Comprehensive Game Reviews

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Review: Death Note Killer Within Starts Investigations Among Us The concept behind Death Note Killer Within is great, given it uses everything we know about the manga and anime and adapts it into an Among Us style social deduction game . It works reasonably well, and I never had issues finding a match. It even plays smoothly. However, the details get in the way, ranging from things like being forced to silently watch your chalk outline if you’re killed or seeing a match immediately end if one person leaves or is disconnected due to other reasons. As in games like Among Us , Death Note Killer Within hinges on everyone doing their best with the random roles they are given. Kira (Light Yagami) and Kira Follower (who looks like Misa Amane) want to eliminate criminals, L’s Investigators, and L. So Kira holds the Death Note, uses it to write people’s names in it after either getting their IDs or getting IDs from the Kira Follower, and build up their progress bar. The Kira Follower can steal IDs for Kira or hold the Death Note so if one of them are arrested, the Death Note and IDs aren’t on them. Both can also cause distractions to “force” L and L agents to areas of the map. The Kira forces win if L is killed or their gauge fills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNfuze29zjc&t=190s&ab_channel=BandaiNamcoEntertainmentAmerica Meanwhile, L and the Investigators just need to investigate the situation and find Kira. Like Among Us , this means essentially doing sorts of tasks in Death Note Killer Within by doing things like working together when L commands it and talking to NPCs to find out if Kira acted in an area. Of course, during meetings you need to discuss and determine if someone should be voted out for suspicious behavior and perhaps even arresting someone. Meanwhile, L gains even more power, as he can use cameras to watch the scene, force joint investigations, and create decoys to protect investigators. It works as a gameplay loop, though a lot is being thrown at you at once and it can be complicated. It involves people paying attention, investigating, and looking for opportunities to catch people off guard. Knowing there are always only two Kira individuals in play can make it more difficult in larger groups, since they can be more easily hidden. Also, given how involved roles are, it can feel more complicated than Among Us at times. Though honestly, I do prefer the minigames there to the investigation execution here. Among Us also handles death better, as dying in Death Note Killer Within means you just are forced to sit and stare at the chalk outline of your dead body until the game ends and can’t follow anyone else around. Images via Bandai Namco The thing is, the actual gameplay isn’t really what gets in the way of enjoying Death Note Killer Within . It is some issues that can keep it from being playable. A recurring problem I experienced in Death Note Killer Within is that it is far too easy for a game to abruptly end. If one person leaves, the whole match is over. You need to completely restart and hope that the next folks showing up are more reliable. Even when playing with friends, it became a problem due to randoms also joining. It’s the most frustrating thing. I get if it was Kira or L dropping out, it would be a problem. However in one match this happened I was L and it occurred. In another, after consulting with people I knew who were in that round, the people who were Kira, Kira Follower, and L were all still around. Though, this might not be because someone is maliciously leaving the game. I noticed this was a more evident problem when I ticked the box allowing crossplay. When that was turned off and I was playing with only PC players, it was a little better. I still ended up getting kicked out of about 50% of games, but it could have been worse. Image via Bandai Namco I would also say that the initial community for Death Note Killer Within isn’t ideal. You can opt for a game with no chat. However, it is necessary to help accomplish goals. With it on, a match with random players can feel stressful at best and deeply unpleasant at worst. In one match, I ran into some folks just screaming at everyone. In another case, someone was a jerk to me because they realized I was a woman once I started talking. Though mostly, the reaction to my being a woman was to possibly being hit on? But also, it's difficult to accomplish things and get things done when everyone is shouting and off-topic when proximity chat kicks in or you head into a meeting. This isn’t on Grounding or Bandai Namco and the companies even brought up the reporting function as a means of calling attention to people behaving inappropriately or cheating, but sometimes it feels like a losing battle. Death Note Killer Within is better than I expected it to be, but is also a game where your experience hinges on other people’s behavior and actually getting to complete a match. If you are only playing with people you know, everyone is on a PC, and you all are committed, it can be a lot of fun! If you aren’t, then good luck! My enjoyment tanked pretty severely once random players got involved in my matches, and I suspect it isn’t an isolated issue. If that problem gets fixed and we see more reaction to reports about bad behavior, I think it could be a solid 6/10. But because it becomes so difficult to actually finish a round, it might be better to wait for a patch. Death Note Killer Within is available on the PS4, PS5, and PC . The post Review: Death Note Killer Within Starts Investigations Among Us appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Archives - SiliconeraNov 20

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure Review - An Underdeveloped PictureIt only feels right to begin this review with a confession: I am not someone who saw good reason for there to be a follow-up to the original Life is Strange game. I felt that way when Beyond the Storm was announced, and I felt that way again when Deck Nine revealed they would be continuing Max Caulfield's story with Life is Strange: Double Exposure. Though I enjoyed the first game well enough, I felt as if the ensuing titles that both Don't Nod and Deck Nine worked on--such as Life is Strange 2, Life is Strange: True Colors, and Tell Me Why--explored more interesting topics and boasted more compelling protagonists. To me, Max always felt a bit overshadowed by those around her--characters with intense flaws and strong personalities that drove the game's plot and imbued emotion into the story. And after playing Life is Strange: Double Exposure, and despite having high hopes that it might persuade me, I unfortunately still feel the same. In Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Max once again feels only as interesting as the characters surrounding her, making her a driving force that isn't particularly compelling and a fairly flat protagonist. Even as the game explores her grief following the loss of Chloe (either via a painful fall-out or her death, depending upon your selection) and a new loss that occurs during Double Exposure's opening chapter, Deck Nine stumbles in giving these processes depth and emotional resonance. Despite this weak thread, Double Exposure is, admittedly, a visually impressive game with some well-executed narrative beats, an interesting twist on gameplay, and some endearing characters. However, it ultimately feels too similar to its predecessor in a few frustrating ways and suffers from inconsistent story quality and writing; this makes for an overall experience that lacks a lot of depth and falls short. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsNov 20

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Review in ProgressSo far, severe bugs have been holding back a refreshingly brutal single-player FPS.

IGN PC ReviewsNov 20

Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl Review - In The ZoneIt's incredible that Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl even exists. In addition to weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, developer GSC Game World was faced with the Russian invasion of its native Ukraine, kicking off a war that sadly still rages on today. While many GSC staff were able to flee the country, others were unable to, and some even continue to fight for their country on the war's frontlines. Amidst the terrifying sound of air-raid sirens and frequent missile attacks, people somehow persevered, continuing to work on the game at home in between volunteer work, all while suffering the loss of beloved friends, colleagues, family members, and pets. Even those who left Ukraine and began working at a new office in Prague weren't free of turbulence. Countless Russian cyberattacks, leaked builds, and even a fire that destroyed the studio's server room have all occurred over the past couple of years. Yet, despite all of this, Stalker 2 is here. Its release is nothing short of a miraculous achievement and a testament to the people who fought tooth and nail to reach this point in the face of unimaginable hardships. The game that emerged from such horrifying events is one that boldly sticks to the studio's vision of a seamless open-world survival shooter, which the series has always strived to be. It's rough around the edges and uncompromising in a way that is sometimes off-putting. Yet the series' emergent gameplay remains intact and is further complemented by a fascinating setting and the most accomplished combat in the series so far. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, and at times it feels like you're playing a game straight out of 2010, but that's part of its charm and feeds into what makes Stalker 2 the quintessential Stalker experience. If you're unfamiliar with GSC's post-apocalyptic world, each game takes place in an alternate version of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Following the historical reactor meltdown of 1986, several laboratories were established in the surrounding area and began conducting various experiments. This led to a fictional second disaster in 2006 that mutated local plant and animal life and created phenomena known as anomalies. These strange, almost-supernatural occurrences cause valuable artifacts to appear, each containing unique and unexplainable properties. Stalkers come to the Zone in search of personal enrichment by recovering these artifacts, but they're not the only people who inhabit this irradiated area. Various factions exist within the Zone, from paramilitary organizations to groups of scientists seeking to understand the Zone, along with myriad bandits, religious fanatics, and outlaws who prefer to shoot first and ask questions later. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsNov 20

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Review - History RepeatsYou really can't understate how historically important Dragon Quest III is. This is not just any JRPG--to players in Japan, it's the defining JRPG, a game that set sales records and truly made Dragon Quest an inextricable part of Japanese pop culture. To this day, it's recognized and referenced in all manner of media, and its wild success is the subject of both nostalgic fascination and urban legends. With such a pedigree behind it, it's no surprise that Square Enix has seen fit to re-release Dragon Quest III numerous times, with this HD-2D Remake edition being the latest--and also the most lavish--to date. Logic dictates that a game like this deserves a red-carpet treatment. But unlike Final Fantasy, which is no stranger to changing things up in its recent sequels and remakes, the old-fashioned elements of Dragon Quest's gameplay remain untouched no matter what. Of course, the biggest deal about this remake--which its very title proudly proclaims--is the use of Square Enix's HD-2D visual style. Previous HD-2D games like Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, and the Live A Live remake have established a strong visual identity, using 2D sprites, 3D backgrounds, and scrolling and perspective tricks to create an ornate and cinematic style that makes them stand out. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsNov 19

Review: Great God Grove Is a Great, Goofy Game Great God Grove is, at its core, one big fetch quest. One person needs something, you go get it and bring it to them, and repeat that pattern for the entire run of the game. This has the potential to be tedious drudgery, and yet this concept was turned into something thoroughly compelling instead. Great God Grove puts you in the shoes of a nameless godpoke. You are like a cowpoke, but your job is wrangling gods. You are sent to an island populated by the world’s various gods with the task of fixing a serious problem. A rift is opening in the sky, but the gods are too busy arguing with each other to do anything about it. You need to get them talking again so the world can be saved. You are aided in your task with the Megapon, a lip-shaped megaphone that doubles as a vacuum cleaner. You suck in the words of characters you talk to, then blast them at other characters who need to hear those words. That’s the entire game. You’re a cosmic mediator who bluntly forces everyone to listen to what they need to hear. Screenshot by Siliconera Let me give you an example of how Great God Grove works. At the start of the game, you find yourself in an area that’s constantly raining due to the tears of the local god who’s sad at the disappearance of your predecessor, King. So now you must speak to the locals and get them to say something encouraging that he would have said, suck those words up and shoot them at the crying god to reassure her. While most of the game involves figuring out the correct words to progress, there are also plenty of useless joke phrases that exist simply to spark some goofy interactions. Like sucking up a speech bubble saying “Boo!” and using it to terrify everyone in the vicinity or shooting random compliments at whoever you feel needs one. It’s a simple concept but Great God Grove is incredibly creative in how it approaches it. The game is broken into a series of areas, each with their own squabbling deities, and each of these areas presents a unique challenge to crack. And they are genuine challenges, with many sections making me circle around several times until I was able to piece together what words I needed to throw around to progress. Screenshot by Siliconera This is where Great God Grove shines. Quite often the words you need to combine are less obvious than you’d expect. In one area, I had to wake someone who was blocking my way, and despite my efforts of throwing various shouted phrases at them, they wouldn’t wake up. It wasn’t until I realised that I could swipe the metaphorical phrase “open your eyes” uttered by another character and turn it literal. There are so many moments like this, where you’ll beat your head against the desk for a while until suddenly that “aha!” moment kicks in and you realize that seemingly useless phrase in your inventory is the key to everything. The inventory is also an inspired move, as it restricts you to five items total. Not just phrases, anything you suck up with the vacuum goes here, including beach balls, pumpkins or planks of wood. This means you can’t brute force these puzzles by sucking up every phrase in the area and throwing them until something sticks. You have to pay attention, keep note of everyone’s needs and wants, and actively seek out what might make sense and tossing out anything that doesn’t. Screenshot by Siliconera It helps that the world of Great God Grove is full of bizarre characters. This is not a game that takes itself seriously. This is most obvious in how much of your time is spent hanging out with the local detective force, the Bizzyboys. These boys are incompetent, often chasing the most useless leads or bickering amongst themselves while you do the actual work. They are also responsible for the chaotic live-action puppet shows that crop up in each area. While their purpose is to explain the world’s lore, they mostly left me confused. That’s a compliment, by the way, as the manic energy is what makes Great God Grove so appealing. This extends to most of the cast, who are a misfit bunch of weirdos across the board. Almost everyone has odd speech quirks, boisterous personalities or have strong reactions to everything you say. And yet, despite all this, their problems remain relatable. Even at their silliest, there’s a logic to their complaints. In a game where puzzle-solving and comedy are both key elements, it’s easy to let one side get in the way of the other but Great God Grove keeps its puzzles grounded while layering jokes on top. There are no LucasArts-style “monkey wrench” puzzles here. Screenshot by Siliconera The art style helps the vibes. It’s similar to Paper Mario , where cutout-style 2D sprites are layered in a pseudo-3D top-down view. Character designs look like they’ve been lifted out of a turn-of-the-century Saturday morning cartoon, where asymmetry and exaggerated features rule. Your character is especially notable in their weirdness, with their hair covering almost their entire face apart from a persistent perma-grin. Meanwhile, every single visit to a god sees them shoving their ridiculous faces in your view with theatrical flair with every word they speak. That said, while I did enjoy what Great God Grove had to offer, sometimes it can be a bit much. Most of its tone is intensely in-your-face and it rarely lets up. Most of the time I was happy to go along with it, but there were times when I had to turn the game off for a while until I was in the right mood for it. Some character speech quirks were also a little grating at times, and in a few rare occasions, made it harder to understand what was being said. Its humor is definitely an acquired taste, and it’s likely that some players won’t click with it at all. Screenshot by Siliconera The only other major complaint I had about the game was how unwieldy managing all the speech bubbles could be at times. Sucking up words takes a couple of seconds, and if you’re trying out different words in different places, it can be tedious to shoot the speech bubble and spend time sucking it back up before it disappears. Quite often this could also result in an active conversation happening while your inventory is open and a discarded speech bubble is on screen, which caused the screen to get cluttered and almost unreadable. In addition, the limited inventory space sometimes causes problems for puzzles that require multiple speech bubbles to solve. A song you have to assemble at one point in the game requires four lines, so it becomes much harder to engage with other characters when all but one of your inventory slots are blocked up. Ultimately, Great God Grove is a great romp about the importance of good communication. If you enjoy puzzle games, the works of Double Fine, or Undertale , you’ll find a lot to love here. Great God Grove is available on the PC, Switch and Xbox Series X/S. The post Review: Great God Grove Is a Great, Goofy Game appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Archives - SiliconeraNov 19

Slay The Princess Review: The Pristine Cut - 'Til Death Do Us PartHeart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves. As The Nightmare neared, her face covered in chipped porcelain and her presence like shrill static, these four words became a chant. The Paranoid--one of the many personas inhabiting the hero's too-full head--was the one uttering it, a reminder to the other voices in this malformed vessel that it was now up to them to perform what were once autonomous functions. Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves. The words were a pulse; the singular thread tethering this body to this plane of existence. But as The Nightmare grew closer, the desperate thrumming faded to silence. And then, the thin thread snapped. In Slay the Princess, however, death is only the beginning: the start of a time loop that nearly always resolves in mutually-assured destruction. But despite the horrors you endure and the promise of death--repeatedly and oftentimes brutally--the game begins with a small, strange note: This is a love story. And as a love story, a horrific visual novel, and a work of narrative-driven psychological fiction, Slay the Princess is remarkable. The Pristine Cut further polishes this gem of a game, adding more depth and replayability to an already-brilliant title that is abundant with introspection, poetic (and often humorous) writing, stellar voice acting, and memorable art and music. Though there are still a few rough spots--namely some of its audio mixing and its UX design on consoles--Slay the Princess is a beautiful experience, brimming with emotion and cleverness. The Princess with a chain around her neck and in her Prisoner form. The premise is simple enough and explained by both its name and its exposition: "You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path, is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a princess. You're here to slay her." Naturally, this raises a lot of questions: Why does she need to die? Why am I the one killing her? What is the motive of the person instructing you to do this? As the protagonist's primary, guiding voice, it is up to you to explore the dozen or so prompts that emerge as each new piece of information is brought to light. Your every response and action--or lack thereof--determines and alters the path laid before the hero, as well as the many other voices that join you in guiding him as successive loops unfold. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsNov 18

Review: Miniatures There’s always been some debate around whether or not games are art, but in the late aughts and early ‘10s, some decided to really push for it. Sometimes, this resulted in kind of mostly successful experiments like Citizen Abel: Gravity Bone or Limbo , while other times we got more unfortunate, pretentious attempts like The Path . It was a really insecure time for video games. We seemed to want some sort of permission to take this hobby seriously, so it’s like, collectively, as players and developers, we tried to prove video games were something they weren’t. Oh, they’re totally art. You can see that in games about flipping eggs and trimming hedges . But it’s more about harnessing the interactive element to get that piece of yourself across. A developer might try to capture how they think or see the world by asking you to live it. I’m not sure what The Path was supposed to say. Don’t do what you’re told? We’ve largely moved past that, or at the very least, games that are 100% message have more of a purpose. A self-assuredness. It often feels more earnest and less pretentious. Which makes Miniatures something of a blast from the past. Screenshot by Destructoid Miniatures ( PC [Reviewed], Switch , Mobile) Developer: Other Tales Interactive Publisher: Other Tales Interactive Released: November 14th, 2024 MSRP: $5.99 Now, I’m not actually saying Miniatures is pretentious. No, I'm the pretentious one today. But, it’s at least making no mystery of the fact that it’s a digital art exhibit. What I mean is that it is only interactive-adjacent, and it is very art. I wouldn’t even call it narratively focused because the stories are pretty abstract. You’ll either connect with them, maybe just find them amusing, or maybe you won’t. For me, it reminds me of extremely late nights of being bored in front of Teletoon. Nights when my parents were out, so I had free reign of the TV and could watch whatever bizarre concoction was on the station in the later hours. Teletoon would often air things from The National Film Board of Canada, which was actually the butt of a Simpsons joke back in the day (not while they were still good). Very cultural stuff, but a lot of it was extremely strange. Sometimes, it would be something relaxingly amusing. Other times, it would be a piece of Canadiana, with the deepest of it being something from our aboriginal cultures. When you’re a pre-teen at 11 pm, it doesn’t matter what it was. Any attempt by an animation student to stretch their legs would hit like some sort of forbidden fever dream. That’s what Miniatures took me back to; a decaffeinated Saturday night in my father’s La-Z-Boy. It’s four short chapters that sometimes make you poke the screen. On Switch and mobile, you can literally poke the screen, but here I was just poking it with my mouse pointer. Clicking, if you will. https://youtu.be/3Tma3zvYOoM?feature=shared I’m not trying to be dismissive, but the interactivity is very basic in Miniatures . One of the chapters has you trying to arrange a band of small sand-critters in a little sand-critter town in an extremely roundabout way. This was by far the most amusing one for me, as you largely press on places you think something should happen and then watch while that something happens. It’s well-animated and amusing, so that’s something. There’s one where you pan the screen around to follow a story, and every so often, you need to click on something in the environment to uncover a trigger that allows you to move on. This one was my least favorite, not because of the lack of interactivity but because I didn’t connect with it. As far as I could see, it was a directionless story that wanted to look like it had something to say but didn’t say anything at all. Or maybe I just didn’t see the message. As for the other two, I can at least understand what they’re trying to communicate, but I think a lot of Miniatures fails because it will elicit a feeling and then not do anything with it. They don't use that feeling to deliver any sort of message. These are short, short little chapters – miniature, if you will – so if they want you to just soak in the feeling, then there isn’t much time to do so. One strength in the artistic side of video games is that by having the player take part in something, you can hold their head beneath whatever you’re trying to convey, and when they're good and soaked, hit them with what you want to say. Miniatures neither has a point nor does it drown you for very long. Screenshot by Destructoid But, with those last two, I at least got the vibe they were putting down. One seemed to focus on childhood loneliness and discovery, while another gave a sense of tension and dread. I’ve found I’m typically able to pick up on subtext, even in games that aren’t taking an art-first approach, so I’m not deaf to what’s going on in Miniatures . I mostly have two problems. Number one: I don’t think it leverages the advantages of an interactive medium for conveying ideas. Number two: I don’t connect with the ideas that are here. This makes it kind of hard to review a game like this because its effectiveness will vary from person to person, and I can’t speak to what you’ll feel. Maybe you’ll see yourself reflected in one or all of the games here. What I can say is that from an interactive standpoint, as well as a narrative one, I find Miniatures lacking. In comparison to other games that I would applaud for their contributions and approach to the art form, this wouldn’t be high on the list, but I wouldn’t throw it away wholesale, either. [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.] The post Review: Miniatures appeared first on Destructoid .

Reviews Archive – DestructoidNov 15

Review: Great God Grove Words have weight, which is why I swing them around with reckless abandon. I’m not sure that’s what Great God Grove is about unless you only take it literally. It’s more about identity, authority, communication, and misunderstanding. It’s the follow-up to Smile For Me by Limbolane. But while the two games have similarities, you might miss the relation just by looking at it. One game has you interred in an asylum, while the other has you fixing the relationships of the gods. However, what they have in common is head nods and fixing people. Screenshot by Destructoid Great God Grove ( Switch , Xbox Series X|S , PC [Reviewed]) Developer: Limbolane Publisher: LimboLane, Fellow Traveller Released: November 15th, 2024 MSRP: $19.99 Great God Grove puts you in the boots of a Godpoke, which is, as far as I can tell, a sort of courier. To be honest, I’m not clear on a few concepts here. For all I know, a Godpoke might just be someone who wears a poncho. You arrive at the eponymous grove just in time to see the gods close a giant rift in the sky that threatens to end the world. The problem is that the gods aren’t entirely interested in saving the world. They’re far too wrapped up in their own problems. Previous to your arrival, the last messenger of the gods, the mysterious King, sent letters out to all the gods. The letters are obvious attempts to drive wedges between them, but as King had always been a trusted friend and reliable enough to be elected to become the next god, they took those words at face value. Now, nothing is right in the grove despite being a crucial time for the whole world. Before you even get to the grove, King’s trusty mail cannon, the Megapon, lands directly in your lap. With this device, you can suck the words out of one person’s mouth and slap them in the face of another. Or just right back at them. That happens sometimes. Being the wise person you are (or maybe just because it’s a linear narrative), you set to work righting King’s wrong. Immediately, you’re deputized by Inspekta, the God of Leadership, to help their lackeys, the Bizzyboys, figure out what happened to King and why they decided to hurt everyone’s feelings. However, the leader of the Bizzyboys, Capochin, is only out to please his boss, while the rest of the members are completely incompetent and hapless. So, it all comes down to you. https://youtu.be/fxYga_HqQis?feature=shared Largely, Great God Grove resembles a point-and-click adventure game. You can’t suck up any sentence or grouping of words you want; only specific, highlighted things that characters say can go in your Megapon. In this way, they work like any item in something like Secret of Monkey Island. You find hints in the words of the people you’re talking to and deliver something that will get them to perform some task for you, even if that’s just moving out of the way. There’s a bit of a learning curve. For the first area, I wasn’t picking up on the cues, but after the second, I was able to proceed with some expedience. I didn’t get hung up very often, but I have to wonder if that’s going to be everyone’s experience. Great God Grove has an unusual design language built around its central hook, and I’m not sure if gaming literacy will be as important here as actual literacy. I’m not sure if every player can adjust, or maybe I’m the odd one because I had some issues in the first area. I can only speak to my own experience, though, and in my experience, I didn’t have much of a problem for most of the game. Each area of the grove is home to one or two gods. In each one, King has spread some sort of misinformation to throw things into chaos, and your overall goal is to sort things out to restore the status quo. Sounds easy, but being an adventure game, it takes more than an apology to work things out. Screenshot by Destructoid What really elevates Great God Grove above a typical adventure game is an abundance of style. It mixes 2D characters and objects with a 3D world Paper Mario -style. It’s based around Day Lane’s distinctive, sketchy, expressive style. While animation is sparse, each character has a massive range of poses and emotions that they transition to each new window of dialogue. It can be quite captivating. Many of the gods are rendered in full 3D, but they’re styled in such a way that it can be hard to tell. Like the 2D folks, the gods spring from pose to pose, with more traditional animation thrown in occasionally to spice things up. There are also live-action puppet vignettes that you can watch for not much reason aside from enrichment. They generally just involve the Bizzyboys giving advice and some background information about what’s going on in the world. As it turns out, I’m really into puppets eating sandwiches. There isn’t much out that that looks quite like Great God Grove . The style is executed so consistently and with so much blunt-force pizzazz that it’s incredible that just a handful of people put the whole thing together. There are so many facets of its visual style that look as though they would be very difficult to execute, so the fact that they didn’t choose an easier, more conventional route is impressive. It pays off because, if absolutely nothing else, the way this game looks will be seared into your eyeholes. Screenshot by Destructoid Great God Grove has a lot to say about identity and the way people will stomp on others just for recognition. The gods themselves aren’t much different than ordinary people. They just exist on a less accessible plane of existence. As such, even though you can walk up and talk to them, their followers seem to just believe what they hear and speculate on what they might be thinking, which often is what leads to miscommunication. Misinformation is rife, and people take advantage of that. Humans seem hardwired to climb. There’s a fear that our lives will be meaningless or forgotten, so we strive for recognition. And to secure our recognition, we’ll often stomp down the people beneath us. We yearn to wear the stomping boots, and a decent person can turn awful the moment they put them on. You face a lot of that in Great God Grove . At the same time, it’s a very optimistic game. With your intervention, the troublemakers you meet see the error in their ways and express a desire to atone for their actions. Call me cynical, but I find most people are more likely to become defensive when faced with the consequences of their actions. People dig their stomping boots in and seek justification for what they’ve done. Maybe I just need a stronger word cannon. Screenshot by Destructoid In terms of gameplay, I could honestly take or leave Great God Grove . It has great pacing and a unique approach to the adventure genre, but I find the situations in which it’s applied generally unexciting. Not overly mundane, but I think with urgent focus on the threat and more dangerous situations, the dialogue would have more of a chance to shine. But it already shines pretty brightly. Great God Grove is an immensely polished and precisely executed game, and that’s the most impressive part about it. Its pacing and aesthetic are finely honed and there’s nary a loose thread to be found. A bit more punch and the narrative would be perfect, but it presents a good amount of depth to sink into. It also features puppets gnawing on a gigantic hoagie, and really, what more can you ask for? [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.] The post Review: Great God Grove appeared first on Destructoid .

Reviews Archive – DestructoidNov 13

Review: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Does a Classic JRPG Justice Dragon Quest is at a challenging turning point as Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake debuts, and it one that few gaming franchises will ever have to weather. It is exceptionally rare for a series this old to have retained so much of the same core creative staff from its inception to the present day. From Dragon Quest to Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age , three individuals have driven the mainline entries. Yuji Horii, the designer and scenario writer. Akira Toriyama, the character and monster designer. Koichi Sugiyama, the music composer. In an industry where change seems to be a constant, it's unusual to have a creative team stick with a series for their entire lives. That trio of talents was stable core that led to perhaps one of the most consistent franchises around. Sadly, the march of time has broken up that band, and Dragon Quest will now have to get by without the direct contributions of Toriyama and and Sugiyama. A series long steeped in its traditions now has no choice but to turn to a new page. While we wait to see what that new direction looks like, it's as good a time as any to celebrate the games that made Dragon Quest so special to begin with. The original Dragon Quest trilogy of games has rarely out of circulation for long. With remakes for a wide array of platforms over the years, these three games have almost constantly been available. Screenshot by Siliconera Unfortunately, the quality of those remakes hasn't always been ideal. The most recent versions have their roots in feature phone releases, and it shows. Much of the combat animation found in previous releases was cut, perhaps to reduce the size of the download for data-conscious customers. For Dragon Quest III , some content was also removed. The end result was a version that took a step back in many ways from its predecessors. That would be fine had it not ended up so ubiquitous, but that was the version that ended up serving as the basis for the most recent console releases on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Dragon Quest III deserves better. Luckily, "better" has arrived. Putting that fancy HD-2D tech to spectacular use, Square Enix has done a complete remake of Dragon Quest III with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake . It just rolls off the tongue. This fresh take on the 36-year-old game aims to put a lot more meat on these old bones, and not only in terms of its presentation. But, you know, also in terms of its presentation. This isn't the first time Square Enix performed this trick, with the HD-2D reissue of Live-a-Live showing already how a classic game can be juiced up via these means. This one feels a little different, though. Where that game was a late-era 16-bit release hailing from 1994, Dragon Quest III sits squarely in the middle of the 8-bit era. Its original February 1988 release puts it scant months after the debut of Final Fantasy , when JRPG developers were very much still figuring things out. Is a new coat of paint enough to entice modern audiences? Screenshot by Siliconera Time will ultimately have its say on that one, but whatever the outcome no one can accuse Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake of putting in a half-effort. Beyond the candy for your eyes and ears, there are a lot of new things to explore here. Every area is bigger, there are new things to discover in just about every location, and the story has been expanded upon. There are some new enemies to fight, a new character class to play with, and a significantly expanded Monster Arena that provides further incentive to poke around every nook and cranny of the world. As a result of all of these changes, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a much longer game than its previous incarnations. A person could easily spend twice as many hours making their way through this version, perhaps even more if they seek to do and see everything. There is a slight cost to all of this, with the brisk pacing of the original game taking a modest hit. Some of the dungeons in particular can feel a little too big, since most of them haven't become any more complex in the process. The distances between locations of interest are much bigger, too. It's not a huge issue, but those familiar with previous versions are probably going to notice. Screenshot by Siliconera Those new to Dragon Quest III are going to have to keep the original game's age in mind as they play. While it has been expanded upon, the narrative of this game is fairly lean. You're the child of the brave knight Ortega, who disappeared while on a quest to put a stop to the villainous Baramos. Upon reaching your 16th birthday, you set out on your own quest to finish what Ortega started and perhaps find some clues as to what happened to him. You'll have to travel the entire world on this journey, and we can see the eventual Dragon Quest custom of each stop having its own problem forming here in a prototypical fashion. I think Square Enix did its best to flesh out the story of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake as much as it could. We get some cinematic angles, fully voice-acted cutscenes, and additional dialog to make the NPCs feel less like props. There are some new story beats in here as well. The original game didn't give the main character much more than a basic quest and an ending, so having some additional narrative reinforcement along the way is nice. Nevertheless, this remains mostly true to the source material when it comes to the main plot and your party's place in it. Screenshot by Siliconera Your companions on this journey are characters you roll up yourself, more or less. You choose their vocation and appearance, and can then distribute a few stat boosters to customize them. Each comes with a pre-assigned personality that will affect their stat growth, but that's all it affects. They will almost never speak any dialog, and mostly serve as extra bodies in combat. You can choose whether you want to directly command them when the time comes or have the AI handle things via one of a few different routines. Basically, you shouldn't expect any narrative development for your team members. It isn't that kind of game. One thing going for this remake is that for an 8-bit JRPG, Dragon Quest III 's world has always felt lively and connected. The remake builds on that nicely. There are lot of NPCs milling about in every town or city, and the layout of the world makes a fair amount of sense for a game of this vintage. There's a reason for that, of course, and those who have played a version of this game before will know what I'm talking about. I'll leave that as something fun for the new players to pick up on, though. The presence of a day and night cycle adds further to this sense of place, and the ability to rest at any inn until the time of day of your choosing helps avoid some of the irritations that system originally caused. Screenshot by Siliconera Dragon Quest III HD-2D has a lot of new features like that to make the play experience more comfortable. You can choose between three different difficulty settings. Veterans will probably want to go with the Draconian Quest option, which more closely mirrors the original game, while those who simply want to enjoy the story can pick Dracky Quest, where you literally cannot die. There's a new system that will point you towards your next goal should you want to make use of it, but you don't have to use that if you don't want to. Another pleasant change is that you don't need to talk to royalty to make a hard save anymore, as any person of the cloth will be able to handle that. With both a frequent auto-save and a quick-save option on top of that, you can pretty much stop and resume your quest whenever needed. A lot of the additions to the game take the form of more information at your fingertips. Full area maps, quick references to how many Mini Medals you've collected, and so on. You have more traversal options, too. You can Zoom to another location even if you're indoors now, and Zoom points extend to almost every location you've visited instead of just the towns. If you Zoom from a location and then use Zoom again, it will take you right back to the original point. This helps cut down on a lot of trekking around, and I think it's a good way to offset the larger size of the areas you're exploring. Screenshot by Siliconera There are other incentives to keep you exploring those spaces. First of all, you'll find a lot more random loot laying around in just about every space via jars and barrels. For the most part you'll find basic consumable items, but they can be welcome relief if an outing goes longer than planned. The overworld map offers even more thrills. As you journey, you'll see sparkling spots strewn about. Searching them will give you caches of items and gear, and you can sometimes find really nice things this way. They appear to be random, and new spots will appear as you play. Less random are the new Secret Spots. These places tend to stand out on the map. Maybe it's a bigger tree of a different color in a forest, or an oasis in the desert. Whatever the case, visiting them will take you to a separate screen. You'll sometimes find NPCs with helpful advice, some goodies in jars or barrels, treasure chests, or even stray monsters. Don't worry, they won't attack. Instead, they tie in with the new Monster Wrangler vocation and the reimagined Monster Arenas. The time of day you visit is important, as certain things will only appear if you come at the right time. You'll come across stray monsters in other locations as well, such as towns, and again it's all about that timing. Screenshot by Siliconera The Monster Wrangler vocation is an interesting new element. In their basic form, they're strong fighters who can make use of a decent array of gear. They aren't quite as good at this as the other combat-focused classes, but they make up for it with their abilities. As you find stray monsters and take them in, your Monster Wranglers will get access to some seriously powerful moves. We're talking group heals in the early game, strong multi-hit attacks, and more. How well they keep up with the other classes depends on how much work you put into finding those stray monsters, though. They're helpful to that end, at least. Some monsters are skittish but if you approach them with a Monster Wrangler in your party, they'll easily come with you. There's another benefit to finding these critters. Square Enix adjusted how it handles the Monster Arena in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake . Once a place where you could scare up some cash by betting on monster battles, these are now places where you take a more direct hand in the action. All the stray monsters you've collected find their way here, and you can pick a team of three to go into the arena. Each rank offers a nice reward for winning while also giving you access to the next rank up. The battles themselves are fully operated by the AI, but you can give them the same guidance each turn that you would give your normal companions. It's typically good enough to get them to do essentially what you want them to. Screenshot by Siliconera You can only have one of each monster type in your party, but finding more monsters of the same type will strengthen that first one you picked up. This is the only way to power them up, so make sure to look around every corner. You can find monsters in Secret Spots, in towns and dungeons, and even in castles. Since some of them only appear at certain times of the day, you'll want to scour every spot at every time of the day if you want to fully fill out your collection. It's not necessary to complete the game, instead serving as a treat for those who want to get as much out of the game as possible. The main quest is essentially as it always was, when you dig down to the core. It starts off relatively linear, but once it's confident the player has their sea legs, it opens up dramatically in more ways than one. You can choose the order in which you get things done to a great degree, but it all needs to be done. You'll also eventually get access to the Alltrades Abbey, allowing you to change your companions' vocations for some sweet multiclassing power. This has always been one of my favorite elements in Dragon Quest III , because you can absolutely create some broken characters that will tear through your enemies. Screenshot by Siliconera With that core intact, it means that newcomers are going to have to brace for what is in many ways still that 1988 game. You're going to be fighting a ton of random battles, and even the hyper-fast-forward option can't help that fiftieth fight with an assorted bunch of monsters feel fresh. Sure, they're gorgeously animated, but even that shine can fade when you're deep in a dungeon. The inventory management's UI has seen some improvements to cut down on the busy work, but characters still have their own inventories with limited space. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but it's something some might not be used to. The sense of adventure that drove the original Dragon Quest III is as powerful as ever, even with the wrinkles from its age. You've never staying too long in one place, and there's a surprising amount of variety in the tasks you're given in each. There's a good balance between guiding the player and letting them find the way forward themselves. The vocation system gives you a lot of customizability in setting up your party members, and this remake gives you plenty of options in terms of how they look and sound. I think the case could be made that Dragon Quest III is where the series finally got all of its pieces in place, which makes it perfect for a modern reimagining. Screenshot by Siliconera Beyond all of the nuts-and-bolts gameplay adjustments, the impressive new visuals and excellent new orchestral recordings of the soundtrack bring this quest alive in a whole new way. Seeing your next destination peek up over the horizon as the water glistens in the morning sunlight and the triumphant score swells up is truly something else. The cities are beautiful, the caves are extra-creepy, and every structure feels carefully hand-built. Even the battle backgrounds look great. The lighting effects in all of these scenes help everything pop just that little bit more. While there is no denying that the heart of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake comes from another era, the level of quality across every aspect of this redo cannot be denied. If you love the original game, taking a trip through this version of its world is simply a must. If you've never played it, I can't imagine a better way to experience one of the genre's all-time classics. Its intentional adherence to the source might make some aspects of it hard for newcomers to swallow, but everything that could be done to make it palatable without changing it too much has been. It's a true celebration, both of the game and the series. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024 . The post Review: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Does a Classic JRPG Justice appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Archives - SiliconeraNov 13