Justin Mercer
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Writing For
Gamer Escape
TwinfiniteLatest Reviews
Slowly working your way through the hotel, taking in the gorgeously detailed environment, wracking your brain to figure out how to progress, remembering all of the blocked paths you can now access with a newly acquired key item—these are the moments when the game is at its absolute best. Had...
Dwerve
Dwerve is a difficult game to put down. It incorporates the strategic aspects of tower defense with the reactive dodging of action games and fully reaps the benefits of both elements. Having to approach each of the varied combat encounters with tactical and mechanical skill creates a layer of engagement...
The dynamic camera, the gorgeously realized environments, and the personal, character-driven narrative work in tandem to deliver a game that’s wholly unique. It might not be an easy recommendation based purely on gameplay alone, but it’s certainly easy to recommend for just about everything else.
It may be more initially intimidating to genre newcomers than, say, Guilty Gear Strive or Dragon Ball FighterZ, but being fun to pick up yet challenging to master is the hallmark of any great fighting game. It’s part of the appeal, even, and when you take the consistently deep gameplay...
Visible effort went into nearly every avenue of the game, making it an easy recommendation even if it doesn’t bring much innovation to the space. The quality of the combat and the variety of content on offer elevates this ARPG experience to be a cut above the rest. The only...
It’s difficult to recommend on a story basis thanks to its generic narrative, and even harder to recommend on a gameplay basis thanks to the slew of glitches, loose controls, and boring progression. With more time and refinement, Blackwind could very well have been an enjoyable experience, but alas, it...
Scarf
Scarf is an endearing experience. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve and doesn’t shatter the genre’s conventions with innovative ideas, but still finds enough sure footing to set itself apart from its contemporaries. Moreover, an unsurprising story and a few instances of intentional time-wasters in puzzles aren’t enough to...
We don’t get JRPGs of this caliber every day. With a turn-based battle system that not only facilitates experimentation and customizability but also serves up a real challenge, Bravely Default II is a game that knows how to engage its players. Its narrative doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but there’s tangible...
Every system presented to the player works on a functional level, but their implementation simply isn’t up to par with what’s required to make an engaging video game—even one that’s only about four hours long—and this culminates in an experience that ends up being more half-baked than hard-boiled.
No Longer Home tackles the issues it presents in a natural, unobtrusive way that allows the player space to muse on them themselves. Even if you’re not sure you can directly relate to the situation that Ao and Bo find themselves in, this title comes highly recommended. It will absolutely...
Despite this, it’s clear a lot of heart went into this project. There are good character interactions and moments here, but the actual meat of the game—the gameplay and overarching thrust of the story—falls too short of the bar raised by its presentation to make it an easy title to...
Similarly, if you haven’t played a game like this before and are intrigued by the way it plays or the visuals, but not turned off by the idea of a passable story and a gameplay experience that doesn’t feel the need to surprise you, Samurai Warriors 5 is more than...
