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OpinionImpressionsTell Me Why‘s First Episode Is Too Real
In a way, the first episode of Tell Me Why wants to convince you that people aren’t as bad as you think. It’s a weird message for me, a trans man playing a video game, to hear—both video games and the people who surround them can be worse than I think, and I’m constantly braced…
By Riley MacLeod Published August 27, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsControl’s AWE Expansion Leans Into Horror, And It’s Rad
Horror has always seemed right around the corner in Control. There’s a refrigerator that always needs to be looked at or it’ll kill you. A rubber duck teleports around maliciously. Your double is plotting your demise in a mirror world. Even so, horror was always the game’s selective spice, used sparingly to break up the…
By Cameron Kunzelman Published August 27, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsWarframe‘s New Flesh Planet Is A Wild But Disjointed Ride
Warframe’s greatest strength is also its most intangible: It commits. Whether it’s the core idea of outer space ninjas who front flip down hallways at a million miles per hour or a full-on Hadestown-style musical intro for a planet focused on labor issues, Warframe is 100 percent all-in on everything it does. So when developer…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 26, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsFinally, A Video Game Worthy Of Samurai Jack
Samurai Jack, Genndy Tartakovsky’s excellent animated martial arts drama, debuted on Cartoon Network in December of 2001. It ran until 2004, returning for a fifth and final season on Adult Swim in 2017. In all that time only two games were made based on the series, and they weren’t great. Now, three years after the…
By Mike Fahey Published August 21, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsRaji: An Ancient Epic Is A Beautiful Exploration Of Love And Gods
Raji: An Ancient Epic plays like an epic poem. Shadow puppet cutscenes help tell the story of main character Raji and there are murals all over the world displaying stories from Hindu mythology. The music aids the grandness of the storytelling, with a sitar frantically strumming in time with Raji’s spear swipes or the wail…
By Ash Parrish Published August 21, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsChill Out, Battletoads
I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to call Battletoads 2020. A long-awaited sequel? A spiritual reboot? A love letter to an old classic whose most memorable quality was that hardly anybody could beat it? In any event, it feels good to play in short bursts, but its humor and chaos overshadow it. I wanted…
By Ethan Gach Published August 20, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsSpiritfarer Is A Chill, Touching Take On A Stressful Genre
Spiritfarer, which is described by developer Thunder Lotus Games as a “cozy management game about dying,” came out yesterday for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. I’m only a few hours into this massive, striking game—it’s reportedly 30 to 40 hours long—but those words seem remarkably accurate so far. To play Spiritfarer is…
By Ari Notis Published August 19, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsRogue Legacy 2 Is Definitely More Rogue Legacy So Far
Rogue Legacy 2, now available in early access on Steam, leans heavily on the first two nouns in its title. It’s a roguelike in which the player guides generations of adventurers through a grand castle in search of fame and fortune, leaving behind a legacy for the next family member to take up the cause.…
By Ian Walker Published August 19, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe New Total War Is Not A Complete Mess
Total War is a series whose games can swing wildly between “all-time classics” and “oh no”. So a few years back, developers Creative Assembly had a very good idea: in between major releases, they’d work on smaller, more experimental games, where they could test new ideas and features before rolling them out into the bigger,…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 18, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsEA UFC 4 Has Some Clever Surprises, But It’s Mostly More Of The Same
Sometimes, when an MMA fighter takes a couple years off, they come back transformed, throwing out so many new looks and techniques that it’s like they spent their entire time away in an extended training montage. Other times, they’re pretty much the same as before, but a little creakier, a little rustier, and a lot…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 18, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsSo Glad I Finally Discovered The Sci-Fi Puzzle Adventure Observation
“I am here.” You’ll hear that line often over the course of Observation, a puzzle-adventure game that came out last year for PC and PlayStation 4 and earlier this summer for Xbox One. (It’s also included in the Xbox Game Pass library.) If you’re looking for a short, satisfying adventure to help you weather the…
By Ari Notis Published August 18, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsEVE Online On Your Phone Is Enjoyable, If You Squint Enough
Officially launching this week on iOS and Android, EVE Echoes is all of the mining, exploring, transporting, pirate-fighting, fleet-battling action of CCP’s venerable science-fiction MMO in convenient portable form. See all of that tiny text? I might need a bigger phone. EVE Echoes wastes no time getting into the swing of things. Within the first…
By Mike Fahey Published August 14, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsFinal Fantasy XIV‘s Latest Patch is Surprisingly Full of Hope
After waiting through COVID-related delays, the newest patch of Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is finally available. Reflections of Crystal has had heavy expectations placed on it, with the patch’s trailer teasing the post-Shadowbringers storyline hurtling towards a well-earned conclusion, backed by the consistently excellent writing we’ve seen since the expansion’s release last year. But patch…
By Elizabeth Henges Published August 12, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2‘s Two-Minute Warehouse Demo Is Damn Good
The warehouse level demo for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is pretty bare bones. It’s just one skater, Tony Hawk, running two minute sessions through the remake’s version of the very first level from the original THPS. It immediately and without fanfare answers the question “Is this a good Tony Hawk game?” Yes…
By Mike Fahey Published August 12, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsDestiny 2’s Solstice Of Heroes Grind Is Back And Oh God Why
Hello darkness my old friend, please just give me the cool-looking Destiny 2 armor before I get too angry, tired, and full of regret. Destiny 2 has all sorts of grinds, but the annual Solstice of Heroes event has always felt uniquely pernicious to me. It’s supposed to be an end of year victory lap…
By Ethan Gach Published August 12, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsGTA Online‘s Summer Update Gives You More To Do With Your Yacht
Today’s Grand Theft Auto Online update, The Los Santos Summer Special, adds new missions, clothes, and 15 new cars, and also some small changes that might excite longtime players. While not the biggest or flashiest update, it’s a solid one that adds more to the ever-growing monster that is GTA Online The biggest addition with…
By Zack Zwiezen Published August 11, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsFast & Furious Crossroads Is Ridiculous
Though all of the action in Fast & Furious Crossroads, the star-studded video game side story to the long-running film franchise, involves driving a car, there are no speedometers. The only speed is fast. Unless you’re tailing a van owned by the Barcelona mob. Then it’s slow, though probably also furious. Crossroads isn’t a great…
By Mike Fahey Published August 10, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsI Played The Avengers Beta And I’m Not Excited
This past weekend I got a chance to step into the sneakers, armored boots, and severely distressed cut-offs of some of my favorite comic book heroes as part of an early beta event for Marvel’s Avengers. I was hoping my brief time with the game would quell the nagging feeling that it’s little more than…
By Mike Fahey Published August 5, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsEveryone Is Friends In Fall Guys, Until You Want To Murder Each Other
There’s a lot to love about Fall Guys, the new battle royale game out on PS4 and PC this week, but I’m here today to talk about all the friends I’ve made playing the game who are now no longer my friends. The whole “battle royale as a genre” thing has been so defined by…
By Luke Plunkett Published August 4, 2020
