TJ Denzer
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Opposite attraction, or the unlikely pair, might be a bit of a cliché, but there’s still charm and solid storytelling in there if it’s weaved with good hands. Hazelight Studios have been masters of cinematic co-op experiences for years now, so it should come as little surprise that Split Fiction is in good hands. This is an interesting platforming journey into fantasy, sci-fi, corporate greed, unlikely friendship, alongside a massive variety of interesting worlds that barraged us with interesting gameplay, and it ends up being another Hazelight instant classic.
The concept of putting Goro Majima in a pirate adventure is pretty much everything I thought it would be. This is a silly game with an enjoyable gameplay loop and adventure. Riding on the seas, ripping through ships with cannons, and then battling their crews in massive all-out brawls was always a fun time. Even if the story and side missions on land sometimes kept me from sailing, there was generally always something cool to do between the main story and copious side activities. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii won’t take up as much of your time as Yakuza 6 or Infinite Wealth, but it’s most certainly a fun and exciting way to pass the time with our favorite Mad Dog of Shimano while we wait for RGG’s next big thing.
The Thing, by its very concepts and mechanics, is well worth the price of admission for historians and enthusiasts. There really isn’t much quite like it, and perhaps that’s because it would be difficult to pull off well. For what it’s worth, The Thing was never perfect. It has some weird speed in its overall gameplay and cringy dialogue that detract from its scarier elements, but those elements are still fun, and with the improvements that address a sore spot in its strength, The Thing: Remastered makes an interesting outlier of the horror genre that much more valuable.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle may have broken just about every expectation I had for MachineGames, short of the fact that I expected a great game. It's definitely that, but the reasons for that greatness are that it’s an impactful brawler, a stylish action-platformer, and a clever puzzle game, with a solid cast to deliver its movie-like performances, exciting environments to explore, and an excellent score to punctuate the mood. MachineGames goes above and beyond to deliver a thrilling adventure akin to the movies, and they succeed nearly across the board. Just don’t call him Junior.
The biggest thing that bugs me about Dragon Age: The Veilguard is that it feels like the safest possible BioWare game. It follows a formula that I have learned to recognize since Mass Effect 2: Get a quest, go to a place, fight enemies in sporadic arenas along the way, fight a boss, do some critical dialogue, and move on to the next, with slight variations along the way. It’s a big river with the illusion of explorative opportunities and just a few branching canals. I think that would be fine if the characters were more compelling, but the quippy, non-serious vibe just feels at odds with the narrative. What we end up with is a game that is technically sound, and very beautiful, but fails to get its hooks in where it counts, and I feel like among other great RPGs that have come out just this year, Veilguard will have a hard time standing out.
Despite a few issues, I still think Ara: History Untold is some of the most fun I’ve had with a 4X historical nations game that wasn’t Civilization. Oxide Studios clearly knew the assignment and they aced on a number of fronts. It’s a little disappointing that for their experience, they weren’t able to avoid common issues like mid-to-late grind, but if you want a game that will offer plenty of variety in playstyles and an interesting and engaging crafting mechanic, Ara: History Untold is quite an extensive option for any fan of 4X strategy.
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster doesn’t take what we had and try to do it drastically different. Instead, it actually stays ridiculously close to where it came from functionally. The progress, survivor locations, points of interest, secrets, Psychopaths, the time they show up, and more are all intact, so much so that seasoned players will feel right at home. That said, many will appreciate creature comforts like durability meters and skippable dialogue. Newcomers are in for a challenge. This game is as unforgiving at the start as it was in 2006, but if you want a solid zombie survival experience akin to Dawn of the Dead, you can’t do much better than the mall mayhem of Willamette in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster.
It feels like it’s so long between when we get a truly breathtaking 3D platformer these days, and yet 2024 feels like a breakout year for them. I liked Penny’s Big Breakaway a lot, but I feel like Astro Bot is top-to-bottom perfect for what it is. This is, without a doubt, the game I would tell a family to get if they’re getting a PS5 and want something that everyone can enjoy. It’s the kind of game I not only suspect, but implore Sony to package with the console from here on out. Astro Bot is a charming and cheeky nod to a lot of PlayStation history and a powerful demonstration of PS5 hardware, but more than anything, it's just a ridiculously good game.
I had no idea what I was in for with Gori: Cuddly Carnage, and I certainly didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Its crassness is kind of a take-it-or-leave-it for me, but it fits a ridiculous world taken over by crazed toys that are in desperate need of murder by a sentient cat friend and his blade hoverboard. And that feels like a good way to look at most of Gori. It sets out do all sorts of things gameplay-wise and it does all of them pretty well to make a ridiculously graphic world and narrative pretty dang fun. Mind the tykes in the room when you’re playing this one.
SteamWorld Heist 2 is an interesting return to a style Thunderful hasn’t re-explored in years, and it’s a decently polished one at that. The multi-job character progress and new upgrades to sea travel make for an improved approach to new and varied challenges throughout the game. The upgrades aren’t watertight against the issues that poked holes in the first game such as inconvenient travel and grinding. That said, if you’re looking for a solid tactical strategy game, SteamWorld Heist 2 is a charming voyage that should provide plenty of good times to fans of the SteamWorld universe.