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OpinionImpressionsWide Ocean Big Jacket, A Chill Game About Camping, Is The Perfect Length
As a kid, I never liked camping. I went to a multitude of Boy Scout and church camps, but I could never escape an overriding feeling of anxiety, like the trees were going to close in and suffocate me with their bristly branches. Turns out, I was just doing it wrong. The camping trips I…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 11, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsDead Cells‘ Latest Expansion Makes A Good Thing So Much Better
The only thing in Dead Cells’ latest expansion that gives me more pleasure than cleaving giant mutated fungi in half with a humongous scythe is having my own mushroomed companion fling itself at them with abandon and then explode upon impact. In other words, I’m really enjoying Dead Cells’ new DLC, “Bad Seed.” Out today…
By Ethan Gach Published February 11, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsIf You Like Celeste But Wish It Had More Swords, Try Scourgebringer
It only took about 15 minutes of zipping around in Scourgebringer for my fingers to start feeling sore. One moment, bell chimes were echoing through a peaceful room. The next, I was tearing through enemies in every direction while some heavy metal kicks up. I’ll strap ice to my knuckles if that’s what it takes…
By Ethan Gach Published February 7, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsIf You Like Phoenix Wright And Animal Puns, Don’t Skip Aviary Attorney
Do you like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney? Do you like animals? Do you enjoy laughing? You seem like the perfect audience for Aviary Attorney, then. Perhaps you remember when this game debuted on Steam a few years back. Maybe, like me, you noticed it but didn’t end up playing it. Well, now it’s on Switch,…
By Chris Kohler Published February 7, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsA Morbid Platformer Where Every Jump Breaks Your Legs
Platformers are all about jumping, but what happens when your jumps are so powerful that your body literally can’t handle them? That’s the idea behind Legbreaker, a game about figuring out how to maintain the protagonist’s body as they make their way through several sadistic experiments. Legbreaker’s mechanics are simple: the player has a huge…
By Ian Walker Published February 5, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsDark Crystal Tactics Game Is A Pale Imitation Of The Classics
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics doesn’t live up to the promise of its source material, and is a weak imitation of the PlayStation 1-era tactical role-playing games to which it attempts to harken back. It’s not terrible, but it is disappointing. Revealed at last year’s E3, Age of Resistance Tactics looked like an…
By Ethan Gach Published February 4, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsCook, Serve, Delicious 3 Is A Chaotic Cooking Game Set In The Back Of A Food Truck Driven By Cyborgs
Cooking food can be a relaxing or even therapeutic activity. But not in Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! That’s because you are cooking in the back of a moving food truck driven by two cyborgs in a dystopian future. In that case, things are a bit more…chaotic. CSD3 is the third entry in the Cook, Serve,…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 1, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Terminator Event In Ghost Recon Breakpoint Is Good
As many problems as Ghost Recon Breakpoint still has, it now also has Terminators. They’re actually a good addition to the game and part of a special live event week that kicked off on Wednesday and sort of ends on Thursday of next week. The event is fun, especially if you like the idea of…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 31, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsPlaying Coffee Talk Reminds Me Of The Quiet Joys Of Being A Barista
Life sometimes feels like it runs a mile a minute. Shit never stops, there’s always a new crisis, and your jaw is clenched in perpetuity. In those moments, it can help to focus on the little things. Like coffee. A trip to the corner shop or a dirty cup from the office kitchen is like…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 31, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Latest Magic: The Gathering Game Is A Decent Card-Based Tower Defense
If you want a pure Magic: The Gathering video game experience, stick with Arena. Netmarble’s Magic: Manastrike, out now for iOS and Android, has two players dropping card-based creatures and spells into a two-lane battlefield in order to destroy their opponent’s towers. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. Call it tower defense…
By Mike Fahey Published January 31, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Pedestrian Is A Good Platformer, But Great Puzzle Game
Three years after it first caught our attention, platforming puzzler The Pedestrian is now out. And it’s everything I was hoping it would be. The Pedestrian puts you in control of a tiny little guy/girl from a street sign, warning sign, door sign, whatever sign. From humble beginnings you soon set off an adventure, leaving…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 30, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsByleth Is Refreshingly Simple In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Byleth is here. Are you happy? Upset? I don’t care, let’s talk about how they play. Super Smash Bros. has always had a close relationship with the tactical Fire Emblem franchise, making Byleth the latest in a long line of sword-wielding fighters to join the Nintendo crossover. But a sword is just a small part…
By Ian Walker Published January 29, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsWarcraft 3: Reforged Isn’t Much Of An Upgrade
The remastered version of Blizzard’s real-time strategy classic Warcraft 3 launched yesterday, and while I’m nowhere near as disappointed by the lack of enhancements and upgrades as the folks over at the official forums, Warcraft 3: Reforged certainly hasn’t impressed me. Warcraft 3: Reforged was meant to be a much more ambitious remake of Warcraft…
By Mike Fahey Published January 29, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsPillars Of Eternity II Is Okay On Consoles If You Don’t Mind Long Load Times
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is the latest classic-style role-playing game to make its way from PC to console. The console port of the 2018 game comes with a lot of compromises, but some negatives are offset by the turn-based combat mode that was added to the PC version last year. Out yesterday on PS4…
By Ethan Gach Published January 29, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsWrath Is A Retro Shooter Done Right
The first gun you pick up in a shooter is very important. It tells you a lot about the game. In Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, the first gun you get is a chunky and powerful revolver that can also shoot three bullets at the same time, turning it into a mini-shotgun. So yeah, Wrath is…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 25, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsKingdom Hearts III‘s New DLC Is My Kind Of Anime Nonsense, On Steroids
Kingdom Hearts has two modes: cheerful Disney reveries and the most extreme of anime bullshit. Both have their merits, but the latter is where the series shines its brightest and is most captivating. Kingdom Hearts III’s new DLC, Re:Mind, embraces this. There’s time travel and scheming villains, dramatic clashes between light and dark, difficult new…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 24, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsA Grizzled Cat Shoots Living Critters At Outlaws In Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath
A hybrid first and third-person shooter starring a gruff-talking cat-looking bounty hunter armed with a crossbow that fires living creatures, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is an outlandish gem, whether you’re playing the 2005 Xbox original or this week’s HD remaster for the Nintendo Switch. The oddest game in the Oddworld series, which started with 1997’s puzzle…
By Mike Fahey Published January 23, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsI Love Watching My Buff Hoplites Wreck People In Magic: The Gathering‘s Theros Beyond Death Expansion
Magic: The Gathering’s big Theros Beyond Death expansion is full of woodland satyrs, brooding cyclops, bronze-shielded warriors, and cruel, twisted gods. After her long sleep was disturbed by the nightmare-weaver Ashiok, the fierce and righteous planeswalker Elspeth Tirel has escaped from hell to exact her revenge against Heliod, the sun god Fortunately, you don’t actually…
By Ethan Gach Published January 23, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Last Autumn Is Frostpunk‘s Best Expansion Yet
Frostpunk’s The Last Autumn expansion, out today on PC, is the city-building game’s best update yet. It adds several new mechanics and swaps out the threat of a plummeting thermostat for a tug-of-war between strict production deadlines and workers’ rights. The Last Autumn, Frostpunk’s second piece of season pass DLC, takes players back to before…
By Ethan Gach Published January 21, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsG.I. Joe: War On Cobra Is Another Cookie-Cutter Mobile Strategy Game
In G.I. Joe: War on Cobra, the new free-to-play mobile game from Hasbro and developer Emerald City Games, players take sides in the classic animated conflict. They build bases and harvest resources. They collect characters, vehicles, and weapons to defend their base and attack others. It’s the same free-to-play mobile strategy game I’ve played a…
By Mike Fahey Published January 21, 2020