DeVuego

Call of the Elder Gods is a worthy successor to Call of the Sea in almost every way. Combining exploration with some stellar puzzles and gameplay the game manages to tell a wonderful story with a Lovecraftian twist.

For fans of Black, Sigma, or even the NES originals, this is the closest we’ve gotten to the true spirit of Ninja Gaiden in over a decade.

Blades of Fire is a welcome return to MercurySteam and I think it’s one that is going to be a sleeper hit. The way the story unfolds and pushes the player to explore the environment that is littered with hidden fights and upgrades that will help Aran become stronger. Even the characters that players will meet along the way are fun and add something to the overall game, and I for one loved Adso but if players like to adventure in silence the developers have allowed for that which is neat. If you are a fan of big, adventure action-RPG’s with a beautiful land to explore and tons of weapons to make and use; then Blades of Fire is going to be for you.

I wanted to enjoy The Stones of Madness because I really loved The Game Kitchen’s other game series; Blasphemous. Aside from the incredible hand-drawn art style in the Madness game, I wasn’t really a fan of this game.

With its breathtaking art direction, engaging gameplay and moving narrative it is a game that will resonate with players on a personal level much like this years Tales of Kenzara: Zau.

Boasting a strange and evocative narrative that is presented with beautifully painted and animated cutscenes that look like works of art hanging in the Louvre, Blasphemous 2 is itself a work of art.

After Us had some lofty goals and it shows but sadly, they didn’t quite reach those highs. Incredible art direction and a dope soundtrack sadly don’t make up for the ‘tacked’ on combat and the very floaty platforming controls. The design choice to make it open world is also a head scratcher because the game absolutely does a poor job of telling players where to go next. I’m left wondering what could have been with After Us, had the combat been taken out I think this would have been a much better adventure.

I don’t hate Disney Speedstorm, worse I just feel kinda cheated. I didn’t mind that it was a F2P game, but the fact that the founders pack doesn’t unlock everything available at launch is disappointing. Especially when you look at how much grinding has to be done to get a toon up to a receptible level for multiplayer races. I loved the tracks and the music that blasted over them but being hit over the head constantly with so many of these free to play mechanics just makes this game frustrating to play and its really a shame.

While players may not be playing TemTem for the next 10 years, if Pokémon games are your jam, then TemTem will offer you a great experience for the foreseeable future.

Someone is going to ask why I scored this game so high if it had so many bugs and my answer to that is simple; the same reason that Skyrim and Fallout’s have garnered 9’s and 10’s; yet be so full of glitches and bugs – gameplay and the fun it provides. The gameplay loop in Evil Dead: The Game is so satisfying it can scratch two different type of genre itches. On the one hand you have the survivor game play, which plays out like a mix between a battle royale and a horde mode. Then you have the demon gameplay, which is almost like a tower-defense style RTS with its use of needing a resource to place units and traps around the fields. And then because why not; let’s throw an RPG system in here so people can level up skills and tweak their gameplay styles to what works for them. Beyond just the systems though much like the source material, Evil Dead: The Game is just fun. Even when the game is invoking ‘jump scares’ (of which there are a ton) heck, even when losing I still had a ball and was excited to try and take down evil again. And with a promised new map based on Castle Kandar from ‘Army of Darkness and a noticeably absent Ruby from the Ash vs Evil Dead show; I think its safe to say that the team has Saber is going to keep us battling the Evil Dead for quite some time.