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Sonic Superstars is a blast from the past! I grew up with the original Sonic games, including up to the much praised classic Sonic 3 & Knuckles! Remember that weird lock-on cartridge?

Let's get this out of the way: The game, for some reason, requires Epic Games launcher. I already have it installed since I'm gearing up to get Alan Wake 2... and that is clearly not coming to Steam so of course I have Epic Games installed. If this is a big problem for you, stay away from Sonic Superstars until they disconnect it from needing the Epic service.

The very first thing this game gets right are the controls, they are very responsive and tight. There is nothing more important to a Sonic game than having split second reaction times, and good controls help with that here. They are shockingly tight, I wasn't expecting the controls to be this good!

The character selection is great! There is a decent amount of replay value, including one more character who I love and is a pretty decent addition to the cast. She's cute!

All the characters have unique abilities, including the Chaos Emerald abilities which change up gameplay and allow for screen clearing attacks so you can zoom on through safely, or traverse through water more effectively. You can recharge these abilities at checkpoints, and they never felt overpowering or never made the game TOO EASY. I still haven't gotten ALL the Emeralds ( or maybe I will, I plan on replaying the game some more ), that damned Green Chaos Emerald is very hard to get in its bonus stage.

Speaking of bonus stages... there's a good selection of them! There's one that is very retro and takes me all the way back to the first Sonic game. Then there's one that requires you to use fruits to access. Finally, the Chaos Emerald bonus stages which are a fun romp that feels like it came straight from the past in terms of gameplay and ideas.

The bosses are the best in the Sonic series to date, at least in my opinion. They are often multi-phase, with fun mechanics, and the final boss WILL give you an excellent challenge even if you're a veteran. The final boss might be too brutal in fact.

The level design isn't actually too bad, I just wish they were more detailed and full of stuff to look at, but there's still plenty of fun mechanics or stage gimmicks. Hey, at least these aren't Sonic CD levels, don't get me started on Wacky Workbench!

The music is hit or miss, there are some standout tracks I really like, and some I really don't like. A certain bonus stage track is probably the most childish sounding thing I've ever heard. I appreciate the nostalgic Sega Genesis soundfonts, but more effort was needed to make these tracks really shine besides the couple or so that I like.

The graphics aren't all that amazing, but honestly the style is still quite good, smooth, and runs excellent. This is definitely a game for potato PCs!

There are some very good animated scenes, and they really add to the charm of this game. The in-game cutscenes are also cute and convey what they have to convey via visuals rather than words which is just like the classic games.

As for the overall speed... it's pretty good! But you will run into some slow, annoying obstacles or segments like pushing heavy objects which really isn't fun.

I get it, we Sonic fans are never happy. We compare any new game to Sonic Mania or the classic games especially the venerable Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Any new 3D Sonic game, even if it tries to experiment or set itself apart, is ripped apart instantly and compared to Sonic Generations. Any new 2D Sonic game, like Superstars, is heavily scrutinized. I know, we want something innovative... but wait, they already tried that with several Sonic games and you were disappointed with them. You can argue that maybe Sonic Team should just stop making games if they can't even innovate correctly, but it makes me wonder if Sonic is a formula that can even be done right to begin with. Like, it needs to be a solid platformer, but it also needs to be fast, yet they can't just have you hold one button and move forward constantly. So what is it you exactly want? I don't know. I admit, I just want good fun Sonic games, and that is exactly what Sonic Superstars is, a nostalgic and good bit of Sonic fun that celebrates the past while looking to the future!

Lies of P is just fantastic! Well optimized ( astonishingly well optimized, this game can run on a "potato" ), beautiful ( despite the lightweight hardware impact ), atmospheric, cozy, and unique. It carves out a niche for itself while still being faithful to what inspires it.

I'm a sucker for good Souls-like games, and this one takes everything great about the genre then injects it into a very creative setting.

It can be frustrating, with some annoying difficulty spikes and confusing enemy attack patterns we like to call "Margit attacks".

But despite how brutal this game can be, it offers options such as summoning NPC help, viable items, grinding out levels, and even a cube thing that allows you to heal or buff said NPC help during boss fights.

You have plenty of choices at your disposal if you get stuck.

Want to dodge more, like me? Increase the amount of times you can dodge to two instead of one! Like blocking more than dodging? Increase the functionality of perfect parries and parry windows!

There's so many options if you hit a wall, including equipping different armors ( in the form of suit liners ) that reduce certain damage types such as striking, piercing, and slashing.

Another option you have at your disposal is the Legion Arm which uses Legion as its resource. It's a cool prosthetic arm ( like Sekiro ), and you can craft or upgrade various ones.

My favorite Legion Arm is the electric one, which I am combining with a Special Grindstone which is yet another viable item at your disposal to maximize damage output and zap your enemies with continuous damage. Special Grindstones add a temporary effect to your current weapon.

Like any good Souls-like, the progression is addictive as hell and rewarding, especially with this awesome skill tree.

The skill tree is my favorite part of this game besides mixing and matching weapon parts to make new weapons.

It's called the "P Organ", and it offers you a diverse array of ways to get stronger. Well, besides the usual leveling up using Ergo ( Souls, basically ).

You have multiple P Organ tiers ( up to 5 ), each tier housing 4 different powerful enhancements once you activate all "nodes" on that skill. The nodes are fun, and require you to use a resource called Quartz. For each node, you can choose from a list, among several categories, of pretty neat little passive buffs or improvements.

I repeat, once you activate all nodes on a skill, you get the powerful enhancement of that skill. Such as increasing your Pulse Cell ( Estus Flasks, basically ) capacity, being able to dodge out of getting knocked on the ground, increasing how many times you can dodge in a row, or increasing the amount of accessories you can equip at once. The P Organ system is fantastic, and I'm always excited when I find some Quartz.

The weapon system is pretty damn cool.

You find complete weapons that consist of a "blade" and a "handle", which you can mix or match with others. The more weapons you find, the more you can experiment.

Unfortunately, special weapons you acquire using the "boss souls" of this game can't be dismantled and are often too viable compared to the regular weapons which you can dismantle to combine parts. The handle of your weapon can be altered to have better stat scaling based on your build, while the blade can be upgrade to make it stronger using resources such as Hidden Moonstones. You can do this for special weapons too, but you need rarer materials.

The level design, as you explore and use all these goodies to fight horrible automatons ( puppets ) or abominations called carcasses, is great.

The level design is "linear", but not TOO linear. It's just right. There are plenty of nooks and crannies off the beaten path, filled with optional things to find, and even powerful enemies that drop or guard great rewards.

Lies of P is interconnected like any good Souls-like, where as you progress you will find well-placed shortcuts that lead back to a Stargazer ( Bonfires, basically ).

Many of these locations are quite memorable, and they have this cozy quality that I haven't really gotten from Dark Souls. Probably because, despite everything being a nightmare for the city of Krat, you can still see glimpses of its beauty and glory, with some things looking as if they were abandoned in a hurry and quite recently, but are still functional.

The game is JUICY ( at least 30 to 40 hours in length ) and highly replayable, even after beating it, you will unlock more things but I'm not telling you what it is. Just go play this game and beat it!

Lies of P is something special. It's a whole new level of "B game", to the point it might as well not even BE a "B game" and instead be an "A game"... or heck, an "AA game"! Yes, it can have frustrating difficulty spikes, annoyingly slow animations that can get you killed, narrow perfect parry windows, and rather odd pacing, but I don't think I've played a Souls-like this good since... heck, frickin' Elden Ring, Dark Souls series, and Bloodborne!

Hammerwatch 2 IS a great game, it's an addictive action RPG ( loot, skills, progression, ect. ) with some open world exploration, all set in a ridiculously cozy and stunning pixel art world. The music is absolutely amazing, and I appreciate them continuing that tradition from the prior game. I loved the first game, so this is a no-brainer for me, and you better believe I'll be checking out that Anniversary Edition.

The primary issues involve the game not allowing you to transfer your singleplayer character over to multiplayer, having to stand there and wait AWHILE for time to pass to even talk to some NPCs because of the obnoxious day/night cycle, the difficulty seeming to be way too difficult for solo play ( remember to block, Paladins ), and you can't progress as smoothly since there is more an emphasis on exploration so you'll end up finding caves or dungeons that don't progress the game or only progress side quests. I mean, I seem to die a lot with my Paladin, making me wonder if I did something wrong with my build. However, I'm still having a wonderful time if I keep on my toes, and it's a great alternative to other action RPGs out there.

But please, this is one of those instances where you need to read the Steam reviews rather than look at the "All Reviews" rating and percentage. I wish there was more than just thumbs up or thumbs down, like "informational" or "consider before you buy".

I like solo play, so the issues people are having don't quite resonate with me as much. This is why you need to read reviews first before making a judgement about how good or bad a game is. Heck, there's even the ability to have custom campaigns, which is awesome unto itself. With that in mind, Hammerwatch 2 is a great game and a good platform for other campaigns to be built upon.

But please, if you want to play multiplayer or you loved playing the original with friends, consider the issues people are having first with the multiplayer and day/night cycle. Updates will very likely improve this game over time. I HOPE they allow us to be able to pass time so I don't have to sit in town waiting for certain NPCs to wake up, without having to spend gold at an inn.

A ludicrously oldschool FPS, an actual boomer shooter for one thing. I was actually a kid when this game came out, but it sort of passed under the radar when I was experiencing Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, and Duke Nukem 3D for the first time.

Rise of the Triad is sort of like if you took Wolfenstein 3D then added some more advanced things such as transparent textures, floors, ceilings, and moving platforms. After that, in the boomer shooter pot, you mix in some Ultimate Doom for good measure... then you just GO WILD and add spices! Traps, so many traps, and other assorted stage hazards, or objects like hundreds of floating platforms, in some of the most eccentric, arcade-style levels I've seen in a retro game. The levels are fun, but do suffer from some esoteric moments where you'll get stuck and have to look around a level for awhile to find what you need to find. This is, of course, a classic affair of finding keys to open the right doors, or finding the right button to open the right objects. There are even hidden floor plates to step on to open things, and there are tons of secret walls to wall-hump till your heart's content! The level design isn't exactly the best and is quite primitive, but it's also way more wacky than its peers back in the day.

There used to be "extra lives", but they are basically useless. I don't know if it's the difficulty level, Medium, that I'm playing on. But as you collect Ankhs, the main collectible, you can get extra lives. But I don't see an extra life counter anywhere currently. In fact, when you die you just start the level all over again and have only your pistol, score intact. You can quick save and quick load, or do saved games, making the pistol start after death sort of pointless. It would've been neat to have limited quick saves as a challenge mode TIED to extra lives, where you'll start the whole episode all over again if you run out. It's possible that this mode already exists, and it's one of the hard or harder modes. The game is very oldschool from a bygone era, and quite arcade-like as a result. I do enjoy scoring points in these games... but it doesn't look like there's a high score system or leaderboard? I'd like the game to save my high scores and best times!

One of the more interesting aspects of the game is the limited weapon loadout. You can hold four weapons only. Pistol, dual pistols, MP40, and a launcher. The small arms have infinite ammo once you pick them up, but launchers have limited ammo tied to the weapon itself, and you can't pick up more ammo until you find another launcher or replace your currently held low ammo launcher with another one. The launchers are honestly really fun, and kind of nuts for the time. The Fire Wall is my favorite, basically shooting a bomb that will explode and unleash a huge wall of flames that quickly moves forward, searing enemies into goofy charred skeletons! The Split Missile kind of sucks, but satisfying if you can hit two enemies at once with the two missiles that fire out in a DNA helix pattern. There's also a classic Bazooka to keep things "grounded". The launchers are the star of this game, and offer some variety despite the limited enemy types.

The other star of this game, however, is the crazy "powerups" and "powerdowns" you'll find. Want to turn into a dog? Yes! Wanna be God and smite hordes of enemies? Yes! Wanna trip on mushrooms? Very yes! These are all really fun, and either help you, such as Flight, or hinder you, such as tripping balls on mushrooms.

The story is nothing at all but 90s as hell, basically. You're a member of an ELITE 'MURICA TEAM, your job: DEFEAT THE TRIAD AND THEIR BASICALLY NAZI-ESQUE SOLDIERS! Explosions, gibs, freedom! Heck yeah, brother! The story and the way it is told is very much of its time, simple and to the point like Doom and Doom 2.

The music is actually really awesome, and it's funny because I was wondering where YouTuber Civvie got his ending card song from, and it's actually from this game after beating a level and it's the result screen. We have some delightful and remastered MIDIs that truly make me feel nostalgic. I feel like I'm playing Doom again for some reason, but it's a bizarre amalgamation of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom with tons of stage hazards or bounce pads and platforms.

Rise of the Triad is probably one of the more wackier shooters from many years ago. I'm glad I get to experience it again after sort of just not wanting to bother with the version in the Apogee Throwback Pack, which still uses DOS Box and isn't a very good version of the game unless you really like how painful it was to play PC games back in the day. Thanks, Nightdive, for giving this game a good remaster and better controls!

Aliens: Dark Descent is a great game, but it's buggy, janky, and filled with strange things such as broken animations that can sometimes occur. But at the heart of this game is a love and respect for the source material that is rivaled by games such as Terminator: Resistance, Necromunda: Hired Gun, and other janky games that I'm sure are also published by Focus. Focus are truly the masters of giving B or AA games a chance in the spotlight! It helps that Aliens: Dark Descent, for the most part, runs great, looks great, and didn't launch with massive issues unlike even AAA counterparts. The game is oozing with atmospheric and visual polish. I mean, you know, for basically a B game.

Aliens: Dark Descent can be tedious or boring at times, with a lot of just waiting around and interacting with crates, terminals, or other elements. Lots of escorting too, which a few people might dread. The game is very much a slow burn at times. But, all of these elements come together to create some tense moments that truly feel like the classic movie, Aliens. Carrying wounded marines while fighting off hordes of xenomorphs is one such moment, or setting up classic sentry guns and fighting off waves of charging critters. Extracting a squad of four, with two being wounded and needing be carried by the other two, is a rewarding and immensely epic moment. The action, tension, and horror elements are what really shine here. This game REALLY DOES feel like a series of missions you'd see in Aliens, and that instantly overwhelms any other flaws the game has.

While on these authentically tense missions, your marines have mental health, stress, that you need to keep track of, and they WILL freak out eventually and it truly feels like you're playing the movie! This can result in traumas, which are debuffs that reduce performance permanently unless they undergo therapy.

To give these poor soldiers a fighting chance, you build new equipment, level them up with new passives or abilities, and promote them to higher ranks or certain classes such as the iconic Smart Gun-wielding Gunner! You can rename them all and customize them. Personalizing the marines does make you grow attached to them, so watch out for that if you're playing on higher difficulties. The difficulty system itself is robust and offers some replayability. I for one welcome our new era of game difficulty options where you can tweak MULTIPLE aspects of a game to your liking!

The story, however, is nothing to write home about. It's standard, but at least it doesn't seem like bad fanfiction, with entirely new characters instead of just trying to give us family members, relatives, or other mainstays from the Alien franchise.

Aliens: Dark Descent is a janky, unrefined gem. I had a marine open a crate, but the animation broke and they faced the OTHER DIRECTION while interacting with thin air. My gunner, while carrying her smart gun, looked as if she was carrying a regular pulse rifle for an in-engine cutscene where your squad boards the ARC to go on a mission... but she wasn't CARRYING ANYTHING in her hands and her smart gun was just jutting out stiffly to the side on its cool little mechanical arm thing. What a messy game, but it's like a very good greasy burger you get from a food cart in New York or something. If you love Aliens, you owe it to yourself to take a bite out of this burger!

Quite frankly the best fighting game I've ever played, but I haven't played many. That's because there is often a barrier to entry, and that barrier consists of a ridiculous Konami code style button input to do one attack ( Looking at you Dizzy, in Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2! ). Street Fighter 6 does away with that, first and foremost, by giving the player a CHOICE between classic button inputs or a modern style that doesn't make me feel any less skilled. The modern control scheme still requires you to string combos or attacks together, and choose what to do in the heat of battle, but a special move now requires an input like a direction/neutral plus the Y button in my case. I still feel like a badass and still feel like it rewards finesse, without making the process feel TOO automated. Although you CAN hold down right trigger to do auto combos... only if you tap light, medium, or heavy that is while holding right trigger, making it so you STILL have to do something and watch your opponent carefully. Some pros might hate these new systems, but it is on them, the "professionals", for failing to keep up when fighting a player using the modern control scheme.

Also, World Tour is quite amazing, addictive, and the greatest most covert way to teach the player how to play. You create your own fighter with a robust character creator ( that is almost TOO robust ), and you get to actually feel the majesty of martial arts, even if you aren't a fan of Street Fighter you can FEEL how legendary the, well, legendary fighters are! I am now a fan of the cast of fighters when I never was before. Heck, I made sure to make my avatar, my custom fighter, as cool looking as these main fighters are. You take them on as masters, use their fighting styles, and can even combine their special attacks to form your own unique arsenal of special attacks that you can make synergies with. World Tour is quite like a RPG, with mild open-world elements, and is a very nice surprise.

There are many, MANY mechanics in place to prevent a lot of problems we see in modern fighters. Armor, and the Drive Gauge are just two of these mechanics. Armor is a very temporary buff that buffs you during special moves. It reduces incoming damage, while making it so you can't be interrupted by enemy attacks. Armor can be broken if enough damage is taken. On the other hand, the Drive Gauge can be spent to do TWO different kinds of vital moves. A Drive Parry, and a Drive Assault. A Drive Assault can't be stopped, AND you are immune to damage, but it costs a pip of Drive Gauge. Drive Parries can block almost anything, but you can be grabbed and thrown while doing it. This allows players to avoid getting camped in a corner, or cornered and rushed down by endless combos. But it also allows skill expression.

I don't know if this will stick with high level play just yet, because that's where we will see if these mechanics ACTUALLY fix problems such as corner camping or just people pummeling each other into said corner, but Armor, Drive Gauge, and other mechanics create this tense interplay where you have to weigh your options even if you feel like a noob for using Modern Controls. There is STILL room for skill expression, it just means that the pool of players is LARGER now. Street Fighter 6 will surely be the most popular fighting game for years to come!

Really, I'm going to jump back in and play more. This is great fun, responsive, gorgeous ( with some glitches like camera transitions to street fights, texture streaming issues, awful screen space reflections, ect. ), and full of stuff to do. Whether you like solo play, or multiplayer, there is something for everyone here.

The funny part is, I never really play many of these fighting games. Mostly because the singleplayer is often lacking and stale, or doesn't challenge you enough if you aren't into multiplayer, and the aforementioned Konami code ass button inputs for single special moves. Then, there's often a lack of content. I'm sure that's not true for every fighting game, but I feel like Street Fighter 6 is the first game, in the series and in fighting game history, to actually make me want to play these games. And, well, that says a lot!

One of the best boomer shooters and Warhammer 40K games out there. The only thing holding back this juicy and satisfying bloody steak of a game is the framerate issues that seem to be caused by copious particles or effects on screen, uneven difficulty, and maybe secret areas that are a bit too hard to find. Maybe the mouse controls, which will sometimes suddenly feel more sensitive and then return to normal. There's a few bugs. But, regardless of the negatives, this game is truly blessed by the Emperor of Man! I have never played a Warhammer game that makes you feel as powerful as Space Marines appear in the lore, until this one. You feel the power and satisfaction in the weapons, the sounds, the gore, and the thundering steps which almost seem to sync up with the music... the latter I'm unsure if it's intentional or not, but it's a nice touch. I can see myself returning to this one time and time again to find all secrets, get all kills, and get better times in the pretty robust chapter and level select.

If you take Quake, add some Duke Nukem 3D and Blood level design, you get something truly special. That is HROT in a nutshell! Tight gunplay, not a single useless weapon ( landmine, maybe ), fun details, plenty of hard-to-find secrets, and all wrapped in a delightful, eerie, surreal, and sometimes darkly comical package! Go get yourself a prague ratter today!

A stunning, fun, rewarding, meaty, satisfying, and cinematic experience that I can see myself coming back to time and time again. I just wish I experienced this game sooner. It's been languishing in my backlog for at least a year, because of the severe performance problems that were affecting AMD users like myself. But now that the game is fixed ( also nicer AMD drivers than ever before ) and in a better spot than it was at launch, I'm so happy that I've gotten to play it! If you love Norse mythology and stunning fantasy open worlds, this game is a must! Heck, we still get all that glorious, angry, and raging God of War action we love.

Astonishing in every way, this is a remake that does one of my favorite games of all time justice! Vastly improved in nearly every single way, you will be hooked for hours and enamored with the optimized visual fidelity. This remake makes the original, despite it being such a masterpiece, feel stiff and clunky in comparison. The original will always have a special place in my heart, but this is a remake that does way more than just pump up the graphics and game feel. It feels almost like a new game in some way. And, best of all, none of the cheesy one-liners or lovable characters have been destroyed by this remake. Well, most of it, there's a few one-liners missing, including some puzzles, events, and scenes which are also missing. I barely even scratched the surface of this meaty game at time of review, but just assume the game maintains this amazing quality throughout.