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Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel Playstation 5 Review

Before I get too far into my review, I do have to give a huge shout-out to Grindstone for tossing me a PS5 copy of Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel to enjoy. The game has been out for a bit, but they still threw me one. There is a huge update coming out on December 4th to the PC and Console versions called The Fall of Alfheim. It will add all sorts of new things, such as a new realm, a new god, and even a new class. If all that wasn’t enough to give you a hint, the game is fantastic. But keep reading anyway, I worked hard on this.

The first thing to know is that the game has a story; you can absolutely ignore it. Just like in all these horde survival games, one exists but there are bare bones. This time around, I actually suggest paying attention to it. It takes place in a dark Viking underworld, and you battle your way through mountains of enemies with the help of Norse gods. Each god offers up special powers and perks, such as Thor lending you Mjolnir and lightning powers. Each run unlocks stones you can use to unlock new powers from the gods, or permanent upgrades from them that apply to all of your characters.

These same stones can also be used to apply upgrades or unlock new powers for specific characters. I personally would wait to do this until you discover your favorite, as the god powers are far more universal and helpful until you decide who you want to spend more time with. While there are an infinite number of upgrades you can unlock, this does take time.

Won’t pretend the kinslayer isn’t badass and my favorite

Each level has multiple difficulties and its own set of modifiers you can unlock. This leads to a ton of replay value, and once you unlock insane difficulty and all the modifiers, you can practically customize your experience anyway you choose. Want enemies to return from the dead? Feel free. Want to act like a coward and make runs super easy? There is a modifier for that. (Seriously it calls you out for it)

Unlike many of these games, it isn’t as simple as surviving for 10 or 15 minutes. The goal isn’t to survive a set amount of time at all; the timer is actually a countdown. You have that amount of time to complete a set number of missions and summon the boss. (Don’t worry, once he is summoned, you can fight it as long as you need to.) This is a nice change of pace from the usual setup.

Truly, if I had any complaints about this game, it’s that unlocking the actual weapons for everyone is a huge hassle, and half of the outfits are locked behind DLC. This wouldn’t be so bad if there were more outfits, but there is such a limited number that I feel forced to buy them if I want anything other than a very basic look. This doesn’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the game; the outfits have no real purpose outside of cosmetics, but I am pretty sure I will never try the majority of the weapons because of how big of a hassle it is to unlock new ones.

Is the game worth buying? Absolutely. It is still a 9/10 experience, one of the few must-buy games of this genre I have played. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Spell Brigade Steam Review

The Spell Brigade was kindly sent my way by Bolt Blaster Games and is an online co-op survival horde game. Think Vampire Survivors with magic and wizards. You can unlock a few different little wizards and dress them in fun, different outfits. Don’t worry, this is done by doing things in-game. You won’t be harassed by a dozen different pop-ups when you start the game, screaming buy our premium currency. In my first run, I unlocked two new outfits, and I wasn’t even sure how to play.

The gameplay itself is simple to learn, so simple in fact, you walk around and let your wizard kill things while you collect experience. As you level up, you can learn new spells and passive abilities. Which you choose is completely up to you, of course. I did find some are better than others. Especially when objectives start to pop up. These were simple things, sometimes like finding and killing a specific enemy, and others it was to roll these balls to a location before time expired. I hated that one. Nothing truly bad happens if you fail; you just lose out on some experience.

From a functional standpoint, I never ran into any issues. Playing with random people was simple; I never got disconnected, for example. Graphically, the game is solid and free from any glitches, and the sound is about what you would expect for a game that costs $10. My only real issue is, I never found the game to be fun. It was a pretty slow pace, and the enemies just sort of felt the same. Except for the rampaging bulls that occasionally come across the screen, and when they do, your only real option is to find a gap they leave or die almost instantly when they hit you. This feels like a pretty cheap mechanic for a game such as this.

I will add this caveat to my review. I am in the minority with this opinion. With almost 10 thousand reviews on Steam, it is sitting at very positive reviews, and while I did not enjoy my time with the game, most other people do. The game is a 6/10 for me, but don’t take my word for it. Try the demo out before making a choice. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Anima Gate of Memories: I & II Remastered Playstation 5 Review

Anima Gate of Memories: 1 and 2 remastered is one of those series that, when they were originally released back in 2016, I didn’t get to experience. Anime Project was nice enough to send me a copy to check out, which is always appreciated.

The games themselves are action RPGs, but I use the term very loosely. You have a health, stamina, and magic bar; you gain stats and levels occasionally, and weapons do increase your stats, for example. You won’t, however, be grinding out levels the old-fashioned way.

The game itself has gotten some nice visual upgrades, and the characters, along with the backgrounds, have all received extensive work. You can see that the attention paid really shows they cared about this project. The controls have been revamped as well; they are fluid and feel nice, mostly. There are a few platforming parts that just feel wrong. Worse, being attacked by enemies during them is beyond frustrating. Nothing feels worse than falling down a pit and losing a bunch of health due to poor game design.

The story in games like this is honestly what makes or breaks it. There is nothing new here, and that’s fine because it isn’t a new game. The story of 2 linked beings is always interesting when done right, and this time it was done right. I loved the start, having to chase the Red Lady, only to discover your friend may not have been your friend after all. Her ritual leads to even more questions that truly just keep the ball rolling into more questions than answers.

Now all these questions are eventually answered, but discovering those answers isn’t easy; however, they are worth it.

The real question is, would this game be worth it for everyone, and my answer is honestly no. If you like this sort of game, it is worth the $30. Most people, however, will want to wait for a sale, if at all. There are simply better games. It is a 6/10 experience for those who don’t get the nostalgia boost. Fans of the original.l however, will love it, admittedly. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) Review

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), the sequel to Beetlejuice (1988), is a movie I avoided for about a year. See, I have fond memories of the original, having seen it with my parents a long time ago. In fact, it is one of the first movies I remember watching with my dad that wasn’t named Godzilla. Hearing Michael Keaton say “Nice Fucking Model” while kicking over a tree will forever be etched into my head as probably the first time I heard the word in a movie. ( I laughed so hard he rewound the movie for me.)

Now I adore Jenna Ortega. I have always enjoyed her work. But I was skeptical about her playing this role because I wasn’t sure it was a role anyone could play. Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz is such a great character. I didn’t see her having an estranged daughter driving her nuts as something that could feasibly be pulled off. Boy, was I wrong.

There were some problems with making this movie that were pulled off well. For example, how do you have a haunted house while not bringing back the characters that played those ghosts? Well, you give them a happy ending. No, not that kind, you sickos. Lydia found a loophole between movies that let them move on. Have a main cast member who shall remain nameless, convicted of horrible sex crimes? You horribly kill him and make him a running joke of the movie.

I don’t want to go into in-depth with the story; this would bring us deep into spoiler territory. But I enjoy that Lydia and her daughter, Astrid, don’t get along because Astrid quite honestly doesn’t believe in ghosts. She thinks her mother’s life’s work is a scam. Of course, her grandfather and grandmother could confirm it’s true, but Gramps is busy bird watching, and Grandma is a crazy but job artist and nobody would believe her anyway.

This brings me to Delia Deetz, the ever-amazing Cathrine O’Hara. Look, I don’t really know what this woman is on, or not on, but this woman is just fantastic. She plays crazy as well as anyone in the business. Even better, she plays not crazy just as well. I am not even sure Delia is crazy; it might just be an act to sell art. That is the beauty of Cathrine.

Bottom line is this movie is as good as the original, and I hope we get a third, and it better be called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dark Quest 4 Playstation 5 Review

Dark Quest 4 has just been released on PlayStation, and Brain Seal was nice enough to send me a copy to check out. I always appreciate this, and after spending some time with this one, I have some pretty mixed feelings about it.

Let’s get started with what the game is. It is a turn-based strategy game based on the Hero Quest board game. The game does a fantastic job of showing this from the very start. The story is told in such a way that you feel like a dungeon master is walking you through the entire thing. You build your party from pre-set adventurers, and can even have a friend join you in couch co-op.

Each party member feels differently; they all have their own ideals and reasons for fighting. The camp itself is even set up in such a way that it truly feels like one would expect a forward camp to feel as you make your way through Gulak’s evil horde.

As you make your way through a dungeon, your characters are moved as if on a board; if you ever played a game of Dungeons and Dragons, you know what I mean. Some characters are better at avoiding traps, for example, and the more speedy characters can quickly outpace slower ones. Slow-moving characters are usually able to tank more hits; however, your wizards can deal more damage but are quite easy to kill. All of this sounds fantastic, and it is really well put together.

The story playing out in a sort of storybook manner is also a great addition to the game. I loved listening to it play out as it was being written on the pages. I truly wish more games would take this approach. The game, however, has some areas where it just quickly became less fun to play.

For example, I found myself dreading exploration. My characters are taking turns while no enemies are around is fine on smaller maps, but on larger maps, this is time-consuming. To make matters worse, when every enemy is dead, I now have to slowly move every character to the stairs to move to the next level.

Having to re-equip potions after each time I delve into the dungeons also serves no real purpose. It adds nothing to the gameplay and doesn’t respect my time or effort.

The game is an ok 6/10, I didn’t hate my time with it, and it does a lot of things right. But I can think of better games to spend $20 on. Fans of the series won’t be disappointed, but I don’t see this one making new fans either. I won’t steer people away from buying it; it has very positive reviews on Steam and is sitting at just over 4 stars on PS5. Fans will be happy, as I said, but people getting into it will want to wait for a sale. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Vaesen Starter Set Review

Today I have something a little different for you guys. The people over at Free League Publishing sent me a copy of the new Starter Set for Vaesen, a tabletop game to check out, and after getting to sift through what is a relatively large set, I have to say, it is pretty impressive. For around $35 U.S. Dollars you get

Condensed rules for action skill tests, combat, damage, and fear.
The complete introductory mystery The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz, letting the players explore the headquarters of the Society itself.
Codex Occultum, the Society’s old journal of vaesen to be used as a resource for the players.
Five pre-generated and illustrated player characters.
A large full-color map with the Mythic North on one side and the town of Upsala on the other.
A map of Castle Gyllencreutz.
Three handout sheets.
Five rules reference cards.
Ten initiative cards.
Ten engraved custom dice for the game.

Now I know what you are wondering: will this allow you to play the game? Well, I was sent a PDF of this, and with that, I was able to toss together a quick round with the people I live with. We are all Dungeons and Dragons 5E players. So when they say starter set, they do mean starter set.

The real question you may have is, is it worth playing? Well, I won’t spoil the in-game story for you as The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz is a tale full of fantastic beasts, plot twists, and intrigue.

This brings us to an even more important question: how do you play? Well, many tabletop gamers get started on a game like D&D that focuses on a D20 system, and while there are other dice involved, most of the time you are rolling a 20-sided die. Vaesen, however, uses a D6, and in this, if you roll a 6, your roll succeeds, and if you do not, it fails. Now you can choose to take on a condition and do what’s called “push” your roll. Doing this allows you to keep any 6 you have rolled and reroll the rest of your dice in an attempt to succeed at the task at hand. You, however, must decide, it is really so important to risk the condition you will now be saddled with until you can be healed?

Now, obviously,attempting to teach you to play the game goes well beyond the scope of this post, but I do want to give you some idea of what I am about to recommend you buy. The combat takes a similar approach, with skills and magic taking a back seat to dodging and parrying as you fight anything from a random guy in a castle to ghosts and fairies. Unlike most tabletop games, you won’t always defeat them by normal means. This is a more dark gothic adventure, and you may find yourself needing something far more sinister to get the job done.

So please, if you are a fan of tabletop games, Vaesen welcomes you to the mythic north, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Painkiller Playstation 5 Review

Painkiller on PlayStation 5 is a new shooter from Saber Interactive that I have thought very hard about how to describe without saying “Doom with multiplayer.” Then I sat down with @torstenvblog because Saber was kind enough to send me a couple of codes, since you can play with the game’s bots (and they are very good on the normal difficulty), it is a multiplayer experience. Between the two of us, we really could not think of a better description than Doom with multiplayer.

The movement is crisp and clean; it feels great to slide through a pile of demons, then leap into the air and blast a bunch with my weapon of choice for the raid. This changes because I haven’t found one yet that doesn’t feel viable. The shotgun just showers guts and gore everywhere, and one of its alternative firing modes essentially forces enemies away, and at higher levels, they many times simply explode.

Graphically, the game stands toe-to-toe with many of the AAA titles I have played this year. The game is beautiful on PS5. Each nephilim is especially full of detail and is a horror to behold. The thralls ( the name for the common demons on the levels) themselves are also full of small details that you simply don’t find in most games. There is one that just runs up to you and explodes, and for a brief second, you can see him pulsate and see his insides before he attempts to kill you.

The game isn’t perfect; however, I did run into the occasional slowdown and even got booted from a game when playing online. This wasn’t anything insane or even common enough for me to not play or trash the game, but it did happen enough for me to feel the need to mention it, and Torsten playing the tutorial did enter the menu and became stuck there and was forced to exit the game and force close the entire game. (This did allow him to skip that portion of the game, however, so pro tip)

If somehow you are asking if I recommend the game still, I do. I am still having a blast with it, and I still haven’t finished leveling up the weapons the way I would like. It is a 8/10 experience. It truly is the best parts of Doom, with friends. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring yoy glory.

theHunter: Call of the Wild – Game Feeders DLC Playstation 5 Review

This will honestly be a rather short review. Not because I don’t have much to say or because it is bad, I actually have more hours than I care to admit into The Hunter Call of the Wild. I picked it up back in 2017, when Avalanche Studios first released it. I have been grateful when they have sent me a few DLCs to check out, and I have bought others. This time, they have sent me a Feeder Pack, which gives you access to three feeders with distinct uses.

It gives you access to three feeders, a box, a post, and a barrel feeder. The barrel feeder basically distracts things like bears and hogs away from your Box and Post feeders. This can be useful to save those from damage, but also lets you hunt those animals.

The box feeder will let you hunt smaller deer, like your white tails, while your post feeder lets you hunt bigger animals like your moose. It is really quite simple to get used to, but this doesn’t mean it’s as simple as setting it and shooting animals.

Like most things in hunting, there is a strategy to things. You can put these things anywhere you want, but if you place them where animals don’t go, it doesn’t matter. It also won’t matter much if you simply stand next to it. The key is to place them in places animals travel and fill them with the right bait. Animals will remember and frequent these places. A good strategy I found is to place them near a tree stand, and you can wait and time your shot well.

I have a nice setup between a tower and the saltwater crocodile on the Australia map. This allows me to shoot a few animals in one spot, and then walk over to the other and get a few there. For the price, it isn’t bad, but it won’t be something everyone is interested in for sure. For people who want to make the game easier in a lateral direction, however, it is a great addition to the game. I would have liked something to feed the birds or the crocodiles, but aside from that, it’s solid. 7/10, best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Necesse Steam Review

Neccese is a sort of adventure game where you live in a procedurally generated world, and it has finally been released into 1.0 from early access. Fair Games was nice enough to send me a copy to check out, and I am glad they did.

The general idea is simple: build a settlement, explore the world, kill bosses and enemies. If you ever played games like Terraria, you know the routine, except this time it is top-down, and now you can make villagers do all the stuff you hate. You can also bring friends from online to help; in fact, I recommend this. The game is completely playable solo; in fact, I did at first. It wasn’t until much later that I joined in with some others, and the extra help was great. Having someone else do the mining I didn’t want to be doing while I went fishing was nice.

Bosses are pretty tough but are reasonable with proper prep work, some of which can be summoned right into your town if you want. I find it preferable not to do this; however, not for any reason, my town didn’t get destroyed or anything, it just felt weird fighting a giant monster next to my house.

This does bring me to my few complaints about the game. For one, it gives you very little direction. If you are into the survival element of games like this, within a few minutes, you are pretty much self-sufficient with food. Enemies will spawn next to your house constantly at night, but they are never really a threat, so they are more annoying than anything. Thankfully, your villagers will kill them for you. I built right next to the elder, and he was dead set on murder. He would wake up from a dead sleep to kill anything that came near us. It was pretty impressive.

Is the game worth playing, though? Absolutely. It costs $15 and is sitting at very positive reviews with over 17 thousand reviews, and with very good reason. The replay value is excellent, and if you have friends to play with, you can lose yourself for hours. It is an 8/10 experience that fans of the genre should not miss. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Slots and Daggers Steam Review

Slots and Daggers is the newest game from Future Friends Games, the same people who brought you CloverPit Steam Review. They were kind enough to send me a copy of Slots and Daggers to check out as well, and I have to say, for an $8 game, it is very impressive.

The graphics are very simple, so it feels like you are playing a real slot machine. You start by picking 3 items, which represent possible outcomes on the wheel; they can be attacks, defense or even magic powers, such as healing or buffs,or attacks. You spin a slot, and those outcomes represent your turn. Certain outcomes will require a skill check, however. These skill checks keep you engaged and act as a sort of timed button press. If this sounds simple, it truly is. I sat here playing with one hand for a few hours before I even noticed time had passed.

Now you won’t win your first time through, or probably even your 5th. There is a good 6 to 9 hours of gameplay here, depending on your luck and what order you buy modifiers in. These modifiers do an assortment of things, such as raising your defense against physical or magic attacks, and granting you more wheels. You buy them with chips you gain by scoring points on your runs. The modifiers are permanent unless you refund them to change out which ones you want to buy.

How you want to play the game is completely up to you, but I suggest bringing at least one attack, one shield, and then whatever you enjoy playing with to start. This gives you a way to deal damage and defend yourself at the bare minimum. Personally, I liked the hammer. It may not have done a ton of damage, but the 10% chance to stun saved my run more than a couple of times.

I won’t say the game is for everyone; a lot of people won’t like it. It is sitting at very positive reviews on Steam with over 1300 reviews, and the main complaint is the lack of content, which I understand. However, when I review, I like to review things based on how they compare to other games at their price point, and what kind of time you get from it. Getting around 6 hours from an $8 game isn’t bad, and I have played a lot of low-cost games that just function very badly. This is an 8/10 game on those grounds alone. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.