- By Ash
- in Reviews
[Update]: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide studio Fatshark are suspending new content, microtransactions and the Xbox version in order to focus on much-needed fixes.
Much like the Vermintide series that came before it, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a remarkably enjoyable co-op game that has managed to vacuum up all of my free time over the past few weeks. Its combination of extremely tight and satisfying gameplay, a world that couldn't be more Warhammer 40k if you plastered skulls everywhere, and an arsenal of intentionally absurd weaponry proved to be simply too fascinating to resist!
However, despite recently launching from beta, Darktide is still nowhere near finished. Core features like crafting are barely implemented, some of the quality-of-life tweaks I've come to know and love in Vermintide 2 are nowhere to be seen, while annoying technical issues frequently appear to throw a wrench into the works. So even though there's a whole lot to love about Darktide, there's also a fair bit to criticize!
As such, if you're curious about what sort of things Darktide does well, as well as where it stumbles and falls flat on its face, allow me to share with you my thoughts after nearly eighty hours of gameplay across all of the difficulty levels and classes.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
[Update]: I'm afraid I have some bad news. Overwatch 2 will be drastically downscaling the scope and amount of its long-awaited PvE missions.
When Blizzard first announced Overwatch 2 back in 2019, their vision for the game included a plethora of co-op focused missions that would finally let us learn more about the world and its characters, an MMO-style talent tree to help us customize each hero and their playstyle to our liking, as well as more of everything we've come to know and love from the original game. It was exactly what me and a majority of the playerbase were asking for ever since the first PvE event arrived alongside the Halloween Terror update, so how could this possibly go wrong?
Well, as it turns out, in a myriad of ways as the freshly released version of Overwatch 2 is not even close to what was promised three years ago. It can barely even be considered an expansion, let alone a sequel, as all it really brings to the table is three new heroes, a new game mode alongside a couple of new maps, a new monetization system and an assortment of balance changes - all stuff that we could've received through the usual seasonal updates had Blizzard not prematurely abandoned the game.
Yet despite the disappointing amount of new content, I still found myself falling in love with Overwatch 2 as the core gameplay is so incredibly polished and varied that it's hard to stop playing once you really get into it! So if you're curious about what exactly makes Overwatch 2 so enthralling, as well as how it all compares to the original, allow me to share with you my thoughts after quite a few hours of exploring all of its game modes and characters.
- 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!