Constance Review
One cannot play Constance and absolutely ignore the rather large elephant in the room. Hollow Knight: Silksong was a dominant force upon its release in September. A game that had been anticipated for years and is currently absorbed in Game of the Year conversations en masse. For any similar game, being in the ripple of Silksong likely feels intimidating. The same will be said in November 2026 when...[Read More]
The Berlin Apartment Review
For 15 minutes straight, The Berlin Apartment had me in tears. The game had completely disarmed me, transforming a World War II story from mildly touching to gut-wrenching. After 30 years of narratives about one of mankind’s most pivotal periods, it feels like I’ve seen or played it all. But apparently The Berlin Apartment had a trick up its sleeve. But that moment in 1945 is but one s...[Read More]
Sektori Review
Back in 2017 I spent a handful of weeks attached to Housemarque’s Nex Machina. Released a month before the developer’s other game Matterfall, Nex Machina was a culmination of Housemarque’s mission statement of bringing the feel of classic arcades to modern consoles. Housemarque even went so far as to bring Eugene Jarvis–designer behind Defender, Robotron: 2084, and Smash TV...[Read More]
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Review
My greatest fear with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was that it would become another Modern Warfare III. Modern Warfare III was haunted by the omnipresence of Call of Duty: Warzone. While Activision’s battle royale cash cow and Fortnite rival has proven to be successful, it was never meant to sustain the foundation of Call of Duty‘s other pillars. Swiftly into Modern Warfare III‘s ca...[Read More]
ARC Raiders Review
In June of 2020 The Last of Us Part II released in a fundamentally tumultuous time. Society was ravaged by a global pandemic that threatened to topple the precarious balance of all aspects of our life. In the United States our broken and incompetent political infrastructure constantly fumbled the well-being of millions of people. The Black Lives Matter protests were in full swing after police call...[Read More]
Painkiller Review
After putting in almost 20 hours with Painkiller, I had seen everything the game had to offer dozens of times over. Yet I still had the itch to play. For a game as sparse and repetitive as Painkiller is, such a time investment when I had numerous other games to play should be an indictment to its quality. And while I had played its multiple arenas several times over and over again to the point I h...[Read More]
Once Upon a Jester Review
At the beginning of the year I played a small microcosm of a game called Techno Banter released by publisher Crunching Koalas. Who would of thought a game about an anthropomorphic bouncer at a nightclub in a dystopian metropolis would have resonated so much with me? And yet it did. Techno Banter is not wholly profound by any stretch of the imagination. But its concept is so different. It has fleck...[Read More]
Godbreakers Review
Godbreakers doesn’t truly get hard until after players beat a complete run for the first time. And as a player relatively well-versed in roguelikes, that’s a surprising twist in the formula. After felling my first raucous, multi-stage boss I had burned through my limited-use healing coils. A combination of unfamiliarity with a new game, an accidental heal, and a decent difficulty curve...[Read More]
Battlefield 6 Review
If I love a good mil-sim, why have I not played more Battlefield? The only two entries in the series I’ve touched have been Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V, the recent games not set in modern day but in World Wars of the past. Gaming had, at least for a few years, seemingly exhausted its taste for first-person shooters set in the wake of 9/11 and the never-ending war in the Middle East. The ...[Read More]
BALL x PIT Review
BALL x PIT proves that even after 30 years, the simplest of concepts can still be iterated upon in unique ways. 1976’s Breakout was a simple, single-player answer to Pong. What if there was only one paddle that moved and players had to use the trajectory of the ball to chip away at a wall of bricks? Okay, sure. Ten years later, Arkanoid spiced things up by adding better physics and power-ups...[Read More]
Little Nightmares III Review
When Tarsier Studios introduced a second protagonist to Little Nightmares II, they laid the foundation for what would come. Little Nightmares III, like its predecessor, clings to inspiration. Tarsier’s original 2017 puzzle-platformer could have gotten lost in the mire of Playdead inspiration but instead differentiated itself from the likes of Inside. When it comes time for a sequel, the incl...[Read More]
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review
The gulf of time between me playing kart racers has been gargantuan. In 2006, Mario Kart: Double Dash would have been in heavy rotation in my college hall. The fervent madness of Baby Park as six or seven of us would constantly swap out controllers, hooting and hollering at sour defeat and ruthless victory. Fast-forward to 2019 and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. I’d never played the origina...[Read More]