Search Results

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.

Casting Shadows                When Elden Ring first released in 2022, it cast such a large shadow that it basically became an inescapable part of online discourse – whether you played it or not. That shadow didn’t just cover every game that came out around the same time (sorry, Horizon), but it also extended to FromSoftware’s games themselves – past and future. In many ways a departure from their previous games, Elden Ring might raise questions about the direction FromSoftware games might take, and to some, they might wonder if anything else could live up to Elden Ring.                With the release of Shadow of the Erdtree (SotE), I’d say we end up with more long-term questions than answers (both in-game and in reference to From’s direction itself), but it stands as a monumental experience. A massive, winding world, with great fights, music, exploration, and mystique, SotE follows what I would consider a general From  thread - the DLC is high quality content, it is harder than the base game experience, and it does not answer most of the mysteries of the base game. Instead, SotE focuses on one major aspect, and creates many new questions in its wake. Publisher: Bandai Namco Developer:  FromSoftware Platform:  Played on PS5 Availability:  Released June 20, 2024 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X Kindly Miquella atop a familiar steed.                Where SotE differs from other From  DLC is in mainly in two specific ways – Extremely long and vast by their DLC standards, and the character progression being not as directly tied to the main game. For the first point, it took me somewhere between 30-40 hours. Unfortunately, I did not take down specific times, as I did not initially plan to write a review on the experience. There was talk about the DLC map being about the size of Limgrave (the starting point in base Elden Ring), but this is clearly larger, more intricate, and frankly, more interesting. So much of the new map feels more intentionally built than the base game. The side areas feel less samey and repetitive, and the bosses are more unique in form and function. Gone are the days of cat statue repeats, or Godrick clones. We don’t have to walk down the same copy-pasted mineshafts any longer. Individual areas and dungeons have so many paths into and out of them, it can be easy to miss an area here or there if you aren’t keeping track. The Shadow Keep was especially exciting to me. I came in through a back door and found no less than 4 exits to this legacy dungeon before I spun back around to take down the boss. It seemed as if every time I ran through the area, I found a new item I missed, or room I didn’t see. The excellence of The Shadow Keep, then, makes some of the other aspects of the DLC exploration so disappointing. Too many of the winding paths, or caves, or dungeons end up providing nothing of substance. So many of the cool hideaways give you a low-end smithing stone (which you can just buy) or a weak spirit ash (which you will likely never use). It can feel a bit like entitlement to complain – SotE gives many weapons (including new types), spells (also new types), and ashes of war – but having so much space dedicated to literal junk is just plain disappointing. The dark and eerie Land of Shadow offers much to see and experience. The second major departure, character progression, adds a bit of an interesting twist on how you power up in the DLC. While your levels are still very important for things like, health, FP, stamina, and equipment/spell requirements, additional levels are noticeably less impactful than the Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes on your Damage, Damage reduction, and spirit ash strength. These new collectibles directly scale your damage and damage reduction the more you find – no leveling necessary. For many, these will be integral in beating some of the harder bosses. If you start to struggle, this is a great place to start for a quick boost. It also ties in nicely with he exploration loop. As these items are scattered throughout the Shadow Lands, venturing out and exploring becomes integral to the experience. These upgrades do not transfer to the main game, so there’s a bit of a disconnect there, but you’ll still get a decent number of runes to spend on levels or items. Shadow of the Erdtree excels in every way that Elden Ring proper does; the DLC has great boss fights (especially remembrance bosses), extraordinary freedom in build and weapon variety, and great music. For my money, I’d say the DLC is just flat out a better product than the main game in key areas as well. My previous complaints of ER notwithstanding, SotE feels more deliberate in its construction from top to bottom. They used what worked well in the base game to craft something that plays to the game’s strengths and either discards or minimizes its weaknesses. The NPCs, for instance, are more important or interesting that what you’d generally find in the base game, and have branching questlines. A plethora of unique spells, Ashes of War, and weapons await for you to try. Regrettably, some of the faults of ER do still fester. Weapon and spell balance is way out of whack in both PvE and PvP, with many options just being flat out better than other tools in their class by a significant margin. Some of the spells are so weak (or so powerful in a few cases), you must wonder if they’re all just bugged in some way. Major bosses with great lore relevance get no introductory scene or dialogue. And the DLC continues the FromSoftware tradition of barely including a story, and what is there creates more questions than answers. I know that the way From presents their stories is already fairly polarizing – I myself am somewhere on the fence with it, in general. For those that don’t know, these games do  have a story, but not really a narrative. At least, not in a traditional sense. You get an opening scene that vaguely states what you are supposed to do, and in some games, they might explicitly tell you why you should be doing these things. Then, for the rest of the game, 98% of relevant world or plot information is tucked away in item descriptions. While a vast majority of the text lends itself to worldbuilding (flavorful descriptions that describe events that happened in the past or the way specific factions or people felt about an event), some of these descriptions are vital to understand the events you are currently going through. For many, the hunt for information is the best part of the ‘Souls” games. People spend weeks, months, and years hunting down every item and secret in the game. Gathering the texts and rearranging them on their corkboard like a detective uncovering a deep-state secret is not only fun, but it is the point  of the experience. Often the conclusions people reach are not explicitly stated in game– requiring leaps in logic or guesswork to make the pieces fit. For me, while I do enjoy that part of it quite a bit, I would absolutely appreciate a little more clarity as the game progresses. I should not need to reach and endgame area to learn why Steve, the second boss, is here trying to kill me (he’s recently been divorced by Tim, Final Bossman, and now they’re having a property rights squabble – you just happen to be walking down the wrong side of the street). You'll face foes both fearsome and strange here in the Land of Shadow Shadow of the Erdtree not only follows this, but I feel there is less clarity on why you need to be here at all until you’re reaching the end of the DLC, where, surprisingly, things are neatly laid out for you. And while the why does eventually get some semblance of clarity, the how  is only briefly referenced, and the DLC creates 10 mysteries for every answer it provided for the main game. If you came in here looking for anything other than what one guy, specifically, might have been up to from Elden Ring, you’re kind of out of luck here. If that all sounds a bit daunting, the community has a number of youtubers or redditors who can cleanly lay out what everyone has found thus far. For what it's worth, I played through the DLC with a level 200+ character, and used multiple different weapons and styles as part of the experience. Once I finished the DLC, I brought these new toys with me to the base game on NG+2. Some of the new goodies absolutely trivialize the main game, and going back the enemies might seem almost docile. I fully recommend you play through the DLC for the first time as an endcap to your adventure. Verdict Shadow of the Erdtree serves as a monumental achievement in FromSoftware’s library. I firmly believe that the combination of exploration, music, boss fights, art direction, freedom of exploration, weapon and armor variety and any number of other successes have coalesced to create From ’s best DLC to date. A tight, fun, and ultimately moving experience that I would put in the upper echelon of their work, period. While the game might hold on to some controversial aspects of Elden Ring’s initial design, the DLC elevates, improves, or contextualizes so much of what has come before, it’s hard to say this is anything else than a masterwork. For every fault or flaw I might come up with, a million bright spots wash over them like a blinding light. At times serene, and at other moments haunting, Shadow of the Erdtree is here to sweep you off your feet - dead or alive. Marginally harder than the base game, you might run into some hard walls if you are not prepared. However, if you finished the main game and all of the side content there, you shouldn't find yourself struggling too much. Image Credits: Bandai Namco and FromSoftware

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats The Rising Tide is the latest DLC follow-up to Square Enix's acclaimed 2023 release Final Fantasy XVI. In this new addition, we follow Clive, Jill, and Joshua to Mysidia so we may find answers to the mystery of Leviathan the lost. Final Fantasy XVI was one of the most unique games in the entire franchise, and also one of the best. With it's fast-paced combat, darker world, and excellent soundtrack, it released to critical and commercial success last year. I, myself, was so engrossed in the journey of Clive (and by extension Joshua, Jill, and the rest of the cast), that I ran through it multiple times to really soak in the world, themes, and music - something I rarely do with long games these days. As the final DLC for Final Fantasy XVI, The Rising Tide aims to expand upon the worldbuilding introduced in the main story, improve upon some gameplay elements, and let us spend a little more time with the cast we came to love. The story here is best left experienced - I won't be spoiling anything here - but I really enjoyed it. We get some nice worldbuilding and lore related to the new region, and some great new characters as well. It's shorter than I anticipated - with my story playtime rounding out at about 4 hours - but for a dlc offering at this price, it's a pretty normal length. We get some minor character moments with Jill, but it seems like less than we were promised/lead to believe in the marketing. We get the answers we're looking for with Leviathan, but Jill is left out in the cold again. At least she has something to do this time around. Despite my enjoyment, it may come as a surprise to hear me say that the story is a bit of a letdown when compared to the main game. An often overlooked aspect of Final Fantasy games is the length they go to to explore the themes presented in them. Final Fantasy XVI itself explores in earnest topics like systems of oppression- how those systems succeed, how they effect people, and what it means to be free of them. Much to my chagrin, The Rising Tide doesn't seem to say much of anything new, at all. It's primary focus is to tell you what happened to Leviathan. The sidequests and some plot beats do, in a few ways, speak in concert with the major themes of the main game, but it never feels like the focus in the same ways that it is in the main plot. On top of that, the DLC takes place just before the final battle, so any implications on the world at large can be conveniently ignored. No mention of the events makes its way into the final sequence, either. All of that is to say - I think it's okay that it is the way it is. Final Fantasy XVI was a complete story, and while something more substantive would have been nice, it doesn't drag the DLC down much. The presentation is neat. Great cutscenes and music, but peppered with the same style of NPC stare-down dialogues we got in the main game. If you enjoyed the main story or previous DLC, you're going to get more of the same here in this regard. The final run of the DLC is an especially incredible visual treat. The combat doesn't have any major changes to things like system mechanics when compared to the base game, so if you loved it before, you get more of that. There are some great additions, however, that really improve the experience. New eikonic abilities, accessories, and buffs to some older abilities really open up the variety for playstyles. With the Ramuh and Bahamut reworks/buffs, it is now entirely viable to run a full magic build, if you are so inclined. There are some exceptional fights here. While I'm not a huge fan of how the eikon battles play, it's hard to understate just how cool they are to experience. The major one in The Rising Tide is similar to all the others in the sense that it is shallow mechanically, but visually incredible. We were told that the fights in this DLC would be more difficult than the main game, but I'm actually not sure that there is anything noteworthy on that front. I had not played since the release of the previous DLC Echoes of the Fallen , but I did not encounter any major difficulty issues, even on Final Fantasy mode (outside of some growing pains trying to remember how to play in the first place). Much of my time with the DLC was spent on the Kairos Gate game mode. It is a sort mash up of arcade mode and an encounter rush type mode. You get a score for your performance in the fight, that score determines your grade, and you get points to spend within the game mode. Those points can be used to buy things like ability upgrades that are temporary or permanent within the mode. You also receive things like accessories and equipment as rewards in this mode. It's a nice addition overall, but I will say the final fight was a big disappointment for me. The Rising Tide dropped right after a major update which saw changes to some content in the main game as well. You can now pet Torgal faster, fast travel to quest givers upon completion, and there are new scenes and cutscenes in some of the sidequests. There were also some changes and buffs to the way certain eikonic abilities work, as previously mentioned. While there may be some shortcomings in terms of the depth of the story, there is still so much to love about The Rising Tide. As a companion piece to Final Fantasy XVI, it succeeds in elevating the base game by virtue of it's gameplay additions. If nothing else, it reminds us that Final Fantasy XVI is a blast to play. Verdict A great new addition to one of 2023's best games. The exciting, fast-paced fights throughout Mysidia are also a visual treat. And, as always, Soken continues to impress with the new pieces on the soundtrack. Side content is hit-or-miss, and it's only about 5-10 hours long in total. Definitely recommend for anyone itching to spend more time with Final Fantasy XVI, even at this price point. Image Credits: Square Enix

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