- By Ash
- in Reviews
Northgard is a viking themed real-time strategy game from the makers of Evoland, and if I had to do a needlessly specific comparison I would also say that Northgard is a simpler, but more action orientated take on the Civilization formula. What I mean by this is that Northgard shares a similar focus on city-building, resource micromanagement, and open-ended playstyles that allow you to take your frontier settlement in whatever direction you might prefer.
While Northgard is still unfinished and completely lacking in terms of singleplayer campaign, I did recently have a chance to give the beta a spin and see what all fuss is about. So if guiding viking settlers to prosperity sounds like something you might be interested in, allow me to share my thoughts on the gameplay shown so far.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Conan Exiles is an open-world survival game that expects of you to carve your own little piece of heaven in a land that would love nothing more than to devour you whole. As you might expect given its genre, Conan Exiles features plenty of rock and tree smashing, crafting, and trying to survive in a server full of extremely bloodthirsty madmen that will kill you on sight for a pair of flip-flops.
Much like the vast majority of its open-world survival brethren, Conan Exiles is currently in Early Access. What this means in gameplay terms is that it has plenty of bugs, server issues, and mechanics that are about as bare-bones as it gets. So if you're wondering whether its worth grabbing Conan Exiles in its earliest incarnation, allow me to give you my thoughts on all aspects of gameplay, and you can decide from there.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
[Update]: My review of the full version is now available. You can find it here.
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is an upcoming open-world tactical shooter with a heavy focus on player choice. Its going to be up to you to decide how you'll complete each mission, whether this be through pure stealth, over-the-top aggression, a couple dozen well-placed sniper shots, or some sort of combination of those.
I've recently had the chance to play the beta which contained two missions and a small chunk of the open-world, so if you're wondering whether Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is even worth your attention, allow me to give you my thoughts on the gameplay shown so far. Naturally, since this is a beta we're talking about, its highly likely that some of the bugs and issues will be fixed by the time Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 launches, so do keep that in mind as we move forward.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
For Honor is Ubisoft's medieval murderfest where the noble knights, enigmatic samurai, and bloodthirsty vikings all smack each other over the head with very big things in an effort to show who truly is the best. And what better way to showcase your supremacy than to fragment yourself into small groups and then engage in 4v4, 2v2, and 1v1 skirmishes all across the land! Since I've spent way too many hours playing the Dark Souls series I obviously sided with the knights, because if an action game doesn't let me wear the Elite Knight Set its not a game worth playing!
On a more serious note, I've spent the past week playing the For Honor Closed Beta, so if you're wondering whether this is the sort of game you'd enjoy, allow me to give you a detailed overview of what For Honor really is. Naturally, this is a beta so things can change between now and release, but given that we're only two weeks away I think its safe to assume this is more or less exactly what For Honor is going to be like.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Tales of Berseria is the seventeenth iteration of the Tales series and a prequel to Tales of Zestiria, though set in the distant past. It brings with it a cast of surprisingly lovable misfits, an exciting combo-based combat system, and the same sort of narrative focus as its predecessors. The one big difference is that Berseria's storyline is far darker, with characters often acting out of self-interest, which is a fairly rare and rather intriguing take on the RPG genre.
So if you're wondering whether Tales of Berseria is an RPG you might enjoy, allow me to share with you my thoughts on the various aspects of gameplay and story, and you can decide from there. And since we've had a slue of terrible PC ports this past year, let's begin by first covering Berseria's technical side.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
With 2016 now well and truly over it is time to engage in one of the most well-renowned of Internet traditions - the totally not pointless top 5 list. As such, allow me to show you which games I enjoyed the most throughout this past year, and most importantly, which games I plan to continue playing well into 2017 as well.
Naturally, all of this is just my opinion and its based around the games I've actually had the chance to play, so don't be surprised if your favorite is nowhere to be found. Furthermore, the whole ranking business is mostly meaningless because I enjoy all of these games for separate reasons, so don't waste your time arguing why X is better than Y. And with all of these disclaimers now out of the way, let's get down to the fun stuff:
- By Ash
- in Reviews
[Update]: Shadow Tactics is getting a standalone expansion in late 2021 - Aiko's Choice!
Ever since I first laid my hands on the original Thief I've been in love with stealth games. The constant danger, the thrill of the hunt, and the knowledge that all of your plans can go awry at any second - all of this makes stealth games so much more absorbing than your run-of-the-mill strategy/puzzle game.
As such, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that I had an absolute blast with Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - a Commandos inspired strategy game that's all about sneaking around, making elaborate and well-thought-out plans, and then trying to resolve the mess that occurs once those plans inevitably fail. And since that description doesn't really do it justice, allow me to show you why exactly I've spent the past week toying around with Shadow Tactics.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
I've spent well over a hundred hours playing the original Killing Floor, a fact that I consider quite amusing given that I bought it by pure accident during a Steam Sale many moons ago. While I initially hated its guts due to the simplistic design and lack of any sort of story campaign, the Firebug class and its amazingly realistic flamethrower kept me from simply uninstalling it. But as time went by, and the pile of charred corpses grew ever larger, I completely forgot I was supposed to hate Killing Floor. I was having way too much fun to worry about such nonsense, and before I knew it, I was hooked!
Given how much I love the original I must admit I was rather ecstatic when I heard that Killing Floor 2 has finally left the confines of Early Access a couple of days ago. Could it possibly match the excellence of the original, what does it bring in terms of gameplay innovations, and more importantly, how glorious does the flamethrower look in these fancy new HD graphics? Well, let's go and find out!
- By Ash
- in Reviews
In most movies and games the good guys win through either the power of love, a magical McGuffin, or some sort of ancient prophecy they discovered 10 minutes ago. But have you ever wondered what would happen if the clearly superior villain ended up being the victor in that grand, climactic battle between good and evil? Would that be the end of all, or would the bad guys establish a new set of laws to govern the now unified nations of the world? And what about all of the armies of monsters and men that have suddenly found themselves without a cause to rally behind?
If you're interested in the answers you'll be glad to hear that it is exactly these topics that Tyranny explores, but not in a superficial and patronizing way, but with a surprising degree of nuance. The 'good guys' aren't all that pristine and will gladly resort to devious methods in order to achieve their goals, while the majority of the 'bad guys' are simply terrified cogs in the machine. All of this serves to make both sides feel like actual people, rather than overly simple representations of concepts such as good and evil, which goes a long way towards making the world of Tyranny all the more intriguing.
But since this is a game we're talking about after all, I'm sure the big question on everyone's mind is whether Tyranny is any fun to actually play? Well, allow me to show you what exactly its all about, and you can hopefully work it out from there!
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Blossom Tales is a 2D action-adventure heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda. As you might expect given its influence, Blossom Tales features numerous dungeons to delve, a variety of monsters to defeat through either sword or sorcery, and naturally, a whole bunch of puzzles to solve via the generous application of bombs. Wrap all of that up with some charming visuals and a surprisingly catchy soundtrack and you've got yourself a rather intriguing adventure game.
Before you get too excited, however, allow me to just say that Blossom Tales is still under heavy development, and as such isn't expected to arrive before 2017. On the positive side, I recently got a preview copy to try out and so I would love to give you a glimpse of what Blossom Tales is all about, what it does well, and what areas still needs improvement. So without further delays, let's jump in!