- Wolver

Game Informations Developers : Dotoyou Games Released : 26 nov. 2018 Genre : Adventure Platforms : Microsoft Windows - Nintendo Switch - Playstation 4 Incredible Mandy ($2.99) is an adventure through dreams searching for memories lost, people forgotten, and experiences once treasured. It is a third person platformer with a little bit of combat and a whole lot of environmental puzzles in a semi-open world, sprinkled with collectibles to fill in the story. It, in short, looks really, really interesting. As a fan of platformers, puzzlers, and games featuring minimalist art in general, my interest was immediately piqued. An interesting story? Great art? Solid level design? Altogether, it’s a recipe for absolute success and I’m all for it. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was quickly dampened after only a little play, as I quickly found that many things were not as I expected. Before we talk about what could have been better, though, let’s go over what Incredible Mandy does well: Level design. Right off the bat, levels are built to impress with sweeping vistas of far-off places, puzzles yet to be solved, and puzzles you’ve already solved. The puzzles themselves require engaging with the environment, shifting levers and objects this way and that to clamber over them, across ledges, and over chasms. It’s something that has been done before, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable here. As a rule, puzzle games are pretty relaxing and this is no exception. That said, it can certainly be a little frustrating at times with a few time sensitive segments. Boss fights are a big part of this, although even they don’t really punish players beyond a little lost health for being too slow or taking a little too long to figure ’em out, and even then they’re pretty generous. On the whole, between the piano in the background, the near constant search for both health and story collectibles, and numerous opportunities to sit back and think about the puzzles, the vast majority of Incredible Mandy is a very laidback game. Speaking of story, the way it is delivered is rather interesting. At the end of each dream, players are given a short (maybe five or six panels, at most) comic, illuminating a day, an event, or perhaps just a feeling or brief exchange between the player character (the brother) and his sister. Additional comics can be found in chests scattered throughout the levels, adding little details that would otherwise be missed. Personally, I like it, although it does irk me that there isn’t really a way to track what you’ve collected in any given area, and whether or not there’s more you haven’t found. It makes sense to keep the hidden objectives hidden, but that doesn’t make searching every last corner for something that may or may not be there any less tedious. While the basic gameplay is pretty good, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that could have been done better. Notably, the controls feel a bit sluggish (especially with a controller), combat feels almost like an afterthought, and the visuals are… bare and poorly optimized, to say the least. While none of these things break the experience on their own, they do make it less enjoyable. Put together, it sometimes becomes downright cumbersome to get through parts of the game. The touch controls work about as well as can be expected of a virtual joystick & buttons, but the camera sensitivity is a little high, especially when aiming the bow. Why didn’t I just change it, you ask? Great question! While there is a sensitivity slider in the settings, it seems to be universal, determining both the aiming sensitivity and the camera sensitivity. While annoying, it’s bearable with touch controls with the help of the very, very aggressive aim assist’s strong preference for placed swords (this is a good thing). If you use a controller, though, it’s a little more problematic. See, the camera problems apply to controllers as well, but there’s also no controller-specific sensitivity… meaning if you need to use a high sensitivity with your controller and a low sensitivity with touch controls, you’ll have to change them manually every time swap inputs. Combat, on the other hand, is a little more questionable. The only time, as far as I can tell, it ever makes an appearance is during the boss fights at the end of each Dream. Moreover, it isn’t especially satisfying combat, instead seeming to be a blend of puzzle mechanics and hack & slash gameplay focused on boss stages. While it sounds interesting, it could be just as interesting (or perhaps even more so) without combat by turning each boss encounter into an actual puzzle that requires mani[CENSORED]ting boulders, lava, or other environmental effects to beat. As it stands, though, calling Incredible Mandy an action adventure game is akin to calling Tomb Raider or an Uncharted game a puzzle game: Not entirely wrong, but definitely misleading. Visually, Incredible Mandy is pretty. I would even go so far as to say that, at times, it is very pretty. That said, it does have one giant, glaring weakness: Detail. There is both too little and too much detail. Throughout most of the game, the environments are bare, lacking the little embellishments that would really stand out and make the game feel complete, the little additions that add character to even the most basic features. Most notably, the player character is missing a face. While I suspect this is was an intentional decision, it stands out pretty starkly in comparison to his well detailed clothes. On the other side of the scale, the game slows to a crawl in some fights with over the top particle effects, or during a few especially particle heavy puzzles. It’s very jarring in an otherwise buttery smooth game, and not something I expect to find on my iPad Pro. Ultimately, Incredible Mandy is a long ways from being the game I thought it would be. Despite that, and despite the controls, the combat, the overly-taxing particle effects and bare environments, it is a fun game. While the overall experience was not what it could have been, I still enjoyed running around the varied landscapes, solving puzzles, and admiring many an expansive view. While I have a hard time recommending it, if you happen to enjoy adventures, puzzles, and have also exhausted your backlog, it’s worth a shot.

Game Informations Developers :Fntastic Released : 31 Jul 2018 Genre : Adventure Platforms : Microsoft Windows, macOS, Xbox One, Linux, iOS I truly enjoyed Radiant One (Free)when it came out; in my review I gave it 4.5 stars and praised it for the narrative involving mental illness, astral projection, and the supernatural. The developer then announced the game was turning to a subscription model, and I cringed. Based on what I played though – which is now episode one, The Awakening – I wanted to give this new model a chance. The future of gaming is kind of up in the air, with some companies wanting to turn to a Netflix-like model, so it’s not an unreasonable thing to do. The second episode, The Secret, is now available, and I was anxious to dive into it (ironic, based on the narrative). Jared has already detailed the subscription model, but briefly: the subscription is $2.99/month. If you bought the first episode, the second should unlock for free. For a limited time you can purchase the first two episodes for $4.99; otherwise, each episode sells individually for $5.99. This is where I had my first problem: I had to pay for a subscription to access The Secret, despite already owning the first episode. Still, I did it for the sake of… I don’t know, science? I also have a hard time with change so try to push through that, which is what I’m trying to do here. Each episode takes an hour or two to play through; personally, I find $2.99 is reasonable assuming one episode is actually released per month; otherwise, for an hour of playtime, $6 seems a tad expensive. This episode centers around Rachel, who wakes up in a mysterious mansion filled with dark shadow monsters. She needs to avoid the monsters while solving puzzles with little to no mistakes, or the monsters will take over. The game is essentially a point-and-click adventure with puzzle elements. Rachel struggles with anxiety over being perfect at her job, and seems to sacrifice fun for the sake of it. Prior to her arrival at the Mansion, which was a last-minute call from work, she was in Hong Kong. Whereas The Awakening involved astral projection, The Secret takes its cues from time travel. The supernatural is still heavily present, as mental illness manifests in physical forms that make life, and mere existence, seem impossible at times. Radiant One: The Secret is completed through environment puzzle-solving. Think escape room plus shadow monsters. For example, in the first level Rachel has to find the key to a drawer (the right key, as there are several) to pry wood off a closet, take a spray bottle from inside to extinguish a fire and crawl through the fireplace to an alcove. The level continues like that, as do the later ones. The further you progress, the more difficult it becomes to avoid the monsters that have manifested from your mind. At times, Rachel has to concentrate to do something. A white bar shows up at the bottom that you have to try and follow by touching the marked area and staying over it – the mechanic it reminds me most of is fishing in Stardew Valley. I call it the concentration bar because it appears when Rachel needs to focus all her energy on one task, but concentration is unpredictable and fleeting when burdened with anxiety and that’s represented by the movement of the bar. The thing is, something is different. I struggled to pinpoint what had changed between the first and second episodes. Granted, astral projection was removed, and that’s something I had a prior interest in. But Rachel’s story is rooted in anxiety, and anyone that knows me on a personal level knows how much I struggle with perfectionism and anxiety, to the point I will avoid what I need to do for months (or even years) because I don’t think I can do it perfectly. Rachel’s fears echo what my own mind has told me. In the end, I was able to pinpoint the difference. It isn’t the game’s change to an episodic/subscription model – it is the addition of micro-transactions. There is a premium currency for sale, gems. Gems can be used to be untouchable in a single level (five gems each time) or keep helpful Hank the cat around (20 gems). My question: why? Just, flat-out, why? This episode feels less immersive, and constantly having a bright gumbull machine asking you to spend real money removes you from the situation at hand and – oddly enough – gives you anxiety about whether it is needed or you can spend the money. So a game about mental health isn’t good for your mental health. Speak of ironic. The next several episodes have been announced. Following The Awakening and The Secret are The Avalanche, The Eclipse, and The Enlightenment. We’ll see where the game goes after this, but I can say for certain that narrative is paramount and saves Radiant One: The Secret from being a total dud with this new model. The micro-transactions and confusing (possibly broken?) new episodic subscription/purchase model keep this episode from being what the first was. The connection isn’t quite there anymore. And that really upsets me, based on how much I enjoy and identify with both stories to date.

Game Informations Developers :Benjamin Rivers Inc Released : October 8, 2019 Genre : Action-Adventure Horror Platforms : Microsoft Windows - macOS - Nintendo Switch - Playstation 4 Worse Than Death ($3.99) is the latest game by Canadian indie developer Benjamin Rivers Inc, the same team behind the much-loved Home – Unique Horror Adventure ($2.99). As such, there are great expectations for this new title, as Home featured wonderfully simple gameplay and an unexpected narrative experience. So, how does Worse Than Death hold up? It’s Holly’s 10-year high school reunion, and this is her first time back to her hometown since she fled post-graduation. Your old friend Flynn is thrilled to see you when you walk into the bar, but there’s a noticeable space where another friend, Grace, used to be. Grace and Flynn were engaged, but she passed away. Even after all this time, Holly has a deep friendly love from Flynn, made clear when later she risks her own life to rescue him. I believe the title seems to come from the phrase “a fate worse than death," which refers to a horrible experience that makes life unliveable. For Holly, this is whatever happened to cause Grace’s death. The gameplay in Worse Than Death is mostly pure point-and-click goodness. Tap and hold to walk, double tap to run; that’s about all you need to remember to succeed. Every step forward is a feat, as there are often puzzles to overcome road blocks. Each “aha!" moment is incredibly rewarding. There is also a solid stealth element to the gameplay: trial and error, combined with patience and attentiveness, is needed to maneuver past the monsters who seek to harm you. The game lulls you into a false sense of security before slapping you in the face with terror. Some of the fear is visual, but most of it is purely auditory. Visual and auditory cues are integral to your survival. When an invisible beast is nearby, Holly’s heart will beat crazy fast and you’ll hear it grow louder as the monster gets closer. If you move with your heart beating hard, the monsters will find and attack you. The developer uses haptic feedback wonderfully and sparingly. I call them monsters, but the enemies seeking Holly are mostly unseen, making them that much more terrifying. Holly has spent the last decade running from her past, afraid it will catch up to her; this fear is physically represented by the monsters she is running from. There is loads to look at and explore, and often you’ll need to seek out a specific piece of information or item to proceed. If you get turned around, pause for a hint explaining your goal. It is so easy to miss clues or information needed to solve puzzles. So if you’re like me, it’s easy to become a bit frustrated – but a few deep breaths and a fresh look around will often reveal what was overlooked. There are a few technical details worth mentioning. First, the game auto saves often, so it is easy to play for a few minutes, put it down, and return later on. Second, it supports MFi controllers, which I never felt the need to use as the on-screen controls are quite good, especially on phone screens. I can understand why, on a tablet, the controller would come in handy, as the touch points become quite spread apart. Third, I’ve run the game on both the lowest recommended devices (and iPhone 7 and an iPad Air 2), and in both instances it runs perfectly smoothly. There is zero lag and quick load times. Unlike Home, which is entirely reliant on 2D pixel graphics, Worse Than Death features high-res comic-style panels to help advance the narrative. Something I love about the game is that all the high-res artwork was drawn by hand on the iPad Pro; it’s a real testament to the tablet’s versatility. The artwork is extremely polished, and I can only imagine the amount of screen time needed to perfect every line. Worse Than Death is not a very long game: it should take about 3.5-4 hours to finish it. The length is perfect, as anything longer would become bloated with gameplay instead of retaining focus on the narrative. It is a bit difficult at times, especially for me because I am admittedly far too impatient to do stealth well. The good news: difficulty modes will be added in an update later this summer. I look forward to using an easier mode for my replays. Regardless of my personal struggles with stealth gameplay, Worse Than Death is an incredible experience of love, life, and the past that haunts Holly. She’s the type of heroine you cheer for whenever she succeeds, and that you truly feel bad for when something goes wrong. The simple gameplay enhances the narrative by not overpowering it, and the use of auditory cues really is amazing. Simply put, Worse Than Death more than lives up to my expectations for it, and I already look forward to my next playthrough.

well im guy who loves horror games ... thisis the list of horror games i've finish and like it - Frist we have "Emily Wants To play too"survival horror gameplay and strives to creep you out. - Second we have "Sinistria" i really remember this game she was creeping me out. - and we have "Granny" This game is well known - "Pacify" fun when play with a friends *And some Simple other games .. like - "Among Us" This game is by far my favorite game ever in my phone - "Party Panic" I used to play it with friends too etc... They are all simple games ... Evryones can play it ❤️

well i just finished "DreadOut 2"....It is a horror game It revolves around the other dimension of the Ghosts...It depends on courage and intelligence .so If you are a fan of horror, I advise you to play this game.

For Now i play Door 2 ... and i almost finish it

Nick: Wolver Real name: Mohammed How old are you?: 20 Which Games you play? and for how long?(each of them): i Play cs and free fire ... cs in the morning & Free fire at night Where are you from?(country and city): Morocco - Boudenib Describe yourself(at least 50 words): i'm a person who love to help his teammates, and also i like to share my own ideas with others persons to benefit.and I’m always looking for an opportunity to do better and achieve greatness Note some of your qualities: respectful - Patience Tell us some of your defects: Get Mad easly On which category/categories have you been active lately?(describe your activity): Upload And game reviews Which category/project you want to care off?(choose from THIS LIST): Game reviews How well you speak english?(and other languages): Not Bad Do you use TS3? Do you have an active microphone?: Yes, I have Ts3 on computer and phone too.. and active mic on both of them Contact methods: instagram/facebook/whatsapp Last request: my First Request

Game Informations Developers :Stave Studios Released : 31 march 2020 Genre : Adventure - Action, General Platforms : iPhon - iPad - Microsoft Windows Over the Alps () is a traditional choose-your-own-adventure type of game. The game is set in Switzerland circa 1939 and you will be playing as “Agent Smith”, clearly a moniker, as you are a spy for the British government. Unsurprisingly, that means you’ll find yourself in a story of betrayal, heartbreak, misinformation, sleuthing, fighting, and chases, but also, refreshingly, one of care, romance, beauty, and exploration. The entirety of the four acts you’ll play through will take you around four or so hours, one per act. Your options will be clearly marked to help determine the type of character you wish to have and you’ll acquire traits based on these options. You can choose to be honorable or cadish, dashing or aloof, and fearless or dramatic. While I found myself gravitating towards mostly honorable and dashing answers, I also ended up using quite a few answers from other categories. One good thing about this game is that you’re never locked away from one choice or another. You can choose based on these categories or simply on what you think the best answer might be for that situation. It’s a simple system and one I found myself enjoying. The game is not all about those choices, though. You’ll also find yourself pretty early on in a rush away from the police. Thanks to a cunning rival, you’re on their radar and must find your way out of each area as quickly or safely as possible. You can make choices to steal bikes or cars, which is risky but will often get you to where you’re trying to go quickly. It’s important to weigh safety and speed, while also trying not to leave behind clues for authorities to obtain information. In short, don’t make a scene. More than once, I found the police literally in the same city as me and let’s just say that that’s not an optimal moment. Throughout the game, you’ll also find yourself meeting a whole host of people. You’ve, of course, got the damsel in distress, Miss Luisa Vercoli; her aloof father, Primo; your spy rival whom I will leave up to surprise; the intelligent and confident puppet of the Nazi’s; and a few other friends and foes. Each one definitely has their own purpose in this game and feels like a new and different character. They all have sides they wish not to share and you may even uncover a few. I found this to be very enjoyable and interesting as you never really know who to trust, which is just what you want with a thrilling spy story. After each of your outings in an area, you’ll be shown a report by Control, your handlers. This’ll include mostly how close the police are to catching you. Long story made short, don’t get caught or Control will have to clean up your mess and they won’t be happy. You’ll lose trust with them, which is something you’ll find to be important later on. The same is true of other characters, too. Try to remain on people’s good sides as long as it lines up with your own interests, otherwise you might find things becoming much harder in the future acts. The graphics and sounds of Over the Alps really were fantastic. In fact, everything given in the game helped to immerse me deeper into the story. Character expressions will change based on how they feel about the agent I’ve created, the music will become rushed and hurried if the police are hot on my trail, there are vibrant colors, dark sewers, pristine mountains, and so very much to see. Every area left an impression on me and never did I feel like it was monotonous. Controls, too, are as simple as they come with just a few drags and taps. You won’t find yourself having to press buttons or tap as fast as you can to open this door or shoot that villain. It’s almost entirely a point-and-click story. To sum up, Over the Alps is a fantastic game. It has a believable story, realistic characters, a great setting, several hundred different choices, multiple endings, a great balance between relaxing discovery and hard-pressed action, and emotional moments that make you feel. I cannot recommend this game enough for anyone that enjoys a good story, especially about spies and overcoming fascism.

Game Informations Developers : Mografi Released : September 19, 2019 Genre : Adventure Platforms : iOS, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch Jenny LeClue – Detectivu opens up on a stormy night in Arthurton with a suspicious, or perhaps normal, individual with a briefcase. He boards a small motorboat and sails off past a murder of crows towards a small sign floating on the river. After a short minigame, you find a long tube stretch upward into your boat. You enter the tube and that’s the last thing you see… before being awoken from the short slumber of a far-too-tired author, Arthur K. Finkelstein. Arthur is a well known author of the Jenny LeClue books. The books are not selling well and Arthur is being pressured to make them more dramatic and dangerous. After a particularly rage-inducing call, he decides to indeed give them the murder and mystery they’ve all been waiting for. Your first mission in the game is to solve the ‘murder’ of Jenny LeClue… for your mother’s class. They believed it was an accident but you can prove them wrong. First, you’ll search the crime scene for clues using a first person POV in which you move the camera around and interact with what might be suspicious. A green smudge on her lips, a pool of blood at her head, muddy boots, and a floor that is immaculately clean yet still wet… she didn’t slip on the water, she was poisoned! After collecting clues, you use them in combinations to deduce answers to questions. The first being “How did I know the victim didn’t slip”. Much of these moments of deduction are animated in simple little drawings in your notebook and serve well to show the story as well as tell it. I found myself enjoying them throughout the adventure and was occasionally wrong, which is always a plus. It’s never fun if it’s too easy! Jenny LeClue – Detectivu follows a pretty specific pattern — Run around, investigate area, find clues, make deductions. It’s a tried and true method and nothing ever feels tiring. The majority of the game will be in a platformer-style but it’s only barely the majority. There are puzzles intermittent throughout the levels that can be anything from wire-puzzles to breaking boards or changing knobs on a dial to decipher a hidden message. There’s rarely a puzzle that doesn’t seem fun, but some of the puzzles and investigations have one problem — glitches. It wasn’t super often, but around 3-4 times, I would get stuck. It wasn’t me, though. I’d spend a good 30 minutes trying to figure out if I’m missing something but in fact it was the game. Occasionally the “back” arrow simply wouldn’t load or a puzzle wouldn’t progress properly. No amount of changing, flipping, or sword-moving would fix it. It became a hassle having to redo up to 15 minutes of content but that’s really my biggest gripe and it’s not so annoying that I found myself hating the game. Over the course of your investigation, which I feel was well planned, entertaining, and of decent length (around 10 hours), you’ll be living two stories. There’s the obvious “Jenny LeClue” mystery that befalls Arthurton. You’ll mostly work on the mystery but also there’ll be plenty of choices to make Jenny the detective you want. She can be an emotional planner or a logical dreamer. I won’t give out any spoilers but it’s definitely got the basis of a good story but an ending that leaves you saying “…why?”. Personally, I’m not a big fan of cliffhangers and this game gives you a big one as literally the last scene. The second story you’ll be playing is as Arthur… or more like an unseen force in Arthur’s apartment. Much of the game is played in the first story but Arthur, the author, is just as important. The story hurts Arthur to write just as much as your character, Jenny. He struggles with what he wants and with compromising his beliefs, which is shown in Jenny’s own emotional struggles to not only the murder but the troubles in her now-broken family. Jenny LeClue – Detectivu also has a few extra features that are mostly just for flavor. There are hidden stickers and scraps of postcard throughout all the levels. They’re all easy enough to find for the most part but they’re all also miss-able and the perfectionist in me died a little when I realized I missed two scraps of the very last postcard. The stickers are used on your notebook just to customize it. Personally, I put the mayor’s face with a big red X on it… because he died. Twisted? Yes. Perfect? Also yes. You’ll rarely find your device overheating or draining too much battery. The bigger issue to me is that the game only autosaves and so if you close the app entirely, you might end up set back farther than you’d like. Pay attention to the top left of the screen though and if the “Jenny LeClue” logo pops up, you should be fine to exit. They seemed to be coming every time you enter or leave an area or find something big so there was never a huge lull between saves. In the end, Jenny LeClue – Detectivu succeeds in telling you an engaging story with good mechanics, fun puzzles, a great way of introducing mystery, and characters that you’ll really find yourself enjoying. If you take away the glitches, this is definitely a top-notch game that I think any lover of mystery, murder, or puzzles will enjoy.

Game Informations Developed : Gambrinous Released : September 19, 2019 Genre : Adventure / Role Playing Game (RPG) / Strategy Platforms : iOS - Microsoft Windosws - macOS - Play Station 4 Cardpocalypse is the game each and every battling card game enthusiast has been waiting for. You begin the game as Jess Carter, a young girl just enrolled at Dudsdale Elementary School. It doesn’t take long for you to find out that everyone at Dudsdale loves Power Pets, the latest craze card game and television show… that is, everyone except the teachers. They more or less tolerate it at first, but after the initial tutorial stages you end up getting the game banned from the school. Don’t worry, folks, the game doesn’t end there. In fact, it starts there. Your cards were taken but your will never was, and neither was the will of literally every other student in the entire game. You’ll start out once more with a pretty limited deck but there’s so many great ways to build it up that I feel by the end of this review, you’ll already be downloading the game. For starters, there’s a whole buttload of missions to partake of in the 5 in-game days you’ll be playing. I’m talking somewhere between 50 and 100. Each of these missions offers unique rewards including cards, candy (to be traded for cards), stickers, and more. A lot of the missions can be completed multiple ways and different reards, or nothing at all, might be earned. Missions are also different in every way. You might be doing just a simple battle or dousing a shirt in paint to make it uglier. Many of the missions fit in really well with the school setting and it’s one of the many things I love about Cardpocalypse. Another way of earning more cards is to trade. You’ll find a whole host of different vendors around the school. Some will only allow candy-trades, some will be locked until you complete a quest, and some might carry just the card you’re looking for to complete your deck. Trades are a 1:1 ratio in terms of rarity so the 1 legendary is worth 2 rares which is worth 4 commons. It’s easy to stock up on a whole lot of cards, too, so by the middle of the game, you’ll be able to trade pretty much anything with anyone. Battles in Cardpocalypse are really fantastic and can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 10. Your champion card is the main focus here and, if it dies, you lose. You can carry 20 cards with you into battle and draw either 3 or 4 cards at the start, with one more each round after that. Each turn you start with 1 more food than the last and you can deploy either minion or mutation cards with said food. It’s about what you’d expect from a traditional card battler. You choose what each minion will attack, and what your champion will, and then end your turn when you’re out of food and attacks. I’m happy to say that building your deck is going to start out slow and become WILD after a while. This game comes with hundreds of different cards of four different factions — Woofians, Meowtants, Pipsqueaks, and Sinnisers. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses and working your deck around those can make you nearly unbeatable by the end. You’ll want to pick one early and stick to it, or two at the most, as trying to spread out all decks evenly will leave you too weak to progress easily. In short, the Woofians are solid defenders and buffers and the go to for anyone that’s a beginner at card games. They’re great at keeping your hero healthy and your minions powerful. Meowtants are the ninja of the game and often have charge minions that can attack you on their first turn or hidden ones that cannot be attacked when they’re first deployed. Pipsqueaks, which ended up being my choice, have a lot of swarm skills which give them +1 attack for each minion deployed on that turn. They’ve also got a lot of food-related skills, giving them huge boosts at the cost of permanent food while they’re alive. Lastly, Sinnisers are the sneaky, lethal guys. They can outright kill troops if they hit them and deal damage as well as both buffing and debuffing minions. To take it a step further, next comes the best part of the game — stickers. Stickers can be attached to ANY card to change it drastically. You can add a health, attack, change the name, or even a skill to your cards. Later in the game, you’ll even find special stickers that will change a card’s faction so if you just got an amazing Legendary card for a faction you’re not using, you can change it to yours. It’s a fantastic feature that, again, fits perfectly in the school setting and gives you a lot more options in your strategies. The final part of the game which will be customizable I hesitate to tell you about. To keep things simple without giving you any spoilers, the rules of the game will change based on your choices. This could help or hurt you, but as long as you pay attention and choose things based on your strengths, you’ll be fine. Personally, I became more or less a god with mine! The story in this game is solid as well and will keep you wanting to play for the 20 or so hours it will give you. It’s a little bit on the obvious side as there’s a mysterious purple goo around the school. You and I both know what that goo is, but that doesn’t stop you from having to explore all around the school to try and figure it out. Even so, the story kept me interested and the characters you make friends with keep things lighthearted and fun. The music and graphics are pretty fantastic and fitting, too. A lot of the music is rock and hits you right at the start of the game. They’re all custom songs, too, which just make the game all the more fun, especially when you pick up a new champion and get to hear a totally MEGA intro. The graphics are reminiscent of South Park with their patented cutout style and look great. As such, the battery consumption is so heavy that even with my new iPad plugged in, it was still draining, though not all that fast. Cardpocalypse is perhaps my favorite game on the Apple Arcade. The deep strategy and customization offered here is amazing and gives me so much replayability that I could easily see myself playing it at least four times and still not running out of new things to try. If you enjoy battling card games or just think you want to try one out, this is the game for you.

Game Informations Developed : Lizardcube Released : 8 June 2017 Genre : Action-Adventure Platforms : Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android Mode : Solo When a really old game is remade or ported to modern platforms, developers have to cater to two audiences usually. The first one is the fans who played the original and likely want to either experience a game the way it was or through their own rose tinted memories (I learned this when I bought a few NES games on 3DS a few years ago). The second group is newcomers who have either never heard of the game or have never experienced it in the past. Lizardcube’s take on Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap which originally released on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch as Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap ($7.99) nails everything for both audiences and it is finally on iOS as a premium release with nothing cut that costs almost a third of its console version price. I’m in the camp of people who never played the original and only experienced The Dragon’s Trap through Lizardcube and DotEmu’s remake on the Switch. It did a lot right with difficulty options but the new visuals and new music won me over. I bought this the moment it went live on the eShop for Nintendo Switch and liked it enough to buy it again physically thanks to the limited retail release on both PS4 and Switch. Games like this and Game Atelier’s Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom showcase how to bring classics or how to reimagine older games for modern audiences. You begin playing as Wonder Boy or Wonder Girl (you can toggle who to play before starting a new save and even tap on the logo on the title screen to see the new artwork) trying to take down the dragon. You start off pretty strong but get cursed into a half human half lizard and now look for a way to lift the curse as you traverse through some gorgeous and well designed levels. Progression is fairly non linear and you have the ability to transform and use various skills to uncover more secrets throughout. Expect a single playthrough of the main campaign to take around 6 hours. I played this on an iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, and iPhone 7 over the last few days and it manages to look gorgeous regardless of platform. Lizardcube has done something beyond special with the new art and animations here. This is one of the few games that actually looks like a painting in motion. Performance has been mostly ok but I’ve run into the same issue I had on the Switch which had some slowdown when you turn around quick or during some animations. When this port was announced, I was hoping the iOS version wouldn’t have that issue but sadly it does. This is something I notice often and it annoyed me on Switch. Other than that, the performance has been fine. This game was designed for 16:9 and any other aspect ratio (So iPhone X screen size and iPads) will have bars on the sides or top and bottom with artwork. Keep that in mind since new premium ports usually make good use of the full screen real estate available on modern iOS devices. Just like the love and care put into the visuals, the new soundtrack is fantastic. One of the best aspects of this remake is the ability to switch to retro visuals or music on the fly. You can do this by dragging fingers from left to right (for the visuals) and even leave it be in the middle so you have the left and right showcasing different eras in visuals. With an Mfi controller, you can use the triggers to switch visuals or music options quickly if you don’t want to get into a menu and stop the action. There are a few music options but the newest soundtrack is perfect. If the old school level design and some of the enemy placements feel too unfair to you, there’s an easy difficulty option that lets you breeze through most things in the game. Stuff like this definitely helps make an older game more accessible to newcomers to the genre. My biggest annoyance with the iOS version barring that performance issue is how it controls on the iPhone 7. The default button sizes are too big and you often end up restricting your own view of the game. A lot of this can be fixed but this is definitely a game that would be better on a larger screen with more real estate for control freedom if you want to play it with touch controls. If you’re having too much trouble on the controls, make sure you keep playing around with the sizes and positions to get it to play best for you. I’d still recommend playing this with an MFi controller if you can. One other control issue is in the button sizes sometimes having a touch target too small. On iPad, the game renders at 16:9 with bars around. This is also something you will experience on iPhone X screen sizes since the original game was designed for 16:9. On iPad access to the pause menu and inventory is sadly at the top left and right of the gameplay portion and not the actual screen which makes things even more annoying. Overall, you absolutely need to play this game if you’re a fan of platformers and enjoy premium experiences on mobile. Playdigious did a lovely job with the port and it is perfect if you have an MFi controller. If you don’t, the touch screen controls are definitely not a fantastic way to play this because of how it controls in general. If you want to play this on touch, make sure to spend some time customising the controls through button sizes and positions because it doesn’t feel great on the iPhone 7 to me and is much better with touch on iPad. When it comes to remakes or ports of older games, Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is definitely one of my favourite ones in recent times. It oozes charm and care unlike most remakes these days.

Game Informations Developed : Ben Esposito Released : August 28, 2018 Platforms : iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One Mode : Solo Not a ton of mobile games get shown off at E3, relative to console and PC titles, but Donut County ($4.99) did this year. Yes, it’s probably because it’s also coming out on PC and PS4, but that’s sort of beside the point. What matters is that it made an intriguing enough showing that people were anxious for this physics-based puzzle game to come out and see exactly what you’re doing besides swallowing things up with a hole, which was the biggest thing that you took away from its E3 appearance. Turns out it’s both exactly that and a lot more at the same time. Donut County is primarily the story of a young woman named Mira who works at a donut store with her best friend, a raccoon named BK. That strange-sounding pairing is actually pretty normal since the titular county is po[CENSORED]ted mostly by anthropomorphic animals, though chickens and snakes are still … well, chickens and snakes. While Mira is a reluctant hero, she feels compelled to take action when people and things start going missing and suspects BK and his fellow raccoons have something to do with it. It’s fair to say that BK is even more hesitant to do the right thing — in that respect he shares some personality traits with Rocket Raccoon of Guardians of the Galaxy fame — but as we learn later, he has his reasons. Once these two friends end up 999 feet underground with pretty much everyone else from their community, the story unfolds by having a colorful cast of characters telling their own stories of woe one by one. The link between them is that they’ve all ordered donuts thanks to a new app that allows the goodies to be delivered right to their doors, and since BK is the delivery person, it’s not a big stretch to say he’s involved somehow. Each level revisits one of those characters and their fateful encounter with what’s in the middle of most donuts (not all, as the game reminds us that jelly-filled donuts, fritters and the like have no holes) as a hole inevitably comes for them and all of their possessions. That’s because of you, of course. As shown off right from the title screen, the core mechanic in Donut County is your control of a hole, which always starts each level off small but gets bigger with every item you send down below. Early on, your main challenge is simply to figure out which items to gobble up in what order, since it’s pretty intuitive that the bigger stuff needs to be saved for later when your hole has grown larger. It’s very easy to control the hole simply by sliding your finger around the screen, and while I didn’t play the game for any other platform, it would be hard to imagine it feeling any more natural with a controller or mouse. In short order, the game figures you’ve got the basics figured out and starts throwing more wrinkles at you. Can the hole swallow up water? It sure can, but then when the hole is full of H20, is it really a hole any more? If the answer is no, is there a way to drain it and turn it back into something that will function as a portal to the underground again? Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that something was to get stuck halfway in the hole. You might then be able to use it to, I don’t know, activate switches or something by sliding it around to the proper locations. It’s tough to talk about more specifics without giving away some of the puzzle solutions, though there aren’t too many that are difficult enough to do more than give one pause. This is very much a “oh, that’s clever" sort of puzzle game than an “I’m debating whether I need to search the internet for spoilers or be stuck here forever" affair. Throughout it all is the fact that physics are very much a part of every solution, and it’s always satisfying to see things topple over or just barely fit down the hole once you shake them into just the right orientation. It’s also impossible to separate any of the levels from their characters, and developer Ben Esposito deserves all kinds of kudos for the way he’s woven them together. While it might be a little cliche to say that the environments are characters in and of themselves, that is truly the case here, and there were times I was a little regretful that I ended up tearing everything down — though just a little, because it’s hard to deny that swallowing up whole buildings with a hole is entertaining. There are a few twists and turns to the story before you reach its end, which includes a full-fledged boss battle that almost feels like the game changes genres in its final act (but is still both fun and challenging). I could see other reviewers, specifically those playing the console version, getting hung up on the length of Donut County. It definitely won’t occupy too many hours of your time, though on the other hand, not everyone plays games with the single-minded, deadline-driven mentality of games journos. It’s possible you’ll want to linger a bit more on each level even when you know how to finish them off. Debates about game length are silly anyway, because games only really need to be as long as necessary to tell their stories or have you reach your final goal with a sense of accomplishment, both of which Donut County does beautifully. What does feel true, though, is that it throws concepts at you along the way that you wish were followed up on a few more times. In other words, once you’ve figured out all the different things a hole can do, you’ll want to put them to use more than you’re required to do so. There’s nothing preventing you from going back and playing through levels again once you’ve beaten them — and in fact, there are options to do so once you’ve done a complete playthrough — but there is a feeling that as soon as you’ve learned something, it’s on to something else. Maybe that’s splitting hairs since Donut County provides a lot of what people are always saying they want more of from their mobile games: a new and unique world, a compelling story and interesting mechanics you don’t see in tons of other titles (except for knockoffs, of course, but we’ll assume you’ll accept no substitutes). I also made it the “hole" way through this review without more puns as bad as that one, so hopefully you’ll be able to avoid that temptation as well.

Game Informations Developed : Nyamyam Released : may 9, 2019 Platforms : iOS - Microsoft Windows - macOS Genre: Comedy Imagine a world where doctors have fled, and psychics are the new doctors. It sounds downright crazy, doesn’t it? In fact, most of Astrologaster ($4.99) follows the pattern of seeming downright impossible, but the impossible is actually true. I know this is a bit confusing, so this review will begin a bit differently than normal, with a brief history lesson. What I’m about to write will seem outlandish and untrue, but it is historically accurate – or so the developer promises. In England during the late 16th century, the po[CENSORED]tion was severely affected by the bubonic plague. Doctors fled to avoid it, but one wannabe named Simon Forman decided to cure his own illness by looking to the stars. And it seems to have worked. So he sets up practice, reading the stars to cure a range of illnesses. The problem? He’s selling himself as a doctor, but he never studied medicine. The police have warned the public about people like Forman, and if they catch him they would undoubtedly arrest and charge him. There is a way around this, as Forman needs to get at least eight of his patients to write a letter of recommendation. This will give him the chance to become a medically recognized doctor; for now, he’s operating illegally. It’s a true story that seems insane when considering modern science, but it didn’t seem so crazy four hundred years ago. Astrologaster is based on Forman’s tale and Horay astrology, which uses a square chart versus the modern circular one. The developer clearly takes great care with accuracy, both for historical events and star charts. They used real star charts from the exact date and time the consult is said to have taken place. Terms common to the late 16th and early 17th centuries are abundant, such as “chundering" instead of “vomiting." There’s even a research team from the University of Cambridge employed to ensure historical accuracy. Every bit of the game is clearly built with the same love and care as the story, especially the music (which I’ll get to a bit later). Each case follows the same order of events. It begins with the little ditty, then the “doctor" and querent discuss the symptoms. You then read the stars and choose the reading best suited to the situation. Your patient will react before you open the case’s summary, complete with the querent’s case history. To end the case, you’ll see how close you are to receiving a letter of recommendation from them. I’m about as qualified as Simon Forman to be a doctor, and I’m equally confident in my ability to diagnose these digital querents. To “read" the stars, you choose an option and follow the path it highlights. Do this for all options (between two and four), and make your decision. Diagnosing becomes more complex as the story progresses. Each patient has their own quirks, and you’ll have to take them into account when making your decision. Some of the diagnosis names (again, too zany to be anything but true) make me giggle. Call me immature if you must, but a diagnosis dubbed “Dropping Down of the Piss" is just a hoot. Forman has 14 patients in all. Each character has their own voice, personal background, and personal reason for seeing the good “doctor" to begin with; their histories are on par with modern soap opera tales. But a remarkable amount of it is true. Many patients were Forman’s real querents, including feminist poet Emilia Lanier. In addition to health issues, querents may also seek life advice. Thomas Blague, a minister, is all about gambling money on investments. Emilia Lanier enquires about her writing career. Forman had an unfortunate habit of sleeping with his lady patients, and this digital representation has similar habits (although they’ve been toned down a bit). Case summaries state whether or not Forman has sex with said patient: “Coitus post consultation." A very important note, indeed, considering the number of pregnancies he deals with. The Astrologaster story advances through an awe-inspiring pop-up book mechanic. It’s actually enjoyable, swiping and watching one story collapse and the other bloom right in front of you. It’s a genius way to progress a linear story, just like a pop-up book would, and it should look quite familiar to fan’s of Nyamyam’s previous release Tengami ($3.99). Indeed both games use the same game engine. I’ve raved about many aspects of the title – the historical accuracy, the outlandish story, the large cast of characters – but I haven’t gotten to my favourite yet: the music. Each consultation is introduced with a lovely rhyme, called English madrigals. They consist of witty words on a background of hymn-like music and vocal tones. Each one is a masterpiece in its own right. There is no reason to quickly read the dialogue and rush through the game. It is just so enjoyable to stop and listen/look. You begin to notice things like how the clothing moves and minuscule facial reactions. I feel the need to personally thank the developer, Nyamyam, for creating Astrologaster. I learned a lot from it, and now want to talk about it with everyone I know because I’ll seem so smart, knowing all about this obscure British man from the 16th century. Not only that, but the game is an experience in its own right, with the madrigals and artwork creating something wonderfully unique. I cannot rave about it enough.

Game Informations : Developer: Frosty Pop Games Inc Mode : Solo Platforms: Microsoft Windows - iPhon - iOS - iPad Original release date: December 15, 1998 Every so often, a video game developer decides to mix pinball with some other genre, franchise, or twist that turns the idea on its head. It’s a long-standing tradition that includes games like Sonic Spinball and Metroid Prime Pinball, and it dates as far back as the 1970s with Namco’s Gee Bee. While this sometimes results in amazing games, like the 2018 Yoku’s Island Express, most examples end up as mediocre mash-ups that only gain attention if they’re tied to some beloved character. The Pinball Wizard (), a mash-up of pinball and dungeon crawling, doesn’t have the luxury of a recognizable franchise tied to its name. However, while it doesn’t achieve the heights of some of the better pinball mashups, it does provide an entertaining, if imperfect, bit of amusement. The game has a solid foundation and developer Frosty Pop deserves applause for bringing it to fruition in a way that feels intuitive and satisfying. The basics don’t take long to figure out: knock a wizard around using pinball paddles, hit enemies to hurt them, avoid enemy attacks, gather treasure, and find the key on each level to open the door to the next one. Rinse and repeat until you reach the top of the tower, defeat the end boss, and save the day. The game’s simple graphics are pleasing to the eye, and help aid in the game’s easy-to-pick-up style. How everything in the game works is clear from the moment you lay eyes on it, which speaks well for the artistic direction. One interesting design choice was to not make the titular wizard look much like a ball. Instead of rolling around the tables, he just kind of hustles around like he’s going for a morning jog, taking paths and speeds that just happen to be the same as how a ball would act when ricocheting off objects on a sloped surface. It sets an off-kilter tone that works quite well for the premise, and the sight of a wizard sprinting face-first into enemies ends up being far more amusing than if he were rolling into everything. When you die, you have to start back at the last tower entrance you unlocked. For the first few hours of play, this will mean starting back at the very beginning of the game. Dungeon crawlers require progression systems, after all, which means that your character starts out weak, fragile and powerless — ready to die from any angry blob that looks at you funny. New skills come from gaining experience, and these skills can be upgraded with treasure, but even your ability to collect these things is hindered at the beginning. Upgrades that give you treasure multipliers or increased experience aren’t unlocked until much later in the game, meaning that you have to grind for a while before leveling up becomes a regular occurrence. The early upgrades do a lot to mix up how the game works — the ability to dash in a chosen direction, shoot out a magical pinball, and recover health by hitting enemies all provide new and interesting choices about how to approach each level. However, the further you progress, the less-interesting the upgrades get. At the end, you’re just increasing your health, energy, and the amount of treasure and experience you get. Unfortunately, many things about the game lack variety and imagination. Very few of the levels offer interesting layouts or obstacles, instead repeating the same basic structures with differing enemy, item, and paddle locations. This wouldn’t be so bad if there were a lot of different enemy types, but there are only four enemies in the entire game. These enemies are all well-thought-out and require their own unique approaches to defeat, but you can only hit a bomb back at a bat so many times before it becomes tiresome. On top of this, the game has only one tile set, meaning every level looks the same, and only a single boss that’s pretty directly lifted from the Legend of Zelda series

Game Informations Developed : JW, Kitty, Jukio, and Dom Released : April 3, 2018 Platforms : Linux - macOS - Microsoft Windows - PlayStation 4 - Xbox One - Nintendo Switch- Android - iOS Genre: Adventure Mode(s): Single-player Over the last few years, I’ve slowly started avoiding indie games on home consoles or PC because I almost always just end up buying too many of them and only actually playing them on Nintendo Switch. Most of the big indie games in recent years and even from the last generation of consoles have slowly been making their way to Switch and this has been a great thing for not just Nintendo Switch fans but also mobile gaming fans. Most indie games that see ports to Switch often show up on iOS soon after if not a bit later on. Hyper Light Drifter is the most recent example and with iOS 13 controller support, this list will only continue to grow. I’m a huge fan of Devolver Digital, and in the last five years they’ve only really released one game that disappointed me with about 10 games I can safely recommend to everyone. Minit ($4.99) is definitely in the category of games I can recommend to everyone and having played it on Nintendo Switch, I was beyond excited to check it out on iOS because the gameplay suits mobile as a platform perfectly. Minit is an adventure game that has you playing in one minute chunks as the name suggests. It has an all-star cast backing it when it comes to development, music, art, and even publisher and the polish shows when it comes to the actual game. Minit feels like an indie take on old school Legend of Zelda games with a unique mechanic that actually elevates the experience. There are loads of great games that are influenced by the Legend of Zelda games but it is always great when a new mechanic is brought into the fray where the end result feels more like a cohesive new game than one borrowing from an older game. As the name suggests, Minit is experienced in bursts of a single minute of gameplay. As you explore, you will find new items and new areas. The items remain in your inventory to help you make more progress in a new run. This isn’t procedurally generated but the one minute time limit ensures you spend a lot of time replaying it and exploring different areas with newly unlocked weapons. Early on, you get a cursed sword that puts the “one minute to death" curse on you. You can use this to damage enemies and that rewards you with an item in a certain location. This item lets you move certain objects which lets you reach more areas and unlock more items. That is the basic flow of the game. You keep exploring and unlocking more items to reach more areas and have an idea of what is actually going on and what you need to do in the game. There are various sign posts scattered all over with hints and some great writing. Minit is a completely monochrome game. It has very simple character models and spritework but it feels great in motion and looks very nice. I have a soft spot for visuals like this ever since I got addicted to playing Downwell. My favourite part of the visuals is exploring and finding an area that’s completely unexpected or one that looks amazing. The lighthouse you find right in the beginning with the specific NPC near it are great. Without getting into spoilers, some encounters later on have excellent animations for encounters. I’ve written about Minit before when it was announced for iOS and I will not stop praising the music. Jukio Kallio’s score is fantastic. The sound design complements it very well with subtle and nicely thought out sound effects. I love how the music you hear will slowly change as you unlock more and have explored more of the game. When it comes to controls, Minit is very simple to control. You have an analog button for movement and one for using your sword or anything you unlock later that has an active input. It plays more or less fine but it is a bit annoying to get used to sword attack direction while moving. That aspect plays better on a controller. With touch, I found myself hitting in the wrong direction a few times. Minit has MFi controller support but it isn’t implemented well. The on screen buttons remain visible when I connected my Nimbus and if I turned the on screen button display off in the game settings, the controller inputs were not getting recognized. Hopefully this is addressed in updates soon. My only real complaints with this port are the controller implementation and one aspect of the touch screen controls. Once you get used to the directional movement with attack direction, Minit will be a dream to play on iPhone. One thing to note is the length will vary depending on how quickly you understand the puzzles and how to progress. Expect to have seen everything the game has to offer in about 3 hours. Minit is a premium port with no in app purchases. Minit is a game perfectly suited to mobile platforms and portables in general with its literal minute long gameplay segments. You can always get in a run or two while waiting for someone in a cafe or on the bus. While I am disappointed with the lack of full controller support and how some aspects have not transitioned well to touch controls, Minit is still a must play title. It is such a brilliant concept that takes a gameplay style that works well but keeps things super fresh at all times. If you’ve not played Minit on any other platform yet, the iOS version is absolutely worth the asking price. Do yourself a favour and get the soundtrack as well.

Game Informations : Developer: Fabled Game Studio Genre : Strategy, Turn-Based, Card Battle Platforms: Android - iOS - Microsoft Windwos Original release date: 06 Mar 2019 I am not an avid fan of pirate games. That does not mean I do not like them—that is certainly not true either!—merely that “pirate” is not an immediate selling point. Nevertheless, I gave Pirates Outlaws ($0.99) a shot. At worst, it’s a very mediocre disappointment, right? After all, it certainly looked appealing with its pleasing art, card-based gameplay, and rogue-like tendencies. Fortunately, “disappointment" can hardly be used to describe any immediate aspect of gameplay: The strategy behind selecting and removing cards to best improve the odds of success, weighing one relic’s value against another, and planning out a general path from start to boss are all impactful mechanics and feel well designed. The fundamental mechanics and immediate feedback are all positive and range from well done to acceptable… so where, then, does it fall flat? Its flaws are quickly noticed, although understanding why they are bad is a little more complex. After completing the tutorial, players are sent to the main screen and tacitly encouraged to look around. Following this advice, players are introduced to the other characters, the majority of which are unlockable by simply playing. Character unlocks start at one thousand gold and increase (ignoring the Admiral, who must be unlocked for $5 of real money). Moreover, all characters after the Sword Master require a minimum reputation of five hundred. Not a big deal, right? Gold can’t be terribly difficult to acquire—repute is probably the real bottleneck. That’s a fair assumption… but, unfortunately, wrong. A quick look at the shop reveals gold for purchase, various boosts (some of which are permanent upgrades) available for a few thousand gold or more, and card booster packs. Okay, maybe the gold rewards are inflated to compensate. It wouldn’t be the first game to do so! But, moving to the play screen reveals three chapters: The first (which is aesthetically similar to the tutorial), and two additions which cost five thousand gold each. In addition to the gold cost, the second chapter requires a minimum of five hundred repute; the third, two thousand. Large numbers are not the exception, they are the norm. Really, such high numbers wouldn’t even be that bad if completing a voyage offered a few hundred gold as reward. Unfortunately, they simply are not. After finishing two consecutive stages, the gold reward tends to be between one hundred and one hundred fifty gold at most. While the content for a good fifteen or more hours of play is there, it is locked behind painfully high walls. As such, long-term play in Pirates Outlaws is not one great achievement after another, it is a slog. For a game that feels like it wants to be pirate Faster Than Light mixed with single-player Hearthstone, it simply doesn’t deliver enough satisfying progression to incentivise an extensive amount of replayability. In contrast to the progression, the actual gameplay—killing pirates, optimising the card deck, and plotting a path to the boss—is solid. Each battle is a puzzle requiring strategy and a dash of luck to not only beat the opponents, but beat them with enough health to continue on. While the initial stage can be difficult at times, the real challenge comes from the boss fight at the end. While the fight changes each voyage, the opponent is always a hulking beast of a man sporting far more health, damage, and sometimes armour, than the player. Passing this battle requires careful thought for a skilled player, and no small amount of luck for a poor deck. Should players surmount this obstacle, they are presented with the choice of continuing their voyage—retaining their current action points, deck, relics, and character—or calling it quits and returning to port. Continuing offers the chance of even greater rewards, although the odds are certainly stacked against the player. Returning to port offers the safety of immediately banking gold and repute, which is no doubt a boon for the risk-adverse. Stage one can only provide so much entertainment and practice, however. Pressing on is a necessity for any kind of substantial progress. For those brave enough to enter stage two, there are new enemies, bosses, and relics available. For those who are able to beat them, and enter stage three… the greatest challenge yet available awaits. While the difficulty in enemies cannot be understated, there is more to it than that: Each successive stage magnifies poor decisions in the prior levels. Continuing on with insufficient action points may result in an inopportune demise with no tavern in sight; taking too many risks in previous battles or events may tax not only the easily replenishable health points but the health maximum as well. Taking every card and discarding none will quickly result in a bloated deck with no easy way to access the necessary cards in a difficult fight. In short, caution and a certain amount of planning is required to travel far with any measure of success.

Game Informations : Developer: Simogo Genre : Rhythm, action Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One Original release date: 19 September 2019 Sayonara Wild Hearts () from Simogo and Annapurna Interactive has been very interesting to see ever since it was properly revealed for iOS. Originally, it looked like Simogo’s newest experience would be only available on Nintendo Switch but the Apple Arcade reveal had all the Simogo fans on iOS breathe a sigh of relief. Simogo’s genre blending musical experience was a launch game for Apple Arcade and it remains my favourite game in the service and one of my favourite games of 2019. Simogo calls Sayonara Wild Hearts a pop album video game and having now played it, I see what they were going for and why this game took a while to be released. The long wait was more than worth it. The game is split up into various levels represented by different tracks on an album and the story unfolds through short scenes before and after levels that are all on-rails. The heart of a woman breaks and balance needs to be restored. Said woman finds her other self represented by a masked biker. She aims to collect hearts in a magical but sometimes dangerous world to restore balance to the universe. Sayonara Wild Hearts is split up into multiple levels that are represented by different songs just like an album. Each level introduces you to a new mechanic or brings in older ones alongside newer ones to make things feel fresh. The mechanics here range from endless runner style gameplay, Panzer Dragoon Saga movement, strategic avoidance moments, skateboarding, dancing, and more with rhythm game-like timed button presses. You earn a rank depending on your performance in a stage and I mostly ended up with Silver and a few Gold Ranks in my playthroughs. The game even has an interesting achievement system called Zodiac Riddles that has very vague requirements. You’re probably going to need a guide to get them all. You never have full control of the camera in Sayonara Wild Hearts and given the handcrafted nature of the experience, this makes sense. I never once ended up having to redo a segment because of the camera like I have in other games that have a fixed camera. If you do end up failing particular segments, you can skip them once the game gives you the option to move ahead if you’re having trouble. Once you finish each of the levels, you unlock album mode that lets you playthrough the game like a music album in one go. When it comes to visuals, Sayonara Wild Hearts nearly ends up overwhelming you in a good way. It is very flashy but never feels garish like many other games. As expected, Simogo nails the aesthetic and this carries through into the interface, interactions, and all of the short cutscenes. Sayonara Wild Hearts is elegant, ethereal, and brilliant when it comes to visuals. The great thing is, every new interaction or mechanic is accompanied by new visuals that keep changing across the game. One thing I did realise only now is getting decent screenshots is very difficult in fast paced games like this on iOS. Music is a key part of Sayonara Wild Hearts. Everything from the title screen music to songs like Begin Again are spectacular. Usually, once I start playing and enjoying the music in a game, I have to wait a good amount of time for a vinyl to get announced for the soundtrack but that wasn’t the case here. While I’d definitely recommend playing Sayonara Wild Hearts first, the soundtrack is worthy of a listen multiple times on its own with Linnea Olsson’s angelic vocals. It is that good. Barring the music, Queen Latifah’s narration is really well done in game. In terms of controls, Sayonara Wild Hearts has a lot of options on iOS despite basically needing just analog movement and one interaction input. Since it is an Apple Arcade release, you can use the controller of your choice to play it on any Apple Arcade platform. The default touch control sensitivity makes the game harder to play so I’d suggest changing this in the options menu to high. Having now played Sayonara Wild Hearts with touch controls twice and with buttons three times across PS4 and Nintendo Switch as well, I’m more than pleased with the touch controls once you change the sensitivity option. A lot of Apple Arcade games are exclusive to iOS but there are some that are available on multiple platforms at the same time. Sayonara Wild Hearts launched on Nintendo Switch, Apple Arcade, and PS4 at the same time officially. I decided to compare all three versions of the game for this review to give those with multiple platforms a comparison. On Nintendo Switch, Sayonara Wild Hearts runs and looks great. It even has HD Rumble support which is a nice touch. It lacks touch controls though. On PS4, you get much higher resolution visuals but not much else over the Switch version. This is where the Apple Arcade release shines. Not only do you get touch and button control options, but you also can play it across iPhone, iPad, macOS, and tvOS. It plays great across the board and was amazing on my iPhone 11 and even ran fine on my iPad Air 2.

Game Informations : Developer: Relic Entertainment Genre : Strategy Platforms: macOS - Mircrosoft Windows - iPad Original release date: 12 September 2006 Company of Heroes is a visually stunning real-time strategy game that depicts all the violent chaos of World War II with uncommon intensity. Set during the invasion of Normandy toward the end of the war, Company of Heroes takes its cues from Saving Private Ryan, by portraying both the sheer brutality of the war as well as the humanity of its combatants. Many other recent WWII games have also drawn influence from Steven Spielberg's landmark film, but Company of Heroes is even more graphic. This and the game's highly authentic-looking presentation are its distinguishing features, and it boasts some frantic, well-designed strategic and tactical combat to match. Company of Heroes trades a wide breadth of content for an extremely detailed look at WWII-era ground combat, and its action is so fast paced that it's best suited for the reflexes of an experienced RTS player. So if you're unfazed by any of that, you'll find that this latest real-time strategy game from the developers of Homeworld and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is one of the best, most dramatic and exciting examples in years. The frenzied combat of World War II is translated believably into Relic's lavishly produced, fast-paced real-time strategy game. Provided you have a powerful-enough system and graphics card to fully appreciate the visuals in Company of Heroes, you'll quickly be struck by the level of detail depicted in the game. Infantry move in teams, darting from cover to cover. They may be ordered to occupy any building on the map, and you'll see them shutter the doors and take aim out the windows. Vehicles are shown to scale, so tanks and other armored vehicles look big and imposing, and, indeed, they are. Infantry seem almost helpless against tanks, and you'll hear the men screaming as tank shells explode around them, sending bodies flying, while lucky survivors dive out of the way. Yet by attacking a tank's vulnerable sides and rear armor with explosives, it's possible to turn the tables on these lumbering threats...turning one of the most basic confrontations in Company of Heroes into a thrilling cat-and-mouse game, much more than a typical clash between a couple of RTS units. What's more, the battlefields themselves have at least as much character to them as the various infantry squads and vehicles as your disposal. The quaint French towns that are the set pieces of many of the game's skirmishes truly look as if a war was waged there once the battle is done, since buildings will catch fire and collapse, telephone lines will topple, blackened craters will appear in the wake of artillery blasts, and more. These changes aren't just cosmetic, either. Those blast craters provide cover for your infantry, while the ruined husks of blown-up tanks might interfere with a machine gunner's line of fire. The game focuses on the Allies' invasion of German-occupied Normandy in 1944, specifically on close-quarters skirmishes between infantry and armor. Company of Heroes presents a number of novel twists to real-time strategy conventions, but at heart this game works like other RTS games do, by putting you in charge of base construction, resource gathering, and tactical command of various military forces in an effort to defeat the opposition. The game includes a good-sized single-player campaign spanning more than a dozen missions, in which Able Company lands on Omaha Beach on D-Day, liberates a number of key towns and strategic points, disrupts German supply lines and secret weapons, and finally helps crush the remnants of the Nazi war machine in France. It's an exciting campaign, tied together with cutscenes and mission briefings coming from a variety of voices, which creates a few threads that help tie the missions together. In addition to the campaign, you can play skirmish matches with up to seven computer-controlled players on a series of different maps, and you can also jump online into the proprietary Relic Online service to challenge other players in ranked and unranked matches. The Relic Online service is a cut above most similar offerings, and lets you easily find a ranked match against players of similar skill or host a match with your own custom settings. Brief but compelling story sequences move the campaign along, which focuses on Able Company's attack against German-occupied Normandy. Because of its limited scope of the Second World War, Company of Heroes has only the two playable factions, which it calls the Allies and the Axis--but really they're the Americans and the Germans. In the campaign, you always play as forces from Able Company and you're always fighting the Germans. There isn't a separate campaign from the German perspective, though the Axis faction is fully playable in skirmish matches and online, and turns out to be fairly different from the Allies despite the basic similarities between the two sides' weaponry. In fact, in a strange departure from similar games, Company of Heroes always forces you to play Allies versus Axis, even in multiplayer matches. Matches with more than two players are always team-based, with one side as the Allies and the other as the Axis, and so forth. While the game's units and battlefields are unusually detailed, it's hard not to wish for additional playable factions and a greater variety of settings, especially given how well Company of Heroes handles the American and German sides. The gameplay in Company of Heroes is all about frontline combat, and forces you to quickly explore the map. You typically start out with a headquarters and a squad of engineers, who can build structures and setup defenses. Maps are divided up into territories that all have a resource point in them, and the resources you'll need are manpower, munitions, and fuel. Infantry may capture neutral or enemy resource points, causing them to indefinitely contribute a flow of the given resource to your military efforts while also increasing the total number of units you can have in your army. However, all your territories must be connected for the resource flow to continue unabated; if an enemy takes a key territory, this may cut off your supply lines. All resources are used for building more-advanced structures and vehicles, but you only need manpower for basic infantry, who may use special abilities like hand grenades or armor-piercing machine gun rounds for a one-time cost of munitions. Munitions may also be spent to upgrade individual squads with special weapons, like recoilless rifles useful against enemy armor, or Browning automatic rifles that can suppress opposing squads. Your infantry squads are highly resourceful, acting as single units that can be effective down to the last man. They'll last much longer when attacking from behind cover, such as a row of sandbags or the bell tower of an abandoned church. As much as there is to do on a strategic level in Company of Heroes, just managing the tactics of typical firefight can be really intense. If you've played Relic's last real-time strategy game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, you'll note that many of these conventions were derived and extended from that game. However, Company of Heroes still plays quite differently from Dawn of War because of the nature of its densely packed battlefields and its even greater focus on unit tactics. You have some very interesting options to consider, such as how, when faced with an antitank gun manned by a squad of three, you may attempt to destroy the thing altogether with heavy weapons, or flank the gun and kill its squad, taking the artillery piece for your own. Heavy machine guns and other special weapons work much the same way. One of the great things about Company of Heroes is that, in spite of its somewhat glamorized portrayal of World War II, the game looks and behaves realistically, in how the sorts of tactical maneuvers that are central to the gameplay feel intuitive in practice. For example, you'll naturally want to avoid making your infantry rush a machine gun nest head-on, especially since the withering fire from a German MG42 will force your squad to drop prone, pinned down. Relic's games have always featured clear step-by-step tutorials introducing you to many aspects of play, and Company of Heroes is no exception. However, you'll still have a lot to learn and much, much more to practice long after you've completed the tutorial and even the campaign. After all, the game gives you a great deal to think about and to manage during any given battle. You have to capture and hold resource points all across the map; build up your base, which doesn't take long since there are only a handful of structures; consider laying defenses like barbed wire, mines, machine gun nests, and roadblocks; micromanage any meaningful exchanges of fire since tactics are so important; and more. Company of Heroes features a cleanly presented interface that puts access to all your squads and production lines at your fingertips, but you'll still constantly feel like you need to be doing something more. Your squads can fend for themselves reasonably well in many cases, though the amount of micromanagement necessary to effectively manage your resources, resource and base defense, production, and combat will surely stretch your abilities thin. As a result, and thanks in part to the quality of the game's presentation, playing Company of Heroes can be a nerve-wracking experience. Scrambling to hold on to victory points in a typical skirmish or multiplayer match can be much more of a rush than just trying to stomp the enemy base. In fact, even very experienced RTS players will probably find that the campaign quickly gets rather challenging at the default difficulty setting. Both in the campaign and in skirmishes against the artificial intelligence, the opposition will relentlessly attack and attempt to recapture your resource points, will harass your main base, and will deploy mixed forces to attack your main armies, strategically retreating when necessary. The easy difficulty setting is a must for when you're still learning the ropes, though by teaming up with hard- or expert-level CPU opponents or watching replays of matches, you can start to figure out how the computer is playing so well. You may also issue orders while the game is paused during campaign and skirmish missions, if the game's single, rather fast speed setting feels too hectic. Company of Heroes has some other interesting nuances, such as the company commander system, which lets you choose one of three different upgrade paths that reinforce your faction's core strengths. For example, the Allies' airborne path lets you send in paratroopers and call for support from P47 thunderbolt fighters high in the sky, while the Axis' blitzkrieg doctrine lets you deploy the Nazi army's fearsome storm troopers and devastating Tiger tanks. Such reinforcements come in quickly, foregoing traditional real-time strategy build times and letting you turn the tables on your opponent in a pinch, as long as you have enough resources. You rack up experience points as you fight, letting you invest in new technologies from whichever commander path you select. While the game prompts you to confirm your selection of a path, it's not like there's any time to reconsider their relative strengths in a fight. Thankfully, the campaign introduces you to the different paths on the Allied side, at least. Overall, the company commander system helps make up for the fact that there are only two factions to play with, since each commander path seems quite useful, and their weapons and upgrades will certainly come into play when you're deciding how to spend your resources. In total, the six paths also underscore different, viable strategies for both the Allies and the Axis, including different combinations of these paths for team battles. The company commander system helps create more variety within the game's two factions, and may give you the element of surprise. On top of all this, the typical match in Company of Heroes isn't all about simply blowing up the enemy's base, though "annihilation" victory conditions are an option for skirmish and multiplayer matches. However, the default option puts you in a tug-of-war battle to capture and hold a set of victory points. The more points you control, the faster you achieve victory. But victory points tend to be centrally located, and unlike other resource nodes, they can't be fortified with observation posts to defend them against capture. So combat will naturally be concentrated around these locations, though that's not to say the opponent's base won't make a key target of opportunity, either. Essentially, what Company of Heroes' resource model and victory points system does is force you to think about the entire map, not just your base and the enemy's base. This makes battles more interesting but more complicated, and even though a typical skirmish may last close to an hour, the time just seems to fly by since there's so much to do. The victory point system also addresses a common RTS design flaw by offsetting the unlimited supply of resources on each map and therefore virtually eliminating the possibility of a stalemate. The truly amazing visuals in Company of Heroes demand a top-of-the-line system and a cutting-edge graphics card to get the most out of them. Even on a machine meeting the game's steep recommended system requirements, the action can still bog down in a few spots when explosions and bodies are landing everwhere, and loading times between matches can be about a minute long. Also, a bug in the shipping version of the game caused systems with an SLI video card configuration to experience inordinately poor frame rates, which we resolved simply by unplugging one of our cards. On more-modest systems, you can strip away a lot of the detail to improve the game's performance, but seeing the game in all its glory is truly a sight to behold--especially its various types of explosions that fill the screen with fire, smoke, and debris. The default camera perspective is optimal for gameplay, but you can zoom right in to clearly see each individual soldier and his gear, or how a tank, turning a tight corner through a city street, might take a chunk right out of the side of a building. This level of visual fidelity far exceeds what's previously been done in a strategy game, and is much closer to what you might find in a flashy new first-person shooter. But it's not just for show, since the graphics' realism helps make the gameplay itself more engrossing and intuitive. The game also includes some surprisingly gory displays on occasion; an artillery shell, for instance, can tear men into pieces. However, there isn't nearly as much blood and gore as in something like Saving Private Ryan, so the game's M for Mature rating seems more fitting due to infantry's liberal use of profanity during combat. Unfortunately for those preferring and accustomed to a tamer version of World War II, you can't simply toggle off the strong language. World War II games may be a dime a dozen, but Company of Heroes has much more depth and personality to it than almost all of them. The audio in Company of Heroes is fantastic, and just about the only less-than-perfect thing about it is how units will cut themselves off repeatedly while trying to acknowledge your orders as you rapidly click around, micromanaging their movement in battle. However, the game makes excellent and subtle use of speech for the most part, such as how your units will acknowledge you in a hushed whisper during nighttime operations, how you can hear the panic in the voices of your tank commanders when their vehicles are badly damaged, or how speech coming from offscreen units sounds like it's coming in over a radio. The sound effects for gunfire, cannons, and other weapons on the battlefield are loud and clear, and the hornet's buzzing of machine gun fire or the thunderous crack of a tank's main gun never cease to be particularly intense. Company of Heroes also features an excellent symphonic score that's filled with foreboding strings and brass, just like you'd expect from a WWII game--or a WWII movie. The way it seamlessly blends with how the action unfolds makes the latter comparison more fitting. Company of Heroes is technically remarkable and features some novel twists that make it unique among real-time strategy games. Yet while it's easy to get into, it's not just difficult to master but also rather difficult to manage, partly because the game does such a good job of evoking the sheer chaos of frontline WWII battles. The relatively small number of units spread across the two playable factions also means that this game doesn't have the sheer variety you might expect from an RTS, though the units themselves seem much more realistic and interesting than in most such games. In spite of these issues, remarkably, Company of Heroes still stands out from the glut of WWII-themed games released over the years, as well as the glut of real-time strategy games. Editor's note 09/13/06: GameSpot learned after this review was originally posted that the sluggish performance we experienced while testing Company of Heroes on our primary high-end system was due to a specific bug in the shipping version of the game, relating to SLI graphics cards configurations. When we resolved this rare issue, we experienced substantially improved performance. As a result, we have updated portions of this review to more accurately reflect the game's overall performance and quality.

Game Informations Developed : Thatgamecompany Released : June 6, 2019 Platforms : PlayStation 3 - PlayStation 4 - Microsoft Windows - iOS Genre: Adventure - Art Game This week, Annapurna Interactive brought thatgamecompany’s superlative Journey ($4.99) to iOS. When they brought Flower to iOS a while ago, I was hoping Journey would follow but it seemed impossible. Journey is one of the best PlayStation games ever. I had a slight hope that it would be brought to iOS eventually once the PC version was released on the Epic Games Store but it still felt like something that was never going to happen. That made the shadow drop release even crazier, but here we are in 2019 with Journey and Sky: Children of the Light on iOS from thatgamecompany. Journey has you playing as a robed figure exploring a massive desert. Your aim seemingly is to reach a mountain that’s always visible to you initially. Journey‘s story is told through a few cutscenes spread across the experience without any voices. The gameplay plays a big part in piecing together the narrative and I’ve found people interpreting things differently. You slowly find more scarf pieces and can jump or fly higher. Your scarf plays a very important part in the game. A lot of people compared ABZU from Giant Squid to Journey but I feel like even with Journey‘s vague structure, it handles the overall narrative much better. My main complaint with the core game has always been one of the later segments of the game that feels tacked on and breaks the flow. I don’t want to spoil things, but you will know when you reach there. The in-game mechanics for that area are really bad. As of now, there is no MFi controller support in Journey on iOS. This is pretty surprising considering the game is originally a PlayStation 3 release that was ported to PlayStation 4 and eventually PC. The touch controls are more or less fine but the camera might be a problem for some. I’d recommend spending some time trying to not only change the setting but also experimenting with camera movement using the right virtual analogue stick. This will help a lot later on when the game pacing becomes a bit faster or when you find yourself struggling with some of the platforming sections. The movement felt very erratic at first and almost gave me motion sickness just like The Witness did when I played it on iOS. Visually, Journey is beyond stunning. The art direction really carries the game even on older devices like my iPad Air 2. I played Journey on iPhone 7, iPad Pro, and iPad Air 2. The iPad Air 2 definitely struggles with it and has instances of freezing, but it was fine on my iPhone 7 and iPad Pro. If you have a newer iPad Pro, it even supports higher refresh rates. One interesting and weird aspect of the game is that the in-game settings just have some control options but the system settings on iOS let you select from various resolution and framerate options for Journey, supporting even 120 fps if your device is capable of that refresh rate. The iPad Air 2 version at default settings reminds me of many third party ports to Switch that have loads of aliasing but are playable. On the audio side of things, Journey is flawless in general but the iOS port has issues on some devices. On iPad Air 2, I had the sound cutting out randomly or jerking around. I had none of this happen on iPad Pro or iPhone 7. Austin Wintory’s score for Journey is more than worth the price of admission here and it is unbelievably great in the game. I’m still blown away by when The Road of Trials plays in game and this is the sixth time I’m experiencing Journey. The sound design outside the music is excellent. You only communicate with others who happen to be paired with you through a single sound or audio signal. It works brilliantly in the game and keeps the sense of mystery alive throughout your experience. One interesting aspect of Journey is the multiplayer component. This isn’t traditional multiplayer where you invite a friend and play together. You get randomly paired with others seamlessly and don’t actually know who they are. You can communicate with them through an audio signal and can help each other out in some situations. On iOS, Journey uses Game Center for matchmaking. I had no trouble having people appear in my games. It worked just as brilliantly as it did when I played it back on PlayStation 3 a long time ago. You usually see a white glow around a part of the screen when someone has joined in or is near you. Journey on iOS is a universal game. It even has iCloud save support. On devices that support it, Journey has interesting haptic feedback for your chime or audio signal. I know iOS games are often cheaper than their console or PC ports but Journey at $4.99 is a steal. One thing to note is that this is very much a one and done experience for the most part. You can replay it for secrets but I doubt most people will bother because the real magic is the first playthrough that should hopefully be unspoiled because the locations are stunning.

Game Informations Developed : Cleaversoft Released : 3 Dec 2019 Platforms : Microsot Windows - Play station 4 - macOS Genre: Action / Adventure. Post-apocalyptic settings sometimes feel a bit old hat these days, but that’s just because everyone seems to pick from the same short list of world-ending disasters. Zombies, disease, nuclear war, environmental catastrophes, and technological failures have all been done to death, leaving behind the familiar husk of society made up of abandoned buildings and ragtag survivors living among the ruins. But what else is there to write about? How about a planet so thoroughly destroyed by space dragons that survivors have to reside in spaceships and dive through the atmosphere to collect junk off the dragons’ backs? It’s not an intuitive way to end the world, sure, but it’s a whole lot more interesting than the usual fare. EarthNight, one of the many new games featured on Apple Arcade, takes this unusual approach to the post-apocalypse and fashions an unusual blend of gameplay that tasks players with diving from space through a sky teeming with dragons in hopes of reaching the surface of the earth and finding some way to save the world The game is an auto-runner, a genre which itself may seem old hat for a mobile game, but this one has enough tricks up its sleeve to breathe life into a genre that seems to consist mostly of Temple Run and Canabalt clones. While there’s certainly plenty of running you can do on the constantly-squirming back of the snake-like dragons, the best players will find ways to launch themselves skyward, bouncing off enemies’ backs and jumping from ledges to find greater treasures that will lead to more unlockable abilities. These runs culminate in battles at the head of each dragon you land on, with you trying to stab their craniums with the right timing to slay them before they shake you from their backs and deny you their much-coveted treasures that you gain from their defeats. The abilities these treasures let you unlock can be game-changing. They range from simple increases in jumping power to the ability to deflect lasers and ride on the backs of tameable creatures. The more you unlock, the more the strategy of the game changes, keeping things fresh on each randomized attempt at reaching the surface. While that might sound like the setup for a game that pads its gametime by forcing players to grind their way to victory, it never feels that way. There are no roadblocks that are impossible to pass without upgrades, and even the upgrades themselves offer multiple ways to unlock them — either by slaying the right dragons or by gathering enough treasure. While I certainly don’t have the skills to test it out, it feels like the entire game could be beaten with a single mistake-free run down the metaphorical gauntlet. The spaceship that you return to in order to unlock these upgrades has a subtle level of character to it, giving players the opportunity to empathize with the two heroes who are tasked with saving Earth from the clutches of the dragons. It’s oddly serene, showing both characters performing mundane activities that you can’t help but feel allows them to cope with the catastrophe that took place miles below. It’s a wonderful example of how less can be more when it comes to storytelling, and it lets players fill in the gaps of the characters’ personalities in a way that allows them to step into their shoes. In fact, what really makes this game stand out is the sheer amount of care that went into building up the personality and atmosphere surrounding the two player characters’ quests to save the world. There’s a tangible feeling of desperation every time they dive from their spaceship into the writhing mass of flying dragons below, giving a sense of weight every time you progress further towards the surface of the earth, and a sense of loss every time you fail and have to return to the ship and try again. While progressing down through the different levels of the Earth’s atmosphere, the game makes the stakes feel more and more dire. A distant view of Earth with dozens of dragons standing in your way seems bad enough, but as you get closer it becomes clear that something is terribly wrong with the world you left behind. The view grows more and more unfamiliar and the names of the atmospheric layers stop matching up with what you learned in school and instead start sounding like descriptions of a wasteland that has nothing left for you to save. Helping along the experience is absolutely a colorful, vibrant art style that feels lovingly-drawn and brings out a lot of personality. For the most part, it works well with the gameplay, with the player, enemies and power-ups all easy to distinguish at a glance, which is a necessity with gameplay so fast-paced. There are a few times when things get a bit cluttered and a few others when some enemies are too small to easily notice on a small screen, but this doesn’t happen enough to detract from the high-octane experience. A bigger problem is the times when it’s impossible to tell what lies above or below you, making it hard to judge when to jump up or fall down to make it through a level with all the health and collectibles you’re looking for. While none of the music in the synthesized soundtrack stands out as particularly excellent, it works well with the gameplay, alternating the tone seamlessly between the somber and action-packed portions of the game. It sets a bit of a retro tone to the game as well, calling back to arcade games from the 90s that seem to be part of the game’s inspiration.

Game Informations : Developer: Zen studios Genre : Strategy Platforms: macOS Original release date: 11 October 2019 Apple Arcade is home to two different horror-themed tactical strategy games. The first, Overland, was created by renowned indie studio Finji, creators of indie darling Night in the Woods and pioneering auto-runner Canabalt. The second, Dread Nautical, was made by Zen Studios, a company whose catalogue is almost entirely made up of pinball games. I didn’t expect Zen Studios to make the better game either, but here we are. The story of Dread Nautical takes a Lovecraftian approach to horror, following the tale of one of four characters as they wake up in the bilge of a cruise ship where most of the passengers and crew have mysteriously transformed into grotesque monstrosities. It’s up to the player to scavenge for food and supplies, recruit a team of untransformed survivors, and find a way to escape the sea-based nightmare. The story, unfortunately, doesn’t nail down the type of subtlety that a horror story in this vein requires to thrive — a fault that’s apparent from the moment that the game opens up. Before players even reach the title screen, they’re treated to a somewhat cheesy intro cinematic where an ominous voice implies that you’ve been chosen for some kind of dark purpose and reveals that you’ve been transported into a realm of darkness, despair and dread. While this is all a perfectly acceptable stage on which to set a cosmic horror story, that’s not the kind of info you just blab about right off the bat. As a general rule, the more you know for sure about what you’re up against, the less scary it is. The mechanics surrounding the game work well for what it’s trying to accomplish, with some interesting ideas that work to keep players on their toes. The combat is fairly standard for a tactical strategy game — move around and attack enemies according to how many action points you have left in your turn — but breakable items and limited inventory space add some interesting calculus to the game. Players have to consider which items are worth carrying with them, whether to use their good or bad weapons in combat, and which equipment is worth repairing with scrap — scrap that could otherwise be spend upgrading stations to improve your chances in harder levels. Items can be repaired or upgraded at a crafting station, and there’s a clever risk/reward functionality with the repair system – you can spend more scrap for a higher chance of repairing successfully, but can save by going for a lower chance, but risk losing both the item and the scrap if it fails. The whole set-up means that, on occasion, it’s worthwhile to avoid some combat encounters altogether – especially on harder difficulties where the penalty for dying is much greater. Some of these decisions are made easier by recruiting more team members, but the game makes growing your team a much more drawn-out process than what you find in most games. Everone onboard the ship is distrustful of you, and you have to slowly gain their trust before they’ll consider joining up with your cause. Of course, if they do join up, you’ll need to feed them, and food isn’t exactly plentiful onboard. Not feeding party members is always an option, but not one with the happiest results. It’s a series of well-designed systems that has the benefit of being far more technically proficient and well-designed for its mobile platform than Overland. The UI makes it pretty clear from the star what actions do what, and it has the notable benefit of not immediately sending you somewhere the moment you touch the screen, buttons that work the first time you press them, and some actual drag-and-drop functionality. It’s a system that’s perfectly set-up for a bleak tale about a hostile and oppressive unknown, which makes its writing failures stand out all the more. There’s plenty of mystery, danger and ambiguity, with simplified graphics that let your mind fill in the details of the monstrosities you’re fighting. However, when all the characters are such blatant archetypes that revel in cliched dialogue, the facade is broken. You may not be sure what the true nature of your enemies are, but when a caricature of a yokel identifies them right from the get go as being kind of like zombies, they lose the mystique that they would otherwise have.