Game reviews – Page 24 – Savior Gaming

Kena: Bridge of Spirits Xbox Review

Ember Lab was kind enough to send me a copy of Kena: Bridge of Spirits, which is absolutely beautiful. I can’t overstate the fact that graphically this game is top-of-the-line.

That is easy enough to see just by looking at some pictures, but how does this one function, you may ask. The answer is very well. In my time playing it I never had any glitches, minor or game-breaking. The input was precise and menus were easy to navigate.

The story is where the game is a bit of a miss for me. Not to say it isn’t good, it is just very much by the numbers and you never truly get to know Kena in my opinion. Sure they drop hints and such throughout but that isn’t the same as definitive answers.

This isn’t enough to take away from the game, which you can beat in 10-15 hours probably. This is one of those must-play games. Helping spirits stuck due to various reasons as you and your little guys known as The Rot which might be the most adorable things in modern gaming is a pleasure. Seriously just dress them in little hats, and yes they can all wear different hats so feel free to be followed around by a captain and a bunch of pirates. I won’t say I did or did not do that.

Should you pick up this game? Absolutely. This is a 9 out of 10 experience that should not be missed. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Tales & Tactics Steam Review

Tales and Tactics is a rogue-lite auto battler from Yogscast that they were kind enough to send me a copy of to check out as it releases from early access on August 15th. The gameplay loop is super simple to get into but much harder to master.

You start by picking a couple monsters and placing them on the board. From there the game fights out the battle. You can advance decently by picking random monsters but it isn’t the best way to do it. Each monster however has what amounts to classes and jobs. For example one of your monsters might be a ghoul and a tank. These excel at taking damage, and if you have multiple ghouls or tanks this will unlock more abilities for them to use.

You can also level them up by having 3 of the same creature. This will combine them into a higher class of monsters for you. Higher classes mean stronger and harder to kill.

This is the basic gameplay loop and it is quite satisfying. As you play more you will eventually lose and have to start a new run, but by doing so you unlock more abilities and creatures that will help you advance even further.

The part I enjoyed the most is the game comes with a pretty extensive tutorial which is a nice change of place. You aren’t left guessing to figure out what to do which lets you jump right into enjoying the game and building new strategies. Fans of roguelikes won’t want to let this one pass them by. While it doesn’t look as good as one of the AAA titles, it does look nice, and the controls function great. It is quite easy to see why the game has such positive ratings on Steam, and it truly is a 9 out of 10 title. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Cultist Simulator PS5 Review

Cultist Simulator from Klabater and Weather Factory is at its core a card game. A card game they were nice enough to send me a copy of, which then drove me nuts for hours.

I don’t say that as a bad thing,quite the opposite in fact. The game tells you very little and that is part of the charm. Each character gets a job that you need to go to. This makes you money. Money cards are needed to pay bills, bribe people and visit certain places.

Mood cards can be used to improve your job,or make it worse. The more cards you play the more stuff you unlock,for example talking to people to join your cult. The more people that join your cult the more options you have for other stuff.

Each decision you make with help or hurt your cause. Running out of certain causes is a death sentence. For example I routinely run out of health,get sick and die. That’s how most of my games have ended.

The game rewards experimentation and has plenty to see, probably close to 60 or 70 hours worth of stuff if you want to see it all. The reply value is tremendous. The question is,will you care to do it. I can’t answer that for you,but if you don’t like being left to your own devices with next to no guidance this game isn’t for you. For those that enjoy it however you are in for a treat. Cultist Simulator on PS5 is easy to control and nice to look at and is an 8 out of 10 game. Best wishes and may the Gaming gods bring you glory.

Deathbound Playstation 5 Review

Deathbound is the new and ambitious single-player party-based Souls-like from Trialforce Studios and Tate Multimedia. They were kind enough to send me a review copy to check out, and there is quite a bit to discuss so let’s get to it.

Deathbound starts off with you controlling just one character a sort of Paladin that worships the god of Death. He is your typical sword and board fighting style. You quickly learn the basics of combat from guarding and parrying to standard normal and power attacks. If you have okayed any Souls game in the past this will simply be a quick refresher.

You will quickly pick up your second character, a stealthy woman who can use a crossbow and eventually poison enemies. The game does a good job of introducing characters and how they work. Each essence feels like a completely new character and you can either use the Dpad to swap to a character you want or just tap the triangle button to pop over to the one with the highest stamina. This is great for combos, for example rushing in with for a couple quick strikes to poison someone then quickly swap to our swordsman for defense and stronger attacks.

The characters also don’t necessarily get along. Or death worshipper is hunting essencemencers and your third character is of course an essencemencer. This introduces you to the fact that your characters can get buffed by other characters they either like or dislike which is shown by a blue or red line connecting them.

While these are all great in concept, the practical aspect is a mixed bag of results. The combat sometimes feels clunky, mostly when trying to swap characters for combos. And the decision for characters’ max stamina to be connected to their current health was also odd to me. While each character in your party gets its own health and stamina someone taking a couple hits quickly makes that person pretty much useless since attempting to strike the enemy leaves them unable to do much of anything. Since swapping has some lag to it occasionally, resulting in a few deaths.

The news isn’t all bad, for example, the character designs are nice, and the first boss you run into is well done as a fight and also looks great, with each stage showing off how visually appealing the game can be.

The game has its issues, and there are better options out there. However you you need something to play because you played all the Dark Souls series games this will help you scratch that itch. The game is nice 7 out of 10. Outside of a few minor complaints and the characters being somewhat one-dimensional the game is still fun to sink your teeth into. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Raiders of Valhalla Steam Early Access Review

Raiders of Valhalla is a new auto-battler roguelike that the folks of Afil Games were kind enough to send me. They also did Primal Survivors Xbox Review so they have a history of making smaller indy roguelike games.

This game is quite simple in every capacity. The story is a simple story of dwarves looking for treasure and fighting their way to Valhalla. The graphics are simple, and the sound is simple. Truthfully I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The controls as you guessed it, are simple. You use your mouse and the right click to get through menus, choose different weapons and armor then send your vikings on their way.

The battles as you guess from the type of game have no real input from you after you start them. They are cute to watch with your little vikings charging at the enemies and getting bounces back.

While the game is simple and unlocks come quick there are a few issues I have. for example the game does crash quite often. There is a sort of skill tree, but that isn’t available yet and I’m not sure how well that will work with the game having permadeath you can’t turn off. I just numbered my games attempt # to keep track because as soon as I died it gets deleted anyway.

The game is however well worth the $13. The amount of fun to be had is there even with these minor issues that will be worked out as early access continues. The game is a good 7/10. Give it a go, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lost Castle 2 Steam Early Access Review

Lost Castle 2 is a new beat-em-up rogue-lite from Hunter Studios that they were kind enough to send me. As always I like to get that out of the way upfront and let everyone know I appreciate it.

Lost Castle 2 Currently has mixed reviews on Steam, most of which are simply complaining about the lack of couch co-op. I get it because the game is built for co-op, but I find it a bit ridiculous to bash a game based on what’s not in the game when it was never promised to be in it. I pointed this out early because if you loved the first one because of that feature, it isn’t in this one.

The game itself is quite simple and has a nice loop to it. Pick a starting weapon, which you can limit to your favorite three or just get any of them at random. Go kill enemies and pick your path as you go. Then you either finish the run or die which gets you money either way. Then you can spend that money to upgrade your camp and get new items, better character starting stats, and many other things. Then just repeat it.

The game is fun and the combat engaging. Each weapon comes with its own special and charged movies and has different variations to find. Some will shoot out extra fireballs, others will poison the enemy, and much more. The armor is equally diverse with each one offering a different look or abilities.

This is actually my only real complaint. Your look changes with the armor and some of it looks so great id prefer I just looked like that. The ability to set an armor as your default look would be great, We are only in early access so that may very well be an upcoming feature. We will have to wait and see.

I can absolutely say this game is worth picking up. For $15 the replay value and fun alone make this a must-buy. Easily an 8/10 experience. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Mists of Noyah Xbox Review

Mists of Noyah is a newly released 2D survival game from Pyxeralia and Bbyte Interactive, and as always, I appreciate that they sent me a copy to check out.

The gameplay loop is quite simple, you kill enemies, collect loot, level up, and build new items and objects at the village that acts as your base. You have a button that attacks with your weapon that changes based on one of the five playable characters.

Each character has their own set of strengths and weaknesses. For example, Rhys is a paladin-type character with a long sword and heavy armor. His spells focus on healing as they damage or consecrate the ground to up your defense.

The game sounds nice and looks pretty good, but I do have to note a few issues I ran into while playing. For example, and this was probably my own fault, I accidentally returned to base while fishing. Now while this sounds not so big of a deal it did confuse the game and I would randomly use my fishing rod instead of talking to people or entering buildings. A quick reload and the problem was fixed. Also on returning to the base at a different time, the screen went black but my character was still perfectly able to move around. This again was easily fixed with a reload but it still happened.

The game is great however considering the low cost of about $10. The game is a fun play-through and has plenty of replay value for that price, with the few issues I ran into I can’t in good conscience call it a must-buy, but it is a solid 6/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Let’s School Xbox Review

Let’s School is the new simulation game about running your own school from Panthea and PM Studios and they were nice enough to send me a copy to check out, so without further waiting let’s get to this.

The game starts off pretty standard, the old person that ran the school (into the ground) passes the responsibility of fixing it up over to you. You will start by fixing some walls, building a classroom, and hiring a teacher. You will learn to set up a class schedule, recruit students, and much more from there.

The tutorial shows you these things well, which is good because the controls aren’t very intuitive. As much as these games have been nailing the controls for consoles lately this one just feels off. They are still perfectly playable, however.

The graphics are also a bit disappointing, thankfully we don’t play these games for how they lool or sound. There are some things the game does well though. For example, I never felt like I was sitting there watching for no reason at all. I always had something to do without feeling rushed. As students graduate and you get new ones and improvements to the school to be researched the game does offer plenty of things to fill your time,

The game also doesn’t limit you to simply building classrooms. Baseball fields and basketball courts eventually become pretty important, and of course, students love a place to just sit down and read under the trees.

The price of the game is also nice at only about $20, and the Steam Version seems to go on sale quite often, I don’t see a reason to not pick this game up. Despite a few minor complaints the game is still an 8/10 and well worth picking up. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Tactical Nexus Review

Tactical Nexus is a sort of Puzzle RPG you can get on Steam for free. I gave it a shot because the devs decided to stop charging for a game people were buying but not playing. I know it sounds weird.

The game itself is simplistic. It looks like something a Super Nintendo would have had and the controls are pretty easy,mostly just hold down right click on the mouse and left click on where you want your character to go. You can pick up an assortment of objects that do things like heal you or give you attack or defense. Others will increase your HP or Experience by a about 30%.

This is where the strategy comes into things. When do you pick up the items? And when you level up do you increase your attack, defense or get keys to help unlock new areas?

The puzzle part of this is the fact that if you make the wrong choices you can absolutely lock yourself out of being able to finish the level. Don’t level up your attack enough and suddenly you can’t progress further into the game.

The game can be played in 15 or 20 minutes depending on the level you are on or it can take hours,and mastering it will take hundreds of hours.

As a free to play game it’s definitely worth checking out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Final Fantasy 16 Review

It took me awhile to play this one honestly, I usually pick the Final Fantasy games right away, but sadly life got in the way for this one. But damn if it wasn’t worth the wait.

The game starts out with you training to be your brother Joshua’s shield as he was chosen by Phonix to be what they call a dominant and have the ability to summon it. This has made you very unliked by your mother, even if your brother is pretty sickly it seems.

This opening prologue which is as long as many games entire chapters sets you up well. It teaches you the basics of combat and how to use your powers. It also sets the story in motion letting you know about some sort of issue killing the land known as the “Blight” that won’t be explained in detail until later chapters. To make matters worse there is a huge war being fought by numerous parties.

Final Fantasy 16 is also a much more mature iteration than games have been in the past, with foul language and blood everywhere at times. It is actually quite nice to see the emotional reaction of Clive having lost everything screaming obscenities. This is exactly what we see and hear in the prologue chapter as Clive witnesses the death of his brother at the hands of Ifirit and the destruction of his home before being taken away as essentially a slave solider.

The world of FF16 is very complex and beautiful, watching two summons try to kill each other is a treat, and seeing wild Chocobo run around the open fields is amazing. I usually go kill them for experience but its a great sight all the same.

The game isn’t perfect. The side-quests are mostly just busy work most notably early on and the combat while beautiful feels shallow much of the time, almost like a toned-down Final Fantasy 14 with some basic attacks and dodges thrown in.

All in all Final Fantasy 16 is a great addition to the series one I am not surprised most fans seemed to enjoy. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.