Tony Bae
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COGConnectedLatest Reviews
Nobody Saves the World was a bit of a disappointment for me. Coming from the Canadian developer Drinkbox Studios, I was excited for this title after playing their fantastic Guacamelee series. As they do with each of their projects, Nobody Saves the World is a new genre for the studio, a dungeon-crawler RPG. At a glance, the game is fantastic, possessing the developer’s fantastic art style and fun attitude. It even comes with some interesting original ideas.
I’ve been reviewing and previewing plenty of Metroidvania as of late, and I can say that nothing has caught my attention as Unsighted has. Made by Studio Pixel Punk, a tiny indie team of only two people, this title is an incredible achievement in game design. It not only checks off everything that makes Metroidvanias good but also executes those points masterfully with their own unique flairs. Good combat? Check. Great movement and platforming? Check. Iterative puzzle designs? Check. Truly rewarding exploration? Check. Diverse powers and weapons? Check.
If you are predominantly a PC gamer, you might not be familiar with the Story of Seasons franchise, but you’ve probably heard of the series’ original name – Harvest Moon. The highly influential classic inspired other bestsellers such as Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, among many other farming-based games. The franchise had to change its name due to copyright reasons with the publisher they left behind, but rest assured, the original devs are creating Story of Seasons.
Wildermyth is a unique game that doesn’t feel unfamiliar, especially if you’ve played tabletop RPGs before. Like in Dungeons and Dragons, you create a party of adventurers and see them grow from local village nobodies to legendary heroes. The aesthetics and gameplay call back to the tabletop origins too, with tactical grid-based combat that heavily focuses on your positioning and strategy.
Days Gone is finally on PC as a part of Sony sharing some of its exclusive titles like Horizon Zero Dawn. The open-world zombie survival game came out in 2019 to a lukewarm reception for a variety of issues. The question is, has its adaptation into PC fixed any of these problems? The short answer is yes!
Carrion snuck out of nowhere, much like the monster you play in it. With such little marketing and fanfare, I didn’t know what to expect going in, but what I found was nothing short of incredible. From its aesthetics down to the core gameplay, there is little I could fault in it. So what is it? Well, the debuting indie devs, Phobia Game Studios, categorizes Carrion as a reverse- horror game. Although this label sounds really cool, it doesn’t say much for how it plays. In actuality, Carrion confidently belongs within the classic Metroidvania genre, where you explore an expertly designed world connected by obstacles that open up only as you grow stronger. And man, oh, man, did they do the genre justice.
If you like deckbuilding games, you are probably familiar with Slay the Spire. Further, I’ll make a bold prediction that you loved Slay the Spire too, because I don’t think I’ve met a single person that didn’t like that game. Roguelites and deckbuilders just feel like they were meant to be together, don’t you think? Well, If you agree, I think you might have a great time Shiny Shoe’s Monster Train too!
MechWarrior 5 returns the franchise to a singleplayer/co-op experience for the first time since 2002. Developed by Pirahna Games, the team responsible for MechWarrior Online, the game is crafted by experienced hands.
One of the rarest narratives in video games are the ones that disempower the player. Games are a form of escapism, power fantasies, it’s a world where we can feel like we are in control. In Mosaic, you play as a nobody, an insignificant employee of a gigantic corporation. No strengths, no disabilities, nothing stands out about you. Not rich, not poor, living paycheque to paycheque, existing with the goal of paying next month’s rent. Developed by the Norwegian indie studio Krillbite, Mosaic is best described as a walking simulator (can we please come up with a new name for this genre?). Throughout the game, you’ll either be solving puzzles, or exploring, or doing both at the same time. Although the puzzles aren’t particularly challenging, this is definitely a case where gameplay exists to reinforce the story, rather than the other way around.