Game reviews – Savior Gaming

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening

There’s 3 things I knew tryin to get into the DMC series: the chronology is all over the place, the reboot missed the whole point, and people opinion on the best and worst are pretty damn unanimous. 3 is the best by a popular majority. After my lukewarm experience with the original Devil May Cry , I skipped 2 (unanimously cited as the worst) and went to see what the series really had. Was I disappointed?

We join a very young, brash, cocky, arrogant Dante on his first foray into demon hunting. When a mysterious tower emerges from the ground near his unnamed business and demons start pouring into the streets, the half human son of legendary demon king Sparda jumps into action with his trusty sword and pistols. However, behind this outpouring of hellish forces is a familiar face- his twin brother, Vergil. Vergil craves his father’s power and wants to smash the barrier between worlds, leading to utter chaos. Can Dante defeat the only one who can match his supernatural skills?

Seriously, I wish I heeded the advice everyone gave me to just stat with 3. These games aren’t really my kind of game but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t have a blast with the game. Everything is improved dramatically from the first game. Combat is more fluid with plenty of variety. The story is both more engaging with better developed characters and is more fun and over the top in the best ways. Dante has more personality and I love his interactions with Vergil, who’s his total opposite. The cut scenes are impressive as hell, especially given the time period. The camera, which killed the first game for me, was rarely a problem. The game itself has a lot more quality of life improvements that I greatly appreciated like unlimited continues and the ability to quick change weapons without pausing to go to the inventory menu. The highlight howver was the boss battles which were epic, challenging, and rewarding; the fights against Vergil were truly the best of the whole game.

The only real complaint was the the path finding at times. There were a few times the game has you backtrack quite a ways back through a layout that can be super easy to get lost in, especially when you start twisting parts of the tower. The boss gauntlet at the end did feel a bit excessive and felt like padding. Of course too there are few times the platforming annoyed me but thankfully it’s never life or death kinda of platforming.

In the end, I’m on board with the masses. Start with 3, it’s the first game in the series story wise anyway. It’s a fun, fast, over the top hack and slash that was plenty of fun and has has a hell of a lot of value I’d gladly recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok Review

Granblue Fantasy: Relink- Endless Ragnarok was sent my way by the great folks over at Cygames, which I appreciate for multiple reasons. First, having never worked with them before, I always like working with new companies. Second, being chosen to review a game even after close to a decade of doing this is still an honor, one that makes me feel as special today as it did the first time it happened. Last but not least, they hooked me up with not just the Ragnarok DLC, which is honestly MASSIVE in its own right, but the base game.

So you may be asking what is new here? Well, a ton of stuff; for example, to get started, there are new characters which you can enjoy right from the start of the base game. Six of them, to be exact, all of which can be bought with your crewcards; don’t worry, while you can buy certain characters for about $3 with a few extras, this isn’t some gatcha thing; you can earn them all in-game. You will find plenty of crewcards lying around, and you can earn more through missions. In fact, almost everything you can buy can be earned in-game, except certain cosmetic items.

Other new things include new summon mechanics and new transcendence and master levels for characters and weapons for more customization and stronger characters, which will be needed when you face the new Chaos and Chaos+ difficulty levels.

You may have noticed I haven’t touched on the story or the gameplay yet. Well i won’t touch on the story because I don’t want to spoil one moment of the beautiful bastard. You are here to know about the DLC, and if it is worth your money, and if you enjoyed the base game’s story and want to know if continuing that story is worth it, the answer is yes. The fate stories for the new characters are just as good as any of the original characters; some are even better. They are far from being an afterthought and truly add to the world.

Now, if you are wondering if the new content is worth the admittedly hefty price point ($30 if you own the base game), it absolutely is, as it is probably around the same size as the base game. Most of it kicks off after the base game ends, but the conflux actually starts around mid-game. This is solo content that acts as a sort of dungeon high-score challenge that allows you to collect different upgrade materials for weapons and sigils. This is DLC done right; it is a 9/10 DLC if I have ever seen one, with my biggest complaint being there isn’t much here for newcomers, with it all basically being for people that have run out of stuff to do in the base game. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu PlayStation 5 Review

The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu on PlayStation 5 is an interesting game sent my way by the kind folks over at Nacon, which I always appreciate and enjoy working with.

The story is a simple one: there is an island with a cursed jungle on it full of treasure, and you and your people want that treasure. Others have tried and failed, and you and your friends are about to find out exactly why they failed.

You will start out on the ship and choose a mission and some gear. This might be a sword or an axe or something like a musket or bow. This is a game I will be perfectly clear from the get-go, is meant to be played with friends, preferably friends you play normally with. Solo is an option, and it will even spawn a helper, but at higher-level contracts they seem kind of useless.

Those higher-level contracts are also where the difficulty of the game really kicks in. See, after a while you will discover there just aren’t enough weapons for everyone, which is great because sometimes someone needs to carry a lantern and someone needs to keep space open for all that beautiful loot you need to bring back. How are you supposed to do this alone, even when the game tones down the difficulty for you? With randoms, this becomes a problem because you don’t know anyone’s skill level or what they are best at.

While the game has issues, it truly nails the survival horror aspect. Lovecraftian horror is always hit and miss with me because it needs to be both scary and creepy, but many people try far too hard, and Nacon managed to avoid that with The Mound. While the game has its issues, the horror part isn’t one of them. The game is a 7 out of 10 that, if you have a consistent group, is worth picking up. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Astaryn RPG Idler Steam Review

Astaryn RPG Idler on Steam was sent my way by Watercolor Games. This was honestly one of the weirdest, yet easiest games I have ever had to review. You just toss it on in the background while you are on YouTube or whatever else you are doing, and away it goes. Go back to it and switch what your character does, and just ignore it again. Now I know this sounds like every other idle game in existence, but why should you spend $4 on it? You should, by the way.

Each action you take leads to another; combat helps level things like your combat skills or vitality when you take damage. To heal, you need to level up your provisioner skill. To level provisioning, though, you need something to cook. This means you need to use your angling skills to fish. If you ignore the game too long without ever switching what your character is doing, you will end up with no growth.

You can earn gear by drops in combat; stronger monsters drop better gear, obviously. You can fight stronger monsters by doing missions and by focusing on increasing your stats in a way that makes sense, and by selecting the right talents. The game is very deep for what it is and for the price. The more you play, the more you can upgrade your character to stay away longer. You start with a 24-hour timer that will stay idle, but there are upgrades so you can go longer. As of right now, I can stay away for 48 hours, and my character will stay idle and do his own thing. This is probably the most intricate idle game I have played, and for $4, it is hard to beat. It is an 8/10 title. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Devil May Cry

Just so we’re all clear, I’m talking about cool Dante’s first outing. Emo, Hot Topic, proto Jared Leto Joker Dante won’t hurt you here.

We follow monster hunter/ paranormal PI Dante at his agency named Devil May Cry. A lady named Trish pops in, asking him to kill the dark lord Mundus on the demon infested Mallet island. Dante is no ordinary man: born for a legendary demon and human mother, Dante possess super strength, speed, reflexes, regeneration, with a host of mythical weapons. Can the demon hunter survive the legion of demons and beasts on a island that busts reality and the world beyond?

So many, many friends have pleaded with me to give this series a chance. If I can beat Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and System Shock (2023) I can beat anything dammit. Many, including our mutual friend and cohert, Arragas the Druid, begged me to start with the 3rd game (which is actually the first.) I didn’t because I’m stubborn as hell but I wish I did.

The original Devil May Cry isn’t a terrible game, it just aged like milk in many aspects and small but vital quality of life additions make a tremendous difference. The combat is solid enough. The bosses look cool. Mundus was a pretty good final boss that wasn’t a pushover. The world, settings, and lore are pretty cool. Dante is a fun likeable badass.

Two things murder the game for me. The camera killed me more times than not. The enemies hit hard, platforming can be a pain in the ass, and it can be hard knowing where the hell to go- the tank camera amplifies these issues almost a dozen fold. Their were plenty of times I lost it because the camera obscured a boss attack or I fumbled a jump because I couldn’t see. The other thin is those quality of life additions the game desperately needed. I’m talking simple things like quick weapon selection, attack instructions (why spend the orbs on new attacks when the game doesn’t tell you how to perform them), and the ability to lock onto enemies. Nothing huge on there own but rolled togther with the camera, it becomes aggravating.

In the end, I can’t recommend the first Devil May Cry as your first go into the series. It’s tough at imes for mostly the wrong reasons, the gameplay takes some getting used to, and the story feels mostly like an after thought. I’d say after going through some of the modern entries, check it out, but I can’t really recommend it off the bat. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Welcome to Kowloon Xbox Review

Welcome to Kowloon on Xbox was sent my way by Axyos Games. You may remember them from Apartment No. 129. This game is kind of similar, except we have now hit the point where the horror aspect is that you are simply a young person trying to find a cheap apartment.

This good boy is hungry, get food from the store and feed him.

You will be checking out Kowloon, a city that I hope has seen better days; otherwise, this run-down, creepy place was built like this on purpose. As you explore for about an hour, which is how long it takes to beat the game, you will come across a few crazy residents. You will discover why the rent is so cheap; you aren’t meant to leave. Honestly, with such a short game, I can’t say too much without spoiling it. Suffice it to say, the game is short but sweet. The atmosphere is tense right from the start, the game controls well, and you really feel like you are in a small, cramped building in a poor neighborhood.

I would get drunk and fall off this instantly

The game costs $10 and is a quick play, with some easy achievement points. I won’t say it is worth it for everyone, but if you are looking for something quick and interesting to play, there are worse ways to spend a night. It is a 7/10 experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Verho – Curse of Faces PlayStation 5 Review

Verho – Curse of Faces was sent my way by Cobra Tekku Games and is an upcoming Dark RPG that you will be able to get your hands on July 30th. It is, however, available now on Steam. The best way to describe this game is if Kings Field or an Early Elder Scrolls Morrowind suddenly found itself much smaller with PlayStation 1 graphics and tossed onto modern consoles. This isn’t an insult; this was very much an intentional design choice.

The story is pretty straightforward; you find yourself in a land where everyone who arrives there loses their memory and wears a mask. The reason for this is that a curse has settled over this section of the world due to some sort of catastrophe that, for obvious reasons, nobody truly remembers. People have, of course, begun to piece some things back together over the last few hundred years. You are attempting to make your way to the old capital in an attempt to escape, like many others have tried and failed to do.

This is your save and fast travel point, not creepy at all. Not even a little.

This brings me to the gameplay and such. I will say right out of the gate, it won’t be for everyone. Many of you have no desire to play a retro-inspired RPG that is a throwback to when games had no auto-save, so if you die, it’s right back to the last save point. If this is you, you can stop reading; nothing I am about to say will change your mind anyway.

For those of you still reading this, the game is a treat in many ways, graphically and in the sound; it is an amazing throwback. Obviously, it isn’t up to today’s standards, but for when it is trying to mimic the game is beautiful and fluid. When I died, I felt like it was my fault. Jumping feels nice, sword play, and slinging spells are more than just hitting a button. If you simply slash your sword, you do very little damage. You need to hold the swing button until the meter just about hits the top. If you time it right, you will do max damage. As an added bonus, you can hold a sword and a shield but not lose the ability to use magic.

The game, however, is not perfect. There is very little direction, which is fine, but the results of going the wrong direction are deaths that cause loss of time and progress. Worse, the in-game guide won’t tell you plenty of things it probably should. Luckily, the community is very helpful, as are the devs. They happily point people on Steam to guides people have made. The game is long enough to get your time out of it in one playthrough but short enough to encourage multiple playthroughs, which is good because there are multiple endings.

Now, is this game worth your money? This one completely comes down to how much you like retro-inspired games. For me, this was a 7/10 title. It is sitting at very positive reviews on Steam, and I think it deserves them. I enjoyed my first playthrough, and I will be playing it again. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Rally Car Mechanic Simulator PlayStation 5 Review

Rally Car Mechanic Simulator was sent my way by Ultimate Games, which is always appreciated. The game’s concept is very simple. You fix rally cars either for your team and your driver races them. After each stage, you fix things he breaks, feners, breaks, windows, whatever.

The game thankfully has multiple difficulty settings for how in-depth this goes; you can basically find the part, hold a button, and watch the magic happen as you take off each piece or go full-blown mechanic with no help and try to find each broken piece and screw yourself. I played on easy because I am not a car guy by any means.

All you really need to know about this game is: does this sound interesting to you? If not, nothing I am about to say will matter; skip it and save yourself $20. If you are still with me, you are probably wondering how it functions. Truth is, not bad. I have played a few of these games, and I have certainly played worse. I did have some issues with buying new items, but admittedly, that could be more of a user issue. If it is, however, it is because the game’s UI really could use some tweaks; certain things really aren’t very clear. The game is still a 7/10 experience, and while I didn’t much care for it, fans of the genre will. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Disk Golf Masters Steam Review

Disk Golf Masters is developed by Spinoff Games and published by Bonus Stage Publishing. However, the game was actually tossed my way by Bram of Gametaste, so thank everyone involved in getting me a copy of this one.

Full disclosure, one many of you will have noticed, I don’t cover a lot of sports games. It isn’t that I don’t like sports; I have played most major sports on a team at some level, except hockey. I was even a professional wrestler for a while. So when Bram offered me Disk Golf Masters I said sure, I will take the easiest sport ever of throwing a frisbee.

So I played the tutorial and discovered that it isn’t easy to throw a frisbee in a video game, grabbed my daughters and ran outside to prove this game was lying to me and discovered that despite that at the age of 41 still having the ability to throw an 70mph knuckball pretty accuratly, I in fact can not throw a frisbee to a small chil across the street.

I still managed to throw 2 under par in my first round. I unlocked a few things and went back for round two with newfound confidence. This was very misplaced, as my second round went much worse. While you can’t really bounce your disk off other people, you can hit it off trees, or toss it off a cliff. Don’t worry the game won’t make you throw it from the bottom of the cliff.

Round 3 got a bit better, as with anything practice does make perfect, and the game gives you plenty of reason to keep playing. There is plenty to unlock, and with multiplayer, it is a great game to relax with friends and just have fun. Much like golf, you can play it anyway you want. Sitting in discord having some beers on a rainy day cracking jokes would be my prefered way to enjoy this one, but I can definetly see this being the kind of game the competitive scene would love. One last thing to note: the game does tell you to play with a controller, and my xbox series controller worked flawlessly. If you like sports games, this one is hard to beat for $25. It is a 9/10 experience, and when it leaves early access is sure to be even better. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Soulblaze Steam Review

Soulblaze is a new creature-catching roguelike with some interesting mechanics attached to it. This one was sent my way by Cosmic Mocca, which I always appreciate.

The gameplay, of course, follows the same general loop as most of these games. Pick a starting creature, pick a path, and on your way you go. While you go along this path, you can battle and capture new Animons, level up, learn new skills, collect new items, ,defeat bosses and when you die, use currency to buy permenent upgrades.

You start being able to access just the one Animon as a starter, but as you capture more, it will unlock different types. Not the ones you capture, really, just different animons you can choose if you capture enough of certain types. Some of the other things you can unlock include (but are not limited to) extra starting items, more health, and an assortment of things to make the early runs much easier. The loop isn’t bad and is fun in its own way.

The game, however, like many early access titles, has its share of issues. For example, despite being well above even the recommended specs, I suffered from frequent crashes, slow downs andd issues. The game is, however, made by one person and as an early access title that is fun too play I do give it some leeway. It is still kind of hard to recommend at $14. The game is a 5/10 title, one that needs a few more updates before it is ready for most people to buy. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.