Tom Ravencroft
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MonsterVine
KeenGamerLatest Reviews
The setup of the game: That you are drawing creatures that are fighting someone else’s drawings in the margins flows through the general vibe of the game. It’s surprisingly engaging and quite tactical while also being pretty loosey goosey and fun without taking up months of your life like a...
Where I would caution newer folks is this: This is an older game without a lot of handholding, which is to say it hits you in the face with a shovel. There is a tutorial, but it also just kinda turns you loose to run your city after that. There’s...
If you’re chasing whatever the hottest new trend is or want a groundbreaking game with never-before-seen mechanics, obviously this is not a good match. But if you’re looking for a game that captures the vibe of a place, the mood of a place, and a story that rapidly spirals into...
Blacktail is one of those games where it almost feels like they wanted to make a walking/exploration-type game, but they had to put some combat in it and make it feel like a video game so people would know what it was, so there’s always a tension between the “art...
If you’re completely new, there are three modes: fortress, the one I’ve been ranting about; Adventure: basically that 500 year old world? you get to play an RPG in it. This wasn’t in the build I played; and then Legends: You can literally poke around historical events, sites, regions, everything...
There is some combat, if you like that kind of thing, but it’s very abstract and you really just kind of wind up your military and point it at things and hope it works out. This isn’t a game for the conquerors and fighters…but if you’ve ever sat in front...
Obviously, Isonzo isn’t for everyone, which is why it feels like a throwback to an era before every shooter had to be a system seller. I can’t promise you’ll be good, I certainly am not. But if you want to vibe to the era of PC gaming where weirdos made...
That is the basic flow of the game but doesn’t capture all the layers it keeps opening up. Suddenly, you can recruit new performers or new types of performers, or do new shows, or you unlocked some new crafting stuff. Every combat encounter provoked a bemused oh now what reaction...
I found it compelling. Even if you don’t like tactical combat, you have to admire something so completely insane and very much its own thing when the world is busy making roguelike soulslikes platformers. It’s also an excuse to buy a cowboy hat of your very own.
There’s no multiplayer except for leaderboards which is actually kind of a shame since the only thing more fun than co-op mode would be making your buddy explode with a well-timed prank. Think Deep Rock Galactic with “I pranked him to death with a tire iron!” then yelling “KOBE!” as...
The game is a mixed (BLOOD!) bag. As someone who tends to be a fan of the line, if not the writers introducing edgelord Nazi references and starting international incidents, Swansong was an interesting expedition into the world and a faithful port of the mind-boggling systems. On the other hand,...
In the end, I’m disappointed, but I kind of want to recommend it anyway because it’s so stylish and really shows what an artistic vision and style can be. Sure, it’s cribbed from Kurosawa, but one of the biggest and most popular franchises in film history is, too. This is...
