Preview
Banner Saga 3, and Series Switch Port Hands On
At an early age, I had a fondness for chess, the different pieces having different moves available to them across a simple grid battlefield yet opened up to practically limitless possibilities. As I got older and discovered strategy and tactics RPGs and expanded on those same ideas I grew to love the genre. Controlling characters around an environment, using their abilities to gain advantage over ...[Read More]
Double Kick Heroes PAX East Preview
If Guitar Hero spawned a side-scrolling arcade shooter about killing zombies with sick guitar riffs, the result would probably come out similarly to Double Kick Heroes, only with guitars instead of drums. However, since killing zombie hordes with machine guns powered by drums is an awesome idea, and crafting a new heavy metal soundtrack to play those drums to is an even more awesome idea, PC gamer...[Read More]
Yuppie Psycho – PAX East Preview and Writer’s Choice Winner
It’s a feeling almost everyone can relate to: walking for the first day of work at the first big job, and feeling woefully underqualified and underprepared. But what if you really were totally underqualified, and your job description turned out to be something straight out of an X-Files episode? Yuppie Psycho pitches that question, melding together a rich blend of office comedy, retro graphics, an...[Read More]
Ion Maiden – PAX East Preview and Writer’s Choice Winner
“What if Quake and the last twenty years of FPS evolution never happened, and we were still making games the same way we made Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior back in the Nineties?” was the question that one of the guys at the 3D Realms booth said drove the development of Ion Maiden. Much more than another retro-inspired FPS, Ion Maiden comes from a legendary studio and resurrects an equally legen...[Read More]
‘Projection: First Light’ PAX East 2018 Hands-On
PAX East 2018 is behind us, and while I played many games on the show floor, Projection: First Light stood out to me in terms of being one of many games I enjoyed playing; there were handful of games I kept wanting to run back and play throughout the week in Boston. What is Projection: First Light, you ask? It’s is a puzzle-platformer developed by the team Shadowplay Studios and published by...[Read More]
‘Pillars of Eternity II’ Deadfire PAX Hands On
Following in the wake of Larian’s sequel to their Divinity: Original Sin and knocking it out of the park, Obsidian hopes to do the same with their own sequel, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Motivated by a strong desire to build upon what was established in the first entry, Obsidian had a lot to show off at their booth during PAX East 2018. The competition was kept alive on the show floor too, a...[Read More]
Come Sail Away With Make Sail
It’s an interesting time to be a fan of sailing games. Normally a largely overlooked genre, March has seen the introduction to open beta or Steam Early Access of three vastly different takes on the concept. Make Sail takes an interesting blend of robust vehicle construction, open world exploration, and the vast loneliness of an empty sea to make a game that’s interesting from the moment it hits Ea...[Read More]
Raid On Coasts (PC) – Early Access Preview
Steam Early Access can be a tough place for a small developer. The need to get a revenue stream flowing is vitally important to keeping the lights on and development continuing, but it’s also vital to not put something out there too soon, lest players sour on the experience of a glorified vertical slice that they paid real money for. A lot of developers get it right. Others, not so much. Unfortuna...[Read More]
The Void Rains Upon Her Heart Preview (Steam)
Peanut Butter and Chocolate. Milk and Cookies. Beer and Curling. All great combinations that go great together. It turns out that SHMUPs and roguelikes are another great examples, two great game styles that blend great together.
Rise of Industry Early Access Preview
Rise of Industry is an incredibly involved tycoon game that allows players to control every aspect of their production line: raw resources to components to end products, and shipping those products across the map by truck, boat, and train—even by Zeppelin. From growing vegetables to sucking oil out of the rivers, micromanaging a Monsanto, General Electric-esque empire has never been so easy and so...[Read More]
BioMutant PAX West 2017 Hands-On
There were quite a few brand new IPs being presented at PAX West this year, but not many from the bigger studios. Most of them had new titles of their popular IPs, but THQ Nordic had something entirely new at their booth, Biomutant. While I was scheduling my appointments for PAX this trailer came up in my email. . .
HyperX Cloud Alpha Headset PAX West Hands-On
I game and travel—A LOT. I also stream, host events, and (if I can’t sleep) game in bed. So, it’s important to me have a headset that is comfortable, reliable, and produces high quality sound so I can hear everything going on in my games. The HyperX Cloud Alpha Pro Gaming Headset was released at the end of September, but before it was, I got a hands-on—or rather, head-on—preview of it. I can tell ...[Read More]