Believe me when I say that the trailers don’t do it justice, because there’s a much deeper game here than I could have ever expected. Changing up the visual novel formula by telling the story not only through dialogue options, but also through tarot card readings, is an ingenious concept. This encourages replayablility, especially with offering seven different endings, an makes each playthrough unique.
Even though the story and its mystery are much better this time around, its pacing might turn off some players before they finally get to the interesting parts. It also suffers from poor controls and lots of needless filler. Honestly, it might have been an alright game if it worked well and was trimmed down a bit, but as it stands, I wouldn’t waste your little gray cells on this one.
Blasphemous 2 is a brilliant follow-up to its iconic predecessor. The combat has been improved from the original, and features new weapons and skills to better customize the gameplay to different playstyles.
I found Verne: The Shape of Fantasy to be a somewhat bland experience. This is especially disheartening because the premise was so creative. To me, it just didn’t live up to its potential. The story was too slow and predictable, and the gameplay was either too easy or too frustrating. To give credit where credit is due, it is a beautiful game, and I enjoyed learning more about Jules Verne, even if it didn’t necessarily add to the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Venba, even more than I was anticipating. I expected a laid-back cooking sim, but what I got was a deeply moving narrative about generational struggles with immigration and creating a home for yourself in an unfamiliar land. Solving the puzzles of the missing steps in each recipe is surprisingly fun as well. Even though it’s a short experience, taking only about two hours to complete, it still a journey worth taking.
I cannot stress enough how happy I am that Devolver decided to breathe some life into this (potential?) franchise. McPixel 3 is the perfect follow-up to a largely underappreciated game from the mid 2000s. Yes, it has some shortcomings, but it’s still an unexpectedly fun game, especially when you consider that it was made by only one person. Sos Sosowksi, I applaud your efforts and am eagerly awaiting the next McPixel game.
Unfortunately, it just has too many issues with its gameplay to make it an enjoyable experience. It has some great ideas, but ultimately, it stumbles because it can’t decide what kind of a game it wants to be. Diehard fans of the genre might be able to overlook its frustrating controls, but most will get too annoyed to enjoy it.
Dordogne was not the game I was hoping for. The gameplay is awkward and tedious, and the story takes far too long to get interesting, then ends rather abruptly. The only area that did manage to live up to the hype was the art design. Unfortunately, after soaking up its breath-taking watercolor aesthetic, I found Dordogne to be less of a wild adventure, and more of a lackadaisical drift downstream.
Ravenlok won’t be to everyone’s liking, but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable experience when you’re looking for a palette cleanser in between so many of the other AAA RPGs in the market right now. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from a massive hundred hour epic adventure, and have a short jaunt with something fun and whimsical. Hardcore gamers will likely find its shallow gameplay lacking, but it’s the perfect game to introduce younger children to for their first fantasy adventure. Ravenlok won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I was happy to partake in this tea party.
It’s a shame that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor suffered from so many bugs upon its release, because it’s an absolutely fantastic game. I am beyond grateful that my time with it was largely unaffected by those issues, so I was able to enjoy the game the way it was intended. Nearly every aspect of Survivor has been improved upon from Fallen Order, making this one of the most enjoyable entries into the Star Wars franchise to date.
There have been several VR ports for games originally released on PC or consoles, but the ones that are successful are few and far between. Thankfully, Call of the Sea VR falls into the successful category. Despite some flaws, mainly with its visuals due to the limited hardware, Call of the Sea VR is an incredible addition to the VR gaming library. It’s an amazingly immersive experience that’s a must play for fans of VR and adventure/puzzles games in general. When it beckons, will you answer the call?
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is not just an incredible DLC, but it’s an absolutely crucial part of the entire Horizon story.
The Last Worker is an enjoyable time, despite some flaws with its gameplay. The regular package handling sections are a lot of fun, especially when discovering the crazy contents within each one, but the stealth and hacking sections can get pretty frustrating. Thankfully, the story is compelling enough to overlook the gameplay shortcomings, and the performances are wonderful all around. If you’ve ever worked as a low employee for a large retailer, then The Last Worker will definitely speak to you on some level.
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened was a fun, albeit uneven, experience. Several of the flaws from Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One were addressed, such as removing the clunky combat system, while others, like pinning specific evidence to uncover clues, remain a frustrating gameplay feature. The overarching story is compelling and will keep you invested all the way through. Although, it does bear repeating to expect some pretty uneven pacing, especially when your leads take Sherlock away from the Lovecraftian elements. Still, this remake is an impressive feat, essentially completely rebuilding the original game from the ground up, with all new story beats never seen in the original.
It’s a casual experience, with some fantastic exploration, diverse challenges and tasks, a rich setting, and a surprisingly deep story. The entire game has been lovingly crafted and steeped in lore from New Caledonia. The only thing keeping Tchia out of the realm of greatness are the amount of bugs affecting it, at least on the PC version. With that being said, I wholeheartedly recommend playing it, as long as you either play it on a console, or wait until they’ve patched up the bugs on the PC version.
For anyone who was a fan of Road 96, then I would recommend giving Road 96: Mile 0 a go. Honestly, I am disappointed that they got rid of the procedurally generated interactions, which made Road 96 so unique. Road 96: Mile 0 is a still an enjoyable time, and I appreciate that DigixArt continued to try new things, but it wasn’t able to capture the same magic as its predecessor. Still, it was fun getting to learn more about Petria and some of the motley residents within its borders.
The developers proved they listened to their fans by including more travel banter and all-new companion sidequests, giving them believable reasons as to why they would be traveling with each other. All the new features enhanced an already great concept, making Octopath Traveler II a true masterpiece of a RPG.
The Wreck is definitely not a game for everyone. Admittedly, it’s pretty tough to get through, for a variety of reasons. It has a somewhat slow start, which might turn some people off. It also covers several mature topics and themes, such as grief, death, self-harm, and toxic relationships. However, for those who love a compelling narrative, The Wreck has that in spades.
Backbone was already a compelling game, but after gaining some insight into some of its main characters, it has been elevated to a new level because of the existence of Tails: The Backbone Preludes. Now if we could get a proper sequel to finally wrap up some of the loose ends in Backbone, fans will be elated. I am ready to have my heart ripped out yet again.
I went in with high expectations from Chained Echoes, but remarkably, it managed to exceed every one of them. The characters are enjoyable (although Robb can be a bit insufferable at times), and most of them are fleshed out pretty well by the end. The storyline isn’t overly convoluted either, and has just enough depth and twists to keep it interesting. The combat in particular surprised me with how engaging it was, all thanks to its inventive Overdrive system.