ThePowerWasher

I'm a moderate RoboCop fan. I've seen all the movies at least once, but nothing beyond that. Even so, I can tell this was a game made by RoboCop fans FOR RoboCop fans. It can get a bit boring after a while, and some of the side missions have a corniness you can't escape. But the feeling of being RoboCop is unparalleled and worth at least one playthrough!

Holy heck, this game was awesome! I'll admit, the combat and traversal puzzles are as standard as they come. Solving them can get a bit rote. But the environment, design, and MUSIC, MY GOD, THE MUSIC. If you're a fan of great musical moments while you're playing a video game, the straightforward gameplay elements will be worth going through!

Okay, seriously, the survival crafting genre is oversaturated. There are so many survival games, they all start to feel the same after a while. Despite that, Grounded stands out from the crowd thanks to the polish Obsidian brought to the game and the absolute heckin' charm of the Honey-I-Shrunk-The-Kids premise. I love Grounded SO MUCH. But my god, the spiders.

I JUST played this game, and my god, it's the best! It's one of those examples of a great couch co-op party game, and I've found that even my friends who don't regularly play video games can have a fun time with Ultimate Chicken Horse. Adding it to my list of go-to get-together games, alongside Overcooked 2 and Gang Beasts.

This is a total me-coded game! The perfect blend of "walking-sim" with "puzzle" to create just a superb experience overall. If you liked the discovery-is-progression vibe of Outer Wilds, then you'll love Blue Prince. (Just seriously, this is the kind of game where you'll need to take notes while you play.)

It's typical Josef Fares excellence! It plays a lot like It Takes Two, but there were definitely fun moments that awed me or made me bust a gut laughing. And, uh, yeah, all cards on the table, I'm a sucker for sisterhood stories, so I did cry a bit toward the end. Loved it!

It's legit a good game, absolutely solid. The combat and exploration in particular are the superstars of Avowed. But companion-wise and story-wise, I feel like it didn't reach the same heights as in The Outer Worlds. I'm glad I played it for sure, but it's not one I'm going to replay.

Playing through Have a Nice Death is a heckin' ton of fun. Its combat is supremely enjoyable, and makes it comparable to other platforming roguelikes like Dead Cells. I think the only big issue with it is its story and dialogue. Don't get me wrong, the premise is super cool! The Grim Reaper suffering from corporate burnout needs to go and take back his authority from insubordinate underlings. What's not to love. But as you go along and interact with the bosses and some friendly NPCs, the jokes don't always land. And it starts to muddy up the premise the more you go on.

It takes a lot to stand out in the zombie survival genre, but 7 Days to Die does this! And what's even better, it does this by just unapologetically embracing the basics of what makes a survival game a survival game. And the Blood Moon system is awesome. Gives the game a nice ebb and flow of prepping and then fighting for your life.

Soma is one of those games I beg my friends to play. No matter what their style of game is, I tell them they NEED to play Soma. The story is that good, the dialogue that spot-on, and the world that engrossing. It's not too long, it's not too scary, and it's not too hard. It's a must-play.

Neva is a beautiful game, with a fantastic art style and a soothing or unnerving soundtrack, depending on what section of the game you're in. As the character Alba, you guide your young wolf pup Neva through a world that's changing for the worse as the seasons go by. The older Neva gets, the more you work together rather than guiding and protecting her. It's a very basic kind of platform-puzzler, but the artistry behind it gives it a bump up in my esteem.

FOR SUPER EARTH! FOR MANAGED DEMOCRACY!

You know how after Batman: Arkham Asylum, everyone was saying "The game really makes you feel like Batman." Well, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is that, but for Indiana Jones.

I know, I know. Andromeda has a lot of issues, from strange facial animations (which unfortunately have mostly been fixed) to illogically corny moments. But god help me I loved it. It was funny and fun, and I have more video captures of hilarious glitches from this game than any other. This isn't a game about the A-Team saving the whole universe. It's the B-squad, stumbling into heroics in a haphazard and lame fashion. BUT I ADORE IT.

Doom Eternal blends fast-paced FPS action with the kind of strategic thinking you normally see in slower games. On high difficulties, it demands perfection. The challenge and epic awesomeness of Doom Eternal is unparalleled. I only wish using the super shotgun exclusively (with the incomparable meat hook) was a viable strategy. At some point, the requirement to use specific weapons (and specific mods) against specific enemies gets to be a bit too much. But it's all hellishly good fun.

Overcooked 2 took everything that was great about the first game and made it even better. It's the perfect party game to pull our after dinner, the perfect co-op experience if you're looking for something fun to play with your partner, and the perfect time to shout at your friends since Mario Kart. I love it.

It's just an utter joy to play through. You never get tired of ANY of the places or mechanics. It's as if DELIGHT was embodied in a single game.

I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan, so almost any game of any genre that takes place in Middle-earth is one that'll pique my interest. A survival-sandbox set in Moria? Sign me up! It's a pretty fun game, and it's really neat to customize your dwarf and work to rebuild the grandeur of the mines. But the combat feels basic and loose, resources can be tough to reliably nab when you need them, and targeting where you mine with your pickaxe also feels a little wonky.

A seriously good puzzle game. You roam around the manor solving puzzles, uncovering clues, and growing plants to unlock more sections of the manor. And as you go along, you learn more about the woman, the botanist, the legend behind this conservatory. It's all well and good, but if you pay attention to book names, photographs, and letters you find lying around the place, you'll learn there's kind of a tragic backstory to the whole thing.

An amazing platformer. It's a big win for Bigmode.