Review: Robobeat

Developer – Simon Fredholm Publisher – Kwalee Platforms – PC, PS5 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S Review copy given by publisher Have you ever thought about shooting your firearm to the beat? Going into a gunfight with a soundtrack of your choice? Robobeat answers both of those questions with a resounding yes. You are thrown into large rooms full of enemies with only a gun and a beat to guide you. Shooting wildly isn’t the way to go as you must time your shots with the music. Listen to the beat and fire to deal the most damage and bring down enemies while dodging their attacks. On paper, this sounds fun but tricky. In practice, it’s an enjoyable process where you jam to the music. While playing other music in video games normally clashes with the atmosphere, Robobeat takes a different path. You have cassette tapes with varying music types and tempos, letting you choose how you approach a battle. Combine this with weapons that match the music tempo to unleash powerful devastation. Gameplay feels similar to other FPS shooters but the music plays a big factor. You are still responsible for timing your shots to the beat or you won’t damage anything. Once your shots match the rhythm, you deal great amounts of damage to an enemy. This FPS rhythm combination is difficult to manage at first, but the payoff is satisfying. It’s hard to find a game where you feel in sync with every gunshot. There are also tons of weapons to experiment with and music that fits different playstyles. As you go through the levels, you unlock more weapons and music tracks. The weapons you get during every run are randomized but you eventually learn their quirks. Thanks to the variety, you can spend hours finding the right experience or practicing with weapons. This extends the playtime and helps you develop an appreciation for the gameplay. While the concept of Robobeat is fun, it has a number of drawbacks. The first is ironically its greatest strength; the audio soundtracks. Your shots are powered by the timing of the beat. Each shot is powerful if you sync it well, but they are ineffective or useless if you can’t match the timing. This means that if you don’t respond well to audio cues or aren’t musically inclined, Robobeat is difficult to play. There is a work-around in which you can look at the crosshairs and see the incoming beats. But it’s tough to match your timing with incoming sounds, enemy attacks, and general chaos. This is not a game that is accessible to the hearing impaired, at least not without great practice. As cool as the concept is, it’s difficult to learn if you aren’t willing to spend time on it. Unless you love the concept of shooting with the beat, the gameplay might be more frustrating than impressive. It also feels like more work went into the gameplay itself than other aspects. There is a story in Robobeat but you would be hard pressed to describe what it is. This is the game’s second flaw; the other aspects don’t feel properly developed. You wouldn’t think that people would play Robobeat for the story, making it feel more like an excuse plot. There’s also no motivation because the exposition doesn’t explain anything. The control scheme also feels somewhat clunky and less responsive than you would like. You can use several moves like a double jump or a ground slam to assist in combat. However, the PS5 controls don’t respond well when you are pushed into a combat situation. It’s more likely you can double-jump in one spot rather than use it as a dodge mechanism. This is the third aspect that introduces more frustration rather than being a cool addition. This doesn’t mean that Robobeat isn’t a fun and enjoyable experience. But at its core, its unique gameplay is the only selling point. If you love shooting to the music, you can’t go wrong with Robobeat. The gameplay on its own is enough to keep you entertained for hours. However, everything else is lacking and that means you must love the gameplay if you want to stay interested.
Review: Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap

Developer – Robot Entertainment Publisher – Robot Entertainment Platforms – PC (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S Review copy given by Developer In a world where magic is vital to survival, it’s coveted by beings who plan to use magic in nefarious ways. Various realms are being invaded by orcs and it’s up to you to stop them. Previous orc invasions have cost them their powerful and unifying leader, splitting orcs into factions. You must fight the leaders of these factions and ensure the realms don’t fall victim to the orcs. Thanks to the power of trap technology, stopping the orcs is a real possibility. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap brings the fury of the orcs against calculated tower defense. A team of up to four players must set traps and stop the orcs from destroying a magical rift. By ensuring you set up barricades and traps in the proper way, you can stop most of the orcs from coming through. Any stragglers will be stopped by the heroes setting the traps, using a variety of unique abilities. Or the stragglers eventually turn into a horde, overpowering you and destroying the rift. Every player has access to a hero with unique advantages. Everyone’s traps will be the same allowing you to plan and coordinate different formations. The orcs will come from several directions with more entrances opening up as the waves go by. You must continue to prepare every wave as the hordes gradually grow in strength and number. While it is possible to play on your own, playing with friends helps you handle tougher waves. Every time you select a map, you choose a modifier that makes your game tougher. However, this is balanced by choosing a boon between enemy waves. The modifier and boons are different with every playthrough, providing some variety between games. What you choose depends on your short-term needs and what synergizes with your strategy. Both modifiers and boons carry over to new maps until the game ends, forcing you to be selective. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap encourages coordination and teamwork, making it a great multiplayer game. Even if you are playing solo, you can practice trap formations or test new strategies. Everyone works with the same resources and map layouts, with players choosing what traps they will use. Fortunately, even the standard set of traps everyone starts with is useful for high-level play. This allows beginners to play along with veterans and contribute equally. Unfortunately, it’s not easy for beginners to dive into a game and start playing. Traps do not come with explanations forcing you to hope for the best. While you can view the explanations outside of combat, it’s not intuitive. There are also no sample demonstrations of traps, forcing you to guess and hope for the best. While learning is part of the fun and you will make mistakes, not having more tutorials hurts newer players. The gameplay also becomes repetitive after a while making it difficult to retain interest. While you do have goals like unlocking new traps and upgrades, it’s a long process to get them all. That also means slogging through countless waves with friends just to get what you want. You can progress through the story if you like but it’s tough without allies. If your friends can’t maintain interest, playing the game solo may be too much for some players. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is fun to play and gives you a good tower defense fix if you are looking for one. It’s great to play with friends though if you are new to the series, you must spend time learning how to play. Gameplay can also get repetitive if you play too frequently and there’s not much to aim for. This is a good game for people who love the series or want some good tower defense games. If you don’t fall into either category, this game won’t be a good fit.
Review: New Arc Line [Early Access]

Developer – Dreamate Publisher – Fulqrum Publishing Platforms – PC (reviewed) Review copy given by publisher NOTE: The following game is being reviewed in an Early Access State, the game may change after the release of this review, this review reflects the game at the time of publishing. Have you ever wondered what it is like to be in a world where magic and fantasy clash? Not just metaphorically, but literally? That is what New Arc Line promises to investigate as you dive into a world ruined by conflict. At least, that’s what the prologue shows, though your character seems to forget what happened. The adventure begins with a retelling of your character’s arrival and how it shaped things to come. Selecting your character and creating them is standard RPG fare as you pick races, classes, and starting abilities. Your starting races and classes don’t have much variety, limiting you to only two at the start such as humans and elves. There are giants and dwarves that you encounter early on, giving you hope that there’s more to come. However, the lack of variety means that you are mostly testing things out. It might be confusing to keep track of the story at first but the quests do have their charm. There’s multiple ways of completing certain quests and it’s fun to investigate the possibilities. Your success and failure for stat-based choices is determined by a dice roll, with your success depending on your stats. It’s nice to see some variation as well as a way out even if your stats aren’t great. The UI is standard for a CRPG and isn’t too difficult to navigate. However, it’s often unclear who you can target for activities such as pickpocketing. The tutorials have mixed levels of completion; some are informative but others could use more explanation. For example, in pickpocketing, you can uncover more exit slots. However, you can’t use those exit slots, making it pointless to unlock them. Better explanations would help especially when the game introduces more concepts. Combat is also standard with a turn order and free movement around the battlefield. Ranged weapons have infinite ammo though they need reloading while melee weapons are limited only by range. There’s pros and cons to each playstyle but your character doesn’t get much to work with at the beginning. You can develop your preferred style overtime but you are limited to melee, ranged, or magic combat. Magic in particular is hard to get used to in the beginning because there isn’t much support for it. While it does grow stronger, it feels like it needs more help. Otherwise it feels like you struggle too much for it to be worthwhile. Thankfully you do get companions to assist you, but they extol the value of picking melee and ranged. It’s also difficult to keep track of quests because you must constantly refer to your journal. Having the active quests at the side helps you understand what your goal is. There can also be some bugs triggering when it comes to quests such as what is and isn’t considered complete. The game is in Early Access and some bugs are expected, but it’s something to watch out for. New Arc Line has potential but right now it doesn’t differentiate itself from other CRPGs. It’s in Early Access and there’s room for improvement but it’s tough to recommend. If you enjoy playing CRPGs then this is worth taking a look. But whether it’s something you can sink your teeth into is too early to say at this point.
Review: Codex Lost

Developer – Freemana Publisher – JanduSoft Platforms – PC (reviewed) Review copy given by publisher When you think of Souls-like games, you often think of close-combat fighters swinging around large weapons. There may be some magic involved but it’s primarily a niche build or something people experiment with. Most of the damage comes from slashing enemies or poking them with a giant spear. But when magic is all you have, the possibilities open up and you realize how useful magic is. Codex Lost is a magic-focused Souls-like game where your only weapons are spells and staves. The ability to mix and match spells while adjusting them to your situation gives unmatched flexibility. However, Codex Lost doesn’t do much to stand out from the Souls-like market. Any attempts at deviation largely drag the game down. It’s certainly worth a look if you enjoy a Souls-like game, but you aren’t looking at the next big player. The story of Codex Lost involves five magical grimoires that have been taken by five evil lords. These grimoires aren’t supposed to be in the hands of anyone and your job is to retrieve them. You are the first library Curator in years and obtaining the grimoires helps you restrict their power. You must journey through the world and fight against several enemies to restore balance. Otherwise, the grimoires are abused and make the world a horrible place. Like other Souls-like games, this isn’t an amazing story. It explains why you are magic-focused and why the goal requires you to retrieve five grimoires. The order doesn’t strictly matter but you must train before you can even hope to take back the grimoires. Combat is intense and difficult to master but you have plenty of opportunities to try. There are also several optional areas if taking back a single grimoire is too much for you. The Curator has a special library disconnected from the world. This is where they craft spells, practice, and teleport to new realms. You start with three spells of your choice but must expand if you want to succeed. Crafting spells is important to your success because you must target elemental weaknesses or use non-elemental magic to defeat enemies. The elemental rock-paper-scissors is fun to experiment with and you gain access to several elements later. You can equip three different spells at the start, eventually going up to a maximum of ten. This gives you several offensive options that you can’t find in other games. Normally you would be bogged down by equipment weight and armor, watching what you bring with you. Having a variety of spells gets rid of the equipment problem and introduces more flexibility for combat situations. It also makes it easier to respond to situations rather than feeling despondent. Four spells can be assigned to quick-select buttons that make it easier to use your favorites. Manual scrolling also works to use other spells in less dire situations. That flexibility helps you to adapt to a variety of situations without being helpless. There are always constraints as you can’t bring every spell. But having up to ten options to choose from encourages experimentation and creativity you wouldn’t find elsewhere. Unfortunately, getting to that creativity is painfully difficult. You must find items to put spells together and that involves through tough areas. Some ingredients drop by defeating monsters but others must be found by combing through dungeons. By the time you get the spells, it almost feels like you don’t need them anymore. You likely have a few favorites that you will be using throughout the end of the game. It makes your efforts feel like a waste. Navigation is also difficult because you don’t have a clear direction. While Souls-like games were never heavy on directions, you often didn’t have trouble finding a path. Codex Lost ramps up the exploration factor by giving you vague clues and hoping you explore an area. While it’s fun to explore at your own pace, not having any idea where you should go is frustrating. This is especially true when your main guidance is a compass that doesn’t point anywhere. There is no “order” you must follow when it comes to claiming a grimoire. But using your compass spell doesn’t provide any benefits until you upgrade it with accessory spells. Even when you find those spells, it’s often too little too late. You likely know how to navigate or have an alternative method. Even if you explore the world, only having “grimoire here” signs as clues doesn’t make navigation less frustrating. At its core, Codex Lost is another interesting take on the Souls-like genre using magic. It’s got some great ideas but it feels like the execution didn’t stick the landing. It will be great fun if you are willing to put in the time investment for exploration. But if you want a Souls-like that plays easily, your best bet is to look somewhere else.
Review: Alterium Shift (Early Access)

Developer – Drattzy Games LLC Publisher – Drattzy Games LLC Platforms – Playstation 4/5,Xbox One , Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch, PC (reviewed) Review copy given by Developer When the world has gone through several iterations of destruction, you rely on a last-ditch attempt to turn things around. By assisting one of three heroes, you might be able to change the fate of the world. The hero you choose determines how the story proceeds as well as the combat style you adopt. Fortunately, your hero isn’t alone and you uncover the truth behind the events of the past. Alterium Shift plays like a traditional JRPG that has three different story paths. Even though the characters may be the same, the directions the story takes are different. By forming a party and fighting various enemies, you discover more truths to a complex world. However, the game feels like it forces you into certain paths because of bugs or incomplete content. Alterium Shift has good potential but lots of areas that need refinement. The story begins when a floating essence realizes that the current world can’t be saved. To prevent this, they choose a timeline focusing on one of three heroes. These three heroes are friends but depending on who you control, the story takes a different turn. Having three different stories provides good variety, adding more replay value for people who love the game. It also helps bring familiarity to the stories instead of jumping to a brand new setting. Exploration and combat are also familiar for JRPG enthusiasts, encountering enemies in the field. Defeat the enemies through turn-based combat, understanding weaknesses and status ailments to win. You also have a turn order to follow but understanding how to exploit it helps you win. As your allies grow, you have more skills to draw on and more methods to exploit weaknesses. The main problem with exploration is that there is no clear dungeon map. There’s an overworld map telling you where you are, but there are many twists and turns in a single dungeon area. It’s easy to get lost and not know where to go. Enemies are also plentiful with your main source of recovery being level increases. This makes the early-mid game tough, especially when you can get lost trying to find your way back to town. There are also some story instances that feel forced or are bugs. For example, one story has you deliver letters to three locations. But one of them can’t be accessed and you must get someone else to help you do the tasks. There was no indication that this area couldn’t be accessed until you must deliver the letter. Being forced to pursue alternative methods feels annoying because it feels like something that should be possible. Saving also needs some work because it doesn’t always work as intended. Manual and auto saves are easy to create but don’t load the proper instance when you select them. They always default to your most recent auto-save unless you exit the game. This makes it hard to backtrack or reload if you find yourself stuck. If you can’t rely on your saves, it makes it harder to take risks and you don’t feel like recording your progress. You can feel there’s a lot of potential with Alterium Shift but it still needs work. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time to implement changes and improve the user experience. It’s something to look forward to if you like the classic JRPG feel and turn-based combat. Right now, it’s rough around the edges but can only get better.
Review: Ultimate Zombie Defense 2

Developer – Terror Dog Studio Publisher – Terror Dog Studio Platforms – PC (reviewed) Review Copy given by Publisher When swarms of zombies converge on a location, the last thing you want to do is stay there. But with Ultimate Zombie Defense 2, you might not have a choice. As zombies come at you from all sides, you have no choice but to fend them off with firearms. But given the amount of zombies, it may be a better idea to construct a base. With protection around you and superior firepower, you aren’t going to let zombies hurt you. That’s the goal in theory, working together with other players to last as long as possible against zombies. Unfortunately, in practice the defense is awkward and inconvenient. The game constricts your construction space and there often isn’t a good reason to expand your surroundings. It also gets messy and shooting doesn’t work as well as expected. The experience falls short and it’s not as fun as it could be. The point of Ultimate Zombie Defense 2 is to hold out against waves of zombies and demons. They drop money that you can use to buy weapons or construct a base. Waves gradually get tougher and you must upgrade your base before you get overwhelmed. There are some demon portals you can take for a challenge, but they are optional. Your goal is surviving as long as you can with the help of others if possible. At its core, the game delivers on its premise. It’s just like every survival game with a timer or infinite spawns. This is also the extent of the game; it’s just pure survival. You are trying to get the highest score but there’s no other goal. You may survive with friends or by yourself but survival is the only thing that matters. Building a base isn’t necessary at first but it becomes your best chance of survival. Introducing base-building mechanics is fun at first. With the money you earn from waves, you can purchase barriers to delay zombies or even funnel them into corridors. You can purchase manned machine guns or automatic turrets to help you survive the waves. Having the freedom to customize your base to your liking is fun. You can even put some decorative objects like spotlights that have a practical purpose. In practice, the base building isn’t great. You can’t freely use the space however you like and objects can’t be placed in certain locations. However, the best locations to put objects are in those inaccessible locations. The manned machine guns are powerful and can last a long time, but it also dulls the fun once you get a funnel. Automated turrets are expensive and almost never see play without significant investment. Base-building was a nice idea but it doesn’t work as expected. There are also some language issues with the instructions and it’s not always clear what something is referring to. That makes it difficult when purchasing upgrades because you aren’t sure if the upgrade you select is the one you want. Making the wrong purchase or misunderstanding what’s being asked is fatal in survival situations. Not correcting these makes for a game that’s intentionally difficult. The graphics also interfere, making it hard to properly aim. Even if you do a headshot, you have to significantly adjust your crosshairs. While that may be something you must do in real life, that’s tough to figure out in a game. The dead bodies can also glitch themselves into the environment, temporarily creating obstacles you can’t see through. That makes it frustrating even if it is supposed to carry some realism. At the end of the day, Ultimate Zombie Defense 2 holds itself back. Without the base-building, it’s a flawed zombie survival shooter that doesn’t stand out. Even with the base-building, it doesn’t offer enough to stand out that makes you want to choose it over another survival game. While this can be fun with friends, it would be limited at best.
Review: Squirrel With a Gun

Developer – Dee Dee Creations Publisher – Maximum Entertainment Platforms – PC (reviewed), PS5, Xbox X|S, Android, iOS Review copy given by publisher What would happen if a squirrel got hold of a gun? That’s the premise the titular game investigates as a squirrel runs around collecting golden acorns across multiple settings. You must break into locations, dodge secret agents, and explore your surroundings to find collectibles. As your squirrel collects more items, they gain new outfits that confer certain benefits for future hunting. The story of Squirrel With a Gun is simple; a squirrel finds a golden acorn. It’s actually a high-tech object from a secret laboratory, but the squirrel doesn’t care. Obtaining the “golden acorn” causes the squirrel to get trapped in a room. After getting out, a guard approaches and trips, dropping their gun on the ground. The squirrel picks it up, takes out the guard in a flashy way, and the game starts there. It’s not an amazing story by any stretch and it’s easy to forget there was one in the first place. Given the premise of the game, having a nonsense plot isn’t unusual. It does feel like the set-up is unnecessary since you probably have more fun playing the game than seeing the story. Starting with a squirrel that has a gun and then running around would likely be more effective. Squirrel With a Gun is a sandbox platformer with some puzzles and action. It’s not hard to get from Point A to Point B, but you are likely missing out on several hidden treasures. There are acorns to collect, treasures to obtain, and hidden secrets around every corner. You can also find outfits that give you certain bonuses that fit certain gameplay styles. Some places require special equipment to access, but they aren’t hard to obtain. For platformer fans, there are several areas that you can freely explore. Like any adventure, you work your way through an area while gaining special equipment to explore dangerous locations. When you search buildings, you have the freedom to decide how you enter. If enemies are around, you choose if confrontation is necessary, not worth it, or just a fun activity. Several save points are easily accessible if you want to save your progress. This makes it easy to retain your progress while keeping the fun of exploring an area. Failure is frustrating and costs you valuable acorns, making it a good idea to reload a save. The amount of exploration is massive, meaning you can search a small house for an hour and still find secrets. Freely choosing how you want to infiltrate locations with no wrong answers lets your creativity come alive. All of this happens on the backdrop of an absurd premise with a squirrel shooting people with a gun. It’s silly, creative, and makes you laugh at how ridiculous things are. From trained agents unable to capture a squirrel to death-defying stunts that would kill normal squirrels, the charm is obvious. That premise ropes you in, keeps you entertained, and helps take the edge of what would be a disastrous real-life event. The only downside is that the game leans heavily on that charm. Most of your time isn’t spent having your squirrel shoot targets. It’s doing complex platforming to find objects and solve puzzles to access new areas. At its core, Squirrel With a Gun is another platformer with an interactive world. While the squirrel can do crazy things like shoot the gun to jump, that’s the extent of gun usage for puzzles. Shooting objects or locks off a shelf doesn’t match the charm from earlier. It’s a shame because Squirrel With a Gun could genuinely shine if it had more than its premise. There’s a lot you could do with a gun-wielding squirrel that could be silly and adventurous. Instead, most of the time is spent exploring the world and puzzle-solving like you would with other platformers. Once the charm wears off, it doesn’t differentiate itself from other platformers in the market. This is not to say that you won’t have a fun time playing Squirrel With a Gun. But the excitement and charm eventually wear off and you realize that it’s just a regular platformer. Even the creativity and thrill of discovery wear off when it’s something you repeatedly do. With more ways to maintain that funny premise, this could be amazing. But Squirrel With a Gun doesn’t build on its premise and it’s just a silly platformer.
Review: DATE A LIVE: Ren Dystopia

Developer – Idea Factory, Compile Heart, Sting Publisher – Idea Factory International Platforms – PC (reviewed), PS4 Review copy given by Publisher What would you wish for if you had three wishes? That’s the scenario that DATE A LIVE: Ren Dystopia chooses to investigate with several heroines. When the main protagonist comes across a box with a heroine, they open the box. At first, nothing is inside but they dream of someone who can grant their wishes. What they wish for, the consequences, and what that means for the future are investigated. DATE A LIVE: Ren Dystopia is a visual novel that takes place after a thirty-year long conflict. The protagonist, Shido, is settling down into regular life and enjoying his time with friends. But it becomes apparent that Shido’s life is anything but ordinary thanks to the women in his life. One day, Shido wakes up and discovers a strange box. He opens it with one of the heroines and nothing happens. But later, the heroine is visited by a strange wish-granting entity and the story begins. There are nine characters whose stories you can investigate and fifteen different endings. That’s lots of replay value with the story, spending hours on each path. Each story is also unique despite starting with the same premise. Characters have their own desires, wants, and goals, giving you nine different stories with the same premise. While that may seem excessive, the visual novel does its best to make each story stand out. While heroines sometimes mix with each other’s stories, you only focus on one heroine at a time. After choosing them at the start, you are locked into their route for the remainder of the story. This means each heroine gets a “What If?” scenario-type story instead of seeing the same story from different perspectives. The variety prevents the visual novel from getting stale too quickly by providing unique takes on the wish-granting scenario. Unfortunately, the variety’s advantage disappears if you are not familiar with the DATE A LIVE world. The story makes few attempts to provide exposition, only giving you a library to read on your own time. The library also doesn’t clarify much, being a quick guide that glosses over crucial story details and events. This means you could go into the story blind or miss the significance of what the characters talk about. It’s possible to mitigate the lack of exposition if you view the novel’s events as a separate story. But there are still too many details missing and characters talk as if you already know. This makes it difficult for players new to the series to jump in. It’s easy for you to get confused or miss out on crucial aspects. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal but all characters have multiple endings. Sometimes it’s not exactly clear what triggers a good or a bad ending. The clues are subtle and depend on the personality of the heroine. What you say to a heroine can drastically change their fate but there are few opportunities to decide. That makes it hard to reload and establish what went wrong because you might not be sure. Thankfully, there is an option to skip text you’ve already seen to speed through scenarios. You shouldn’t use it too much on newer stories because you can miss crucial details. It’s best to experience each story as it goes well with the voice acting. The designs of each character shine when you sit down and go through the novel like you were reading a book. It’s not an action-packed game despite the mentions of combat, but something you play at your own pace. Fans of DATE A LIVE will enjoy Ren Dystopia and the stories it has to offer. If you aren’t familiar with the franchise at all, reading the library might help get you up to speed. But it’s a visual novel that’s hard for new players to jump into and that takes away some of the appeal. If you ever do become familiar with the world of DATE A LIVE, jump back to Ren Dystopia. You will find the enjoyment grows and you won’t feel lost half the time.
Review: Sword of Convallaria

Developer – XD Entertainment Pte Ltd, XD Inc. Publisher – XD Entertainment Pte Ltd, XD Inc. Platforms – PC (reviewed), Android, iOS Review copy given by publisher What if you could change the events of the past and prevent tragedies from occurring? Sword of Convallaria investigates that premise after the main character learns of a tool that can change the past. After a tragedy impacts the lives of several individuals, they do everything they can to change the past. Fighting against supernatural forces and learning more about the past, they understand what they are changing and what events led to this point. Sword of Convallaria is a free-to-play game that lets you experience a decent strategy RPG. You command several units and fight against powerful armies. Uprisings, supernatural beings, and criminals are just some of the opponents you face. Deciding what units are more effective and using the environment to your advantage are important considerations. Understanding your skills and options is crucial to winning. You can customize your units with equipment and level them up as you win battles. Sometimes you may wish to spread out your levels or focus on certain classes. Different battles call for different strategies and you can choose your army before combat. If you are in a pinch, take a look at your environment and how your skills might bail you out. There’s a lot to keep track of, but it’s a solid strategy experience. The stories also have multiple endings and decent replay value. You play through a story as it initially ends but rewind time to change certain situations. The option of different endings increases replayability and makes you want to re-experience the story. This also means different scenarios for characters to shine and more opportunities to rotate your cast. The biggest problem for PC is that the game plays similarly to a mobile RPG. It is still playable on PC but you drag and drop frequently. Movement is particularly annoying since it’s easy to click on a location, but the game won’t recognize the full distance. This often results in improper placements and characters suffer the consequences. It’s not necessarily a guaranteed loss but it’s frustrating to lose characters because the game didn’t recognize your inputs. There’s lots of content to pursue and work your way up. But unlike a full strategy RPG like Tactics Ogre, that experience takes days to build up. You can’t speed through the story and fight battles as often as you like. You expend energy on every scenario you play and you must wait several hours to get it back. Most players won’t speed through every story but it is difficult to enjoy several stories when you know you can’t continue. Free players also don’t get a lot of content at first, slowly unlocking it over time. But there will be a point where you want those resources now and may spend real money on the game. This isn’t a play-to-win game but it’s clear that several resources are designed to make you pay. Whether it’s better equipment or the chance to go through a battle another time, there is a cost if you want to keep playing. It is possible to wait and accumulate everything slowly, but it’s a punishing wait. The worst part is that there’s a certain point where you are probably better off buying a strategy RPG like Tactics Ogre. Sword of Convallaria takes their story to a level that most games can’t reach. However, it takes a long time to get to those stories unless you pay money. At a certain financial investment, you probably could buy a full-fledged game instead of getting more valuables. As nice as the branching stories are, Sword of Convallaria doesn’t bring anything new to the strategy RPG scene. You can configure equipment, analyze opponents, chain moves together, but none of that is new. Unless you have never played a strategy RPG before, Sword of Convallaria won’t stand out from the crowd. However, being free and having lots of replay value is a strong value proposition. Even the pixel art and soundtrack don’t stand out much. While both are done well, it’s not like other games haven’t got their own. The real draw of Sword of Convallaria is the story content and possible mobile game events. Everything else would probably not work as well on a PC or is already done by other games on the market. This game truly shines in the mobile market, but the PC market has too many options to compete with. If you often find yourself on the road and not in front of a gaming computer, Sword of Convallaria is good. The mechanics are solid, there’s lots of replay value, and you get rewards like many mobile games. However, other strategy RPGs push the envelope further and have stories that are easier to access. For players who want something free and a decent strategy RPG to sink their teeth into, Sword of Convallaria is the game for you. But for players who game more frequently and have more powerful hardware, there’s better games on the market.
Review: Horror Tales: The Beggar

Developer – CarlosGameDev Publisher – CarlosGameDev Platforms – PC (reviewed), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S Review copy given by publisher When a dangerous force of your own making is chasing you, how will you act? That’s the question Horror Tales: The Beggar asks of you as you explore a ruined world. You are chased by a spectral being that you create from your consciousness. Using powers that slowly reveal themselves to you, you solve puzzles and fight against the being. You can’t stay still and must keep moving, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world that moved on without you. After a disaster that ruined the world’s landscape, a robot searches the ruins for certain bottles of alcohol. Decades pass until they stumble across a barely-alive beggar who can benefit their organization. Believing that the titular beggar needs a test before they bring them on, the robot patches them up. Discovering that the beggar has a subconscious being attacking them only reinforces the need for a test. The story isn’t clear in the beginning and the set-up is sparse. Apart from getting attacked early on, you aren’t entirely sure what’s happening. As you explore the ruined world, pieces of the story slowly fall into place but it’s still unclear. Later on, you must make choices that determine how the game ultimately ends, but they aren’t immediately obvious. You are a blank slate for better or for worse, with the only constant being the entity that attacks you. If you were looking for a horror game with a gripping tale, this isn’t the game for you. The main draw is the ability to use various abilities to solve puzzles in a post-apocalyptic world. There are horror elements and the fear creeps in at several points. But apart from the obvious conclusion about what you do with the entity going forward, there’s not much to learn. You are chosen because you are alive and must deal with the entity before you are truly rescued. As you regain your bearings, you learn about your latent psychic abilities. This allows you to use telekinesis to grab objects and even light up dark areas. Every ability has its use as you must navigate puzzles to progress. The world is ruined and buildings have crumbled. Basic infrastructure turns into dangerous platforms because surface area is a luxury. Going to the next area is a fun challenge because you must think. The puzzles aren’t easy to solve but it’s not just because the solution is out of reach. Interactable objects aren’t easy to see, forcing you to pay close attention or edit your brightness settings. It is frustrating when you can’t easily identify what to do. Some objects such as fuses are also small and easy to miss if you aren’t paying attention. Fortunately, failure is almost impossible and the game gives you several opportunities. Directions aren’t easy to follow because part of the game is letting you explore the world. Thankfully, even death is a slap on the wrist and you respawn if anything happens. This makes it less frustrating when you fail because you can pick up where you left off. The game’s autosaves are frequent, letting you retry as many times as you like. This is helpful if you think you made the wrong decision or get pushed off a ledge during a battle. You can always try again and there’s no situation you can’t come back from. The post-apocalyptic world is riveting and disturbing to walk through. The design is wonderful and haunting, making you wonder how the world got into this mess. Every broken building, every dark corner, every remnant of nature is beautiful and frightening. While the entity appearing out of nowhere is certainly frightening, it never leaves your mind how bad things are. This reinforces the goal of mastering your powers and defeating the entity quickly. Unlike FPS games, you are usually using your environment and powers to defeat the entity. Sometimes it’s as easy as throwing objects with telekinesis and other times you must watch out for forces of nature. The puzzle nature of the game keeps you on your toes and makes you look out for anything you can use. Creativity is rewarded even though the fundamental path to victory stays the same. It makes the entity encounters fun while keeping their threat level high. Horror Tales: The Beggar doesn’t hold back with the scares thanks to the entity and haunting environment. Using your wits to succeed and working with the environment is truly fun to work with. It’s not the easiest story to get into and navigation could be greatly improved. But if you are looking for a more tactical horror game, this is the game for you.