Our Favorite Games Through the Years - Part 1 - Gaming Thoughts

Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

It doesn’t get more subjective than ‘favorite’ does it? What makes something your favorite? More precisely for this series of articles – what makes a video game your favorite out of all of the possible competition on that platform? Memorable characters, an emotional story, a soundtrack that sticks with you once you turn off the television, graphics that make you just pause and say “wow”, or just the sheer fun of it all that has you coming back to it time and again? There are no right or wrong answers – but that it certainly makes for a challenging exercise. Here is a list compiled from members of our team as they look back at the years gone by and we call out our favorite titles.

This first batch? We’re going way back.

Robert:

NES: Excitebike

For all of the wonder that the NES brought into our home in the late 80s, the one game that always pulled me away from my Transformers and G.I. Joe toys, was Excitebike. When my brother wasn't around to help in more difficult titles like Guerilla War, Jackal, and RC Pro Am, Excitebike was always the game I would go to. If the NES had a "chicken soup for the soul" of a video game, for me it's Excitebike.

Pierre-Yves:

PC 1990s: Planescape: Torment

The Guilty Pleasures of Guilty Pleasures.

Dungeons & Dragons, a character that cannot die, a floating sarcastic skull and a world that can be approached in a variety of different ways. Might, magic, skill or wit, while IceWind Dale was my first real love for Forgotten Realms in the video game world, Planescape Torment had me coming back again and again as each playthrough could take vastly different approaches. While the combination of writing and approach may be a bit dated in some senses by today's standards, it is still miles ahead of a lot that is being put out there.

NES: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Where it all started for me. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES was my very first video game ever. And probably a good thing that it was this over Super Mario Bros. as while I would come to love our famous plumber, this was “hard” in a different way and that thrill of the challenge would carry on through the years and probably why I jump onto every new Soulslike like a fish trying to get back into water as I just need it! *laughs*

TMNT still holds up today for a challenge. You have your four turtles, an overworld, inner connecting levels that move you forward through boss fights and challenges, I can still easily do the water level *proud of themselves*, and it’s a challenge to see if you can make it from starting to ending credits in one go as these games didn’t have save data or codes like Mega Man.

Richard:

Over the many years I've been playing games, I've seen quite a few. Some have been really awful, and some have been great. But we aren't here today for either of those, we're here for what I consider my favorite games across the ages, and platforms. A couple of ground rules for my list before we get into things: the game does not have to be good, only one title per platform, no full franchises, I will only be including games I either own or have played to completion, cross platform is fair game, and it has to be standalone (basically it can't be or include DLC unless it can function on it's own). With that said, let's dive right into it.

MS-DOS: Heartlight

That's right, we're starting things a pretty long time ago. If you've seen any of the other's favorite games list, chances are this category from the early 1980's is on there as well. My favorite title? Easily gotta be Heartlight. For those of you unaware, Heartlight is a game where you collect hearts and drop rocks and grenades and make your way to an exit. Similar to Boulderdash if you know it, and available to play online if you find the website, Heartlight was my very first introduction to video games. You can thank my Dad's college roommate who he is still friends with for that, and so do I. Heartlight started my love for puzzle games, and that slowly grew to just a general love for video games, no matter the platform and across a wide variety of genres.

PC: Jumpstart 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain

Jumpstart 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain wins this category for sure, although the Super Solver series of games does give it a run for it's money. Yeah, that's right, it's one of those "educational" games from back when they were actually good, and occasionally frustratingly challenging. Making this list actually had me going back and breaking out this old gem again, and I can honestly say the History and Art based puzzles still give me challenge. It says Jumpstart 3rd Grade, but honestly even as an adult some of the higher level tasks can be pretty demanding. Still though, it's chock full of fun minigames, a good learning medium, and it's really fun. If you've got an old PC that can run this game, or an old Windows emulator, I highly suggest taking it for whirl, or getting your kids to try it. I remember spending hours playing this game as a kid.

Gameboy: Snoopy's Magic Show

So, I'm making sure the Gameboy series of handhelds is split up for the specific reason that I've got this interesting title right here for the "non color" version of the Gameboy: Snoopy's Magic Show. I don't know how to describe this other than sort of like jazzball but you're dodging the balls and collecting a bunch of birds, presumably Woodstock. I don't know why I loved this game so much, but it's definitely my favorite. No real reason, it just is.

Susan N:

Commodore 64: Boulder Dash

One of the earliest favorite games that I have from childhood is Boulder Dash for the Commodore 64. You’re playing a little pixelated miner whose objective is to collect a certain number of diamonds and get to the exit. It has creatures that will chase you incessantly or stop you from getting out safely. Plus it has a time limit for each level. The more you progress in the game, the harder the levels get. And over the years, Boulder Dash has had several iterations and is a series that I snatch up. This might explain why I grabbed the remastered version of the game to review on this site (which can be found here).

Runner Up: Montezuma’s Revenge

I’m sure this is a title that most people had no idea about, but Montezuma’s Revenge was an action platformer that I played on the Commodore 64. A great game comparison would be the Mario games where you collect keys and items before getting to the exit. I sucked HORRIBLY at it back then, as I’m sure I would also be terrible today. I think part of what made this game a contender for my favorite is that Loderunner was my mom’s favorite game, and while I loved it too, I wanted to have my own game to love in the same vein. (Also, mom was REALLY GOOD at Loderunner back in the day. True story.) Besides, I couldn’t help but play a game that felt vaguely Mayan or Aztec styled even as a kid - so that’s a thing.

Amiga ST: Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (1992)

So, it took me a long time to find my favorite game for the Amiga because the version I played of Star Trek is not exactly the one you will find if you look up the 25th Anniversary game. What you’ll see is the updated pixelated graphics version of the game that released on Steam in 2015. While yes, it is still a dated game, the image stills are redone to be better suited for newer systems. It was hard for me to find because all I remember of the game are small snippets where you’d beam down the Away Team or the alien chick you had to appease before you could continue or solving the runic puzzle that took us forever to figure out. The image you see here is from the original game, not from the 25th Anniversary, but it is the same game. Also, there are so few images of the original out there which is why I struggled to find the right game.

Either way, my family is full of Trekkies (not Trekkers, Trekkies!) and we have watched/read/consumed tons of the series. I grew up with TNG but the original series still has some iconic episodes. And even as a kid, handing any of us a video game about Star Trek is going to be played. It’s not a question, it’s fact. And this love of Star Trek exists throughout my family. It has been a staple for generations! (No pun intended. Generations was a hilarious movie. “REMOVE PLANK.” “Number One, that’s retract plank, not remove plank.” “Of course, sir.”) Yeah, so this is definitely my favorite game on the Amiga ST. What can I say? I like my puzzles!

Atari: Prince of Persia (1989)

For many of us, this is where it all began. Prince of Persia in 1989 was a very interesting sort of game. It was a side-scrolling platformer which appealed to me because of its departure from other games. What makes it one of my favorites is more basic than people might think. It wasn’t really the gameplay or the compelling character. It was one of my favorites because it was developed and published by Broderbund Software. I knew of them because they had released Mavis Beacon, a popular keyboarding game for kids to teach them how to touch type. This company also released Loderunner, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Stunts! (A game many people don’t remember), SimCity, and Myst. Oh, how far the apple does not fall from the tree… Anyways, Broderbund had my number as I played all of the aforementioned titles. But more over, Prince of Persia was a fun and challenging game at the time. I’d spend so much time trying to get past different areas because platforming is hard! It was the first Prince of Persia game released and I was willing to take a shot at it.

Nick:

PC – 1980s: GATO

The only computer I owned in the 80’s was a Tandy 1000, and the game I spent most of my time on was GATO. My uncle actually owned this machine first (this will be a recurring theme – miss you Uncle Ken); but he later decided he wasn’t using it as much as I would, so he gifted it to me before the start of school that year. With it came a few different games, but the tense submarine simulation GATO was far and away my favorite. There was something oddly creepy about playing this at night with the lights off, creating my own little Hunt for the Red October as I would go deep underwater trying to avoid mines or rise to the surface and take on various boats while exposed. The sense of isolation and tension were palpable to me back then, and it was certainly memorable.

PC – 1990s: Diablo

It would be years between my Tandy 1000 and my next PC, which I did not buy until the summer of 1996. There were numerous games I plugged at. If I tossed an honorable mention in here, it would be for Magic: The Gathering by Microprose. Fallout would be right behind it. However, neither of those games could hold a candle to the ridiculous number of hours my wife, my friends and I all sunk into Diablo. My wife did not even consider herself a gamer, but it was not an uncommon sight for me to come home from classes or work back then to find her glued to the machine, hacking away at enemies. We only had one computer – it was a battle of wills to see who got to play late into the evening most nights.

Arcade – 1980s: Double Dragon – Nothing ate my quarters quite like this game did. The intro theme song blaring at the arcade was absolutely kicking, and the gameplay just felt so much better than anything consoles could offer at the time. Even when it was ported to the NES and SMS, it was clear how many compromises were made. Better yet, the first time my buddy and I beat the game together and realized we had to fight one another to ‘win the girl’ at the end? That was a cool moment that we both remember (we had beaten it solo before then – not in co-op. We were unprepared for that showdown). Oh… I won.

Arcade – 1990s: Street Fighter 2

Sure, the future flavors of Street Fighter Hyper Super Duper Spiffy edition were technically better, and Motal Kombat was a rush in its own way, and I loved everything about Tekken when it released – but Street Fighter 2 paved the way. I had never heard of, let alone played, the original Street Fighter back then (having played it in collections since? I didn’t miss much). Street Fighter 2 however, was phenomenal. I lived in a college town. The 7-11 and Malt Shop each had cabinets for this game, and there were lines forming at it. I initially really liked Guile, and Blanka was the first one I beat the game with, but it was Ryu that later became seared into my muscle memory. I got good – really good. As in people putting down their quarters for ‘next’ to play me good. I probably was never great – but my memories of this cabinet are still incredible.

Atari: Pitfall

I’m not going to differentiate between the 24 flavors of Atari, because as a small child I really didn’t know the differences between the one my grandparents had or my uncle had. What I do know is I played a lot of different games, but there was something about Pitfall that kept me coming back to it over and over again. Something about the pits, the swinging vines and variety of enemies made Pitfall seem like there was just more to it than a lot of the titles back then.

TI99/4a: Parsec

Most people didn’t even know this was a thing, let alone play any games on it. It was however, my first console. My parents bought it for me for Christmas and it had a couple of interesting aspects to it. One, it was something of a lightweight computer, complete with BASIC. It was how I first learned to write code. It also had oodles of copycat games like TI Invaders and Muchman (clearly riffing off Space Invaders and Pac-Man). However, the standout game for me and my father was Parsec. This was a challenging side-scrolling shooter that threw waves of enemies, bosses, the need to refuel and the risk of overheating as you shot, all while leveraging the console’s Speech Synthesizer that created crude but unique audio events that sounded spoken.

Sega Master System: Phantasy Star

This was one of my first roleplaying games ever, and I was absolutely hooked on it as soon as I started to play it. Due to how much more popular the NES was than the SMS at that time, Phantasy Star did not get nearly enough attention until its sequels came out on the Genesis. Still, Phantasy Star was an addictive, and at the time, deep roleplaying game that I sunk a lot of time into.

Nintendo Entertainment System: Final Fantasy

My uncle bought me my NES for Christmas the year it released, and I played so many, many titles that finding just one is so challenging. This was by far the hardest console for me to try and pick a favorite out of. I lost hours of my life to so many classic titles such as the Zelda games, Contra, Punch-Out! (back when it was Mike Tyson’s), Metroid, Dragon Warrior and so many more. At the end of the day though, Final Fantasy was a game changed for me. It was not my first RPG – there had been others such as Ultima: Exodus and Dragon Warrior – but Final Fantasy just hit different. I went back and replayed that game at least four or five times, just to try out different class combinations and to make sure I left no stone unturned (I even walked that stupid bridge a zillion times to spawn Warmech – only to get my arse handed to me by him and encouraging me to come back after leveling up much, much later). I could easily do a top 20 favorites with a paragraph or two about all of them, but in the end, I think I logged more time with Final Fantasy than any others, and it changed how I looked at video games.

Game Boy: Tetris

This feels like a simple or shallow answer, and there were a ton of games that I enjoyed on my first handheld gaming system, but Tetris just always felt right here. The graphics were never an issue, it was an easy game to pick up and put down, and it was one my dad would play with me too, which gives it a bit of extra sentimental oomph for me. I never really got into the various different flavors of Game Boys in the later years (though my kids did), so my experience is with the OG system only.

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

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Watch the Heroic Journey Unfold in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s New Story-driven Trailer!

A Three Kingdoms Conspiracy Intensified by Warlords and Demons!

BURLINGAME, Calif. - January 17, 2023 -  Today, KOEI TECMO America and developer Team NINJA revealed the first story-themed trailer detailing the stunning scenes and skirmishes at the heart of their action-packed dark fantasy, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Team NINJA’s demon-plagued epic will be available March 3, 2023 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, on PC via Windows and Steam®, and will be available day one with Xbox Game Pass on console and PC.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty features a storyline set in the Later Han Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, with the combat and cut scenes supervised by the game’s Cinematics Director, Kenji Tanigaki, the famed action director of the popular “Rurouni Kenshin” movie series. These powerful action scenes are at the center of KOEI TECMO’s latest trailer, showcasing the game’s dramatic storyline. The original story follows a nameless militia soldier who confronts a conspiracy surrounding a potent elixir with mysterious powers. Along the way, the soldier not only confronts countless demons and monsters, but famous warlords and military masterminds from history, including Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian.

 

In addition to the new trailer, KOEI TECMO also recently revealed that those who purchase either the physical or digital version of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty by March 16 will receive special “Baihu Armor”, while those who pre-order the game digitally will receive both the early purchase bonus along with the pre-order bonus: “Zhuque Armor”.

A limited-edition SteelBook version of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty will also be available at launch. The SteelBook Launch Edition includes an exclusive collectible case along with bonus DLC items “Crown of Zhurong” and “Crown of Gonggong”. 

For more information on Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, visit the official site, Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/koeitecmous and Follow us on Twitter @WoLongOfficial and @koeitecmoUS.

ABOUT KOEI TECMO AMERICA CORP.

KOEI TECMO AMERICA CORP. is a publisher of interactive entertainment software for current generation consoles, handhelds and digital download content based in Burlingame, California. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of KOEI TECMO HOLDINGS CO., LTD., headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. KOEI is best known for its Dynasty Warriors® and Samurai Warriors® franchises. TECMO is best known for the Dead or Alive®, Ninja Gaiden®, Tecmo Bowl®, and Fatal Frame® series.

 

 

Article by: Susan N.

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Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Demo Available on Steam

6 February 2023 - Kyiv, Ukraine + Dublin, Ireland | Ukrainian developer Frogwares have released a 1 hour Steam demo for their horror, investigative adventure, Sherlock Holmes The Awakened. The demo will be part of the Steam Next Fest.

A new extended gameplay trailer has also been put together showing off new footage while also touching more on the game’s insanity and investigation elements.

The Awakened will be coming to PC, PS4, PS5, XB1, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.

ABOUT THE GAME

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is a Cthulhu meets Sherlock Holmes detective horror adventure. The game acts as a continuation of young Sherlock’s story with Holmes and Watson undertaking their first major case together. An Eldritch god-obsessed cult is making moves in the shadows to bring about a world-altering prophecy and it’s up to the young detective duo to thwart their plans. This is a creative take on what horror-filled and reality-breaking events could have met our heroes at such a crucial point in their lives to go on and shape them into the characters we all know they become. Delve into the trauma and fear that cements their friendship for good and the revelations that break Sherlock’s mind to create the flawed and haunted genius he is destined to be. Originally released in 2006, The Awakened is a full remake and substantial rewrite being rebuilt and redesigned from the ground up to run in Unreal Engine 4.

Article Posted by: Susan N.

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Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society

Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society by developer Nippon Ichi Software and publisher NIS America Inc.—PlayStation 4 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 10  minutes

Well folks, it's time to take a look at another dungeon crawler! A genre that usually tends to be either really good or really underwhelming. Today we have Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society. A spiritual sequel to Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk, let's see how well this title stacks up.

Labyrinth of Galleria tells the tale of a sprawling labyrinth hiding beneath Galleria manor. Within its walls are hidden precious Curios: items that are cursed and have mysterious powers. As a young girl Eureka comes to take up a hired help position at the manor. She is entered into the service of a witch hired by the baron who owns the manor. Eureka's task is to act as a medium to a soul planted within a magical lantern. You, who technically take on the role of the soul, are tasked with taking puppet soldiers into the labyrinth in order to combat the fierce creatures within and to recover the relics.

Now, if you've played Labyrinth of Refrain, then you've already got a good idea of what's in store for you. If not, have no fear, we'll be going over things. Briefly though, as there's actually quite a lot involved in these titles. Good news for you dungeon crawler aficionados! Encounters in the labyrinth are not random! Enemy icons appear on the map and you walk into them in order to start a fight. Walking into them from the side or back will generally result in a battle start in your favour. First up, let's take a look at how you go about exploring the labyrinth.

Your basic exploration is pretty standard fare. You have an empty map that fills itself in as you explore, each tile you walk over adds the info of that tile to the map. Sometimes these tiles may be hazards, such as damaging tiles, pitfalls that drop you floors, or perhaps cursed mud that damages you while you're inside it. Your goal here is, ultimately, to discover the 7 major Curios d'Arte hidden within the labyrinth. These are placed in very special looking chests that you can discover. There are also a myriad of other curios as well. Let's not forget the normal chests and items that you can discover while roaming the labyrinth. 

Now obviously, if all the labyrinth had to offer was just pathways, it wouldn't be all that interesting. Well, as you progress through the game, you can unlock more and more movement techniques. This will let you get into other areas, or past hazards that you weren't able to get by previously. Pro tip, if you see some spikes/lances, you do get a move to get past them later, so make a note of where those are. Apart from movement, you also can break down dungeon walls. Yup, that's right, you can break the dungeon. While most walls get repaired upon returning to the labyrinth, certain walls don't, allowing for quicker access to areas. You can also unlock other abilities, like a fog wall that prevents enemy icons from spotting you, although you still can get into combat, or the ability to stockpile exp.

Most active abilities will require you to use reinforcement points. These points start at a default of 100, and will reduce each time you use an active ability. Reinforcement points can be recovered by earning mana in the labyrinth. Either touching a glowing green orb or wall will give you mana, as well as replenish reinforcement points at a certain rate. Be careful though, as each floor of the labyrinth has a mana limit. Exceed this, and some of the enemies get...well, scary. If any of you are coming from Refrain, I'm sure you have minor PTSD from the reapers. Or blowing up your first wall and getting demolished by the enemy behind it. Yeah, 25 hours later and they're some of the stronger enemies you can come across. Either way, collecting mana, as well as pretty much any item you see, is still really useful. When you return to base, you also get bonus exp. Once you unlock it, I do suggest playing with stockpiling exp, as it can be very useful.

So, how are you going to deal with the baddies infesting the labyrinth? Well, that's where the handy puppet soldiers come into play! You can create units with a combination of a soul and some puppet parts. You get to choose a class, nature, stance, lucky number, name, starting skill, as well as growth type. Fun fact: everything I listed actually affects something about your unit. Well, at least in Refrain it did, and it's implied it does so in Galleria as well. Yup, even the name. I won't go into the specifics, otherwise this will turn into a four hour lecture on just the basics, but feel free to play around with what you want from your puppets. If you really want, you can always check out a beginner's guide to unit creation for Refrain, provided one isn't available for Galleria when you're reading this. It'll go more in depth.

So, let's say you've created your unit and decided upon what you want of them. It's now time to put them in a coven! How Galleria works is that all your units get placed in covens, of which you can have five covens in your squad. Each coven has different passive effects and exp acquisition rates, so pay attention when assigning, or reassigning, your units. For example, there is a coven type that has one frontline position and multiple support positions, with a 120% exp rate for the front liners, but it can only be used by theatrical star units. These types of covens are pretty plentiful, especially once you get later into the game, so you will want to take a look at new covens you acquire. 

This brings us to another facet of the coven: Donum. This is basically just palette swapped mana/spells, but essentially any spells you can use are predominantly tied to the coven, rather than the units themselves. Some Donum require certain slots in the coven to be filled, while others may just be in-battle usage restrictions. Important to note however, is that coven actually may require reinforcement points to use. Covens earn exp and will level up based on number of battles mostly, and their cost will reduce as they level, as well as possibly opening up more Donum slots, which you can learn through manuals you can collect. 

Alrighty, now that you have your squad ready to go, it's time to take on the labyrinth! What better way to get used to this than to fight an enemy! Or group of enemies, maybe. Walk into an enemy icon, or interact with certain event markers, and you get into a fight. So, there's a lot going on, and I swear it gets easier the more time goes on, so bear with me for a bit. So to start with, you've got a turn based battle system, with higher AGI characters moving sooner. At the start of every "round", you will give directions to your units, adjust whether they are in the vanguard or rearguard, as well as spend reinforcement points as needed. Commands for the units are fairly straightforward, as you can attack, fortify (guard), use Donum, or attempt to flee. Adjusting whether your units are in the front or back is important because every weapon has a certain range value that needs to be met to use efficiently. If you're outside the range, your damage output decreases. Also, certain combinations of vanguard and rearguard coven positions will activate formation bonuses, so make sure to shuffle your covens to get the maximum effectiveness out of them!

While it's still on your turn, you can use reinforcement points for different bonuses. These are unlocked through witch petitions mostly, which I'll talk about a bit later, but are explained to you when you acquire them in-game as well. As an example, you can spend 1 reinforcement point to increase attack of a unit in a coven for the turn, up to three times. Using items is also considered a "special move" and needs reinforcement points to function. Once you've set out all your commands, it's time to begin battle. Now, how enemies and your units react to battle situations are rather similar, so I'll be lumping them together. All units have varying degrees of resistance and damage types. Some attacks might be more effective against certain enemies. As you attack enemies, you also build up a "secret art" gauge. When full you can unleash it. This is based on coven, so if you don't like it, consider changing covens. Different status effects can be applied to both your allies and enemies, of which there is an in-game tutorial on how they work.

One of the more unique aspects of Refrain and Galleria, and the bane of my existence in Refrain, is "Critical Gore". Basically, as puppets, your units aren't as attached to their limbs as you'd think. Enemies, and allies, have a chance at hitting a critical gore, meaning the character or unit hit loses that body part. This comes with a massive amount of damage, an decrease in stats and max health, and the inability to use any equipment associated with that limb. For your own units, you must then repair the puppet either with a specific item, or by returning from the labyrinth and repairing them at the workbench. Be warned though, as losing the head means your unit is just plain out of commission until repaired. The last thing I think I should mention here is that all units have a stun gauge. Attacks will drain this, and once emptied, the character will be stunned for that turn, but recover at the start of the next round.

Alright, that covers most of the primary gameplay aspects, so let's talk about a few things you can do outside of exploration. First up, and I can't stress this enough, CHECK THE TUTORIALS SECTION. This will be periodically updated with sometimes very important info with little to no indication. Seriously, just check it every so often. Additionally, there are messages written on the walls of the labyrinth. Most of the time, these are helpful tutorials or hints, so you may want to read them. When you return from your expeditions, there are a number of facilities at your disposal. You can take on requests by delivering loot items for rewards, check out the alchemy cauldron to enhance gear or release sealed equipment. Additionally, you can spend some of that mana you've brought back in order to petition the resident witch to unlock something new for you.

Now, if any of you have been paying attention to the release info, or the pictures in this review, it may come as no surprise when I say this is a NIS title. What this means is that you can expect a pretty engaging story, anime stylized visuals for character portraits and cut-scenes, as well as a lengthy grind and occasionally bull*#$t enemies. Also some really dark themes tossed around like they're popcorn and a really bangin sound track.

My only real complaints about Galleria are: sometimes navigating menus can be really annoying to find what you're looking for, and the fact that you can be brutally punished for having poor luck, both in-game and as a player. The amount of times I've been doing well then been screwed over by a few really unfortunate gore attacks... blegh. That being said, despite how much Galleria, and Refrain by extension, frustrated me to no end, I absolutely love them. If you're a dungeon crawler fan, you'll definitely enjoy Labyrinth of Galleria. 

Summary

Overall, Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society, is a great addition to any dungeon crawler lover's library. With a surprisingly in-depth system for those looking for it, an interesting view on labyrinth exploration, and engaging characters and story, it's a gripping tale all through. While it may be a little much for newcomers to the genre, it's still a lot of fun. No need to know the previous title also means you can jump right on in.

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Score: 8 / 10

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Bionic Commando: Rearmed

Bionic Commando: Rearmed by developer and publisher Capcom—PC review written by Hamza.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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Grin's 2008 HD remake of the 1987 seminal classic, Bionic Commando, is one of those case studies on how to translate an old property to a contemporary audience.

In Bionic Commando, you play the role of the titular hero named Spencer. Your primary task is to rescue Super Joe, who has been taken hostage by who can be said as one of the most memorable villains ever to grace video games; Generalissimo Kilt. Playing pretty much similarly to its side-scrolling, action contemporaries, Bionic Commando was unique in this fact that the Spencer could not jump. Instead our hero is given a rather cool method for traversing around: grappling hook.

Considered the first video game to implement the grappling hook, you can use this device to swing off ledges, lamps, platform edges, and just about any surface you can hook it to. The hook (or claw as it is sometimes mentioned) can also double as a weapon. You can reel-in enemies and throw them at each other; or you can reel-in barrels and other hard-to-reach items and use them as either defensive shields or projectiles.

This ability is at its most effective during boss battles. Your weapons, both primary and secondary, have infinite ammo, meaning you never have to worry about strategy and all that nonsense. Love the rocket launcher a little too much? Why not use it for the entire level, and then when the boss appears, tear him a new one? Fancy the machine-gun more? No problems, it's yours for the keeping!

The visual style of Rearmed is simply gorgeous. A perfect marriage between 2D and 3D - with 2D being the backdrops and the 3D characters - Rearmed is simply eye-candy from start to finish. Some of the scenery requires more than mere minutes of observation, and don't be too surprised if you catch yourself gaping at a particularly impressive art longer than you usually would. A further extension for reason one is also the animations; smooth, crisp and a delight to watch. While you're falling from great heights, your character starts to yield his bionic arm in relation to the decreasing altitude. This subtle effect, coupled with the landing animation, will make you want to fall off high places more - as weird as that sounds.

Then we come to the co-operative gameplay. This should go unelaborated but what the hell, I might just as well. Up to two players in campaign mode - and four in competitive deathmatch and similar matches - the carnage is best experienced like this. Player two gets to control Super Joe, who is basically Luigi to the titular hero's Mario. The thrill of taking down the enemies with your best buddy is beyond 11; the co-operation required to take down a boss simultaneously imminently leads to victory shouts and smug happiness should the other die in the process. You will notice that in co-operation mode, you and your buddy will gradually focus all your energy from killing soldiers to being the first commando to find the elusive "extra life" icon or secret areas; and believe me, it is in this distraction that the fun will really begins.

The only mildly frustrating thing about two-player mode is the responsive nature of the screen. Should either of you get too far from each other, the screen splits in two; sometimes horizontal, sometimes vertical, depending on the plane you're in. Though it's not a major deal, a great many cheap deaths have occurred due to its unfortunate timing to split the screen. Also, many areas will require the both of you to stay together if you're to stay alive because once the screen's split, you won't be able to see more than a few feet ahead of you.

Notwithstanding certain flaws, like untimely glitches and minor - but game ruining - bugs where your character would get stuck half-way in a wall, Bionic Commando Rearmed is a quintessential modern co-operative game. The single-player campaign is fun, but with a friend the fun doubles, triples even. You may not know now, but Rearmed will be the source of your fondest, epic gaming memories a few years later down the line. I highly recommend it.



Score: 9 / 10

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Mass Effect Legendary Edition with Elysian Space Dust IPA – Beeps and Beers

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Space Dust IPA is made by Elysian Brewing Company. Article by Nick.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

I’ll begin this by pointing out the obvious to anyone who is familiar with the Mass Effect games: clearly this one beer did not come anywhere close to being the only one I drank during my time with this game. Why? Because it’s actually a collection of three games that each can take about forty hours to play through. I started to replay these back on Game Pass some months ago, and have been thoroughly enjoying my time with the trilogy again as I near the conclusion of the third game.

So, with a trio of games that have been getting played for months, I found myself trying to figure out which beer I wanted to associated with these games, and rather quickly settled on the Elysia Space Dust IPA for obvious thematic reasons. Simply put ‘space dust’ is a fun tie-in to a science fiction game set out in space. That being said? It’s also a damn tasty IPA that I had the fortune of drinking very recently.

Odds are if you’re a gamer, you’ve at least heard something about the Mass Effect games, both good and bad. The first game’s combination of action / shooter gameplay mixed with meaningful choices throughout the story thrilled fans. Mass Effect 2 was a critical and commercial success that ranks atop many ‘all time’ lists from that era. Mass Effect 3 brought the story to a head and combined it with the best visuals and action gameplay yet, but a conclusion that certainly raised controversy. Oh, and Andromeda was pretty meh, and I am not touching that spin-off title again any time soon.

Hard to believe that the first Mass Effect game came out over fifteen years ago now. It was a title I had a bit of trouble getting into originally (more on that in a future article). Conversely firing it up in the Legendary Edition, it fit like an old glove. Given how long ago I played it, I was surprised at how much I still remembered about the game. Not just the major plot points, but many of the smaller details along the way as well. It was comfortable and familiar. Along the way you make numerous choices that impact how the story plays out, and both those small nods and larger plot points serve the series well as it feels like it is your story.

I’ve had Elysian’s Space Dust IPA in the past several times. I think the first time was several years ago now. It’s not one I get my hands on regularly. IPAs aren’t my go-to year-round, but I certainly enjoy a good one. I wouldn’t say it is a great one – but better than average. To my nose it's sort of floral sweet scent that leads into the first sip. It’s an interesting IPA that has some citrus sweetness right off the back, but that piney, hoppy bitterness shows up on the backend and lingers on the back of the tongue. It’s not a hazy / New England IPA, but there’s a hint of haziness to the initial pour. It’s worth noting that at 8.2% ABV, it’s a little stronger than the average IPA, but not quite up there with a double IPA either. There is a bit of complexity where the malts come through as it warms a bit, but I still prefer this one cold. In general, I prefer my IPAs colder than not, unlike some of the heavier stouts and porters that I sip on as I allow them to draw closer to room temperatures.

I specifically had this beer while working through Mass Effect 2. In particular while I was on the Citadel. Fans of the game no doubt are familiar with the options that your protagonist (Shepard) can leverage to get discounts at shops if he does an advertisement with them. My brain couldn’t shake the idea of him walking around going: I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite beer on the Citadel!

If you know, you know.

One of the really interesting things about playing these games through the Legendary Edition was the DLC. Because I was somewhat late to the game with the original Mass Effect, the DLC was already out. I picked it up and experienced it. Of note: the Pinnacle Station DLC from the first Mass Effect is not included in the Legendary Edition, because the source code was written by another developer who said it was now corrupted. That was not the case with Mass Effect 2 and 3. I played both games immediately upon release, and I never picked up and played the DLC that came later. As such, there were characters, missions and story elements that I missed out on the first time around. This of course includes the updated endings for Mass Effect 3, which just adds greater sense of completion and closure than the as-released ending had.

I mentioned above how one of the key elements to this series was how decisions I made along the way. Many of them quite difficult with no 'right answer' but more of a 'making the best of a bad situation' feel to them. There was a feeling that the choices Shepard made throughout the game really didn't have enough of an impact on the ending. I can see that perspective, I don't necessarily agree with it. I think in the end the writers for the series had a story to tell. They began it and ended it (with some variation in the end sequence based on a final choice made) the way they wanted, and allowed us as players a bit of room to color within those lines along the way. 

My only real grumble about this collection is the lack of multiplayer mode. It was a pretty big part of Mass Effect 3, and it was a survive multiple waves spin-off. I enjoyed the snot out of that mode back in the day. I played it almost every weekend for months. They regularly had weekend events that I kept track of and participated in as I tried to get the most out of the game's rewards. I get that not supporting an online mode likely made this rerelease faster and cheaper for EA, but I was still somewhat bummed by its omission.

The Legendary Edition of these games saw several improvements to visuals, gameplay mechanics, the aforementioned DLC – so it really is a fantastic collection of titles that will span many hours if you play them through from start to finish. While I had several other beers along the way, I felt like Space Dust IPA was probably the most thematically aligned, if not the best of the bunch I had along the way. It’s a good beer, but hardly one of the most memorable I’ve had to date. Conversely the Mass Effect trilogy is among my favorite video game series ever.

Score dropping time.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition: 9/10

Space Dust IPA: 7/10

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Destiny 2: Lightfall Trailer Highlights & New Exotic Loot

January 31st, 2023 | Bungie released the latest trailer for Destiny 2’s upcoming expansion, showing off some of the weapons and armor that Guardians can earn in Lightfall. The trailer also showcases some new Strand verbs like tangles, which are bundles of quantum strands left over when enemies unravel. These tangles can be used by players using Strand to weave objects and creatures, or for other purposes tied to weapons.

Here are details of the new weapons and armor shown in the trailer:

• Final Warning: Hold down the trigger of this Kinect slot Strand Sidearm to mark targets within range and load a burst of bullets. When hip firing, projectiles track aggressively toward marked targets.
• Deterministic Chaos: While holding the trigger, every fourth bullet of this Void Machine Gun becomes a heavy projectile that weakens targets on impact. Every fourth heavy projectile makes targets volatile on impact.
• Winterbite: This Heavy slot Exotic Stasis Glaive fires a large ball of energy that locks onto nearby targets and freezes them.
• Cyrtarachne’s Façade – This Exotic helmet gives extra protection as Hunters gain armor and flinch resistance when they grapple.
• Abeyant Leap – When Titans use their Barricade with this Exotic leg armor, it spawns seeking projectiles that suspend enemies and gives armor to its wielder.
• Swarmers – This new Exotic leg armor allows Warlocks to create a Threadling to infest and attack enemies after destroying a tangle.

The trailer also features the Quicksilver Storm catalyst upgrade in which the Exotic Auto Rifle’s grenade kills create Strand tangles that can be thrown at enemies. Quicksilver Storm is available now for all Guardians that preorder Lightfall. Today, players can still experience Season of the Seraph and Moments of Triumph to prepare for the next chapter in the Light and Darkness saga with Destiny 2: Lightfall launching on February 28, 2023.

Article by: Susan N.

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Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters - PS4 Review

Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters by developer Idea Factory and Compile Heart and publisher Idea Factory International—PS4 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

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It's that time again where we explore the next title from our friends at Compile Heart and Idea Factory, the next Neptunia game! This time getting a starring role is Nepgear in Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters.

In Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters we get to see Nepgear make a return as the protagonist! For those new to the series in general, think of the in-universe world as a sort of personification of the video game, and tech industry. Set in the land of Gamindustri, the world is ruled by four goddesses, each of which are the representatives of a specific company. As the goddesses leave to go investigate issues occurring on the PC continent, the Godesses' little sisters, the Goddess Candidates, are left to take care of things in their absence. No sooner are they left in charge, they get a notification that monsters have appeared nearby Nepgear's home country of Planeptune. So off she and the other candidates go to investigate and get rid of the monsters. Needless to say, everything isn't exactly going to go the ideal route.

Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters takes a good balance between old and new mechanics for this latest installment in the franchise. Those who have played other titles in the main series line will probably be fairly familiar with how things work, but let's see if we can't break things down a little for the newcomers. The Neptunia titles, including Sisters VS Sisters, function pretty similar. You have a general world map with locations of interest you can select. Some of these may be dungeons, some may be events. When selecting an event, or running into one in a dungeon, you get a Live2D cutscene with the anime stylized characters. When not on the world map or in a cutscene, you get a 3D roaming adventure through a number of locales, where you can smack boxes for items, interact with glowing cubes for treasure, jump around obstacles, or get into fights with enemies.

Combat has taken a bit of an interesting route this time around. Instead of the turn-based system that used to exist before, we now have a...well, mostly active system. Battles are fought with up to three characters in combat at once. While in combat, you have a circular area that you can walk around in. You have a set amount of AP, Action Points, and using different moves in your combo string costs a different amount of AP. Combos can be set up beforehand, and running out of AP means you either need to swap to another character, or wait until the AP regenerates passively. It's highly suggested you swap though, as swapping after you've used a few moves starts a "Chain" which increases your damage. In addition to your combo moves, you also have a Tec gauge which builds up over time while in battle. Once it is full you can use a skill or item. Tec gauges and AP are individual per character, so when you run out you can swap to another character to either continue the combo or use items or skills as needed.

Now, what game with action-style battle mechanics wouldn't be complete without a guard or dodge? Both of these are available for you, and are done in a similar state. Guarding will reduce the damage you take, but your guard can break if it sustains too much damage. Dodging will let you get out of the way, but there's a brief delay before you can dodge again, so make sure you aren't just opening yourself up. Something important to note is that all of your attacks require a lot of commitment. You use an 8 hit slow attack? You're stuck in it. Often times some of the tougher fights, or bosses, become a balance of when to attack, when to block wider hitting moves, and when to dash away, or towards, the enemy. To be honest, when I first started playing, combat felt really...thick, I suppose you could say. After I stopped trying to play an Ys or DMC title through a Neptunia game, I warmed up to it a lot more.

By and large, Sisters VS Sisters is predominantly a title for those already familiar with how things work and the characters involved. A lot of dialogue relies on the player being at least somewhat aware of who the characters are and some of the events from past games, although usually nothing so in-depth that you feel completely out of it. The Neptunia series, regardless of whether the title is a spin-off or not, has always had its writing grounded in a place that's a sort of running commentary on the current video game market and how companies are doing and what is going on at the time. Needless to say, the last few years have been...well, not particularly stellar, so there's a lot to work with. 

From outbreaks, to the rise of mobile and phone gaming, gacha games, lack of available parts for certain systems, as well as the release of mini-consoles that are essentially a nostalgia pitch, Sisters VS Sisters has some commentary for pretty much all of it. That being said, while Sisters VS Sisters is a little more "grim reality" compared to other titles, it doesn't really play itself too seriously the whole time. You can still expect the gags you've come to know and love from the series, just perhaps in a different form.

Another point to take note of is that there are a lot of reused assets from other titles. This isn't really a bad thing, as many of the models and Live2D models seem to be updated, but those familiar with the series will quickly notice textures, dungeon themes, enemies, and music from previous titles. Good news, it looks good and is well implemented. Reusing assets also allows the devs to focus more on other areas, such as the writing and gameplay design. There are a lot of interesting interactions and gameplay does feel pretty smooth, although there are some lapses in certain areas. For example, when exploring an area, you can now usually interact with ladders to create short-cuts to different areas. Climbing said ladders is pretty slow, but setting them up felt pretty novel for the series. Additionally, there are many doors you need to find switches for, which is a bit of a divergence from how the dungeons standardly used to work.

This being said, there are definitely issues with the title. There's a little lag here and there, and often you may have a long portion of dialogue events with no action, although they are fairly far between and the dialogue doesn't usually get too lengthy. The devs have made the choice to split large chunks of dialogue into smaller events, so you can go do some dungeoneering to complete requests in-between to keep a good pace. Also to note is that anytime fog or mist type effects happen during dialogue, there tends to be some lag. Otherwise, I found the title to run quite smoothly. The other major issue you may run into is how..same-y the dungeons can be. For the most part they tend to be varied enough, but fair warning, if you decide to run through the bonus dungeon, expect to be pretty much just done with the dungeon crawling aspect.

Some of the more positive aspects revolve around the little things. For instance, event points are clearly indicated on the mini-map, with lines clearly showing when the event will activate as soon as you touch the indicated yellow area. As a long time gamer, I love seeing this, because it means I can know exactly what I can get away with. Also, I'm pleased to announce that you now get Quest indicators over any dungeons where you can meet the requirements for completing a request. These requests can be picked up from Chirper periodically, which is "totally not blue bird related". Back once again is the ability to customize your characters' appearances with accessories. There's an awful lot, and you can dress up your characters basically however you want with the items you can collect.

There's a few more game mechanics that I feel should be included as well. Let's start with the longer running mechanic: Combo Maker. Essentially, as you level up you get new moves. These moves are different types, such as power (hard hitting), rush (faster and more hitting), or break (more stagger gauge damage). The skills can be assigned how you wish and you can put multiple in a line. You can build up a combo of up to 4 specialized skills, and depending on where in the order the move is, it may receive a power up from being after the skill before it. 

The other mechanic is Disc creation. From battle you get DC, or Disc Coins. These can be spent in order to create equipable discs, which are usually a sort of reference to an existing game of sorts. When creating a Disc, you can select a genre, a developer if you want, and an item if you want in order to create a Disc. These Discs will have different effects, such as increased exp or item drop rate. It's an interesting mechanic where you can put up to four in development at once, and then they take a certain amount of in-game time to complete. You can equip up to four Discs, so it is worth your time.

Summary

Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters. It feels like a good return to the main series while still trying to change things up enough that it doesn't feel like the older titles, while still keeping what made the previous titles fun. While the dungeon crawling can get a little repetitive, and it is fairly easy to exploit certain mechanics at times, Sisters VS Sisters tends to limit dungeon length, or segment it, in such a way that it usually doesn't become too much. The battle system took me a while to get used to, but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed. If you're new to the series, it may be a little tough to get into, but is still fun. If you're a fan of the series though, I'm certain you'll have a Neptastic time!

Score: 8 / 10

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Psychological Horror Survival Game Holstin Gets Steam Demo and Gameplay Video

31 January, 2023, Warsaw, Poland | Polish developer Sonka has released the first of a three part demo for Holstin, their recently announced psychological horror survival game.

The demo is available on Steam and showcases the game’s art, puzzles, character design as well as the first playable look at Sonka’s 2XD Rendering technology which allows the team to create real time lighting and a 3D camera in pixel-art environments.

A video with the first 15 minutes of demo gameplay has also been released.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2235430/Holstin/

Holstin is set in an eerie, isolated 90’s Polish lakeside town in which an ominous presence has slowly enveloped everything and everyone. A close colleague of yours came here, looking for answers to a newspaper story. But after a series of incoherent and troubling messages, all contact was lost. Now you need to venture into this psyche-shattering town to find out the truth and the fate of your friend.

The game is heavily inspired by the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series with the narrative team aiming for a darker Twin Peaks feel. Holstin will be coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch.

Article by: Susan N.

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Perish Review

Perish by developer ITEM42 and publisher HandyGames—PC (Steam) review written by Pierre-Yves alongside Richard and Robert with copies provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Question: Do you like fast paced first person shooters? Perhaps some fast paced hacking & slashing all while rocking out to some epic music? Maybe all of the above with a couple of friends? Then ITEM42 and HandyGames’ Perish is for you.

Perish at its core is a first person shooter hack & slash co-op based roguelike that will see you and up to three others attempting the trials of Purgatory in order to make it to Elysium. Starting off with nothing more than a broken sword that will not get you very far, you’re going to have to both take on the hordes of fearsome foes that lay ahead as well as the challenges that they guard.

Up front, I really enjoyed Perish. That said, Perish really is the type of experience that unless you’re THAT GOOD, should be done with at least one friend, potentially more. Having started off to get my bearings with Richard, we soon found out some of the differences single player vs co-op could have and just how brutal this adventure could be. And, we found out just how much time commitment was required if you wanted to get anywhere.

As fast paced as Perish may seem once things get moving, it does have a slow start. With a broken sword, zero currency known as danake, AND no upgrades, even the first two stages are tough as you’re learning the ropes and your limitations based off of your gear. Increasing this difficulty but in a good way, each stage that you have to face can present a different challenge on each run that you do. So while at one point you’ll know what to expect when the stage challenge is issued, in the beginning? It’s a mad rush to figure out what to do and how you’re supposed to even survive!

Starting off with the first room as an example, you’ll either have to survive an ambush, light four torches or take out a champion. Each of these scenarios will also affect the layout of the stage which is also a neat touch. Applying this principle to the rest of the stages that come after, Perish keeps you on your toes as while some scenarios are tough, others are damn right sadistic especially if you’re under geared regardless of the size of your party.

As you fight your way through these stages and complete scenarios though, you’ll be rewarded with danake for both enemies defeated as well as the completed scenarios. As this piles up, there’ll definitely be an increasing stress that settles in as if you fall in battle? You’ll lose roughly about two thirds meaning that whatever your plans for that money were? They are now long gone. So it’s a good thing that at the end of each stage you can as a party choose to either keep moving forwards, or, return to your hub with whatever has been accumulated in total.

Honestly? As much as I love a good challenge there were often times where even four or five stages in we decided to head back. It was worth more to us to be able to take everything that had been earned so that we could buy new upgrades to potentially let us move further. There’s no point in playing “the hero” if you’re going to be broke in this particular case. This aspect is really where the roguelike elements sink their teeth as it can often lead you to believe that “you’ve got this” and just one more stage should be good. But oftentimes? It’s anything but as there are several gameplay elements that stand between you and that next safety net.

Starting off with only three health bars, it doesn’t take long for those to disappear as each hit will remove one of them. Three hits? Game over. Upgrades do exist in order to add in more, however, regardless of the amount of hits you take, completing a stage and its challenges will only allow you to recover a single one of these bars. Took three out of four damage? You’ll be left with only two going into the next room. In solo play, this could lead to a game over. In co-op, you’ll lose two thirds of your danake and resurrect in the next safety room as long as your partners make it through. Adding insult to injury though, if you die AGAIN, you lose another two thirds of your danake… it’s cumulative.

So with all of that said, it’s in the core gameplay that will determine whether you succeed in the stages and their challenges. Set in a first person view, you can have either a melee or a ranged weapon once they are unlocked. In melee, you can swing and you can block. Blocking an attack will temporarily drop your guard allowing any other attack coming in right after to hit you. In ranged, you can shoot at your enemies and as a secondary element you can “scope” in for a better aim. But, you can’t block so your reaction time and spatial awareness become everything.

Regardless of if you’ve chosen to be melee or ranged though, the rest of the controls function the same. “E” to interact, which is a staple of PC gaming, will be important so it’s unfortunate that by default on a controller they mapped it to the same button as “dodge” which at least on a keyboard is “Shift”. For dodging, there’s no running and your dodge is set on a cooldown timer so it’s not unlimited. After that, you do have a separate melee attack under “V” that allows you to Sparta kick your enemies either away from you or into the various spiky things which is pretty much an instant kill for normal enemies. Finally, “F” is to throw auto replenishing daggers so even if you’ve gone the melee route you still have a ranged option.

Above all that, as a “let the gods be generous and merciful” coup de gras, there’s one more element that will hopefully make things super easy on you. Or at the very worst, leave you in the same situation without much reprieve. On the completion of every stage challenge, you are given the choice of one of three cards. These cards can contain upgrades such as making your throwing daggers cause fire damage and setting an enemy aflame. Blocking enemy attacks could cause them to take lightning damage. Normal attacks could poison. You can move around faster. Do more damage in the air. The list goes on.

The other types of cards that you can get are either to re-issue you another set of three cards, heal yourself completely, or remove being able to heal yourself after a stage is complete but gain health back on X amount of enemies defeated. You can also get the chance to bank your current danake safely away to not lose it, or, you could choose to give it all away and then double it if you make it through the next stage’s challenge. Where things get tricky is that these cards come up the second that the stage’s challenge has been completed and not once you’ve completed the stage itself. Slowing down time to a halt, once things speed back up, if you were going to get hit? You’re taking that hit that you may have not even known about. Poor Richard was the victim of that plenty of times, even causing him to fall in battle because of it.

Overall, this tends to work out great. There are adjustments between playing in single player versus co-op. Using that first stage as an example again, solo, you’ll face one champion, co-op, you’ll face a few. The enemy spawn rate is also adjusted from being in solo or in co-op. If there were to be a few complaints it would be the following. Whether playing solo or co-op, there’s often too many enemies to get the challenges completed without taking a hit. Hell, some of them in solo are downright impossible because of the mage type enemies that are not only ranged, also have predictive aim which means they’ll shoot towards where you’re going instead of where you are. Great once you know… but if you don’t? BAM, there’s several hit points that can disappear fairly quickly.

The other complaints come in both the form of PC performance and co-op interconnectivity. Starting off with my own PC issues, I should not have any, not with my machine. This said, I had screen tearing in which I couldn’t turn on the V-Sync as it was disabled. Changing from an ultrawide resolution down to a standard one didn’t help on either my monitor or by hooking my PC up to a TV. When you’re running a i9 @ 2.80 GHz with 32GB DDR4 Ram and a RTX 3080? None of this should be happening.

The other issue is playing with someone who’s internet may be unstable or less powerful than yours. I have a 1.5GB connection compared to Richard’s 100mb I believe. Maybe even less than that. Because of this though, Richard would often be getting lag spikes causing him to get hit or even disconnect from me mid match meaning that he would lose everything. After the experience Robert and I had in DarkTide with if you got disconnected you could reconnect to the existing session from the main menu, I think that could definitely help here. This would especially be the case if you were several stages in and have accumulated a fair amount of danake for your upgrades as to lose all of that rather sucks as stages can take some time to complete.

Robert

Perish was an interesting beast for me to play- it had a very retro-FPS feel to it and that hit all the right buttons for me at the time. What I wasn't prepared for, though, was just how painful Perish would be.

Physically.

It's no secret here that I have terrible eyes but no matter what settings I chose, what contrast I'd set things to, Perish's harsh, golden "sharpness" caused some pretty significant eye strain. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but everything appears exceptionally sharp which in turn would lead to headaches after a short session (I could go about 2 hours before I felt like I had sand in my eyes).

What I was able to play was responsive, interesting, and had a control scheme that took me a minute to fully adapt to, though now that while playing other games, I think "if only I could set the keybindings up like Perish..." (in that there's a dash that happens rather than a typical sprint). If only I was able to play it for more than a short spell at a time- "

Summary

All that said though, ITEM42 and HandyGames’ Perish was a lot of fun. Yes it’s challenging and with that challenge it won’t be for everyone, but if you like fast paced first person shoots, hack & slashes or roguelikes? Perish is definitely something that you should look into and if you have others that you can bring along for the ride, the more the merrier!

Score: 8 / 10

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