Leana Hafer
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Writing For
IGNLatest Reviews
Subnautica
Subnautica is a template for what open-world survival games should strive to be. It’s fantastical, fresh, and frightening from surface to seabed, with a story that kept on surprising me and a cast of sea monsters that quite literally haunted my dreams. Even with more than 50 hours sunk, I...
Tiny Metal
Underneath a forgettable campaign and unimpressive AI, Tiny Metal houses the seed of a really deep and entertaining multiplayer wargame. But until a head-to-head mode is added, it’s not much more than a set of unchallenging training scenarios broken up by far too much overwrought dialogue. I had plenty of...
I can wholeheartedly recommend Bridge Constructor Portal as a rich, challenging puzzler with plenty of brain-twisters in store across its 60 levels. The pacing and methodical iteration it encourages meant it only ever taxed my mind, not my nerves. As a Portal fan’s nostalgia piece, it’s really not much better...
Hello Neighbor
Hello Neighbor is a frustrating slog through a gauntlet of illogical puzzles that rely on persistence and thoroughness far more than cleverness, observation, or ingenuity. The stealth is hit-or-miss, alternating between feeling too punishing and borderline irrelevant from act to act. Some clever level design and a clear talent for...
Elex
The best-case scenario for ELEX is that it’ll be worth picking up on sale a year or two from now after it’s been heavily patched to fix its rampant bugs and infuriating balance problems. It has enough good ideas that one day it might be talked about as one of...
Battle Chasers: Nightwars’ combat and activity-dense world scratch the JRPG itch, even if the storytelling and character development leave a fair bit to be desired. Its attractive dungeons and outdoor regions are fun to get lost in, and there are just enough hidden treasures to claim to make exploration rewarding...
I feel like a broken record saying this is the best Total War game so far, since I’ve felt that way about each major release since Attila. But it really is true: Creative Assembly’s designers are honing their campaign and faction design consistently from game to game, and that progression...
When I’m having a good time in ARK, I’m having a really good time. The problem is that those moments are usually one part to every nine parts menial grinding and crafting - especially at the later tech tiers. Having to repeat so much work after failing an attempt at...
StarCraft remains a titan of the genre for a reason. Though its interface lacks some contemporary conveniences, Blizzard has still, to this day, failed to outdo itself in terms of the elegant balance between three highly asymmetrical factions that was achieved in Brood War. Whether you want to revisit the...
Pyre
From the art to the music to the story to the tactical gameplay, and even to how they’re all woven together so artfully, Pyre is an adventure that excels in every area of its design other than limiting its multiplayer to local only. It’s an epic journey that made me...
Despite the frustrations its upgrade system often caused me, I had a good time navigating Nex Machina’s array of twin-stick shooter challenges. The appealing art, energetic soundtrack, and pixel-perfect gamepad controls made me own every failure and look forward to whatever might come next. Arena mode seems to be where...
Under Pressure transitions us off of the high-tempo radio hit that was the season opener and into a more relaxed slow jam punctuated with some meaty action riffs. The slower drip of meaningful events meant I didn’t come off of it with the same level of feelgood euphoria I had...
