Brett Makedonski
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Writing For
DestructoidLatest Reviews
There’s no question that Sean and Daniel leave Life is Strange 2‘s third episode with more scars than they began with. Scars have a way of robbing innocence and dispiriting the spirited. It’s no wonder Daniel is disillusioned. But that headstrong attitude leaves Wastelands feeling like an episode without much development....
Rules is bookended by some heartrate-spiking sequences, but the majority is spent relatively comfortably. Music has crescendos and decrescendos because they’re dynamic. Loud has more impact when everything was soft just moments ago. Rules is a decrescendo. It’s quiet and it’s retrained. But all indications are that Life is Strange 2 won’t stay quiet...
There’s no sugarcoating it: Fallout 76 comes up short at nearly everything it aims to be. It’s not a good role-playing game and it’s not a good multiplayer experience. It never really feeds into the gradual RPG power fantasy but it’s also inadequate as a survival simulator. In wanting to be so...
Alexios is one of the most memorable protagonists in all of Assassin’s Creed, even if I never once actually thought of him as an assassin. In a lesser game, he’d probably be forgettable. But Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is superb in nearly every aspect. It’s the most impressive Assassin’s Creed, even though...
The net result is that we immediately care about Life is Strange 2. There’s no getting-to-know-you phase where we’re slowly and steadily introduced to conflict. Nope, it’s immediate and it’s painful. And it makes both Sean and Daniel immediately-sympathetic characters. Developer Dontnod used this first episode as an opportunity to...
Forza Horizon 4 is another fantastically fun Forza Horizon game even if it’s tough to pinpoint Playground’s grandest ambition. If it was to reinvent the series with seasons, that falls a bit flat and underwhelming. But, if it was to simply remove the constraints and make everything as open and free...
That’s why the narrative payoff falls short. Lara has always played the roles of savior and protector and researcher and badass — almost entirely because those are parts she has been thrust into. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a perfectly good game, but it feels as though it never figures out...
At its core, The Spectrum Retreat has a tragic story about a family cast aside by the American health care system. That much becomes apparent early on, but the finer details are hidden behind too many consecutive puzzles. There’s a narrative worth hearing here, but the cadence at which it’s told...
There’s a complex narrative arcing across all of The Invisible Hours, and Tequila Works found a novel way to present it. It’s the rare video game that requires no real player intervention to complete. But, the best possible payoff is a result of diligently following all the stories and getting...
Minit
By contrasting a relatively-large adventure against a relatively-brief time frame, developers JW, Kitty, Jukio, and Dom found a unique piece of game design that’s incredibly effective. Everything about Minit should feel overwhelming. It doesn’t. Instead, everything feels attainable in due time. There’s this weird and perfect harmony about knowing you’re rushed and...
This is Assassin’s Creed finally catching the dragon that it has been chasing for a decade. At long last, it has nailed the balance between outlandish and plausible. Because of the period’s close ties to mythology, it makes sense for Bayek to travel to the ethereal. It’s thematically consistent with the...
Past Cure wants to be something great, and that ambition is the only thing it has on its side. This is a game that is flawed to its core. The mangled story and shoddy design prevent any single aspect from ever sticking out as something special. Don’t even risk taking a...
