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The bottom line, Void Bastards is an absolute gem and definitely worth playing.
It’s frustrating that a game that oozes style from nearly every facet can need a mechanical tune up so badly. With more fine tuned controls, and more meat on its bones, this could’ve been an absolute home run for the developer. Instead, despite all of its charm, Steel Rats simply fails to really hold the players attention for its entire journey and it’s a real shame.
Because of the lightness in content, Everybody’s Golf feels like an early access version of the game. At least the game is priced accordingly. Fortunately, the paucity of content is offset by the strong technical and gameplay aspects of the VR presentation.
Overall, I found Alt-Frequencies provided some great commentary on how the media decodes the underlying truth and spoon feeds it to the public and how governments can step in to attempt to control the narrative.
The slowness of the growth and the beauty of the end result, and the intervening moments, make Green Planet a wonderful game to unwind and relax. But the challenge means you’ll also be engaged. It would have been easy to add a few new projects to the research track and call it a day, but the terraforming is so integrated into the existing game, you’ll constantly find yourself marveling at the design.
Vambrace: Cold Soul is a great love letter to Darkest Dungeon.
There’s a satisfying combat system, a halfway decent story, and a lot of weird little activities to keep you busy. I was just hoping for some more growth between the first game and the second one.
While reading this review, you’d have noticed that I’ve barely mentioned the game’s story and characters. That’s because the story and characters in Unruly Heroes are both lackluster. Also, the voice acting is amateurish and the dialogue is a bit too self-aware for its own good. Don’t expect this game’s plot to blow you away since, at best, it’s functional and inoffensive.
Layers of Fear 2 is bigger, more ambitious, and scarier than its predecessor, but it can feel a bit familiar at times too.
Gato Roboto is polished, and there is no doubt a certain naive charm to the game, aided by catchy music and sound effects.
If this is the swan song for the Nintendo 3DS, then it is for sure a quality one. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is a quality, portable title for all gamers, whether it is the last the 3DS has to offer or not.
My biggest grievance is the games audio – and if I could turn the voicework off while leaving all the other gameplay sounds on, I’d be much happier. If you’re looking for an addictive puzzler to compete against friends and strangers, you really can’t go wrong with Puyo Puyo Champions. Highly recommended!
Ultimately, American Fugitive lives and dies by its gameplay. Driving around and tearing through Redrock County is fun, destructive, and weirdly cathartic. Casing buildings and barely escaping before the police show up is breathtakingly thrilling.
This is the exact lack of interaction that makes games bad. This is the recipe for failure, and in the future, it should be used as a road map of precisely what not to do in game design.
For those with a big couch and with three other friends to play with, it will no doubt provide plenty of silly fun. Until we get a sequel to Castle Crashers (if ever), this just might be the next best thing.
Atelier Lulua is a crisp and clean experience with cute visuals and an even cuter cast of characters. While the gameplay is simple, it’s engaging enough to hold your attention and the best part is that you don’t need to have played the previous three games in order to understand this. With the added bonus of the simplified alchemy procedure, it’s an overall great title to pick up if you’ve been curious about the series.
Draugen is not a revolutionary game, but it is a smart one.
Had the developers simply slapped the Lovecraft label on the game and not explored the rich mythos inherent in the name, this could have been a disaster of a game, but instead – and despite of its faults – Lovecraft’s Untold Stories is a rich and intoxicating set of tales weaved together, balancing mystery, combat, and madness together in an engrossing experience.
There’s so much to talk about that most of it is truly best left unsaid, as your path to these discoveries will be very much your own. I hope bigger games take some of Outer Wilds’ design lessons to heart. There’s nothing quite like it right now and there should be.
For the real gamers out there, the ones who want to consider the whole history of the medium, this collection is a wonderful gift. To people looking for classic design, for inspiration, for history, there’s a lot to like here.