Games of the Year 2021 – Biggest Disappointment

Continuing on from our biggest surprises, we now move onto each member's biggest disappointment of 2021. Sadly not every experience comes out the way we were expecting whether from technical issues or simply from a lack of polish as it was rushed out the door. In either case, here is our team's reflection on the topic.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

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Pierre-Yves: The Skylia Prophecy

There's one title every year that we find ourselves constantly thinking back to and wishing that it had been "more" than we experienced. There were a few others this year but The Skylia Prophecy took the biggest disappointment award for me as it had all of the potential elements to make it something great but just didn't follow through. While the core gameplay was hard as hell, it suffered from design issues of constantly needing items that you may not even have access to in order to move forwards such as healing items and keys to unlock doors. While the keys could be circumvented by making deals with a demon, I ended up restarting several times just to not waste what I didn't have or get stuck with next to zero health or mana because I accidently triggered an autosave. The silver lining here though is that... Nick's not looking? You can score 1000pts to your Gamer Score in the first twenty minutes as they can all be done before leaving the first zone.

Check out our full review of The Skylia Prophecy by developer and publisher 7 Raven Studios for the Microsoft Xbox One.

Richard: Cris Tales

Cris Tales was an ambitious game that just didn't live up to its potential. The reason it's in this category isn't because the game is bad per se, or that I didn't have fun with it despite being my Biggest Disappointment, I did actually have some hope for the title. Although some design choices were extremely poor, the fact is I really enjoyed Cris Tales, at least up to a certain point. There were a lot of aspects and gameplay mechanics that held so much promise, but just ended up falling flat because they didn't deliver to the best of their ability, were horribly underused, or were just implemented in a really mediocre fashion. Cris Tales earns the spot as Biggest Disappointment because it could've been so much more than it was.

Check out our full review of Cris Tales by developers Dreams Uncorporated, SYCK, and publisher Modus Games for the Nintendo Switch.

Susan N.: Monster Harvest

I really wanted to enjoy Monster Harvest because it was a different take on Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley as far as farming simulators go, but it completely failed to do anything it set out to do. The relationships with the townsfolk were non-existent, the combat system was absolute garbage, and the story was a figment of our imagination. I would have loved for Monster Harvest to bring a unique take on the genre, but even that concept was poorly executed. It felt like a Pokemon system which was woefully dull with a whopping three abilities and no heal to speak of. Each time a player lost their monster to fight in the dungeon, they had to level another one in order to progress. However, the four or five rooms that were in the dungeon were procedurally generated and served little to no purpose to the game, which also felt like a shell of an idea. I grew to dislike playing the game over time and for that Monster Harvest lands squarely as my biggest disappointment of 2021.

Check out our full review of Monster Harvest by developer Maple Powered Games and publisher Merge Games for the Nintendo Switch.

Nick: Werewolf: the Apocalypse – Earthblood

Werewolf: the Apocalypse – Earthblood reminded me of ‘the old days’, but for all of the wrong reasons. Muddled gameplay, visuals that looked like they were from a couple of console generations back and perhaps worst of all? Taking a known property and completely messing it up as a video game. That’s some old-school stuff right there, and none of it flattering which is why it's my biggest disappointment for the year. 

Check out our full review of Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood by developer Cyanide Studio and publisher Nacon for the Sony Playstation 5.

Robert: Star Citizen

Riddled with alleged mismanagement, feature creep, and being a bit too optimistic with timeframes is something famed developer/produced Chris Roberts and his Cloud Imperium Games studio (the folks behind the as-yet-to-be-released Squadron 42 single player title and its multiplayer component, Star Citizen) is well known for within the Entertainment Industry. With such juggernauts like Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavhill and so many more involved in the project in some way or another, you’d expect to see more than a periodic update to perpetually-unreleased Star Citizen.

However, with the recent CD Projekt Red debacle with the botched launching of Cyberpunk 2077, Chris and team came out and essentially said that they're done talking about Squadron 42 beyond their once-a-month, monthly report (a very high level breakdown of some of the various tasks involved in the development of Squadron 42)- no release dates, no sneak peaks, nothing. This is monumentally disappointing while continuing to sell concept ships, something that they were sued for in the UK in 2021 due to the misrepresentation of content being sold.

From there, it’s been a rough year with a community-fracturing Ship Showdown that essentially devolved in hate being slung between three primary camps, to an awkward yearly CitzenCon event, to the money-grabbing “Intergalactic Aerospace Expo” that happens near the end of November every year and often called the “Anniversary sale” and is where you can purchase packages like the $6,500 Dominus package up to a $35,000 backer package…

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Monster Harvest - Switch Review

Monster Harvest by developer Maple Powered Games and publisher Merge Games—Nintendo Switch Review written by Susan N. with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

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Monster Harvest is a farming simulator that combines elements of the typical simulator we all know and love with a turn-based monster fighting game. It appears to be a fantastic addition to the genre but ends up being extremely disappointing. Our review will cover everything from gameplay to combat to the graphics and UI.

Gameplay

Monster Harvest, the next great farming simulator game is out on Nintendo Switch and it isn’t great. We begin our journey like any farming sim. We are contacted by our estranged uncle who needs our help taking care of the neglected family farm. Of course, our character is accustomed to the big city lifestyle that has become dull and boring, so we take him up on the offer.

In Monster Harvest, the locations of the buildings are preset, unlike other games where there is customization. Right off the bat, this feels like a conscious choice to show the building options as well as the supplies required to upgrade. In games like Stardew Valley, players have to go to the upgrade vendor across town to find out what is needed. In that way, Monster Harvest is off to a good start. Players also discover that to the right of our house is a barn of sorts which houses your planimals.

In the beginning conversation, which is about 95% of the whole ‘story’ of the game, we learn that SlimeCo is the great evil (read: JoJo mart). Monstrous slimes are on the loose! It becomes apparent that this is a unique aspect of Monster Harvest. Your uncle, the mad scientist, has found a way to harvest the slime power to create what is known as ‘planimals’. At first, this seems like a refreshing and cool concept because players can grow all kinds of creatures from their crops, but soon it becomes lackluster.

Furthermore, the game would have a cool concept if it was executed well. See, crops are used for everything like profit generation, evolving planimals, and stamina replenishment. At the beginning of the game, making a profit is the best option before worrying about the other elements. And while this creates an interesting crop economy management situation, it is frustrating because there are short-term and long-term problems with its design. In the short term, players decide which crops will become planimals, which crops will be sold, and which crops will be reserved for food. The long-term issue is that players need to have a stash of crops for consumption. The reason is that there is no way to replenish stamina other than by sleeping and eating food. Normally this isn’t a problem, but it feels like the stamina bar isn’t large enough - a point I’ll get into a little later.

The townsfolk are rather bland and don’t have a new dialogue with every interaction. Yep. That’s right. The people have about as much substance as cardboard. Plus, pursuing relationships aren’t worthwhile as there is no reason to try. Yet for some reason players can gift the citizens items without being reciprocated with cool story beats or dialogue.

There is no passage of time in the game. Normally this isn’t a problem as it allows players to focus on farming, building, and exploring the dungeon, but it means that there’s little incentive to do much after clearing the farm of supplies. And about that dungeon, it is procedurally generated and only has five levels or rooms. It can only be entered at night time and only if you have a planimal.

And on that note, let’s talk about the combat in this game.

Combat

Combat in Monster Harvest is the most refreshing concept and also the most poorly executed. The first thing to note is that dungeon-delving can only be done at night time. It isn’t reliant on a player’s stamina nor abilities because the combat is done through a turn-based battle system. You fight the monsters with your planimals, which is great, but they only have a total of three abilities. What’s even worse is that none of those abilities include a heal. And to tack onto that idea, there isn’t even ‘planimal food’ to heal them. The only ways to heal are by sleeping (which also heals the planimals) or when the planimals level up.

But the disappointing part of the combat doesn’t only boil down to those aspects. The real killer is that even though there are only five procedurally generated rooms in the dungeon, if your planimal fights more than one creature in a row, they will likely die. If the planimal dies, then players need to use another one, which likely starts at level one - so you lose all the progress you’ve made. This is more disappointing because there is no option to retreat from a combat scenario and you cannot heal the planimals between fights either!

If those factors weren’t enough to convince players that the combat is terrible, then I have one final point to make about the combat system. Players can house several different types of planimals on their farm, but they can only use the primary one in the dungeon. The other planimals don’t matter and this leaves players with the sense that the combat isn’t really important. And considering players only start with one damage ability, this combat system is likely the worst that I’ve encountered in this style of game.

Graphics and UI

For all the mudslinging I’ve done thus far, the graphics aren’t that bad. I like the aesthetics created by the pixelated design. There are certain aspects of the graphics that are quite cool, including the fact that the male and female character models are a little more refined than some of the other farming simulators out there. That said, while I like the graphics overall, it was hard to tell when the crops were ready to be harvested.

My biggest gripe about Monster Harvest is the terrible UI design, especially considering that this is a Nintendo Switch game. In each menu, there are multiple tabs that provide useful information, but somehow this showcases how unintuitive the UI is. Plus, there is no explanation about the control scheme nor the different concepts in the game. While I know that many compare Monster Harvest to Stardew Valley, in the latter game I can use a controller without issue. Part of the reason is due to the simplistic UI and design. In Monster Harvest it is not. Plus, if you combine the Joy-Con™ drift issue into the equation, this game is challenging to play no matter what your expectations are.

And since we are talking about different aspects of the UI, I can honestly say that this game should not have launched to the Nintendo Switch without a better text font or menu options. I played on a TV and I had a hard time reading the text. I can’t even imagine what that would look like in handheld mode. There aren’t even options to alter the UI size either, which doesn’t help provide accessibility to players.

Pros and Cons

With the combat issues, bland characters, terrible UI, small text, and lack of story, I had hoped that something about Monster Harvest was well executed. But, the more I played, the less I liked. In the end, all of these issues became the final nails in the coffin. However, I do have a list of pros and cons for players that are on the fence.

Pros:

●     The game has a nice music loop. It’s soothing, if not repetitive.

●     Monster Harvest as an interesting mix of game genres.

●     The core game concept is cool. Not only do players use crops to generate profit, but adding slime to the crops turns them into planimals. They can regain stamina by eating crops.

●     Planimals fight for you, meaning you don’t have to worry about stat upgrades, gear, or losing equipment like an RPG.

●     Players might be happy with the fact that there is no time limit to tasks. The clock is mostly for show because the time passage doesn’t occur until players go to bed.

●     Players regain stamina by sleeping or consuming their crops.

●     Monster Harvest is a relaxing experience. There is little penalty for losing a planimal.

●     Cute title suitable for all ages.

●     Inexpensive title to purchase.

Cons:

●     There is no map.

●     The game has no rebinding of keys option or UI customization.

●     There is no tutorial or full story. In fact most of what you need to know is said at the very beginning. Since the game has no progression, it is uninspiring at best.

●     It's not readily apparent when crops are done their growth cycle.

●     It's very hard to read the text, especially on the Switch. This is partly due to the text size but also due to the font choice.

●     Monster Harvest doesn't have a clear indicator that there are options to buy individual items. I accidentally bought too much product because there is no tutorial or explanation.

●     There is no option to sell at the general store! Players are only able to purchase products there.

●     During combat, there is no option to retreat! Considering how difficult it is to heal, this concept is a key addition.

●     Players cannot heal their planimals in between combat sections except by way of leveling up or sleeping.

●     The stamina total is quite low for an infinite daytime cycle or the regeneration of stamina is too low. Players don’t get a lot of bang for their buck. Why bother having an infinite day cycle if there isn’t anything to do?

Monstrous Summary

Overall the idea of Monster Harvest was a great idea, but sadly lacks many elements that make the genre fun. Players are accustomed to building relationships with the townsfolk through gifting, which is an element in the game but there’s no real progression with it. Monster Harvest also lacks the freedom of placing buildings on their farm. Each building has pre-designated locations. And while I love the idea of growing your own fighting pets, Monster Harvest requires a lot more substance to be rated higher than I’m giving it in this review.

If Monster Harvest had invested some more time in any of the major aspects of the game, like the combat system, the relationships, or the story loop, the other issues might have been forgiven. Since I found myself bored with the gameplay and confused about my purpose in Monster Harvest, I can’t rate the game any higher than a 6 out of 10. There are too many missing elements for this game to really stand up to the other farming simulators on the market.

Score: 6 / 10

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Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition - PS5 Review

Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition by developer Infuse Studio and publisher Merge Games—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is a visually updated version of the same game that released on PC this time last year. If you played the game then, you’re basically getting a prettier version of the same thing here, without any substantial updates to the core gameplay. That being said, what is here is still an enjoyable, atmospheric adventure that I enjoyed far more often than not.

This is one of those strange games to review, because on the surface – there’s not a whole lot to talk about. Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition has a relatively short runtime (you can beat it and clean up the remaining trophies in about half a dozen hours), there are not a bunch of progressively deepening gameplay mechanics at work here, nor is this an overly structured narrative. This title relies very heavily on two things – atmosphere and puzzle-solving.

The atmosphere is the easiest aspect of the game to talk about, because the expansive, often breath-taking visuals and lovely orchestrated soundtrack deliver a serious punch in this regard. This is not a big, AAA title fully leveraging all of the horsepower that the PlayStation 5 has to offer, but kudos to the development team for fantastic use of color, animation and environmental scope to create an engaging world to explore. This was one of those titles where I enjoyed playing it at night, lights off in the room, and just peacefully wandering.

There is a tale here, as you take on the role of a red fox – but it’s not narrated. You don’t have walls of text to read, people to interact with or some old, warmly toned voiceover detailing what is going on. That abstract form of storytelling is obviously not for everyone, but I think in Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition it works rather well. It stays out of the way of the lovely presentation and I felt encouraged just to wander about, soaking things in.

The other major aspect of the gameplay is in some simple puzzle-solving, and here is where things can be a bit inconsistent from my standpoint. The puzzles are nicely backed into the environments, but they are not always especially clear in terms of explaining what you are supposed to do. The fox you control moves rather slowly at times, and the lack of context in narrative applies to the puzzles you’re faced with. You eventually will figure it out, but when I did – it was sometimes less rewarding than others.

There is a side quest / collection objective of gathering staves through the stages and plopping them on the ground to release the spirits held within. Thematically speaking, at least this makes sense, and there were certainly a handful of quiet, somber moments for me as I completed these little side fetch quests. This provides a bit more to do, but these are the primary gameplay elements and may leave those looking for a bit more action left wanting for more.

I would probably best use the terms ‘distraction’ or ‘escape’ to describe Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition. There is really precious little outside of the updated visuals to separate this title from the version that was released about a year ago (you can read Susan’s review of it for the Switch earlier this year here). Given the relatively lacking release library for the PlayStation 5, this is probably a perfect time to release this title. It is quite enjoyable in its own right, but will also fill a void for owners of the new console such as myself.

Summary

Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is a relaxing, atmospheric adventure title that benefits from a gorgeous visual style and musical score. In terms of content and gameplay, it doesn’t offer up a lot of depth, but what is here provides a worthwhile distraction for those looking for a slightly slower paced adventure game.

Score: 7 / 10

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Morbid: The Seven Acolytes - XB1 Review

Morbid: The Seven Acolytes by developer Still Running and publisher Merge Games—Microsoft Xbox One review written by David with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

This is definitely the review I’ve written this year with the fewest expectations. In that, I mean that I knew nothing about this project going into it, which was a major change of pace from my reviews so far here. I was offered the article, clicked the trailer and the tag “Souls-Like Horrorpunk Adventure RPG” and pixel-art style got my curiosity. Diving in and dying like the scrub that I am during the first zone however, is what really got my attention. Bonus points, the ambient rainstorm in the loading screen is fantastic background noise to write to, for those like me with an insatiable need to multitask, even to your own detriment. Besides, dying from a couple too many bad parries calls for a breather when you’re as bad as I am.

I saw this screen way more than I would like to admit.

Dying is frustrating but it's not too bad, it just kicks you back to where you last meditated, the altars conveniently-but-not-too-much-so placed as you progress. These altars also serve as a fast travel point between areas as well as where all the Lorebooks, monsters, weapons, and tutorials will pop up as you find them in your trek across the first few zones.

There's a fairly wide variety, and different approaches with each, causing it to be a good idea to have at least one gear-switch as you progress. Luckily, you're provided with two slots right off the bat that you can switch between while in the Inventory. While not as quick as a single dedicated button or wheel-slot, it amounts to two button presses and you can get pretty quick with a little practice, or desperation. Swords, axes, spears, a human leg, you'll find your preference quickly enough.

Thalas shares a bit of exposition, and sets the stage for how helpful your friends will be.

In Morbid, you are the last of a line of heroes-to-be, having trained your whole life to kill the Seven Acolytes, the mortals whose minds are possessed by a group of eldritch horrors that grip the world. Granted the Sword of Dibrom, a symbol of your order, you are doomed to fight against untold hordes of morbid monstrosities in your quest, and it is messy. The constant flood of death, gore, and the horror of fighting things beyond mortal ken drags at your sanity. Each encounter eats away until your vision and hearing are affected. It's said Strivers die from the madness if not by one of the beasts ravaging the countryside. The truth you'll find once you lose the plot entirely, is that even the shadows are hostile. Things you kill keep coming back and there's seemingly no end.

Along with the fun bits mentioned, Sanity also affects your damage dealt, damage gained, and even your experience rate. Unless my brain has bamboozled me, they all go up. It’s by no mean easier when your sanity is gone, things you could sneak past normally seem to be attracted straight to you like they already knew you were coming along with the rapidly growing spectre problem as you drop to zero, but at least you can smash face for a bit before you fall. I seem to consistently find Calming Capsules as a drop soon after I’ve hit zero sanity and survived long enough to kill a few things though, so it seems the game isn’t totally hopeless once you get there if you’ve run out. Totally worth it when one of the Acolytes is acting up. I had to fight mini-boss Boatswain Borga twice because of it though, fair warning.

Sanity isn't in high supply in Mornia

The leveling system is perk based, coming in the form of “Blessings” you can level up using skill points. Luckily, your deaths save your skills, if not the XP to the next point, so by the time I unlocked these, after you kill the first Acolyte, I had twelve skill points ready to go and entered the next area with a health and stamina bar I feel like I shouldn’t have yet. Your weapons come with a variety of stats too, and you can upgrade those permanently with Runes you find, usually as mob drops, or temporarily with Mushrooms. Combine them for extra oomf when needed and you’ll power strike-roll-stab-stab your way through even the most obnoxious Corpse Kings, just watch out for that AoE.

The quests you follow tell you more of what happened to the world you fight for. From a widow hopeful her husband was on a voyage when the Flesh Plant Plague hit Mornia, to the stories of the Acolytes. Lorn the Blind, Lord of Loneliness, is the first acolyte you fight, not a simple task if you're not ready for it, or just bad like I am. You find references to him in descriptions in the area though. Lorn the Beloved was well deserving of that epithet, and as the plague spread and he was corrupted by the Gahar, they took his eyes, throwing him into the pit known as the Cave of Solitude, his mind twisting that former love he'd lost to rage, vowing to take the eyes of any he came across in his prison.

Lorn the Beloved, twisted into a blind monstrosity, guards the way into Mornia through the Cave of Solitude

As fun as the gameplay is, as much as I love the Lovecraftian horror setting, as much as I genuinely enjoy the art style, the real stand-out part of this game to me was the scoring. From the introduction to the final fight, the mood is set beautifully by the soundtrack that backs everything. If I'm completely honest, I haven't felt a soundtrack in an isometric action RPG like I did this one since Diablo. While Diablo's score was largely ambient, Morbid's reminds you that you're here and you will die here. I found myself drawn into the game more as I listened, leaving it up while at a brief point of respite at an altar to work on this article, ever present and reminding me of the madness to come.

Equal parts disgusting, horrifying, tragic, and downright beautiful, Morbid paints an unforgettable picture of Lovecraftian and Cronenbergian madness come to life.

Score: 9.5 / 10

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Bounty Battle - XB1 Review

Bounty Battle by developer Dark Screen Games and publisher Merge Games—Microsoft Xbox One review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Bounty Battle has one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time: gather up favorite characters from various indie video games and put them together in a Smash Bros.-like fighting game full of arcade hijinks. Unfortunately, the developers squander all of that promise with sloppy controls, boring gameplay and a terrible presentation destined to make this my most disappointing game of 2020.

Sometimes when I play a game, I find myself frustrated early on because it was not quite what I had been expecting. I think as gamers, we’ve all been there. However, I stick with it, because generally with a little extra time and effort on my part, I can see where the developers were trying to go with things. I might not always agree with it, but if I squint hard enough, I can at least understand intent and glean some silver linings.

Things open in promising fashion. When I fired up Bounty Battle I was greeted with a slick movie that quickly showcased so many favorites from different games like Guacamelee!, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Awesomenauts, Axiom Verge, SteamWorld Dig, Battle Chasers Nightwar and more. It is an inspired roster filled with colorful characters ripe for creating unique move sets that should fuel many hours of gameplay.

That’s our silver lining – and from here it all goes downhill.

It’s interesting to see that this title claims to be inspired by such games as BlazBlue, Injustice, Street Fighter and Skullgirls, because the only thing it really has in common with those mainstays of the fighting genre is that… well, it’s a video game. I know this is a harsh critique, and I hate coming down on something that someone else spent long hours working on, but the fact of the matter is, Bounty Battle feels half-baked at this point. There were warning signs in it being pushed back from its initial release date, but I generally try not to read too much into delays. 2020 has been a really weird year that has impacted people in a variety of ways, and if the devs felt that they needed a bit of extra time to make sure they got things just right? My thought process was: more power to them.

Now I’m wondering what that extra time was spent on. Despite listing those notable 1-on-1 fighting games as the inspiration for Bounty Battle, I think Super Smash Bros. is a much more apt (attempted) comparison. Sometimes battles are 1-on-1, but sometimes you’re taking on multiple characters. You’re trying to knock your opponents off of a platform, generally made easier by racking up damage against them in the process. As a core system, that’s fine. It’s worked exceedingly well for Nintendo’s Smash Bros. games, but this is the end of that comparison, because the combat in Bounty Battle is a murky, slog of a mess by comparison.

For one, the characters feel horrifically unbalanced. It was as though the developers had ideas for the characters and threw them together without really giving any careful consideration to the powerful back and forth aspects of combat gameplay. Some of the characters just feel more fully fleshed out than others, which is a serious no-no in a fighting game to begin with. Visually the art style itself works, but the animations are rough and combat lacks umph, relying heavily on overdone particle effects that seem as much flashy as they appear to be trying to mask the subpart character movements.

It does not help that this game is not very friendly to newcomers. Often these battler games have an element of ease with ‘pick up and play’ for groups to just settle in and wallop on one another. The control scheme just feels chunky and unwieldy from the beginning. There is a ‘minion’ system baked in there that sounds cool in practice, but in execution is pretty lacking. The framerate struggles whenever there are several characters playing at once, and without that smoothness in the controls it becomes a nightmare to string together combos. There is a neat idea buried in here about penalties and bonuses for unique attacks, but given how shallow some of the move sets are (especially for range-heavy attackers), if found myself often feeling panelized for doing what I had to just in order to survive.

Were the combat actually fun, the shallow single player content could be more easily forgiven. However, there is no story mode – just a tournament one that brings together a series of increasingly difficult battles. Each of the five events deserves credit for shaking things up a bit by giving different objectives along the way. It is the best option for breaking up the monotony of the others 1-on-1 battles and training arena.

Summary

Unfortunately Bounty Battle is a series of missed opportunities almost destined to be a candidate for our site's yearly awards – but not one of the good ones. Horribly unresponsive controls, shallow move sets and game modes and a clunky presentation all squander the goodwill that comes from bringing together so many awesome indie characters from across numerous other video games.

Score: 2.5 / 10

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Spirit of the North - Switch Review

Spirit of the North by developer Infuse Studio and publishers Infuse Studio, Merge Games—Nintendo Switch review written by Susan N. with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Spirit of the North is a game where players get to explore the vastness of an ancient civilization. As players progress through the vast area where they start, we're guided by a lovely lady fox. Oh, did I mention you play as a red fox? She takes us to a place that showcases what must be done. Our mission is to get rid of the plague in this world, and we know this because it 'kills' us. When we awake, we discover that the spirit fox has granted us magical powers.

While I think the premise of this game is interesting, it has some shortcomings that need to be addressed. Despite that fact, I quite enjoyed my overall experience with the Spirit of the North.

Gameplay

Let's talk about the gameplay first. Players begin their adventures in the middle of a snowy area with picturesque scenery that flanks all aspects of view. Coupled with the musical accompaniment, the experience is breathtaking. (NO YOU'RE BREATHTAKING! *ahem* Anyways...). Since players have no idea what they are in for, we are given the chance to freely run around. At first, I did just that. I leaped and bounded onto small hills, experimenting with the controls, and didn't push myself too far forwards. My fascination with this game took over. I mean, it's not often we get to play a fox!

Once I was done gawking, I explored the area to discover a female spirit fox. I assumed that I was infatuated with her because she was the only living creature I had found to this point. While I was hooked on following this pretty fox to some end goal, I quickly became tired of traveling long distances before discovering my purpose.

The spirit fox takes us to a terrible place, a place that hurts us and knocks us out completely. But is this the end? Goodness no. The spirit fox TAKES POSSESSION OF US. *Laughs* No. Not really. She imbues us with magical powers. I like to think of it as possession because of an ability we get later on... Anyways, I discover the purpose of Spirit of the North, which is to clear the civilization of its corruption.

Magical abilities that we've been imbued with get rid of the corruption. This corruption can only be rid of by solving various puzzles that are strewn about the land. Each puzzle is extremely easy to comprehend but their execution can be a pain in the ass. For example, most puzzle games have a quick run or fast travel ability. In Spirit of the North, players can run, but strangely they can do so for a short time. I would even argue that the run time is TOO short and only serves to complete a specific puzzle where the fox must jump through portals. To me, it is clear that the short run time was meant to make this portal challenge a 'puzzle'. It also serves as a way to needlessly elongate an experience when a game is lacking in substance. I'll get to that point a little later...

If I were to give a brief explanation of how I feel about this game it would be that overall I enjoyed my experience, but had issues with several things like:

• The game is too long for what it is.

• Some chapters cover such a large area that forces the players to lose interest.

• Graphics are beautiful from afar but often caused issues with certain actions.

• The puzzles are frustrating to solve, not because they are hard, but because there is no direction, instructions, or hint system. In fact, any sort of direction would have been more helpful.

• Players spend more time trying to deal with the platforming sections because the controls are often not responsive OR the environments' textures will change in such a way that hinders puzzle solutions. This lead me to feel discouraged at times.

The above points cover the bulk of my issues with the game but make no mistake, Spirit of the North is not a bad game. It simply doesn't have enough content for what it is. You see, I think about games like Myst or, if you want a more recent example, Obduction where players are dropped into a world littered with brilliant and complex puzzles. What keeps players interested are the multitudes of objects they can discover or interact with. These things might not solve any puzzles but they gave a sense of realism and wonder.

For example, Cyan Worlds is brilliant at crafting a puzzle game that tells a story through video footage as well as creating a compelling realistic atmosphere. Even in a game like Riven (which was arguably the hardest of the Myst series) had clues scattered throughout the different islands away from its puzzle solution. Still, there were many other objects to see or books read that gave life to those worlds. Spirit of the North is a contrast in comparison because players aren't really told the story. And unlike other puzzle adventure games, it provides little satisfaction to the player. More of the story HAS to be present for a game like this to succeed, and while it is still playable and beautiful, it fails to keep players invested enough to complete the game.

The Puzzles

That leaves the puzzles themselves which are two-fold. One of the puzzle types is finding the shaman staves. These staves must be returned to the bodies of the ancient people that players can find. While helping these shamans does not seem like they have much purpose other than an achievement, the difficulty in finding these shamans can be more hassling than one might think. Some of them are cleverly hidden. This particular set of puzzles don't seem to have a purpose. I can only presume their inclusion was meant to showcase that there used to be people that inhabited the area of Spirit of the North. While this puzzle type is interesting, it does little to provide substance to the game.

The main focus is to solve puzzles that allow access to the next checkpoint. Often, to reach them, players have to do some light jumping. And while these sections aren't difficult, sometimes they are made to appear that way. Players cannot redirect midair and given the way the fox moves, sometimes they end up moving in an unintended direction. This leads to aggravating misjumps. The kicker when with its platforming has to do with bad texture layers that make the environment seem like there are other paths. And from afar, these sections often cause players to try for jumps that don't actually exist. Thankfully, players can't really die. Between the texture/collision issues, variable button responsiveness, and trajectory problems, the platforming in Spirit of the North is a bit of a pain. If there is one good thing I could say about its jumping, it's that none of it is hard.

Audio and Music

As for the music and the audio in this game, I found myself enthralled. The audio in Spirit of the North is quite spectacular. With its soothing piano and string composition, I was sucked into the experience.

Spirit of the North's composer Joseph Gifford definitely created a memorable soundtrack which was perhaps the best feature of the game. While the jumping sections were difficult due to the graphics, the music soothed my soul. It is nothing short of spectacular.

The rest of the audio was also amazing. I loved the sound of the water as it crashed down from higher locations or the cute little sneezing sounds when the fox was too close to corruption. I enjoyed the effects of magic swirling around the fox and the sliding sounds which were nothing short of breathtaking. My only gripe was that the fox sounded more like a dog when it barked at the flowers but otherwise, the audio is wonderful.

Foxy Final Thoughts

While I really enjoyed playing this relaxing adventure puzzle game rooted in mystery, I feel like it missed its mark. I can forgive the graphical issues and the short running speed at which players can travel, but the world is littered with pieces of a story. Though, I loved using the magical abilities to solve puzzles. I don't mind the fact that there is no hand-holding in Spirit of the North. That said, I expected there to be more because including vast amounts of explorable areas without including more world lore and/or a better plotline is a disservice to the players. And this is the primary reason that it doesn't rate higher for me.

Running around as a fox with magical abilities seemed like a grand time and if it wasn't for my inherent curiosity and love of puzzle games, I might not have played as much of Spirit of the North as I did. The initial time of playing was wonderful and I did genuinely enjoy my time with it, but I wish there was substance to the title.

I cannot argue that Spirit of the North isn't a beautiful game on the surface. It is spectacular in certain areas and because there are a number of good points, I rate Spirit of the North at a 7 out of 10. The story of the fox and his spirit companion needs a lot more reason to play to keep puzzle aficionados like me interested beyond the first couple of chapters.

Score: 7 / 10

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Mainlining Releasing for the Switch in Late June!

Friday 31st May, 2019, Manchester, UK - Merge Games and Rebelephant are proud to announce that Mainlining, the point and click hacking adventure is making its way onto Nintendo Switch on June 20th!

Mainlining is an exhilarating foray into the world of cybercrime! The game mixes dark and dry humour with a gripping narrative, that will have you hooked from the very first case. Following the government's introduction of the BLU Pill Act and the Secret Intelligence Service's reintroduction of MI7, all online personal data is accessible by the powers that be. Mainlining questions techno-ethics and asks whether it is acceptable for an organisation to have the power to look at personal data - what if somebody else had access to that information?

Mainlining is a refreshing take on the traditional point and click adventure. The entire game takes place on the simulated desktop of the protagonist’s computer. Assuming the role of a newly recruited MI7 agent and working within the remit of the Blu Pill Act, the player must use their cunningness, judgement and skill to gather evidence by hacking suspects’ computers and phones.

As an MI7 operative, your primary objective is to facilitate the arrest of the perpetrator and to ensure that the courts have sufficient evidence to hand out the longest custodial sentences possible. However, you’ll also have to make judgements on whether the case you're working on is complete. Move in too quickly and you may miss leads linking your case to much higher profile cyber-criminals. Act too slowly and your suspect may detect you and escape.

In excess of five hundred criminals are known to operate within your jurisdiction – where will you begin?

*New for Nintendo Switch*

• Bespoke keyboard input system helps you crack the case on-the-go!
• Now includes touchscreen support for an immersive experience.

Mainlining will be available for Nintendo Switch on the 20th June with a price tag of $14.99 / €14.99 / £11.99. Customers who purchase the game between 13th June and the 4th July will receive a 15% discount.

About Merge Games

Merge Games is an independent video game publisher and distributor based in Manchester, UK. The company publishes and distributes interactive software worldwide for personal computers and video games consoles. Merge Games also specialises in publishing collectable games for retail via its Signature Edition brand, and worldwide digital distribution for independent developers. More information about Merge Games products can be found at www.mergegames.com.

About Rebelephant

Rebelephant is an independent video games developer based in Suffolk, UK. The company develops narrative driven games for personal computers and video games consoles. Rebelephant is a vehicle for its owner, Samuel Read, to work with talented professionals and create new experiences in games. More information about Rebelephant can be found at https://rebelephant.itch.io/.


Article by Susan N.

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