DeVuego

Warts and all, The Last Case of John Morley is an immersive game that gets under your skin, not least of all because you’re constantly looking over your shoulder. 

All in all, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara isn’t anything new, but it’s a quick and enjoyable throwback to the platforming icons of days past. Despite some minor frustrations, I had a fun time and loved the dopamine hit from scoring a gold medal-worthy run.

While everything in-game was great, I did have a couple of interface issues: The controller support did not work, stuck with that common never-ending spin bug, and the writing was really small, only just legible. A text scaling option would be appreciated in the full release.

However, the most disappointing part of Etherborn is that the gravity mechanic plays more like a prototype than something found in a completed game. There are so many unused ideas, and you mostly perform the same tasks repeatedly without any meaningful change or new spin on the core mechanic. It makes the game an underwhelming experience, with very few moments that invoke awe or intrigue.

Deadlight starts with a solid idea but never lives up to its potential. Outsmarting zombies, rather than facing them head on with whatever weapon is handy, is a great idea, but the game's environmental puzzles feel too samey after just a short while. The story has its own share of clever seeds, but it's presented so poorly that you probably won't bother to find them. Without satisfying mechanics or narrative, there's nothing pushing you forward towards Deadlight's conclusion.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a game that finds itself in an interesting position. It attempts to simultaneously bring Konami's storied vampire-killing series successfully into the third dimension - where previous attempts have largely failed - and to reboot the increasingly convoluted story of the Belmont clan and their feud with Dracula. As with all reboots, fans of the series have been worried that Lords of Shadow might lose a bit of what makes Castlevania feel like Castlevania in its haste to take notes from games like God of War. Others claim that change is a good thing, and that this is merely a harkening back to Castlevania's true action-game roots.