Jason Coles
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Writing For
The Escapist
TheSixthAxis
PCGamesNLatest Reviews
I love a good action game. Heck, I love a lot of middling action games so long as they’ve got one or two really cool things about them. The First Berserker: Khazan is definitely not a middling action game though, and has a lot of style along with a lot of substance that makes it a blast to play from start to finish, along with a gorgeous art style and some very edgy but entertaining writing.
Knights in Tight Spaces is an incredibly follow up to an already amazing game. It fuses a wonderful amount of style with plenty of tactically strategy, and the party mechanics at play and side quests all help to make it almost feel like a solo tabletop role-playing game, which I mean as an incredible compliment. If you like the sound of this game at all, or hanker for more Fights in Tight Spaces, then you'll probably love it.
Monster Hunter Wilds sands off a lot of the edges from the series, and while I was concerned that this could leave the game feeling frictionless and uninspiring, the addition of a really engaging story, some of the coolest monsters I’ve seen in any game, and the new systems all combine to make it just pure fun. It’s good for newcomers because of all the helpful parts, but veterans will be overjoyed with everything that comes after the credits, not to mention the wonders of having two weapons easily accessible. Monster Hunter Wilds is probably going to be my game of the year, and I’d be shocked if that’s not the case for a lot of other people too.
Coridden is quite simply one of the coolest concepts I've played in absolutely ages, and as a big fan of co-op games, is immensely refreshing. I adore this game, and I really hope we get more from this from the team at Aftnareld to shows off more of what they can do, because their first attempt is a triumph of ingenuity.
Even when you do eventually beat the game, you're then thrown into a new game plus cycle that means you can just keep playing and making your character stronger and stronger. It's such a blast to play. In fact, it's so good that I've been meaning to write this review for about a week now, but every time I think about Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 I seem to end up playing it instead.
The Veilguard is a beautiful-looking and highly enjoyable game, and a nice return to a more focused feeling RPG that does justice to both Dragon Age as a series and also to Bioware. It's fun to play in the moment-to-moment, the big decisions feel impactful and worthwhile, and fans of the series will be happy to be running around chasing after that lamentable egg of an Elf once more. It's no Dragon's Dogma 2, though.
I find myself wishing Shadow of the Erdtree had a continuation from one of the endings of Elden Ring, or ventured back to explore the Shattering itself. Instead, it feels like a filler episode in Naruto. Sure, the fights are cool, and there's a new progression system to work through, but what is the point if nobody is going to acknowledge it again for the rest of the series. But hey, at least the Convergence Mod team will have a field day with all of this new stuff to play with.
Another Crab's Treasure riffs off the Soulslike genre, but strikes a great balance between humour and homage. This is a great game with a good message, and above all else, it's just a lot of fun.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince isn't reinventing the wheel or changing the way we should view the monster-catching genre, but it is a huge amount of fun, and offers a lot of playtime for those who want to spend their time just seeing what kinds of weird and wonderful creatures they can end up playing with. The systems are clear and easy to grasp, the voice acting is great, the music is incredible, and it's just a very fun game.
Gangs of Sherwood is exactly what it needs to be: fun for everyone playing it. It's definitely a game you'll want to play with friends for the best possible experience though, so do keep that in mind if you're more of a single player kind of person. I've been having a blast with it though, and if I can convince some friends to join me, I'd imagine I'll be playing it for a fair bit of time to come.