An Old Story for a New Beginning

For people out of the loop (myself included), Outcast – A New Beginning is a sequel to the 1999 classic action-adventure Outcast by Appeal. In its heyday, Outcast caused quite a ruckus to its genre. Said ruckus included being named “Action Game of the Year” by Gamespot in 1999! Nonetheless, not many people may know it, Outcast – A New Beginning has some pretty large boots to fill. It may not be fair to callously compare both titles to each other as a lot has changed in the gaming industry since 1999, but it’s worth noting the history and context of Appeal’s latest release today. So, does this classic callback shape up to the modern age of gaming, has Appeal still got it after all these years?

The Right Tool for the Job

Outcast puts you in the boots of one Cutter Slade, (same protagonist as the last game) a former Navy Seal who assisted in dimensional travel in Outcast 1. Set on the planet Adelpha, Cutter is resurrected by the native deities of this planet. A mysterious past haunts him as he traverses his way across a once-familiar Adelpha. But now a shadowy robotic army is extracting its natural resources and exploiting its inhabitants, called the Talan.

You get a lot of Cutter’s character in each cutscene and interaction. I mean A LOT. At first, his snide, quippy remarks do land and get a small smirk out of me. But this quickly runs dry after the tutorial zone. Again, I know this is a character from the 1990s and he sits alongside other greats of his era such as Duke Nukem, and Spyro. However, he feels very played out and more of an annoyance on screen than a loveable titular character. I tried to like him, I really did try but when most of your lines are rhetorical knee-slappers from the stereotypical military man, it just gets exhausting. Particularly against the backdrop of an alien planet such as Adelpha.

The planet of Adelpha can be engrossing at times, even pretty. I want to say the open world is large and expansive, but I would say it’s closer to a medium-sized Ubisoft map! The planet’s inhabitants, the Talan, offer much exposition (opposite the HILARIOUS and corny Slade remarks) and lore to the player which some people will find engrossing. Outside of the story quests, it’s honestly the same old format we see nowadays, unfortunately. Go here, kill things, fetch this, which doesn’t do many favours for Cutter or the story. I do not even think though, that it is the story that will bring people to Outcast – A New Beginning.

Jet Setter

I do think that people will come and stay for Outcast’s gameplay. This is thanks in large part to Cutters equipment he procures in his adventures. Your main tools are your gun, shield and jetpack (courtesy of the invading robot army). Each tool at your disposal has a fairly linear skill tree full of impactful unlocks. You collect certain resources to unlock certain abilities along your journey. Some side quests also reward you with new skills, so as painful as they are they’re generally worth a look.

As soon as I unlocked the hover ability on my jetpack, I understood what Outcast had to offer. It features some of the finest movement mechanics of an action-adventure game I have encountered in a long time. Butter smooth flight mechanics and some solid gunplay kept me locked into Outlast all throughout my playthrough. Shield-smashing robots, gliding around Adelpha for the lolz. I have not enjoyed an action adventure this much since Elden Ring people. I want to give Outcast full marks off the merit of movement, but with everything else combined, I think it’s fair to say Outcast – A New Beginning has superbly well-rounded gameplay.

Verdict

The developers over at Appeal know the essence of action-adventure. Although many story elements, ambience and likeable characters fell by the wayside in this game’s development, Appeal seems to still have a good grasp on what makes action-adventure so fun.

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Parallel to Perfection

First off, Parallel’s design is surprisingly tight and well done for a free-to-play TCG. I found it easy to quickly understand the layout of the field and what to do on each turn. Everything from the sound effects to the character exposition lines, felt very on them, on point and fantastically set. The design leans into the futuristic theme. You are first put into the shoes of the Marcolian fleet facing off against a motley fleet of pirates. This tutorial is offset by a well-made cutscene. The cutscene grants tremendous exposition and entrenches you within the lore of Parallel.

Battle for Earth

After you complete the tutorial you have access to rookie mode, a game mode with a pool of rookie decks from each major faction. Although a bit lengthy to play all the faction decks, you get a good sense of each faction’s playstyle. The Augencore; a tech-obsessed faction, Earthen; the “good guys” who fight for Mother Earth, the Kathari; a clone faction that’s rapidly decaying, Marcolians humans from Mars, and finally the Shroud; a fanatic religious faction awaiting the arrival of the Great One. You’ll have the opportunity to play each faction at least 5 times in rookie mode, which makes for a great onboarding experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the lore text available on the cards. I am a sucker for lore it has to be said. But it has to be noted the amount of thought and care that went into the lore-building of Parallel.

Fear the Singularity

Outside of the design and lore, the gameplay itself is okay. It hits the mark of a playable competitive TCG but there is a few glaring issues with the current state of the game. The animations and on-screen prompts went a bit too quickly for my liking as I had to give myself a couple of seconds to figure out what had happened in any instance of damage or interaction. You would be assigning defenders, or playing a soldier and BAM a quick succession of almost blurred animations happens wiping your board. It created a strange disorientation which I felt didn’t need to be there so early! This was just after the tutorial mind you. More also has to be done in the way of balancing as the Shroud is by far the best faction, even in rookie mode I’d get stomped by Shroud decks early on.

Now the gameplay isn’t all bad, as I said the rookie decks are great for newbies and the overall design and card synergies with each faction really shine through in games. There is a promising TCG found in Parallel. However, I fear we may be a few patches away from it as the UI and user experience can really let it down early on, which may deter a lot of newcomers!

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Atlas Wept is a charming indie RPG that punches above its weight. Considering it was created by a solo developer over at Kbojisoft, that is quite a feat. However, does Atlas Wept deliver on all the requirements of a good RPG?

Tale as old as Time

I normally like to give a short introduction to the games that I review, but I think for Atlas Wept I’ll forgo this tradition! All that I will say is you play as 2 sets of children Hal & Lucy (and their robot friend Gigi) and Dezi & Charlie uncovering the secrets of their world. The reason I want to refrain from divulging too much of the story is because the story of Atlas Wept needs to be experienced by oneself over the span of 10 hours or so. I want to make it clear that Atlas Wept does not reinvent the wheel here, but it does show off some intriguing story points throughout which I think people would enjoy. It’s fair to say that Atlas Wept does deliver what any decent RPG should storywise.

Aside from the story, the setting is pretty spot on. You experience everything from a quaint smiling village to a nightmarish dreamscape, and dark caves fraught with ancient danger. Along with the soundtrack, you feel almost transfixed by the world of Atlas Wept. It constantly feels so strange, yet just out of reach of the familiar. My favourite sequence was Dezi reliving a certain nightmare and having you “play along” with the nightmare. It genuinely felt maddening to me, as it did the character I was playing as.

God of War

The core strength of Atlas Wept is its highly addictive and fun combat system. In a homage to games like Undertale, you face enemies scattered around the world in a turn-based combat system. Each opponent has a different attack which you must overcome and adapt to. Each enemy attack is essentially a fun little mini-game that you compete in to avoid getting hit, otherwise, your character(s) will start taking damage.

Every combatant’s turn is dependent on their speed stat, you can attack using magic or your strength, and you can also buff and debuff other characters. A new addition to this classic form of combat by Atlas Wept is a stun bar. This bar is filled up by attacking an enemy. Magic attacks fill it up quickly, and once it’s full, the enemy gets stunned. Alongside the story, combat is the key driving factor of gameplay in Atlas Wept, and has me craving a new enemy encounter every time I jump into it.

The gameplay is tight and easy to enjoy. There are very few issues with it, one of the main being that the map is pretty much useless and unintuitive most times.

Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Wept is a small but fun package that reminds me of those teacup rides in theme parks. You know when you get on you’re gonna have a fun ride that’s easy to get behind and easy to understand. Therein lies the strengths of Atlas Wept. Be sure to check it out on Steam.

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Dark Envoy is an RPG adventure tactical strategy game set in the futuristic Guns N’ Sorcery time. I have to admit I was very curious and excited to play this game. Surprisingly, it’s not that often that I get the chance to play many RPG tactical games, especially ones with a gripping storyline! So, does Dark Envoy deliver on its promises?

Welcome to the World of Jaan:

Dark Envoy is set on the planet of Jaan, where humans are attempting to colonize the entire planet. However, the inhabitants (consisting of non-human species such as elves etc) are less than happy about this arrangement. The humans self-identify as the Empire, while the remaining natives have arranged themselves into the League. They are constantly vying for control over Jaan. We begin our story with Kaela and Malakai, 2 relic hunting siblings in search of ancient powerful artefacts within the depths of Jaan.

The Darkness Looms:

The world of Jaan is pretty intriguing in a strange, janky kind of way. The environments are engaging, and really make you feel like you’re on an almost familiar alien planet. The enemy variety is also brilliant, as throughout your playthrough you are pitted against both of the main factions of Jaan, facing everything from killer automatons to sketchy human bandits.

However, story-wise, I found that while Dark Envoy does offer some redeeming qualities, it suffers from lacklustre cutscenes, poorly timed voice lines and overall poor voice acting. The cutscenes really drag me out of the experience, and the poor timing of voice lines really puts a dampener on an otherwise cool boss fight or interaction. I think that a lot of these story experiences can be perfected as they’re more rough around the edges, rather than completely broken. And with future patches, I hope to see more engaging and smoother story scenes.

Speaking of which, at pivotal points throughout the story you’ll be presented with the traditional fork in the road choice, generally bad choice or good choice. I was at first surprised they managed to squeeze this in as the story would be just fine without such choices, but it added a decent degree of variety to each playthrough.

Gameplay:

Now, for the heart and soul of Dark Envoy. The gameplay is honestly a little difficult to explain, but once you give it a try, you 100% understand it after your first round of combat. Combat centres around a tactical approach, with the ability to slow time (or stop it altogether) being available right from the get-go. Personally, I loathe this, as I’m all too fond of slowing time just for the frame-by-frame cinematics.

However, this option really does signal to the player that they should tactically and cautiously approach each encounter. This feels strange in an adventure-based RPG but it mixes a lot better than I thought. The only real drawback is that it slows down combat drastically, and some (such as myself) may suffer from the odd bout of analysis paralysis! You can almost forget how quick combat is in between pausing and slowing time.

Since Dark Envoy has a Guns N’ Sorcery backdrop, you get an interesting selection of classes play as. Warriors are your generic melee-focused damage dealers. Ranger your traditional range class. Engineers are your summoners/bombs experts. Finally, Adepts are your spellslingers. Each class has a decent variety of skills and upgrades, and I especially had fun as the dual-wielding ranger with a lot of movement, diving from cover to cover, and letting off a hail of bullets. All throughout the game you meet and control new party members so you’ll get plenty of opportunities to experiment! All the abilities feel nice and crisp, and a special nod to the information panel on each enemy that offers another layer of tactics in combat.

Verdict:

Dark Envoy is a one-of-a-kind game. It offers many unique experiences and some solid gameplay. However, I fear that the lacklustre cutscenes and all-around poorly voiced story really drag down what could’ve been an even greater packaged deal. However, I do expect the developers to address this soon, and really polish this nice indie gem!

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2023-10-25

The Age of Sigmar

Storm into the realm of Ghur, with Warhammer’s latest installment to the real-time strategy genre, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin! Take command of one of the main factions vying for control of the foul realm of Ghur. The Stormcast Eternals, Sigmar’s favoured and our “good guy” faction. The Orruk Kruleboyz, seemingly incompetent “bad guys” who constantly clash with the Stormcast Eternals. And finally, the malicious Nighthaunts guarding an ancient secret held deep within the realm of Ghur. Does Age of Sigmar live up to its name?

For Sigmar!

As with any Warhammer game, each character, reference and/or voice line is potentially oozing with story and exposition. For any people not familiar with Warhammer’s Age of Sigmar fantasy setting, not to worry, you still have plenty of story to sink your teeth into. Better yet this title could potentially ensnare you into the colossal hobby of Warhammer! You’ll start off the game with a tutorial playing as the Stormcast Eternals (the human) faction. You’ll be quickly brought up to speed with the realm of Ghur, its inhabitants, and your primary objectives there. Many of the characters are one-dimensional, easy to predict and all around mid. But let’s face it that’s not why you’re here!

Realms of Ruin is an insanely good-looking game, especially for such a decrepit realm like Ghur. A lot of care is put into making the battlefields feel foreign to any human. Even more care is put into making all the non-human factions (or filthy Xenos for my 40K fans out there) feel menacing and otherworldly. Props to the environment team at Frontier Developments plc for bringing the Age of Sigmar to life!

Real-Time Bash-ery

But more importantly, the gameplay. Realms of Ruin feels like a tight real-time strategy (RTS), that nails all the core concepts. To break it all down to its very basics, you have heavy infantry, light infantry, and ranged infantry. Light infantry deals a tonne of damage, meaning they lack any sort of armour. Heavy infantry are heavily armoured, slow, and pretty bulky. Finally, ranged infantry are lightly armoured and terrible in melee but can dish out a ridiculous amount of punishment at range. Most of the combat revolves around using these types of units effectively, but that’s probably not what’s going to sell you on Realms of Ruin!

The real draw is the special units and heroes you get to command throughout your conquests! Unfortunately, I have only really played the Stormcast Eternals, so I can only comment on them in this review. But, my favorite unit is the Stormdrake Guard a flying beast that dishes out damage in the air and on the ground. While mostly playing as the Stormcast Eternals, it was super fun having a Thor lightning vibe playthrough, calling down reinforcements from the sky and watching melees dissipate with a huge crackle of lightning.

Outside of special units, much of the combat will have a melee focus, which does provide some chaotic, picturesque moments. Each unit has also been given a generous amount of attention, as they have unique abilities and actions. For example, the scout units of the Stormcast have the ability to remove the fog of war within a large circle. Lesser RTS games would just give the scouting units longer visibility, but Age of Sigmar gives you a tremendous amount of agency in making battlefield choices.

The Realms Beyond

I think that Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin offers a lot for an RTS title. It offers an even greater package for fans of both RTS games and Age of Sigmar fans. There is plenty for both camps, so with that in mind, I unequivocally recommend diving into Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin!

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2023-10-09

Enter the Gallowspire: The Non-Rogue Roguelite

Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors has you entering into the dungeons of Gallowspire to face the lich Tar-Baphon in the Pathfinder universe. Traverse the lower depths of the Gallowspire fighting as a Fighter, Rogue or Wizard. Along the way, you’ll face floods of enemies, and learn and equip new abilities and talents! You’ll have 4 main bosses to face along your journey across 5 levels of difficulty.

Gallowspire has a very tight and neat roguelite design that I feel so many other games in this genre deviate from. But Gallowspire really hits the perfect spot. All the spells and abilities have a nice sharp, crisp sound to them really amping up your fights. The bright colours of your characters are set in stark contrast to the dark and dreary dungeon floors. The variety of enemies is also pretty spot on, with not too much repetition as to feel boring. This is not to say that Gallowspire is exceptional in all these regards, but more that they hit all the necessary notes (design-wise) that any roguelite worth its salt should.

The Survivors

This transitions me into the gameplay of Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors. For anyone familiar with Vampire Survivors, you’ll feel right at home here. You are controlling a single character as one of the 3 classes mentioned above. You are also given a companion who is an NPC of any one of the other 2 classes not chosen for a particular run. Apart from the boss levels, you’ll find yourself in a large open-floor dungeon fighting off hoards of enemies coming at you.

Along the way, you can pick up health potions, XP potions and other types of potions. Every few seconds a chest will also spawn which you can unlock. In every chest are 4 random cards which can be abilities and/or talents. You also get this same screen upon levelling up. Every card grants you new abilities/talents or upgrades current ones. Herein lies the draw of replayability in Gallowspire. You can only choose so many cards per run, but you can re-roll the cards so long as you have a re-roll available. Each class has its own unique cards to choose from.

Rolling a natural 1

Now on the surface, this all sounds pretty great and par for the course for any rogue-lite. However, where Gallowspire lost me was in the actual playthrough. The abilities that you unlock fire off automatically. So the only real input by you is movement, collecting items, and an ultimate you can use once every 10 – 6 seconds or so. Outside of this, you feel a strong lack of control, and after a while, you feel as if you’re playing a running simulator in a dungeon. But even more frustrating is that this type of gameplay inevitably funnels you into a select few playstyles. You either focus on movement speed to quickly get out of trouble or focus on your stop time. Everything else doesn’t ultimately matter as you can passively kill enemies.

A Path to Find

I have seen some strange design choices in games, but the choice to remove a player’s ability to use, well abilities is baffling. The only way I can justify long playthroughs for this game is on handheld devices such as the Steam deck or the Nintendo Switch! Outside of that maybe give this a miss if you’re looking for a more engaging roguelite! But there may be hope on the horizon as BKOM Studios has another Pathfinder instalment in the works, which may, hopefully, redeem the Pathfinder games!

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2023-09-11

Affogato has been the strangest strategy role-playing game I have ever played. I mean that in as positive a light as I can muster. I went into it expecting a run-of-the-mill strategy JRPG with some dazzling graphics (which it certainly has!), and I have emerged out the other side of this rabbit hole with renewed vigour for JRPG and all things barista.

Affogato is a JRPG that has you piloting the titular character Affogato. A “good” witch who runs a barista with her quirky yet evil demon helper Mephista. You spend your days prepping coffees and teas for customers all to keep your coffee shop the Witchery (there are a lot of on-the-nose names here so bear with me!). With every customer, a new quest or exposition scene is presented to you. You are given quests and tasks by customers, rival witches and your demon. You face off against other demons and other witches using your witch cards in a designated arena, and help to stem the tide of demonic invasion!

Magenta is always better than Red

The art style of Affogato is very quaint and not too over the top. It honestly feels like you are in a coffee shop through the gentle lighting and ambient background. Furthermore, the voice acting was stellar. New customers present new dialogue and some interesting story beats. One of my favorite interactions was with a timid new customer called Lindsay who could barely get a word in. After some awkward back and forth I eventually coaxed her into ordering a mocha. It’s little charming moments like these that really immersed me in the role-playing of Affogato. Not only that, but after closing you can roam the streets ordering food, conversing with random npcs and more! Every day I had somewhere to go, something to do and someone to battle.

Barista Battles

Each day involves opening the Witchery in the morning, fulfilling customer orders, talking with people and then at night you close down. It is at night where you are presented with more freedom and the magical side of the game. Here is where you face down enemies in the aforementioned arena. At first, I thought these arena battles with my witch cards were the primary focus of the game, but the further I delved into Affogato the less interested in these battles I became. Yes, they do have very dazzling graphics and lighting which I have come to accept in JRPGs but the gameplay itself grew incredibly stale.

On the other hand, witch cards being granted in the RPG beats were a nice tie-in. Overall this did encourage me to try out some new strategies as I progressed. But it was never the primary hook for me.

One Mocha to Go

Affogato is a surprisingly enjoyable JRPG. Much of what you’ll experience hits all the necessary beats for an average JRPG. But that’s not what’s going to sell you on Affogato. Funny enough, the coffee brewing and customer interactions is what really sold me on Affogato. I believe it is this charming and immersive game loop that is going to make Affogato a fine brew for any coffee-loving JRPG enthusiast!

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2023-08-01

Testament: The Order of High Human is a promising first-person action-adventure game that immediately hooks you within the first few minutes of starting you’re adventure. The folks over at Fairyship Games know a thing or two about storytelling. You are thrust into the world of Tessara, a world in which it is apparent you do not belong.

An eye-catching grotesque ent-looking Nature Father has you captive from your apparent fall. Your first quest, escape! Off you stumble into the wilds of Tessara as the High Human Aran. Mere hours ago you were the ruler of your kingdom but were cast out by your conniving evil brother Arva. This game is dense and rich with story and consistently drip-feeds you all the right story beats. Your journal is also rife with exposition on the world of Tessara. Speaking of your journal, the tutorial for Testament is a breeze, with easily accessible tutorial videos.

The Order of the Bow, Sword, and Spell

As your story takes you across Tessara, you must fight your way through countless enemies using 3 distinct playstyles; sword, spells or bow. Each has its own feel, advantages and disadvantages. There are some … cute interactions between each of these playstyles, but in most enemy encounters I found myself sticking to one. The combat here is varied and feels quite clunky at times, especially in the beginning. The best way to describe the combat would be unrhythmic.

The blocking is also very frustrating and unforgiving not in a fun kind of way I can assure you! Magical powers and archery found in the game are pretty fun to play with but nothing revolutionary. However, I wouldn’t exactly call the magic gameplay exciting, just fine which is a shame. I especially enjoyed the insight power, a magical detective vision that shows you key areas and the weak points of enemies. It ended up being a hard crutch for most of my playthrough, but it can’t be used during combat which means I don’t spend my entire playthrough with insight on.

The Last Will and Testament

My one anchor throughout my entire time in Tessara was the Arva & Aran story developing as I progressed. Throughout Tessara, you’ll also find some well-designed puzzle levels. The 3D chess you have to play to wall jump and rotate platforms is very fun. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to write home about for Testament which is unfortunate as the basic foundations are there, it just needs a lot of fine-tuning.

Additionally, the voice acting found here is just all over the place. In my first 10 minutes of play, I had these off-putting moments in the tutorial zone where Aran would be explaining something to me but would whisper it so loudly into my headphones. He would also yell “God Damnit” every time I didn’t land a stealth shot, which at first was also off-putting, but I came to find it a little amusing. Your damage output is also severely low in the first few hours, making the first boss such a drag. The only way to speed things along is stealth archery, which isn’t always an option.

Testament: The Order of High Human promises much with its story, but ultimately falls short of an epic story due to lacking mechanics in gameplay and some unfortunately placed voice lines.

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2023-04-18

I don’t know but I’ve been told …

Upon booting up Full Metal Sergeant, I’ll admit I was extremely sceptical. A strategy game based around being a drill instructor? I did not have high hopes. However, Full Metal Sergeant, I am happy to report, exceeded my expectations! Full Metal Sergeant is a simulation/strategy game that puts you into the role of a drill instructor at an army base. You are in charge of training fresh recruits and preparing them for their combat mission.

Along the way, you’ll be given objectives and other tasks, such as training your recruits to be snipers. As mundane as this sounds the developers over at CarolC were perceptive enough to add in an excellent mix of random encounters to make sure every 12-week training session feels different. Anything from stray dogs showing up at the front gate to letters for the recruits can appear to keep you on your toes during training.

Each recruit that joins your camp has randomized stats along with certain negative traits. Some can have insomnia, others can be fat or sickly. But all of this can be weeded out of them by you the drill instructor. Here your time and resource management comes into play. Do you want to train a squad of snipers? Or perhaps teach them how to swim to become combat divers. You will also get the occasional visit from High Command or a company sergeant who will request for example a squad of infantrymen. No 12-week run feels the same, and no graduation class looks the same. Such a feat is a commendable achievement from Full Metal Sergeant.

I love to double-time

The primary currency of Full Metal Sergeant is prestige. You earn it in competitions, by having your recruits at certain levels or stats, or by completing High Command’s tasks. Prestige allows you to research better training regimes, upgrade current training stations, and enrol in high-level competitions. As your prestige grows, so does your camp.

Boy, Marines are mighty bold!

What really sold me on this game though, was what happens after the 12 weeks and graduation. Your recruits, now (hopefully) fully-fledged soldiers, are sent on deployment. Naturally, I assumed it would be some sort of computer-sorted battle and you would get a letter as a drill sergeant outlining their success or failure. Obviously, that’s not what happens. After graduation, you take control of your recruits and you make sure they arrive home safe and complete the objective. This last stretch of a run (a run being the 12 weeks of training plus deployment) was by far my favourite part! You feel the sting of defeat when your recruits all perish in the mission, and you also feel the triumph of victory when most of your recruits make it back safely.

On one of my earlier runs one recruit had the loner trait which I had tried unsuccessfully tried to remove all throughout training. I was so close to removing it but had to relent and just train him up normally to ensure he got levelled up enough to just survive a mission. Well, during the mission he abandoned his squad and joined the enemy, leaving my squad a man down. Eventually, the remainder of my squad of 3 was gunned down. That is just a taste of how a run can end! I dare not say more which might spoil the ups and downs of any given run.

Aren’t you motivated?
Aren’t you dedicated?

What can really drag Full Metal Sergeant back is the slow start. For my first handful of runs, I only had 3 recruits which made deployment very difficult and an uphill battle. I also thought some of the traits needed to be toned down. Spending 2 – 4 weeks trying to remove insomnia or fat traits in the early game really tarnishes your first few recruits. Lastly, my major complaint was the M.O. D screen, which was essentially the level-up screen. It was presented after each week and is where you assign combat roles to your recruits. If your recruits don’t have the stats or xp to level up this screen just gets annoying. I’d rather they only have this menu open when a recruit can level up. Undeniably, this wasn’t a game-breaking issue just an annoyance for me!

Full Metal Sergeant is a charming pixelated strategy game that will surprise and wow those of you who are into simulation and/or strategy games.

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Nine Years of Shadows from Halberd Studios is one of those perfect facsimiles that is an absolute treat to find and play. A metroidvania platformer that follows other hall of famers such as Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, every Castlevania game, and every Metroid game (obviously). To be frank Nine Years of Shadows brings nothing new to the table as far as the genre is concerned. However, it brings a tightly and cleanly designed game that really captures your attention when playing. For me, this game felt like what every other Metroidvania game strives to encapsulate. Stunning (yet simple) visuals, tight platforming, and easy-to-understand combat (with a tiny bit of depth).

The Shadowlands

Nine Years of Shadows takes place in a world infected by an unnamed corruption. You follow in the steps of Europa, a woman whose parents have died due to the spreading curse. Europa herself is seemingly immune to the curse and has taken it upon herself to go to the castle, the alleged source of the curse, to destroy the root of the corruption. Sporting her trusty golden halberd (there’s a pun in here somewhere …), she enters the castle to face a dark and difficult journey.

Throughout your time in the wretched castle you’ll find many companions and NPCs along the way to assist you in your adventures. The most interesting and fun has to be Apino, a floating talking ghost teddy bear, that shoots light that can destroy dark crystals. The best part about this companion, you have to hug him to recharge his light abilities. As you travel deeper and deeper into the castle you uncover more about the curse and Europa herself. The story is okay and makes a decent attempt at appealing to you all throughout the game. The incorporation of music into the story made it more digestible. Ultimately the story isn’t the reason I’d recommend Nine Years of Shadows

Four Score and Nine Years Ago

The first thing that strikes me about Nine Years of Shadows is the vibrant and well-selected colours put up on the screen. As soon as the opening cinematic starts, you know you’re in for a visual treat. The cutscenes in Nine Years of Shadows are reminiscent of late 80s and early 90s anime. Slight-ish spoiler ahead to highlight Nine Years of Shadow’s excellent use of colour and graphics. When you first start in the castle you are presented with a dark and dreary palette, hitting all the right tones of a depressing start.

As soon as you are introduced to your first companion, Apino, the palette changes and life rushes into the castle. A nice change of pace and a fitting intro for our furry friend! The more you traverse the castle the more unique scenery you are presented with, such as golden concert halls and the hazy gardens. Enemy designs also look great, with a wide range of crystalline enemies at the start and more fantasy-esque enemies later on. For me, Nine Years of Shadows and its art style harkens back to the days of the classic metroidvanias I mentioned earlier, and that’s fantastic.

Nine Classics

Nine Years of Shadows also brings back the classic gameplay and tropes from the early metroidvania era. Much of what you’ll see and encounter has been done before, but Nine Years of Shadows does it slightly better and with more gravitas! I love that you start the game wielding your trusty halberd, instead of the rudimentary sword. I’m a sucker for cool new weapons we don’t see often in action-adventure games and I just had to mention it. Along with that, you’ll be collecting power-ups and purchasing upgrades to defeat more and more enemies. The enemies in this game are a fun challenge and remained relatively fresh and new from my experience. One room will have these dark crystal-like enemies, and the next will have a crazed hammer-wielding blacksmith (who has been affected by the corruption). This game is a love letter to Metroidvania fans everywhere.

I know I sound like a broken record every time I say metroidvania, so I’ll refrain from that reference. Instead, I see a lot of parallels with Hollow Knight and Nine Years of Shadows. Like Hollow Knight, you’ll be navigating a large map with unique tilesets, taking in stunning graphics, enjoying the ambiguous storyline, and using tried & true combat. I’d encourage any player interested in this game to pick it up. Nine Years of Shadows doesn’t do anything new, yet it remains interesting enough to keep you coming back for more every time!

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