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OpinionImpressionsA Medieval Micromanagement Sim Is Tearing Up The Steam Charts
I didn’t expect to play five hours of Going Medieval in one sitting right after installing it. I spotted the game on Steam’s top-selling charts, it looked neat, and I gave it a try. Suddenly, after what only felt like a few minutes, I looked up at the clock and realized I had spent hours…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsOh, Hey, I Just Got Back From An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs
An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs (y’all, there’s no way I’m gonna get through these impressions spelling this long-ass name out so henceforth I’ll call it Dog Airport or abbreviate it as AAFACRBD) is a game about exactly what it says on the box: You are a person at an airport that services…
By Ash Parrish -
OpinionImpressionsGraven Looks Great, But Right Now It’s A Bit Boring
Graven is the latest game from resurrected publisher 3D Realms. Like its recent releases Ion Fury and Wrath, Graven is a throwback to 1990s PC first-person shooters, this time being a spiritual successor to Hexen and Heretic. It’s a visual delight to run around the world of Graven, kicking bad guys and exploring a creepy…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsBackbone Is A Noir Adventure About Racism In Anthropomorphic Vancouver
Backbone, a noir adventure game set in an anthropomorphic version of Vancouver, is coming out on June 8. I have already played the free Steam demo, Backbone: Prologue, six times. Now, the Steam algorithm knows I’m a sucker for noir detective stories and that is, indeed, what Backbone is. It’s got all the usual clichés,…
By Jonathan Lee -
OpinionImpressionsKnockout City Is Actually Pretty Damn Fun
Dodgeball sucks. I recall, during some school recess years ago, getting beaned in the face with a dodgeball. Blood, everywhere. Across the pitch, some kid stood, sneering, as all the other kids laughed. I think he broke my glasses? The specifics are lost to the fog of memory, but the feeling—total, abject humiliation—remains tattooed on…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Ops Cold War’s Multi-Team Elimination Is Almost Blackout 2.0
A lot of new stuff arrived with Call of Duty’s mid-season “Reloaded” update last week. It’s easy to get distracted by the ‘80s Action Hero event’s challenges and modes, but hidden in the mix is “Multi-Team Elimination,” a Fireteam mode for Black Ops Cold War that’s worth checking out. Most of Reloaded arrived on May…
By S.E. Doster -
OpinionImpressionsMiitopia On Switch Completely Ate My Weekend
I had things to do this weekend that weren’t running through endless random encounters in the console port of a ridiculous four-year-old 3DS role-playing game. The problem I encountered was that none of those other things were as simple and easy as picking up my Pro Controller and popping back into Miitopia for a battle…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsMass Effect Legendary Edition Makes The First Game Required Playing
Mass Effect Legendary Edition is out today, remastering BioWare’s space trilogy with 4K HD graphics and other kinds of tweaks and twinges to bring the games into the current generation. Of the trilogy, the original Mass Effect stands out as the game benefiting the most from graphical updates and quality of life enhancements. From what…
By Ash Parrish -
OpinionImpressionsThese Famicom Detective Club Games Have Aged Surprisingly Well
There’s nothing about the art, animation, voice work, or music of Nintendo’s new Famicom Detective Club games that betray their origin as a pair of Japan-exclusive Family Computer Disk System adventures from the late 1980s. The dated gameplay, however, is a dead giveaway. Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and its prequel, Famicom Detective Club:…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsAssassin’s Creed Valhalla First DLC Is Good, But Feels A Bit Lonely
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was a big game. (Maybe too big.) But I still found myself wanting to explore and conquer more after the credits rolled. Today’s new DLC, Wrath of The Druids, is mostly what I wanted: While it adds a big new map and storyline, it lacks the smaller side stories and characters that…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsSilicon Dreams Is Blade Runner Meets Papers, Please
Silicon Dreams is something rather special. I almost feel bad reducing it to an elevator pitch, but honestly it captures the game so perfectly, and communicates exactly what you need to know: It’s Blade Runner meets Papers, Please OK, that’s not quite perfect. This android interrogation simulator is actually an awful lot more involved than…
By John Walker -
OpinionImpressionsHood, A New Multiplayer Heist Game, Is Fine
What if Robin Hood but moodier than a mid-2000s Warped Tour ticket line? That’s the premise of Hood: Outlaws and Legends, a class-based multiplayer heist game based on a dark and stormy version of the Robin Hood folk tale, officially released yesterday for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. (Over the weekend, those who pre-ordered were able…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsClimb Roblox‘s Giant Man, If You Dare
From Terry Cavanagh, the man behind Super Hexagon, Dicey Dungeons, and VVVVVV, comes a Roblox level about climbing a giant guy that you can play for free right now Anyone can make their own game in Roblox, even celebrated indie developers. Fascinated by the free-to-play game development platform that’s enchanted children of all ages around…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsIt’s A Shooter With Dinosaurs, And That’s Enough For Me
Dinosaurs are rad. Sadly, they rarely appear in video games. So I was excited to play Second Extinction, a new shooter featuring dinosaurs, both big and small. What I wasn’t expecting was how much this early access game would remind me of Destiny, or how much fun I would have playing it. Second Extinction is…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsThe Nier Replicant Remaster Does Many Good Things And One Awful Thing
I played the original Nier back in 2010 and thoroughly enjoyed it despite the main character being a hideous troll of an old man. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, with the handsome younger hero originally exclusive to Japan, looks, plays, and feels better overall, save the unfortunate inclusion of an achievement for players who peek at the…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsReturnal Feels Like An Actual PS5 Game
A busted spaceship. An uncharted exoplanet teeming with hostile life. An emphasis on scanning objects, upgrading equipment, and retracing your footsteps. Those might sound like core components of a new Metroid Prime, but they’re not, at least not in this case. They’re the ingredients of a riveting—if somewhat punishing—action game called Returnal, out next week…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsA Horror Game Where Reloading Is The Scariest Part
Reloading in video games is rarely something you think a lot about. Often it’s a moment in time when you’re forced to stop shooting. But a new indie horror game makes reloading fun, nerve-wracking, and interesting. And it’s just one part of a great collection of horror games released earlier this week. Released on April…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsKnight Squad 2 Knows How To Party
Party games balance on a tightrope. If they’re too rooted in chance, everyone will be at each other’s throats within a round. (See: Mario Party.) If they’re too basic, they’re boring, and if they’re too complex, well, there’s no fun for a party. Every so often, a game comes along and nails the balance, like…
By Ari Notis
