Mark Steighner
This author account hasn't been claimed yet. To claim this account, please contact the outlet owner to request access.
Writing For
COGConnectedLatest Reviews
High on Life 2
While it doesn’t have the shock value novelty of the first game, High on Life 2 makes up for it with ambitious level design, polished movement, and a more grounded, coherent narrative. All the fun of the first game’s talking guns and wicked humor remains, entertainingly voiced and paired with...
Reanimal
Reanimal takes its cues from primal childhood trauma and the deep-seated fears that most people carry through life. It adds layers of familiar-feeling puzzles and terrifying monsters to a game that looks a lot like a Little Nightmares sibling. With the ability to play the game with another terrified human,...
Disciples: Domination does not upend what already works about the series. It moves Empress Avyanna’s narrative in a new direction and adds nuance and depth to all the game’s systems. There are a lot of mechanics at play, from combat to RPG-like elements to diplomacy, and they work together well...
His past games have demonstrated that Suda51 is probably incapable of making a cookie-cutter action game. Yet underneath its misdirection of wild and crazy, that’s kind of what Romeo is a Dead Man really is. Strip away the disorienting style shifts and patchwork narrative, and you’re left with a fun...
Nioh 3
Nioh 3 is the most ambitious and densely featured entry in the series, with a vast world to explore and extremely satisfying systems and combat to master. It does for the Nioh franchise what Elden Ring did for the Dark Souls world. Nioh 3 offers a huge amount of content...
From its art style to its streamlined mechanics, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined takes a classic and makes it feel fresh. A cast of engaging characters, sparkling voice work, and combat that can be tailor-made, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is a substantial game that almost never wastes your time. Ardent fans...
For a free-to-play game, Arknights: Endfield offers a wealth of well-made content. The factory building, tower defense mechanics, exploration, and team-based combat elements offer engaging hours of play, certainly worth the price of admission for fans of those genres. Mid to late game, Arknight: Endfield loses a bit of luster,...
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora From the Ashes is an excellent return to the world of Pandora, and addresses many of the original game’s minor faults. The new third-person mode makes the game feel brand new. Better pacing, more streamlined progression, and a darker narrative combine with effective combat and exploration....
If you can temper your expectations and have an impressive tolerance for jank and lack of polish, Of Ash and Steel might have something to offer. The world is sort of interesting, even if the stuff you need to do in it is rarely as fun as it should be....
Back in 1997, Outlaws did a great job of turning classic Western tropes into a video game. Still, it’s hard to ignore that the gameplay and design are stilted and simplistic compared to modern shooters. Fans of the original will certainly appreciate the happy jolt of recognition, and there’s a...
Where Winds Meet is over-ambitious, messy, opaque, and inconsistent. It has too many gears that don’t mesh, a lot that’s poorly explained, and it refuses to give the player a moment of unproductive time, even at the cost of coherence and comprehensibility. For all that, Where Winds Meet is a...
Anno 117: Pax Romana takes the series into fertile new historical territory and is one of the best games in the Anno franchise, as well as being one of the most enjoyable city builder sims in recent memory. Polished, incredibly detailed, and beautiful to look at, Anno 117 hides imposing...
