Almost two years after its PlayStation 4 debut, developer Quantic Dream has brought Detroit: Become Human to the PC via the Epic Games Store. With beautiful graphics and a complex branching story line, be prepared to make tough choices as you live the life of three androids as they shape the events of the days prior to the android uprising.
Besides grabbing a truck and running supplies to the front line or possibly playing as a medic, Siege Camp has done little to support solo-minded players. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by how well Foxhole accommodates both casual and hardcore gamers. As a casual gamer, I can jump in at any point during a war, grab some gear, and head straight to the front lines to join up with a group of players. After a couple of hours, I can switch to a Logi role, run supplies for a while, and then jump back off again. I can jump back in the next day or the following week and do it all over again. All the while, hardcore players will happily be trudging along, gaining or losing ground. They won’t even notice my absence but will have no problem filtering me into their plans whenever I’m around. Sure, the hardcore players will most likely be part of a regiment and have more access to armored vehicles and other powerful weapons, but casual players can always find a place in the overall scheme of things. Grunts still make up the bulk of any real-world army, after all.
The funny thing, though, is no matter how much Path of Exile changes, it always feels the same. You are always striving to push deeper into the game, always working to figure out the perfect build. And that, my friend, is the difference between a good ARPG and a great one.
With so many recent games focusing on building up towns or surviving hordes of zombies, RFGR is a blast from the past that reminds us that as a kid, building things wasn't the fun part, it was smashing them to bits that made it worth the time!
inXile has spent the last year upgrading the original Bard's Tale 4. The release of the Director's Cut is the culmination of all their hard work. They were able to address many of the community complaints with the addition of new game play options and have squashed many of the frustrating technical issues of the game along the way. The Bard's Tale 4: Director's Cut is the version of the game we deserved.
When it comes to getting your bike around the track, Milestone has done an excellent job of creating a believable simulation of MotoGP racing.
For those used to playing World of Warships on other platforms, you may find WoWS Legends a little restrictive in its current state.
Any armchair strategists out there will find plenty of enjoyment with Frozen Synapse 2. If you played the original, you will find plenty of new units, improved AI, and a whole new heap of fun. While the single-player campaign is a little lackluster, the core of the game in both single and multiplayer is the tactical combat, and Mode 7 has hit a home run with this piece of the game.
Simply put, running through the story of Borderlands 3 was a blast.
Ultimately, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is more hit than miss. Although it does little to advance the survival shooter genre forward, Cold Iron Studio has done a great job of combining the familiar source material with fun, action-packed combat. The few flaws are merely a minor distraction and don’t mean game over, man!
Harebrained Schemes has done an excellent job porting the Shadowrun Trilogy to consoles. I only tried the PlayStation 5 version, but I would expect to have the same experience on the PS4 or any of the Xbox consoles. As a primarily PC gamer, I must admit that the team did an excellent job of adapting the UI to support a controller and big-screen TV. I would even say it’s worth paying full price to get the console version over the PC version, which can be found at a discount. The only thing missing is an upgrade in performance. Maybe Harebrained Schemes is saving that for another foray into the Shadowrun universe.
The only other flaw to the combat of The Lamplighters League is the limited camera control. Strategic combat requires a good overview of the battlefield, and with the lack of any camera zoom or control over the viewing angle, you are stuck with a static isometric view of the fighting. You can rotate and scroll the map, but keeping track of a large map without any extra controls is cumbersome. It’s not enough to turn me away from recommending The Lamplighters League to any avid turn-based combat fan, but it is definitely a big miss.
A roguelike twin-stick shooter with ARPG elements, indie developer Lizard King is punching well above its weight class with Enlightenment. The blending of multiple genres ensures a wide range of tastes will be satisfied with the gameplay. While the heavy use of RNG creates an inconsistent difficulty to each run, the carry over of character progression from one life to the next means every failed run contributes to your advancement.
There are only so many ways to build a bridge but Poly Bridge 2 finds a way to add enough to give new life to the aging original. The lack of a tutorial can make the first few levels more challenging than necessary, but the mix of traditional bridge-building and unconventional solutions will keep you engaged level after level. When the 64 levels included in the game are done the community fueled Gallery and Workshop levels will keep you going for hours on end.
With The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep, developer inXile does a great job of taking all the elements of a 30-year-old series and mixing it up with some modern era mechanics.
Eden Rising is a nicely constructed open-world exploration game with a side of tower defense thrown in. Nvizzio Creations has created a vibrant world to explore, complete with a simple yet effective crafting element.
With a short campaign mode and lack of crafting, Minecraft Dungeons may not be a hardcore offering that will give you hundreds of hours of play, but it is a perfect way to spend a few hours playing together with friends or your kids while you wait for the next season of your favorite dungeon crawler to start up.
Is Tribes of Midgard fun? Yes. Is it all it can be? Not yet, but there's hope. This is the first of several scheduled seasons. We don’t have long to wait for more content either. Season 1 has a mid-season patch scheduled for September, followed in November by Season 2. ToM has room for growth, and those upcoming seasons may hold that one piece of the puzzle that gives Tribes of Midgard the longevity it deserves. If they don’t, Norsfell Games will find the excitement surrounding the launch of Tribes of Midgard will be overcome by Ragnarok.
With the Fifth Crusade, Owlcat Games has unsuccessfully attempted to create an expansive and immersive world. The overworld army combat and city building are merely copies of systems that are done better in other games, and it all ultimately ends up being a bunch of time-consuming rigamarole that destroys the pacing of the core RPG experience. Sometimes less is more.
For the Campus DLC, the devil is in the details, both good and bad. All of the new buildings, especially the new sports complexes, are well done and up to par with the visuals we have come to expect from Cities: Skylines. The ability to freely place campus buildings is a big bonus that helps differentiate the campus area from the rest of your city. I