HIGH The meta-progress is a welcome addition

LOW The gameplay loop seems lessened

WTF An army of undead chickens is very playable

The Finnish team 10tons Ltd. entered the game scene with Crimsonland. It was a simple title, but the twin-stick controls were so tight it was clear that they had something special. Since the mid-2000s they’ve built a roster of works built on those solid foundations. Later, in 2018, 10tons delved into real-time strategy with Undead Horde. This was top-down strategy using twin-stick controls to steer a horde of undead to fight their enemies.

Undead Horde was addictive, and had wonderful forward momentum created by the fact that anything killed could then be resurrected to join the player’s army — anything from simple footman all the way up to end-level bosses. Now in 2023, Undead Horde 2: Necropolis is here, and brings with it changes that seem to have come at a cost.

The Necromancer from the first game is is back and the gameplay, at its core, is the same. The art style is also in line with its predecessor and the controls are similar — point the cursor to direct the horde and watch them engage in combat. The Necromancer itself can also cast spells and perform melee attacks. There’s a large map with multiple biomes, each with their own challenges and tricks, but new to Undead Horde 2 is a large hub world.

As levels are completed and items found, the hub grows in population. This also allows the player to invest any money they pick up during combat into upgrading their units and crafting new trinkets. This economy is a compelling reason to go back and revisit old levels — clearing them out helps power up the player, which then in turn expands the hub world even more. To tie into this, instead of resurrecting enemies, the Necromancer uses the dead bodies of fallen enemies as a pool of resources to bring back prescribed units.

All of the pieces are in place for a more rounded and polished experience, but the problem is that no longer being able to pick up fallen units and resurrect them on the fly robs it of both momentum and magic.

For example, in the original game, when a tough fight against a fierce enemy was over and my army was demolished, the upside was that I would bring that now-defeated enemy into my team to make up for the losses. In Undead Horde 2, that one boss enemy is now reduced to becoming a resource that I spend to get one or two of my regular troops back . This means sitting through a loading screen, going back to the hub, rebuilding the team and then heading back into battle as there are seldom enough dead on the battlefield to bring back a full cohort. The joy of toppling a tough foe and rolling ahead is now replaced by fewer surprises, pauses in the action and a return to base.

This shift ends up hamstringing Undead Horde 2’s flow — as much as I enjoyed it in the beginning, it soon began to feel like a chore and I’m sad to say that Undead Horde 2 is one of 10tons Ltd.’s few stumbles — it’s still addictive and sports their trademarked solid controls, but it’s sorely missing the infectious charm of their previous installment.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by 10tons Ltd. and published by 10tons Ltd. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, PS4/PS5, Switch, PC and Mac.This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Violence and Blood. The rating seems a little high to me as the violence is cartoonish and everything feels very silly. Very young children might find the animal murder upsetting.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present.   

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. In my view, the title appears to be fully playable and accessible without sound.

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

The post Undead Horde 2: Necropolis Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Welcome to my 2022 list of games that I loved.

2022 has been another wild ride but I probably will give it the credit of being a little less cataclysmic than last year. Is this because I left Twitter? Maybe.  

Welcome to my 2022 list of games that I loved. 2022 has been another wild ride but I probably will give it the credit of being a little less cataclysmic than last year. Is this because I left Twitter? Maybe.

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Some supplemental awards first.

‘Oh, thank my stars co-op arrived’ award:

§ Halo Infinite

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  ‘Please stop releasing your games in December’ 2021 awards:

§ The Gunk

§ Tunnel of Doom

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‘You are a compelling game, but my word, your politics suck’ award:

§ Police Simulator: Patrol officers

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10. As Dusk Falls XBO, XSX/S

As Dusk Falls is pitched as having meaningful stories and heartfelt performances brought to life by motion comics. The game follows multiple people across different threads involving a heist gone wrong, telling the story from the robbers’ and victims’ perspective. As Dusk Falls’ other big pitch is that it can be played online with up to 8 friends, and each time a choice must be made each player places a vote with the ability to override all votes. As all my friends are complete misfits, this means that instead of anything being accomplished, characters in As Dusk Falls will spend most of their time doing the worst things. To its credit, the game does a great job of keeping things on track. I am pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to laugh this much, but As Dusk Falls certainly brings it when played with chaotic pals.

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9. Broken Pieces PC, XBO, XSX/S, PS4/5

Broken Pieces is pretty great. A 3D adventure with a focus on puzzling and some minor combat. Set in a remote French Village that seems to exist in a post-event world where it’s not entirely clear what that event was. The localization is all over the place and adds to the unnerving nature of the game. Broken Pieces’s peers are Deadly Premonition and Syberia. If either of those names make your ears prick up, then you have to try this game.

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8. The Quarry PC, XBO, XSX/S, PS4/5 Review here

Supermassive consistently release titles that hit my top ten. Never in the top 5, but I still look forward to playing them. The Quarry is no exception. Larger and a bit longer than its Dark Pictures compatriots, it starts slower but ends up being rewarding by leaning into a goofier horror story. One of the things I’m enjoying is that the writing team started to become aware of its own tropes and then learning how to subvert them. For example, they’ve loved giving the players a ‘Drew Barrymore’ character for the tutorial – someone that shows up briefly to get murdered or sidelined. Not this time, and it’s great to see the writing being experimental and finding new ways to spin the story. However, it’s the multiplayer that keeps things entertaining as the hot-seat means that I could not predict the story twists.

Below is a heavily spoilered example:

Later in the story, after The Quarry had set up two characters and framed them as the protagonists, things turn to a pitched battle with a murderous family, everything slowed down for a second and required one of my friends to make a pivotal shot… And he missed. Both the protagonists die. The story continued without them.

What a great game.

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7. Tunic – PC, XBO, PS4/5, XSX/S, Switch

I was unimpressed by Tunic’s demo, outside of the very nice, squidgy pastel-colored models that made everything look like it was made out of opaque jelly sweets. What I played of the demo felt like someone was just retreading Legend of Zelda. That’s not to say the full game of Tunic surprised me and didn’t ape Link’s adventures, but it’s doing so much more. The element of ‘aha!’ when a level circles around on itself made me appreciate how clever each layout was, and the unlocking of each piece of the in-game instruction manual leading to even more ‘aha!’ moments is inspired. Then, when I realized what the liner notes meant… Well, it was the first time I fully appreciated what made Fez so appealing to players. Finally, when I hit a pretty nasty bug right at the end that meant that the final boss was much harder than it needed to be, Tunic just didn’t give a shit that I made myself invincible and beat the boss without trying. The journey and the exploration was more important.

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6. Windjammers 2 – PC, PS4/5, XBO, XSX/S, Switch, Stadia Review here

Windjammers is a unique game in many ways, I played it in the arcades back in the ’90s and then again on emulators in the 2000s. The back and forth of throwing a disc in a sort of air hockey/Frisbee hybrid is so simple, but the tactics and mind games that emerge contain so much depth. All I had craved for the last couple of decades was a decent port on my preferred console, but DotEmu (a company that is very much on a roll after Streets of Rage 4) went one better. Not only did they manage to make Windjammers 2 bigger with more varied abilities, trickshots and techniques, but also better. Although the skill ceiling is higher, it doesn’t detract from the crazy amount of simple fun able to be had. It also helps that the online multiplayer is rock-solid too.

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5. Pick Pack Pup – PlayDate

Not only does this entry give me an opportunity to brag about getting a PlayDate earlier this year, it is also a way to celebrate my favourite entry of the first season of curated games. Pick Pack Pup manages to find a new spin on the ‘match three’ genre with the character having to connect items first to package them, then they dispatch the packages, the more dispatched at the same time, the better the bonus. The game finds new ways to change up the format as the story progresses with different objectives, and the challenge modes add extra incentive to return. The story itself is a criticism of Amazon (and capitalism at large). Entertainingly, the protagonist steals a rocket and goes to Mars. For me, the most charming part of Pick Pack Pup was that it was a compulsive 3-4 hour game, perfect for a plane or car journey, and it fit perfectly into the PlayDate’s weekly offering. For those who get a chance to try the diminutive crank handheld, make a beeline for this one.

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4. Elden Ring PC – PS4/5, XBO, XSX/S Review here

I mean, I am sure it isn’t much of a shock that Elden Ring is on this list. It’s a phenomenal achievement by From Software to pack so much into this game and still make it feel like it had a personality. It is also by far the most accessible in the franchise, with a ton of neat elements that made it so I could finally talk to some of my friends about the experience. There is something in there, though, that weirdly rubs me the wrong way – like, I am resentful that the game is basically Assassin’s Creed, only with its excel spreadsheet checklist of side missions hidden from the player. When I realized that I was ticking off a series of boxes (during a fire giant fight) it soured a game I think I otherwise might have considered perfect. Still, I have high hopes that From Software will go from strength to strength after Elden Ring’s performance and that leaves me with hope that I’ll finally get another Armored Core game. Never mind, Armored Core VI got announced this a great end of year for me. Get me a mech!

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3. Gunfire: Reborn Switch – PC, PS4, XBO, XSX/S, Android, iOS

With one of the most forgettable names ever (frequently referred to as ‘Ghostmaster: Remix’ or ‘Gunblast: Remaster’ in this household) Gunfire: Reborn is a fantastic co-op, first-person shooter with roguelite elements. Each run allows the player to pick a class, accrue levelling-up points, better weapons, and scrolls that can buff/debuff, and the developer seems to delight in allowing the player to create utterly broken builds that allow players to go on rampages. The four player co-op elements (once players are higher level) allows for people to see the great range of different builds like the dual-wielding dog and the glass-canon bunny rabbit, while mixing and matching different styles. It’s on Game Pass right now, and even if you don’t have friends you should be playing it.

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2. Roguebook Switch – PC, Mac, XBO, XSX/S, PS4/5, Stadia Review here

“A top ten and I only have one roguelite on here” I saym as I realize I haven’t written about Roguebook. Every year I find a game that hits me like meth — hitting me with wide-eyed nights of hours slipping by in some sort of fugue state as I play ‘one more game’.  What Roguebook improves for the Darkest-Slay-the-Monster-Train-Dungeon formula is that it lets the player feel like they have more agency in their path towards the bosses, and there feels like there’s an ability to course-correct a half-failing run with the two hero system. The most roguelite addicted have complained that there is not enough variation in deck discovery, but that wasn’t something that bothered me as I climbed through the ranks while unlocking more cards. Charming, and a fantastic entry point for people curious about deckbuilding roguelites.

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1. Severed Steel – Switch, PC, XBO, XSX/S, PS4/5

I booted up Severed Steel before writing this to check if I was really going to make it my game of the year and got into a new game+ playthrough. Played in first-person, perspective this is a game that muses on what it would be like if Max Payne was just an endless stream of slow-motion violence set to a propulsive beat. Every level requires jumping, sliding, wall running and shooting — it’s like Cliff Bleszinski made good on his comment about how worried he was we hadn’t seen the gunplay in Mirror’s Edge and then built a game that had flawless gunplay/parkour. It’s just a cacophony of good times.

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Most Disappointing of the year: Plague Tale: Requiem

I am still enjoying Plague Tale, and I will likely finish it, but the disappointment I feel is that it seems that the developers and I have very different ideas of what we wanted from this game. Plague Tale: Innocence was a surprise – a gorgeous title on a budget that squeezed just enough gameplay into its cutscene heavy adventure that kept me engrossed. This first entry offered up a range of tools for stealthing and killing, but rarely had big enough areas to explore the possibilities with them.

What I had hoped for the sequel was that Requiem would build on this solid foundation and provide more open areas to fully realize the promising stealthy/fighting dichotomy. Instead, Requiem is about a lot of walking and talking and ‘push forward to win the game’ setpieces. These are impressive, they just indicate that, given a bigger budget, there will be even fewer interesting things to do in the next game and more emphasis on bombast. I hope that is not the case, because I love the world.

The post AJ’s Top 10 of 2022 appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Recently, CD Projekt Red has been keen on revisiting their finished titles. After its launch, Cyberpunk 2077 has been recieveing iterative work and starting meet the expectations set prior to launch.

Similarly, the publisher has released a free update for the title that put them on the global map – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

With this update I went back to the Xbox One X (XBO-X) version and compared it to the Xbox Series X (XSX) upgrades. I did not have an Xbox Series S, so I was not able to see some of the updates there. Please be aware this is not a review of The Witcher 3 – I’m only discussing the upgrades. For a full look at the game as whole, you can find our initial coverage here, a second opinion here, and reviews of the DLC content, Hearts of Stone as well as Blood and Wine.

Now, the next-gen upgrade.

Basic improvements are immediately apparent when booting up the title, as the load times are massively improved from getting to the main menu and into game, though one still has to wade through the obligatory legal screens. In the last generation of consoles, there was narration over the loading screens that informed the user of their progress. These moments of narration barely have time to finish on Xbox Series X before entering play, which is a relief as those loads could be beefy.  

The Quick Resume feature is a blessing too. Going back to the XBO-X and loading up my save to play for 15-20 minutes felt like I was wasting my time, as this is a game that takes a while to get going and dipping in and out for a single mission is not how it begs to be experienced. On the XSX version there was a brief load and a save data sync, and then I was right back where I left off. It’s a strange thing to be praising, but that speed allowed me to collect a few herbs, kill a couple of monsters and track down an errant side quest without feeling like there was a huge obligation to dump hours in because getting through the loading time was such a commitment. The knowledge that I could more quickly get in and out had me going back more regularly.

Now for the more obvious upgrades – the visual fidelity.

Personally, I thought that a lot of the non-metal texture upgrades were nice, but not groundbreaking. Things like horsehair and burnished leather are improved from the slightly flatter-looking XBO-X textures, but aren’t enough to merit a replay. The armor fares worse, as the shiny effect feels like a little too much given how grimy the rest of The Witcher 3 is, and it’s distracting. That said, some of the work done on the level of detail at long distances and the lighting are great. On XBO-X, The Witcher 3 looked impressive as I would crest a hill and look down into a valley littered with houses and trees, but on the XSX the draw distance takes it to the next level thanks to more incidental detail in everything and beautiful lighting – the sunset and sunrise are breathtaking, and the effect in small chalets adds a warmth to the surroundings as if bathed in a deep amber hue. In the bigger city, the effect is even more noticeable with rays coming down through buildings and enriching the pageantry and pomp.  

The character models have all received a bit of an upgrade, though some more than others. Geralt is now more heavily detailed and the supporting cast are all improved, but it doesn’t hide some of the more robotic NPCs who have dialogue. NPC modeling has apparently not gotten much attention, though I’m not sure it would make sense considering how many NPCs there are in a game this big.

Other than that, there’s not much more to say – the mechanics and storytelling seem untouched. If someone bounced off The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt previously, this update won’t pull them in and for fans who’ve exhausted the content available and want a fresh reason to dive back in, this won’t be enough. However, for those already wanting to return to the world of The Witcher or for those who haven’t yet been, this is the perfect time.

The post The Witcher 3: Next-Gen Update appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Finding out how the combat was supposed to work.

LOW The melee combat.

WTF Dolmen is a crystal, by the way.

I wonder how tired every developer is of guys like me sitting down and starting a review of their work by going “Ah yes, I can put a nice little moment here about the first time I played Dark Souls” but the comparisons are inevitable. So, before I get into trouble with my editor, let me tell you about how the new game Dolmen, by Massive Work Studio, made me think back to my first time playing Dark…

Sorry about that.

Dolmen is a third-person action game set on a mysterious planet. The task is to retrieve crystals while fighting off grotesque creatures. The player is required to master melee and ranged attacks, blocking and parries. There are only a limited number of ways to heal, with one source of health also being the source of power for their gun. In typical Souls fashion, health vials can be replenished at specific points in the world, but doing that will respawn all enemies that have been killed.

There’s an elaborate crafting system that allows for creating new weapons and armor. The twist is that each item can be fused with gear collected from dead enemies that imbue it with different stats.

There’s a multiplayer element too, one that I was unable to experiment with due to low player count.

All in all, Dolmen stays pretty close to the formula established within the soulslike genre. The melee, especially, is very much the usual standard attack, hard attack, circling enemies and looking for openings.

Unfortunately, this combat feels undercooked. I struggled to figure out where my attack openings were, and this was not helped by the awkward camera lock-on and the fact that a large number of the enemies will be blocked from sight by the main character, who takes up enough space on screen to obscure them.

The combat is made worse by unpredictability — one enemy will go down in two hits, while an identical foe will shrug off five hits and then drain half my health with a single swipe. If there is a proper pattern to the enemies I fought (beside a glowing symbol above their heads signaling an incoming unblockable attack) then I never figured it out.

The good news is that Dolmen is a sci-fi soulslike, so although there is a whole raft of bladed weapons, there is also an arsenal of very competent guns. Once I had upgraded from a flimsy pistol to a machinegun/shotgun hybrid, combat vastly improved. While ranged options are normally a clumsy afterthought in soulslikes, shooting became Dolmen‘s main event.

After that, I then figured out how to inflict elemental damage, and how to capitalize on it. It was at that point that Dolmen became thoroughly entertaining. Boss fights became games of cat and mouse where I tried to keep my distance and plug them full of shots.

Unfortunately, despite the ranged combat perking the experience up, Dolmen‘s general design feels like it is too indebted to soulslikes and ultimately suffers for it. The melee is not consistent, enemy AI is weak, the exploration is not deep, and the level design is just passable. What Dolmen does well is sci-fi flavored third-person shooting with a good level of challenge that isn’t a cakewalk.

I hope the developers get the chance to take a look at what worked in Dolmen and try again… as it stands, it’s too tempting to make comparisons to games like Dark Souls, and those comparisons aren’t favorable.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Massive Work Studio and published by Prime Matter. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. 0 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Blood and Gore and Violence. The official ESRB description reads: This is an action role-playing game in which players search an alien world for samples of a unique crystal. From a third-person perspective, players search various facilities while looking for clues and battling hostile aliens in frenetic combat. Players use swords, axes, and pistols to kill insect-like enemies. Combat is highlighted by gunfire, impact sounds, and blood-splatter effects. Cutscenes occasionally depict characters stabbed through the chest, and some environments depict mutilated/disemboweled alien corpses. Alien limbs can also be seen on the floors of some environments.

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. The game is fully accessible without sound, as I found that no audio cues were needed for successful play.

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

The post Dolmen (Xbox X/S) Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

I’ve spent several hours playing through the Early Access version of The Anacrusis and there is a hint of something that I think people might be able to latch on to.

Anyone who’s played Left 4 Dead will instantly be at home — the concept of The Anacrusis is go through each chapter with three teammates (human or competent AI) while shooting possessed human enemies and fending off special aliens that have the standard ‘spitty’, ‘grabby’ and ‘bullet spongey’ variants. There are also familiar setpiece areas where players will need to activate something and then fend off waves of attackers.

While the concept may be familiar, the swinging ’60s/’70s retro-future look of this four-player co-op, first-person shooter is the thing that stands out. Instead of a gritty, grimy look to everything, the enemies, locale and the guns all have have an upbeat color scheme. It’s a good aesthetic to lean into — all the weapons are laser guns that pop satisfyingly, the hordes of alien-infected enemies are all bright, screaming weirdoes and the environments look like the set of Austin Powers.  

The Anacrusis also attempts something interesting by bringing back the concept of an ‘AI director’ and per-run upgrades. This means that there are no difficulty levels — the game gets gradually harder until a team struggles, and then it gets easier.

There is some promise with the way The Anacrusis tries to address some problems present the genre. For example, when swarms spawn, it’s easy for players to get swamped with low-level enemies surrounding them. The Anacrusis provides a knockback ability instead of traditional melee, and this will push everything in a 360-degree area away from the character and provide ample breathing room.

Another past problem was downtime — when a player was taken out, they would have to wait for the survivors to reach a preset point in order to be returned to the game. The Anacrusis allows for the rest of the team to respawn downed teammates at-will anywhere in the level, with the cost being the risk of also spawning a horde.

While what I’ve summarized here is full of promise, The Anacrusis is still an early access title. There are performance issues that still need ironing out and the connectivity isn’t always stellar. Also, some sort of progress or pacing needs to come into play. Shooting aliens alongside GameCritics contributor CJ Salcedo, we played an hour of the first chapter only to end our run with no reward, nor any checkpoint for us to return to later. His verdict was that it was ‘fun’ but there was little enthusiasm to return and start again. The idea of the game being infinitely replayable did not seem realistic with the current implementation of lengthy run times and no persistent progress.

The Anacrusis seems to be on the right path towards creating its own identity, and it’s now on Game Pass — it makes a lot of sense for players interested in the genre to try it out. However, only time will tell if this co-op horde shooter will be able to make its mark.

The post Preview: The Anacrusis appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

2020 was much easier to break down in terms of games that were my favorite to play, and the number one was such a standout. 2021 was a very different year. While a lot of players complained about a lack of meaningful triple-A titles early on, I found myself overwhelmed by exceptional smaller games — I really struggled to pick which I liked the most.

But, before I get to that, the supplementary awards.

The ‘Please stop releasing your games in December it is killing me’ 2020 awards go to:

• Monster Train
• Haven
• PHOGS!
• Unto The End

The ‘You are genuinely brilliant, but those release window bugs made it hard to get into at first’ awards go to:

• Hell Let Loose
• Splitgate
• Necromunda: Hired Gun

The ‘Games I am still playing, but maybe for not much longer’ awards go to:

• Gears 5
• Halo 5
• Rogue Company

The ‘It’s okay’ lifetime award for outstanding writing excellence goes to:

• Gears of War 3

MY TOP TEN FAVORITES OF 2021

10> The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes – PC, PS4/5, XBO/S/X Review

Consistently the Dark Pictures entries end up on my top ten lists, usually because the best social games will always be my most treasured memories. Sitting in the same room as others and laughing/shrieking our way through a horror plot is always immensely fun. This year’s entry is probably my favorite out of the three available (the others being Man of Medan and Little Hope). I think it’s because this game is the best in reconciling what they would like the players to be, versus what players actually want to be in the game. Previously, developers Supermassive Games have attempted to place the players in the role of ‘Director’ and have the people that the player controls be analogous to actors that are killed off when appropriate, or to satisfy a curiosity in how the story might play out differently. In contrast, most people I’ve seen want to be the actual characters. When positioned as directors, it meant that players often had a lot more information than the characters, which routinely led to players making sure everyone got out alive. House of Ashes hides more of its tricks, and a first playthrough with friends feels like one is in the same shoes as the characters on screen. This saves the ‘director’ playthrough for a second time round.

9> Lake – PC, XBO Review

I frequently refer to games as being perfect for ‘Hangover Sundays’. I’m pretty sure that if people searched those words out in my reviews, they’d realize I was a total hack — I’ve fallen back on the phrase whenever I want a shortcut explaining the atmosphere of a game that is easily digested and mechanically unthreatening. I didn’t use that term for Lake because I am desperately trying to get out of that habit, and also because it harkens back to a specific type of TV show found in the ’80s and ’90s. This was a time when I didn’t have as much knowledge on what a hangover even was, so instead of leaning on that crutch I will describe Lake as a game that reminded me of how much I enjoyed empty time. Sitting down and watching a show about absolutely nothing was a joy, and it was a joy that I rarely have as I get older. Sitting down and delivering letters in Lake, and the only point being that the letters are delivered felt really good.

8> Operation Tango – PS4/5, XBO/X/S, PC Preview

Operation Tango is brilliant game of communication where two players are tasked with explaining what they see on their screen and then figuring out what will be useful to the other player. This communication is what will get you through the game, but it doesn’t generate the best moments. To explain what makes Operation Tango brilliant, I need to tell a story of playing the final level in the game with my partner.

We had arrived in a neon-lit area. There were a series of buildings and stalls with milling pedestrians and drones flying overhead. We were tasked with finding and dismantling a bomb. As she sent me information, I quickly scanned nodes that led us closer and closer to our destination. However, an enemy agent was turned loose, and the drones above started attacking me.

“I can’t figure out how they’re seeing me.” I complained. “There doesn’t seem to be a clear rule for how to avoid them.”

As she was in the same room with me in real life, she nodded, and we carried on trying to beat the level.

About 30 minutes into trying to figure out the patrol patterns, the agent saw me through a wall and captured me. Frustrated, I had to put my controller down.

“I just don’t get it, this is ridiculous.” I said.

“Maybe you should stay out of the circles around them.” She casually suggested.

I turned to look at her. “What circles?” I asked incredulously.

“The ones that are around them on my screen. The Agent has a large circle, and the drones have smaller ones.” She said offhandedly. “Perhaps if you stay out of those you won’t get caught?”

Of course, my difficulty lay in the fact that she could see the circles (and omitted this information) while I had no idea the circles existed.

Our relationship survived this.

7> Griftlands – PC, XBO, PS4/5, XBX/S, Switch Review

Griftlands came out of early access this year, and it’s one of the finest roguelite deckbuilders out there. It offers three intertwining stories that are compelling with well-thought-out and meaningful choices to be made along the way. The deckbuilding is also excellent, it just gets too caught up in using its own terminology that is going to be daunting for new players to learn. That said, getting over that hump is worth it because everything here is very rewarding.

6> The Eternal Cylinder – PC, PS4/5, XBO/X/S Review

The opening of the game, before the title screen appears, has a narrator talking about ignoring the one and focusing on the many. His voice has a beautiful vibrancy that immediately had me thinking about Lemon Jelly’s ‘His Majesty King Raam’. Man, what a great narrator. His voice is audio equivalent of being tucked into a comfy bed with heavy blankets. Anyway, the game is an excellent 3D platformer with evolution mechanics and survival elements backed up by an utterly stunning world. Read Ali’s review for more details.

5> Psychonauts 2 – PC, PS4/5, XBO/X/S

I met Psychonauts 2 with trepidation. I have nothing but fond memories of playing the original while sitting in a rented room with a bunch of drunk co-workers as we whiled away a weekend in Montreal drinking 40oz Molson Dry. It felt like special game and a special moment that could not be replicated, because to replicate that feeling would require time travel as well as for me to regress in age. Sixteen years later, Psychonauts 2 arrived. The visual style remains intact and distinct, the worlds are bigger in terms of vision, and the storytelling — oh, the storytelling. Psychonauts was a game that took childlike glee at bizarre events with a little tragedy tucked away, whereas Psychonauts 2 takes those bizarre events and spins a story about loss, reconciliation, forgiveness while never losing its ability to find joy in glorious visuals. I cared about these people in the mid 2000s and, somehow, I cared about them even more in 2021. It’s wild to me that after all that time this IP has grown and matured with me — and maybe matured even more than me?

4> It Takes Two – PC, PS4/5, XBO/X/S Review

No other game has seamlessly introduced new mechanics that drastically change up how a game is played every 40 minutes. Any other game that has tried this always has one weak link — one section that is ill-functioning or badly laid out. It Takes Two doesn’t have anything close to that, and is a boundless delight because of it. It’s a sublime platforming experience with some of the most well-planned co-operative puzzles I’ve seen. The game also goes to great lengths to make play accessible to everyone, checkpoints are regular, and death is not a big deal. However, it still feels meaningful to beat challenges. Even with a terrible story that ends with an unearned conclusion, the uncomfortable Dr. Hakim, and the fact that the publishers are trying to get into NFTs, It Takes Two is still a 10/10 game. I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.

3> Islanders – Switch, PC, PS4/5, XBO/X/S

There are people that don’t rate Islanders, and some of these people are my friends. It sucks to have friends that are wrong. Islanders is an ultra-simplistic city builder where the objective is to place enough buildings on an Island so that they generate enough points to go to the next island. The thing is, some buildings get negative points based on what they’re placed next to, so the player is constantly trying to optimize their setup. What becomes startling is how cities, construction yards, and farms bloom on each island, and I was constantly taking screenshots of these seemingly organic sprawls. The numbers encouraged me subconsciously to make gorgeous islands. My good friends, the ones that weren’t incredibly wrong about Islanders, sent me pictures of their islands and I appreciated them the way a person might gush over a picture of a friend’s pet, or child. Islanders is a quiet, gentle game that anyone with six dollars simply must buy.

2> The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa Switch, PC, XBO/X/S

Ringo Ishikawa is a troubled teen game. There is a grittiness and empty futility to it that I have seldom seen in this format. The dialogue is blunt, heartbreaking, angry, and listless. These are characters that don’t really know how to talk to each other, and they aren’t going to learn and grow in the way that one hopes that they could. Violence in this game is common and acts as a levelling system in an imitation of River City Ransom, but where other games have resorted to a killer soundtrack and reverence for the original, Ringo Ishikawa has a great soundtrack that reframes the senseless punching as a dead end for all those involved. This is a great game and I look forward to playing everything that the developer works on next.

1> Gnosia Switch, PS Vita Review

I generally do not like visual novels, and I said as much in the review. What Gnosia does so well is that it adds a more easily defined ‘game’ part to the formula, which also acts as an amazing replication of the paranoia in movies like The Thing. In fact, I called it a single player Among Us, but it appears to predate that. The writing is simplistic (it has to be) in the moments where you interrogate the rest of the crew, but it’s incredibly evocative of each member’s personality. The moments where you know exactly who the Gnosian is, but you push your limits and everyone turns on you instead is brilliantly done. The story outside the interrogations gives each character time to breathe with humor, sadness, and warmth. This is an essential purchase for anyone with a Switch.

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HIGH Wandering around the video store.

LOW Some distracting pop-up.

WTF I beat that high score the first time, why am I being patronized?

It’s no secret that I will happily sit and watch some of the sloppiest mid-’90s dramas. There’s a part of me that loves low-stakes, emotional conflict that plays out with soundtracks from bands like Dido and Our Lady Peace. This stuff just taps directly into my brain and makes me happy.

Enter Gamious’s new title Lake. It’s a project steeped so deeply in this ’90s drama aesthetic that I would have sworn it was written by Kevin Williamson (of Dawson’s Creek fame) himself, and not the Netherlands-based team that it comes from.

The story is about Meredith, a computer programmer in 1986 who returns to her hometown of Providence Oaks after a 22-year absence. For reasons that feel perfectly in line with the setup, Meredith decides to help the local postal service for two weeks because her father has just retired and left a gap in their workforce.  Along the way she meets many of the town’s residents, catches up with old friends and navigates potential romances.

Lake is played in third-person in a small open-world, and the player controls Meredith with the aim of delivering several letters and packages each day. With the freedom to roam anywhere, it’s possible to decide whatorder to deliver them, and there is no discernible time limit. The focus here is on relaxing drives in a mail truck, listening to twee Sheryl Crow-esque tunes on the radio, and exchanging niceties with the locals.

All dialogue involves choices that shape the narrative. For example, Meredith can choose to aid the video store owner with some errands, compete in a photography competition, or she can ignore all of it and stick to her route. Regardless of what is chosen, all of these directions feature a refreshing lack of high drama. Even when presented with a ‘serious’ choice between ratting out a co-worker or staying quiet, the outcome either way is pleasantly and reassuringly mild.

I do want to call out that the atmosphere in Lake is that of rain-soaked Oregon. In the hands of another team, the lighting and setting would have led to sinister goings on, a mysterious murder, or encounters with the paranormal. Instead, we are refreshingly met with situations like a sick cat that’s eaten too many cupcakes or a teenager that just wants to be listened to and encouraged.

With everything geared towards being non-threatening, Lake ends up being exactly like the specific type ’90s drama that was extremely popular with teens during that period. The time I spent in this world was rich and rewarding, and it only falls down in the multiple endings and potential romantic connections — I steered towards the most unlikely outcome, which was to turn down all romantic advances and choose to leave Providence Oaks. Some of the characters’ reaction to this decision was so mild that it was hard to believe that they were in love with my character in the first place.

Lake is a comforting game that lives and dies based on how well a player will connect with its very specific setting and vibe. It worked for me, and I hope it works for many others.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Gamious and published by Whitethorn Digital. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 7 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 Suggestive Themes, Use Of Drugs And Alcohol, and Strong Language. The age rating is completely baffling to me. At worst, some marijuana is smoked and people gamble, with no major consequences to these acts. Nothing else in this game suggests that teens and up could not play this game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and/or resized. The game is fully playable without sound.

Remappable Controls: Certain functions are remappable. The camera can be inverted on both the X and Y axis.

The post Lake Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The fusion of two strategy types is a joy.

LOW A 97% chance to hit means nothing.

WTF Goblins of the world unite.

Fort Triumph is such a simple proposition that I’m surprised that I haven’t played a game like it before. The concept is to fuse two great turn-based strategy titles together — XCOM and Heroes of Might and Magic — and then to print money with the resulting product. Thankfully, Fort Triumph does not disappoint.

A colorful turn-based strategy set in a fantasy world, Fort Triumph’s campaign follows four heroes — an archer, a magic wielder, a paladin, and a barbarian — as they uncover unrest and intrigue that lead them to preventing an undead uprising. The story is built around levity, and the humor works as the heroes bicker their way through each of three chapters.

Gameplay is split between two modes.

The first is an isometric map in which heroes travel around the overworld collecting resources, upgrading their bases, and managing their teams. The second is when the player encounters a fight or story mode, things switch to an isometric, tactical, turn-based scenario.

In these skirmishes, the units follow the basic rules of XCOM — there are action points used for abilities and movement, there are percentage odds on hitting a given target, and the ever-prevalent ‘overwatch’ system where vigilant characters lock down an area and fire at enemies who move is also here.

The character archetypes all have unique traits, and the player is required to play to their strengths to get the most out of them. The archer and magic wielder are soft, long-range damage dealers, the barbarian is a close-range fighter with debilitating after-effects, and the Paladin is a tank/healer hybrid.

As the campaign progresses, characters will level up and develop new skills. There permadeath element to consider (that can be turned off for the light-hearted), so any character that dies in an encounter may be removed permanently.

The melding of the genres works really well from the start, but Fort Triumph does not rest on those laurels. Introduced in combat are abilities that allow for destroying cover, pushing enemies back, and fire propagation. Used properly, these will give any player a win against superior odds.

For example, the Paladin has a kick ability that can push small rocks, and even knock walls over. If any of these things collide with an enemy, they will become stunned and unable to attack in the next round. The light bulb moment for me was when I realized that I could kick enemies into other enemies, and cause chain effects to all of them. I had a second light bulb moment when I realized that I could then do this with the goal of sending enemies through overwatch zones and stack damage.

These systems encourage the player to be more aggressive, to take risks and use the overwatch (usually a more defensive tactis) in more dynamic ways. When things come together, it turns every battle into a puzzle where enemies can be lined up like billiard balls that the player can chain with one good attack.

Fire propagation is equally devious, even though one of the tool tips encourages against it. Setting fire to edifices and trees will cause them to take damage and then ‘explode’ in flames, which then spread to surrounding items. It’s possible to set almost anything on fire, and due to some basic physics, destroying enough walls will bring a house down to do damage to anyone using it for protection. In most games of this ilk, a good piece of cover means safety. In Fort Triumph, cover is a liability.

Alongside the campaign, there’s a skirmish/multi mode that can be played with bots, competitively (or cooperatively) in hotseat mode with friends. This skirmish mode also allows for picking different factions (goblins, undead, humans) that come with their own strengths and weaknesses. The world maps are procedurally generated, so there’s a decent variety between games.

Before heartily endorsing Fort Triumph, I will warn buyers that if they’re allergic to the ‘My 95% shot missed, but the AI keeps hitting on 20% chance shots’ staple of the genre, this is not solved here. it’s something that fans of turn-based strategy titles have grown to deal with, but I doubt anyone has grown fond of it. That irritation aside, Fort Triumph is an amazing title that brings a fresh perspective to both of genres it blends, and I can’t wait to see what the developers do next.

Disclosures: This game is developed by CookieByte Entertainment and published by All in! Games. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S/, PS4, Switch, PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. 2 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Violence and Blood. The game does have minor blood splatters and characters can face permadeath, which might be distressing for a younger audience.

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. (See examples above.) The game does not require audio cues to play. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This game does not offer a controller map diagram, Left Stick is used for moving the cursor, A button confirms, B button cancels, RB and LB moves through skill menus, LT and RT switches between characters and options, the Right Stick has camera controls.

The post Fort Triumph Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The survival systems are fantastic.

LOW Whenever the story mode decides to tell a story.

WTF “Green Hell” as a title.

With an oversaturation of survival games available, new titles need something fresh to sell an audience. For better and for worse, Green Hell has some distinct hooks to offer in terms of setting and item management. Unfortunately, it also has serious issues when it comes to presentation.

At its heart Green Hell is a first-person survival game set in the Amazon jungle with two modes – survival and story. In both, the player will have to manage hunger, thirst, and tiredness, which can be done by scavenging and hunting for food, finding sources of clean water and building shelters.

To monitor these conditions, the player has a watch which doubles as a compass. A notepad is utilized as the player makes more discoveries and levels up their abilities. Finally, a backpack is provided to store building materials, tools, food, and other paraphernalia.

Green Hell does a great job alternating between challenge (for example, requiring the player to build a save point) and rewarding familiarity (properties of crafting and food types are consistent in every playthrough). This makes the evolution from ‘barely surviving’ to ‘hardened bow wielder capable of precise head shots’ feel earned. 

I was impressed by the developers’ commitment to keeping everything as diegetic as possible, meaning there’s almost no content that is not rooted in the world itself, rather than in menus. If I got leeches, I had to look down at my body and pick them off. The notepad does not pause the action, forcing me to flick through pages to the correct entry. If I wanted to light a fire, I had to take my backpack off and go to the right pouch. All of this is mechanically clumsy, but helped root me in the environment with an impressive level of immersion free of menus. 

The setting is also impressive — ranging from lush jungles to threatening marshlands, every area is beautifully rendered and brought to life with fantastic sound design. The first time night fell and the wildlife echoed through the trees was a memorable moment. Similarly, the crisp sound of rain falling through the canopy reminded me of rain-battered forests I’ve seen in real life.

Unfortunately, while the environment is great, the story mode brings baggage that weakens the experience with what I can only see as racist content.

Sharing clumsy parallels with the fictional films like Green Inferno and Cannibal Holocaust, Green Hell’s story mode casts the player as Jake Higgins, a man who makes contact with an indigenous tribe known as the Yabahuaca. The script indulges in all the worst tropes.

For example, he and his partner Mia describe the tribe as resorting to “barbaric” inoculation to describe the process the tribe uses to make themselves immune to a local poisonous frog, and they frequently discuss how easy it will be to ingratiate themselves with these “simple people.” It struck me as strange for two scientists (Mia is a linguist and Jake is an anthropologist) to be so dismissive and incurious about the people they are supposed to be engaged with.

There are multiple endings to Green Hell and the ‘bad’ ending has the tribesmen stand around Jake accusingly as he realizes that the disaster happening (not spoiled here) is all his fault — a common theme in typical ‘white savior’ storylines. The Yabahuaca are relegated to being the backdrop of this white man’s struggle, and little is done to humanize them. This use of the Yabahuaca as little more than props is bad enough, but the only in-game interactions the player can have with any indigenous people is in regards to a nameless tribe that the player can kill (and possibly eat), again failing to see their presence as anything more than ‘things to be dealt with’.

The handling of the tribes in Green Hell is a shame because it’s one of the most mechanically compelling and balanced survival titles I’ve touched in years — it’s well-realized experience that offers a sincere commitment to placing the player into a harsh environment. But given the script in story mode? Stick to survival mode instead.

Disclosures: This game is developed and published Creepy Jar. It is currently available on XBO, PS4, Switch and PC. This copy was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. 15 hours were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood, Language, Use of Drugs, Violence, and Users Interact. This game involves eating snails and larva, and killing harmless animals like the capybara. At points the player will have to treat graphic injuries ranging from rashes to deep lacerations. It is possible to kill people and then harvest them for food. There are also drugs in the form of drinking Ayahuasca, a powerful hallucinogen.

Colorblind Modes:There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles, which cannot be altered and/or resized. The game would be very difficult to play without sound as there are a plethora of audio cues for threats, prey, etc. that are not indicated visually, making it not accessible.

Remappable Controls: Certain functions are remappable. The X and Y axis can be inverted and there are 4 control scheme presets that can be used.

The post Green Hell Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

In the middle of the repetitive, largely incoherent story of People Can Fly’s Outriders, there is a moment that stood out to me.

The main character, a superhuman infused with alien goo, finds one (of many) sidequests littered around the disconnected hubs — a man is down on his luck and owes a local gambler money. The main character agrees to help and goes to see the gambler. It’s clear that the gambler is underhanded and the odds are stacked against the player, but they still agree to compete in Russian Roulette to clear the debt.

The gambler spins the barrel of the gun, puts it to his head, pulls the trigger and it gives an empty ‘click’. The main character takes the gun, pulls the trigger and… it fires, causing the character to slump forward, dead. Before the gambler can celebrate, the alien goo that empowers the character brings them back to life and they hand the gambler back the gun.

“Your turn.”

The character reasons that if this is a fair game, there is only one bullet, and it’s just been used, but the gambler hesitates.

“Pull the trigger, or I will.”

The gambler pulls the trigger and kills himself.

As the audience, we are supposed to look at this as the gambler getting what he deserved, but for me, this was the only time that the narrative properly married with the way Outriders is played — a moment of ludonarrative lucidity, if you will.

Every scenario in Outriders has up to three of these super characters walking into a series of areas filled with chest-high walls before taking on large numbers of enemies, and each of them has a litany of abilities that allow them to walk through a hail of fire unscathed. It becomes clear early on that the walls are meant as cover for the enemies, not the player, because the player is essentially a death-dealing force of nature.

One ability erects a mobile barrier that absorbs bullets and then reflects them back. Another will tag an enemy and then, once killed, turn them into a bomb that obliterates those around them. On top of that, each time these skills are used, they heal the wielder. In many instances I would have my character launch into the air, come crashing down on a mob, turn on a pulse ability that drained life from everyone around me, and then absorb their bullets as they desperately fired. The reality is that every bullet made me stronger while turning deadly to them. Through action, they were accelerating their own demise.

Outriders is not the first looter-shooter where the player is gifted with superpowers, and it’s certainly not the first game to treat the majority of enemies as canon fodder. However, the way in which the character’s devastating abilities are presented as the ‘fun’ button — to be pressed every 5-10 seconds — removes it from its peers. Sites like Reddit have referred to Outriders as a power fantasy, and I think that if you look at it from that angle then, sure, that works. However, that viewpoint ignores the antipathy almost everyone in the game’s world has for the main character as their power comes at the loss of their humanity.

Whenever the character shows up in a new area, almost everyone they encounter is immediately hostile to them, or at least disgruntled by their presence. This is repeated thematically over and over again — the character is met with suspicion, with people only interested in them as long as there’s something that these powers can offer them. The main character is not a person to them, but a weapon to be pointed at enemies. In this context, the player character is Godzilla climbing up on the shores of Tokyo, and the enemies are specks desperately, ineffectually trying to turn back its tide of violence.

The closest game I can think of that approximates the player’s role in Outriders is Carrion (the recent ‘reverse horror’ featuring a carnivorous tentacle blob) but that at least manages to evoke sympathy for an inhuman monster as it has been rudely awakened and only wants to escape from its human captors. Every time the main character in Outriders goes to a new location, the player cuts a bloody swathe through it — the main character’s presence is an unsympathetic menace that recalls the violent entrance of Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope.

With television and film currently brimming with ‘what if a superhero was bad?’ concepts (The Boys, Invincible, Brightburn, the Snyderverse in general) it seems inevitable that games will do the same. Whether intentionally or not, Outriders has laid the foundation for this by not being a power fantasy in the conventional sense, but by instead positioning the player’s character as a thing that happens to enemies and there is very little they can do about it.

The game delights in this gruesome inevitability, and in a macabre way, so do I.

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