Alex Van Aken
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Game Informer Latest Reviews
Arc Raiders is my favorite extraction shooter to date, surpassing its competition with incredible level design, a deep yet easy-to-navigate crafting system, stunning art direction, and an exciting suite of weaponry and gadgets to discover. Developer Embark Studios’ sophomore release also cultivates a surprisingly helpful community in a subgenre known for obfuscation and treachery. However, player-versus-player firefights still shine thanks to exceptional sound design: shields break like fir...
Wildgate is an easy recommendation for multiplayer fans looking for novelty. While its matches can be slower-paced than some may enjoy, developer Moonshot Games has expertly created a spacefaring fantasy built around discovery, ship customization, and impressive multi-crew dogfights that are cinematic and tactical. Despite small balance issues and a reliance on the unpredictable nature of communicating with strangers, winning a hard-fought round of Wildgate is rewarding and memorable.
Peak is one of the latest viral Steam multiplayer releases, and it’s fantastic. The idea is simple: climb to the top of a procedurally generated mountain, overcoming environmental challenges using teamwork (up to four players), stamina management, and any equipment you scavenge. Developer Landcrab, a collaborative team comprising members from two seasoned game studios, delivers a wildly clever adventure full of curiosity, danger, and laughter.
Redfall is my biggest disappointment of 2023. As a massive fan of developer Arkane Studios’ previous work, from Dishonored through Deathloop, my expectations were high for the company’s new release. However, this vampire-hunting first-person shooter is messy, plagued with technical flaws and head-scratching design decisions counterintuitive to the game itself. The result is an often-bland experience, made frustrating by occasional glimpses of potential, and it’s sucked the life out of me.
Evil Dead: The Game is a faithful adaptation, full of subtle and not-so-subtle homages to the classic horror series. You can visit iconic sites like The Knowby Cabin, wield boomsticks and chainsaw prosthetics, fight off a possessed severed hand, play as your favorite cast members, or command armies of Deadites as the series’ antagonist, the Kandarian Demon. They even recreated the first-person, off-axis camera effect synonymous with Sam Raimi’s directorial style from the movies. But while these elements fill the title with fanservice, none of them make for a very good video game, certainly not one that stands out in a growing subgenre.
Battlefield has always been the largest and loudest multiplayer experience in the business. It’s the video game equivalent of Texas, and its bombast cannot be overstated. Battlefield 2042 offers a variety of ways to participate in simulated near-future warfare. Whether you prefer to fight via land or sky, you can experience dizzying on-screen explosions, tense firefights, and more vehicles than teammates who know how to drive them. Unfortunately, Battlefield 2042 is full of almost as many bugs as bad pilots, dragging down an otherwise solid online shooter.