Alexander Thomas
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COGConnectedLatest Reviews
Split Fiction is a soulful, artfully crafted experience. Mechanically, it is user-friendly, even for those who don’t play games much. It is stunning with its set pieces, character designs, and overall visual appeal that brings these tales to life. Meeting Mio and Zoe, learning their stories, and seeing who they are unfold – all within the scope of narratives they created – is a creative marvel. This all unfolds while under an overarching narrative with its own meta-subtext in a brilliantly clever feat of writing. Split Fiction is an innovative, exciting experience that is well worth every moment.
Developed as the debut title from French studio Savage Level, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is an engaging, tactical pirate experience. It’s a drop of much-sought-after pirate content in a sea of other stellar gaming properties. Beyond its tale set during the Golden Age of Piracy, the immediate draw to Flint is its striking visuals. Running in Unreal Engine 5, Savage Level makes use of this tech in every beautiful frame.
Temtem challenges itself with an uphill battle in its easy comparisons to Pokemon. While it’s simple to shrug it off as a mere clone, Temtem offers just enough unique content to keep it fresh, blending the monster-catching craze with heavy – yet generally friendly – MMO mechanics. It’s a step in the right direction for monster collecting, but is it enough to pull long-time Pokemon fans away?
I had the distinct pleasure of reviewing Frogware’s The Sinking City when it first launched in 2019. As a fan of Lovecraftian horror, I knew this was a title I absolutely had to play. It can be tough to find a good Lovecraftian game and while it wasn’t without issue, the original launch of the game definitely filled that dark and brooding space in my mind. Seemingly out of the depths, the city of Oakmont has risen once more with the upgraded PS5 edition in a move no one saw coming but plenty should be excited about. So what can we expect from a return visit to The Sinking City?
You had one job. You were hired to protect her. It was just a job, but it became something more. Now she lay lifeless in your arms. But what of that tomb that holds the necromancer? Could she be brought back from the brink? Are you brave enough to delve into the tomb of the dead to save her?
It’s hard to believe it has actually been 13 years since the release of the original BioShock. The incredible first-person shooter series has been available on other platforms for some time, but 2K has finally brought the remastered collection to the Nintendo Switch, letting you take Rapture and Columbia with you on the go. There is no denying that BioShock was groundbreaking for its time with an eerie, Lovecraftian-esque atmosphere, fantastic setting, superb writing, and interesting combat. That is, however, over a decade ago, and the real question now is whether or not these games have aged well from their time in the depths or have sadly crashed out of the sky.
Do you see it? Can you hear it on the wind? Out there in the distance, just beyond the forest of Nibel, floats an owlette on the breeze, a spirit rested on her back. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is here, and the sequel to the meteoric indie hit is every bit as powerful, emotional, and entrancing as you would expect it to be. Moon Studios had a mighty challenge on their hands to create an experience that could rival its predecessor, yet sitting in development for five years has given the game enough time to hatch into a truly spectacular journey.
Sprinting forth into the great wild, with enormous sword in hand and sturdy helmet resting on your head, is there anything more thrilling than galavanting across floating islands to hunt and defeat gargantuan monsters hell-bent on your utter destruction? What about being able to save your people at the same time while on the go? Phoenix Labs’ free to play hunting game, Dauntless, has made its way onto the Nintendo Switch, making it one of the few games fully compatible with cross-play and cross-save across all platforms, but how does the game hold up on the hybrid console?
Do you care to go on an adventure? To explore a beautiful forest? Travel across the land in search of answers? To run through the grass? Swim through the river? Fly through the sky? Developed by Mooneye Studios, Lost Ember is a beautiful experience in both aesthetic and narrative form. In the opening moments of the game, you’ll learn about the rich history of the tribe that used to inhabit these lands. That they worshipped fire and believed only those devout to their faith would be granted access to the City of Light, and those who fell by the wayside would return to the earth in the form of animals, banished from paradise. A red spirit, desperately searching for help, encounters a slumbering wolf who appears to be the only one to notice him. Having lost much of his memory, the spirit is confused as to why he was not sent to the City of Light. Assuming that the wolf must be a reincarnated member of the tribe, he bargains with the wolf to help one another find peace. What follows is a beautiful journey of serenity, dotted with a weaving narrative of discovery and heartbreak.
Most open-world games love to tout their customization features, but while The Outer Worlds takes a more streamlined approach to your physical gear – giving you only a full suit and headgear to choose from – it is more than made up for it in its incredibly versatile and easy to use stat system. We have seen games feature lockpicking or diplomacy stats before, but this is the first time it has ever felt important to your character’s development. Dialogue and mission-critical options will require specific stats, which in turn reflect your character. Want to hack someone’s terminal for critical info? You better have a high hacking skill or find another way to get it. Don’t think you can go into that fort guns blazing? If your lockpicking is high enough you can sneak in the back. Every stat provides new options and every mission has multiple ways it can play out, not to mention the true wildcard of the game: you.