Tag: Software

Being the world’s most effective detective comes with high expectations, and that’s what John Morley, the main character in this game, is dealing with. He’s continually solved a variety of cases, and now a new, tricky case is pushing him to the limit in more ways than expected. He received for multiple months after sustaining injuries during his last case, but an English countess with a tragic past is bringing him a very tricky case to solve. Simply put, the countess’s daughter died 20 years ago in a very strange manner, and her murder was not solved up to this date. Clearly, the countess wants justice for her daughter, and she can’t put things to rest, which is where our fabled detective comes into play. The police have already closed the case by arresting someone random, so the countess wants someone with great qualifications to investigate the murder. At first, the game is pretty chill and exploring the locations feels very simple to do. However, as you go deepe...

Colonizing a new planet is never an easy thing to do, and it certainly comes with its fair share of challenges. Horizon Journey is a game that tries to recreate that in a way that’s very realistic, and it succeeds for the most part. The open world survival experience on a pretty interesting recreation of Mars is exhilarating, and the game does a very good job at conveying that sense of fear, struggle and figuring out how to survive properly. As you can expect, your first few steps on Mars will be difficult. You land with a ship, you have a rover to move around, and you slowly gather resources. As you get to a former base, you disassemble stuff and slowly start expanding the base. I like the unique approach that the game has in regard to terraforming as well, since you will need to do that in order to place larger buildings. The constant focus on resource gathering might end up becoming a tad frustrating. But it’s all with a purpose. You need to stay alive and acces...

With so many challenging games, it becomes difficult to just unwind and relax these days. And that’s where a game like Mosaica: Arboreal finds its perfect niche. It’s meant to be a fun, puzzle-solving experience where your primary focus is to unlock different mosaics found right in front of you. You play as a small forest sprite, which is both curious, but also very fragile. You try to solve puzzles and uncover the different characters found behind them. What’s interesting is that as you play, the forest starts talking back to you. Every puzzle you solve means you have tree spirits appearing and they are sharing fragments of wisdom. That’s interesting because it adds an innate sense of excitement and it pushes you to continue caring about the world and story as a whole. Maybe the most interesting thing for me when it comes to Mosaica: Arboreal is the fact that it starts more like a nature-infused puzzle, but as it grows, you end up accumulating a lot of things, loo...

Lady Sophie has stepped on a mousetrap one too many times, and I didn’t think to use the first aid kit she recently acquired to heal her up. She’s not actually dead, despite the lethal nature of the trap, but she’s on a 15-minute timeout. That means I only have two characters to work with, limited inventory space, and I might miss some information. For now, I’m leading all conversations with Nancy Walkers, trying to use her positive outlook and knowledge of the mansion to extract details. Then the detective moves in, aiming to get exact times and locations, to create a timeline for all characters. If Sophie is available, she can swoop in to bring the perspective of a family member. With less than one hour left on the clock, I’ll struggle to get all the details needed to nail down motive and weapon, even if I name the killer. My detective might have to take the loss, pick two new companions, and then attempt a more thorough investigation. Clue: Murder By Death is d...

What’s a good end for Geralt of Rivia? Is there a version of his world where his end doesn’t involve human or monster violence? Maybe he could end up retired, content to read rather than swing a sword, allowing the world around him to change without his meddling. Or maybe he, once again, succumbs to pitchforks as angry humans discover he hasn’t been receptive enough to their requests. I was trying to speak truth to power and befriend more creatures. I even met Triss and got to pet a cat. But the cards were unkind, and I found no way to gain reputation with the human faction without triggering another Geralt death. Still, the audience delivers a smattering of applause. Dandelion gains a fame level, which leads to a new inspiration. He can now sing about a Witcher who’s ready to get a tattoo. Unfortunately, I don’t draw that card for my next run, and Geralt dies after a big magic party while trying to make friends with as many cats as possible. Reigns: The Witcher i...

My four heroes are preparing to kill the Pale Apostle, who stands in their way as they seek to clean their hive. Galahad, Vladimir, Hercules, and Cupcake don’t have much equipment but do have complementary skills. The challenge now is to set them up for success in the coming battle, avoiding enemies with spikes while targeting the mini-boss. I win relatively easily, although Hercules takes more damage than I would like. My reward is a new trinket, and I choose one that poisons all opponents when starting a battle. It should help with crowd control during the tougher fights. I hit a trader next to pick up extra weapons to boost my damage dealing. I have three more battles until the end boss, and the challenge now is to conserve as much health as possible. Hive Blight is developed and published by OptizOnion. I played the Early Access version of the title on Steam. The video game uses easily understood auto-battler concepts to tell a story of resilience and cooperati...

I enjoyed Railroad Corporation when it was released in 2019, and I felt it was quite an exciting approach towards train tycoons. Railroad Corporation 2 tries to build upon that framework, while adding some interesting new ideas in an effort to bring us one of the best train tycoons in recent years. And while it certainly has its issues, Railroad Corporation 2 manages to deliver a more polished railroad business simulator than its predecessor, along with some interesting surprises. Your main goal when playing Railroad Corporation 2 is to have a successful train business. However, in order to do that, you will need train stations, trains and ways to fulfill the needs of local residents. Needless to say, creating a railroad company is very costly, and you see that right off the bat. There is a plethora of expenses at first, and your focus will be to try and recoup your money fast. The tutorial in Railroad Corporation 2 does a great job at helping you learn the ropes. ...

Originally named Crosswinds and with a PvPvE focus, Windrose has shifted course and now it’s a full-on PvE game that you can play alone and with friends. The premise is very intriguing, you are a pirate stranded on an island after a ship attack, and you need to do everything you can in order to survive. The game’s demo has quite a bit of content, ranging from the first 3 islands in the archipelago to the early-game quests, but also your first ship, boarding and combat. Additionally, you can play in coop if you want, which in my opinion is the best way to experience the game. But even if you want to play alone, there’s a lot of content to uncover and ways to improve on your own. At first, it will be very difficult to stay alive, but you slowly need to gather the stuff necessary to upgrade/craft items. The crafting system in Windrose is intuitive, and simpler when compared to other survival games. It’s easy to access, and switching between items to build is a breeze....

Banished Stone is one of those titles that you look at, and it seems very basic. While it’s not an AAA or even an AA game by any means, it manages to capture your imagination, and it takes that to the next level. That’s because graphics are not the only thing that matters here. Instead, they focus a lot on the story and on the idea of bringing you different places to explore, enemies to battle and loot to increase your power. At its core, the game’s story is not very complex, since you go on various quests, with the main purpose being to save your land. Reviving your ancestral home is not easy, it requires a lot of focus, sacrifice and challenges. Then again, it also makes the gameplay more important here, because every single enemy you defeat gets you one step closer to your goal. Since Banished Stone is a side scroller, they did a nice job at bringing the old school gameplay from that niche. The downside, at least for me, is that controls are quite weird and not ...

After battling the Soviets in both a dynamic and a linear campaign, I’ve decided it’s time for some old-fashioned blue-on-blue action. Call it a training exercise designed to assess how the Swedes and the Danes operate. So far, my Swedish infantry is holding its ground, after a quick dash for two of the three objectives. My right flank, which is made up of recon units and six tanks, is under pressure from a tank push supported by air strikes. I don’t want to weaken the center, but my scouts on the right show limited enemy numbers there, so I plan to shift some infantry squads. But that will take time, giving the Danes a chance to push. Still, I’m confident of winning this friendly battle. Armored Brigade II: Scandinavia is developed by Veitikka Studios and published by Matrix Games Ltd. This is the first downloadable content for the strategy game, which adds new units as well as a new set of impressively accurate maps from which to create a battlefield. If the Col...