Our Favorite Games Through the Years - Part 3 - Gaming Thoughts

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

With the team spanning a range of ages, that generally means we have a pretty varied range of gaming generations under our belts. Still, now we are moving into an era where everyone had some experiences to compare and contrast and the genres began to get a bit more divergent than Part 2 was.

Robert:

Sega Saturn: Daytona USA

Sega's underappreciated hardware, the Sega Saturn, was a constant companion to me back in the 90s. Even though it was a fairly basic title, Daytona USA was one that I always came home to and played on rainy days. Maybe it was the crumple mechanic, maybe it was the excellent (for the time) audio, or the way that the various stock cars would handle, I don't really know, but I can still smell the phantom smell of a heavy Michigan rain and it fills me with great warmth. That's hard to say of any other title, no matter how great, that was released on the Saturn.

Nintendo 64: Rogue Squadron

This was actually more difficult for me to decide than I figured it would be. When I think of the N64, I always think of Wave Race ... I don't know why, but I was enamored with it; yes, it was excellent and fun, but I didn't have any one specific memory or feeling associated with it. Then I was like, "Oh! Shadows of the Empire!" which, yes, was fantastic, but do you know what was better? Rogue Squadron. Sure, I played Elite and Wing Commander and the X-Wing / TIE Fighter games, but I think it was Rogue Squadron that truly sold me the dream that some 30 years later, Chris Roberts would be working to bring to reality with Star Citizen. Take an arcade-y space combat game and combine it with a flight control scheme that's easy to pick up (and that worked really well with the N64's goofy-ass controller) and set it in the Star Wars franchise and it's a near-instant success. For me? It was all about making wicked-cool attack runs and the cinematic feel that, some 25+ years later has heavily influenced my own virtual photography.

Pierre-Yves:

PC 2000: Heroes of Might and Magic V

Now we all know there's one King of turn based strategy. Heroes of Might and Magic III. Or for those others that truly want to go back further in time, Heroes of Might and Magic II. Both are valid depending on your point of view. The judges will allow either.

Outside of that though, as time moved forward and 3DO went under, Ubisoft nailed Heroes of Might and Magic V. With returning factions and a return to a more classic gameplay than 3DOs HoMM IV, the combination of gameplay, graphics and general quality of life upgrades made this a title to come back to again and again especially with the hotseat mode and a couple of pizzas over a weekend with friends.

Nintendo 64: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

This was another hard pick and most people may be thinking… That’s not the Ocarina of Time. Nope! For me, OoT was good, and it definitely helped pave the way for the epicness that is Twilight Princess, however, Majora’s Mask had this challenge factor that a lot of other Legend of Zelda titles didn’t. A ticking clock, the option to miss things, the option to fail. Being able to rewind time, you learned how to progress more efficiently over time and if you played around with the features enough? You could have almost all the time you needed if you played a certain song backwards. That was an awesome discovery for the time before there were really any walkthroughs and if you didn’t know something? You hoped one of your friends had figured it out or that someone bought a walkthrough as those weren’t cheap.

Gameboy Advance: Mega Man Battle Network

April cannot get here fast enough for the Mega Man Battle Network collection! This, a bit like Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, took a well-known character and ditched the format for something completely different. Instead of platforming around as a robot, Mega Man was now a computer sprite that played companion to the actual protagonist Lan who could get him into various networks in order to destroy viruses that were rampaging and causing havoc and destruction.

Combat was also unique in that you moved around a 3X3 grid vs your opponent’s 3x3 grid. Normal shots, swords, powered up blasts, health packs and summons of other powerful sprites, this series would go on to see 5 other releases. After Mega Man Battle Network 1-6, there was a continuation of sorts with Mega Man Star Force 1-3 and while it was fun, it wasn’t quite the same as the Battle Network series. So yay that the collection is almost here on our current platforms.

Richard:

Nintendo 64: Bomberman 64: the Second Attack

Yeah, we're skipping the NES and SNES. I never actually owned either, and while I have played NES and SNES games on other platforms through virtual emulators, like what's available for the Switch, I can pretty much only give old Kirby titles or Donkey Kong Country 1 through 3, which I feel doesn't really give a good pool to pick from. Instead, we're jumping to the N64, which is the 2nd home console I ever played and is what introduced me to console gaming. Yeah, as a kid I always separated PC from home console gaming systems, it's probably an age thing. So, what is my favorite game for N64? Well, this was probably my hardest decision to make, as there are a lot of good options to choose from. The N64 saw titles such as Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie, Donkey Kong 64, and Chameleon Twist. All titles I highly suggest you play by the way. But surprisingly, my choice isn't any of these, it's Bomberman 64: the Second Attack. The sequel to Bomberman 64, an amazing game in its own right, Bomberman 64: the Second Attack is a challenging Bomberman adventure type game, where you explore planets, acquire new types of bombs, such as ice or wind, and use their special effects to help solve puzzles and to demolish an evil organization that's controlling a black hole. It also introduces Pommy, a cute little helper that a second player can control, and who can evolve if fed certain types of food. Me and my buddy had a lot of fun with this, which is why it beats out the other single player titles I've mentioned.

Gameboy Advance: Mega Man Battle Network

This wasn't even a debate, Mega Man Battle Network 3. I love Mega Man, and the Battle Network series is great. So great that there have been games that try to replicate the style, so that's saying something. A sort of action battler on a 3 x 6 grid where you use "battle chips" which are given to you every so often, Mega Man Battle Network was an interesting step away from the 2D action platformer style it's mostly synonymous with, and instead had this interesting and unique direction. Out of all the Battle Network games, the first three were the best, and I felt the third title was where they really managed to refine the system with the customization options. I've done everything in all the games, gotten all the stars and stickers, I love the series, so this choice wasn't hard to make at all. I'm super excited for the collection to come out.

Susan N:

PS2: Gran Turismo 4

I had a PlayStation 2 sometime around the time that the PlayStation 3 came out. I bought it off a friend, along with a couple of games. With my newly found console, I grabbed my first ever console racing game in Gran Turismo 2. But my favorite of the series was Gran Turismo 4. Out of the series, this was the first one where I had become an ‘alright’ driver. I could pass several of the licence tests. I could tune my car to suit my driving style. And I was learning more about cars because of the game. The fourth installment was my favorite because it was the first game that had a photo mode. It was also the game where I began practicing on the Nurburgring and Cote D’Azur. Graphically, it was stunning and had a music list that I loved. The list consisted of songs by Van Halen, Jimmy Eat World, Judas Priest, Papa Roach, Joe Satriani, The Crystal Method, The Roots, Jet, and an exclusive track by Will.I.am of Black Eyed Peas fame. My love of cars and racing really started to unveil itself by this point, and I now compare every racing game to it.

PS3: Gran Turismo 5

In a move that would shock no one, the PlayStation 2’s game was trumped by Gran Turismo 5. Not only had I become a better driver, but this game was the first appearance of the mighty McLaren F1. This is significant because it was one of the FEW formula one racing cars I could keep on the track. Unlike some of the other high end cars, concept cars, and formula one options, the F1 was the one that just felt right. This explains why I am totally buying a P1 if I ever become rich. Even more than that, I had improved my skills to a point where I could make it around the Nurburgring with greater speeds than I was capable before. Additionally, GT5 had a completely new layout which took some getting used to. It included A-spec mode, where you get to drive the vehicles and tracks, as well as a B-spec mode where you could get an AI to do those pesky 24-hour endurance races for the big bucks. Overall, GT5 became my favorite game even though they took out one of my favorite tracks (which was Rome. RIP Rome track. You will never be forgotten).

PC 90s-2000s: Myst

From 1990 to the year 2000, there are several games that I enjoyed. Chips Challenge, Gruntz, Tomb Raider, Stunts!, Civilization II, Warcraft II Tides of Darkness, and BattleTech, were all titles that I couldn’t live without. I played a ton more puzzle games like Lighthouse: The Dark Being, Atlantis: The Lost Tales, Starship Titanic, and Syberia. But of all the amazing games, there can only be one winner. That winner is none other than Myst. As mentioned, Myst was a pioneer in the puzzle genre and it stumped a few family members because of the interesting puzzles. I became so enthralled by the game that I came up with the idea to have a Myst styled room for my ultimate dream home. It’ll have gadgets and knickknacks, and Myst paraphernalia like the famous dagger. There is something about travelling to different worlds through a magic book that I found to be fascinating. Perhaps that’s because as a kid I adored books like The Secret Garden and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe where you would do the same. So it only makes sense that this is my favorite game during those years.

Nick:

PC – 2000s: World of Warcraft

The granddaddy of the MMO genre. Sure, there were others prior, and plenty since, but none of them had the sort of influence on the genre that WoW did. What was crazy is I had a terrible laptop to play it on. I used to joke with my friends that I had to knock all of the settings down to minimum and what should have been grass looked like a giant green tarp. It was good for a laugh but didn’t diminish my excitement any as I played for so many years and so many, many hours. Even when I quit playing for a time – I found myself coming back again. Lather, rinse and repeat a few more times. If there was an all-time PC favorite of mine on this list? It would be World of Warcraft, as it spanned its way into three different decades for me, releasing in 2004, getting played on and off through the 2010s and as recently as late last year around Halloween for a time. This is hands-down the game I have played the most in my life. Played is an odd badge of honor and walk of shame at the same time by now.

Arcade – 2000s: Tekken 5

My time in the arcades fell off considerably during this decade, and I don’t think I’ve played an arcade game once the 2010s hit, but I distinctly recall playing a whole lot of Tekken 5 when it came out around the middle of that decade. Similar to Street Fighter 2, Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat and more, Tekkan just felt at home in an arcade cabinet. The music and visuals were top-notch, and as much as I liked pulverizing the AI, nothing beat sending a human opponent away with their head down in defeat. Sure, I lost as well – but I gave more losses than I took and I had a helluva lot of fun doing it.

Sega Saturn: Dragon Force

This is one of those titles that to this day, I really, really wish would get a frickin’ remake. I didn’t own a Saturn – but my roommate did and while we had a lot of fun with a wide variety of games on it, Dragon Force was far and away my favorite. It’s mix of strategy / RPG / tactics gameplay was hugely addicting. It sort of reminded me of Dark Wizard from the Sega CD days, but far more polished and entertaining. Seriously – remake this game and take my money!

Nintendo 64: Super Mario Kart 64 – I realize that there were better games. I didn’t even wind up owning an N64 until a few years after it came out. But my buddy Landon had one, and we all had a tendency to hang out over at his house. Madden. Tecmo Super Bowl. Golden Eye. These were all favorites and a whole lot of fun – but it was Mario Kart 64 that brought out the best (and probably worst) in us as we played. Friday and Saturday nights were for Magic: The Gathering, D&D, board games, Golden Eye but mostly? Mario Kart. “I’m a Wario, I’m a gonna win!”

Article by Robert, Pierre-Yves, Richard, Susan N., and Nick

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Stunlock Studios reveals the Secrets of Gloomrot, V Rising’s upcoming Free Expansion

Raising the stakes!

Skövde, Sweden – 8th March, 2023 – Stunlock Studios today have published their latest dev blog post for V Rising, revealing exciting information on the upcoming free expansion Secrets of Gloomrot. Introducing the vast and gruesome land of Gloomrot, where evil machinations have polluted the terrain, bringing forth untold horrors from the experiments that occurred there. Also included are juicy details on increased customization options when constructing castles and a confirmation of the much-coveted multiple tiered castles, allowing mansions to transform into masterfully-built fortresses. Check out the dev blog for more information on how the V Rising experience will be expanded upon:

"This new biome will be almost the same size as Dunley Farmlands and is divided into two unique sections, Gloomrot South and Gloomrot North. Each area will bring a new wave of challenges, technologies, and enemies, both great and small, with plenty of space to stretch out and settle your multi-floor strongholds."

Click here to check out Dev Blog #18: Secrets of Gloomrot

More on V Rising

Survive as a newly awakened vampire in a world ruled by humans and rise to become the next Dracula. Feed on blood to gain new powers, hide from the scorching sun, and engage in real-time PvE and PvP combat set in a dark fantasy realm. Raise your castle and invite friends to join as you explore a vast open world, pillage villages, skirmish with bandits, and delve into the lairs of supernatural beasts. Attack other player’s castles, or become a diplomat in a game of blood, power, and betrayal.

Buy V Rising available now on Steam in Early Access:


Visit our Website: https://playvrising.com/
Connect with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stunlockstudios
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VRisingGame
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VRisingGame
Join the Discord server: https://discord.gg/vrising
Subscribe to the Stunlock Newsletter: https://www.stunlock.com/newsletter

About Stunlock Studios
Stunlock Studios is one of the leading independent Swedish game developers in Skövde, known for vampire survival game V Rising and arena brawler Battlerite. Out now in Early Access, V Rising’s gothic world has already attracted more than 3 million vampiric initiates and Battlerite was one of the most popular free-to-play games on Steam with over 6 million unique players entering the arena. With a passion for multiplayer action games, the studio crafts groundbreaking and community-driven games, always with their players in mind.


Visit: https://www.stunlockstudios.com

 

Article by: Susan N.

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Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego - Retro Reflections - TBT

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego by developer and publisher Broderbund—MS-DOS Throwback Thursday retro reflection written by Hamza. 1985.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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It’s that puzzle-adventure edutainment time of the month again, and this time Carmen Sandiego has gone missing! The first in the long-running Where in... series, the series sees the titular thief committing crimes that are oftentimes comical in nature.

The game starts with an ancient typewriter asking you for your name - or status, as it so bluntly puts it. Here is where the game’s subtle attention to detail first impresses you. If you type in Carmen Sandiego or any of her henchmen/women’ name, the company, Interpol, will reject you on the grounds of your criminal past. It’s a small but neat touch. You take on the role of a rookie tasked to apprehend the criminal mastermind. If you aren’t too well-versed in your geography, you won’t be making much progress - so it’s rather vital you hit the local library first before booting up the game.

Preceding each level is a news-flash that tells you about the new felony by V.I.L.E - Ms. Sandiego’s villainous organisation. After being notified of the stolen item, you are then transported to the city where the V.I.L.E lightning struck. On the left side of the screen is an image of a famous landmark of the city you’re currently in; on the right is where the various activities take place. On the bottom you will find four icons. The first will display the cities you can visit; the second will take you to the map; the third will open a sub-window in which you can enter three different places and interrogate people; and lastly in the fourth, if you pay attention to what the civilians are saying, you can enter the information and issue an arrest warrant, but only if it successfully matches with the description of the villain you’re chasing. If it doesn’t, it will keep rejecting it until you’ve got it right or if the villain escapes. Then it’s game over!

When you’re sent to capture them, you’re usually given till 5pm on Sunday to do it. In game time it means a week. This brings me to a question; if the dossiers of the villains are true in detailing that they’re experts in their field, then how is it that a rookie (meaning you) is able to nab them in a week? But who am I to question game logic?

As I mentioned before, you need to be smarter than a fifth grader, because the civilians only talk in enigmatic-tongues: often dropping useful hints which you can enter in the data icon below. For example, the oft-repeated clue will go something like this: “I saw him leave in a car and it had a blue flag with a white cross on it”. Of course, he is clearly describing the flag of Norway – your next destination. Resorting to Google only gives you this crushing acknowledgement about your pitiful know-how about the world you inhabit. Tut! Tut!

When you travel city to city, and when you land on the right one, a short animation of a sneaky yet harmless robber in the classic get-up will pop-up in the ‘action’ screen. This indicates you’re indeed on the right track. Whenever a civilian says “they’re in town nearby”, this means you have reached the end of your detective hunt and that you can finally apprehend them - provided you correctly entered the data and received a warrant for arrest. A short, smooth animation will start; showing the villain being chased by a trio of policemen. An off-screen scuffle ensues, and if there was no warrant for arrest, then a lone policeman will shuffle back to his police-station, alone, defeated. This brings me to another question; is he sad because he failed to capture the villain, or because two of his friends were killed in the scuffle... that’s something I want to know!

In conclusion, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego is one of MS-DOS’s best games. Very entertaining, humoristic and surprisingly brain-challenging. For those who want an enjoyable game to pass time by or to recommend to their children, then Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego is the perfect choice.

Note: Screenshots from all platforms that were available at the time can be found here at Moby Games.
 

Score: 9 / 10

 

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Stars End - PC Review

Stars End by developer and publisher Reverie World Studios—PC (Steam) review written by Susan N. with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

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Scars Above - PS5 Review

Scars Above by developer Mad Head Games and publishers DeepSilver and Prime Matter—SonyPlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes.

Scars Above is a challenging game with solid if unspectacular presentation values and an interesting enough story that kept me engaged until the end. This is not a AAA title, but despite some rough edges, Scars Above is worth a play for someone looking for a somewhat Souls-like science fiction game.

The narrative follows our protagonist named Kate – a member of The Sentient Contact Assessment and Response Team (or SCAR) - who is a resourceful person pressed into a dangerous situation. While she is not a soldier, she will have to fight her way out of a very hostile environment that is constantly trying to kill her Kate’s resourcefulness has her using the element and crafted items to help even the odds in this third-person action-RPG.

Souls-like might feel like an odd comparison, given the overall style (much of which is ranged combat) and setting, but it feels like everything is trying to kill you. It’s not just the enemies, but the environment too. It lacks some of the subtle balance found in Souls titles though, that often punish but teach in a way that feels fair if often frustrating. Scars Above has a higher percentage of ‘what the hell’ moments for me, where things didn’t necessarily feel entirely fair or balanced. You really will need to learn how to leverage the environment to your benefit during combat to get the most out of the game.

Scars Above has a solid foundation, but most of the gameplay is pretty basic. You can dodge out of the way of enemies, but there’s no cover / shooting, which feels at odds with more modern shooters. It doesn’t help that I felt like I was wrestling with the third-person camera at times. In larger, more open environments it worked great. However, Scars Above encourages you to explore nooks and crannies now and again, taking you off of the otherwise somewhat linear primary path. In these instances, the camera just feels cramped and awkward.

That being said, I enjoyed the overall feel of the gameplay once I figured out how to approach things. It is not the longest of games, ringing in about a dozen hours to fully unlock all of Kate’s skills and find the various items scattered about. One of the primarily characteristics of most Souls-like games is the sense of satisfaction that comes with a hard-fought victory against really stacked odds. The typical enemy is seldom all that interesting, but several of the boss encounters stand out enough to help provide that rush with a hard-fought victory. It’s during these fights (and some of the bigger but not-quite-boss types) that you’ll find yourself making greater use of Kate’s arsenal and skills. It’s pretty easy to max out Kate’s abilities long before the game’s end if you are keeping an eye out for the knowledge / experience orbs.

Now, this is not a AAA title, but I’d go so far as to say it’s at least AA quality. The presentation is solid overall, with excellent environmental visuals and sound effects. This is important, given how much the environment factors into the gameplay. There’s a sort of inherent creepiness to the setting, especially some of the darker ones. Unfortunately that’s something as much due to the inconsistent / peculiar lighting as the tension of the gameplay. There are times that there is light and shadow in places that feel kind of off. Also, for as good as the environments look, the character models are stiff and lifeless most of the time. In particular, faces struck me as rather lifeless, which was unfortunate given the fairly game effort provided by the voice actors here.

In terms of the story itself? It’s alright. I liked the idea that Kate’s not a hardened soldier, but I have to wonder how anyone but a battle-trained soldier would survive all of this. Still, the story has some nice moments where you get solid backstory, while still progressing towards the ending. I seldom felt like I was making important narrative discoveries along the way, but I was invested enough to see things through. There’s really no replay value to be had here, which when combined with the fairly short playtime, could raise the question of overall value. While this doesn’t ring in at a AAA price point, I couldn’t blame someone who felt the value here was a bit better in waiting for a sale either.

Summary

Scars Above scratches an interesting itch, with it’s take on Souls-like boss battles and clever use of environments, but mixing things up with a science fiction setting. That being said, this is not a AAA title and has some rough edges that detract from the experience once in a while. Still, if you’re willing to look past those blemishes and the somewhat short duration of the game, I had fun far more often than not as I took Kate on this adventure of hers.

Score: 6.5 / 10

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Void Terrarium 2

Void Terrarium 2 by developer Nippon Ichi Software Inc. and publisher NIS America Inc.—PS4 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

 

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void* tRrLM2(); is certainly one heck of a title. You could also just call it "Void Terrarium 2". A cute but weirdly dark roguelite and Tamagotchi mash-up. What does this cutely drawn dread have in store for you? Well, let's find out.

So first off, I'd like to preface this by letting you know that if you've played the first Void Terrarium, you pretty much know everything you need to. Void Terrarium 2 doesn't differ a whole lot, and what is different isn't a make-or-break deal. Short version is, if you liked the first title, you'll like this one. For those unfamiliar with the first title, no worries! I've got you covered!

In Void Terrarium, and Void Terrarium 2, you take on the role of Robbie, a cute looking robot in a post apocalyptic world. Turns out humans have died out, but lucky you, you've discovered a young girl (in the first game), Toriko! Unfortunately, the atmosphere is chock full of these nasty contagious spores. As such your job, along with the helpful AI bot, is to build and manage a terrarium for Toriko in order to keep her clean, happy, and well fed. 

Obviously this isn't necessarily the easiest task, as food isn't readily available. Furthermore, the wastelands that now make up the vast majority of the world aren't exactly the friendliest of places. Filled with mutated and corrupted monsters, as well as rogue robots, you need to fight your way through the wastelands, discovering items, food, and blueprints to bring back to your home base for use in Toriko's terrarium.

So, how is this a Tamagotchi/roguelite mash-up? Well, when you're in your base, you need to clean Toriko's terrarium, feed her, pet her, get her medicine if she falls ill, and generally just take care of her. You can also craft items for the terrarium in order to decorate it. When you need to craft things though, you need to traverse the wasteland, which is where the roguelite aspect comes in.

Exploring the wasteland is no simple matter, but it is quite arduous. Luckily for you, Robbie is quite durable! Even if Robbie "dies", all his items get converted to resources, except food and blueprints, and he is sent back to the main base. Lucky for you, all your items except food and blueprints get turned into resources on a successful run anyways, and you still get to keep the food either way. Blueprints require you to actually return to base from a completed excursion however.

While out exploring, this is when the roguelite aspects take play. Each zone you explore consists of a number of floors, each with a series of connected rooms. You can find enemies, items, or traps in these rooms. Whenever you leave on an expedition, you will always start at level 1. Defeating enemies, or using a certain item you can find, will increase your level. Upon leveling, your stats go up and you get to pick from one of two randomly chosen upgrades. Take note however that these upgrades are selected randomly, so if you're hoping to see the rare and good upgrades, you may be disappointed.

As you progress through floors, enemies will also be getting stronger. Sometimes you can find weapons, shields, or throwable items such as grenades to help you on your way. Trust me when I say not getting a weapon for an entire run makes things really difficult. Even without any decent items to find, you still have to fight your way toward victory though. Each "room" in a floor is connected by tunnels, and floors are traversed by moving Robbie on a sort of square grid. You can see what's in your room, but not in other rooms. Once you enter a connecting tunnel, your vision gets restricted. Both you and enemies move in order, where enemies will move after you perform an action, whether that's attacking, moving, or using an item.

There are a few things to keep in mind while fighting with the local wildlife, mainly energy consumption and skills. Robbie only has a limited amount of energy, and running out causes his health to deplete. It's a good idea to keep energy restoring items around. Skills are generally attached to weapons, and for an energy cost will perform an action. For example, a lance may have the Kite skill, which attacks and does a backstep at the same time. There is a cooldown though, so be aware of that. As an added note, if you're standing on a tile with an item and can't pick it up because your inventory is full, you can still interact with it through your items menu.

Fighting isn't the only thing you''ll be doing in the wilderness though, because Toriko needs constant upkeep! At a certain point you get a sort of robotic nanny/monitor that you can give instructions to for an energy cost, thereby keeping Toriko clean and well fed. There are a few other mechanics that are pretty common staples to the roguelite genre, all of which can be reviewed either through the main menu or through some tutorial/practice stages set up in-game.

After returning, you can craft plot items to progress the story, or various decor to give Robbie some permanent status upgrades. That's right, even in death not all is lost, as you can come back stronger than ever if you keep making new decor items. You may only receive the bonus the first time you craft a new item, but they can really make the difference between a successful run or a failure.

Summary

Overall, I have to say I really enjoy playing Void Terrarium 2. The gameplay is enjoyable, and keeping Toriko healthy is an interesting mechanic to keep things fresh. The graphic design is cute but hides a darker nature, and the soundtrack is both fitting and engaging. Void Terrarium 2 is a (mostly) cute exploration into a destroyed world, and while it can be frustrating at times, I felt it was a thoroughly well fleshed-out title. While maybe not offering much more than its predecessor, there's no reason to fix what isn't broken either.

Score: 8.5 / 10

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - PS5 Review

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty by developer Team Ninja and publisher Koei Tecmo—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty by Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja is a stellar Soulslike that easily raises the bar in the genre. Not afraid to tread into new territory, this adventure dives into Chinese history between the years of 184 to 200 AD, with fictional liberties of course, as you travel from battlefield to battlefield to protect the land from evil.

It would be easy to say that Wo Long is a great successor to Nioh / Nioh 2 however I don't think that would be a fair statement. While it may be the same team behind the experience, as well as that of Strangers of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, these two couldn't be more different. What makes Wo Long different from its predecessors isn't just the change in historical locations, but a change in the entire system. With a new system promoting a constant pushing forward, there’s an accessibility for new and old players alike that makes the whole experience more approachable and less aggravating than others out there.

Before getting into the actual elements of Wo Long, I think it’s fair to take a quick recap of what Soulslikes are. The core concept behind a Soulslike is easy, there is challenging gameplay and a penalty system in place if, and generally when, you fall in combat. We aren’t talking about game over and restarting from scratch a la old school NES days. Instead, we are generally talking about losing your leveling up currency that was on hand and that had not been used yet. Easing this penalty somewhat in Wo Long, the developers have reduced that loss to half of your current Qi that is on hand, not all of it. Once you make it back to the location of your death, an enemy that was present, the enemy that took you down or the boss room, you get that portion back as long as you don’t die again on your way to get it back.

As part of this system, mastering the core gameplay is fundamental to success and Wo Long nails it. Gone are the stamina bars and in their place is a tug of war system that lets you constantly stay in motion. Whether on the offensive hammering blow after blow at your enemy or on the defensive blocking attacks or dodging out of the way, this system can reward or penalize both you and your enemies alike. Landing successful blows will move your provided combat gauge to the right highlighted in blue. Blocking blows and performing dodges will move the combat gauge to the left highlighted in red. If the gauge makes it all the way to the left and you take a hit? You’ll be stunned and often open to some pretty nasty attacks.

So here is where things get interesting. I suck at parrying. I’m not just saying that, I really suck at parrying so the likes of seeing the credits of Sekiro or Thymesia will forever be outside of my reach. I have however gotten REALLY good at dodging thanks to Bloodborne which was my saving grace in Wo Long. The parry and the dodge button are one in the same, so with the constant flow of gameplay, well timed dodges can act as a parry to the incoming blows. Performing these in succession will move your combat gauge back to the right allowing you to perform more moves and abilities while also chipping away at an enemy’s combat gauge for devastating critical hits known here as Fatal Strikes.

Adding to your normal attacks that will move your gauge to the right, you have both martial arts and spells that will move the gauge to the left. Martial arts come specific to the weapon that you are using, not the weapon type. Moves can include forward motion spinning attacks, backflips, upward thrusts, or windmill attacks depending which weapon is on hand. Not being able to really “select” these makes changing for a more powerful version an actual decision instead of a no brainer as while one may have less abilities than the other? It may not suit your combat style as much.

What I really appreciated with the weapons in general however is that, putting martial arts aside, the weapon that you get is the weapon that you get. Ranked from 1-5 star, the better the grade the more bonuses that are attached. But combat rating? That stays the same and each can be upgraded with the same materials from +1 to +9. It creates less oh well I just picked up a better version which is a higher level, maybe I should swap this out… not saying you may not pick up a 4 star rank at +5 with better abilities at that point in time, but short of those abilities, a 4 star is a 4 star and the base stats are the same simplifying the math.

To the side of your martial arts is the ability to equip up to four spells for casting. Like martial arts, they'll move your gauge negatively to the left so timing of when to use these is another key to victory. Within your spells you have access to a variety of single targets and areas of effect for both you and your enemies. Lightning strikes, extra armor, higher defense within a circle, life leech, fire swords, etc. each has a time and a place to use it best under the schools of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

Where these two extra options differ however boils into your morale and your fortitude. Morale, like any great bard song, can rouse even the lowliest of foes into a devastating frenzy. Falling along similar lines, character and enemy morale will dictate just how effective you are against them, and them against you. The higher your morale, the easiest a level and a boss can be. If you die however, your morale will take a hit bringing it back down. Getting back to the boss will bring it back up a bit, but it will still have taken a hit.

So it’s a good thing that alongside your morale you have your fortitude which will raise the minimum possible amount of morale that you can have. This can be done by exploring the level and placing Battle Flags and Making Flags which are Wo Long’s equivalent to Bonfires and Shrines. Marking Flags are neat and sometimes more craftily hidden while the Battle Flags tend to be out in the open and guarded by a few more fearsome foes. Resting at a Battle Flag will also allow you to level up, buy new items like arrows and crossbow bolts, change your divine beast or “travel” to another location.

 Before getting into the awesomeness of the divine beasts, the ability to travel changed things completely. Having trouble with a stage or a boss? Head back to the hub and then come back. You don’t lose your progress on the stage that you’re on which is fantastic. Unlike Nioh that would drop you better and better gear, the blacksmith here is only present in a few stages until the hub is unlocked and after that point? You have to go see her at her forge as she won’t be traveling in parallel to you anymore meaning that if you’re having a tough time and both leveling and getting your morale up isn’t helping? Maybe some upgrades to your good old fashioned steel will.

 If good old fashioned steel is also not enough, you have access to your Divine Beast. Each comes with an elemental preference which you can use in a pinch in order to channel their element into your weapons for a limited time. As long as the element isn’t opposed to that of the enemy that you are attacking, it works really well. Aside from that, there’s also the ability to simply summon your Divine Beast to perform an action on the field that could easily change the flow of battle. In all honesty, while some were pretty neat, I stuck with the Divine Beat Qinglong as their special ability was a healing circle of epic proportions for both you and your teammates.

This is perhaps the last feature of Wo Long that I really enjoyed. Throughout most of the story, you’ll be accompanied by an NPC or two your first time through a stage. If you only have one NPC, you can easily summon a second, or another actual player which had worked out really well when I had played the original demo. Sadly over the course of the review, the only time that I actually went to summon help, help sadly did not come and I was forced to truly “Git Gud” with perhaps the hardest boss of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Of that, I’ll let you use your imagination because if we are talking about “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms”? You guessed it right, and it’s a hell of a fight that had me cheering once I finished it!

It was fights like this that brought everything together. How your character moves, fights, dodges and parries. How you use your Divine Beasts and the ability to travel to and from your hub to upgrade gear. Finally, it’s how you go about using NPCs to the fullest or, if they’ll come to your call, other players in order to seize victory! And once you've completed the final battle, a new difficulty unlocks. This new challenge not only provides replay value, but increases the enemy's maximum morale rank and makes it easier to obtain rare five star items and equipment. I liked how they were called rare as over the course of my thirty plus hours I hadn't seen a single piece of five star, only four stars.

Summary

So overall, I absolutely loved my time with Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja’s Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. The change in approach to the Soulslike formula was fantastic and even if I could find myself occasionally getting frustrated, there are plenty of ways around that frustration as well as the enemies that lay between you, and victory!

Score: 9 / 10

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Experience the magic of the everyday as No Longer Home launches on PlayStation

This heart-warming, somewhat extraordinary semi-autobiographical indie releases today on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5

March 3, 2023 - Today developer Humble Grove and indie label Fellow Traveller (Citizen Sleeper, Paradise Killer, Genesis Noir) launched No Longer Home for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 via the PlayStation Store.
 
To celebrate the launch of the PlayStation version of the title, Fellow Traveller and Humble Grove are hosting a competition to giveaway PlayStation codes for No Longer Home as well as miniature models of the flat featured in the game. Players can enter by tweeting their favorite moment from the game and using the hashtags #NoLongerHome and #HomeOnPlaystation.

Inspired by real-life events, No Longer Home is a contemporary narrative indie game about two non-binary protagonists, Ao and Bo, as they are forced to undergo changes in their lives brought on by situations out of their control. Conveying powerful and relatable themes surrounding identity, uncertainty and relationships, No Longer Home closely connects players with moments of everyday life in a refreshingly honest story about letting go of the life you've built due to circumstances beyond your control.

First released on PC and Mac on July 30, 2021 and then on Nintendo Switch and Xbox consoles on October 7, 2021, No Longer Home has received critical praise and positive reception for its relatable and deeply honest storytelling. It has additionally earned commendations from outlets such as PC Gamer, Kotaku, and GAMINGBible for how it interlaces the realities of everyday suburban life with magic realism.

No Longer Home is available now from the PlayStation store for $14.99 USD. As with previous versions of the game, PlayStation versions include localisation in Japanese and Simplified Chinese.

For more information about No Longer Home and its PlayStation debut, please visit Humble Grove’s website and follow them and Fellow Traveller on Twitter.

About Fellow Traveller Games

Fellow Traveller is an indie games publishing label exploring the possibility space of what narrative games can be. Since our founding in 2012, we have sought out and partnered with pioneering game developers working on unusual games with narrative at their core.

You may know us from the RPG about survival in the ruins of interplanetary capitalism (Citizen Sleeper), the murder mystery with a cast of otherworldly suspects (Paradise Killer), the political RPG in which you lead a broken country during your first term as President (Suzerain), or the noir adventure set before, during, and after the Big Bang (Genesis Noir).

Join us on a journey into a world of surprising games and unusual stories.

Website: http://fellowtraveller.games
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FellowTravellr

About Humble Grove Games

Humble Grove is a two-person games collaborative made up of Cel Davison and Hana Lee, based in the UK and Japan. Their design sensibilities are heavily influenced by psychogeography: studying how playful exploration of a place can tell narrative. In addition to this, scenography plays a significant role: designing game environments like theatre sets, where moving parts and space is considered, and how they can be emblematic of characters’ feelings and experiences. They aim to design video games that are more approachable by including characters of diverse gender, race, ability and age, pushing projects that peak the interest of those not well versed in games.

Website: https://humblegrove.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/humblegrove

 

 Article by: Susan N.

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Atlas Fallen Coming to PC & Consoles May 16

Stunning new screenshots highlight action and environments

PARIS – Mar. 1, 2023 – Focus Entertainment and its studio Deck13 Interactive are excited to announce that Atlas Fallen, the epic fantasy action-RPG where you battle legendary creatures in superpowered combat, launches May 16 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Save the date and prep yourselves with glorious new screenshots showcasing the game’s high-octane action and breathtaking environments. More thrills will follow with a spectacular Gameplay Trailer coming soon, so stay tuned!

Rise from the Dust

On your own or with a friend, take on a heroic journey through a variety of breathtaking environments, swiftly gliding through the desert landscapes of a vast sand-covered world. Explore ancient ruins and unearth the mysteries and secrets of a fallen society. Fight a corrupt god and extraordinary beasts thanks to the divine power of your shape-shifting weapon. Unlock powerful skills and abilities to build a unique moveset and rise as the champion who will liberate the people of Atlas.

Atlas Fallen releases May 16 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

 

Article by: Susan N.

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Lead Your Civilization to Victory in ‘These Doomed Isles: The First God’, Coming in April

LONDON, UK – March 1, 2023 – Triplevision Games and Fireshine Games are excited to announce These Doomed Isles: The First God, a prologue chapter to survival city-builder These Doomed Isles, coming to Steam next month.

Available to download for free in April, These Doomed Isles: The First God invites players to wield the might of Cernunnos, the Celtic god of nature, as they grow their empire and lead their civilization to victory against waves of invaders and mythological creatures.

Craft your deck to place forests, mountains, buildings and more bringing the world to life with powerful cards, relics and miracles in the official prologue to this strategic, settlement-building roguelike.

Raise land and build a settlement for your followers while wielding Cernunnos’ power to rain down meteors on invaders or strike fear into them with lightning. Build your empire and provide your followers with resources, while stacking up powerful status effects to conquer your enemies and defend against incoming attacks.

Any progress made within These Doomed Isles: The First God can also be carried over to the main game, These Doomed Isles, by transferring your save data when it launches on Steam Early Access later in 2023.

Available later this year, These Doomed Isles will initially launch with 3 gods and civilizations, each with unique playstyles, aesthetics and abilities; over 20 enemy types and 10 bosses to slay; and over 250 cards to help build your empire. Improve your godly power and test your might against increasingly challenging enemies over 15 ascension levels, and discover more than 30 relics and curses to ensure every run feels different.

Add These Doomed Isles: The First God to your Steam Wishlist now to be notified of when it becomes available. For more information on These Doomed Isles, follow @DoomedIsles on Twitter or join the discussion on Discord.

About Triplevision Games

Triplevision Games Limited is a tiny gamedev studio with big ideas. We're focused on creating games with character that push classic genres in new directions.

About Fireshine Games

Fireshine Games is a global publisher of digital and physical videogames based in London, England. Originally established in 2014 under the name Sold Out, Fireshine Games works with studio giants such as Team 17, Rebellion and Frontier Developments as well as introducing new indie dev studios to the world like Pugstorm, Stonewheat & Sons, Spiral Circus, ColePowered Games and many more - publishing for physical and digital distribution. Fireshine is also part of the EG7 group of companies. For more information on Fireshine Games and its upcoming titles, visit the official website at fireshinegames.co.uk.

 

Article by: Susan N.

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H.E.R.O - Retro Reflections - TBT

H.E.R.O. by developer and publisher Activision—Atari 2600 Throwback Thursday retro reflection written by Hamza. 1984.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

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Being an acronym for Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation, this title is easily one of Atari 2600’s best, if not the best. Unlike most others while trial-and-error works wonders, and where points are all that matter, H.E.R.O calls for something more. It calls for primitive strategy, pin-point precision and good fun where you get to be an 8-bit Alex Ryder or James Bond – or any action hero of your choice. But this assuming is rather unnecessary because the hero has a name, Roderick Hero, or R. Hero... a pun on “our hero”. Geddit?

Designed by John van Ryzinfor the 2600, and released in 1984, H.E.R.O was and is a pretty advanced and detailed game on the console. Every now and then I play a very impressive 2600 game, and I’m talking Enduro, Pitfall! & Demon Attack, but this game really tested my expectations. I thought it would be like Elevator Action set underground; or something like Commando or Ikari Warriors; but H.E.R.O. is in its own class and more entertaining than the aforementioned.

With almost no graphical or interactivity achievements to boast and to compliment, its color scheme, the movements of the protagonist and the creatures are enough to make H.E.R.O. a satisfactory and working game that’s indeed playable for long moments. Coming back to the color schemes, they’re warm, rich colors that keep with the theme of underground mines and it was a relief they weren’t as glaringly eye-sore-like as I witnessed in Duke Nukum. Pink and yellow? Get the hell out...

Taking control of “our hero”, the player has to rescue trapped miners – one per level. I made it to level 7 before losing all my lives, so if there are multiple miners to rescue in level, then I’m unaware of it. Equipped with an backpack-mounted helicopter unit, a lazer-shooting helmet and limited number of dynamites, the player must strategically blast away the cave-ins, shoot creatures, – both known and unknown –, be careful not to accidentally destroy lamps and rescue the hapless miner.
 

Though the premise is simple and one that has been mercilessly revamped to the top difficulty level in succeeding games, even the most experienced gamer will find H.E.R.O. to be an engagingly challenging experience, and the end result to be a polished, satisfactory title for the legendary console. Although I concur that there are far better games than this one, like Tapper, Adventure and Activision’s Tennis... but H.E.R.O. doesn’t disappoint and should be reason enough to back you up when you’re trying to convince someone that Atari 2600 games do not suck!

In conclusion, H.E.R.O. is a fun, challenging game that should make the 2600 lovers love the console all over again; and newcomers a reason to stick around a bit more and give the console and its games a further try. Besides this, I highly recommend the above titles as your starting point!


Note: Screenshots from all platforms that were available at the time can be found here at Moby Games.

Score: 8 / 10

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Surviving The Abyss Preview

Surviving The Abyss by developer Rocket Flair Studios and publisher Paradox Arc—PC (Steam) preview written by Hayden with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Ready Time: 7 minutes

It’s time to blast off once again and make a new colony in the harsh vacuum of the alien world known as… *checks notes* …Earth? Yes, that’s right, Surviving The Abyss takes the familiar-looking tropes of domed facilities connected by sealed tunnels and drops it right in our own backyard. Set in an alternate version of the 1960’s, early experiments with cloning humans were (sort of) successful, producing living, breathing humans that had just one tiny little flaw - they died in a matter of weeks. While an outraged public forced a shutdown of cloning research, you’ve been brought in by the military to keep the research going in secret. Their chosen locale? Kilometers beneath the waves, in the crushing depths of the ocean, far from the prying eyes and obnoxious morality of Joe Q. Public!

The game starts you off with the typical colony-builder basics of a central hub and a few machines used to harvest resources and construct buildings. The aesthetics here definitely support the quasi-60’s setting, with the subs using what look like giant mechanical claws to manipulate things rather than something high-tech-looking like a laser beam. Construction, though, is a bit of a break from that look, with the buildings rendered in a wireframe when you place it that slowly fills in during construction. For a 60’s setting, that struck me as very 1980’s Tron-like, and was hard to square with the rest of the setting. Personally I would have expected some kind of dropping girders and frames on the building with those giant submarine claws, but as I’m neither the developer or anything approaching a competent digital artist my opinion holds about as much water as the shipwrecks that are scattered on the seafloor here and there.

Soon enough, your efforts to get established will run into a shortage of resources, especially crew. At this point it’s time to remember your stated mission here and break out the cloning vats and research labs! Scattered across the seafloor are various habitats for undersea life, and these habitats are what your scientists need to try to stabilize the genomes of your clones. The better your samples, the longer your clones will live - initially, you’ll be lucky to have them for a month of useful work before they die of old age. Of course, once humans get involved, habitats quickly get over-harvested, and Surviving The Abyss acknowledges that. Unless you specifically devote extra resources (crew, along with the power, oxygen and food needed to support them) to maintaining these habitats, you’re quickly going to run out of your fresh fish and chips in the mess hall - oh, and in your cloning lab too. Since you need crew to replenish the things that you harvest to make your clones to replenish and expand your crew, well, you can see how this quickly becomes a cycle in which you are trying to extract more genome material out than it takes to keep replacing the fast-aging clone crews that are doing the extraction in the first place!

If I have a beef with the game, that last paragraph really shows where it is. The early game can feel like a Red Queen’s Race where you’re madly rushing forward just to avoid losing ground. From limited resource deposits to early clones that die fairly quickly, to building efficiency being hugely dependent on where your resources spawned on the map in relation to each other, the early stages of Surviving The Abyss are going to be most appealing and rewarding for players who love to micromanage. For those that like a bit more of a relaxed build-up, Surviving The Abyss is going to have some early gameplay that is hard to move past.

As I touched on before, Surviving The Abyss is visually gorgeous, and overall holds to the 1960’s retrofuturism aesthetic fairly well. The environment has just enough shimmer or distortion at the edges of your view to remind you that you’re underwater. The seafloor is done in the slightly wavy sand patterns that any beach-goer will recognize. The way your base’s lighting goes to emergency reds when fuel runs low, and even the way the mysterious leviathans attacking your base loom imposingly out of the darkness, full of shadowed, jellyfish-like tentacles really adds to the atmosphere. Oh, you thought you were alone down here? Silly human, you’re not the apex predator in this environment…. 

Speaking of light and darkness, Surviving The Abyss makes good use of lighting as a substitute for a fog of war effect. Being deep beneath the ocean, no light from the surface reaches you to illuminate the area, so you need to light up the areas that you are going to work and build in. Like everything else, that comes with a power cost, and the 1960’s technology you start with means you’re not using fancy eco-friendly green power sources but rather coal-burning power plants at the outset. If you’re thinking “ew, coal?? Underwater??” you’re absolutely right - not only are you scouring the seafloor for small exposed deposits of coal to keep your base running, but the exhaust from the plants reduces the air quality in your base since it is a closed system. Now you’re trying to research basic air purification systems while keeping your people (I’m assuming 1-month clones still count as ‘people’ here) healthy enough to work through the indoor smog.

In writing about Surviving The Abyss, I keep trying to touch on different topics, and always end back up on the costs that the game imposes. It is both a blessing and a curse, since a colony builder is inherently concerned with resource management, and the harsher the environment it is set in the more of a concern those survival items need to be. On the other hand, it makes me realize as I try to deconstruct the game for this preview just how harsh and punishing those game loops can feel at this early-access stage. At the same time, I struggle with thinking which of these mechanics the game could do to lose or markedly change the balance on, without seriously affecting the overall feel of being in a harsh, isolated environment.

Summary

Overall, Surviving The Abyss is a visually beautiful colony builder that is going to appeal to players who enjoy micromanagement in their games. This isn’t a set-it-and-let-it-run type of game where you can go grab dinner while you wait for resources to accumulate, and that’s great if you know that going in. I’m also optimistic at the pace that patches and updates have been flowing out since the Early Access release, as it shows that the developers are focused on keeping the game in a playable state while they go through the EA process. This is a good one to pick up if you like your colony builders challenging, and one to avoid if you like games that just require you to tweak some variables and watch the outcome.

Score: N/A

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