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Grinding is a pretty delicate balance in games. If you include too much, or not enough, or the wrong kind, you can really throw people for a loop. Blightbound upsets that careful balance, but only slightly. But that’s all it takes! If the pacing, or the difficulty, or the drop rate fall out of sync, you can end up in a nasty slog. All the separate pieces are present, they just don’t hang together quite right, at least not for me.
Choices matter, both in life and in The Forgotten City, which uses ancient Roman beliefs about morality, ethics, and law to subtly comment on our present-day conflicts. But it’s never heavy-handed and what you’ll mostly pay attention to are the characters and their needs, your own objectives, the mysterious city, and the clever way time loops and puzzle-solving work together. Whether you play it once or try for the multiple alternative endings, The Forgotten City is a unique adventure.
Last Stop’s anthology-based approach to storytelling is great and helps to keep you engaged throughout. Even though your choices don’t really impact the story, it’s a lovely journey that touches on some interesting themes. Unfortunately, the conclusion is disappointing as it delves a little too far into the realm of science fiction. Regardless of this, the grounded characters and interesting cast are worth meeting.
Cotton Reboot is one of my favorite horizontal shoot ‘em ups of all time, alongside Keio Flying Squadron, Harmful Park, Cho Aniki, and Zombie Nation. What those all have in common is that they’re weird and unique in their presentation. They all have solid gameplay but don’t re-invent the wheel with anything other than style. Casual shooter fans can’t go wrong with Cotton Reboot!. It has an interesting presentation, tight controls, and scale-able difficulty. It won’t challenge hardcore bullet hell enthusiasts, but they probably want their shmups to be vertical anyways.
Despite Anna’s Quest not necessarily bringing anything new to the point and click genre, it fully makes up for it in the story, acting, and characterization. You’ll definitely enjoy playing through this title if you like dark fairy tales or stories from the Brothers Grimm. It’s a bittersweet tale of a coming of age story as Anna goes from a timid young girl to a confident and strong young lady. Her journey isn’t easy, but it sure is worth experiencing.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a fantastic value. It contains two Ace Attorney games, each with five stories. Considering the most recent great visual novel compilation, Famicom Detective Club, was a full-priced collection, containing two games less than half the length of the two found in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, this collection at 2/3 the cost is a steal for visual novel fans. If you’re a fan of the original Ace Attorney games, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is an excellent return to form.
But there are lots of reasons to be hopeful that A Township Tale will grow, and improve, and eventually fulfill its potential to be a truly great MMO in VR. Developers Alta have been great about responding to player feedback and updating the game regularly, and I am sure that quests and events and maybe even new areas will be added in the future. Until then, A Township Tale is a decent, if flawed, VR game that you will love even as you sometimes curse it under your Oculus headset.
As much as I love the aesthetics of Cris Tales, there are issues with the gameplay that affect the experience. Although fans of retro JRPGs will be able to overlook the constant random battles, lack of auto-save, and the monotonous grind, these aspects will deter gamers who are used to contemporary design elements. The clever use of the time mechanic allows you to be more tactical in your approach to fights; however, this is overshadowed by the sheer volume of encounters and repetitive enemy types. At its core, Cris Tales is a solid JRPG with an interesting twist; however, it sticks to the well-trodden paths of those that came before, creating a disparity between the gameplay and visuals.
What appeals to individual gamers is, of course, subjective but I’ve long felt that Elder Scrolls Online is the best MMORPG on consoles thanks to its world-building, lore, quests, story, and ability to reward both solo and group experiences equally. The recent introduction of companions made a solo-friendly game even more inviting. With the Enhanced Version, Elder Scrolls Online definitely steps up as the best looking and smoothest running MMORPG you can find on the PS5, and no longer feels in any way inferior to the PC version.
I can’t imagine anyone so desperate for content that they would find value in this only marginally improved ten-year-old game. Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is and has always been, awful and no HD remaster will fix its terrible story, lackluster combat, primitive graphics, and creepy tone. Some games are broken or bad in a kind of fun way, but Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed isn’t broken, it’s just bad and decidedly, aggressively not fun at all.
Death’s Door is a masterclass in level design. The interwoven areas encourage and reward exploration, whilst the simple yet challenging combat makes confrontations a thrill. With an alluring art style, sorrowful soundtrack, Acid Nerve has managed to create one of the greatest indie titles of 2021.
Although Risk System might not appeal to bullet hell enthusiasts, it still provides an excellent challenge. And really, Risk System isn’t trying to appeal to them anyway; it’s made to be much more accessible and innovative. In that sense, it exceeds in shining colors. I just wish there was more game to play. But for the low price tag, anyone interested in the shoot ‘em up genre can’t go wrong with a Risk System purchase.
Out of Line is a great example of the puzzle platform genre. Nerd Monkey’s methodical approach to puzzles is delightful.
From the moment you lay your eyes on Mother Bilby, you’ll fall in love with this title. The beautiful animation, emotive story, and luscious backdrops echo great cartoons of the past. Proud Dinosaur has expertly crafted puzzles that mature in quality and difficulty as the game progresses. Although Macrotis: A Mother’s Journey is relatively short and a little sluggish at times, the game imbues quality, making this a journey worth taking.
While it’s not perfect, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is a massive improvement over the original release.
Labyrinth City: Pierre, the Maze Detective, is an enjoyable experience that combines intelligent-level design and a charming art style. The lovely setting, packed with detail, is a joy to explore even though it lacks any real challenge. With several collectibles in each level, there is some replayability. However, I would be surprised if many revisit the game after completing it. That being said, each moment of the roughly 3-hour story was an absolute joy. Although a little repetitive, I loved perusing the world, inspecting the oddities, and marveling at the landscape. Fans of the franchise will be enamored with this interpretation of the books, and newcomers will fall in love with the world. Due to this, I would recommend getting lost in Labyrinth City.
What more can we say about this upgraded version of A Plague Tale? It was a great experience when it came out in 2019, and it still is two years later. It is not made better in any major way, but it cannot be improved without fundamentally changing the game, which I am thankful it did not. If you have not played this game, you are doing yourself a disservice.
For anyone who has even the slightest interest in Formula 1 racing – and thanks to the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive there may be many with their curiosity piqued – F1 2021 will become their new sports gaming pastime. Catering to both casual newcomers and the most exacting simulation-seekers, F1 2021 offers a mind-blowing amount of polished and entertaining content, whether your preference is to race alone or with others. With the new Braking Point single-player story and improvements and expansions to just about everything else, F1 2021 is that rare instance of an annual sports game that has managed to continue to get better with every release.
Where the Heart Leads falls into a short, unique list of titles that lead you to ponder things long after the credits roll. The narrative holds a mirror to the player, cornering them against realistic in-game situations and forces them to investigate their values. It’s not preachy, by any means, but it uses realism in a way that made me want to get my own life in order. If such was the goal, Armature Games has succeeded through and through.
Curved Space is described as arcade-style anyways, so I don’t understand why the devs thought the story was needed at all. If they focused on polishing a mode that players can have some mindless fun, Curved Space could be leaps and bounds better. There’s a reason why rogue-lites have been finding so much success in the indie sphere: gameplay-first designs that just feel nice to play.