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And yet after 15 or so hours doing damn near everything there is to do in it, I have been left feeling somewhat hollow. Melancholic for times I wasn’t even alive for. There are games mentioned in Astro Bot you cannot play on a modern system. They are stranded on consoles with slowly dying batteries and waiting to be delisted from storefronts you can only purchase things from by using arcane magic. Games that are doomed to never get sequels, not to mind remakes or remasters. All because Sony has decided yet another game cribbing from Overwatch, Tarkov, Genshin, or Fornite that costs 500 million dollars and eight years to make might be the next big thing.
Persona 5 Tactica might be smaller than a mainline game, but it packs no less of a punch. Its story has something important to say and speaks its mind in an impressively cohesive manner. It doesn’t seek to tackle as many issues as Persona 5 but what it does charge into, it blows out of the water. All this while the loveable character prevents the serious subject matter from ever becoming overbearing. Persona 5 Tactica is great. You should play it.
After 13 long years, Alan Wake has finally escaped The Dark Place. Was the wait worth it? And is Saga Anderson’s case to solve the many mysteries of Bright Falls a worthwhile one? Lex Luddy reviews Alan Wake 2.
A friend of mine posted in a Discord the other day that they were trying to run through Tunic for a review and felt it was too opaque. They, as I did at several points, missed one of the game’s very subtle breadcrumbs and as a result, like me, spent a good hour and a bit wandering the overworld getting frustrated. There is one particular step in the main quest, which as far as I can tell has no signposting. You could argue from a thematic point of view it would make sense for you, taking on the role of a fox, to go and do this, but in a game where your little fox is speechless it’s hard to take a beat and ask "what would this little dude do after going through all that crap". As far as I can tell, at this point, Tunic expects you to Google where to go next. More specifically it expects you to ask a friend. The most answered question in the reviewers’ Discord was directing lost players at this exact point. Someone in there figured out this quest step and then slowly, so did all the rest of us. We didn't...
I respect and deeply love Chicory. It’s a game that helped me relax in a way almost nothing else in my life has, while simultaneously making me relive some of the darkest moments in my own life. However, above all else, Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a game I worry about. I worry that in years to come many of us will remember it as just another really good indie game, with a cute style and cool ideas. But it deserves so much more than that. Hang it in a damn museum.
Trying to concentrate on this many variables is next to impossible, rhythm games work because of their simplicity, which is vital when trying to keep a player’s concentration in difficult scenarios. In games like Crypt of The Necrodancer bosses clearly telegraph weaknesses, whilst, Thumper, another rhythm game with lots of intricate movements, uses a limited colour palette and repetitive motions to make everything feel like second nature. Double Kick Heroes is not just difficult, but cumbersome too, which is such a shame, there is an incredibly satisfying love letter to the genre hidden behind these mechanics. It's a lot easier to recommend on Game Pass, as it may strike a chord with players that can comfortably play Guitar Hero whilst making a cup of coffee at the same time, but I think I’ll stick with Osu for the time being.
The developer showing off the game was quick to point out that this is both a small team and an alpha build. They are very proud of the current state of the game and rightly so, it could be part of an Unreal Engine demo reel. This game looks like its been polished by industry veterans who have been making, pitching and selling games to the public and investors for years and know how to stretch limited budgets and resources. Disintegration’s world and story are fascinating and the gameplay has potential to be a fast paced decision based strategy game. I just hope Private Division doesn’t try to sell something else because if they do it will feel like you're constantly fighting with what this game wants to be, and that’s something really different to anything else out there.
The developer showing off the game was quick to point out that this is both a small team and an alpha build. They are very proud of the current state of the game and rightly so, it could be part of an Unreal Engine demo reel. This game looks like its been polished by industry veterans who have been making, pitching and selling games to the public and investors for years and know how to stretch limited budgets and resources. Disintegration’s world and story are fascinating and the gameplay has potential to be a fast paced decision based strategy game. I just hope Private Division doesn’t try to sell something else because if they do it will feel like you're constantly fighting with what this game wants to be, and that’s something really different to anything else out there.