Surprisingly busy week going onto the Easter weekend. World War Z has gotten most of the gaming press but for my money, My Time At Portia is the Game of the Week.
Another game to look out for is Heaven’s Vault which appears to be taking gaming to a new level. I have a feeling it will be appearing on the more discerning best of lists at the year-end.
Outside of my list the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD remaster shows up for Xbox and the Switch.
Former Xbox exclusive Cuphead shows up on the Switch so now you can throw your entire game system in frustration, not just the controller.
A particularly loud and seizure-inducing visual novel Our World Is Ended releases on the Switch and Ps4. Sony, of course, has changed all the girls’ costumes (or lack thereof) to culturally appropriate burqas.
Konami puts out an anniversary collection of ancient arcade titles with only eight games because well Konami has to Konami.
And in the video game scandals that don’t get enough press department, we have Snooker 19 (for the uninitiated snooker is to pool as cricket is to baseball.) Per BBC News “Before the release of Snooker 19, Joanne Williams (wife of current world champion Mark Williams) accused the game of “massive prejudice,” with the release cover art of the game not featuring Williams. Williams would comment that the decision was due to Williams being over 40 years of age and Welsh. The cover scandal would lead to fans of the sport imposing pictures a naked Williams following his world championship win over the cover art for the release”
Eternity the Last Unicorn is a low budget action RPG with designs to be Dark Souls light. You play as two characters who are switched out with each other on your behalf and who have different fighting styles covering the same territory.
With a title that sounds like an early eighties animated feature and look that isn’t precisely polished I am in no rush to check this out. It is, however, an action RPG based on Norse Mythology so UI may give it a spin down the road.
In God’s Trigger you play as an angel and a demon fighting the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Available in co-op or as a single player with the ability to switch characters on the fly.
God’s Trigger is a top-down twin-stick shooter with Hotline Miami style gameplay. It looks smooth, attractive and well done.
Graveyard Keeper is described as like Stardew Valley but with Graveyards. It is also described as slow and grindy even for this kind of game and a little obtuse when it comes what to do next. A relaxing time waster nevertheless.
And now for something completely different. Think Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft but instead of shooting wolves and blowing up ancient tombs you translate ancient languages and piece together puzzles from the past. You know actual archaeological activities.
Heaven’s Vault scares me a bit. It seems appealing. The hours of intricate dialogue between characters and the relaxed pace are lovely. The translating ancient languages bit however is giving me a touch of PTSD from all those years of High School Spanish, French, and Latin where my weak mind never really did grasp anything more complicated than the Spanish word for chicken.
Overall Heaven’s Vault looks like a finely crafted game that is more than the sum of its parts and may very well show up on a lot of best of lists at the end of the year if it isn’t lost in all the noise.
Katana Zero is a side-scrolling version of Hotline Miami with some choice based dialogue elements and a time manipulation mechanic.
My war against sprites in modern video games continues I see. The game seems well made but a bit shallow. More than one reviewer complained the story is incomplete as it seems to just set up a sequel rather than be a proper tale. I may play down the line as the action looks tight. Too bad the other elements don’t seem up to snuff.
This generation of games has no shortage of Stardew Valley style games as Graveyard Keeper above clearly shows. It also as no shortage of uncovering lost civilization games as Heavens Vault indicates above.
My Time At Portia appears to be a cartoony farming simulator style game, but it incorporates elements of exploration and discovery as well as building up your workshop.
My Time At Portia also has a light a dating simulator and dungeon exploration with light Skyrim style RPG elements and hold the phone this is starting to look good here.
My Time at Portia is a leisurely experience with beautiful music and colorful graphics. My only concern is that since all the elements are often described as light, the lack of depth in any one activity may frustrate me.
That said this certainly appears to be one of the most appealing games to come out this year.
The reviews state World War Z is high in the fun factor, extremely buggy and a blatant ripoff of Left for Dead series. Left for Zed if you will. A movie tie in for a film that is six years old, and while people liked the film, we are not talking Scarface or the Godfather here.
I liked the Left for Dead series but bluntly I need a game I can play solo on occasion and while World War Z allows that it clearly is not where the emphasis lies.