If you are a fan of pixilated games or dungeon crawlers or pixilated dungeon crawlers, do I have a Week in Games for you.
Everyone else not so much. Sure Saints Row: The Third is coming to the Switch so you can take your mayor Burt Reynolds on the road. Life Is Strange 2 has released another episode after an extended wait. Are there still people who are not just waiting for all the episodes to be released and the entire series to be on sale for a fiver about a week later?
Of the pixilated games Shakedown: Hawaii is the clear standout with an addictive clicker like economy game hiding among the GTA goodness.
I don’t know which game this week will test your sanity more? The obvious choice is Lovecraft’s Untold Stories which comes with its sanity meter, but DragonFangZ – The Rose & Dungeon Of Time’s horrible English translations may be a dark horse in the driving you crazy sweepstakes.
DragonFangZ – The Rose & Dungeon Of Time
DragonFangZ – The Rose & Dungeon Of Time is a proper rogue like with nice colorful graphics. It also sports the worst localization in the last thirty years and a fifty level optional tutorial.
Sadly, the developers are claiming there are going to fix the localization. I honestly think the translations into unintelligible English make this game more appealing rather than less.
For The King
For The King is a rogue like tabletop adventure game with colorful graphics and decent replayability. It also suffers from some stability issues and severe difficulty spikes. The dice rolling element can also be a point of frustration. Interesting and seeming well made For The King is a dungeon crawler that is worth a look.
Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey
Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey is a retro style JPRG that if the trailer is anything to go by has horrible overworld music. It has gotten mixed reviews, but it does have that gift giving mechanic I have always been partial to so it sneaks on the backlog through the back door.
Legend Of The Tetrarchs
Legend Of The Tetrarchs is a very retro tablet based turn based JPRG. You know what you are getting with this one. I seem to be drowning in these games and yet I am throwing this one on the backlog.
Lovecraft’s Untold Stories
Let’s be blunt if they called this Bob’s Untold Stories it wouldn’t be on this list. I am a sucker for H. P. Lovecraft media even in the form of a pixilated top down shooter. I am not expecting Lovecraft’s Untold Stories to provide insight into At the Mountains of Madness or be a romantic comedy set in Innsmouth. I am expecting a pixilated top down shooter. I doubt I will be disappointed.
Reverse Crawl
They pitch Reverse Crawl as a game where you play the bad guy defending your dungeon against those bothersome do gooding dungeon crawlers. While this sounds very appealing, it is also a bit of a lie. In reality, you are still the good guys with an undead palate swap. Going in expecting to finally get to play the evil bad guy will lead to nothing but disappointment.
Other than that, a competent turn based RPG at a good value price.
Shakedown: Hawaii
What at first appears to be a top-down shooter replica of the old Grand Theft Auto games by the makers of Retro City Rampage turns out to be a stealth open world economy game with a wicked sense of humor. As a person who played both Fable II and Fable III as a landlord simulator with a polygamy storyline, I am perfectly fine with this.