YAR: Forgotten Throne was sent my way by the fine folks over at Axyos Games, which I always appreciate. Before I go on, here is a second opinion to go along with mine from Gaming With Noobs. His experience was different from mine, but his feelings were quite similar.
First, the good: for a budget title, the game looks solid. Second, the game clearly had a lot of love put into it, which Axyos does with their titles. I can’t deny the heart they put into their games. Unfortunately, a lot goes wrong with this game very fast. The story is a very basic good vs. evil, as you side with one of 2 factions. These factions basically mean nothing so pick whatever you want.
That is if you can get that far, some of the bugs in this game are horrible. One forced me to restart, but thankfully I got it right after the tutorial. For some reason, my controls for walking back and forth simply reversed when I loaded my save. Yes, by this I mean when I hit up to walk forward, I walked backwards and vice versa. No amount of fiddling with the options set it right. So I set things back to default, and nothing. Restarted the game, and everything was fine.
The hitboxes also aren’t great, but admittedly the animations themselves aren’t bad. Combine this with a very weird (but admittedly deep) crafting system and the game quickly becomes kind of a burden to play. IF you can get past all of that, I will admit there is some fun to be had. The characters you meet can be fun and interesting at times, if not a bit poorly acted. Some of the views are also really nice, and they seem to have improved the English translation since the Steam release tho it still has issues. The game, however, is still a 5/10, and that is being generous. Don’t pay $30 for this. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
So first, huge thank you to Wrong Organ for providing the code for this journey. Also, a standing ovation because I loved my brief but insanely impactful time with Mouthwashing and can’t wait to see what they do next.
We flip positions as crew members of the doomed delivery ship ,Tulpar, stranded in space after a devastating collision. Resources are dwindling. Much of the already small vessel is sealed off but tufts of thick emergency gel. Tensions of a already weary and disgruntled crew are pushed vastly beyond their breaking points. The captain, Curly, seemingly purposefully caused the crash in a fit of insanity it seemed. Curly, now horrifically immolated, is confined to medical, leaving James in charge, adding to the swelling tension. All this misery, all this pain, and for what? What could possibly be worth the slow decay of five lives?
Normally, I’m not a fan of this kind of gameplay. It’s predominately point and click with some very light stealth and puzzle solving thrown in. The game thankfully doesn’t waste a minute and is expertly paced. The story griped me from start to finish and the characters have a pretty surprising amount of depth for a game that lasts roughly 3 hours. It’s extremely rare for a story to truly hit me and actually stay with me long after. Mouthwashing is the kind of story I wish I wrote. The superstars of it are the visual and sound designs. Visually, the game is absolutely disturbing with some incredibly unsettling visuals augmented by the claustrophobic, derelict setting reminiscent of Alien. The sound design grossed me out at times in the best ways and the music have me a Kubrick vibe that contrasted and complimented the visceral, cerebral horror at play.
In the end, I cannot recommend Mouthwashing enough. Its a terrific story that brings us face to face with some true fears. It’s refreshing to see cosmic horror that doesn’t lean on monsters, disease, or ghosts. Mouthwashing is the cruelest nail in the coffin of a cog in the corporate machine and the demons we can’t escape, even in the deepest reaches of outer space. I’d gladly give my experience on Ps5 a 10/10. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Sledders on PlayStation 5 is a snowmobile game, nothing more and nothing less, and Bonus Stage was nice enough to send me a copy to check out. If they seem familiar to you, they helped with games like Gladio Mori and Disk Golf Masters. I always like working with these guys, and I appreciate this one as well.
Now, when I say Sledders is a Snowmobile game and nothing more and nothing less, you might be thinking, “No shit, Savior, it has a picture of a snowmobile on it. Tell us about the races.” Well, I can’t; there aren’t any. There is no campaign, no story, no races. It is just you,a massive open world, realistic physics, and you and (hopefully) your friends joyriding and making your own fun.
Now, something you may not know about your friend Savior: if it is on the ground, I can probably drive it. Tractor trailer? School bus? ATVs of many kinds; I have driven more things than most people only dream of. I have actually never ridden a snowmobile. No clue if these physics are as accurate as they say. The internet, however, does know, and they were happy to confirm what I already suspected. It is 100%; these games never are, but it is pretty damn close.
This brings me to the last thing I have to say. How much you enjoy this game completely depends on whether you have friends to play with and if you enjoy just riding around on a snowmobile. I did not enjoy my time with this game, even while playing online. It was nice to play in the snow without being cold for once, though. If you do enjoy these sorts of things, however, it is a great experience: 8/10. If you don’t, this will be boring as hell and best avoided. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Back to Dawn was sent my way by Clouded Leopard Entertainment, for which I am grateful. Now you may remember seeing this on Savior Gaming before, and that is because I have reviewed it on Steam in the past. The game itself is still a prison escape RPG. You have two different characters to choose from. I went with the recommended first-timer route of Thomas the fox. A news reporter who, when given the chance to take a bribe to bury a story to help out a major business and political leader, makes the morally right choice. This, of course, lands him in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Bob, your other option is an undercover agent sent into the prison. You can probably put about 20-30 hours into each story.
The game is, in theory, pretty simple: be a good inmate, work your prison job, and get to know the other inmates. It is worth noting that they have polished up the localization and subtitles since the last time I played. The characters definitely seem to have more life to them, and this is saying something because a lot of them were fun to get to know before.
My main issue with the game unfortunately still hasn’t changed; the start is super slow and can get repetitive, and that will turn a lot of people off. If you can get past that, however, you will be treated to the best story a prison escape game has ever offered. This is combined with some of the most fun characters to get to know, with multiple endings possible. I highly recommend it when you first start, and you get the option with Thomas to take the money, do it. It is worth it, in my opinion. The game is a 9/10 experience, and is possibly even more relaxing on your couch with a controller than it is on your PC. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Many of you may be familiar with Dungeon and Degenerates. I have reviewed it before on Steam. This time, Yogscast Games has let me check out the console release, and I was really curious to see how this version compares. It has been about 2 years since the PC version. The answer to that is quite a bit, as since my original review, the game has hit 2.0.
The basics of the game have stayed the same; you and an opponent play traditional Blackjack closest to 21 wins with the person that loses taking the difference as damage. Reduce their health to 0 and win. Some cards will have special abilities, far too many to mention, and with the inclusion of the 2.0 Doubling Down update, there are even more cards and floors to play on.
There are also a number of decks to choose from, each with its own abilities; for example, hearts will heal you when you score 21. I won’t ruin the surprise of what the rest of them do.
The real question is, how does it work on a controller? With the addition of so much stuff, really, my original 7/10 score could only go up unless the controls don’t work well. I am happy to say the game feels right at home on a PS5 controller. At $15 the game is well worth the price; this is now a 9/10 title for fans of games like this. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Time Break Chronicles on Steam is far from new; in fact, the Steam page says it entered early access on September 1st, 2020. That’s a long time for a game to be in EA, and even longer for a turn-based RPG. So I asked Warrior General Games if they would hook me up with a copy so I could play it, and they were nice enough to do it, so huge shout-out to them.
The first thing you will notice is that the graphics are that old throwback sort of pixelated SNES style, and they have that turn-based combat as well. Now, if you know me, I am a sucker for exactly this, but I will also come down hard on a game for doing this badly because, honestly, it isn’t hard to do. Happily, it is done very well, with my only real complaint being if you are one of those people who insist you will only play with your favorite people and not with what classes work, you may have a hard time. The game has probably around 100 people; I have not unlocked them all, or even most of them, to be honest. But you will find some more useful than others.
The hub is essentially a city within the void you play the game in, which is a nice touch. All your runs start here basically, and you can get your team ready to go here, upgrade all sorts of things, and build your town. Everything you would hope a hub for a roguelike would have is here.
The only real issue I have with the game is the music. It is super repetitive, but admittedly, as of October 2nd, there was an update that did improve it, and the game leaves early access soon I do need to stress something very important. Most of the game is currently available in EA, with only a couple of things left to add, and that final piece of major content to add is the music. However, as I always say, you don’t get credit for what will or could be, only what is. The game is currently an 8/10 title and is $15 on Steam. The price will go up when it leaves EA, so buy it now if you enjoy turn-based RPGs. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
So first and foremast, insanely huge thanks to Saber Interactive for granting us access to the game. This particular game was the game I’ve been most excited for all year. As a longtime fan of Clive Barker’s writing, The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser, and Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 I was incredibly pumped to see Barker’s world unfolded of pain and pleasure in game form.
We play as Aiden Lynch, a dude who simply loved a girl. Convict, addict, Aiden never felt whole until he met Sunny, who seemed to share his need for pain and desire as well as her own inner darkness. During a night of BDSM play, she brings out the box, summoning the Cenobites. Sunny is torn apart and whisked away to the mysterious Labyrinth. Now Aiden must not only face a deadly, sadistic cult devoted to the enigmatic Cenobites but face never-ending depravity and torture to save the woman he loved. Can Aiden survive and free Sunny from hell itself or will he give in to the darkness of Levithan?
Ok, much like Terminator: Resistance and Alien: Isolation, the love and attention to detail for the source material is incredible. The labyrinth, the Cenobites, the creatures, Levithan are all captured beautifully. The game uses its IP to the fullest extent, and respects it in ways so few games do. Doug Bradley triumphantly returns to voice the iconic Hell Priest, Pinhead, and is still spine chilling in his line delivery. The game’s strongest feat is making you feel on edge, whether it’s being chased by the gruesome Chatterer through the mazes of the Labyrinth, or roaming through the smoky, vulgar sex clubs fronted by the cult. Seriously, full disclosure, this game holds nothing back in terms of sex and violence- totally understand why this game nearly got the dreaded A rating.
As for gameplay, it’s very akin to Resident evil 7 and Dying Light in terms of melee combat. The box adds a lot in terms of abilities and puzzle solving. The box grants you telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and can summon chains as a ultimate attack. Combat is most fun using the box and strategically wiping out crazed gimp and hell beasts. I appreciate that the game is about creativity and never gives you too much to work with but never fully leaves you dry. I will say, I wish weapons weren’t so flimsy. Melee weapons feel like they’re made of glass so you have to use them sparingly. Aiden himself practically feels like he too is made of glass; god love you if you get set on fire. A few times I was annoyed and wished I had some kind of armor or the weapons lasted longer. Overall, it was still mostly fun to play throughout.
The game had a few clipping issues and a few funny glitches at times but meanwhile played well. During a ten hour hour playthrough, I had just 1 hard crash and only really noticed a couple laughable glitches. My biggest complaint that had nothing to do with skill (because I fully admit I sucked at this game) is the inventory system. I get having to worry about space for weapons and health. I hated having to factor in treasure. The real killer has the oddly huge size of the ammo boxes. I don’t see why a box of ammo should take up nearly as much space as 9MM, SMG, or a damn bear trap. Inventory layout is borrowed from Resident Evil 4 but I can’t lie, I felt it was unneeded enemy in the game.
In the end, I had a lot of fun with Hellraiser: Revival. It’s a good, shorter horror game that doesn’t wear out it’s welcome and it’s a hell of a treat and love letter to an incredible horror writer and his most iconic work. I’d absolutely recommend it with full warning; it’s not for the faint of heart. It is an 8/10. Thanks again to Saber for sharing it with us. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Lostbound was sent to me by Tambu Games, which I always appreciate. In many ways, this budget title ( only $7) plays a lot like old Zelda titles. You simply walk around, enter dungeons, find some keys, kill enemies, blow some stuff up with bombs, kill a boss, and hopefully leave with a new relic. Each relic grants you some sort of new bonus to an ability or stat, etc.
Fighting, however, is done in a sort of side-scrolling game, which works very well. Now you may be asking, what is the catch? Every roguelike nowadays seems to have one. Well, the catch is quite literally you if you aren’t both quick and careful. See, every so often, a giant black hand will try to drag you into the abyss and try to end your run early. This might be because you backtracked over the same spot again or took too long in a dungeon.
I would say don’t worry, but you probably really should. See, while the hand isn’t exactly something you need to constantly worry about, it is something you need to be aware of for sure. Being careless can cost you the run.
Truth be told, I can’t really complain about this game. It looks nice enough for a game in its price range, and it functions very well. The only thing is, I can’t really say it does anything well either. It is the sort of game you can enjoy for a while, then just sort of let it go. It is a 6/10 title that you will enjoy for a while and is worth the price, but I don’t see it being anyone’s favorite either. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
No More Room in Hell 2 was sent my way by Green Name Room Publishing, and I truly appreciate it. The game itself looks solid, but there are better ones out there, and admittedly, while the pathfinding could use a bit of work, the sound and weapons are very nice. The reason we all play these games is to kill zombies, and there are plenty to go around for the up to 8 people on each map.
This is the unique part of No More Room in Hell 2: while there is permadeath, you will lose your responder. See, you have two different types of levels: responder and account. The account level unlocks permanent passive perks and loadouts. These never go away and can be used by any responder you recruit. When you lose a responder, however, they are gone forever. This changes depending on the difficulty level. On easy and normal, they are truly only gone if the party gets wiped out, but higher than that, any death sees them killed without a certain item.
The 8 players will all start at different points on the map and simply raid the place for supplies, kill zombies, and do assorted side missions before extracting. Now, you can skip much of it and simply speedrun everything, but the supplies are how you advance most of your experience.
Now you may have noticed I haven’t said much about this game in a negative way, and it is because I don’t have a lot of bad things to say. The big one is that some of the hitboxes on the zombies can seem a bit iffy, most notably while using melee weapons. The worst part, however, is if you don’t have at least a couple of friends to play with; playing with random people is going to be super hit-and-miss. Some people can be very greedy and will simply watch you die when they could easily save you. However, when you find a good group, the game can be magical for a time. Until you find yourself repeating missions /within missions over and over again. The game is still a 7/10 and worth the $30 in my opinion, if you like zombie games. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Alpha Nomos is a roguelike with a musical twist. This one was sent my way by Iphigames IKE. The concept here is simple. You play as Cello, and you and her friends will fight to the music and kill magical puppets time and time again as you attempt to do, well, something. I like to be honest with you guys, and this review won’t change that. I am not good at this game.
The combat is heavily based on your ability to time your attacks to the beat of the music, and this is not something I am good at. The game does give you many tools to get better at this, and in the end I became better. This does not mean I was good enough to complete the game; I did not. I can’t tell you much about the story.
Here is what I can tell you. The game looks great. I love the graphics in the game. The characters are cute, and getting to know these charming little people is fun. The music is also well done, and it needs to be in a game whose entire gimmick is fighting to the music. Speaking of fighting to the music, the weapons are all based on musical instruments; for example, the starting “knives” are basically xylophones like the colorful ones kids play with. The second weapon I unlocked was a sort of saxophone sword, which was super cool and fun to use.
The upgrades are also interesting; many didn’t do me much good because they reward you for things like having good timing with the music, but I enjoy that they reward you specifically for being good at what the game is, and when I was able to time it right, the combinations became insane quite quickly. One I put together increased my damage for properly timing my attacks and dodges in such a way that I was in time with the music, while my weapon upgrade also increased my attack for doing a certain combo that ends in a special attack. My final upgrade attached a sort of sticky grenade that did AOE damage with each special. When I got it to work, it was devastating to enemies and bosses alike. Alpha Nomos isn’t for everyone; for example, people like me with 0 musical talent, and might be tone deaf. Those who are good at this sort of thing, however, can look forward to an amazing experience. Do not let my lack of skill dissuade you from what should be a great experience. 8/10, I will let this game beat me again. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
