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OpinionImpressionsAssassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Final Paid Expansion Is Terrific If You Like The Weird Stuff
The most dedicated players of 2009’s Assassin’s Creed II could stray from the Italian Renaissance adventures of Ezio Auditore to solve puzzles that unlocked a 37-second video of a naked Adam and Eve running through a high-tech city in some unknown year BC. That’s the kind of stuff they used to put in Assassin’s Creed…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 22, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe New Sims 4 Stories Feature Has Me Making Sims I’d Never Create On My Own
Making Sims can take a long time. You have to hand-pick their personality traits and lifetime ambitions, which means you actually have to sit down and think about a particular character to play. That can take a while, and when I’m feeling particular, it’s taken at least an hour. It can be really easy to…
By Gita Jackson Published July 22, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe New Game From Journey’s Creators Feels Like A Dream
In the new game Sky: Children of the Light ethereal figures prance and soar through gorgeous landscapes and crumbling temples. These characters hold candles and spread light throughout the world. At least, I think that’s what’s going on in ThatGameCompany’s first new game in seven years. It’s abstract. Out now on iOS and coming eventually…
By Mike Fahey Published July 19, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsIn Night Call, You’re A Taxi Driver Who Has To Find A Killer
There’s a serial killer on the loose in Paris. The taxi that you drive is running low on gas, the police detective in your back seat is strong-arming you into gathering information, and if you don’t make rent, you’re gonna end up on the streets. This is Night Call, a slice-of-life mystery game that mixes…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 18, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsForget Everything You Know About Gravity In This Beautiful Puzzle Game
Playing Etherborn is like taking a hike through a series of colorful terraria that have been warped and torn apart by mysterious cosmic forces, causing gravity to shift like the sides of a Rubik’s Cube. It can be bewildering, but it’s never unpleasant—like a dream you can’t quite make sense of, but don’t want to…
By Ethan Gach Published July 18, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsSplatoon 2’s Final Splatfest Begins, Though The Stakes Are Unclear
Splatoon 2’s final official Splatfest popped off today. It’s pitting order against chaos in what Splatoon 2 is calling the “Splatocolypse.” Splatfests are multi-day events that invite the Nintendo game’s player base to choose a faction and then earn points for their side by playing multiplayer matches of the paint-based shooter. Splatfests are usually just…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published July 18, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsAssassin’s Creed Odyssey‘s New Atlantis Expansion Is Jaw-Dropping
I’ve spent 20 minutes playing the new Judgment Of Atlantis add-on to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and already just as much time snapping pictures in photo mode. As a colleague said, Ubisoft’s art directors are just showing off now. Everywhere I turn, I’m seeing something cool. There’s this spot… There’s this one… And there’s this! Everything…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 16, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsFinal Fantasy XIV’s New Raid Bosses Bring The Pain
It’s been two weeks since Final Fantasy XIV’s Shadowbringers expansion launched. That’s been enough time to explore and complete the exciting story, and players have been eager for more. The latest raid content, Eden’s Gate, released today, offering a handful of difficult boss fights and an intriguing mystery storyline to follow. These are some of…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 16, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsFinal Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers Log Four: Everything And Everyone Else
There are many ways to play through Final Fantasy XIV’s Shadowbringers expansion. I am playing as a goggle-wearing Viera Dancer, dancing and damaging my way toward the finish line. I can’t cover all of the job class changes, role-based questlines, and side content before my review drops. But other FFXIV players can certainly tell me…
By Mike Fahey Published July 16, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsEven A Motorcycle Stunt Race Can’t Make Days Gone Feel Less Gloomy
Every week this summer, Days Gone developer Bend Studios has rolled out a new challenge for its single-player zombie survival game. The latest challenge, added over the weekend, tests how well you can drive your motorcycle. As a single update, it’s not much. As the third of 12 planned free challenges? It’s still a little…
By Joshua Rivera Published July 15, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsIn My Sims World Of Only Women, Marge Simpson Is Married To Taylor Swift
I’ll let you in on a secret: I only work in the games industry to bring it down from the inside, like the insidious woman-spy I am! Bwahaha! Mine is an evil laugh! Turns out that all those threads about me on various terrible corners of the internet had it right all along, and I’m…
By Kate Gray Published July 15, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Fire Emblem: Three Houses Battle System Is Elegant In Its Complexity
At its best, combat in Fire Emblem games is like an elegant game of chess. At its worst, it’s a morass of numbers that don’t feel like they mean anything. Three Houses leans more closely to the former than the latter, though it’s also easy to get lost in statistics and variables. Allow me to…
By Gita Jackson Published July 15, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsBlazing Chrome Is A Fine Love Letter To 16-Bit Contra
I didn’t know I needed more Contra III in my life until I started playing Blazing Chrome The run-and-gun action platformer, out today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, is set against a backdrop of a futuristic world in which humanity has been overrun by an army of evil cyborgs. Blazing Chrome succeeds…
By Ethan Gach Published July 11, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsA Mario Maker Level Where Mario Has Post-War PTSD
Oh, you’ve been playing nearly impossible kaizo levels or 20-second speedruns? Sounds great. Me, I just played a Super Mario Maker 2 level where Mario comes back from the army with PTSD. Mario Maker is not the best storytelling medium. In fact, Nintendo goes out of its way to make it difficult to create a…
By Chris Kohler Published July 11, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe Messenger’s New Island DLC Is A Perfect Substitute For A Day At The Beach
It’s already mid-July, and I still haven’t made it to the beach. Maybe you haven’t either. The Messenger’s free Picnic Panic expansion can fix that. You won’t actually hear seafoam waves crashing along the shore or feel the grainy piles of hot sand beneath your feet, but Picnic Panic’s bright colors, catchy new chiptune-inspired melodies,…
By Ethan Gach Published July 11, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsDragon Quest Builders 2 Is Even Better Than The First
The first Dragon Quest Builders was an underrated gem, a delightful game that proved that Dragon Quest and Minecraft go together as nicely as peanut butter and pickles. The second game, which comes out Friday, is even better. I’ve played a couple dozen hours of Dragon Quest Builders 2 on Switch so far thanks to…
By Jason Schreier Published July 11, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsThe End of Final Fantasy XIV‘s ‘Shadowbringers’ Expansion Is The Emotional Spectacle I’ve Been Waiting For
It’s hard for any story to end well, and even harder when it’s set in the constantly changing world of an MMORPG. Lengthy questlines that require years’ worth of player investment are hard to sell. Final Fantasy XIV’s latest expansion, ‘Shadowbringers,’ makes it work with an emotionally charged climax that helps create one of the…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 11, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Ops 4‘s ‘Apocalypse’ Brings Fan-Favorite Maps And Modes (And More Annoying Loot Boxes)
The undead apocalypse started spreading across Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on July 9, bringing zombie-themed content that features brand new maps as well as plenty of nostalgia for Call of Duties past. Black Ops 4’s latest event “Operation Apocalypse Z” is currently exclusive to PlayStation 4, but zombies will infect Xbox One and…
By S.E. Doster Published July 10, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsSega’s ActRaiser Successor Is Not Good
1990’s ActRaiser is a pleasant mix of basic top-down strategy and side-scrolling platforming action that’s simple and satisfying. Sega’s SolSeraph, released today for PC, PlayStation 4, Switch and Xbox One, takes the same basic concept as the Super Nintendo classic and turns it into an unwieldy mess. Sega’s surprise announcement of SolSeraph two weeks ago…
By Mike Fahey Published July 10, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsFallout 76 Hides Its Most Interesting Lore Behind A Steep Battle Royale Grind
Some bad shit went down in Vault 51, and the only way to find out about it within Fallout 76 is by playing countless hours of its battle royale mode, Nuclear Winter. Many of Fallout 76’s best stories all take place long before the player shows up. To learn about them, players need to read…
By Ethan Gach Published July 9, 2019