Life is Strange 2 (Switch)
It’s hard to believe that eight years have passed since the release of Life is Strange. I fondly remember reviewing the first season, impressed by its sincerity and ability to differentiate itself from the trend of The Walking Dead-like narrative games. More surprising was the fact that Square Enix was branching into unknown territory. Troubled teens usually would only be explored in a fanta...[Read More]
Season: A Letter to the Future
Season: A Letter to the Future is not for the cynic. Or, perhaps, it is. The opening hours of the game may be too densely packed with exposition that reads too flowery, too self-important. Its sweeping music and cleverly-timed panning shots of gorgeous pastel landscapes too manufactured. Like anything asking for more introspection, Season could be approached as trite nonsense. More concerned with ...[Read More]
Yuppie Psycho: Executive Edition
Capitalism kills. Money is the root of all evil. The devil… is in the dollar? Yuppie Psycho embraces the insidious culture of climbing the corporate ladder. It is Silent Hill meets The Office. A black comedy meets demonic slasher. Playing through the glut of first-person horror games over the past several years, sussing out a title that isn’t bottom-of-the-barrel Steam trash has been d...[Read More]
Forspoken
Forspoken feels intimidated by its players. A strange sentiment, certainly, but one that became apparent the longer I played. Games should be fun out the gate, right? Forspoken instead takes its time to becoming truly engaging. Layers of foundation are built with truly admirable bricks but you’re also spending that time watching the materials cure in the sun. Years ago, Final Fantasy 13 was ...[Read More]
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Marvel’s Midnight Suns proves the comic book/superhero formula can be successfully applied to almost any scenario. Who would have expected players to be rubbing elbows with Blade and Spider-Man? Or trying to flirt with an Avenger? Would it have really sounded exciting that saving the planet would be determined with careful card selection while players scratched their heads for the best plan ...[Read More]
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol succeeds because it deeply understands players’ expectations of horror. What we expect is Dead Space. Not from Visceral Games but from Striking Distance Studios, the developer behind The Callisto Protocol and comprised of former Dead Space talent. As player deeply fond of Dead Space, I went into The Callisto Protocol with the highest expectations. Striking Distance Stud...[Read More]
God of War Ragnarök
At the age of 6 I lost my father to an incurable illness. This lingered over me in the final hours of God of War Ragnarök. A sentiment echoing in my mind. What would life be like had his tutelage been there? Would he be a good father? Remained with my mother? Taught me to be a better person? Hard to say. One of the few memories I have of him is sitting in a living room, playing Super Mario Bros. w...[Read More]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II shirks revolution for refinement. For a series that has been burning at both ends for nearly two decades, sea change is hard to come by yet entirely expected by a large cadre of players and critics. Where does the franchise go from here? How does a first-class multiplayer prove itself digestible by the masses while striving for something different? The choice by Inf...[Read More]
Gotham Knights
The shadow cast by the Arkham games looms heavily over Gotham Knights‘ opening hours, often bleeding into the entire game. It’s been seven years since Rocksteady released Batman: Arkham Knight, leaving a massive hole for players wishing to take part in the Caped Crusader’s exploits. That shadow extends even further knowing that it has been almost a decade since WB Games Montreal ...[Read More]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Beta Impressions
In the final months of 2019, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare acted as a newly-formed appendage. Hours on end were spent playing Infinity Ward’s “‘soft’ ‘reboot'” to the detriment of my sleep and a horde of other games I would have otherwise played. Like many Novembers and Decembers, Call of Duty had its temporary hooks in me as many zeitgeist games often do. ItR...[Read More]
Serial Cleaners
After wrapping up Serial Cleaners I decided to dust off my digital copy of Serial Cleaner, a game I had bought years ago on sale and never played. “How does the original compare to the sequel?” I wondered. I considered hopping into the first game before playing Serial Cleaners so I could speak on how the two compared and contrasted. But instead, I decided a completely fresh perspective...[Read More]
No Place for Bravery
“Sing, oh Muse, the folly of Thorn, son of Dewr, who lived by the blade.” No Place for Bravery opens with this line, a throaty chant and booming drums accompany the text crawl. It instills an ancient sense of power into the player’s subconscious. Our main character is named Thorn and this introduction heavily implies that all will not be right, his folly worthwhile enough to be a...[Read More]