The Plucky Squire Review
Shortly into my adventure with Jot in The Plucky Squire, I was tasked by the wizard Moonbeard to retrieve some wax from local honeybee Benny Bee to create more records to DJ with. As if that sentence wasn’t already claustrophobic in whimsy, it turns out a honey badger was snout-deep in Benny’s stock. A cutscene played–Jot ripped the sleeves off his tunic, muscles bulging. “...[Read More]
Concord Review
Concord is the most fun I’ve had with a competitive online multiplayer shooter since Titanfall 2 and Overwatch. Blizzard’s game-changing Overwatch and Respawn’s second attempt at a great thing both released in 2016. Where Overwatch ushered in the prominence of hero shooters, Titanfall 2 was a taut, high-energy competitive game. Our space has ballooned. At times it feels unsustain...[Read More]
Star Wars Outlaws Review
Being sandwiched between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi could have been Star Wars Outlaws‘ greatest failing. Instead, it is the game’s greatest strength. Shadows of the Empire was similarly set between those two films and, I would argue, became a relatively beloved slice of Star Wars canon before much of the Extended Universe was annihilated. I played Shadows of the Emp...[Read More]
Building Up ASKA with Creative Director Cristian Diaconescu
Back in June, ASKA entered Early Access. Sand Sailor Studio’s Viking crafting and survival game premiered in the thick of Summer Games Fest on the heels of many games vying for players’ attention. While the survival genre is certainly a busy one, ASKA‘s hook of building a thriving community of villagers who actually complete tasks for the player immediately sold me. The ability t...[Read More]
Pepper Grinder Review (PS5)
There’s grace in not wearing out your welcome. And I know few platformers that grow more enjoyable the longer they stretch on. Variety is the spice of life and Pepper Grinder mimics the best kind of platformers capable of diverse levels, challenges, and visuals… all without becoming too much. But I admit that in its haste, Pepper Grinder is almost over before it makes the most of any p...[Read More]
Mars 2120 Review
38 years ago when Metroid released on the Famicom in August 1986, the revelation that Samus Aran is a woman was anything but novel. The assumption that obviously there must be a man behind that mask was based in at least a few decades’ worth of media featuring a dude as the action star. Fast-forward almost 40 years and it’s a completely different landscape. Heck, many people I know opt...[Read More]
Deadlink Review
Deadlink has no patience for players who want to take the time to methodically pull off headshots and lurk around a map for optimal strategic dispatching of enemies. You don’t aim down the sights. You don’t belly crawl. Technically, you don’t even die. Deadlink is a roguelite by way of a boomer shooter. Which, for even a person in their late 30s like me, is just… well it...[Read More]
Concord Preview: Polishing a Rough Gem
After two Beta weekends and about 20 hours of playtime, there is a Concord-shaped hole in my heart. And I think there are few better compliments one can give to a game than wanting to spend even more time with it, especially after a worthy binge. But I’m uncertain if even the full version of Concord will ultimately be able to satiate that yearning. Last December, I dived into the Closed Alph...[Read More]
Ajazz AJ159 Apex Gaming Mouse Review
Ever used one of those gaming mice that sharply curves along the thumb or features over a dozen buttons? In my years of reviewing and previewing games and hardware, a lot of wild products have come across my desk. A gaming headset that featured rumble. Cellphone pouches designed to look like animals. Bypass switches to enable mouse and keyboard controls on older consoles. If a manufacturer can ima...[Read More]
Ajazz AK870 Mechanical Keyboard Review
For the mechanical keyboard curious, Ajazz appears to be a company offering a wealth of products to ease users into the deep, complex world of keyboard customization. In my review of the Ajazz AK820 Max, I noted the keyboard’s simplistic design belied a canvas for easily swapping keys and switches that would potentially add splashes of color and varying sounds to achieve a person’s opt...[Read More]
Ajazz AK820 Max Mechanical Keyboard Review
For someone who has spent as much time as I have endlessly pressing keystrokes, you would have thought by now I wouldn’t be so unfamiliar with mechanical keyboards. But alas. The Ajazz AK820 Max is the first mechanical keyboard I have spent any meaningful time with. My assumption with the input method was that every keyboard of this type would noisily–yet satisfyingly–make a loud...[Read More]
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of The Goddess Review
Were you ever good at Desktop Tower Defense? I certainly wasn’t. But that didn’t stop me from soaking up hours of it on Kongregate or whatever Flash game website at the time. The tower defense zeitgeist at the time seemed to revolve around that dumb, simple game and rather than be on my PlayStation 3 I was probably idling away on it between Tumblr refreshes and browsing mp3 download si...[Read More]