Aliens: Dark Descent is an authentically atmospheric campaign borrowing from both turn-based tactics and survival horror, stymied by a seemingly deep paranoia you might mistake it for one of those strategy games for nerds. It's not. It's not for nerds. It's for cool Aliens fans. You can use a controller. It's not for nerds.
Wartales is a grimy medieval fantasy tactical RPG rife with emergent stories. Our review.
Two final girl sprints forward and one terrified limp back, The Devil in Me is the strongest Dark Pictures to date, but still feels like Supermassive are yet to find the right balance between fun and frights, camp and terror, and interactivity and storytelling.
Signalis is like playing a classic survival horror on your PS1, but you accidentally spilled a bucket of raw meat in the disc tray. Also, your PS1 is possessed by a malevolent cosmic entity that you're madly in love with.
Dune: Spice Wars is a compact, complex 4X, but an inconsistent midgame and lack of narrative decision making hold it back from maximum spiciness.
RPGolf Legends is an admirably odd and confident golf minigame/ARPG hybrid, brought down by a tedious structure.
A sandbox tactical/RPG hybrid with gritty, low fantasy charm, Wartales is systemically ambitious, but sturdy and clever enough to hold its own.
Short of somehow also being a massive box full of toys, I couldn’t ask for more from this loving and skillful adaptation.
Aragami 2’s ninja garb is frayed around the edges, but it’s still an easy, breezy fit. Perfect for a quick-fix of stealth, and joyfully light on its feet.
Garden Story's frequent combat is hit-and-miss in this ARPG, but behind it is a sweet and sincere tale set in a land you’ll care about saving.
King’s Bounty 2’s hexed-based battles, customisation and army management are all a good time. The RPG they’re packaged with is baggy and bland.
Occasionally neat visuals and cyber magic can’t save cyberpunk shooter Foreclosed from firing damp squibs on all cylinders.
My only real major disappointment with Atmomicrops is that the advertised simulation bits turn out only to be a few light nods to the genre. It’s got some simulation-shaped aspects, sure, but they’re flimsy plastic ferns in comparison to the very much alive and dynamic creeper vines of its shooty-dodgy core. This said, the farming does make fighting more interesting simply by providing a worthwhile distraction, leading to almost unbearably chaotic instances of frantic multitasking. As long as you know what you’re getting into, and are up for sewing a few hours of practise in before you reap the rewards, I think it’s well worth your cashews. Which I’ve only just realised are a play on ‘cash’. Ooh.
It’s a winner. Sixteen tons of detail, sixteen tons of character, sixteen tons of riotous bug blasting, spelunking co-operative goodness. Deep Rock Galactic is a company I’ve got no qualms about selling my soul to for hours more to come.
It’s a game that pays homage to genre conventions like hacking and exploration, but with forward facing design. Rather than backwards. Then side to side. Then 90 degrees to the left. Monch monch.