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If I sound like I’m focusing on these two things I didn’t care for in the game, it’s only because everything else is working at such a high level that these two things really stuck out to me. But make no mistake, I enjoyed my time in Land of Shadow, and I loved being back in the world of Elden Ring. While this isn’t my personal favorite expansion FromSoftware made (that still belongs to The Old Hunters for Bloodborne) I can definitely say it’s their most ambitious and complete. It’s honestly hard to imagine where they go from here, but I can’t wait to find out.
Ultimately, for a first attempt, Lies of P is a solid Soulslike that should keep fans of the genre happy and frustrated for the entire runtime. It’s clear Neowiz and Round8 have an affection for their inspiration even if they don’t quite have the skill to match.
So what does Atomic Heart truly offer other than an occasionally fun, not at all original, game with too many ideas that aren’t fully fleshed out? Unfortunately, not much. It’s worth a rent or definitely checking out on a subscription service but it needs some more polish and refinement before the good things can surface the way they should.
Without a compelling story or likable protagonist, or a compelling world to explore, Forspoken only has its combat to rely on and while I always found that fun and engaging, it’s not enough to justify an open world for a decidedly linear game. It tries a lot of things and comes up short in most of them. There’s a really good game in Forspoken. It just needed to be refined, polished and edited.
Spiders did manage to offer a fresh take on a Soulslike and in doing so crafted a solid foundation for a potential franchise. With a bit more of a budget to allow for more enemy types and locations, Steelrising could be a contender.
With Until Dawn Supermassive proved they know how to tell a good story with somewhat interesting characters and good pacing, which is all the more disappointing that their first proper follow up, The Quarry, comes up short on so many levels.
I can’t say I didn’t enjoy all of my time with Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, because I did enjoy quite a bit of it. And when they patch out the bugs I’m sure it will be a much better experience. Unfortunately, the things I butted heads with that are inherent to the design of the game sapped all of the joy out of it and by the time I finished the campaign, I just wanted to be done with it and move on to something else.
It’s remarkable how well From has managed to expand to a truly open world while keeping their core gameplay intact as well as building on top of it in one massive and impressively polished package. Elden Ring is clearly the culmination of FromSoftware’s past 13 years of experience and development philosophy of the souls franchise. Miyazaki and FromSoftware have crafted something so massive, special, wondrous and triumphant that it’s unfathomable how they can top it. Easily FromSoftware’s best game to date and a genuine masterpiece.
It’s unfortunate that Back 4 Blood does lack some of the personality of Left 4 Dead but I can safely say that Back 4 Blood is nearly everything I wanted in a Left 4 Dead 3 and then some. Hopefully, over time, Turtle Rock will be able to fix the issues that are present and maybe add in more harrowing Infected, erm, Ridden.
Ultimately Aliens Fireteam Elite is a solid time-waster that offers very little reason to come back to it once the campaign is done. The combat and attention to detail with the license are the highlights for sure, but removed from the Alien license, there is little here I can recommend over other similar games. Hopefully Cold Iron gets another shot at this and can add some variety and give players that confrontation everyone will expect and truly make it something special.