- By Ash
- in Reviews
[Update]: There Is No Light's Enhanced Edition has added a whole bunch of new abilities and rebalanced most enemies, thus fixing some of the issues with the slow progression in player power.
In sharp contrast to most action-RPGs that have you start your day with a bit of mundane busywork to help you get acquainted, There Is No Light throws you into the deep end by having you make a deal with the devil and stab an eldritch god in the face within the first few minutes. What follows next is a lengthy adventure that will take you across a world riddled with corruption and teeming with mutated monstrosities, all of which you'll need to single-handedly best in combat while doing whatever you can to keep your soul from descending into darkness. And things only get weirder and weirder from there!
So if you're curious about what There Is No Light's bizarre world has to offer, as well as how the ever-present combat works, allow me to share my thoughts after spending a week slicing and dicing my way through its accursed halls.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Much like any business these days, your mercenary company in The Iron Oath has to carefully manage its finances in a turbulent economy, strike a fine balance between relying on veteran workers and investing in new blood, as well as fight off hordes upon hordes of interdimensional demons that have come to destroy everything you know and love! In a way, it's the perfect showcase of what it's like to work in retail!
So if you're curious how you can save the world on a budget, as well as how the Darkest Dungeon inspired missions play out, allow me to share my thoughts after spending quite a few hours exploring The Iron Oath's pixelated world.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Unlike most rogue-likes that have you personally fight your way through hordes of baddies, in Peglin you get to passive-aggressively stare at your enemies while you throw orbs into a pit in order to see what kind of smackdown fate has decreed for them. It's a ridiculous premise, but after playing way too much Peglin over the past week, I must admit it's also quite an addictive one!
So if you're curious how Peglin manages to turn Peggle-inspired gameplay into a nerve-wracking rogue-like, as well as how it compares to the rest of the genre, allow me to share my thoughts after quite a few hours with the demo.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Inspired by Borderlands 2's highly popular Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is a charming and explosion fueled homage to the RPG genre. With some top notch action and an excellent cast doing their best to portray completely ridiculous characters as straight as possible, it's also a highly enjoyable game in its own right.
So if you're curious about just what all of this looks like in action, as well as how Wonderlands compares to its predecessor Borderlands 3, allow me to share my thoughts after a very explosion-filled adventure!
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Like any great adventure, Tunic begins with a light bit of grave robbing in order to arm yourself, immediately followed by a spree of vandalism as you run into the nearest temple to smash all of their priceless pottery. Needless to say, Tunic is an action-adventure heavily inspired by the classic Zelda games, something it's so proud of it wears it as a shirt!
So if you're curious just how deep that comparison runs, as well as what sets Tunic apart from the rest of the genre, allow me to give you my thoughts after spending the past week getting thoroughly lost in its world.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Dying Light 2 is a game that tries to take itself seriously with a bombastic plot and massive stakes, yet it's at its best when you're smacking bandits off buildings with your magically enchanted table leg of pyromania. Even climbing up to the rooftop is just as much fun as chucking someone off it, because between the expansive open world and some top-notch parkour movement, messing around in Dying Light 2 is a delight!
So if you're curious about how Dying Light 2 compares to the original, as well as what the narrative is even all about, allow me to share my thoughts after spending about thirty hours falling off all sorts of buildings!
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Monster Hunter Rise continues the proud tradition of poking oversized monsters with ramshackle things vaguely resembling weapons while accompanied only by household pets. It might drastically reduce your life expectancy, but you can't deny that it sounds like a remarkably fun way to spend the evening!
So if you're curious just what Monster Hunter Rise has to offer and how it differs from the excellent Monster Hunter: World, as well as what the freshly released PC port is like, allow me to share my thoughts after a rather eventful playthrough.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Even though Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous continues on with many of the ideas and gameplay elements from Pathfinder: Kingmaker, the two games aren't really connected on a story level. There's a few little references sprinkled throughout the world, and one major character does make a reappearance alongside a seemingly immortal pet cat, but for the most part you can have a great time with Wrath of the Righteous without even touching Kingmaker once.
That is exactly what I would recommend as well given that Wrath of the Righteous functions essentially as a bigger, better and bolder version of Kingmaker. There's a lot more variety in character builds and options, the combat encounters are expanded and the maps are more interesting, the story is better paced and doesn't take nearly thirty hours to get started, and there's a whole assortment of quality of life features to tie everything up in a nice little bow.
So if you're curious about what exactly Wrath of the Righteous does well, as well as where it stumbles and falls flat on its face, allow me to share my thoughts after rolling so many dice over the past week that I think I'll be seeing skill checks in my dreams for months to come!
- By Ash
- in Reviews
[Update]: As a part of the January 2022 update, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox has added a co-op mode on PC!
Despite being a long-running series the premise behind each Ys game can be very quickly summarized. You play as the ever-adventuring Adol Christin as he crashes yet another ship into yet another island, becomes involved in some sort of grand mystery, saves the world in a heroic fashion, and eventually leaves everyone behind with smiles on their faces and their priceless monuments in ruins.
While this does get a little bit silly sometimes, there is one very important upside - you can pick up just about any game from the main series and start there without worrying about previous context or who the characters even are. So if you're thinking about doing just that with Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, or if you're simply curious about how it compares to its predecessor Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, allow me to share my thoughts and impressions now that I've spent two rather eventful weeks with it.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
[Update]: The Chaos Wastes expansion has now finally arrived, and as expected, it's a pretty good one!
Once it arrives this April 20th, Vermintide 2's newest free expansion Chaos Wastes will have you brave the corrupted northlands in search of ancient and supremely powerful artifacts. Given that reality tends to take a back seat whenever the Chaos gods are involved, it should come as little surprise that these expeditions into the Chaos Wastes will have you venture across a variety of strange and surreal lands, consort with whatever benevolent gods will even listen to you, and naturally, explode thousands upon thousands upon thousands of rats and Chaos cultists.
Over the past few days I had a chance to explore pretty much everything Chaos Wastes have to offer, so if you're curious how all of this madness translates into actual gameplay, as well as how the rogue-lite Expeditions compare to the dreaded Weaves, allow me to share my thoughts now that I've managed to finally scrub the smell of charred Beastmen off my clothes.