Randy Kalista
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Gaming Nexus Latest Reviews
Esoteric Ebb is a gorgeously illustrated, dialogue-drunk RPG that marries Disco Elysium’s inner-monologues with D&D's gameplay bones. Its bureaucratic labyrinths, strange citizens, and bickering ability scores keep every conversation swaying between revelation and the ridiculous. Solid writing and solid technical performance make the whole investigation run smoothly. It’s a game for anyone willing to take the bad rolls with the good—and enjoy the story that spills out when the dice decide you’re not the hero today.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is a minimal preservation effort. At least it's not abandonware anymore. Higher resolutions and controller support make it playable on modern PCs and now consoles, but old bugs and dated assets remain. It’s still a richly layered D&D adventure — with all the charm of its 2006 origins.
Firebreak could be 2025's most underrated shooter — if it can hold players' attention long enough. But Remedy isn't punching above its weight anymore. It's pacing itself, for better or worse.
Voxel-rich graphics. A high-spirited Stranger Things vibe. Clever turn-based quick-time-event combat. But also dopey dialogue, endless fetch-questing, and weirdly placed grind. Echo Generation looks great, tastes half-baked.
While you were partying, Narita Boy studied the techno-blade. Impossibly good pixel art is locked behind bad-but-gets-better platforming and okay-but-gets-cool hack n' slashing.
Werewolf is firing on all cylinders when it lets you take on a wave of enemies, turning them all into puddles of jam. You don't have to think too much about the gameplay, and that gradually becomes a good thing. If this came out 10 years ago, I'd be thinking about it more during end-of-the-year talks.
Everybody has their Assassin's Creed. Mine might still be Black Flag. But Valhalla is basically Vikings vs. knights, filling out the other two sides of my personal trifecta. The assassinations might've gone soft, but the northern European world building hits hard.
If you like going on long walks, if your favorite color is safety orange, or if you're never taking "must love dogs" out of your Tinder bio, then Hunting Simulator 2 is sounding your mating call.
The Dark Souls of zoo tycoon sims. Start slower than you'd like to, YouTube yet another tutorial, then watch Planet Zoo blossom before your eyes. This is a slow, mindful, niche of a sim that demands more patience and learning than you'd expect.