Developer Mundfish wears its inspirations on its sleeves here, and at least at surface level Atomic Heart is equal parts Bioshock: Infinite and Fallout 4. The opening hammers this home particularly strongly in a protracted cutscene where your American-accented Russian agent Sergey Nechayev, or P-3, enjoys a leisurely boat ride along the canals of Chelomey, a Columbia-esque city in the sky. It’s all so twee that you just know everyone you see will eventually end up skull-humped by the scores of robots walking among them. It’s hardly subtle, and the atmosphere is undeniably familiar.

Chelomey is one of many floating cities designed by Russian visionary, Doctor Sechenov. In this reality, Russia won World War 2 when Sechenov developed the Polymer, a kind of all-purpose, might-as-well-be-magic technology used for pretty much any plot inconvenience you stumble across. Polymer leapfrogged humanity forward several decades in terms of technology, so Atomic Heart also has the 1950s retro-futurism made famous by Bioshock. Your character is a soldier whose life was saved by Sechenov, and who now wears a special Polymer glove, fitted with an advanced AI named Charles.

Why you’ve come to Chelomey and where you’re going isn’t immediately made clear. If Atomic Heart spent as much time telling its story as gazing lovingly into its own reflection the opening wouldn’t feel so uncomfortably drawn-out. In just the first half hour we have multiple tracking shots of the city, busy crowds that don’t feature again, various info-dumps, a little light pandering to China, and two interminable elevator rides, just so we can look at all the pretty. We also have P-3 being a dick to the glove for no given reason. You can set his voice actor to Russian if you want to, otherwise you’ll be listening to a cocky, standard-issue US generi-soldier just being generally rude and unpleasant for hours on end. He’s the kind of guy who asks how something works and then shouts “Boring!” half way through the explanation. This happens more than once.

Before long though, things go inevitably tits-up, and P-3 ends up having to fight through an experimental facility overrun by killer robots and plant-headed zombies. The weird thing is, it takes an incredibly long time for Atomic Heart to get anywhere near the balls-out action game the trailers depict it as. For most of the early game you’ve only got a shotgun with limited ammo and an axe. You’re creeping through halls smeared with blood, past bodies wrapped up in electrical cables and high-tensile tentacles. The atmosphere is oppressive, unsettling even, and it hints at a more cerebral game than it turns out to be.

Enemies take a huge amount of punishment, and some of them can insta-kill you if you fail a quick-time event. Most are expressionless robots who quite simply run at you, punching, dropkicking, and grabbing at you. They will flash red when you need to dodge or you’ll get knocked on your ass, and without a lock on, it’s hard to even keep an eye on the spritely little fuckers. P-3 is no ballerina, and movement feels sluggish and unresponsive. It’s less of an issue later when you finally start to build an arsenal and unlock upgrades, but it takes a long time to get there.

The upgrades themselves are unlocked via a weird system. You’ll pick up a power known as SHOK via the story, which is installed in Charles and lets you stun robots, electrocute organics, and start or stop machinery. It’s used in a lot of environmental puzzles and comes in handy in combat. However, the other powers are simply unlocked by spending Polymer at NORA vending machines. There’s no penalty on what you buy as you can refund everything at no cost, so there are no real stakes involved. And because you don’t earn them, you simply won’t know what’s available. There’s a freeze spray, an ability that coats the enemy in Polymer you can then burn, freeze or shock. There’s a personal shield, and multiple upgrades that increase health, or add i-frames to your dodges. But it doesn’t feel organic or part of the story; it all feels like additional stuff. Which is mad, because without the upgrades Atomic Heart is simply too hard.

Weapons are similarly dolled out as long as you have the materials and blueprints. There’s an inventory system that lets you carry a certain amount of everything and hoard the rest in the vending machine but, well, the vending machine itself is slightly off-putting. It is, for want of a better term, as horny as fuck. The NORA AI has gone nuts – it’s the vending machine that has been killing everyone and wrapping them in tentacles. But not you. You, it likes. Really, really likes. At various points you’ll be invited to “stick whatever you like in me, sugar.” And that’s a tame example. It’s not necessarily the writing or voice acting that bothers me either – it’s knowing that someone, somewhere, is going to draw vending machine “fan art” and get off on it.

Atomic Heart is one of the strangest games I’ve played in some time. Sometimes you’ll need to swim through viscous Polymer to get to hard-to-reach areas, or converse with the malfunctioning neuro-polymer in dead bodies for their “advice”. At one point you can find someone who has been murdered by a chicken. Any time it feels like things have gone a bit quiet, more weird shit happens. And if you haven’t lost count of the number of different lockpick minigames by the halfway point, you’re operating on a higher level than I am.

Still, though, there’s a very good shooter in here, as well as a really atmospheric horror in places, and an intriguing RPG that combines elemental powers like Bioshock’s Plasmids. But it’s all kind of stuffed in without much real care, and then painted over with perhaps too much care. It looks stunning in places, utterly beautiful, but it’s almost entirely skin deep. Once you start really digging into it, the lack of elegance becomes more apparent.

Holding RB, for example, hoovers out drawers, boxes, bins, and bodies, filling your inventory with materials, ammo, and health refills. But while it looks quite cool the first time, you end up ransacking entire rooms with no real idea what you picked up unless you read the list on the HUD as you do it. You can climb on yellow-daubed pipes and ledges, but can’t drop down without looking to where you want to go, even if that’s just the ledge beneath you. It also allows you to unlock things without explaining them, such as elemental cartridges for your weapons which I couldn’t work out for hours. By a certain point you’ll be so heavily armed and upgraded that you can make shrapnel out of anything that dares insult your hipster ponytail, but you have to wade through a lot to get there.

And yet, despite these shortcomings, there is some definite appeal to Atomic Heart. The story is intriguing, the environments are inspired but still interesting, and it looks amazing at times. Once you emerge from the first area you enter a semi-open world with optional “dungeons” called Test Facilities that hide tons of loot and upgrade blueprints. There are secrets to find and buildings to scavenge for supplies as you make your way to the next story section. You’ll drive vehicles, help NPCs, fight optional minibosses and learn more about the world from P-3’s conversations with Charles.

That being said, Atomic Hearts is not always an easy game to play through given the current global climate. This is a fictionalised version of an alternate history Russia that, by many accounts, suggests a Utopia as the game opens, and the timing couldn’t be more inappropriate. There will be those who can’t ignore the implications of such a storyline, even if all the characters do feel like Americans with Russian names, and such a stance is completely understandable.

But equally, the story may not have worked quite as well in any other setting. Never mind that P-3 uses modern-day millennial slang, or that there’s a disproportionate number of really potentially cool fights that are resolved in cutscenes, because there’s also a foul-mouthed OAP in a flying house who has a little pet cottage that walks on chicken legs (yes, she’s a Baba Yaga reference). Atomic Heart embraces lunacy, overblown sexuality, and good old fashioned violence at every turn. It’s no surprise that the result is a game that feels simultaneously polished and painfully unrefined.

The post Atomic Heart review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Three “Arks” designed to preserve humanity were effectively stolen by the scientists who created them, leaving humanity and planet Earth in a hell of a mess. You play as Kathy Johansen, daughter of one of the defecting scientists. A young Astronaut and expert in the field of STREAME technology, Kathy is selected to go on a search and rescue expedition to find one of the Arks after its distress call is picked up. However, disaster strikes the mission, leaving Kathy and her team scattered across the surface of Mars.

What follows is roughly five or six hours of slow-paced exploration, puzzle-solving, and exposition, as you seek not only signs of life on Mars, but also anything that might reveal your father’s fate. As with Deliver us the Moon, Deliver Us Mars moves at a glacially slow pace. There are spikes of sudden activity, such as the sequence of events that lead to Kathy being stranded on the red planet.

There’s no combat in Deliver Us Mars, though Kathy can be killed by falling too far or other environmental hazards. She’s equipped with a cutting tool on her wrist, and a pair of climbing axes that she pulls out whenever she needs to climb. This is Mars’ primary new mechanic, and while it’s a little over-used in the middle section of the game, it at least adds a little tension. The animation is incredibly stiff and robotic when Kathy climbs though, something I repeatedly found distracting.

When you’re not climbing, you’ll sometimes spend need to get through zero gravity environments that feel just like you’re flying. They’re mechanically no different to the times when you control Kathy’s little service droid, ACE, who can navigate through ventilation systems or open certain locked doors. There are puzzles, too, which come primarily in two forms.

First there are decryption puzzles, awkward ciphers that require you to position ACE in certain place while moving up and down or side to side to slot three glowing blocks into the correct slots. Each one feels weird and unintuitive to solve, and the other puzzles are more enjoyable. These usually require you to direct energy beams (or STREAMEs) to receivers, often using beam splitters and magnifiers as they increase in complexity.

Being a story-rich game, Deliver Us Mars features a lot of talking and cutscenes. Thankfully, the performances are solid all round. Kathy feels believable – she’s not some Mary Sue instant hero. Rather, she acts young, excitable, but shows how capable she is when the chips are down. The way she interacts with the other characters is a credit to the narrative team at Keoken Interactive, and the story alone was enough to keep me playing.

Which is kind of the point here anyway. Deliver Us Mars isn’t intended to be some pulse-pounding adventure. There’s a slightly overlong section where you go through a shuttle’s launch sequence point-by-point, and a series of childhood flashbacks derail the pace entirely to divulge more backstory between Kathy, her father, and her sister Claire.

Visually, Deliver Us Mars isn’t great. Mars is, well, Mars, a wind-swept desert with nothing much to impress you. Elsewhere, you’re mostly looking at spacecraft interiors or rocky mines. Character models are hit and miss, and some of the animations, such as climbing, look stiff and unnatural. It also suffers from a fair amount of pop-in or missing textures, which can adversely affect the immersion of something so reliant on storytelling. I also experienced a few bugs such as ACE glitching through walls, and contextual commands failing to appear, necessitating a re-load.

All in all, Deliver Us Mars does a lot of what its predecessor did. The added climbing mechanic is used heavily for a few small portions of the game, and otherwise it’s mostly business as usual. You need to go into it knowing it’s a slow-burn adventure, with little real excitement for the entire duration. It’s heavily focused on story and exploration, both of which it does fairly well. It’s no thrill-a-minute blockbuster, but fans of the first game will find a lot to like here.

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How could this infamous 4th wall-breaking anti-hero possibly fit comfortably into the story I’d curated, the dynamic I’d cultivated with my spandex-wearing buddies? It was doomed to failure for certain, I thought.

I should have known that as track records go, Deadpool’s is pretty solid. I enjoyed the solo game from a decade back, and I’ve loved seeing Ryan Reynolds portray the Merc with a Mouth on-screen, so really I should have just shut up and had faith. This first expansion, The Good, the Bad and the Undead introduces Wade Wilson to this particular universe with a very colouful bang.

For a start, Midnight Suns brings back the inimitable Nolan North, who voiced Deapool in the solo game and brings the same hyperactive swagger to the character as he did then. Which is not to say this is quite the same version. Midnight Suns’ Deadpool is more of a PEGI 12 edition, with far fewer swears and a little more self-awareness. And yet, he’s still hilarious, riffing with characters like Blade, Wolverine and the Hunter almost nonstop.

He also brings a great deal to the combat missions, with high-damage attacks and novelty animations like taking a selfie as a grenade detonates, or creating a rainbow out of thin air in a nod to Deadpool’s often surprising championing of inclusivity. Every enemy you kill gives Deadpool one point of En Fuego, which is essentially a damage buff, so by the time you’ve played a few of his cards (most of which have low Heroic costs and even increase En Fuego passively) you’ll be dishing out a hell of a lot smarts.

His campaign takes a surprising path in and out of the ongoing Midnight Suns story, too, introducing a new type of enemy and a new boss character, as well as new challenges and an amusing addition to the Training Yard in the form of a food truck. The new enemies require you to finish them off fast, and you’ll be pushed to pile on the damage as quickly as possible. Unlike Wolverine Deadpool’s cards don’t lean heavily into his healing ability, which is slower than Logan’s even in canon, and so the onus is on ending fights swiftly before you incur heavy losses.

What you get here is, essentially, more Midnight Suns only funnier. The jokes roll thick and fast, with Deadpool repeatedly mentioning your character’s customisation, or joking that he won’t take off his mask because Firaxis don’t have the budget to render his face. But the interactions between him and some of the other characters, notably Blade, are mildly hilarious.

That Firaxis have put so much effort into the first DLC bodes well, as the Expansion Pass is hardly cheap. But in addition to the Midnight Suns Deadpool story missions there’s also a challenge unlockable at max Friendship, and of course you can bring him on any other missions with you. He’s a solid addition to the line up and a positive indication of things to come.

Check out our Marvel’s Midnight Suns Complete Guide

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The PC release last year broke the exclusivity, but no one really minded. The Monster Hunter community has its share of elites, but by and large the fans just want more people to experience these games and the PC port was a great way to do that. Even without the Sunbreak expansion, the PC version of Monster Hunter Rise felt massively superior in terms of performance. A faster framerate, lightning loadtimes, and a much sharper resolution made a big difference.

Now Rise is coming to yet another platform (well, several) with the PS5 and Xbox editions, the former of which is the focus of this review. It looks and feels almost identical to the PC port, with stunning 60fps action and quick loadtimes to get you into the hunt even faster. Sadly, it doesn’t come complete with the Sunbreak expansion (which will follow later) – but it does have all the quality of life improvements that accompanied Sunbreak on the other platforms.

So, for those uninitiated, you play the role of the hero of Kamura, a small village threatened by the Rampage, a frenzied gathering of the local megafauna inesponse to the arrival of some incredibly powerful ancient monsters. It’s your job to go out and research (*annihilate) any monster that poses a threat (**stands around minding its own business) for the safety of Kamura (***a new pair of monster-skin pants).

One of Rise’s major selling points is its verticality. World may have been a vast new adventure, but it mostly took place on a single plane. Rise isn’t afraid to go upwards, sending you to the tops of towering hills and leading you through clifftop forests. A rich collection of environments soon become super easy to navigate thanks to fast-travel points, even as the fights themselves become a little easier as you gain experience and improve your gear.

Monster Hunter Rise, like the rest of the franchise, is a very skill-dependent game. While you will improve your weapons and armour, and can unlock special skills attached to whatever you’re wearing, it’s your own skill and ability to read each monster that will ultimately make you a better Hunter.

There are fourteen weapon archetypes, each with vastly different movesets, and picking the right one for you is a daunting challenge for a newcomer. For its part, Rise does ease you in fairly slowly, asking you to kill a few easy small monsters at first, and introducing you to things like item crafting and silkbind skills as you go.

To aid movement and add special moves to each weapon you’ll learn to utilise Wirebugs, magical critters that allow you to swing from them and bind monsters in their silk. This essentially allows for multiple devastating moves per weapon that often add buffs to you and debuffs to the monster. The Wirebug also allows you to stagger monsters and ride them, using them to attack other monsters in the area for heavy damage and more loot.

While you can choose to hunt alone, most of the time you’ll set out alongside two buddies. Your Palico is a smart feline companion who will fight alongside you and buff you, while your Palamute is a large hound that you can ride around on and will come to your aid in a fight. Both are custom created by the player, and you even name them and outfit them with their own armour and weapons.

Although the entire game is doable as a solo player, it’s often more fun to team up with friends or strangers in the Gathering Hub and take on tougher multiplayer quests. You will have to share the money earned for each hunt, but that’s really the only downside.

One thing the PS5 version in particular brings to Rise is the DualSense 5’s haptic feedback. While it’s not as strong in some games, it does add to the overall experience. You’ll find it most noticable as a Bow, Bowgun, or Gunlance user, as the adaptive triggers react to your ammo situation. But any weapon class benefits, as you feel the rumble of combat or the buzz of a charge attack through your palms.

It’s hard to really criticise this version of Monster Hunter Rise other than to say it’s a shame we have to wait for the Sunbreak expansion. While there are great monsters to hunt in the base game, the endgame portion is vastly inferior to Sunbreak, seeing you head into Rampage missions over and over to combine traditional hunting with tiresome tower defence mechanics. It’s quite a spectacle the first few times, but once it’s all you have to earn the rarer materials and skills, it becomes a little boring.

That said, the Sunbreak content is definitely heading our way soon, and so we can’t complain too much. Monster Hunter Rise on PS5 is still a fantastic experience – especially for newcomers or fans of World who, until now, have been unable to get stuck into Rise. Whether it’s the best Monster Hunter to date is a subject of fierce debate, but either way it’s still a fantastic entry to the series and a solid jumping-off point for new players.

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Arcade Paradise: If you build it, they will come

The whole purpose of Arcade Paradise is to build your arcade into a thriving business. It takes a while until you start to notice the benefit, and that’s because you have to put in the hard work by running the King Wash, a laundromat owned by your dad. It runs day to day, so you’ll have to come in during the morning and do all your jobs to make sure customers keep coming to get their clothes sparkly and clean. You’ll pick up rubbish scattered across the laundromat then throw it in the dumpster outside. Gum can get stuck all over the place, so you’ll need to get rid of it.

All of these tasks play out in little mini-games where a gauge will appear, meaning you’ll have to stop it at its fullest to do the job. The toilet can become blocked from time to time, and certain arcade machines will break thanks to those damn cockroaches. On top of all these menial tasks, you’ll need to throw baskets of laundry into the washer, wait a few minutes, then dump them in the dryer. The general flow of literal rinse and repeat becomes oddly satisfying. You end up doing a lot in your working day, all becoming even more intense when trying to make something of your fledging arcade in the backroom.

Making coin

Initially, you start of with a handful of machines where people waiting on their washing can go and play on. The more money you make from both the arcades and the laundromat can be used to put in the safe. You’ll start to build up your funds to be able to buy more arcade cabinets that can be positioned where you want, often being delivered the next morning. Of course, with new games means new and more customers. From your handheld device, you can adjust the difficulty of the games and how much money you charge to make sure you’re getting a profit.

Eventually you’ll be able to increase the size of your arcade by knocking down walls and filling up other rooms in the laundromat, but this costs money. Balancing the cost of new machines with bigger space isn’t a difficult task, but it does require fundamental business knowledge to get it done. In your down time, you can go and play on the machines yourself, with some being a ton of fun to play. Just make sure you don’t neglect your duties or else your rank for each chore will make you earn less money. It’s tempting to put all your time into playing games like Racer Chaser (think GTA meets Pac Man) and Zombat, so balancing your down time with your chores is an important part of your day.

Arcade Paradise: A gaming empire

There’s a great sense of accomplishment as you start to build your gaming empire. At first, the repetition of maintaining a clean laundromat and doing all the washing might feel a tad laborious, but when you start to see more money roll in, it’s hugely satisfying. Pair that with the effort Nosebleed Interactive has put into every arcade game feeling different (and faithfully nostalgic) to play, and the coolness that oozes from the general aesthetic of Arcade Paradise, it makes the time spent with it feel special. Even your office has that 90s feel to it, with everything from emails to the dial-up connection reminiscent of a time that feels so ancient now.

Arcade Paradise packs a lot in to its management-lite gameplay. Running the laundromat is so satisfying, as is building your arcade with new machines to bring players in. As much fun as I had doing this, I also loved the different games you can play as you go, with more being added the more you play. The repetition can feel like a chore at times, especially when you’re trying to make money, but it isn’t long before you’ve got a lot of money in the safe to be able to add and improve your business. It looks great, and has a banging soundtrack inspired by familiar tracks of the 90s, making living life as a thriving entrepreneur well worth all the hard work.

The post Arcade Paradise review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

I thoroughly enjoyed Landing Force. Starting off on a beach facing the looming mountain where the Axis base is built into, it appears an almost impossible task. Searchlights scan the nearby area, with enemy boats patrolling the waters and various soldiers positioned at important vantage points along the way. Sniper Elite 5 did a fantastic job of allowing players to do exactly what they want in terms of playing safe or going in all guns blazing. The smartest option is to be careful by taking out guards quietly, sniping enemies who are isolated, and trying not to alert a soul.

Sniper Elite 5: Landing Force | Silent but deadly

What helps dramatically are the two new weapons that come with the Sniper Elite 5: Landing Force DLC. The first is the D.L. Carbine, perfect for silent kills at long range. Only nearby enemies can hear gunfire from close range, as the carbine is deathly silent, meaning fellow soldiers have to be in extremely close vicinity of the kill to be alerted. After getting to the part of the island where the gun battery stands, it was so useful near the docks as the enemies are rather close together, so picking them off with the D.L. Carbine was extremely satisfying.

When you finally get into the base, there’re a lot of enemies patrolling every floor. Planting explosives and running isn’t a simple task at all. There’re a lot of floors and rooms that need to be travelled through before you can plant the explosives. The other, louder weapon that has been added is the PPSH submachine gun. While its rate of fire is exceptional, it makes a ton of noise, and unless you upgrade the magazine, you’ll need to pick and choose the moment you decide to unload the clips. You can still go in silently, but mistakes are so costly inside the base. I finally managed to get into the huge room where the gun battery was situated when a guard I didn’t see saw me and alerted everyone else nearby.

So much to see

Once I’d set the explosives, I then had to go back through the base to the entrance, and it took a hell of a lot of time to make sure I survived the fight. It was a thrilling experience, and the mission wasn’t even over as I still had to head to a radio tower and take it down before venturing back to the other side of the island where a lighthouse was situated. Once there, I could alert the Allies to initiate the famous Operation Dragoon. It was an intense journey from start to finish, with tons places to explore for secrets, collectables, weapons, explosives, and ammo.

On my first run, it took me 1 hour 26 minutes to play through, and I still hadn’t seen everything. As mentioned in the review of Sniper Elite 5, it feels a lot like Hitman with replayability being a key reason to go through missions all over again. While there’s nothing much else in the Landing Force DLC, its new mission is a great addition that is both challenging and gorgeous to look at. It all boils down to whether you enjoyed the main game, and if you want the same high-quality of level design, this is definitely for you.

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During a televised game show, a perfectly cut half of a body appears in the middle of the stage. Six years later, the other half of that body is found in an empty sporting arena with no sign of decomposition. Through the eyes of Agent Ryuki in the past and Agent Mizuki in the present, it’s up to you to uncover the mystery of the “Half Body Serial Killings”.

Figuring out how a body could be perfectly sliced (at a molecular level no less) and preserved for exactly six years isn’t a case for your average adventure game gumshoe, but fortunately our protagonists have a trick up their sleeve. Both of them have an AI-Ball to help them, which is an advanced artificial intelligence that lives in your eye.

With the power of your (slightly fan servicey) companion, you’ll be able to use all sorts to do all sorts of handy investigative tricks. These range from X-ray and thermal vision, to pulling up full and explorable virtual models of a crime scene. In true adventure game style you’ll need to piece together how the grizzly murder was committed, and show you understand the situation by recounting the order of events. You’ll spend a lot of your time in AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative searching for clues and making deductions, but sometimes the real world clues aren’t enough.

You see Ryuki and Mizuki are members of ABIS, the Advanced Brain Investigation Squad. These highly trained investigators are trusted with the technology to jump inside the mind of a witness or suspect, to help them find out more about the case. This is easier said than done though, because most minds don’t want to reveal their secrets.

When you enter the mind of a person of interest (or “Synch” with them) you’ll only have six minutes to discover the truth before you’re kicked out. Playing as your AI-Ball companion you’ll soon discover that everything you interact with in this brain world saps a set amount of your time, so you’ll need to choose what to do carefully if you want to find a lead.

Because of this bizarre combination of mechanics, each of these Synch missions functions as a sort of trial and error puzzle (which can admittedly get frustrating if you’re forced to replay them for running out of time). In a scientist’s mind you’re tasked with using DNA splicing to create the ultimate beings that have the genetic ability to overcome obstacles, whereas a teen girl’s brain makes you play an elaborate game of “Pokemon GO” with characters from the game replacing the pocket monsters. Every one of these missions is totally unique, and usually at least slightly baffling.

None of these weird situations would work if not for the incredible characters in AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative. The charming cast are wonderfully voiced (in English) and are a very varied bunch. There’s a quiz show host with a cube shaped head that isn’t explained, a girl who bursts into full three minute long idol songs complete with enthusiastic dancing, and my personal favourite – a fortune teller who uses two crystal orbs to tell the future that she calls her “milky balls”. There’s truly never a dull moment in this game.

Because the game is set in two time periods, you’ll get to know the majority of characters in two different eras (and discover their relationships with two different protagonists). Finding out how your favourite characters have been living their life while you’ve been gone is just a lovely moment, and really makes the timeline flipping worthwhile.

The narrative of the game is truly fascinating, and I just didn’t want it to end. The biggest theme throughout the game is that of Simulation Hypothesis. If you aren’t familiar, this is a theory that the world we all live in is a simulation, which if you believe could obviously change how you behave in everyday life and is pretty heavy stuff. There’s also a very relatable theme of how overworking can lead to burnout and the effects of that, which is probably something more of us should probably think about.

Even this far into the review, there are so many elements of AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative I haven’t mentioned. There’s the Tamagotchi you carry around, that asks multiple choice questions every twenty minutes that grows into a different adult based on your answers. There are high octane quick time event action scenes that feature some pretty full on violence. There’s even a virtual world where you can ask your AI companion for life advice while also (sigh) dressing her up.

AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative is a fantastic game, but it isn’t without faults. You examine objects in the background of stationary rooms you enter, but the descriptions are very lackluster. Clicking on a chair and being told “It’s a chair” just makes the game feel a bit soulless when you’re looking to learn something interesting about the world. Also the game has a few instances of slowdown in certain scenes, it’s not going to ruin the experience for you but it’s noticeable.

AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative is a game unlike anything else I’ve ever played. The story is equal parts engaging and baffling, and the fantastic cast of characters will delight you every step of the way. If you can cope with a little bit of “fan service” and the occasional frustrating Synch mission that needs replaying, you’ll find one of the most fascinating narratives this wonderful medium has ever produced.

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The Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series bundles together the two games that follow the adventures of the weird cat-like creature Klonoa. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was originally released in 1997 on the original PlayStation, and is one of the earliest examples of a 2D platformer using 3D space to add an extra layer of potential hazards and secrets. Its sequel Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil built upon this in 2001 on the more powerful PlayStation 2, and was incredibly well received critically.

Both games are functionally the same though, and feature our furry anthropomorphic hero going on adventure in magical worlds and talking about things like ring spirits and giant bells that must be rung to obtain the elements of the land. Although a bit full of nonsense words for my liking, the story actually has some incredibly emotional moments (especially in the first game). If you’d rather focus on the platforming though the 5x speed button is ready to be pressed.

The platforming in Klonoa could be most easily compared to that of a Kirby game. Klonoa moves at a pretty slow pace, and can grab enemies with his ring and launch them in any direction. Enemies can be used to wipe out other enemies, open eggs containing collectables or even shot downwards to give you a double jump (which when coupled with his flutter jump allows Klonoa to reach all kinds of heights).

Although having enemies or collectables in the background of a stage might seem pretty mild by 2022 standards, when the original Klonoa launched it was anything but. Boss fights taking place on a circular track and requiring you to throw enemies inwards to hit a weak point just wasn’t possible on earlier hardware, and in an era where 3D collectathons were king this gameplay was a real breath of fresh air.

If you like finding shiny shit though don’t worry, there’s plenty of secrets to search for in each stage of Klonoa. As well as gems that function like coins in Mario, there are also six Phatomilians to collect from bubbles hidden around the level. You’ll need to look down every path and use all your platforming prowess to find them, especially in some of the more maze-like levels.

By modern standards the first Klonoa game feels a little bit basic, but the sequel really holds up. Whereas each stage of Door to Phantomile felt functionally the same, Lunatea’s Veil constantly throws new elements at you. There are enemies that give you different powers when you launch them (like a rocket that launches you skywards or a weird cat that makes you fly) and new mechanics in each world. Whether you’re in a hectic chase with a killer robot in a fire world or bouncing around in a carnival of full, Klonoa 2 is always keeping you on your toes.

Among all these engaging levels are the cream of the crop – the hoverboard levels. These stages switch from 2D to 3D, and see you auto-scrolling in a high octane chase on your rad board. They almost feel like an evolution of Donkey Kong’s mine cart levels, and are just as enjoyable as those classics.

In terms of what’s changed in the 21+ years it took for Klonoa to make a comeback, the answer is not a whole lot. The Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is very faithful to the source material, with only a fresh coat of colourful paint separating it from the original games. The graphical improvements are significant though, and the vibrant world of Klonoa never looked so good.

Ultimately it’s hard to say whether you’ll be enthralled by the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series. Both of the games included are enjoyable, but in a world where dazzling and unique indie 2D platformers are released constantly it’s hard to say where this weird walking cat fits in. That said if you’ve got nostalgic memories of Klonoa and his Pac-Man hat, you’ll probably have a lovely trip down memory lane.

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Your protagonist Xiang Zixu (sic) is having one hell of a day. But not only is it a shitter from start to finish, someone has accidentally left it on repeat. Every time Xian is killed, he wakes up again a la Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow and must begin again. Though unlike the Right Honorable Lord Tom, he gets to retain his upgrades when he does.

Because Loopmancer is a rogue-lite Metroidvania, you see, and unlocking upgrades and new abilities is the main drive. Five years ago Xiang was the target of a failed assassination that killed his daughter and left his wife paralysed. And now, as he closes in on the culprits for the first time, he’s stuck in a cycle that only he is aware of.

Standard gameplay is a frantic, impactful mixture of exploration and combat. Neither does anything particularly new or original, but the combination is a satisfying one nonetheless. Xiang has a variety of ranged and melee weapons that you can unlock by spending money gathered from enemies and breakables. As in Dead Cells, unlocking a weapon or special ability will roll it into the random pool at the beginning of each new run.

Xiang’s buddy Dave Ray offers a selection of weapons and abilities whenever you restart. The latter include things like proximity mines, or elemental attacks made possible by Xiang’s cyber enhancements. It’s a system that makes every run feel somewhat fresh, forcing you to approach combat differently each time. Though, let’s be honest, it will never not look like a well-dressed Asian guy is spraying ketchup and grinder sparks all over the place like a pissed-off Catherine wheel.

Each morning when Xiang wakes, you can check his evidence board for leads and information. This will remain updated between runs, just as you’ll retain cores with which to upgrade your various weapons and skills. One particular skill also allows you to keep the eCoins you’ve amassed, which makes things easier. On the whole, the effect is such that even failing a run makes you feel stronger. You’ll always be progressing, which is the mark of a good roguelite.

The Metroidvania element comes into play because abilities stay with you, allowing you to take different routes each run. You’ll also be called upon to decide which lead to chase down or to abandon your mission altogether to save a loved one or colleague. Some of these side missions can also be failed, which can lead to even more divergence. It’s a fantastic narrative system that not only allows the story to unfold organically, but also gives you a reason to keep diving back in.

While some of the cutscenes are incredibly janky and a lot of the voicework is decidedly cheesy, the story is pretty good. The writing, overall, is decent, although the random lines of dialogue your enemies spit out are laughably over-the-top. It’s a waterfall of f-bombs that all layer over one another so that it seems you’re hearing “fuck” roughly every second word. It’s horribly forced and comes across as, well, fucking unnecessary.

But for everything Loopmancer gets slightly wrong, the gameplay swoops in to save the day. It’s challenging and colourful, rewarding exploration and perseverance. It may not have the best script, but there are enough new ideas here to keep you entertained for the entire experience and that’s impressive on its own.

The cyberpunk aesthetic might be a little done-to-death these days, but it’s gorgeous to look at nonetheless. Likewise, the music evokes Deus Ex at every opportunity, but that’s no bad thing. If you’re looking for a new indie Metroidvania to lose hours to, and you like your bosses big and your violence sweary, Loopmancer will be an absolute treat that you’ll keep coming back to over and over.

The post Loopmancer review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

The goal in Naraka will be familiar if you have experience with Battle Royals. You and your squad of three spawn onto a sprawling map, and if you’re the last team standing you win. As time passes a mysterious bubble shrinks engulf the battlefield and deals damage to all standing outside of it, meaning that all the squads eventually end up fighting over a tiny area with their massive swords and bows.

Combat in Naraka: Bladepoint is fast paced and satisfying. Every melee weapon you pick up (or your fists if you’re unlucky at the spawn) has a light and heavy attack, and every character has two types of special attacks with varying cooldowns. Add to that parrying which when timed correctly can cause an enemy to drop their weapon entirely and powerful focus attacks, and every squad on squad encounter becomes very intense.

Each weapon you find feels completely different, with a huge variety of katanas, dual blades and nunchucks to find on the melee front. Ranged weapons come in all shapes and sizes too, from machine gun style crossbows to a massive cannon that does area of effect damage. Everyone will quickly find one that suits their playstyle, then all that’s left to do is hope you find a high rarity version before running into enemies on the map.

Weapons aren’t the only thing worth locating when you arrive in the game. There’s armour, charms that give you buffs, and all sorts of health items and repair powders you’ll need to keep yourself in fighting shape. Exploring the world is made easy because your chosen character can climb pretty much anything, and if that’s too slow for you one of the incredibly helpful grappling hooks will help.

Grappling hooks are great in pretty much every game, and Naraka: Bladepoint is no exception. Using your hook to flee a situation and escape from tree to tree feels amazing, and using them to hook onto an enemy and swing in for a massive attack feels even better.

Choosing the right character for you will be the first step of your Naruka: Bladepoint adventure. Do you want a character that can heal others, one that can escape at speed, or one who can stun enemies and batter them while they’re incapacitated? There are a handful to choose from to start with, and plenty to unlock as you go with all the currency you earn from fighting and various daily quests.

Unfortunately that’s where Naraka all starts to unravel. Despite being a full purchasable product, Naraka: Bladepoint has all the different currencies and hooks of the very worst free-to-play games. There are screens upon screens that try to convince you that it’s a good idea to pay a bit of money to unlock something new or open a chest faster. It’s all a bit tragic.

Navigating the menus to see where your rewards have gone or customise your character with your new fancy outfits is an absolute nightmare. Every menu bombards you with information (and more often than not attempts to tempt you into spending more hard earned dosh) and even after many hours playing the game I still struggled to find basic elements like where to level up my characters.

Alongside these issues, there are also some pretty significant technical issues in Naraka: Bladepoint. I don’t think I’ve played a single game so far that hasn’t suffered from significant lag, and not just a little hiccup here and there. The issue often persisted long enough for me to worry about the game outright crashing, and when you’re in a tense fight there’s no worse feeling than losing in a way that’s out of your control.

Naraka: Bladepoint is an entertaining battle royal with a great theme, but ultimately the monetisation and technical issues make it hard to recommend. If you can get past these problems though (and can navigate the menus better than I ever managed) you’ll find an interesting twist on the genre with fast paced combat waiting for you.

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I’m one of the biggest fans of the original two, especially Sonic 2. Any excuse to replay them, I’ll gladly take. The presentation of Sonic Origins is sharp and colourful, with bold and bright menu screens that separate all four releases and bring them together for a ‘Story Mode,’ fundamentally shoving them all together, with new animated cutscenes spliced in. It does look pretty, but it also doesn’t take long to see there’s not a lot else. In terms of presentation, SEGA has brought these classic 16bit titles into the modern era with ease. It helps that they’re all still fun to play, with timeless platforming that can challenge anything that’s come out in the last few years. It holds up, and if you weren’t even born when they came out, there’s plenty of reasons to dive in now.

If, like me, you’re old and incredibly familiar with them, there’s not a lot different about the actual gameplay. It’s more the option to change to play as Tails and Knuckles in titles that you couldn’t before, or partake in certain challenges to spice things up. By completing these mini challenges successfully, you earn coins to spend in the Museum – an area in the menu where you can unlock music tracks, concept art, and more. There’s a Boss Mode for a more direct route to Dr Robotnik, but when you’ve played these games to death, it doesn’t do much to make it stand out.

Across all four games, you can play them as they were originally released in Classic mode making use of the original ratio, however, Anniversary Mode fills the screen with a 16:9 ratio, bringing the games to life with an added sense of vibrancy, also incorporating the spin while in the air manoeuvre, Drop Dash. Despite these neat little additions, they’re still the old games repackaged into one collection. It all depends what you want from it. If you’re happy to replay them with some improved visual tweaks and added challenges via Mission Mode, then it’s worth doing so.

Sonic Origins offers some additional content on top of the four key games that helped to make the series what it is. Even now, they hold up very well, and jumping back in after some time away doesn’t make playing feel aged at all. For new players who’ve watched the movies and want to know why Sonic is such an integral part of gaming history, you can’t go far wrong from diving in with this collection. It would’ve been nice to see a few more games added into the collection, such as Sonic Adventure or Mean Bean Machine, as it does feel a tad bare bones considering the hefty price. Regardless, revisiting these special games was a pleasure.

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In fact, while Outriders might look fairly generic on the surface, there’s not an awful lot out there doing what it’s doing. Sure you could play Destiny 2, Warframe, or Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands for a similar experience, but Outriders’ focus on loot and gameplay with very few extraneous systems or currencies is oddly unique.

Set on a world where humans have been stranded and warring for 30 years, it sees your cryogenically-frozen Outrider emerge into a hellscape of mutated beasts, space magic where everyone has taken to dressing in leather and animal bones for reasons best known to themselves.

What the original Outriders campaign actually lacked, though, was a proper villain. Sure there are characters who share your special abilities, which mark you and them as “Altered”, but there’s no one to really hate on. No big bad to chase down and smack around with your heroism. With Worldslayer, People Can Fly introduce Ereshkigal, a bizarrely named Altered who hates you and everyone else with fiery passion. Yup, that oughta do it.

Ereshkigal isn’t a great villain as they go, but she’s exactly the kind of villain you would expect in Outriders. Theatrical, overblown, unreasonable and batshit crazy. She’s fun to watch and great to hate, but Worldslayer fumbles her introduction somewhat. You fight your way through a few areas replete with waist-high debris, as is standard, looking for a potential ally, only to find that Ereshkigal has beaten you there. Had this ally been an established character we care about, it might have had some impact; as it is, she spouts some rhetoric at you and throws you through a wall. I wasn’t feeling the desired level of threat, and that’s a shame.

It’s not helped by Outriders: Worldslayer’s’ ridiculous cutscene camera. Yes you can turn on “smoothing” to stop it moving around like a ball bearing in a tumble dryer, but that kind of makes things worse. The camera zooms and cuts and stops abruptly, obscuring the characters or focusing on random sections of floor or wall. These cutscenes were made after People Can Fly heard the complaints against the original, so it’s weird that they’ve done it again. It lessens the impact of every cutscene and conversation.

Thankfully, the focus is on the gameplay. While Worldslayer still doesn’t raise the level cap, it does introduce some new skills to the mix, and adds a few new ways to level up your character. Ascension Points work like Diablo 3’s Paragon system, allowing you to tweak your character’s attributes by tiny increments. A 0.1% increase to reload speed probably doesn’t mean much in the moment, but long terms gains are worth chasing. There are also PAX points, which allow deeper customisation of the class itself and can be respecced at no cost. This means much greater build diversity for all classes, which is essential for the new endgame.

Taking Expeditions as a jumping off point, the new endgame activity in Outriders: Worldslayer is almost rogue-like in nature. You’ll power through the Trial of Tarya Gratar, earning more loot the longer you survive. At each Crossroads you can opt to leave with what you’ve earned or push on, facing greater difficulty but better loot. It’s not a million miles from Expeditions, but the stakes feel higher.

This combines with the new Expeditions and legendary loot to give you reasons to keep grinding, but a lack of new enemies is disappointing. The first few missions see you fighting the exact same goons and beasties you’ve already spent hundreds of hours fighting with few variations. The biggest change to enemies is that their AI has been switched to “charge” and that’s literally all they do. Whether they’re aliens, mutants, or men with guns, the entire enemy force simply rushes your position relentlessly. Outriders has always been like that to an extent, but this is insane.

Using cover is a bust, as you’ll be forced out of it every 2.5 seconds. You’ll be swarmed and murdered by huge packs of enemies, which makes solo play feel like an uphill struggle all the time. Certain classes like the Trickster may have a hard time regenerating health, and it’s so relentless and oppressive that I struggled to find parts of it fun while playing alone. The thin veil of “you can solo it all” has finally torn, it seems, and unless you’re in a group, you’ll struggle. Of course it didn’t help that I went straight into Worldslayer with a new character, having previously played on PS5. Although the game tells you that you’re optimised to start the expansion, it simply doesn’t feel that way. Even with the new Apocalypse Tiers left on 01, it was hard going.

The campaign isn’t huge, though, and once you’re through it, it’s back to the Expedition grind, which has been improved by the addition of new maps and loot. The bread and butter of Outriders for many won’t disappoint, and in that, Worldslayer is a success. It’s nice to have more story, but ultimately if you’re invested this deep, you’re in it for the grind and the gains. Outriders: Worldslayer refines the overall experience, adding a heap of new content and minor improvements that make it an essential expansion – just don’t go in alone unless you’re armed for bear.

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F1 2022 in no way feels bare, but that stand out mode is certainly missing. In its place is F1 Life, a social hub where you get to pimp out the décor for your living space with modern furniture and bays of owned supercars. You can also buy new clothes to change the appearance of your avatar to essentially create your own brand. Pitcoins, F1 2022’s currency, will get you fancier means to decorate and improve your look, and players from around the world can come and visit. It’s by no means a stellar feature, but the chance to show off all your hard work does add to the satisfaction of consistent progress and having a way to showcase it.

F1 2022: Super supercars

With the inclusion of supercars, it’s not just about throwing them in for the way they look. You can also participate in Pirelli Hot Laps with them: a series of challenges that show off each one’s feel behind the wheel. As they aren’t designed specifically for formula one, these cars from the ten manufacturers featured throw in plenty of challenges and distract you from the gruelling process of climbing the rankings of both F1 and F2. It’s not a feature I was that fond of, but some will welcome the different feel of the cars, especially as they aren’t as fast or as easy to control as those seen in the two formulas.

Over the last few years, the driving has been honed time and time again to match the real-life adjustments to the rules. Once again, with the changes to aero rules and car design improvements, EA Sports has done a fantastic job of adapting. The racing in F1 2022 is about as close to real as you’re ever going to get. Cars feel weightier when at slow speeds, forcing you to focus on controlling through tight bends and heavily populated corners. When tearing away from challenging bends, there’s a beautiful feel to how much control you have at high speeds. In this sense, there is a fair amount of change to last year, but the quality in its development consistently shows its cards, giving you complete control while at the same time giving drivers of any skill level the chance to improve.

Drive to survive

The career is in-depth and filled with all the drama of the race weekends. You can completely customise your experience, from certain racing assists to the actual structure of how the weekend plays out. Again, to adapt to how these two-day spectaculars have changed, the addition of Sprint Races add a little extra to what players were used to from last year, and give you a chance to pick up extra points. You can also now choose whether pit stop breaks and formation laps play out, allowing you to either watch them unfold or control them manually. It may not feel like much, but these tweaks further immerse you into each competition. If you’re playing through the career, you’ll also be able to take part in the debut of new circuit, the Miami International Autodrome.

Codemasters has captured the realism to every minute detail, and like every course in the game, it’s staggering just how good Miami looks. From the scenery scattered around the Hard Rock Stadium to the way each part of the track matches the real-life counterpart, it’s hard not to be left in awe of how much work has been put in. That’s basically what adds another layer of the enjoyment F1 2022 offers. It’s so stylish, and on Xbox Series X, the level of detail in each circuit, the dynamic weather patterns, the presentation, and the car designs will no doubt leave you speechless as it all comes together in one gorgeous package.

F1 2022: All racers welcome

One thing F1 2022 does very well is make players of all skill levels feel welcome. One of the new changes adapts the AI to match with a players skill level. If you’re struggling in a race, the AI may slow down to give you a fighting chance. Alternatively, if you’re doing well, it’ll bolster the skill level of computer controlled racers to push you to compete at a higher challenge. Pair this with all the assists on offer, and you’re given every opportunity to customise your racing experience without playing victim to poorly balanced AI.

F1 2022 does a fantastic job of keeping up to date with the sport, managing to tweak the rules and feel of the cars, and in turn giving returning players an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the all new season. The absence of a story mode like last year’s Braking Point is felt, and if you enjoyed what it offered, there’s nothing in the same vein. F1 Life is a decent inclusion, but if you’re not fussed about the social aspects or customisation options, it’ll likely be a throwaway mode. There’s plenty to love about F1 2022, though. It’s amazing just how good it looks and how well it plays. Fans of the sport will lap up (sorry) the tweaks to race weekends, and those coming in fresh are given all the support they need to enjoy everything the game has to offer.

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Each stage of Cloud Gardens is a floating island with remnants of humanity cluttering it, and your task is to plant seeds and let the green run wild. There’s no sign of life in these little dioramas, only empty but familiar places. Whether you’re in an abandoned car park or a stretch of road, it’s nice to see life find a way in this desolate world.

It’s probably quite obvious that Cloud Gardens is a pretty Zen experience already, but I should describe how the game works. When you arrive at a floaty level, you’re given a number of seeds to plant. Once you pick a suitable spot to pop a seed, you’re given a pile of objects to place around the world. These could be anything from road signs to garden gnomes, but it’s important to place them because your plants only grow when you place one of these “decorations” into the level.

Once a plant has grown enough, it’ll start producing seeds. By collecting enough seeds you’ll be able to plant another bit of greenery and the cycle begins anew. This might sound easy, but placing objects in the cramped stages of Cloud Gardens without accidentally destroying the plants you’re trying to grow can be a tough task. There’s a percentage counter in the bottom corner of the screen, and once nature has sufficiently taken over you’ll be able to move on to the next stage.

To make the flowery takeover of the world a bit easier, you’ll slowly unlock more and more seeds as you progress through Cloud Gardens. Each of these grows better in certain situations, and should be placed accordingly. Ivy is fantastic if it has some mesh to cling onto, whereas cacti are happy in the dirt. By the end of the game you’ll have a vast selection of flora to pick from, all with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of Cloud Gardens is the creative mode, especially when you’ve unlocked a vast array of objects and seeds (or if you choose to unlock everything in the menus). Creative mode lets you place plants and items wherever you want, to create whatever glorious scene your heart desires. It’s a really relaxing experience creating your own little green paradise, and if you’re anything like me doing so will fill up your storage with screenshots very quickly.

There’s something about the lo-fi aesthetic of Cloud Gardens that just looks gorgeous. Watching colourful flowers bloom and vibrant mushrooms take hold in this desolate environment is nothing short of beautiful, and really makes the game worth experiencing.

As wonderful as it looks though, there’s no denying that as you progress through the game it starts to feel a bit tedious. With close to a hundred levels and very little changing in terms of the core objective, it doesn’t take long to realise you’ve seen everything you’re going to see. The new plants just don’t do enough to change things up, and in the end you’ll just be stacking the same items again and again until you can move onto the next stage.

Cloud Gardens is a lovely zen experience that’ll make you hit that screenshot button more times than is healthy. Growing plants and watching life spring back into this dusty world is delightful, but the actual gameplay gets old fast. If you want something relaxing to play for thirty minutes before bed you could do much worse, but don’t expect lengthy sessions and gripping gameplay from this post apocalyptic plant growing simulator.

The post Cloud Gardens review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

It’s set in an alternate reality where magic re-emerged into our world around 40 years prior. Taking place primarily in Seattle or Hong Kong, Shadowrun Trilogy: Console Edition explores a world where elves, dwarves, orcs and trolls exist in a near-future society in which magic is often used as leverage by global megacorporations. Not only that, but magic has boosted scientific discovery too, allowing for cybernetic enhancements and genetic modification.

As settings go, it’s one of the coolest and most unique. It’s also one that developers Hairbrained Schemes explore thoroughly, presenting games that almost feel small compared to many tactical RPGs but which eschew filler content and off-topic side quests for a more streamlined and focused narrative experience.

Shadowrun Trilogy presents three games, naturally. The first is Shadowrun Returns, which as the name suggests served as a return to the franchise as a video game series in 2013. Although it sounds like a sequel, it was the first modern foray into this universe. It features many characters, events and locations from previous titles but assumes no prior knowledge. Focused on the hunt for a mysterious serial killer using magic to harvest organs, your gun for hire protagonist travels all over Seattle and its underworld looking for answers.

Right away, the writing stands out as something special. While swears have been swapped out for made-up words a la 2000 AD or Defiance, the actual story is superbly told and the dialogue is excellent. It’s all written, with no voice work, but still conveys its simple but effective plot to the point that I stopped noticing how much I was reading. The world building is just fantastic, and nothing seems forced or out of place. From the outset you’ll feel that this world is real; it has history, and the people within it are products of its dark, fantastical atmosphere.

It’s difficult to talk about Shadowrun Trilogy: Console Edition as three separate games. Yes, they have different stories with ostensibly different protagonists, but they’re presented in such a uniform way that it’s hard to even tell them apart. Your character is always custom, and so the temptation to just use the same archetype for all three games is real. And if you do that, you’ll rarely tell one game from another.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong has a different setting, and the overall tone is much more urgent and personal. This narrative sees you looking for your childhood mentor along with your adopted older brother, who works in Hong Kong as a mercenary cop. Of the three, it’s this title that stands out most for me purely because of the storyline and the greater emphasis on player choice. While ultimately the choices don’t do much but alter the ending, the story itself does unfold in different ways depending on how you deal with NPCs and which characters you recruit to your little party.

Returns is the shortest of the three, but the entire Trilogy together won’t run much beyond 50 hours for most people. Honestly, this is a good thing. Often any RPG under 50 hours might as well be a free sample, but in Shadowrun Trilogy that shorter runtime means a more direct experience. This is a world where side quests make little sense. You’re usually dealing with life and death situations, chasing down leads and unravelling mysteries. There’s little time for fetch quests and idle backtracking and it’s refreshing to see.

Having played through most of the Trilogy in one form or another before, I‘ve been mostly focusing on Shadowrun Dragonfall: Director’s Cut. Originally intended as standalone DLC for Shadowrun, it’s a fully formed title in its own right. Not only that, but it has arguably the strongest opening of the three incredibly strong openings. To be fair, though, the three titles are so similar that they could have been bundled as one game. Everything from the character creation to the GUI is more or less identical across all three games.

In all cases, after choosing a gender and a race, you’ll be tasked with selecting a class from the list. While Street Samurai and Mage have fairly obvious connotations, my favourite class has always been Decker. This particular playstyle is unique, allowing your character to tap into the Matrix during combat. This virtual world is almost like a puzzle game, allowing you to manipulate events on the grid while your party members carry on fighting.

Combat is generally the same as XCOM. On your turn you’ll move your characters into cover and spend action points to attack, either with melee, ranged weapons, or thrown ordnance. You can also place mines, buff or heal your party, and, of course, use magic. The magic element adds a whole new dimension to combat, giving you access to fireballs, poison clouds, even summoned demons. No matter what though, you’re always in the thrall of the dreaded chance to hit and it’s more mind-meltingly frustrating in Shadowrun Trilogy: Console Edition than it has ever been.

When you’re duking it out with the enemy and repeatedly missing on 80% chance to hit, it’s maddening. You will improve if you spec your character that way, but it’s annoying that you have to. The chance-to-hit mechanic has always been the most irritating element to tactical RPGs and this is no different. The fixed camera is no help to anyone, either, and when navigating outside of combat it’s easy to get snagged on objects and corners. It’s hardly game-breaking, but it begins to grate after a while.

Thankfully, the translation from keyboard to controller has been handled well. Shadowrun Trilogy controls smoothly on a gamepad, with responsive commands and an easy-to-navigate GUI. Menus are actually kept to a minimum since you’re not worrying about hoovering up loot, or inventory space, and upgrading when you level up is simple and intuitive.

Fans of XCOM or, more aptly, Wasteland, will find a lot to like in Shadowrun Trilogy: Console Edition. Each game is well-written, expertly paced, and the world-building is really second-to-none in this genre. Every title plays like an extension of the one before, so while there is an order to it, playing the whole trilogy through will feel almost like playing one huge game.

If anything lets it down it’s the combat, thanks to the awful chance-to-hit system and the fact that it’s been done by so many other games – often with better results. But as the combat is treated almost as an aside, it doesn’t hamstring the experience that much. It’s the atmosphere that really stands out in Shadowrun Trilogy, and if you’re looking for a strong narrative RPG to immerse yourself in, you could do a lot worse.

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There is, however, one game in this pack that will likely pique the interest more than any other.

I very nearly got to play Red Earth, or War-Zard as it is known in Japan, fairly recently. I had seen its characters pop up in other games, but despite considering myself a beat ‘em up addict, had never sampled its strange delights. I was thrilled when a small local arcade advertised that they had installed the CPS 3 version in a neat candy cab, but before I could get down there, the business went down the drain and closed its doors. It has never had a home release in nearly 26 years, remaining the most obscure of the six all-fighting titles released on the arcade hardware.

It is a fascinating experience, and appears perfectly emulated here right down to the password system used in the original. It dispenses with the standard 2D fighter formula and instead plays out like an RPG-tinged boss rush. You select from just four characters, that fall into recognisable role-playing class tropes, and get to take on a series of kooky monstrosities seemingly drawn from Greek mythology. There is loads going on that even for a seasoned Capcom nut is a lot to take in, let alone if you were under pressure and out of pocket after shovelling coins into it back in 1996.

Smashing up your foe can lead to item drops such as XP-giving treasure, and orbs which enable use of special attacks. Your characters level up and gain new abilities as you progress, and you can employ the aforementioned password system to restart the game with all the abilities and experience you had accumulated. Combat feels weighty and satisfying, with characters that feel unique to this universe. There are multiple endings, and even fatality moves, a first for the company.

Being the showcase for their new hardware, Red Earth is of course a thing of beauty. The animation is a joy to behold, and the backdrops are stunning. It has such an interesting, original vibe, is packed with secrets and bonkers mystical fantasy stuff, and has enough to warrant the admission fee on its own. You can, however, see how this would have been an awkward and bewildering arcade machine at a time when the genre was starting to dwindle in the West.

The meat and drink of this collection is the inclusion of every coin-op version of the Darkstalkers franchise to date. This has been done before – first by Capcom themselves with a JP-only PS2 era effort, and in truncated form back in 2013 thanks to the excellent Iron Galaxy. What you get here are five incrementally more impressive classics in a criminally underrated series, that combine a chain-combo-based offense to an unforgettable cast of horror b-movie characters. Emulation is spot on, with all regional versions available accounted for, in flawless arcade perfect glory. I love this series, and it is time for Capcom to get that reboot done pronto.

Joining the fray as another one casual fans may have missed is 1995 mech brawler Cyberbots. It went down a storm in its robot-loving country of origin, but thanks to its slow pace and clunky implementation of mecha stereotypes, this is the poorest addition to the collection and one of Capcom’s more forgettable works of an otherwise pretty much untouchable era.

Thank goodness then that the remaining three titles are all fantastic. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a cast-in-stone classic puzzler featuring super deformed versions of characters from across the fighting Capcom universe, and remains as playable either against the CPU or a friend as it ever was. I would have preferred to have seen the remixed version that came out many years later, but hell we are dealing in arcade ports here – and this remains a fine title that shines particularly brightly when in an ultra-competitive battle with a friend.

The chibi style continues on in Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix. For me this is one of Capcom’s purest and most fun arcade games, that like its puzzle-based sibling stands out as a furiously entertaining versus title. Like when SNK miniaturised their roster to construct their own pocket approximations, this simplifies the amount of moves and inputs you need to remember, throws in a gem collecting element that is like a proto-Power Stone, and ramps the twee cutesy factor up to 11. Great stuff.

Roundinghousing things off is a port of Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition – which allows you to play each of the first five World Warrior titles using a variety of different speed options. It is nice to be able to experience this one again, especially online, even if it doesn’t do anything particularly different to anything on the 30th Anniversary pack.

This is a fine collection of titles, with only one real clunker – yet even that is worth a blast just to see something different. There are loads of nice quality of life accoutrements too: you can change the display type; use a free training mode for most of the games; listen to the OST at your leisure, and view an ace gallery of original artwork, posters, flyers, and working designs. Best of all though is the ability to play some of Capcom’s best ever fighters online with a stable rollback netcode. If I was going to have a gripe, then it would be to selfishly ask why they left out Capcom Fighting Jam, the poorly received yet intriguing crossover from 2004 that would have fit right in – but you can’t have it all.

The post Capcom Fighting Collection review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Roots of Dread follows the standard Chapter structure of Dead by Daylight, and introduces a new Killer, a new Survivor and a new map. You can buy the Killer and Survivor separately with in-game currency if you only play one side of the game, or get them bundled together at a slight discount. The map can be played by anyone though, so even if you don’t pay any shards or orbs there’s something new to check out.

The Killer in Roots of Dread is The Dredge. This horrendous monster is made up of the multiple body parts of its victims held together by a shadowy void, and is meant to invoke feelings of childhood nightmare The Boogeyman. In keeping with this theme, The Dredge can teleport and hide in lockers, as well as plunge the world into darkness to confuse its victims.

The ability to teleport between lockers means that if you’re playing as this monstrosity you’ll be able to get around the map pretty quickly. This makes defending generators and exit gates much more manageable, and with a bit of practice can even be used mid chase to catch one of your victims by surprise for an easy down. Thankfully for the other side, when you catch and hook a survivor nearby lockers are blocked so camping isn’t possible.

As much as teleporting between lockers can help you, The Dredge’s ability to summon Nightfall is even more devastating. After a set amount of time passes (which can be shortened by attacking enough people) the world goes incredibly dark and survivors can’t see more than a few feet in front of them. Only the very best opponents will be able to navigate the level when the darkness hits, and everyone else will run into walls and be an easy target for your attacks.

As with all Killers, The Dredge comes with three new perks that upon levelling him up will be available to all your Killers. To say these perks are disappointing would be an understatement, with only one perk really having much use. This perk (Darkness Revealed) shows you where survivors near lockers are located every time you open one yourself, but it’s only really worth running on killers that need to use lockers to reload (like The Huntress).

On the Survivor side of things we have Haddie Kaur, an Indian Canadian woman with supernatural powers and a lovely colourful top. As with all Survivors, playing as Haddie is functionally the same as playing as any of the Survivors – although she does come with some new perks herself. Again most of these perks are disappointing, except maybe Residual Manifest which makes Killers blinded by a flashlight unable to see objectives through walls for a while. It’s a nice trick that’ll really mess with less experienced killers, but ultimately isn’t really worth wasting a perk slot on.

The final aspect of Roots of Dread is the new map, The Garden of Joy. This beautiful green space would be the perfect place to relax if not for the nightmarish house occupying it. You’d think a location this spooky would be terrible for Survivors, but its sheer size makes it far scarier to play as a killer. It feels like every map Behaviour releases at the moment favours the Survivors, and as a Killer main it’s starting to feel a tad unfair.

Roots of Dread isn’t a bad Chapter update, but it certainly has its issues. As much as I like The Dredge, a distinct lack of new playable perks and an unbalanced new map mean that Roots of Dread hasn’t really shaken up Dead by Daylight enough.

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Pac-Man Museum + features 14 different games to play, ranging from absolute classics to absolutely weird. Before you jump into any of the classics though, you’ll be greeted by our hungry hero standing in the middle of an arcade. In this hub area you’ll see all the different cabinets of the games you want to play, as well as Pac-themed decorations and a gachapon machine (more on that later).

I imagine most people will start with a classic game of Pac-Man, which is as delightful as ever. The ghost dodging gameplay of this 42 year old game just never ceases to bring a smile across my face, and although it’s been re-released hundreds of times at this point it still has value.

Alongside the original game, Pac-Man Museum also features a handful of similar updated versions of Pac-Man – with different graphics, power ups and levels to munch your way through. Pac-Mania is a weird zoomed in 3d version of the game with jumping, and the two Pac-Man Arrangement games have all sorts of weird and wonderful stages with boost pads, conveyor belts and different floors to play around with. None of them are quite as iconic as the original, but there’s some fun to be had trying them out.

Sticking with the older titles, Super Pac-Man and Pac & Pal are bizarre twists on the classic formula. Super Pac-Man sees you collecting fruit in a fairly standard Pac-Man maze that’s full of locked doors, which require you to collect keys to open them. As if this wasn’t confusing enough, Pac & Pal is an almost incomprehensible game involving flipping cards and a green ghost ally. It’s unlikely either of these games will be anyone’s favourite, but no judgement to all you Pac & Pal enthusiasts.

If you’re feeling more in the mood for a 2d platformer, Pac-Man Museum has got you covered too. Pac-Land might not be what you’re looking for though, it’s a side scrolling platformer that was made a year before the original Super Mario Bros- and it shows. Pac-In-Time is much more entertaining, and tasks you to gather all the dots in a stage with multiple power ups to use. The best of these is essentially the Ninja Rope from Worms, and is a fantastic way to launch yourself around a stage.

Before we get to the very best games in the collection, there are a few odd inclusions to talk about. Pac-Motos places our yellow hero in an arena and tasks you with shoving all the enemies off the edge, kind of like a full game of Mario Party’s Bumper Balls. Pac ‘n Roll Remix is a remake of a DS ball rolling game, where Pac-Man is the ball. It’s a fun little inclusion, but loses some of the DS stylus swiping magic. If you’re looking for something to do with your friends, Pac-Man Battle Royale is a great option. It’s essentially regular Pac-Man, but the goal is to survive long enough to chow down on a power pellet and eat your friends who turn blue alongside the ghosts.

There are three standout games in Pac-Man Museum +, which I put more than a few credits into. Pac-Attack is one of my favourite puzzle games of all time, with the fantastic concept of combining falling blocks with Pac-Man and his ghostly enemies. By rotating and arranging the blocks to create a path of ghosts for Pac-Man to gobble, you can clear the board and survive for longer. There’s also a puzzle mode that requires you to don your thinking cap to clear all the ghosts with a limited number of Pacs. Versus mode is available too, which brings back many traumatic memories of being thoroughly thrashed by my mother.

Pac-Man Championship Edition is just as awesome now as it was on Xbox Live Arcade back in 2007, bringing high octane arcade action and all the score chasing you could ever want. The neon aesthetic is as stylish as ever, and there are a whole bunch of modes to explore and chase the leaderboards on. It’s a bit of a shame that the sequels DX and Championship Edition 2 aren’t available in Pac-Man Museum +, because they were just as enjoyable.

Last but not least, we have the fantastic Pac-Man 256. This Pac-Man style endless runner is incredibly compelling, with unlockable power ups, objectives to complete while escaping the ever encroaching glitch, and a ton of snazzy skins for your visual pleasure. If you’ve somehow managed to miss out on this cracking game on mobile and console, it’s a great addition to the package.

Outside of the games themselves, Pac-Man Museum + has a few extra aspects to enjoy. The most important of these are missions, which are little goals to accomplish in each of the 14 games. This might involve getting a high score in a certain game, or eating a certain amount of ghosts in a single run. None of these objectives are particularly revolutionary, but they give you something to aim for as well as a handful of precious coins.

By playing well at the games you’ll be given some dosh, which can be spent on decorations for your own personal arcade. The more Pac-Man Museum + you play, the more wallpaper, background music and familiar visitors you’ll have to your gamers paradise. If you’re feeling lucky you can even spend some money in the gachapon, and unlock statues of all your favourite characters in the Pac-Man universe. You don’t need to bother with the arcade if you’d rather be playing the games, but it’s a fun little distraction that made me really want an arcade themed Tycoon game.

Pac-Man Museum + is undoubtedly full of great games, but it really doesn’t add a whole lot more than older compilations already feature. The lack of the later Championship Edition games is very noticeable, and some of the more substantial games like the Pac-Man 3d platformers or kart racers wouldn’t have gone amiss either. Nevertheless if you’re an arcade fiend and want to play some Pac on the go, Pac-Man Museum + will bring you hours of score chasing joy.

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Our nameless diver protagonist finds himself deep underwater in a lovecraftian hellscape, which I can’t imagine is ideal. In this world of oversized sea monsters and bizarre ancient machinery, it seems unlikely that the Diver will survive the armies of fish that want to have them for breakfast. Exploring the ocean depths for a way out and some answers is a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Fortunately our brave diving hero has a few tricks up their sleeve, well okay one trick. They can possess fish. I’m not sure why the Diver can do this, but by holding the B button a swirling light comes bursting out of your helmet and can be pointed at various sea creatures to control them. Each fish has a different ability you can use to your advantage, piranhas can bite through cables blocking the way, hammerhead sharks can break down walls, and rays can teleport forward for some reason. It’s a lot of fun switching to a new scaly creature and seeing what abilities they have.

Silt is very much a game about exploring the underwater environment to solve puzzles. This can be as simple as finding the right fish to possess to get past a breakable obstacle, or as complex as gathering a shoal of tiny fish and infecting them with poison so you can feed them to nasty fish to clear the way. As you’d expect, the further into the three hour game you get the more complicated the puzzles get.

Silt is split into four sections, each with a boss you’ll need to beat to activate the mysterious portal at the end. The bosses are completely horrifying to look at, and are also some of the most interesting puzzling parts of Silt. One of these screen filling enemies needs to be lured into cracked rocks to access more fish in the battle area, another can be tricked into grabbing onto an electrical current. Figuring out how to beat these big-bads is definitely the highlight of the game.

Unfortunately when a screen has an element of danger to it, a significant issue rears its ugly head in Silt. If at any time you die (which happens after taking a single hit) you have to start the screen you’re on from scratch. When you’ve spent a few minutes figuring out how to trick a boss or navigating a puzzle then lose all your progress it’s incredibly frustrating.

It’s made even more irritating when you need to restart a screen because of how slowly the diver moves. Getting from A to B takes so much longer than it needs to, and just makes Silt feel unpleasant to play. Some rooms in Silt seem to exist to have you look at the (admittedly beautiful) background, and this is made much more annoying by the speed you can swim past the pretty pictures.

It’s a shame that playing Silt isn’t particularly fun, because it does look absolutely breath-taking. The hand drawn aesthetic is simply stunning, with monsters and backgrounds that are as foreboding as they are beautiful. A huge amount of time and effort has gone into making Silt look unlike anything else I’ve ever played, and it shows.

Silt is an atmospheric and gorgeous game that unfortunately just feels too sluggish. The idea of possessing different sea critters and playing around with their powers is great, but in practice a lack of checkpoints and slow movement just make the experience frustrating.

The post Silt review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

To start with, you get a very similar vibe as Until Dawn in The Quarry. A group of Summer Camp counsellors end up spending an unexpected extra night all alone in Hackett’s Quarry after all the kids have left. A great excuse for one final night of partying, right? Well, as we begin to see, there’s something rather dangerous in the woods around the camp, and things are going to get scary. There will be blood, and some tough decisions are going to have to be made if all nine counsellors want to live to see the light of the day.

The Quarry | Large scale horror

The first thing you really feel when playing The Quarry is it feels grander than the more recent Dark Pictures titles. Hackett’s Quarry itself covers quite a large area, with 15 different areas where the action takes place. A new addition is a basic map that allows you to keep track of where everyone is at any point in their adventure. It doesn’t serve any other purpose, but adds to the scale of the area, and shows just how isolated certain characters can end up being. The game itself is longer too, taking 8-10 hours to complete depending on how much exploration you do, and how many people you end up keeping alive.

Exploration is rewarded with various different collectibles. There are the normal clues to bolster the backstory of The Quarry, but there’s also a special type of clue called Evidence now too. Evidence provides proof of what is going on and can affect the outcome of the ending of the game depending on how many items you discover. The future-seeing items return, this time in the form of tarot cards, often found off the beaten track. Finding them offers a glimpse of a possible future depending on your decisions. The twist this time around is the tarot cards are handed to the mysterious Eliza at the end of each chapter. She’ll read your latest tarots and you can pick one to see the vision behind it.

Eliza essentially replaces the Curator from The Dark Pictures Anthology games, offering advice to you if you want it, and setting an eerie tone for what’s to come. But she’s also integral to the story of The Quarry too, and she’s not alone. In fact, in addition to the nine counsellors, there are an additional nine other characters you can meet in one way or another across the night. It helps add weight to the background and story that is unfolding. The cast as well is excellent, with recognisable faces like David Arquette, Ted Raimi, and Ariel Winters to name a few.

Great cast and writing

The writing also feels the strongest yet, allowing that voice acting talent to thrive. Interactions between characters feel genuine, banter is free-flowing without being unbelievable, and cross words are exchanged with passion, too. The movement and facial animations are also very good. You’ll pick up a lot more through non-verbal cues than you normally would in previous titles. Plus the emotion on their faces and body language marry well with the dialogue, allowing you to immerse yourself fully into what’s happening on-screen. It also makes for better balanced characters than normal. Sure you have your stereotypes, with the jock; the nerd; the broody one; the joker, but there’s depth too. Aside from the fear, some will show vulnerability, and question themselves and who they are. It’s subtle, but it helps immensely to create believable characters.

In terms of story, the biggest question will be whether it is interesting and whether the choices make sense. Well, fans of Until Dawn, or indeed old-school horror movies won’t be disappointed, as there are clear influences from both here. Its story does lean into the familiar at times, even poking fun at itself for doing so. But The Quarry is better for it because it doesn’t get bogged down in trying to subvert expectation too much or reinvent the storytelling wheel, and can instead focus on executing the story it wants to tell, which it does very well.

The scale of the game, in terms of runtime and characters, was always going to mean plenty of choices and even more outcomes than before. And with a reported 186 slightly differing endings, there’s definitely causality to your decisions. It’s always tough to balance free will and a need to tell a story, but The Quarry does it well, with different ways to achieve the same progress, as well as being brave enough to do away with people relatively early and have you miss entire sections of the plot. Boldly, you can even miss an entire final chapter if you make certain choices, and there’s even some ambiguity as to who the real enemies are in all of this. It’s up to you to make up your own mind. Your choices are more personal, rather than them being up against a yes/no checklist of the developer’s choosing.

Different ways to play

All this makes replaying a must, which The Quarry earns despite its longer runtime. You can choose to play couch co-op mode with a friend to share the experience and it all works well like in previous instalments, and an online co-op option is coming later. The new movie mode essentially allows you to sit back and watch the action instead. You choose to watch the game where everyone survives, or a set of choices where everyone dies. Alternatively, you can become the director and set character traits for certain characters and then watch how they respond under your guidance. It’s an interesting idea that’s best used after you’ve finished the story at least once yourself. It does also seem strange to have a movie mode that will take you 4 or 5 hours to watch. But what it does do is reinforce the standard of the writing and character interactions as you immerse yourself watching with some popcorn.

It is also worth mentioning that this game looks pretty good too. I played on PC, and thought the characters, and the surroundings of Hackett’s Quarry looked beautiful throughout. There’s attention to details, eerie but effective lighting effects and a selection of static and free-roaming cameras that help build tension well. The addition of a soundtrack playing over certain portions of the story helps set the tone, either in a calm way at the start, or as foil for dramatic moments, like something from a 90s horror flick.

The disappointment for me came after I’d finished the game. I’m a collectible nerd, and in previous games, there’s always been a record of what you’ve collected stored in the menus for you to peruse. But in The Quarry this is absent. It might seem minor, but when The Quarry changes its endings based on the evidence you collect, it’s important to know what you’ve found and where you might have missing pieces still to find. Similarly with tarot cards, given you can only choose a single tarot card vision. To see all of them, you’ll have to replay multiple times, and even then you will never have a record of all of them in one place, which you did in previous games. It seems like a simple omission that is at odds with the collectible mechanics at play.

The Quarry is a true return to form. Ironically, by releasing itself from the shackles of its Dark Pictures formula, Supermassive has demonstrated how epic and dramatic a game it can make. It’s full of mystery, character, scares, and tough decisions, all propped up with a cast and story that delivers, whatever your choices. Whilst some of its tweaks and additions work better than others, the overall package delivers. Dare I say it, The Quarry may just be Until Dawn 2 in all but name, and that’s high praise indeed.

The post The Quarry review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

In a word: yes. The key here is simplicity. Taken altogether, the mash of styles might feel immediately daunting to newcomers, but the tutorial system does a great job of breaking down the individual elements. The campaign follows the fate of Tahar, a child of fate introduced during the prologue section. In the early hours you play as Sentenza Noria, a legendary general voiced by the excellent Doug Cockle. Tahar, however, is player created.

Progression through the campaign splits between traditional small-scale RPG adventuring and RTS base-building, resource management, and unit creation. Attempts to transfer the PC controls to a single gamepad have been largely successful. The triggers and bumpers open up wheels to select and build structures, while individual menus on the structures generate units and research projects.

On the other side of the pad, you can select special abilities and actions for units, including the unique heroes you recruit along the way. The closest current example is a game like Pathfinder or Baldur’s Gate 3, where your individual allies have their own stories and motivations that play into the larger plot. While much of the political intrigue in the plot happens elsewhere, the writing is solid. It’s a fantasy world most analogous to Dragon Age’s Thedas, or the Witcher’s Continent, where magic is an intimidating, omnipresent force and the threat of war never fully goes away.

Campaign missions will often involve creating a base and exploring for resources, before heading off on specific objectives. Some are small in scale and require just your heroes, while others will need a created army to face off against bigger threats. Here it becomes a click-to-fight affair, hampered by the lack of a tactical pause. Trying to organise four heroes with their own skills as well as a larger army becomes a little messy – something that’s less of a problem with a mouse on PC and the precision it affords. On console I found it difficult to keep track of everyone – especially as some enemy units can burn your health down in moments. I resorted to save-scumming a lot of it, which isn’t often a good sign.

That said, building your characters is fun. You can equip them with weapons and gear, and each has a unique skill tree to expand as you earn XP. Losing important characters in a battle hurts, whereas your military units feel expendable. You’ll spam-create them and hurl them at the enemy in waves, which is fun, but I often felt the combat lacked some overall nuance. A tactical pause would help greatly, but without it things can feel a little chaotic.

Spellforce 3: Reforced brings with it the two expansions which add to the story and, on PC, added quality of life improvements which you won’t necessarily spot if this is your first time with the game. More importantly though, it adds the Journey Mode, a completely different way to experience the core gameplay without sacrificing the grand scale.

In Journey Mode you create a character from scratch, built from any of the races and classes in the main game. As a mercenary leader, you’ll take on Contracts which are individual missions that work towards a large goal of creating a badass hero to rival those seen in the Campaign Mode.

Journey Mode is likely where most people will spend the longest. The linearity of the primary campaign is hardly a hindrance, but being able to forge your own path through the world is simply a more enticing prospect. Of course, you can also engage in the Skirkish mode, which allows you to take your Journey hero online against other players in standalone conflicts much more in the vein of strategy titles like Age of Empires.

Which is not to suggest that Spellforce 3: Reforced hits such lofty heights. What’s here is a solid combination of two very different genres, but part of the reason this franchise has the market pretty much cornered is that to do it well and with the depth it deserves is incredibly hard. Spellforce 3 almost gets it right, but when examined as two separate entities neither genre is fully fleshed out here. The RPG gameplay is enjoyable and the story has flair, but it’s nowhere near the scope of a contemporary like Divinity 2. Likiwise, the RTS side is fun and simple, but lacks the complexity that often brings fans back again and again.

The result is an engaging experience that you’ll kind of just burn through. Once you get the hang of what to build and latch on to a few key strategies in battle, you may find that the campaign won’t keep your attention over the Journey Mode.

Spellforce 3: Reforced is a good-looking game on PS5 though. The character models are detailed, and the world maintains a compelling and believable atmosphere. The majority of the voice-acting is on point, which makes the narrative work all the better. If anything, the biggest barrier to entry will likely be learning the controls. RTS games on a controller often feel fiddly, and this is no exception. Once you’re passed that though, it’s a well-made adventure that’s unlike anything else you can play on console.

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In a world where arcades are still the coolest hang in town, our protagonist is stuck in a rut. Spending every waking hour grinding their way up the ladder on Fist of Discomfort 2 may be improving their skill, but it’s not the most fulfilling lifestyle. They won’t get anywhere without a team though, so with a little help from friendly (and not entirely legal) AI helper Iris our hero sets out on a journey to make some friends and win eSports gold.

After a brief journey across town, Iris directs you to an arcade. This isn’t your typical arcade though, it’s also a pizzeria and a laundromat. Confused by this AIs bizarre choice, the protag asks around about the eSports team. It turns out the arcade is the main hangout of a team that happens to be looking for a new member, but the issue is none of them seem particularly driven to win. Iris insists that this group is the best fit for your character though, so you begin a quest to lead them to glorious gaming victory.

Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers is as traditional as visual novels get. You’ll be reading a lot of text and making a lot of choices, and not a lot else. Your choices are hugely important though, and will shape your character, who you build the best relationships with and perhaps most importantly how successful the team is.

Although Arcade Spirits is essentially a dating sim, you don’t actually have to enter a romantic relationship with any of the characters if you don’t want to. If love and steamy moments aren’t your thing, friendship is an entirely acceptable end game here. It’s a fantastic route to include for those of us who aren’t into all that saucy stuff, and means you can still get to know all the delightful humans at the arcade.

Each member of your up and coming eSports team has their own unique charm, and is very much likable in their own right. There’s Zapper, a feisty lightgun fan with a heart of gold who struggles to control her anger. Locksley is a modern day Robin Hood, fighting the injustice of rigged arcade games and giving prizes to the needy. My favourite of all of them though, is Jynx.

Jynx was born with a spinal cord issue that makes day-to-day activities a struggle. She needs a cane to help her get around safely and with less pain, and inadequate seating can be an issue. More importantly she’s also a badass racing game master, and will usually be found drifting around corners in her adapted arcade racer cabinet. Upon first meeting Jynx, you’re given a few conversation options to respond with when you find out about her disability. Huge text pops up stating “NO GOOD ANSWER”, letting you know that this is going to go badly. After choosing to tell Jynx she was inspirational for not letting her disability hold her back, she immediately (and quite rightly) told me “I’m not here to be your inspiration porn!” and gave my character a much needed lesson on how to interact with disabled people. Fiction Factory Games not only created a character I fell in love with in Jynx, they also portrayed what life with a disability is like and educated able-bodied people in the process.

Although the wonderful characters are the star of the show in Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers, the overarching story is also incredibly gripping. It becomes obvious very quickly that your character cannot cope with losing at Fist of Discomfort 2. They have very little self worth, and Fist of Discomfort is the only thing they’re good at. Throughout the game the protagonist is forced to face this problem, and I found it to be such a relatable and touching theme.

Video games are at the heart of Arcade Spirits, and if you’ve got an affinity for retro games you are in for a treat. There are more than a few references to arcade classics throughout the game, including an appearance from the mysterious and slightly terrifying Polybius. A genuine and intense love of video games shines through the entirety of the game, which I really appreciated.

Not content with just talking about video games, Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers also allows you to “play” one. Each chapter of Arcade Spirits will feature a match of Fist of Discomfort 2, which you can have control over if you want to. It’s explained to you as a DOTA style game with lanes, minions and hero characters, but all you really need to know is that attacks fall under the classic rock-paper-scissors umbrella. In each round you’re asked to choose the sort of attack your character and their teammate will use, based on what you know about their opponents and think they’ll do next. If there’s one aspect of the game I found a little dull it would be these matches, and appreciate that you can opt out of them for my next playthrough.

Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers is a sublime visual novel, with diverse and lovable characters, some truly touching themes and an engaging plot from start to finish. I really wasn’t prepared for how much this story would affect me, be it from the battles with self worth the main character has or the hurdles Jynx’s condition puts in her way. The original Arcade Spirits was the greatest visual novel I’d ever played, and now The New Challengers is.

The post Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Kao isn’t having the best time when the game starts, with his father and sister missing from their tropical paradise home. Not one to sit around and do nothing, our plucky young hero sets out on an adventure to find them with the help of his dad’s magic boxing gloves. The story isn’t particularly crucial to the game, which is fortunate because most of the characters are pretty grating.

If you’ve played a 3D platformer before, you’ll feel immediately at home with Kao the Kangaroo. Kao has all the moves you’d expect, he can jump, double jump and do a classic spin attack. If you like jumping from platform to platform in colourful worlds and collecting shiny shit, then you already know if you should buy this game.

There’s also a focus on combat thanks to Kao’s signature boxing gloves. Bashing square will deal with most enemies pretty quickly, and when you land enough punches you’ll fill your power bar and be able to unleash an explosive special attack with the triangle button. There’s also ranged enemies that fire various projectiles at you, which you can reflect back at them with a well timed spin. It’s fairly simple to deal with most foes, but also pretty satisfying.

Your main goal in Kao the Kangaroo is to collect a big old list of stuff in each stage. There are mysterious runes that unlock new levels, the letters that spell KAO that unlock outfits at the shop, and blue crystals that… don’t seem to do anything. If you love making sure you pick up every little shiny collectable in a game then Kao will appeal to you, but outside of the runes none of them feel particularly essential to gather.

Outside of stages you’ll be sent to an overworld full of nooks and crannies to explore. These areas have plenty of collectables too, as well as entrances to new levels and a shop to spend your hard earned coin. There’s some very handy extra health to purchase, as well as cool new outfits and pointless extra lives. You’ll always have more than enough cash to grab what you need, especially once you’ve purchased the retro Kao costume and realised nothing will ever compete with it.

As you progress through the game, new interesting elements get added to the mix. Kao the Kangaroo doesn’t do anything particularly innovative, but has all the 3d platformer staples you know and love. Rail grinding, grapple points and those stages where you run into the camera from the Crash games are all here, and they’re all exactly how you remember them. Even the worlds are the standard platform game staples, from volcanoes to ice mountains. Kao is very much a “greatest hits” of the genre, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Perhaps the most interesting parts of Kao the Kangaroo involve the elemental powers you get for your gloves. Fire gloves are the first of these, and can be used to burn through spider webs or melt ice. Ice gloves can freeze water to be walked across or slide boxes on. There are a few puzzles that take advantage of these different powers, and although not particularly taxing on the brain they’re a nice change of pace.

The boss fights in Kao the Kangaroo are also brilliant, and pretty damn challenging. Each big bad has a variety of attacks you’ll need to dodge, before revealing a weak point to batter. It’s the typical loop of dodging more and more powerful attacks, but each one is really well designed and a joy to beat.

I really enjoyed my time with Kao and company, but the game isn’t without some significant faults. There are a lot of surfaces that look like they can be jumped on which are just set dressing, as well as a load of invisible walls preventing you from going out of bounds. I lost a lot of health jumping onto rocks I thought would lead to more loot only to slide off them into pits or lava, and it was consistently frustrating.

Another issue I had involves the collectibles. Some collectables will leave your inventory when you take damage by falling into water or lava, and it’s infuriating to have to go back to collect them again after making one small mistake. I’d expect it after maybe losing a life, but after taking one hit from one specific source is ridiculous and simply poor game design.

Kao the Kangaroo is a throwback to 3D platformers of the past, with plenty of collectables to grab and themed worlds to explore. It does have some issues with invisible walls and fake platforms, but if you enjoyed 3d platformers in your formative years you’ll find a lot to love in this adventure down under.

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Having reviewed Outward a few years ago, I already knew what to expect going into the PS5 version. I was hoping that in the years since my initial look Nine Dots would have added a little more polish to the experience though. It’s not that Outward Definitive Edition is bad – in fact parts of it are very good – it’s just that it suffers from a pretty bad case of jank in places.

Your protagonist is an amateur adventurer whose last voyage went sour. Waking on a beach with no possessions, you learn that your ship sank and most of your party is dead. When you return to town, you’re blamed for the whole thing and told you have 5 days to pay off

So that’s your motivation. Head out into the world and accrue a small fortune (it’s not actually that much) or work off the debt by performing tasks for the townsfolk. Before you leave you’ll need to craft a quarterstaff, find a backpack, and gather some provisions like water and food. And then, we’ll, you’re on your own.

The open approach to adventuring serves Outward well. There’s little forced structure, and you can boldly stride off into the unknown to face your destiny with barely a second thought. Unfortunately, though, the world is incredibly dangerous. Just wandering down onto the beach saw me mulched in seconds by a giant lobster. I was torn apart by bandits on my second trip out.

A rather nice addition is the ability to ditch your backpack with the push of a button. The loss of weight makes you nimbler and quicker, allowing you to dodge and attack with less stamina cost. Just don’t forget to pick it up again.

Even with this touch though, the combat is just not good. It’s imprecise and weightless, lacking any kind of impact or catharsis. You just snack things or throw magic and you don’t ever feel like you’re really achieving anything. Fighting more than one enemy is difficult because the lock-on is temperamental, and overall it just lacks the finesse it sorely needs.

The actual adventuring is the highlight, which is probably the point. Your character isn’t meant to be a valiant hero, after all; you’re just some rando with poor financial skills and a rucksack full of junk. Exploring the world is rewarding in itself though. The further you range, the more you’ll see, and you’ll soon be carting back valuable treasures to clear your debt before getting a taste for the adventurer’s life and doing it for fun.

My initial observation about Outward looking really nice in screenshots is an important one, though. In motion it’s not a particularly attractive game. Character models are a bit stuff and some of the environments are a little too sparse. Catch a decent sky box or rolling meadow and it looks pretty enough, but there are better looking RPGs and survival games out there.

There’s nothing in the PS5 version to really make it stand out, either. It makes little use of haptics and plays no different to the PC version. That said, it does come bundled with both DLC packs. You can engage with the multiplayer should you choose, which works better than in many fantasy games. Split screen or online play allows you to team up near or far and tackle the tougher challenges together. It doesn’t perform any worse, and if anything the thrill of discovery is better when shared.

What Outward Definitive Edition lacks in polish it mostly makes up for with heart. There’s a lot of love in the game, lots of little ideas that gel together in a title that entertains despite its shortcomings. The jankiness here is endearing in many ways, and everything feels like it exists in context. It’s a well-realised world full of danger and excitement, and as such it’s always compelling if not completely thrilling.

There’s not much here to really dazzle, but if you haven’t yet played Outward, there’s a lot to like for RPG and survival fans.

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Featuring bigger maps and tons of opportunities to wipe out the Nazi threat, Sniper Elite 5 is by far the best the series has been. On PS5, the environments are gorgeous. Whether you’re infiltrating an industrial complex or hunting down an officer in a lush chateau, the locations across France are delightful. Not only does it look great, some of the maps are massive. The first mission alone took me well over two hours to finish. I worked my way from a beach to a nearby town, crossing farmlands and infiltrating Nazi facilities buried underground. The final moments saw me making my way through a quaint village populated by multiple soldiers, and I was free to approach them however I wanted.

Sniper Elite 5: Play your way

There’s plenty of freedom to play how you want. You’re more than welcome to use your sniper rifle, but doing so may attract attention due to the sound it makes when fired. Within your arsenal are grenades, teller mines, TNT, and even rat bombs, not to mention the different guns on offer. If you want to be quiet, you can plan your attack by whistling to beckon unsuspected enemies to your location and take them down in silence. There’re decoys to confuse soldiers, schu mines to lure them to a location, and subsonic ammo that provides a quiet kill. They’ll be times when you try the silent approach, but if it all goes wrong, there’re tons of weapons and explosives at your disposal to get you out of a sticky situation.

By successfully executing enemies, completing objectives, and getting impressive kills, you earn XP to improve your character. The skill tree is utilised across both the campaign and multiplayer, branching across three areas: Combat, Equipment, and Body. Combat will provide upgrades to how you act in combat, improving everything from how steady you shoot and automatically searching enemies for bullets, bandages, and explosives. Equipment will give you extra capacity for carrying explosives, bullets, and more. Finally, Body will help you lengthen your focus or regenerate health faster, among other things.

The path of the bullet

Enemies are surprisingly smart, and at times it can be difficult to get past a heavily populated area. Sniper Elite 5 reminded me a lot of the Hitman series due to how much patience is rewarded. Waiting an extra few minutes can be the difference between being obliterated in a wall of bullets and efficiently executing a whole unit of Nazis. Yes, it can be infuriating after spending so long being as cautious as possible only to be spotted by an unsuspecting enemy, but that’s why you’re given so many chances to plan your attack. You can focus to reveal nearby enemies, and use binoculars or your rifles scope to tag them as well. Watch how enemies move, choose your moment, and keep on moving.

The crown jewel of Sniper Elite 5 is obviously the use of the sniper rifle. Another reason I love using these precision-focused weapons is down to how they rely on science. Each shot is a mathematical equation waiting to be solved. It’s not as simple as point and shoot. There’re so many factors to consider, such as bullet drop, wind speed, distance, and noise. Some shots can make use of surrounding surfaces, with bullets ricocheting off metal walls or penetrating wooden barriers. With each rifle, you can adjust the range to limit bullet drop from long distances. Zooming in will also get you a clearer shot, and paying close attention to everything in the vicinity of a target will help you to decide when to make the shot.

Sniper Elite 5: A masochist’s dream

When you do pull the trigger, Sniper Elite 5’s kill cam is glorious. Witnessing the bullet leave the barrel, glide on the wind, and penetrate the flesh and bone at slow speeds provides instant gratification. The level of detail in this feature is worryingly accurate, as teeth, bone, and blood dance from the wound and spray across the screen. This can be skipped, but if you’re a deviant like me, it can also be slowed down for your viewing pleasure. To improve everything from the range of your zoom to the rate of fire and recoil, workbenches are scattered across the levels to swap out scopes, barrels, magazines, and more. You can also pick up temporary weapons from fallen soldiers or inside enemy territory, ranging from sniper rifles, sub-machine guns, and pistols.

Along with an enjoyable campaign, the story regarding the secret German weapon known as Operation Kraken kept me invested. I wasn’t a huge fan of the over-the-top ‘America against the world’ mentality, though. I get Karl Fairburne is an elite marksman and an American hero, but sometimes it was a bit overbearing. The voice acting was a bit hammy, but I’m not playing for it to rival the stories told in movies like American Sniper or The Longest Day. Sniper Elite 5 is strong in its gameplay, and I thoroughly enjoyed how layered the combat felt throughout.

Become the best

For the perfectionists among you, Sniper Elite 5 offers plenty of collectibles to find, and various medals and ribbons to unlock. Some of the medals focus on mastery of your weapons, in turn unlocking new cosmetics or gear for your rifle. The ribbons are achieved by completing passive objectives like killing a certain amount of enemies in silence or firing bullets into vital organs so many times. These extra achievements help to improve your overall rank as a marksman, and are great for players who get a kick out of becoming the ultimate sniper. There’re multiplayer medals and ribbons, but unfortunately I didn’t get to try it due to a low player count during review. I’m sure when it’s live, this will be something players will spend their time doing, along with the opportunity to take part in various online modes and invading other player’s games to cause mischief and mayhem.

Sniper Elite 5 is an impressively layered shooter, where the wealth of options for how you tackle a level is vast. You’re rewarded for getting the job done however you choose, but following the quiet path of a sniper will be more beneficial when it comes to earning XP. While it’s authentic in how patience is key to get that perfect shot, you’re not punished for your mistakes, so if it does go south there’re tons of options to help you get out of a sticky situation. It may be a bit cheesy at times, and some of the voice acting isn’t great, but there’s definitely a solid gameplay loop, and the sense of freedom is what I loved most about it.

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Phoebe lives in a world full of magic, but has always been more interested in machines than casting fireballs. With her parents desperate to convince her to pack in her tinkering, Phoebe creates Floppy Knights to prove them wrong. These little dudes can be summoned from floppy discs and will do your bidding, so obviously Phoebe decides to use them to perform oddjobs so that she can make some bank and move into her own place.

These oddjobs quickly turn into turn-based battles on a grid, with a twist. You need to use cards to control your army of creatures. Each turn you’ll draw six cards from your deck, and can spend energy points to use them. At a basic level these cards will allow you to move and attack with your units, but you’ll also get new knights, cards that draw more cards and buffs in your deck before you know it.

At the start of each battle you’ll be able to place your chosen commander (initially a big humanoid plant with a sword), and if they are defeated you’ll instantly lose the level. You’ll need to summon an army of other plants to defend him, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The cactus attacks every adjacent enemy at once, the mushroom uses a poison slingshot to inflict damage and status effects from afar, and the potted plant is cheap to summon and give you a free movement card. It’s always exciting to unlock new Floppy Knights by beating missions, and shove them in your deck.

Deck building is a huge part of Floppy Knights, because you won’t get far unless you bring the right cards to the mission. It’s all well and good bringing loads of buffs and healing cards, but if you don’t draw a movement card or two each turn you’ll be a sitting duck. Balancing offence and mobility is tricky, but when you draw the perfect hand and take down a wall of enemy units it’s all worthwhile.

Each mission in Floppy Knights feels completely different from the last, with a whole host of objectives to accomplish. Occasionally you’ll just need to beat up all the baddies, but there are also missions where you need to capture and hold a specific square, steal a flag, or in one instance even attack a giant’s fingers so he falls off a mountain. As well as the main mission, each stage has a side objective to aim for if you want some extra currency and cards.

Complete enough objectives and you’ll bag a nice pile of coins to spend at the shop. After most levels there’s new cards added to the shelves, and if you want a more consistent deck you’ll need to grab them.

Don’t worry too much about running out of funds though, because you’ll be able to stock up on gold in bonus missions. Every time you beat a world you’ll get access to these tactical challenges, which give you a premade deck to beat a previous stage with. It’s an interesting change of pace, and gives you a chance to check out different strategies to add to your own decks.

The sheer variety is really what sets Floppy Knights apart from other tactics games. Each new world introduces all manner of new mechanics, from lava and flaming boulders to enemy spawn portals and full on fog of war that hides your enemies. It’s always a treat to see what’s next and try to adjust your decks accordingly.

I really love so much of what Floppy Knights brings to the tactics genre, but it does have an unexpected issue – it occasionally suffers from slowdown. It seems bizarre that the Series S would struggle with a 2d tactics game, and although it doesn’t really affect the turn-based gameplay it can get a little distracting.

Floppy Knights is one of the best tactics games I’ve played in a long time, and can easily hang with all time greats like Fire Emblem and Into the Breach. The combination of turn based strategy gameplay with deck building is exceptional, and the variety of the worlds and objectives keeps the game fresh from start to finish. Available on Game Pass from day one, there’s simply no excuse to miss out of this delightful genre mashup.

The post Floppy Knights review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Evil Dead: The Game pits a team of four survivors against a horde of demons controlled by one other player. The survivors have a whole host of objectives to complete to purge the evil from this land, and it’s up to the demon to murder the lot of them to prevent this. It’s a really interesting setup, with a lot of strategic thinking required if you want your team to succeed.

As a Survivor you’ll need to collect 3 pieces of a map first (with a vague area given for you to explore) then collect the Kandarian Dagger and pages of the Necronomicon it reveals. You can then take down the massive demons guarding the Necronomicon, reassemble it and expel all those baddies from this realm. It’s a huge task, and involves travelling across a massive map and dealing with waves of monsters as you go.

Combat as a Survivor is functional, but not particularly fun. You’ll need to grab a gun and a melee weapon from the world as soon as possible, so you can deal with whatever horde of ghouls your opponent throws at you. Up close you can unleash light attacks and heavy attacks, and will need to make good use of the dodge button. Guns work exactly how you’d expect, and come in the usual varieties of pistols and shotguns you’d expect. It’s unfortunately all just a little clunky, which is a shame because you’ll be doing a lot of it.

When you aren’t fighting spooky monsters, you should probably be looting houses to up your arsenal. Each map is pretty vast (some might say too vast) and has plenty of nooks and crannies to explore to find the best weapons. You’ll also want to find lots of healing cola, amulets that give you a protective barrier and matches to light up the world.

If you’re on your own in the dark for too long you’ll become scared. The fear mechanic is really interesting, and has a ton of implications. Anyone who’s scared will be visible on the map to the evil opponent, and can be possessed by them and used to attack their fellow survivors. One of the easiest ways to lose is having your best player turn his legendary rifle on his pals, so sticking together and huddling by a fire will serve you well.

I didn’t really enjoy playing as the survivors during my time with Evil Dead: The Game, but I had a lot of fun commanding an army of demons. There are three evil factions you can choose to lead, and once you’ve chosen you’ll be unleashed onto the map. There are a ton of different tools at your disposal as a bad guy, and you’ll need to use them all to kill those pesky humans.

Using portals to summon monsters is one of the most simple ways to torment your enemies. You have two types of portal that unleash basic and elite enemies into the world, and they can be summoned instantly or activated when an unsuspecting player walks close enough to them. You can then either watch the chaos unfold and see who comes out on top, or possess one of the monsters and take matters into your own hands. Each type of demon has a completely different moveset, and will almost always be more successful if you’re the one piloting them.

As well as portals, you can also set traps around the world at specific locations. Some of these will jumpscare the survivors (and jumpscare they do!) which raises their fear metre, others can make a tree swing branches at them or make a creepy hand jump out of a chest and attack them. Watching traps torment your opponents is always a pleasure, but the map is so big you’ll rarely get a chance to unless you choose the very best place to put them.

All of these methods of survivor bullying are fine, but none of them are as devastating as your boss monster. This powerful beast has a heck of a cooldown and isn’t unlocked immediately, but when it is unleashed it’s rare for the survivors to be left standing. Only you can control the boss, and it has a whole host of abilities to immobilise, disrupt and dismantle a team of humans. Nothing in Evil Dead: The Game feels better than summoning the boss when the survivors are gathered at an objective and killing the lot of ‘em.

Every one of these powers requires you to spend some Infernal Energy, which you find in floating red orbs around the map. Keeping this topped up is absolutely the worst aspect of playing as the demons, and it takes so many of them to do anything. Gliding around in your spectral form is floaty and stomach churning at the best of times, so having to speed around for minutes at a time just so you can send a few skeletons at Ash and company isn’t ideal.

One way to try and make this issue less prevalent is to spend your upgrade points on Infernal Energy. As you make the world a more threatening place you’ll be given points to unlock powers (like the portals and boss monsters) and upgrades to make your army more powerful. You don’t really stand a chance against the good guys when you start the match, but after placing a few traps and downing a few survivors you’ll have a plethora of unstoppable powers at your disposal.

Survivors can level up some stats mid match too, by finding pink potions in loot boxes. The upgrades are pretty granular and not particularly exciting, but getting a bunch of them is key if you want to stand a chance against the overpowered demon horde.

You won’t just be buffing your characters in matches either, with huge skill trees of upgrades available for every single survivor and demon class. Every match will earn you points based on how well you perform, and you can use them to upgrade everything from the amount of Infernal Energy you start with to the damage dealt by a specific attack.

There is one massive issue with Evil Dead: The Game that will hopefully be addressed down the line, and that’s the balance. For this review I played over 10 hours of matches as the demons, and lost 1 game total. I also played plenty of survivor matches and barely won a single game. It seems pretty unlikely that I have some sort of eSports skill level when it comes to murdering survivors, and until this balance is fixed it makes playing as the survivors especially really unappealing.

Another (admittedly more personal) issue I had with Evil Dead: The Game was the actual Evil Dead universe. I can’t understand if it’s supposed to be comedy or horror, and the end result was that it was neither. Coupled with some horrendous voice acting, it certainly didn’t make me want to check out the source material as many licensed games have in the past.

Evil Dead: The Game has an incredibly good concept, but balance issues and average Survivor gameplay really let it down in its current state. In the best moments playing as the Demons I loved tormenting my enemies, but in these moments I was painfully aware of how much less fun I’d be having if I was on the other side. With a bit of balancing though, there’s still some hope for Evil Dead fans yet.

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It’s a sci-fi Soulslike that revolves around the titular Dolmen, here neither a neolithic tomb nor a Swedish man’s todger, but a piece of alien McGuffinite that has caused a space station to become infested by interdimensional nasties. Your faceless generic soldier is sent in on a solo mission (unless you engage the multiplayer, natch) to sort it all out, but this in itself is somewhat problematic.

In Soulslikes there is usually a reason you’re a lone warrior in a very dangerous place. It not only creates a sense of isolation and thus trepidation, but often feeds directly into whatever sparse narrative there is. Massive Work’s decision to make your character part of a larger organisation who can communicate with you and even bring you back to the ship – a place of total safety – is at odds with the genre. There’s no contextual reason for not sending a squad of soldiers in. There’s no narrative reason for keeping you in the dark and feeding you shit like a mushroom when they could just tell you what’s going on.

The result is a world that does nothing to grip you or hold your attention. It’s a generic space station filled with poorly-detailed enemies, wherein the concept of horror that it proudly displays as one of its store tags is pared down to sticking an enemy around literally every cornercand having them jump out at you. Massive Work Studio may be a smaller team with a smaller budget than some Soulslike developers, but there games made in similar circumstances that are simply better designed and optimised.

Part of the problem, besides the bland environments, is the combat. It’s thoroughly Soulslike, but clumsily implemented. Your weapon strikes have little feedback, and your starting gun might as well be a flashlight pen. Stamina runs out too quickly and takes too long to refill, which wouldn’t be a problem if you could comfortably read enemy attacks. While there are tells and wind-ups, the framerate chugs so heavily that timing a block or dodge involves entering a zen-like state where your conscious brain is several seconds ahead of the rest of Creation.

The one innovation is that you can equip an elemental reactor in your metal pyjamas that activates a powered up mode and bestows elemental damage and defence. It becomes an issue when you have everything come from your Energy pool. Your guns use Energy as ammo, your heal uses Energy to replace health, and your super mode uses energy to increase your effectiveness. The paultry four batteries you’re given at the start don’t last very long, and yes you can certainly find more and upgrade them, but again it doesn’t make sense. The Estus Flask, for example, is a magical item rendered rare by this very fact. The batteries you carry in Dolmen could be in a pack of 20 strapped to each leg, or a whacking great one in a backpack. It’s a system that renders its guns substantially less useful than modern weapons that just shoot bullets.

Should you find the game a little tough you can opt to take part in the multiplayer. It certainly makes certain things easier, particularly the boss fights. These range wildly from suprisingly easy to ridiculously tough, but like any game in the genre the answer is pattern recognition and timing. The problem is that the lock-on camera is incredibly temperamental when the target gets close to you, and the boss movement is as slidey and imprecise as everything else. It leads to lots of encounters that you feel you should easily be able to overcome, but struggle with because the game is so clumsy.

If you enjoyed Hellpoint and are comfortable to set your bar slightly lower than that, there’s some fun to be had here. Or if you’re just a fully paid-up member of the Soulslike Fan Club, give it a go. It certainly offers challenge and a sense of exploration. As for whether its worth spending money on, that’s tougher. There are dozens of alternatives out there either for Dark Souls fans or sci-fi nuts, and Dolmen is just too riddled with issues to recommend.

The post Dolmen review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

This story offers such a dense and compelling narrative that draws you in and keeps you hooked throughout. After an event known as a Code Red occurs (fundamentally a massacring of vampires), the current Prince of the Boston sect known as the Camarilla sends three of her trusted followers out to uncover the truth of what happened. As you begin to investigate the truth of the attack, a monumental conspiracy starts to unfold, leaving you unable to trust anyone. It’s a staggering story that’s filled with information, whether that’s from conversations with others or documents you find scattered around.

Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong: A sophisticated thriller

Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong is overwhelming at first. Not only do you need to get used to the rules of gameplay, but there’re so many characters to get used to and there place in the hierarchy, along with a multitude of locations, organisations, and various other terms and practices that are all integral to the story. You’re given a codex where more detail is given, and you’re free to give it a read at any point for clarity. I honestly love how much effort has been put into it, and as a big reader, I felt it greatly helped to flesh out the sweeping narrative being told by Big Bad Wolf. Thankfully, the further you play and explore, the more you begin to understand everything, and like any good book, it all begins to come together, creating a clear picture in your mind.

In Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong, you play as three separate vampires who’s fates are somehow entwined. Each of the three characters feel unique to play as, thanks to the fantastic job that’s been done with the story. Emem is a strong and sophisticated woman who runs various nightclubs in Boston. She’s sassy and equally seductive, but there’s also a sadness to her that is explored thoroughly. One of her powers allows her to teleport from one area to another, mirroring the energy highlighted in her own personality. She’s been a victim, but that won’t hold her back anymore.

A trio of fascinating protagonists

Galeb is a loyal follower to the Prince, and has been for some time. He’s smart and can sense supernatural presences to find clues regarding the mysteries you uncover. While he’s normally calm and collected, Galeb can also be incredibly violent, and walking that path throughout offered an interesting element to the sections when you play as him. His involvement with a woman known as Xu Feng and how that impacts his story continued to intrigue me, and the sense of foreboding regarding certain spoilery things gave me plenty of reasons to keep on playing.

Finally, Leysha has the power to see into the future, although this gift is both a blessing and a curse. After spending time at a place called the Institute, she’s reunited with her daughter, Halsey, and does her best to keep the lingering fear of returning there at bay. Leysha’s story is filled with sorrow, however, depending on the choices you make, there can be glimmers of hope. As for her powers, she can turn invisible in a sense, as well as copying people’s appearances a la Hitman to get into places that are off limits, making her one of the most fun to play as.

Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong: Choose your words wisely

Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong is more of a detective thriller, where words are your weapon as opposed to your fists. There’s a lot of dialogue to listen to, and while it can be skipped, there may be nuggets of information that you might miss out on. Along with all the reading you’re going to do, it might feel slow at times, but I personally enjoyed how deep the rabbit hole goes. When talking to people, you can use your abilities to get unique dialogue options that you might not of done if certain skills aren’t upgraded. Think of it like the Fallout series in that respect.

Emem, Galeb, and Leysha all have a range of attributes and skills that can be improved with experience points. In conversations, you’ll rely on persuasion, rhetoric, intimidation, and psychology to outwit those you’re talking to. If these skills are high enough, there’s a chance you’ll be successful. Not only do you need to have a high enough level in these speech requirements, your Focus plays a massive role in things. Represented by a gauge of blue diamonds, every time you choose to use one of these in a conversation, they deplete. If a time comes when you don’t have enough Focus, it’ll be necessary to find another way to ‘win’ the conversation.

A deep RPG in every way

There’re also exploration skills that can help you to maybe pick a lock or hack a security system, but again, this requires Focus. Some of these obstacles can be overcome by looking through documents or finding clues to where a passcode or lock combination might be. Like much of Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong, you’re constantly given choices as to how to proceed, with every decision leading to potentially dire consequences if not done carefully. Knowledge is power as well, and by being well-educated and having the power of deduction, other hurdles will present themselves. Your success on missions offer more experience points to spend on these skills, so being thorough, patient, and careful often reaps more reward.

On top of these skills, you have something called Disciplines. Vampire-focused skills which can also be upgraded. As mentioned earlier, Emem can teleport, but it makes her hunger meter fill up. Galeb can scan items to reveal supernatural beings and further his investigation, again filling his hunger meter. Leysha can copy the disguise of someone, but it’ll make her hungrier. There’re also dialogue options where Disciplines can be used, such as overpowering someone’s mind akin to telling a Stormtrooper these aren’t the droids he’s looking for. Once that meter is full, you become the beast, and the whole point of the masquerade (concealing your identity to mortals) becomes obsolete.

Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong: Dinner time

To sate your hunger, you can feed on unsuspecting victims by drinking their blood, but do it too much and your suspicion level increases. Stealth is key when playing Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong. It can be pretty easy to keep your intentions and your vampiric nature a secret, but being as careful as possible is much more important than not. Throughout missions, there’re particular documents to be found, and if you recover them all that suspicion level can be kept low. By acting like a whisper in the wind, you’ll gain improvements to your skills, so it pays to be cautious wherever you are.

By successfully using these skills and Disciplines, you can permanently improve them through Talents. For example, if you complete a quest without hunting any prey a certain amount of times, you’ll gain an additional increase to your hunger meter. There’re also specific character Traits as well that will improve your chances of successfully gaining information through conversations. Some verbal exchanges turn into Confrontations, and they’ll test your intelligence to make sure you say the right things. In-between these heated discussions, Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong is teeming with puzzles, and they require you paying attention to everything you read and see.

One early puzzle had me moving around circular platforms to work an ancient elevator, and it drove me nuts. Another made use of my powers of persuasion to get a locker code out of a scientist so I could gain access to his hazmat suit. Some are trickier than others, but they’re incredibly well-layered, offering plenty to do regardless of the location. Big Bad Wolf has done a fantastic job of constructing something that doesn’t rely on combat whilst giving you a constant need to keep playing.

Looking sharp

The general look of Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong is gorgeous, with some sleek environments and plenty of detail in the smallest of places, but some of the facial animations leave a little to be desired. Most characters look dead behind the eyes, and their mouths aren’t consistent with what they’re saying. There’s also some rough transitioning between scenes and load screens, but for the most part, I loved the way it looked. I also suffered a few glitches where heads moved awkwardly and clothes bled into each other, but not enough for me to consider it an issue.

Vampire – The Masquerade: Swansong is a political thriller set among the backdrop of a war between vampires and mortals in the heart of Boston. The conspiracies and mysteries kept me guessing, and every time I found a new bit of information, I couldn’t wait to see how it impacted everything. There were times when I could’ve quite easily missed something because I chose another story option, and some of these were huge. Early on, Leysha made a huge discovery about the Prince’s intentions, and I could’ve easily missed it if I’d just gone about my duties like an obedient servant. It’s vast and has a complex skill system, but it becomes easy to grasp the more time you spend with it.

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For starters, whether it’s fair or not, an exclusively co-op adventure that’s over ten hours in run-time is asking a lot. Not that games like this should be relegated to single session one-and-done experiences, but getting a friend to find the time for a full-length endeavour such as this is a big ask. I’m not sure everyone else has a work friend like Chris Hyde to play it with, though the audience growth for the series does suggest people want more; I’m just not sure they want this much more.

Every room in We Were Here Forever is (or contains) a puzzle. The conceit is you are two prisoners, often separated in completely different rooms, and you communicate via walkie-talkie. Early on, this is a fun, almost exciting experience as you are essentially playing a bizarro version of 80s kids TV show Knightmare. It becomes a linguistics test as you try to explain what you’re seeing, slowly understanding that while it’s not relevant to your situation, it’s definitely going to help out your partner.

“The sort of Y shape with a sperm coming out of it”, might be a comment you’d hear. Or then there was “the Alien that looks angry”. Because while it might start out simple enough with shapes you haven’t used since school, eventually the symbols and items you’re describing are not part of common parlance, and you’re trying to find ways to explain a weird squiggly line that is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

And that’s fine, really. It’s a laugh trying to find comedic ways to describe the objects you see. But the puzzles range from easy to borderline obtuse, and the hint system is poor to say the least. When you’ve spent a good amount of time searching a room for clues, only to give up and hit the first hint which tells you “you’ll find clues hidden around the room”, well, you need more; much more.

There are three hints per puzzle, unlocked after around thirty seconds pass between each. We resorted to them a few times, and they were always useless. By the time you’re needing a hint, you’re well past the stage that they’re of any use. Likewise, while the game looks nice enough, the environmental puzzle solutions can be confusing because some of the textures are muddy, and others clear. This ends in a situation where you’re desperate for a hint somewhere, but you’re wandering around muttering “it can’t be that” because, well, it looks blurry.

Make no mistake about it, there are a few puzzles here that if I was playing after release, I’d have googled the solution. I consider myself and Chris at least of average intelligence (him higher, frankly), but we were stumped for too long on too many occasions. I’d love to say the solution was often hidden in plain sight and we were overthinking it, but I just don’t think that’s true. When you’re so stuck you’re over-analysing a grammatical error in a game and wondering if it’s something lost in translation, there’s a problem with the puzzle and the solution.

That said, for every confusing moment, there are some cracking puzzles within We Were Here Forever. Early on, there’s a terrific puzzle involving lifts and magical doors, and in fact, when it leans into the strange and supernatural it’s both interesting and challenging in the right way. In these moments, the walkie-talkie communication, puzzles, and mysterious nature of the setting marry to make a truly compelling adventure. You want to succeed, and you won’t give up until you do. However, there are also a few too many moments where you’re stood around waiting for your partner to execute the solution to a puzzle. One room I recall had me just running around in circles waiting for the puzzle to finish. In the sections that have tricky solutions, this can become a bit dull.

As the fourth game in the series, it’s possible that the developer has just tried to go too big here. There does feel like padding with some areas, and often when you think you’re about to see a conclusion, it’s going to spin out into another few hours. It’s worth noting that both Chris and I had issues with the game in terms of bugs, but we’ve been told these will be fixed for launch. There are also micro-loads, or possibly latency when loading into areas. It’s a clear stutter, and mixed with some slight clipping issues, it adds up to a feeling of a game that is absolutely playable and fun, but could have perhaps done with a little longer in the oven.

We Were Here Forever is a fun, challenging co-op puzzler. There’s enough intrigue in the story to keep you guessing (especially if this is your first foray into the series), but there’s also a huge variance in the puzzle variety and difficulty. A truly great puzzler should mix things up, stump you, but also eventually give you the tools to understand and solve its mysteries. In that respect, in an under-represented genre, We Were Here Forever is worth a look, but I’d also recommend making sure that someone has solved the puzzles online for you before you buy it, because you will get stuck, and this will cause frustration. One thing is for sure, there’s plenty of value for money here, with a lengthy campaign and the chance to play it from both sides of the story.

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The first of our three heroes, plucky young treasure hunter CJ, has been cast out from her home until she can find a treasure worthy of her clan. Upon hearing the news that the mining town of New Neveah has opened up the local ruins, she journeys across the land to find a village on the brink of ruin. The acting mayor has come up with a plan to save New Neveah, and that involves making anyone who wants to look for loot in the ruins help fix up the town first. So stamp card in hand, CJ sets off to do some odd jobs.

You’re given all sorts of tasks by the locals, ranging from rescuing missing pets to harvesting whiskers from snow yetis. More often than not though they’ll require you to leave town and go somewhere more dangerous. This means dusting off CJ’s climbing picks (her unconventional weapon of choice) and fighting a load of monsters. Combat is beyond simple early on, with a three hit combo and a dash to avoid damage all you have access to. That won’t be enough to survive outside for long, but fortunately some unlikely allies are happy to provide some support in that department.

The first of these comes in the form of a kangaroo with an eyepatch and a massive sword, and the other is the mayor who happens to also be a magical girl. Each of the three characters is assigned a face button on the controller, and to tag them in and attack with them you simply press that button. You can play as whichever character you want as you wander around the sidescrolling stages, with each of them sporting different movement abilities and attacks.

CJ is a speedy scrapper, and is definitely the character you’ll control most when exploring the world. Garoo the Kangaroo is much burlier, but can break rocks with his blade, block attacks and do a massive vertical leap with a bit of charging. Isha the magical mayor is (you guessed it) magical, with ranged elemental attacks and the ability to teleport out of the way of damage.

This trio perfectly compliment each other when it comes to beating up bandits and bosses, especially when using link attacks. By switching character after landing a blow, time will slow down and they’ll land an extra powerful attack or two. As you progress through the game the amount of these you can do in a row increases, and you’ll be able to string together huge chains of tag team offense. These attacks are as satisfying as they are flashy, and I never got tired of using them.

You might think that all this talk of swords and magic means you’ll spend most of your time in Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising beating up baddies, but that often takes a backseat to picking up rocks and sticks. To help build the village back to its former glory and fill up your stamp card, you’ll need to help open up a whole host of shops in New Neveah by completing (practically compulsory) side quests. Once you help a villager by giving them enough lumber or completing market research (talking to a few villagers) a catchy tune will play and a burly builder will complete their shop, and you’ll have access to a selection of new upgrades.

There’s so much to upgrade in Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising, from simple equipment buffs, pack upgrades, and even new armour and weapons that unlock longer combos and abilities. Every single one of these will require plenty of cash and monster parts to unlock, so get used to running out to the forest to gather slime and scrap until your bag is overflowing. For the first ten hours or so I really enjoyed the relaxing gameplay loop of gathering items and upgrading my characters, but as you progress further you’ll soon realise quite how excessive the amount of grinding that’s expected of you.

This is especially true when you notice how small the areas outside of town really are. Each new zone (of which there are about 5) can be fully explored in all of ten minutes when the game allows it, but Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising manages to slow your progress so consistently to stretch this game out way past the twenty hour mark.

The main story is split into quests, which are generally as simple as “go to this location” or “help this person”. Each time one of these is completed, a handful of side quests will pop up on the message board in town. Unless you want to miss out on new gear, you’ll be travelling back and forth constantly (thank god for fast travel).

It’s a shame that so much of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is artificially extended with slow paced side quests, because it does so much right. Interesting systems like elemental runes that you can equip to deal more damage to certain enemies, upgradable tools that unearth even more materials and a restaurant that serves up stat boosting grub should tick all the boxes for me. But it takes so long to get to these systems that I was losing interest by the time I did. Even meeting your party members takes multiple hours, and the very start of the game is almost devoid of entertainment because of it.

If you can deal with the pacing issues though, there really is a lot to love in Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. It looks absolutely gorgeous, with some of the best 2D art combined with 3D environments to create a visual masterpiece. The soundtrack is also a dream, with a whole host of laid back tunes that’ll get stuck in your head.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a beautiful game with fantastic combat, but the pacing of the game lets it down. It’s a joy to link attack your way through tough foes, but returning to the same forest and quarry four times in a row to gather ore gets old fast. With a few hours trimmed Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising would be something special, but as it stands you’ll need to really enjoy the gameplay loop to be able to put up with the repetition.

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Loot River takes place in a dark fantasy setting where you’re drawn into a perpetual cycle of life and death, where people gradually go mad and lose everything that made them human. It’s a familiar tale that never really gives you any exposition. Like FromSoft titles, much of the story is found in notes scattered across the world and the occasional characters you might meet. Its pixel art style is lovely, and the procedurally generated level design offers plenty of different places to explore.

Loot River: Rolling down the…stream

What is really smart about Loot River is how they’ve used moving platforms for players to traverse across the world. By shifting the ground beneath you, a wealth of opportunities to avoid danger, progress through tight spots, or get to some treasure present themselves regularly. You can also use this to your advantage in a fight. Get close to an enemy, attack them, then move away. Sometimes, there’re monsters that can freeze platforms and the only way to get them going again is to kill them.

There’re tons of different creatures in the creepy world of Loot River. Each one has a specific attack pattern, with some preferring to attack from close range with their claws, swords, or warhammers, or from a distance with a range of spells and bombs. Ungodly abominations, deformed bats and spiders, and other critters will plague you as you travel through Loot River, and if you’re not prepared, death will surely find you. The parrying system works really well, though. Depending on certain gear as well, you can be rewarded for it which, believe me, helps a lot.

Take a deep breath

Loot River is ridiculously difficult. While there’re plenty of new weapons and spells to find, and fancy new gear that adds particular buffs, it’s all lost when you die. I never found my previous stuff because the levels changed due to the procedural nature. Having that carrot on a stick in the Souls games made new runs worth playing, however, not having it in Loot River added to the frustration. Some of your unlocks are randomly given back to you for a new run, but there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. You also lose money to spend at various merchants, and Knowledge, which is used to buy new weapons and spells. Nothing is ever fully explained either, making you feel even more alone than you would playing similar types of games.

Starting a new run and persevering became such a laborious affair. I became jaded, and fed up whenever I got deep into it and subsequently died. If you do stick with Loot River, there’re certain artefacts that make the runs easier, and some of the better items can be blended with unique gear to make you feel almost unstoppable at times. The main problem with that is, it’s all random. You might go through an entire area and only pick up a small amount of knowledge. Other times, you might gain loads, but it becomes a chore holding onto hope that more often than not is blind.

Loot River: This charming man

Charms can be found through killing enemies and opening chests, which give you buffs that do help a lot. One might take off a bit of damage with every swing of your weapon, but it could also fully refill your health. Others might add one or two to the main stats of the player, such as strength, dexterity, and intelligence. There is a lot to like about Loot River, but I never got that feeling of reward. There’s even an Easy Mode which helps with some of the combat elements, but as for the randomness of drops, well, that was a constant throughout.

Loot River offers a challenge for the most sadistic of players. While the combat elements are enjoyable and the moving platforms give it a new spin that really works, I felt cheated with the lack of progress I always felt I wasn’t making. It takes a long time before you start to feel the difference. Sometimes you might get lucky and find a badass sword that levels enemies in a couple of swings or a powerful charm that gives you an edge, however, you might get the opposite and die before you feel like you’ve even ventured out of the Sanctuary. I might be doing it an injustice because I lack patience in my old age, but games are for everyone, so there should be a reason for everyone to stick with even the hardest of games.

The post Loot River review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

So it turns out the sun is going out, which isn’t good. With its final spark it creates our hero, a little imp made of fire called Nin. Nin is given the task of preventing the Eternal Eclipse, by roaming the land and defeating the four keepers. It might not be the most original story in the world, but it gets the job done and introduces the titular imp.

The main hook of The Imp of the Sun is Nin’s fiery form. Heat is very much the lifeblood of Nin, and by using your Inner Fire you can recover health at any time. Inner Fire slowly regenerated out in the sun, while filling practically instantly when you stand next to a torch. The reverse is unfortunately true too, so if you’re in a cave you’ll get very few heat based benefits and water will empty that meter faster than you can say Eternal Eclipse.

It’s a clever mechanic, but none of this matters unless the game feels good to play. Controlling Nin feels okay for the most part. Movement in general is a bit floaty, and trying to turn in mid-air is difficult to say the least. Worse than this though is the wall jumping. Some surfaces are worse than others, but getting this essential ability to work consistently was a little bothersome.

Each of the game’s four areas has an ability to unlock, from the aforementioned wall jumping and an air dash, to a ghost form that lets you move through certain walls. You can tackle the four keepers in any order, and don’t need any of these skills to progress outside the area they’re in. This is a nice idea in theory, but it really messes with the balance of the game.

The first keeper I beat was the one that unlocked the air dash, and because every other area doesn’t expect you’ll have this incredible movement ability it makes platforming trivial for the rest of the game. Alongside this you’ll upgrade Nin’s powers as you go at the friendly checkpoint reaper, which just makes you feel overpowered anytime you enter a new area.

The upgrades are functional, but not particularly exciting. By paying some of the fiery currency you find by exploring or beating up baddies, you can power up your health, Inner Fire or attack power. By the end of the game you’ll have probably unlocked all of them, and although it’s nice to have a bit of progression I just wish it wasn’t so basic.

I haven’t mentioned the combat yet, and that’s just because it’s very simple. Your melee attacks feature one ground combo and one air combo, which you can extend by finding a specific collectable in each area. It’s another aspect of Imp of the Sun that while it’s totally competent, just feels a little lacking.

The absolute best parts of Imp of the Sun are the boss fights against the keepers. Each of these has a unique hook involving the new power of that area, and they’re a ton of fun. The standouts include a hulking golem you have to climb up to damage the head, and a charging foe that can only be damaged once you turn on all the lights. They’re very creative encounters, and there wasn’t a single boss fight I didn’t enjoy.

Finding collectables is entertaining too, especially as they test you to use your abilities outside of the area you gained them. There’s the currency of course, as well as bits of lore if you’d like to learn more about the world and treasures you can sell for more cash money. All these shiny collectables are very well placed, encouraging plenty of exploration and backtracking to areas you’ve already beaten the boss of.

Performance is always an important discussion point when it comes to Switch games, and unfortunately Imp of the Sun has some issues in that department. It isn’t ever terrible, but the framerate is low throughout and regularly drops. When this happens during a particularly tricky platforming section or a boss fight it can be significantly distracting, and definitely caused me to take some hits I wouldn’t have.

Imp of the Sun is a perfectly fine Metroidvania, but it has a few too many problems to recommend it over its peers. The Inner Fire mechanic is interesting and the boss fights are creative, but slightly ropey platforming and some balance issues hold it back from being an essential purchase.

The post Imp of the Sun review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Now towards the end of Bugsnax (as long as you’ve beaten a shed load of side quests) resident conspiracy theorist Snorpy Fizzlebean will be hanging around camp with some shocking seismic activity to report. After heading down to the beach it becomes pretty obvious what caused that earthquake, a massive island has emerged from the ocean. You and four of the villagers decide to sail over to investigate this new chunk of rock, which you may have guessed is home to some big edible beasties.

As it so often is in Bugsnax, the Isle of Bigsnax is an open area full of snack animal hybrids to capture. The difference this time around though is that they are massive. Too big for any of your traps to work on in fact, so you’ll need to employ a new tactic. Fortunately the ancient inhabitants of the island knew how to make this food source more manageable, Shrink Spice. By throwing a vase of this magical substance at a vast Snak, you’ll (surprise) shrink it down to a more manageable size.

This means that to capture pretty much anything on the island you’ll need to be near one of the altars where Shrink Spice is located. The island is easily the biggest single area in the game, so carrying the Spice (which can only be carried for thirty seconds before exploding) from one end of it to the other isn’t possible. There are plenty of altars hidden around the island though, and with a bit of puzzle solving you’ll be able to access them.

Isle of Bigsnax is home to loads more puzzles than the main game. The focus on experimenting with different gadgets to capture critters is gone, and instead you’ll spend your time trying to open various locked doors. Some of these doors require you to light torches by using your Tripwire as a lighter, and others are mazes to guide your ball through. These are interesting at first, but I’d rather just stick to the snack gathering.

The new Bugsnaks do have fantastic designs though. First you’ll meet the jumbo version of the fan favourite Bunga, but after that it’s all new food friends. From massive lobsters made of pasta to a celery stick insect, every single one of them made me smile. You bring all your previous traps and tools with you to the island, so capturing them involves the same steps you mastered in the main game – albeit with the need to throw a few jars about.

Similarly to the rest of the game, the Isle of Bigsnax is full of the work of ancient civilisations. There are ruins to investigate and plenty of secrets to uncover, and anyone who remembers how the original game ended will find plenty of warning signs on this beefy side quest. As well as affecting the overall narrative of Bugsnax, you’ll also find out much more about the Grumpus’ that join you on your mission – especially as the cast is much smaller.

There isn’t a lot more to say about this bonus content really. It’s over before it really has a chance to get going, with a runtime of only a couple of hours even if you collect every single Snak. It’s a nice addition to the game, but if you’re coming back just to check out the new stuff don’t expect to stick around for long. I also experienced the most technical issues on Switch while in the new area (especially towards the end of the content) but there’s a patch that should hopefully stabilise this before launch.

The Isle of Bigsnax provides a few exciting new Bugsnax to capture, but it loses some of the charm of the main game by focusing more on door puzzles. If you’re playing through the game for the first time you’ll enjoy sailing over for a distraction from the campaign, but returning Snakkers will be finished before they know it.

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After receiving a mysterious video from famed explorer Elizabert Megafig, our nameless journalist protagonist learns about an island full of snack monsters and smells a scoop. After a brief battle with their editor, they set off to Snaktooth island for a tropical adventure. When you arrive though it doesn’t take long to realise that something is amiss, and the ragtag group of Grumpus’ (weird muppet creatures that inhabit the world of Bugsnax) need your help to find the missing Lisbert.

Without Lizbert the village of Snakburg has been all but deserted, and it’s up to you to gather up the muppets and get them to work together to find their missing friend. This generally involves convincing these colourful characters by way of feeding them Bugsnax, so with your variety of gadgets it’s time to play hunter.

Each Bugsnak behaves completely differently, and will need a different trap to capture it. An adorable little Strawby might be happy enough to wander into your Snak Trap, but an angry Big Bopsicle definitely won’t. It’s up to you to figure out the best way to make them vulnerable, be it tripping them up with a wire or luring them into some water to cool off.

The gadget you’ll probably end up using the most is the Sauce Slinger. This handy slingshot launches all sorts of handy condiments, which can be used to lure Bugsnax where you want them. By scanning a critter you can find out what it likes and dislikes, then use a trail of ketchup, cheese or chocolate to lure them into a trap. Maybe you want a Loaded Spuddy to batter a Preying Picantis so you can pick up the pieces after the scrap, or perhaps you just want to get a Fryder off the roof. Exploring each new environment and learning how to take advantage of it to catch some tasty treats is a ton of fun.

Although the adorable living snacks are the stars of Bugsnax, the Grumpus’ are also really charming. With a variety of wacky personalities, it’s always a delight to see what they’re up to back at camp. You’ll get to know all of them as you fulfil their every whim, and transform their bodies by feeding them. Oh did I not mention? When one of your pals eat a Bugsnak a part of their body (of your choosing) will transform into that snack food, and for some reason they think this is great. It’s as weird as it sounds, but from a narrative perspective things only get weirder from there.

If you played Bugsnax on PS5 though you’ll be fully aware of this colourful and bizarre world, and want to know how it manages to run on the Switch. Turns out the answer is “surprisingly well”, despite the inferior hardware. A few framedrops and some obvious pop in aside, Bugsnax runs incredibly smoothly in handheld and TV mode while still looking gorgeous. I personally really appreciated playing it as a portable title. It turns out ten free minutes is the perfect amount of time to catch a few wandering snacks.

The biggest thing you’ll lose by playing on Switch are due to the extra features of the DualSense controller. The haptics and adaptive triggers really were the star of the show on the PS5, and if you already played the game there you’ll miss their presence. The HD rumble puts in some work, but it just isn’t the same.

Also included in the Switch version of Bugsnax is the Isle of Bigsnax. Although I wasn’t hugely blown away by the extra area and critters that inhabit it, it’s definitely worth playing as you’re on your snack-fuelled adventure. We’ve reviewed that separately, but given that it’s free content and is included with the Switch version, that won’t sway your enjoyment of this version really.

Bugsnax is a unique and charming video game, and a fantastic addition to the Switch library. Although catching bugs is a little less magical without the power of the DualSense, the portability will make up for it for many. If catching living burgers while on your commute sounds like something you’d enjoy, then Bunga on down to the Switch store as soon as possible.

The post Bugsnax Switch review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

The reason for this is that motorcycle sims in general are a pretty hardcore experience, and you have to have an affinity with the way the bikes work and how they handle; as in real life, riding a motorcycle is a very different proposition to driving a car. Motorbikes are explosively powerful, but also weigh the same as one and half Tyson Furys, and are just as difficult to control. If you try the same tricks here that have served you well on a Forza title, expect to fall off your steed regularly.

Unless you really go looking for it, the aesthetics have retained their functionality from last year without pulling up any trees. There are some nice new lighting effects and everything does look a bit sharper, with more pop to the colours and some improvement to the facial side of the participants. It is the racing stuff that has been given the most attention.

There are some subtle tweaks to the bikes themselves – with more attention to tire wear, fuel consumption, and the way the suspension system works and feels. The new Ride Height Device allows you to lower your centre of gravity in real time to boost acceleration. The actual track surfaces have also been overhauled. As with the last instalment, there is a fantastic tutorial mode that will help prepare you for what is ahead, with the new MotoGP Academy going into a great deal of depth to enable even the most bike-averse newcomer to be vaguely competitive in time.

If you are still crap, there are lots of in-game assistance options to tinker with presented as mechanical adjustments, but don’t expect the same level of crazy minutae from RiMS. Once you are out on the track, there is also the now standard ability to activate a rewind sequence and correct mistakes. When it all clicks for you and you begin to grasp the fundamentals, it feels great. Absolutely flying past your rivals at a near horizontal angle on some mental bend, hell, there are few experiences in motorsport gaming as exhilarating.

As per usual, Milestone don’t mess around giving plenty of modes for you to play around with. The career mode is a satisfying trek from Moto 3 to the big lads, with a team building management sim thrown into the mix, a creation suite that enables you to fashion your own bike and gear designs, and of course all of the current riders and their associated liveries are accounted for within the main game. New to the already huge line-up of licensed tracks come the somewhat uninspiring Mandalika from Indonesia, and the chance to try out the new Spielberg Red Bull Ring before the actual real pros get to test it themselves!

I never thought I would equate a motorbike sim to World Wrestling Entertainment, but just like the cinematic Rey Mysterio throwback in the recently release WWE 2K22 game, Milestone have winningly used history and nostalgia to stunning effect on their NINE: Season 2009 mode, which tells the story of the legendary 2009 MotoGP season. Filmmaker Mark Neale, who has form for motor racing documentaries, as well as a superb documentary about cyberpunk godhead William Gibson, has done a fine job of helping Milestone splice footage of the events with sections where you take control of key moments of the action.

It is gripping stuff and expertly chronicles an enthralling time in the sport, where with the exception of the British GP, the grands prix were shared between Spaniards Pedrosa and Lorenzo, plucky Aussie Casey Stoner, and eventual victor and the most well known man in the sport, even today – Italian heartthrob Valentino Rossi.

In a nutshell, you get an improved experience all round with MotoGP 22 – graphically it doesn’t advance as much as I would have liked, and it is still hard as nails – but the nostalgic documentary mode and solid raft of modes makes this a crucial purchase for fans of two wheeled racing.

The post MotoGP 22 review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

As the Warden, Solomon, your job is to defeat Morbus and restore the world back to its former glory. It’s a dark and desolate place peopled by desperate individuals and stalked by dangerous beasts, but the more you investigate, fight and craft, the more you learn.

Picking herbs, defeating enemies, scavenging from dead bodies or digging in the earth will yield dozens and dozens of different ingredients and reagents with which to craft items, brew potions, and make meals. Essentially, your job is to explore the world, find and catalogue its wonders, and create better and better gear with which to battle Morbus.

The Serpent Rogue: A charming apocalyptic RPG

You do this by checking everything, from berry bushes to fish ponds, wandering animals to wandering monsters. Solomon can make weapons such as an axe, or brew various potions to increase defence or attack. Interestingly, some recipes you find will allow you to make transmogrification potions and turn Solomon into a completely different creature. Chickens are a particular favourite, though compared to a wild dog form they’re fairly useless.

Although the layout of the world is mostly predetermined the items, enemies and events within it are not. They occur at random and in any order. Sometimes you’ll spend a prolonged period of time out gathering ingredients and return to town to find it inhabited by friendly skeletons. Leave bodies behind and you’ll attract ghouls, while helping people out can have unexpected consequences. The world is shaped by you, to a certain extent, meaning everyone’s playthrough will be very different.

Death will respawn you in town and drop your carried gear wherever you fell. Though you can fast travel between areas without items or landmarks, finding specific things can be very difficult. If you spent the last moments of your life running away from something, locating your gear can be a challenge. And you will die running away quite a lot.

Storm warning

The combat in The Serpent Rogue is by far the weakest element. Solomon feels sluggish in a fight, his health doesn’t last long, and enemies have varied attacks. One early enemy that you must defeat to proceed has an AoE ground slam that I often struggled to get out from under because Solomon is so cumbersome to control. Weapons might as well be made from cream crackers, too. I’m all for weapon degradation in a game that prioritises crafting, but my axe managed to fend off three hyper-violent chickens and a small dog before crumbling to dust in my hands.

You’ll find weapons scattered about or can craft them, but initially your backpack weight limit will allow for maybe one spare. You don’t have to carry heavy things around like a portable lab, but having one in the field is so incredibly useful that leaving it behind made me feel under-equipped even for a trip to the loo. At various times you may come across animals you can tame, who will then join you as a companion – some can even be ridden to speed up exploration. Perhaps unsurprisingly, you can transmog them as well, should the need take you. I mean, it’s for science.

The Serpent Rogue reminded me of Don’t Starve in places, as there’s just so much to find and collect and utilise. You need to research items to discover their full effects, so you can’t just find something and use it. An in-depth journal keeps track of what you find and research as you explore, and comes in super handy as the sheer amount of reagents mounts up.

Field science

Aesthetically it’s a simple game. There’s not a great amount of detail in environments or character design, yet The Serpent Rogue does a lot with what it has. The muted pallet, all greys and blues and browns, creates an atmosphere of miasma that’s hard to ignore. Animations are fairly rudimentary in most cases, but they do the job well enough.

A strong emphasis on preparation adds a level of depth and tension as you decide what best to take with you into the unknown and struggle over what to leave behind when the time comes to head back to the nearest point of respite. It may not be the most exciting game, but it takes the crafting and survival elements to another level for such a cartoonish adventure.

There’s never a moment where you’re not finding something new, coming across an environmental puzzle, enemy to battle, chest to open, or recipe to learn. If you’re into crafting and gathering, steep challenge and risky exploration, The Serpent Rogue is a concoction worth tasting.

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You play Igor, a former technician returning to the site of the legendary meltdown to look for his missing wife, Tatyana. As motivations go, it’s compelling enough if a little rote. A protagonist haunted by a dead or missing spouse rarely feels original, but as the central mystery of Chernobylite it works well enough.

The title refers to the solidified crystals of radiation Igor uses to power his bizarre inventions. This is a Chernobyl story that once again romanticises the hazardous zone in modern-day Ukraine, inventing mutated monsters and otherworldly apparatus to add to the sci-fi atmosphere. But it’s an undeniably welcome element of fantasy. It feels somewhat unnerving to be playing a game set predominantly in Ukrainian ruins while the country itself is ravaged by a very real war. This is pure sci-fi though, as Igor uses a teleport gun to hop in and out of missions and fends off extrasensory projections in the undergrowth.

Chernobylite console review: A quality port

Initially entering Chernobyl with two soldiers, Igor soon finds himself stranded with one of them and attempting to execute a heist to steal a sizeable amount of vital Chernobylite. Set up in an old abandoned factory, you will need to gather materials to build up your base. From crafting stations to sleeping quarters, alchemical labs, workbenches and botanical gardens to grow supplies, you’ll have to craft everything you need to survive.

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Four more NPCs will eventually join your group (although you can miss them), forming a ragtag group of survivors. Each possesses a particular set of skills to help in the heist, from a Sniper to a Hacker, but how you treat them and act in front of them will determine whether they stick around until the climactic heist.

Each morning you’ll send your NPCs out on missions and you’ll head off yourself, too. Foraging supplies such as food, medicine and ammunition are the priority. But you’ll also be looking for Chernobylite and clues as to Tatyana’s location and the identity of the mysterious black-garbed stalker who hunts you. Failing these missions has a detrimental affect on morale, as does running low on food and ammo.

Choose your fate

But your decision also have weight. Sparing or killing the wrong NPCs, choosing the wrong answers in dialogue, or sending the wrong team members on certain missions can result in loss of sanity, health, morale, or even life. Later in the game you’ll unlock the ability to reset some, though not all, of your decisions, but it’s often impossible to know what issues could arise from certain choices. One direct side effect is the loss of certain skills. You level up by spending skill points with your group members, and if one leaves or dies, you’ll lose access to their knowledge.

It also helps that they’re a well-written bunch. I said in my original review that the dialogue is better if you leave it in Russian and use English subtitles and it’s true. The English VO just isn’t as good, and actually takes away some of the authenticity of the dialogue. Chernobylite is a game built on its atmosphere, in more ways than one. For instance, it’s simply not scary. It very much wants to be, but the “horror” element is so clichéd that it’s hard to take it seriously. Whispered voices, flashes of unidentified monsters, fleeting ghosts – all these things have been done to death in horror games, and Chernobylite is at its best when this stuff is absent.

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There’s enough suspense to be had picking through abandoned buildings as mercenary soldiers patrol outside. There’s desperation in finding a cooking station to craft a healing salve when you’re on your last legs, or trading the last of your precious medicine with an NPC stalker for a few rounds of pistol ammo to finish a vital mission. The world itself is a lifeless one – there’s no wildlife to be seen – but it feels dangerous and unknown. Once it starts throwing monsters at you and you realise you can take them out as easily as the enemy soldiers, they lose all sense of credible threat.

Radiation nation

The move onto PS5 has been kind, though. The sun-dappled forests and creaky old abandoned buildings look great, with some superb ray-tracing in places. Creeping through ruins drenched in light shining through stained glass windows is always impressive, and the forest itself feels real. The Farm 51 spent a lot of time scanning the real countryside to recreate an authentic copy.

Sadly, the shooting is no better on pad than it was with mouse and keyboard, though. Igor is no professional soldier and it shows. Gunplay feels sluggish and imprecise, and you’ll be better served avoiding conflict or going for stealth over direct gun battles. You’re also pretty squishy, and damage will have long-term negative effects.

Chernobylite excels better as a survival sim, and introduces enough new ideas to feel like a fresh entry in the genre. It’s interesting to build up the base, form a group of plucky fighters and learn new skills from your allies. I’ve always enjoyed games that make you prepare for every mission, choosing what to slot into a limited inventory and then struggling to decide what to bring back and what to leave behind. In these moments Chernobylite does the tension of survival better than most, but the hokey horror element lets it down.

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True to form

For those unfamiliar with Nobody Saves the World, you wake up as the titular Nobody and are tasked with rescuing the famed wizard Nostramagus. He’s mysteriously gone missing and is the only one who can help save the world from certain doom. Or something. Before long you stumble across Nostramagus’ wand, which you can use to transform yourself into various forms throughout the game. You begin by changing into a Rat to squeeze through tight spaces and poison enemies. But as you progress the game and complete quests, you’ll unlock new forms such as a horse, mermaid, and even a slug complete with a slimy trail. Each of these forms has unique abilities and stats that mean they offer different ways to overcome the enemy hordes you’ll come across during your adventure.

And there’s a meaty adventure to be had here too. Finding and unlocking all the forms, mastering the moves, as well as completing all the story, side dungeons, and collectibles is gonna see you rack up a playtime of about 30 hours, and then there’s a new game plus adventure to sink your teeth into after the credits roll too. There’s lots to keep you busy, and the good news is that the variety that the different forms provide means you can change up how you play to keep things fresh throughout.

Strong performance

Thankfully, Nobody Saves the World plays almost flawlessly on Switch too. I didn’t spot any visible performance drops in the PC version, and the same is true on Switch. The action and flow of the movement is smooth, and you never feel like you’re fighting against the frame rate. It means you can enjoy the game for what it is on the Nintendo console. Online co-op is again quick to set up and join friends to play together, and the performance whilst playing remains solid. If I was splitting hairs I would say it appears the loading times are perhaps slightly longer on Switch than PC, but certainly not long enough to cause a distraction or frustrate you in any way.

The lovely art style, giving off an almost cel-shaded, cartoonish vibe is handled well even on Switch. Not relying on photo-realistic graphics and instead opting for a more vibrant, timeless aesthetic, allows this game to look as good across all the platforms it is on, meaning no one platform is playing a lesser version of the game. Similarly, Nobody Saves the World looks equally good in handheld or docked mode, with the simpler visuals scaling well, allowing you to play how you want.

Nobody Saves the World | Perfect for Switch

And it’s that synergy that makes Nobody Saves the World this – dare I say it – perfect fit for Nintendo Switch. The handheld console has always been about playing your way, and here is a game that literally gives you eighteen different forms to explore and experiment with to find the playstyle and load-outs that suit you. A title that can seamlessly flow from solo play to online co-op in the blink of an eye and adventures can just carry on where they left off. Nobody Saves the World is happy to give you the choice, and the same is true of the Switch itself.

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And then there’s that charm. Nobody Saves the World is not just pretty to look at, but it has a unique visual style and witty writing that lands even as I played through again on Switch. It just means I’m playing with a constant smile on my face, whether it be because I’m laughing at the misadventures of Randy the Rad or because I just kicked an enemy into the wall with my horsey hindlegs. It’s just fun, — happy, joyous fun — and I know what publisher that reminds me of; Nintendo and the Switch. Sure, maybe Kirby and the Forgotten Land is more joyful, maybe Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is funnier, but as an overall package, it’s incredible what Drinkbox Studios has created with Nobody Saves the World. And on Switch, you’re getting as good a version as any to while away the hours with.

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Kombinera is a pretty straightforward puzzle platformer at its core. Each stage contains numerous balls that you need to combine by moving them into each other. The catch? You control all the balls at the same time, which when you factor in a whole host of hazards and ball types gets complex quickly.

So how do you get the balls to combine if you control them all at once? Simple, you wait for a wall to get in the way and keep walking in that direction. This isn’t always easy though. You might need to line up jumps so all of your balls can hop over spikes at the same time, or to wedge one ball next to a low wall and keep your jumps small so it stays put.

It doesn’t take very long for the complexity to build. Different coloured balls are the first way this happens, each of which have a different property. Red balls are immune to spikes, yellow balls can break yellow walls and green balls don’t get destroyed by green bullets. You’ll need to use these abilities wisely to make it through each tricky stage, and before you know it you’ll be blocking bullets with your green balls and carefully deciding when to break yellow walls to gather up the rest of the gang.

When you combine a coloured ball with another it retains all its powers, so often you’ll want to combine as many balls as possible to create a practically unkillable orb. Sometimes putting all your eggs in one basket won’t solve the level though, and you’ll need to spread the ball powers if you want to gather them all safely. Kombinera is much more puzzle than it is platformer, and you’ll really need to think about all the different moving parts if you want to make it past even the first of eight worlds.

Not every colour of ball is a helpful addition though, with pesky grey balls coming in before you know it. These balls can’t jump, and many a stage is failed by accidentally combining into one of these early and getting stuck. Even small walls can keep them safe though, so they aren’t without their uses.

Just when you think you’re starting to get to grips with Kombinera it throws balls with reverse gravity into the mix. With balls on the floor and balls on the ceiling, combining them will involve a fight against gravity and more than a little jumping. Once combined I never was quite able to figure out how it was decided if they’d float or sink, but figuring out when best to change that polarity is often the only way you’ll solve a stage.

But sometimes you won’t solve a stage quickly, sometimes it will take a very long time. Even in the first world some levels took me ages, and the difficulty absolutely ramps up as you go. The pure difficulty will appeal to many I’m sure, but I would’ve appreciated some sort of hint system or maybe the ability to skip stages somehow. Instead when you get stuck in Kombinera, you either bash your head against a wall or walk away and play something else.

Despite its difficulty, one aspect of Kombinera that makes it feel less overwhelming is the fact that each stage fits on a single screen. Being able to see everything you need to beat a level at once really helps, and messing about with new strategies is quick and easy because you don’t have to move the balls far to implement them.

If you manage to get through all of the levels (which is no small feat) there are a few extra things to do. Stages often have a crown to collect is a particularly hard to reach place, and there’s also a particularly fiendish par time to try and beat if you’re so inclined. Finding crowns will also unlock bonus levels as you gather them, which I’m not ashamed to admit were far too much for me.

Kombinera is an incredibly challenging puzzle platformer that will push you to your mental limits. More and more mechanics are added as you progress, and you’ll feel like a genius when you finally solve a level you’re stuck on. It’s a shame there aren’t a few options available to help you if you’re stuck, but as long as you don’t mind engaging your brain you’ll have a good time.

The post Kombinera review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

The influence of SEGA, in particular their aforementioned classic and its modern sequels, and the underrated arcade drift-out fun fest Initial D, form the DNA of Slipstream. It offers a Grand Tour mode that echoes the branching paths you first took your Ferrari down in 1986, as well as a series of cups, individual race options, and a killer endurance mode where slowpokes lagging at the back are eliminated from the race.

Visually, Slipstream is a winning combination of vaporwave aesthetics, recognisable approximations of well-known classic motors, and a range of superb screen filters that mimic display modes such as the scan lined glory of CRT monitors, or pixelate the whole damn thing. Keeping with the retro feel is the fabulous soundtrack from Effoharkay, which is the perfect accompaniment to the action. So impressed was I that I found myself exploring more of his retrowave oeuvre. The overall presentation sets the mood, makes you want to get stuck in, and whets the appetite for some serious arcade action.

Your first thought is “Christ, this is tough”. The tracks are simplistic, but brutally unforgiving at times – be prepared for sudden corners to take you by surprise, knackering your chances of taking the win. The roads are busy with traffic, including the regular appearance of a niggling rival that you encounter during races, who you will become borderline obsessed with beating. But like any good arcade racer, you are given some mechanics that can be learned and used to your advantage.

As well as the time-honoured drifting, the titular slipstream allows you to drive closely in the wake of your four wheeled foes and gain a gloriously parasitic burst of speed to surge ahead. It is similar to the way you can slingshot past your opponents in the superb Sonic All-Stars Racers, and is key to your success in Slipstream. Incidentally, ansdor is clearly a huge fan of the Blue Blur. I won’t spoilt it for you, but check out some of the stage names and you will find yourself smiling.

Purists will baulk at the ability to turn on automatic drifting, and likely honk their horns in rage at the rewind function, which enables you to literally roll back time by a few seconds and correct yourself in a crash or corner balls-up situation. I found it an extremely useful tool to familiarise myself with some of the trickier to negotiate bends and corners.

This is a terrific game, which even before I played I knew I was going to love. It tickles all of my retro receptors and then some, plays like an old school dream, right down to the four-player split screen option which took me back to Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge as a tear escaped down my cheek. It is the ultimate evolution of the super scaler tech of my youth. Best of all, it is a ridiculously cheap price. Get it purchased.

The post Slipstream review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Another review, another homage wearing the influences of the past on its sleeve. In this case, Shredders not only plays a bit like stuff you may have enjoyed in the past, it also puts gamers back in front of a genuinely entertaining sport that has dropped out of the public consciousness somewhat in recent years.

Like skateboarding, it’s snowy bredrin lends itself well to video games. You slide mostly downwards on a deck, doing cool jumps and slides and grabs and grinds. Shredders understands what is important and doesn’t overcomplicate things. It also has a humorous, idiosyncratic style that expertly blends fun arcade gameplay with simulation elements and genuinely warm and funny snowboard culture dialogue and references.

You begin with a tutorial slalom. Controls are simple and intuitive, and crucially mean that you are not only fully in control of your rider, but that your timing and skill dictate your performance; any mistake is down to you. Left stick is used to move from left to right, with a pull of the right stick to slow your descent. Pulling the right trigger executes a jump, and your landings are dealt with by hitting the left.

The basics are easy to master, but there are tons of different tricks and techniques to learn. Just like when you had your tentative first go on a Tony Hawk title, you will wipe regularly to begin with. Just like the recently released Slipstream, there is a handy rewind feature that allows you to run things back to correct yourself. The game performs mostly very well, with the occasional framerate stutter observed but nothing deal-breaking. It looks lovely, all snowy and sunny, with cool boards (no pun intended) and outfits.

The main career-esque mode sees you getting served up a succession of sorties underpinned by a loose story based around sponsorship deals, social media, photography shoots and other snowboard-centric stuff, and there is a ton of knowingly cringeworthy, and very funny snowboarding bro-y patois courtesy of the wacky characters you get to interact with. Your boarding crew are the hilariously named Shreddageddon, and throughout the whole game, none of the riders ever remove their headgear and flashy sunglasses-cum-goggles. This really made me chuckle.

The sense of supreme chill is helped by the fact that developer Foampunch have unearthed a gem in Belgian artist Jennifur who provides a fantastic original soundtrack to proceedings. Released already as an album New Here & Feeling At Home, it is the perfect lo-fi, Boards of Canada-lite-esque accompaniment to the powder snow escapades.

The missions ask you to carry out different tricks, flips, or just reach the bottom of the damn slope as quickly as you can. Despite the unavoidable ubiquity of the snow, the different environments are surprisingly diverse. There are loads of bits of gear you can unlock to customise your avatar with. It is not as challenging as I was expecting, and whilst this limits its overall longevity, it is very accessible, laid back and fun to play.

The post Shredders review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Set in 2037, it focuses on the titular Agency and its sole member and founder, Amira Darma. A former Interpol officer turned private investigator, Darma works out of her pokey office in downtown Singapore City. With the world on the brink of economic crisis and the city threatened by a mysterious terrorist organisation, Darma couldn’t have picked a worse time. Or better time, perhaps.

CDA’s greatest strength is the amount of choice it gives you. Unlike many point and click adventure games, the clues aren’t just lying around for you to find. For example, if you need to look something up on the internet in-game, it will alt-tab you out to your browser. There are no cases that can be solved by simply clicking on everything you can highlight, and you’ll need to think your way around problems.

In the opening hours several people will approach the CDA with cases. Businessman Rupert will ask you to track down a missing person suspected of pulling a heist; Tiger Lily, who runs a “health spa” will ask you to help a client of hers return priceless artefacts to various museums around the world; and Keeran will task you with uncovering corporate and governmental cover-ups. After taking a few cases for each, you’ll be able to choose one to work for full-time.

I went with Tiger Lily, who’s cases often involve googling descriptions of real world relics or even employing Google Lens to identify images. While I didn’t struggle with many cases, some of the optional objectives have incredibly obscure solutions. That said, I learned a few things. The developers have clearly done their homework.

Some cases will get hairy though. It’s not all sifting through paperwork and asking pointed questions. A trained former cop, Darma will draw down when she’s forced to. Chinatown Detective Agency is no shooter; when you pull a gun, you’ll have limited time to take a non-lethal shot with your cursor or you’ll fail the encounter.

Other fail states include taking too long during time-sensitive missions or even turning up to events late. An in-game clock ticks on, and you’ll need to be mindful of the hour and date for booking international flights or getting to parties on time. You’ll often be called to travel around the world, although each city you visit will only have a few places to check out at most. It’s often more a case of knowing which country to go to in the first place.

All this jet-setting costs money of course, so you’ll also need to keep an eye on your finances. Not only that, there are also bills to pay. If you miss the rent for more than two months, it’s game over. This often forces your hand where cases are concerned, especially if you want to branch out and hire additional help. More people requires more office space and increased rent and amenities.

There’s so much going on in Chinatown Detective Agency, and reasons to keep multiple save files. What’s more, it makes you think. The most important thing in a detective game is that it makes you feel like you’ve achieved something clever. While some of the cases are easy enough to solve, the fact that you have to put in the legwork makes a massive difference. It also helps that the writing is good. Characters feel like they existed before the narrative began, and the central plot revolving around futuristic terrorism keeps the story moving forward even as you tackle less interesting cases.

Add to this some great pixel art and there’s a very compelling title here. The biggest issue I have is with the save system. While you can save your game at any time outside cases, once you take one you can’t save again until it’s over. This is incredibly counterintuitive, as it means if you’re half an hour or more into a case you can’t take a break and come back later. Some cases have multiple stages so stopping halfway and having to restart is downright bad design. It also crashed on more than one occasion, necessitating restarts that weren’t my fault at all.

If you can work around this, though, Chinatown Detective Agency is a great game. It’s pretty enough to catch your eye and smart enough to keep your attention, with multiple critical paths to encourage repeat playthroughs. It’s sometimes a little too clever for its own good, but it’s well written and charming with it. If you can overlook the issues with the save system, it’s well worth a look.

The post Chinatown Detective Agency review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a beast of a game. Every trilogy takes around six hours to play through, but if you want to find every collectable or secret, be prepared to double that. TT Games has packed in every character you can think of, set across every integral planet throughout the saga. Be prepared to pod race on Tatooine, shoot Scout Troopers on speeder bikes on the forest moon of Endor, and survive Order 66. Whatever moment you’re looking forward to seeing, it’s more than likely there. The thrills and excitement of each movie have been done justice, but be prepared for some filler sections.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: A lot of class

Each episode consists of five levels, and for the most part TT Games has built some solid gameplay with gorgeous surroundings. What I loved about playing was how many classes are available, each with certain abilities that are unique to them. Jedi’s and Sith can wield lightsabers (with different combat animations depending on the character), use the force to move objects, and influence enemy minds; Scoundrels like Han Solo can find certain solutions to environmental impasses, Scoundrels such as Tusken Raiders or Wicket the Ewok can build specific tools to traverse the world; Bounty Hunters can destroy golden bricks for special rewards; and Astromech Droids like R2-D2 and BB-8 can hack computers to unlock doors.

Combat does feel repetitive, but there’re many options depending on who you’re controlling in a fight. Lightsabers, blasters, and good old-fashioned fists are just some of the ways to beat up Stormtroopers or battle droids. You can also use light and heavy attacks, or class-specific abilities such as throwing your lightsaber. Without a doubt, the force-wielders are the best of the bunch, with others feeling like an afterthought. There’re a fair amount of boss fights scattered across the saga, but often easy and too similar. Some try to mix up fighting with ways to use class abilities between phases, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi making his way through General Grievous’ base on Utapau before getting another crack at the coughing saber thief.

The pride of the franchise

These big money fights make up the most important moments of the saga. Despite some being a bit lazy, there’re also some that I thoroughly enjoyed. Anything involving Palpatine was excellent, ranging from his fight with Yoda in the senate, to Rey’s final showdown with him on Exegol. The space battles are almost always excellent, too. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is filled with plenty of puzzles, often revolving around opening doors, but there’s also plenty of building on offer. There’s enough variety across the nine-movie span, and I genuinely enjoyed it for the majority. Some locations are better than others, but each one is meticulously designed to reflect the grandeur seen on the silver screen.

There’re a ton of locations that can be explored for Kyber Bricks, Datapads, rumours, characters, and more. Kyber Bricks will allow you to upgrade core abilities or class-specific ones, but I rarely noticed any improvement due to the easy difficulty. One that did make a lot of difference was the ability to attract studs that were further away. Rumours give you guidance on how to unlock certain items or characters. Datapads allow you to unlock fun options in your playthrough, but you still need a lot of studs to get them. Perhaps the most important options here were the stud multipliers, but getting a substantial one is going to cost literal millions.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: So. Much. Collecting

Of course, you don’t need to find everything, but even getting the best characters can take a lot of time. Take Bossk, for example. He’s my favourite Bounty Hunter (who in my humble opinion stands head and shoulders above the inferior Boba Fett), but to unlock him, I would have to complete multiple side missions to even get close. Unless you’ve found the rumour within a level, spending studs can give you the clues to how certain characters or ships can be unlocked. I spend thousands of studs to realise I needed to play through multiple Episodes and finish a variety of missions to get him.

This goes for practically every character that isn’t naturally unlocked through playing. Even then, you’ll need to spend studs to get them. By destroying everything in sight, studs start to fill up, but it’ll require a hell of a lot of playing to come close to getting the characters and ships you love. There’re also a lot of characters you’ve probably never heard of. I’m a huge Star Wars nerd, but even I hadn’t a clue about some of them. You don’t need to unlock everything. It won’t stop you from progressing, however, if you’re a completionist, make sure you have a good clean break in your schedule.

Journey across the galaxy

When you’re not trying to blast through the story, you’re free to explore every nook and cranny across the galaxy. It’s overwhelming at first, especially when you see the sheer amount of collectables on offer. In Free Play, a lot of paths are blocked due to not having a particular class available. Early on in The Phantom Menace, I was on Mos Espa and I needed a Scavenger to get across the rooftops. Luckily, I had Kuiil from The Mandalorian DLC. When I got in position, an icon appeared relating to a certain ability. I had no idea what this meant, and it wasn’t until a mission during Return of the Jedi that it came available. This is one example of some things not being explained particularly well.

TT Games’ brand of humour features throughout LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Like any great family film, there’re jokes for kids and adults alike. I laughed at the sillier moments, but also the self aware stuff such as the reimagining of Darth Vader’s famous “Nooooo!” from Revenge of the Sith. Some might not like the simplicity of the difficulty, but the authenticity is remarkable. Movie dialogue hits when it needs to, with a respectable voice cast featuring returning actors from the franchise, and the Saga’s score is present in every rousing moment you hold dear. There’re plenty of sad moments from the movies, but these are handled well – often with humour – and help to keep the general tone upbeat and amusing.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: Do or do not, there is no try

Unfortunately, I had some weird bugs that happened, which I hope don’t hinder your enjoyment. The fight on Mustafar was completely blurred and made it hard for me to enjoy. Trying to locate Luke on Hoth resulted in the game’s camera locking me out of the picture, unable to move or get back to the game. The camera was a consistent thorn in my side, especially when fighting close up or moving away after using the force to lift objects, Some characters disappeared, and I was occasionally locked out of the screen as everything else carried on as normal in the background. I put around 20 hours into the game, and these only accounted for around 15 minutes of my entire playthrough, but they were still annoying nonetheless.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a faithful and fun homage to the legacy of Star Wars. Whatever your feelings are on the prequels or the recent trilogy, there’s no room for grumbling about them here unless you’re referring to the camera concerns. TT Games makes all nine films feel fresh, bringing them together in an exciting way. Gameplay does become repetitive, and some of the moments aren’t given the same time as others, but generally, there’s something to love in every episode.

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Forget about your responsibilities to the planet for a minute though and just manoeuvre your brain into that sweet spot reserved for stuff like Godzilla vs Kong and Earth Defence Force. This riotous scrolling fighter is an all-action homage to the giant monster genre that has bewitched nerds like us and the wider public for aeons.

It puts you in the giant shoes of four well-conceived and distinctly unique playable behemoths, ranging from an Optimus Prime/Ultraman hybrid to two members of the Nephilim who have been harnessed to switch sides and smash things for the good guys. One of these arcane monsters, Ganira, has an ability I have myself long since coveted – to summon a personal crab minion to take into battle. Megadon, on the other hand, is a big ‘ol red lizard that shares the ability to trigger explosions on an almost nuclear scale, just like the big green guy that has been wrecking fictional Japan since day dot.

This is a simple game on the surface that asks very little of you – defeat all the enemies, smash your gloriously destructible environment along the way, and save the world. But there is a real depth that is in keeping with recent additions to the beat ‘em up genre, and elevates this way ahead of the games that obviously inspired it, such as the King of the Monsters coin ops. The four characters play completely differently and offer different loadouts and skillsets to appeal to your style.

This isn’t a button masher – there are defined combos. Collecting items hidden throughout the stages allows you to develop a skill tree of sorts called DNA Augmentations between levels. The game rewards skill – as the better you perform on any given stage is reflected in the quality of the augment boosts you can grab. Like a lot of belt scrollers this one is guilty of a bit of repetition and palette swapped foes, but you will probably be having too much of a hoot crushing them into the Earth’s crust to care. The bosses on the other hand, are far from unimaginative and there are some memorable encounters to be had along the way.

There is a great deal of unlockable content, with artwork, skins and suchlike to tinker with – but the story is a monster movie corker, and there is a tremendous commitment to it’s lore, with some amazing artwork and descriptive content that makes you really invest in your battle with and against the Nephilim. In-game looks ace too. The use of lovely, timeless cel-shading recalls classics like Viewtiful Joe, and the action is underpinned by a thumping soundtrack and cacophony of speech, explosions and guttural roars.

Yes, there is a roar button. It is never not fun. What do you want from a kaiju game? Wholesale destruction, the feel that you are in control of something huge and powerful, the ability to manipulate your surroundings, but also to smash them to smithereens and have a good old fight. It is why I love games like Transformers Devastation and Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and why this one has grabbed me in its giant monstrous claw and not let go.

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Ikai tells the story of a woman called Naoko, a priestess who tends to the shrine as the priest is away. As the spirits start to appear and wreak havoc, you must find out what’s going on without succumbing to the dark while uncovering the secrets of your past. In the early stages, I was almost put off by one moment where you’re trying to find your sister as a child. The dialogue kept repeating itself, and every time I thought I’d found her, she ran off. It was frustrating, but I persevered. Ikai started to unravel in a much more interesting way, but the dialogue was repetitive at certain points throughout.

Ikai: No friendly ghosts in sight

When the ghouls come out and you begin to see more of what transpires, Ikai is at its best. You don’t have any weapons or means of fighting the Yokai. All you can do is run. There are moments where you can block doorways or rid the evil by drawing protective seals. This is done by tracing a symbol, and it’s a nice way to make use of the controller. Ikai is filled with puzzles to solve that help break up the exploration. Some of them are constructed with plenty of layers, and I was often impressed with their design.

One of which involved me looking around a room in the shrine for certain symbols. I picked up every item I could to find them, but I had no idea which order they needed to be inputted into the lock that would allow me to escape into the catacombs underneath the shrine. Thankfully, Naoko gave me the idea to look for markings near the symbols that might highlight the order. While some puzzles can be tricky, there’s always a smart way to solve it.

Fear and fascination

The atmosphere of Ikai never scared me massively, yet I was often uneasy whenever I heard a bang or a weird screech. It is marketed as a psychological horror, but some of the encounters were more intriguing than they were terrifying. I’m obsessed with Japanese culture, and the tales in Japanese folklore have always fascinated me. Seeing them come to life was more of a joy that anything else. Manekute are ghosts that linger in the place they died. Their arms appearing through walls beckoning you to come inside. In Ikai, you travel down a corridor trying to avoid their grasp. In one of the first sections of the game, you have to hide from a Kijo, a woman that has become a demon through acts of jealously, wicked crimes, or something else that has twisted their souls.

Parchments are hidden around with details about a range of Yokai, and by finding them, you’re given a glimpse into the evil spirits that feature in Ikai. There are jump scares, and for the most part, you’ll feel uneasy about what is lurking in the shadows. Sometimes, these encounters can be frustrating, even to the point I thought the game might be broken. One of these demons took the form of a snake-like creature with sharp teeth. It followed me into a room where Naoko said I should probably hide. There was one area where I had to crouch to get away from it, however, it just waited for me outside.

Ikai: A puzzling nightmare

It could see me, but it wouldn’t attack. This happened for about five minutes until I crawled back out into the room to see if it would react. Of course, it gobbled me up and I died. It loaded back up and I did the same thing. Every time I tried to do something else, it found me and ate me. It wasn’t until I found a way to stealthily get away from it and go back through the entrance I came in without it noticing me. I realised it was my fault this demon was continuously killing me. The game wasn’t broken. I just didn’t make full use of my surroundings.

As you leave the shrine and head towards the village, Ikai becomes an enjoyable game of cat and mouse with plenty of puzzles and exposition that tell an interesting tale. The dialogue can be repetitive, especially if you keep dying. Despite this, Ikai has some wonderful visuals that make great use of lighting to create a sense of fear and nervousness. The setting of feudal Japan adds a unique spin on the psychological horror genre, giving the sacred setting a dash of creepiness that forever lingers its head.

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Mia has to deal with a lot in her day to day life. After marrying her beloved Fernando she thought she’d found her happily ever after, but it turns out every monster in the land wants her hunk as badly as she does. Now she spends her days chasing off ogres and harpies trying to cop a feel, or at least she did until the Sorceress Morganna kidnapped him for herself. And thus begins your Wife Quest.

Each of the game’s six stages sees Mia adventuring through a different environment, battling buxom baddies and leaping past hazards. To begin with you’ll only be able to swing your sword and jump, which makes the gameplay as simple as you’re imagining. Controlling Mia feels good though, and keeping her alive against an onslaught of clubs and thrown stones is fairly tricky.

After each stage you’ll be given a new power which shakes up the formula a bit. The first of these is a magical shield that blocks all incoming damage at the expense of draining some of your magic meter. Before long you’ll be able to glide, dash and perform a powerful charge attack to break down walls. Each new stage makes sure to test your aptitude for these new abilities, and as your arsenal improves the gameplay definitely does too.

To get these powers though you’ll need to beat the bosses that are guarding Fernando and blocking your progress. Each of these big baddies will immediately berate Mia for having a “small chest” and talk about how much happier Fernando would be with them (usually with some extra lewd twist) which admittedly gets a little tiresome. The boss fights themselves are really enjoyable though, with huge movesets and plenty of pattern recognition needed to defeat them. I did find the shield a little overpowered, but the focus on blocking is at least quite novel for the genre.

To make sure Mia is strong enough to save her bae, you’ll need to upgrade her as you go. Each stage is full of secret areas packed full of chests (which cause some unexpected frame drops when opened) and the gold inside will serve you well at the shop. The shop is run by a dwarf (who obviously is obsessed with Fernando) who’ll sell you loads of buffs that’ll keep Mia alive on her adventure. There are simple max HP and MP upgrades, more powerful swords, range buffs and even potions to use in a pinch. If these don’t appeal to you though, there are also some sexy photos to purchase. Because of course there are.

Every aspect of Wife Quest is unfortunately tainted by the smatterings of smut. Enemies you kill fall to the floor, with the option to punish them for being naughty. Doing so with initiate an animation where Mia will do something unpleasant to them (bounce on their bottom, pull their tail etc) accompanied by noises that I’d describe as sexually charged. Gallery images that you unlock are animated, but realistically only the breasts move (without a care in the world for physics). It’s tiresome, and ultimately just a bit grim. I imagine it will have a specific audience that appreciates it though, and that probably doesn’t include us asexual people.

It’s a shame because at its core Wife Quest is a fun side scroller. Each world has a few new ideas to play around with to keep it fresh, from moving platforms in the caves to snow drifts you need to hide from on the icy mountain. The game doesn’t do anything particularly revolutionary, but it’s good retro fun if that’s your thing.

Beating the game unlocks a few bonus modes to mess about with. There’s a mode that unlocks all abilities from the start for anyone seeking more of a power trip, and a little retro mode that I assume is maybe an early build of the game. Both are rather good if you want more wife based content.

Wife Quest is an enjoyable 2d action platformer that unfortunately thinks that jiggling breasts are a substitute for innovative content. The boss fights are entertaining and the powers definitely improve the game as you progress, but it’s very hard to avoid the main focus of Wife Quest. This game has an audience though, and if the idea of a saucy platformer intrigues you then you could do much worse than adventuring with Mia.

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Armed with an energy sword, jetpack and shield, it’s up to you to make it through a bunch of tricky stages and capture some evil aliens that are on the run. I wouldn’t worry about the details here, Gunborg just wants to give you a reason to boost around futuristic hallways and blast robots to bits. And blast you will.

It might take you a moment to get to grips with the controls, but once you do they’re second nature. Being a twin stick platformer, all of your actions are assigned to the shoulder buttons. ZL may not sound like the ideal jump button, but it really does work. Then you’ve got ZR for your fire button while you aim with the right stick. Sounds easy right? Well think again.

Each stage is packed full of bad guys chomping at the bit to kill our hero, and with only 3 hit points it won’t take long for her to fall. That’s where the shield comes in. With its handy reflective abilities, all you have to do is point it in the right direction and those robots will get a taste of their own laser-y medicine. There’s very little more satisfying than bouncing projectiles back at these metallic fools, especially because they’ll drop their weapons for you to use when they die.

There’s a fantastic selection of weapons for you to use, and they’re almost all rather useful. There are standard machine gun and shotgun type weapons, as well as some more interesting options like a flamethrower and a bouncing bomb launcher. By building up your combo meter (which essentially entails not getting hit) you’ll imbue them with dark energy making them more powerful and giving them extra effects. One machine gun has bouncing bullets when it’s imbued, another gun fires a massive orb that blasts lightning at anything even remotely near its path. This is absolutely as cool as it sounds.

You’ll need to take advantage of all these guns if you want to survive in Gunborg: Dark Matters, because the enemies get real tough real fast. From twin sword wielding samurai to massive mechs protected by shield bots, you’ll need to dodge, reflect and blast with perfect precision if you want to survive. The boss fights are especially tough, requiring you to dodge wave after wave of screen decimating attacks before finally landing a hit or two. There are only a few boss encounters, but each of them is as memorable as it is difficult.

It’s also worth mentioning that enemies aren’t the only thing trying to kill you in Gunborg. The stages are just as likely to cause respawn after respawn, with spikes, lasers and moving platforms littering the spacecraft. Thanks to your jetpack you can actually quadruple jump, which makes all the difference against these hazardous environments. Before you know it you’ll be flying over moving boxes as they block lasers, then using your shield to bounce across spikes to make it to safety. If that sounds incredibly badass, that’s because it is!

Mastering these abilities is important if you want to collect the three Infobots that are scattered around each level. They are rarely too hard to find, but always involve some serious risk to grab. Gathering them will not only make you a super cool completionist gamer, but will also unlock hardcore mode if you’re feeling brave. Collecting them will also help you get a better rank in each stage, if score chasing is your thing.

Although score chasing and the brutal Hardcore difficulty mode are cool, I have to admit I was a little disappointed at how quickly Gunborg ended. I’m all for shorter games, but after less than 3 hours of laser blasting fun I just wanted to keep playing new stages. It feels a little unfair to expect more though, and if anything just shows how much I was enjoying the game.

Gunborg: Dark Matters really took me by surprise. I wasn’t prepared for the high octane action to click with me quite so much, but click it did. With fantastic twitchy gameplay, a great variety of enemies and some devilish platforming, it really is the full package. If you’re looking for a frantic and arcadey platformer that’ll keep you coming back, Gunborg is a sci-fi adventure you can’t afford to miss.

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Unfortunately, when I finally came to review it I wasn’t overly impressed by some of the elements. While it looks amazing in places and the shooting has its high points – particularly during multiplayer sessions – some design choices let it down. For a start, it requires a lot of walking around between missions, and your character isn’t exactly superfast. It also suffered from some fairly intense difficulty spikes that made for an uneven experience.

I played it on PC, and so was privy to a pretty smooth experience performance-wise. And I’ll be honest, some of the backdrops are absolutely stunning. Now, almost a year after the original release, The Ascent has come to PS5 – but how much has changed, and how much have the changes improved things?

To answer the first question: not a lot. There have been some patches and tweaks to the previous release and these have been carried over. Some of the difficulty feels more balanced, but that could be the benefit of experience. Re-entering the dystopian world of Veles, I wasn’t met with any noticeable graphical updates or changes. It already looked pretty damn good, and the power of the PS5 wasn’t likely to improve on the PC version anyway.

There is a cosmetic system now, though. You can visit a store in the hubs and apply skins to your armour based on other items you’ve found. This sounds superficial but is actually a much sought-after addition. One of my biggest complaints about The Ascent was the armour design. It’s not hard to make a player character look like a badass in a cyberpunk setting, but the main character in The Ascent looked like they’d swallowed a high-powered magnet and been dragged through a scrapyard. At least now, the option exists to control that element.

Story and content-wise, we’re getting the same game on PS5 as we did on PC and Xbox. You play as an Indent (“indentured servant”), assigned to work for the Ascent Group. In Neon Giant’s hellscape, Ascent is a private military group-cum-corporate behemoth that uses throwaway mercenaries to do its dirty work. One of my gripes with this set up is that there is nothing special about your character. You could be anyone, and still get the same cyber upgrades and gear to make you more combat-ready.

But then, maybe I missed the point first time round. Maybe the fact that literally anyone could become a badass super-soldier is the message – especially as you’re repeatedly forced to turn on the string-pullers who are facilitating these upgrades. The story doesn’t do anything new with the setting, but does a fairly good job of presenting you with antagonists to hate and destroy.

You spend almost as much time running around the staggeringly good-looking overworld as you do in the considerably less-impressive tunnels of the underworld. Some of the backdrops on display in the former are enough to make you stop and stare at the sheer amount of detail. Conversely, the missions often take place in tighter, more confined environments. It can’t be all dazzle, all the time, but the contrast is stark.

That said, so much of your time in the overworld is spent walking around from place to place – even after the fast travel system is unlocked – that those dazzling skyboxes become less impressive in a fairly short time. I wouldn’t mind so much if the action was always top-notch, but unfortunately this can feel inconsistent, too. Enemy and NPC AI is fairly odd. Sometimes enemies will attack you on sight, other times they’ll wait until you start shooting. Sometimes bystanders will run away when the shooting starts, sometimes they’ll continue to stand and chat even as the world explodes around them.

An interesting shooting system allows you to hold the left trigger to aim high or crouch to aim low, or simply shoot to aim centre-mass. In practice it takes a little while to get used to, moreso because none of the options allow you to shoot enemies that are upstairs or downstairs from your position. Given how many firefights take place around stairs, this is pretty frustrating.

You can level up and improve your stats, or upgrade your weapons in town. The latter option is way more beneficial, since I often struggled to see any real bonus from increasing stats or even re-specing when particular bosses threw up a wall in front of me. Again, tweaks have been made since release to address some of this, but I didn’t notice any improvements in the PS5 version.

The Ascent is a fun game when it all works. Some of the shooting is incredibly satisfying, and it looks spectacular 80% of the time. But the balancing is still off for me, and it still feels like you spend too much time schlepping around the beautifully grim city to travel between objectives. If you played The Ascent on the other platforms, there’s no reason to pick it up on PS5. If, however, you missed it, I would recommend it based on the multiplayer alone.

Reviewing pre-release on PC I couldn’t sample much of this, but having played more since I can confidently say that when played with a couple of friends, The Ascent becomes a much more rewarding experience. There are enough skills and builds to justify running with a group, and the long walks between objectives are much better with a few mates on side.

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GTA V on PS5: Looking good, running better

One thing that GTA V on PS5 does very well is run like butter. Not only that, but the 60fps will mean you’ll never go back. The Performance mode means you’ll get a stable 60 frames at the expense of ray tracing and other visual upgrades. It all depends if you want that power in the way it plays over the graphical fidelity. If you are more interested in seeing how much better GTA V looks to the previous gen, Fidelity mode showcases the ray tracing and other noticeable improvements. Character models are crisper, the level of detail in Los Santos, with 4K on full display. Performance RT blends the best of both worlds, offering better visuals and a relatively stable framerate.

On top of the various graphic modes, GTA V feels more alive. It does show its age in some ways, but the living and breathing world feels more alive. Whether that’s because of the ray tracing bringing the city to life, or the feeling that more NPCs are populating the world, it’s clear that Rockstar doesn’t want to make the same mistake it did with ‘that’ trilogy. Playing it now, the performance enhancements are much needed. Moving around feels slower and a little unresponsive, but the 60fps has helped to alleviate those issues somewhat.

Let’s get into load times, shall we? If you have played GTA V before, you’ll know how painful all the waiting was. Waiting for the game to load from the menu screen. Patiently waiting to switch from one character to the next. GTA Online taking a lifetime to return you to your criminal empire. Thankfully, the single player loads are drastically improved. No more waiting minutes to play. The game tends to load anywhere between 20 and 30 seconds. It’s still not ideal, but a huge step up from playing on PS4.

Online and loaded

GTA Online is the same bag as it has always been. The big difference for those starting out is there’s a Career Builder option. This is fantastic if you’ve never dabbled in it and have no idea where to start. It’ll give you four career paths and a whopping $4 million to play with. During the last couple of years, I have jumped in to GTA Online, but I always felt lost in what I could do. Thankfully, this new mode gives players the chance to see what all the fuss is about.

Outside of the graphical upgrades and the Career Builder in GTA Online, little has changed. There’re no new modes or story content. If you’ve played GTA V to death, there’s not really any reason to play through it again. Sure, the visuals are improved and the framerate makes gameplay smoother, but it’s still an old game. We all want to play the next instalment. Will this quench your thirst until number six arrives? Probably not, but if you’re still into GTA Online, playing next-gen is the way to go.

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