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The only thing we have to fear is...nothing at all   Time is a funny thing. Days can become a blur, while moments may seem to linger forever. Try as we might, those moments are lost to us as time marches forward. Memories dull, legends change, and even pictures never tell the full story. Somehow, as I played through F.E.A.R. , I felt as if I had been transported to a different time altogether. In this way, I was able to experience a moment in time as my fully-realized adult self. See, I’ve never actually played F.E.A.R. – my only knowledge of it being ads in old gaming magazines I would collect. The usual force of fond remembrance – nostalgia – has no power over me here. I get to experience what some have called the best horror game ever with clear eyes and a clear mind. Despite all its time-slowing shenanigans, it felt no more than a blip on the radar. Publisher: Sierra Entertainment Developer:   Monolith Productions Platform:  Played on PC Availability : October 16, 2005 for Windows Following the exploits of the First Encounter Assault Recon team, F.E.A.R . is a first-person shooter with some minor exploration aspects in the levels, and a heavy focus on a time-slow mechanic during shootouts. The basic premise is that your team is looking for Paxton Fettel, the commander of a battalion of psychically manipulated clone troopers. As the troops and Fettel cause havoc across the city, you’ll find yourself party to increasingly strange events – including being stalked by a ghostly young girl with long black hair, à la The Ring.   In many ways, it’s hard to make an accurate assessment of the way this game feels and plays when compared to its contemporaries – I have not played them in over a decade – and it feels unfair to stack it up against more modern shooters. So, all I’m left with is what I felt in the moment, and it’s…fine. Controls work as they need to, and everything moves at a fast pace, until you start your time slow ability.  That slowing ability basically trivializes every fight in the game, as headshots obliterate most enemies instantly, and it’s easy to line up your shots here. Almost none of the guns feel particularly unique, as every encounter amounts to a simple point and click. The only real variance between the weapons being how fast the fire rate is and how the bullets spread when fired. I ended up using pistols or single fire weapons in most instances for their ammo efficiency, but I had an automatic rifle for whenever I was in a pinch. There’s also a melee attack which could be very powerful, but I rarely used it. The AI kind of wanders about the room aimlessly, taking occasional potshots at you while you massacre the field. It’s all dreadfully uninteresting, and quickly becomes repetitive. Most of the miscellaneous systems in play are carbon copies of its predecessor shooters: Health packs to heal, armor that you can collect as a pick-up, and so on. It’s all very Goldeneye or DOOM inspired. Even as others moved on to self-regenerating systems, or ditched power-up pickups in favor of equipment loadouts, F.E.A.R. hung on to those systems. Another thing it clung to was a lack of any really interesting level design. Endless square rooms with a walkway or two (if they’re feeling generous) make up the bulk of the experience, and you’re mostly facing the same cloned enemies in the process. There are some set-piece fights or unique layouts scattered throughout the several hour experience, but they were too few for my liking. The story might be the most interesting part of the game, but I'm not jumping for joy about it. So, what would make F.E.A.R. stand out as an exemplary horror game? I’m still not sure. There are  horror elements in the game: A little girl in red who stalks you, flashing images on screen, and creepy guys crawling after you in dream sequences. These elements are surprisingly sparse, with most of the game being those gunfights we talked about earlier. In fact, the horror elements themselves are just plainly boring . The game outright refuses to do anything interesting with its premise, instead opting for jumpscare after jumpscare. Climbing down the ladder or in a hallway? There’s the girl! Sadly, she will just go away. Walking into a new room? Boom! Low-res JPG of a dead guy! Throughout the game there are rooms filled with blood and broken bodies, voicemails describing the events, and objects clanging in the background unprompted. There is certainly a buildup in the story to where the plot threads take us, and while the narrative might be a bit loose , it’s engaging enough to keep things moving. Sometimes, that’s all you can really ask for. The most interesting aspect of the plot revolves around increasingly more frequent and lengthy flashback sequences, but I became tired of even that as the game progressed. That isn’t to say the game is devoid of any merit. There are certainly memorable moments scattered across F.E.A.R. ’s runtime. There are neat chase sequences and some interesting flashbacks that tie right into the real-time experience. I just wish the game had either pared down the boring aspects or put in some more interesting moments in between all the monotony. Perhaps the most disappointing thing for me is the fact that the game didn’t manage to make me feel much of anything at all as I played. For a game that has such a large focus on time, it’s a shame that it felt like such a waste of mine. Verdict F.E.A.R. is a clear product of its time aesthetically, but doesn’t really hold up in any other department, either. Repetitive combat and dull, washed-out level design make a bulk of the horror shooter a chore, rather than an engaging romp. The plot is paper-thin, and never makes good use of the horror elements scattered throughout the game. Any semblance of horror amounts to simple jumpscares, so if those don’t work for you, it’s not a functional horror game in any other aspect. I mostly come away from playing this game feeling a bit sad. I’m sad I didn’t have a chance to experience it during its release period and I’m sad that I feel like I wasted my time. It feels wrong  to judge a game so harshly that hasn’t been relevant in over a decade, but I can pick up so many other old games and still have fun. I just never will with this one. Image Credits: Taylor Rioux

You're not alone I am not, by any reasonable metric, an “Alien” franchise fan. I have only ever seen two of the proper “Alien” movies ( Alien and Prometheus ), and I have never played a single “Alien” game. I don't have any nostalgic attachment to the characters, or really understand what a Xenomorph is (beyond ‘scary alien’). Yet, as I sit under a desk or in a locker - the music kicks in. While I make Ripley hold their breath, a demon made flesh prowls the room in front of me. I begin to understand. Just a total sense of helplessness and fear. No one to help you, nowhere to run, and nothing you can do except pray . Publisher: Sega Developer: Creative Assembly Platform: Played on PC Availability : Oct 17, 2014 for PS3, PS4, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One. December 5, 2019 for Nintendo Switch. Alien: Isolation is a survival horror game set in the “Alien” universe, a universe created (and primarily depicted) in the horror film franchise created by Ridley Scott. It's important to note this, as the protagonist of Alien: Isolation, Amanda Ripley, is the daughter of the main protagonist of the film franchise, Ellen Ripley. That aforementioned sense of helplessness against an unknowable, unkillable enemy makes up the bulk of the experience in Alien: Isolation.  Not just in terms of feeling, but in the gameplay as well. In fact, I would say that most of my time in-game was spent hiding from the Xenomorph. There are various systems at play here - a crafting system that allows you to make tools and weapons in your fight for survival, hacking that allows you to open doors or set off alarms, and your basic combat mechanics. All of which coalesce to create the core of the game. Noise makers to attract enemies, Molotovs to harm or deter them, med kits to heal and so on. While there are multiple enemy types (human, android, face-hugger, and Xenomorph), none really matter in the face of your reality - everything is in service of or related to avoiding the Xenomorph. You could  shoot those guys with your revolver, but doing so will bring the Xenomorph to you, sprinting is faster but noisy, and so on. Every part of you is painfully aware that getting caught by these enemies can spell death for you. Which is why I so often set the Xenomorph on the other enemies themselves. Tripping an alarm or throwing a noisemaker into a group of enemies is a sure way to clear them out, while also giving you a little more breathing room to get your tasks done. It can be risky - the Xenomorph may spot you and take you instead - but often worth the effort. It ends up being a much faster and easier task to just avoid the Xenomorph than both groups at once. There are, of course, multiple tense sequences where the Xenomorph is scripted to appear, and these are generally well done. From the way the lights might cut in and out, to the clanking of footsteps in the vents, Alien: Isolation  keeps you on your toes. The creature can even wait for you in vents, noted by dripping pools of saliva. Over time, the Xenomorph learns your habits and finds ways to sniff you out, making the experience even more terrifying. All of this is accentuated by the score. Most moments are quiet, with only the sounds of your actions and movement taking place. But when you're being hunted or something intense is happening, those strings kick in, and man  does it work. In many respects, it works in the same ways a movie score does, where everything bolsters what is happening on screen at a given moment. The music is not the only similarity to the films. Thematically, Alien: Isolation fits right in with Ridley Scott's works, exploring the ideas of how corporate greed, malice, and incompetence serve to harm us. The Xenomorph itself serves as this primal force, untouchable in its fury, rendering us at once both insignificant and helpless. The game explores futility and purpose, creation and carelessness. Unfortunately, most of this comes in the form of walls of text and audio files scattered throughout the levels. While the story is mostly fine, I think it's a bit too long, with the back third almost falling apart entirely. So much of the game is sneaking about and avoiding enemies, that it becomes fairly monotonous by the end. There's only so much desk crawling I can do before it starts to wear on me. I'm convinced we would not lose anything by cutting out at least a third of the levels. Despite this, I still came away appreciating the text and audio logs, and environmental storytelling on display. I didn't come into the game as an “Alien” franchise fan, but the quality of work here certainly has me leaving as one. I need  more. Thankfully, after I finish all the movies, there is a mountain of additional tie-ins to get through. They even announced a sequel to this game, and much like the Xenomorph hiding in the vents, my mouth is watering at the prospect. Verdict Alien: Isolation succeeds in so many more ways than it fails. Everything in the game serves to make the experience tense and frightening, with the Xenomorph itself being the real star of the show. Level and sound design create a sense of paranoia not commonly felt in games like this. Oftentimes bleak, the story is done well enough and is bolstered by the excellent supplementary material found throughout the game. That said, if you are not a fan of that type of story-telling, it may not work for you. While it sticks around a little too long, it's a strong outing, and I'm looking forward to the sequel. Image Credits: Taylor Rioux

The Tyrant of the horror genre still rules with an iron fist Content Warning: Images and descriptions of gore and violence I was still a child the first time I ever watched or played a horror game, completely unaware of what I was getting into. I remember sitting on the floor at a friend’s house, watching the screen as a man in blue trudged through the sewers, when suddenly, a giant alligator burst onto the scene. As Leon ran for his life on-screen, my friend and I were screaming the whole way. No game had ever made me feel terror like that before. We spent the rest of the day playing Resident Evil 2 (1998) , and I was so distraught when I finally had to go home. Once we got back home, I begged  my sister to get me that game. Eventually, she did. Big sis pulled through, bringing home a copy of Resident Evil 2: DualShock Version . Not really knowing what I was doing, I played it on “Arrange Game”. How cool is an unlimited gatling gun or infinite SMG? Despite these powerful tools, I was still so scared of everything I was seeing and hearing. I could not play the game in the dark, or even alone. Those squelching sounds of the zombies and the lickers’ tongues haunted my dreams for some time. Eventually, I beat the game and fell in love with the Resident Evil Franchise. Publisher:  Capcom Developer:  Capcom Platform:  Played on PC Availability: Released January 25, 2019 for PS4, Xbox One, and Windows. June 13, 2022 for PS5, and Xbox Series S/X. Enter Resident Evil2 (2019) , a remake of the previously mentioned, legendary game of the same name. While remaining fully within the same survival horror genre, this newer take on the classic now features an over-the-shoulder third-person camera, like the camera angles featured in many other modern Resident Evil games and popularized by Resident Evil 4 . Modernized controls, camera angles, and completely revamped graphics make the idea of a remake an enticing prospect, and Resident Evil 2 (2019) delivers all of that and more. The core of the game remains the same: A story split across 2 scenarios and stories (Claire and Leon), where you must navigate through the winding and intricate levels of a police station, sewer, and underground lab. While trying to make your escape and survive the night, you’ll come across zombies and other horrors, solve puzzles, and frequently rearrange your inventory to make the necessary space in your pack to continue through the areas. There are differences, however, in how these function from the original game. The story itself has been slightly modified, and much of it is told through beautiful cutscenes that really showcase the great character and environmental design put in place here. The Scenario A/B function of the game is less impactful in the remake than the original game, but you’ll still see different enemy and item placements and get a different final boss. The game is also visually much darker than the original, with your characters navigating dark hallways and rooms with only a flashlight or minimal lighting to keep the enemies hidden. Puzzles in the remake are actually puzzles, rather than simple key item repositories. There are a few concessions to modern game design principles, however. Items now appear on your map if you see them, and the map will automatically update to let you know if a room has been cleaned out. Navigating the halls of the station and other areas is seamless - no loading screens whatsoever. And finally, saves are now infinite, whereas in the original game they were limited to how many ink ribbons you had on your person. Visually stunning and appropriately dark, the game knows just when to show it's hand. Another big difference is the inclusion of Mr. X as a persistent threat in the first run of the game. He is somehow one of my favorite and least favorite mechanics at the same time. He is just so tenacious. The threat of this hulking mass wandering the halls and punching you in the face at any given time really ramps up the urgency of every action. And you’ll hear his big boots coming from a mile away. It always keeps the tension high, even if you can just enter a safe room to avoid him in many situations. Without playing the game, you would assume that the increased character control and better gunplay would serve to make the game less scary than its predecessor, but I am here to tell you that is flatly untrue. While you are more capable as a player, so too are the enemies. They move faster, travel in bigger packs, and are in more tightly enclosed areas then the original game. On top of that, the graphics are so damn good – making the gore and decay present here truly repulsive sometimes. Some moments in the game are absolutely brutal to witness. All of this is tried together by the excellent sound design all throughout the game. As you wander in the dark, you’ll hear noises of your enemies in the distance. Shuffling of the walking zombies, or glass shattering, or various other disgusting sounds permeate the halls. Sometimes it’s a fake-out, and at others - a warning. Those sounds really keep you on your toes – I felt insanely paranoid throughout much of my runtime. The sounds are appropriately disgusting when needed, but I think it’s so well done in other areas, too. Things like clanking of metal bars, or aluminum cans, or how your gun rings out when you fire it are expertly crafted, and if you have a good sound system or pair of headphones, you’ll be wowed by just how great everything sounds. The voice acting is perhaps the only thing that is uneven in the sound department. Some of the performances are stellar here, while others remain a bit flat. Nothing ever reaches outright bad acting, but it’s not the strongest feature. This is a bit of a disappointment, because the story and presentation are truly excellent, overall. It serves as a great re-telling of a classic story but does enough to make itself stand out from the original material. I found myself engaged throughout the entire experience, and there were more than a few surprises, even for someone familiar with the source material. It may not have been pretty, but we made it through the experience. Something that makes this game difficult for me to review is just it’s inherent nature as a horror game. It is with great shame that I admit this game scared the ever-living-hell out of me - basically from start to finish. Every enemy I can’t see but can hear drives me into paranoia. Each time Mr. X walks through a doorway, I start spiraling into a panic. It can be hard for me to focus on the details as I play the game, because I am just so flustered. I’m just trying to survive. Despite that constant state of fear, I loved this game. Or maybe it’s because of that fear that I appreciate the craftsmanship on display here. That is the point of a horror game, after all, isn’t it? I know my general state of panic was horrifying in the moment, but when I look back on each memorable set-piece, or fight, or scene, I can’t help but think to myself damn, that was cool . Verdict Resident Evil is a franchise that exemplifies horror, and Resident Evil 2 (2019)  goes even beyond that. It is, quite simply, the finest horror game I have ever played. From the exciting story to the frightening creatures on display, this game shines brightly in the dark. It’s a game that makes you consider your options constantly and puts you on the spot to face your fears at every turn. Best of all, it’s so damn fun to play. If you are interested in Resident Evil as a franchise, or even just horror games as a whole, you owe it to yourself to play this masterpiece. Image Credits: Capcom and Taylor Rioux

The whispers still linger here Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is quite a scary game, but maybe not in the ways you might think. Sure, there are scary monsters, and dark corners, and whispers in your ear at all times, but those are not the true frights the game has in store for you. In truth, the real fear comes from within - inside Senua herself, and inside us, the player. The game begins with Senua - the titular character - on a mission to save her now-dead lover from Helheim, and in order to do so, Senua must confront the Northmen who hunt her, and the terrors of her own making. On the surface, Hellblade is a game set in a quasi-mythological world that's a mish-mash of Norse and Celtic mythologies, and it's a story about a woman who just wants to defy the gods to bring back the man she loves. This is all window dressing for the game to explore its themes of mental illness and psychosis, and those themes permeate through every facet of the experience. Publisher:  Ninja Theory Developer:  Ninja Theory Platform:  Played on PC Availability: Released on August 8, 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, April 11, 2018 for Xbox One, April 11, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, and August 9, 2021 for Xbox Series X/S From the first moments of the story, Senua is beset by auditory and visual hallucinations. The voices, known as "The Furies" in-game, are the first to make themselves known. A product of "The Darkness" (a sort of corruption that is a physical manifestation of Senua's psychosis), The Furies are there to guide you through every part of the game. From puzzles to combat, the voices are always chattering away, offering hints or direction on what's coming or what to do next. The implementation of these voices is excellent, and if you have a nice headset or surround sound setup, you're going to be amazed at the type of effects used here. While the voices generally add a nice layer to the game from a thematic and story-telling perspective, some of the implementation can be a bit grating. The voices are constantly prattling, and in combat they can give you a nice heads-up if someone is attacking you, but it most often felt like an annoyance rather than helpful. I think it's easy to hand-wave this and say that the discomfort of the combat is representative of the discomfort Senua is feeling, but I can't help but wonder if there would have been a less deleterious way to implement this. After all, combat is inherently simple - Light attack, heavy attack, parry, dodge, charge. Not much to worry about, and the enemies telegraph their moves quite obviously. It feels like a chore more often than an engaging part of the game, but the threat of The Darkness creeping up on Senua can create a bit of tension. As perhaps the game's most controversial mechanic, The Darkness is more than just an allegory for Senua's struggles - it is the greatest threat to your journey. Each time you fall in battle, The Darkness that starts in Senua's arm creeps closer to her head, and once it gets there, your save will be deleted. Or, so they say. I'm not sure it is actually possible for this to happen, but it's the threat that matters - keeping you in a state of paranoia not unlike the one Senua is experiencing herself. It is unfortunate, then, that the combat is so uninteresting in execution. It just feels so disjointed, like it's an entirely separate thing from the rest of the game, or that it's just an afterthought to keep people engaged. With all of the care put into the other sections of the game, it feels like a strange miss. Hellblade is stunning to look at, even in motion. Luckily, the combat is usually only a punctuation on the more interesting environmental exploration and puzzle solving sections. These exploratory moments see Senua stumbling through very detailed, and sometimes confusing, surroundings - looking for runes in the environment. The runes often unlock via a change in perception, whether that's just finding the right spot to look, or doing another action to then create the right conditions for the rune to appear. This is, of course, another reference to Senua's mental state and how perception often guides reality. How perspective can shape our actions, or allow us to continue through difficult times. These puzzles offer us insight into Senua's ongoing struggles, and how she is dealing with them, with each new environment exploring some trauma or difficulty in Senua's own world - represented by the scenes in front of us. Sometimes the line between what is explorable and what isn't can be a bit blurry. I don't actually think this is intended, but it is funny how that could also be seen as an allegory for Senua's psychosis blurring the line between fiction and reality. Despite those minor grievances, Hellblade 's greatest strength lies in its presentation, The superb audio design - spearheaded by the voices - elevates every scene and moment the game offers you. The boss encounters are very strong, as they often have a more interesting combat gimmick. Combining this with the eerie sounds of Senua's mind and an additional unique visual flair, the boss fights become something special . The cutscenes especially are exemplary. The cutscenes make excellent use of color, lighting, and effects to convey their messages. Despite being 7 years old at the time of writing this review, the cutscenes are still gorgeous. Yes, graphical fidelity has far surpassed what is here (see Senua's Saga: Hellblade II), but the direction and acting are exemplary. Melina Juergens, in particular, gives a stunning performance as Senua - able to convey such a wide array of emotions so well. Whatever facial tracking they used was implemented not only better than its contemporaries, but is still a great example today. Even beyond the graphics themselves, the use of darkness, lighting, effects, and camerawork makes everything feel tense and confusing. They really managed to put some amazing work in here. However amazing those moments may be, I do not believe they will be known as Hellblade 's lasting legacy. The visuals and presentation, while stellar, are (and will continue to be) outpaced. Time marches on for all of us, after all, and no number of cutscenes will ever cover up the unfortunate reality that playing this game isn't all that fun sometimes. Instead, I think Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice will be primarily remembered for its representation of psychosis and mental illness. It is a conscious depiction with real care taken to display and understand Senua's struggles, and it becomes a mirror for us to examine our own understanding of the world and how so much of it is shaped by our own perception and circumstance. Verdict Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is at times moving and at others frustrating in its execution. With a considered portrayal of mental illness, it's a game that has a lot to say, and does so very well. While ultimately held back by its repetitive, often boring combat and some areas not being clearly navigable, Hellblade is something worth experiencing. Ninja Theory has made sure the subject matter is both handled with care, and remains interesting. If nothing else, it is a commendable effort. Image Credits: Taylor Rioux

No amount of new media can re-write this history I recently had the displeasure of re-experiencing Fallout 4 , and while I wouldn't normally bother doing a write up for a game I actively dislike so far from its release, this one stuck with me. See, Fallout is very plainly a mediocre series in Bethesda's hands in general , and at the time of it's release, Fallout 4 was garnering so much hype, it was impossible to avoid. Bethesda's most recent major release, Skyrim , was such a massive success, it had millions begging the developer for another entry into the Fallout franchise - excitedly wondering how the developer could improve on their formula and breathe new life into the storied franchise. Except they forgot to do that. Or maybe they didn't forget, and just chose not to, opting instead to pare back many of the mechanics and identifying features of past games in an attempt to capture the mass appeal Skyrim achieved. Releasing a full 7 years after Fallout 3 and 5 years after Fallout: New Vegas , it's shocking just how much lesser this entry feels as an RPG. Publisher:   Bethesda Softworks Developer:  Bethesda Game Studios Platform:  Played on PC Availability: Released November 10, 2015 on PS4, XBOX One, and Windows PC. Next Gen update on April 25, 2024 for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S Despite being physically massive, much of the world feels the same in all the worst ways. Characters are completely one-dimensional, and even the best companions are limited in their speaking and interaction. Samey combat and encounter design becomes a chore very early on, and with so few unique areas to engage with, the experience quickly becomes repetitive. Each apartment or factory feels like the last, often sharing the same or very similar layouts and enemies. Honestly, this game coming out in the same year as The Witcher 3 feels a bit disgusting. Bethesda has all of the resources and time in the world to get these things right! How did they miss the mark so badly? I am going to put (perhaps too much of) the blame on the community surrounding Bethesda. Let me explain - since the early days, Bethesda has always suffered from broken, messy games. In many ways, the games were propped up by the vast world and unparalleled freedom the games offered. This lead to the community fixing the bugs or broken questlines through mods, and over time, Bethesda became reliant on this relationship. You can see it in action, as many of the same bugs from Skyrim exist in Fallout 4 and even still in Starfield . Bethesda is all too content to put together a shell of a game - sloughing off of old, broken bones - and throw their hands up, proclaiming, "the modders will fix it!" All too often, that modding community has been eager to answer the call and the games are paying the price to this day. The final moments of fun the game was able to share. It's not without some merits, however. Few games offer the freedom that Bethesda open world games do, and the character creator is pretty fun to mess with, even if it is a bit lacking by contemporary standards. However, they are no longer ahead of the curve, comparatively. They are no longer singular in this regard. All too often your reward for exploration or engaging with the game in less than straight-forward ways is not worth the trouble. Every time I look back at the time I wasted on this game, I regret it. I really wanted this one to be good, or live up to the hype. I recently ran through Fallout: New Vegas again, and the difference in the depth of role-playing achievable is pretty staggering. The story-writing falls flat as well, but I don't think it's ever been a strong suit of the Bethesda brand. Coming off the excellent TV series, it feels a bit sad to have to trudge through this. Choices in conversations are now 2 or 3 words, with the character going off on tangents at their whim. All-in-all, Fallout 4 is a plodding, and often hopelessly bland experience. Clunky gunplay and pared-down role playing mechanics make this among Bethesda's worst offerings. It is an effort completely devoid of purpose or meaning - meant only to take from you. I hope that one day the series can be saved from Bethesda's cultish devotion to mediocrity, but I won't be getting my hopes up. Verdict Fallout 4  remains Bethesda's weakest offering to date. A game filled with bugs nearly 15 years old, it rarely feels like more than a chore to play. Featuring some of the weakest story and character writing the company has ever released, it attempts to win the audience over with a massive map and endless checklists of things to do. Slavishly devoted to avoiding risks, it is a game without meaning or thought. The drowned out color palette is frankly representative of the experience as a whole - there's just not much going on here. Image Credits: Taylor Rioux

Could this be a turning point for the series ? Earlier this month on Sept. 5, BioWare held a hands-on capture event for the latest, highly-anticipated, release in their long running Dragon Age franchise. At this event, media members and content creators were invited to play and capture footage of their time playing. With the embargo now lifted on Sept. 15, a deluge of videos, articles, and tweets have surfaced about the game - and they're overwhelmingly positive. Jade Valkyrie , a content creator who was present at the media event, was effusive in their praise. "From my early hands-on experience, I can confidently say that this game is everything we hoped for - and more. There [are] improvements across the board for many types of Dragon Age fans," Valkyrie stated in her most recent Youtube video . For myself, Dragon Age: The Veilguard felt more like a myth than a real game prior to this summer. We knew BioWare was working on it, but they have been very tight-lipped over the last 10 years. Since the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014, the series has been completely dormant in the gaming space. This year, however, we've been treated to trailers, podcasts, and articles all about DATV . I felt so much excitement over the reveal trailer in June, that I played through all of the games again, read some of the comics and even did a deep-dive on all the lore and codex entries. YouTuber @ GhilDirthalen , who was also at the capture event, has really helped me through this mania by providing an assortment of videos and playlists that cover everything from world lore to theories about where this is all going. You can also catch their latest videos about the preview event, if you're looking for some information and impressions of the game. As far as what I've seen today? The game looks better than I ever imagined it would. DATV looks absolutely stunning in every shot we've seen. I have heard some longtime fans complain about the way DATV looks, stylistically. I think it looks amazing, even if there has been a definite shift in style from Dragon Age: Origins to now. It just looks beautiful in motion, and thank God for those updated hairstyles in the character creator. From the characters to the effects on screen, DATV is full of eye-candy. The gameplay they've shown off so far has me excited. Combat looks fast-paced and fun, but also has a nice depth to it that I'm itching to explore. The role-playing portion of this RPG looks great, too. There are a lot of backgrounds and factions to choose from, and new exciting characters to bounce those ideas off of. Combat and characters are the real highlights for me. Twitch streamer Saira , also known by @sairaspooks on Twitter , noted, “this was important to me, and [I]’m sure it’s going to be important for some of you too. not only can you pet assan forever, you can also play rock paper scissors with manfred! make sure you say hello to them whenever you return to the lighthouse 💜”. Overall, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is shaping up to be an amazing game, and BioWare’s best title in a decade (maybe even longer, actually). Early impressions make it clear BioWare just might be on the cusp of something incredible. Will this be the series’ big break? I don't know if it will outpace Inquisition in sales, but I can't wait to get my hands on it when it releases on Oct. 31, 2024. Image Credits: BioWare/Electronic Arts

Can the franchise recover some of its standing? Sept. 18, 2024 - Square Enix has released a financial results briefing that was held on May 13, and those results come as a blow to fans of the prestigious JRPG franchise. Stating "profits did not meet our expectations," Takashi Kiryu, president and representative director of Square Enix lamented the lack of growth in their Digital Entertainment segment. Focusing on their HD games sub-segment specifically, Kiryu continued "The HD Games sub-segment failed to better its profitability, posting operating losses in every year of our previous medium-term plan. In addition to this, we did not manage our title portfolio across the company as well as we could have, which I believe resulted in opportunity losses due to cannibalization between our own titles." Final Fantasy XVI had an excellent DLC come out earlier this year. With Final Fantasy XVI and VII Rebirth releasing only around half a year apart, Kiryu believes the games may have stepped on one another, but Square is taking steps to address this. "In the case of the HD Game sub-segment, sales of individual games will remain the key variable, but we believe that we will be able to exercise some degree of control over that volatility by carefully curating our pipeline over the next three years,” Kiryu assured investors. Kiryu said, “By also working steadily to improve our profitability, we intend to offset the weakness in SD games to achieve overall profitability.” Kiryu also mentioned a shift to a multiplatform strategy as part of their effort to increase profitability. With Final Fantasy XVI' s release on Steam on Sept. 17, 1024, final numbers are still in flux. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth released earlier this year to critical acclaim. Both Final Fantasy XVI and VII Rebirth were excellent entries in the series, but it seems that quality did not translate to sales. You can read our write up on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth here , and our review of the Final Fantasy XVI DLC The Rising Tide here . Square Enix has a lot of games on the docket over the next few years, but questions remain on what direction their flagship series will take moving forward. Profitability is obviously their main concern, but how will they balance those decisions with the creativity and quality the series has exemplified over the last 37 years? Time will tell, but you can be sure Square will continue to find ways to make Final Fantasy a prestige IP. Kiryu continued, "Engaging with content can move us. This is a sensation that, with the passage of time, forms unforgettable memories that help shape the values that ground us. It is our belief that this chain of events enriches our lives. We arrived at the conclusion that continuing to deliver content that can provide our customers with unforgettable memories that enrich their lives is our Group’s mission and reason for being." Image Credits: Square Enix

Re-leash the Beast The day I Am Your Beast released, I was walking the trails of the woods with my dog, when I noticed a nest, filled with baby birds, had fallen off the branch it had been resting on. My dog was the first to notice, sniffing around the poor fledglings, causing those that could to flutter a few feet away. As I collected the birds to place back into their nest, their mother was constantly swooping in and out, trying to stop me from harassing the children. After a few minutes, I managed to place the nest in a safe holding spot nearby and got everyone back inside. Feeling pretty good about what we had done, my dog and I made our way back home. Over the last few days, I've gone and checked on those birds, they all seem happy and healthy. It is nothing more than coincidence or happenstance that I found those birds, much like it was only by coincidence that I found this game, or by happenstance that the game itself starts off with our character, Harding, stumbling upon some soldiers who had just killed an innocent bird. Sometimes, random events can lead to big changes in our lives. For Harding, it not only created a whirlwind of death and destruction, but also a journey of healing and friendship. Publisher:  Strange Scaffold, Frosty Pop Developer:  Strange Scaffold Platform:  Played on PC Availability: Released September 10, 2024 on Steam. I Am Your Beast is the latest game from indie developer Strange Scaffold, creators of titles such as Clickholding and El Paso, Elsewhere . This entry, however, might be their most exciting yet. As a high-energy first person shooter, I Am Your Beast combines brutal action with ruthless efficiency to create a wonderfully frenetic experience. I often found myself on the edge of my seat, trying to scrape time off each bite-sized mission, aiming for my best score yet. The basics are this: each level is a short excursion with an objective (kill guys, reach a destination, etc), you receive a grade score based on the time it takes to complete a level, and there are bonus objectives in each level. Your "time” can be reduced through killing enemies, with different methods offering different time bonuses. Getting through the story levels the first time is always easy enough - there's very rarely a need to be exacting in your methods in the first go. But the real meat of the game comes from replaying the levels and trying to sand off the edges of your run. Getting that S rank can often be a real test of not only your skill, but your patience as well. Luckily, there's no real randomness to these levels - enemies, equipment, and objectives are always in the same place. So, the onus lies on you to find the best route and rack up your score where you can, using the tools at your disposal. There are also challenge levels that offer some fun scenarios outside of the scope of the story. I did not complete all of the available challenges in my time with the game, but the ones I played were just as fun and exciting as everything we got in the story experience. Strange Scaffold has made some promises to add content to the game, so if you enjoy what is here already, it feels pretty safe to say you're in for even more frenzied fun down the line. Beyond the core gameplay loop itself, there remains a lot to love about this game. Something as simple as the hitstun/ brief stoppage when you land a headshot can really add to the experience. In many ways, the little flourishes in animation and sound that happen as you race through a level elevate the totality of the experience. There's just such a POP to everything going on here that I could help but laugh as I blew up a helicopter, or rocketed a group of agents unaware of my presence, watching them disperse into bits. I Am Your Beast always remains a visceral, merciless barrage of bullets and blood at hyperspeed, and I am enthralled by every moment. Each design choice feels like the right one, every ounce of this game belies a clarity of purpose in form and function. From the placement of items or objectives, to the way the colors blend or contrast, there's a real deliberate effort to make everything you need discernable. The music in I Am Your Beast is probably not its high point, but it is very good, nonetheless. Each track fits the moods the story or scenarios intend to create. High-energy sounds for those fast paced levels, somber or tense tones when needed. I would say that it serves its purpose well, but I didn't come away with any particular sounds that stuck with me beyond my time in game. There is a lot going for the game in other sound design aspects, however. Every shot from my gun, or barrel explosion, or leap from a tree was accentuated by what the sound design team put in place. I Am Your Beast also has a story, but I fear it is pretty barebones. The player character, Harding, is once again called to action by his former boss, but Harding declines. This sets in motion a plot revolving around Harding's former boss trying to rope him back into the fold, and Harding battling his commander's guerrilla army in avoidance of that. While there not be much going on in terms of storytelling, they really deliver on the other aspects of the scenes. The voicework and writing is exemplary, both in the cutscenes themselves and beyond. In the story scenes particularly, we are given a great range of emotions, all delivered well, and the dialogue just feels so natural. In the missions themselves, we are treated to so many laugh-out-loud one-liners, I found myself smiling even when I was struggling with the mission itself. An assortment of deadly encounters await you in the missions and challenges I Am Your Beast provides. And so, I guess that leaves us with another question: If the story of I Am Your Beast is so thin, and the game doesn't seem to be saying much at all - is it still an artistic experience worth having? I'm here to tell you, yes. I Am Your Beast is pure art. This game made me feel joy, anxiety, excitement, and even frustration. Not every game, movie, or song has to have a deeper meaning to be worthwhile. Sometimes, it's good enough to just bust some heads, and, much like my experience with the birds, sometimes you just come away feeling like you were really good today. They lived. Verdict I Am Your Beast is a visceral, exciting, and often silly first-person shooter that is worth every bit of your time and then some. Responsive controls, a unique visual flair, and an enthralling pace create a joyous experience that gives you just as much as you are willing to put into it. The game has a simple design that leaves something to be desired in terms of narrative and music, but make no mistake – these short form excursions are wildly entertaining. Image Credits: Strange Scaffold and Taylor Rioux

Sail the Seas of Loss and Healing If you've ever played a Thunder Lotus Games project before, the stunning artwork and beautiful animations of Spiritfarer should come as no surprise. What may surprise fans about this work is just how easy-going it is, comparatively speaking. In a world of rogue-lites, rogue-likes, and souls-likes, sometimes a relaxing experience can be a breath of fresh sea air. You could use any number of game genres to describe what Spiritfarer is, or tries to do, but in many respects, those labels seem to fall a bit short. In my best effort to box-in the experience, I would say Spiritfarer is a base management game with some minor platforming elements where you’ll sail the world to help departed souls find peace through completing their quests and help them pass on to the afterlife. Spiritfarer is clearly meant to be an easier, relaxing/cozy game, versus something more action oriented like Jotun or Sundered - Thunder Lotus Games' previous projects. As the game progresses, you’ll befriend many souls, learn about their trauma, and help them through their final wishes. You can also play co-op, although I did not have the opportunity to do so myself. Publisher:  Thunder Lotus Games Developer:  Thunder Lotus Games Platform:  Played on Switch, PC Availability: Released August 18, 2020 on PC Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, and October 4, 2022 for iOS and Android The game starts with you, Stella, and your partner/cat Daffodil taking over the job of Spiritfarer from Charon. He presents you with something called the Everlight and sends you on your way to find a new boat to carry out your tasks. You soon find a boat, get it fixed up, and begin your journey in earnest. The game does a really great job of onboarding you into the experience, and even as you progress and open up the world and get new abilities and ship functions. Characters will explain every new mechanic themselves, offering you a bit of development and insight into the characters themselves - all while teaching you the nuts and bolts of the management aspect of the gameplay. Your ship starts off with only a few functions – You can do a simple fishing mini- game, sail to new locations, and sit on a couch. You receive a blueprint table early on that can allow you to upgrade your ship. Eventually your ship will have the capacity to mine, cook, harvest, farm, and craft items that can be used for many different things. Some items are good gifts, others are used to upgrade your ship, etc. I'm a sucker for fishing in games, even if it is extremely basic (as it is here), so I took it slow in the beginning; collecting items lost at sea while sailing and hauling in a few nice meals consumed my early hours. Between islands, there is plenty of time to do the tasks you need, whether that’s quests for your spirit pals, or any other of the various management functions. I never felt rushed as I played through the game.  Other management games really seem to push you toward efficiency to get the results you want – something I’m not too fond of, because it feels like chores to me – but Spiritfarer ’s more laid back approach allows you to take these at your own pace without penalty. You really get to steer your own experience; doing the tasks in any order and at any pace you choose. The calmness and ease with which you can approach the game really lends itself to a system like the switch and it's mobility. It's kind of the perfect couch game. I do quite appreciate the freedom in design of the ship itself. Each new room you get can be placed on the deck, but you are given full control over the height and position of each new room - allowing for a lot of creative applications in design for your vessel. I have seen some really cool designs online, but I'm quite boring in this regard; I just stacked the rooms on top one another in perfect rows like shipping containers, organized by function and size. There's no right way to do this, and I think that's neat. Daily tasks and work keeps you busy - all needed to get materials to advance. The art of Spiritfarer is easily its greatest strength, in a game full of them. I truly cannot overstate how stunning the visuals are here. Each of the characters have a fun, unique style to them that breathes personality with each animation. The vistas and sunsets are a wonder to look at, and the way they've made each and every scene just BLEED style is truly something worth beholding. That strength isn't limited to the pictures on screen, either, as the music is quite phenomenal. While generally soothing, and light-hearted, there are great pieces with an ominous air, or even expressing deep sadness. Each note goes so well with the scenes they accompany, I'm almost in awe. Truly, no misses here. Despite the game being 4 years old at time of writing, I think it would be a disservice to really talk in-depth about the story for anyone who may not have played it yet. The way the characters stories are presented, the thoughts and feelings they might evoke, and the masterful way it all intertwines with the overarching story are all best experienced. It feels like something that could be so personal to each player, I would be remiss to go into spoilers about it. If you have an inkling of a desire to play the game, do it blind. Trust me on that. While the beginning of the game might feel very barebones in it's narrative presentation, it really comes around and ties in beautifully. The little vignettes the characters offer speak to a lot of experiences many of us have encountered. Even if we have not seen these exact scenarios play out in real life, we can see ourselves and our lives in them in many ways, as we have all dealt with loss in one way or another. I often found myself thinking of lost family and friends as I played the game. It was a bit bittersweet. You cherish those moments you have so much more when those you love have left you, but it brings the pain of loss when you remember. Everything about the game oozes style. What complaints, then, could someone have about this game? Well, from my perspective, here are a few things I took issue with: The game is almost too simple, many in-game tasks start to feel too much like busywork, and it's a slow start to get into any semblance of over-arching story beats. It is easy to see how these points are just matters of personal preference - there is nothing technically wrong with any of the mechanics, progression, or stability of the game itself. I just kind of don't vibe with some of these things. Frankly, I generally don't enjoy base management style games in general; so, something like Spiritfarer might be immediately flagged as a bad fit. The art and quality of the developer's previous work is what drew me in. So, it might seem a bit unfair to dock the game for then having base management game mechanics. However, I do feel like if they had made those mechanics more interesting or, at the very least, less time consuming, I would have liked the game more. Thematic dichotomies are well expressed - there's great visual storytelling within the game. In fact, the simplicity of it's core mechanics is a huge detriment in this same regard. Because the busywork of base management is so omnipresent, something interesting or beautiful the first few go-arounds quickly morphs into tedium and monotony. I do understand that the game is going for a more laid-back approach, so asking for too much complexity might be abject idiocy. I find it hard to pin-point what I feel they should have done different - should it be more complex? Faster to do? Should we have to do the tasks less often? I don't have a real, concrete answer - doubly so since these games are just not made for me - but I do know I don't like whatever this is. Finally, while the story is legitimately wonderful once it all comes together, it takes a bit too long to really get anywhere at all. I feel like even if you beeline the major points, you're just kind of wandering for a little too long. It seems a bit directionless, but that may not be accidental. I have to wonder if this is intentional, as so much of the game is pointing to it's overall thematic elements; could this feeling of being directionless and being adrift tie into what the game is meant to portray? It is hard to say, but if you feel like it is purposeful, it's easy to excuse. Verdict Spiritfarer is a beautiful game, with some truly stunning artwork, music, and writing that is ultimately lifted up by what you bring into the experience. While there are some elements I don’t personally vibe with, it is an otherwise engaging and deeply moving game that should command your attention, and bring you many moments of joy, or even sadness. Thunder Lotus has once again proved they have an excellent command of their voice, using all aspects of their game to create something worth everyone’s time.

A Naked Dash of Discovery Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is the latest installment of the Ace Combat flight simulation games by Bandai Namco, and the first since 2014’s Ace Combat Infinity. It also happens to mark the first time I have ever played a flight simulation game at all (even one as supposedly arcadey as this). As a genre that I had never really had any interest in exploring until another reviewer I trust mentioned how much they loved this game, I was a bit befuddled – but, boy, was I missing out.             Ace Combat 7 combines exciting dogfights, stealth flying missions, and base destruction with great music, clean visuals, and some really solid voice work to create an astounding experience, even for newcomers like me. With a multitude of missions, jets, weapon types, arenas, and objectives, the core experience of Ace Combat 7 never gets old, even if I found myself frustrated at times. Luckily there are multiple difficulty modes, and no penalty for changing from one to the other if you switch. Publisher:  Bandai Namco Developer: Bandai Namco Studios Platform:  Played on PC Availability:  Released January 18, 2019 on PS4 and Xbox One, February 1, 2019 on PC, and July 11, 2024 on Nintendo Switch To put this up front, I am not good at this game. After I completed the main story for the first time, I hopped online and got smoked. I can’t aim a damn thing properly, and barely get around flying, but I managed to pull myself through the game’s story mode, and eventually finished off the side missions from the DLC as well. My piloting skills were especially suspect in the beginning – trying to figure out how to get around, worrying about roll, pitch, and yaw – all while flying and seeing how those things affect your turning and speed in any direction, etc…well, it was a bit overwhelming at first for me. However, I decided to stick it out, because I got a feeling on that first mission that I couldn’t really shake. It was like I just knew that something great was here, I just needed to get my feet wet a little more.             Unfortunately, that process took a bit longer than I would have liked it to. One of my biggest complaints is that the game does a poor job of really onboarding you into the Ace Combat experience. Tutorials for basic maneuverability options and controls don’t even show up until several new missions in. Some things are just straight up not explained at all. I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants for a huge part of the experience. I played on easy for about half of the story and, in that time, I had only died once to anything other than a spectacular crash into a mountainside or lawn. It was definitely a struggle for me, but once it clicked, I found that some of the movements I struggled with became almost second nature. Beautiful vistas await you as you soar through the skies             As a child, I always laughed at my dad when we’d play something like Mario Kart or Gran Turismo and his body would contort for every twist and turn he took on the course. It was as if he believed that tilting himself and the controller in the direction he wished to go would will the car or kart to do the same. Yet, here I was, thirty-three and counting, twisting myself along with the jets as missiles flew by my cockpit, ducking and weaving as I raced through a canyon. I know my wife must have loved seeing me in action. Truth be told, I get motion sick quite easily now – much to my dismay when it comes to VR or other games I’ve wanted to play – but I did not feel anything during this game that I would consider sickness. I like to think that my tortuous movements helped with that.             The gameplay loop for Ace Combat 7’s story mode is simple – New mission begins with a cutscene, which then leads to a mission briefing where your objectives and map are laid out to you. Usually a good idea to listen well to this, as the briefing will give you a better idea of what types of weapons you might want to bring, or plane types you might want to fly. Then, you’ll head into some menus where you can buy new planes, parts, etc., before moving onto your prep – where you select your plane and weaponry. Missions usually fall into some combination of these 3 types – dogfights (that is, plane on plane battles), Stealth flying, and objective destruction. The dogfights are definitely more my speed. Zipping through the thunderous skies, blowing up an enemy jet, and swinging around to take on a new one is exhilarating. Crawling through a chasm at 1/18th my normal speed hoping not to be seen is not. I can see a world where speedrunners or great pilots love these missions and work their hardest to fly through in record time and love every second. But that’s not me – I’m built different (worse). Once the mission ends, you might have to land the jet, and then it’s on to the next one. Some scenarios might require a more deft flying touch.             There is a story here, and it is fine. The game’s old now, but at the risk of spoilers, I’ll keep it vague. Cutscenes can feel disconnected to what you the player are doing in the gameplay, but I think it works. I didn’t find anything too profound – there is a war, and you have to fight it – but the direction things took was enough to keep me invested. I think those moments all pay off in a way at the end, so it’s definitely not something I would skip.             Flight controls are tight, if not a bit obtuse at first, but once you get some of the basics down, you’ll be soaring upside down or sideways with relative ease. Weapons are vast and varied, but all function mostly the same with a few exceptions. You have your standard missiles, a machine gun, and a special weapon. This special weapon can be anything from more anti-air missiles, bombs, air to ground missiles, or even a railgun (my personal favorite for dogfights). Different missions might call for different weapon types to get through effectively. Generally speaking, the dogfights are where the game really shines. It’s so fast and fun, and the music never disappoints – always seeming to pick up and work in sync with the moments in-game. The soundtrack here is truly special. I feel like its among the very best I’ve ever heard, period. Songs like Daredevil, Charge Assault, 444, and Archange elevate the experience well beyond what I would have envisioned. They manage to create moods both intense and emotionally moving at times, in spaces you didn’t know you’d want them to. Keiki Kobayashi really provides us with something special here, and I hope if you pick the game up, you’ll enjoy it just as much as I did. Multiplayer is an afterthought for me. There are a few differing modes – A free-for-all Battle Royale, and Team Deathmatch. They function as you would imagine them to. Dogfights in team or solo settings, with points awarded for kills - top scores win. I did not put much time into it, but it’s basically the same as a dogfight in the story, but the pilots are better. Unfortunately, the MP Is not very active on Steam. I was only ever able to see a few lobbies at a time in the searches. You might have better luck on the switch version. A great atmosphere that is elevated by superb music and exciting. Verdict Ace Combat 7: Skies unknown is an excellent game. As my first foray into the combat flight simulation genre, I was almost always engaged or enthralled with the hectic experience. Notable standouts in the game here are the music, dogfights, and customization. I am left in awe of some of the moments you get to zip through, and it has created a new fan out of me – not just for Ace Combat games, but flight sims in general.

A beautiful, but flawed, wonder. Into Free(dom) Dragon's Dogma 2 feels, in many respects, like a game on the edge.  Capcom’s follow-up to 2012’s cult classic Dragon’s Dogma is a game that feels like it could teeter into a disaster-piece at any given moment, yet somehow retains enough focus and identity to squarely land on the stable side of the cliff. By design, the game has many points of friction baked into the gameplay experience - extremely limited fast travel, expensive economy (items, inns, equipment), diminishing health reserves, slow travel, dangerous fall damage, and more. And yet, I never felt like I was being punished in the way one might assume if they had only read about the game, rather than played it. Each one of these might look like a "flaw", but it's actually imperative in the flow of the game's core experience. The exploration might be a slow, methodical trek across a vast open world, but it's never boring. Every step brings something exciting around the bend - from packs of wolves who might drag you off to your doom, to hidden coves of treasure and beasts - there's a real sense of adventure and exploration here that is hard to find in a game today. It's not a survival game in the sense that you need to make shelter, or manage a hunger meter, but it can sometimes feel like you're really fighting to survive a hostile wilderness as you roam. I sometimes found myself just hoping to find a campsite, or wondering if I should head back to town or keep pushing forward as the night approached. Frolicking in the fields of Vermund. To be frank, this game is quite easy past the early game. Beyond the first few hours, I never came close to dying. I took long trips for days and days in the wilds without stopping (mostly due to my compulsive need to explore every cave and cliff I came across). So while the points of friction I mentioned earlier might sound like it is going to make for a tough experience, I can assure you it is not a truly punishing game. And even if you do die, carrying a wakestone can revive you. If you don't have any on hand, you'll just load from the most recent autosave, which the game does pretty frequently in my experience. Despite being a pretty normal experience difficulty-wise, the wilderness and night can still feel dangerous. I always took great care around high cliffs especially- fall damage being the greatest threat to my health most often. Nighttime, by the way, is really awesome! It's so dark, that without a lantern you can't see anything really. And even with a lantern your vision is pretty limited. Dangerous beasts lurk in the dark and you can often stumble into an encounter you didn't see coming. I was once wandering through a forest, lantern in tow, when suddenly I heard a voice "Arisen...", a faint light appeared in the darkness...that's a dragon. Moments like this are somewhat common, but they are always exciting. Minotaurs, chimeras, griffins, ogres and more can ambush you and it keeps night feeling dangerous, even if it never actually is. The primary mechanical focus of the game is combat, which is still excellent when compared to the first Dragon's Dogma. Really, there is not much difference between the two in the overarching way combat and exploration works - you and your pawn have a vocation (job) that levels up independently of your character level. This vocation determines your stats, abilities, damage types, and even the types of exploration available to you (mages can levitate and thieves can scale/jump off walls, for instance). You don't need to worry so much about what you level up as in Dragon's Dogma 2 - your stats will automatically adjust based on vocation according to your character level. With a total of 10 vocations available to you, there are a good number of options in terms of playstyles, and you're never locked into just one. Each vocation has unique skillsets, each with enough variety to craft a playstyle more suited to your own preferences within the confines of the vocation itself. The animation work done on all of the skills available to you make combat so interesting and engaging, it never really gets boring - even when you’re fighting your 100th pack of goblins of the day. The fights remain exciting in large part because the enemies also have a lot of different behaviors and abilities. Goblins can throw rocks, spears, do lunging attacks and more, all while running away in fear or using pack tactics. Wolves will hit and run, or grab you or your pawn and carry you off. And so on, and so on. The unending dynamism keeps things interesting no matter where you are, or what class you are playing. Pawns- AI controlled companions that follow, fight, and gather on your behalf - are a nice way to connect players, without directly interfering with a player’s single-player world. You will be able to bring your main pawn (self-created and managed), and 2 pawns from the riftstones, which include both Capcom provided pawns and the pawns other players have created. Pawns have a limited number of vocations available to them, but they are able to have specializations that grant them some abilities or behaviors otherwise unobtainable. Additionally, inclinations allow you to customize your pawn’s behavior more acutely. The AI is not perfect, but I think it is more than functional in terms of being a useful party member. If you played the first game, they function very similarly here. There are, of course, other minor mechanics and systems in play in the game that just don’t matter much. Romance and affection exist, but they are so underutilized and inconsequential it’s not really worth diving in depth on them or considering them as a major part of the experience. However, if systems like that interest you, you should be aware they exist in name only here. Earlier I mentioned how this feels like a game on the edge of being a very bad game, but that edge cuts both ways. For all of its wild successes and phenomenal gameplay, Dragon’s Dogma 2 falls short of being truly great. It is a game on the precipice of all-time greatness - greatness that, I feel, is pretty attainable if some minor adjustments are made in DLC or expansions. And while it is disappointing that it never quite reaches the highs I feel it could, there is hope it might in the future. My most identifiable complaints lie in two areas. First, enemy variety is disappointing. The enemies that are present in the game are a thrill, to be sure, but there are fewer types of enemies when compared to the first game, even when you count subtypes and offshoots (e.g. Hobgoblins vs Goblins). The game could really use a few more small enemy types, but would immensely benefit from additional large or huge enemy varieties. Large enemies introduce a fun, dynamic experience in each fight with their scalability, and having more you can climb or ride or engage with would really liven up the experience in a significant way. Second, there are not enough quests, and the ones that exist can often feel uninteresting.. A lot of fetch quests, monster culling, and escort quests - with very little variety beyond that. When you do get something more unique it’s really a breath of fresh air. That isn’t to say things like monster battles or escorting shouldn’t be included in the larger structure of any additional quests, but quests could stand to be more diverse. The main questline is pretty barebones - both in variety and length. There just aren’t enough things to do in the game in a directed sense. This is most notable in the second major area of the game and late game, where the main story really just kind of ends without any buildup or resolution to some seemingly major questions about the world. There are fewer relevant side quests here as well. The expanses themselves are so full of care and wonder, and yet I can’t help but feel the characters and story are so egregiously underbaked. As this is meant to be a spoiler-free review, I won’t go into specifics, but I was left asking things like, “what happened to (major characters A, B, and C)? Did anything in (Area X) lead anywhere? Did I just miss it?” A battle with a griffin, one of the few large enemy types available to fight. Performance is a sticking point for many people, and unfortunately, Dragon’s Dogma 2 suffers here. I am playing on PC, so mileage may vary, but even with relatively high end hardware on 1440p I run into some choppiness and 30 fps average in towns or cities. For field exploration I can get a solid 60 on mostly high settings (messing around with some setting for optimization is necessary, in my opinion). Variability is high here, so I’m not really sure what the answer is for Capcom, but changing my settings didn’t really seem to help much unless I went below what I would consider a reasonable threshold for my current hardware. If you are okay with a 30 FPS threshold for stable framerates, it seems attainable on most modern systems. I will not be doing an in-depth tech review here, but if it concerns you or you want to learn more, it is definitely worth looking into. I would be remiss if I did not mention the “DLC” currently available for the game. At time of writing, there are a plethora of microtransactions available for purchase that will give you an assortment of minor consumables. These items are easy to obtain in the game, and are largely inconsequential to the experience. Purchasing these is a waste of money, and will not benefit you in any meaningful way. Capcom’s decision to include them is a bit baffling, and bad business practice on the corporate side of things, but as they are immaterial to the gameplay experience, they will not be affecting my review of the game. Any ethical concerns over DLC feels like a separate battle to fight and the controversy surrounding the DLC in this game in particular feels strange- considering it is not uncommon for Capcom to do this in any of their games in the last several years. Why Dragon’s Dogma 2 is bearing the brunt of the frustration over microtransactions, I do not know. However, if we are to look past the DLC practices in other major titles, it feels necessary for me to do the same here. I think if the DLC had been a sort of “pay to win” situation, it could affect my outlook, but as it is, I feel no obligation to consider it. Image Credits: Capcom and Taylor Rioux