Tag: Software

These days, there are a lot of hybrids genres, so learning about titles that try to blend FPS and action RPGs is not that far-fetched. Second Sun is a title that tries to bring us such a blend, and I think it succeeds for the most part. In Second Sun, you are a soldier of the Sun Empire, which is a militaristic monarchy battling the order of the Second Sun. That order brought a cataclysm into the mix, and naturally, demon creatures are spread all over the land. Your focus is to figure out what happened, bring order back into the world, and also stay alive in the process. It’s interesting to see that Second Sun doesn’t borrow story ideas from other games, instead it focuses on having its own identity. You will see some cyberpunk and magic-focused ideas, but at the same time, it’s still a wonderful open world experience with dungeons and everything you would expect from this genre. Second Sun is more of a boomer shooter. However, it has some great RPG elements and it...

Constance is a young woman, a digital creative as an artist who is constantly dealing with stress in life, and mental health challenges. She receives a brush that she needs to take with her, and soon she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, while also tackling a variety of interesting missions. Constance is quite similar to Hollow Knight, since it offers a more open-world approach to platforming, instead of being a linear adventure. And that’s both a good and a bad thing. Instead, you have an entire world to explore and plenty of bosses to encounter. That being said, you will also end up finding many bosses that are a delight to play against, but also some that are truly difficult to deal with. An interesting thing about Constance is the fact that our titular character will encounter many characters that help them on her journey. Those characters have side quests, which will deepen your connection with them. For me, Constance’s story was interesting, but as you ...

It takes a solid build to deal with the version of Death that has more than 1,000 health. For my first run, I focused on healing, trying to outlast my enemy. I went well for the first few battles; with the relics I chose constantly delivering items that gave me a boost and made my opponent extra vulnerable. But I lost the final battle after failing to find at least a poker pair when rolling four dice. Now, I’ve picked the poison path, trying to make sure I can stack enough of it to destroy Death before my own health goes under 200. A dice that adds armor helps a lot, more so if I can create solid poker hands without it and get to reroll to gain its effect again. Unfortunately, Death is stealing my own dice for its own turns and has a fumble protection that really works well with its ability to throw extra lucky dice. Dice with Death is developed and published by Sea Glass Games. I played it on Steam, with the title only offered on the PC. The video game combines di...

WAR RATS: The Rat em Up is a game that brings you the old-school gameplay we enjoyed in side-scrollers, but also some neat new ideas that make the gameplay feel fresh. It’s an exciting approach towards the genre, because it’s more than killing everything from left to right and going to the next phase. Instead, it focuses a lot on intensity, and it continually pushes the boundaries in more ways than expected. As someone who enjoys tower defense games, I was glad to hear that WAR RATS adds some tower defense elements. Those are not very complex, but you will be able to have some companions and helpers as you try to eliminate the enemies. Speaking of that, the story in WAR RATS is interesting, as it focuses on the TechnoRats and the fact that they are trying to conquer your home base. There are some dialogs and a little story, but that usually takes place before you enter a level. Your boss briefs you on the mission, and he will tell you what the main objective is. Af...

The huge pigeons are watching me. I might not be able to prove their small and beady eyes are tracking my hero, but I can feel their weird stare moving across this train station. I could try to deal with them physically, but I don’t quite have the dice or the modifiers to feel confident about success. So I move around them and think about other objectives. I’ve already dealt with some screens and aced a few conversations. I have solid dice for both cooking and music, and I could pick some items with my 45 bucks. I’m tempted to boost my Deception and then attempt to pickpocket anyone I can, just to see what I steal and how their conversations change. Moves of the Diamond Hand is developed and published by Cosmo D Studios. I played the game on Steam, where it is in Early Access. The title continues the tradition of titles like Betrayal at Club Low by combining hot dice rolling action with a weird universe and intriguing narrative beats. Players get to name their cha...

The big problem is knowing exactly where the enemy units are. The soviets are hiding among buildings, with two helicopters in the air, taking potshots at any exposed American unit. My own anti-air hardware, which requires trucks to get into position, is struggling to get the sight lines it needs to fire back. I could try to use my three M103s to dash for the final objective I need, but I’m bound to take losses. So I park my armor force, which dealt with most of the enemy’s tanks, with the backing of my lone artillery unit. And I creep forward with my two Ranger squads, keeping the AA behind them. My special forces deal with two enemy infantry squads and attract attention from the enemy Mi-24. One quickly loses half of its hitpoints, but on my turn the enemy helicopter goes down after three shots from my anti-air. It takes two turns to bait and eliminate the other Mi, and I lose an infantry squad to an ambush, but the mission is completed, and I have two units with ...

Possessor(s) is a game that tries to bring back the platforming goodness of the 90s, with a twist. It has modern graphics, a gripping story, but also a beautiful world filled with enemies that you’ll have to use all your skills to defeat, and it’s much tougher than you realize. At its core, the main story of the game focuses on a city that was destroyed due to an inter-dimensional catastrophe. Luca is the most and Rhem is a not-so-cooperative counterpart. The game does a very good job at highlighting the differences between the two, but also how they have to coexist and work together, which proves to be a real challenge more often than not. One of the core appeals of Possessor(s) is the gameplay, which is not only fast paced, but also very fluid. It’s a pleasure to roam through these levels and kill enemies. Not only is the world beautiful, but the animations are very good as well. It helps that the characters are hand-drawn, because it adds to the beauty of the ar...

Pure Pool Pro is the sequel to a very popular pool game called Pure Pool, and it’s coming with some really interesting claims. The title brings hyper-realistic physics, 120 FPS, 4K action, along with realistic lighting and beautiful pool table designs. And it’s quite exciting to play as well. So naturally, with so many interesting ideas, I was very curious to see how many of these things are true, and if the game truly is as good as it claims. Right off the bat, the game has a very engaging single-player component, in the form of a career mode. There are 3 major difficulties, Amateur, Major and Pro, each with their own different opponents you can face. Each level/opponent can give you up to 3 stars, provided you complete each star challenge. You need to do more than just defeat the opponent, depending on the level you either have to score 3 times in a row, have no fouls and so on. That’s pretty cool, because it allows you to experiment with the gameplay and try out...

The cinematic platformer genre became very popular thanks to Limbo, and since then we’ve seen a lot of titles that emulate Pixar’s visual quality, albeit in a videogame format. Darwin's Paradox is one of the latest titles in this genre, and in it, we follow a smart octopus that gets caught and ends up pulled into a seafood factory. It tries to get out of the factory, but things are not as easy as you might expect. You’ll encounter a lot of enemies, both on land and in the water, which would love nothing more than to see you dead. The fact that this game is an entirely wordless story is also amazing, because it relies on visuals and environmental storytelling, something you rarely get to see in games. Darwin the octopus has a great set of moves, he doesn’t have a problem moving around, and throwing ink allows him to hide or go through areas filled with enemies. He’s smart, so his swift movements and finesse set him apart from all the other creatures out there. There...

If you ever played Mega Man X or old-school platformer brawlers, you already know that genre is not as popular these days. But some titles are trying to bring it back, and Super Alloy Crush is definitely one of them. The game is a great 2D roguelike brawler that just entered early access, and you play as Muu or Kelly in your quest to defeat enemies and also acquire Planet AE-38, which is the ultimate cosmic treasure. Despite the game not being finished just yet, they did an extremely good job at offering exciting and fast-paced platforming, lots of secret areas, and enemies that are both innovative and annoying at times. There’s also a story which is unfinished for now, with a cool anime vibe that helps push the experience forward. However, in my case at least, the main focus was the gameplay and not the story. The latter is just an excuse for you to go through levels, squash enemies and find all kinds of bosses. I like the game’s fast-paced gameplay and the fact t...