Those willing to invest the time will discover that Caves of Qud doesn’t lack in depth or options to investigate, but the frustratingly obscure controls and systems will deter many gamers and the moment to moment gameplay is far from exciting.
The Forest offers plenty of depth in terms of its survival mechanics but the lack of any sort of guidance, difficulty of actually finding anything that moves the plot forward and lacklustre controls ultimately become pretty frustrating.
The seemingly endless number of mini-games and side-quests (some of which can thankfully ignored by switching to easy difficulty) completely destroy the pacing, and it’s only the enduring characters and storyline that kept me playing.
A perfectly serviceable game that plays like a cross between Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden, but the mission based structure robs the game of the exploration that is so vital in making From Softwares titles what they are.
There are just so many of these crafting focused survival games that it’s hard to muster any enthusiasm when another one comes along that doesn’t do anything new.
Learning and using the various methods of ‘cheating’ at cards is an interesting one, but it becomes a little repetitive after just a few hours and the concept struggles to support a full game all by itself.
The story isn’t totally uninteresting but the gameplay, which largely consists of walking around very slowly and interacting with items until the story you trigger a cut scene, becomes incredibly tedious even during the games relatively short runtime.
Even with the multiple characters offering different challenges, Ball X Pit doesn't have the gameplay depth of the best roguelikes, but the core gameplay loop is still pretty addictive and will provide a fair few hours of entertainment before it starts to feel too repetitive.
Even with the multiple characters offering different challenges, Ball X Pit doesn't have the gameplay depth of the best roguelikes, but the core gameplay loop is still pretty addictive and will provide a fair few hours of entertainment before it starts to feel too repetitive.
Islanders: New Shores will likely appeal to gamers that enjoy a relaxing experience, but the gameplay is just too simplistic to offer a long term appeal and there are similar games, such as Dorfromantik, that do the same thing better.
A few frustrating difficultly spikes aside, From Software have done a great job updating the Armored Core franchise with a game full of great combat and plenty of mission variety.
A pretty poor simulation that looks and plays worse than many of the snooker games from a decade or more ago, it’s not even worth bothering either for free.
Dispatch sets a new standard for video game writing and animation to the point where you feel as though your essentially playing an interactive cartoon, and this more than compensates for the relatively little ‘traditional’ gameplay.
The moment to moment gameplay is decent enough when played co-op with friends, but the lack of any sort of narrative or progression from run to run means it can start to feel pretty repetitive after just a few hours.
Aesthetically pleasing with a great soundtrack, but the core skating mechanic never feels particularly satisfying and it’s all too easy to hit an obstacle you didn’t even see coming.
In striving so heavily for realism and attempting to ensure the player feels as downtrodden as the protagonist, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II all too often feels like a tedious chore to play.
Shogun Showdown doesn’t quite offer the same level of variety and longevity as the absolute top tier roguelikes, but it’s simple yet deep strategic gameplay still offers a fair few hours of entertainment.
Doom Eternal largely succeeds in what it sets out to do, but it doesn’t move the FPS genre forward in any way and after just a few levels I felt like I’d already played this game dozens of times over the last two decades.
Just Cause 3 (much like its predecessors) seems like it should be fun but the dull mission design and poor shooting mechanics make the reality very different.
With its RPG elements, base building and relatively complex survival gameplay V Rising offers an unusual mix of genres, unfortunately however, it doesn’t really do anything particularly noteworthy with any of them.
If you can untangle the games many systems and get to grips with the unintuitive UI Stellaris will provide a suitably deep space strategy game, for many however, this will feel completely impenetrable.
Minimal gameplay means your mileage with Thank Goodness You’re Here! will almost entirely depend upon how you feel about it’s absurd, and often very dark, sense of humour.
The excellent visuals and animation, alongside a relatively interesting central mystery, do enough to justify the 5 hour run time even if the gameplay is a little simplistic for the most part.
A potential interesting story is completely squandered by the painfully slow walks that give the player nothing to do other than push forward on the control pad for minutes at a time.
Dull combat and the seemingly obligatory crafting mechanics that have to be bolted on to half the games released these days makes for an incredibly tedious experience.
The fact that the game is INTENTIONALLY aiming to replicate horror games of the 1990's doesn't make the awful controls or old school design any more enjoyable.
Despite being an absolutely shameless clone of **** Valley, the familiar gameplay loop still provided a fair few hours of enjoyment, especially as it can be played with up to three friends.
Unicorn Overlord certainly isn’t lacking in depth, but the combat that makes up the majority of the game isn’t quite sufficiently varied or tactical enough to remain interesting for the duration of the games 50+ hour runtime.
Despite being an absolutely shameless clone of **** Valley, the familiar gameplay loop still provided a fair few hours of enjoyment, especially as it can be played with up to three friends.
The racing mechanics remain as polished as ever, and Mario Kart games are always good fun, but the selection of tracks designed to accommodate up to 24 players are largely inferior to Mario Kart 8 and as a result it’s hard not to be somewhat disappointed with the overall package.
The rogue-like genre may be a little oversaturated these days, but thanks to it’s excellent combat and traversal The Rogue Prince of Persia is still a game worth seeking out.
Learning and using the various methods of ‘cheating’ at cards is an interesting one, but it becomes a little repetitive after just a few hours and the concept struggles to support a full game all by itself.
