Comprehensive Game Reviews

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate Review - Radical Repetition Reviewed on: Switch Platform: Switch, iOS Developer: Super Evil Megacorp The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starred in several iconic video games throughout the franchise's 40-year history , but none are more beloved than the beat 'em up entries like the 1989 arcade game and Turtles in Time. However, that genre often lacks the depth modern gamers desire. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate takes various cues from recent popular games – specifically Supergiant's smash hit, Hades – en route to modernizing the action-packed hack-and-slash gameplay the Turtles have been known for since their earliest days in the medium. The result is a fun roguelike full of meaningful progression and engaging action that doesn't soar quite as high as the games that inspired it. After a mysterious captor abducts Master Splinter, you control one of the four iconic turtle brothers on a quest to get him back. Each playable character possesses different basic combos, special attacks, and tools, allowing you to pick a foundation to build upon as you progress through each run. Leonardo's average range is complemented nicely by his ability to toss shurikens and gain an extra charge on his special, while Donatello's long range is offset by being a tad stiffer, but his tool also recharges 80 percent faster (after all, he does do machines). I loved Michelangelo's sweeping nunchucks and the chance to land multiple hits on a single strike, but Raphael's grappling hook that pulls enemies closer and higher critical damage quickly made him my main. You'll have plenty of time to experiment to find your right fit, as each time you die, you start back in the Turtles' lair to start the run anew. Each run plays out in similar fashion: You start by choosing a skill like additional dash charges, a better chance to dodge, or an enhancement to your selected turtle's special ability. You then fight through room after room of enemies ranging from rats and Mousers to Foot Clan ninjas and fellow mutants. Each faction brings different attacks, requiring slightly different approaches, but the action typically consists of dashing around the arena to avoid incoming attacks while working towards clearing the room. Combat feels great, with each attack in your arsenal feeling like an impactful part of a successful and fun strategy. This is particularly true when Elite enemies drop in, like a giant StockGen robot or special elemental Foot assassins. Rooms typically don't take long to clear. When the repetition begins to set in from successive runs, I often find enjoyment in trying out new combos or simply getting through the earliest rooms as quickly as possible. Testing out new builds or setting your own challenges are fun, but it doesn't change that you're still completing the same rooms and facing the same bosses on repeat. Splintered Fate attempts to remedy this by introducing new variants of the handful of bosses in the game, but regardless of whether the first boss suddenly summons more minions or the second boss now uses flame attacks, I still dreaded facing them for the 20th time. Even the gauntlet challenges, unlocked after completing your first run, do little to diversify the experience. Splintered Fate's co-op, which can be played locally or online, shakes things up by letting you combine the Turtles' tools and abilities, but the structure remains the same. Obviously, a crucial element of the roguelike formula is the upward trajectory of both your skills as a player and your character's strengths through permanent upgrades. TMNT: Splintered Fate handles this admirably; I always felt I was improving run over run, aided by the permanent upgrades unlocked through various currencies. This satisfying loop is, unfortunately, hindered by the sheer number of currencies you need to keep track of. In addition to Scrap, the in-run currency used for temporary upgrades, you receive two distinct permanent currencies to upgrade different parts of the experience; one lets you upgrade the economy, including the amount of Scrap dropped by enemies and more powerful upgrades offered after beating rooms, while the other permanently improves your character's attributes like attack damage and health. However, some upgrades also require special items dropped by bosses, of which there are several, in conjunction with the permanent currencies. If it sounds confusing, that's because it is. I don't mind having more stringent requirements to unlock higher-level upgrades, but when a game requires me to constantly reference a help screen to know what each of its more-than-nine currencies does and how to obtain them, it should serve as a warning to the developers that the system has gone too far. Despite the overt repetition, both by design and through over-design, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate effectively channels the spirit of the most well-liked games that have come before it in the franchise. Though I sometimes succumbed to frustration after falling short during a promising run, the experience only galvanized me to excitedly take what I learned from my failures into the next run. Score: 7.75 About Game Informer's review system Purchase

Game Informer ReviewsJul 26

Sylvio: Black Waters Review - The Best Horror Series You've Never Heard Of Does It AgainSylvio: Black Waters might be the most under-the-radar third entry in a series I or perhaps even GameSpot has ever reviewed. The ghost-hunting series has been a deeply hidden gem in my mind for many years now, and Black Waters continues its winning streak. It keeps intact the best parts of the previous games while adding some new wrinkles and reviving some mechanics it had previously left behind. Not all of that works in its favor, but its strengths are so notable that it remains one of the year's best horror games. In Sylvio: Black Waters, you play Juliette, a ghost hunter. In the previous two games, she spent her time in creepy fairgrounds and haunted houses, recording staticky electronic voice phenomena (EVP), and in the sequel, even capturing ghostly images, too. Black Waters makes that the focus once again, although this time, it does so in a setting so peculiar and unpredictable that it gives the game an element of science fiction. At first, I thought the strange, Mars-like dreamworld, where everything is rust-colored and decorated as though some unseen landscaper is practicing a stream-of-consciousness exercise, would be difficult to get into. It was almost too alien, unlike the more earthly and relatable locales I explored in the earlier games. In those cases, it felt like a place I could in which I could find myself. Black Waters' setting doesn't have that trait, but it doesn't take long for it to reveal its own alluring creepiness. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsJul 25

Nobody Wants To Die Review – A Beautiful But Limited Mystery Reviewed on: PC Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Plaion Developer: Critical Hit Games Rating: Mature Nobody Wants to Die’s world terrifies me. Set only a few hundred years in the future, it paints a dystopian society where humanity has unlocked the secret to immortality, but instead of eternal bliss, it paved the way for the government to have full legal control of our bodies. The world is as fascinating as it is upsetting, and a high-profile murder becomes the catalyst for a gripping (though not always actively engaging) mystery within it. Since Blade Runner 's release in 1982, renditions of a cyberpunk metropolis have been plentiful and familiar. Nobody Wants to Die’s bleak depiction of 2329 New York City stands out as one of my favorites due to its effective fusion of Art Deco. The game looks as if technology skyrocketed in the 1930s while retaining that era’s aesthetic; vintage cars soar across the polluted airways of the concrete jungle, and futuristic gadgets have a Tomorrowland-esque design. In addition to a strong art direction, the graphical fidelity is top-notch with beautiful lighting illuminating the densely detailed cityscape and interiors. Nobody Wants to Die is a gorgeous game, and a clever introductory reveal of its world ranks among my favorite moments of the year. The visuals invited me in, and the world-building kept me. After developing the ability to transfer human consciousness to different bodies, humanity has essentially solved death. People routinely live for centuries by switching to new, more desirable bodies, engendering a terrible system where citizens must pay a subscription fee to keep their original shell after coming of age. Failing to do so results in government seizure, where your consciousness is forcibly extracted and stored in a memory bank while your body goes up for sale. The less affluent 99% may have to settle for occupying aging or medically compromised bodies. If you can’t afford a new body, your conscious mind could be trapped in a bank for decades or longer. From Orwellian government promotions of a healthy lifestyle to prevent citizens from becoming damaged goods to reintroduction parties where people familiarize loved ones with their new bodies, developer Critical Hit Games has crafted an intriguing culture around this concept. Every lore detail, whether through new paper headlines or radio broadcasts, added substance to the presentation’s sizzle. The politics surrounding immortality means morally dubious politicians and celebrities can maintain their status and control for obscenely long periods of time. In a world where true death is a rarity, the mysterious murder of one elite figure rattles the cages. Protagonist James Karra, a 120-year-old loose-cannon detective, is tasked with finding the culprit in an off-the-books case. The first-person adventure sees James visiting crime scenes and using a small set of high-tech forensic tools to collect clues and reverse engineer sequences of events. Whether using a handheld X-ray to trace a bullet’s trajectory, shining a UV lamp on hidden blood trails, or, most often, using a time-manipulating gauntlet to rewind and scrub through a chaotic moment, I enjoy assembling the pieces of smaller puzzles to form the big picture. Detective work isn’t difficult, relying less on deductive reasoning and more on thoroughly poking around and uncovering every intractable element available. I don’t mind this more guided approach, as finding clues can lead to insightful and entertaining conversations with James’ partner Sara, who provides remote tech support in his ear. The two share some fun, sarcasm-heavy banter, such as an optional exchange where Sara asks James to describe the smell of chocolate (which no longer exists). The performances, especially Sara’s, are strong enough to make their relationship feel genuine and endearing. Their back-and-forth also adds welcomed levity, though James’ hard-boiled noir detective act means he often spews verbose monologues with metaphors that sometimes make limited sense. Connecting clues in a flow chart between investigations is a game of determining which piece of evidence answers the question at hand. In reality, you can cheese this by just slotting in every clue until the right one fits, but I always wanted to deduce the answer properly. That said, Nobody Wants to Die is ultimately a narrative-focused adventure that uses detective-inspired gameplay as a vehicle to tell its story. You can’t really get anything wrong, and so if you’re hoping for true agency in how you approach solving this conspiracy, you’ll be disappointed. You can, however, steer the plot in different directions thanks to the choice-driven dialogue and significant decision-making moments, adding stakes to conversations. Some choices have timers and can be as simple as deciding whether or not to drink on the job; an inebriated James may open an additional dialogue option. Bigger decisions, like deciding whether or not to kill a suspect or to destroy or preserve incriminating evidence, alter the plot more significantly. While that provides a good incentive to replay the roughly five-hour adventure, you’ll have to trek through the entire game again since it lacks a chapter selection, which is unfortunate. Nobody Wants to Die does an admirable job juggling three main story threads: the aforementioned murder, James’ struggle to remember and come to terms with a traumatic event surrounding his wife’s death, and a heartbreaking tale involving Sara I won’t spoil. These plot points are disjointed at times; I’d make a big breakthrough in the murder case I wanted to follow up on immediately, only for the story to shift focus on James’ problems for a period. A mysterious villain at the center of it all is menacing at first but winds up feeling too obscure by the end. Perhaps it's a result of my choices, but I’m still not entirely sure what the antagonist’s true goal was or even who they were. Though the main threat falls a bit flat, the story regularly gripped me and sprinkled a few effective twists and revelations that kept me guessing until the conclusion. Nobody Wants to Die delivers a few hours of largely engaging storytelling, easy yet well-presented puzzle-solving, and jaw-dropping sights. It has an ideal length, as it wraps up just when the long investigation segments begin feeling repetitive since your toolset never changes. While I didn’t get to wear my detective hat as tightly as I wanted, I enjoyed my tour through this cautionary vision of the future. Score: 8 About Game Informer's review system Purchase

Game Informer ReviewsJul 25

EA Sports College Football 25 Review - University Of MaddenThe moment all of your uncles have been anticipating for over a decade has arrived: EA Sports College Football 25 is finally here. With it comes a wave of nostalgia for anyone who played NCAA Football 14 or any of its previous installments, and an air of curiosity for those who have only experienced Madden. After you've played a decent amount of games and that initial rush is over, does EA Sports College Football 25 live up to the hype? To my surprise, the answer was yes. At first, I was simply expecting a one-to-one Madden reskin. Yet as soon as the first game started, the presentation and pageantry on display were quick indications that this was a brand-new ball game. EA Sports College Football 25 perfectly encapsulates what attending a college football game is like. Vibrant and viciously loud crowds, hundreds of university-specific walkouts and traditions, and uniquely designed stadiums make each school's ambiance give off its own air of distinct excitement. That production isn't just for pre-rendered cutscenes, as EA Sports College Football 25 also looks impressive during its moment-to-moment gameplay. You can just about see every pore and bead of sweat running down players' skin as they bounce off each other, and movement and AI reactivity are much more realistic than what we've seen in Madden thus far. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsJul 24

Review: Flock Is a Delightful and Cozy Flight There aren’t many games out there like Flock . It’s a flight sim. It’s a creature collector. It’s a mystery game. It’s a puzzle game. All of these descriptions apply, but not exactly. Flock is a strange beast, which is appropriate when it’s a game all about finding strange beasts. You play as a bird rider heading to visit their zoology professor aunt Jane, who has a task for you. She wants you to document the creatures of the land around her home and lower the cloud level in the process. You achieve this through observation, documentation and a system of whistles. Gameplay in Flock is simple. You fly around a small open world, on the lookout for creatures hopping around the land. You fly close to them, observe them and use Jane’s notes to determine which creature you’re looking at, gradually filling up a creature book with details. In addition, you can find whistles for different types of creature, allowing you to charm them and get them to follow you around, which is the flock of the game’s title. That’s it. That’s the game. It’s the most basic of mechanics and yet Flock manages to be delightfully compelling. Flying around the world feels good, for a start. The lack of friction to the movement makes it feel playful. This is enhanced by ring structures that can be dashed through and chained together for a satisfying drift through the skies. You’ll be swooping, drifting and coasting around to your heart’s content and loving every minute of it. Screenshot by Siliconera Seeking out creatures is also a joy. Flock doesn’t openly point them out to you. Instead, you have to listen out for any noises they might be making while staying vigilant for movement in the grass or in the trees. A glow in the woods at night could be something, while careful examination of a lakebed might reveal a pair of eyes peering out of the sand. Flock wants you to stop and carefully examine your surroundings, leave no stone unturned and keep making new discoveries. This is the main draw of Flock , in fact. Because you have to make all these discoveries yourself, using only single line clues in the guide along with your own intuition, it’s extremely rewarding to find new creatures. You’ll see something wiggle in a rock formation and immediately work out out the correct distance to observe without spooking it. You’ll hear persistently loud chirping from tall grass and delight to find a weird duck in there. You’ll peer into a rock and be surprised to see something peering back. The vagueness of these clues may be maddening to more impatient completionists, however. Some creatures require some meticulous searching, while the hints can sometimes be too vague for their own good. It’s a huge appeal for someone like me, with my love of slowly figuring out puzzles, but it may not be to everyone’s taste. Screenshot by Siliconera The vibes are immaculate for this gentle kind of experience though. The visual style is all bold colors and pastel shades, which means every part of this game is gorgeous to look at. The character designs are charming too. The creatures are all bizarre little hybrids based on various fish and birds, all marked by big eyes and pronounced features. Some have goofy little beaks, some are tiny beans that are mostly all eye, and some are whale-like beasts with huge maws. One creature, the Gormless Skyfish, is a happily clueless, bug-eyed fish identified by it being “no thoughts head empty”, and I love it so much. These adorable designs even extend to the few human characters, including your own avatar. They remind me of Muppets, all big faces and noodly limbs. You can even get very silly with your characters, dressing them in a poncho and wading trousers, among other things. The silliness of these character designs is enhanced by the writing, which fills the dialogue with a ton of charm and humor. Your uncle Reg, for instance, is single-mindedly into sheep, where he’ll dismiss any earth-shattering natural discoveries you make simply because he can’t shear them for wool. Screenshot by Siliconera Sheep are also a mechanic in Flock , but they’re one of the parts that don’t feel fully realized. You can collect a flock of sheep in addition to the regular beasties, and their role is to graze on overgrown meadows. This reveals Burgling Bewls that have stolen the various whistles you need to charm creatures, as well as new clothes and space for more creatures. But they can’t be used for anything else and you can’t spread multiple sheep onto multiple meadows at once. They feel like they were added simply to have a collectible system on top of the standard creature collecting, and it doesn’t feel fully fleshed out as an idea. That said, this minor use is a step-up from how limited the actual flock of the title feels. As you find creatures, you can use the various whistles to initiate a mini-game where you must blow the whistle at the appropriate distance to charm them into following you. As the game progresses, you become a full-fledged Pied Piper, with everything you’ve charmed following you in a big group. However, they do nothing. They don’t help search for more creatures, they can’t be sent into crevices to pull out other friends and they can’t help chase down the faster beasts. They just sit there behind your bird, looking pretty and making noises if you press the right button to squawk at them. I feel it would add so much to the game if different creatures had different uses that aided in your search for the final entries. Despite the game being named after it, this flock doesn’t do much of anything, and that’s disappointing. Screenshot by Siliconera This feeling of ideas not being fully realized adds to a general feeling of repetition that runs through the game. The gameplay loop is very much swooping around, marking creatures in your book and heading off to do the next one. As a low-stakes game for short chillout gameplay sessions, this is perfect, but it does make the game feel a little tedious if you play for too long in one sitting. However, most of these criticisms are nitpicks. If you’re willing to approach Flock on its own terms, most of this washes away. It lulls you into its atmosphere with ease. It's also designed to be played co-op, as you and your fellow bird riders can soar around together. I never got to experience this aspect of the game, but I imagine it adds a lot. Flock is a comfort blanket of a game. Its simplicity isn’t for everyone but it’s hard to deny its charm. If you’re looking for something cozy to kick back with at the end of a long day, Flock is exactly what you need. Flock is available now for the PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The post Review: Flock Is a Delightful and Cozy Flight appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Archives - SiliconeraJul 24

Nobody Wants to Die ReviewA compelling cyberpunk noir with investigations that hold your hand a little too much.

IGN PC ReviewsJul 24

Review: The Operator One of my favorite sub-genres is the type of adventure game that takes place almost entirely on a fictional operating system. It allows me to play out my fantasy of not having to use Windows every day. I know, I know. I could switch to Linux, but learning new things is scary. Really, I like worming my way through fictional systems. Even hacking games like Uplink are brain candy for me, but when they’re combined with a narrative, like Hypnospace Outlaw , they’re even better. The Operator is similar to the idea, but since it casts you as a government worker, you’re at least getting paid well. Screenshot by Destructoid The Operator ( PC ) Developer: Bureau 81 Publisher: Bureau 81, Indienova Released: July 22, 2024 MSRP: $13.99 You play as Evan Tanner, a man with severe cataracts that obscure his eyesight unless he’s looking at a computer screen. You begin on his first day as an Operator in the legally distinct Federal Department of Investigation. Your job is to assist field agents by helping them dig deeper into evidence. This may surprise you, but you soon discover there’s a deeper conspiracy going on. And I’m going to tell you, it’s not all that clever about it. On your first case, you get a list. It’s barely related to that first case, but, like, everyone has seen that list and it gets brought up at every turn. There are over a hundred names on the list, most are crossed out, a few are circled, and one is mysteriously redacted. You’re given access to a database of names and a few programs that are used about once throughout the game. Very quickly, you’re contacted by a hacker who goes by the handle of HAL. They give you more details about the conspiracy in exchange for your assistance. This sort of feels like that resistance group in Papers, Please , where you have good reason to help them, but you also don’t want your employer to find out. However, unlike Papers, Please , I’m not sure you can fully be discovered, but I didn’t test to see how hard you can fail. https://youtu.be/KPtg-_tTDCA?feature=shared The Operator does a lot of things decently enough, but many facets of it could have been done better. For one thing, the grand conspiracy isn’t all that interesting, nor is it that well-developed. A lot of hand-waving is done in the form of happenstance. Things fall neatly into place when they are ludicrously unlikely. If the plot had paced itself better and given some of its ideas space to breathe, the whole thing would have come out a lot more believable. Instead, it relies on fridge logic; stuff that seems logical in the moment until you walk away and think about it. The gameplay is also fun but not very deep or challenging. I thought I’d be plumbing the nooks and crannies of the presented data, but a lot of the time, it was mostly just interpreting instructions. The puzzles were more brain teasers than tests of skill. I didn’t get caught on anything and found myself trying to make my own challenge by getting ahead of the story or trying to get into inaccessible files early. It’s not always a failure on the game’s part if I try to find my own stimulation, but it does feel that way here. On the other hand, while the characters similarly lack depth, they fill the needs of the narrative quite well. The agents are extremely likable, and the central antagonist is mysterious enough to feel like a threat. They maybe won’t live on in your memory, but they fit their role well enough that you’ll probably care when the pudding hits the turbine. Screenshot by Destructoid There are only a few agents you actually work with, and each has their own case. They’ll ask for your help with something they’re stuck on and send over evidence for you to analyze with your fancy, government-funded software. They’ll ask you to find one specific thing in that evidence, whether it’s a name, an address, or something amiss. You find exactly what they’re looking for, then connect it with the keyword on the top of your screen to see if you got it right. I mentioned that the problems don’t really become apparent until you’ve walked away from The Operator , and that’s because, in the moment, it can be compelling and exciting. While the mystery is clumsy, digging into it and trying to make the connections is handled well enough, even if it should have probably slowed down a bit. The mechanics are varied. While some of it is sifting through data, toward the end you get into a sequence that feels like a single-player Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and another where maps and security cameras come into play. There is genuine strength in the fact that these sequences take up substantial parts of the game’s runtime. There’s no time to really consider The Operator’s weaknesses when you’re so constantly immersed in its strengths. But, when all is said and done, you might find yourself unsatisfied with how superficial it all seems. It could have been much more. Screenshot by Destructoid Maybe that comes down to expectations. When I see an OS sim, I expect that the fictional file browser and command prompt are there as a way of providing the tools to get through the game’s various challenges. The Operator mostly just gives you tools that only relate to specific puzzles. The chemical composition tool isn’t there as something that might help you crack a case, it’s its own puzzle and nothing else. Instead of making you feel inventive and smart, it just makes it feel like you’re making progress. That’s fine if you go in knowing that. The Operator presents a number of fun puzzles and situations and gives you a story that is compelling, if rather clumsy. It’s about 5 hours long and manages to be entertaining throughout. Once it's over, you might find yourself unsatisfied by its strict straightforwardness and the short leash it keeps you on. However, if you’re able to settle into the rigidity, you’ll find something enjoyable but hollow. [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.] The post Review: The Operator appeared first on Destructoid .

Reviews Archive – DestructoidJul 22

F1 Manager 2024 ReviewGreat new features like creating your own team deliver a more compelling management sim.

IGN ArticlesJul 22

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Review - Unexpected Strategic Delight Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Rating: Teen Kunitsu-Gami is the kind of wonderful, left-field Capcom release we don’t see often these days. Bound to be a cult classic in the future, Path of the Goddess is original and does not lean on any of Capcom’s established properties. Instead, it relies on an admittedly difficult-to-explain but well-executed gameplay loop that I found hard to put down with an art style that is equally challenging to look away from. Players take on the role of Soh, a masked swordsperson bound to protect the divine maiden Yoshiro as she slowly dances along the path of Mt. Kafuku to purge and cleanse it from invading demons. During the day, Yoshiro moves through a level while you explore to find experience points and villagers who can be assigned a job to help protect the maiden during the night as demons pour out from gates in all directions. The loop is intense and engaging as you rush through the levels during daylight to prepare and fight the demons under the moon. Kunitsu-Gami is undeniably original, but it is not without its inspirations. If I had to assign it a genre, I would say tower defense with a heavy dose of Pikmin, but I spent plenty of time executing combos with my sword, strategically placing troops before and during combat, and even restoring each village I saved between the action-focused levels. Kunitsu-Gami never overstays its welcome or spends too much time making you repeat yourself. The moment I got the hang of the basics, I encountered a boss who made me re-evaluate my strategies, or I was forced to play out a scenario while making my way across a lake on a series of boats. I was impressed by how Kunitsu-Gami never let me get too comfortable and forced me to try new strategies in new settings in ways that were exciting instead of frustrating. There are even levels where all you can do is direct your villagers with no opportunity to fight yourself, and even those were thrilling and fun. New Game Plus options and harder difficulties will undoubtedly test your resolve, but I appreciate that the strategy and action never got too complicated or difficult. Nothing frustrates me more in comparable genres than when I spend hours preparing for an encounter, only for it to fall apart at the end and force an extended restart. I certainly had to replay certain attempts, but I never felt fully cheated, and thankfully, no level is so long that a restart became a consistent nuisance. Between the Yoshiro protection levels and boss fights, you return to rescued villages and assign villagers to fix up their demon-destructed homes. Restoring villages rewards experience and other goodies that can be used to upgrade Soh and the various villager classes. That simple loop frequently made me stay up late. The quiet period between action sequences serves to excite you to try out new upgrades and is perfect at setting you up for one more try – I always fell victim to it. Kunitsu-Gami’s story is light but effective, with every moment delivered through simple choreography free of dialogue. I was more invested in the upgrade loop than the story and felt it ended without an emotionally satisfying conclusion, but I enjoyed making my way along the path of Mt. Kafuku. Time will tell if Capcom pushes Kunitsu-Gami along the same track as games like Monster Hunter or Resident Evil, but I would be perfectly happy for it to forever exist as an excellent standalone experiment that delivered satisfying results. Score: 8.75 About Game Informer's review system Purchase

Game Informer ReviewsJul 22

Review: Arranger Makes You Consider Every Action Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is a game where I love the vibes and concepts, but felt rushed through things. It doesn’t fully explain or explore some of the interesting mechanical features introduced by the protagonist’s unique skill. This means even though the vibes are great and concept is cool, it can feel unsatisfying due to the execution. Gemma is weird! She was left abandoned outside a walled village as a baby. Raised by the folks within, it was soon discovered that when she would move, people and select items would as well. She’d also be able to essentially teleport by walking into walls, emerging on the path on the other side. This happens on a sort of tile-based system. She’s convinced answers lie outside. So, in search of answers about herself and her path, as well as hoping for a way to find a place she belongs, she sets out on an adventure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr1qn6g-aPg&ab_channel=NintendoofAmerica It’s best to think of Arranger ’s world as being similar to a giant sliding puzzle, only you aren’t trying to move tiles into place to create a picture. The simplest parts involve just getting Jemma from point A to point B, as there will sometimes be immovable objects or ones that can’t phase through walls blocking your way. More challenging ones can involve moving a person to a certain place, pushing a sword against a Static enemy to dispatch them, getting an item to sit on a switch, or moving multiple items adjacent to one another so they’ll combine. Things gradually ramp up and build upon each other, with different concepts coming together to help clear situations in certain cities. Arranger can get frustrating sometimes! It isn’t because the puzzles are challenging. Rather, it is due to abilities not always being well explained, if discussed at all. Furniture & Mattress never tells you that Jemma’s ability to shift and move the world mean you can move items from inside buildings into major areas or to other locations. It first comes up within the first 15-30 minutes, when needing to get into the Mayor’s house. There’s a switch in an empty room. Unless you realize that the tiles inside the house will change and gradually pull in tiles Gemma walked on from outside, you may not realize you could bring in the broken ladder parts from Caretaker Foffy or other furniture from other places and shift them inside to flip the switch and progress. Images via Furniture & Mattress This problem of not explaining “Jemma can do this too” goes on to become a recurring issue. Sometimes, it’s fun and narratively interesting! Once Jemma finds a place for her stuff in the introduction, you actually need to “move” it to an empty house out of the flophouse where she’s staying. It can involve new ways to move certain types of objects, which can factor into crucial situations. I learned that you can fuse certain adjacent items together by, well, having the arrows option enabled for quests on in the menu and pushing things together. When it came time to fishing, I had no idea how I made it happen for the trial since I was just moving around, and I had to relearn by doing for a quest. While that is frustrating, and also led to a few situations in which I thought maybe I’d messed things up so badly in a boss “fight” that I’d need to save and quit, it can be satisfying when you get it right. Or, at the very least, satisfying to know you’ll never need to go through that particular type challenge again. Arranger, due to its length and design, typically only uses a new type of mechanics for a few rooms. One of my favorites involved portals being introduced. I wished it had been used more! It introduced some fun concepts, especially in terms of reaching new spaces, but it only appeared extremely briefly in a single section. Admittedly, there were a few times in Arranger when getting things right involved my happening upon a solution without even preparing for it or learning how mechanics worked. Likewise, there were also at least three situations that involved my brute-forcing my way into an eventual solution. I suppose that may be reassuring for some! Especially since people can also use an assist feature in the menu to “solve” any problem in a space that’s getting to be a problem. However, I was also a bit disappointed when I completed an area without doing so by my own merits. Images via Furniture & Mattress The fact that the Arranger speeds through Jemma’s adventure, even if you do go off the beaten path for some minor side quests (some of which aren’t well explained or tracked by the tracker), is a shame because the concept is so fun. Jemma is a cool character! The situations she happens upon are interesting. Some touch on political or societal issues we deal with in our own world, but in a clever way that isn’t overbearing. However, we just don’t get enough time with many of the situations. I especially felt this way about everything past the second town. It seemed like there should have been more opportunities to explore a bit or taken in the area. I really appreciate Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure and everything it sets out to do, as the concept is great, the story fun, and some puzzles thought-provoking. I just wish that it wasn’t so rushed, concepts were better explained, and that new puzzle elements weren’t abandoned as swiftly as they are introduced. You don't get time to appreciate all that Jemma can do or the situations around her, and you're left to stumble into new abilities or possibilities. If there had been a few more puzzles and framework, it'd been a stronger game. Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure will come to the Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 5, and PC on July 25, 2024 . The post Review: Arranger Makes You Consider Every Action appeared first on Siliconera .

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