Recent reviews by Spobbles

This review contains no spoilers.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 provides an experience of extreme peaks and valleys. Creating your own character in the Dragon Ball universe, setting it up with the skills you want from the huge variety available and taking on iconic opponents is an absolute blast. On the other hand, the game feels like it was engineered by people who have never played a video game in their lives. People whose vocabulary does not contain phrases such as “quality of life”.

Xenoverse 2 and its conspicuously similar predecessor provide an impressive degree of freedom as far as character creation goes. Players can choose from several iconic races from the franchise, wield equally iconic skills and create a fearsome arsenal of abilities. And obviously super saiyan is available. Sadly, beam struggles still haven't made it into these games, but it's still a ton of fun blasting hapless A.I left and right. The combat mechanics themselves, meanwhile, are pretty good. This is a game that requires and rewards practice and exploration of mechanics – especially when facing the endgame A.I, as they can be extremely punishing.

Freeing the game from the side-scrolling perspective of traditional fighting games works in the game's favour; the fights themselves can take place over a far wider area, and players get to enjoy flying around the place. That said, this freedom goes underutilised. There's no real option to use the environment to your advantage or incorporate it into the battle as a whole; it's more or less just a backdrop, with the occasional obstacle to get in your way.

The multiplayer component of Xenoverse 2, meanwhile, is undoubtedly a huge draw – the pvp community is strong. Personally, however, the co-op action is where my interest lies. Going around blasting minions and battling powerful muscle-heads is, of course, more fun with friends. That part of the game works just fine.
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Unfortunately, the stink of poor game design becomes apparent very early. During most, if not all, of the fights that take place in the game's main story, characters will leave and join the battle, transform, power up, etc. Every time this occurs, the game will cut to a scene of it happening, and combat will not be paused in the meantime. Just charged up your ultimate attack to obliterate the enemy you tactfully weakened? Too bad, sonny; you're gonna watch Piccolo arrive on the battlefield, and the guy you were about to murderize is invincible for the duration. Once that's over, you can get back to fighting – at least until the next character does something, which will probably be about five seconds later. This happens constantly all throughout the game's story, and it's exactly as frustrating as it sounds. This is utterly stupid game design and shows an absolute lack of care by the developer. Thankfully this does not occur as often in other activities, which is where the vast majority of players' time will be spent.

The above is an extreme example of the game's design issues, but it is far from the only one; quality of life really was not on anyone's mind during development. Much less egregious, but still disappointing, is the limited scale of the game; battles are limited to a relatively small selection of arenas, and while missions will see you move between several of these in real-time, the transition between them is not handled by any immersive mechanic like a character flying at super speed to the new area, but by entering floating portal gates that simply pop you out at your destination. There's nothing really wrong with this, but surely they could have done something more impressive in a modern game?

Rather than create an entirely new story for the player to experience as the main character, the protagonist takes up the role of a Time Patroller; a warrior charged with investigating and correcting abnormalities in the timeline. Practically, this means players will be running through the entire established story of the Dragon Ball franchise, following both original plotlines and diverging ones. While the game does have an overarching plot to encompass all this and tie-in the player character more personally, it's not the main focus. All in all, the game's narrative serves its purpose: sticking together the gameplay segments. It ain't bad, and ain't great either.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2910096523
Adapting 2D anime styling to a 3D game can go a couple of ways, and thankfully the developers of Xenoverse 2 pulled it off, though the game as a whole does look rather dated, especially in the lighting department. That said, the particles used in characters' skills look nice, as do the characters themselves. The game's audio is nice too, even if it does deafen me every time I load into the title screen. The audio there not taking volume sliders into account is yet another drop in the bucket of quality of life issues.

Xenoverse 2 is a good game – a very frustrating one at times, but good nevertheless. DLC is still releasing years later, the community is still there, and all shades of super saiyan are available, except the one from GT – but that's what mods are for, and the game has plenty to choose from. Some will argue that this game wasn't enough of a step up from its predecessor, and, well, they're right. Xenoverse shared many of the same features and problems, though I believe the sequel here is ultimately the superior of the two, and the one to buy.

I don't even like fighting games, but I like this. Controller recommended.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
NVMe SSD

This review comes courtesy of Summit Reviews.

This review contains no spoilers.

A Plague Tale: Innocence provides a dark yet heartfelt linear narrative alongside solid gameplay and pleasing visuals. The 8-10 hour story is told with finesse and makes the most of its relatively short runtime by focusing on what matters: the main characters and their relationship. Throw in some stealth-based gameplay encounters, a bit of combat and lots of rats, and you've got a pretty cool game. How about that.

Throughout much of the game, our protagonist, Amicia, needs to not only navigate horrific environments, deadly encounters and challenging predicaments, but do so while looking after her little brother, Hugo. This often means holding his hand to lead him through the world and keep him safe; a simple thing, but it makes all the difference. Having Hugo there on screen, tied directly to your actions both strengthens the characters' bond, and helps to hammer home the realities of their situation: he's a young, scared kid, often a detriment to Amicia due his lack of logical reasoning and physical ability, but she can't just leave him behind, can she? We're not monsters, and Hugo does manage to prove himself useful at times.

Between corpse-strewn battlefields, rat-infested dungeons and other, equally nasty places, you have to feel for Amicia and Hugo. Brave though they may be, they're both still just kids that have found what must feel like the entire world pitted against them. Personally, I found the overall narrative rather enjoyable. There were a few moments, namely in Amicia's reactions or decisions, that I found a bit odd and/or forced, but they were small blemishes in the grand scheme of things.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829481446
Some games really screw up the sneaky bits; they make them unnecessarily frustrating through busted mechanics or wonky controls. A Plague Tale: Innocence is not one of those games. Lucky us. Players have quite a few options to get through alive, including several methods of murder and distraction, and just plain old good timing. The violent options don't become as viable until later in the game, as Amicia unlocks various tools along the way, but by the end, she is a one-woman death factory, and Hugo can help out too - for better or worse. The UI, animations and controls are solid, so when it does come murder time, you're all set.

The addition of an upgrade system for Amicia's equipment is nice, I suppose, though I didn't feel it particularly necessary to progression. I had more than enough of everything I needed throughout the experience, and the upgrades were mostly for the sake of convenience. The game has no difficulty settings, so I can't imagine any situation where I'd be stuck without them. Ultimately, I didn't find any aspect of the gameplay to be overly challenging or deep, but the mechanics are mostly there to facilitate the storytelling, so I'll forgive the game that.

As is standard in linear experiences like this one, our main characters will have to work through a few progression-blockers. These mostly revolve around giant rat swarms – the kind that eat people. They can be manipulated using light sources such as lanterns and braziers, and the goal is generally to open the path to whatever lies beyond the swarm. Again, I didn't find any of these challenges particularly difficult, but they can be a tad unintuitive at times. Still, the overall concept is pretty cool, and being surrounded by hordes of ravenous rats definitely ramps up the tension in service of the overall atmosphere of the game.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829481483
The game is a couple years old now, and while its age does show a little, it still looks pretty damn fine across a variety of locales including winding streets, giant cathedrals and beautiful open countryside. Similarly, the music is nice, voice acting good, and effects appropriate. With the specs listed below, the game ran just peachy at 60fps on high settings. As far as bugs are concerned, I don't remember encountering any.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a fine game. I'm not going to call it a masterpiece, but it's a good'un. Its heavy focus on the narrative and very linear nature will be off-putting to some, but that's the nature of games and their differing genres. I'm glad I finally got around to playing this game before the release of the sequel.

Buy game. Receive rat-related phobias.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on NVMe SSD

This review comes courtesy of Summit Reviews.

This review contains no story spoilers.
Aragami 2 is a game that improves on various gameplay elements of its predecessor, but sacrifices its tone, charm and unique nature in the process. The enjoyable teleportation mechanic has been replaced with one that offers less freedom, the clear sense of progression was ditched in favour of repetitive filler, and the focused narrative has become a wider and far less concise affair. Judged as an independent game and not against the virtues of its predecessor, Aragami 2 is a decent game at best, and an absolute drag at worst.

Beyond the tutorial, our story starts with the Aragami, our protagonist, being killed and thus discovering that he can respawn. When he does, he finds himself in Kakurega Village, a place populated by other Aragami who immediately start giving him jobs to do. Being an entity seemingly lacking independent thought or desire, our protagonist then proceeds to perform every theft, assassination and scouting mission asked of him without question. The motivation for all of this is that, apparently, the Aragami suffer a curse that grants them their abilities, but slowly consumes their minds.

If you're a fan of the first Aragami title, you've probably noticed that everything I just said clashes with the entire plot of said game. It seems that Aragami 2 is not so much a sequel as a re-imagining, and the protagonist's appearance and the general theme of his abilities are the only meaningful connections between the two. This would not necessarily be a bad thing if the new story were grander and more fleshed out, but it was not to be.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2607260993&fileuploadsuccess=1
The first game featured a relatively simple and narrow plot in which the Aragami was a shadow spirit called to assist his summoner by defeating her enemies and enabling her rescue from the forces of the light. With that, we had a simple light vs. dark theme facilitating and being reinforced by gameplay mechanics. This story was not an especially deep one, but it provided a clear setting and a simple premise that saw players continually progress through new areas with a clear goal in sight, encountering and overcoming new obstacles along the way.

Such a sense of progression or theme is completely absent in Aragami 2, dropped in favour of something larger but with little depth. Kakurega Village acts as a hub for the player to return to between missions, and offers limited services such as a vendor for the game's new consumable items, including health potions. The main function of the village, however, is to house the NPCs that continually give the player missions. The nature of said missions is the game's biggest problem by far. To begin with, players move between several areas, completing simple objectives such as assassinating a target or stealing an item. These objectives are broadly the same as those featured in the first Aragami title and are quite enjoyable the first time. You may be tempted to take your time, plotting your path and making use of your stealth abilities and the host of new combat items such as stun grenades and poisoned needles.

However, if you found yourself in this same place again, heading for the same building as last time but for a slightly different objective, would you want to put so much dedication into it again? What about the third time? What about the fifth? Content is endlessly reused, with very little challenge or variety added in the process. Some new enemies appear, but this changes nothing about how you'll play the game, and I rarely felt it necessary to use the majority of my abilities or items. New locations do appear now and again, but you'll always end up coming back to the same old places from the start of the game – places that often look very similar, to boot. The objectives you'll be taking on in these places hardly change, either. This constant revisiting of old content slows the story's progression to a crawl, and it's painfully obvious when a plot point exists solely to make the player do more of it.

At over eight hours into the game, I found myself in the same place, doing more or less the same thing that I was doing at one hour into the game, and with no noteworthy challenge or mechanics to make it different. It was at this point that I decided I was done with the game, and to write this review. I normally like to finish the games that I review, but moments of interest are so few and far between that I am simply too bored to continue.

Something that bothered me when playing the first game was the Aragami's inability to scale low walls or climb ledges. Aragami 2 addresses this by adding not only ledge-grabbing and climbing, but a double-jump and mid-air dash as well. When combined with the reworked teleportation ability that allows one to instantly move to a nearby ledge, it's possible to traverse terrain at significant speed – something that quickly becomes very useful when ploughing through the filler content.
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If one doesn't feel like avoiding enemies, the game does have a combat system, though it is more likely to cause the player's death than an enemy's. This is not because the combat itself is particularly difficult, but because the game tries to force players into combat mode when an enemy attacks, snapping the camera to the enemy and severely inhibiting the player's movement. Combine this with the enemies' ability to seemingly teleport to and strike a player who is attempting to flee, and there's cause for much frustration. If one does stick to a stealthy approach, however, the gameplay is solid.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on NVMe SSD

Running the game on its max settings, I got a consistent 60fps with no drops. Bugs were minimal, with just a few minor issues that did not impact gameplay in any meaningful way. I did, however, discover some baffling design decisions; namely a complete lack of keybind options or a pause function – even for singleplayer.

While Aragami 2's graphics are a technical step-up from the first game, they still look rather dated and no longer have a stylised flair to mask the fact. Though this game does have some nice-looking areas, I think the original looks better. Smaller visual elements such as animations, meanwhile, have been improved and generally look quite good.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2607257848
Upon arriving in Kakurega Village, one may notice a beautiful track playing in the background; it's the highlight of the game's soundtrack, which is of high quality and lovely to listen to, for a while. Unfortunately, its tracks seem to be few in number, and they quickly get old. The rest of the game's sound effects are of decent quality, and there's little to complain about on that front.

While Aragami 2 would not qualify as a worthy sequel to its beloved predecessor, it would pass as a decent and relatively enjoyable stealth game if it were not burdened with a weak story and unnecessary filler that drags the experience down into the mud. If played in co-op and/or in short stints, the game is serviceable, but it meanders far too much to hold my interest. This makes me sad.

This review comes courtesy of the Devils in the Detail curator.

This review contains no story spoilers.
Built by a two-man team and presented in a charming low-poly style, Aron's Adventure provides an enjoyable experience but suffers from a somewhat slow build-up and a number of bugs. Players fill the shoes of Aron, a young man thrust unexpectedly into the life of a superhuman warrior; a Sentinel. The event that gave him his power has awoken an old evil, and there's nobody else who can stop it.

To begin with, the story of Aron's Adventure seems a rather generic one, with an edgy antagonist who plans to take over the land for no apparent reason beyond simply being evil. The protagonist, meanwhile, is a silent one, leaving his personality up to the player. While the characters' motivations do become more clear, few of them are particularly endearing or complex, and the overall story does not gain much depth over time. More interesting locations, events and situations do begin to appear once players progress beyond the game's first area, however.

The story's best character moments can be found hidden in Rifts; tears in reality that offer a small glimpse into the past. These often display a conversation or sequence of events crucial to a character's backstory and are key to understanding the motivations of the game's primary antagonists. All in all, the story is a nice enough little tale, though it's not particularly memorable.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2449862648
Aron's Adventure's introductory area is one of green fields, forest and sparse human habitation. While this is a pretty and peaceful place, it feels a bit dead – as though nothing ever happens without the player's involvement. The lack of animal life also contributes to this. Where the game's atmosphere really shines, though, is in the smaller, denser areas. From mysterious caves and ruins stalked by ghosts of ages past to bustling castles full of life and cheer; these are the places where the game comes to life, and they carry the experience.


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Aron's Adventure's gameplay, like its story, gets off to a rather mundane start, as the initial area features only basic enemies and combat scenarios. Soon after, however, the full range of weapons and abilities becomes available, while the variety of battlegrounds and enemies increases.

Aron's journey takes him through several open world areas, each with NPCs offering side-quests, enemy bases to clear and Rifts to explore. His faithful horse and enhanced physical abilities allow him to venture farther than he would be able to otherwise, though the terrain can be difficult to navigate at times due to the game's often dodgy collision boxes.

While not all of the aforementioned side-quests are unique or particularly interesting in their premise, they are plentiful enough to keep players entertained for a while, but few enough to not become boring or repetitive. The more mundane of them include simple objectives such as rescuing an NPC, or killing some specific enemies. Many of these are in locations Aron will visit anyway, and they will often activate upon arriving in the related area, saving players the hassle of coming back later if the quest wasn't already active.

With five types of melee weapons, a bow and several magical abilities, Aron has plenty of options for dispatching his enemies. Whether he is repeatedly dodging and striking a large enemy or obliterating a crowd of small ones with a shockwave or an explosive arrow, combat is satisfying, and all weapons and abilities are useful.

Unfortunately, Aron is extremely susceptible to stagger and knockdown, which he is slow to recover from. A crowd of enemies – or even one enemy that hits hard and fast – can easily stunlock him. While I rarely died to this, it is quite annoying. Not helping is the game's targeting system, which is rather unwieldy, and the fact that the jump and dodge-roll actions are bound to the same button. The game decides which should be performed, and while it's fine most of the time, it doesn't always do what you want it to.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2449862490
Throughout his journey, Aron acquires the ability to double-jump and perform a mid-air dash, and while these are adequate for the platforming challenges the game provides, they aren't the most precise, due largely to a lack of mid-air control.

Puzzles, meanwhile, are rather scarce, but this serves to prevent them from becoming tedious and repetitive, as there are only a few different types – the most common being a sliding block puzzle and a button sequence. These are relatively easy, and I quite enjoyed the short reprieve from combat and exploration.


Players have access to a basic skill tree that improves Aron's abilities, and can find and equip new armour, horses and weapons. Skill points are primarily earned by completing Rifts – not only the aforementioned story ones, but combat and platforming challenge Rifts as well. Equipment, meanwhile, can be crafted or received as a reward for completing a quest or clearing an enemy camp. Gear variety is relatively small, but large enough to maintain the sense that Aron is progressing as a warrior.

Loot, aside from the gear drops mentioned above, is limited to crafting materials and the occasional consumable. Loot chests are all over the place and they serve their purpose, but it's hard to be excited when you know nothing interesting is inside.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on NVMe SSD

Using the specs listed above, I got a relatively steady 60fps on Ultra settings, though it would dip in some areas, or when looking in certain directions. This seems to be tied almost entirely to the shadows setting.

Bugs, meanwhile, were plentiful during my pre-release playthrough of the game. Missing quest triggers, character teleporting, low texture resolution regardless of settings; the list goes on. Thankfully, the game has received several patches and the bugs are being ironed out, but it is still lacking a degree of polish, which can also be seen in the numerous typos and wonky collision boxes throughout the game.

Aron's Adventure looks beautiful in many places – especially the darker interior spaces that make use of vibrant colours and lighting effects. The animations are generally decent, with a couple of lower quality examples here and there.

The game's sound effects are good and the soundtrack is excellent; it suits the atmosphere perfectly. The voice acting, however, ranges from decent to mediocre.


Aron's Adventure is a game that hits its stride in the later chapters, and while its story is somewhat lacklustre, the enjoyable gameplay and atmosphere make up for it. I recommend it with a discount or after further patches.

Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily!

This review contains no story spoilers.
With entertaining gameplay that wouldn't be out of place in a Star Wars title, and a bizarre, confusing story, Control is a game that succeeds and fails in equal measure. Players follow Jesse, a woman who, along with her brother, experienced a paranormal event as a child, and has been changed ever since. She now seeks answers inside the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC); the government organisation that covered up the incident and took her brother away.

🖱🎮Control works well with both keyboard & mouse and controller.🎮🖱

Control begins with Jesse entering the FBC's headquarters, The Oldest House. Immediately, Jesse begins conversing with an entity the player cannot see or hear, and hints that she has applied for a job there. Within minutes, she she has both taken up the position of director of the entire bureau by simply walking into the office, and discovered that an otherworldly force is wreaking havoc on the place. Soon after, she discovers survivors who immediately acknowledge her as director and accept her leadership.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2433830838
Immediately, Jesse feels like an established character who's already familiar with the insane things that are happening around her, and as a result, she's difficult to relate to. Ultimately, the feeling I experienced during the game's initial events was one of confusion; I felt as though I'd entered the story a few chapters in, or that I was playing a sequel that relied heavily on its predecessor for context.

The majority of Control's supporting characters have little impact on the story as a whole, being there simply to provide exposition, the next quest, or some plot device needed to move the story onward. While some do have the potential to be interesting, they are not well utilised.

Control makes heavy use of unsettling and illogical sequences in the supernatural happenings that take place, and these events are great at setting the scene and creating an atmosphere that backs up the narrative. They are not, however, a substitute for proper setup and payoff in writing. A perfect example of this is near the end of the game, when Jesse somehow discovers a major plot reveal after she and the player are subjected to a vision that is highly immersive but conveys no actual information. An otherworldly and incomprehensible setting is not a valid reason for characters to acquire information out of the blue; it's just lazy writing.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2433831660
Given the focus on narrative, I expected Control to be a largely linear experience. To my surprise, it provides the freedom to roam all previously explored areas and take part in both static and dynamic side-missions. Some of these revolve around Objects of Power; items imbued with supernatural properties. These offer unique and enjoyable challenges that complement the story nicely, while providing worthwhile rewards.

Many side-missions, however, are essentially busywork that takes players through the same areas, activities and enemies that they will already have experienced in the story missions. Similarly, the free roam experience is one of backtracking and repetitive scripted enemy spawns, without the addition of anything new or interesting.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the experience, Jesse's ability to pick up and throw almost any object is a lot of fun. This combined with the powers of mind control and levitation means she is a force to be reckoned with, and almost every combat encounter is an enjoyable one. Players' only firearm is the Service Weapon; an Object of Power that can transform into several different forms including close range, long range, rapid fire, etc. Control's gunplay is decent, though the Service Weapon isn't particularly effective against tougher, shielded enemies – that's what telekinesis is for. A forklift to the face fixes most problems.

Utilising Jesse's full arsenal of supernatural powers against hapless foes feels perfect in the context of the twisted, unnatural backdrops and effects, and there are times in which everything comes together to create some really cool moments. Enemies consist primarily of possessed humans, some equipped with combat gear, and others with supernatural abilities similar to Jesse's. All are capable of reducing her health pool quickly, so frequent use of cover is advised.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2433856450
As players kill enemies, loot boxes and complete missions, they will receive a large number of weapon and ability modifications, in a system akin to those found in looter-shooter titles. These grant stat buffs that affect weapon accuracy, ability energy use, and similar. The problem is that players start to get bombarded with a large number of them, and being mere stat buffs, they really aren't that interesting to experiment with; just choose the one with the biggest percentage.

With contorting architecture, physically impossible spaces and abundant unnatural sound and visual effects, the atmosphere is perfect. Most of the game is set within the offices and maintenance areas of The Oldest House, and while these areas are detailed and well suited to the narrative, they lack the variety required to make repeated visits interesting. There are some impressive and memorable locations featured in missions, but these are rarely, if ever, revisited.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on HDD

Control is a nice looking game with impressive visual effects and attention to detail. The unnatural shifting of the architecture really contributes to the game's atmosphere, and is always well animated.

The game's soundtrack is decent, but not particularly memorable. Sound effects are good – especially the eerie ambient sounds that play throughout The Oldest House. The voice acting is decent, though it's hard to appreciate when the characters are lacking.

Using the specs listed above, the game ran at a fairly consistent 60fps on a mix of medium/high settings.

Throughout the game, I constantly encountered a bug that would reduce the texture quality to its lowest possible level after a short time. This could be temporarily fixed by adjusting graphics settings, but would return after as little as a few seconds. This made reading signs and puzzle clues a tedious affair.

I have mixed feelings on Control. Its gameplay is solid and enjoyable, but is dampened by the repetitive level design, while the excellent immersive atmosphere is hampered similarly by the story writing. Ultimately, I do recommend the game, but with a discount.

This review comes courtesy of the R³ curator.

This review contains no story spoilers.
Originally released on iOS and Android in early 2020, Pascal's Wager is a true souls-like, with punishing enemies, a foreboding atmosphere and solid gameplay. Players follow Terrence and his companions on a journey through the unforgiving world of Solas, in search of a mysterious witch called Teresa.

Pascal's Wager uses the standard souls-like recipe: players battle numerous dangerous enemies and powerful bosses in order to progress in a dark and unforgiving world. Trial and error is often required when encountering new dangers, and death is an expected part of progress. This is understandably frustrating to some, but persistence does pay off, and unlike many souls-like titles, Pascal's Wager has a "casual" difficulty setting for those who want a less stressful experience.

As players explore, they will locate Altars; checkpoints placed around the game's world that allow players to respawn, rest and level up. Unfortunately, a very important feature is missing from these: fast-travel. When gathering collectables and progressing side quests, it's necessary to backtrack frequently, and without fast travel, getting around the rather convoluted levels is a tedious and time consuming experience that contributed hours to my total playtime. I cannot fathom why such a feature was omitted from this game.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2428012029
Upon defeat, enemies drop bones that are both a currency and the game's experience points. These can be used at an altar to grant levels, increasing each character's stats. Thankfully, all characters level together, so those that go mostly unused are not left behind. Gear, meanwhile, is confined to artifacts that grant stat increases and passive effects. While these are undoubtedly useful, the lack of more tangible equipment items makes the game's loot rather bland. Finding a hidden chest and defeating those guarding it only to receive crafting materials is a bit underwhelming.

Pascal's Wager shines most when the player is deep in its sprawling levels, carving their way through enemies. Combat is challenging and rewarding, though it does have some less than ideal features. Oversized hitboxes on some enemy attacks and the fact that both players and enemies can attack through solid walls, to name a couple. Players are forced to use Terrence at almost all times, and can choose one of four companions to accompany him. Said companions do not fight alongside him, but can be switched to, or will take over if Terrance dies. Unfortunately, while these characters are very distinct in their abilities and equipment, some just aren't as good as others, and I ended up using the same one for the majority of the game.

An interesting addition is the "Sanity" mechanic; a statistic that decreases as characters fight, eventually degrading to "abnormal" and "lunatic" levels. This has a noticeable effect on gameplay, as enemies and bosses change or grow stronger, while players can see benefits too. I am pleased to report that most boss encounters are challenging, tense and, upon completion, provide the characteristic sense of relief and accomplishment that should be present in a souls-like. The final boss, however, is not well designed, and is a disappointing end to an otherwise rather good experience.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2428011148
Pascal's Wager's world is where it's most obvious that the game was built with the limited hardware of mobile devices in mind. Levels are quite small in size, and the skybox is very basic. I suspect the abundant fog in the game is also there for this reason. To make the most of the limited space, the developers made clever use of ladders, shortcuts and multi-story buildings as much as possible. The downside of this is that areas can become overly convoluted and difficult to navigate by memory - something that's only made worse by the lack of fast travel or a map.

The game tries to tell a tale of good people trying to find answers in a truly savage world overtaken by the corrupted and the desperate, but falls flat due to shallow, poorly acted characters and vague plot points. A genuine attempt was made to give Terrence and his companions character development throughout the game, but their total silence during the vast majority of gameplay restricts the building of their relationships to the occasional cutscene or chat back at base, and it's just not enough.

Side quests are relatively few in number, and usually involve simply going back and forth to find and bring something to an NPC, though even this can be a confusing and convoluted affair due to the level design and lack of direction.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2427815140

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on HDD

Being designed for mobile devices, the graphics of Pascal's Wager are rather dated, though the main problem with its visuals is a lack of variety; the same dull palette is present in almost all of the game's areas, while the exceptions prove that variety is quite possible. Aside from this, the visual design is quite good, with some cool looking bosses and a nice variety of enemy designs.

The game's soundtrack and effects are quite good, though as mentioned above, its voice acting is mediocre at best for all characters. It's a shame, as only takes away from the already rather weak story and character moments.

Running at the highest graphics settings, the game ran at a constant 60fps with the exception of when I was exploring the DLC area, which dropped the framerate as low as 45fps at times. Given the game's less than stellar graphics, this is clearly an optimisation issue.

I experienced one crash in my 25+ hours of playing, and a bug that seemingly prevents side quests from being marked as completed, though this is hard to verify given the aforementioned lack of clarity surrounding them.

Presentation.
The English translation of the game features a number of typos, and some rather unclear descriptions. In addition, many subtitles don't match the spoken dialogue.

Clarity.
Some elements of the game require better explanation. A prime example of this is the “Egg of the Bearer”; an item players encounter very early in the game that grants a massive defensive buff, effectively halving the damage players receive. Players are given only a vague message when taking the egg, and given the nature of the game, an item that's effectively an “easy mode” should have a much clearer description – especially as there's an an achievement tied to it.

Pascal's Wager is, all things considered, a decent souls-like that's worthy of notice by fans of the sub-genre. I can honestly say that I never felt like I was playing a mobile game, which is praise in and of itself.

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This review contains no story spoilers.
Originally released for consoles in 2010, ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West is a game that, in many ways, was rather old-fashioned even at the time of its release. With a heavy emphasis on platforming, liberal use of locked camera angles, and even the aesthetic as a whole, the game feels very reminiscent of the action-adventure games of the Playstation 2 era. Players follow the journey of two unlikely companions through a post-apocalyptic New York city and beyond, and their relationship is the primary focus of the game.

🎮I recommend using a controller with this game.🎮

Our story starts with Monkey; an abrasive loner and scavenger imprisoned aboard a slave ship headed to unknown regions. Through a dramatic series of events he encounters Trip; a young woman with excellent technological skills, but little of the experience required to survive in the harsh world she has found herself in. In order to survive, she takes drastic action, using her skills to enslave an incapacitated Monkey with a hacked slave headband. Upon waking, Monkey discovers he has to escort Trip safely back to her home, or suffer a painful death via the headband.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2420374199
Throughout their journey, they encounter numerous obstacles both figurative and literal, and begin to understand and respect each other's abilities. This relationship is the core focus of the game from beginning to end, and both characters are written and portrayed wonderfully. Trip's genuine attempts to be friendly and co-operative to the person she enslaved lend depth to her character, while Monkey's attitude reflects similarly on him. The emotional hurdles and payoffs that present themselves throughout the game all landed perfectly for me, and I can confidently recommend the game solely on this.

The downside to this heavy focus on the core characters is that general world-building suffers. The only information to be had on the game's post-apocalyptic world and savage mech enemies is what can be gleaned from observation, as there is little written or spoken exposition. While the plot's overall direction makes sense, as it is driven by the main characters' discoveries, many of the plot points themselves don't. In particular, the game's ending: the grand reveal comes out of nowhere, with seemingly no reference to anything else in the story.

ENSLAVED assumes the form of a third person action-adventure with frequent platforming sections in which players must guide Monkey across ledges and beams, up the sides of buildings, and more. These can feature hazards such as temporary handholds and elements that will damage players with poor timing. I found the platforming to be fairly intuitive, if a bit rigid; the game exercises excessive hand-holding at times, preventing players from jumping from the "wrong" spot, even if it would clearly work just fine. This means it's quite hard to fall, but easier to fail timed sections.

At several points, the player must assist Trip in traversing the terrain by carrying her or throwing her to ledges that are too high/far for her to reach alone, and in return, she will open paths and reveal hazards with her hacking skills. This symbiotic relationship being made tangible through gameplay plays a huge part in immersing the player in the two characters' relationship, and it quickly became one of my favourite features. Additionally, upgrades to Monkey's equipment and abilities are obtained through Trip, though this is done via a simple menu, rather than anything immersive.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2420373849
For its many combat encounters, the game sees players employ Monkey's staff to brutally break apart his robotic foes. Using the common recipe of light and heavy attacks plus the ability to block and dodge, the game's melee combat is straightforward and relatively intuitive, and is supplemented by basic ranged attacks that can stun or damage. Enemies consist of various combat mechs of unknown origin, all of which are very hostile. With a number of melee and ranged variants to contend with, there's plenty of room for players to make use of Monkey's full arsenal and moveset. Enemies can, however, feel a bit too tanky on occasion, dragging out fights unnecessarily.

Additionally, the vicious robots assailing the protagonist are just that - robots with no character. Games often display the personality of their world's inhabitants through ambient dialogue and/or sound effects, but not so in this instance. This contributes to the aforementioned lack of insight into the game's world.

The developer clearly tried to integrate Trip into the combat experience by giving her a small selection of abilities that can be triggered by the player, such as a decoy to draw fire, and a heal that can be used when she is close by. Use of the decoy is essentially mandatory as sections of the game are built around it, but otherwise, her abilities don't see much use, as she's often too far away from them to be useful.

Overall, the game's combat feels decent, but doesn't do anything innovative.

Getting Trip home involves making your way along a rather perilous series of paths through minefields, destroyed buildings and across towering structures. These are all designed to give the player the freedom to explore and make full use of Monkey's platforming skills, while also allowing Trip to pass through with the player's assistance. A cool but underused feature is Monkey's "Cloud"; essentially a hoverboard, he can ride it over land and water at speed. It's quite fun, but only a few short levels allow its use.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on HDD

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2420374340
While definitely dated now, the game's 2013 graphics are passable. There are some pretty views to be had, and the sense of scale is portrayed well in key moments.

The voice acting is good, while the soundtrack and sound effects are okay, but forgettable.

As expected for an older title, the game runs at a consistent 60fps on the highest graphics settings.

The game suffers from a bug that causes shadows on characters to look rather ugly. This is apparently a problem with many Unreal Engine 3 games, and it can be fixed by tweaking values in a .ini file.

ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West is a game with great character writing and decent gameplay, though some of its aspects did get left behind in the process of bringing Monkey and Trip to life. If, like me, you've been aware of this game for years and never got around to playing it, I highly recommend giving it a try.

This review comes courtesy of the R³ curator.

This review contains no story spoilers.
Battlecruisers is a short but enjoyable strategy game with a great visual style, a nice soundtrack and decent gameplay. There are some minor issues, but overall, the game is a good experience.

🖱Battlecruisers works well with keyboard & mouse.🖱

Controlling one of several cruisers, players must build various defences such as turrets and shields, weapons such as rocket launchers, and unit-producing structures such as a naval yard on the deck of their ship using builder drones, which are indestructible, but limited in number. These drones are the game's only resource, and their management makes up the bulk of players' responsibilities. Weapons, defences and production structures act autonomously, as do the units produced. As such, choosing what to build and how many drones to assign to it is the core of Battlecruisers.

Though Battlecruisers does offer an enjoyable, casual gameplay experience, I did notice one problem: due to unfinished structures being very weak and in the path of enemy fire, it can be very difficult to recover from a disadvantage; once the enemy has penetrated your defences, they can just keep attacking without pause, preventing you from building new structures or otherwise countering their assault, while they continue to build. The lack of more precise tools for drone management also factors into this; one can tell all drones to work on something, or just half of them (sometimes), but cannot, for example, order five to work on maintaining defences, three to build a new structure and the remainder to slowly build a large structure in the background. This means that it can be impossible to build new structures or units while also maintaining the defences that are required to keep said structures safe. In my view, the perfect solution to this would be to have a counter on each unfinished structure with arrows to easily select how many drones should be allocated to it, in addition to the current system.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2408907212
This snowball effect can also be turned on the enemy, with devastating results. In the game's later stages, I realised I could demolish any enemy by forgoing caution and devoting resources to building a powerful offensive unit right away, thus preventing the enemy from building anything on the front of their ship and forcing them to allocate drones to constant repairs. I tested this on the game's final level, and was able to win in less than two minutes on the hardest difficulty. Usable abilities would be a good way to counter these stalemates, but the game only features one, and it doesn't come in until quite late in the story.

Battlecruisers features only story mode, which is comprised of 25 levels that can be replayed while retaining all previously earned upgrades. Along the way, players unlock new cruisers, units, weapons and defences, with their own advantages and disadvantages. I appreciate that not all cruisers earned are a straight upgrade from the one before, but a choice to be made based on playstyle and preference.

The story of Battlecruisers is a brief but goofy and amusing one told via encounters before each level, in which our robotic protagonist trades comments with the captain they're about to face in battle. Essentially, the protagonist stole a cruiser for a joyride and winds up battling the forces of the superpower who owned it.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2407925725

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on HDD

Battlecruisers features a great silhouetted art style that is a pleasure to look at. Animations are good, as are environmental effects such as smoke, waves and water splashes.

Using the specs listed above, the game ran at a constant 60fps with no drops. There are no graphics settings.

I was surprised by the high quality of Battlecruisers' soundtrack – it's very relaxing. Sound effects are decent, though they start to grate quite badly when the game is played on fast-forward.

None to report.

Battlecruisers is an enjoyable game whose strengths far outweigh its flaws, and it's a worthwhile experience, if a short one.

If you like long, detailed reviews, check out our curator page, Devils in the Detail.

This review contains no story spoilers.
Ronin: Two Souls (RO:TS) is a beautiful and highly atmospheric RPG that's in a very early state, with little content or polish to speak of. While the basic technical aspects of the game, such as optimisation, are in a decent state, the quality of the quests, characters, combat and the English translation are greatly lacking at this point in time. Though I can forgive much of this considering the very early state of the game, some aspects are just too rough.

In the few hours I played, I explored the game's single available island quite thoroughly, spoke to all the NPCs and progressed the main quests a much as I could, before bugs and/or overly obscure design halted my progress.

🖱🎮RO:TS works well with both keyboard & mouse and controller, but controls cannot be re-bound, and the Y axis cannot be inverted.🎮🖱

This section may now be outdated due to updates.

All of the game's combat takes place in duels; one-on-one showdowns viewed from a side-on perspective, similar to many fighting games. Access to three different combat stances and a parry ability suggests a complex combat system, but in practice I found duels incredibly easy to win by simply jabbing the enemy as they come into range. Said enemies can typically only block attacks from one specific stance, so players can simply switch to another and merrily jab away. This may simply be due to the available enemies being “starter” foes at the beginning of the game, but only time and content updates will tell.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2401747226
Various equipment items such as swords and armour can be looted from enemies and locations. These all offer various stat buffs and debuffs which work well, most of the time. Items that reduce the player's stamina, however, can be overly detrimental to gameplay. Too much reduction, and the protagonist cannot sprint at all when out of combat, as they immediately become exhausted. Similarly, attacks in some stances are rendered impossible due to their stamina cost.

RO:TS features only a handful of quests at present, and distinguishes between story content and fetch quests. Unfortunately, my experience of these is one of bugs, confusion and tedium. Despite spending more than half of my playtime poking around RO:TS' relatively small island, I was unable to complete either of the two main quests provided. One had me on a scavenger hunt, using hand-drawn maps to locate loot boxes; I found two of them within a minute, but the third, I could swear, does not exist. I do not know whether it was missing due to a bug or whether I was gravely misled by the map, but either way, an hour-and-a-half later, I'm done looking.

The second quest was much the same. I don't need a Skyrim-esque objective marker to show me every little thing, and I like exploring, but this is rather excessive – or bugged.

The protagonist's journey begins on a small island populated by a few poor villagers, pirates looking for plunder, and other, less transparent individuals. With distinctive areas like a forest of red-leaved trees and another of bamboo, RO:TS' first area is a beautiful and atmospheric one that's a pleasure to explore. The invisible walls preventing entry to the ocean are a bit jarring, but I can forgive the game that.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2401749851
Filling the shoes of Kenji, a young man trained in the ways of a Samurai, the player is immediately left to explore RO:TS' world and act as they please, while Kenji comments on his player-guided actions and encounters. His character is displayed and decided through conversations with both allies and enemies alike – as mentioned previously, no enemy will attack Kenji without first entering dialogue, giving enemies more depth than a generic bandit, or similar.

The limited number of interactions, characters and quests currently featured in RO:TS (or at least, the limited number I could experience) make it hard to grasp the quality of the story writing or what calibre of character arc Kenji will have. As it stands, there's promise, but little substance.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on HDD

Clearly, the game's environments are beautiful, though there are some less appealing aspects, as well. Shadows are quite grainy, even when set to epic, and there seems to be a grainy effect to the graphics as a whole, most noticeable when moving the camera quickly or looking at objects closely. In addition, character models are relatively simple and very few in number – there's only one model for a male villager, for example. These flaws are overshadowed, however, by the stunning views and vibrant colour the game regularly displays.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2401747916
Using a mixture of high and epic settings, the game ran at a consistent 60fps in open areas, with dips of 5-10 in areas with very dense flora.

The soundtrack of RO:TS is a nice one, with pleasant music that fits the game's atmosphere well. Sound effects are decent, and while only the protagonist's dialogue is voiced, the audio quality is similarly adequate, though I cannot speak to the quality of the acting itself, as it is not spoken in English.

English translation.
It's pretty bad. Typos and grammatical errors are rife, and some lines of dialogue, descriptions and even quest objectives are not translated at all.

Dialogue cannot be skipped.

Key bindings cannot be changed.

While I encountered few minor bugs while playing RO:TS, there were several major ones, which should make my reluctance to persevere with the quests more understandable.

Game locking completely:
Entering one specific area caused my game to completely lock out all input, forcing me to Alt-F4. I believe this was caused by a bad event trigger. Two attempts at loading the autosave after restarting the game caused it to attempt to both load the save and start a new game simultaneously. The first time this happened, the game had a complete meltdown, breaking all visuals and audio. The second time, the game loaded successfully but had reset the world and all its quests and NPCs, loading me into a sort of unintentional new game+ mode. Thankfully, I had been making manual saves regularly. If I hadn't, I would have been forced to start over.

Flickering visuals:
Certain anti-aliasing settings cause the ocean to flicker constantly.

NPCs forgetting where they are:
At one point, I attempted to talk to an NPC who was previously amicable (I had become friendly with his faction) only for him to be openly hostile without explanation. This culminated in a fight which teleported us to the other side of the island, where the NPC was located earlier in the quest.

Ronin: Two Souls is undoubtedly a game with potential, but it has a long way to go, and I cannot recommend it in its current state. Episodic content is planned for the game, and I will be keeping an eye on its progress. With luck, I will soon be able to progress further and will update this review as necessary.

If you like long, detailed reviews, check out our curator page, Devils in the Detail.

This review contains no story spoilers.
Electro Ride is an arcade racer with vibrant visuals, catchy music and a great retro style. Unfortunately, its gameplay is lacking, despite being built on some genuinely good ideas. Where I expected to find a smooth arcade driving experience, I found rigid and sometimes unpleasant vehicle handling that feels out of place.

🖱🎮I recommend using controller to play this game, though keyboard & mouse is passable.🎮🖱

While nobody should expect Electro Ride to feature the advanced driving mechanics of a sim, it struggles to achieve what I consider to be good arcade gameplay, either. It's adequate when driving straighter tracks with long, sweeping corners, but on more complex tracks, the rigidity and clumsiness of the handling becomes apparent. I expect an arcade racer to flow nicely and maintain a sense of momentum, even if it means defying physics by sliding everywhere to go faster, e.g. Mario Kart, or having greatly exaggerated grip and braking levels, like Need for Speed.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2400194956
Electro Ride features neither trope, instead featuring handling characteristics more appropriate in a sim, such as severe understeer at speed and the inability to corner while braking heavily, but without the level of control required to back them up. Braking for a sharp corner is a clumsy and unpleasant affair that even the A.I. drivers fail to accomplish, causing frequent pile-ups. Add to this the tendency for some cars to spin uncontrollably upon a slightly too vigorous steering input or light collision, and the overall gameplay experience is one that I struggled to enjoy. Even when everything comes together with corners taken perfectly, a lead gained and the finish line in sight, I still could not gain any enjoyment or satisfaction from driving in Electro Ride. The good parts were just “okay”, while the bad parts were really bad.

At odds with the handling model is the speed boost mechanic present in the tracks themselves. Said boosts are placed on various stretches of road and are separated into three colours with corresponding lanes. This is a good feature; it encourages players to fight for the boosts that will give them the best path through the corners while depriving other racers of said boosts, lending the game a tactical element.

The A.I. opponents are absolutely insane. These kamikaze drivers will happily direct themselves into walls, ditches and other cars with reckless abandon, yet somehow manage to consistently keep up with a player running a perfect race. This A.I. behaviour does nothing to alleviate the somewhat lacking driving mechanics, though it is entertaining; I'll give it that.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2400193320
Electro Ride's story mode sees players competing in a series of races in different locations such as Prague and Moscow. These races take a few different guises such as elimination and 1 VS 1 mode, but they change little from the perspective of the person in the lead. Upon completing an area by defeating its boss in a 1v1, the player will be given a new vehicle with improved stats.

I have no complaints about the game's tracks; they're detailed, flowing and well designed. Many do look very similar, but that's understandable given the game's very focused aesthetic. The aforementioned boosts are well-placed, and details such as transparent road sections really add to the visual fidelity of what would otherwise be an ordinary stretch of tarmac.

Electro Ride's story is told through cutscenes with no dialogue, making the details vague, but the overall plot seems apparent enough: the protagonist is a driver who wants to be the best. They challenge the racers of various cities, eventually taking on the best of them in a 1v1 before moving on to the next location. It's a simple plot, but it's conveyed well, and fits nicely with Electro Ride's gameplay.

This game was played with the following PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on HDD

Electro Ride features great visuals, with plentiful colour, energy and detail not only in the tracks and vehicles, but in the background structures and objects. The 2D animated cutscenes and loading screens fit perfectly in the game, and add significantly to the experience.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2400191360
Using the specs listed above, the game ran at a consistent 60fps on high settings. No issues to report.

Electro Ride's soundtrack is excellent, and fits perfectly with the game's aesthetic. Sound effects are of high quality, as well. No complaints.

The camera:
It snaps back to its central position far too aggressively. When using a controller, one can hold it in the desired position, but trying to move it with a mouse is a fruitless endeavour. Ideally, it should move freely when desired, and snap back to centre a short time after input is released.

On one occasion, my car was forcibly reset, as if I had left the track, despite me racing normally.

Deciding whether to recommend Electro Ride was not straightforward, as the game does everything right, except for the crucial aspect that is the gameplay. In the end, I must decide against it, as I could not recommend a friend purchase the game outside of a sale.

If you like long, detailed reviews, check out our curator page, Devils in the Detail.