Lords Of Gaming
HomepageLords Of Gaming 's Reviews
The Lullaby of Life exemplifies everything that a cozy and relaxed game should be. The art style and sound design are impeccable, and the difficulty curve is gradual and well-designed. Best of all, the game doesn’t hold your hand and lets you figure it out on your own. Dare I say, The Lullaby of Life is one of 2024’s coziest games.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes does a great job of bridging JRPG fans of the past to the present day. It provides an engaging story that immerses the player and evokes different emotions. Every single character is detailed and designed with the utmost care. There is so much to do in this game that you can put hundreds of hours into it and the replayability is endless. As a huge Suikoden fan, this spiritual successor gets my stamp of approval. This was Yoshitake Murayama’s last project before he sadly passed away and he can be proud he created a gaming masterpiece and an all-time masterclass in JRPGs.
The original Turok 3 was released during an awkward time. Sandwiched between the tail end of the Nintendo 64 life cycle and right before the release of the PlayStation 2, it likely passed many players’ radar. However, like their previous offerings, Nightdive Studio did a tremendous job bringing back a forgotten gem to modern audiences. If you slept on Turok 3 in 2000, make sure to not pass up it again in 2023.
Persona 5 Tactica is an excellent strategy game. The combat feels fast and fluid despite its turn-based nature in varied and interesting stages throughout. There’s also plenty of variety in the character roster and customization via the personas and skill trees. The story felt like its own thing while never overstaying its welcome with awesome new characters. As well as having condensed and easy-to-navigate menus to not bog down the game. It is a very easy recommendation to those who have completed Persona 5 Royal and want a very streamlined introduction to the strategy genre. Considering the game even on normal or hard feels manageable, due to mastery of its amazing combat system that is just as enjoyable as the rest of the game
Lost Eidolons has many great things going for it. However, it isn’t perfect by any means. Despite its issues, its positive aspects triumph overall. The story always kept pulling me in and evoking emotions that not many games can do for me these days. Lost Eidolons is a game that might take some time to get attached to. But once you get in the swing of things, it hooks you, and you’re in for the ride. Lost Eidolons is available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC platforms. The game has an MSRP of $34.99 which is a great price for how much I enjoyed the game.
Originally conceived as a spin-off, and spending just 6 months in development, Like a Dragon Gaiden could well have found itself sitting among the series’ more forgettable entries. To the contrary, though, Ryu Ga Gotoku seemed determined not to let this happen. Instead filling Gaiden to the brim with things to see and do, mini-games large and small, a meaningful narrative, and even a brand-new combat style. While it doesn’t tear up the playbook of what to expect from a Like a Dragon game, it does everything you’d expect it to do extremely well. It even finds room for a couple of welcome new additions in the Agent gadgets and engaging Castle setting. It is clearly meant to serve as a stop-gap before the imminent arrival of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth in January 2024. But Gaiden does more than enough to appease fans old and new, filling in some crucial blanks for the series’ often convoluted narrative, and serving as a great swansong for Kazuma Kiryu. The Like a Dragon series continues to ride the crest of a wave at the moment, and all eyes will now be on Infinite Wealth as it looks to continue this trend.
All things considered, Achilles: Legends Untold is by no means a bad game. It ticks a lot of the boxes you’d look for in a soulslike, with robust combat, a cool world to explore, and challenging bosses. The issue is the repetitive nature of the game. After a while, each dungeon will look the same. Each combat encounter will feel slow and methodical. While the handful of enemy types on offer will wear extremely thin. The game also suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. It isn’t quite sure if it wants to be a Diablo-style looter/ dungeon crawler, or an isometric soulslike. The result is it ends up being a little of both, without doing either particularly well. That being said, developer Darkpoint Games deserves praise for showing an impressive amount of affection for the source material. Fans of Ancient Greek mythology, as well as Diablo or soulslikes, could do a lot worse than checking this game out. Just don’t expect much innovation.
The Invincible plays much like I would imagine the book feels. Its heady exploration of evolution, adaptation, and the nature of life wraps around the video game shell. The game drags on just a little too long. Ultimately, the game part of the equation just doesn’t do enough to make the experience fun to play. The ideas presented while compelling, fall apart in multiple of the game’s endings leaving me feeling baffled at some of the design decisions made. The Invincible feels like a palette cleanser of a game. It attempts to be literature in a marketplace surrounded by bombast. Somewhere along the line though, Starward Industries lost sight of the fact that interacting with the world has to be engaging and not just a canvas upon which to paint a story.
“Be Greater, Together” perfectly captures what this game is about. Miles is instrumental in Peter’s arc with the suit, and Peter guides Miles’ development as Spider-Man. Spider-Man 2 shows how it needs both characters to succeed where it wants to. Venom ranks high in Spider-Man’s villain gallery, but there’s no Venom without the Black Suit story. Insomniac delivers on that story with great gameplay to match. Even though there are some issues with narrative and open-world execution, anyone who enjoyed Insomniac’s other Spider-Man games will feel right at home. Above all else, Spider-Man 2’s technical advancement warrants its Game of the Year consideration. Sony moved on from the PS4 and now fully harnesses the PS5’s power.
Jusant shows its best when it shows the past. As you climb through a ghost civilization, you see and hear what was left behind and why. Don’t Nod’s biggest accomplishment revolves around water, or lack thereof. They show that water is life’s most important resource. When the water disappears, or when a jusant comes, life leaves too. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s still a pleasant, cozy, afternoon experience.
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is an experience tailored to those who remember the early days of the franchise fondly. Yet, it relies on the coattails of its founding games without evolving what made them great. Furthermore, this lack of innovation harms your time exploring beautiful parts of its scenery. Your time could be well spent when completing its story if Basim carried more weight and did not fall prey to a haphazard ending. Overall, the game is nothing more than a mediocre trip down memory lane while Ubisoft prepares for its next big entry.
It’s been a while since we had an entry in the Forza Motorsport series. However, that time was well spent revamping the game’s pristine driving mechanics and physics for the current generation. All the while incorporating a modern leveling system and live-service features that keep the dopamine rush intact. Truly, the king is back.
Phantom Liberty delivers a top-ten experience for 2023. You can pick many facets from a stacked cast to incredible writing to break-neck fast combat upgrades to much more. Dogtown hides many nooks, crannies, and stories once you get past its security checkpoint. CD Projekt Red delivered an excellent experience that all players, regardless of their stacked gaming schedules, must check out.
For a game that so blatantly copies its source material, Lies of P does a surprisingly good job differentiating itself. What, at first glance, appears to be a modern Bloodborne clone, quickly becomes something much more nuanced. It takes the art style of Bloodborne, the combat of Sekiro, and the fascinating source material, mixing them all together to provide a unique offering. An undercurrent of stylistic flair is present throughout the entire game and is extremely evident right from the off. This genre is no stranger to failure, in more ways than one. But Lies of P does more than enough to find itself among the upper echelons of Soulslikes that have been crafted from the now-infamous FromSoftware mould. While the game does begin to run out of steam during its final hours, this takes nothing away from the overall experience. For a developer with no previous experience making this sort of game, Neowiz deserves a huge amount of credit for pulling off such a well-rounded and polished game. Make no mistake, Lies of P delivers on almost every level and is well worth checking out. Just don’t expect an easy ride.
Despite having an entirely different gameplay setup and sci-fi setting, Armored Core 6 is a Fromsoftware title through and through. The intricate mecha combat mechanics and challenging boss fights make for an incredible experience. Though there are some missed opportunities in terms of the graphics and story beats, it’s easy to proclaim that Armored Core VI is the best game in the long-running franchise.
No doubt Immortals of Aveum is an experience that you will not forget any time soon. Its graphical prowess and its combat and gear system are serviceable, albeit uninspiring. The star-studded cast will likely leave a lasting impression. But its overly linear loop and complete lack of meaningful side content hamper replayability while relying too heavily on typical AAA design choices. Immortal of Aveum checks off many lists, but it plays it safe for the most part.
There is some promise in Scars Above. The game presents solid foundations to build upon, and the fact that this is the maiden title from Mad Head Games is an achievement on its own. On the visual side, the game is a looker and performed admirably on PC. However it is hard to overlook its game design and technical shortcomings. While its use of repeated sci-fi tropes doesn’t do it any favors. Perhaps Scars Above will be the necessary learning experience that will likely enhance the studio’s future projects.
Quake II brings a classic sci-fi shooter to modern consoles. In a package that was carefully crafted and filled with classic levels, as well as an all-new adventure from Machine Games. It creates a great place for new fans to jump into one of the best shooters of the late 90s. While also being a lethal dose of nostalgia for returning fans.
Despite its technical and QoL shortcomings, Atlas Fallen has me excited. The game is a testament to how far AA development has come in recent years. The game does take tired open-world tropes but adds that extra creative and unique layer that AA developers are known for. Atlas Fallen delivers a fascinating, albeit undercooked, world with solid combat and build mechanics. Undoubtedly, Atlas Fallen is another feather in Deck13’s cap.
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition is pretty much everything you want in a Definitive Edition and more. The team reworked multiple things in the game and provided refreshes of characters. They took the time to rebalance multiplayer by banning certain artifacts. The visuals, animations, and graphics seem leagues better than the previous game. I wish I could have gotten into some online multiplayer, but even without that, you can see how much work they put into improving different aspects. Battles are always great with multiple depths of strategy that always provides unique experience. I would of like to see 1 or 2 more modes, especially having the campaign "Battle Puzzles" in a separate mode.