high levels of production, compelling Hitman-lite gameplay and deeply engaging story that isn't out of place in a post Casino Royale world, First Light doesn’t compete with other Bond games, it competes with the Bond cinematic universe. However, just like James Bond, First Light is slightly flawed. Gameplay feels like a small step back for IOI, as it removes a lot of the freedom and improvisation Hitman became known for, some of the missions constantly move the goalposts, and despite a great performance, this version of Bond is a little short on charisma. If you stripped away the IP, what’s left underneath is a very good action-adventure, but the addition of one of the most iconic characters of all time means that 007 First Light supplants Goldeneye as the undisputed best Bond game.
Is Mina The Hollower better than Shovel Knight? Yacht Club Games seems to think so because In their words “Mina is the biggest and best game we’ve ever made...we squeezed every good idea we had into it." After finishing, I agree. The combination of platforming, combat and its unique burrowing mechanic create an action-adventure that doesn't play like anything else. The learning curve is steep because the game doesn’t hold your hand, which might push away some and turning on the spark generators, which is a recurring mechanic each biome lacks precision like the rest of the game but if you have any affinity for classic adventure games like Zelda, then Mina is a must because Yacht Club have done it again.
Precision platformers are a niche and since 2018, there hasn’t been anything like Celeste. A punishing, precision platformer that pushing your limits, juxtaposed with a wholesome style and story. TetherGeist proudly wears its inspiration on its sleeve and while it failed to capture the same levels of emotion, it’s unique tether gameplay, hyper responsive controls, gorgeous pixel art, nearly perfect difficulty curve and variety that always kept you at the edge of your comfort zone make TetherGeist the easy recommendation for someone looking for an experience like Celeste or the next great precision platformer.
REPLACED doesn’t reinvent the puzzle platformer because at the core, you’re still moving blocks, climbing ladders, and sneaking around. The platforming lacks precision, as it's more Prince of Persia than modern platformer, and the entire experience is missing the polish it deserves with plenty of minor technical hiccups along the way. Despite the flaws, REPLACED rises above most platformers thanks to a compelling narrative, strong atmosphere from the excellent cinematography, moody tone from the original score, impeccable art direction and the infusion of a weighty, free flowing combat system inspired by Rocksteady, all of which made REPLACED feel irreplaceable.
When Mouse was first revealed it looked like nothing more than a prototype and a shallow attempt to capitalize on Steamboat Willie entering public domain, which couldn't be farther from the truth of the final product. The art direction and aesthetic do the obvious heavy lifting, but the narrative, writing, performances and gameplay all eclipsed expectations. Mouse PI for Hire is extremely polished, full of originality, and oozing with personality like a cheese fondue. Falling short of perfection, Mouse falters as the second act lingered too long, which exacerbated the pacing issues as the time between new weapons, abilities and gameplay ideas felt extreme at times. The difficulty was also erratic as it struggled to find the balance between overwhelming and cakewalk, but when you factor in the extremely fluid gameplay, extravagant arsenal, fantastic jazz soundtrack, and excellent performances across the board, Mouse isn’t another cliche boomer shooter, it’s the new blueprint.
Do androids dream of electric sheep? That is a question that Philip K Dick posed and while we may never know the answer, if they could dream, it would likely be about Pragmata because it has all the polish and refinement of a signature Capcom experience, one of the most inventive combat mechanics in years, and a narrative that offered a nuanced viewpoint on ai. Pragmata seems destined to become the next iconic Capcom franchise.
Back in the day, you didn’t need a skill tree or RPG mechanics in your platformers. Darwin’s Paradox! sparked up a lot of nostalgia for PS1 platforming classics like Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey and Heart of Darkness because the focus on the core experience. Darwin’s Paradox! is a cinematic puzzle-platformer that spotlights the unique abilities of an octopus because it’s not trying to incorporate elements from nine different genres. Unfortunately, just like most retro games, the adventure lacked emotional investment, but with plenty of variety, excellent pacing and a whimsical world, Darwin’s Paradox! is an endearing adventure that was full of personality. Back in the day a game like Darwin’s Paradox would’ve become a cult classic and it feels destined to become one today as well.
Good Western games are few and far between and great ones are even more of a rarity. There have only been a few handfuls of truly great westerns like the Red Dead series, Oddworld: Strangers Wrath, Outlaws, Oregon Trail and a small selection of others, but now Tombwater needs to be placed in these hallowed halls alongside these icons. Tombwater features gameplay inspired by The Legend of Zelda and Bloodborne that gets paired with a faithful western story revolving around an anti-hero trying to live an honest life, who becomes forced to pursue frontier justice in this Eldritch universe. The result is an experience that would make Clint Eastwood proud as Tombwater is one of the greatest Westerns games ever crafted.
When it comes to capturing the spirit, energy and satirical tone of the 1997 cult classic Starship Troopers, Auroch Digital has done a flawless job with Ultimate Bug War. If Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War released alongside the movie in 1997, it might be revered today. The commitment to tone was admirable, as the story was uniquely told through the lens of video game military propaganda, the FMV’s were excellent, and there were moments of pure first person shooting bliss. Unfortunately, poor mission structure, unsatisfying weapons and lack of variety relegated Ultimate Bug War to just another average Boomer Shooter, which is disappointing after the studios great work on Boltgun. For most people, there are better options, but if you’re right in the middle of the Venn diagram between boomer shooter and Starship Troopers, then enlist right away because Ultimate Bug War will be your Utopia.
Resident Evil Requiem is a testament to how ahead of its time and iconic Resident Evil 2 was since Requiem feels like a more modern take of the 1998 classic infused with action elements from Resident Evil 4.The series still has a bad habit of becoming over the top and unrealistic, Grace felt under explored, especially psychologically and you spend too much time as Leon, which affected the pacing during the second act, from the perspective of someone that thinks RE2 is the best of the series. The narrative, atmosphere, puzzles, locations and bosses you encounter during Requiem were all unforgettable and have the makings of becoming iconic. Requiem is proof as to why the franchise has been thriving for over 30 years, as it's only behind RE2 and RE4 as the third best in the series.
Ratcheteer DX is an 8 bit action-adventure deeply inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. If you miss the days of burning through AA batteries and not being able to game on your handheld after the sun goes down, Ratcheteer DX is sure to give you that nostalgic sensation you are looking for. Unfortunately, Ratcheteer DX carries forward the baggage from retro gaming including a shallow story, frustrating controls and without the Playdate quirk or the Nintendo charm, it fails to differentiate itself from the never ending flow of retro inspired indies. The nostalgic time capsule is a short and sweet adventure, but it'll likely only be appreciated by retro purists.
Less than 3 years later, Wishfully Studios have given players the chance to return to the gorgeous Planet Novo and the wonderful universe of Planet of Lana with a sequel that expands on the original in nearly every conceivable way, for better or worse. The scale is bigger, the world feels more diverse, the gameplay has expanded, the puzzles have more complexity, the environments are somehow more beautiful and even the lovable companion Mui has a much greater role. Wishfully set the bar high with their debut and while the sequel fails to leave the same impact due to inconsistent pacing and supporting characters that didn’t resonate, Planet of Lana 2 is a fantastic puzzle platformer that outdoes the original in many ways.
Labeling yourself as a Disco-like is a bold move and following the blueprint this closely is even bolder, as this will surely draw comparisons to what many consider to be one of the greatest CRPG’s of all time. Luckily, Esoteric Ebb can withstand the scrutiny and pressure of the comparison because it’s not a carbon copy and there is a clear line of distinction between the two experiences. It might be a little inconsistent and clunky at times, but with a high level of autonomy, witty writing and satirical tone that balances the heavy themes within, Esoteric Ebb is a dungeon worth plundering.
REANIMAL is the Little Nightmares 2 sequel that fans deserved, which is simply indicative of how much dark platformers are engrained in the DNA of Tarsier Studios. REANIMAL is exactly the type of psychological horror that you’d expect from the minds behind Little Nightmares 1 and 2, which is great baseline to start from. What wasn’t expected was just how much a slight perspective change would evolve the experience. Tarsier now have more freedom to greatly increase the scale, broaden their environmental storytelling and even go into darker territory than before. As a result, this epic adventure through hell is much more immersive than their previous work, as REANIMAL shakes up the status quo of the genre.