HIGH Robust roots meet new ideas!

LOW The artificial Intelligence is not so intelligent!

WTF The phrase “balance is key” comes to mind.

There was a time when strategic games were the new live service — back in the golden age of real-time strategy titles made by Westwood and Blizzard. Those days are long gone and those great names are either trademarks of another company or forgotten in the mists of time, but what if we could get another great like Command & Conquer the way they used to be made? The answer is Slipgate Ironworks’ Tempest Rising.

Tempest Rising is a love letter to those days of old, and the devs aren’t shy about it. Play is set in an alternate version of the Cold War during which the Cuban Missile Crisis, but instead of disaster being averted, the result is an all-out nuclear war.

Almost three decades later in a world covered in nuclear radiation, an ivy-like flower blooms across the globe feeding off the fallout. This flora called Tempest, and becomes a great energy source. Thus begins a new war between the Global Defense Forces (GDF) and the Tempest Dynasty for the control of Tempest.

As mentioned, Tempest Rising is clearly inspired by things like Command & Conquer, especially Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. The devs use both pre-rendered and in-game cutscenes as narrative devices akin to the live-action counterparts in the C&C franchise. but it tries to add to that formula by allowing players to ask questions during mission briefings and gather info about the history and the world.

The core gameplay loop is like many classic RTS titles. Players should harvest Tempest and expend it to build an army and complete objectives. The two playable factions each come with different units, but they don’t have dedicated buildings, special weapons, or upgrades like modern titles. Each side has eleven campaign missions that provide different scenarios, such as hit-and-run tactics, seizing control of an enemy base, and using stealth and special units. This variety in design is great, as it prevents repetition and often forces the player to switch up their tactics.

There are four different unit types in each faction — infantry, specialists, ground vehicles, and airborne units. The GDF troops were my favorite due to their flexibility and engagement options. Multiple GDF troops such as the Drone Operator infantry and Drone Control Unit aircraft are equipped with drones that can heavily hit ground and air vehicles. On the other side of the battlefield, Dynasty forces are more focused on high-risk/high-reward tactics in which units use the raw power of Tempest to gain a damage boost at the cost of their health.

Almost every unit on both sides comes with a secondary power. Some units can be garrisoned by the infantry and become a moving fortress, while others can turn invisible or become a mobile artillery station. This is where Tempest Rising combines the unit variety and class-based combat with more modern intuitive functions mostly seen in current strategy and tactics titles.

This structure as described is solid, but there is a downside — there’s a significant lack of balance, and that is no small issue when it comes to a RTS title.

The GDF forces have the upper hand when it comes to combat capabilities. They have multiple S-tier ground and air units that can engage with both airborne and ground targets, while the Dynasty troops are mostly focused on one target type each. The GDF’s Trebuchet tanks can also turn into artillery stations and effectively deal with ground targets from long distances, but there are no long-range troops among Dynasty ground units. The drones used by the GDF can be destroyed, but as long as the mothership/operator is alive, the drones will be respawned — essentially, this provides the GDF with an immortal army. Though Dynasty troops can be trained faster and is much more flexible when it comes to gathering Tempest, that fails to cope with GDF endgame tactics and scenarios.

Unit AI is also problematic when it comes to automatically dealing with a mix of enemy troops. When issuing an “Attack Move” to a group of different units, they engage with enemy troops based on distance, not priority. This leads to scenarios where anti-infantry troops focus fire on a tank in front of them, while enemy infantry is cutting them down while remaining unharmed because they’re places a few feet further away than the tank.

Tempest Rising is what I would call a neo-classic RTS — and it’s something we need and hunger for in the modern gaming landscape. The story, gameplay mechanics, and strategic diversity of engagement scenarios make it one of the best RTS titles of the past few years, yet, the lack of balance and problematic AI behaviors prevent it from becoming a perfect experience for avid RTS fans. However, with such a promising debut, I’m excited to see more from this developer in the form of DLC and stand-alone titles the future. 

8.5/10

Buy Tempest Rising: PC

Disclosures: This game is published by 3D Realms and Knights Peak and developed by Slipgate Ironworks. It is available on PC. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PC. Approximately 23 hours were spent in single-player and the game was completed. There game has multiplayer mode.

Parents: The game is not rated by the ESRB but there are scenes of violence, warfare and human conflicts, as well as running human soldiers over with military vehicles.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles and visual options available in the game, all of which can be adjusted. There were no audio cues of note. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped.

The post Tempest Rising Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Being able to attend Gamescom 2025 in Cologne on a leisurely, hustle-free basis is one of the perks of living in Belgium, aside from enjoying the best French fries (which are originally Belgian) along with quality mayonnaise and chocolate pralines all year long!

While Gamescom 2025 was my second time visiting this popular annual gaming event (RIP E3) it came with both joy and fear — joy from playing some of the boldest upcoming titles, and fear from realizing a rising and costly trend in the industry.

Let’s start with the good and go through the three boldest Gamescom 2025 demos that I played.

***

Pragmata

It’s always nice to see big names trying new ideas, especially when it’s Capcom. Though the idea behind Pragmata looks like another take on the humans vs rogue AI trope, the way Capcom added a cute little girl as the companion AI to support the player enriched the experience emotionally. Gameplay, on the other hand, is bold. Players have to hack enemies (in a tech sense) and shoot them at the same time while avoiding being hit. Though both the hacking and gunplay mechanics are pretty straightforward, doing them together is the exciting challenge that’s unique to Pragmata. There are also platforming aspects as the protagonists hover around the environment and over pits and traps with a jetpack, but the demo was too short to focus much on this aspect. For those who are tired of every action game being another soulslike, roguelike, Overwatch clone or remake, Pragmata is a breath of fresh air.

***

Onimusha: The Way of the Sword

I love fantasy action games — perhaps it’s due to growing up in the early 2000s, when there were loads of them. The PlayStation 2 was full of great entries in the genre, Onimusha was one of them. The series started as a hack & slash based on Capcom’s technical achievements made with the Resident Evil series, but soon found its own footing. After a long hiatus that lasting two decades, a new Onimusha is coming next year, and boy, it’s good to have it back! What immediately caught my eye with Way of the Sword’s demo was how the game retained its unique essence. While the basic swordplay was what one might expect, Way of the Sword creates a cycle that players needed to actively follow during combat. Enemies take damage and have their postures broken before they can be executed, but if players keep button-mashing, they’ll lose the execution window. The swordplay also feels weighty and authentically recreated with the goal of making every stroke of the blade feel painful and real. To anyone who is an old-time fan of the series or any Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice fans that are tired of waiting for the sequel, Onimusha the Way of the Sword is a sight for sore eyes.

***

Crimson Desert

Pearl Abyss’s Crimson Desert is a promising Korean title, and perhaps the most ambitious one on my list. Set in the world of the popular Black Desert Online, Pearl Abyss’ upcoming third-person action-adventure is one of the most mechanically complicated titles in the genre that I’ve seen, seemingly a blend of other wildly successful action-adventure franchises. There are levitated sky islands that can be reached and explored like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The climbing and parkour mechanics are inspired by the Middle-Earth: Shadow series, and the combat is something like the new era of Assassin’s Creed titles. There are just so many mechanics! The list includes (but is not limited to) gliding, riding a horse, climbing, picking up and dropping objects, light and heavy sword attacks, blocking and parrying, using magic and ultimate abilities, dodging and vaulting over enemies, and using environmental attacks and weapons, and more. In the demo, it was truly difficult to learn them all. In my experience, titles with such a huge swath of mechanics end up being shallow and incoherent. Yet there have been studios that defy the odds and make history. Hopefully, Pearl Abyss’ ambitious Crimson Desert is one of them.

***

Profit & Problems

So that was the good. Now, to the not-so-good.

What caught my attention in this regard at 2025 Gamescom were the number of reappearances. A lot of titles, even smaller indies like Reanimal and Little Nightmares 3, returned to Gamescom this year. While at first that didn’t seem like anything special, when digging a bit deeper I felt like this is signaling an issue plaguing the industry — long development times.

The longer it takes for a product to be made, the more time and energy the workforce behind it is supposed to invest. Consequently, the costs of production increase as companies have to pay the workforce for their time. Long development times used to be an issue mainly experienced by AAA game devs, but 2025 Gamescom was, a turning point, in my opinion, as many studios seem to be wrestling with this challenge.

Of course, we love videogames as a medium that enables us to interact with artists’ visions, but the fact is that videogames are also part of the entertainment industry — and actually, its most lucrative branch. For any industry to survive, it needs to be sustainable. As such, extended development times create an unsustainable environment in which many games might eventually cost so much and take so long that by the time the game is published there’s little chance of recouping costs and making profit in such a competition-heavy, fast-moving medium. Without change, I fear the current situation can only lead to a crash akin to the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s.

We’ve already seen how big industry names are jumping on the “$80 pricepoint” train while others are downsizing or replacing workforce with AI, which comes with its own wealth of issues. Of course, there are ways to decrease the development costs and time, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be painless, and we might have to start thinking about new norms and new expectations.

There’s no easy way out of this situation, and the elephant in the Gamescom hall is becoming more and more difficult to avoid. If nothing changes, players will pay increased prices while waiting half a decade for our favorite games to hit shelves. I don’t think that’s attractive to anyone, and it certainly doesn’t seem sustainable.

At the end of the day, both producers and consumers will likely need to buckle up and work together to find a new way to improve things for all sides.

The post OPINION: The Good & Bad – Gamescom 2025 appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Goodbye “Quests”, hello “Leads”!

LOW Shallow gameplay mechanics.

WTF They “say less is more” but isn’t it too little!?

Atomfall is Rebellion’s timely break from the Sniper Elite franchise.

Officially called a first-person survival actioner, this work of historical science fiction is a reasonably-sized double-A project that does not want all of a player’s time and attention, instead offering a short, mysterious adventure filled with conspiracies and moral dilemmas.

Atomfall‘s story is set five years after the UK’s (real life) Windscale Fire nuclear incident of 1957. In this alternate take, a military quarantine protocol is enacted and players control of someone who’s had an accident that left him unconscious for five years. Upon waking up, the protagonist discovers that he’s lost his memory and now must find the truth behind the incident and a way out of the quarantine that’s been in effect for all this time.

Atomfall is played from a first-person perspective, and employs stealth and shooting elements. In the early stages, firearms and bullets are rare and combat is mostly focused on melee. Later on, different types of firearms such as revolvers, marksman rifles, and bows can be acquired through looting, exploration, or trading. The world consists of four areas that are connected through a hub-like facility called The Interchange. Different factions reside in each part of the world, and as one might expect, the factions can consider the player either friend or foe based on their choices.

Atomfall can largely be seen as two halves — the gameplay and the narrative.

Though there is a barebones skill tree that improves combat, stealth, and survival capabilities of the player, it doesn’t provide any active special abilities. As such, Atomfall largely plays the same at the end as it does at the beginning, resulting in the combat and stealth feeling shallow, especially since the mechanics (in general) are on par with something from the early 2000s.

For example, players can crouch or hide in bushes to prevent being detected and to take out enemies silently from behind but that’s all there is to it. The awareness of enemies is also incredibly high, which makes it nearly impossible to stealth without it eventually turning into a shootout. The same goes for combat. Melee is tanky and slow because there’s no dodge or deflect, and shootouts are all about hiding behind a rock and returning fire. There are no cover systems or special abilities to add depth or strategy to any of the action. In fact, the only good thing about combat is the weapon variety and the ability to upgrade later in the campaign, increasing a weapon’s stats and their looks.

With such straightforward action, Atomfall‘s narrative and story are certainly its strongest suits, and to be fair, its opening is a good one — imagine leaving an underground bunker, suffering from amnesia and the very first thing in view is an atomic powerplant on the horizon surrounded by strange cyan auroras. Before that sight can be properly digested, a nearby payphone rings and a monstrous voice on the other side requests the death of someone called Oberon! Just five minutes into the experience we’re already faced with so many questions — what happened to that powerplant? Who is Oberon? Who are these people living in this mess? And what is my role in it? Mystery is a classic way to kick off an adventure, and the team at Rebellion have nailed it.

Atomfall also tries to redefine the notion of quests and rebrands them as “leads” — and they don’t start and end in a traditonal linear way. Some of the leads players find at the beginning of the story will continue to get updated until the very end. Sometimes finding an object updates the log for multiple leads and adds entries about them. Every lead might be as important as the next, and players will find themselves in a web of interconnected leads whose value and importance are sometimes revealed only after their conclusion.

Further, Atomfall doesn’t believe in handholding when it comes to exploration and lead design. Players must follow visual clues such as a bloody set of footprints that lead to a waterfall to find a hidden cave behind it. Such do-it-yourself encounters are the basis of exploration which might result in finding rare resources, weapons, quest items, or more leads.

While Atomfall‘s ending isn’t a top-notch example in the genre, it is highly reflective of the choices players make and their interactions with NPCs. Supporting characters met along the way are well written and each have characteristics that make them feel like unique human beings with agendas and aspirations, and very often they’re in contrast with what someone else wants — for example, one might be focused on accepting what’s happening in the zone, another NPC asks you to fight against the odds, while yet another might suggest jumping ship and leaving everyone else to their fate. Credits will roll accordingly.

Atomfall is ultimately what I call a “chimera” game — it incorporates elements from different genres, but keeps their influence on a surface level. It has resource management and crafting mechanics of classic survival titles, multiple endings and choice-related story and gameplay outcomes akin to classic RPGs, and an emphasis on exploration usually seen in action-adventure counterparts. These are all good things at first glance, but the lack of depth in most regards makes it hard to recommend to dedicated genre fans while also making it relevant to any discussion on traditional boundaries of defining genre.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Buy Atomfall: PC – PS – XB

Disclosures: This game is published and developed by Rebellion. It is available on PC, PS4/5, and XBO/X/S. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PC. Approximately 14 hours were spent in single-player and the game was completed. There is no multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M for Blood, Language and Violence. The site reads: Battles are highlighted by gunfire, cries of pain, and blood-splatter effects. Players have the ability to attack/kill bystanders and civilians, snapping their necks and/or slashing them repeatedly, with large blood-splatter effects. During the course of the game, players can encounter bloodstained corpses and/or blood on the ground. The words “sht” and “prck” appear in the game.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles and visual options available in the game, all of which can be adjusted. There were no audio cues of note. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls can be remapped.

The post Atomfall Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH New gameplay mechanics

LOW Terrible performance issue in final chapters

WTF Why don’t you talk to me!?

Frostpunk was an ambitious post-apocalyptic city builder. 11 Bit Studios not only told a dark and tragic story in a unique “Hardy Victorians Vs. the Ice Age” setting, but they pushed the boundaries of how intricately challenging the genre could be if focus was placed on survival elements such as heat scarcity in a frozen wasteland.

Even though it was a bold and unproven project at the time, it was a success that led to the release of Frostpunk 2 – a sequel that follows the people of chilly New London in their quest to survive in a never-ending winter under the leadership of the town’s Steward. However, while some developers might have been content to simply crank out more of the same, Frostpunk 2 has completely overhauled the gameplay mechanics.

Rather than following the blueprint of a classic-style city builder in which players create districts by placing similar building types next to each other, Frostpunk 2 provides districts with clearly specified purposes, such as an industrial district which produces goods to be traded for money, an extraction district which handles materials and fuel, a food district which provides sustenance, and a housing district which provides shelter. Players must gather resources, food, materials, and fuel to manage the needs of the people as well as to support the development of the city.

Dispensing heat throughout the city – a massive mechanic in the original – is now simplified compared to the first installment. Players don’t need to build roads or place heaters across the map to make sure everyone is safe from deadly whiteouts. As long as the generator is getting enough fuel, everyone is safe and warm. By taking this approach, 11 Bit Studios took a big risk with the difficulty curve by putting focus on other, newly-introduced mechanics that have a more political bentwhich those with a more classic taste in city builders might not approve of while those who look for a more unique and different experience in the genre might love.

There are four established factions now, the Frostlanders, Stalwarts, New Londoners and Pilgrims, each with their own agenda and aspirations, and each group’s vision of progress is sometimes in contradiction with the others.

As the Steward, players have to balance the needs and wants of each faction by doing research, constructing specific buildings, and negotiating laws in the Council. Managing the expectations of these groups is perhaps the most difficult part of Frostpunk 2 because failing to do so will result in protests and rallies which not only halt economic activities in the city, but also threaten the life of its people and the integrity of the city’s infrastructure. It can be frustrating for sure, and even more so in higher difficulties.

An issue with this new focus on new political mechanics is how they are introduced. Frostpunk 2’s tutorial mission is too simplistic to effectively teach the deep, interconnected mechanisms. The politics and aspects of the Council aren’t covered well when players are given the helm of New London, and might easily be frustrated and confused.

Though there is a written tutorial section always available, it doesn’t convey the specifics like what steps the player needs to take to be able to use things like negotiation tools in the Council – something I found purely by chance when I accidentally clicked on a group’s picture in the UI. This failure of communication to players is not limited to the early stages, as I had issues completing one of the final missions. A search online revealed that hundreds of other people had the exact same question – the mission details were just not clear enough.

On the technical side, Frostpunk 2 has some rough edges. While things start smoothly, as the city expands and settlements are added, the more the performance drops. There are also occasional lag spikes and stutters when the game is automatically saved, and events such as new mission announcements or requests from citizens is displayed – in fact, the frequency of lag spikes in the final chapters when players need to manage three different settlements at the same time with events happening in each of them is quite frustrating, often making the player wait at too-frequent intervals.

Frostpunk 2 is an ambitious sequel to an innovative title. While breaking new ground is surely appreciated in today’s often-too-static gaming scene, it’s sad to see that its new ideas are not introduced to the players properly, and the current performance issues make playing through once a bit of a chore – a second play would be difficult to sit through. Though the challenges in maintaining peace and order in New London while searching for a safe haven are things that stand out in the genre, I wish it could provide a more polished experience. As it stands, Frostpunk 2 is a good second step that fans of the franchise and the genre will enjoy, but there’s plenty of room for improvement here. 

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by 11 Bit Studios. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via Publisher and 12 hours were dedicated to the single-player campaign. The game was completed. There are no multiplayer options available.

Parents: This game is rated M by the ESRB. It contains Blood, Drug Reference, Mild Sexual Themes, Mild Violence, and Strong Language. The official description reads: This is a strategy simulation game in which players assume the role of a steward in charge of an industrial city in a frozen post-apocalyptic world. From an overhead perspective, players manage the city’s survival and expansion, making decisions on social policies, economic growth, and political standing. Some decisions can reference thematic elements (e.g., suicide, murder) and/or lead to brief depictions of violence and blood: a man stabbed to death; a body lying in a pool of blood. Some still images depict frozen corpses and/or bodies stained with blood. The dialogue/text contains some sexual material (e.g., “I’ve got the clap, but I ain’t spreading that”; “a man convicted of rape and murder”; “creeps and pervs, the whole lot of them”; “Some people are trying to use Pleasure Clubs to climb the social ladder.”). The game also references drugs (e.g., “overdoses with mixing opioids and stimulants”; “people are still overdosing”; “producing both stimulants and opioids”). The word “f**k” appears in the game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes present.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles, the subtitles can be altered or resized and all the info is delivered through text. Important audio cues have visual representations as well. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Controls can be remapped.

The post Frostpunk 2 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH What a journey!

LOW Rough edges during gameplay.

WTF Performance issues? Seriously!?

Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance is a real-time strategy game from Slitherine, the publisher behind recent RTS titles Starship Troopers: Terran Command and turn-based Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector.

Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance begins where everything is about to end; in the wake of Judgment Day. Players assume the role of Lieutenant Alex Church, a commander of a unit falsely marked as deserters by superiors called the Founders. The Founders are what remains of the U.S military after the events of Judgment Day and the story follows Church in his attempt to gather scattered human resistance groups under a single banner while trying to clear his name, with the ultimate goal of getting back to fighting the real enemy.

The story is the most rooted and well-worked part of the game. Not only is the setting — the very first days of resistance against the machines’ takeover — something never experienced before in the Terminator franchise, but Defiance also sheds light on the events that led to the creation of the resistance forces and other factions that were never previously explored. Players’ decisions to make allies or enemies of these factions will also have lasting effects in the story during later missions.

In terms of gameplay, Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance plays more like a real-time tactics game than a Real-Time Strategy, as there are two phases: preparation and deployment.

During the preparation phase, there’s a map of the world with various cities and faction bases to visit. From here, players manage their army or choose the next mission via two main resources. The first, “Provisions”, is consumed by the army when it moves around the world. The bigger the army, the more provisions it consumes daily. The other resource is “Goodwill” which acts as in-game currency to be spent on weapons, equipment, machinery, or hiring new military personnel.

With this in mind, the economy of Defiance is based on finding a balance between having enough provisions to keep the army supplied and then acquiring more advanced units to keep up with the pace of combat. While provisions can be bought with Goodwill Points, Goodwill Points can only be acquired by completing missions. This is where the economy gets flatlined because there’s no way for the player to calculate the income of Goodwill Points or maintain a constant influx of this vital resource.

In most RTS-likes, the main currency can be acquired through generation points (mines, etc.) or a trading system (selling harvested resources, and so on) but in Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance, if all the Goodwill Points are spent at some point, players can’t expand the army and must either finish the next mission with the same units and equipment or return to the beginning of the preparation phase and work a solution out with what little Goodwill Points they’ve got at that time. The lack of a base building/unit production mechanism coupled with the problematic economic cycle is the greatest enemy of the game, far deadlier than a swarm of T-800s.

In the deployment phase, players can control ranged units and vehicles. Some units, like snipers, are best at dealing with infantry while others such as rocket launcher squads are great at taking care of armored vehicles. Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance tries to have a realistic approach toward combat in that all units and vehicles have a limited supply of ammo and fuel, requiring players to manage their supplies even behind enemy lines. When the ammo or fuel of a unit is depleted, they can no longer engage with the enemy or move until they’re resupplied by ammo/fuel trucks. In contrast to the problematic economy, this feature is clever, and adds a deeper strategic layer by requiring constant awareness of not only the threats imposed by the enemy, but potential disruptions caused by mismanagement of supplies.

On the other hand, Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance trips up again, this time on a smaller scale. The player is able to issue commands to units. For example, infantry can go to prone for reduced visibility, and most units are equipped with kit like smoke bombs or EMP grenades. While the idea behind these mechanisms is a nice one, the execution is confusing.

For example, selecting a specific squad in the heat of the battle and giving them special orders is difficult because of how packed the friendly infantry units are, as they tend to stand next to each other. Even if a specific formation is selected for a group, that formation is lost when the units move to a new location.

Other problems I had during my time with Defiance were in regards to its technical side. Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance suffers heavily from performance issues, especially in the final mission. Aside from long loading screens, even my RTX 4080 couldn’t run it in constant 60FPS, and it frequently dropped below 30FPS in more populated areas. Unit pathfinding is also troublesome. In some instances, single individuals from a unit fail to follow the same path as their fellow squad members and fall behind. In other instances, units are obscured by landmarks such as bridges or skyscrapers, and can’t be directly selected.

Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance is Slitherine studio’s first foray into developing an RTS-style title, so keeping that in mind (while hoping for future patches) does make me inclined towards giving them some leeway on the irritations. So, while it definitely has some rough edges in terms of gameplay, the narrative foundations and concepts are strong — on that basis alone, I think this is an easy recommend to Terminator fans and those looking for an RTS campaign with a few twists.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Slitherine. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via Publisher and 25 hours were dedicated to the single-player campaign. The game was completed. There are multiplayer options available.

Parents: This game has no ESRB rating. It contains mild language. It contains mild language and some violence. Robots and humans fight and kill each other in the game, but there’s no blood or gore.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes present.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can’t be altered or resized. There are some necessary audio cues in the game such as sounds made by each enemy unit that are not subtitled. The game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Controls can be remapped.

The post Terminator: Dark Fate — Defiance Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

No Rest for the Wicked is Moon Studio’s latest project, recently released into Early Access.
This new title from the creators of Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps
breaks away from their platforming/metroidvania roots and pivots into a new third person,
open-world semi-isometric soulslike direction.

In No Rest for the Wicked, players control a silent protagonist on a journey to a land called
Sacra. As a warrior of an ancient and mysterious cult, they’re tasked with purging a strange
plague that’s turning the people of Sacra into monsters.

The story is mostly told through cutscenes that are a real treat thanks to the heavily-stylized,
and somewhat cartoonish art style. The world and its characters look like hand-drawn figures
with exaggerated features such as big noses or long hands. Though a bit strange, this artistic
choice lends it a visually unique vibe.

No Rest for the Wicked’s gameplay is can be simply summed up as a fusion of Diablo and Dark
Souls — combat is mostly melee, but there are some magical weapons with limited ranged
attacks, such as magic staves that shoot fireballs.

Like most soulslikes, No Rest for the Wicked tries to manage the pace of combat with a
stamina bar, so as expected, rolling to avoid enemy attacks or swinging a weapon will
consume it to prevent spamming.

Each weapon has a special move that deals higher damage or causes elemental status buildup
such as ‘burn’ or ‘frost.’ There are also weapons such a heavy sword that are infused with
elements, and the special attack deals both more damage and elemental status
buildup.

The rest of the gameplay in the Early Access build largely follows common soulslike
systems, such as such as inventory management, managing equipment load, and leveling up
using experience gathered from defeating enemies. Perhaps the only notable difference here
is how No Rest for the Wicked deals with player death.

Rather than the usual corpse run to regain lost souls (or soul equivalents) the penalty for death is losing some durability in the player’s equipped weapons and armor, causing them to underperform until they’re fixed by a blacksmith. For a soulslike, the abovementioned penalty is too soft and devoid of challenge since it doesn’t result in a heavy loss of ability.

The game also has a basic crafting system in which some throwables such as bombs can be
made. Materials to repair and craft weapons (such as wood and steel) are also gathered
through exploration.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of No Rest for the Wicked is the isometric camera. At
the start of play, a message from the dev team is displayed that talks about their hopes and
dreams of advancing the ARPG genre. However, I have to say that the camera perspective
causes difficulties in both combat and exploration, holding that advancement back.

When engaging with groups of enemies, the viewpoint makes it difficult to see where the
protagonist is when and rolling out of enemy melee range. Targeting enemies is also difficult
since there are no target lock options available. Worse, in its current state, parts of the world and its assets turn into hollow black objects so that the player can see through them when in
small, closed environments. It feels like the devs are undercutting their graphics work with a perspective that doesn’t do it justice — just imagine owning a beautiful painting, but hanging it far away and backwards.

While this is absolutely still an Early Access title that has plenty of time and room to grow, I
feel that No Rest for the Wicked will ultimately be a divisive title. The design choices such as the camera angle and the painterly visual style have definitely made the experience somewhat different than one might expect, but at this point, I’m not certain that “different” necessarily means “good”.

The post PREVIEW: No Rest For The Wicked appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Great puzzles!

LOW The combat is dull.

WTF Why does it get so difficult in co-op?!?

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is the latest installment in the long-running 2D side-scrolling puzzle-platformer series that brings back a trio of linked characters for a new adventure.

The story follows the Heroes of Trine once again as they are framed by an evil queen and her army of robots who are trying to conquer the land. Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight and Zoya the Thief are all that stand between the evil queen and the fall of their beloved kingdom. There’s not much more to it than that, and to be fair, Trine was never famous for its story. As usual, the script acts as setting for the aspect that really shines — the puzzle solving!

Amadeus, Zoya and Pontius are similar to how they were in Trine 4. Amadeus can lift objects with his magic, Zoya is the long-range specialist with a bow and grappling hook, and Pontius has a deadly sword and shield. As the heroes journey, they unlock new abilities that will allow for more complicated puzzles and combat scenarios. For example, Pontius will learn to throw his sword at wooden walls and use it as a springboard to jump higher, adding more verticality to upcoming challenges.

Trine 5 can be played solo or with up to two friends in co-op, both online and local. With that in mind, the puzzles adjust to the number of players. Playing alone, the challenges are not so difficult, but as the number of players grows, the tasks become significantly more complicated.

Change in the puzzles range from simple escalations like adding more switches or pedestals, all the way up to more complicated situations. For example (when solo) the player needs to hang from a lever that opens a door, and the switch for keeping the door open should be shot from afar. When playing the same area in co-op mode, the switch is replaced with an exploding barrel that requires one player to blow it up with fire while the other keeps the door open by hanging from the lever.

While the puzzles work well for the most part, combat is still Trine’s Achilles’ heel.

Pontius is generally the best option to directly engage with queen’s robotic henchmen, but Amadeus’ magic can’t be used in combat until later stages, and only after upgrading his abilities multiple times. Even then, his combat skills (such as raining ice shards on enemies) are difficult to handle and not so useful. Zoya is the most balanced character, able to shoot airborne targets that Pontius can’t reach with his sword and adding a more dynamic approach to combat than just simply marching forward with a blade swinging in the air.

The adventure has quite a few boss fights, and honestly, I wish all the combat was designed the way these encounters are.

Unlike the general combat sections, boss fights contain puzzle-solving elements. For example, when facing a mechanical dragon, Amadeus can use his magic to lift exploding barrels and throw them at the creature while Pontius deflects its fireballs with his shield. Although not so complex, the creative approach taken during these skirmishes feels like a breath of fresh air and more in line with the clever nature of this puzzle-platformer.

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is a welcome addition to the series. While it doesn’t add or change much when it comes to gameplay mechanics, it’s still enjoyable and challenging enough to be worth a look from anyone who likes an old-fashioned fairytale adventure with a twist.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was developed by Frozenbyte and published by THQ Nordic. It is currently available on  XBO/X/S, PS4/5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player and local coop mode, and the game was not completed. There are local and online multiplayer modes.

Parents: The game is rated Everyone 10+ by ESRB and contains Fantasy Violence. The official description reads: “This is a puzzle-platforming game in which players control three heroes (e.g., wizard, knight, thief) as they attempt to save their kingdom. From a side-scrolling perspective, players solve puzzles, avoid hazards (e.g., chasms, spike pits), and engage in bursts of combat. Players use swords, arrows, and magic spells to defeat fantastical enemies (e.g., mechanical knights, rat men, skeletons). Fighting can include brief explosions and short cries of pain.”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes present.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and/or resized. There are no necessary audio cues in the game. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Controls can be remapped.

The post Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Lots of ways to kill!

LOW The painful lack of innovation.

WTF Are the devs familiar with the concept of a difficulty curve?!?

The Last Faith is a gothic, Bloodborne-inspired 2D metroidvania that follows Erik, a man suffering from a mysterious sickness that plagues the world and turns people into monsters. Set on finding a cure, Erik sets out on a journey to find the cause of the plague and those responsible for it.

The theme and premise of the story are heavily inspired by Blasphemous without much narrative innovation — the focus is on a deadly pandemic and how religious fanatics and politicians exploit people and society for their goals. This is well-trodden territory.

The Last Faith’s gameplay is a blend of soulslike and metroidvania. Erik uses melee weapons to fight off enemies and gathers “Nycrux”, which is used to buy items from NPCs, upgrade weapons, and level up his stats. Upon death, all the Nycrux is lost and must be retrieved just like all the other soulslike
games. Upgrading weapons is pretty straightforward. Erik should bring upgrade materials found across the land to a specific NPC and improve his weapons.

The combat is mostly focused on using a variety of melee weapons including whips, swords, and axes in combination with pistols or ranged spells. Players can also use items in their surroundings such as chairs and rocks as throwable weapons, which is useful as since Erik’s ranged weapons and spells consume ammo and mana that are limited and refilled at bonfire-like checkpoints.

As you might imagine by the number of references and comparisons I’ve already made up to this point, a big issue with The Last Faith is its lack of originality. It is impossible to play it without mentally comparing it to any number of similar titles. While the enemy variety and boss designs are impressive, there’s nothing special about them, and certainly none of them will be remembered a moment after credits rolling.

There are collectibles and sidequests for NPCs, but doing them is usually rewarded with new items or spells and doesn’t have any impact on the narrative or ending.

There is no skill tree, and unlocking new abilities is story-related and happens when the player advances enough in the campaign. In too many ways, The Last Faith sticks to predictable, expected gameplay design choices… except when it comes to difficulty.

A significant issue here is the unbalanced difficulty. Due to its metroidvania design semi-gating progress, many areas in The Last Faith are at least partly accessible in the beginning, and there’s no way to know if a chosen area is the right path to follow. I would imagine that most players will immediately begin the usual cycle of dying, grinding for better gear, and leveling up the character when facing the too-challenging areas early on, which then leads to an overpowered Erik in the late game who ends up blowing past any resistance.

The Last Faith is an experience big enough to keep fans of the material occupied for 15 hours or so — the story is straightforward and the combat is… fine? Unfortunately for it, 2023 has been one of the busiest, richest years for quality game releases, and in light of such competition, The Last Faith doesn’t have much to offer.

Score: 6.5 out of 10

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

Parents: The game has been rated M by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Violence and Nudity. The main character fights humans and monsters, depicted with instances of combat and dismemberment. The nudity is not a major element.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes present.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can’t be altered and/or resized. There are no necessary audio cues in the game. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Controls can be remapped.

The post The Last Faith Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The game’s aesthetics and visual style.

LOW The slow-paced start and abrupt ending!

WTF Why do I need a supercomputer to run this?!?

Alan Wake 2 is Remedy’s next and incredibly ambitious project, and it comes in the form of a third-person survival horror that nails it in some areas and misses in some others.

Alan Wake 2 starts 13 years after the events of the first. While the titular writer has been missing since then, a murderous group calling themselves the Cult of the Tree have killed many people in the Cauldron Lake area where both games were set. FBI agent Saga Anderson and her partner are assigned to the case, hoping to shed some light on these killings.

Just like the first, Alan Wake 2 is a third-person survival horror, with both action and puzzle-solving. In the action segments, the player will use a flashlight to make ‘dark’ enemies vulnerable before engaging in gunfights with them. Due to its narrative-focused nature, the world has a semi-open design. Players are
largely free to explore different regions, but a loading screen awaits them when transitioning between areas. Switching between Alan and Saga is only possible in safe rooms where the game can be saved.

While there are different types of upgradable weapons, the combat is nothing special. Enemies use ranged and melee attacks against the player and attacks can be dodged to stagger foes and earn some breathing room. That said, one twist during Alan’s portions are that not all entities in Dark Place are hostile. Because Alan never knows which of the shadows calling his name is his next adversary, the player will often find themselves on the edge of their seats when roaming.

More innovative than the combat is Wake 2‘s narrative. The script follows two interconnected stories and characters in two distinct worlds. In one we accompany Alan in his attempt to find a way out of the supernatural Dark Place he’s trapped in, and the other is Saga and her detective work in the real world. It seemed to me that it would be tough balancing both fantastical and ‘real’ elements while keeping the two narratives connected throughout, but Remedy nailed it.

During Alan’s portions in a nightmarish New York-like setting, everything relies on environmental storytelling. Billboards warn about the inevitable failure of Alan’s mission. Neon lights of the shops on corners act as waypoints, glowing in the darkness of the rainy night. Graffiti on the walls points towards hidden stashes or skill points. On Saga’s side, her detective’s intuition is used to guide the player. She can go through the pieces of evidence found throughout the world in her virtual “Mind Place” to reach a conclusion and plan the next place to go or the next person to find.

Saga’s Mind Place can be accessed at any time via the push of a button, and presents like a small hut in which she walks around and interacts with casefiles and pieces of evidence. For example, if she puts the right real-world evidence next to the right mental question she has about the case, the question is answered.

Though the idea of the Mind Place is great, it’s not well-rooted, as players can go through most of the story without consulting the pieces of evidence Saga finds, and as the story unfolds over time, Saga will automatically file them into correct cases and come to a conclusion saying “I already know how this ends”.

While Alan doesn’t use a Mind Place, he can change the world around him by writing about it in his “Writer’s Room”. He can turn a lively ballroom into a scene of grisly murder by adding cultists to the story and then following their bloody trail of blood to the next key object needed in his quest. The general mechanics of Alan’s Writer’s Room is like Saga’s Mind Place, with the only difference being that when Alan puts a theme (murder, for example) next to a place (let’s say “ballrom”) then the world around Alan changes and new paths or items are revealed.

In terms of pacing, Alan Wake 2 suffers from opening hours that are almost completely devoid of any action. Things starts with Saga examining a crime scene in Cauldron Lake, introducing the detective work mechanics and how the Mind Place works. By the time her introduction is finished, the story switches to Alan and his intro, which includes solving puzzles by changing the environment with the Writer’s Room. The need for two intros is inevitable based on Remedy’s basic structure and the differences between the two leads, yet, the way they’re set one right after another with a heavy focus on puzzles in both is questionable.

Unfortunately, without spoiling anything, I can say that the ending of the adventure is underwhelming. Though the plot is full of surprises, the last hour boils down to being a fetch quest, and most of the anticipated action is done via cutscenes which rob the player of feeling like they’ve gotten the job done themselves. 

Artistically, I have no doubt that Alan Wake 2 will frequently in any conversation about pushing boundaries. The game not only uses live-action cinematics in conjunction with CGI, but there are parts of gameplay when the Dark Place and the real world overlap. This is achieved by using a live-action sequence and overlaying it like a photo filter on the environment — not only a great idea to show how the two words (and narratives) affect each other, but it’s a truly unique visual experience. Character facial animations are also perfect, and it’s a rare treat to see a studio so committed to motion capture rather than auto-generating animations, as I found the performances far more realistic and emotionally engaging.

Combat also has some issues — things feel clunky in part due to the inventory management system. 

Weapons and usable items like med packs can be assigned to eight ‘quick select’ menu slots assigned to four physical buttons on the keyboard and controllers. In order to select an item, the player should push the corresponding button either once for the primary item or twice for the secondary. This single or double-clicking method of switching is a frustrating pain during combat that made me choose the
wrong weapon or item in the heat of the fight many times. It’s strange why the devs chose to not go with something more standard like a radial ‘weapon wheel’ or even an older-school solution such as a “next/previous weapon” button.

One final thing to discuss are the technical aspects of running Alan Wake 2 on PC, where I reviewed it. The game truly takes ray tracing to the next level with various notable effects like reflections within reflections. The benefit is hugely atmospheric, but these great visuals come with great costs.

It’s impossible to get a solid 60FPS with Ray Tracing (even on 1080p resolution) without using DLSS and frame generation on an RTX 4080. For people who don’t know what this means, take it as Alan Wake 2 certainly being the next Crysis when it comes to testing and benchmarking PC hardware in upcoming years. However, the sad truth is that other current games use the same top-notch Ray Tracing technologies while offering much better performance and demanding less investment on the hardware side.

Alan Wake 2 is a unique experience thanks to the innovative blending of photorealism and traditional visual design, as well as a narrative deeply entwined to gameplay mechanics to an extent rarely seen before. It is not a perfect experience, but it is innovative enough to inspire gamers and devs alike for years to come.

Score: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games. It is currently available on  XBX/S, PS5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 18 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, Intense Violence, Nudity, and Strong Language. The official rating summary reads: Combat is highlighted by realistic gunfire, explosions, and blood-splatter effects; shooting enemies sometimes results in exposed entrails and large wounds. Cutscenes also depict instances of violence/blood… a character is depicted nude, with exposed genitalia and buttocks.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes present.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and/or resized. There are some necessary audio cues in puzzle solving sections. There are some audio cues used in puzzle solving sections that are not accompanied by visual cues. This game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Controls can be remapped.

The post Alan Wake 2 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Witchfire is a roguelike first-person shooter with a fantasy theme. Its world is under attack from witches and his holiness the Pope has sent witch hunters to deal with them with magic and firearms.

Players take control of a hunter, and like many other roguelikes, must go through the same level over and over, upgrading their equipment and abilities to the point that they can finally defeat that level’s boss and unlock the next one.

Witchfire offers a few semi-open world maps that need to be unlocked one by one. Players can wander around the maps, cleansing the area of the witches’ minions and gathering perks and upgrade points that will make their weapons and magic more powerful.

The nice thing about this open world is that the boss fight is available right from the start, so players can go for it whenever they feel ready. They can also return to their hideout using portals found across the land, or continue gathering resources more at the risk of death and total loss. This risk-reward system is quite similar to most Soulslikes in this way, and I appreciated it.

However, my favorite parts of Witchfire were random events and calamities. The random events might be a lost soul or a cursed place that works like an arena or miniboss fight that rewards extra resources. In calamities, players have a limited time to reach a specific point, but if they fail, a horde of super-powerful enemies will hunt them down. There’s also a recurring, roving miniboss called Warden that searches for the player — it’s a bit like Mr. X in Resident Evil 2.

In terms of gameplay itself, combat is focused on gunplay and the use of magic is limited. Three guns and two types of magic can be equipped during each run. The guns are nothing out of the ordinary — just the same sort of rifle, shotgun, and SMG combination seen in most titles. There are different types of spells to use, magic takes a relatively long time to recharge and I generally forgot to use it in combat.

Unfortunately, while Witchfire manages to find its own identity in terms of theming, when it comes to gameplay it feels and plays like so many other titles out there. On the plus side, Witchfire is still in Early Access, meaning the developers still have time to polish things up and add some spice.

Currently available in Early Access on the Epic game store, no official release date has been announced.

The post PREVIEW Witchfire appeared first on Gamecritics.com.