Suriel Vazquez
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Writing For
GameSpot
Game InformerLatest Reviews
The reason to keep coming back to Hades isn't just the thrills you'll get battling through hell, but the characters and stories you learn about along the way.
Cutting out Immortals' open-world exploration for pure puzzle-solving isn't a total loss, but the cleverness of these new puzzles is matched only by how frustrating these trials can be.
The big reason for Zelda fans to invest in Age of Calamity--the story--is its biggest letdown, but there's a decent Musou game here for everyone else.
Samurai Shodown showcases the highs and lows of the fighting genre as a whole. At its best, it’s a powerful lesson in learning and reacting to another player, as victory doesn’t require you to learn jargon or memorize long combos. But it flounders without that other human player, hindered by a scant single-player offering and a decent-but-basic approach to online play.
As you might guess from its name, Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the Necrodancer Featuring the Legend of Zelda is a strange mix. It takes elements from the Zelda series (most notably its revered suite of music) and combines them with the dungeon-crawling roguelike action of Crypt of the Necrodancer. The two series don’t always mesh harmoniously, but as a whole, they get along well enough to make for a gratifying musical adventure.
The Dead or Alive series has long sat in the middle of the fighting game pack. It’s earned its keep over the years with a mix of sound combat and an idiosyncratic take on the genre, but usually sells itself on sex appeal instead of clever twists or reinvigorating overhauls. Dead or Alive 6 takes steps to encourage more people to dive in, and while it has some interesting ideas, this entry loses more than it gains in the move to modern consoles.
After her father is assassinated and her forces overwhelmed, times are dire for Mercia, a newly-minted queen who must prove she’s capable of leading an established empire to victory. Wargroove sits in a similar place, as it hopes to prove itself worthy of a mantle established by other greats in the turn-based tactics genre. Thankfully, it captures the appeal of its inspirations while also making some inspired decisions, making it much more than a retread of an established field.
A lot has changed about Gwent since its early days as a fun, imbalanced minigame in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The goal is still to win two out of three rounds by having the highest total card strength, but years of iteration in beta have changed the game drastically, molding it into something much more interesting and rewarding. Now officially out of its test period, Gwent proves itself a strong competitor in the card game field, offering lots options and strategies while also differentiating itself in exciting ways.
Part of what makes Gwent so fun in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is how it is contextualized within the latter’s fictional world. Plotlines have you building your deck across multiple matches, and occasional dialogue branches let you settle disputes with cards instead of swords. Thronebreaker, a new Gwent-based campaign set in the world of The Witcher, takes this concept to its logical conclusion, telling a new tale using Gwent as its core. It works surprisingly well, as the story delivers strong political intrigue, character moments, and tough moral choices. These all hold Thronebreaker together as the standard card-slinging gradually falters across dozens of hours.
On its surface, Soulcalibur VI is a reboot for the weapon-focused fighting series. It eschews the slew of new characters in Soulcalibur V for a retelling of the events of the original Soulcalibur, and brings back most of the iconic characters in classic attire. Within that nostalgic pitch, however, is a combat system that deftly builds on its predecessors, with several smart improvements that give players more ways to dig into a fighter that’s equal parts intricate and flashy.