Reviews – Page 22 – Savior Gaming

CONSCRIPT PS5 Review

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play an old-school Resident Evil title that took place in WW1? Conscript answers that question, and thanks to Team 17 and Catch Weight Studio we have an answer. Huge thank you to them for sending me a copy of this one.

The game takes place in 1916 during what is also known as The Great War. You play the role of a soldier at the battle of Verdun, battling in the trenches to survive. From smacking people with your trusty shovel to blasting them with a shotgun, everything has a gritty survival horror feel to it.

The top-down view, inventory management and even the vague hints about where to go are all present here. The game truly is a throwback to what many consider the glory days of survival horror. Inventory space is at a premium as you trudge around finding keys, ammo, and weapons to fight enemy soldiers who want to kill you.

The money situation is also time-appropriate. You are trading cigarettes for upgrades, new weapons, and anything else you need. This does give it a more realistic feel as even today in the military you can toss a guy some smokes and usually get some good trade value. I once got a candy bar for 3 of them back when I was in the Army.

The game itself functions very well. Unlike the days of the old tank controls shooting enemies is as easy as you would hope. The map at the touch of a button from the very beginning is nice because nothing is worse than being lost for no reason. I also never encountered any sort of cheap kills that I felt were unfair. The game just has a dangerous gritty feel to it, and it will make you earn your wins but through skill.

This game isn’t for everyone however,it is short ( there is a trophy for beating it in under 3 hours) and while the story is nice it won’t be for everyone. The gameplay while fluid is also dated to many. It is a 8/10 title for fans of the genre, I would even call it a must-buy for them. But it is one for the fans and won’t really attract new people. 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.

Princess Maker 2 Regeneration Review (Nintendo Switch)

I can say a lot of things about this lifesim from the early 90’s that has been redone for today,and I will. Right after I thank Bliss Brain and Gainax for tossing me a copy. It’s always a pleasure.

I won’t go into too much depth with the story, suffice it to say a god gives you a child free of sin to raise after you save a kingdom and you will make many choices that can lead to at least 70 endings. These choices will do things like raise any of I don’t know how many stats, probably around 2 dozen I never counted them. Some have real uses you will see in action like attack and defense for battles. Others are more like cooking or decorum which are things your princess does or how she behaves.

The game plays much like the first,you make a schedule and she will follow it for the month. Send her to work to make some money (apparently her father is a slaver as well as a hero) or send her to school to study things like fencing or horseback riding.

As cute as the game is it does have some fundamental issues, nothing that ruins the game by any means but it does make it harder. I’m not crazy about the chosen font which in a bigger screen is no big deal but if you toss it in your switch lite does get a little harder to read (it is still perfectly legible) and the game doesn’t offer much guidance. For example it doesn’t tell you that the 30 gold it cost for classes or per day, and you can only send your princess to class for parts of the month not single days. It’s a very quick way to burn through your cash.

I’m sure the game came with an instruction manual back in the day,but today it does not. And while graphically it’s improved and the controls aren’t bad at the price they are asking I would have like more done to it. The game is still fun and is a 6 out of 10. Id pick it up on sale for fans of the genre. Best wishes and may the Gaming gods bring you glory.

Godzilla X Kong: New Empire Review

Oh monsterverse we meet again. As a life long Godzilla fan, way back to watching the original movies with my dad when it was just a guy smashing toys while wearing a rubber suit until today watching them with my children I have always loved Kaiju. I remember watching Kong scale the Empire State Building in awe as planes attached to strings shot him and the two fight each other. Seeing them together will always bring a smile to my face.

Now something new brings a smile to my face. It’s this picture.

The real question is how does it hold up to all the other movies in the monsterverse? Well simply put very well. The movie starts out with Kong out on patrol of his territory in the Hollow Earth searching for more of his own kind, suffering from of all things a sore tooth.

This will eventually lead him to the surface which worries humanity as after our last movie there is a deal between kings and Godzilla,kong stays below and Godzilla stays above. Each has their own territory and they don’t encroach on the others domain.

That is until a new hole and area of the Hollow Earth opens up and Kong discovers he is no longer the last of his species. There is a whole lot of them left under the tyrannical rule of the Skar King and his pet the titan Shimo which is honestly just ice breathing Godzilla.

The movie is largely following Kong and a child of his species as they bond and attempt to free their species from Skar, and when Kong loses his fight and is greatly injured he attempts to enlist Godzilla to help in his fight. I won’t spoil the details of how this comes to pass, but anyone familiar with how the Godzilla franchise has always worked knows he has a flight inclined counterpart that has always had the ability to make him see reason and do the right thing.

The action scenes look amazing as they have in all of the movies so far,and while this has been my least favorite of them all so far it was still an entertaining and well made movie worth a watch. Best wishes and may the Gaming gods bring you glory.

Capes (Xbox review)

Capes from Daedalic Entertainment and Spitfire Interactive, which they were kind enough to toss me a review copy, is a tactical turn-based RPG. Think X-Com with superheroes.

The game itself plays the same as most games like this. You take turns moving your characters, using skills or attacks, and you get a handy turn order bar off on the right. The ability to disarm enemies is also a nice touch. It feels cool to teleport in, hit a spin move, and knock guns out of someone’s hands.

That some up the gameplay, and honestly if you like X-com and superheroes you will probably enjoy this, but the game isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. For starters the characters themselves look for lack of a better phrase, odd. They have a cell-shaded look to them that is very inconsistent between fights, your hero lair,and what I will call story-boards because I can’t in good conscience call them cut scenes. In fact,at first I wasn’t entirely sure the people I just fought with were the people talking.

The battles themselves are on smaller maps and are rather short which I like, but leveling up characters to feel more powerful was kind of a chore to me. I never really felt like a superhero during battles because even run of the mill goons could somehow wreck my day. I don’t mind the difficulty of the game, but at least let me fight other people with powers so Dave the security guard doesn’t drop my supposed super-heroes.

The game isn’t nad tho by any means, but at $40 there is better out there. You will definitely want to wait for a sale on this 6/10 superHero game. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.