HIGH The buildup to the second boss fight.

LOW The actual second boss fight.

WTF “Little guys for big jobs” is a profoundly weird way to describe bullets.

There’s nothing slick about Blood West.  It’s a slow, lumbering thing – an exercise in patience, demanding to be taken on its own terms. 

My first forays into this stealth focused, first-person shooter were mired in frustration, while my seemingly interminable failures put the main character’s immortality to the test.  However, once I was willing to abandon my preconceived heuristics and fully lean into Blood West’s loop, I loved every second of it.

Recently resurrected by a talking cow skull of dubious origins, the player takes control of an unnamed, undead gunslinger tasked with defeating a great evil corrupting the land.  Structured as small open-worlds, players will explore haunted canyons, swamps, and mountain ranges across the American old west.  Light RPG elements allow for some character customization, but make no mistake, spirits, mutants, and gaggles of gun-toting birdmen offer stiff resistance to incautious players, and maintaining a low profile is crucial.

Impulse and quick reflexes find no purchase in Blood West – every action must be carefully considered, with a solid contingency plan in place should things go awry.  Stand-up fights netted poor results for this spooky cowpoke, and each encounter turned into a tactical calculus.

Take the simple act of equipping weapons – players are only able to swap between two at a time, one large and one small.  Is it more prudent to take the bow, able to stealthily dispatch weaker enemies from afar?  Or is it better to knife them in the back, relying on the close quarters fury of a double-barreled shotgun should that colossal wendigo stomping in the background take notice?  These questions become existential as health is fleeting, and death is severely punished on the plains of Blood West.

Each defeat (and subsequent resurrection) results in a “soul flaw” — a semi-permanent status effect that negatively impacts a core stat such as health, stamina, or sneaking ability.  These compound with each death, worsening up to three times. While they can eventually be remedied, these flaws do nothing to make the hostile world of Blood West any easier.

While Blood West is punishing when approached as a typical first-person shooter, it is immensely rewarding as a tactical stealth experience.  Its open-ended structure offers players abundant freedom in tackling objectives, and most areas can be approached from any direction.  I came to organize my play into discreet sorties, probing further into the wilderness and systematically clearing areas of enemies before returning to base camp to trade treasure with the merchant and heal up.  Defeated enemies stay dead until the player rests or resurrects, and I began to feel a measure of control over my environment when I realized I could stay alive much longer with the most important tactic of all – knowing when to cut bait. 

Eventually, I came to realize the majority of my deaths in Blood West were a result of my own hubris – deciding to take a snap headshot without properly scouting the area, accidentally alerting a horde of monsters in the process, or pressing into uncharted territory despite a depleted health bar.  Individual enemies are generally not difficult on their own, and most can be outrun should they become overwhelming.  That’s not to say that every death is the player’s fault, but I rarely felt Blood West was unfair and often found my own stubbornness and inattention to be the source of any frustration.

Careful attention is not only important for combat but also exploration.  Whether it’s a moored steamboat off the beaten track or a lonely cabin on a hilltop, there is sure to be loot worth finding.  As I began to explore the more far-flung corners of the map, I found powerful, unique items that literally changed the way I approached Blood West – a rifle that heals forty health with every headshot, or a trinket that offered a twenty percent boost to health, stamina, and experience points.  Some of these items shaped my play for hours to come, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that I might not have rolled credits in Blood West without them.

There is one area where Blood West falls short, however – the boss fights.  Each act is structured around tracking and exterminating an evil entity, and the narrative revolves around the buildup to these encounters.  Unfortunately, these battles are uniformly disappointing and rely on mechanics that stray from Blood West’s strengths.  Whether it’s dexterity-based dodging or battles of attrition, gone is the emphasis on thoughtful, strategic play that forms Blood West’s foundation.  While certainly a letdown, these criticisms amount to little more than quibbles in the wake of all that Blood West does right.

Blood West won’t be for everyone, but those willing to go along with its demanding play and deliberate pacing will find an engaging experience that celebrates the player’s wits as much as reflexes.  I won’t soon forget the feeling of being low on ammo, even lower on health and deep behind enemy lines, knowing I should turn back, but forging ahead anyway, intoxicated by what treasure could be around the next corner – because more than likely, it’s worth it.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Buy Blood West: PS5 – Xbox – PC

Disclosures: This game is developed by Hyperstrange and published by New Blood Interactive LLC. It is currently available on PC, PS5, and XBX/S.  This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 30 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the primary campaign was completed, but the DLC campaign was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence. This game is definitely not aimed at children.  While the visuals are generally low fidelity and rendered in a cartoony, non-realistic fashion, there is plenty of blood and gore.  Enemies can be killed with various firearms, knives, and swords.  When killed, enemies will spray blood out and can be partially dismembered with certain weapons.  Alcohol and tobacco can be consumed as power-ups.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game only offers subtitles in certain instances.  Primary dialogue between characters is fully subtitled, but the player’s character makes many comments throughout gameplay that are not subtitled at all. While this game offers two options for text size, this only applies to certain menus and did not impact the text in subtitled dialogue. This game relies heavily on stealth, and when playing without sound I found it more difficult to remain unseen and, consequently, died more frequently due to enemy noises that are not represented visually. The missing in-game subtitles combined with the lack of visual indicators for key contextual noises means this game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

The post Blood West Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The last monster is a doozy.

LOW Having to do a boss fight six times because of an AI glitch.

WTF Is that a wading pool full of dentures?

Despite what feelings they might have about a Little Nightmares they didn’t make, the developers at Tarsier should be proud that they created a franchise with vibes so iconic that it’s possible for another studio to make something that is so instantly recognizable as Little Nightmares.

For all of its flaws, no one can make the argument that Little Nightmares 3 doesn’t feel like Little Nightmares. It hits all of the important franchise beats – there are creepily adorable main characters, an oppressive, oversized world, and monstrous entities wholly focused on the heroes’ demise.

What it lacks, by comparison, is a sense that these elements meld together to form a whole — because right now, Little Nightmares 3 feels more like a series of levels than a coherent experience.

Set in a horrible dreamworld recognizable to anyone who’s played any of the others in the franchise, LN3 follows children on a journey through four distinct worlds — a necropolis, a dusty wasteland where birds are slaughtered, a disgusting candy factory and a Dark Carnival where the displays are as upsetting as the attendees. Finally things move to a final level that I won’t reveal, save to say that it is seemingly tied closely to the series’ oblique mythology.

Hopefully one of my major issues is clear based on the list of levels I just outlined – namely that LN3 has no coherent flow to its progression.

While individual levels might have a sense of rising action – players invariably meet that level’s threat about a quarter of the way through and then have to deal with three further encounters before vanquishing it or making good their escape – there’s never a sense that an overall tale is being told. Low, the lead character, has a map that he consults before using his powers to teleport to new areas, but what these areas have to do with one another, or the goal he’s attempting to eventually reach never become clear. At the end of the adventure, I was left with more questions than answers.

To its credit, on a moment-to-moment basis LN3 works well. The puzzles are cleverly designed and clearly laid out, and the AI is good enough so that if a player doesn’t have a live co-op partner, they should have no trouble completing the many two-person objectives. I played most of the campaign in single-player mode, and almost never found myself getting stuck because the computer partner was too slow or confused about what to do.

That said, LN3 really does play better when two live players are involved, and it’s delightful being able to speed things along by having two people working on puzzle elements simultaneously. As such, it makes the lack of single-screen co-op feel like an oversight. There are a few locations when two characters have to separate, but they’re few and far between, and the success of things like It Takes Two and Split Fiction have proven that split-screens work just fine. At least they aren’t forcing players to buy two copies – as long as the host has a copy of LN3, their co-op partner can simply download the demo and play with a Friend’s Pass.

In a large sense, I don’t have many complaints about Little Nightmares 3. Each new area is beautifully realized, the monsters are scary, and the skin-of-the-teeth escapes are as thrilling as one would hope. However, as I closed in on the end, I couldn’t help but feel that it all felt vaguely hollow. It’s definitely a Little Nightmares title, but it never feels like it has anything to say, or that it’s building to something profound. Even the ending was underwhelming, although given that it has to be compared to the sadistic gut punch in Little Nightmares 2, that was probably always going to be the case.

Little Nightmares 3 might be the least of the trilogy so far, but anyone who wants to have a new experience in its horribly bleak and oppressive world will still find this a great opportunity to do so — it just doesn’t come together as darkly perfect as it should.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco. It currently available on PC/PS5/XBS-X/SW. Copies of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 10 hours of play was devoted to the single-player mode. The game was completed. 2 hours were spent in Multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game was rated T by the ESRB, and it features Violence and Blood & Gore. This is a disturbing world full of violent imagery, but it’s presented in such a cartoony and grotesque way that I suspect even younger teens won’t find it excessive. Be prepared to be haunted by some of these creatures, though. That will happen.

Colorblind Modes: The game does contain colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: I played almost the entire game without sound and encountered zero difficulties. All information is provided via text, which can be resized. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, the game’s controls are not remappable.

The post Little Nightmares 3 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

We’re nearing the end of October, so you know what that means! Yep, it’s time for a quick divergence into spooky movie recommendations to celebrate the spookiest season! There’s no major games discussion here, but Carlos Rodela comes aboard to share our (sort-of) top 10s and related tangents! Enjoy!

You can also hear the show on iTunes

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to SoVideogamesPODCAST (at) gmail (dot) com, or post them in the comments section below. Thanks!

The post So Videogames Episode 458: Halloweeners appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Atmospheric. Exceptional pixel art.

LOW Minimal story and half-baked mechanics.

WTF Cow + wolf = giant monster bone bear?

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi everyone! Eugene Sax here with another review from GameCritics.com.

A distress signal sounds. A small response group led by a fierce warrior named Naut heads out to a space station inhabited by thousands of people, only to find it quiet and desolate — but not empty. They quickly discover that the residents have been turned into terrible monsters. With survival as the only option, this small band must fight the horde to stay alive, while ultimately trying to find out what happened.

Katanaut is a 2D action roguelike where players take on the role of Naut, a warrior with a knack for swords and an exterminator of monstrous creatures. Players will infiltrate the overrun space station, pick up special abilities and power ups, and fight bosses to get to the truth of what’s happening. As players go through each level and defeat enemies, they’ll uncover new things to unlock for future runs, like new weapons, guns, abilities, and passive upgrades. 

During play, there’s a lot of emphasis on movement and flow while balancing slicing with swords and shooting enemies. For example, the player’s gun only has a limited number of bullets, and gaining more requires players to get in close with melee, so each encounter becomes a bloody dance of shooting enemies from afar before diving headfirst into the horde to get ammo back.

In addition, there’s a wealth of active abilities that can boost Naut’s combat abilities, like a ball of eldritch lightning, summoning a small group of allies, or things like shield generation or damaging enemies if players dodge-roll through them. There’s plenty of variety overall to make each run feel unique in how players will interact with the environment and the horde they’re fighting through.

In terms of atmosphere, there’s an eerie and tense energy that Katanaut nails. Every cut paints the walls of the station in blood, and the environments become more and more grotesque as players near the core. There also seems to be a hint of mental manipulation – is Naut wanting to eliminate the threat and save the world, or is he trying to learn more and harness this power for himself? Is he being manipulated by this unknown power, or will he be strong enough to resist? Only time will tell as players run through again and again.

While this all seems like a recipe for success and Katanaut does give a strong first impression, that feeling, unfortunately, fades quickly.

My biggest issue with the experience is that the roguelike elements are here, but they aren’t quite on target. For example, while there are plenty of varied and interesting abilities, the guns feel too similar and boring. Sure, the damage of a given weapon can go up or down, but none felt that interesting, or even that different from one another, making guns overall seem like an afterthought.

Main melee weapons suffer from this as well, although this might be more of a pacing issue. Katanaut offers six main weapons, but I have yet to unlock more than one additional weapon after all the time I’ve spent with it, and that includes fully completing a run.

Speaking of pacing issues, it’s not limited to the main weapon unlocks. Looking at the campaign’s structure as a whole, progression from run to run feels so incremental that the time investment doesn’t feel worth it. Increasing health by one point, increasing stamina by five points, increasing katana damage by 5% — it all feels tiny, grindy and unsatisfying, and it makes the ultimate goal of reaching the end feel like an impossible slog that will take much, much longer than I want to spend with it.

These are all significant downsides, and the story was equally unsatisfying. Does a roguelike need to have a grand, overarching narrative to be good? No. But does it need to at least have some core of a story to motivate me for why I should care about going through this space station? I think so.

I wish I could say that the payoff was worth it, but after finishing a run, I got to see the credits for the game and then opened up an enhanced difficulty — and that was it! None of the story questions were answered! What was the villain’s motivation? Why create the monsters? If I beat the boss, why do I need to go back and do the same run again, but harder? This made the “ending” fall completely flat for me, and after that narrative letdown, I didn’t feel a lot of motivation to continue.

Katanaut looks good and has potential, and honestly, it’s getting better by the day. The developer has been dropping frequent updates that offer additions and enhancements that weren’t there when I first started playing, and the push and pull of going between melee and ranged during the action feels on point. However, there’s a lot of competition in the roguelike genre right now, and in order to succeed, Katanaut‘s going to need better handling of its story and adjustments to the grindy nature of the meta-progression. As it stands today, it didn’t land with me and I haven’t stuck with it, but that could change in the future with a few more patches and upgrades.

For me, Katanaut gets 6.5 otherworldly abominations out of ten.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Voidmaw. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 8.5 hours of play were spent playing the game, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game is not rated by the ESRB. Players will use all types of weapons (blades, guns, grenades, etc) to slice enemies to bloody pieces. Dead bodies and gore are shown in each level. There are a lot of otherworldly horrors comprised of fleshy tissue, blood, and teeth. While there is no salty language in the game, there’s plenty of disturbing imagery throughout.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is text in-game, and the text is resizable. Audio is not needed for gameplay. The game is fully accessible.

Controls: Controls are fully remappable.

The post Katanaut VIDEO Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH There’s got to be something, right?

LOW Having a boss chase me for fifteen minutes while I plinked away at his health.

WTF We’re still doing first-person platforming?

There’s a kit that people can buy to help them jumpstart their game development journey. It’s advertised as a complete framework on which to build a horror game and offers an inventory system, interactable objects, a way to include text files, and even light combat elements. It costs twenty-five dollars. I’ve played dozens of games built with this kit used as a starting point, but until now, I’d never seen one on the PS5.

Set in a decrepit hospital, Gore Doctor has the player wake up confused by their surroundings and expects them to find their way out by doing the standard first person horror things — pushing shelves aside, climbing on boxes, crawling through vents, fighting bosses — all of the expected elements are here, almost as if someone was ticking items off of a checklist.

That, in fact, is what I find most intriguing about Gore Doctor — the way each design element is used just a single time. As the player moves from one area of the hospital to the next, looking over rusted-out furniture familiar from a hundred other titles (likely purchased as part of the ‘Abandoned Asylum Mega Pack‘) they’ll encounter a few obstacles that they need to overcome.

First, they’ll have to move a box to be able to climb over a vent. Then they’ll have to sneak past some enemies while looking for a key. First person platforming follows a sequence where they have to seek out body parts to complete a set, and then a ride down an elevator while dodging buzzsaws that emerge from the ceiling of the car. Why is this followed by a series of image-spinning puzzles? Who can say, maybe the ‘puzzle wheel’ mechanic was on sale?

Once players have completed a challenge, they won’t have to worry about seeing anything like it again, making Gore Doctor feel almost like an audition reel or work sample — as if the developer is showing off the kinds of things that can happen in a horror project, which they could then go on to employ in a larger, more robust version of the title given the proper funding. In Gore Doctor‘s running time of less than one hour, the only repeated element are boss fights…

…Singularly awful boss fights.

In perhaps the greatest sign that the whole affair is cobbled together from whatever premade assets the developer found creepy, two of the three bosses are clown-themed despite the fact that the campaign is set in an evil hospital.

Those bosses, ‘Freaky Lady’ and ‘Killer Clown‘ (available on two-for-one sale, perhaps?) offer the most annoying gameplay Gore Doctor has to offer — they charge straight at the player until they’re close enough to swing their weapon (which they’re kind enough to stand still while doing) making it a simple matter to back up and avoid all damage. The player will quickly run out of ammo while trying to wear down their absurdly large pools of health and be forced to rely on an axe with a criminally short range and miniscule attack power to finish them off. I can’t imagine anyone playtesting Gore Doctor and finding that spending ten minutes backing up and swinging an axe was a worthwhile experience, but somehow it ended up in the final version anyway.

To the game’s credit, at least the final boss ‘Crazy Doctor‘ (another premade asset) has a medical theme, and there’s enough ammo lying around his lab to make this last fight is a lot less painful than its predecessors.

Anyone with a few hundred dollars and a couple of months of free time could build Gore Doctor for themselves. The only thing that it has to offer which didn’t come from the Unity store is the plot, and that’s so threadbare as to be nearly incoherent. As a sample designed to demonstrate how a variety of different assets can be assembled into a playable experience, Gore Doctor is functional. As something that people are expected to pay for and enjoy, it doesn’t clear the very low bar set to call something a real game.

Rating: 2.5 out of 10

Buy Gore Doctor – PC – PS – XB

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Salient Games. It currently available on PC/PS5/XBS-X. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 1 hour of play was devoted to the single-player mode. The game was completed. The game contains no Multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game was rated M by the ESRB and features Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Nudity and Strong Language. The game wallows in its horror vibes, offering buzzsaws, body parts, and blood splattered on every surface. There’s also a naked woman suspended in a liquid tank. Not for children in any way, shape, or form.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: I played almost the entire game without sound and encountered zero difficulties. All information is provided via text, which cannot be resized. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, the game’s controls are remappable.

The post Gore Doctor Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Interesting blend of survival horror, visual novel, deduction and detective work.

LOW Frustrating barriers to entry. Misleading clues.

WTF Why put out piano note clues for the player if nothing happens?

Dead of Darkness is an outstanding title that it manages to take many ingredients from different genres, put them all in a blender and cook up something palatable in a way that no other game has. I expect that it will be received as hearty and balanced among Survival Horror fans, though it may prove to be an acquired taste for others.

DoD borrows genre tropes both in terms of gameplay and narrative elements from genre-defining classics like Resident Evil, employs pixel art likely inspired by 16-bit era games like Chrono Trigger, and even offers visual novel-style animated dialogue mixed with cluefinding, reminiscent of games like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Right from the start, the tone is unabashedly Gothic as the adventure opens with a visual of the setting, Velvet Island in the year 1985. The player is given a brief exposition — there have been disappearances and odd activities on the Graham estate, along with whispers that the occult was involved. The player’s character (PC) has been hired as a PI to get to the bottom of whatever explanation there might be.

I was impressed by the well-written dialogue during the first exchange between my gruff PC and the cryptic servants. Petty family drama was evident.

As I explored the lonely estate, I couldn’t help but think of the first Resident Evil which was similarly set in a creepy old mansion filled with zombies and a host of other abominations — but I never finished it because I couldn’t stand the abominable fixed camera. As such, I was grateful for the developers’ decision to opt for a top-down perspective, rather than the fixed camera angles that were synonymous with early survival horror titles. That perspective kept me from diving into the genre for years!

The birds-eye-view angle allows the player to see incoming threats from different parts of the mansion although, being a horror game, enemies will sometimes appear suddenly without warning through windows or doors which were set up to make me jump on a few occasions.

Also, being specifically a Survival Horror game, the player must be careful about when and where they choose to use their ammo and other supplies, as resources are (naturally) limited and there’s no telling when another box or drawer stocked with supplies might pop up; even the PC’s knife has limited durability.

In the early game, enemies are mercifully slow but can do some serious damage. They also take a serious beating before they drop — at least 6-8 bullets on a regular zombie — so the player would be wise to give them a wide berth whenever possible. But sometimes, the player really has no choice other than to shoot and try to manage their ammo well.

Besides combat, Dead of Darkness carries on the Survival Horror tradition with a host of puzzles, but additionally invites players to use their powers of deduction with help from clues they collect in the form of diary entries, letters, and more, all to locate necessary items or to find a hidden path forward — a neat way to set it apart from its influences and contemporaries, allowing the player to feel like a detective as they begin to unravel the mysteries hidden throughout the mansion.

Aiding this process is color coding on the map. Gray represented rooms that had yet to be explored, green for rooms that had been cleared, red for rooms that had unsolved puzzles or unclaimed items, and a variety of colored doors representing rooms that were either accessible or locked/blocked/required a certain kind of key or item for entry. Unfortunately, while this system seems great in theory, it wasn’t quite up to snuff.

I don’t expect games to hold my hand, but I do want a certain amount of clarity about where I need to go, and it was frustrating to so often be at a loss as to how or where to acquire whatever was needed to progress.

Sometimes, I would seemingly have what I needed, such as piano notes for the grand piano located in the bar, but when I had my PC play the notes, it didn’t work. Similarly, I would find a lockpick, suggesting that I return to a locked door, only to find that I couldn’t actually use it to help me access any of the rooms. At one point I needed tongs to grab a necessary item from a fireplace, but I had no idea where to find them.

Eventually, this series of disappointments caused me to lose motivation as well as my patience, and it was discouraging enough to make me put the game down and not return. It’s a shame, too — I can see how much passion and attention to detail went into the development of Dead of Darkness between the gameplay, writing and aesthetics, but the sheer frustration of its puzzle aspects needs more time and attention.

The true horrors on this estate aren’t the undead… they’re the puzzles.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Buy Dead of Darkness — PC — SW — PS — XB

Disclosures: This game was developed and published by Retrofiction Games. The game is currently available on PC, XBX/S, PS4/5 and Switch. It was obtained via publisher and reviewed for Switch. Approximately 4 hours were devoted to the campaign mode. The game was not finished. There is no multiplayer mode.

Parents: This game is rated M for Blood and Gore, Strong Language and Violence. The player will be attacked by monsters and attack monsters themselves, causing them to bleed and there are many corpses scattered throughout the estate in various states of decay and sometimes nothing more than a mess of blood and gore. The protagonist also has a tendency to curse but nothing offensive or out of the ordinary for a Survival Horror game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game has both voiced dialogue and text-based dialogue but no audio cues that impact the gameplay in any significant way, making it fully accessible.

Remappable controls: The controls cannot be remapped.

The post Dead Of Darkness Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The level design.

LOW In the sewers again, eh?

WTF Shouldn’t it be easier to hit enemies when aiming down the sights, not harder?

Nothing good ever happens in an underground science lab — whether it’s zombifying viruses, inter-dimensional hell portals, or just plain corporate greed run amok, these clandestine facilities inevitably court disaster.  As a retro-styled first-person shooter, Kvark is the latest title to explore the consequences of subterranean scholarship.

Set in Czechoslovakia during the late ’80s, Kvark tells the tale of an energy company attempting to branch into the weapons industry.  By experimenting on their employees with a mysterious substance called Anethium, the corporation manages to prove the above hypothesis.  Awakening in a cell on the bottom floor of the facility in the aftermath of a disaster, the player must fight their way to the safety of the surface.

A slow, exploration-based shooter, Kvark is clearly inspired by the original Half-Life, and models much of its structure and play after that seminal 1998 release.  While the similarities in theme and setting are obvious, the most interesting resonance is in the structure of the levels themselves.

Many stages are constructed in a circular manner, causing areas to often be revisited from new perspectives.  This design thesis is clearly established in the opening stage — shortly after exiting their cell into the multi-level prison, players will walk through a hallway with a barred, moss-covered window near the ceiling.  A room is visible through the bars with barrels and boxes piled high.  Several minutes (and many winding corridors) later I noticed that same barred window — this time near the floor — and realized I was looking back into the first hallway from the other side. 

This structural bookending, described as The Preacher Loop by GameCritics’ own Sparky Clarkson, defines the space by removing abstraction and reiterating its logical construction.  Through recognizable landmarks and showing the same spaces from new vantage points, the player becomes keenly aware of their progress and orientation within the environment.  As Sparky points out in his article, this design technique is a major factor in why Half-Life’s Black Mesa facility feels grounded and cohesive, and the effect is similar in Kvark.

Unfortunately, this thoughtful design is let down by Kvark’s inconsistent aesthetic direction.  The opening two thirds of Kvark take place in anonymous industrial spaces, sewers, and tunnels.  Occasionally, the player will pop into offices and labs which feature a more noteworthy brutalist aesthetic with stark, chunky concrete architecture and wood paneling.  These segments offer more visual interest and complement the recursive structure with more striking spaces.  However, it seemed as though every time I entered one of these areas, Kvark was quick to direct me back into the mines and tunnels, losing much of its spark in the process.

Compounding this issue are the repetitive mechanics.  Armed with the typical assortment of shotguns, rifles, and machine guns, the player must battle through an army of robots, mutants, and evil scientists.  While the play is functional, there’s little that sets it apart — the majority of encounters consist of enemies blindly charging after the player until they are eventually gunned down.  Though there is an undeniable thrill in this and the over-the-top gore is a constant source of amusement, there are few surprises, and I quickly tired of the monotony.

To be fair, the final third of Kvark is a marked improvement, and finally delivers on the promise of the clever level design.  Gone are the claustrophobic passages and burrows, when my character finally emerges on the surface. 

These sections feature much wider spaces with a broader selection of enemies, and the encounters become more dynamic. Objectives are telegraphed by distant, concrete edifices barely visible through the fog.  Airborne enemies pepper the player from above, their ground-based counterparts lobbing grenades as mutant rats charge out of the underbrush. In these late stages, Kvark finally comes into its own.

In the end, Kvark shows an enormous amount of promise.  However, its disparate elements coalesce too late in the runtime and are ultimately overshadowed by the uninspired combat and indistinct aesthetic direction.  That being said, there is a sense of momentum in the final stages of Kvark, and if the developers can focus on that quality and carry it forward, I have high hopes for their subsequent releases.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Buy KVARK – PS – XB – Switch – PC

Disclosures: This game is developed by Latest Pass and published by Perun Creative. It is currently available on PS4/5, XBO/X/S, Switch, and PC.  This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 20 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed.  There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Use of Tobacco, Violence. This game is a first-person shooter where humans, zombies, rats and robots are killed with guns.  The visuals are presented in a blocky, low fidelity format, and are not photo-realistic.  When enemies are shot blood sprays out and stains the wall.  They can be decapitated, dismembered, and will occasionally explode into chunks of gore when killed. This is all presented in an over-the-top, unrealistic fashion but is still fairly graphic.  Cigarette butts can be picked up from ashtrays and smoked.  Normally this lowers the players health, but a perk can be obtained that heals the player when smoking cigarettes. There is no profanity or sexual content.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. During gameplay, none of the enemy sounds are captioned or subtitled, and while there is no dialogue with the enemies, I did find that I was more susceptible to ambushes and attacks from behind when playing without sound. As such, this game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

The post Kvark Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The enhancements improve the creepy factor of an already-eerie game.

LOW The first two titles have numerous bugs and crashing issues.

WTF Burers, man…

I never got a chance to play the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games back in the day, so I was happy to try the Enhanced versions that recently came to new platforms, and I was delighted to find that they held an intriguing and dangerous world of outcasts, monsters, and treasure.

For those unfamiliar with the series, this S.T.A.L.K.E.R. package features three FPS titles with survival and horror elements set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine — Shadow of Chornobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Prypiat.

This fictional version of the Zone is a highly irradiated area filled with strange anomalies, horrifying mutants and numerous mysteries, and Shadow sets up the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe. Clear Sky acts as a prequel to it, answering questions players may have had about the Zone’s origins. Finally, Prypiat is a direct sequel to Shadow, with a new area of the Zone to explore and new mysteries to solve.

For owners of the original versions on PC and console, there’s great news — they’ll get the updated versions for free. On top of that, new owners will also the original versions as well. The one exception was Epic Games Store, which I couldn’t confirm. On top of that, saves from the older versions of each title can be transferred from the main menu, allowing players to start where they left off.

In this updated everything-in-one-package, there’s also a new Ukrainian voiceover option, which allows anyone to have a more immersive experience while playing these titles if they wish to experience the language of the country it’s set in.

Of the three titles, Prypiat was the best. Its world was the most fleshed out and lacked many of the problems the other two had (more on that in a bit.) Also, the side quests were the best in the trilogy. Overall, it was the most realized version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s ideas, with a world that delivers on its premise thanks to updated mechanics like the ability to pass time while sleeping and better gear customization. Niceties like his helped make the experience more engaging, and the world easier to interact with.

There’s also a commitment to realism that I found added to the challenge of these titles. Every object has weight, so I had to be strategic with what I carried at all times. I could only carry so many weapons, ammo, and healing items before I would start to be affected by encumbrance. For example, if I exceeded my carrying capacity by a little, I wouldn’t be able to run for long before tiring out, and even walking could become taxing. If I exceeded my carrying strength by a lot, I couldn’t move anymore.

Also, the pause menu doesn’t stop the game like a proper pause. Things still happen in the world while looking through menus, which meant that I had to be on my toes. Critters and other stalkers could sneak up and destroy me quickly if I wasn’t attentive. It gave the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy a great sense of realism and identity that I haven’t seen in many other titles.

On the PS5, the new features are smartly implemented. If I missed an on-screen popup, the adaptive triggers would help me know that a weapon was jammed. The rumble feature also gave great tactile feedback, letting me feel thunder and rain on my characters. The controller’s speaker would crackle when the Geiger counter would start up, alerting me to radiation. In one area of Clear Sky, it even played a song from an encampment that increased in volume as I approached it, like it was on a radio.

The lighting effects were also nice, and enhanced the ambiance. Daytime was accentuated with ‘god rays’ and other wonderful lighting effects. Dark areas, however, were very dark, and made things a bit scarier (even with the flashlight on), which I enjoyed.

Multiple endings in Shadow and Prypiat provide great replay value, and the first title features at least seven endings, depending on various gameplay factors and quests completed. The third title, on the other hand, provided only slight variations on the ending cutscenes/

While Legends Of The Zone is clearly a great way to catch up with these cult classic titles, there were a few anomalies throughout my time with the trilogy, particularly with the first two installments.

Bugged enemies were common in Shadow and Clear Sky — some would get stuck behind something, or some would attack and hit me from behind cover. Sometimes, enemies would also spawn right next to me after loading into a game despite not being there when I saved, leading to some unfortunate deaths.

Crashes were also common, with the first two titles crashing several times each during my playthroughs. Prypiat had a single crash, but otherwise ran well.

These games could also be quite frustratingly hard (especially Shadow) at times. Enemies could be bullet sponges at times, especially in later areas, while I could go down in just a few shots. Some needed tutorials are sparse. While the original release may have had a manual, these don’t and that makes tutorialization more necessary to include. Thankfully, changes to Call of Pripyat helped make things a bit more manageable.

There were numerous spelling and grammatical errors throughout the Shadow’s text, which definitely made this Enhanced edition not feel so updated.

Auto-saves, only happen when loading into a new area, and after some events and dialogue. Could have used some for safer areas. Again, Prypiat adds in some auto-saves after some events to help prevent players from losing progress.

The “Quality” mode didn’t really change all that much, and the FPS ended up being a bit unstable as a result. In fact, using it can cause blurriness when rotating the camera. Performance mode, thankfully, ran better and delivered a stable 60fps while the graphics still looked fine.

While this trilogy’s first two games suffer from issues that should have been fixed, they’re still worth playing. Call of Prypiat is clearly the standout experience, but all three as a package represent extraordinary adventures filled with lore and monsters that FPS, horror, and survival fans alike should all try — even if the “enhancements” aren’t quite what they needed to be.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Legends of the Zone Trilogy En. Ed. — Steam — GOG — Epic — PlayStation — Xbox

Disclosures: These games were developed and published by GSC Game World LTD. They are currently available on XBO/X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. The original version of the trilogy is also available on Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 66 hours were devoted to the trilogy, and it was completed. There is no multiplayer mode.

Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language and Use of Alcohol. There is no ESRB summary for this collection. All three games feature gratuitous violence from gunfire, explosions, demolition, and the like. Profanity, such as “sh*t,” “c*cksucker”, “fa**ot”, “a*shole,” and “b*tch” can be heard in spoken dialogue in all three titles. In many instances, characters will partake of various drugs. The player character can also consume alcohol. In Call of Prypiat, players can take steroids.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles. Subtitles cannot be resized. This game is not fully accessible. While the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games have subtitles on by default, they can be small and difficult to read at times, especially with no option to add a background to them. This can cause the white text to blend in with some background elements, making reading even more difficult. In addition to this, there isn’t any closed captioning, so the lack of visual cues is a challenge. Lastly, some characters will chatter outside of communication with players. However, there aren’t any subtitles for this ambient dialogue, which can be especially frustrating since they speak in Ukrainian.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. However, there are a couple of alternate control schemes.

The post S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Legends Of The Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The Tower of No Interval.

LOW The final encounter.

WTF Not sure a broken sword is the weapon of choice entering a Demon King’s maze.

Presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio with grainy polygonal art, Labyrinth of the Demon King is a near-perfect evocation of dark corners last seen since the mid-90’s.  Played from the first-person perspective, players will hack, slash and puzzle their way through dungeons and towers as a samurai on a quest to avenge their fallen lord by slaying the titular monarch.

Caked in muddy earth tones, monsters shiver through hazy, pixelated halls.  The occasional flash of red viscera gives depth to their dismembered, barely human figures as they limp and stumble after the player.  Their howls cut through fuzzy rain-patter, creating a world that is threatening and immediate despite its ostensible lack of visual fidelity.

A dungeon crawler with a dash of survival horror, the Labyrinth of the Demon King is not a happy place, and respite is all but non-existent.  As I slowly progressed through the foreboding castle, I found my senses more important than a steady sword hand.  A foot peeking out from a corner, or a shuffling in the darkness can tip off observant players to an imminent bushwhack.  While combat is generally fair and balanced, being caught unawares by a group of enemies will quickly exhaust even the most robust health bar.

When it comes to crossing blades with the labyrinth’s demonic denizens, combat is a rhythmic affair.  A slow-motion dance of thrusts and ripostes, even the quickest weapons feel heavy and sluggish.  Frantic, panicked swings, while instinctive given the macabre trappings, will result in rapid defeat as the samurai’s stamina is easily depleted.  Victory, then, becomes a matter of patience rather than reflex. 

Most attacks can be parried, and with long wind ups, enemy blows are effectively telegraphed.  A surprisingly accommodating parry window kept most of my frustration at bay — even when I hit the block button too quickly, I often had time to reset and try again before the monster’s claws made contact.  That’s not to say navigating the Labyrinth of the Demon King is easy, but so long as I didn’t panic, I generally felt well equipped to handle whatever the sinister overlord could dish out. 

For those moments where I overreached my ability, I was pleased to find the Demon King’s rebukes to be lenient.  Falling in battle means resurrecting at the last shrine players rested at.  Enemies respawn, and any resources expended in the fight are forfeit, but beyond that all progress is retained.  That being said, the final battle didn’t feel quite as well tuned as the rest of the fights.  With a more diverse moveset and stronger emphasis on reaction time, the climactic encounter is suitably dramatic. However, with a dozen or so retries, my eventual triumph wasn’t without some exasperation.

Light RPG elements further balance the scales with character progression tied to two primary attributes — strength and stamina.  Weapons can also be improved to stand up to the hardier members of the Demon King’s army, and while the selection of armaments is probably too wide given Labyrinth of the Demon King’s brevity, I’m not one to complain about too many choices.

Martial prowess alone is not sufficient for navigating the Labyrinth of the Demon King, though, and careful exploration plays a large part in the player’s survival. 

As the title implies, each of the main areas is a complex interweaving of rooms, halls and courtyards — losing one’s way is an inevitability.  While maps can be found for each floor, these handy aids are imperfect — passages that appear clear on the map are, in fact, obstructed while hidden paths and outdoor areas go unmarked altogether.  This setup results in a keen straddling of discovery and handholding.  Players are forced to learn levels by landmark, making mental notes of unlocked shortcuts with the map acting as a flawed safety net.

Forgoing punitive mechanics, Labyrinth of the Demon King builds tension through atmosphere and narrative.  While the overarching tale of revenge is standard fare, I found the flavor text throughout the world to be quite affecting.  One highlight is a note describing, in detail, the grisly consequences of defiling a Buddhist altar.  Shortly after finding this note, I encountered a character in possession of a key I needed to progress.  They agreed to help, but only after I desecrated the very altar I had been warned about.  I won’t spoil the outcome, but the author of that note could not be accused of understatement.  This kind of foreshadowing is found throughout Labyrinth of the Demon King and adds dreadful depth to its nasty, grimy styling.

Ultimately, Labyrinth of the Demon King is a canny mixture of aggressive posturing and subtly accessible mechanics.  I was surprised at how tense my experience was, despite the relative ease with which I traversed its halls.  Labyrinth of the Demon King manages to capture the abrasive essence of titles like Shadow Tower and Silent Hill but in a compact, easily digestible package.  The developer’s ability to achieve this balance is commendable and, as the samurai sits drinking matcha tea in the labyrinth’s one refuge, I am filled with a familiar warmth.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Buy Labyrinth of the Demon King – PC – PS – XB – SW

Disclosures: This game is developed by J.R. Hudepohl and published by Top Hat Studios. It is currently available on PC, PS4/5, XBO/X/S, and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 8 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, and Violence. This is a horror game and most enemies are monsters or disfigured humans.  The player attacks enemies with weapons such as swords, clubs and guns. Enemies bleed when struck, staining walls and floors and can be dismembered.  Certain enemies require the player to stomp on their head repeatedly to kill them. Disturbing and creepy imagery is found throughout this game. Beyond the violence, there are references to sexual abuse in text notes found in the game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no vocalized dialogue in this game, and all character interactions are shown in text boxes. This text cannot be resized. This game makes use of audio to signal enemy presence, often when that enemy is not visible on screen.  One particularly dangerous enemy often spawns behind the player or outside of their field of view and is signaled through a specific auditory jingle.  None of these audio signals have accompanying visual cues, and I found myself taking damage more often when playing without sound. This game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

The post Labyrinth Of The Demon King Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

The title delivers on its promise — I was gripping my mouse so hard by the end of it that my knuckles were literally white.

White Knuckle belongs to the “Getting Over It”  genre of difficult platformers where tons of progress can be lost in a moment. However, White Knuckle takes it a step further through the use of roguelite and horror twists, and tops it all off with PS2-era graphics.

White Knuckle takes place in an abandoned underground research facility called Sub-Structure 17, which is divided into three regions (more regions to come later, as it’s currently in early access) and play revolves around climbing, which the player does with their own two hands, quite literally.

The first-person climbing is achieved by alternating between each hand to grasp any sort of handhold within reach, and this must be done quickly, as each hand will tire and let go after holding onto a handhold for too long. There are also items to be used, some create handholds, some buff the player, and some are used for defense.

Sub-Structure 17 is host to a variety of life. There are oversized flies called Bloodbugs that
knock into the player, which does low damage but forces the player to let go of a handhold.
They’re incredibly annoying, and were the bane of my existence. Bloodbugs can be defended
against by hitting them with a hammer or throwing things at them — which I preferred, as it was
way funnier. Not every creature is dangerous though. Roaches can be found everywhere, and occasionally
silver and golden variants will appear which can be collected to use as currency to buy perks
and items.

White Knuckle being a roguelite is such a natural progression of roguelike concepts that I’m surprised more games haven’t tried it. Failure is inevitable, so randomizing things like items and level generation keep each run fresh and alleviates some of the annoyance that comes from restarting.

However, as with any roguelite, things aren’t over after completing one run. There’s also Hardcore and an Endless mode where the player can climb through a region of their choosing to unlock more perks. Unfortunately, most of the perks are simple stat increases like more stamina, longer reaching range, and so forth. Perks that are more impactful, like a double jump, are incredibly rare. So for the most part, getting new perks through additional play didn’t shake things up.

Beyond the mechanics of vertical platforming, the horror elements of White Knuckle are phenomenal because there are so many things to be afraid of — falling, creatures, running out of tools… everything.

During my first run, I hammered some pitons into a wall to create handholds, swung across a few gaps, and felt things were going great until I realized that the souls of the damned were below me, and slowly filling up each room that I had previously climbed up through. I immediately started panicking and started ascending as quickly as I could. Then, I misjudged a jump and fell to my doom.

Every subsequent death played out similarly. I’d reach a new height, White Knuckle would introduce a new room or creature that made me uneasy, I would panic because I didn’t know what to do, and then I would die.

Overcoming panic is what led to my first successful ascent of Sub-Structure 17. Knowing what to expect and being confident in my skill took the fear out of White Knuckle, but this is the unfortunate reality of pretty much any horror game. Fortunately, this loss of fear gave way to something new — I began to experiment with different mechanics and creatures, and realized how much I had been held back by my fear.

One of the first creatures encountered is a fleshy growth that appears on the walls, and shoots tendrils out across the room it’s in. Getting hit by one of these tendrils drags the player towards the growth, and it begins to attack. However, these tendrils can be grabbed and used for climbing, as if they were rope. This discovery (and others like it) only happened when I stopped seeing every creature as an obstacle or enemy, and started trying to imagine them as opportunities to climb even faster.

Finally, I would be doing White Knuckle a disservice by not mentioning the aesthetics.

Sub-Structure 17 and the three regions currently available look great — not graphically, but stylistically. Everything is incredibly dystopian thanks to hardly any metal surfaces that aren’t rusted, paint peeling off the walls, and a darkly oppressive atmosphere. Everything is either in a state of disrepair or incredibly unwelcoming, but what I appreciated most is that every handhold looks like it belongs. I climbed broken ladders, swung onto crumbling walkways and shimmied across metal beams. The fearsome horror aesthetic isn’t compromised for gameplay with bright yellow paint, and that commitment kept me immersed.

There’s nothing quite like White Knuckle. Adding roguelite features to a difficult platformer feels like a natural progression of both genres, and the horror elements are the cherry on top. The ‘dated’ PS2 style graphics are an amazing stylistic choice that enhance the overall experience, and despite the content still being in early access, there’s plenty of replayability to be had here.

White Knuckle is expected to stay in early access until the end of 2025, and due to popular demand, the ability to save a run and come back to it later is coming soon.

— Zackary Edwards

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