PC Game Reviews
PC Game Reviews
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Our detailed reviews help you make informed decisions about your next PC game purchase. We provide a thorough analysis of gameplay, graphics, story, and more.
Orange Season Isn’t User Friendly on Switch
Orange Season Isn’t User Friendly on Switch It can be important to cover broken games. It’s a warning to others, after all. However, sometimes issues with a game are so prevalent that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to go through such a task. That’s what happened to me with Orange Season on the Switch, a port of an originally early access farming game for PCs that was too broken for me to continue to play. Orange Season begins as many of these farming games do. We find ourselves in a new town with a whole, huge farm to ourselves. There is a community that is excited to meet us and accept us as one of their own. There are quests to accomplish. You can also befriend people as you get to know them. I was a little concerned at this point, purely because the text is so small in the Switch version of the game. It’s difficult to read what people are saying to you, which I worried could get in the way when undertaking quests. The journal is pretty comprehensive when it comes to keeping up with these though, so I hoped maybe things would be okay. Screenshots by Siliconera While that seemed fine, actually accomplishing my first mission in Orange Season highlighted a major problem with the Switch game. The boundaries are incredibly messed up. I’d repeatedly get stuck on scenery when walking through areas clearly designated as places where it should be fine to walk and nothing was in my way. While a little finangling and lost time usually freed me, that wasn’t the case with another issue. Sometimes, you can just… go through fences, walls, and buildings. Upon my discovery that most of the homes are locked or maybe even purely decorative, I also found to my horror that I’d just… start walking up and in them? Multiple times, instead of being able to walk through both open and closed doors after pressing the interact button, I’d go through them. It was troubling! Even more so when this would lead to my being absolutely trapped. As in I’d get stuck in these spaces and find no way out. This happened in one farm near a silo, when I grabbed some fruit scattered on the ground and slipped through a fence. I needed to restart the game, losing progress, to get out. It happened when I went to a storefront and slipped through it and into a yard. (Fortunately, the door actually worked there and I was able to free myself and not restart.) It happened when I walked across an actual bridge to the top of a building in the “city” portion, but then somehow ended up caught in the trees and edge of the actual building and needed to restart again to get free.  Screenshots by Siliconera The layout of the town in Orange Season is pretty bad too! It looks pretty and all! I appreciate the spritework and design that went into it. However, it is impossible to find anyone and anything due to the execution. The map system involves just seeing hubs and where they connect. Icons below it, when the UI is working, note who should be roaming around the area. But there are no more detailed expressions of spots or insights showing exactly where people are. There are games where this can work, such as Fae Farm , but that game also makes it a bit easier to track individuals. That doesn’t happen here. And since the spaces are so large, you can spend a full day roaming around and not reach every part of town. I’m also a bit disappointed in the degree of random items scattered around Orange Season on the Switch. There are multiple reasons for this! Partially, it is because the fruits and flowers end up making farming feeling a bit worthless. There are tons of them everywhere littering the ground. But also, I think these are bugged too? I noticed when I left the area by the beach, then returned that suddenly all the coconuts were back again. Which maybe isn’t a bad thing, since controls for actually farming are so finicky and a crash can lock off another source of income? Yes, that’s what finally broke me. Orange Season ended up completely impeding my progress in one area on the Switch. As you go through the farming game, you can eventually add animals to your ranch. I went with chickens first. Except after getting one, I experienced an issue that involved the game crashing whenever I’d try to head into the chicken coop. Given how necessary that is to the farming experience, I felt like I was done. Screenshot by Siliconera Could Orange Season get patches that make it playable on the Switch? I hope so. It’s why I’m not doing a proper review and assigning a score to it just yet. Innerfire Studios and Soedesco made a statement on Steam promising patches and updates. If it does end up being fixed, it might end up being a worthwhile experience. But for right now, Orange Season is not the farming game you should be grabbing on your Switch. There are too many bugs and broken bits here. I think I’d even call it unplayable if you’re someone who prefers the ranching elements of these sims. I’d say give the game a few weeks. See if the developer and publisher come through on those promises about patches. Then circle back and see. Orange Season is available on the Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.  The post Orange Season Isn’t User Friendly on Switch appeared first on Siliconera .
PC Archives - SiliconeraNov 6
Planet Coaster 2 Review
Planet Coaster 2 ReviewBetter at all of the things its predecessor was good at, with water attractions alone being reason to dive in.
IGN PC ArticlesNov 5
Metal Slug Tactics Review: Turn-Based Guerilla Warfare Made Fun?
Metal Slug Tactics Review: Turn-Based Guerilla Warfare Made Fun?Full metal jacket. The post Metal Slug Tactics Review: Turn-Based Guerilla Warfare Made Fun? first appeared on Kakuchopurei .
PC | KakuchopureiNov 5
Metal Slug Tactics Review
Metal Slug Tactics ReviewA well-oiled tactics game with an incredible sense of style.
IGN PC ArticlesNov 5
Review: Slitterhead Feels Innovative, but Rough
Review: Slitterhead Feels Innovative, but Rough In the seedy underbelly of Kowloon , a spirit stirs to consciousness before it jumps into and possess the body of a stray dog. It travels through the narrow backstreets, eventually upgrading to a human body, yet still lost on its name and purpose. A woman calls out to him, but in a gruesome display, her head splits open to reveal the monstrous, parasitic creature that had devoured the brains of its original host. This time, it's got its sight set on you. Thus opens up Slitterhead , the debut title from Bokeh Game Studio, which had been founded by the creatives behind Siren, Silent Hill , and Gravity Rush . Similar to Siren , the Slitterhead plot can be inscrutable at times. It follows Night Owl, a Hyoki that is an otherworldly spirit that can possess sentient beings. Though Night Owl doesn't remember all the details about his past, he does know that he has to eliminate the Slitterheads wandering around Kowloon. Like Night Owl, Slitterheads can possess people and take over their bodies. However, their method of doing so is to literally consume their brains and essentially wear their bodies as a shell. In Night Owl's pursuit of the Slitterheads, he encounters a dying girl named Julee. After possessing her, he not only restores her back to full health, but they're incredibly in sync. Julee is a Rarity, or a human who boasts high affinity with Hyoki. She's not the only one. As Night Owl and Julee continue their mission to slaughter all of the Slitterheads within Kowloon, they encounter and save other individuals with the potential to host Night Owl. As they work together to rid Kowloon of the Slitterheads plaguing the streets and terrorizing the populace, Night Owl discovers the ability to turn back time and restructure the timeline. With this power, as well as the help of the Rarities, they fight to save Kowloon from its doomed future. Screenshot by Siliconera In terms of genre, Slitterhead wears a lot of hats. It's predominantly an action-RPG, though it does feature stealth elements as well. You technically control Night Owl, the Hyoki that can teleport itself between bodies. So for stealth portions, you’re able to travel from body to body to avoid detection as you sneak around facilities. Because there are some limitations in how far the Hyoki can leave a body, as well as it needing open access to one, it’s not as easy as it sounds. These stealth missions were quite fun since they were a deviation from the norm, but there weren’t that many in the game. You can use Sightjack when it comes to hunting down a Slitterhead hiding in a crowd, but the Siren fangirl in me wished that Sightjack had a place in these stealth sequences as well. This body-hopping mechanic can make battle very fun, which is great because that’s the majority of the game. You can switch bodies while your first one is in the middle of a combo to keep up the pressure or if you need to target another enemy. Barring fights where you want to stay in your Rarity or you don’t have any other random people milling about, you can also use this mechanic to get out from corners when enemies trap you there. The combat is fast-paced, but it remains challenging with the number of enemies the game can throw at you. Chase sequences are the final type of gameplay in Slitterhead . Frankly, it didn't take long for these to become tedious. While it’s fairly easy to catch up to the Slitterhead you’re pursuing using the body-hopping mechanic, they feel like they go on for a very long time. Usually, they’re scripted to end after the Slitterhead reaches a destination or you whittle down their HP enough. But it gets rather dull after the first time and unfortunately, the game throws these at you quite often. Aside from using the body-hopping mechanic to possess an NPC in the direction the Slitterhead is running towards so that you can cut them off and get in some hits, you can also use blood to parkour after it. Screenshot by Siliconera While the main meat of the game is the combat, it felt lacking in some ways. Everyone feels good to use, and it takes a bit of practice to rein yourself in when doing combos. It can be hard to block or dodge on the fly while you’re in the middle of an animation. All of the characters have their pros and cons. For example, Betty boasts amazing strength, but her inability to move unless you’re possessing her means she can’t help civilians if they’re dying. Meanwhile, Edo can revive civilians and he’s a powerhouse of a character, but he has a short reach and lacks ranged options. Choosing who you bring depends on personal preference until the latter stages, where you really want to have Julee with you. But the main issue with the game is its repetitive nature. I already mentioned that the chase sequences are, but the combat can be, too. There aren't a lot of variations in combos or enemy types. While there are different Slitterhead forms, the optimal strategy really stays the same, no matter who you’re using. Most of the game is parrying attacks and then getting your licks in. You may need to jump to a new body or stop and heal if you’re HP is low, and then you repeat the above procedure. That’s it. Even if you use long-ranged characters like Doni, you’ll have to do the usual parry-attack-dodge dance because of how quickly Slitterheads can close the distance and the long cooldown time of active skills. Screenshot by Siliconera Differences between Slitterheads are pretty minor. Mantis Slitterheads are faster and more difficult to parry, for example. Later bosses have moves you can’t parry and must dodge. They can down civilians too, so you might scramble a bit getting everyone up. But as a whole, what you have to do remains the same no matter who you're facing. So it can start to get monotonous. Yes, the game does throw you new challenges like needing to keep a certain amount of people alive per stage, but it’s not hard to work around this limitation by either luring enemies away from the injured or with Julee. The game takes about twenty hours to complete if you take the time to look for collectibles or need to restart levels. So a little bit of variety to the enemies would’ve been nice. Slitterhead was a bit of a mixed bag for me. After rewatching the gameplay trailer , I can say that what you see there is really accurate to what you’re doing in the game proper. I also understand that Bokeh Game Studio encountered problems during development thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. When it came to this game in particular, I was more intrigued to see the story than the gameplay. After Silent Hill, Gravity Rush , and, yes, Siren , I had pretty high expectations for what kind of narrative Slitterhead would have. The story starts to become generic around the halfway point, and the ending felt like another fake-out. It almost feels incomplete, though I do admit that I'm still missing a few Hyoki Memories that might be key to fully comprehending it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD0ZRxzeRLs As someone who relies a lot of visuals to remember a story, I struggled at times to retain the finer details of Slitterhead . I understand the broad strokes of it and could give someone a synopsis of what it's about. However, I definitely need to sit and either sift through my collectibles or hunt more down to fully grasp stuff about characters like Night Owl and Yin Yue. The amount of text-only conversations would be fine on their own, but Slitterhead ’s time loop mechanic, as well as symbols to denote the alien language the Slitterheads and Night Owl use, became a little hard to follow. I do wonder if Bokeh Game Studio wanted a more visual archive like what was in Siren , but constraints during development prevented them from doing so. Screenshot by Siliconera If there’s one thing I love about Slitterhead with no ifs or buts, it’s Betty. Oh my goodness, do I love her. There’s something about this put-together British lady who looks like Queen Elizabeth II, except she’s also a tattooed berserker who laughs maniacally as she swings her bloody cane around. She is my queen. Other characters really can’t compare. She especially stands out when next to Blake, who’s the other Caucasian Rarity you can play as. Blake is a clown of a man, literally, and plays like a worse version of Alex. Doni, too, is a delight and I enjoyed both teasing him and spamming his Fatal Lance active skill. The characters are all fun, and I loved the very few times we got to see them interact with each other without Night Owl acting as some sort of proxy. The thing about Slitterhead is that the main conceit of the possession mechanic is innovative. However, the story and one-note nature bog it down. Siren had a similar method of storytelling, in that it presented a comprehensible plot yet left enough things ambiguous that to this day, fans still discuss and debate on the finer details. The problem with Slitterhead , in my opinion, is that the story isn't so gripping that it would have that kind of impact on the playerbase. I do really enjoy how the game feels and I’m still excited for future projects from Bokeh Game Studio though. This was a really cool debut from the studio. Despite its cult classic status and passionate fanbase, Siren got pretty middling reviews from critics at launch, so time will tell if Slitterhead is exonerated in the same way.  Slitterhead will come out on November 8, 2024 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC. The post Review: Slitterhead Feels Innovative, but Rough appeared first on Siliconera .
PC Archives - SiliconeraNov 4
Slitterhead Review
Slitterhead ReviewLike a bloody blade worn down by a few too many battles, Slitterhead grows increasingly dull over time and ultimately just doesn’t cut it.
IGN PC ArticlesNov 4
VirusRush: Hazard of the Ages Review – Miniscule Impact
VirusRush: Hazard of the Ages Review – Miniscule ImpactNot enough "X" factor. The post VirusRush: Hazard of the Ages Review – Miniscule Impact first appeared on Kakuchopurei .
PC | KakuchopureiNov 4
Review: Potionomics: Masterwork Edition Feels Like a Better Deal
Review: Potionomics: Masterwork Edition Feels Like a Better Deal I love it when a game heads to a new platform and it turns out that’s the best version you can get. That’s the situation with Potionomics: Masterwork Edition , and I’m so glad the Switch version is the one I ended up beating. The experience feels more stronger, and choosing the new difficulty helps eliminate stress associated with the balancing and scheduling decisions in the original game if someone felt that got in the way of anyone’s initial enjoyment. Potionomics: Masterwork Edition begins with Sylvia inheriting her dilapidated and in-debt uncle’s potion shop in Rafta. That and a suspicious owl that happens to be living there that was allegedly Oswald’s partner. Though she doesn’t have her potion license yet, she’s quickly thrust into the responsibilities of running the shop and entering tournaments to repair the owed money so she can stay in Rafta running the business. Oh, and maybe she also gets to romance the other people living there.  Image via XSEED I will say that while I appreciate the concept behind Potionomics: Masterwork Edition ’s story and like the character designs a lot, I’m not a big fan of the personalities. At least, initially. While there is depth to some of these characters, a lot of them involve these overly exaggerated personality traits that are very in-your-face. Considering a big part of the game is tied to the relationship building, I found the over-the-top nature of many of these folks to be a turn-off. But this is a very personal opinion, and some people might be okay with it given the general tone of the narrative. Though tone is an important point in general for Potionomics: Masterwork Edition , because going with the standard difficulty or harder one does bring up the dissonance again. This is an entertaining deckbuilder and potion-crafting simulator. Things start off fairly manageable. You need to brew potions, with certain specific ones needed for regular competitions to repay the loan your uncle took. That means getting ingredients from individuals in town, which you can also befriend and romance.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8YM8Iz-2uM&ab_channel=XSEEDgames You place those potions in the shop, then open to engage in the haggling battles with cards to get customers interested and drive up the price. However, customers’ actions during these phases can stress you out, which can carry over and negatively affect future negotiations. So as you meet and get to know people, as well as progress the campaign, you earn cards. These can be added to your deck to shape your tactics and approach. So when you play three each turn, you can focus on buffs, debuffs, immediate assaults, or defense to ensure you maintain customer patience and maximize encounters. Since each day has multiple time period opportunities for brewing and vending, so you can have up to three packed into a single day.  The thing is that someone’s opinion on said difficulty and pacing can vary. On the standard difficulty or higher, it very quickly gets stressful. There are so many materials you need, so little time between tournaments, and the types of demands that make the game feel downright stressful. People also might get put off by the difficulty spikes that come up when the tournaments happen, as the contents involving specific potions are quite demanding. So going as-is, with the experience Voracious Games intended it to be, might be a lot. Image via XSEED The good news is, Voracious Games took player feedback from the PC version of the game into account for Potionomics: Masterwork Edition . There are two notable changes for this release, and one addresses that disparity between the often bright, jovial, and optimistic tone and time-sensitive, sometimes punishing schedule. One pertains to difficulty. As I established, that can ramp up at certain points over the course of the game. When you start out, you can select a new “Cozy” option.  “Cozy” means you can visit people without wasting your in-game time, which is really efficient for shop management. The boss fights are easier (in a good and rebalanced way) as well. To be honest, I usually didn’t mind the tournaments in the original game, but the timing is a real game-changer here. So I ended up going with that difficulty and not looking back, because it does make it easier to enjoy the relationship-building elements here. I would suggest trying normal difficulty first, then rolling back to Cozy if that doesn’t work for you. Image via XSEED There is also an endless mode in Potionomics: Masterwork Edition . Which, again, is appreciated. I honestly enjoyed the deck-building and haggling card game most out of all the gameplay mechanics at work here. So… that basically let me do more of that? I really appreciated getting to change up and experiment with strategies in a way I couldn’t when I was more focused on completing goals in the campaign. It really allows you to appreciate the good parts of the game in a relaxed way. Potionomics: Masterwork Edition makes me feel like someone coming to the Switch version is immediately getting access to the best version of the game. While there are some minor balancing issues remaining and someone might be as hit-or-miss on characters as I was, the changes and additions based on player feedback result in a markedly improved experience. It really makes it easier to appreciate Sylvia’s adventures in capitalism. Potionomics: Masterwork Edition is available on the Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X, and the original version with new updates is on the PC . The post Review: Potionomics: Masterwork Edition Feels Like a Better Deal appeared first on Siliconera .
PC Archives - SiliconeraNov 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review – Thrills, Spills, & High-Speed Kills
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review – Thrills, Spills, & High-Speed KillsCould this be the best modern CoD to date? The post Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review – Thrills, Spills, & High-Speed Kills first appeared on Kakuchopurei .
PC | KakuchopureiNov 1
Review: Black Ops 6’s Horrible Maps Hinder Incredible Gameplay
Review: Black Ops 6’s Horrible Maps Hinder Incredible Gameplay Treyarch is back after four years with a new Call of Duty installment: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 . Despite the lengthy development time for this entry, compared to most annualized titles, it arrives with mixed results. The gameplay is top tier for the series, but the general content and maps greatly hinder what could otherwise be one of the best entries in the franchise. It has been far too long since a Call of Duty game impressed me . The last one to do so was Call of Duty: Cold War . Before that, ignoring Black Ops 3 and the Infinite Warfare I helped test, Advanced Warfare . Black Ops 6 comes the closest to recapturing what I love about this series in a long time, but it falls short because of everything aside from pure movement and gameplay. Image via Activision Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 gets the "feel" of the experience right. Its omnimovement is single-handedly the best movement style in a Call of Duty game outside of the jetpack era I dearly miss. It feels like the right balance between the normal boots-on-the-ground movement and aforementioned jetpacks. You can sprint and move in any direction without issue. Want to sprint sideways or backwards? Sure, you can do just that by moving your character in that direction without any penalties. Then there is the diving. You can dive or slide in any direction too, as well as fire your weapon with little issue no matter which action you take. It is so smooth to use, even though it has a bit of a steep learning curve. But once you get used to the feature, it is impossible to go to the old style of games like Call of Duty: Vanguard or MW3 . The natural feel of diving around a corner, instantly laying down, performing a 180-degree turn to look behind me, and firing at someone before they get me first never gets old. It also helps that the gunplay in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is fantastic too. Weapons are, fortunately, one area in which Treyarch still never misses. Whether you like assault rifles or SMGs, there is something for everyone. Sure, ARs currently have the advantage, but that is mostly because of the maps. I adored weapons like the AMES AR just as much as the speedy AK-74u-like KSV SMG. Pair the excellent weapons with the genre-defining Omnimovement, and this is the best a Call of Duty game has felt in a long time. Unfortunately, the juxtaposition of those positives only highlight the problems with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 , which involve pretty much everything else. For one, the maps in this game are possibly the worst ever available with the launch of a title. There is not a single standout, memorable multiplayer map. Sure, there are some decent maps like Skyline, Vault, and Payback. But even the best of the worst are pretty forgettable in the grand scheme of the series, especially considering how horribly tiny the size of them are. Image via Activision Take a map like Skyline, for example. It looks beautiful, thanks to its luxurious penthouse setting. The layout, however, is a bit odd. The different floors don’t flow well together and feel a bit messy. This really shows in game modes like Search & Destroy, due to the awkward bomb placements. These inherent flaws are present in the best of the multiplayer maps. Past years of bad Call of Duty games at least introduced great new maps like Berlin, Bocage, Hotel, and Rio. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 doesn’t have a single map that competes with any of those. Unfortunately, this extends to other modes too, like Zombies. The return to traditional Zombies is welcome, but both Terminus and Liberty Falls are a bit lackluster. I like them more than the multiplayer maps, but even they struggle. This is mostly due to the continual invasion of Warzone mechanics into Zombies. Armor plates and the like just don’t have a place in this mode. The singleplayer campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 fares a bit better than its fellow game modes. This is one of the more engaging narratives thus far. The mission variety is great, and these range from a classic casino break-in to bombastic wartime set pieces. The visuals are great, and fan-favorite characters like Woods return. The story itself doesn’t do anything too terribly interesting, but this campaign is certainly more serviceable and complete than the last several games. It is this general lack of memorable content, or downright terrible additions, that hold back Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 significantly. This could easily be the fourth best game in the series if it had the content and maps to match its gameplay. Even still, that gameplay is enough for me to have some fun and recommend this title to others. There is something so enticing about the Omnimovement system that I hope is in every non-jetpack title from now on. The incredible feel of BO6 is enough to keep me hooked for now until, hopefully, Treyarch gives us worthy content to enjoy. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available right now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC . The post Review: Black Ops 6’s Horrible Maps Hinder Incredible Gameplay appeared first on Siliconera .
PC Archives - SiliconeraOct 31