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OpinionImpressionsLoop Hero Is A Wonderful New RPG About Overcoming Despair
Loop Hero is a lot of things: an RPG, a roguelite, an auto-battler, a card game, a city builder, an evocative visual novel. It’s also excellent, and I can’t stop playing it. Developed by Four Quarters (maker of 2015’s brilliant behavioral experiment Please, Don’t Touch Anything) and out today on Steam, the appropriately titled Loop…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsSorry Crazy Taxi Fans, Taxi Chaos Ain’t It
Taxi Chaos is not Crazy Taxi. But it’s trying to be, and it succeeds in some important ways while completely failing in many others. Consider this a warning: Don’t buy Taxi Chaos. But if you do, I can help make the game a bit better. I get why some folks might be tempted to buy…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Ops Cold War’s Large-Scale ‘Outbreak’ Mode Shakes Up Zombies
Season Two of Black Ops Cold War arrives today, with a new 6v6 multiplayer map, new weapons, more challenges to complete, and another 100-tier battle pass to grind. It also brings the most unique Zombies experience we’ve seen in a while, in the large-scale “Outbreak” Zombies mode. As a part of Black Ops Cold War’s…
By S.E. Doster -
OpinionImpressionsBravely Default 2 Is Another Fun But Flawed Old-School JRPG
Bravely Default 2 is a trip, man. Going in, I thought I knew exactly what this game was, and it turns out I pretty much did—except for all of the tiny moments that occasionally delight, and just as occasionally elicit big, heaving sighs. Every time the familiar old-school JRPG wins me over it follows that…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsI’ve Kinda Had My Fill After Wrapping The Division 2’s Latest Season
The Division 2’s latest manhunt is coming to an end. Players who have taken down this season’s previous four targets now have access to the final quarry, with a mission to take her out. This raid, while exciting and climatic, caps off another grind of a season that leaves the future of the game, and…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsRed Dead Online’s New Solo Missions Are Pretty Good
The latest Red Dead Online update, released earlier this week, added a few new missions to the game. These new telegram missions are short and simple but are also built to be played alone, another sign that Rockstar is willing to give players more single-player content even in ostensibly online games. While Red Dead Online…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsXbox’s New ‘FPS Boost’ Feature Is The Real Deal
Yesterday Microsoft released FPS Boost, a new backward-compatibility feature for the Xbox Series X and S. FPS Boost will…well boost the framerate dramatically in specific, older games when you play them on a next-gen Xbox. After playing around with FPS Boost a bit I’m excited and impressed. This could be a big change in the…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsProject Triangle Strategy Just Became One Of My Most Anticipated Games
Think back to the last argument you had. Did you sway the other person to your side? How much effort did that take? That tug-of-war—the fraught nature of persuasion, and the notion that you don’t initially know if you’ve pulled it off—is the unexpected crux of Project Triangle Strategy, an upcoming tactical game from Square…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsForegone Is So Much More Than A Dead Cells Clone
If you missed Foregone, fix that immediately. Foregone is incredible. Full stop. At first glance, you might think Foregone—which released last year for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC—is a carbon copy of Dead Cells, Motion Twin’s eternally popular roguelike. For sure, the two share a lot of DNA in terms of art style, animation,…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsAgents of Mayhem (Which Is Good BTW) Plays Way Better On My Xbox Series X
The power of next-gen consoles can, in some cases, help improve games that suffered from performance problems. A great example of this is Agents of Mayhem, a good last-gen open-world shooter made even better thanks to the Xbox Series X and its backward compatibility features. Agents of Mayhem was released back in 2017 and developed…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsDestiny 2‘s Season Of The Chosen Is Good So Far
Season of the Chosen went live in Destiny 2 today, and with it a whole new set of things to grind for. So far, these things—new armor, guns, and exotic gear—seem pretty cool, with interesting new perks to make them worth chasing. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t already feeling daunted by…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsOver 10 Hours With Bravely Default II
Bravely Default II offers a return to a simpler time where heroes lined up on one side of the screen, fought monsters on the other side of the screen, and then rinsed and repeated until peace and tranquility were brought back to the land. I’ve spent over 10 hours with it, and while what I’ve…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsBlue Fire Is A Game So Tough It Reminds Me Of 2020
Every so often, a platformer comes along that so thoroughly knocks you on your ass you can’t help but smile in sick appreciation. For me, the latest to do so is Blue Fire, from the Argentina-based Robi Studios, officially out yesterday for Switch and PC. Blue Fire is a difficult game, yes, but it also…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsWerewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood Is Dumb Fun ‘90s Me Would Have Loved
A man walks into a room filled with armed employees of an evil corporation that profits off harming the planet. Heavy-metal music kicks in as the man transforms into a fur-covered whirlwind of claws and fangs. One murder-filled moment later the music fades and the beast reverts to human form, quietly exiting the now egregiously…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsLatest Division 2 Patch Brings Bland Resident Evil Items And A Beautiful New Next-Gen Framerate
On February 2 The Division 2 received its latest update, Title Update 12.1, which added a bunch of Resident Evil-themed items as part of a new apparel event. More importantly, it updated the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions to run at 60 frames per second, allowing console players to experience The Division 2 at…
By Zack Zwiezen -
OpinionImpressionsHelp, I’m Stuck Between Two Very Good New JRPGs
Two new games from two of my favorite Japanese role-playing game series have dropped at the same time, and I am driving myself up a wall trying to give them equal time. It feels like I’ve entered into a polyamorous relationship with Ys IX: Monstrum Nox and Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionImpressionsDestruction AllStars, A New PS5 Exclusive, Is Fine
You’ve played Destruction AllStars a thousand times. You’ve also never played something like Destruction AllStars. The new multiplayer derby battler from Lucid Games—out today exclusively for PlayStation 5—is both immediately familiar and refreshingly new. After taking it for a spin, my initial feelings for the game are all over the place. Let’s start with the…
By Ari Notis -
OpinionImpressionsControl’s Next-Gen Edition Finally Does Justice To Remedy’s Shooter On Consoles
Control left like it was pushing the last generation of consoles to their breaking points, with loads of performance issues on the old machines. Despite these problems it was a great game, my favorite of 2019. Now, with the next-gen release of Control, many of these problems are gone, and an already-great game is improved…
By Zack Zwiezen
