13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

( Nintendo Switch – Adventure, Strategy – 2022 ) + TRAILER

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Game I've been meaning to play since it came out originally, then postponed checking it out until the Switch release and only now three years removed have I sat down and played through 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. Surprisingly, I managed to last all that time without getting myself spoiled so expect the same from this review in case you want to check it out for yourself. It was definitely worth the wait.

Game opens bombastically as a teenage girl amidst the panicked mass summons this giant robot called Sentinel out of thin air and not long after gets thrust into battle. Girl is Iori and she's quickly joined by her classmate Juro with his own Sentinel to fight these mechanical Kaiju destroying their city. Guided by a mysterious voice our pair makes it through only to end up in an even worse place – a 1985 high-school where everything is normal with no ruins in sight. Fast forward and we now see a military youth who appears to be chasing after a girl... in 1944. Something impossible involving blue lights happens and Hijiyama is now living with this not-exactly girl out of an abandoned warehouse in 1985. Just to make things confusing even further this is followed up by yet another battle scenario where our boy is inside a Sentinel of his own. How many of these are out there?

If the above came across as scatter brained that's because 13 Sentinels chose the most ungrateful premise as its core tenet. What would be even more difficult to write than tackling something traditionally seen as challenging like time travel? To approach it with an ensemble cast of THIRTEEN (13) characters, of course. Each of them gets a prologue section intersected with five battle scenarios which culminate in the beginning of The Final Battle. I'll get into it more when I tackle the actual strategy tower defense mode, but there are three modes in the game: Destruction, Remembrance and Analysis. Remembrance is aptly named as that's the majority of the game with characters going through storylines and events that actually lead to the Final Battle itself. Analysis mode keeps track of all events and so-called Mystery Files you can unlock to get greater understanding of what's transpiring.

I want to make something crystal clear so you don't go into the game with misplaced expectations. This is NOT a puzzle game where you'll be expected to solve anything on your own – there are no items to combine and correct action is never beyond your Thought Cloud which acts as inventory and journal in one. Real mystery of 13 Sentinels comes from myriads of perspectives, bite-sized nuggets of information and sheer layers of complexity. You're playing for the story, which I've only scratched in the opening as bait for potential players, and characters who are themselves piecing it all together. I did have fun trying to figure out just what is going on before the game gives you enough pieces to pull the rug from under you with revelation after revelation. Don't be afraid you'll be left in the dark if mysteries are not your forte because game will explain everything rather too neatly towards the end. Perhaps some ambiguity would've helped, but so much of the narrative hinges on crucial information you cannot leave to player's imagination.

If extensive story development is one half of the narrative black then 13 Sentinels' characters are most certainly the other, and I can't tell you which is better. Eponymous characters are naturally not created equal and I had favorites, but they're all highschoolers who may or may not be what they seem. Surprisingly there's a valid reason why this age old anime cliche is in place here. Many familiar archetypes are here from stern, ominous Gouto who really likes to push up his glasses, to UFO nerd Natsu-chan and everything in-between. All their stories are worth playing through... which you'll have to do anyway because you don't really have freedom. Remembrance and Destruction keep tabs on one another to balance story progression. This means you'll juggle characters or go fight some battles to a certain threshold before further stories unlock. At no point was I annoyed by this, but keep in mind you WILL have to do combat.

Speak of the devil...

It's good to keep track of what's a flashback and what's actually happening if you want to piece the plot together ahead of schedule.

Arguably the most important screen in the game where you play through each protagonist's story. With some roadblocks, mind you.

There's a lot of customization to be made for the battle mode and since you can't bring everyone with you assemble with care.

This really isn't what it it looks like, but Thought Cloud is how you interact with the world in lieu of puzzles.

Battles in the game are something you can trivialize by lowering the difficulty. Given they're essentially glorified tower defense I really wouldn't.

Enter aforementioned Destruction mode aka tower defense employing real-time with pause and ability cooldowns. In reality I've just summarized the entire thing in that sentence. Sure, holographic presentation of the city and abstracted units give a different aesthetic from gorgeous 2D visuals the rest of the game employs, but all the visual effects from various weapons quickly endeared me to it. After the tutorial you start with the entire roster of thirteen protagonists to choose from with different specializations based on what generation their Sentinel is. Close combat, long range, all-rounders and air support specialists all have a role to play based on their abilities, movement rate and even pilots themselves with their own individual skills. What's the catch? Well, you can only field six characters in any mission, as others are relegated to fixed Aegis defense slots, and characters can do two battles in a row before they're overloaded and you need to bench them. Add optional special requirements missions present and you're naturally trained to rotate your Sentinels. Game even gives you the general gist of what kind of Kaiju you can expect to see in the mission so you can make informed choices.

That would be simple, wouldn't it? We go beyond simple. Completing missions in Destruction mode and going through character stories in Remembrance mode will grant you meta-chips. These are used to pick and customize Sentinel abilities as well as Aegis' aka tower in question you have to defend, own field-leveling abilities you have a limited number of uses with. After you're done with the first block of ten missions you then proceed to unlock another feature – statistical upgrades to your Sentinels via improved armor, generator, etc. For the most part you'll be using the former ability customization way more than the latter unless you're willing to grind missions for meta-chips. In case you're worried battles will get in the way of just experiencing the tremendous narrative don't be because you can REALLY trivialize the mode by playing on Casual difficulty. If you opt for Normal there are missions later on that will test your ability to put together a coherent and stay up to date with your abilities. You know it's go time when theme song starts playing for a particular mission in the style of mecha anime game draws from.

So what's 13 Sentinels like to actually play?

In the effort to maintain sanity you're juggling between Destruction and Remembrance modes. Analysis is something you can take or leave depending on how much attention you're paying to tiny bits of extraneous information. Timeline feature contained therein is handy to reference events, but knowing more about this “hemborger” meal one character likes may not be on your agenda. I forgot to mention you unlock Mystery Points as you complete missions in combat mode and you can use said MPs to gain access to Mystery Files for further clarity. Part of me wishes there was more of that P&C adventure tradition in Remembrance mode, but it's clear developers went for simpler mechanical approach. Since game takes place in certain time periods and characters are constantly shifting about you can expect to re-visit locations aplenty. This only began to grate towards the very end because I wanted to see the finale, but game kept taking me back to flashbacks of earlier routes I'd already done because by god, you will see that scene from every character's perspective. I get the reality of creating all those assets, though.

Production almost always ends up being a footnote in my reviews yet with Vanillaware games they're practically the main appeal. Gorgeous 2D art balanced by futuristic imagery present in battle mode, and strong soundtrack really carry the game on that front. That, however, is no stranger to this developer. Sheer scale of the script is what steals the show. Could it have been done with less convolution? Probably, but you can tell writers really went off the rails with so many characters and motivations that end up working toward one focal point. There's some unevenness among the thirteen protagonists and yet they all get their big moment to shine. I especially sympathized with a certain hoodlum who ends up in a time loop trying to get out.

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2022 ) + TRAILER

Sometimes you crave a traditional P&C adventure game and stumble upon the likes of The Excavation of Hob's Barrow. An archetypal representative coming from a torch bearer of the genre in modern day or studios working under their patronage - Wadjet Eye Games. Whether that's positive or negative will depend entirely on your outlook, however. I do have some opinions on the game itself.

We're brought to a later point when Thomasina Bateman, our intrepid heroine, returns to her ancestral home so she can seemingly visit her ailing father, and conveys the events of her adventure to us after the fact. It would appear our charming antiquary's invitation to village of Bewlay for excavation operations, in case the title wasn't a dead giveaway, did not go as smoothly one usually expects considering the nature of the work. Arriving by train, Thomasina is quickly warned by antagonistic villagers to steer clear of Hob's Barrow, if they even deem to talk of it. There are personal stakes involved and one ally means our girl will persevere, though.

If you ask me I think the script rubs it in a bit too blatantly with something supernatural afoot. You can't really dismiss certain imagery as anything but. This is then juxtaposed with mundane chores you'll be engaging in for most of the game. Considering you ARE actively working the investigation angle and trying to get on some people's good side, like the elderly gentleman on who's land the Barrow is and you need his approval to start digging, it does make sense so I can't slight it too much. Real issue is The Excavation of Hob's Barrow goes off the rails in the very last act. If there was a train involved I'd be able to say literally and proverbially, but alas. I'm not sure what happened there but we reach an escalation followed by climax I don't think the meandering story up to that point has really earned. You're going more based on second-hand information and events preceding the game with just handful of scenes really setting it up. Ending befits the kind of, well, Lovecraftian turn of events, but I can't say more beyond that.

Leaning on the above. If there's a sister foundation stone to P&C adventures next to the writing it would have to be its puzzles. Once again, we're seeing a mirror situation - some very simple "item you need is two screens over" and "basic information gathering from characters" turns it decent puzzles in the final act. You finally get to use all those mysterious stones and play a jig, but unless you've played the game in entirely doable one sitting, you may be left stumped. There is also some light trial and error, but overall even those challenging puzzles can be brute forced. Shock comes more from game pulling a 180 on you without the customary ramp up to prepare you.

I like to leave it last and in this case production most certainly warrants attention. Hope you like brown and green locales because that's what you're getting with foreboding dose of purple. Former works in creating a very dank atmosphere fueling this mystery story as you realize just how isolated Thomasina really is. People will debate endlessly about chunky sprites, but I like them. They have character and just enough detail to leave the mind wondering. It helps when your game is enhanced with occasional cutscenes for that extra cinematic feeling. Since we're on the topic characters should be mentioned. Every adventure game has its stand outs and you need a varied, if not strong, cast to make an impact. The are a few here of which the children were especially amusing. They all play second fiddle to Thomasina herself, though. Stupendous performance for which I was glad to hear Samantha Beart received notable attention. Portrayal of a woman engaged in excavation wearing PANTS in an era when women did anything but takes certain finesse without coming across as obnoxious, something I'm pleased to report indeed is the case. By necessity of the story we get to see much more of vulnerable Thomasina than you may expect.

Very mixed write up, but would I ultimately recommend The Excavation of Hob's Barrow? If you're not expecting a masterpiece and want a moody, rural mystery with a twist.

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Welcome to the Karoshi Club ( PC (Steam) – Visual Novel – 2023 ) + TRAILER

There's that something when a game you started playing on a whim ends up resonating with you on unexpected level. Welcome to the Karoshi Club turned out to be such a case. Not because it spoke to ME specifically, but rather due to the way it broaches such a universal modern day theme.

Opening with a disclaimer decrying the state of layoffs in the video games industry of 2023, at the time yet blissfully unaware said practice would continue well into next year as well, we see one Kenji Haishima. Ex-developer out of a job for a good while, he receives a fortuitous phone call from a certain company offering him the position of Sales Specialist. His dilemmas start as they've seemingly contacted the wrong person and you're left with whether you tell the truth or lie and play along for personal gain. Visuals seem to capture the 1990s Japan during its Lost Decades economic crisis, but subjects explored are timeless.

What Welcome to the Karoshi Club really is happens to be an extremely lightweight Visual Novel letting you choose how you Kenji presents himself as framed by TRUTH or LIE binary options. At its very core game is about, albeit exaggerated for effect, his inner turmoil of dealing with stress and expectations induced by job searching. Our protagonist comes to the verge of being paralyzed by his own thoughts and over-analyzing hypothetical scenarios. Coming from someone who has done modern job seeking it is a dangerous trap to fall into and one that almost feels comforting in its wrongness. Yes, down to receiving three different endings game offers for replay value.

There are no real life achievements, however.

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Midnight Fight Express ( PC (Steam) – Action – 2022 ) + TRAILER

I'm not against action games at all, but beat 'em ups specifically tend to not be my area of expertise. Which makes Midnight Fight Express an interesting case. On one hand it's not another tough-as-nails title this genre seems to breed like crazy, and on the other there's quite a bit of replay value provided challenges are your thing. Let's not rush ahead of ourselves, though.

You know I'm a story-first kind of guy, but in this case I'll state it plainly - narrative just gets in the way. Is it because of presentation since you're working with dialog boxes hitting that pause button on action or, at best, distracting from what's going on so you're mashing MASHING to get through? Most likely. As short as they were I did appreciate cutscenes aplenty. So what's the story we're dealing with here? You're Babyface, a badass dude interrogated by two cops as they're piecing together exactly who you are and how you landed yourself in this situation. You'll be returning to that question room between missions told in a flashback. You wake up with a case of amnesia and nothing but seemingly intelligent drone to guide you on your mission to bust out. Whatever it is you've done that has lead everyone in the city, from gangbangers to special forces, to want to kill you needs to be finished by sunrise.

Good news is action system is very solid. It's your basic press a button for light and hold it for heavy attack, with another button for counter management. Needless to say you'll be expanding your repertoire beyond that and using clutter, as temporary weapons or just something you throw at enemies, plays a surprisingly big role. When you add increasingly prevalent firearms towards the end you have another aspect of combat to work around. Even better news is as you play through 40 missions the game has you'll unlock skill points, and Midnight Fight Express handles upgrades in the best possible way by giving you entirely new moves and maneuvers rather than some statistical bonuses. Going from having no counter capability to five possible ways of countering certainly adds to your moveset. That very same design ethos applies to everything else as well. In fact, I wasn't sure if I was going to continue playing the game after the first few missions, but steadily unlocking more ways to dispatch enemies and control the scene endeared it to me.

Playing the game is akin to controlled chaos you adapt to over time. Game continually introduces new enemy types and they're more than just re-skins as you have to factor in what weapons they use, aggressiveness of their AI or specific approach to take down. It's a testament to how much I enjoyed the experience that only couple of enemies really got under my skin and certain "insta-kill if they get close" can go die in a fire. Thankfully they're relegated to one level. That is, unless you want to play around in a sandbox mode which lets you fine tune everything from enemies, weapons present and down to your own available skills in order to test yourself. I didn't bother much with it as playing through the campaign on Normal, where you can still try to complete myriad of challenges or go for achievements, was just enough for me. I wish levels lasted longer than single-digit minutes, but we can't have everything. There is the occasional break from clearly offices and warehouses of goons when game introduces a unique level, but locales did get somewhat old for me. With camera drawn just far out to give you clear view of the action you don't register low polygon enemy models clearly assembled using the same customization system you can also use to dress up Babyface with the funds acquired from mission completion.

Since I've touched on the production briefly I have to say the soundtrack is incredible. I'm not 100% sure, it sounded to me each level had its own accompanying track for maximum effect. More than level layout, more than whatever story was going on it was the soundtrack that stood out the most. And yet it doesn't overpower incredibly kinetic sound effect coming through from every punch and thrown glass bottle.

Romancing Saga 2

( PC – JRPG – 2017 ) + TRAILER

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There's a story about how I ended up playing Romancing SaGa 2, but to keep it brief the remake got released and I considered buying it. Then I remembered I actually have the remaster of the original already. So why skip it? And so decision to play the remaster of a SNES title was made. What a ride it turned out to be.

Having practically no experience with SaGa franchise at large I was shocked by just how abruptly story is dispensed to the player. In fact, if you skip the opening which itself gives you a meager primer on ancient history, you'll have no idea who the Seven Heroes even are. What we see is good king Leon and his scholarly son Gerard embarking on a quest to cleanse the nearby ruin of monsters. Not long after disaster strikes – while the pair was outside with their retinue, castle Avalon, safe kept by the king's other son Victor, is laid siege to by monstrous Kzinssie who slays Victor for opposing him. Except... wasn't Kzinssie one of the Seven Heroes according to legends? Receiving council from a mysterious seer our king Leon and prince Gerad track down the fiend only for king to fall in mortal combat. Emboldened by revenge and effects of mysterious “inheritance magic” it now falls to Gerard to settle the score, expand the empire of Varennese and set straight this mad world where monsters are on the rise once more.

More than few hours further into the game we're introduced to the actual central mechanic of Romancing SaGa 2 – succession. With Gerard it happens after three “fade to black” screens, something to keep in mind for the future as well since it indicates passage of time, as he accomplishes milestone tasks available, but can also be forced if your party dies for real real aka they run out of LP in combat. So what exactly happens then? You get to choose from four not-so-randomly picked emperor candidates drawing from a pool of unlocked classes. In reality it's THREE choices since the first is always the same class as your last emperor, and remaining ones depend on various selective tables and RNG game will never tell you about. Something worth pointing out is only Gerard and the Last Emperor, individual you got to name when you started the game, have something resembling story relevance. All the in-between emperors you'll be playing for the majority of the game are yours to pick. Aforementioned inheritance magic means your emperors have a continual line of inheriting skills, spells and proficiency from their predecessors giving them advantage by default.

Since I've started name dropping classes I might as well get into what the game's actual content is. You'll be annexing other regions and kingdoms, usually by resolving whatever issue is present there. Putting aside that you're raising your empire's income, very useful for projects that cost hundreds of thousands and even millions, the real reason why you want every region is for further missions it may offer generations down the line AND class unlocks. Almost every region seems to directly or indirectly add a class to your roster. If there's story in Romancing SaGa 2 it's found in these localized arcs which are created wildly uneven. Some like the branching Cumberland succession crisis or Comroon volcano situation are way more involved, while others are “village elder has a problem, slay big monster to resolve”. In essence you're getting everything from party members, gear R&D and combat fix by playing conquest. Much to my surprise there are bad decisions to made which will result in screwing yourself over. Keep multiple saves which could be a problem since you have four slots + autosave.

I can imagine fear some of my readers may be experiencing upon reading “timed” in context of any RPG, but there is no ticking real-time clock here. You essentially get to perform three big events in every generation. Annex a region, defeat one of the Seven Heroes, resolve a quest, etc.

Your adventures will certainly take you to odd places with equally as strange motivations.

Albeit seeing that expected QoL modernization it's evident the game's menu wasn't made for PC.

In both frustrating and refreshing upset, combat status elements are only visible on request so mind that HP.

Choosing your next Emperor upon death or milestone passage of time is the most important decision you get to make time and time again.

Based on their class said Emperors can also unlock a new formation for your party to use. Not to be overlooked.

What Romancing SaGa 2 taketh away in the story department it more than made up for in combat and systems in general.

I don't like repeating myself, but if I was more experienced with the franchise at large I would've already been familiar with its glimmer system. Level ups are neat and yet inadequate next to the glorious light bulb effect when your character learns a brand new skill, doubly so when you know it's now stored in the Dojo and you can train it to all future characters. It's also exceedingly rare in JRPGs to see character advancement running on “you are what you do” akin to The Elder Scrolls. There are formulae involved here you can look up online if you want to, but you should know there are no character levels with which to easily gauge progress or difficulty. Get hit a lot? Your HP goes up. Want to get better at Hydrology? Cast water spells. Want to glimmer a specific skill you've looked up in a guide? Recruit a Saigo Clansman inclined towards the Mace category, find a tough enemy to battle with for higher activation chance and start pray. Did I forget to mention generic class characters are anything but and each has their own pros/cons, as well as gender differences where applicable? You can add that to the variables table.

But what of combaaaat?

Elegant deli platter of turn-based offering where your chosen formation, as taught by certain classes-turned-emperor, can make a notable difference. Since you have FIVE characters to play with and shuffle around your choice of current emperor is very important as that is the only spot which cannot be moved. Wouldn't want to put your squishy Strategist autocrat on the front line, now would you? I'm struggling to put into words exactly how combat plays as there is this constant “will my party setup get me more glimmers?” high overriding everything else. I did notice reliance on gimmicks and having faith in the player to figure it out. I've lost count how many bosses have overpowered attacks that will quickly wipe you unless you're A) tackling them later so you're the overpowered one, or B) capable of exploiting their undisclosed weakness. Realizing that stun and paralysis are two different status ailments has been the bane of my existence, as was one particular hag charming male party members. All five of them.

Add to that no random encounters, albeit some very tight corridors with enemy placement aplenty, and the ball seems to be in your corner. Running in the original SNES release would've limited your vision which made walking a viable option. That's been changed in the remaster as QoL, but you'll still opt to walk from time to time purely to outmaneuver enemies. There were a few instances I got frustrated enough to quit the game due to enemy density. Fight more = get more stats = get more glimmers, right? Well yes, but Battle Rank exists for a reason. The more you engage in combat, fight or flee, the more enemies get upgraded to deadlier variants with advancing generations. A cynical man would call this level scaling, but that's not entirely accurate. Presumably this is in place to prevent you from grinding a single spot for hours on end.

I've used some acronyms earlier and Romancing SaGa 2 brings its peculiarities. HP is automatically recovered after every battle, your SP/MP require manual curatives and are used to power skills/magic respectively, but LP is where things get interesting. Life Points vary on by-character basis, even within the same class, are extremely difficult to restore and once they hit 0 it's permadeath time. If it happens to your emperor it's time to pick a new one. Don't be alarmed because your recruits are not lifelong companions and assembling a new party with each new ascendance quickly becomes second nature. Or point of annoyance depending how you feel about it. Fortunately you get to keep all the weapons, armor and items you've accumulated up to that point. I'm not even getting into fusion spell research here because I... look, I just can't. I missed out.

Do I sound somewhat bitter? Maybe, but that's the sort of obtuseness you, well, learn to live with. At the end of the day this is a SNES title with a slight facelift. Checking out the manual is highly recommended lest you completely miss out on some concepts like global magic level or research order. Mind you, the SNES comment is not meant to be derogatory in any way. I was taken aback by aspects of the game playing it now so it may be difficult to grasp what reactions were like back in 1993. Despite there being the Imperial Log which tracks the state of the world, rumors and everything you've done so far, very nature of the game feels so far ahead of its time you can feel it buckling under pressure. Speaking from first hand experience it takes a while for the game to click and there's an extended sweet spot between early and late game when you get to bask in your own ignorance exploring this unrestricted world before the hammer falls on you.

Warhammer 40 000: Space Marine 2

( PS5 – Action, TPS – 2024 ) + TRAILER

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As someone who played the original and rather liked it I was extremely pleased to hear the news Space Marine 2 was in development, and now we're here playing the released product. Was Titus' new adventure worth the wait? Was shifting priorities to multiplayer department a good decision? Well, I can only answer one of those since I didn't bother much with MP beyond dabbling in co-op for a while. Here we go.

Going by metal studs in his head it's been 200 years since events on Graia and Titus is doing his stint with the Deathwatch following certain heretical accusations. Suddenly things change and it would appear his name has been cleared as he's transferred back to Ultramarines chapter. Under the watchful eye of their Chaplain, of course. Now demoted to Lieutenant he has to become familiar with new faces, especially two Space Marines that comprise his squad who seem real inquisitive about his past, as well as dealing with the Tyranid invasion in the system. Amidst all that it would appear certain familiar terms and faces keep popping up giving Titus the chance to settle things once and for all.

If I had to draw parallels I'd say Space Marine 2's story is shorter, often interrupted by returns to the Battle Barge serving as your HQ and trying to convey more of the setting than the first game did. You'll see the interior of the aforementioned Battle Barge and exactly what armor clad Space Marines do when they're not deployed as well as ins and outs of Mechanicus itself. I also noticed a distinct inversion at work – both narrative and presentation get better as story advances. Although the game opens with you playing as cape-bedecked Black Shield what follows is rather mundane meandering through jungles fighting Tyranid swarms. After a brief jetpack level everything seems to pick up and budget starts pouring in. More cutscenes and even full fledged cinematics take control towards the end. I was invested in what is a very basic story that even has a small TWEEST in the finale.

I wish there were some great praise to sing about characters, but it is what it is. Titus is your stoic badass, although I do lament the absence of Mark Strong's voice acting since the new performance blends too much into “generic Space Marine” background noise, and his compatriots Chairon and Gadriel end up being the ones responsible for occasional moments of levity. It should be noted everyone is taking this extremely seriously so don't expect any quipping or such. Somewhat amusingly you do have other characters essentially forming secondary squads doing operations in the background, but I'll briefly get to those later. They have squad banter among themselves albeit playing only a small role in campaign proper. As far as antagonists go there's no zany Ork leader to speak of and Tyranids are devoid of personality by design. Archenemy does show its ugly face eventually, but certain space wizards never learn that trusty bolter & chainsword always win the day. Ultramarines are here to remind them of that fact.

Onto gameplay. I should once again point out it I didn't engage in PvP multiplayer since that's generally not my thing, and only briefly tried the co-op PvE aka Operations mode. This means my opinions only carry weight as far as campaign is concerned since multiplayer is where actual progression is contained with the player unlocking skins, weapons, skills, etc. It does appear to be a class-based game within a game affair, and if that's your thing there's probably dozens of hours of enjoyment to be found there.

You'd think we no longer needed so many hidden loading screens, but elevator rides are back.

Sadly, customization is almost entirely reserved for multiplayer and there is variety here to make your perfect Space Marine.

Heaviest of dakka are temporary weapons only to be carried until ammo is exhausted. They also overheat.

Akin to visual customization actual, meaningful progression is likewise also reserved for multiplayer.

Taking that step from fetid jungles to space spires feels liberating in more ways than one.

Space Marine 2 is most definitely an intentional throwback to games from 10+ years ago. There's no mandatory crafting or leveling up to be found in this very straightforward TPS eschewing cover-based approach for a more aggressive one. In fact, I'd argue it expects you to get into melee most of the time until the last third or so when the board is wiped clean. That may also be where part of the problem lies as there's hidden loading screens aka elevator rides aplenty.

Absence of modern day “designed by committee” frills also means some relics that should've been forgotten rear their ugly head. Only two guns + melee is still very much in effect, for example. Luckily one of the things I complained about, intermissions taking you back to HQ so your co-op partners can rejoin, let you choose the equipment you want and I've only rarely found myself changing it from drop pods in missions themselves. You do want want more melta and plasma weapons as the game advances to combat heavily armored enemies. Some systems are also changed from the first game. Health no longer regenerates from performing executions, but instead your tiered Armor does. Healing packs exist even though you're capped by only carrying two at the moment. Since the entire campaign and Operations both are structured to played in co-op I was frankly surprised by how... not braindead they are? I personally wouldn't go above Normal difficulty in either, but they'll do the job and unlike players you're not competing for all the goodies. Remember – bash everything as it may contain ammo or curatives.

Since combat is everything you do in Space Marine 2 it's only fair we talk about it and enemies you'll be dispatching. Basically, there's two Tyranids and forces of Chaos you'll end up going against. Tyranids are your brainless swarms baked by more dangerous individual enemies wheres each one is practically a mini-boss until they became a semi-regular encounter. Keeping in mind game trains you there are blue telegraphs you can parry and orange ones you should avoid this can lead to strange behavior where you forget regular attacks can be parried just as easily, and that's what keeps you alive. In addition you're meant to approach enemy types very different. You clear out swarms, be they Nids or chaos Guardsman, and take a very deliberate approach with Raveners or Chaos Terminators, for example. There is a trick in where carefully timing executions when enemy health drops low will restore your latest received damage regardless of Armor status. Just because there's no actual sticky cover mechanic it doesn't mean you should avoid taking cover whenever you can, if only to reach that infinite ammo case and not get hit by Warp energy missiles.

I mentioned them earlier, but Operations are worth mentioning. Narratively they're side missions your other squad is undertaking while Titus is doing his thing. In practical terms there's six, each taking 30-40 minutes to complete and requiring three players, living or bots. This is also where you get to customize classes you play as so even if you're not into PvP you can still experience that aspect of the game. I just wish there were more of them as randomization is limited and Operations do add to an otherwise short campaign. I suspect you can get couple of extra hours as bare minimum on the lowest difficulty.

As usual I save presentation for last and oh boy it's impressive alright. Somehow making those swarms work in real time and each enemy being an actual object you can kill is astounding in its own right, but it's not until the very finale that you truly see what developers can pull off. What was previously a matter of “enjoy your corridors and elevators, but look at all the SCALE in the background” now takes center stage with hundreds of enemies engaging in conflict as demons rage in the sky. Just top notch all-around. Sound doesn't falter in the slightest and choosing the option to wear a helmet garbles audio lines appropriately. Those bolter sounds are still among the best representation of 40k's iconic weapon.

Tails of Iron

( PC – Action, Adventure– 2021 ) + TRAILER

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Sometimes you play a game that checks just enough boxes from multiple genres or schools of design that the end result is familiar, but still more than enjoyable. Taking cues from metroidvanias and Souls-like titles, Tails of Iron achieves precisely that. Does it hold up on its own merits, though?

Following a long reign, King Rattus' legacy of having scoured the realm of dirty Pondscum is suddenly cut short when aforementioned frogs besiege his castle, do away with his life and leave only couple of accidental survivors. Young prince Redgi among them as he swears revenge. So begins his quest to not only get his father's vassals to accept him as the rightful heir, since he's so small in stature and many favor his brother, but also to eradicate the frogs everyone thought were gone for many years. There are also other challenges in store taking him beyond and below what any common folk would think possible.

Even though characters, rats or otherwise, don't use words but rather pictograms to communicate, Tails of Iron got a chuckle out of me multiple times as Redgi is self-aware enough to acknowledge he's doing everyone's busywork that normally his retainers should be all over instead. If only he had some. Pulling a lot of the weight is Doug Cockle serving as game's narrator and he doesn't fail to deliver a snide or cynical remark while carrying this Game of Thrones meets folk tale atmosphere. Characterization overall is pretty lacking, though. If you ask me I'd point fingers to narrative department as a whole taking the backseat since storytelling isn't the primary focus here so don't the RPG treatment or such. As the story advances and reaches post-game you have a marriage of things become really dire the closer to finale you get... and then various puns on wrestlers, musicians, etc. Who can forgetting squaring up against Molehammad Moli in the arena?

It may be an easily overlooked aspect of the game as you're rushing from sidequests to the main quest, but I absolutely loved how the world kept fixing itself. Gradually, a ruined town gets repaired and royal guards are now securing the castle, for example. This is all fluff since the game isn't reactive in a meaningful way, but it's still nice to see even sidequests have visual feedback. Later on you get to spend some gold on castle ornaments bringing it even further to life. This also means you sometimes don't want to fast travel between sign posts, but take a stroll and see the changes.

This is, however, an action game so let's get down to some nitty-gritty details and how the entire things works. I was surprised by how much emphasis there is on combat in comparison to very basic platforming or even customary “re-visit areas to progress with new powers” metroidvania design. Being a Souls-like is much close to Tails of Iron's ethos.

Despite lacking a dimension compared to Souls titles which took gaming by storm, here we have a game that very much subscribes to many of those tenants while eschewing others. Perhaps to accommodate scaled back format? Providing you go with the recommended gamepad control scheme shoulder buttons will be your light, heavy and block functions, with the last one dedicated to healing. You get one jug of Grub Juice which you use for that purpose, but in a twist it doesn't recharge when you rest on a bench to save progress. Instead, you have to find juice dispensers or butcher grubs for smaller refills. It's good news those, as well as other goodies, are spread out decently across almost ten locations. Travel only becomes a chore when you have a specific sidequest and it's at the very end of a locations where there's no fast travel signpost nearby. Areas re-populate with enemies, but Tails of Iron doesn't subscribe to “every enemy can easily kill you” so it's just more of a hindrance. Such escapades become an easy way to loot for resources you'll rarely use.

Characters communicate via pictograms, and Geralt of Rivia steps in as narrator to fill in the blanks.

Good things are simply not meant to last, but Redgi brings it around. Full circle and stuff.

I may or may not confirm katanas are overpowered. Let's dance, grub.

Status screen LOOKS more complicated than it actually is. Managing weight is key to it all.

I think boss difficulty ramp up is handled well enough. They start off easy, but take more tries as attack patterns get involved.

There's also no concept of experience to speak of as your character progression comes entirely from equipment. What can Regni use then? As far as armor goes you have slots for helmet, armor and shield, but alongside those your have murderous implements with sword & board, two-handed and ranged weapon slots. In my opinion there's too much equipment and it really becomes apparent towards the end when game starts throwing complete sets at you. Maybe there's a purpose to those if you haven't killed couple of side bosses who net you some of the best stuff in the game, but I do appreciate this extensive variety means you can play dress up and go with whatever Regni looks best in. Want a kingly crown? Plenty of those under light helmets. Want a riot shield? It's there. Want to cosplay as a samurai? Well, you get some look-alike armor AND a katana. Keep in mind you want to rotate and replace equipment as you're constantly finding better pieces, need some armor for resistances against frogs or alike, and you need to manage weight.

Which pulls me back to combat since that's the bulk of what you'll be doing when you're not completing chores for the townsfolk as, by Thor, someone needs to clear the cellar of monsters. I survived by simple mantra: PARRY IS KING. Dodging also ranks highly for those unavoidable flashing red attacks or AoEs, but dodging is dependent on how heavy Regni is based on your gear whereas that perfect block will do so much more for you. Especially if you get it right for yellow-telegraphed attacks which are made to be parried. Game will also keep surprising you with enemy variety as you can exploit them as well rather than reserving “special moves” just for bosses. My one regret is devs should've pushed the player harder to master parry earlier. Already mentioned Molehammad Moli is one of those optional, post-game arena bosses... yes, there's both an arena and post-game stuff, who will punish you with his bee stings, but that lesson arrives way too late. Since I brought up bosses there is a steady escalation of threats and player performance expectations. Looking at my time played I've probably spent an hour or so repeating boss fights. It's a learning curve and not a learning cliff, is what I'm trying to say here.

Presentation I left for last because game looks just plain gorgeous. If you ever wanted a 2D Redwall game this is it and that aesthetic carries the day. Some animations, particularly brutal executions Regni gets to perform, are sometimes wonky because there's a bit too much pushing and pulling to get the actors into correct positions, but that's negligible in the grand scheme of things. Soundtrack is all over the place, but just give me more strings. Frogs sure love their bongos, though.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - ISEKAI Chronicles

( PS5 – Action – 2024 ) + TRAILER

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Having managed to actually keep up with the anime I thought checking out That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - ISEKAI Chronicles would be a logical thing to do. Doubly so since, wonder of wonders, it's not just another cash-in arena fighter anime productions seem to get when they delve into video game territory. Keeping that in mind... I can't say I liked the game. Quite the opposite, in fact.

In case you're not familiar with the subject at hand this is a very truncated retelling of the main story. Our protagonist gets killed in the real and ends being transported to another world. Catch? He's now a slowly slime who accidentally comes across the legendary dragon Veldora, two strike up an accord and so begin the adventures of our boy Rimuru. His main goal over time becomes building a nation by monsters, for monsters as all other kingdoms are extremely antagonistic towards them on principle. With that in mind they build a town in the Great Jura forest from which their civilization begins.

That's the gist of it and if it's any comfort game won't really go in great detail since we're following arc-based structure of the source material. ISEKAI Chronicles does oddly skip some bits or brings details out of nowhere, though. Perhaps to offset what's being adapted here, story proper stops when you-know-who ascends to Demon Lord status, we have two brand new arcs and they're not really worth it. One follows a goblin bent on revenge who didn't fall in with Rimuru's plan of ending inter-monster hostilities, and other involves Jura hostilities with brand new theocratic nation following Angels. Both come with original characters who ultimately end up being the biggest worthwhile additions and at least one could've fooled me into thinking she was always there.

Speaking of characters this is another case where game chooses an odd approach in fleshing them out. You have a mixture of classical VN talking heads, brand new CG made for the game and stills from the anime, yet bulk character interaction will largely come from stilted models yapping. To game's credit and presumably where most of the budget went, everything is voice acted. That doesn't change you're constantly being herded form A to B to C just talking to characters as they go along with their one-note archetype. Badass warrior chick who's a horrible cook? Industrious dwarfs with a sweet tooth for alcohol? Extremely competent and aloof ninja? Yeah, take your pick. This isn't inherently bad so much as limiting what you can do with characters, but this is less of a problem when you're sticking to already existing storylines.

That's enough rambling about narrative aspects. Game doesn't break any molds and what it adds is largely subpar. I think this comes from design choices I'll get into below, but even on basic level game could've used perhaps less side chores and more of that production could've gone into critical content.

Only rarely suffering from too much visual clutter, combat is on the simplistic beat 'em up side.

YABAI!

I wouldn't call it “city building” per se, but this is the reason why bulk of your expeditions will be made – to gather building resources.

Not a big fan of the two game-original arcs included here as they just add filler to a game already, well, filled to the brim with it.

Looking at all of this you'd think it actually matters, but since game keeps tabs on you via milestone checks you'll be just fine.

Easily the simplest way to summarize ISEKAI Chronicles would be to say it's a story of two halves; rudimentary character combat and even more straightforward city building. Problem arises when neither is really satisfactory?

Amusingly enough the closest comparison I can make would be Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, which I've reviewed last year, albeit without the platforming part so that's one vital pillar gone. Hints of problems that game had with combat and base management are many times worse in this case. Mind you, I have nothing against beat 'em up combat with fixed 2D lanes if it's executed well which I would say is at least average here, but the problem is how often you're in combat all the while re-visit identical locations fighting same old group configurations. I don't say this lightly, but randomly generated levels would have helped immensely to break the mind numbing monotony. After you've explored a location once you now know the map inside and out, with chest rooms and enemy rooms clearly marked for you.

No even taking into account you're bringing 3+2 characters into the fray (active combatants + supports with their special attack) can shake things up. Only character progression is unlocking talents with flat stat increases so you don't have much to look forward to. Their abilities unlock at narrative's convenience and getting friendship 100 makes one of their abilities available to Rimuru just in case you think his OP abilities aren't enough. Not to completely pile on the game here I did like the characters are distinct, from a range-heavy magician to lighting fast swordsmen. It goes beyond just flavor even if you'll never lose sleep over element compatibility on Normal difficulty. For the record I didn't die once in the entire game and only the final boss pushed me hard enough I brought one character onboard specifically because he special is healing. Wasn't really necessary since perfect dodge is absolute king, but still.

Second pivotal aspect of gameplay is managing Jura-Tempest Federation aka city building. And by that I mean you get empty plots of land where you choose which buildings to build with their associated resources cost. Mind you, there's no simulated aspect here as beyond some minor bonuses, like temporary status boost or low-tier resource generation from farms, primary purposes city building serves is to create Tempest Resonance aka global percentage boost to your stats, and said boosts vary depending on variety of buildings you've constructed. That's it. City itself is also a traversable location for Rimuru, mainly to reach quest givers who pop up as story progresses, because there's no world map beyond just markers you choose to travel to. Any by god, you WILL re-visit locations since game is not only very liberal with horrendous missing design sending you out to collect X of Y while also being incapable of combining mission when location is shared. Which means further visits. I'm talking dozens upon dozens. If you're inclined towards doing all the side nonsense, because Gabiru really needs magical ink to create photos of himself, you will at least never be starved for building materials.

While all of the above is already well beyond minor cuts that can hamstring game the biggest issue that resulted in me fast forwarding through cutscenes is just how cheap overall package is. Yes, chibi art style is somewhat at odds with everything else, but I think it looks alright. Production limits hit the hardest when you sit through Rimuru's 245th instance of animation where he slowly walks away from the conversation, info box pops up to say it's ten minutes later, and now he's slowly walking into the scene with all other characters giving stock waves and hellos. No scene really feels unique because game assets could not be allocated for such scenes. There's a lot of characters having meetings in the exact same room. Repetition of it all ended up driving me crazy and being the chief reason why I gave up on post-game. There's supposedly a season pass planned with three new characters to bulk a somewhat anemic roster, but you won't catch me alive playing this ever again.

Asura's Wrath

( PS3 – Action – 2012 ) + TRAILER

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Long stuck in my backlog, Asura's Wrath finally gets its due after I got to try the demo more than a decade ago. Does this straightforward game about a man TOO ANGRY to die deliver or does it show signs of aging? I guess we'll find out and also touch upon its controversial DLC while we're at it.

Opening on an epic siege of planet Gaea where the Eight Guardian Generals and their fleet are waging war on corrupting creatures called Gohma we see it's not the actual fleets themselves that are doing much fighting so much as the key generals themselves. Our protagonist Asura is one of them and he's pretty damn angry as he zips about and punches monstrosities to death. It turns out this is the finale of an offensive orchestrated by leader of these eight Demigods, man fittingly called Deus, during which they put Gohma to rest since they cannot truly be defeated. You'd think this is a happy ending, but Deus is not satisfied with the way war offensive had gone and decides to commit regicide on their Emperor while framing Asura for it. Seemingly betrayed by his compatriots, losing his wife and daughter in the process, Asura is cast down to the planet and left for dead. Then, 12 000 years pass and he awakes finding a different world while his wrath still burns bright.

Something that has to be emphasized about Asura's Wrath and is, in fact, it's main selling point would be just how over the top epic it is. I mean that in the true sense of the word. From the very opening you see these Demigods, who are never exactly explained WHAT they are – but we see they have cybernetic parts to them while also seem capable of having children and dying – treating things like vacuum, gravity and oxygen as mere suggestions more than hard rules of reality. They're capable of unbelievable feats for the sake of high action and drama. Another thing that immediately becomes obvious are heavy influences from Hindu and Buddhist mythologies both in terms of aesthetics and structure. After all, more astute may have already drawn a connection between Wrath, Eight Generals and Mantras. There's also Journey to the West influence here, but SF meets soul energy meets willpower gives it all a unique blend that really stands on its own. I wish there were more explanations about the setting at large even if just consigned to extras, though.

Since game goes the extra effort to have these important Demigod general characters it's only appropriate I talk about them for a while as well as how characters are treated as a whole. Not all of these are given the same treatment. Lucky ones get to be boss fights, some like Olga are resigned to background support or being inglorious dealt with. You know you're in for a crazy ride when the very first boss consumes millions of human souls to turn himself into a planet-sized big guy and tries to squash Asura with his finger. Those with the most characterization would probably be Yasha, Yin to Asura's Yang, and Deus as stand-in antagonist. I really liked how Yasha effectively becomes a deuteragonist in the story later on. I do wish Asura's daughter Mithra was more than an absentee he has to save throughout the game. She remains a distant objective for him to become ever angrier in the attempt to locate and save.

Man, then there's Asura himself.

I imagine there's an art form to sounding angry while performing quality VA and Liam O'Brien absolutely steals the show. Which is slightly amusing since 90% of Asura's dialog is yelling, shouting and grunting. This is a rare instance where I prefer English voice acting over Japanese where extreme emotions have to be brought forth. It makes few of Asura's longer lines really stand out. Since the same VA is involved I'd make a comparison to War from Darksiders – where War is cold angry barely keeping it under the lid, Asura is raging anger boiling all over the place. Despite some minor character development through the game, primarily through a random village girl he sympathizes with, you get the feeling he cannot fight his nature and remains one note throughout. In his own words “then I will destroy everything”.

Game doesn't use Quick Time Events as a crutch, but rather as core pillar of its design. They're EVERYWHERE.

Behold our dastardly band of villains... or are they?

While not being as present as regular ground battles I've found the on-rails tube shooter segments to be a refreshing change of pace.

Occasional episodes are book-ended by brief VN style interludes. Perhaps a cost cutting measure, but chance for artists to shine.

Expect to be interrupted by QTEs mid-combat as well when it comes to special attacks you can counter or pull off your own.

If all of the above sounded great I guess now we get to the parts where I lose some of the audience.

It now occurs to me I haven't said anything about the structure of Asura's Wrath. Basically, we're talking episodic even with the accompanying “next time on...” trailer for the upcoming episode. Which is somewhat redundant since A) game was not released episodically and B) individual episodes are on the short side. I'm talking 30-ish minutes and even those have an intermission. Result is this stop-and-go disruptive pacing when I just want to sit down and play. There's also none of that character upgrading you might expect given how everything has incorporated progression elements nowadays. You are ranked on per-episode basis depending on speed, damage and QTE synchronization rate. Speak of the devil...

Asura's Wrath is very, very strongly QTE driven and that was a point annoyance all the way back in 2012. I don't mean “occasional QTE for special scenes”. Nah. They're omnipresent and driving force behind cutscenes which make for large chunk of the game. If this is a deal breaker for you look up a Let's Play or something because game will be unplayable. Sadly this also means you're more focused on inputs than watching the glorious battles unfolding, but couple of hours in there's this zen point where you realize just how well integrated QTEs are and how they're reflecting the actions character is performing. Considering this is a game running on fist-pumping moments that cannot be overlooked when mashing the circle button comes into play.

Not to say it's all QTEs, though. In fact gameplay is split between two distinct types. Firstly you have your ground beat'em up combat which is rather simple with light attack, heavy attack and ranged. Idea is you keep hitting the enemy until your Unlimited bar is full, which increases your attack and reduces incoming damage, and then hit them some more to fill your Burst gauge at which point you unleash it to end the fight. Second, there's aerial shoot'em up mode which is used somewhat sparingly and more of a diversion. Fast attack is here, but heavy is replaced with auto-targeting homing variety. Same as above applies in that activating Burst will end the current fight. This remains a constant and something you strive for as primary objective. In my opinion both modes of combat are simple and with more added enemy variety it boils more down to knowing how to instigate a QTE input to pull off specials. Some like elephant or turtle Gohma mini-bosses + their gang of monkey mooks were especially annoying since controls aren't exactly made for anything more involved than straight up 1v1 aka boss fights. Nothing offensively wrong here, but definitely airing on the serviceable side.

I hinted at it in the opening paragraph and now the time has come to pay the piper with unvarnished truth – selling the ending as DLC, in addition to two “movie” episodes that expand on key moments otherwise not present in the base game. Yes, there's the final episode and true final episode you unlock with enough A scores, but latter is somehow an even worse cliffhanger. If you actually want the ending, or heavily truncated sequel that never got made according to some theories, you'll have to get Episode IV: Nirvana. This is where I get to blast Capcom and game itself for the horrendous practice I'm glad never got to take root, right? Except I can't because Episode IV is incredible. Developers took the best parts from the base game, amplified what worked, told a 2-hour extended finale while also giving a certain character chance to shine. All the emotional buildup and HELL YEAH pays off as Asura sees character development he always deserved with an ending he could not avoid. All around phenomenal send off I wish was included in the game. There are also two Lost Episodes which are non-canonical battles where Asura faces off against Ryu and Akuma from Street Fighter in what are pretty challenging scenarios. Capcom, I swear.

Always a brother, never an enemy.

And lastly – production values. Words or still images cannot really convey how much cutscene choreography, scale of setpieces and melodrama carry Asura's Wrath more than anything. At first I was annoyed by constant “animation/touch up” credits in every episode, but this turned into respect further in I progressed. I've already sung praises to VA so I'll skip that here, but the soundtrack. Man, this soundtrack. It adds to game's gravitas so much it's unreal. It's just not the same when heard out of context without all the grunting and inputs, but this track alone probably summarizes it the best. And that's not even crazy levels. And then you offset that with something totally different like this. If QTE-driven cutscenes are one pillar of Asura's Wrath then OST is as well.

Vampire: the Masquerade - Swansong

( PC – Adventure, RPG– 2023 ) + TRAILER

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Playing Vampire: the Masquerade – Swansong felt like a very familiar journey. Why? Because it's based so heavily on studio's previous game, The Council, and a more cynical person might call it precisely that game with the addition of RNG to simulate dice rolls. What put me off from playing Swansong initially was the fact it was confined to Epic Game Store for a good while. Here we are at long last and I have to ask myself... was it worth the wait?

As Camarilla Kindred of Boston are preparing to attend a party meant to announce the alliance between the Prince and another Kindred group, that being Tremere with their Chantry, disaster strikes as Code Red is activated indicating something has gone horribly wrong at the party and early attendees from both parties. It seems to have been a massacre. With Prince Hazel being in the dark she summons her three agents; Ventrue Galeb, Toreador Emem and Malkavian Leysha, to accept their tasks and go figure out just what happened. Needless to say this being Vampire: the Masquerade there's a lot more going under the surface internally and externally. Since game is based on the latest edition of the tabletop roleplaying game there's a new top dog in town who just might throw a wrench as far as vampire politicking goes...

In case you're not familiar with the property at hand and above makes little sense to you there's nothing to worry about. Swansong assumes as much as it drowns you in pages of supplementary lore and backstory.

Game is structured in scenes as it takes place over multiple nights and each of our three characters gets to shine. They're not created equally, however. Needless to say this is entirely subjective but if you ask me this could've been entirely Leysha's story, and I'm not saying that simply because she's a Malkavian who have an additional hook of their own. Game will actually pull a fast one with that just as you think you've figured the character out and you were oh-so-smarter than the writers thought you were. Then there's Galeb who happens to be an Elder with his own baggage and angles. For all intents and purposes he is the protagonist who gets to do the heavy lifting as far as the main story goes even as all three perspectives intertwine in the last third or so. Which lastly leaves us with Emem as she's stuck with odd jobs. One of her scenes can be rendered completely moot as player can decide “nah, I'll do it alone” making you wonder why you've just wasted an hour trying to convince multiple parties to help you on direct instructions. She does get to make a doozy of a story reveal, though.

Speaking of story.

My final impression is it's as flawed as approach to game's characters is. There are definitely few high points, mainly dramatic choices you get to make as games does feature those and I will get into them later, but uneven three-way storytelling has a toll that must be paid. Some scenes are simply more interesting, some drag on for far too long, and towards the end they become so brief as to distract. Keep in mind this IS the kind of game that expects of you to pay attention to documents you come across if you want more than just the bare minimum game will feed you to keep its wonky pacing on schedule. This is at odds with how Swansong approaches investigations and puzzles, something I'll get into as well. Ending especially did not land for me with how it turns out a half-way measure between epilogue text and character resolutions.

You can get decent mileage out of something like Auspex as alternate means to discover clues and information.

On top of your attributes and Disciplines there's inventory with scarce curatives I very rarely used. Stat boosting “gear” even less.

Always time for a classy selfie. Swansong gets to show off neat lighting when it feels like it.

Interactive hot-spots are conveyed clearly to the player thus sidestepping the age old adventure game issue of pixel hunting.

Confrontations are very much the dramatic highlights of the game with no immediately obvious I-WIN buttons.

Game's biggest strength is also its biggest weakness – it is both an adventure game and RPG. I've often lamented how there are very few /true examples of this genre fusion out there and perhaps it's for the better. Which is also weird since I liked The Council and that game did the exact same thing. What's the major difference? Well, you have THREE characters in Swansong. Their Clans are fixed, but this doesn't define them nearly as much as you'd think. Only your Disciplines are fixed and everything else is up to you. When you get experience points to spend, based on what you've managed to do on per-scene basis, your hands are completely free even if you go with one of the starting archetypes since those just determine initial spread. Even with scenes aka levels tailor made for that particular character developers still had to build in redundancies. What if you made Galeb go full Intimidation + Dominate, for example? You won't get stuck since there's a basic progression thread always there no matter what “build” you went with, but it makes the game lend itself to this uncomfortable sensation where you always get the feeling you've built your characters... wrong?

What I mean is you're constantly seeing grayed out options unavailable to you so you KNOW you're missing out on alternate routes or extra experience. Or you're out of Willpower chips, fuel you use to activate skills in conversations or in the field, as well as sporting high Hunger as you try to rely on magical disciplines to force solutions. Even on the best of days if you have a good spread of skills you may find yourself wasting precious resources on a progression route in the scene that leads to the same outcome, but one that simply drains your resources more. Did I forget to mention you only have autosave available and restarting the level is the only way to undo mistakes? Well, I have now. In essence, Swansong ends up being very anxiety-inducing where the RPG half interferes with the adventure game half resulting in missing out on options rather than opening new ones for the player. You have two choices to make: either embrace [hehe] what the game is and go with your gut, or you'll need to have a guide on the side to stray sane. Choice is entirely up to you.

It occurs to me I forgot to mention at all about what the game is actually like to play. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a casual Telltale experience. Yes, it's a seemingly familiar third person adventure with interactive hotspots to alter the world, doing away with pixel hunting of yore, where some have accompanying skill checks. This ties into how you've built your character, see. These same skills are usable in dialog as well. You will spend a decent chunk of Swansong in conversations. To game's credit simply using options tagged with your highest ranked skill or Discipline is not a way to automatically resolve conversation when it matters. Game calls those Confrontations and you have a limited number of misses lest you fail to convince the other party. They're reserved for pivotal moments and sometimes it's not mandatory for you to WIN to progress. Swansong sometimes allows for story to continue from what is seemingly a failure state. Another thing I've noticed is game being pretty heavy on moral decisions you get to make. It will never outright tell you which is the correct one, or even judge you, but I've noticed being shortsighted is not necessarily always in your best interest. One of those calls resulted in the worst level for poor poor Leysha, for example.

Production values diagnosis? Typical case of jank all-around. Can't say I experienced any major issues besides the game freezing in dialog couple of times. Overall level of polish leaves much to be desired and definitely reveals smaller budget. This is fine by me, though.

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana

( PS2 – JRPG– 2004 ) + TRAILER

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Years ago I considered myself an avid aficionado of JRPGs, but even then there were series I never got around to. Some simply had the misfortune of non-existent localization and it seems Atelier is one of those despite growing ever prominent since those days. Which makes me jumping into it with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana quite amusing since it's one of those entry that don't exactly represent the franchise at large.

Our story opens in media res with a brief glimpse of pivotal characters and seemingly our two main characters – Klein and Lita – as they discuss “this was where everything began”. Looking back on it that statement is kinda overblown, but we also get to see their initial meeting in a forest where Lita assumes Klein needs saving from a falcon. Little does she realize he's an Alchemist capable of governing Spirits to do his bidding, and not long after they come across each other again later as she more-or-less ropes him into joining the Galgazits. They're kind of adventurers for hire who take jobs at the local tavern. And with hints of mysterious monsters called Growloons appearing around the region our little adventure is afoot with both Klein and Lita having mysteries to unfold.

Above is a rather weak summary, but that's the best I can do since this is one familiar story if you're experienced with the genre. At the end of the day it's about a villain who has a misguided notion of “saving the world” in his own way. It concerns elusive Alchemists and nature of Mana Spirits in the world... somehow making the matter even worse because what he's attempting has already been tried and it didn't pan out. Our characters also don't really break the mold and what you see is what you get. Klein is that good-meaning, but somewhat dense protagonist who finds his determination, Lita is a hot-blooded brawler with an obvious crush on our main dude, Delsius is a swashbuckling lover with a dark past, etc. Few exceptions notwithstanding, when you delve into those backstories, characters are very straightforward. Playing on archetypes does make this a more lighthearted and adventurous game than one might expect. Sure, there's gravity to events, but threat is never looming over everyone and wacky characters have that localized way of putting a smile on your face.

I'll get into it more later down the road as it pertains to mechanics as well, but I was surprised how much completely skippable sidequests add to the game in terms of character development and fleshing out the world. Oddest thing? It's not about the main cast, but rather store owners you interact with in the game. Blair and Veola respectively stand out with so much to them I was surprised they didn't have a bigger role to play. Seeing their arcs through by putting in effort towards crafting was well worth it. There's also a handful of longer sidequests like ghost Pamela on a quest to find her body or fellow Alchemist Rurona who embarks on multiple quests as you stumble across her.

Something that struck me as strange about Eternal Mana's setup is how it almost gives you this impression it's a directionless, or more open if you will, JRPG. While there are hints of that in some sidequests sprouting up along the way this is still a fairly conventional affair. Game simply happens to have elements you don't exactly expect like bigger focus on crafting as well as Klein's Mana Synthesis which is its own separate thing.

Even peaceful areas are filled with respawning items. Something to keep in mind when you have all the tools and get to explore them fully.

Mana Synthesis is what Alchemists do and Klein can Synthesize in as well as out of combat.

Rather familiar combat setup with the freedom to switch out your characters since you'll have more than three total.

It's staggering how much is packed in sidestories, specifically concerning couple of storekeepers/crafters you can actually ignore for the most part.

While disassembling items for Mana is an option you'll mostly be whacking objects out in the world to procure some for free.

So how does Eternal Mana actually play? Well, Klein travels across cities and dungeons whacking objects that seem suspicious in order to gather Mana from them. Remember, he IS an alchemist and short of directly extracting Mana from items in your inventory this is the go-to method. Different kinds of objects will give you different kinds of mana, color coded for your convenience. Dissolving an icey rock, for example, will net you blue and brown Mana. You then use those resources in this game's standout feature – Mana Synthesis. Separate from crafting it lets you, well, synthesize items in and out of combat. You discover specific formulas over the course of the game, but fill in the gaps between simple healing jar, damage causing comet and shields meant to absorb 50% of incoming damage. You can stock up on the synthesized items beforehand so you can just use them in combat rather than synthesize them on the spot? If Mana cost is the same, what's the difference? Well, now we're getting into combat.

Hate to sing the old tune yet again, but combat also airs on the familiar side. Noticing a pattern yet? You'll have more than three characters throughout the game, but that remains the number of active combatants. You can rotate them in and out with the backup crew although being in the back row does not have any curative effects. And this isn't the kind of game where you're soft-forced into using certain characters for certain enemies. Only Klein has his Synthesis command while everyone uses the good old Attack, Skills, Items, Defend, etc. There are no combined attacks or even outright spells in this turn-based JRPG since characters are driven entirely by skills as far as unique characteristics go. Whenever you level up you get points to assign to said skills eventually leveling THEM up as well. There's a matter of assigning Mana spirits to characters for additional stat/skill growth as well. If you want to min-max your characters you can do it here + three equipment slots they get, but Eternal Mana is on the easy side making it redundant.

It feels jarring to bring up game's Mana Synthesis in a brief synopsis like I did above, but that's because the mechanic itself is very simple. Find artifact blueprints, get enough Mana to synthesize and do so. Where game truly shines is with conventional crafting you have to get couple of storekeepers to do for you. Some items are fixed recipe, some have ingredients you can switch out and others will forever remain a mystery unless you try out combinations on your own. Bomb recipes, for example, will never go beyond basic level unless you play with usable ingredients. This systems is directly fed by all the items you find from enemy drops and out in the world making a great little ecosystem. Crafters involved will gradually reveal more and more recipes as story progresses, their store rank goes and as you craft more items from the available ones. There's a massive blunder with the system, however – Eternal Mana never actually requires from the player to get involved with it. Sure, there are some instances where you have to craft to progress, but this are very obvious items that will be spelled out for you, but choosing not to will feel like you're missing out on a huge feature. Even more so because the game is so easy you'll practically never end up using crafted items and just save them for future crafting. Doubly so because Mana Synthesis will cover all your needs be it healing or damage. Maybe this design decision was driven by accessibility?

In terms of production values one has to keep in mind this came out in 2004 on PS2 when further 3D visuals were becoming all the rage compared to PS1 jumbled polygons. And yet I'll say something perhaps controversial as these visuals were and still are perfectly fine. Pure 2D with higher fidelity better hardware would allow. You can tell no bank was broken, but the aesthetic completely itself. I would raise objection to character artwork as it clearly dates the game more than anything else. Soundtrack. Well, any game that has multiple overworld tracks depending on the region gets my voter. Now that I think on there's unique tracks for every location and I can hear some as I'm typing this out.

Hank: Straightjacket ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2023 ) + TRAILER

There really isn't much to say about Hank Straightjacket beyond the fact it's a single-scene P&C adventure you'll finish in couple of minutes. Needless to say it's free and somewhat of a tease for another game, but I don't think I've played anything more straightforward almost making this "review" unnecessary.

You're Hank, having done away with your superhero name, and now a villain from your past has you suspended above some shadow snakes that await you should you fall. Provided he doesn't shoot you first after he's done with his monologue and teasing. Probably the single standout here is the way game handles dialog as it lets you seamlessly inspect objects while the the only other person in the room is going on and on. You can interrupt his train of thoughts to ask about things strung about. Ultimately there's two actions you to complete to finish the game, and that's that. Rewinding is also an option although I'd be hard pressed as to explain why. If anything game needed a fast FORWARD feature to get through the slow, typewriter dialog presentation.

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Draugen ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2019 ) + TRAILER

Draugen has me stepping back into the walking sims territory. Hit or miss as far as those go. Does this short 1920s mystery in Norway hold up, though?

Stepping into the shoes of Edward Harden we disembark in a small coastal village of Graavik searching for his missing sister. However, he's something of a stick-in-the-mud kind of character far more interested in his own quest than anything else and Draugen balances that out with his companion Alice, or Lissie which she seems to prefer, as polar opposite to Edward with an extremely bubbly personality. Two complement each other like a glove, but soon find not everything is as it seems in Graavik. In fact, no one appears to be there and our dynamic American pair soon find themselves tackling that particular mystery as well...

Some walking sims attempt to flesh out the world with myriad of items to [pointlessly] examine, some go for rudimentary "puzzles" to solve, and yet all seem to thrive on building up atmosphere. Draugen definitely falls in that third as this Norwegian village in the middle of nowhere has immense atmosphere through sheer desolate landscapes. Howling wind is ever-present and fixed weather effects as well as time of day are at narrative convenience of the story. In fact, only familial aspect is your chatty companion Lisse with even a dedicated button to call out to her. She becomes your link to reality in this harsh place that never really takes any threatening action against the protagonist. Thing is, that's a double-edged sword as Lisse may quickly wear out her welcome provided she doesn't click with you from the beginning with her mannerisms. I expected a twist with this kind of setup, especially as you come across more and more clues as to what happened to both your sister and local bigwig family in who's mansion you take shelter for the visiting week, but when said twist hits it still managed to surprise me. Not that it covers up for what is essentially a very weak and understated story. There's open endings and then there's giving your players blue balls.

Would I recommend Draugen? There's nothing OFFENSIVELY wrong with the game, but almost everything except for the visuals and sound design - landscapes primarily since character models could've been better - seems to falter to some degree. There's little to really DO except walk forward and read some cryptic notes, story does not end in satisfactory fashion for my taste, and I'm not the sure I approve of the state Edward finds himself at the end. Then again going by that teaser in the credits there may be more coming which would flesh out our boy and Lisse further for possible improvements.

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Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2017 ) + TRAILER

Released as second to last proper in-house developed Telltale title Minecraft Story Mode - Season Two left me mixed with opinions. Or rather, not with as favorable impression the way the first season did. Why? Mainly because they decided to focus on some questionable aspects I didn't like even back then.

It's some time after the first game and Jesse is in charge of Beacontown as its mayor. What opens as warm reminiscing with your friends, who are now off doing their own thing, leads to some drama as yet others worry your friendship is going to end and eventually leads to Jesse and Petra making a discovery that puts them in contact with what is effectively an omnipotent creator of the Minecraft world they live in - the Admin. Sadly, he takes interest in Jesse and so begin his trials and tribulations to not only protect the people he cares about, but also to re-affirm old friendships and forge new ones.

Provided you know the Telltale formula there isn't much to talk about here. This is technically an adventure game without anything I'd classify as a real puzzle as your solution is never further away than a crafting table at best. Actual meat and potatoes of the game is the dialog system where you make your choices to various illusionary degrees of importance. This is also where I think Season Two has a lot of cameos and callbacks I didn't exactly get seeing as I'm unfamiliar with Minecraft in general. Some VA performances and designs definitely stood out as beyond "regular", though. Other two elements you get to do more of are actually BUILDING things, kind of a big deal in Minecraft itself, and combat of all things. I complained about the lack of former in the last game, but simplistic combat is something I could've done without even though it results in a boss fight or two. You won't really be breaking a sweat here and QTEs are still your primary interaction with anything more involved than initiating a conversation or examining a hotspot in the world.

Story and characters are in-line with what you've come to expect from Telltale. First game, too. I won't go into spoilers, but expect a light drama about friendship, misunderstood antagonist(s) game expects you to start caring about. Season Two is certainly nowhere near as dark as the The Walking Dead, for example, since this is based on Minecraft. While absolutely bearing that signature "we're winging it from episode to episode" Telltale writing I can't help but think the out there nature of the property and generally zanier story/characters help it get away with more. In one episode you're going through the Ice Citadel challenge while in another you're in a maximum security slammer below bedrock where you have to escape from. Episodes were not created equal either as some, second in particular, have a cutscene-heavy approach where I could've sworn entire chapters passed with me barely pressing a button or two.

Would I recommend the game? Personally the genuinely high threat story presents doesn't gel with the source material they're working with. Everyone's also a bit too upbeat considering. Then again that lighthearted approach, funny writing that got a chuckle from me here and there just might be what you're looking for. That's where the game delivers in spades as did the original.

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Stillwater ( PC (Steam) – Visual Novel – 2022 ) + TRAILER

Stillwater is a short Visual Novel about a private investigator Hugo Laurent and his two assistants who find themselves embroiled in a particular case when a panicked young woman enters their office begging for help. You see, it concerns her grandfather who may be in danger having received letters with the latest one containing a VERY threatening sentence. While this story is about our intrepid protagonist(s) accepting to help it's their interactions, Hugo's somber personality and nature of the secret itself that equally vie for the spotlight. Entire affair is strictly on-rails except for one choice you get to make, though. Following is rather subjective, but I think the art style did its job especially with character portraits as no expense was spared on them having myriad of expressions to convey emotions.

You can't beat free and I'd recommend you give this one a try to see if VNs might be your thing. This is certainly the equivalent of dipping your toes.