Far Cry 6
Pulling back on a compound bow and waiting with baited breath, I yearned for that distinct, satisfying Far Cry squelch as the arrow found purchase, lodging itself into the brain of an oppressive cog in the tyrannical machine. Dozens, if not hundreds of times, Far Cry 6 delivered that wet crunch as Dani rampaged through Yara like a rabid, murderous Robin Hood. Far Cry 6 also allowed me to pin a Yar...[Read More]
Metallic Child
Before Metallic Child I had never considered playing an entire video game from the perspective of a security camera. No, this isn’t Watch Dogs. Unless I’m having a memory repressed where Marcus or Aiden observed and controlled a chibi robot girl as she battled against rogue AI in a space station that is slowly crashing into the Earth. Metallic Child reminds me of one of those strange n...[Read More]
Diablo 2: Resurrected
Diablo 3 was my first Diablo game. I have never played Diablo 2. Let that color the rest of what I will say, if you wish. I won’t take it personally, promise. My personal anecdote for Diablo 2 is that one night when hanging out with a few friends in high school, two guys mentioned Diablo 2. I knew what the game was but the only Blizzard product I had touched was StarCraft. One of the guys me...[Read More]
Dreamscaper (Switch)
Cassidy is a moderately normal young woman. She struggles with making a human connection. A tragic past event has put her guard up. Anxiety weakens her ability to communicate. And she can’t get a good night’s sleep. These days, though, who can? But Cassidy’s restless nights are plagued by a deadly dream world, twisted by her subconscious. In her dreams, her real world issues coag...[Read More]
Garden Story
There came a point in Garden Story after I had learned how to fish items out of the water, collect world lore, break rocks with a hammer, revitalize plants with dew, and survive a day/night cycle that the game taught me how to craft. Garden Story had introduced several wrinkles in its Link to the Past-like homage that it had become more than just a top-down action game. Not only was I in full-blow...[Read More]
The Medium (PS5)
In a year that has brought players Resident Evil Village and Little Nightmares II, it would be understandable that The Medium has lost some of its place in the horror spotlight. Released earlier this year exclusively on Xbox Series X/S and PC, Bloober Team’s foray into third-person horror suffered from being delayed as a launch title, out of the ravenous grasp of 2020’s holiday season....[Read More]
Life is Strange: True Colors
Once Alex Chen left her bus and stepped foot in the small Colorado town of Haven Springs, I clicked the touchpad on my DualSense, checking her phone. I was greeted to a cluster of text messages to a character I had never met from characters I had never met, many that I never would across Life is Strange: True Colors‘ five chapters. The snooping would have to wait. Alex was on her way to meet...[Read More]
Deathloop
Deathloop defies expectations. As a player who has keenly watched the numerous trailers for Deathloop since its announcement I went in expecting a number of things. When I first saw Colt teleport across a surface I thought, “Oh, that’s Blink from Dishonored.” When the cyclical, time-looping plot was revealed I thought, “Oh, that’s the trippy narrative from Prey.”...[Read More]
No More Heroes 3
During Travis Touchdown’s fight against the Number 10 alien in the Galactic Superhero Ranking he became enveloped in Gundam-style armor and took to space to continue the duel. I barely had a clue what I was doing. The tutorial for the armor made a little bit of sense as it implied I just needed to move the camera around to lock on Mr. Black Hole–the #10 guy–and his weakpoints. Af...[Read More]
Tribes of Midgard
If you are the type of player who can easily corral a group of friends or is prone to openly chatting in silent lobbies, Tribes of Midgard may be for you. In fact, you’re the type of player who will likely enjoy the game the most. Over my several dozen hours with Tribes of Midgard, the times I had the most fun were when I loaded into a match where several people were openly talking, whether ...[Read More]
Cris Tales
Cris Tales is one of those games that will be strapped with the somewhat flattering “love letter” moniker. When developers grow up on a diet of specific consoles and games, it’s hard not to imagine they would wish to craft their interpretation of a childhood classic. If you told me developers Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK were devotees to Chrono Trigger, any SNES Final Fantasy, Br...[Read More]
Death’s Door
The Legend of Zelda all too often serves as a jumping off point of comparing and contrasting a vast number of adventure games. I suppose it’s difficult to separate how influential Link’s 35-year journey has been and how many developers around my age grew up slashing at Ganon with the Master Sword and have been inspired to make their own narratives about heroism. Acid Nerve’s Deat...[Read More]