Reviews
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator Review
Apr 10, 2023
As someone who enjoys cooking but has never worked in a restaurant kitchen, I was eager to dive into Cyanide’s Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator. And I have to say I was not disappointed. This game honors the cycle of prep and service that goes into restaurant management while keeping things grounded for a fun gameplay experience.
Meet Your Maker Review
Apr 04, 2023
Behaviour Interactive has excelled at the multiplayer 4v1 format with Dead By Daylight . Now in Meet Your Maker , it’s an excellent asynchronous game featuring levels created by other players. Consider it a more deadly and gruesome version of Super Mario Maker . The game operates off of three pillars: building, raiding, and upgrading. You can focus on one or the other, or straddle between both for maximum effectiveness, but both modes of play are really fun. The genius lies in the tools Behaviour Interactive gives you to not only make hellish layouts, but to outwit what others have made and come away with the core of the facility alive. Meet Your Maker is a frustratingly good game that will have you coming back for more pain and punishment from strangers around the world to attain a successful extract, even if you die trying.
Terra Nil Review
Mar 27, 2023
We’re all familiar with city builders, right? Simcity, Cities XL, and so on. The goal in this genre is to take a plot of land and build a thriving city. One with roads and houses, businesses to cater to your residents, and eventually become a sprawling metropolis. Terra Nil takes that formula and hits reverse, thanks to the fine folks over at Free Lives, the same developers who brought us games like Broforce. Where your run-of-the-mill city builder tasks you with street planning and laying out electrical lines, Terra Nil asks you to refill rivers and lay out lushing fields of flowers. But how does a game like this hold up? Can the same city-building fun be had in reverse?
Tchia Review
Mar 20, 2023
There’s a very special game in Tchia. What the tiny team of twelve at Awaceb have made here has a huge amount of heart and soul at its core, though the delivery falls just short of being something truly spectacular. Marred by performance issues and bugs on the PS5 version that I played along with a story that is nearly brilliant, but ultimately fell flat and left unresolved, it’s hard to recommend the game around those points. However, what’s been achieved with the “soul jumping” mechanic introduced relatively early into the game is very enjoyable, although limiting and frustrating in its own ways.
Resident Evil 4 (2023) Review
Mar 17, 2023
Reident Evil 4 feels like the culmination of everything the series has been doing in the past eight years since Resident Evil 7 debuted to both reinvent the franchise and take it back to its roots. Between the mainline entries and the remakes of RE2 & RE3, every release has been building to this moment to create the definitive version of one of the greatest games of all time, and the ultimate realization of Resident Evil. This is the pinnacle, and it’s absolutely glorious.
WWE 2K23 Review
Mar 17, 2023
You wouldn’t know it by looking at the blank cover of WWE 2K23 , but this year’s entry is all about John Cena. The now legendary wrestler has entered his twentieth year with the company, and is easily the most loved and equally hated man in all of wrestling, largely in part to his success. This thought can also be said about the WWE 2K series as a whole, a love / hate relationship with the fans that you can now appreciate for all its accomplished this year. Visual Concepts have really fine tuned what worked with WWE 2K22 and eschewed what didn’t. WWE 2K23 is a sim brawler that has really found its footing, and gives the series the necessary attitude adjustment it has needed.
DROP – System Breach Review
Mar 14, 2023
When the synthesized voice in WarGames’ asks “Shall We Play a Game?”, it’s a turning point for what’s to follow. In DROP – System Breach , the message you get just a few missions in sets the tone for what comes after. Megacorporations and rival hacking groups are knocking at your firewall, and being able to outwit them at every turn is incredibly satisfying. Deciding who to trust, who to deceive, and who to steal from are choices all left to you. There’s so much to explore and engage in, it’s immersive in a way I didn’t think pixel graphics could be. DROP – System Breach is a smart, deceptively complex, and wholly engaging minimal hacking sim you have to play.
The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition Review
Mar 07, 2023
Ever since Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds released in 2019, it’s been an underrated and unsung hero in RPGs. It was a player-driven narrative through alliances made and broken, and shaped by your decisions. The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition comes shy of four years that includes the main game, all DLC, and many updates and enhancements that make it well worth the upgrade or brand new buy. The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition is the ultimate version of this wild west meets space RPG that’s sure to find its place…
Blood Bowl 3 Review
Mar 03, 2023
One bad dice roll during my first proper turn during Blood Bowl’s 3 opening match. A quick turnover that transformed my team into a bloody mess. “Oh, now that’s a great start”, I sighed to myself. Less than a minute later, I saw one of my opponent’s players slide into place while t-posing. Last time I checked, I didn’t note that as a rulebook change. But, the more I played Cyanide’s latest entry of a rather niche, but beloved franchise, the more I found out that there were a lot of changes unrelated to the core rulebook and rather, the core game itself.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review
Mar 02, 2023
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty comes from the team behind the Nioh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms games. The result is a beautifully grim marriage of the two series to be a hardcore action RPG. Placing the game’s setting during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history is a surprisingly great twist on the familiar, seeing some famous leaders with terrifying new presentations. Enough can’t be said about how this is a simultaneous release on consoles and PC, and is very much appreciated. Though I wish the game’s performance on PC was much better than it is, it remains a very compelling game. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is sprinkles the right amount of challenge and loot-driven role-playing action together to make a flavorful combination that doesn’t miss.
ONE PIECE ODYSSEY Review
Mar 01, 2023
Anime is a very popular type of TV people watch. It contains lots of fighting and action but also a lot of dialog. I have not seen much anime in my free time, but you can tell if something is anime just by looking at the art style, and One Piece fits that bill. One Piece is one of the more well-known anime that people watch today, and with how many seasons there are, you may have heard of it. As you probably won’t be able to binge-watch it all in a day, here’s a brief synopsis. One Piece explains the story of Luffy and his group of pirates as he goes out on wild adventures across the ocean. With that in mind, One Piece Odyssey adapts the anime and its art style well to the 3d video game space.
Forspoken Review
Feb 28, 2023
I am a gamer that enjoys a good story over all else. Game mechanics are just the icing on the cake, and artistic design is the cherry on top. If a game has an underwhelming narrative and is not engaging, I will drop it like a rock. Mechanics or an art style can not carry a game on its own. That was my firm belief until now. Forspoken is a stunningly beautiful game with amazing color pallets and elegant free-running traversal. I found myself coming back to Forspoken daily to run around the world. But before all the finer details, let’s talk about this game and the insanely basic story.
Atomic Heart Review
Feb 27, 2023
Atomic Heart is a single-player first-person shooter that’s devoid of a battle pass and monetization, aside from some cosmetic DLCs you can purchase. Developer Mundfish certainly put a lot of heart and soul into this, as it seems to represent parts of their favorite games. Atomic Heart is not quite the “Russian BioShock ” it seemed it would be, and for the most part that’s a good thing, as they aren’t doing something so familiar. However, Mundfish’s first game fails to be more than a mish-mash of ideas that never truly solidifies into anything of substance.
Returnal (PC) Review
Feb 24, 2023
Returnal released onto the PlayStation 5 in April of 2021 to great acclaim, and for good reason. Housemarque made a statement in 2017 saying that “arcade is dead” and that “it’s time for Housemarque to move forward with the industry”. While most of this is true, Returnal contains a lot of the core DNA of what makes Housemarque, well… Housemarque. Climax Studios has helmed the PC version of Housemarque’s game, and it’s just as great as its console counterpart in every way. This is especially true if you have a DualSense controller to experience it with. Returnal transcends its arcade and shoot’em up influences with one of the most unique and best roguelikes yet.
Company of Heroes 3 Review
Feb 20, 2023
Relic Entertainment has re-imagined and dominated the real-time strategy genre for twenty-five years now. Company of Heroes 3 is another great example of this innovation, as Relic gives the third entry of their RTS series with a whole new direction and drive. With the introduction of a dynamic campaign map where every decision and strategic element is left up to you, and the establishment of tactical pausing, there’s a deep and rewarding game that awaits you. Company of Heroes 3 is full of bright colors and dark tones, and Relic really pushes the series forward in several meaningful ways that is wholly exciting.
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