DeVuego

To get straight to the point, Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp is pure fun, plain and simple. And this is all thanks to simple yet highly-addictive gameplay that will have you hunting down every possible event and ending you can, sharp writing that isn’t afraid to get as bonkers as possible and delivers impressive black comedy, a roster of characters that continues the series tradition of giving players the most lovably insane misfits possible, and memorable multiplayer action that deserves to be shared with as many friends as one can gather. Developer Beautiful Glitch has been open about the possible updates and sequels in development, but even as is, this is one bizarre and amazing camping trip that you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Quick to learn, quick to play and delivering large doses of fun regardless of whether you’re trying to master it or just seeing how many insane card effects you have in a single match, Friends vs Friends is a gem of a PvP shooter that can easily keep you sucked in for lengthy sessions. So grab as many friends as you can (assuming you can get them to pick up the game or gift copies to them) or just jump in casual play to take on “friends” you haven’t met yet, because either way, you’re in for a blast here.

Blasphemous 2 has earned its place as one of the great metroidvanias.

Whether you were a fan of the original game or a newcomer to this twisted world of dioramas, Bleak Sword DX provides a perfectly action-packed experience that's sure not to disappoint.

GRIS is, simply put, one of this year’s masterpieces. Both in the sense that it looks like a work of art and plays like an absolute dream. The platforming is smooth as silk, the world is a joy to explore, the puzzles offer the right amount of challenge and the emotional parts of the journey hit perfectly. It’s a dynamic, creative fantasy tale that knows how to expertly mange action with downbeat moments and everything in between. Overall, it’s just one terrific escapade with a nice amount of variety that you absolutely need to experience. A well-needed burst of color for our lives, indeed.

In the end, The Sexy Brutale is a marvelous and unique delight of a murder mystery, one you’ll have walked away from feeling shocked over what exactly you just saw play out in the story, satisfied over the challenging puzzles you’ll have solved to help out each masked guest, and dazzled over the vibrant and mesmerizing aesthetics. Well, I say you’ll have walked away from it, but there’s still a good chance you’ll still go back if you feel you may have missed any secrets those luxurious and deadly walls may have held. Cavalier Studios have crafted one of this year’s most refreshing adventure games that is absolutely to die for.

Quick to learn, quick to play and delivering large doses of fun regardless of whether you're trying to master it or just seeing how many insane card effects you have in a single match, Friends vs Friends is a gem of a PvP shooter that can easily keep you sucked in for lengthy sessions.

Blasphemous 2 has earned its place as one of the great metroidvanias. While it can be punishingly difficult, it’s equally rewarding to overcome all challenges the game has to offer.

Nihilumbra is the kind of game that many will look over because they think they’ve played things like it hundreds of times before. It’s not. This is a project filled with incredibly smart puzzle design and an important message at its core. Anyone who absentmindedly picked it up during a sale should do themselves a favor and play right now. If you don’t yet own it, then definitely consider making a purchase in the near future. Nihilumbra is a thoroughly enjoyable experience that will stick with you.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound brings a stylish new entry to the classic franchise owned by Koei Tecmo.

Neva is another winner from Nomada Studio, but it's also much more than that. It's a drop-dead gorgeous game with truly fun platforming action, puzzles and combat, with hauntingly-beautiful moments. But the titular character is the true highlight, easily encapsulating the biggest strengths as you see this wolf grow up alongside Alba. It's a journey of motherhood that takes the form of one of the year's best platformers, and just one of the year's best games, period.

While complaints can be leveled at Sword of the Necromancer based on repetition, that doesn’t mean that it’s bad. In fact, it’s enjoyable and recommended. Sure, Supergiant Games’ Hades devours this title’s lunch in that it’s a superior action rogue-like with great story. Barring that, Grimorio of Games built a fun and interesting dungeon crawler that’s deeper than it appears at first glance. The tale behind the stabbing is interesting and heartfelt, drawing the player further into the depths of the dungeon, while the action is exciting. An expansion to add more level and boss variety would go a long way to making this required playing, but anyone interested in this type of game should give this Sword of the Necromancer a swing.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is an amazing narrative journey exploring fate, politics, isolation, friendship and more, filled with a stellar cast and great writing and music, but the tarot card creation is what will easily have players addicted for hours, and the way it ties into the main story is done superbly. It makes for a truly unique adventure game that’s not to be missed out on, especially for those looking to get creative, go nuts and craft the motorcycle wolf card of their dreams.

While it may leave you wanting more in certain areas, Crossing Souls is still an excellent action game with a terrific, gripping story you’ll want to see to the very end. This little chunk of the 1980s is filled with terrific, nicely-detailed visuals, fun character-switching gameplay, and a unique vision of the afterlife with several impressive touches. In the end, to call back to the comparisons in the beginning, it may end up being a bit more among the likes of Labyrinth: a flawed but lovable classic you won’t be forgetting anytime soon and definitely worth checking out.

Evil Dead: The Game is undoubtedly the best Evil Dead game yet. There’s a lot here that fans of the franchise will appreciate with Easter Eggs and the overall atmosphere. The game is a lot of fun to play thanks to the strategy, upgrades and combat, but playing as the Kandarian Demon offers a deeper experience and removes the need to worry about communicating with teammates. While there’s DLC coming if you go with the Deluxe Edition, there really is only this mode and while upgrading the different units adds longevity, it’s a bit of a cop out going this direction with adding length to the game. It also only costs $39.99 on all platforms for the standard version, and the price is well worth the fun. If the player base stays with combining platforms, this should help out with the experience down the road.

Though its turn-based combat may end up doing most of the heavy-lifting, that Noname Studios have cleverly crafted something that’s both fleshed out and as appealing as it is, means Worldless still winds up a delightful studio debut. That something as well-established as a turn-based system can feel fresh and exciting all over again. Aided on top by the puzzle-like construction and re-framing combat as one to work out. One where the smartest moves are just as important as the strongest sort. Such is the variety and continued evolution on its premise, it’s enough of a strong showing that it relegates the otherwise less-exciting elements to that of minor frustrations. Out amidst its geometrically-abstract environments things may look ordinary and plain, but it’s thanks to its combat encounters where Worldless flaunts its creativity where and when it matters most. A premise that is not only interesting, but both challenging and stylish alike.

Indigo 7: Quest for Love’s puzzle formula is engaging and manages to be a mix of easy to learn, but tricky to master. It’s not an all-time great game, but it’s well-crafted and has a lot of heart. The comedy hits far more than it misses and the story mode is a riot to see unfold and use as a learning tool. Given how great the experience is with multiplayer, it’s a shame online play isn’t featured — but hopefully that’s something that can be added in later on. As it stands, Indigo 7 a great game and a fantastic value for the money.

Deadlight is a mix between storytelling, side-scrolling, puzzle solving, and good old fashion survival horror. It reinvents nothing, but it successfully integrates components from each genre. Minor grievances aside, Deadlight belongs right up there with the most entertaining ‘zombie’ games. For a simple arcade title, it has enough breadth to warrant a hardcore gamer’s attention.

Immortal Redneck is an absolutely fantastic FPS-roguelike. There’s a lot of care in its room design, the enemies all have their own distinct style making it easy to identify the most threatening one in any situation, the action is fast and powerful and the whole game looks fantastic. The difficulty is tuned high but there’s plenty of room for growth, both from learning the enemies’ patterns and from buying upgrades for permanent character progression. Choosing a patron deity at the start of the run makes each round play a little differently than the previous one, and when coupled with the powerups found along the way you’ll have a unique character by the time you either get killed off or somehow survive the traps and creatures of the pyramid. It’s a long way to the top and each floor is more concentrated than the last, but there’s plenty of great shooting on the way to the boss fight at the apex. Then there are still two more pyramids to fight through, because if there’s one thing an immortal redneck loves, it’s when the shooting gets completely out of hand.

Developers Teku Studios clearly poured a lot of love and effort into Candle and it shows. From the breathtaking scenery and artwork to the terrific puzzle designs and unique worlds to discover and characters to interact with, Teku’s journey is easily one that deserves to have a light shone on it as well, as a showcase of a terrific platformer and adventure game. There are indeed a few hiccups and some moments of frustration (seriously, a controller is a must), but overall, this watercolor world crafts a painting of a terrific voyage and quite a near-masterpiece indeed.

Thanks to an incredible and thought-provoking story, a cast of well-rounded characters, and simple yet highly effective gameplay, The Red Strings Club easily kicks off 2018 on the right foot when it comes to adventure games. It’s a stellar cyberpunk story that easily keeps you coming back for more, thanks to its multiple narrative options and endings. Deconstructeam should be proud of what they’ve managed to weave together here and it goes without saying that a celebratory round of drinks may be in order.

Endling may be lacking on the difficulty side, but it more than makes up for it when it comes to delivering a breathtaking story about loss, survival and the environment, topped with a gorgeous art style and an impressive evolving world to explore. It may be a brief journey (clocking in at around four hours), but it’s one that’s worth playing through, an emotional roller coaster that’s still fun to play and gets you invested in the struggles of our furry friends, so don’t sleep on it.

Lords of Darkness is a solid action game that just gets better the farther in you go, loaded with content and high production values despite its barely-passable framerate, but it doesn't do much to earn the Castlevania name.

Much like its title, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow — Mirror of Fate plays with multiple concepts attempting to garner widespread appeal, but would be better suited focusing on just one. Still, MercurySteam clearly understands how to design a sidescroller, with Mirror of Fate featuring a huge map packed with content that recalls some of the better level design in the series. If one can get past the insipid visuals and derivative combat, there’s a fine adventure here that acts as a primer for the franchise’s continued viability on Nintendo’s handheld.

Everhood 2 is a game that's all over the place, with different stories, changing art styles, a unique combat system and a main plot that somehow makes more sense as it's getting weirder. While the central hook may be the combat system it shares equal time with everything surrounding it, even if the music-based combat and the weirdness of the story and settings feel like two separate games most of the time. It's also a game that demands patience, seeing as its plot can feel like a series of non-sequiturs until various story strands start connecting, but while it never makes perfect sense it's still fun to see which bits of the weirdness pay off and which bits of pretentiousness eventually have the wind taken out of their sails. The post-death world takes a bit of getting used to, but it's got an underlying almost-logic holding things together, and when that's not enough then dancing through the combat will see a wandering soul eventually find its way home.

Kromaia is by no means a perfect game, but the action at its heart has an excellent flow.  The camera hates being near walls, I never found any practical use for the hookshot, one of the checkpoints is right under a swinging pendulum that will instantly knock off a shield if you don’t boost out of the way the second you respawn, and the penalty for grazing something (asteroid, enemy, random wall) is to get turned around in a random disorienting direction, but when everything is working, the combat runs hot.  A swarm of spinning stars hovers in the distance, waiting for an opening to charge while off to the side an enemy platform made of interconnected cubes you can shoot off one by one charges up a laser barrage and a pair of light-spear launchers are charging up to turn into a serious threat.  Using the concentrated laser power of the red ship takes out the central joint in the cube-platform, scattering its pieces in a single sustained shot, and then boost takes you out of the line of fire of the spears and charging stars.  Friendly fire is always on, so one of the stars explodes against a spear, and a few precise shots of the regular laser thins the rest of the star herd while the spear-shooters recharge.  By then your secondary charge laser is ready to shoot again to take them both down, but more enemies are flying in to replace the ones you’ve dispatched.  In the meantime there’s another gate fragment in the distance and an interesting structure off to the side that might house a much-needed shield.  It’s been under ten seconds since this encounter started, and the next ten don’t look to be any simpler.  Kromaia is a giant hyper-saturated burst of color, speed and heavy firepower, as stylish as it can be difficult, and it’s impossible not to forgive a few questionable design elements when the enemies are swarming and the action takes off.

A far more confident and competent iteration of the Souls template than what came before, Lords of the Fallen‘s all-round impressive design is marred by occasional technical issues and all-too-frequent questions on its very philosophy around challenge. Get past these rough spots, however, and what you’ll find is a game that not only understands the pull and appeal pivotal to this sub-genre, but at times, offers room to add even more nuance to a saturated style of action RPG. It’s these surprisingly-intriguing additions alongside the usual flair of compelling boss fights and environments to carefully get through that does just enough to grant Hexworks a far more positive perception, all things considered. Flawed it may be and guilty of applying the wrong lessons in its design, it may stumble, but Lords of the Fallen does eventually find its stride. Serving up another feature-rich package that will appeal to a large number of Souls veterans.

Blind Fate: Edo no Yami is a good game that’s held back by a lack of polish. It has a diverse array of kinds of platforming action with a blend of swordplay, platforming and sense-based puzzle-solving, but it needs work when it comes to the visuals as they’re inconsistent. Some parts look fantastic, like the animation and overall movement, while parts of the environment suffer from still images being used instead of objects being in motion. The soundtrack is excellent though and the voice acting hits the notes it needs to, making Blind Fate worth a look.

Describing Tachyon Project as derivative is not intended to be dismissive. It manages to be what it sets out to be: fun. The joy of working up the leaderboard ranks is present and managing to surmount a particularly nasty swarm of baddies feels great. Eclipse Games picked a good target to copy and pulled it off with gusto. For the neophyte looking to get into this type of game, however, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is a better package overall. That one includes the basic version along with a host of different modes. Tachyon Project is for the people who have played that to death and want something else along the same lines.

Much like the actual dance, if you can get some friends together, Conga Master is a potential blast. While it’s a bit flawed in some areas for those going solo, it’s still unique and fun enough to still consider taking a peek at, unlike trying to do the aforementioned dance by yourself. It is a bit lacking in content and could use some slight tweaks for difficulty purposes, but it still controls like a dream, looks and sounds great, and has enough solid and addictive gameplay to pack a punch. So it might not be a full-on frenzy, but this is indeed one mob that knows how to have a really good time.

Everhood 2 is all over the place with changing art styles, a unique combat system and a plot that somehow makes more sense as it's getting weirder.

Call of the Sea could benefit from having more substance, but otherwise it’s a solid adventure game that manages to put a unique spin on the traditional Lovecraftian adventure. Norah’s journey is a memorable one, thinks to some terrific dialogue and a breathtaking, surreal island full of fantastical mystery. It may not be the most challenging graphic adventure game, but it’s still one that players might want to take a look at sometime. After all, after so many sheer descents into madness, why not set out to find a welcome change of pace?

While Relicta does at least try to put in the work to help bolster the scale of its world with a story to support it and characters to refer back to, the end result is far from one you can take seriously. In no way helped by what is a rather clumsy and laughably-amateurish mix of inconsistent performances. At the very least, where it matters most, the focus on physics manipulation results in a good mix of challenge that, while not the most inventive or consistent of puzzle outings, still offers an occasional delight with how its more emergent puzzle-solving inevitably plays out. Though there may be better and more narratively-intriguing entries out there already, for genre enthusiasts focused squarely on the puzzles themselves, Relicta‘s subtle self-awareness in its own pitch — as much the assortment of challenges on display — are enough to help it win out in the end.

Kromaia Omega is by no means a perfect game, but the action at its heart has an excellent flow. I never found any practical use for the hookshot and backtracking to explore the level sometimes leaves you with nobody to shoot, but the combat runs hot when everything is working. A swarm of spinning stars hovers in the distance, waiting for an opening to charge while off to the side an enemy platform made of interconnected cubes you can shoot off one by one charges up a laser barrage and a pair of light-spear launchers are charging up to turn into a serious threat. Using the concentrated laser power of the red ship takes out the central joint in the cube-platform, scattering its pieces in a single sustained shot, and then boost takes you out of the line of fire of the spears and charging stars. Friendly fire is always on, so one of the stars explodes against a spear, and a few precise shots of the regular laser thins the rest of the star herd while the spear-shooters recharge. By then your secondary charge laser is ready to shoot again to take them both down, but more enemies are flying in to replace the ones you’ve dispatched. In the meantime, there’s another gate fragment in the distance and an interesting structure off to the side that might house a much-needed shield. It’s been under ten seconds since this encounter started and the next ten don’t look to be any simpler. Kromaia Omega is a giant hyper-saturated burst of color, speed and heavy firepower, as stylish as it can be difficult, and it’s impossible not to forgive a few questionable design elements when the enemies are swarming and the action takes off.

Call of the Sea could benefit from having more substance, but otherwise it's a solid adventure game that manages to put a unique spin on the traditional Lovecraftian adventure.

Despite its brevity ultimately doing some notable harm to it, Rise & Shine is still ultimately a solid platformer for the most part, one that has a lot of cute callbacks to classic video games while still having its own unique charm, along with some impressive graphics and nifty ideas sprinkled throughout. The action gets nice and intense, and save for the end, puts up a meaty yet fair challenge. So while it isn’t exactly the greatest at skewering gaming culture while also honoring it, it’s still an overall good game, and one that may indeed be worth checking out. At the very least, you get another chance to kill the Duck Hunt dog again, just in case you still couldn’t get enough of that before.

While the writing is a little generic and the voice acting isn’t perfect, Eden Genesis still has a considerable amount of charm. Some voice acting is much better than the rest, so most characters' voices will be hit or miss. It's still fun to see the story unfold, but during some periods of the game, the writing can start to be a drag or might just not click for you. Eden Genesis is still a fun game to play and the gameplay loop is top-notch. The trials we are given to complete start easy, but grow into legitimate challenges that will take many tries when you're looking to get the best rank possible.

Though its first episode is a bit of a letdown, especially when you consider that A Crowd of Monsters was billing this as one of the most anticipated titles of 2015 (whether or not this is true is another story entirely), there is a chance that Blues and Bullets might wind up being something special. It’s art direction and its mood are definitely things to behold, but a great deal of pacing issues and occasional technical problems prevent its first episode from being something that can be wholeheartedly recommended. Still, this is the type of mediocre beginning that might wind up being a bump in the road rather than a sign of things to come, but that’s something that only time will tell. One thing is for certain, though: if the next four episodes are of this quality, Blues and Bullets will absolutely not be in the same ballpark as games like The Walking Dead and Life is Strange.

Randal’s Monday might not be the next great adventure game, but by focusing on the same humor and style as Clerks, it has a charm to it. The animation and voice acting is superb, channeling the spirit of Sunday night animated shows without being edgy for edgy’s sake. For all his sociopathy and kleptomania, Randal is a likable protagonist and you’ll want to follow him throughout his day, even in repeat. Still, the gameplay flaws are apparent, especially in the sluggish pacing and occasionally bad puzzle design. For every superb demonstration of classic adventure creativity, there’s an example of lazy construction. The hint system could have used an overhaul, as it simply reveals the solution. Despite these flaws, however, Randal’s Monday has a place. Its lengthy story justifies its $25 price tag, and you’ll find some memorable moments scattered throughout. Randal’s Monday doesn’t do everything right, but the things it does do right are daring, and in a genre that’s been lost to the ether for years, that’s definitely something.

Much of the time in this review was spent bagging on Anima: Gate of Memories’ many, many (many) flaws. Whether it was due to lack of experience, budget, or some combination of both, this game can be rightfully derided and relegated to the junk heap. Every positive that it brings to the table is counterpointed with a legitimate detraction. Yet, there is something here. The story is contrived, but intriguing. The combat is poorly balanced, but still has moments of greatness. I have never reviewed a game with so many glaring problems that I have enjoyed so much. So, players with a strong sense of patience and more forgiveness than should be required in their souls should check this out. There are jewels among the rubble of this tower.

Go ahead and call it a rip-off of whatever shooter you’ve played before, but compared to other games that have done exactly the same thing, Tragnarion Studios made sure that this one would at least take the horrid aspects of a “bad game” out of the equation. Gameplay is passable, but shooting feels smooth and the skillsets that are set for all four characters in Echo squad add replay value for those who want to fire off some more lead. Had there been some polish in some of the controls, an added depth to the story mode and more matchmaking online, Scourge: Outbreak would have been one of the biggest downloadable surprises this year. Still, for around $10, it’s worth playing — especially with friends.

GYLT introduces a new IP to a new system with some world building elements that hearken back to some of Tequila Works’ previous titles, which isn’t a bad thing at all. The mix of action adventure with stealth gameplay elements creates a gaming experience that doesn’t get boring and the overall atmosphere has a bit of a Silent Hill vibe. The unclear circumstances that lead to the current state of Sally’s town help build intrigue as pieces of that world’s history gradually are revealed throughout the game. GYLT may not be the killer app to necessitate acquiring a Stadia, but it is an enjoyable game and a few more exclusive titles of this caliber could help make Stadia a viable contender in the video game market.

At its best, there’s certainly moments of appreciation and respect for the artistic detail Narita Boy lavishes in, with its pixel art and generally-eery vision of cyberspace run amok with corrupted foes. At the very least, the game’s somewhat-warped screen display and drenching in ’80s culture tropes is anything but off-putting. The problem then lies with its simplicity of delivery and the game’s general lack of appeasing those looking for something more than surface-level attraction. A world that too often feels unnecessarily padded on a level design basis; a combat system though not terrible, feels a little too undecided on what it exactly wants to be. And beyond that, a story/narrative the game really could’ve gone without given how little relevance or even impact it holds on a player’s progression. Venturing through the Digital Kingdom does spark some moments of delight. But beyond its art-style and fond execution on aesthetic, Narita Boy‘s unenthusiastic lack of originality and care for its overarching design, winds up carving out a satisfactory yet tepid debut for Studio Koba.

Alien Spidy is far from a bad game and can be quite addictive when the jumping mechanic actually works the way it should. Between that and some web-slinging issues, however, the game can easily become more frustrating than fun. Fortunately, sticking with it rewards you with some incredible-looking graphics that hold up nicely compared to the PC version, and feature one of the most diverse color palettes in recent memory. The soundtrack gets old, but it’s nothing some simple menu-surfing can’t solve. If you like challenging platformers with some minor puzzle elements thrown in, you’ll probably love Alien Spidy. The control issues make it hard to recommend at full price, but it’s an easy recommendation to try out when it goes on sale at some point in the future.

Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle starts off as a great adventure game, with plenty of potential, but basically throws it all away.

Sonar Beat is a clever rhythm game with a pleasant soundtrack and a good visual style.  It also gets very hard very fast, with the early songs showing accessible note tracks before things get out of hand around level six.  As the sonar arm speeds up on the more difficult songs it makes for less and less time to read the notes before it’s time to tap them away, so even if you’ve got a good head for the rhythm it’s hard to know what the song is going to ask of you.  When the later songs got too brutal, though, I’d go back and play one of the earlier ones to get a sense of what Sonar Beat could be.  There’s a good design in here but to make it work the note tracks needed to work with sonar’s layout and be a little more in tune with human-standard reactions.  The first several songs are good fun to play but then the difficulty wall chunks itself into place and instead of playing the music you end up flailing away, hoping to clear away as many outer notes as possible while guarding the center ring against the advancing missed ones.  You can survive that way, but it’s not particularly musical, and that’s a problem for a music-rhythm game.

For those looking for the kind of wind-me-down indie title that can still rustle up a good, nuanced frustration from time to time, BOOR will meet that demand (if not exceed it) without letting its potential annoyances get in the way or become the focal point. Unfortunately, there’s not much else to find in this brief puzzle-platformer that warrants the case a bulk of the developer’s true focus was really, truly invested that deeply. The simplified and illustrative presentation is a pleasant assortment of pinkish-reds and greyscale tones and the way this basic geometry can at times deliver something a little more complex and demanding in the gameplay front can be regarded the game’s real height at points. A pleasant experience it may be, just don’t expect anything other than conformity to a tried-and-tested formula.

To clear the palate, and because it’s so much fun, I put some time in with Robotron 2084 after I decided I was done with this game. For reference’s sake, I only discovered Robotron in recent years and have no history with the title to feel nostalgic about. It still holds up, though. The ramping up the challenge is perfect, allowing the player to get used to enemy behavior before moving to the next wave. It’s still relentless, requiring an almost superhuman level of situational awareness and quick reflexes. It is a masterwork on how to destroy a player but leave them wanting more. Bot Vice, on the other hand, is missing that magic. With another pass for tuning, the title could be something really special. All the pieces are already there. For now, though, it is something that should only be acknowledged by the truly masochistic.

Perhaps it’s unfortunate that Calendula comes a mere month after Pony Island took almost everyone by surprise and as such is already at a disadvantage as to its perception from the user-base. That said, there’s something intriguing to gather from the way Blooming Buds so vigorously push for the “game about games” concept and are able to take it in numerous different directions. Ultimately, Calendula falters because of its lack of an end result and rewarding pay-off to the unsettling nature preceding it. It’s a game that tries too hard to be vague and ambiguous that it ultimately leaves the content that is there to process feeling disproportionately stagnant.

House of Caravan’s physics are broken beyond repair, but if anything that turns out to be a welcome distraction from a game whose “key features” include – and I’m paraphrasing here – “you have to turn most of the lights on yourself!” Rosebud’s claims of “top-notch graphics” are a little more appealing, and even accurate if they were going for a house where everything is made of wood, but that’s just about all the game has going for it. This game is a total waste of time and money, and the best I can really say for it is that it doesn’t waste much of either. In fact, in a day or two, you’ll probably have forgotten it entirely.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a big budget project gone horribly wrong. The graphics and voice acting are top notch, but everything else is a complete wreck. Environments are boring and repetitive, combat is uninspired, platforming is a joke and the stealth elements are some of the worst ever conceived from a major publisher. It’s a dismal affair through and through and an absolute slog to finish. MercurySteam has publicly stated that they don’t want to be the “Castlevania studio,” and that is abundantly clear in this phoned-in mess of a game.

Eight dollars seems too high, especially since the experience is pretty short, and while smashing things has some entertainment value, the overall feeling coming out is “that was really annoying.”

Zack Zero could have shot for the star of “inoffensive mediocrity” and gotten higher marks for the effort. What’s on display here, however, is the product of a game development fiasco that dragged some seemingly good people through a gauntlet of emotional and financial insanity. Turmoil doesn’t define a project, but I can’t help but wonder if herein lies the example of when it can and absolutely does. Maybe Zack Zero will improve with the sequel they teased, but for now its name is more telling than the developer may have intended.

The second episode of Blues and Bullets falls short in enough ways to make it easy to recommend staying away from it at this point until all five episodes are out in the wild. First and foremost, not enough consideration was given to the fact that it’s tough to dive back into a narrative-heavy episodic title after eight months, even with the sequence at the beginning of the episode depicting some of the major story beats. There is simply far too much assumed knowledge necessary to dive back into Blues and Bullets and feel totally at ease with the proceedings, which is sad considering that a line of explanatory dialogue here or there would have completely solved this issue. Add in the fact that the shooting sequences are far too long and mundane for their own good, and Shaking the Hive feels more like a slog than the thrilling entry it clearly had the potential to be. On top of all of this, several unnecessary scenes and a general feeling of sterility from some of the most potentially powerful moments make Shaking the Hive a missed opportunity. With that said, Blues and Bullets still boasts an interesting premise and the potential to right the ship after its weakest entry to date, but the current path its on doesn’t necessarily bode well for the future.

While the short run-time of around two to three hours isn’t inherently the root of the problem, one can’t help but note Godstrike is in dire need of a better, fleshed out experience than the one provided. Even so, as unfinished and slap-dash this effort feels, Godstrike rarely comes off all that enticing to either control or jump straight back into upon death. It’s the generally uninspired and empty spectacle of color and imagery that is equally at fault. But it’s mostly the fault of the bizarre emphasis on a timer that ends up the biggest culprit. A mechanic that doesn’t so much work against the player, but whose reason for even being is lost altogether. There are plenty of better examples in the field of boss-rush titles — games that go out of their way to make even the spectacle and world around you, as inviting as their nuanced, tension-building encounters so wonderfully carve out. This, however, is not one of them. For all its screen-popping color and promise of literal time as a vital mechanic for success, Godstrike is a shockingly flat and tedious attempt at standing out.

Enchanted Portals is an absolute mess, plain and simple. Every part of its gameplay is either way too random, broken, or broken in how random it is. It’s an insult to Cuphead and the other run-and-gun platformers it takes inspiration from, with awkward controls and unbelievably cheap difficulty. And it’s not like even a few patches down the line could help things much, since the level design would still be as dull as dishwater. Even the graphics and a couple of neat bosses can’t even begin to help salvage this wreck. Brief as it is, it’s still a travesty that doesn’t even deserve a clever closing line for its review.

Enchanted Portals is an absolute mess, plain and simple.

Reservoir Dogs is a classic movie that deserves a better homage than Bloody Days for its 25th anniversary. The only equivalent would be if your dog died and it got replaced with a turtle. This was not an enjoyable experience and feels like an even sloppier cash-in on a movie franchise than the latest Ghostbusters game did. At least that had some depth. On paper, the idea of a Reservoir Dogs game coupled with what Big Star Games is pitching would warrant a purchase, but the annoying Time Rewind feature and complete lack of connectivity to the actual movie makes this feel like a trip to the dentist. Although at least with that you’d come out with clean teeth.