Indie Game Reviews | Fruitbowl Gaming

Cuisineer

While browsing the upcoming games back in January, I noticed there was one that vaguely reminded me of Moonlighter. In this case, however, rather than running a shop, the main character would be a restauranteur. I instantly pre-ordered Cuisineer and played through it earlier last month. After 31 hours of gameplay, I was finally prepared to make my verdict.

Story: The story of Cuisineer begins with the main character, Pom, adventuring through the wilderness as she heads home. Upon reaching her hometown of Paell, she enters her parents' restaurant to find her childhood best friend Biscotti waiting for her. As it turns out, her parents went on a spontaneous vacation around the world, leaving the restaurant in her hands. Unfortunately, it's quite run-down and very much in debt, which Pom quickly learns from the town tax collector. Slowly but surely, you begin to rebuild and restore your family restaurant's reputation.

Every day that you wake up, you have the choice of opening up the restaurant or going into one of the four regions (which you unlock one by one during the story) to collect cooking ingredients. This mechanic was very reminiscent of Moonlighter's core gameplay. In my review of Moonlighter, I had gone into detail how hands-on the shopkeeping was. While Cuisineer is simpler in some spots, it still requires some thought as to how you want to design your restaurant.

As you progress through the story, you will be able to upgrade your restaurant, which includes both the building and the cooking stations. The higher the tier of your stations, the more extravagant your dishes will be.

While the main story isn't long, most of your time will be spent on hunting down ingredients, running your restaurant, and unlocking new recipes through side quests. 4.6/5

Abilities/Gear: Similarly to Moonlighter, your gear will require crafting materials that are exclusive to specific areas/dungeons. As such, you will spend a fair amount of time farming for crafting materials, which can become somewhat of a drag at times. Each piece of gear can be upgraded 4 times, until it reached the maximum of 5 stars. This includes a melee weapon, a ranged item, gloves and boots. Each item also has two affixes on it, which can have various effects, including but not limited to damage output and status effects.

While there is not a lot of variety in the equipment you can find, they are all in some shape or form food themed. From ranged durian bombs to smackarel melee weapons, there's plenty of goofiness to be had during combat encounters.

Each melee item has its own special ability that can be used during combat. For example, the spatula will slap itself down in front of you, inflicting fire damage to all enemies in the vicinity while also applying pushback. While it does have a recharge time, it doesn't take long before you can slap enemies again. There are a total of 7 buffs/debuffs in the game that you can potentially enchant your gear with, all of which are included in the picture below.

I personally went with a combination of Aflame, Sweetened and Shielded. Any time I got hit by an enemy, I would have a shield appear temporarily, while they became stunned and dealt me less damage. While they were in a trance, I would set them on fire with the spatula, quickly depleting their health. Fortunately, there are plenty of combinations you can try out, until you find something that works best for you. In addition to all of those items, there are a total of 8 different boba drinks you can research, which serve as potions that you can use during your exploration. While the abilities/gear in Cuisineer may not be many, they were certainly well thought out and implemented. 5/5

Exploration: The exploration in Cuisineer is limited to the four areas you will frequent for cooking ingredients. Most areas have enemies that are exclusive to 1-2 regions, so it's best for you to make a thorough list of everything you need, to maximize your resource gathering.

The world design itself is quite beautiful, with each zone having its own stunning, unique setting. Whether it's the forest, volcano, frozen fjord or the mysterious swamp, the settings alone are worth spending a bit of time on.

Every time you visit one of the four regions, the map will be randomized a little to provide a slight sense of variety. The general idea, however remains the same: there are 5 floors to explore, with the 3rd floor having a mini boss while the 5th has the final boss. When it comes to enemies, most can be found in two different regions, with the aquatic enemies being the exceptions; they can only be located in the frozen region. Overall, while the exploration may be minimal, it gets the main task done: providing you with areas rich with cooking ingredients. 5/5

Achievements: While Cuisineer has 52 achievements in total, most of them are very easy to do. There are three achievements you should be on lookout for: Friendship is Explosive (Have a sporeling chase you for a minute without dying), Anger Room (Smash 10 breakables in 10 seconds) and Liquidity (Pay off the first debt on the same day you learn about it). Liquidity is the only missable achievement in the game, so make sure you save up a bit of money before you encounter the tax collector for the first time. The sporeling achievement can be done in the volcano region, which will be the 2nd area you unlock. Just make sure you kill everything else in the vicinity besides the tree that summons the sporelings. As the little mushrooms begin to chase you around, make sure you keep your distance and dash whenever they get close. Anger Room can be done in the forest region, so just keep an eye out for a lot of breakables near each other. I unlocked it completely by accident while I was busy hunting down some chickens. 4.5/5

All in all, Cuisineer was a fun, cozy and mostly stress-free game that I thoroughly enjoyed playing. As a fan of Moonlighter, I was very excited to try it out, so I'm relieved to say that it did not disappoint. While the story was short and simple, the restaurant management, gear and exploration more than made up for it. I know I mentioned Moonlighter often in this review, but it truly did remind me a lot of the shopkeeping indie game. If you enjoyed Moonlighter, I recommend giving Cuisineer a shot. There are only three things you need to be sure of in Cuisineer: keep upgrading your restaurant, collect ingredients for cooking and pay off your parents' debts! 4.78/5

For reference: I have 41 hours in the game and all 52 achievements unlocked

Eternal Strands

Late last year, I was browsing the upcoming releases section of the Xbox Store, looking for potential games to pre-order, when I stumbled upon Yellow Brick Games' Eternal Strands. Before I had even taken the time to read the short description the store page provides, the game had already captured my attention with its animation style. I've always enjoyed playing games with a similar design, so I instantly pre-ordered it. After playing the game in its entirety, I was finally ready to make a verdict.

Story: The story revolves around the main character Brynn, who along with her band of fellow Weavers, are in the search of the long lost civilization named the Enclave. Think of the Enclave as the Atlantis of this world, but it's not underwater. Instead, most of the world has been affected/covered by a deadly mist of unknown origin. Straight away, you're thrust into a matter of life and death, fleeing the mist as it begins to encompass everything around you. Miraculously, you're able to find an old Ark, a machine of a bygone era, that safely leads you into the Enclave. It isn't until the following day that you wake up and truly realize where you are. The leader of your group, Oria, was injured during your travels, leaving you to the be point (the person who goes out on the adventures to explore and fight monsters). As you begin to explore the starting area, you encounter your first world boss: the Ark of the Stricken Earth.

The combat style, amongst other things, takes a lot of inspiration from games such as Legend of Zelda and Shadow of the Colossus. Upon defeating the enormous Ark, you return to the campsite, where Oria, Casmyn, Dahm, Sola, Sevastyan and Laen all await. Each one has their own role in the group, whether it's the enchanter, the blacksmith, scribe, etc. You will slowly begin to explore deeper into Enclave territory, while having the opportunity to complete some companion quests for your fellow Weavers.

Although the story is linear and doesn't have many twists, it's still a decent plot nonetheless. If you skip a lot of the exploration and focus purely on the story, it isn't very long, but you should get around a solid 24 hours worth of gameplay, depending on what difficulty you play it on. 4/5

Abilities and Gear: One thing Eternal Strands doesn't skimp out on is the number of abilities you're able to unlock. In order to get access to a new ability/power, you will need to defeat a specific world boss by extracting their strand. In the game there are two ways to defeat these big bosses: you can simply chip away at their health bar until they die, or you can take out specific weak points/pieces of armor to gain access to their essence strand. Once you extract these strands, you take them back to Dahm, who will research and unlock a new Kinetic, Frost or Flame power for you.

There are a total of six Powers you can unlock, each of which will require 3 strands from their respectable bosses, if you wish to max out all abilities.

Conveniently, while you're busy defeating those bosses, you will be simultaneously farming for the necessary crafting materials required for weapon upgrades. As you explore the Enclave, you will get your hands on a multitude of blueprints: both for armor pieces and weapons. Certain gear pieces will have a bonus affix, which can vary from stat boosts to ability enhancements. Fortunately, you can always take apart any piece of gear to retrieve all the materials you used while upgrading/reforging it. I'd recommend experimenting in the beginning, to find what works best for you.

Personally, I've always been a fire person, with a slight lean towards electric powers, so for me it was a no-brainer. My loadout revolved around enhancing my flame abilities, while maximizing how much magic reserve I had. I had located the Flame Shield and Sword early on in my playthrough and it stayed with me until the very end.

I think Yellow Brick Games, did a good job with both the abilities and the gear. Sure, sometimes my character will fly across the known universe when I use one of the kinetic powers, but more often than not, that ends up working in my favor. 5/5

Exploration: The exploration in Eternal Strands was a bit of a sensitive subject for me near the end of my playthrough. The world design was beautiful, providing me with plenty of scenery to screenshot and enjoy.

Combined with the art style that reminds me somewhat of Immortals Fenyx Rising, I ended up spending a good two-three hours running around looking for high-up locations I could climb for pictures like the ones above and below.

While the world design is wonderful, the collectibles are the one glaring negative that I experienced in-game. If you're planning on going for the completion, I highly recommend using a guide. I had played the game day one of release, and by the time I completed it, the guides were barely in the 3rd region. The collectibles have an audio cue that can somewhat help you locate most of them. Unfortunately, the treasure chests also happen to make the same sound, which will lead you on a wild goose chase at times. I'm sure that by the time this review is released, there will be plenty of guides that one can refer to when they're stuck. 2/5

Achievements: The achievement list for the most part is straightforward and easy to accomplish. There are a total of 44 achievements/trophies, including a platinum/completion trophy/achievement. The most frustrating ones, in my opinion, where Bibliophile (complete the entire codex) and Spellbound (constrained all limbs of a bipedal arkon). Depending on the site you check, they will say that it takes between 35 and 56 hours to 100% the game, which quite frankly isn't too bad. I actually made an achievement video guide for a different one Matter Over Mind (defeated a great creature or arkon without equipping a weapon) and will include the link at the bottom of the review. 4.25/5

All in all, Eternal Strands is a solid game that's worth trying out if you're a fan of the art style or the recent Legend of Zelda games. The story is linear but decent, the gear/abilities are great, the exploration is hit or miss and the achievement list is definitely doable with a guide. This was the first game made and released by Yellow Brick Games, and I look forward to seeing what they develop in the future. 3.8/5

The link to the Matter Over Mind achievement video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii-T2F2BrG8

For reference: I have 40 hours in the game and all 44 achievements unlocked

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Plus

At the end of last month, I was browsing through the store to see what new games were coming out at the beginning of October. Fortunately for me, I stumbled upon Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Plus, which is made by the same developers behind the Danganronpa franchise; Spike Chunsoft.

Story: The story begins with you waking up in the Lost and Found of a train station, completely confused as to what is going on. As you try to regain your bearings, you hear a voice that guides you to a note nearby. It informs you that you, Yuma Kokohead, are to go to Kanai Ward and team up with other Master Detectives from the World Detective Organization, to solve all the mysteries in that town. You quickly rush to the train, barely making it in time before its departure. Once onboard, you meet 5 Master Detectives: Zilch, Aphex, Pucci, Melami and Zange. At first, you’re relieved to see others that you can talk with, until you come to realize two things: you have amnesia and there is a peculiar mystery going on inside the train! There should only be 5 Master Detectives onboard, yet once you arrived, that number rose to 6. Feeling overwhelmed, you try to go rest, but pass out in the bathroom. When you awaken, you’re met with your secret crime solving partner, Shinigami the Death God. Unfortunately, you don’t have time to sit down and figure everything out; there’s a fire onboard and you need to put it out. Upon putting out the flames in the infirmary, the two of you make a grim discovery: Zilch is dead! As you move through the train cars, trying to find help, you find the bodies of all the detectives on board, burnt to a crisp.

You quickly try to gather as many clues as you can before you arrive at Kanai Ward, in hopes of catching the killer before it is too late. Sadly, you run out of time and are caught by Swank Catsonell and his goons, all of whom are the Peacekeepers of Kanai Ward. These “local police officers” attempt to pin the murders on the train on you, until Shinigami comes to your rescue. Thanks to her supernatural powers, she is able to pause time and summon a Mystery Labyrinth: a labyrinth in a different dimension, dedicated exclusively to solving the mystery of the train murders. As you traverse through the labyrinth, you encounter various enemies that try to mislead and prevent you from finding out the truth. You must fight them with your clues, refuting their statements as you make your way to the real culprit.

Once you solve the mystery, Shinigami brings you back to the real world, where you explain your side of the story to Swank. Fortunately for you, the Chief Detective of the Nocturnal Detective Agency (NDA) in Kanai Ward, Yakou Furio, arrives just in time to back you up and get you out of there. Once you’re safely inside the NDA, the Chief introduces you to the detectives you will be working with: Halara, Desuhiko, Fubuki and Vivia. During your time in Kanai Ward, you will end up working with each one of them on different cases, witnessing first hand their supernatural and magical powers. Although I went into some detail about the Prologue of the game, I left out some details to avoid too many spoilers. I will say this however: the investigating and Mystery Labyrinth mechanics are quite fun for the most part. In each case you’re involved in, you will investigate crime scenes, question various characters, and rely on your fellow detectives’ powers to figure out all the clues you need.

Each significant character in the story is designed and written to be unique, which adds to the charm of the game. All the detectives have their own quirks, some of the civilians are quite bold, and the villains are written in such a manner that you can’t help but cheer for their downfall. There are some funny moments that you will encounter with Shinigami or Fubuki, for example. The conversations you have with them will occasionally make you facepalm yourself, laugh or become genuinely confused. For me, there were two things that initially caught my eye about the game: the beautiful animation and world design, as well as the developer behind the game. As I mentioned in the beginning of my review, the same devs that made MDA are also responsible for another series I’m a big fan of: Danganronpa. From the way MDA plays, it feels like a 3D Danganronpa that is a bit more open world.

There were many unexpected twists and turns throughout the story that at times left me either shocked and confused, or excited and impressed that I figured it out beforehand. I personally loved the story from start to finish, even with the occasionally annoying Quick Time Events I encountered. 5/5

Abilities/Gear: In the world of MDA, Master Detectives have abilities called Fortes, which allow them to solve mysteries in a timely fashion. As you progress through the story, you rediscover your Forte, reach a better understanding of Shinigami's powers, and learn about the Fortes of your fellow detectives at the Nocturnal Detective Agency. Each chapter will have you working with a different detective, requiring you to utilize their Fortes to discover clues you would otherwise be unable to find. I find this to be a well thought out idea by Spike Chunsoft, as it ensures that audience gets to know the side characters well.

Aside from the Fortes, you will also be earning Detective Points, which are the game's equivalent of EXP points. You earn these by completing requests, finding clues, interacting with the environment, finding the collectible memory shards and by completing the Mystery Labyrinth. The labyrinth is a tricky one, however, as the amount of DP you earn is based on what rating you get at the end of the case. The highest possible is SS, which requires you to be perfect throughout the entire labyrinth, but nets you a hefty amount of DP.

Every time you level up, you will earn SP points that you can use to unlock effects that will help you in the Mystery Labyrinth. These include but are not limited to increased stamina (health), easier combat scenarios and simpler puzzles.

If you get SS rating on all the labyrinths, found all the collectibles, finished all requests and interacted a bit with the environment, you might be a little off from reaching the maximum Detective Rank of 30. You can simply go to the main menu and from chapter select, pick which Mystery Labyrinth you wish to repeat to farm to more DP. For example, you can use it any time if you missed some stuff, allowing you to repeat whichever chunk you'd like. The DP you earn here will be added to what you already have, ensuring you didn't have to redo the entire story. 5/5

Exploration: The exploration in Master Detective Archives primarily focuses on locating all the Memory Shards and completing the Requests given to you by the citizens of Kanai Ward. You should keep in mind, however, that if you're aiming for the full completion of the game, you should do all the Requests available during each chapter prior to the main missions. Each time you finish a chapter, you will be unable to return to the Requests available there unless you use chapter select. Meanwhile, the majority of the Memory Shards will be located during the main missions themselves, so make sure to keep an eye out for them as you investigate!

There are a few locations available for you to explore, so make sure to take the time to look around and enjoy the scenery. Although there isn't much to do outside of the missions and Requests, I still enjoyed the scenery and world design in MDA. As you progress through the story, you will collect information about everyone that you've met during the investigations. This includes your fellow detectives, the victims, witnesses and the criminals themselves. All of these characters can be found in your journal, which will keep updating as you progress.

You also have tabs that will show you all the memories you've unlocked by discovering Memory Shards, a glossary of all locations/people/etc., all the Requests that you've accepted and all the Cases you have solves. With each case, you will unlock new areas to visit, thus providing you with a better understanding of what is truly going on in the shadows of Kanai Ward. 4.4/5

Achievements: Last but not least, we have the achievement list in Master Detective Agency: Rain Code Plus. The game consists of 38 achievements, most of which are very straightforward. The only ones that are somewhat tricky are Eliminator of All Mysteries (Unlock all Achievements), King of the Mystery Labyrinth (Get SS rating in all Mystery Labyrinths), Kanai Ward's Top Detective (Reach maximum Detective Rank), The Perfect Job (Solved All Requests) and A Lot of Memories (Gather all Memory Shards).

Getting SS rating will be somewhat frustrating, because you can't take any damage and need to select all the correct answers on the first try. I highly recommend making frequent saves, to prevent you from having to redo the entirety of the Labyrinth in the future. As I mentioned earlier in the review, to reach maximum Detective Rank, you most likely will need to redo an additional Mystery Labyrinth, if you have SS rating on everything already. The Memory Shards and Requests should be closely monitored, to ensure you don't miss any, but it's not too difficult to do. There are guides available for each, which will save you a lot of time. According to TrueAchievements, Eliminator of All Mysteries is currently unobtainable, but I think that has already been patched. I was fortunate enough to be able to unlock it upon earning my final necessary achievement. 4.2/5

Overall, I had an absolute blast playing Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Plus. The story was very well written, the world design is beautiful, the abilities are unique and useful, and there's a decent amount of exploration. Although some of the achievements can be a grind if you're going for the full completion, if we put that aside, the game is definitely worth looking into! It's certainly given me the motivation to sit down and work on other lengthy games I have in my massive backlog, while I hope and wait for a potential sequel to be announced. 4.65/5

For reference: I have 35 hours in the game and all 38 achievements unlocked

TCG Card Shop Simulator

As I was browsing the Steam store page last weekend, I noticed there was a new simulator that looked quite fun: TCG Card Shop Simulator. As a former Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! player, I instantly nabbed this game, to relive the fun of opening card packs.

Story: TCG Card Shop Sim, which I will refer to as TCGS for the rest of the review, doesn't necessarily have a straightforward story. Instead, it takes you through a short tutorial of how the game works, teaching you some of the game mechanics through natural gameplay. No matter your choices however, the main idea of TCGS stays the same: you just opened your very own card shop and want to make as much money as possible.

Every day you will have customers coming in to purchase merchandise and play at your tables. With every purchase they make, you earn experience based on the total amount of the sale. As you level up, you unlock more items for your shop, which can bring a big boost to your sales. These items include shelving, as well as different types of merchandise you need to purchase licenses for. Additionally, the game will randomly make some of your customers very smelly, which can bring down the overall morale of the customers. To ensure that the odors don't affect anyone, you can purchase and install air fresheners in your shop.

I personally found the gameplay to be quite relaxing, especially during the days where I felt burnt out from other tasks. You dictate the prices of everything in your store, although I'd advice keeping a close eye on some of them. While I was working the cash register, I was able to see which items customers bought frequently and which they weren't big fans of. This can help you save money, by focusing your purchases on what's most popular. However, the best part of the game in my opinion, is opening card packs. Nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction when you pull a rare and expensive card from a random booster pack. 5/5

Abilities/Gear: When it comes to the abilities and gear in TCGS, one must look to their in-game phone. This is where you can make all of your purchases, upgrades, hirings and bill payments. As the store owner, you have a lot of responsibilities on your hands every single day, so you need to be well equipped.

As of this moment, there are three stores available to you in the game: the Tetramon shop, the furniture shop and the board game shop. As you level up, you will unlock access to new items in all three stores. In the case of Tetramon, this includes card and deck packs, accessories (card sleeves, dice, deck boxes, etc.) and plushies/figurines. Each will require you to purchase a sales license, so make sure to save up plenty of money! The furniture includes shelving/card holders for selling merch, storage utilities for yourself and a workbench. I highly recommend purchasing the workbench, as it will be quite useful for you after the first 10 days or so. You can use it to bundle 100 cheap cards together into one bulk package and sell them as such, saving you a lot of time.

Besides the three shops, you have access to a site where you can purchase shop expansions, as well as a second store. I personally use the second shop as my warehouse, where I can keep all my excess stock and the workbench. You keep in mind, however, that the bigger your store is, the higher your rent and electricity bills will become. As such, I recommend leveling up a little before expanding your store too much, to ensure you have enough merch to make a profit.

If you notice yourself struggling with the number of customers you have, check out the hiring app on your phone to hire employees. They can either work the register or restock shelves for you, depending on your preference. The only issue I currently have with the abilities is the lack of bulk packaging for the more expensive cards. Rather than having to sell each $1-10 card on their own, I'd rather just sell them in bulk for one lump sum instead.

Usually, simulators are quite simple when it comes to what abilities/gear you can use, and TCGS is no exception. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. As a matter of fact, it's quite the opposite! Rather than having an overcomplicated simulator, which after a while will become an absolute drag, something simple and straightforward provides you with a healthy outlet for relaxation. Sometimes when I feel really stressed or anxious, I'll hop on and just open a bunch of booster packs to get my mind off of whatever is going on. Maybe it can do the same for you as well! 4.8/5

Exploration: TCGS doesn't have any actual exploration, since your entire time is spent in the card shop. Because of this, I will be focusing on the card variety available to you for the exploration section of my review. There are two card sets in the game: Tetramon Standard and Tetramon Destiny. Additionally, they're divided into four rarities: Basic, Rare, Epic and Legendary. With each increasing rarity, you stand a higher chance of pulling a more expensive card for your collection.

Based off the posts I have seen in the Steam discussion pages for the game, you can potentially get a card worth north of $10,000 in-game currency!. Every card that you pull will automatically get added to your collection journal, which organizes the cards based off their expansions. Additionally, it will tell you how much your collection is worth, thus giving you a good idea of how much you can stand to make off single card sales alone.

Every card has the possibility to be basic, First Edition, Silver, Gold, EX, Full Art and Foil. The Foil variant is combined with any of the others to be an even more expensive card. There is also a very very rare chance of pulling a Ghost card, which I personally have yet to do. These are Full Art cards with either white or black backgrounds and rainbow Foil that can go for an absurd amount of money. If you're a collector like myself, this is where most of your fun will be! 5/5

Achievements: Although the game is on Steam and in Early Access, it does have an achievement list. There are 40 achievements total and most of them are quite grindy. These include Collecting 2500 cards, Opening 10,000 card packs and reaching Card Shop Level 100. Considering this is a simulator game, however, this achievement list does not come as a surprise. Most simulators are quite grindy, which in my opinion is a fair way of rewarding you for spending your time in-game. There are some that are completely random luck based, including selling a card work $10k and getting a Ghost card, but that's fine. The main problem with simulator achievements is that they tend to be very buggy, but I haven't encountered any issues as of yet. 4.7/5

Overall, TCG Card Shop Simulator is a fun and relaxing outlet that I recommend to any TCG players out there. The gameplay, while repetitive after a while, can be used as a nice distraction when having a rough day. When you take into account the price of the game, which surprisingly is only $13 USD, you will definitely get your money's worth if you've ever dreams of owning your own card shop. The developers are consistently updating the game to fix any issues and add new content, such as the board games (added in 4 days ago). 4.88/5

For reference: I have 19 hours in the game and 22/40 achievements unlocked

Moonlighter

Last year, during one of the big sales I noticed Moonlighter was heavily discounted. Being a fan of management games, I decided to take a shot at it and purchased it. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to it until recently, but I'm definitely glad I bought the game.

Story: The story of Moonlighter begins with with Will, the main character of the game, exploring an unknown dungeon. After going through a couple of rooms that teach you the controls, you encounter some enemies that you must fend off. Unfortunately for you, your only weapon is a wooden broom, resulting in the monsters swarming you and nearly killing you. You're quickly rescued by an old friend of your grandfather's, Zenon. Having brought you back to the village of Rynoka, he begins to scold you for being so careless in the dungeon. Afterall, your grandfather left you his shop, the Moonlighter, hoping you would continue his legacy as a shopkeeper.

Will, being the stubborn guy he is, doesn't listen to Zenon and proceeds to continue visiting the dungeons in hopes of finding out its secrets. As you explore the first dungeon, you discover notes left by Crazy Pete, another friend of your grandfather's. These notes inform you that each of the four dungeons has a guardian you must defeat, to collect their keys and unlock the door to the 5th dungeon, something that had never been done before.

To unlock each dungeon, you must defeat the guardian of the previous one, but it will take time. Each one consists of three floors of increasing difficulty, with a mini-boss on the first two. Additionally, every dungeon is based in a different environment, resulting in varying elemental damages you will receive. For example, the forest dungeon uses poison/acid while the robot dungeon uses electricity.

Not all of your time will be spent in the dungeons, however. It's actually split between hunting for items and selling them at your shop. Each one has different price sets: a steal, good price, slightly expensive and obscenely expensive. Unless you're using a guide, it will take some experimenting to find out which prices are which, but it doesn't stop there. You will also need to take into account the demand for certain supplies. If you sell too many at once, the demand will drop, requiring you to either decrease your prices or hold off on selling more. The opposite can also be experiences, with some items being very on-demand, which you can exploit to earn more gold.

As you progress through the story, you will be able to purchase upgrades for your shop and unlock other merchants for the village. These merchants offer you the options to craft or enchant gear, craft potions, buy crafting materials, purchase decorations for your shop or to invest your money in the market. At the end of each day, if you sold some items, you will see a receipt that demonstrates just how much you made off each item. I found this to be quite enjoyable, as it was a nice distraction from the slight grind for certain crafting materials. After a little while, customers will begin coming to your shop with requests for certain items from dungeons. If you choose to accept these requests, you have a limited timeframe during which you can complete these jobs.

While the story itself isn't too complex, the overall vibe of the playthrough is a combination of cozy shopkeeping and occasionally challenging battles. 5/5

Abilities/Gear: Throughout your playthrough, you will unlock two abilities: a rift to take you back to town and a portal you can use to go between the town and current dungeon floor. Since you lose almost everything in your inventory when you die, you will be using the rift often. The portal is mainly useful when you're on the 3rd floor and about to enter the boss battle room. I'd recommend using it to get back to town, heal and empty out your inventory of items you don't need before fighting the boss.

As you progress through the dungeons, you will unlock new crafting materials that are exclusive to each dungeon. You will need to gather specific ones so you can craft better armor and weapons. Moonlighter has a nice variety of gear you can pick from, ensuring you find something that fits your playing style. With each upgrade stage, the prices will increase exponentially, so make sure that you keep selling items that you don't need in your shop. Aside from the blacksmith, you can also speak with the witch, who will allow you to enchant your gear and craft/purchase potions. Both of these merchants will be instrumental for your success in the game, so stop by on occasion to improve your gear.

Additionally, you will find rings during your exploration of the dungeons that may be of some use to you. Each dungeon has one ring that grants you immunity to the elemental damage you may encounter there. Other rings may provide you with a boost to certain stats or revive you when you die. If you stumble upon a ring or weapon that you don't necessarily want or need, don't throw it away; bring it back to your shop and sell it for a large profit. From personal experience, I'd advise adding whichever item you want to craft to your wishlist, as it will mark the crafting materials with a star. This makes locating the proper items astronomically easier for you during your dungeon runs.

Similar to some games in other genres, you will have to rearrange the items in your inventory to make sure everything fits. In Moonlighter, however, it is a bit different: rather than being shaped differently, items have different possible storage attributes. For example, some can only be placed at the top or bottom of your backpack, while others will send whatever item their arrow is pointing at back to your shop. Make sure to take some time to properly organize everything, otherwise you may lose some items you need. 4.6/5

Exploration: Outside of the dungeons, there isn't anything around to explore. Most, if not all of your time will be dedicated to the dungeons and your shop, leaving little room for anything else. In the case of Moonlighter, however, that's absolutely fine. Each dungeon floor has a finite number of rooms you can locate, with some having only enemies while others are completely empty. Each floor is guaranteed one healing pool room, which can be very useful if you've run out of potions or wish to save them for the boss battle.

As you explore the dungeons more, your journal/archive will continue to grow, until you've discovered everything in the game. These journal entries include item names, descriptions and different price information. In addition to the regular dungeon floors, you can also locate secret rooms as well. Some of the regular rooms will have a sparkling green light in gaps in the ground. If you just into one of these lights, it will transport you to the hidden floor. These secret rooms will have some standard enemy/treasure rooms, as well as a different mini-boss for you to fight.

Considering the limited number of possibilities available in Moonlighter, the exploration is well thought out, ensuring you don't feel the grind as much. 4.4/5

Achievements: Last but not least is the achievement list for Moonlighter. This is where the game gets a bit tricky: 47/57 achievements in the game are either 12, 26 or 44 Gamerscore. If you don't want your number to look odd, you'll have to make sure you make some progress in the game before stopping. Additionally, there are 4 buggy achievements and 7 missable ones to keep an eye on as well. The missable ones are focused on defeating bosses without being hit, defeating the bosses with a broomstick as the final hit, completing the journal and finishing the game with fewer than 40 deaths. I found most of the achievements to be relatively easy to unlock, although I will admit I didn't try to defeat the bosses without being hit.

The no hit runs will have to be done in one go, because once you defeat the boss, they will not respawn again on that save file. Additionally, if you die while the broomstick was not equipped but in your inventory, you have a good chance of losing it permanently. 4/5

Overall, I found Moonlighter to be a refreshing game to play. The story was well written, the shop was very fun to manage, the dungeons are well designed and the exploration is solid for such a small game. If you can put aside the few issues with achievements, Moonlighter is definitely worth giving a shot when you want to take a break from your usual games. 4.5/5

For reference: I have 27 hours in the game and 46/57 achievements unlocked

The Plucky Squire

Over summer, I was browsing through a list of upcoming releases when I stumbled upon some pictures for All Possible Futures' upcoming game, The Plucky Squire. The art style instantly caught my attention, keeping me excited for it's release. Since its release three days ago, I've taken some time to play through the game in its entirety. While I will be leaving out key parts of the story, for the sake of avoiding spoilers, here is my review.

Story: The story of the Plucky Squire focuses on the squire Jot himself, as he adventures through the his home world of Mojo. In the very beginning, you meet some of Jot's closest friends and allies: Violet and Thrash (both childhood friends), as well as Moonbeard and Pip. Violet is a up-and-coming witch who isn't very confident in her abilities, but more than makes up for it with her positive mentality. Thrash is a mountain troll who loves rock music and similarly to Violet, isn't quite confident in himself. Moonbeard, who reminds me a little bit of Merlin, is a powerful wizard who loves house music. Pip is a small mouse that lives with Moonbeard and occasionally assists Jot on his adventures.

As Jot, Violet and Thrash begin their newest adventure to stop the evil wizard Humgrump, they travel through the storybook page by page, fighting off various enemies. Upon their first encounter of Humgrump, they discover a startling secret: Humgrump is able to boot Jot out of the book and into reality itself! Once he is thrown out of the book, Jot is contacted by Moonbeard, who explains to him what is truly going on. Having been transported from the 2D world into the 3D realm, Jot must quickly adapt to his surroundings if he wishes to make it back into the book and defeat Humgrump once and for all!

Although the story isn't too long, it is well written and beautifully designed. The animation style gives off a cozy and to an extent cute vibe, allowing you to feel as though you're truly living in a children's adventure book. Both the NPCs and enemies have some funny dialogue options that you can either interact with or encounter in cutscenes. While the 2D world of Mojo has plenty of charm on its own, whenever Jot hops into the 3D world, it feels like an entirely different adventure in itself. It vaguely reminds me of my time on Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii, but in the world of the Plucky Squire. Throughout your playthrough, you will have to solve plenty of puzzles, and on rare occasion use stealth to get past some enemies. 5/5

Abilities/Gear: During your adventures, you will new abilities and gear in two ways: through natural story progression and by purchasing items/upgrades from Martina in exchange for lightbulbs. Martina exclusively sells sword abilities you can use during your adventures, such as Sword Throw and Spin Attack. Each ability increases in cost and has 3 upgrades each, so I recommend saving up your bulbs and smashing everything you see around you.

The other abilities you unlock, which are earned through natural story progression, are all acquired out in the 3D world. You will gain access to the Tilt Gloves and two different stamps, all of which will be necessary for solving puzzles and winning certain battles. What I like most about the way All Possible Futures incorporated the 2D and 3D world abilities into one nice package. None of the abilities are unnecessary and all have their own uses throughout your playthrough.

Additionally, not only are these abilities necessary for the story, but the ones discovered in the 3D world will come in handy during your exploration for collectibles. There are some occasions in which you will also gain access to temporary gear, in order to reach certain places and complete objectives. I'll admit that one of the gave me a good laugh when I realized that it was a reference to Magic the Gathering, but I'll leave it for you all to find on your own. 5/5

Exploration: Although the Plucky Squire is a short game, there is a decent amount you can explore in the land of Mojo. In my opinion, there's primarily two things to explore in the game: beautiful scenery to take screenshots of and locating all the collectibles. First let's start with the scenery: as I mentioned before in the story section of my review, the world of Mojo is very beautiful. I'd personally put it in my top 5 world designs for this year, along with Unicorn Overlord and Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 (both of which have their own reviews that I've written).

Since I've already included some images from the 2D world, I'll be including two screenshots I took while outside of the book itself. The one above shows off the very top of the desk, allowing Jot to look out into the world, similar to various scenes from the Toy Story movies. The image below was taken during the nighttime, when Jot is searching for candles to light during a short quest.

Due to the evil Humgrump's shenanigans, you will encounter enemies that were transported from the book onto the desk. Worry not however, as they're not difficult to defeat. Now let's move on to the two types of collectibles you will find throughout the game: Art Scrolls and Glitchbirds. There are a total of 50 scrolls you must find, some of which you can purchase from Martina. If you happen to not find all of them in a single playthrough, don't worry too much as the game has chapter replay.

The Glitchbirds are a different situation altogether, however. There are only 10 of them to find, and although you can find them through chapter select as well, I've noticed a few players mentioning achievement issues tied to it. As such, I would recommend finding all 10 in a single playthrough, to avoid any potential achievement problems. 5/5

Achievements: Last but not least, we have the 20 achievements you can unlock in the Plucky Squire. In my opinion, there are only two somewhat tricky achievements in the game: Savior of Glitchbirds and Perfect Fish Grab. Don't worry too much, however, as neither one is difficult. For example, the Perfect Fish Grab can easily be done by quitting out of the game and loading back in if you fail to grab the fish on the first try. Just keep exiting the game and loading back in to start the minigame from scratch. As for Savior of Glitchbirds, there are various guides available online you can use to find them all in a single playthrough. I personally used PowerPyx's guide, which saved me a lot of time. Just be careful of chapter select, which I heard will not register the Glitchbirds as discovered for achievement progress.

The rest of the achievements can be unlocked through natural gameplay, purchasing upgrades, or by messing around with some words. If you feel like you're struggling too much with the combat, there are accessibility settings you can turn on to become invincible and kill everything with one hit (not including boss battles). 4.8/5

Overall, The Plucky Squire was everything I had hoped it would be, if not a little more. From a well written story to a beautiful world to explore, you will have plenty to see and enjoy during your time in Mojo. I normally don't include so many screenshots from my playthrough in my reviews, but this game was one of the rare occasions where I decided it was worth the extra images. Kudos to All Possible Futures for a wonderful game and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next! 4.95/5

For reference: I have 12 hours in the game and all 20 achievements unlocked

Unicorn Overlord

When I saw the trailer for Unicorn Overlord last year, it instantly grasped my attention. As a big fan of turn-based strategy games and to a lesser extent JRPGs, I had to make sure I tried it out.

Story: Unicorn Overlord starts off with a cutscene showing you the past events that vaguely explain how the world of Fevrith got shaped into what it is now. General Valmore of the Cornian army had led a rebellion against the Queen, wishing to become the new ruler of the kingdom. During the conflict, Queen Ilenia, with the assistance of her personal guard Josef, was able to smuggle her son Alain out of the kingdom before she died in battle. After a little while, you are transported to the present, where you meet a now older Alain and his two childhood friends Lex and Chloe. Unfortunately, their conversation is cut short when the main villains of the game, the Zenoiran Army, attack the island they're living on. After defeating the Zenoiran troops, Alain discovers that Valmore, who now goes by the name Galerius is the leader of the Zenoiran empire and uses mind control to manipulate people into joining his army.

Alain, along with Josef, Lex, Chloe, and Scarlett, journey to Cornia to reclaim Alain's rightful kingdom and liberate Fevrith from Galerius's evil grip. At the very beginning of their time in Cornia, Scarlett gets kidnapped by the Zenoiran army, throwing a wrench in Alain's plans. As the leader of the Liberation Army, Alain makes it his top priority to rescue Scarlett as soon as possible, before anything can happen to her. Unfortunately, your army is too weak at the moment to set up a full-scale rescue mission. As a result, you begin to slowly clear out Cornia of Zenoiran control while recruiting your enemies to your side with compassion and on occasion money.

You're eventually strong enough to launch a raid at the stronghold where Scarlett is being held, successfully rescuing her. It is at this point that you find out the true might of Galerius. After he defeats you without batting an eye, your advisors and friends recommend you go to the four neighboring nations, in search of more allies. As you travel through Fevrith, you stop by Drakenhold, Elheim, Bastorias and Albion. All four nations have been overtaken by the Zenoiran Empire and it is up to you to liberate them. I recommend taking your time and enjoying the playthrough, since there is plenty you can do: main quests, side quests, challenge battles, meals with your army members and improving your relationship with different allies.

It is important to note here that your decisions here can affect certain aspects of the story. This includes which characters you can recruit to your army, as well as how difficult some battles will be for you in the future. There are three possible endings to the story, and depending on how thoroughly you play through the campaign, you will either receive the best ending, the lukewarm ending or the bad ending. Additionally, the game lets you romance from a wide selection of characters, although there are no unique rewards for picking a specific character. That's entirely up to you. 5/5

Abilities/Gear: Throughout your journey through Fevrith, you'll meet plenty of people you can recruit to your army. It is important to make sure you have enough allies for the battles, since the enemy will not be holding back. Each ally you gain can be added to your squads, which you can upgrade and improve as you progress through the story. Initially, each squad can only contain 3 members, but can be upgraded to have a maximum of 5. The troops are divided into different classes, such as Lord, Rogue, Dark Knight and Dreadnought. The more you level up your troops, the more powerful they become and can eventually be upgraded to an even better class type. For example, the Dark Knight class becomes the Doom Knight.

What makes the game truly fun in my opinion is the vast amount of customization you can do for each character's loadout and abilities. You gain access to various items through missions and the merchants scattered throughout Fevrith. With 70 recruitable characters available throughout the game, you have your work cut out for you. Fortunately, you have two options for how you set up your character's loadout and skills. You can either do it by hand or let the game optimize it for you. I tried out both methods and I can say from experience that while the game's optimization is effective, it was more fun when I was trying to experiment with different weapons and action orders.

I'd recommend taking some time with strategizing your units. Depending on what character you pick as the leader of the unit, that group will gain different leader effects. For example, Alain's leader effect boosts how many valor points you earn when you defeat an enemy unit. Other characters such as Josef, Clive and Fran change the speed and traversal of their units. Fran for example can fly over everything, which can save you time when you need to traverse across water. Cavalry units such as Josef and Clive can cross large sections of ground very quickly, allowing you to get the upper hand on certain enemies. 5/5

Exploration: The five territories of Fevrith make up a lot of land you can travel and explore. As you travel around and battle the Zenoiran army in towns and cities, you liberate those locations. All towns can be upgraded/repaired 1-3 times, depending on the territory, but they all reward you with materials. If you're looking to improve all the towns, make sure to keep an eye on these towns, as you will need a lot of material. Every in-game day you will passively collect the rewards from the towns, but you need to have someone from your army assigned to that town. Since there are 70 characters you can recruit, it shouldn't be too difficult to complete.

If you want to go on treasure hunts, there are 20 treasures hidden throughout Fevrith you can locate once you get your hands on the proper treasure maps. For those who wish to discover the entire map, there is a character you meet in Cornia that will happily reward you at certain milestones you reach in your discoveries. The worldbuilding is quite beautiful, so even if you discovered everything, traveling around is enjoyable and relaxing. An added bonus are the random troops that will try to ambush you as you roam around, foolishly believing they can beat you. The majority of the time they're either weaker or equally matched with you. If you're a lower level however, I wouldn't recommend going to high level territories, as you will get killed quickly. 4.9/5

Achievements: Last but not least, the achievement list in Unicorn Overlord is surprisingly tame. Usually, turn-based strategy or RTS games tend to have really grindy achievements for you to work on. In the case of Unicorn Overlord, there are no difficulty related achievements and the collectibles are pretty straightforward. There are very few achievements that are tedious or time consuming, as most of them can be unlocked naturally throughout your playthrough. I think the most "grindy" achievements would be discovering the entire map, restoring all the towns in Fevrith, registering all the classes and unlocking 400 archive entries. Best of all, there are no missable achievements whatsoever, so you won't have to stress. 5/5

Unicorn Overlord is arguably one of the best turn-based strategy games I've ever played. The story is very well written, the animation and art style is beautiful, and there is a huge amount of customization you can do regarding your troop management. The exploration is a great balance of natural discovery and some extra effort, while the achievements are all straightforward. I played the game back in March and my only regret is not writing this review sooner. I would have to say that as of right now, it is my GOTY for this year. I truly hope that Vanillaware makes either a sequel to Unicorn Overlord or another game like it in the upcoming years! 4.98/5

For reference: I have 38 hours in the game and all 51 achievements unlocked

Cult of the Lamb

The first time I saw the trailer for Massive Monster's game the Cult of the Lamb, it looked like a goofy but fun game I could get into.

Story: The story begins with you playing as the Lamb, as it is about to get sacrificed in a ritual for the Four Bishops of the Old Faith. Once you're dead, you meet the leader of the bishops, having a short conversation with them in the afterlife. The leader tasks you with creating a cult in your name and resurrects you after giving you a demonic crown. Once you're back in the real world, you find a place to settle down by some ruins, beginning to slowly build your cult.

As you adventure through the four dungeons, each representing one of the four bishops you need to defeat, you will find more potential cult followers that you can indoctrinate. With each bishop you defeat, you learn a little more about what is truly going on, revealing a much darker truth lurking below. For the sake of spoilers, I will not be mentioning the ending of the base game, but it was certainly an interesting one.

While the story is actually quite grim, the art style and humorous interactions with some followers balances the story quite well. Although the game does not have many side quests, the limited few that are available are lengthy enough to fill the void. Furthermore, some of the side quests introduce you to new characters and/or mechanics in the game that you can use in the future. For example, Midas's Cave gives you access to Devotion Vending Machine, which sells you Devotion you can use for base upgrades.

Even after you finish the base game's story, there are some quests you can complete thanks to content updates that Massive Monster releases periodically. On top of the roguelite/hack and slash mechanics of the game's combat, you also are responsible for taking care of your cult. These management tasks vary from feeding them, cleaning up after them, ensuring they have beds to sleep on and much more. 4.8/5

Abilities/Gear: The ability and gear system in Cult of the Lamb can be split up into two groups: items you find in the dungeons and rituals you can do in your church.

Every time you start a new dungeon run, you will be provided with a melee weapon and a magic ranged ability. After some base upgrades in the church, you can unlock the ability to reroll the items that are available to you at the beginning of the dungeon. You can also purchase some items from merchants that are randomly located throughout the dungeon. Keep in mind, however, that not all items will be useful for you. In addition to the weapons, you will also find the occasional Tarot Card dealer. These Tarot Cards offer a variety of effects, from extra health/armor to boosted damage, you should definitely keep an eye out for the vendor.

The second category of abilities are the rituals you can do back at your church. To ensure you don't overuse them, all the rituals require certain materials/a sacrifice and have a timed cooldown. Most of the rituals are focused exclusively on the cult itself, whether it is improving morale, ending hunger or boosting building time. There is one ritual you can do to boost your gear and damage, but it requires sacrificing a cultist. Additionally, all of the faith that you collect can be used to upgrade the type of melee and magical abilities you gain access to during your dungeon runs. 4.8/5

Exploration: All of the dungeons are randomly generated each time you start one up, but they all have an end boss you can fight. The primary reason why you should explore as much as possible is to gain access to all of the collectibles in the game. These include fleeces you can equip to yourself, Tarot Cards, follower skins, blueprints, and much more. The dungeons are beautifully designed and are an added bonus to the replayability of the game. In addition to the four dungeons, after finishing the story you gain access to Purgatory, where you can do a full run of all four dungeons back to back or try out the boss rush mode.

While most of the items you can find in the dungeons serve combat purpose one way or another, if you truly enjoy management games, you can also collect all of the base blueprints. These can be used to build all sorts of decorations to make your cult's home look as beautiful and fancy as you wish. As you progress through the story, you will also gain access to different merchants that live in different areas of the world. While you're at your home base, you can fast travel to them to purchase blueprints, collect faith, and complete some quests. 5/5

Achievements: Last but not least, let's discuss Cult of the Lamb's 48 achievements you can unlock. While the majority of the base game achievements are pretty easy and straightforward to unlock, some can be a grind. For example, there are achievements for collecting all fleeces, follower skins and Tarot Cards. Additionally, each bishop you fight has two achievements: one for defeating the boss and one for defeating them without getting hit once. The no-hit achievements are relatively easy until you get to Shamura. That one in my opinion is the most difficult boss-related achievement in the game.

In addition to the base game achievements, Cult of the Lamb has achievements from two of its content updates: Relics of the Old Faith and Sins of the Flesh. Similarly to the base game, some of these are easy while others will require time and some luck. For example, in Relics of the Old Faith, there is an achievement named True Love Found, which requires you to reunite some characters. In order to get this to work, you will need to get two amulets from a roulette wheel, which is completely luck based. Furthermore, both expansions added plenty of collectible achievements, which will require you to do plenty of dungeon runs to get everything.

If you feel like you're struggling at all with the game, Massive Monster added accessibility settings that will make life much easier for you. Two of the most useful ones in my opinion disable damage for you and pause time for the cult when you're in a dungeon. As a result, you can easily run through the game's story and not worry about your cultists getting sick or dying when you're away. These settings can also be quite useful when working on unlocking your remaining achievements, since you won't have to worry about damage anymore. Unfortunately however, the no damage setting doesn't help with the no-hit boss achievements. Although you won't take damage, it still registers as a hit and you won't unlock the achievement unless you avoid everything during the battle. 4.7/5

Overall, Cult of the Lamb is a fun roguelite and management game that I would highly recommend trying out. The story is well written, you have access to plenty of abilities and gear, the exploration is useful for yourself and your cult and the achievements while challenging at times, are definitely doable. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it and plan on returning to it some time soon to unlock everything I missed. 4.8/5

For reference: I have 21 hours in the game and 34/48 achievements unlocked

Gylt

When I first saw the trailer for Gylt last summer, the art style of the game reminded me a lot of the Coraline movie. That alone was enough to get me to purchase the game, which I finally tried earlier this month.

Story: The story follows Sally Kauffman, as she continues to search for her younger cousin Emily. It has been over a month since Emily disappeared, and Sally is beginning to get desperate. She is hanging up missing posters everywhere she can, even though it puts a big target on her back at school. One night while putting up flyers in the park, some of her bullies spot her and begin chasing her through the woods. Fortunately for her, she's able to escape from them at the expense of her bicycle, leading her to the nearest cable car station.

Once she hops into the cable car, it proceeds to transport her into a parallel world, where the entire town destroyed. As Sally explores the town, she spots Emily inside the school, hiding from something. You quickly rush into the building, trying to get to Emily, only to encounter monsters you have never seen before. Right about now the game takes a dark turn, as Sally realizes that Emily is not only running away from the monsters, but her as well. As you progress through the story, trying desperately to get Emily to listen to you, you traverse through various locations throughout the town, including the school grounds, the arcade and the sewers. It is entirely up to Sally now to rescue Emily and get back to their own town, away from all the monsters and destruction.

The plot focuses heavily on the side effects of bullying, especially from the perspective of the victim. Although the overall message of the game is a serious one, the story itself it well written, consistently keeping your attention throughout the playthrough. Keep in mind, however, that your choices in the end will affect how the game concludes. 4.8/5

Abilities/Gear: Although you start off your journey devoid of any equipment, throughout the story you gain access to some really useful items. These include the regular flashlight, the powerful flashlight, soda cans and a fire extinguisher. You will need them to solve puzzles, fight or distract monsters and to traverse certain blocked paths. Normally, I would expect a game to have more variety when it comes to the items and abilities you can utilize in your playthrough. In the case of Gylt, however, I think it is the ideal balance of availability and scarcity.

Your regular flashlight and the soda cans attract enemies, the powerful one can kill them and the fire extinguisher freezes enemies for a short amount of time. You can also find inhalers throughout the game that you use to heal yourself when you get hurt. There is one item that I had found that is only useful for locating specific collectibles, but you gain access to it halfway through the game. 4.7/5

Exploration: At first look, I thought there wouldn't be a lot to explore in Gylt, only to be proven wrong. There are 5 different collectibles you can locate in your playthrough: diaries, canaries, pictures, blood quarts and inhabitants. The locations of the items also happen to seamlessly blend with your item unlocks. For example, some collectibles can't be picked up until you have found the strong flashlight or the fire extinguisher.

Collecting all the canaries, quartz and inhabitants will ensure you unlock a secret 3rd ending. The diaries give you more insight into what Emily and Sally had dealt with prior to the events of the alternate town. Fortunately, approximately halfway through the game, I was able to unlock an item that senses the locations of the quartz and pings when you're nearby it. I will admit that exploring the map, even with a guide, made me enjoy the game more. The world, especially the school, is designed well. The school, for example, has rooms that are drastically different in design and functionality. 4.6/5

Achievements: Gylt consists of 29 achievements, 4 of which can be missed. Three of them (Avoid a Cold, Don't be Exposed and Avoid the Violence) are relatively easy to do. The only one that may cause you a bit of trouble is Avoid Conflict, which requires you to not kill any enemies outside of the bosses. This gets tricky, when considering there are achievements for killing enemies in different ways. There are two options for how you can work around this. The first option is to complete a playthrough and then return to campus to continue exploring. The second, which may get old after a few times, is just as easy but a bit more tedious: after every enemy you kill for an achievement, immediately quit out of the game from your dashboard. That will reset the kill counter to zero. In theory, you can easily get the full completion in a single playthrough if done correctly. 4.8/5

Albeit its short length, Gylt provides players with an interesting but serious story, plenty of exploration and a relatively easy achievement list. Most importantly, however, the game provides its players with an important message: bullying has long-lasting side effects on the victims. If you ever want a short game to play through and don't mind the occasional serious tone, I recommend giving Gylt a try. 4.7/5

For reference: I have 6.5 hours in the game and all 29 achievements unlocked

Cat Quest III

Having played Cat Quest II the week prior to its sequel, I was very excited to finally begin my playthrough of Cat Quest III.

Story: Cat Quest III begins with a short cutscene, explaining your character's origin as a pirate. A small spirit cat, similar to Kirry from Cat Quest II, finds you when you were an orphaned baby and raises you as one of their own kin. Fast forward to the present, and you two are now on a quest to find the North Star treasure. Along the way, you encounter some enemies, namely the Pi-rat King, Captain Meowtallika and Captain Takomeowki, all of whom are in the search for the North Star as well.

Compared to it's predecessor, Cat Quest III's story is much shorter unfortunately. This includes both the main campaign and the number of side quests you have access to. The side quests are still decent and fun, but for the price of $20 USD, I expected a little more story content. 3.8/5

Abilities/Gear: Where Cat Quest III lacked in story content, they made up for in both abilities/gear and exploration. For now however, I will be focusing on the former. There are roughly a total of 90-100 pieces of armor, weapons and trinkets you can find throughout the game that can be of use during your playthrough.

As you level up, you unlock more trinket slots, allowing you to further boost your stats and abilities. While some are discovered in chests or through random drops in combat, there are a couple you unlock by completing side quests. Personally, I think one of the most useful trinkets you gain access to is The Furst Mail, which boosts your health, physical damage and arcane damage. The armor sets each have their own builds that you can try out, such as the Gold set. The golden amor increases gold collected by 20%, while the golden helm increases damage the more gold you have. Keep in mind that not all armor sets will be equally useful, but they do provide different ways to go about fighting enemies.

In Addition to the character gear, Cat Quest III added something completely brand new to the series: ship blueprints. With the main character being a pirate, it only makes sense that the majority of the traversal in the game is out at sea. As such, in the beginning of the story you gain access to your own pirate ship!

Similarly to how the trinket slots work, you unlock more slots for ship upgrades the more you level up. These upgrades include 4 different types of ammunition and 13 ship upgrades, which vary from damage increase to ship health. Being a fan of vehicle/naval combat gameplay, I personally found this to be one of the most fun aspects of the game. You can either focus on ship damage, ship health, or cooldown buffs, all of which are useful when fighting Cathulhu or the Duck of Doom. 5/5

Exploration: While the world of Cat Quest III isn't larger than that of its predecessor, it is quite enjoyable to explore. One critique I had for Cat Quest II was the lack of zooming in/out on the map to get a better view of the world. Fortunately, CQ3 fixed that issue, making map exploration much easier and less stressful. Additionally, they changed how the chest and dungeon locations are shown now: neither appear on the map until you discover them. Instead of seeing where all the chests are on the map, you now have a counter for each region that lets you know how many chests you have located. Keep in mind that some of these chests are quest related and that the dungeon chests do not count towards the counter.

The world design is really beautiful, greatly improving upon Cat Quest II. The different regions of the map have varying time zones and designs, making each area slightly different. I probably spent a good hour or so doing nothing but sailing around the small map, enjoying the views and shooting at enemy ships. There are 12 puzzles you need to solve throughout the map and some of them require you to use the ship to quickly traverse the water. Whenever you're out of the ship and swimming about, your character is placed in a floatie, which is quite amusing to see. Additionally, Cat Quest III introduced bounties and hidden items you can find throughout the map. Most of the bounties are story or side quest related, with one or two exceptions. The hidden items are either gear you can use or items you need to start certain side quests. 5/5

Achievements: Last but not least, Cat Quest III changed up the formula they use for achievements. While Cat Quest II only had 10 achievements, which had grouped everything up as compactly as possible, CQ3 does the opposite. There are a few side quests that have their own individual achievements. The same can be said for all the gear you can find throughout the game: ship blueprints have their own achievement while all gear is combined into one. I found only one achievement to be somewhat annoying to do: Secret Purrlunderer. If you have a guide for it, however, it is quite easy to finish up. 5/5

All in all, although Cat Quest III has a shorter story than Cat Quest II, the exploration and beautiful map design somewhat balance it out. I believe it's worth a shot, whether you played the previous releases or not. The game has a couple of references to both the previous installment and outside sources, which is always nice to see. I can't wait to see what The Gentlebros do with Cat Quest IV! 4.7/5

For reference: I have 8.5 hours in the game and all 30 achievements unlocked

Cat Quest II

With Cat Quest III being released this week, I finally started up Cat Quest II, to understand the backstory.

Story: Cat Quest II's plot revolves around a cat and a dog and their journey through two kingdoms. In the beginning of the game, you meet Kirry, a cat spirit that has taken the role of your advisor. Kirry tells you that both of you are kings: one of the cat kingdom and one of the dog kingdom. You soon find out that both kingdoms have been taken over by Lioner and Wolfen, the new evil leaders of the kingdoms who are hellbent on killing each other. It is up to you two to save the two kingdoms and bring peace among the both species.

The story is loaded with puns, jokes and references that add a nice charm to the gameplay. Throughout your journey, you meet he likes of Pawdon Ruffsey (Gordon Ramsey clone), Amuttdeus Woofgang (Mozart), Doge Knight (Batman) and Dr Jekkit (Dr Jekyll), among others. As you travel, you will encounter plenty of goofy side quests that will reward you with EXP, some funny moments, and the occasionally useful piece of loot. I recommend giving at least some of the quests a try, especially since there's 67 side quests to complete. However, keep in mind that some are in a chronological series and will be quite difficult if you're not close to the recommended level. 5/5

Abilities/Gear: During your journey, you will gain access to 3 Royal Arts, which will be key in both traversal and combat: Pawer Rolling, Pawer Smash and Water Walking. Near the end of the story, you will also unlock a bonus one named Full Royal that drastically boosts your critical hit damage. As you complete main/side quests and explore the world, you will unlock all 12 spells that you can use during combat. All 12 provide you with a nice selection of offensive, defensive and support spells that will be of use throughout your playthrough.

In addition to the spells and arts, you can unlock 101 pieces of equipment, which you can use on both characters. These items consist of chest plates, hats, melee weapons and ranged weapons. Fortunately, since none of the items are locked to a character, you can customize both the cat and dog as you wish. I'd recommend making one magic-focused while the other deals most of their damage through physical attacks. Some enemies in the game are immune to either magic or physical attacks, thus nullifying half your attacks.

As you level up and progress deeper into the game, the harder your enemies will become if you don't upgrade your equipment. Fortunately, there are two ways to go about this: upgrade your armor at Kit Kat's forge and your weapons at Hotto Doggo's forge or find more copies of your equipped gear. I would recommend leaning towards speaking with Kit Kat/Hotto Doggo, especially since not all items have more copies laying around in-game. Additionally, you can also upgrade your spells at the mage towers, to make them more powerful. The only tricky part for these upgrades is their increasing cost of gold, which you earn through quests and dungeons. Take it slow at first and keep finding new items to equip until you have saved up a good chunk of gold and have solidified your ideal playstyle. 4.8/5

Exploration: There is certainly a lot to explore in Cat Quest II. From completing all 73 dungeons to locating all 101 pieces of equipment, you will have plenty to do to keep yourself occupied. The tricky part comes down to the map you can use to see what you're still missing. It certainly has it's usefulness: it shows you which dungeons you have or haven't completed, as well as all overworld chest locations you discover as you explore. It does have one big drawback however: you can't zoom out on the map, which can make it a pain when you're looking around on the map to locate the few remaining dungeons/chests you need.

The map itself is quite beautiful, with both nations being designed quite nicely. Keep in mind, however, that you won't be able to fully explore the world until you've unlocked the Water Walking royal art. There are quite a few locations that require you to walk a decent distance on water to reach. 4.4/5

Achievements: The achievement list for Cat Quest II is surprisingly short and easy to accomplish if done right. With each achievement being worth 100 Gamerscore, you only have 10 you need to unlock to get the full completion. Additionally, the game allows you to continue after finishing the main campaign, so make sure to press continue to load it back up instead of new game or NG+. The only achievement that is somewhat iffy is Fashionista Tails, which is unlocked by having 101 pieces of equipment. Some people have had issues with that one, but there are ways to resolve that: NG+ provides you with 4 more items to unlock or you can erase your save file off your Xbox, redownload it and the achievement should unlock. The game does have a platinum trophy, but again it shouldn't take more than 10-15 hours to get the full completion, depending on your playstyle. 4.5/5

All in all, Cat Quest II is a short, fun and lighthearted game that you can enjoy while taking a break from a bigger game you are working on. The story is well written, the equipment and abilities are mostly useful, there's plenty of exploration to be done and the achievements are straightforward and relatively easy. 4.7/5

For reference: I have 12 hours in the game and all 10 achievements unlocked

Neon White

While searching to see which Game Pass game I would be trying out next, I stumbled upon Neon White, a recent release on Xbox.

Story: The plot of Neon White takes place in heaven, where the main character, who is also named Neon White, discovers he has the opportunity to seek redemption for his past life. In order to make it into heaven, White, along with other Neons, will get 10 days to kill as many demons as possible, while simultaneously climbing up the rankings. At the very beginning of the game, you meet Neons Yellow, Violet and Red, all of whom were close friends of yours when you were alive. Unfortunately for White, he has amnesia and doesn't remember anything about his life, including his friends. Throughout the story, you're able to collect gifts for Yellow, Red, Violet, and your biggest enemy, Neon Green. By interacting with each of them and giving them these gifts, you slowly begin to remember your past, one piece at a time.

The story is actually quite well written and keeps you engaged throughout the gameplay, resulting in you forming an emotional bond with the four characters. Whether it's a positive or negative bond depends entirely on the player, since each character has their own unique style and philosophy. Additionally, throughout the story you can find some funny conversations and references, which are a pleasant surprise. 5/5

Abilities/Gear: The gameplay in Neon White is quite interesting, since it's a combination of First Person Shooter, Cards and Platforming. As you traverse each level, you collect and use different weapon cards that have two abilities: the gun itself and some form of traversal. For example, the Fireball card fires like a standard shotgun but also provides you with a "fireball" you can use mid-air to fly in any direction. As you progress through the game, the traversal will get more complex, which at times can be rage inducing.

In order to complete every level, you need to kill all the demons located throughout the mission while simultaneously using the correct weapons to successfully parkour your way to the finish line. While most of the weapons will be laying around on the ground or in chests, some you find/replenish by killing specific enemies. For example, the green demon drops the Uzi, the blue demon drops a rifle and the yellow demon drops a pistol. Although I normally avoid platformer games like they're the plague, this one was a somewhat enjoyable challenge. The only thing I wish was a bit different was the control layout, since RB changes weapons, LB is jump, LT is using the ability and RT is firing the gun. It can be pretty easy to mess up when you're trying to quickly get from one spot to another. 4.2/5

Exploration: Although there isn't much to explore in Neon White outside of the missions themselves, there's still plenty you can do. Each level has 4 tiers of speed running times for you to reach, as well as a gift for you to collect for one of your fellow Neons. The speed runs will require some creativity on your part, but they can all be done within a few attempts.

In addition to finding gifts for Red, Yellow, Violet and Green, there are two angels you can find gifts for as well. Although they don't aid you with your past memories, they do provide you with entertaining conversations and some gifts. For Red, Yellow and Violet, however, not only do you have conversations and occasional memories, but you have side quests you need to complete if you wish to max out your friendship with them. The more time you spend with each, the more learn about them and your past. Upon finishing the story, if you choose the right ending and have maxed out your relationships, you unlock the Heaven and Hell Rushes for White, Yellow, Red, Violet, and Mickey (one of the angels). These rushes are additional challenges you can do if you wish, with the Heaven rushes being far more forgiving than the Hell ones. 4.5/5

Achievements: Last but not least, Neon White consists of 44 achievements, which can be categorized into a couple of groups: story, collection, speed run, boss challenge, heaven and hell rushes and kills. I personally stopped after I had finished the story and had earned 37/44, having gotten burnt out from the speed runs. One mistake that I made, however was during the ending decision. If you don't want to replay the entire story a second time, make sure to select Book of Death during your first ending. Afterwards, once the credits roll, you'll be transported back to the game and can do the final mission again if you so with. This time make sure to select Book of Life in the end and you will unlock both achievements. I will say that 38/44 are definitely doable with at most some difficulty, but the remaining 6 will most likely take you a while to finish up. 4.3/5

All in all, Neon White is a unique and entertaining game that I highly recommend everyone gives a try, especially if you have Game Pass. The story is well written, the abilities are useful and well balanced, the exploration is sufficient and the achievements are mostly tolerable. 4.5/5

For reference: I have 18 hours in the game and 37/44 achievements unlocked

Dungeons of Hinterberg

During the ID@XBOX showcase in April, Dungeons of Hinterberg finally got an official release date, resulting in the game showing up on my radar of potential indie games to try out this year.

Story: The plot of Dungeons of Hinterberg revolves around the main character, Luisa and her trip to Hinterberg to have an adventure. After becoming burnt out from her everyday life, Luisa decided to indulge her childhood fantasy of exploring new places and encountering new creatures by partaking in the Dungeons. Initially, all is lighthearted and fun, with Luisa quickly making some new friends in the small town. From fellow tourists and Slayers to the townsfolk themselves, Luisa learns more about both new Slaying techniques and the history of the town itself. As you progress through the story however, it slowly begins to take a dark turn that no one would expect! It comes to Luisa, with the occasional aid of her new friends, to figure out what is going on and save the town.

Overall, the story itself is solid, although it did lose me on an occasion or two. Most mornings in the beginning, while you're drinking coffee outside the inn you're staying at, you end up having lengthy conversations with Alex. She either tells you about new skills you can discover, talks about life in general, or on rare occasions argues with you about your differences in opinions.

The story is filled with many characters you can talk with and befriend, and each one has their own story to tell. I personally found some of the characters more approachable and interesting than others, but that's just my personal preference. 4.4/5

Abilities/Gear: Dungeons of Hinterberg provides you with a plethora of ways to improve your character's build and stats. This includes weapons/armor, enchantments, charms, armor upgrades, attack conduits and status increases through different activities. Throughout your exploration of the dungeons, as well as the regions you must traverse to reach the dungeons, you get your hands on plenty of loot that is quite useful to bolstering your build. There are crafting materials littered on the ground and in chests that you can use to shrink your charms to fit more.

You find enchantments and attack conduits in dungeons and in stores that improve your gear and provide you with special offensive abilities. As you progress through the story and reach harder dungeons, your loot will of course increase in quality and power. Fortunately, you can always remove the enchantments you placed on weaker items and attach them to newer and better gear you discover. Just keep in mind that enchanting your sword will cost HBs, which are the currency you earn by completing dungeons and quests.

Additionally, your different social stats can also have an impact on your gear, as seen in the image above. Prior to any enchantments I attached to the sword itself, it already had status upgrades simply based off my in-game social life. Fortunately, it's not difficult to raise your social stats, since there is always plenty to do.

There is only one aspect of the gear that I found could benefit from an update and it is purely cosmetic. No matter which sword or piece of armor you equip, they all look like the default one that Luisa starts off with, which threw me off at first. The change itself doesn't need to be anything major either, something as simple as a different color scheme based on either the item series name or rarity would be plenty. 4.8/5

Exploration: The different regions in Dungeons of Hinterberg are all equally unique: an alpine pasture, a forest, a glacier and a swamp. Each region comes with its own special charm and design, as well as regional abilities for you to use in combat, traversal and puzzles. For example, in the first region, Doberkogel gives you a bomb and a ball with chain as your abilities. Meanwhile, Kolmstein, which is the icy glacier, gives you a snowboard and lasers. I personally found Kolmstein to be the most entertaining region to explore, since I could snowboard all over the map and high speed.

The picture above, for example, is one of the dungeons in Kolmstein, with the screenshot encapsulating the size of the boss battle map. In addition to the combat and puzzles you encounter in each level, they also all have a commemorative coin for you to collect, including the tutorial mission. Some are in open and obvious locations, while others take a little bit of exploring to discover if you're going in blind without a guide.

I absolutely loved exploring throughout the game, but if there was one feature that I wish was included in the game was a proper tracker for the collectable coins. Rather than having a separate tab for the coins, I think it would've better to include some form of marker in the stamp book to show which dungeons have been completed and which also had the coin collected. 5/5

Achievements: Last but not least, the achievement list in Dungeons of Hinterberg is interesting. There are only two achievements that can be missed in the game: Collector (Collect all the coins) and Running on Fumes (Complete a dungeon while tired). The other 39 can be easily earned through natural story progression, some exploration and plenty of in-game socializing with the other characters. In my opinion, the lengthiest ones are the coin related achievements, as well as the socializing ones. For the Collector, make sure to grab the commemorative coin in the tutorial, otherwise you won't be able to unlock the achievement in that playthrough. Once you complete the final dungeon, you can't go back and work on any more achievements, so make sure you have everything done prior to starting the last dungeon. If done right, you will unlock Collector and Completionist (complete all dungeons) during the final one. 5/5

Overall, Dungeons of Hinterberg is a nice and relaxing indie game that I would recommend to anyone looking for something new to play. I absolutely loved the art style of the game, since that was what first got me interested in trying it out. For a game made by such a small dev team, I must say they've earned my utmost respect for pulling it off. I look forward to seeing what they have in store in the future. 4.8/5 Overall

For reference: I have 20 hours in the game and all 41 achievements unlocked

Killer Frequency

I had picked up Killer Frequency last year while it was on sale but didn't get to it until this month due to a busy schedule.

Story: Killer Frequency takes place in the small town of Gallows Creek, USA in 1987. You play as the main character, the night time radio host Forest Nash, who along with his producer Peggy, are thrust into the midst of a killing spree enacted by the local legend, the Whistling Man. As the story progresses, you respond to calls from various townsfolk requesting your assistance as the Whistling man hunts them down, one by one. Your choices carry a lot of weight throughout the campaign, as a single mistake can cause a caller to die. Although the plot is fairly short (it can be completed in under 4 hours as a speed run), there are a few twists throughout the gameplay that keep you glued to your seat. 5/5

Captured on Xbox Series X

Investigation: As mentioned earlier, various members of the town will call you, asking you to help them evade the Whistling Man. While discussing what to do with Peggy, over the course of the story she will begin to give you keys to different parts of the studio building, such as the office, research room and first floor. Whenever one of the townsfolk call, you will be tasked with going to different parts of the building to look for clues as to how they can escape safely and successfully. Fortunately, you technically have unlimited time to explore and figure out which clues are useful and which aren't, so don't feel as though you're in a rush to make a quick decision. 5/5

Exploration: Although the building itself isn't huge and the story is short, there is plenty to explore in the radio station. There are cassette tapes and vinyl records you can find throughout your playthrough that will be useful down the line. Additionally, there are some silly and entertaining interactions you can have with the environment as well as the callers to balance out the grim nature of the plot. The overall design of the building is quite cozy and beautiful, it its own unique way, truly taking inspiration from the time period. 5/5

Achievements: SPOILER WARNING!! If you're an achievement hunter, what I'm about to say may make the game unappealing to you, but hear me out for a moment. 22 of the 27 achievements in the game are can be missed, but that doesn't mean they're very difficult to unlock. In reality, you can unlock 21/22 in a single playthrough if you either know the correct options or use a guide. The two lengthiest achievements in the game are Forest Dash (saving everyone while finishing the story in under 4 hours) and Killer Frequently (the Whistling Man kills everyone). Altogether, it took me just under 8 hours to do two full playthroughs of the game, with the first one being the speed run. 4.5/5

All in all, Killer Frequency is a fantastic little indie game by Team17 Software. Anyone that is a fan of slashers, detective stories, and/or the 80s vibe should definitely give this game a try. Although the game costs $25 USD, it does go on sale on occasion on Xbox. 4.9/5 Overall

Weird West

I have always been a fan of top-down shooters, so when I heard about Weird West coming out, I took a look at the trailer. The design style, combat, and story teasers were enough to get me interested.

Story: Weird West takes place in an alternate, fictional version of the Wild West, where anything goes. You begin your journey as the Bounty Hunter, Jane Bell, who is hellbent on finding her kidnapped husband, no matter the cost. As you slowly explore your way through small towns, ransacked mines, and abandoned locations, you learn more about the game's lore. As the name suggests, Weird West can be quite the strange place to be: you may be attacked by random bandits or monsters while traveling and you can ally with some very unexpected individuals. Throughout your five different journeys, each with a different character (Bounty Hunter, Pigman, Protector, Werewolf, and Oneirist), you have no idea what is in store around the corner. In addition to providing you with the variety in stories, Weird West also has a reputation system that can either work you or against you. If you choose to follow the law, aid anyone who needs help, and make good decisions, you will make many allies that will help you throughout your journey. However, if you choose to go down the road of crime, murder, and deceit, you will have a harder time throughout your mission. Make sure you are satisfied with your decisions, as they carry over from one character's journey to the next. Best of all, some of your story-related abilities also transfer to the next character you play as, thus improving your experience even more. 5/5

Perks, Abilities, and Upgrades: As you explore the Weird West, you will find Golden Ace of Spades Cards and Nimp Relics, both of which are needed for upgrading your characters and account. The Golden Aces are used to upgrades passive perks such as jumping, lockpicking, health, ADS movement, and damage dealt. These upgrades are account-wide, but get more expensive with each tier. The first tier costs 1 card, the second is 3, and the final is 5 cards. While the majority of the upgrades will depend on your playstyle, one upgrade I highly recommend is to improve your jumping ability to level 2. It will make traversing the various locations you need to explore easier than before, while also providing you with better maneuverability during combat.

Captured on Xbox Series X

The Nimp Relics, similarly to the Golden Aces of Spades, can be found all over the Weird West. Additionally, you can earn some through quests and from some rare merchants that spawn around the map on occasion. You use these relics to upgrade abilities you will use during combat, in order to give you an advantage against the various monstrosities you face during your travels. There are two different types of ability upgrades you can do: weapon and character. Character upgrades are exclusive to that single individual and will not transfer to your next playthrough. The weapon upgrades, however, are account-wide, but cost much more to upgrade. I highly recommend unlocking the revolver and rifle abilities, since they're the best weapons in the game, in my opinion.

Last but not least, you can upgrade your weapons to improve their stats, such as damage, fire rate, and reload speed. In order to do so, you will need to find various ores in the mines, such as copper, silver, and gold. Afterwards, travel to a town that has an anvil, use it, and enjoy your upgraded weapons. The tier system for weapons in the game is as follows: 1 star = basic, 2 stars = copper, 3 stars = silver, 4 stars = gold, and 5 stars = legendary.

Take for example my Oneirist loadout: all the weapons are 4 stars and have a gold appearance. Through some upgrading in previous playthroughs, as well as traveling to meet those previous characters, I was able to regain all of my best weapons for the final playthrough. The same form of upgrading can be done for your armor as well, to ensure you don't take a lot of damage. Although I don't have any amulets equipped in the image above, I highly recommend equipping some to provide you with additional defensive perks.

The ability and upgrading system in the game is very polished and helpful. Although some of the necessary materials can be slightly challenging to find, that only adds more flavor to the exploration of the map. 5/5

Exploration: The map of Weird West may not appear to be large on paper, but there are enough locations there to keep you glued to your seat for hours. Although you can explore the entirety of the map with the very first character you play as, you can also unlock different portions of the map through natural story progression. For example, during the Bounty Hunter playthrough, you will be spending the majority of your time in the left side of the map, going back and forth between towns and mines. During your werewolf playthrough, you will unlock a good portion of the right-hand side, which includes a forest and a desert.

As you can see on the map, some locations are marked in white while others are red. Red markers indicate that the location is abandoned and you should treat carefully there. Granted, this does not mean that the white markers instantly mean they're harmless, on the contrary. Some of those locations are quite dangerous as well. In addition to unlocking locations through the story, some are character exclusive random occurrences. As such, if you wish to fully discover the map, make sure to take time to fully explore the world after you are well equipped. One nice piece of randomness that Weird West has are the occasional ambushes from people, monsters, or wildlife. Be ready for anything. 5/5

Achievements: Last but not least, let's discuss the achievement list in this game. Although some of the names and requirements for the achievements are quite entertaining, such as I Kicked a Bird and I Liked It, the completion is a very different story. If you are only playing this game for fun, you don't have to worry too much about the achievement list, as you will accidentally stumble upon some throughout your playthrough. If you're aiming to earn the full 1000, however, you're in for some work. 28 of the 53 achievements in the game are missable ones. That wasn't a typo, 53% of the achievements can be missed if you are not careful. Fortunately, the majority of them are not difficult to do and can be done in a single playthrough of the game. It took me one full playthrough and one partial for the Protector to earn the full 1000. 2.5/5

Last Minute Tips: If you wish to not be a very aggressive player throughout the game, the stealth in Weird West is overpowered. If you're able to sneak behind most enemy types, you can knock them out, pick them up, and hide them somewhere no enemy will see. This can make the playthrough both easier yet somewhat stressful if you're going for full stealth.

Overall, Weird West is an amazing game that everyone should try out. I had an absolute blast and I hope you all do as well! 4.4/5

If you're looking for an achievement guide for the game, feel free to stop by our walkthrough tab and check out the Weird West Achievement Guide! Thanks for stopping by!

DREDGE

In preparation for the large number of releases in April, I decided to surf through the shop and see what games had potential. Although it had a set date to come out on March 30th, I pre-ordered DREDGE, hoping it would finally be a fishing game I genuinely enjoy.

Story: DREDGE has a relatively short story, with the majority of the time being spent on actual fishing, side quests, and of course, dredging. Set in what feels like a Lovecraftian world, you play as a fisherman who is rescued and brought to the local town by their mayor. In return for aiding the town's economy grow, the mayor provides you with a boat would will use throughout the entirety of the game. Once you quickly help the town get on its feet, you begin to explore the ocean around you, meeting new people and working on uncovering an eerie story linked to some artifacts. I would highly recommend focusing on upgrading your ship first as much as possible, due to the different waters you will sail through. Although the campaign is small, it does offer you with two possible endings to choose from, based on your actions throughout the playthrough. 5/5

Captured on Xbox Series X

Research and Upgrades: Throughout your time sailing the seas, you'll earn research points through quests, dredging, and at the local traveling merchant. You will then use these points to research better fishing rods and nets, crab pots, and engines. These new pieces of gear will be integral in you progressing through the game with the least amount of difficulty.

There are a total of 7 different types of catchable fish: Coastal, Shallow, Oceanic, Abyssal, Hadal, and Volcanic. In order to catch all the fish in the game, you will need to research and purchase different types of equipment, each designed to assist you in its own unique way. For example, some fish can only be caught with rods, while others require a trawl (net) or the pot.

Furthermore, the game also provides you with the option to upgrade your ship itself, including number of slots, designating a specific amount of slots to specific gear, and the hull itself. Each upgrade will require you to find the necessary crafting materials, which can be dredged out of the ocean. This part was frustrating at times, due to the scarcity of lumber spawning in the water.

As of this writing, I had already unlocked all upgrades, thus I am unable to show an example of the material set.

From personal experience, I would highly recommend upgrading the ship as much as you can early on, to ensure you have plenty of space for both your fishing gear and the fish itself. The storage is designed like puzzle pieces, meaning you will have to arrange the fish, gear, treasure, etc. in such a way that it all fits in your inventory, similar to how Resident Evil has their inventory system. 4.5/5

Exploration: Considering we're talking about a fishing game, exploration is a no-brainer. If the world building is terrible, then the gameplay will not be enjoyable. In the case of DREDGE, the exploration is actually quite enjoyable. There are 6 different regions you can explore to find area-specific fish, such as volcanic fish only spawning in Devil's Spine. As you sail, you must always keep an eye on the time, for it is key to your survival early on. After the clock hits 6 PM, night ensues and with it, various new dangers. For example, in the starting location, if you keep sailing/fishing after 6 PM, eventually a certain enemy will appear and chase you, wishing to kill you.

The best part of the exploration, in my opinion, is the encyclopedia. There are a total of 128 fish you need to catch, including exotic fish and aberrations (mutated monstrosities). You will most likely discover all of these fish after completing the story, since you will be rewarded with very useful gear and abilities that can aid you in your journey.

In addition to the various locations, fish types, and necessary equipment, you will also need to take account for time of day. Some fish spawn only during the day, while others are only available at night time. Plan your gear as such and you should be fine. Don't take my advice as a sign of the game being difficult, on the contrary, nearly all the fish are very easy to find. 5/5

Achievements: Last but not least, let's discuss the achievement list in this game. There are a few for catching fish, researching, upgrading, gear, and completing parts of the story. The remaining ones are all simple as well, but may take some time to complete, such as Safe Havens (Visit every dock in the game), Servant of the Shrines (Solve all fish shrine puzzles), and Providence (Complete all the side quests). Unless you use a guide, some of these may take you some time, but overall the achievement list is pretty simple. Best of all, none of the achievements are bugged, and based on the 8 people who have already completed the game (me included), the average time is roughly 15-17 hours of playtime. Do keep in mind, however, that there is an achievement for unlocking all other achievements. 5/5

All in all, DREDGE not only met my expectations, but exceeded them. As of writing, this is now my most favorite fishing game of all time. If you want a game that is relaxing and fun, I highly recommend you give this game a try. 4.9/5

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

Upon hearing about the new Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed game, I was first very cautious. Past experiences with isometric games such as Dead by Daylight and Evil Dead has demonstrated that they would be very grindy and rage inducing. I chose to bite the bullet and give the game a try, however, since I had nothing to lose.

Story: The game has a very short "campaign" that you can progress through naturally. As you complete matches, you will occasionally get a notification that you have reached the next cutscene in the story. While they do not add anything to the gameplay itself, they are quite entertaining to watch. As a bonus, there is a TV in the garage where you can watch the cutscenes all over again if you wish to. Considering the game is multiplayer focused, it is difficult to grade the story the same way one would for an actual campaign. In my opinion, the only issue with it was that the story was too short. Best of all, they included cast members from the original movie, providing some nice nostalgia for fans. 4.5/5

Gameplay: Just like all other isometric games, you have the choice between playing as the hunter or the prey. As such, I will rate each one separately.

Ghost: Depending on which type of ghost you choose to play as, your playstyle will differ due to a variety of abilities. The core idea, however, is the same: horrify civilians, evade the Ghostbusters, protect your rifts, and fully haunt the location. While you play against bots, this can be done quite easily, since they're not very smart. However, you should be careful when you play against actual players. Dealing with a single player may not be very difficult, since you can quickly break free of their blasters, but if you are ambushed by 2 or more, be ready to mash whatever buttons are shown on your screen. All of your abilities cost energy, which regenerates very slowly, unless you possess an object temporarily. If you are able to protect all three of your rifts while fully haunting the location, the Ghostbusters will have very little time to capture you before the game ends. The more rifts you protect, the less time they will have in the final stage.

Something interesting I noticed while playing as the ghost is that you can steal the Ghostbusters' traps and hide them. As a result, they either need to find their trap or go back to the entrance and get a new one. Either way, it gets them off your back for a short while. You can also sabotage their backpacks (costs energy), fly through them to temporarily incapacitate them (costs energy), or simply play GMOD Prop Hunt with them and troll them. As you level up your overall account level, you will unlock all 5 classes. Furthermore, each class has different variants you can unlock by leveling them up. 5/5

Ghostbuster: Illfonic (devs) put a lot of thought into the Ghostbusters and I applaud their hard work! You are able to level up your gear, unlock upgrades for them, do various contracts, collect fungi for exp., and of course, hunt the ghosts. You are given a generous amount of stamina to run around with while trying to find the three hidden rifts or chasing the ghost. As you level up and complete contracts, you unlock new cosmetics to customize your character with, including one that is earned by finishing the story.

Similar to other isometric games, communication is key when playing Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed. As you run around with your PKE Meter, looking for rift and ghost signals, you will stumble upon quite a few worried/terrified civilians who need calming down. The more you calm them down, the longer it will take the ghost to fully haunt the location. I found a nice trick for easily capturing the ghost while I was playing in private lobbies: first stun the ghost with the PKE Meter and then throw down your trap right underneath it or next to it. The ghost will either instantly get sucked in or will move towards the trap and get captured. It is important to note that you need to keep an eye on the charge and condition of all your gear. 5/5

Overall gameplay 5/5

Achievements: The majority of the achievements, 47/51 to be exact, are quite easy to unlock. While some may take you a while to complete, you will earn them through natural progression. The other four achievements, all of which are ghost-related achievements, can be a bit of a challenge to do in solo lobbies without friends. The only issue I experienced with the achievement system in this game was delayed tracking occasionally, but it appears to have been fixed now. 4.5/5

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this game and look forward to trying to 100% it. I highly recommend it, especially since it is still spooky season.

9.3/10

RESEARCH AND DESTROY

In late April and early May, I had been on the hunt for some fun turn-based strategy games I could play. Fortunately for me, on April 25th, Research and Destroy was released day one on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's story revolves around the concept that humans gave monsters too much power, by being too afraid of the imaginary creatures. As a result, the monsters became real and brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Your role as the player is to guide three scientists on their journey to take back the planet from these bloodthirsty monsters, and rebuilt humanity to what it once was.

The gameplay mechanics are quite simple: each character gets 8 seconds to move around, aim, shoot, or use their gadget abilities. If you move around holstered, you can run faster. It is important to note, however, that holstering or equipping your weapon also eats up part of your 8 seconds. Fortunately, killing the monsters has a chance to drop either a time (light blue) or health (light green) boost. It is your job to enter each territory and clear out all the monsters that inhabit it.

The upgrading and research system in the game is quite easy to manage as well. Once you clear out a territory, you can build a university there to provide you with a layer of security and the ability to research new and better gear. It is important to note that after enough progression through the story, the monsters will begin to either reinforce their territories or attack yours. I highly recommend that you fully upgrade the university defenses for at least one territory, to ensure you don't lose the ability to upgrade/research.

You can research the weaknesses of all the enemies you encounter, by killing a specific amount and spending some money on the research process at the university. Since you have 1 month before the next monster reinforcement/attack, I would recommend using at least 2 scientists during the research. Do not worry though, once the 1 month is over, another one begins, meaning you are in no rush to complete the game. Finally, weapon ability upgrades require you to get a certain number of kills, healing, etc. before you can upgrade them.

The story has some funny moments, with most coming during the introductions of new monsters throughout your journey in the game. The graphics are nice as well, providing you with a cartoon-ish version of a post-apocalyptic Earth. Each territory has a different design, with one having obvious influence from Egypt, while another is shaped a lot like Italy. I'm pretty sure the design of the overall design of the map is based off Europe.

The achievements for the most part are easy to get, apart from 3 or 4 that are a true grind. I found the You are Serious and Eventful Horizons achievements to be the most difficult to get. Eventful Horizons requires you to trap 4 or more unique supernaturals in a single turn with the Gravity Distorter. This can take a while, since you would need to kite 4 unique enemies together or hope for them to spawn at the same time. You are Serious is the hardest, requiring you to play with each weapon and gadget with all possible upgrades. This means you need two playthroughs of the game, since the upgrade tree locks into one path during a simple playthrough.

Finally, I would like to thank the developers of the game, especially Implausible Chris (@Stelfazoid on Twitter) for such a fun game to play. Chris was also kind enough to provide advice and hints when I was stuck early on in the game. Developers that take time to interact with their playerbase have my respect. I look forward to seeing what Implausible Industries develops next.

9.5/10

URBAN FLOW

Urban Flow is a puzzle game where you control traffic while trying to reach a certain number of cars safely secured. While the premise of the game is quite simple, with your job only requiring you to switch traffic lights between green and red, the actual gameplay is not that easy.

The initial few levels are simple, introducing you to the early mechanics of the game. Each level has a certain number of lives you can afford to lose before you fail and must try again. Additionally, you also are occasionally provided with a slowdown ability that slows down the speed of incoming traffic that you don't control. It is important to note that there is a recharge time between the lives/slow down abilities, so make sure you don't crash twice in a row quickly.

Over the course of your playthrough of the main "story", you play through 5 different worlds, each more difficult than the last. I did notice something, however: although the difficulty of the puzzles increases, the maps are often reused throughout different levels and worlds. Something interesting they game ads is distractions: you must wipe fog off your screen, stop a burning car from crashing and exploding, or ensure that trash doesn't fall out of a garbage collector car. These, combined with the strict time management you need to ensure car collisions do not happen provide you with an interesting twist. Each level has 3 possible stars for you to collect, based on how many cars you successfully deliver to their location.

The overall level design in the game is simplistic yet beautiful, allowing you to immerse yourself in the cartoon-based style. The soundtrack for the game is pleasant for the most part, with only one or two songs not hitting the mark. A handful of the songs, including one in the Snow Flow levels, were quite enjoyable, however.

While the final few main levels provide you with a challenge, they don't come anywhere near the Challenge Level section of the game. These 20 levels will switch back and forth between simple ones you can complete on your first try and levels you will be stuck on for at least half an hour. The hardest part, in my opinion, comes down to two factors: challenge levels have fewer spare lives, and you need to reach the equivalent of a 3-star number of cars.

The achievements for the game are straightforward, albeit time consuming. For example, there is an achievement for playing Endless Mode for 360 minutes. Since to my knowledge there is no way to exploit this achievement, you are stuck idling the game for 6 hours, constantly hitting the restart button to ensure the time is updating. Furthermore, at initial release, the achievements were delayed by a large margin, with some finally popping 25 minutes after the necessary task was completed.

Urban Flow provides you with plenty of game modes to try and enjoy: story mode, endless mode, snow flow, and challenge levels. Additionally, you can activate chill mode, which disables the star system and lets you play any level as much as you wish, until you lose all your lives.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the game and was glad I looked forward to its release. Apart from some frustrating achievements, it's an easy 100% and I will certainly be returning to it someday.

Cuisineer

Eternal Strands

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Plus

TCG Card Shop Simulator

Moonlighter

The Plucky Squire

Unicorn Overlord

Cult of the Lamb

Gylt

Cat Quest III

Cat Quest II

Neon White

Dungeons of Hinterberg

Killer Frequency

Weird West

DREDGE

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

RESEARCH AND DESTROY

In late April and early May, I had been on the hunt for some fun turn-based strategy games I could play. Fortunately for me, on April 25th, Research and Destroy was released day one on Xbox Game Pass.

​

9.5/10

URBAN FLOW

Urban Flow is a puzzle game where you control traffic while trying to reach a certain number of cars safely secured. While the premise of the game is quite simple, with your job only requiring you to switch traffic lights between green and red, the actual gameplay is not that easy.

Urban Flow provides you with plenty of game modes to try and enjoy: story mode, endless mode, snow flow, and challenge levels. Additionally, you can activate chill mode, which disables the star system and lets you play any level as much as you wish, until you lose all your lives.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the game and was glad I looked forward to its release. Apart from some frustrating achievements, it's an easy 100% and I will certainly be returning to it someday.

9/10