#xbox review

[hardcore-gaming-101]

Worms Clan Wars / Worms Battlegrounds

Worms Clan Wars could perhaps be compared to Worms World Party – a small update from the previous game featuring a bigger focus on multiplayer. While its additions are, to its credit, far more substantial than World Party, Clan Wars is best seen as a refinement on the previous game and its bounty of new ideas. That said, there’s been more than enough improvements made that it wouldn’t be a mistake to pick it up even if you have Revolution in your library. So long as you find a deep discount for it, at least.

Read more...

[theuniverseisaconspiracy]

MOVIELAIR SOAP2DAY ALTERNATIVE

Introduction: The Demise of Soap2Day: Introducing Movie Lair: https://movielair.cc/  Zero Ads, Seamless Experience: No Registration or Payment Required: Stream or Download for Later: User-Friendly Interface: Legal and Ethical Considerations: Conclusion:

Soap2Day Shut Down: Embrace Movie Lair as the Ideal Alternative for Free Streaming

The recent shutdown of the popular streaming site Soap2Day has left many movie and TV show enthusiasts searching for a reliable alternative. In the quest for a platform that provides a similar experience with an extensive library of content, Movie Lair emerges as a prime choice. With its vast collection, ad-free streaming, and user-friendly interface, Movie Lair offers an exceptional viewing experience without the need for registration or payment.

Soap2Day, known for its provision of free streaming of movies and TV shows, has been met with legal actions and subsequent shutdown. Authorities cracked down on the website due to copyright infringement concerns, as the platform hosted unauthorized content, violating intellectual property rights. As a result, users are now seeking a trustworthy alternative to fulfill their entertainment needs.

Amidst the void left by Soap2Day, Movie Lair stands out as a compelling choice for streaming enthusiasts. Offering an impressive catalog of over 100,000 movies and TV series, Movie Lair ensures that users have access to a diverse range of content spanning various genres, languages, and eras.

Soap2Day Alternative https://movielair.cc/ 

One of the standout features of Movie Lair is its commitment to providing an ad-free streaming experience. Unlike numerous streaming platforms that interrupt viewing pleasure with intrusive advertisements, Movie Lair allows users to immerse themselves in their favorite movies and TV shows without any distractions.

Gone are the days of complex sign-up processes and subscription fees. Movie Lair eliminates these barriers by enabling users to enjoy its extensive library without requiring registration or payment. With just a few clicks, viewers can start streaming their desired content effortlessly.

Movie Lair caters to different preferences by providing two convenient options: streaming content online or downloading it for later viewing. Whether you prefer to watch movies and shows in real-time or save them for offline enjoyment, Movie Lair offers the flexibility to accommodate your needs.

Navigating through Movie Lair's extensive collection is a breeze, thanks to its user-friendly interface. The platform's intuitive design ensures that even casual users can quickly find their desired movies or TV series, making the overall streaming experience convenient and enjoyable.

While Movie Lair offers a free streaming experience, it is essential to clarify that the legality of streaming platforms can vary depending on your jurisdiction. Ensure that you comply with the laws and regulations governing online streaming in your country, as unauthorized access to copyrighted content can have legal consequences.

With the demise of Soap2Day, Movie Lair emerges as a viable alternative for avid movie and TV show enthusiasts. Its vast content library, ad-free streaming, user-friendly interface, and the absence of registration or payment requirements make it an attractive option. By embracing Movie Lair, viewers can enjoy their favorite movies and shows without compromising on convenience or quality

[mysticdragon3md3]

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Free Riders (Xbox 360)

They made hoverboards fun and exciting, then the fans made it actually playable.

After Zero Gravity, Sonic Team were apparently not done with the Riders series. Not done using it for motion control experiments, that is. The next and final instalment was a launch title for Microsoft's ill-fated Kinect motion sensor accessory. This camera apparatus could track a player's full body and so you needed a large, empty area to play your games in, which has never been practical for me. So I considered this game essentially lost media as far as I was concerned, until I recently learned about a mod that reworked the game for traditional controllers that I could use on an emulator. The updated version of this patch was buggy but the original release worked a treat and I was finally able to experience this title.

Compared to previous entries, the plot is very low-stakes. Eggman is hosting another racing tournament in disguise, shenanigans ensue. The cutscenes are merely static character portraits, the dialogue nothing but banter and posturing with the framing device of Omochao reporting on the racing for a TV broadcast. But the strength this has over prior Riders games is including a broader range of the cast, with Teams Rose and Dark being involved and playable in their own story modes in addition to the usual Heroes and Babylon stories. Well, Team Dark is missing Omega and substitutes a random eggbot who is more than it appears in perhaps the only notable story development. And Team Rose is Amy, Cream, and... Vector... so Team Sonic Racing wasn't the first to randomly force him in to fill out another team, or to have a weird addition to Team Rose.

As for the racing, from what I could tell from the tutorial, there's a lot of actions you need to be able to do. It seemed complex and the pace of gameplay quite fast for something you control just with various body motions to an unresponsive IR sensor grid. In other words, compared to Zero Gravity it didn't feel as compromised by the control scheme, and translated reasonably well to a controller, so it's a shame they never officially offered that as an option. The game reviewed terribly at the time on the basis of its controls, but with a pad in hand I had a fun time. Sure it was easy most of the way through, but by the very last stages it did even offer a decent challenge.

There's no drifting, but a heavy turn assist helps with cornering. There's a boost function that drains your air meter, as well as a "lean forward (tilt control stick up) to go faster" mechanic. Stunts are done in Zero Gravity style, by jumping at the right time off a ramp, although you can spin to do a better trick (not supported in the original mod release). Arm flailing is a factor, where you can lean to grab rings that are just off the course, throw items that skew a little more Mario Kart in their effects while still being unique, rub steam or splatter off your screen, or grab poles to swing around and take shortcuts. As a power character you can punch to destroy obstacles, and flight characters have to have arms outstretched to remain airborne when necessary. It sounds exhausting but all these functions are mapped pretty well to a controller in the mod, and I got to grips with them quickly. And while it may sound overloaded with gimmicks, I thought it was a better balance than the previous games of keeping up your pace while doing them, or being ignorable entirely.

It may sound like I'm being contrary but this quickly became my favourite of the Riders games. Because it expects you to be flolloping around, it's so much more forgiving and I found I wasn't constantly struggling against the game and its demands. It integrates a mission-like structure into the campaign so most of the time you're doing various objectives and single-lap runs of the courses in story mode, which moves things along at a quick pace. It also looks gorgeous, the environments varied and ultra-colourful, helped of course by being in HD for the first time. The tracks have fun setpieces like toboggan or minecart sections, jumping onto rooftops, or surfing while being pulled by a dolphin.

Free Riders kind of fulfilled the promise of what I wanted the series to be, for the first time. Fast-paced and bombastic, not overly punishing or bland. It's such a shame that that lively energy had to be locked behind an impractical peripheral gimmick. The assets were all there for a potential conversion or fourth instalment that takes the strengths but makes it play like a normal video game that people can actually play... but alas. As is often the case in the Sonic series, it was up to the fans to fix what Sega had broken, and I'm very thankful to Rei-SanTH for doing so in this case (please fix not being able to turn right on v1.1!).

[prototypesteve]

Me: “So how does my year in review look?”

Microsoft: “I mean… surely you know…”

Me: “Pretend like I don’t know.”

Microsoft: “You played three games. One of them is barely even a game, it’s more like a work simulator. And the other two had like 20 hours of story gameplay, but then you logged hundreds of hours of errand-style side quests. Tell me you were at least on your trainer bike while you did all that.”

[krissiefox]

Klonoa: Door To Phantomile (Xbox One) Review

Klonoa was one of the many, many colorful plat-former games that captured my imagination as a youngster, but I had never managed to get myself a copy on PSOne when games for said system were much easier to come by. Thankfully, my wife found it re-released on the Xbox One and bought it for me!

The rest of the review is below the cut!

The game stars Klonoa, an adorable little rabbit-dog creature on his quest to save his world from Ghadius, a spooky guy with a cool bird mask who wants to turn the land into one big nightmare. Joining Klonoa is also his best friend Huepow, a little water bubble guy, and he will also make many other friends along his quest.

The game plays on a 2d plane but uses 3d graphics and twisty curvy level designs, which makes for a very fun feel to the world and it's movement. Klonoa can do little flutter jumps with his fluffy ears, and use his magic ring to grab items and capture enemies, which he can then toss or use to do a jump boost.

The gameplay is very solid and the controls are great, though every once in a while the game threw a really difficult puzzle or fight at me, which could get frustrating. Thankfully the game includes both a normal and easy mode, so if a level is too frustrating you can always switch off to easy mode which is much more forgiving as it gives you more health, infinite retries and more reach with your magic ring.

The game's art and music are fantastic and mesmerizing, with tons of cute characters and bright varied environments. Even most of the enemies are pretty freakin' adorable and colorful.

Outside of the occasional difficulty spikes, I can't really think of any other criticisms. It's just that damn good. This one comes highly recommended from me, and if you get this modern Xbox One version it also comes bundled with Klonoa 2! As far as how this compares to the original version of the game, I only played the demo of that one - so I can't say for sure - but I assume it's just as good, though I am not sure which features from the new version it will have.

[pigeoncorpse]

Pardon the shitty quality but I'm losing my mind a little over these Persona Collection reviews...

[dandylion-virtual-adventurer]

Seems about right.

[tooaverageofagamer]

REVIEW: Inscryption – Daniel Mullins Games

Release Date: 19th October 2021 Available On: PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Genre: Indie Game, Card Battler, Rogue-Like, Card Game, Story Rich, Puzzle, Horror

Review Length: Short (~600 words)

Review Spoilers: Minor

---------------------------------

Gameplay

Inscryption is an Indie horror, rouge-like, card-battling game. If you want to draw similarities with card-battle games, think of Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokémon cards, but a more simplified version that still requires some strategies. But with all the ways you could possibly play, you’d be sure to find your own cheesed style. Personally, I am not the best at strategy-based games or card games, the hardest card-battle game I’ve played was Club Penguins Card-Jitsu back in the day, but I found Inscrytion to be fun and immersive, even if a little frustrating at the start.

The game is played in ‘Acts’. Act One would possibly bring the most frustration to an average gamer or someone who just isn’t familiar with strategy card games, and as I am both; I was frustrated at the beginning. But, once you’ve ‘failed’ a few times in the first Act and find yourself falling into the game challenge more and more, it can become fun, and you can start to pay attention to the details that the game you and the game will slowly become easier as you gain insight into the fights and bosses presented to you.

The game is filled with puzzles, most are not necessary to the game, but it may help you have better cards to play with or unlock more of the lore of the game.

Once you’ve completed the game for the first time, you unlock challenges that can make gameplay more difficult, if that’s your masochistic jazz.

Story

As to not give away too many details as this is a story-dependent game that should be unspoiled for the average gamer.

At the start, you’re unsure of who you are and just assume you’re playing a blank-slated husk character that represents yourself, which is later proven different. You’re placed in a darkness-encased environment with a strange character that introduces you to their card game in an almost Dungeons & Dragons Games Master manner. The attitude this darkness-encased character has is kept throughout this Act. Once you’re allowed to explore your environment a little, you’re allowed to really intake your enclosure and partake in the puzzles it presents you.

The story is well put together, enraptures, and lets the player piece the story themselves without it being spoon-fed to them. As the game continues into its further Acts, you feel an “Oh woah what” sensation as you start to piece the story together with the snippets you gain access to.

You can unlock more background lore details to the story of the game in the later Acts, but it isn’t necessary to fulfill your average gameplay experience but might be fun to unlock in further playthroughs or if you want to have in-game downtime to explore.

I love both major and minor characters that are introduced to you as you play. They all keep the story heavy-duty glued together nicely. The characters all mesh and conflict with each other well. It’s a joy to watch their interactions with each other and the player, especially once the twists and turns start.

Art Style/Music

Inscryption is beautifully put together. The art style throughout the game changes dramatically, but it does not cause any conflicts to the player's gameplay experience as the Acts progress. I personally LOVE most of the art styles that present themselves in this game.

The music in Inscryption is beautiful to listen to and even have their own little easter eggs if you listen to them closely enough. Act 1, I believe, has the best themes for it environment and bosses, but Act 2 also have great themes also. Some of the tunes might be a bit jarring to listen to at the beginning with their sharp tones and rumbling bases. But once you really get into the vibes and understanding of characters in the game, they’re amazing to engross yourself into the world of inscryption and uncover its story.

[minor spoilers from tune theme names below]

My top songs from the Inscryption OST would be:

1. The Trapper

2. The Scrybe of Magicks

3. The Four Scrybes

4. Deathcard Cabin

The whole of the Inscryption OST is available on Spotify.

Final Comments

I honestly enjoyed Inscryption, especially once I really started to understand and get into the gameplay and story. The story and art styles are the real cream of this crop and really bring the story together.

I highly recommend this game to an average gamer or if you want to try out a card-battling/rogue-like game for the first time.

Cheers,

The Average Gamer ---------------------------------

If you want to chat or get Spoiler-esque game insights, feel free to PM me!

[zoomvis]

COINCIDENCE?? Probably

[hardcore-gaming-101]

Iron Meat

Konami’s Contra series showed obvious influence from R-rated movies like Predator, Aliens, and Rambo, but the games were still fundamentally aimed at kids, so the end results were always a little sanitized. Now thirty-five years after the original Contra game, unshackled by such regulations, Iron Meat delivers run-and-gun action far more brutal and far more vicious than the original games were ever allowed to be.

Read more...

[nerdyadoptee]

Mask of the Rose: The NerdyAdoptee Review

PUBLISH DATE: June 8, 2023 PLATFORMS: Windows, macOS, SteamOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch (launch); PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (unspecified later, post-launch)

This is the game I've been waiting for.

Mask of the Rose is a visual novel from UK-based Failbetter Games, developers of Sunless Skies, Sunless Sea, and Fallen London. I've long followed Failbetter's work because of their commitment to worldbuilding. All of their games share a common universe, an alternate Victorian vision of the 19th century world, with generous helpings of the unexplained, the supernatural, and even dashes of Cthulhu-esque cosmic horror. London has sunk underground, and the residents of London have lost contact with the surface. In this dark world (nicknamed "the Neath"), we encounter things that are familiar (the Queen is still around, although she's become curiously reclusive) along with the less familiar (what exactly are the "Clay Men?").

This world has been built by Failbetter over three games and thirteen years, but Mask of the Rose doesn’t require any previous knowledge or experience with their games. A character creator allows you to choose your character's background, silhouetted portrait, and how others address your character, from "Captain" to "My Lady" to "Citizen." In addition to the gender inclusivity of the character creator, it's wonderful to see Failbetter give the player the option to specify the kind of romance they're looking for in this visual novel. You can pursue friendships only, seek romantic relationships, physical relationships, or both--and choosing any of those options doesn't prevent you from seeing certain endings or lore, it just gives the player agency in this quite personal choice.

From there, we're introduced to the world and its wide and diverse cast of characters. Going into almost any detail risks ruining the discovery that is such a beautiful part of Mask of the Rose, but I'll at least say that the characters in Mask of the Rose feel complex and unique, each with their own voice and desires. The gameplay loop revolves around choosing how to spend your time--like with other time-management-style games, you can't have conversations with everyone. In each conversation, you're making dialogue choices that have an impact on the people you speak with and on the character you're building over time. The choices are well-written, and show an insight into the complexity of conversation and tone that is often missing from less thoughtful visual novels.

Each day in Mask of the Rose is split up into a Morning and Afternoon time, adding weight and stakes to each playthrough: do I try to get the exhausted pastor to spend more time with a mutual friend, or do I cozy up to the streetwise merchant who seems to know what's going on behind the scenes? More importantly, WHOM DO I WANT TO SMOOCH?

Ahem. Excuse me.

Mask of the Rose has so much story to uncover that one playthrough isn't sufficient. You're trying to solve a mystery, you're trying to uncover more about London's peculiar new surroundings, and you're trying to matchmake your friends, and you might be looking for romance for yourself. A playthrough generally takes me about 3-4 hours, and although I've done multiple playthroughs, there's still more to discover. I'm excited to learn more about each one of the fascinating characters, and I'm further drawn in because Mask of the Rose weaves a tale that touches upon so many elements of 19th century English society, from British global imperialism and colonialism to class struggles and privilege.

While I love the writing and Mask of the Rose's visual novel gameplay (and unique "storycrafting" mechanic/minigame, which is another gameplay pillar), I did run into a few frustrations. I would've appreciated an option to fast-forward text I've already seen. Mask of the Rose helpfully provides a fast-forward option, but it's too easy to accidentally skip past new dialogue and lore. In a game that demands multiple playthroughs, a smarter fast-forwarding option is a really unfortunate omission. I also felt like the time management aspect felt very constraining; it could be my own lack of intuition and understanding, but I sometimes found progression dense or unforgiving. The subtlety of Mask of the Rose is a strength, so I’d love if hints or some kind of help could be an option that players choose to turn on. More days and levels of signposting to clues would go a long way to making me even more excited about future playthroughs.

Overall, I'm smitten by Mask of the Rose. It's the game I've been waiting for because I've wanted to explore this world for a long time, but have struggled with the gameplay and difficulty of Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies. If you share a love for evocative writing and thoughtful worldbuilding, you've got to get Mask of the Rose.

Be sure to tell me whom you smooch!

[somekidnamedkai]

So I got potion permit a while ago and have been playing it.

And it just makes me see how spoiled I am with all of my other farming games like Stardew and Story of Seasons

It’s not that its a bad game, it’s just that there’s only a few romanceable characters, one of who is practically as a child. She’s 19 apparently but she looks and acts like the literal child characters.

And then the characters have like no dialogue. They have 9 dialogue pieces total, 3 per friendship stage.

I love it but you can’t make characters with 10 sentences. Some of these are the blandest characters I’ve met. Some of their personal stories and quests are good, like Cassandra’s.

But some just make their characters even more blander.

Idk, it’s a fun game. You’re a chemist and make potions and heal people, and you forage for everything and are restoring the area to its former glory. But if you’re looking for friendships and romance it definitely isn’t something I’d suggest.

Also, you have to grind SO MUCH for everything. And your energy goes down fairly fast, especially at later stages, so it takes a long time. I make jokes that TWST is grind central but this game takes that to an extreme.

You spend more time collecting materials than actually having a story, and not in the way that oh you get a quest and have to grind. You have to grind, get 5 sentences of dialogue then have to grind even more.

It’s like all the collecting you do is the story and the dialogue is a side part. Like how the friendships are.

Also another part I was spoiled with is the actual friendships taking part in the game. Friendship doesn’t do anything in this game except for unlock 3 more sentences of dialogue for the character.

And maybe I’m pointing out all the obvious things that are different from stardew because Stardew is one of my favorite games, BUT I have seen multiple people saying “its like Stardew Valley but better”

Where is the better?? Or the like Stardew Valley? It’s an Indie game with foraging and “romance” but that’s where the similarities end.

There’s not even seasons in the game. Like you’d think if someone says a game is “like” Stardew there’d be seasons, but no.

3/5 stars.

The three stars are for

1. Doctor Strange enemies to lovers. I will bash on the crap ass romance, but I love Matheo, so yeah.

2. I really enjoy being a chemist and making potions

3. From what little story we do actually have, I’m enjoying it. There’s a lot of good lore behind all that grinding.

[runevex]

Starfield is Genius, and That's Why It Doesn't Age Well

So it's been over a year since the release of Starfield, and the first official DLC is right around the corner. So, I wanted to take a minute to talk about the game's story, main flaw, and genius narrative.

Serious main plot spoilers are ahead, if you care.

About half way through the main story of the game, you are introduced to the Starborn. People who have found a way to transcend realities, leaving their universe behind forever. This is done primarily through two characters, The Emissary, and The Hunter.

At the end of the game's story you are given the opportunity to transcend your reality as well, leaving this universe behind in favour of a new one. This resets the game and starts your quests over; keeping your levels, perks, and gained knowledge. You get to skip the intro cutscene, begin with a decently powerful ship and spacesuit, and can fly straight to the lodge.

The retention of gained knowledge becomes important, as large chunks of the main story can be optionally skipped entirely simply by informing your colleagues what is going to happen. Because you do know what is going to happen, after all you have lived it before. Maybe dozens of times.

This also occasionally applies to faction quests and side quests, where you are given the option of answering as a Starborn, using your gained knowledge to essentially cheat.

The first time you go through the unity, leaving your universe behind and start New Game Plus, unless you are doing an evil playthrough you are going to use that knowledge to your advantage. Your first instinct is likely going to be to correct your mistakes, avoid catastrophe, leave this universe in an even better position than your last one. You are The Emissary in this situation, trying to maximize goodness across the multiverse.

But something interesting starts to happen the second time you enter the unity. There's an inescapable truth you will start to realize, and it's that you can always leave and start over again. All you have to do is collect all the artifacts, and you can leave this universe behind and start over.

You start to care just a little less. Maybe you get caught during a stealth mission, and instead of incapacitating them you just shoot them. After all, it's just one person in the grand scheme of things, and you can always just do better in the next universe. Maybe you know a shortcut to finish a quest, but it's a violent solution, and you take it anyway. After all you are on a mission, and you already shot someone anyway, you can just do better next time.

Slowly, little by little, you care less. You get more violent. You've seen it all before, and you'll see it all again. You become The Hunter. You become the uncaring Starborn that has a mission and just wants to get to the end no matter the cost.

Even if you do decide "This universe shall be my home now. I'll build a house, get married, take good care of it, and won't leave again", you will never escape your personal knowledge as the player that you can always leave again. Any decision you make, any mistakes you make, will always be slightly tainted by the fact that you can always collect the artifacts and simply leave again. You know that now, and you can't un-know it.

This little trick the game pulls, making you the player feel yourself slowly starting as The Emissary, to becoming The Hunter, is simply genius. You personally experience the perspective shift that created The Hunter in the first place, it's happening to you as the player. It is also terrible game design.

As soon as you fully accept that nothing matters and you can always leave, odds are good you are just going to stop playing. Even starting a fully new character, the cat is out of the bag now, you know the truth. The truth is nothing matters and there will never be conciquences to your actions.

You can make that argument against an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game because you can always start a new save, but it's not the same thing. The narrative of those games is that your decisions have consequences (even if they are bad at actually showing that). This is the world that the NPCs live in, that you live in, and you only get one. Starfield, however, explicitly tells you to your face that this is not the case, and nothing will ever matter. This all but guarantees that you will eventually lose interest in the game, likely permanently.

Starfield's narrative design is genius, and also terrible.

[talesfromthebacklog]

Are you looking to click with a new game and want something genuinely different?

I am always hunting for new titles to reinvigorate that click I feel with video games. Not all video games will click but when they do they can be something truly special. I wanted to go over some of my favorite games I’ve played in recent years that are available on current gen consoles. I’m not covering anyone upcoming, these are titles you can pick up today. Cheaply at that. Several of which are on sale on Steam right now as of writing this.

So. Enough chit chat. Lets’s start with an easy one:

Paradise Killer:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

I just finished this one and am in the middle of writing my review on it. Painfully stylish with a killer vaporwave soundtrack this game oozes aesthetic. Kaizen Game Works understood the hauntology assignment and took it to the MAX. You are an investigator trying to solve an immortal god-like council’s murder in a dystopian society. You’ve returned to this gorgeous open world parasite paradise from your exile of 3 million days (about 8219 years)! If you’ve played Outer Wilds this is among that same vein. (And I will caution you, while not hard, the game relies on you wanting to just explore. It will provide hints but it won’t hold your hand.)

This is an Ace Attorney-esqe collectathon mixed with open world and exploration. There is no combat. Both the writing and the world are spectacular. Don’t deny yourself something this wonderful, because it is.

This has quickly risen among my gaming ranks as a favorite and it hits to being as close of a favorite as my number 2 suggestion…

Outer Wilds:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

This is perhaps one of my favorite games of all time. I wanted to talk about this second because Outer Wilds has received more of the notoriety it deserves in recent times and I wanted PK to get the main spotlight. Don’t get it twisted though If it wasn’t for UpIsNotJump’s video (<— Spoilers) I would have never realized what I was missing. And I still think a lot of people don’t understand what they’re missing too. It is an absolute masterpiece. And seeing it getting released physically again is a god send. I want people to play this game. (And it’s DLC Echoes of The Eye)

No combat. You are a scientist exploring your local solar system in your spaceship in an open “universe” instead of an open world. The sun explodes every 22 minutes which sends your memories back in time. Again, I will caution you that the game relies on you wanting to explore. It will not direct you.

Eastward:

PC Switch Xbox

Too much exploring. Let’s reel it back with Eastward. A Zelda-like where you control an older man and a little girl with psychic powers in a post apocalyptic world. If you’re looking for those fun pixel games that pack that quirky feel this is it. A bit existential, a great sense of humor, and fantastic writing are all part of the Eastward package. (You startin’ to see a theme here? Ha ha)

All while boasting a seriously killer pixel soundtrack. The original Iron Carbine trailer for the Nintendo Direct had an immediate impact on me as a gamer. I knew this was a game I would fall in love with. Sometimes you just know when something is special. This game is beautifully pixelated and packed with lovingly crafted content. Puzzles are the right amount of challenging and there is so much fun side stuff to do. Including a Dragon Quest-esqe game inside the game! It also received DLC via Eastward Octopia! Which I also love.

Moon: A Remix RPG

PC Switch PS4/PS5

I do play games with combat. I swear. Several of these games just don’t have it! (Ha!) This will perhaps be the hardest game to sell to you on this list. I have a soft spot for quirky games like this, but know that this was a PS1 Japanese exclusive game in the 90s. And it sure acts like it. Slow to start, weak tutorial, and doesn’t provide a ton of direction. This game was ported into English for the first time in 2020 and I love it. It is a trial and error experience though.

This cult classic is one of the games that inspired Undertale and when you play it becomes wildly apparent. I dare say it reminds me more of Undertale than its other main inspiration Earthbound. You are a little boy that’s been fallen into his video game and you have to save the souls of monsters the hero has killed using love. (Sound familiar?)

Light hearted and weird this game also has a great sense of humor as it pokes at classic RPG tropes. And that slow intro comes into play providing a unique perspective as you journey through the game befriending people. It won’t be for everyone, I would research this one before sinking the… $18.99 on the purchase. But I think it is worth experiencing if you love Undertale.

I think I’ve yakked enough. If folks like the post I’ll follow up with a part two with a little more genre variety! I wanted to the first post to include my top favorites. So. I hope there’s something in there that invigorates you the way these games did for me.

[scribe-of-ariel]

8/10 - that’s cool. That’s high praise for games that are 20+ years old.

They’re wrong about the voice acting, though. In my humble option, it’s one of the most beautifully acted stories in videogame history. I wonder what they meant by that? The NPC dialogue? The style?

I understand their major pain points however, I don’t suffer in the same way.

I would like to see a review from an Xbox perspective, and wonder if these games coupled with Xbox’s ‘Quick Resume’ feature would nudge that score up to a 9 or even 10/10.

It might sound like a console war flex, or some kind of bullshit like that, but I can’t overstate the sheer bliss of being able to switch the machine off, turn it on again, play something else, have someone else in the family log in and do whatever and then halfway through the week I think ‘hey, I fancy returning to Nosgoth’ and boom, I’m back where I was days ago as if I just paused and went to the bathroom.

I won’t even pretend to understand how the Xbox manages to keep running several things across multiple profiles running in the background, or stuck in the buffer for days, but it is a game changer for the older games like Legacy of Kain.