Board 8 > Post Each Time You Beat a Game: 2022 Edition Part II

(+) Yeah! (+)

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Xbox One/PC)

The split is from me starting it on Xbox and then with the cloud saves, finishing it on PC.

You know how earlier this year, I said I'd try to beat at least one game a month? Yeah lol, so much for that...

Never watched the anime or read any of the books (which I don't even know how well available those is), but I picked this up since I saw that it was leaving Game Pass soon and it's only a couple hours long, so I decided to give it a go. It's a solid Metroidvania, with some nice mechanics, even if it felt that you could do some cheesing with the regen on HP and MP.

But it's definitely been awhile since I played a Metroidvania, since I had some difficulty beating the attack patterns down with a couple of the bosses. Doubt I'll go for all achievements, since some of them seem like a pain to do and it leaves Game Pass tomorrow.

Cultic: Chapter 1 (PC)

Hey I'm not going to question why a game that's suppose to be in Early Access decided ah fuck it, it's ready and Part 2 can be DLC. Cultic is fun, frantic and frankly I think I'm enjoying it just a little bit better thanks to just getting out of Hands of Necromancy. It is for all intents Blood 2.0. I very much enjoyed it although it is not without its flaws. Large enemies tend to get stuck on textures. Climbing stairs for some reason is ridiculously clunky. Aaaaand I think that's it.

One of the main things this game's got going for is Options. The game offers you all these ways to customize your arsenal, all these avenues to the same location, and all these ways to utilize attacks. The dynamite itself has 4 kinds of attacks and one of them is combining it with molotovs, a move I have never seen anywhere and should be a no brainer honestly.

The voxelized filter thankfully can be turned off but I kept it on anyway as it grew on me. You know a game is designed well if you can despite the game looking pixelized as hell, still spot cultist snipers a mile away and nick them with such accuracy. Also, EXPLOSIONS. This game does explosions really well. I am so glad I'm no longer a Necromancer with sluggish spells. Hello hitscanners hello franticness. Actually that last part isn't really true; the cultists are great at aiming but all the bullets fly and do not actually hitscan so you can and must be able to dodge them effectively.

Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (3DS)

This garbage fucking sucks. I dropped it after Scarlet ate it but decided to finally come back and finish it. Honestly not even worth it.

The Fates mechanics are just bad. They're just really, really bad and it would make the three routes all bad even if all the other stuff about them was good. But instead almost everything else is bad too. The map design in Revelation is especially unforgivable. Just constant slogs through overly large maps with clunky gimmicks that only exist to slow things down. Shovel this snow. Burn this thicket. Wait for this platform. It's awful. It all sucks.

The writing is infamously garbage but Revelation is garbage in a completely different way from the other two. But also it's garbage in many of the same ways.

Don't play this bad game.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch)

I was already close to beating it before Pokemon Violet came in between, but now I have beaten the game. I haven't done every side quest or gotten every rare blade, but I did a lot nevertheless. I also have Torna: The Golden Country still to play and I probably will at some point, but I mostly wanted to turn off enemy aggression at some moments which greatly improved my patience with the game (so that was well worth the 30 bucks).

So this game was a reattempt after I sold it a few years ago. I could not get into it as much as XBC1 and seeing how long it was, I just didn't want to bother. However, I rebought it at the start of the year to give it another chance, but lent it to my partner soon after I bought it, whilst I played his copy of XBC: DE since I had never actually beaten the game before this year (and it was still amazing like it was on the Wii). So it definitely took some time for me to get going with XBC2.

Now I've finally finished it and I have to say...it's good, there's a lot of charm and colour to it, the characters are fun and the story certainly expands a lot towards the end. All in all an impressive product and the battle system is quite enjoyable later in the game. However, my initial struggles to get attached to the game still hold true to an extent and I do feel it takes too long before battling actually becomes enjoyable. Sure, XBC was quite primitive in comparison, but it also wasn't really in the way much. XBC2 could sometimes feel reaaaally sloggy. I also just don't like the world building and story pacing as much as XBC1. It's just too all over the place, the lore sometimes felt very random and I'm actually not all that satisfied with the ending. Not saying it's bad, but not my cup of tea per se. It felt just overly anime and cheesy at some points where it just hindered my attachment to a game of such an epic scale. You also start getting stuff to really care about a bit too late imo. XBC1 also had an info/twist dump at the end, but the build up of it all felt far more natural. Also, maybe it's just me, but I felt that the final boss in this game was pretty lame in almost every regard and surprisingly simple.

I sometimes felt like XBC2 lost itself in its own complexity or attempt at it. I still liked it overall, it's an impressive product, but I'm not sure I could ever play through it again.

Nobody Saves the World (PC)

Quirky action dungeoncrawler that I think someone else here mentioned beating at the start of this year. I like the premise and the mechanics and it was refreshing to see (story spoilers) that loser character actually coming into his own in the end. It was very endearing.. But I felt like in the pursuit of customizability and replayability, the game ironically felt padded and restrained and thus fell short for me. It seems obvious from how pitiful the final boss was that the true game lies in New Game+ where it crosses into roguelike territory somewhat. But the road to it is pretty grindy with more than 10 characters each with their own somewhat random but similar variation of quests and goals. I didn't even stick around to unlock the final form nay the two penultimate forms by the endgame because I was so focused on grinding every other character I just lost all steam. Anyways, glad its over.

Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Moonspell (DLC) (PC)
Once again up to date on achievements. Sure, it didn't take me very long, but at such a low price how can I object?

Evil West (PC)
So this is a Focus Entertainment game. A linear action brawler taking some inspiration from God of War '18, Evil West sees Weird West vampire hunter Jesse Rentier taking on, well, vampires with a arsenal of weapons and a colorful cast of allies. It's rough, janky, and not overly deep, but it's undeniably fun and enthusiastically silly.

River City Girls (PS4)

Since River City Girls 2 is already out, I thought I would get a move on and beat this game already. It's a good beat-em-up and I enjoyed my time playing through it, even if I saw the game over screen on average every five minutes. Haven't bought the sequel but might try it out later.

Post

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79787241/970250755

(Zestiria, specifically)

New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

After usually going through none or one of these every year, this was the sixth photography-centric games that I have gone through this year, and I would rank it either 4th or 5th. More often than not, the first time through a course was great. I have played one Pokemon game in the past 20 years, so fan service doesn't apply to me, but they did a great job at making each initial run engaging and pleasing to the eye. The rocky and marine areas were the clear standouts to me because they were less cluttered and I don't know, seemed to be cooler and more memorable on multiple fronts.

The main problem is that the game is padded a lot. It should have been half the length, and because the sense of progression is warped, it makes what should be a fun and relaxing activity into more of an exhausting exercise. They don't give you various start points when you revisit an area, the very late-game addition of a turbo function is not very useful, and just in general there's a distinct accessibility/quality of life features for an on-rails game like this that forces you to go through levels over and over for arbitrary reasons.

AM2R (Switch)(Unofficial)
So this game has quite a strong reputation, and I think it's deserved. The experience was like nothing less than playing a proper 2D Metroid.

Paradise Killer (Steam)

You can fuck the hunky doctor and the goat lady. 10/10

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth (Steam)

Only really played this because I've heard Echo of Starsong is really really good and that's game #3 in the series. This was cute though, if short. I was expecting more of an RPG but it's really just a... I dunno, a point-and-click telescope sim? With VN elements?

There's an achievement for scanning 1000 stars. I scanned more than was necessary and only barely got the achievement for scanning 100 stars. wtf. ain't nobody got time for that shit.

Hades
Fun game, but needed more content and a real ending.

Jet Gunner (PC)
This one is a fun one. Action/Sidescroller Shoot Em' Up where you use a Jet Pack. It has a small Sha-tter Hand vibe to it except with weapons and a Jetpac. Got rough near the end but it was alright. It did what it set out to do and it was to remind me of old NES games.

Alien Splatter (PC)

It came with Jet Gunner for free when you check Properties > Local Files > Browse.
An Action/Sidescroller that felt like...Ninja Gaiden but without a wall jump and you use Guns. Weird, I know. This one was very rough around the edges near the end. I saw that Alien Splatter Redux is a much better game so I'll play that one soon.

Rosenkreuzstilette (PC)

Waifu Mega Man. Not bad. The sequel is much better IMO.

Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001 (Arcade)

Played this with a friend via Fightcade. Was nice to experience the first game.

Super Taco Crew (PC)

Furry Visual novel by artist DeckerWolf. You play as a fox thief trying to survive in a vaporware dystopian world. I personally liked it.

Aliens (Arcade)

Played this with a friend via Fightcade. He was Ellen Ripley and I was Dwayne Hicks. Was a good shoot em' up that was playing by beat em' up rules. Felt like Contra in a sense considering it was made by Konami. It was good stuff.

Rockman (Famicom/PC)
Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo (Famicom/PC)
Rockman 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo !? (Famicom/PC)
Rockman 4: Aratanaru Yabou!! (Famicom/PC)
Rockman 5: Blues no Wana!? (Famicom/PC)
Rockman 6: Shijo Saidai no Tatakai!! (Famicom/PC)

Replayed via Mega Man Legacy Collection.

Fortified Zone (Game Boy/2DS XL)

A very solid overhead shoot em' up. You play as Masato Kanzaki and Mizuki Makimura. Two characters you can switch to as you go around and shoot stuff in maze-like levels.

Three Wonders - Midnight Wanderers (Arcade)

Played with a friend via Fightcade. It was aight.

Three Wonders - Chariot (Arcade)

Played with a friend via Fightcade. The follow up to Midnight Wanderers. Was a pretty neat shoot em' up

Tails Adventure (Game Gear/2DS XL)

Replayed my favorite Game Gear game of all time. This time on a 2DS XL.

Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Game Boy/2DS XL)
Mega Man II (Game Boy/2DS XL)
Mega Man III (Game Boy/2DS XL)
Mega Man IV (Game Boy/2DS XL)
Mega Man V (Game Boy/2DS XL)

I own the both Wily's Revenge and Mega Man II on cart. It was nice to snag all of these from the eShop. I doubt Capcom will make a modern collection out of these games. They almost did for GBA long ago but that got cancelled cause apparently they lost the source code for the originals? Ah well...

The Legend of Zelda 2: Link no Bouken (Famicom/The Legend of Zelda Game & Watch)

It felt good experiencing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in Japanese. I'm surprised at all of the differences this has over than what we got in America. While it was nice I still preferred what we got in the west. Zelda II is great.

Vampire: Master of Darkness (Game Gear/2DS XL)

At first glance, it is a ripoff of Castlevania. It's why I got this game in the first place cause I like Castlevania. It's actually really good. I recommend it to anyone that likes the linear style of the old Castlevanias.

Toziuha-Night: Dracula's Revenge (PC)

This is "we have Castlevania at home" Edition.
Could care less about the story.
Game is a little unbalanced. You can plow through most of it if you use your powered up Sub Weapon that uses mana. The last boss though was ridiculous to deal with.
The developer is planning on doing a Metroidvania. I hope it turns out a little better than this offering...

Crypt Stalker (PC)

Heavily inspired by Castlevania.
This one is much more competent.
Has a few rough spots but it's not too bad. Made by the same person that also did Jet Gunner and Alien Splatter.

An American Werewolf in L.A. (Switch)

"You are D. Landis, a tormented young man who wants to run away from Hells Creek to become a pro surfer. When youre about to leave the village in your convertible, Sheriff Naschy steps in your way to capture you.
Because you are a werewolf, and monsters never leave Hells Creek.
You will need to run through some of the most iconic American cities in a frenetic chase, defeating the men recruited by the Sheriff.
Will you survive the hordes of enemies to reach L.A.?"

I could not help but check out this title. Got it for cheap too from a sale. Needed a good cheap laugh during the month of October.
Gameplay is set on a 2D plane. You basically do an enemy survival on a countdown and you move on to the next level. It was a short and amusing game to me. Dashing, Clawing and Biting all felt satisfying. Good cheesy fun.

Gargoyle's Quest (Game Boy/2DS XL)
Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness (NES/2DS XL)
Demon's Crest (SNES/2DS XL)

I replayed all of these during October.
I own all of these carts too. I have a little tradition to replay Demon's Crest during the month of October and I wanted to include Gargoyle's Quest and part 2 in the mix.
I felt like wanting to replay these all in one spot and I wanted to give my 2DS XL some love.
Each game got better and better with Demon's Crest being the best.
This is a fantastic series and it's downright criminal we don't have another sequel to Demon's Crest.

Splatterhouse 2 (Genesis)

This was the first game I decided to play on my Sega Genesis Mini 2.
A replay. I last played it 5 years ago.
This game is good bloody fun.
It's neat I have access to the Japanese version too. In it, the Terror Mask has a different design but it's a lot tougher with no passwords.

Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (Genesis)

Played via Genesis Mini 2. I used to play the SNES version a whole lot so it was neat playing this particular version. Felt good playing with the 6 Button controller. Felt nice listening to the different iterations of the music, although the voices took a big hit! I did a 1CC with Cammy in Arcade mode.

Fatal Fury 2 (Genesis)

Played via Genesis Mini 2. This port was very impressive. It may have been missing a few frames of animation but hey, it played well enough! I beat the game with Terry Bogard and I actually liked some of the music renditions in this version. Some of them gave me Sonic the Hedgehog/Shinobi vibes!.

Ninja Senki DX (PC)

I had a lot of fun with this one. You play as Hayate who is out for revenge when Princess Kinuhime was slain by a demon.
This was a cute little action/platformer and I somehow got the best ending on my first try.

Squidlit (PC)

Replayed. I played it last year on Switch.
A cute little action/platformer with a Game Boy aesthetic. Very short but very fun. You play as a cute little squid that squirts ink and eats muffins.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (XB1)

It definitely felt long for an entirely linear game. Being linear, the moment-to-moment stuff was definitely uneven. I got really into it in the early parts, felt like it dragged in the middle, started to pick back up again, then just wanted it to be over in the closing chapters. Despite the lack of combat variety, I did have a blast ordering people around and just shooting the crap out of enemies and dodging all the time.

In all, I felt this was a quality game, but one that could have been a lot better and possibly Eidos Montreal's weakest game (haven't played Thief reboot, which I assume will take the cake)

Tiny Rogues (PC)
I spied this being buzzed about in a Steam sale topic. It must be the easiest Roguelite because I kept clearing runs almost immediately after I started playing. It's fun, though, sending you through a series of reward choices in single screens of bullet-spewing creatures, like an ancient ancestor of Hades. Just be sure to turn down that CRT filter. Ouch.

Kirby: Star Allies (Switch)

So I started this much earlier in the year, but kind of got side-tracked like usual and put it aside. Well I finally beat it recently.

Honestly, it was better than I was expecting out of it, and I don't think it had much to do with me playing it after all the updates because I only played the Story Mode and I didn't use the Dream Friends all that much.

I can see the complaints with the AI, but they're honestly good enough for solving the puzzles and you cycle through them so often that them occasionally dying shouldn't really matter, and you can still revive them in some cases. That said, the whole ability combining thing did take some getting use to.

And I actually liked how Star Allies toned down the stage collectables (of course the mass puzzle collectables are still there similar to previous Kirby games), so you don't have to be too concerned about missing stuff as you go through the stages.

Also good to see that Plasma is still great for cheese strats.

Well, guess I can finally start on Forgotten Land.

Metroid Dread (Switch)
Fantastic. It's almost baffling how Mercury Steam went from Mirror of Fate to the adequate Samus Returns to this, a game that seems to meld the strongest points of every 2D Metroid.

Bugsnax (PS5)

So I'm home for the holidays and my PlayStation is unavailable. I figured I could try to Remote Play some games and see how that performs. There's a bit of latency so I ended up playing Bugsnax, a game that is simple enough that I really don't need the fast response times.

The game itself is alright, definitely not a game I would spend money on but since it was free on PS+ at one point I already had it in my library. It's short and charming enough that it was fine I guess.

Quake: Enhanced (PC)

Probably my last major game of the year, we'll see. Quake was something of a mystery to me. My childhood was based on Quake 2 and so I didn't really know anything about this game. I wouldn't call it amazing, just "important" I guess. I play this and all I can think about is Quake 2 honestly.

This version of Quake includes every single expansion and DLC and I have to say while they were all decent I really hate fighting the monsters in this game. They're all annoying AF and I had to retrain my brain to realize that this game is just not easy at all never holding your hand. But I can appreciate "where it all began" and what these other retro shooter revivalists have been influenced by. And I can also see how the Serious Sam games took the shallowest elements of these games and turned them into an arcadey fuckfest.

While I appreciate the imagery and the level design, I probably shouldn't have played all these levels straight as with every succeeding expansion I felt more and more frustrated. And then the final expansion came which was the only one made fairly recently and of any seriously official note. This bastard of an expansion might as well have been its own game; it showcased quite a bit of what this old engine can do and the setpieces were a perfect blend of gothic horror and violent bloodshed. If I didn't know anything about Quake, I probably would have just wanted this final episode as it easily trumps the rest.

I don't think I'm coming back to this game in a long long time but I will keep it on for when I will have to eventually play tons of its mods. I hear they're completely different; it seems the community made maps in Quake are more akin to DOOM's own with over 200 enemies being very common and probably if released back then machines wouldn't have been able to handle so many polygons moving at once.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (PC)

I think this game set out to do what it was meant to do, which was to give tribute to a franchise that has wowed us 90s kids for decades. Is it a perfect beatemup? No. I would say its about 7.5 over 10 especially if you're considering that this is the state they want to leave it in without any planned DLC, patches, or future content. But was it a very enjoyable romp through nostalgia? Hell yeah.

Sure, challenge yourself in Arcade mode all you want I guess if that's your thing but I think the heart of this game lies in playing it with 5 other people regardless of the mode. You just don't see games like this anymore. Or do you---I don't know, I haven't been looking at the beatemup indie scene lately.

What I really love about this is the amount of nostalgia put into it. There are things in the background in the setpieces that make me scream out oh wow yeah I remember that. Wow they put that in the game, cool. I really loved it that they decided to put Tempestra into this game but man. If you're going to put an obscure character in the game as a boss, at least don't do them dirty like that. So for context if anyone cares Tempestra was a one shot villain in the classic 90s show. Yes, she was a villain in an arcade machine, but she was basically a weather wizarding bitch who gave Leonardo (the only turtle present in that episode) a hard time in her only appearance. But to make her the Summoner for 2 other nostalgic baddies is a shame in itself. Wasted potential.

The game is not well-polished when you stop thinking about the nostalgia for a sec. I'm not a hardcore beatemup expert but there are some really obvious things like the animation frames, the hitboxes, the difficulty level of boss fights---sometimes its too easy and sometimes its too hard. And all this time they still couldn't get attacking aerial enemies right. Not to mention the 2.5 vehicle sections were a pain most of the time. This game could use a couple of patches and some DLC. Sorely needs it.

If this game's goal was to emulate the style of the old games; a love letter so to speak then yeah max points for me. But if this is a game meant to continue an existing set of games and also bringing it to the modern stage, then yeah it fails a bit. My opinion is, if you're a big fan then you'll get it no matter what. If you got a nephew or a brother who is a fan then yeah of course. But if you're looking for a "great" beatemup its not here in my opinion.

Immortality (XS/X)

I respect the ambition and the collective performances of everyone were excellent. That being said, I just couldn't get into the overarching narrative, especially with subdued supernatural elements in a largely "real" scenario being something that is very hit or miss with me depending on the style and effectiveness of execution.

While I enjoyed clicking images instead of typing in key words to view new scenes, there was a much higher RNG element regarding that than I anticipated and appreciated. There was plenty of brute force blind clicking at the end just so I could see something new that I needed.

Overall, I would say that it is decent, maybe even good, but I am disappointed having come into it with high expectations being a big fan of Her Story and the majority of Telling Lies.

Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls (Vita)

Another spinoff of the Neptunia series, this is a crossover with Sega's own series of console girls known as the Sega Hard Girls. Only the Neptunia characters from Planeptune are represented here, each paired with one of the Sega characters that correspond with them (like Nepgear and Game Gear are paired together, for instance). IF and a Sega maker are the MCs of the game, going through the different eras and recruiting the CPUs and Hard Girls throughout history.

As for the game itself, if you've played any Neptunia game you've probably seen a good number of the levels already. The only difference is the medals and baseballs hidden away in each level to encourage exploration, which is a pretty good addition. Some dungeons show up in multiple eras and offer some different routes through the stage, which can be interesting - though most of these just end up being copies of themselves and just make you run through the same dungeon again.

I was impressed with the combat system and the job system in this game, probably the best of any of the games in the series that I've played so far - though you can argue it's more simplistic and easy to break (which is technically correct). Either way, it was a enjoyable fifteen hours. I'll be getting the platinum so add another ten hours onto that to probably finish it.

2022 Retrospective

2021 has been harsh on me. Dad died before the year was over, I got the terrible COVID variant, and my future was uncertain as I went into what was going to be my first year of unemployment. Gaming that time was like a drug that both kept me in check and sent me to the wayside if I didn't regulate myself; composed of either long elaborate games that I could just zone out in or really short ones as I used them mainly to distract myself before focusing on my certs and things. I don't recall actually wanting to play something because I wanted to.

2022 follows this pattern but I'm a bit more settled in my new job. Gaming was mostly focused on finishing up old stuff I couldn't before 2020 but nothing so heavy like an RPG except probably at the start of the year when I was more free. This year saw the end of several FPS' and Adventure Games---games that are lighter to swallow and get into. I'm dying for some heavy stuff but I don't know if I have the capacity for them yet. It's getting there though as I fill in the gaps of my games beaten with Deep Rock Galactic or Voxiom.io

I don't know if 2023 will have me branching out into more "daring" attempts to beat something. Perhaps. I've been slowly moving into solo pen and paper journalling stuff so maybe my count will also significantly lessen. We'll see.

Chained Echoes (PC)

This game's been getting a lot of attention and superlatives thrown at it over the last few weeks, and while I'm not quite gonna join the chorus calling it one of the best JRPGs of the last few years, it's unequivocally worth the time and price for anyone that's a fan of the turn-based side of the genre. And at the very least, I'm happy to call it one of the best Kickstarter games ever. Has its issues here and there, but in totality it very much deserves the praise. I'll play a sequel if it gets one.

A Short Hike (PS4)

Probably the last game I'll beat this year. I wanted something simple and relaxing and heard that this game fits that exact description. Not much to say, it was nice to play.

Murasaki (PC)

The interesting kind of weird with some neat mechanics but also bogged down by some amateur execution/intentions in the sound design and presentation.

Salamander County Public Television
Not worth playing.

Phantom Breaker: Omnia (PS4)

This game is apparently the first game in its series, and after playing Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds twice I still had no idea what was going on in it - this game did a good job of filling in the gaps of what was actually happening there. The English dub is also a welcome surprise as most games like this would never get one.

As for the fighting game itself, I'm not very good at fighting games and with the multiple modes that each character can use I did get confused pretty quickly. I eventually did get most of the trophies and finished two of the story modes, as well as the arcade mode, in less than five hours. The platinum doesn't seem that difficult either, so I might grab that as well.

River City Girls 2 (PC)

I closed out last year on a high note with this game.

This game was really good. I think it's almost better than the first one (first one is really good!)
I liked most of the boss fights except for maybe one (the second boss fight) although it wasn't too bad.

The combat system feels great. I feel combat flows really well and I feel that it's a little easier to land air throws. I also like that you can recruit and have two strikers instead of one. They also have special recruits called Hired Henchmen you can use to recruit for a price.

The hideout system is really neat. You can switch between main characters and swap out any Recruits for different ones you previously recruited provided you found any in the wild (except for Hired Henchmen. You'll have to find them again where they usually hang out). There's even an inventory system at the hideout you can use to swap out accessories/equipment to your other characters.

The OST is spot on. I think I still prefer the first game's OST overall but I do like a few of the new tracks and the whole OST as a whole slowly grows on me.

The writing/dialogue is fun especially if you like 4th wall/meta humor.

I also love Marian.<3

A Plague Tale: Innocence (PS5)
Just like the Pied Piper led rats through the streets, we dance like marionettes, swaying to the symphony
I give this one the Deadly Premonition Award for Absurdity in Escalation. To say more would spoil it, but to briefly introduce the story, the daughter of a knight and her little brother flee the Inquisition amid the Plague. The Black Death? Yes, that too, but more importantly the plague of flesh-eating rat swarms! The gameplay has elements of stealth, puzzles, survival, action and good ol' cinematic storytelling. If you didn't get the idea, this is not for the faint of heart or stomach, with gore not the worst of it.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (PS5)l
Ratquiem for a Dream
This sequel continues the saga of the de Runes, a family so unfortunate that Snicket's Baudelaires would think themselves blessed by not being them. Heroine Amicia must help her young brother Hugo bear his terrible power in a world full of adults who generally don't have the best of intentions. While the story is still bonkers and occasionally even compelling, the expanded scope leads to gameplay elements that fail to hold together very long and frequently drift into jank, frustration, glitches and general nonsense. This can be extremely funny, which is ironic considering a term like "grimdark" doesn't do this miserable horror parade justice. Bad game, 10/10, highly recommended.