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OpinionImpressionsTorchlight III Is Fine
As I guide my Railmaster, my dragon pet, and my ridiculously cool personal murder train set through what feels like the umpteenth goblin-infested dungeon in the first act of Torchlight III, one nagging thought keeps popping into my head. “Why am I doing this?” It’s certainly not the story. The third installment of the Torchlight…
By Mike Fahey Published October 13, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsI Spent Three Hours In Baldur’s Gate 3’s Character Creator And It’s Pretty Good
I love me a character creator. Buried in the deepest recesses of my brain lies the eight-year-old me who loved dress-up Flash games. Character creators in today’s games scratch the same itch, letting my inner child play with an even greater freedom of expression. So when Baldur’s Gate 3 hit early access earlier this week,…
By Ash Parrish Published October 9, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsBorderlands 3’s Bloody Harvest Event Is Back, And Just As Fun As Last Time
No trick, Vault Hunters, Borderlands 3’s latest event is quite a treat. Yesterday, the well-liked “Bloody Harvest” kicked off again. On a surface level, “Bloody Harvest” bears similarity to any other Borderlands event—shoot everything, get guns—but it stands apart by being a total blast with minimal slog. That, and the fact that you get more…
By Ari Notis Published October 9, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Ops: Cold War’s Beta Tweaks Include Console FOV Slider
Black Ops: Cold War has shaped up nicely since last month’s playable alpha build, which allowed players to play an assortment of maps and modes for the upcoming Call of Duty release. The beta already feels like a good improvement, especially thanks to the addition of some key features, including console players finally getting an…
By S.E. Doster Published October 9, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsYou’ll Probably Love Pikmin 3 Deluxe If It’s Your First Pikmin
Seven years ago, I wrote seven reviews of the terrific Wii U game Pikmin 3. I had played the game Switch-style before there was a Nintendo Switch. There’s a photo of this. I’m at the Daytona Beach airport, Wii U plugged into a wall socket and no TV in sight as I played Pikmin 3…
By Stephen Totilo Published October 8, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Solitaire Conspiracy Makes Card Games Look Cool AF
I’ve never been more enthralled by virtual playing cards as I have been playing The Solitaire Conspiracy, the latest game from Bithell Games, of Thomas Was Alone and Volume fame. Once the cards finish falling, it’s a clever twist on the classic solo card game with a heaping helping of video game personality Greg Miller.…
By Mike Fahey Published October 7, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsRainy Season Is Incredibly Chill
It’s the time of year for a lot of big, loud and explosive games, so if at any time you’re feeling in need of a palate cleanser, you could always check out Rainy Season A very small, very quick game by Inasa Fujio, it puts you in the role of a Japanese boy whose plans…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 6, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsWe’ve Finally Got A Great Game Of Thrones Game
After a number of bombs and false starts, and a glorious mod that doesn’t count because it’s a mod, there’s finally a very good, official Game of Thrones video game. And all the developers had to do was port a board game to the PC. As we’ve written here loads of times, the Game of…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 6, 2020 -
OpinionImpressions20 Hours With Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Buggy Early Access Version
My time with Baldur’s Gate 3 can best be summed up by what it made me do: After spending all of Saturday playing it, I re-downloaded Divinity Original Sin 2, a game I previously played for over 100 hours Original Sin 2 is one of my favorite games, so BG3 deserves serious credit for reigniting…
By Nathan Grayson Published October 6, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsSuper Mario Bros 35‘s Novelty Doesn’t Last Long
Super Mario Bros. 35 is an interesting social experiment: Pit 35 players against one another in a contest for survival while playing through classic Super Mario Bros. levels. Unfortunately its charm is already wearing thin. Out today on Switch for players with a paid subscription to Switch Online, Super Mario Bros. 35 borrows the basic…
By Ethan Gach Published October 1, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsGenshin Impact Is More Than A Breath Of The Wild Clone
There’s a lot to like about Genshin Impact, a free-to-play action-RPG that came out this week for PC, PlayStation 4, and mobile. While it might look a bit like Breath of the Wild, with its art style and mechanics, Genshin Impact stands on its own thanks to its combat, its quest and leveling systems, and,…
By Ari Notis Published September 30, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsGoing Under Is Another Roguelike In A Hellish Setting: Late Stage Capitalism
Capitalism sucks. It is a brutal economic system that is the source of poverty, war, famine, and the other two horsemen of the apocalypse. A new Steam, Xbox, PS4, and Switch rogue-like called Going Under takes all the dehumanizing and depressing bits of our current flavor of late stage capitalism, softens it with bright colors…
By Ash Parrish Published September 28, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Origami King Showed Me I’ve Been Wrong About Paper Mario
When you find art you truly love, it doesn’t leave you. Its lessons and rhythms, its shapes and sounds, start to take up space in your mind while you’re away. You know it, you understand it, and if it’s the kind of art that gets a sequel, you just might find yourself confronted with that…
Mike Sholars Published September 25, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsMafia Definitive Edition Is A Great Remake Of A Clunky Classic
The original Mafia, released all the way back in 2002, has become harder and harder to go back to over the years. It’s clunky, doesn’t look amazing, and suffers annoying quirks. Mafia Definitive Edition, a complete remake that just came out today, is a useful way to go back and experience what is still a…
By Zack Zwiezen Published September 25, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsKirby Fighters 2 Is Like A Carnival Game Version Of Super Smash Bros.
On Tuesday, a listing for a new game, Kirby Fighters 2, mysteriously showed up on the Nintendo eShop. Almost as soon as it appeared, it disappeared. Then, last night, without the faintest splash of fanfare, Nintendo released the game into the world. Kirby Fighters 2 is a 2D fighting game with platforming elements. You and…
By Ari Notis Published September 24, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Division 2‘s Newest Mode Is All Action And I’m Into It
A strange skyscraper filled with lots of enemies and an always-changing floor layout is the star of the new Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 update, which also kicks off the game’s third season. The Division 2’s latest update, Title Update 11, went live earlier this week. It fixed a bunch of bugs, added some new…
By Zack Zwiezen Published September 24, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsArt Of Rally Turns Driving Into Meditation
Art of Rally is what happens when you take driving—usually depicted in video games as a very loud and busy thing—and strip it back to its most beautiful basics. An incredibly minimalist effort from Funselektor (of Absolute Drift fame), it’s a full-blown single-player racing game described as “a stylized experience inspired by the golden era…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 22, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsA Return To The The Legend Of Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time Reminded Me Why It’s Special
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is widely considered not just one of the greatest games in the Zelda series, but one of the best games of all time. The 1998 Nintendo 64 game felt vast. It’s story was epic. It made controlling a character in 3D space feel intuitive. It was Zelda…
By Peter Tieryas Published September 22, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsPendragon Is A Strategy Game Where Conversations Are As Tense As Battles, And There’s Not Always A Difference
In most games, roadside villages are respites—hard-earned rests for weary travelers. In Pendragon, a narrative-driven turn-based strategy game about the fall of Camelot that just came out on PC, they are a wakeup call. Unlike many other turn-based strategy games, Pendragon plays out like a roguelike; you make multiple runs through a series of randomized…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 22, 2020
