Well the good news is our Game of the Week is free. Yes, Dauntless that free to play Monster Hunter with a Fortnite art style takes the top prize. While it doesn’t have the fine graphics of Monster Hunter nor the cute cat assitants it is a lot more accessible and looks like a very fun time indeed.
Other games include two relaxing RPG’s oriented towards those looking to mellow out ( Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland, Marenian Tavern Story: Patty And The Hungry God). Apparently the longer the title, the more mellow the RPG. They are marketed towards girls with their bright colors, chirpy music, and emphasis on cooking; but I have to admit I like the change of pace every once in a while. Sometimes I don’t want to save the world… I want to make a lovely cheesecake instead.
American Fugitive
Dukes of Hazard meets top down GTA in the open world top down game American Fugitive. No real voice acting or radio stations here this is a fairly bare bones affair. Some reviewers complained that constant fetch quests for NPCs and hyper sensitive police litter the game play. So it is a true recreation of a GTA game. No word whether your cousin Jethro calls you constantly to see if you are up for some bowling.
Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland
I have a bunch of these in my to buy backlog. They are colorful turn based RPGs. Unfortunately it seems that they do suffer a bit from season pass/ DLC disease so keep that in mind.
Dauntless
Dauntless is a free to play Monster Hunter with a Fortnite art style. Surprising deep customization for a free to play game that it solo friendly. Very accessible game as well with simple controls and a fairly breezy style.
Fission Superstar X
Fission Superstar X is a roguelike side scrolling shooter with a juvenile sense of humor and a unique and creative art style. It does contain some elements of FTL: Faster Than Light that adds a little depth to the game itself.
Marenian Tavern Story: Patty And The Hungry God
Marenian Tavern Story: Patty And The Hungry God is an RPG where you do not try to save the world but only to run a successful restaurant. As Jamie Oliver could tell you this week saving the world is probably easier.
Quiet, colorful and grindy Marenian Tavern Story is a relaxing game where you kill monsters to gather ingredients that can be used to make dishes to sell, level up your characters, and pay off the god of poverty.
It can be a time sink (Twenty plus hours before you meet the final boss Gordon Ramsay) but your Kitchen Nightmare will be filled with pleasant music, cute characters and a combo to 2d and 3d graphics.
Observation
Observation is a walking simulator in an abandoned space station. Cribbing heavily from 2001 A Space Odyssey, Apollo 13 and The Martian you play an AI called Hal who helps the lone survivor of the space station Ripley get the space station up and running by doing puzzles on the hundreds of laptops scattered throughout in random locations. There will be space walks, random explosions, and timed sections where the air runs out.
Walking simulators on abandoned space stations with one or fewer survivors are practically its own genre at this point. Observation seems a competent if somewhat unremarkable example.
Slay The Spire
Slay the Spire is a card based roguelike dungeon crawler. The thing is Slay the Spire is a very well done and highly polished card based roguelike dungeon crawler. Welcome to your new addition… at least for a while.
Team Sonic Racing
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was a better cart racer than it had any right to be. Team Sonic Racing just doesn’t give me the same warm and fuzzy feeling. Partially because the forced co-op team portion seems as if it might be too gimmicky for its own good. And good luck finding two friends to work cooperatively with you in a kart racer. If I get friends together to play a kart racer it is to send a blue shell their way not to work together as a team.
Also let me add both the obligatory why does Sonic need a car comment as well as I wonder how the recent Sonic The Hedgehog movie trailer debacle will effect sales. (It could help as there is no such thing as bad publicity or it mark the final nail in a coffin filled already with nails from all the sonic games of the last twenty years.)