DeVuego ES_COR

I was skeptical if Aeon Drive was truly for me before I started it. After finishing it, at least to secure the “bad” ending, for now, I can safely say I had fun. It was an enjoyable romp that had me sitting on the edge of its seat.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is a remake that looks good and sounds great, but that’s where it ends for me. It’s easy to peer through the prism of nostalgia and remember the original game more fondly than it probably deserves.

The game caught my attention when I saw the dance battle gameplay. I love rhythm games and role-playing games and fast-paced gameplay so I was sure I was in for something unique.

Much of GRIS defies easy categorization, while at the same time the game as a whole can be easily categorized, dismissed, and shelved away. However, I’ll say it’s art not because it’s pretty but because it adds to the human experience by providing a human experience, whatever that experience means to you. GRIS, like much of life, can be explained without being fully explained, and I wonder where our memories and experiences make it similar and make it different.

When I played the demo of LumbearJack back in February, I got the feeling that we’d already seen a good chunk of the game in it. It didn’t strike me as a game that would or could have much more to it. I can’t say I was wrong. The demo ended up being about a third of the whole game. And yet, I’m not disappointed. It’s just the right length for what it is, not overstaying its welcome to a point of inducing boredom. Plus, well, you know, the whole “Maggie loves environmental edutainment games” thing. 

Among the best games that I played this year, Metroid Dread is one that’ll remain relevant for years to come, not merely in the discussion of genre and legacy and pricing, but through players like myself who evidently can’t get enough of it.

To be very clear, I grew up playing Super Metroid, and never had the patience for the NES installment. In the middle of last year, I played AM2R and was convinced that it was the perfect remake of a game I had never played.

Moonlighter is one of those special indies that comes along once in a while, the kind that leaves you wanting more. 

As much as I want to play the cynic and as much as Reventure’s tired concepts wear me out, I can’t argue that there’s a lot of heart here. By golly, those developers were trying.

RiME is a short journey adventure through a range of emotions and exploring these through associative visuals was fascinating.

The Knight Witch is a game I took a complete gamble on, and I’d say I won. By all rights, I shouldn’t have liked it. Only one of the three main components that make up the gameplay is one I like to play. And yet, everything came together in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed.

With how short The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is (about an hour and a half blind, half an hour if you know what you’re doing), knowing that elements are missing, and being able to feel that missing portion, it’s hard to recommend as it is. I wish we could have gotten to see Mr. Rodriguez’s full vision for the game. We may yet with time. As it is now, though, Mr. Coo’s video game debut needs some more time in the oven. What we have now is, without question, a decent game. It could be better, though, and I think everyone involved knows it. At the very least, wait until the content is fixed. More recommended, wait until the entire game is released, so you’re not trapped by that To Be Continued.

But to prove to your friends and acquaintances that you’re valuable? Worth it. Now there’s no denying that I am The Rightful King™ and not just a filthy peasant.

Bump that score up three points if you’re playing on PC. They Are Billions is clearly a solid game with an interesting concept that’s executed well. It’s also clearly not meant to be played on console.

It was an absolute joy to play Worldless. I’m a 40-year-old gamer with a family who has played a lot of games over the years. I have played so much Unity and Unreal-manufactured trash that it was truly refreshing to play a game that felt new!