Dungeon of the Endless (Nintendo Switch)

First and foremost with all these things, huge thank you to the folks over at Playdigious for hooking me up with a review copy of this one, it’s always appreciated. I also discovered they made Cultist Simulator which is a pretty interesting game as well. So they have a history of trying new things and Dungeon of the Endless does in my opinion.

This game is a combination roguelike and tower defense, both of which it does well. You start in one room guarding a crystal and your job is to search the floor for things that will help you survive just a little longer. I don’t want to get into the story too much, but it is pretty basic but serves its purpose.

The game however does have certain flaws, most notably the tutorial is one of the worst I’ve come across in a while, and by that I mean it is almost non-existent. Luckily Youtube has plenty to cover it enough to get you going, and once you understand what is going on the game is a joy to play. The roguelike elements combine nicely with the tower defense as you build things up to keep your crystal safe but find the elevator to the next level.

The characters are also done amazingly in pixel art and are an awesome assortment of characters from random mercenary types to a pug, as in the dog. Yes, a dog with a weapon in its mouth. He was my favorite.  The game is simple to understand yet hard to learn and almost impossible to master, but it truly is a joy to play and is pretty much perfect for the Nintendo Switch. I found myself whipping this thing out to play whenever I could.  The game is a great 8/10 and to me is one of those games you have to own if you like these kinds of games. It is just a fun game it jump into for a bit and the graphics and sound are great. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Mafia trilogy remastered official gameplay trailer

First I gotta say holy hell these games look gorgeous. I’m kinda wondering why the first game got the shaft as far as trailers go. Mafia 2 looks amazing and from what I’ve been told it was the best of the trilogy. Mafia 3 looks like it got a nice graphical upgrade on top of a already beautiful game. I definitely want to check this series out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order free updates thoughts

Once again, I’m late to the party on this but gaming has taken a back seat lately while working on my debut story, but when I heard Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was getting a host of free updates, I wanted to try for myself and I’m not really disappointed. I’m surprised as hell that EA hasn’t charged a dime at all for any of this. So for starters, the Inquisitor costume and red saber crystal are available once you land on Bogano early one. While it is awesome to have all the cosmetic customizations you’ve accrued through your last play-through  I was hoping for more of a Souls like experience in hard enemies and such but still the story is a great trip to play through again. The Meditation training is fun as hell and easily accessible.  In the end, this a epic update pack that makes a sweet game even sweeter. May the force be with you all and the gaming gods bring you glory.

***Update** The positives I mentioned are true but after replaying it, some massive glitches have appeared such as frame rate drops, backgrounds going nuts, and some physics going batshit. Still a great game, just now a little less great until EA fixes the bugs.

 

Dying Light

dying light

Zombies, zombies, everywhere and too many to shoot. Seriously, zombies are everywhere and like most, I usually pass many pieces of zombie media behind because they cycle through the usual tropes. Question is, does Dying Light stick out of the crowd or is it just another moaning wanderer?

Kyle Crane is a agent with the mysterious GRE sent into the quarantined city of Haran wear a viscous virus has caused the dead to rise. Once entering the city, it’s not long before Crane gets intercepted by a crime lord whose taking the opportunity to increase his power and Crane finds himself infected by a virus that doesn’t show it’s true horror until the sun goes down and the zombies grown manic and rabid and the horrific Volatilies emerge. Can Crane survive the horrors of the quarantine?

At first glance, Dying Light looks like a Dead Island clone with some Far Cry sprinkled in it. In many ways it is but once you start leveling up and unlocking new abilities, it becomes addicting fun. Combat is challenging but not overly so and parkour, while taking some time to get used to, is really fun and makes exploring the world interesting. I will warn you, some of the controls feel odd and alien so it takes awhile to get used to and even at endgame, I’d still confuse controls in a rush. The game does a good job at making night time terrifying and the Volitiles are some of the most frightening monsters of this console generation. For weaponry,their a is good assortment with nice customizable options. The game looks and sounds great but I did have some glitches where reactivity was slow and a few times where I simply just died, and die you will a lot. My biggest disappointments with this game are the pain in the ass fast travel and the weak ending. The story on it’s own is above average, including the side quests, but the end is a random QTE battle after a lot of running and climbing, making the final climax just feel like a tiny pop. In the end, Dying Light is a fun game to get lost in but despite the flaws, well worth the discount price. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Death of Autonomy: The National Security Law

As a result of the introduction of the Extradition Bill in 2019, many, many, MANY Hong Kongers took to the streets in protest of the bill. The extradition bill threatened the autonomy of Hong Kong in the sense that the Extradition Bill empowers China to extradite criminals back to China to be tried and jailed. […]

The Death of Autonomy: The National Security Law

As always, just sharing a well written post from a friend over in Hong Kong in hopes we can all understand what is happening there a little better.

Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen (PS4 Review)

As always we need to say a big thank you to the folks over at NIS America for tossing us a review copy of this one. I will be referring to it as Prelude from here on out so nobody has to try to figure out how to pronounce the actual name, which I am still unsure of. Don’t let the awkward name or the simple yet pleasing graphics fool you tho. Under both of those things is a compelling story that will make you wonder at times what is being implied.

The main character, Hakuowlo, wakes up injured and with no memory. He is being tended to by a young lady, Eruruu, with a tail and ears and her kid sister Aruruu. They nurse our hero back to health and he will slowly start helping out around the village to repay his debt. It won’t be long before in true JRPG fashion he is at odds with the local lord and he is leading a rebellion that will set you on a quest of love and death and of course destiny.

The battle system is a turned based tactical style system with a nice twist in that after pretty much any turn you can rewind the battle and I haven’t found an actual limit to how far back you can go, tho admittedly the furthest I have gone is about 20 turns. This resets the entire thing with no real punishment. Any moves you or the enemy has made will be gone, any defeated characters on both sides will be returned as for any zeal (used to use special attacks when the zeal gauge is full) or items, all of it will be reset to that turn. This is an easy system to abuse but I imagine you could back yourself into a corner, tho the few times I’ve used it I was saved by it.

The game itself isn’t bad and the complaints I have are pretty minor. For example, the entire voice acting is in Japanese (it is however done beautifully) and most of the names from the title to in characters in-game are beyond anything I can pronounce which while small did take away from my enjoyment a bit. The rewind for battles while interesting also took away most of the real challenge which even playing on hard didn’t feel very challenging to begin with. The game also is also at times a lot of reading and not much else as it is very story-heavy at times with no battles to break it up most notably in the early game.

I do have to say while I do have those small complaints from a technical standpoint the game is solid. The sound is nice and graphically the game is solid. It won’t win any awards but it is nice to look at with no real glitches to speak of. Fans of JRP’s and NIS America will enjoy this one and the plenty of playtime it brings, tho if you are new to the genre of RPG’s this one won’t bring you onboard or change your mind. It is a good 7/10. It is worth buying for fans such as myself, but if you are trying to break into the genre there are better gamers out there to do it with while you wait for a sale. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.