TheGamer
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Bowser's Fury is good enough to be released standalone, but makes up a significant part of this excellent package.
With the announcement of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, I was convinced that Nintendo had begun a new Zelda canon centered around The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo had, at last, glanced over the lengthy and confusing Zelda timeline, and have decided to pick and choose the most worthwhile aspects of that universe and create an original timeline with all the features you adore, in a brand new setting. Creating a revolving canon around Breath of the Wild is a solid choice. Well, after a swift 25 hours of playing Age of Calamity, I'm no longer convinced this is an essential place to find canon Zelda lore, but it is so easy to get lost in playing Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity that it's still an excellent game for all Zelda fans.
Diablo III is one of the most beloved multiplayer games of all time. You'll be questing through a huge variety of stages and levels, fighting against demonic offspring and smashing through their dungeons with your friends, whether you're sat on the sofa next to one another, or online. Diablo III even manages to deliver this high standard on Nintendo Switch, with four players on a single system running at 60FPS. But this isn't Diablo III. This is Torchlight III, a Diablo-like, with almost none of the redeeming qualities. Maybe it is acceptable to launch this game on PC and not have any semblance of local multiplayer, but when you're launching on PS4, all you're doing is marking yourself as the lesser version of a game which already exists. Before it had even begun, Torchlight III marked itself for death.
It's easy to forget that, once upon a time in a just and equal United States of America, Italians were not considered white. The same goes for the Irish, of course, and essentially anyone who had not already been assimilated into the culture. When put into this context, it's easy to see how the Italian mafia first came to be - when confronted with all doors of opportunity firmly closed in your face, the next logical step seems to be a life of crime. That's exactly where Tommy Angelo finds himself in Mafia: Definitive Edition. A man just trying to earn a decent living, struggling to be anything more than a taxi driver, insulted and berated by almost everyone that sits in his cab. Until one day men with a similar accent step into his life, and his prospects change.
There is a lot to like about Hyper Scape. Once you're past the fact that the game was essentially announced as a cover for some incredibly PR Ubisoft has been having, it's a very polished, professional battle royale game, and after you've gotten used to most of the games in the genre being early access and rough around the edges, it's incredibly refreshing. Once again, there is a lot to like about Hyper Scape. So it's weird that I don't like Hyper Scape.
There are loads of competitive shooters to play on both console and PC right now, but not enough of them offer full crossplay across a variety of platforms. Not enough of them have a lively fanbase. Not enough of them are free to play. Rogue Company is designed specifically to counter all of these issues. You want Counter Strike-like competitive gaming on your Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC, or Xbox, with cross-progression and all of your friends? Rogue Company is one of the few games available that does that. But cornering the market doesn't ensure success.
I actually do not hate what Bethesda has attempted to do with The Elder Scrolls: Blades. What we have here is many of the base elements you know from the core Elder Scrolls series, boiled down to the basics. Dungeon exploring, talking to NPCs in a town, beating down a variety of monsters, collecting weapons, gold, and materials… It's all here, and it all works as you would expect. This is an Elder Scrolls game in every way, except the iconic open-world. Well, that makes sense for mobile. So why does The Elder Scrolls: Blades still feel so lacking, even with version 1.0?
Granblue Fantasy: Versus is the fighting game that nobody knew they wanted. Cygame's Granblue Fantasy isn't exactly the biggest franchise outside of Japan, despite a dubbed anime series and an English language option included in the mobile game, so this isn't a game that was in demand - but now it will be. Granblue Fantasy: Versus is a visually striking and mechanically strong fighting game with a colorful cast of characters and some of the best grounded fighting gameplay I've seen in years.
I'm writing this mere moments after coming to the conclusion of Act V of Kentucky Route Zero, a game that has been in the making since the debut of its Kickstarter campaign in February 2011, almost nine years ago. I had honestly not heard of Kentucky Route Zero before the announcement of its final act, and the TV Edition release for consoles - or perhaps I had just ignored it. What a mistake that was. Through its five acts and five new intermissions, it has unraveled a fascinating story filled with intrigue, metaphor, and mystery. The vague discussion surrounding games as art comes up often and is a topic that has been worn downtime and time again. But it's hard not to think of Kentucky Route Zero as some kind of mysterious art piece, an enigmatic, at times esoteric, but always absorbing and harrowing piece of art that you can't pull yourself away from. Skip to the summary below if you don't want to read any spoilers from this game which simply must be experienced first-hand.
I understand the desire to explore the Dragon Ball universe better than anyone, believe me. I, like many Dragon Ball fans, first started watching the show in my early adolescence, and its resurgence in recent years with movies and a brand new animated series and manga adaptation has been heartwarming to see. And even in video games, Dragon Ball FighterZ was an amazing game which not only stayed true to the style and substance of Dragon Ball but offered a truly excellent fighting game, so good that competitors unfamiliar with the franchise couldn't help but be drawn in. It is truly a fantastic time to be a Dragon Ball fan, and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot promises to bring the world of Dragon Ball to life, with huge, open environments reminiscent of Akira Toriyama's genre-defining series, dozens of recognisable characters, and the frantic action you want from anything Dragon Ball. In many ways, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot delivers on its promises, but it falls flat in a bunch of others. This is a game that won't live up to the hype for everyone.