Category: Game reviews

Suikoden 1 HD Remaster Review

  I have always loved the Suikoden games,so hearing about the remaster coming a few years ago I was obviously pretty excited. Reliving the story of a young man attempting to topple an empire after being saddled with a cursed rune (the Soul Eater) a story I have played probably a dozen times.

I did begin to worry, would it hold up? Could it even hold up to those memories? Happily the story is still amazing. The graphic updated also look great,mostly. The world map takes a bit of getting used to and they didn’t do anywhere near the work on the sprites of the characters as they did on the world itself. This isn’t a bad thing since the characters look good anyway,but it does create a weird disconnect that takes a bit to get used to.

There are some quality of life updates, for example anyone that has played the game will know who I am talking about. That piece of shit on the docks,will no longer block your path. If you know,you know. The ability to boost up the speed of battles is great when you just want to get through a dungeon, for example trying to get back through Necords castle for the second time.

All around, what I have always believed was the better of the first 2 games holds up. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Sugardew Island PS5 Review

Sugardew Island on PS5 is a nice treat sent my way by Rokaplay. All I really knew about it was it was a cozy farm shop game. The results were pleasantly nice.

You start the game as a female character (Sorry anti-woke brigade, this can’t be changed, go cry somewhere else, the rest of us don’t care) and you can give her a cute outfit. From here she will crash and end up on a not-so-deserted island surrounded by thorns. Your job is to use your farm and store to revitalize the island.

Unlike most games like this, you start off with a huge area you can farm, and you can buy animals right from the start. The limited stamina will hold you back though. This is increased simply by doing things. You improve the island by doing missions for the magical tree in the center of the island where Hare lives.

Hare doesn’t like humans, they screwed up the island in the first place with their greed. Hare does become more receptive to you as you accomplish missions and unlock more and more things such as different seeds, new tools, and bigger houses and shops for yourself. To achieve this you sell crops (well anything honestly, I sold extra wood once) at your store to the sprites that live on the island. This grants you harmony towards the missions.

Now I know many times I give my trophy hunter readers a heads up, and this game has some easy trophies. sell 250 of certain crops, or finish all the missions none of which are hard. The game does NOT contain a platinum trophy however.

So is this game worth your time? Truthfully for you more hardcore farming sim fans, no. A lot of the bells and whistles you have come to expect are missing. There is no fishing for example and while there are people to have a sort of romance with there are only 4 options. But if you are just looking for a casual farming sim to relax after a hard day of work, this game is great. I can’t wait to see what future updates might bring, it is a solid 8/10 game. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Trolls Vs Vikings Reborn (Steam)

Trolls Vs Vikings Reborn was sent to me by the fine folks at Megapop. I have to say, I wasn’t sure what to expect besides it being similar to Plants vs Zombies and honestly, that is exactly how this place. You set a miner up to dig up rocks that act as food so you can feed more trolls. They all do something different, my favorite lets you move him back and forth as he punches Vikings.

The story itself isn’t bad, A mysterious figure convinces the Vikings that the trolls have gold lying around and they will be rich if they come over and take it. Vikings being what they are, invade. A little troll girl overhears the conversation and warns them. This results in the Trolls having time to meet the Vikings for battle, which looks like a yard.

Now this would be fine, plenty of games follow a similar formula as other games, but the formula needs to work and work well. Happily Trolls vs Zombies Reborn is a 6 dollar game, which while more expensive than Plants vs Zombies, is a new experience that plays just as well. It is a 7/10 experience for me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Blow It Up (PS5 Review)

Blow It Up is a physics destruction game sent to me by Brain Seal. Anyone familiar with the Angry Birds craze will instantly know how to play this game and what it is about. You aim, fire, knock over a structure, and kill some aliens.

There are 7 different, let us call them people, to throw at these structures all with different abilities. Some will simply move faster others explode or act as a bombers and just drop bombs in a row. They are easy and quick to unlock.

The game admittedly does not look the best, but for what they are going for and it being a budget title I don’t think it is fair to expect it to. Graphically it looks as good as it needs to. The sound is also solid, with explosions being satisfying and walls crashing down feeling like they have some weight to them.

My only real gripe was occasionally if you want to restart a mission you failed to succeed I did experience a couple of crashes and freezes, this was easily avoided tho by being careful when you pause.

The game is simple, and kind of short, it is also only about $8 so realistically the real question is, is it worth that price point? It has around 70 levels which is more than enough to keep you occupied for a few hours trying to collect gold trophies on all of them, there are gold coins to collect as well. The platinum is pretty simple so for hunters that will be an incentive. All in all, it is an 8/10 game. I had fun with it, it did a great job capturing that angry bids feel without completely ripping off the game. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monster Hunter Wilds (PS5)

What is there to say about this game that hasn’t been said by a million others. Is it beautiful? Damn right, it is. Does it control great? Absolutely. Did I drop eleven hours into it the day it launched? No, it was 10 hours 58 minutes, and 47 seconds. Thanks for counting Capcom.

Dude knows what this is and still almost dies because of it

Now, I do have to add this, I played on PS5 and supposedly the PC launch was horrific. I do have a friend playing over on PC, and he hasn’t had any complaints or run into any of the issues you will see on the Steam store. That isn’t to say they don’t exist, he just has a mid-range PC and maybe he is lucky.

Now that the Steam version is out of the way, back to the two other complaints I have seen. The story is easy, and the menu system. I can’t deny the easy part or say it is true, I have been playing Monster Hunter since I can’t remember when each game seems to get easier, and at this point, I haven’t been carted or lost a hunt in wilds yet, and I have finished the story. The menus are also easier to navigate than ever, however isn’t exactly a compliment because they have always been abysmal.

The game, however, is probably the best Monster Hunter to date in terms of gameplay. As an avid hunting horn user this thing has never felt better. They added a few things in Rise and added more here. It is no longer just a buff weapon but a full-on damage dealer as well, without the need to farm for decorations and gear. It isn’t a top-tier damage dealer of course but it is far more viable solo.

If you were considering buying this one but may have been on the fence, it is time to hop off the fence. Join the hunters’ guild and kill some monsters. They deserve it. Ok as always they really don’t and we are probably the bad guys for committing genocide. Regardless, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory,

X-Out: Resurfaced (Xbox Review)

X-Out: Resurfaced was sent to me by ININ Games a company you all know I love for their ability to bring games from the past to the modern era. (seriously if you guys are listening, The Guardian Legend is begging you for an update) and once again they have nailed this one. If you enjoyed the original don’t think, just go pick this one up. It is worth the $20.

This Boss almost cost me a controller

The game itself is a typical side-scrolling shooter straight from the Amiga days of computer shooters. You get some money, build a submarine, start on the left-hand side of the screen, move to the right avoiding bullets and enemies, and use assorted powerups and bullets of your own to make your way to the boss.

The game is beautiful and easy to control. Also, no game has pissed me off this badly since, actually, I don’t know when. BloodBorne review maybe, and I have beat Dark Souls 2 and Elden Ring since then. The game is not easy, and it is hard in the best way possible. There are no cheap deaths here. It is all skill, or lack of skill that will kill you. If you can’t “git gud” as they say, look up the cheat codes. Yes, those exist, just like the good old days. When ININ brought this bad boy from the past they left those intact.

This game isn’t for everyone, it is hard and it is a niche genre of game from a niche time in gaming. But for the people who love that period, it is a must-have for your collection. 9/10, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cattle Country (Steam Fest Demo)

Cattle Country is a cozy farming simulator tossed my way by Castle Pixel and the demo is fantastic. It has everything you would hope from a game that lets you live the farming life, cattle, crops, fishing, crafting, and over 20 people to get to know and love.

Don’t let that description fool you, you could easily see these amazing pixel graphics, see it is a farming sim, and think, is this trying to take on Stardew Valley for the crown as king of the mountain. We all know this is an impossible challenge, and Castle Pixel doesn’t even try. There are some obvious things in common that go all the way back to Harvest Moon on the Super Nintendo. For example two of your first quests are to meet all the people in town and harvest some crops.

The game itself tho more or less just sets you down to let you do what you want. On my first day, I went and met the guy who runs the blacksmithing place and we talked about his dreams that I interrupted. Then I decided to just break some rocks and knock down some trees. I don’t know why I chose this path, I simply felt like doing it. On day 2 I decided to plan more crops and cook some food while doing some fishing.

The fishing mini-game is actually very easy, simply cast out and hit a button and boom mini-game starts. As the bar moves hit it a couple times when it is in the green zone and you catch a fish.

For fans of the genre definitely go check out the demo. More importantly, for those reading this thinking PC players get all the great games, a PS5 and Switch version is coming out this year as well. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Flocking Hell (Steam Review)

I first checked out this game a few months ago, and you can check out Flocking Hell (Demo) if you want. Sextant Studios recently sent me a message and asked me if I would be willing to check out the game before its March 25th release date and I was excited to do it. In fact, it felt like the perfect title to kick off Steam’s Next Fest.

The game’s premise is easy, you and your sheep are under attack from Hell. You will play a sort of mine sweeper meets auto battler. You start with one square open and click on a space next to you to reveal another style that will grant you sheep. If you see a number, it will tell you how many cities are in that area surrounding it. You can then connect these cities with roads so they can send reinforcements to each other when the turns you get to prepare are over and the demons from hell attack.

these mines can be used to kill demons before the battle starts

As I mentioned in my last review, the card system plays a huge role in how the game goes. I have lost entire runs because I wasn’t paying attention to my turn count and instead of using a card that could have given me a huge boost to the power of my cities I simply clicked a space and revealed a new square.

There can be victory in Defeat

There can be victory even in defeat, however. You have two hearts which means two chances to win. When you lose you get to pick a card that can show up when you play. These cards do things from making cities bigger to revealing cities or just revealing spaces. Revealed spaces give you more space and let you not waste turns revealing the map. More sheep means stronger mines or more roads to connect cities. This leads to stronger defenses. It also can just mean finding a city sooner which means it has longer to grow.

Now comes the part you all know is coming, do I recommend this game. Yea of course I do, look how cute those damn sheep are. The demo was fantastic, id have paid money for that if it were the right price if they tossed it into early access. The game has come a very long way since then. Small things to improve quality of life or to just make the game more user-friendly. As you will see this week I have played quite a few games for this event, but this one might hold a special place in my heart and I think you will feel the same way. check out the demo and maybe Wishlist it before the March 25th release, Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Border Pioneer (Steam Review)

Border Pioneer is the second game you can get in the Yogscast Games bundle I mentioned yesterday. They sent me a review copy of both games to play, you can get the bundle here.

Now these two games are quite different, while one was a card roguelike, this is more of a city-builder tower defense title. You get a turn or two to build farms, towers walls, etc. After that enemies will show up and hopefully you kill them. This will cause them to drop their chest. The chest contains cards that can be used to build new buildings. This is the basic flow of the game.

There are a number of characters to unlock, my favorite gives you a chance to spawn temporary fairies when you kill enemies. These are extremely helpful in the later stages. Other characters do things like give you food one time if you run out or make mages stronger. There is a great variety in characters.

Yogscast Games has a habit of making some amazing games, and this is one of those games. I can’t truly explain why. It is a pixel game that sounds good and looks ok, but the game is just pure fun. I quickly lost hours to this game and will probably lose plenty more. I can not recommend this or stray-path-129797 enough. The games are amazing. it is definitely a 9/10 game that I can’t complain about. Best wishes and may the gaming ods bring you glory.

Stray Path (Steam Review

If you had come to me and pitched the idea of a game that combined Freecell and a roguelike before playing Stay Path, I probably would have thought you were insane. When I saw some screenshots, I still wasn’t sold. Then Yogscast Games sent me a video, and having played their other games, I figured I would give it a shot, and thankfully, they sent me a review copy.

What transpired was hours of gameplay that I would not trade for anything. As a very famous public figure in the gaming community is notorious for saying, it just works. Each card gets an attack and defense, just like your character, of which you have a few to choose from. They either take damage or outright die. If they die you take no damage usually, if they don’t they hit you back assuming your defense isn’t higher than their attack. This goes on until you clear all the cards, die, or reveal a card that lets you move on to the next area,

Good luck the first time you run into this guy

Each character starts with their own stats that differ slightly and they all get their own possible starting relics. They all have their own benefits to start with and there is no truly wrong answer so let your personal play style guide you. It is far more important that you pick the right upgrades when they are offered and use your two-item slots wisely. It may seem smart to always keep healing items with you, but some enemies deal damage before you hit them, and having an arrow to kill them outright is more important than healing.

You start with three emblems slots unlocked and by scoring more points in runs you can unlock more slots that make runs easier. Emblems are unlocked by doing different in-game things to get the stuff you need to buy them, for example, defeating bosses or reaching new levels. This is also how you unlock new characters. Points are plentiful at the start so unlocking characters and enough emblems to have choices is easy out of the gate.

The game is a 9/10 must-buy for fans of the Roguelike genre, and you won’t find much better $15 bucks. That being said there is a Steam bundle for about $25 that you won’t want to miss that includes both Stray Path and a game called Border Pioneer that I will also cover. If you don’t want to go read that review, it is a slightly different game that also costs $15 and is amazing. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.