Matt Miller
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Latest Reviews
Keeper is absolutely worth playing, but not necessarily because of its gameplay. A frustrating fixed camera, a frequent sense of aimlessness, and a general lack of intention behind your actions all combine to diminish interactivity and engagement. At the same time, however, Keeper is an astonishingly beautiful visual experience, made all the more special by its unspoken narrative and wildly creative artistic presentation.
Keeper is absolutely worth playing, but not necessarily because of its gameplay. A frustrating fixed camera, a frequent sense of aimlessness, and a general lack of intention behind your actions all combine to diminish interactivity and engagement. At the same time, however, Keeper is an astonishingly beautiful visual experience, made all the more special by its unspoken narrative and wildly creative artistic presentation.
If I had a dollar for every Arkanoid-inspired, roguelite, post-apocalyptic fantasy, bullet hell, town-building simulation, arcade/action game, I’d have – well, precisely one dollar. Ball x Pit triumphs by taking familiar, approachable dynamics drawn from across the history of gaming, and layering them into an instantly understandable and immersive whole. It’s one of those surprise successes of a game that is easy to recommend to almost anyone for some simple fun, following in the footst...
While the brawler genre is most commonly remembered for scenes of vigilante street fighters beating up gang members or superheroes unleashing their powers, another long-established legacy includes a decidedly more fantastical backdrop, where wizards and warriors battle their way across a scrolling screen, mount fire-breathing dragons, and fling out spells. If that flavor has always appealed to you, I’ve got good news: Your long quest is finally over – Absolum is the platonic form of this ...
Hollow Knight: Silksong is an exemplar of its form. Games like Metroid and Castlevania helped establish the fun of an exploration and platforming adventure filled with upgrades that open up new paths to progression, and Team Cherry’s second Hollow Knight game takes that concept to a profound level of depth, sophistication, and scope. Pacing issues and a punishing approach to forward progression prevent a full-throated endorsement to every type of player, but those with significant patience ...
The Final Shape is a tough act to follow. Last year’s big expansion to Destiny 2 provided an epic and satisfying conclusion to a decade of storytelling and gameplay. As Bungie’s shooter charts a path to content that moves in a fresh direction, it was always going to be a challenge to hit the mark. But even setting aside the potentially unfair comparison, The Edge of Fate is a letdown. For the first time since the original Destiny launched, I finished exploring the ins and outs of this new...
Living apart from the world of simulation or arcade racers, the futuristic anti-grav racing genre has a devoted following among many enthusiasts. I count myself among those fans, having spent an embarrassing number of hours navigating tracks in various F-Zero and WipeOut courses, trying to improve my times. As such, Fast Fusion caught my attention right away as an early Switch 2 technical showpiece. Compared to many modern racers, it’s a relatively straightforward release, primarily focused...
For some family and friend groups, Mario Kart is an institution – a foundational memory of competition, silliness, and fun that has endured for decades of new tracks, racers, and games. That reputation for entertainment is at no risk of being lost by the arrival of Mario Kart World, which offers tons of thrilling and bonkers courses, an intense awareness of adrenaline-fueled speed, and the best feeling controls to date. It’s also true that this new Mario Kart stumbles in some important wa...
The Turtles have a long history in video games, and the spectrum of quality for those projects is all over the place. Strange Scaffold has opted for a novel departure from expectation with Tactical Takedown, taking the four radical green brothers into a grid-based tactical affair that still aims for a sense of high movement and excitement. Production values are limited, and the game’s scope is small, but fans can find a lot to enjoy in this turn-based adventure.
Drawing on some of the best traditions of precision platformers and physics-based puzzle games, Bionic Bay is a surprising and novel release managing the rare feat of consistent and rewarding gameplay from beginning to end. Stack in a speedrunner’s dream of an online mode, and there’s a lot packed in. While the purposefully enigmatic world-building and overpowering industrial theming didn’t land for me, the slick traversal and clever puzzle design make the game an easy recommendation, s...