Brian Connor
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Just as 2013 was the year of the bow (Tomb Raider, Crysis, etc.) and 2014 was the year of the broken-ass game (Unity, Master Chief Collection), 2015 is going to be the year we venture into space. With giants like Star Citizen and No Man’s Sky coming at some point hopefully in the next year, hype is at an all time high for exploring the stars. What better way to kick off the trend than with a super late 2014 release that sets the tone nicely for the journey to the dark unknown, Elite: Dangerous.
Valkryria Chronicles!!! Wait…..Valkyria Chronicles??? Really? In the scale of things likely to happen, a PC port of Valkyria Chronicles coming out in 2014 has to be directly under World of Warcraft becoming a first-person shooter. Don’t get me wrong, the original 2008 version for PS3 was beloved by many, but that was over 6 years ago, and Japanese developers and publishers have a storied history of ignoring or neglecting the PC platform. Apparently this release was the product of strong fan petitioning efforts, which seems even less likely. This really seems on the surface like a big win for everyone. The fans won over Sega with a strong push to make this happen, and Sega listened and delivered. But would Valkyria Chronicles be any good after all these years and on a different platform?
I recently wrote a preview for This War of Mine in which I referred to it as an Empathy Simulator. Like Cart Life and Papers Please, these games aren’t meant to be “won” in the traditional sense. Their goal is rather to give you an experience and make you understand just for a moment what it must feel like to be in a tough spot. With This War of Mine having recently being released in full, I dove back in to see the full experience.
Without a doubt the most difficult game type to succeed with is stealth games. When done right stealth games can be some of the best gaming experiences ever made, but there’s so much that can go wrong. In every stealth game it all comes down to control. If you feel perfectly in control of your character and his/her actions, the game will succeed. If you feel like your character doesn’t respond the way they should, you’ll be in for a bad time. So in which camp does Styx: Master of Shadows fall?