Curse of the Dead Gods [Passtech Games] (Nindie Choice!) - Roguelikes have exploded in popularity in the past few years, with games like Dead Cells and Hades showing the way the last 2 years in how to make top-tier mainstream titles in the space. Curse of the Dead Gods may be a bit too challenging for a more generic crowd, but if you’re a fan of more challenging far in the spirit of Darkest Dungeon or (I wasn’t going to say it, since I hate when people say it) Dark Souls, it’s a title that does “hard” right. Absolutely swimming in the “risk versus reward” mentality every room you choose, every side passage you run into hoping for loot, and every bit of healing you benefit from at the cost of further corrupting your soul is about giving you choices and (often) then making you pay for them. When you first start out corruption feels like the enemy you’re fighting, and to a degree that’s true, every 100 points of it you receive you’ll take on a new curse. But even the game’s curses are often a matter of perspective and once you embrace them, and get some meta progression perks going, things get challenging and fun. Combat is tough, with your dodge and parry being essential to survival, and there’s a rhythm to it that takes getting used to but that plays with terrific (and appreciated) precision. Once you’ve got a handle on the combat, have made some smart investments with your meta progression, understand which weapons best suit your style, and have learned to use curses to your advantage whenever possible, you’ll find a deep, challenging, and rewarding roguelike well worth your attention.
Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection [Capcom] - Ahh, the tightrope of going
back to revisit classic titles that live in infamy. Nobody ever accused the
Ghosts ‘n Goblins franchise of being too easy, and Resurrection absolutely
honors its traditions for better or worse since it gleefully reminds you right
out of the gate that it’s here to kick your ass you once again. The great news is
that along with a terrific modern art style and some new elements and stages
(though very much honoring the classics as well) the team behind the game have
also tried to make it more accessible as well, though perhaps a bit slowly.
Aside from the choice of 4 difficulty levels to start out there’s also some
meta progression if you’re able to collect butterflies that are located in
various places in levels. With these you’ll be able to unlock new perks and
abilities that can absolutely save your butt in a pinch, or critically allow
you to have more than one weapon at a time you can switch between (a freaking
revelation!). That said, the classic limitations of the games highly-annoying
static jump and weapon aiming are also present so be warned that even powered
up you’re still going to be quite vulnerable with those aspects of play to
contend with. It’s hard to say whether non-retro gamers or people lacking
nostalgia for the franchise will want to take the plunge with this redux, no
matter how well-crafted, but for those of us who have fond memories of its
challenging play this is a terrific opportunity to revisit it with some
appreciated modern enhancements.
Quest Hunter [2 Zombie Games] - Who doesn’t love a decent action-RPG
dungeon crawler where you can explore, kill, loot, and work out puzzles? Quest
Hunter has most of those elements present, and it’s great that you can party
up with others for sure, but its main problem is that from top to bottom the
experience just feels so vanilla. It’s not too easy, not too hard, it fits
somewhere in the middle, but it’s then also a bit unremarkable given the
competition that’s out there for your attention. With no compelling story or
amazing art design to suck you in the hope would be that the combat or
puzzle-solving would help to compensate but though they’re serviceable they’re
just good. If you’re a genre fan perhaps this will just be a comfortable ride
to mildly enjoy but if you’re looking for some excitement and energy this game
just fails inspire those feelings.
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust [Analgesic Productions] - Perhaps it’s me,
and I’m just an impatient gamer, but this is one of those titles that simply
takes too long to get off the ground and even when it did the story threads
weren’t enough to justify too much generic gameplay. Moving between a light 3D
platforming feel ala the PS1 generation (complete with large and generally
empty spaces far too often) and some puzzle action with a 16-bit flair, you
can see the effort around you at times but it just struggled to pull me in at
all. It all has an arthouse feel to me, and perhaps there’ll be people who
want to dig into the story that it’s trying to tell, but with such uninspired
play I struggled to be interested.
Taxi Chaos [Orange One] - Hey, hey, hey… it’s time to make some
ca-raaazy money… Well, or not. I know I’m not alone harboring a crazy amount
of nostalgia for the frantic dodging, weaving, and vehicular mayhem of Crazy
Taxi. One look at Taxi Chaos immediately sent me into a spin with hopes of a
modern take on that same iconic play. Well, on a mechanical level Taxi Chaos
does pretty well everything correctly, you’ll be picking up passengers and
trying to get through town quickly to get your fare and then immediately pick
up someone else and continue until you run out of time. The problem is that
for the most part nothing else came over in translation. Sure, you could
lament the lack of the amazing soundtrack, replaced really by nothing but a
generic quiet bit of music in the back, but there’s so much more missing here
and that starts simply with energy. Your passengers, your driver, the city
itself, the lack of the gravel-voiced dude getting things going… and perhaps
this is why Sega hasn’t returned to the franchise, for fear of being unable to
recapture lightning in a bottle. Unfortunately, no matter how hard you’re
jonesing for even a hint of that old magic, Chaos will likely disappoint you
with its technically accurate but pretty soulless overall experience.
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