Sea of Stars Review
To call Sea of Stars a love letter is trite. Sabotage Studio’s masterful original work is more than a recreation of the most beloved parts of turn-based RPGs from the Super Nintendo and PlayStation 1 era. Were Sabotage to release Sea of Stars 25 years ago, few would bat an eye if this game ran on a plastic cartridge or multiple discs. The game’s beating heart is a not only a love for t...[Read More]
Baldur’s Gate 3 Review
Baldur’s Gate 3 is an anecdotal flashpoint of gaming. Its most recent comparative parallel may be akin to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. For me, a person who avidly consumes game-related content, PUBG was inescapable. During my 9-5 job, I would constantly listen to podcasts and videos about gaming. For months, content creators would give their weekly anecdotes of their time playing the...[Read More]
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons didn’t entrance me the same way 2012’s Double Dragon Neon did. And that’s okay. Coming in the midst of new beat ’em treasures like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Streets of Rage 4, Double Dragon Gaiden has a lot to prove. Does developer Secret Base buckle down on old-school sensibilities with a polish of high-d...[Read More]
Exoprimal
What if I told you that Exoprimal took multiple hours and matches before growing into a more diverse game? Would you be less prone to play it? What if I told you that Exoprimal cost $60 dollars–unless you download it on Games Pass–and is a multiplayer only game currently featuring one mode? Would you not want to spend the money or hard drive space on it? What if I told you that I have ...[Read More]
Remnant II
Remnant II has no business being as phenomenal as it is. The same could have been said about its predecessor, Remnant: From the Ashes in 2019. My vague recollection of the buzz for the original Remnant swirled around the idea it was “Dark Souls but guns.” Are you as tired of that throwaway sentiment as I am? Remnant: From the Ashes was not a wholly original ambition. From small-time de...[Read More]
Diablo 4
I find it hard to fathom that Diablo 3 released 11 years ago. But then I’m reminded it took 12 years for the follow-up to Diablo 2 to arrive. Maybe in 10 years Diablo 5 will release. And then 9 years later in 2042, Diablo 6 will break the double-digit pattern. Unsurprisingly, I can imagine legions of players still flocking to Diablo 4 nearly two decades from now. My finger wasn’t truly...[Read More]
SkateBIRD
SkateBIRD at one point reminded me of that strange, absurd joy I had playing Katamari Damacy the first time. My tiny “birb” was serenely cruising through a human-sized bedroom on his skateboard, a greasy pizza box acting as a makeshift ramp towards higher sections of the room. Everyday objects like bowls and a chain of paperclips allowed for rails to grind and ramps to perform tricks o...[Read More]
Street Fighter 6
Crouching in the corner of the Amazon River Basin, Blanka furiously swiped at the oncoming threat. Whatever humanoid this was–be it Guile, Ken, or Ryu–would not break his resolve, regardless of the elegant combos inputted his way. This basic attack was crude, sloppy, and showed none of the finesse a proper Street Fighter should have. If he was lucky, Blanka would occasionally erupt in ...[Read More]
Dead Island 2
Dead Island 2 is a bit of a nostalgia bomb for me. At perhaps my last or second-to-last E3 I sat in a room and watched an early demo of the game. Like many, I had been wowed by that stellar trailer for the original Dead Island but disappointed the game didn’t deliver any similar gut punches. Dead Island: Riptide was one of the first cooperative games I played with a group of fellow writers a...[Read More]
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
During the mid-2000s I spent a generous amount of time barrelling through a number of classic PlayStation games. My well-documented devotion to Nintendo began to wane in the latter years of high school when I acquired my cousin’s PlayStation 2 for a dirt-cheap price. But being a kid with no job and little income, I could only play games new games at a trickle. First was Final Fantasy X, then...[Read More]
Powerwash Simulator (PS5)
Last summer I borrowed a powerwasher from a friend and blasted the grime and dirt off the vinyl siding of the home I bought the year prior. After years of renting, it was surreal being responsible for a home’s upkeep without having to depend on an unreliable landlord. It appeared as if no one had ever washed the building before. Streaks of green from countless mowed lawns lined the bottom. D...[Read More]
Scars Above Review
When playing Scars Above it is difficult not to have thoughts of other games bouncing around in your head. The most common of these is painfully obvious. Scientist lady stranded on desolate and hostile alien planet shooting guns. But the Returnal resemblance only encapsulates thematic similarities, despite Scars Above featuring exotic guns shooting exotic creatures from a third-person perspective....[Read More]