Features – Page 10

Dragon Sinker Review [PS4] – Charming, Simple and Wistfully Sound

February 22, 2018February 22, 2018 by Chris Wheatley, posted in Reviews

The immeasurable list of old-school inspired RPG titles seems too dauntless to rifle through, even for some of the most dedicated RPG gamers around. Dragon Sinker follows in line with the rest of the 8-bit moulded titles released from publisher KEMCO, but still manages to provide a few subtle twists to the waterlogged RPG genre. However, I’m just not sold it’s enough to separate itself from the enormous heap of other traditional turn-based RPG titles that consistently overflow the industry.

As any enthralling attempt at a fantasy story begins, players are thrust into an epic battle with a mighty dragon foe known as Wyrmvarg. In a vast world where the three distinct races – Humans, Elves and Dwarves – are all divided by racial tension, players will need to find a way to unite the land and take out the dreaded dragon threat, (LOTR, to some degree). Throughout the lengthy adventure, players will find themselves amidst a journey that feels similar to the other nostalgic experiences available. Taking on the many monsters that lurk through the overworld map and its many dungeons in search of the coveted weapons capable of slaying the beastly dragon is nothing close to original, but that doesn’t mean Dragon Sinker isn’t an enjoyable experience nonetheless.

Yet Another Dragon/Fantasy Adventure

The 8-bit pixellated visuals scream nostalgia and take players back to what can only be described as the golden age of RPGs. As you wake from your deadly fight with the dragon enemy – Wyrmvarg – players take control of the human warrior, Abram. As you progress through the story you’ll soon discover your hometown is only a small village in a very vast world. Each of the three races has their own regions throughout the lands, as it comes down to our team of heroes to unite them and take out the looming threat.

In standard RPG form, Dragon Sinker has players exploring an overhead map in search of villages and dungeons. As you travel from dungeon to dungeon or village to village, random enemy encounters occur bringing up the turn-based battle system. The combat is as traditional as most other turn-based RPGs, as players choose from a variety of physical and elemental attacks for each one of their party members. After each character – up to four in a party – has selected either offensive, defensive, or support tactics, it’s the enemies turn to react. It’s yet another take on one of the most common and simple battle systems found in traditional RPGs and done so in an easy-to-learn fashion.

Dragon Sinker Review — As you meet new warriors your party will expand and grow with a diverse cast of characters.

A Unique Team-Based Party System

Where Dragon Sinker takes a different path from the cookie cutter RPG formula is the unique team system. As distinguished earlier, the game’s world is populated by three separate races. As you continue your journey as a noble human warrior, you will meet characters from both the dwarf and elf tribes. As the legend has it, the dreaded Wyrmvarg was once defeated by a trio of warriors containing one warrior of each race. As you may have guessed, this is precisely what players must accomplish, among other tactics, to take down the fearful beast.

As you begin to build your party, players will become aware of Dragon Sinker’s unique team system. As you acquire new allies they will be paired with one of the three different parties. The player will control all three parties with the ability to swap between them in battle. Each team resembles the Humans, Elves and Dwarves – giving a bit more strategy during the tactical battles. Keeping each of the parties – and party members – distinct with multiple effective skills and abilities, the unique party swapping system helps players switch between weaknesses and other affinities while in the heat of battle.

A Simple Experience

While the overall tone of Dragon Sinker doesn’t actually add anything new to the retro RPG category, the game still provides a sound and simple experience. Whether you’re a gamer who maybe missed the boat on the 8/16 bit RPG era, or perhaps an RPG enthusiast looking for the next sentimental experience – Dragon Sinker hits a few of those feelings, and rather sharply. Just don’t expect any game-changing moments throughout the brunt of the journey.

You can find Dragon Sinker on the PS4/Vita, Steam via PC, Google Play and the eShop for the 3DS.

Mercenary Kings Reloaded Review [Nintendo Switch] – Run and Gun To Your Heart’s Content

February 20, 2018February 20, 2018 by Jordan Scott, posted in Reviews

Four years after its initial release on Steam, Mercenary Kings from Tribute Games Inc. has made its way to the Switch. With two parts Metal Slug, one part Contra, one part Metal Gear, and a tiny dash of Fall Out, this Kickstarter led 2D action game is not without flaws but does manage to entertain and be a great addition to the Switch’s portable lineup.

The premise of Mercenary Kings is straight out of a 1980’s action fest. As part of the Mercenary Kings, you are a member of the greatest gun-for-hire groups on the planet. Without warning, the majority of your team is wiped out in quite the gruesome fashion by the sinister group known as CLAW (I guess someone loved inspector gadget as a kid). With only two survivors, you must rebuild the group and go after CLAW, who have just taken over a secret island laboratory base and the dangerous weapons contained within.

Mercenary Kings Review — Mercenary Kings

Players get to chose from different characters to play as, each with different sayings, attributes, and a few unique weapons. I don’t feel the game plays any different based on your choice of avatar, but I’m sure players will have their preference. The first few missions of the game have you rescuing more team members to add to the ranks. Each of these individuals are experts in a specific field, such as weaponry, knife making, piloting, medicine, etc. After you rescue each teammate, they are able to help you on your missions.

As you run-and-gun through each of the over one-hundred missions, you’re able to pick up various items to aid in the crafting of better weapons and necessities. Once you’ve gathered enough of the required material, simply visit one of the aforementioned genius teammates who will upgrade your weapons, body armor, and overall equipment. When it comes to crafting, I typically think of big open world games like Fallout, but having the option to do it in what’s especially a 16-bit game that I could have played on my Neo Geo, is actually quite fun.

The jungle setting does get a tad repetitive after a while, as there is only so much you can do and change to make things look different or unique, but the varied nature of enemies to blast away does tend to make up for it. From normal grunts that are easily killed with one shot, to giant behemoths and mechanized warriors, players will enjoy the challenge. This is not to say the game is extremely difficult, but it certainly isn’t a breeze either. I found I had to restart a mission more than once because I either ran through my limited lives or wasn’t able to complete the mission in the time allotted. Once the timer runs out, the mission is lost, and you’re sent immediately back to base (the same happens if you lose all your lives).

Each mission comes with a monetary reward for completing it in its entirety. The more things you miss or fail to pick-up/achieve, the less money you get in the end. Throughout the mission, you’re able to use a transceiver to call in favors from your crew. Need some health, a different weapon, and mission advice? Just dial up the right person in a similar fashion to the old Metal Gear codec. These requests cost you, so keep that in mind before going crazy. You’ll need to save up as much of the bounty you receive from missions in order to craft/buy better weapons and equipment. As nice as the standard gun is, you’re really going to want to upgrade to something better as the levels increase in difficulty.

Gamers can most definitely go at it solo, or they can play both online and offline 4-player co-op. Like the original Contra, this is one of those games that is exceptionally fun with two or more players. There can be a lot going on in these missions with enemies flying at you from all directions. I can attest to the fact that having an extra gun or two on your side would greatly relieve some of the pressure. It’s another instance where the Joy-Cons and the overall portability of the system really shine, and we had a ton of fun playing co-op with this one.

As an added treat, the character animations in Mercenary Kinds have been designed by Paul Robertson, best known for his work on Scott Pilgrim and Pixel. Robertson’s designs fit the game perfectly, using a great balance of 80’s camp and pure machismo to give each character a unique look and feel. It’s the little touches when a developer goes out of its way to bring in someone like Robertson that I really appreciate. To me, this makes the game stand out from the clutter.

Overall, I really enjoyed blasting my way through Mercenary Kings. It’s nothing entirely new, but the little things like crafting and calling in for supplies really adds to its enjoyment. I do enjoy a good run-and-gun game, especially ones that remind me of stuff from back in the day, but even I have to admit it got a little repetitive. I know this is a common complaint of mine, but I call it like I see it. I also felt the difficulty was a bit erratic, with some levels being exceptionally easy, while others unnecessary difficult.

World To The West Review [Nintendo Switch] – A Beautiful Adventure

February 16, 2018 by Tanya Laolapha Pettersen, posted in Reviews

When I learned that Rain Games were fellow Norwegians, I was even more intrigued when I sat down to play World to the West. As an independent video game company, they already have the renowned 2D puzzle game Teslagrad from 2013 on their backs. Placed in the same world as the aforementioned, World to the West is an action-adventure game where you actively play with four different characters, each with their own unique story, which eventually leads them to crossing paths and working together to fulfil a mysterious quest.

World To The West Review [Nintendo Switch]

Playing as Lumina, Knaus, Miss Teri, and Lord Clonington, these are characters with unique personalities, unique abilities, coming from different parts of the world. They come together in lovely harmony. The game is split into chapters, where each of them represents a new part of a character’s story. After playing some levels to get to know the characters and their abilities, they are eventually put together as a powerful team and are set to go out on more adventures.

So, we learn that they are a part of a mysterious quest, they are even pictured together on a totem pole, which functions as a checkpoint as well as a teleporting system. With this, you have the ability to teleport from totem to totem, for more convenient fast-travel around the map.

World To The West Review — “I am the totem pole, and I will be your checkpoint this evening!”

As the different levels usually require using several characters, they are not always as immediately available as I would like. When you teleport one character to a totem pole, the rest of the gang doesn’t automatically follow; and you don’t have the choice to select one or several characters to teleport either – so you have to teleport each character separately. Sadly, this mechanic gets a little bit tedious after a while, and the switching system might be the game’s largest flaw.

Seeing past that, World to the West is a visually charming and beautiful game. The scenery is vivid and alive with colors, and the details are simplistic, yet pretty. The levels underground were a bit challenging because of the lack of lights, and they got a tad too dark at times – I had some troubles seeing where I was going. But all my troubles were gone once I got back on the surface!

The story is well-written, and the characters’ commentaries are cute and funny – there’s an emphasis on the personality of each character. In addition to having their own unique skill set, they are fit to embark on adventures, fighting creatures and solving puzzles. It’s not as responsive as I would have wished, however – for example, when I played as Lumina, her dash was often slightly delayed, which meant that solving puzzles became very difficult.

The world is fairly big, so there are plenty of adventures to explore within the game. The cutscenes also grab the opportunity to show the beauty of the world in the game. The scenery is beautiful, and I love the art style. With that said, Rain Games definitely knows how to make a proper gaming title, albeit with a few flaws.

Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds Review [PC] – A Purely Riveting Fantasy RPG

February 15, 2018February 16, 2018 by Chris Wheatley, posted in Reviews

The story of Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds is brimming with all of the beloved aesthetics from the fantasy RPG genre, taking players on a journey throughout the war-raged lands. Working your way from a meagre and worthless slave up to a worthy warrior, the enthralling package that Semisoft presents in their recently released RPG is an exciting experience with all of the makings of a surprise sleeper hit.

Taking on the role of the lowly slave – Finn – your journey throughout Legrand takes place after a devastating bout with a gruesome warrior, as a form of spectating entertainment. In a town that takes complete advantage of slaves, you are forgotten as a living being and thrown into the ring to meet your fate. Following an impressive show of power, you are purchased from a mysterious elder man known as a Norn – a race equipped with the ability to communicate telepathically.

Legrand Legacy takes players along an adventure through the fantasy lands of the warring Legrand. As players journey through the many diverse settings of Legrand, unique monsters, characters and combat tactics present themselves, offering the compelling feeling that comes attached to some of the most memorable RPG titles around today. Legrand Legacy is filled with informative lore and dialogue, most of which helps describe the somewhat confusing narrative that follows the surreal world.

Legrand Legacy: An Intuitive Combat System

As players begin their journey, the combat system makes itself present in the form of helpful tutorials. Immediately taking a familiar plunge into the traditional turn-based strategy of similar RPG titles, Legrand Legacy does offer a few different aspects to the battle sequences. No time constraints or MP gauges to worry about within the battle, players are free to choose either offensive or defensive abilities with each turn. Unlike other popular turn-based titles where characters perform their attacks in a set order, Legacy has players performing their attacks throughout one turn, followed abruptly by their enemies. This gives a unique twist on battles, forcing players to think ahead about the consequences of each of the party members actions.

Performing physical melee attacks is the go-to method of dealing a great deal of damage, but this only strikes enemies in the front row of the battle layout. The second, or back row may only be struck with range weapons, but they offer considerably less damage. Once all characters or enemies have been eliminated in the front, the monsters in the back row move forward, allowing a more versatile attack range. Upon selecting your desired attacks with all party members, a series of rather simple QTEs – or quick time events – is thrown at the player in rapid succession. Landing these quick face button combos determines the overall power and accuracy of the ability, providing a bit more than the luck found in other turn-based RPGs.

Grow And Utilize The Strength Of Arcana

While in combat, players will begin to fill up their AP meter. Once full, the AP meter is capable of dealing a massive amount of damage to all foes on the battleground known as Arcana, which acts as an excellent tactic to easily turn the tables in battle. Along with the unique AP abilities, other skills become available with every character throughout Finn’s journey. As the story deepens with shifting plotlines pointing towards the inevitable destruction of the world, the power within Finn, and his companions, grows with every level gained through experience points.

Increasing your stats aids you in battle the further you dive into Legrand and becomes the bridge between survival and death across your journey. While new abilities become available the stronger specific stats become, sharpening your party’s overall vitality, strength, or even luck attributes are as prominent as ever. Taking on the tougher enemies found later in the game prove to be worthwhile contenders, putting everything you’ve learned about the unique combat system into play.

Purely Riveting

Throughout the promising story that oozes with memorable fantasy settings, tons of gripping character dialogue, engaging and fulfilling battles with the freedom to strengthen your party at will, all tied together in a tightly-wound RPG package, Legrand Legacy is an impeccable way to ring in a new year of indie titles. Though never really pushing any boundaries within the realm of RPG titles, Legrand Legacy is an excellent representation of how simple RPG mechanics can still provide a deep and riveting experience.

Gaming Your Way To A Soulmate

February 14, 2018February 14, 2018 by Jordan Scott, posted in Features

No matter what anyone says or how adamant they are, no one truly wants to be alone. Sure we like our solitude from time to time, and having the option to go anywhere and do anything we want at a moment’s notice, but that becomes old after a while. Eventually, we realize that being alone is nice, but enjoying life with a partner is even better. The person who wanted to go anywhere and do anything comes to the determination that doing things and going places with a significant other, is a whole lot more enjoyable than experiencing life on one’s own.

Gaming Your Way To A Soulmate

Recently I asked the online community for stories of people meeting their loves through gaming, and the community let me know that gaming has brought people together in amazing ways, and it gave me hope for the future.

According to a 2017 StatisticBrain survey, there are approximately 54.3 million single people in the United States, with about 49.6 million who have tried online dating. The revenue from internet dating services, as of 2017, has reached almost two billion dollars annually. These are pretty incredible numbers if you think about it. We are apparently a very lonely country, and people are doing whatever they can to meet their soulmates.

Traditionally, before the age of the internet, the main way to meet someone was either through a mutual connection, going to the local pub, or possibly through work, where you and a co-worker hit it off and would live happily ever after. These days, online dating has taken the crown, and what was once a stigma, is now almost universally accepted. As Match.com, OKCupid, Bumble, and the plethora of other sites and apps dominate, there is something less than organic about it all. You create a profile and fill it with truths and half-truths; making yourself look amazing enough to break through the clutter. Once you connect with someone and actually meet (amazing how many people flake), you then have to have awkward small talk until the alcohol lowers inhibitions and you can finally relax, if only a little.

The thing is, it all feels forced at times (ok, most of the time), but meeting people in bars or at work, which I don’t recommend, is increasingly difficult. As you get older, it’s harder to meet people through friends, because most of them are already married and only hang out with other married couples. I hear stories of people who met their partners randomly on the street, subway, grocery store and even waiting in line at the DMV (yes, I actually have a friend who met their future wife while waiting to renew their license). With all that said, what about gaming? Is it possible to comb through the clutter of a billion inappropriate twelve-year-olds who are ecstatic they can use as many derogatory words as humanly possible in a fifteen-second window? Apparently, it is.

One individual who reached out to me was TM (yes, I am clearly not giving their actual name for privacy sake), who had a lovely story about how she met her husband. Life had thrown TM a curveball, wherein a short period of time, her father passed away and she called off a long-standing engagement with a man she knew wasn’t right for her. Not wanting to be alone, TM regularly hung out at a close friend’s house and watched him play hours worth of World of Warcraft. TM didn’t think she’d actually enjoy playing WoW, so her friend issued a challenge; play just a little, and if she didn’t get hooked, he wouldn’t make her play again. Wouldn’t you know it, TM fell in love with WoW, and like most people who are finding the real world a difficult place to navigate lost herself in the online gaming community.

After meeting several amazing people and making new friends, TM met J, and it was the beginning of the end. First becoming close friends, TM eventually decided (against the advice of others), to fly out to J and meet in person. From there they began a two-year long-distance relationship, and eventually, J moved to be with TM. The happy couple has now been married for six years and together for almost ten. This all happened organically and both individuals took the time they needed to really get to know one another.

Video gaming is the predominant topic of choice on our site Nitchigamer, but gaming is all-encompassing and includes many different types, genres, and styles. Although we hardly talk about board games in our reviews and articles, we can’t discredit that they were, in fact, the predecessors to the video games we play today. One of the stories I received was from LJ, who met her husband through gaming nights via meetup.com.

LJ didn’t want to go the online dating route, as she felt it was awkward, misleading, risky, and usually unfulfilling. Instead, LJ decided to join a 20s/30s singles board game meetup. She loved games and knew a room full of like-minded people were all there to have fun, enjoy some games, and maybe, just maybe, meet someone.

Having a great experience, LJ went to a few other groups centered around gaming, and eventually asked out one of the guys who she had been friendly with during her repeat visits. It was a singles group, so they knew they were both sans partner, they both loved gaming, and after spending time together in the groups, they definitely realized there was a connection. Now married, LJ and her husband still play games and have made a plethora of friends in the community.

I am one of the almost fifty million people who use online dating (or at least I did until I decided to take a break a month ago), and it’s extremely difficult to find “The One.” People say one thing, but mean another, they want a real relationship, but then don’t, or they lie about everything for whatever reason they feel that’s necessary. I’ve met people and dated, some for a lengthy period of time, but in the end, none lasted. I can wholeheartedly agree that online dating is awkward. The dates are uncomfortable, the trust levels are non-existent, and the “rules” you’re supposed to follow are ridiculous.

We all look for a partner with similar interests, values, morals, likes and dislikes, and overall compatibility. For those lucky people who had it happen organically via random happenstance, I am overjoyed for you. With online dating, people pretend they’re someone they are not, but with gaming, you’re allowed to be your true self. We all escape into the gaming world because it tends to be a better place than the one we are trying to temporarily shut out. When you meet people who are playing the same game(s) you are, there is already a connection and a starting point of mutual interests. I’m not saying it’s easy to find your soulmate while diving deep into Minecraft, but perhaps if more people got into gaming, we’d all be a little less lonely.

Elium: Prison Escape Review [PC] – A Mostly Satisfying Survival Experience

February 12, 2018February 17, 2018 by Chris Wheatley, posted in Reviews

Time and time again I slayed and filleted the unknowing guards as I attempted to escape from my dirty confines in Elium: Prison Escape. The small one man indie developer – Lone Artisan Games – has put together an extremely strategic stealth combat experience. While considerably unpolished in many aspects of the game, once you battle your way through the initial trials of adapting to the control scheme, making your way through the procedural prison dungeon becomes a touch more thrilling.

After the simple and rather short tutorial which takes you through the basic movements and attacks, players may begin to embark their escape out of the medieval prison. With a four-direction attack range using a variety of different melee weapons – mostly swords and axes – players may also equip shields in their other hands. While the standard weapons are the most efficient methods of disposing enemy guards, it’s how players use the other aspects of the game to escape that’s important.

The tutorial shows players the gist of how the mechanics work in Elium. Interacting with items and doors, singing your fists or weapon, picking up objects and throwing them, or utilizing the stealth aspect are all viable techniques for safely finding a way out of the grim dungeon. Shadows are ever-so important in staying out of sight, so the brightly lit rooms that you’ll frequently pass will need to be dealt with in a shrouded manner. One easy method is finding a bag of ash to dispense on the lights, further covering the area in darkness for safe passage.

Elium: Prison Escape – Stick To The Shadows

Through the many shadows lurks patrolling guards ready to stick you the moment you’re discovered. Though busted out of prison by an unknown prisoner, you’re quickly abandoned and left alone to fend for yourself. However, as you make your escape through the procedurally generated dungeon, fellow prisoners may be found along the way and are able to help you in battle. These companions are helpful as the combat can be rather difficult, but not in terms of their AI skill sets, which are rather clunky and unresponsive. Setup as a mouse and keyboard only combat title, players not up to par with traditional PC gaming controls might want to hone their skills first.

The randomizing rooms concept is an excellent way to get to the point of what seems like an endless journey to escape prison. Upon death, players must start whichever level they died on from the beginning. The procedural process makes starting over much less painless, as players avoid trying the same path and discovering the same secrets in a repetitive pattern. While this particular form of gameplay offers better depth than most survival combat titles, there’s not much else to Elium.

Players are also able to dabble a bit in changing their equipment and other item inventory options. Though, my time with Elium revealed problems with the inventory system – more than anything else in the game. Searching through chests and downed guards provides similar inventory swapping from beloved RPG titles, *but too often did guard armor, boots or belts turn directly into a prisoner shirt, netting me around half a dozen useless shirts after only a couple of kills. While weapons and other items typically didn’t fall under this error, the cost of negating protective equipment makes staying alive more difficult; but only if you’re looking to mercilessly slash your way through the campaign.

*Edit: This bug has since been patched by the developer.

Escaping The Bugs

Elium: Prison Escape is a straightforward combat experience with a big helping of stealth. With almost no story, the first person dungeon crawler is purely for those looking to engage themselves in a tactical sword fighting title as they lurk through the shadows. Each level is filled with more procedurally generated rooms throwing constant surprises for the first few hours of gameplay, but soon after it begins to feel a bit stale and is often frustrating. Glitches will also appear and frequently cause players to start the level over in hopes of negating the problematic errors.

While the thrill of finding your escape route provides an initial exciting experience set in a gloomy medieval dungeon, Elium falls short as nothing more than a set of linear challenges. Though the randomizing levels add a certain sense of depth to the game and the combat can be a joy for tactical sword-swinging players, there’s still a fair share of bugs and tedious gameplay to work around.

Elium: Prison Escape isn’t a game-changer for the stealth action genre then, but it still manages to capture a dark and challenging experience that’s capable of entertaining at a mostly satisfying level.

Should We All Take A Break From Gaming?

February 9, 2018February 9, 2018 by Stephen Carter, posted in Viewpoints

When I first had the idea to write this article I did what I normally do before I started writing it; I made notes to gather my thoughts, then started to type them up. It wasn’t until I’d written up around half of what I wanted to say before I realised I sounded negative and overly critical, as if I had fallen out of love with gaming. This isn’t what I was intending to do at all, so I scrapped the thing and started again, looking to turn what could be a negative suggestion into a positive one.

Games: Too Much To Handle

As the title suggests, I’m wondering whether or not we all should take a temporary break or breather from gaming and give ourselves some time to rest and recover. You may wonder why, and without consideration first, I understand why you may ask this question especially when there’s so much out there to play. And that very point, the sheer number of games out there is one reason as to why gaming took a back seat for me over the Christmas period. At one point, I quickly found myself with five games on the go which I just simply couldn’t keep up with, burning me out and making me lose my motivation to play them. The only solution for this? To put the controllers down.

This wasn’t a permanent measure and didn’t see me going completely cold turkey, but I heavily reduced my gaming time and put time into my other hobbies. I spent more time at the gym, watching movies and catching up with reading on my Kindle and felt much better as a result. I didn’t feel the pressure of having many games stacked up to complete or the feeling of being left behind by friends and peers who were playing games that I wasn’t, (as if that even matters). As a result, I felt the little time I gave to gaming was much more rewarding than rushing through to see the end credits as quickly as possible.

This is the biggest positive (and benefit) to pull from this article; that by taking a break I am getting the fun and enjoyment back out of my gaming time which was slowly becoming lost. If we don’t enjoy our gaming experiences, then what’s the point of them in the first place? Plus, does anyone actually enjoy having an infamous Pile of Shame:

Give up? — At this point, it isn’t even funny.

Now I know that taking a break might not be for everyone, but I have spoken with others and seen people online who have suffered much the same that I have. They have been worn down by the constant barrage of games that they want to play and find themselves playing them because they feel they have to, not because they want to. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that being able to afford a game is a privilege, so we need to make sure we get the best value out of every single game – where we can. If this means taking a break, or playing games slightly after they release, then that is something I am happy to do to keep on enjoying them.

Conversely, taking a break could put you behind and leave you playing catch-up, as the stream of new games seems to be endless these days; the summer drought is no longer a thing. So with that in mind, you can see why people are keen to play games as soon as they’re released, especially considering the social aspect and also wanting to be part of the zeitgeist as it were. People like being caught up in the hype surrounding new games and going to midnight launches or playing on day one, so for those that want that buzz it must be tough when games launch in such close proximity to one another?

It is certainly something to consider and has made me reconsider the volume of games I play and consume at any given time. So with a quiet-ish January come and gone, I look forward to 2018 and all the gaming it will have to offer. I’m hoping, however, that it will be a little less hectic in comparison to 2017.

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm Review [PS4] – Episode 3: ‘Hell Is Empty’

February 8, 2018February 8, 2018 by Tanya Laolapha Pettersen, posted in Reviews

“You’re the only one in the world I can trust.”

Ladies and gentlemen, here we are. Each ending requires collecting the loose threads.

We have experienced the quandaries of teenage life with Chloe and Rachel, and now the time has come to end an amazing journey. Before you continue reading, I should mention that this review probably contains some spoilers, because I feel it would be difficult to express my opinions to the fullest without mentioning some important factors in the game. However, I will try and keep the spoilers to a minimum. Also, this will be a longer review, as I will comment on the final episode, as well as the entire season as a whole. Are you ready?

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm Review

The third and final episode, titled “Hell is Empty,” picks right up where it left off in the previous episode “Brave New World”, where we learn that the wife of Rachel’s father is not, in fact, her real mother. As my jaw dropped, the episode ended, so I was more than eager to continue on the final episode. The story of Rachel’s mother is long, dark, and sad – but in short, she got involved with drugs, and continually making bad decisions in life evidently leads to her losing custody over Rachel. Bad parenting is a reoccurring factor in the Life Is Strange-series, and their choices as parents clearly reflect the choices of the teenagers. Chloe and Rachel’s parents have made some bad choices in life, and making amends might be harder than one might think. We get to see several sides of the story as we learn about Rachel’s rough past.

The episode starts out in confusion, sadness and anger. As a consequence of the reveal of her biological mother, Rachel becomes obsessed with the idea of meeting her. After playing detective, Chloe finds out that this is not necessarily a good idea… But because she is a good (girl)friend, she wants to support Rachel in her decisions; whether they are good or bad. At the end of the road, you are faced with a solid dilemma, where you have to decide what is best for Rachel, and how you can do your best to protect her. The “power” that Chloe has – using words to persuade others in her favor – becomes even more important in this episode, as the outcome of these “verbal battles” decide whether we have to take the easy or the hard way to achieve what we want. Talking about things that one might go great lengths to avoid, is also an important aspect of this universe. Perhaps we might learn a thing or two from Chloe?

I’ve come to learn that when life gets hard for other people, you can count on Chloe to be there for you. Chloe is many things, but she is a damn good friend. Yet sometimes, a good friend can be taken advantage of. Slowly but surely, the player is made aware of all the things Chloe keeps doing for Rachel, without receiving anything in return. As such, the relationship between Chloe and Rachel is, in my opinion, highly romanticized. It doesn’t feel 100% believable, but it is nevertheless a beautiful and strong relationship that I guess everyone would aspire to have. The worst part of it is that it breaks my heart to see them now because I know how the relationship – unwillingly – comes to an end. The beauty of friendship and love seeps through the cracks of the dull and dismal surface, making the hard stuff a little easier to deal with, which I can appreciate. It doesn’t make the issues too heavy, just heavy enough to make the right amount of impact on the player.

Doing and dealing drugs are some of the issues that our teenagers encounter – which often include violence, and this time around is unfortunately no exception. However, as the drama escalates quickly in this episode, we can always rely on a whole new round of Dungeons & Dragons as a nice change of pace. This sequence is even longer now than it was in the first episode, but you’re not going to see me complain about it. This scene made Chloe forget all the grief, despair, and anger that she was going through, if only just for a few moments. And realizing that she had more friends than she thought might have given her the shove she needed.

And one simply cannot make A Life Is Strange review without commenting on the soundtrack. For this season, the developers chose to cooperate with the London trio neo-folk band Daughter to compose the music for this season. They even released an individual album with the songs on their Spotify. The sound of the music has a lot of character that blends beautifully in with the theme of the game, and I have found myself coming back to it repeatedly – the band truly did a great job with the soundtrack, so kudos to them. And if you have only played the first season of Life Is Strange, and you, for some reason, find yourself reading this review, I can promise you that the music aspect of the game will not disappoint you.

Even though this journey is a fulfilling one, I cannot help but feel a little disappointed. The game decided to give me a happy-ever-after ending, which I feel was unsatisfactory. Rachel’s fate is far from happy, and I think that the ending of this episode should have reflected that more than it did. I do sometimes enjoy when games give us the opportunity to create theories about what happens, but “Hell Is Empty” rather gave us too much to be interpreted.

The game left a gap storywise between the end of season 2 and season 1, whereas I hoped that the gap would be much smaller. When does Rachel meet the teacher that will inevitably murder her? What happens between Chloe and Rachel in between these events? All we know is what we learn from the first game, which is just bits and pieces told from a broken Chloe. Even though if you wait until after the credits have rolled, you do get to see a disturbing nod towards Rachel’s terrible fate. I just think it wasn’t enough. The second episode was by far the best one, because it had a fantastic build-up, with an amazing plot twist at the end. This was a fairly short episode of approximately 2-3 hours, whereas the previous episode was about 4 hours long.

I also found it interesting that the first half of the series is more about Chloe, but then the spotlight shifts to Rachel. All in all, I love this series, and if you are a fan of narrative-heavy games, I will highly recommend that you play this game. Just remember to play the other one, too.

Iconoclasts Review [PS4] – Enjoyable, Challenging and Varied

February 7, 2018February 7, 2018 by Matt Parker, posted in Reviews

When reading about indie games it used to be that the bar was set a little bit lower for the small teams that made them. We used to be more forgiving if a title didn’t have quite the sheen that you’d see out of an ‘AAA’ studio. I mean, what do you expect when you’ve only got a team of 5 people working on a game?

Iconoclasts Review

This isn’t the case anymore. Nowadays smaller teams are measured on the same scale as anyone else. Still, it’s hard not to be impressed by Iconoclasts’ development story. This is because Iconoclasts is a smart, challenging and gorgeous ‘puzzle-action platformer’ that was made by one person. The music, the programming, the writing and the visuals – everything.

So maybe you’ve read the term ‘action-puzzle platformer’ before or maybe it’s a new term I’ve just made up. Who’s to say? In simple terms, Iconoclasts has you playing as Robin, who’s a mechanic with a spanner and a stun gun. This means you jump from platform to platform, using your wrench to fix things, move platforms around and solve puzzles. You’ll also use your stun gun to shoot at the numerous nasties that litter the levels too.

Yes, I could have said ‘this is a game similar to Metroid’ but that would be lazy of me, wouldn’t it? Also, whilst there is some backtracking to do, as you upgrade your moves, your wrench and your gun, there’s not as much as you’d find in a Metroid game.

The puzzles and platforming challenges are well-designed and leave you feeling clever rather than frustrated. The puzzle elements are smartly paced and placed. You’ll rarely encounter something that you ‘need to come back to’ and it’s often fairly clear what you need to do, with the challenge coming from figuring out how to do it. Some of the puzzles require a little too much controller dexterity, as you’ll need to be fairly quick on your feet to do what needs to be done.

What will also require some dexterous button pressing is the fighting and, particularly, the boss battles. Much like the puzzles, most of these are great and ask you to put into practice the skills that you’ve already honed throughout the last area you’ve just spent time in. Sadly, two or three aren’t that fun and introduce unique gameplay elements that don’t appear anywhere else in the game. One boss has you switching characters, which would be fun if you knew how the character controlled. Sadly, the first time you play as this new character and get to try out her entirely bespoke control scheme is during the middle of a hectic boss fight.

Another element that doesn’t always work is the story. I think the fact that I’m even going to talk about the story in a game of this type is pretty astounding, but Iconoclasts has a story that is worth talking about, is better developed than most ‘narrative-driven’ games and will engage mostly everyone.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers but it’s safe to say that Iconoclasts has a story that is full of character and covers some heavy topics. It’s a story about religion, challenging authority of any type and it wants you to question the things you’ve been told by your teachers, preachers and parents. It has a heavily atheist tone, which people that have strong religious beliefs may find off-putting, but it’s brave to see what looks like a simple platformer contain such a fleshed out story, setting and cast.

It’s not perfect though. Some of the dialogue goes into ‘anime’ territory for me. There are some overbearing monologues delivered throughout the game and there is a new vocabulary to learn along the way. You’ll have to pay attention and piece together just what the game is talking about when it drops in some of its unique jargon. Personally, I found it worth the effort as Iconoclasts delivered a tale that was much more dramatic and darker than its bright and breezy visuals would suggest.

Speaking of which, it’s time I address the well-drawn elephant in the room. Yes – Iconoclasts has some beautiful pixel art.

Everything you get to see throughout the game is brilliantly animated and I can think of no higher praise than to say that quality of the art reminds me of Metal Slug. Enemies bounce, sway and have a real kinetic energy to them that means you can’t keep your eyes off the screen. I may have mentioned how the varied locations are great because they’re well-designed areas to puzzle and platform through, but they’re also really nice to look at and visually varied.

What’s also incredibly wide-ranging is the music. From cheery upbeat numbers to dourer ambient pieces, it’s really impressive to think this was done by one person. Sure, it took this one person 8 years, but you can see where the time has gone and that none of it was wasted!

Brawl Review [Nintendo Switch] – A Gritty Bomb-Planter

February 6, 2018 by Chris Wheatley, posted in Reviews

The bomb-planting, puzzle-solving action vaguely reminiscent of the iconic Bomberman series has found a new home in a dark and disturbing setting that surrounds the new Switch port – Brawl. Taking on the role of one of the gritty “heroes” like the dismembered test dummy or sad psycho clown, players find themselves amidst a deadly Emporium booby-trapped by the eerie narrator slowly guiding players to their doom. That’s, of course, only if they don’t manage to escape the grim deathtrap first.

By choosing one of the eight playable characters, players may then embark on the game’s main story campaign, which acts as the single-player portion of the game. Each level throws a handful of arenas at the character, each tossing in more obstacles and enemies to add to the difficulty. To nullify and/or defeat these enemies lies in your ability to plant bombs, as well as perform other useful special skills and abilities which are unique to each character.

The arenas act like big mazes filled with both breakable objects like boxes, and immovable walls. All of the characters have the ability to place bombs to break through boxes and defeat enemies, but it’s what they can do with these bombs that makes them unique. Freezing them in place to stop their detonation timer, or sneezing a bomb clear across the area are a few examples of the special abilities held by each character. These special skills are limited in use unlike planting bombs, so players must use caution when relying on them. Along with the bomb countdown timer, players may also detonate bombs manually for more trivial challenges later in the game.

A Precise Bombing Affair

As you make your way through the levels, more and more enemies begin to appear, making the timing and precision increasingly important. To help with the difficulty curve, upgrades also appear when busting up the right boxes, or triggering the correct switches. Various upgrades include increasing your blast radius, adding more health or upping the amount of special ability uses you have. Finding the bomb power-ups gives you the ability to plant bombs, but the more you find and add to your inventory, the more you can place down at one time. Bombs come in unlimited quantities once you’ve picked up a bomb icon, but until power-ups are found only one can be placed at a time.

When finding health packs wyour health is already full, players may also add up to two more extra lives, and the use of a powerful ability, like causing a massive explosion surrounding a large area around your character. These are primarily useful when engaging in arenas with tricky enemy movements and plenty of breakable boxes stand in your way. Trying to use the standard bomb attack to wipe out enemy forces can become quite tricky in the later levels, which is exactly where the various power-ups and abilities come into play perfectly.

Taking players through the story mode shows off the dark and eerie visuals presented in Brawl. Like a combination of Saw and Bomberman, players will be taunted by the narrator in Brawl, leading them ever-further into the maniacal maze of deathtraps and hordes of enemies. The sinister stills that act as cutscenes in between levels show more of the character’s distraught backstory as they venture closer to freedom outside of the gruesomely haunting Emporium.

Bomb-arded With Competitive Modes

The play style of Brawl is unique when compared to the sparse ‘bomber’ style puzzle genre. Each of the eight characters not only has their own special skill and ability but a different set of levels for each as well. The story mode alone is packed with content, dozens of levels across all eight unlockable characters. On top of the main campaign is the co-op, competitive and practice modes.

Multiplayer is filled with even more bomb planting challenges, including 4-player deathmatches, survival mode which pits players against non-stop waves of enemies, two-player duels, Sumo which has players attempting to knock one-another out of each arena, and the unique Color Domination, which involves splashing colored paint across the board against up to three other players. While the single-player content is crammed with inventive level designs and power-ups, these multiplayer modes really create a party style atmosphere in Brawl, something that moulds perfectly with the Switch console.

Though Bloober Team‘s Brawl brings a familiar style of puzzling challenges to the table, there’s plenty of unique assets that separate it from the rest. While newcomers to the genre may find themselves trapped and killing themselves more than they’d care for, the ability to adapt and conform to the game’s complex and strategic approach to bomb-planting, puzzle-solving carnage comes naturally through the game’s in-game progression across the story. An excellent pick up for all those co-op party doers, this doom and gloom bomber is a simple, yet tactful addition to the Switch’s indie game library.

Yume Nikki: Dream Diary soon to bring a new dimension of horror to Steam

February 6, 2018 by PJ Moon, posted in Posts, Previews

Horror gaming in 2004 was a different landscape than it is today. Resident Evil 4 had yet to come along and redefine the genre, and Silent Hill games were still good. Most horror games played like early Resident Evil titles, featuring low-poly player characters struggling for their survival amongst compressed, pre-rendered backgrounds.

Yume Nikki + Kikiyama

A two-dimensional horror game was completely antithetical to what early-aughts horror game developers were developing. So, a two-dimensional horror game in 2004 would have been a pretty weird concept, right? Right indeed. Yume Nikki is a horror game from 2004 as weird as it is two-dimensional.

Yume Nikki was created by Kikiyama, a secretive developer about which little is known. The game was created using RPG-Maker and features simple gameplay mechanics. Players navigate pixelated nightmare-scapes and solve obtuse environmental puzzles. Unlike most of its RPG-Maker counterparts, Yume Nikki pits these gameplay mechanics against a set of bizarre, colourful worlds. Yume Nikki is notorious for leaving players dazed because of its sparse story, abstract world, and all around one-of-a-kind experience. Now available for free on Steam, Yume Nikki is a game you should play if you have yet to do so.

Playism, the publisher of Yume Nikki, recently announced a sequel too… sort of. Less a sequel and more of a reboot, Yume Nikki: Dream Diary is a reimagining of the original title. Featuring direct cooperation and supervision from Kikiyama, Yume Nikki: Dream Diary is being developed by Active Gaming Media, a company known for its localizations of titles No More Heroes and Soul Caliber IV.

Yume Nikki: Dream Diary will feature the off-putting, psychedelic world of Yume Nikki in three dimensions. Much like the original Yume Nikki, Yume Nikki: Dream Diary focuses on the young girl protagonist, Madotsuki, exploring a variety of dream worlds while trying to avoid horrifying humanoid monsters. Yume Nikki: Dream Diary is coming to Steam on February 23 and will cost $20.

Check out one of the trailers here:

5 Indie Steam Games For This Week – Feb 1st

February 1, 2018February 2, 2018 by Nitchigamer, posted in Features, Posts

There have been some solid Steam indie games released recently, so here’s a few we selected for this week:

In Death

In Death was created exclusively for the amazing immersion of VR – so you’ll need a HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or Windows Mixed Reality headset to play it. The game is a roguelite shooter set in the afterlife.

Store Page
Price: £13.94
Developer: Sólfar Studios

Tangledeep

Tangledeep combines 16-bit graphics from classic SNES-era RPGs with elements from roguelikes and dungeon crawlers to create an experience for players of every skill level.

Store Page
Price: £9.89 – until Feb 8th
Developer: Impact Gameworks

Anchorhead

Anchorhead is a text adventure game in the style of old Infocom games from the 1980s. That means no graphics, no menus, no point-and-click – you navigate a written story using typed commands, and read what happens next. Sound intriguing?

Store Page
Price: £7.19
Developer: Michael Gentry

Martial Arts Brutality

The quite literally named Martial Arts Brutality is a F2P (Free-to-play) turn-based tactical card fighter. In the game, you will learn the secrets of Kung Fu while ensuring you maintain some good ‘Chi’ Energy.

Store Page
Price: Free
Developer: Cold Beam Games

Dust and Salt

Dust and Salt is a text-based narrative adventure which features turn-based tactical battles. It’s set in a medieval fantasy world, but one in which there’s sadly no Aragorn or Gandalf.

Store Page
Price: £5.79
Developer: Prime Games

That’s your lot this time around. Have you been playing any new indie games on Steam this week? Let us know in the comments section below.

Back in Time

Category: Features

Dragon Sinker Review [PS4] – Charming, Simple and Wistfully Sound

Yet Another Dragon/Fantasy Adventure

A Unique Team-Based Party System

A Simple Experience

Mercenary Kings Reloaded Review [Nintendo Switch] – Run and Gun To Your Heart’s Content

World To The West Review [Nintendo Switch] – A Beautiful Adventure

World To The West Review [Nintendo Switch]

Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds Review [PC] – A Purely Riveting Fantasy RPG

Legrand Legacy: An Intuitive Combat System

Grow And Utilize The Strength Of Arcana

Purely Riveting

Gaming Your Way To A Soulmate

Gaming Your Way To A Soulmate

Elium: Prison Escape Review [PC] – A Mostly Satisfying Survival Experience

Elium: Prison Escape – Stick To The Shadows

Escaping The Bugs

Should We All Take A Break From Gaming?

Games: Too Much To Handle

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm Review [PS4] – Episode 3: ‘Hell Is Empty’

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm Review

Iconoclasts Review [PS4] – Enjoyable, Challenging and Varied

Iconoclasts Review

Brawl Review [Nintendo Switch] – A Gritty Bomb-Planter

A Precise Bombing Affair

Bomb-arded With Competitive Modes

Yume Nikki: Dream Diary soon to bring a new dimension of horror to Steam

Yume Nikki + Kikiyama

5 Indie Steam Games For This Week – Feb 1st

In Death

Tangledeep

Anchorhead

Martial Arts Brutality

Dust and Salt