Immortals of Aveum feels like Bad Company with spells instead of guns – First Impressions
Immortals of Aveum impresses with its tight focus on creative spell casting and narrative focus.
Review: Like a Dragon: Ishin!
Developer – Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Publisher – Sega Platforms – PlayStation 4|5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X Like a Dragon, Ishin is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 2014 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles. Like a Dragon Ishin is set in Japan during the 19th century, a period that is commonly known as the Bakumatsu era. The game is a spin-off of the Yakuza series of video games, which also follows the main protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, as he fights off rival gangsters in modern-day Japan. The gameplay of Like a Dragon Ishin is similar to the Yakuza series, where players engage in various activities, such as exploration, combat, and questing. The game features new elements, such as sword-fighting mechanics and gunplay, which are essential to the game’s historical setting. The storyline focuses on Ryoma Sakamoto’s life and events during the Meiji era. Players can visit locations based on real-life places, such as Kyoto and Hakodate. The game features a blend of RPG and action gameplay mechanics, where players can level up their character’s stats by engaging in battles and completing quests. The game also features a variety of minigames, such as gambling, fishing, and bowling. Players can also collect items and equipment to enhance their character’s abilities. The combat system in Like a Dragon Ishin consists of a combination of swordplay and hand-to-hand combat. Players can switch between different fighting styles during battles and use various attacks and combinations to defeat enemies. Players can also use quick-time events for cinematic finishing moves against powerful foes. The combat is deep and versatile, with enough changes to keep it fresh even if you played every game in this lengthy series. In addition to combat, Like a Dragon Ishin includes several other gameplay elements. Players can explore the city of Kyoto, participate in mini-games and side quests, and even engage in romantic relationships with various female characters. The game also includes a unique sword crafting system, allowing players to customize and upgrade their weapons using materials they collect throughout the game. Side Stories are once again a highlight, as the slice of life adventures around the serious plot are the perfect excuse to explore off the beaten path. Like a Dragon Ishin features stunning graphics and an immersive storyline based on real historical events. The game accurately portrays the political and social conditions of the Bakumatsu era and includes detailed depictions of historical figures such as Sakamoto Ryoma, Katsu Kaishu, and Takasugi Shinsaku. Overall, Like a Dragon Ishin is a captivating and entertaining video game that combines exciting gameplay with an educational and historically accurate storyline, minus the karaoke tigers and bears.
Review: The Valiant
The Valiant is a tactical RTS inspired by Company of Heroes and Dawn of War, two seminal classic RTS titles. Even though legendary titles inspire it, The Valiant does an okay job of partially living up to the legacy but faltering in others. The Valiant comes with the usual assortment of modes you would expect from a fully featured RTS. Like Company of Heroes, it contains a fun story-driven campaign featuring extensive story elements and narrative moments. Each mission features small-scale tactics with your heroes and small squads in brutal tactical skirmishes. So far, even early on, the game will test your skills and tactical decision-making on the fly with varied objectives. The Valiant is not about sitting back, building a vast base, and pumping out a massive army to win. Tactics are king here, with missions often starting with limited units. Thankfully none of the challenges comes from poor PC performance or a wrong port. Considering the vast amount of options the control scheme has been pulled off very well and becomes second nature after a couple of hours. Training mode is helpful and recommended as it will ensure you are calm as soon as a battle starts. In addition to the different heroes, you also have skill trees. They are varied, offer other tactical options, and even contain that can significantly change the gameplay. These unlock also carry over to the multi-player and skirmish matches as well. The Valiant isn’t a beauty; sometimes, the units can get lost in battle. It never feels like you have a bird’s eye view of a fantastic tactical battle. It feels like you are clashing symbols against armies of soldiers. The standard multiplayer affair is lacking, with the lack of depth and base building hurting longevity. If you’re looking for a fun but brief tactical RTS, you could do worse than the Valiant. Unfortunately. You can also do much better, and this game’s inspirations are admirable, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
Review: Triangle Strategy
Developer – Artdink Publisher – Square-Enix Platforms – Nintendo Switch, PC In Triangle Strategy, players explore each kingdom and its neighboring countries. You play as various characters as the war develops over precious resources. From tactical battles, huge narrative story branches, and protracted war campaigns where you must manage your party and make choices that affect the scales of justice. Triangle Strategy has a strong premise, and the narration that kicks off the adventure is somber. The story and setting the table for the next 30 hours of the story the player will embark upon. The storyline is essential, and your companions have a lot of stories themselves. Outside the hub, much of the story comes from banter between your party members as they discuss a wide range of topics and react to how you are growing as a leader. One of my favorite aspects of the story is your group’s persistence and how much they develop as individuals and with each other. Overall the story is satisfying, with various endings based on how you play the campaign out. If the voice acting were poorly written or acted, the sparse storytelling would fall apart, but instead, I was eager to hear the party converse about any number of topics. It was a big motivation to continue exploring each relationship more and more as the overall campaign progressed. The game itself is a classic take on the SRPG genre, such as Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics. The battles are sparse in the early chapters, but the decisions in the story affect the campaign battles, and later you can opt to participate in optional fights to keep your roster strong. It provides a nice change of pace and is a decent gameplay loop. If it seems straightforward, it’s because it is. Throughout the playtime, the gameplay never changes. You should be able to tell if the style is for you. A leveling and gear system back the gameplay. While offering a bit of diversity and options, they are about as lean as the core gameplay. Just enough to get your feet wet, but nothing that will have you taking out a DPS sheet and calculating numbers. This may have its root in pen-and-paper RPGs, but it’s a pretty simplistic take on tactics, RPG mechanics, and gear. I didn’t find it to be too big of an issue. If it dragged on any longer, that simplicity could have grown stale, but the game doesn’t overstay its welcome despite its lengthy playtime. You have a clear goal, and your progression is nice and tight for the entire journey. Some battles near the end can drag as the enemy count constantly grows. That can be frustrating, but the AI provides a decent challenge without resorting to cheats or unfair CPU advantages. Artdink delivers a tactical delight with a deep, challenging tactical tale of revenge and the war that takes place. Triangle Strategy is a stellar title from a sound studio and an excellent return to the SRPG genre that has seen a resurgence.
Review: No More Heroes 3
Developer – GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE INC. Publisher – XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc., Marvelous Platforms – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PC, Switch The No More Heroes titles were great games by developer Grasshopper and the twisted mind of Suda 51. It’s a blend of type character action and pulpy pop culture references and humor that tastes like a dry-rubbed Deadpool. No More Heroes 3 takes place after the events of the previous games. Instead of the Assassin rankings, you play as returning protagonist Travis Touchdown and quickly are introduced to the concept of Aliens and superheroes. This story element is also the game’s biggest evolution from their previous games. Aliens rule the world, and you must ascend through the ranks to not just reach fame, but to save the entire world. The core gameplay loop is also anchored by tried and true NMH gameplay weapon, the Beamsaber. Grappling moves to catch and unleash slams are back, and just as bombastic as they’ve always been. Like the earlier titles, you can do side jobs to earn income and purchase a variety of moves and upgrades. These additions aren’t just added for excitement and flair, but they are crucial to making any real progress. NMH 3 can be difficult, so taking advantage of these upgrades is crucial to surviving later boss fights. These new systems fold into everything from their previous games to create an incredible layer of depth to the combat. It also runs like a dream on next-gen and PC, unlike the first iteration on the Switch. As a returning veteran, the new gameplay mechanics help establish a new learning curve, and it was a much-welcome layer of depth to a combat system I’d grown comfortable with. New players I feel might have a hard time because the sheer amount of strange activities and flavor of No More Heroes might be lost to brand-new players. Thankfully, this game features multiple difficulty modes, and even a casual mode to ensure all players of skill will be able to participate. No More Heroes 3 is a light-hearted affair full of wit, humor, and over-the-top boss battles. Using a mecha suit and defeating aliens is a nice change of pace from earlier games. I can’t help but feel as if Travis Touchdown should take a long break, and the series as a whole could use a possible shift in style.
A Total War in every sense of the word – Total War: Warhammer III Immortal Empires Impressions
Developer – Creative Assembly Publisher – Sega Platforms – PC, Gamepass Total War: Warhammer III was a revelation upon its release earlier this year. A game that completely consumed me for months on end. The combination of the Total War gameplay and the Warhammer time period created something unique. The sleek interface and refined hero units created compelling, long-lasting, and satisfying campaigns. Now Total War is no stranger to DLC or expansions, often releasing several for all of the mainline Total War titles. The Warhammer was no exception, and every game in the trilogy has been well supported with new factions and legendary lords. Warhammer II also saw a feature that combined the maps and factions from both games into something new, promising more to come in the future. Immortal Empires is fulfilling a promise before the first Warhammer spinoff was released. A trilogy of Warhammer and Total War, with a world matching the audacity and sheer size the Warhammer universe demands. This free update adds all of the Warhammer 3 factions, and all returning factions have been touched or adjusted in one way or another. Factions have several unique leaders each. Alongside the new factions come new mechanics, sea lanes, and a new world comprised of elements from the trilogy. Mastery of these new mechanics is how you will either expand your rule or collapse under the weight of the sheer number of mechanics and enemy armies to worry about. Even though Warhammer III is the new game, the returning leaders aren’t outdone. Every returning faction from Total War: Warhammer is also updated as well. You can play as the Wood Elves and face off against Kislev or the Tomb Kings as you fight the Ogre Kingdoms. It’s a sandbox with everybody invited to play, and the possibilities are endless. The expanded mechanics and the new starting positions aren’t a complete game changer, but the balance changes make everybody feel better to use. It all adds up to making the campaign cohesive and expansive from the beginning to the end and is easy to recommend for new or returning veterans. Immortal Empires is a free update that brings several excellent quality of life changes alongside the Blood Gods pack, which paints every battle with a fresh layer of glorious crimson. It also hosts a bevy of new features, units, and gameplay styles to enrich the strategic elements of the campaign map and battles alike. The Immortal Empires campaign is a rich, complete expansion-sized update with exciting new playstyles, commanders, and variety. This is the definitive Total War: Warhammer experience and worthy of the time investment.
Review: Way of the Hunter
Developer – Nine Rocks Games Publisher – THQ Nordic Platforms – PlayStation, Xbox, PC Way of the Hunter is the latest in a long line of hunting simulation titles vying to bring you the relaxed nature of the outdoors but the slow burn intensity of a hunt. It succeeds at doing both, but only mildly if you have the patience to sit through the various technical issues and bugs that are more dangerous than any wild game nature has in store for you. Way of the Hunter begins with a typical hunt: I have to hunt a mule deer with abnormal antlers in the tutorial. The game also explains why: My grandpa has already killed his father, and both are now to be exhibited on a diorama in the hunting lodge. In the later course, however, I can choose the animals to be hunted myself and have to pay attention to the diversity of species. There is a Batman sense that the game brings to help us. It’s called hunter intuition, and I doubt how much it helps you. It often misleads you and causes you to run in vain. When you turn on this intuition, you can see glowing places around, which provide clues about animals. This way, you can see information such as water drinking, resting place, and footprints. However, you must keep your head down and walk to follow the trail when this feature is on. As if that’s not enough, the most incredible beauty that this intuition gives us is showing the place where animals make their last sound. However, when you consider such finely thought-out details about hunting in the game, you regret even more what potential has been lost. For example, the bullets you will use for small creatures such as birds, the gun and even the position you shoot affect the quality of the hunt. Likewise, the work you spend significant pursuits gives you extra frustration if you can kill the prey and then struggle to find it in the forest without any information after killing it. Various bugs cause problems as well. Sometimes you can stroll, but animals still run away for no apparent reason. This is also factoring in scents and minding wind direction. The buggy nature of stealth ultimately dampens any momentum you may build on a particular hunt. A successful shot feels more like dumb luck than tactical awareness and an acute sense of nature. Co-op multiplayer is included, but it’s poorly thought out. Neither player can interact with the hub, and you can’t even ride vehicles together. The various bugs making animals flee too quickly are exasperated by another player in the session. If you have the patience, and perhaps with a few patches it can get there.
Review: Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires
Warriors 9: Empires is the newest entry, focusing on the spin-off, empire-building, and character creation fans love. In the past, Empires has typically focused on sandbox gameplay more than telling a story. From the perspective of many different characters while never delving too deeply into anyone’s account in particular. You would see a few battles from various characters such as Guan Yu, Lu Bu, and countless others. The overall gameplay of DW9 is the same as the past. You are given a roster of characters to choose two officers from for each battle – some rosters are more limited than others depending on the fight. As you play those characters, they gain experience and mastery of their equipped weapons and horses. During the battles, you will collect new weapons and skill points and gems to use to customize your characters even further. Each character has a skill tree which allows you to unlock better stats or new moves to use as the character grows in strength. For instance, you can unlock the passive ability to have a “second wind” when your character’s health reaches zero – they are automatically revived one time during the fight. Another example of upgrades are unlocking multiple special attack gauges that allow you to use the ability multiple times in a row. These aspects are pretty familiar to fans of the genre. In combat, you are able to select four abilities to call upon in battle. These can be buffs which allow you to deal more damage or bolster your defense. They can also be attacking abilities such as sprinting full speed into a group of enemies or performing huge attacks that sweep across the screen. These abilities are usable multiple times but have a short cooldown between uses. This separates older entries that may have relied purely on pressing combinations of light attacks and heavy attacks to perform a variation or special attack. Weapons are still customizable as in previous Warriors games. Weapons are given ranks, attack stats, and modifiers dictated by the gems you add to a weapon. For instance, you may find a weapon with eight gem slots, and you can pick and choose which modifiers you want to add to a weapon. You may want your glaive to have a more extended range of attack, with a wind element, and when you kill an officer, you gain a buff to your speed for 30 seconds. This is achievable and up to the player to choose how they want to customize their weapons. These gems can also be upgraded to produce more significant effects. The most significant update in empires is the visuals. The characters are beautifully rendered with a cell shading ink that gives new life to the officers we have seen in many entries. The attack animations, combined with the sheer number of enemies on the screen simultaneously, are quite a sight. I had to see at least 100 enemies on the field at a given time, mostly flying through the air as I performed giant attacks to knock them off their feet. Overall, I think there is much to like here with Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. Fans of the genre will enjoy the updated visuals, and how focused the empire building is compared to the last few games.
Review: Weird West
Developer – WolfEye Studios Publisher – Devolver Digital Platforms – PC, PS4, Xbox One, Gamepass Weird West is the first game from developer WolfEye Studios. They are comprised of veterans from Arkane who developed the Dishonored and Prey series. Knowing their stellar history is important in many ways. Weird West is the culmination of all of their previous games, ideas, and concepts combined into one stellar title. On the surface, many people would classify Weird West as an isometric action RPG. It’s so much more than that once you dig a bit deeper under the surface. It’s one part action, one part narrative adventure game, and one part the detective game everybody didn’t know they wanted. Furthermore, it is the culmination of all their work in the immersive sim genre. You play as six different characters through the campaign. Right from the moment you press play, you’re thrust into a world absolutely drenched with atmosphere and style. It takes place in the Weird West. A place with as many supernatural elements as cowboys, shootouts and saloon bar fights. The atmosphere is second to none. Everything from the games visual style, the expressions on peoples faces and even the music help sell the dark, dreary misery of the setting. People are exhausted, shell shocked, and whatever is left is being ravaged by a dangerous outlaws and violent beasts. Weird West delves deep into the immersive sim proper. A pure sandbox with dynamic AI elements layered through the entire experience. Gameplay options abound, and just about every action you can think, the game lets you do. Every NPC will also remember every action you take. Subsequent characters in the campaign will inherit a world filled with the consequences of your previous character’s deeds and actions. This all comes together to create a fully fluid story dynamic. The arc you experience will be one of your own making. It’s a lot of fun, and basically provides just enough tools to play out your Van Helsing fantasy. The game’s UI and inventory management are layered on a fantastic upgrade system. The dialogue options and the attention paid to the lore makes Weird West an immersive sim, harking back to the classics such as the original Deus Ex. As an action RPG proper, Weird West is simply okay. It’s not a breakout in this field, but more than serviceable to provide fun moment to moment gameplay. Most of the AI can be tricked with clever positioning, and managing allies in a big firefight can be troublesome. Ina standard game these issues can be overlooked, but this genre is different. An ally dying because of clunky AI can dramatically change a story and how it unfolds. It doesn’t have the precision required to quite pull off stylish combat the way your skills should allow. Between enemy AI sometimes forgetting about you mid-fight, or the camera getting a bit awkward mid-fight in close quarters. It often feels like an isometric RPG made from a studio not too familiar with the genre. That best feature, is the narrative itself. This game really emphasize the role playing in RPG. Think of the traditional RPG. In so many of them, you visit and explore massive cities with tons of characters everywhere. Most of them are just there to fill in the world, and add nothing to the game outside of window dressing. In Weird West, that entire mindset is flipped on its head. Every single NPC has a name, a back-story and a social circle they belong too. They have things they like, hate, and are never as simple as you want or need them to be. The sheer attention to detail in each and every character is only surpassed by the excellent writing. The story, the way it is told, and how such an extensive web of characters and decisions make for a deep experience that will stay with you well after you are done experiencing any of the multiple endings it contains. Weird West feels like the next step in the immersive sim genre. Come for the premise, and stay for the excellent characters, the miserable version of the wild West they have created, and the superbly written story you didn’t know you wanted.
Review: SIFU
Developer – Sloclap Publisher – Sloclap Platforms – PC,PS4, PS5 SIFU is one part Absolver, one part classic Kung Fu cinema and developer Sloclap putting all their talent on display for the world to see. From the moment you start his game and turn it off it is dripping with style, martial arts, gorgeous architecture and pure action. The story is the classic revenge tale. Your father, a master, is betrayed by a gang led by a former students who kill him and cut your throat. It’s pretty brutal.However, instead of dying, your character lives, bound by a pendant his father owned that brings him back to life when he dies but ages him considerably. It’s a unique mechanic and a twist on the standard roguelike that has become prevalent as of late. Starting at age 20, you hunt down each one of the gang leaders on a quest for revenge. Using a whiteboard in your dojo, you have the basic set of clues that point you in the right direction towards each assassin. This format also provides the bulk of the replay value, as doing well in certain stages or exploring the environment unlocks new clues or items that can help you access a multitude of alternate paths and shortcuts in every stage.This helps replay value a ton, as alternate paths usually have completely new paths until you reach the boss of each stage. The gameplay is top notch. Featuring multiple combos, and extremely simple commands for special moves. Anybody can play this game, A complete novice can pick up a controller and within minutes will be pulling some moves that come right out of IP Man. The easy access doesn’t mean the game is without depth. Stripping away the layer of complex controls opens up the game to the part that action games don’t get too usually unless you are at a high level. The defensive mechanics. Do i block? What if my opponent hits me with a sweep? Do I risk the parry for a counter finish at low health? Not since Urban Reign has a simple session turned into 3 or 4 hours vanishing from the clock and then realizing you haven’t blinked for that whole time. SIFU isn’t perfect, as the campaign isn’t long clocking in at around four hours for my first run. Without endless battle modes or a survival arena, you end up running through the stages and bosses pretty quickly. SIFU is also missing all the online content Absolver had, and this also limits replay value a bit. Long after beating Absolver, playing online and helping or dueling other players was a great way to test out the mechanics and have fun with some friends. SIFU is all about mastery, repetition and honing your skills and reflexes to perfection. Although I’ve beaten the game multiple times, beating a whole run on a single life is not an easy task, but one I look forward to trying over and over again. Sloclap has created something new, fresh and exciting. SIFU’s tight combat focus and gorgeous level design creates a compelling action experience.
