Bandolero -

A Real Scary Halloween Story: In 1992, a 16-year-old Japanese foreign exchange student in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, paid the ultimate price after accidentally ringing the wrong doorbell on his way to a Halloween party, reports Japan Today. Yoshihiro Hattori had been unfamiliar with the neighborhood when he and a friend arrived at the home of Rodney Peairs, a nearby neighbor who opened the door armed with a .44 Magnum revolver. Although Hattori allegedly said, “we’re here for the party,” Peairs claimed he feared for his life and ordered the student to “Freeze!” When Hattori misunderstood the command and kept approaching, Peairs shot him. After being questioned, the perpetrator was arrested but later acquitted of manslaughter. It’s unknown what kind of Halloween costume Hattori wore to warrant such a reaction.

Before starting this review I need to declare an interest. I’ve been playing naval wargames on computers since Harpoon appeared in 1989 (as long ago as that – I couldn’t believe it when I looked it up!) I bought CMANO when it first came out, at full price, and have never regretted it – I absolutely love the game. When I heard that a new version of CMANO, Command Modern Operations (CMO), was being released I was over the moon. I’ve now had a chance to play a review copy of the game and while I’m still excited about the new version, I’ve also a few niggles with it. The start screen of CMO is gorgeous. It fills your monitor with a blue spinning globe and looks much better than the standard Windows dialogues in CMANO. The initial load time in CMO is several seconds and doesn’t seem much different from the previous game. All the scenarios from the original game are there and have been reworked to include some of the new features in CMO. If you’ve previously bought LIVE scenarios or battlesets like Chains of War then these are available in CMO too. Just as in CMANO, CMO gives you the whole World to play with. It presents you with the globe and you can zoom down to look in detail at whatever part of the planet you are currently fighting over. CMO includes a whole bunch of new map layers and the effect on the maps is amazing. The default is the ‘Sentinel-2 satellite map’ that does exactly what it says. It’s a full colour satellite image of the entire planet. Zooming down you can clearly see urban areas, runways, roads and all the other stuff you might want to blow up. The level of zoom isn’t as high as Google Earth – you can’t make out house sized structures – but it gives enough detail to help produce a real sense of immersion when planning a strike. The BMNG Layer is pretty much that same as in CMANO and I can’t really see myself using it much in the future as the other map modes are so much better. The ‘Relief Layer’ is also the same as CMANO but much more useful than BMNG as it helps spot valleys to hide things in. The new ‘Line of sight’ tool is a great help in this too as it can be used on friendly AND enemy units to allow you to see blind spots. A new map mode ‘Stamen – Terrain’ also allows you to look at the lie of the land, but includes roads and, if you zoom down far enough, even street plans of towns and cities. ‘Stamen – Roads and Cities’ is a layer that allows you to superimpose the roads and street plans on top of another map, such as the Sentinel satellite map. One of the new game features in CMO is terrain (e.g. urban, cropland, evergreen forest, etc). The type of terrain under the cursor is included in the datablock that appears alongside the cursor, but if you want to get an overall picture of the terrain in an area then there is a ‘Landcover’ map. I’ve found this one a bit awkward to use. It doesn’t seem to like being combined with some other maps and layers and doesn’t respond well to zooming – sometimes the image disappears completely. I know that the developers have claimed that map performance for panning and zooming has been improved in CMO. To be honest I’m not sure I see very much difference. When first zooming on an area there is often a wait of several seconds before the program finds and loads the appropriate tiles. I’m using an old fashioned hard drive – if you have an SSD you probably won’t be troubled by this (and probably weren’t in CMANO either!) It’s not a deal breaker, just a minor irritation and subsequent zooms when the data has been cached are much quicker. The new maps in CMO are lovely and probably my favourite feature of the new program. They help immersion in the game, but are also practically useful for accurately placing targets or figuring out the best approaches for an attack. USER INTERFACE Instead of Microsoft grey, all of the dialogues and windows backgrounds are now dark grey with, mainly, white writing. At first I thought this was a bit of a gimmick, but after playing with game for about 15 hours I now really like it. It’s much easier on the eyes and it seems to be easier to glance at panels and get information. It’s very subjective I know, but I like it! A big addition is that database entries now come with images (that are apparently downloaded as required) and some with descriptions. This saves you from going looking for the image packs that were previously available on the internet. Although seeing pictures doesn’t change the gameplay I think it does work wonders for increasing immersion. I also like some descriptive text, as I find scanning through the platform or weapon data doesn’t really tell me what the thing I’m looking at is to be used for (Wikipedia is usually open when I play CMANO). A really nice new feature is the message balloons. These can be setup in the game ‘options’ in the same dialogue as the message log items. If you set a particular item to appear in a balloon then the message will appear for a few seconds in a balloon that is tied to the map location that the message refers to. This makes it much easier to make sense of things like new contact messages as you can see immediately where the contact is. The message log itself has also been changed so that messages are sorted under particular categories. If you don’t like this (and I still haven’t got used to it) then it’s possible to switch back to a ‘Raw text view’. Another great new feature is the list that appears when you click on an area where multiple units are present. You can then select the unit you want by simply clicking it on the list. This used to drive me nuts in CMANO where unit selection involved multiple clicks or zooming up and down to try to reach the unit you were after. To run the test I used 10 waves of 10 F-18’s, using iron bombs (database #4464), M77 incendiaries (#13681) and GBU-16Bs(#3602) against British Royal(sic) Infantry Platoons (#709). The WRA was set to drop two weapons per target. I ran each weapon test twice – once in the Sahara desert and once in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. The number of infantry sections killed are shown in the table: The thing to look at isn’t the differences between the different weapons, because that’s affected by stuff like damage points, accuracy, etc, but instead to look at the effects of the terrain. Of course, there is a degree of randomness in this, so differences in the numbers might not show real effects (statistical health warning!) Iron bombs do seem to be worse in Jungle terrain, whereas napalm seems to be relatively unaffected by the change in terrain. However, the guided bombs seemed to do better in the jungle! I’ve no idea why this is the case – the aircraft in the jungle did seem to take more time to actually drop the guided bombs but the WRA was the same and the individual targets should have been far enough apart to avoid splash damage. I think there is some more work required here from the developers. Another feature of adding terrain is that land units moving through it will plot their own path between objectives to minimise the movement cost. This is quite a challenge given the sheer amount of ‘terrain’ present on the planet. Unfortunately there seems to be a problem with this too. I found this when running the ‘Raid on Kismayo’ scenario – this is one of the scenarios recommended in the manual for learning the game. Part of the scenario involves a car leaving an airfield that has to be tracked by a drone. In CMO it is completely impossible to complete this scenario as the car continually oscillates between self-generated waypoints. I opened the scenario up in the editor and the cars path is plotted, but the new pathing algorithm avoids this path and generates its own (very badly).

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition review — Gorgeous new look, more enjoyable than ever About 20 years ago, the second installment in the real-time strategy (RTS) Age of Empires series was released for PC. Developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings saw an expansion — Age of Conquerors — about a year later, bringing more campaigns, civilizations, and some quality of life (QoL) fixes. This collection of games was played incessantly by a huge crowd of RTS fans and eventually saw an HD remake in 2013. Age of Empires II: HD Edition spawned its own collection of expansion packs, including The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms, and Rise of the Rajas, complete with a bunch of new civilizations, campaigns and a graphics reworks that better suited modern hardware and displays. Now, with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (AoEII:DE) — developed by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, and Wicked Witch and published by Xbox Game Studios — fans of the series are getting an impressive graphics overhaul with new animations and 4K support, three new campaigns with four new civilizations, remastered audio, new units and technologies, plenty of QoL changes, and an improved multiplayer experience with leaderboards, ladders, matchmaking, and improved spectator mode. I've been playing AoEII:DE for about a week to check out whether or not it's worth a buy for long-time veterans and newcomers to the series. What I loved about Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Age of Empires II isn't a game that needed any major mechanics reworked, and that's been honored here in the Definitive Edition. I played a lot of the original and HD versions, and I was able to jump into a Definitive Edition skirmish and play without having to make many adjustments. Hotkeys can be set to classic or to a grid-like method — the top row of the keyboard is used for the top line of your commands, middle row for middle line, and on — that's easier for newcomers to pick up. Gameplay is immediately familiar, but the myriad QoL improvements also make it seem new. Age of Empires II has never looked so good, and the developers have kept the feel of the original game. I'm still uncovering small tidbits that make macro- and micro-managing easier. Still, there are some significant changes that benefit everyone and ultimately make the game a lot more fun to play in Dark Age through to Imperial Age. Starting out, you can now set farms to automatically reseed as long as wood stocks allow. No more spamming the farm queue button and eventually running out ten minutes later. Units can have multiple waypoints set at once, meaning you can chart out a path for your original scout (or any other unit) and not have to continuously click a new place for it to travel to. Trebuchets will now pack and unpack automatically when you assign them to attack a certain building either in or out or range. And you can now queue up technologies and units at the same time, allowing less downtime for production buildings while you're busy managing other aspects of the game. Your global queue of tech and units now includes icons in the top-left corner of the screen, just below the reworked toolbar. Along with standard resource counts, the idle villager icon has been moved up top and shows how many idles you have. Below each resource is also a value that indicates how many villagers are collecting at the given time. When you've hit Post-Imperial, and there are hundreds of units to manage, these small changes make a huge difference. The user interface (UI) is also scalable, so you can find something you're satisfied with depending on your monitor size. Resources now have a toggleable "health" bar that shows you how much remains of a certain item, like a boar, tree, or gold tile. No more having to click an individual item to see how much remains. These changes make for a more user-friendly experience, but the biggest and best upgrades are the graphics and animations. Age of Empires II has never looked so good, and the developers have kept the feel of the original game. Units and buildings haven't been changed so much that they aren't recognizable, and the artwork and animations are absolutely gorgeous. Ever since I played my first round of the original game, I wanted to see castles and town centers crumble into dust, and that's now a reality. Trebuchets swinging, troops riding into battle, battering rams hammering down production buildings; it's all here, and it all looks stunning. A zoom feature has been implemented, so you can now pull back to get a broader look at the map or punch right in to see your workers toiling. With the HD graphics pack enabled, everything remains clear no matter how close you get to the action. The factory settings do take some tweaking to get looking perfect, and performance is going to be an issue, but I'll get into that later. To go along with the graphics overhaul, all audio has been remastered and reworked. The original soundtrack has been redone and sounds as epic as ever, and unit and building sound effects are more robust and more varied. With a quality gaming headset on, your ears are in for a treat. There's an old joke with Age of Empires II fans that the game taught more history than any class in high school, and that's more valid than ever with three new campaigns. The collection is called "The Last Khans" and encompasses the four new civilizations added to the game, including Bulgarians, Cumans, Lithuanians, and Tatars. The new missions are expertly voice acted, and the older campaigns have also been reworked with new voice acting. Some of the HD expansion campaigns only had text, but voice acting has been added there as well. Altogether, you're getting more than 200 hours of singleplayer gameplay before even breaking into skirmishes and multiplayer action. I played through most of all three branches of the new campaign, and if you enjoyed the older entries, you're sure to enjoy these. Additionally, there are nearly 150 achievements to attain. Once the optional campaigns are completed, you can jump into singleplayer skirmishes against AI or into multiplayer against other humans. All the classic modes return — Random Map, King of the Hill, Regicide, Deathman, etc. — as well as a new mode called Empire Wars that starts you out in Feudal age with a number of production buildings and assigned villagers. It's a quicker way to get into the action and offers something new for returning players. On top of the usual ways to play, there's a new feature called "The Art of War." It's a five-part section that teaches players how to get a good start on economy, how to boom, how to get to castle age as quickly as possible (a po[CENSORED]r strategy), and how to employ or defend against a rush. New AI has been implemented, as well as a ton of new commands for allied AI players. For example, you can tell allies to attack with certain troops, you can choose where to fortify with walls, and you can ask them to focus on certain aspects of the game to better complement your playstyle. In previous games, high-level AI had to cheat to keep up with human players. That has been removed, and AI now instead operates more similar to how pro-level humans play. I watched enemy AI scout with sheep, push in deer to the Town Center, and raid my economy with small forces as I attacked its front door. Enemy troops took the high ground when attacked, and wouldn't throw units away at the foot of my castles. Able to put up a strong fight against Hardest AI in the HD version of the game, the new Extreme AI utterly steamrolled me. I enjoy multiplayer but certainly spend a lot of time allied with and against AI opponents, so these changes make a huge difference and ultimately prepare players better for multiplayer. HD and original CD AI are also available to play against. On that note, multiplayer has also seen some changes. The old peer-to-peer servers are gone in favor of dedicated servers spread out across global regions. I played with an ally from the UK and experienced no noticeable lag. That might change with an eight-player game from different regions, but overall there should be far better stability in online games. There are now leaderboards and ladders baked in, and a matchmaking feature makes it easy to find an opponent in the same rating range. There's no limit to how many spectators can jump into a game to watch, and they have new tools to get the best viewing experience possible. AoEII:DE is available on Steam and from the Microsoft Store, but both versions will be able to cross-play. What I disliked about Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with AoEII:DE, but there are certainly some noticeable issues. Foremost is the performance on my PC that includes an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor (CPU), NVIDIA RTX 2060 graphics card (GPU), and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. I immediately changed graphics settings to my liking — disabled bloom, disabled animated fog, and cranked everything else up — and set resolution to 1440p. This gave the game more of an original feel that veterans will likely prefer. I first played a number of matches without the Enhanced Graphics pack and saw framerates consistently around 120, dropping below 60 with a lot of action on the screen. Without the pack enabled, the game still looks good, but you can't zoom in nearly as far, and sprites do look pixellated at max allowable zoom. The game looks stunning with the Enhanced Graphics pack enabled, but after placing down some farms and massing some troops, the game dropped down to a consistent 30 frames-per-second (FPS) and regularly dropped below 15 FPS in action-packed sequences or popped up to 60 FPS in quiet moments. My PC certainly isn't the most powerful out there, and I could turn down more settings to boost framerates, but performance could certainly be better. If you don't have a dedicated GPU, you're going to suffer even without the graphics pack enabled, and the HD version of the game will likely make a lot more sense. Performance aside, I saw some wonky stuff in terms of pathing and logic. For example, I sent a bunch of villagers to build multiple farms with a mill in the middle. After checking back later, I noticed that only the mill and one farm was built and tended, while the other villagers had gone off to hunt nearby game. I noticed some weird pathing as well when sending villagers to work outside of walls. I tasked a group to build a castle outside my base, then deleted a section of the wall to allow them to walk directly to the castle's foundation. I retasked them on the castle with the wall deleted, but instead of noticing they now had an easier trail, they kept heading for the nearest gate. I had to click the ground next to the castle to get the villagers to go through the deleted wall portion, then click the castle foundation again to have them start work. The patrol command for troops, ideal for sending battalions into battle, seemed, in some cases, to be off. For example, I patrolled a group of pikemen into an enemy base, and instead of taking out the cavalry in front of them, they set fire to a farm while their numbers were hacked down by the knights. This wasn't the case every time, and more often than not, units figured out what they should do to ensure a long life, but I did have a laugh a couple of times as I watched my units pass by the enemy to attack something completely non-threatening. These issues, if not just me making errors on my end, will hopefully be addressed in the future. Microsoft has stated it will continue to work on AoEII:DE after release, with a focus on balancing and QoL changes. That's especially a good thing in terms of the new civilizations. The Definitive Edition has attempted to balance out some key aspects of the game — including making the Barracks infantry line more feasible with new technology — but there's still a way to go. Some of the new units in the game are quite powerful, and we'll have to see how the competitive community responds and how the developers react. Finally, no doubt because of the cross-play feature between Microsoft and Steam, mods will be collected at the Age of Empires website instead of the Steam Workshop. That's no doubt a bit of a worry for some long-time players used to the Workshop, but thanks to the built-in mod manager within AoEII:DE, there shouldn't be much issue implementing the additional content. One po[CENSORED]r mod — the addition of gridlines on the playing field — is now implemented in the game as a gameplay setting. Should you buy Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition?

INTRODUCTION This review of Grimm’s Hollow will set a personal achievement. Normally, when I prepare to write down a formal review, the subject has set in my mind for at least a day or more. While I believe that critiquing is best done when the topic is fresh, there remains an urgency to let the emotions settle. My personal schedule will not permit me this leniency this time around. In order to get this article out the day of Halloween, I have to do it within an hour of finishing the game. With an RPG like this, residual emotions may run the risk of tampering my personal preferences. This time of year is one that many count down the days to. Halloween remains one of the most impactful holidays in the United States, resulting in millions of communities allowing kids in costumes to go around the neighborhood from early to late evening demanding candy with a magic phrase. Even as an adult, the opportunity to cosplay and participate in scary activities makes October 31st a memorable day of festivities. For me, I don’t generally dress up or even do anything too out of the ordinary. What I do like to do is partake in spookier-than-normal games and what have you. Wouldn’t you know, Grimm’s Hollow comes out of nowhere and releases the night before Halloween, providing an eventful pre-Halloween treat. What it ended up focusing on gave new meaning to what many consider the traditional Halloween frights. Grimm’s Hollow is available on Steam for free. STORY While I’ve been wrong about a creator’s intentions before, this game feels like it wishes to tell a story more than it wants to enrich the RPG formula. The “Story Rich” moniker, excessive amounts of dialogue, and presentation of characters and narrative significance reminds me greatly of Undertale. Similar as it may be, Grimm’s Hollow is its own entity, wishing to provoke and elaborate on a story that’s a tad more straightforward. Something that can be noted right away is the game’s desire to appear cute. Humor is incorporated quite often early on, and periodically throughout the events that transpire. Much of it isn’t funny, but at least it isn’t so distracting that one couldn’t take it seriously. Some of this may be a result of the title character, Lavender, and the spunk she brings as a lead. While her age is only implied, her presence evokes a maternal maturity found in those a tad older. Inquisitive, caring, and immensely stubborn, her independence makes for an endearing perspective. There are some things that a silent protagonist cannot provide, and this is an example of a well-written lead character. The game is as much her journey as it is ours. What I didn’t come to expect from Grimm’s Hollow is just how serious the story gets, which makes it risky to review. Efforts have been made in the past to generalize a story based on vague emotional buffers to avoid spoilers, and this may be another case. On paper, the story is simple: a girl dies and awakens in the afterlife, with a sudden realization that she needs to find her brother. Upon doing so, the goal shifts and the focus of the story alters its trajectory. “One-track” would be a good way of elaborating on the narrative, with the twists and loops only done to hamper the expected arrival time. In the big picture, there’s only a single goal and the entire game is confined to seeing it through. To some, that lack of nuance could be a dealbreaker. For what it’s worth, this linear path isn’t so painful. Of what does occur, I was invested enough to care for the characters involved. Characters have clear goals and personalities that embody their place in the game. And while I may simply be too excitable, I’d argue there’s symbolic representation to the events of the game. Specific characters and their ambitions, the type of enemies one faces, the areas one goes through, and the trials that Lavender faces—all feel strangely calculated. Messages lying in wait could make for repeated dissections. As could the heartfelt messages of loss and forgiveness, too, but nevertheless. GAMEPLAY One other reason I feel story was more interesting to the developer is that the gameplay aspects are not deep. As an RPG, this is a very run-of-the-mill interpretation of the genre, with some real-time strategy as a spice. One can level up various statistics, learn new moves, and build up experience-like points to use as currency for shops or a talent tree system. Battles consist of normal attacks, special moves, items, and fleeing. One has a timer bar that one must wait to fill before doing anything, as is the same for enemies. Does this all sound familiar? It should if you’ve played any RPG ever. This review could paint Grimm’s Hollow into a very bare-boned gameplay experience, but in all honesty, I was fine with it. It’s a matter of expectations. This game is free, and spans only two hours. Don’t expect Chrono Trigger. If you’re an RPG veteran, this probably isn’t the game for you. Should the incredibly simple and straightforward game mechanics not bother you, there’s fun to be had here. Battles take up about 60% of the game’s two-hour-ish runtime, so one need be fond of it quickly. The assortment of enemies one faces provides ample challenge to experiment with new techniques and strategies. Some enemies multiply, others poison, while a few are just all-around awful. My advice to anyone trying this out, though, is to advance through the talent tree immediately. I died a handful of times within the first twenty minutes because of neglecting the talent tree. The initial stages of the game kind of throw instructions at you and expect the player to pick it up as they go.

There’s been quite a few cracking games based on the Wild West over the years, most notably Rockstar’s acclaimed Red Dead Redemption and its sequel. There's no sign of either appearing on the Switch anytime soon, but here we have a rather intriguing little horror-western game by Draw Distance. Horror western?! An interesting idea, right? Let’s see what it’s all about. Draw Distance might not be a name that rings too many bells, nor might even their previous moniker of iFun4all. Despite this, the Poland-based developer’s horror credentials are pretty impressive, including the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York and Halls of Horror based on horror-themed board games of the same name. Ritual: Crown of Horns is perhaps the most intriguing, being a more traditional action game with a western twist. The comparison with Red Dead Redemption doesn’t go much beyond the fact that they're both westerns, because this is a very different type of game indeed. In Ritual: Crown of Horns, your mission is initially to track down a witch and dispose of her on behalf of the government. However, you end up being slaughtered by horned beasts curiously sent by that very same government. In the aftermath, you are resurrected by the same witch you were trying to kill, and enter an unholy alliance against the beasts who would hunt you down. We don’t think there's a Clint Eastwood movie about that one. At its core, Ritual: Crown of Horns is a 'horde' game. Players are placed within relatively small arenas, beginning with staple horror settings such as graveyards or cabins in woods before moving to much more diverse terrains. Within these arenas, you must stand your ground against the swarms of incoming beasts until the time limit expires. The swarm starts off relatively small before slowly overwhelming players as they enter the final minute. The plot twist is that you must also protect the witch (usually in the centre of the arenas) while she performs a ritual. When the timer runs out and the ritual is complete, she will dispose of the remaining enemies with her magic. But if the witch dies, it’s game over. This necessitates a huge amount of strategy as moving around any distance away from the witch exposes her to the enemies, while staying on one place will see you overwhelmed in no time. This balance becomes much harder to manage as you progress, because the witch herself may not necessarily stay in the same spot. Of course, you have quite the arsenal with which to dispose of your foes. This starts with your regular revolver, before being shortly complemented by the good ol’ shotgun. Plenty more options become available as you progress, ranging from rifles to crossbows. However, since this isn’t your regular western, you also have access to an increasing range of spells. These are invaluable when the horde of enemies becomes a bit too much and you need something extra to keep them away from the ever-busy witch. To use these spells, you must collect the souls of those you have slain; the more you kill, the more you get to kill. These spells also stack, meaning that players can save them for the latter half of the stage when the number of enemies becomes a real problem. In addition, the game also drops various power-up during play to aid you on your way, granting perks ranging from a faster reload speed to an increased number of souls released per kill. Additional gear can be purchased from the witch inside the safe haven, as well as choosing which weapons and spells to equip. You will absolutely need to do this, because Ritual: Crown of Horns isn't messing around when it comes to difficulty. The game has no pretence about being anything other than a challenge right from the get-go, but this certainly isn’t a title where you can just blast everything in sight and hope for the best. A fair amount of practice and repetition is required to learn the enemy patterns, especially when you’re trying to grasp the ropes of the game. Newcomers are encouraged to tackle the challenge maps to help them get to grips with things; these involve replaying previous levels with new objectives to achieve. Properly mastering each level is the key to progression here; you really can’t just hope for the best. As for the gameplay, this is essentially a classic arcade top-down shooter, albeit confined to much smaller arenas than players might expect if they’re used to something like Hotline Miami. Players traverse the stage exactly as you’d expect, with the dash feature being often being the difference between life and death. The shooting mechanics do a lot to define the experience, but could also prove to be divisive. You have a full 360-degree range of fire as you’d expect, but the caveat is that players must actually press the aim button to aim before firing, rather than simply having a fire button which fires at will, like you’d expect. Veterans of very different horror experiences such as Resident Evil will know what to expect here, but the fast pace of this game combined with the sheer amount of foes to deal with does make this challenging. The right stick is then used to change between targets, as well as the direction which you are facing. Players have to master when to aim, when to shoot and when to reload, and this will likely necessitate numerous attempts at a stage until this is achieved. This isn’t a criticism; just something that really needs to be emphasised – some players will love the mechanic and how it forces them to consider their actions, while others may find it clunky and unintuitive. Still, it is this requirement to learn the game’s mechanics and how to best work around its intentional limitations which makes Ritual: Crown of Horns so rewarding. This isn’t simply a case of playing until you scrape through the stage; it is thinking about the best course of action throughout the entire three minutes or so granted to you, which enemies to take out and when, saving the spells for when you expect a particularly big swarm to approach the witch, thinking about how many bullets you need to expel before needing to take a second or two to reload, and being prepared to keep doing all of this until you finally master the stage. It is hugely rewarding, as long as you have the perseverance, and to see the game’s mechanics as an intentional challenge rather than poor implementation. You'll be rewarded, but expect to work for it. In that sense, there is absolutely a place for a game like Ritual: Crown of Horns on Switch. This isn’t something you can kick back and have some fun playing lazily for five minutes, but if you want some decent arcade-style challenges and rewards, it certainly delivers. The curious western horror setting is the icing on the cake that makes this outing even more interesting.

Games about Garfield went unrecognized for years, and the world was a better place. Europe got a series of dreadful 3D platformers, the Wii saw some miserable party games, and there was probably some DS shovelware, too. But in 2013, millennial irony began to pick up in po[CENSORED]rity, and so it was that Garfield Kart became the subject of widespread sarcastic, ironic admiration. One glance at the 2013 title's Steam page reveals a "Very Positive" consensus out of over 4,000 reviews. Now, five years later, Garfield Kart: Furious Racing arrives at a time when Jon Arbuckle drinking canine ejaculate is a bonafide classic meme and Garfield has been reborn into a postmodern icon. In a way, it doesn't matter what the establishment says about this game - the people have accepted it as art, and so art it is. But I, a simple critic, have a job to do. And that job entails saying that despite surefire improvements over the last entry, Garfield Kart: Furious Racing is nothing more than a basically serviceable kart racer with clear budgetary restraints, lack of content, and some glaring flaws. Everybody's Super Garfield Racing Furious Racing joins a long, pedigreed line of mascot kart racers. It stands side by side with classics like South Park Rally, Homie Rollerz, and M&M's Kart Racing. Joking aside, players basically know what to expect here. Cartoon characters get in silly cars and race each other on whimsical tracks, chucking items at each other in a blistering race to the finish. It's the same formula Nintendo shook up in the early 90s, and there's not too much different here. Furious Racing definitely takes more than a few cues from Nintendo's latest kart racer, speaking of which. The focus on constant boosting, drifting, and stunting is hewed very closely from Mario Kart 8, but without that game's lively physics or, y'know, any sort of mechanical soundness. That isn't to say that it's broken, per se, but everything feels just a little off-kilter - like thinking too hard about what Jon did to Lyman. Lacking The Spice Of Life The thing is, that Faygo-tinged kart racer is just about all you'll be getting with this game. You race around sixteen tracks, pick up the optional collectibles, and that's about it. Rinse and repeat. There are different ways to mess around with cars in the garage. There's an online component that works well enough. Oh, and for the DOTA 2 fans out there, you can collect hats for each character! That's... fun? That's one of the main problems with Furious Racing. What's here is fine, but it's not enough. There's no story mode, no bonus modes, no incentive to snag all the collectibles other than the bragging rights of having weird collectible photos of the cast and all the hats. Why would you invest much time in this thing outside of playing all the tracks, then go about your way? I'm not sure, because if someone's in the market for a go-to kart racer, most people aren't going to keep coming back to this one. Even if they're looking outside of Mario, stuff like Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed exists. But while the rest of Furious Racing could be described, at worst, as unremarkable and flaccid, one part of the game drags the whole package down: the sound design. The bloody, dreadful cacophony of hell noises that is the soundtrack and sound effects. Everything about the audio track of this game almost gave me a headache, and frankly, it was unplayable with a headset. There's so much discordant audio, so many clashing and loud noises, such grating music that it made me physically recoil every time a race got hot and heavy. The audio design isn't just poor - it's an active affront to the senses and a slight against the very concept of sound itself. Sputtering Out But even replacing the audio and repressing the traumatic memory of ever having heard it can't trick me into thinking Garfield Kart: Furious Racing is anything other than a thoroughly mediocre kart racer. There's not a lot here, and what's here is technically acceptable but unremarkable. Yeah, it's fifteen dollars, and yeah, it's for kids. But fifteen dollars can get you a lot more, and kids are smarter than we give them credit for. So the people may claim Garfield Kart: Furious Racing as art. They'll prop it up as a postmodern masterpiece and turn this time-warped mid-aught's licensed racer into some kind of strange meme. But just like Freddy Got Fingered isn't secretly a brilliant work of anti-humor, this game isn't anything other than a cheap, budget racer that's content to rip off its bigger, better competition while not offering any substantial improvements on them.

A couple months after the release of Meteorfall, while working on the Necrodude update, I started brainstorming some new designs for a game that eventually became Krumit’s Tale. I loved the universe that we created for Meteorfall, and I knew that I wanted to work on something that continued to build out those characters and that lore. I also didn’t want to create a direct sequel. Thus, Krumit’s Tale was born. The (work-in-progress) App Store description reads: Krumit’s Tale, the second game in the Meteorfall universe, is a brand new take on the deckbuilding roguelike genre. Dungeons are laid out in a 3x3 grid, and you’ll need to use your items wisely to survive. You’ll build your deck and earn perks as you fight your way to the Uberlich. Do you have what it takes? Let’s take a look at what the game actually looks like - Like the original Meteorfall game — Meteorfall: Journeys — Krumit’s Tale is a run-based, deck-building game. That means that in both games, you’ll start a ‘run’, lasting no more than 30–45 minutes, and death means the end of the run. You’ll also choose a hero, with a basic starting deck, and improve that deck over time through the addition of new, powerful cards. Thus, both Meteorfall and Krumit’s Tale share many of the same core values, and both games should appeal to the same core player base. From there, Krumit’s Tale diverges significantly. In the above screenshot, you can see a 3x3 grid of enemies, items, and abilities. When you enter a dungeon, your hero’s deck (items and abilities) is shuffled into the dungeon deck (enemies)and then dealt out in a grid. The objective is to clear the dungeon by defeating all of the enemies. Items and abilities can be acquired from the grid by paying the gold cost. You’ll earn gold by defeating enemies, or discarding items & abilities (tiles) that you don’t need. You’ll use the tiles you acquire to defeat more powerful enemies, and so on. At the end of each dungeon, you’ll add new cards to your deck, and select from powerful Perks (passive buffs) which you can build your deck around. Then, you’ll proceed to the next dungeon, and so on, until you finish your journey. Fighting monsters is a key part of the gameplay in Krumit’s Tale. To start a battle, you tap a monster. Doing so will bring up the battle screen. In battle, you can make use of up to 4 tiles you acquired in the dungeon. Tapping a tile will equip it, giving you additional options to defeat enemies. For instance, equipping a basic sword will increase your attack and allow you to defeat a monster more quickly, while equipping chainmail can block an enemy’s attack. Once you’ve equipped items and abilities, you press the big green button to attack. Using items in combat reduces durability, so you’ll need to be plan carefully about how to best use your items. At its core, Krumit’s Tale is a game about resource management: monsters to be slain, tiles you acquire, tiles you discard — all resources that can be used to help you finish the dungeon. Inspired by games that offer ‘perfect information’ such as Slay the Spire and Into the Breach, Krumit’s Tale also gives you a tip about what the enemy plans to do. This allows you to make smart use of your limited items and abilities in order to survive the dungeon. Besides basic attacks, enemies can also block or poison you. Some enemies have piercing attacks that ignore armor, and others are quick — allowing them to attack before you. As you encounter new enemies in the dungeon, you’ll be able to better plan how to build your deck to counter them in the future. After each dungeon, you’ll add new cards to your deck in different ways. One way is through opening ‘Mint Candy’ boxes (treasure)at the end of each dungeon that present you with 3 different tiles — you get to pick one to add to your deck. The other way is the shop, where you can buy new tiles using gems. (Gems are earned when you complete a dungeon). Combined with the passive perks you earn after each dungeon, there are tons of ways to build your deck and be successful.

wlc

Hauntingly beautiful Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein When it comes to the horror genre, what is truly terrifying? Is it the po[CENSORED]r jumpscare tactic that Five Nights at Freddy’s employs? Or perhaps the zombie shooter Resident Evil franchise that keeps players on their toes? Maybe the nearly-urban legend P.T. that mentally exhausts players is the pinnacle of scary games? Fans of all that is spooky will debate til the end of time what makes a good horror game great, but few will argue for the lingering, cerebral fear mechanics that stay long after the controllers have been put away. It seems like everyone feels confident in their personally-crafted strategy for surviving the zombie apocalypse, but few can answer how they’ll pull through an existential crisis despite facing one every Sunday night. Where the presence of ghastly figures may be terrifying, how many of us slowly lose contact with friends and family over the years until the sudden realization — “Oh God, I am alone.” And while a jumpscare can be undeniably frightening, it’s only temporary; being abandoned by those you depend upon, however, will permanently change you. Isolation, abandonment, and existentialism are merely a few of the topics covered in the literary classic Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus written by Mary Shelley in 1818, and it’s these everyday real and present terrors La Belle Games beautifully depicted in The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature. The premise is simple — players take on the role of The Creature, the abomination produced by Victor Frankenstein. Unlike the novel, where The Creature’s perspective is relayed to us through several different layers of narrators, La Belle Games chose to show us a retelling of his account through his own eyes. The Creature’s emotions, experiences, and personal growth are all conveyed to us from The Creature himself, giving us a very raw, very real depiction of what it would feel like to be a gentle soul whose very existence is an affront to God. At first, there was nothing; then, there was light. So begins The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature, as players begin to take control of a cloaked figure up against the wall. He moves slowly, the room only coming into a grayish focus as he lumbers rigidly across the room. It’s as if he hadn’t used his limbs in a long time. After exiting the strange home (which he remarked he’d later learn was a gruesome birthplace), The Creature’s world becomes a little more colorful. Bright and airy, his mood is elevated, and he races around the grassy area, eager to learn everything about this stunning new world. Eventually, he tires himself out, but comes to in a small corner of the woods. This place, with its vivid colors and beautiful lighting, is the first that is truly crisp and distinct; here in nature, this unnatural being feels at home. The Creature’s world continues to expand as he chances upon a village. At first, he’s merely curious about the town and its inhabitants, but he soon learns they do not return the sentiments; for reasons unbeknownst to him, the beings contort their faces in anger, surround him with pitchforks and fire, and even throw stones at him. At this point, he is faced with a choice: does he hurt those who have hurt him, or does he turn the other cheek? It is up to the player to make this decision — the first of many. Licking his wounds, The Creature flees to a small hovel attached to a quaint wooden cottage. He spends a full year here, observing a small family and insatiably learning all he can about mankind. It is here where he tries to be loved, and it is here where he learns rejection yet again. Players watch as the family they’d become attached to for entire seasons — tending their fields, chopping their wood, and learning of their ways in secret — cast him out from the only source of warmth and belonging he’d ever known, even if it was one-sided. I could keep going, but I don’t think I’ll spoil the story — even those who remember reading Shelley’s masterpiece from high school will find slight differences in this insanely gorgeous retelling, so this experience will feel only slightly familiar even to the most veteran of English lit fans. Still, it pulls enough from the classic novel that it will most certainly enhance players’ understanding of the book, acting as a companion piece of sorts. Going into this, like most people, I was immediately drawn to the awe-inspiring visuals of The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature. The water-colors are reminiscent of another French indie game, Gris, and the vocals also evoke a similar feel. But where Gris told a story left up to interpretation, The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature boldly takes one of Halloween’s most beloved yet most forgotten tale and masterfully consumes the player, transporting them into the very mind of this wretched being, his experiences becoming their own. For example, there was a point where some village children, too young to have learned fear, invited The Creature back to their homes. The Creature followed, not knowing what was awaiting him at the other end. It’s easy to assume it won’t go over well since, on the player end, we can anticipate what happens next, but the bucolic, serene atmosphere hinted at nothing but a pleasant experience… …until the first rock was thrown, and suddenly the charming, delightful mood went cold and dark, with jarring music matching the tense, confused tone. While playing, my hair stood on end, and even now as I write this I feel the familiar goosebumps. La Belle Games has achieved something so few teams can even dream of doing, and that’s making players legitimately come from a place of birth — of knowing nothing — to learning fear for the very first time. How confidently I approached the deer in the woods for the first time, my first encounter with another sentient life form. How curiously I studied the children playing ball, even kicking it around with them at their amusement. Yet how cautiously I approached the family in the cottage, feeling my heart rate nearly explode as I snuck in to borrow their books. I felt joyful when making a connection with the deer, and pleasantly surprised while playing with the children; after being surrounded by the angry mob with every intent to harm me, I — through every fiber of The Creature’s being — learned what it was like to feel fear for the first time, as if the first time I tasted it at the age of four had ever happened, as if I had never known fear. Why did I feel this way? Because I was so in-tune with The Creature’s psyche. He had never felt this way before, so it stands to reason that I wouldn’t have either. That’s how well the game conveyed a sense of character to me, and that’s why this game deserves the highest of praises. I could continue on about how the music is incredible (if Gris met Octopath Traveler) or how the visuals are some of the best you’ll see this year, but honestly, words feel cheap when it comes to recounting what I experienced. This is really one of those games that can change you because it makes you feel something that you thought you’d lost in your youth and would never experience again. Yet that reaction I had after the first stone was cast awakened in me something absolutely visceral — the pain and suffering of rejection by others due to the abandonment of those who were supposed to care for you. My creator, neglectful, should have gently eased me into my understanding of the world and shielded me in my youth; instead, I painfully learned that others feared me, and I, in turn, feared them. Holy Shit

Key Specitifations Review Price: £19.99 Available on PC (Early Access) Citadel: Forged With Fire release date Running this game at anything above 60fps is a difficult task for any hardware at the moment, and your fps might even vary from server to server. However, if you’re hitting the 62fps cap Blue Isle have imposed, there’s at least an easy way to circumvent it. First, go to: “C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Citadel\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor” Then open ‘GameUserSettings.ini’ as a text document, fine the FrameRateLimit line and change it to 300, like so: FrameRateLimit = 300 See? Easy. Now good luck making use of your new headroom… Citadel: Forged With Fire specs and performance The minimum specs are reasonably low for this game. Blue Isle’s minimum specs include a 2GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, and GTX 950 or better in the graphics card department. That might get you up and running at the lowest graphics settings, but a machine with those specs will really struggle at higher settings. Recommended specs aren’t much higher: 3GHz CPU, 16GB RAM, GTX 970 or better. In our experience, with the game at the beginning of its journey through Early Access, you’ll need a GTX 1070 or better to max out the graphics settings and hit something approaching 60fps. This is very likely an optimisation issue, though, and as such you can expect subsequent updates to improve performance on machines of any spec. Citadel: Forged With Fire base building From there, a bit more time, levelling and collaboration is required. It’s possible to build enormous multi-level castles if you can gather enough stone and iron together, but since it’s also possible to raid and destroy player structures, your first thought when building anything substantial as a high-level player should be fortification. Better fortification options are unlocked as you level, particularly once you get over the level 20 hump. Let’s not give the wrong impression, though: C:FWF’s innovations and ambitions aren’t just limited to the things it leaves on the cutting-room floor. There’s real, scary depth to the crafting, building and spellcasting here. The ‘extract’ spell, for example, is unlockable early on, and lets you siphon nature’s goodness quicker than your humble fists could ever manage. In the later game, however, you’re able to summon down meteors from the sky with ‘conflagrate’ and harvest their resources, or use ‘telekinesis’ on entire buildings. In other words, you can pick up castles and throw them at things. Not even Vold– sorry, You Know Who, could pull that one off.

The last Ice Age film or short came out back in 2016. There has been the talk of a new film or TV series, but nothing has actually released in the last 3 years. Until late last week. For some reason the world received a new Ice Age video game, starring Scrat. It’s weird that three years after the last film we get a new game. What’s even weirder is that this game isn’t bad. I’d even say, I like it. Seriously. Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure was released for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on October 18th. It stars Scrat, that weird and overly hyper squirrel (?) who is always looking for a nut. At the start of the Scrat finds ruins of a technologically advanced ancient squirrel civilization. To unlock the secrets of the ruins and become powerful, Scrat needs to track down three super nuts. This is all real. I’m not making any of this up. Honestly, it isn’t that weird considering the last Ice Age film had a plot that was entirely put into motion by Scrat poorly operating a UFO. The thing is, this game and its wild story reminded me of a lot of those licensed games we use to get back in the PS2-era of gaming. And it’s odd to feel this way, but I think I miss those games? Sure licensed games still exist, but they’ve all mostly moved to mobile platforms. Which is sad. Sure many of these licensed games were bad, but not all of them. And as a kid, it was so cool to play a game on my TV based on a cartoon or movie I loved. Scrat’s Nutty Adventure feels like one of those games like it was frozen back in 2003 before it was published and only now, in 2019, has it been thawed out and released. There are some annoying issues in Scrat’s Nutty Adventure, for sure. The camera can bug out in places, animations don’t always look great and combat isn’t fun at all. But damn it, I still enjoyed it. I sat down to only play it for an hour, just to grab some screenshots and get a feel for it. But I ended up playing it for nearly 3 hours. It’s weird to have a nostalgic reaction to something brand new. I don’t even like the Ice Age films or have any strong feelings about the franchise. But playing a colorful and simple licensed platformer did activate some part of my brain and made me happy. It is very VERY easy to look at screenshots of this game or the trailer and dismiss it or make fun of it. And again, there are some problems and issues with it.

PLAY AS RACKETBOY OR RACKETGIRL, GUARDIANS CHOSEN BY THE CAPYBARA GODDESS TO SAVE YOUR GALAXY FROM THE PAWS OF A DESTRUCTIVE TYRANT GENIUS. UNABLE TO ATTACK BY YOURSELF, YOU MUST STRIKE ENEMIES’ ATTACKS BACK AT THEM, TURNING THE BATTLEFIELD INTO AN EXPLOSIVE SPACE TENNIS BATTLE. FLY YOUR WAY THROUGH HORDES OF DUCKS, CAT-SANDWICHES, FLUFFY BUNNIES, SPACE-TENNIS-ROBOTS AND EVEN BANANAS IN THIS UNEXPECTED AND UNIQUE ADVENTURE TO SAVE THE GALAXY! It’s a description that just begs you to try the game out – how on earth can you say no to the Capybara Goddess? I actually read it after trying out the game, so I got the pleasant surprise of opening up Sky Racket with no idea what to expect, and being greeted by a deluge of magic, colour, and ridiculousness. I love nostalgic graphics and colourful games. They remind me of my childhood, and even now it’s an aesthetic you’ll commonly find in some of my favourite media and around my apartment. The game just looks so energetic and enjoyable from the beginning – I fell in love with looking at it. Like many great indies, Double Dash Studios’ new release took root in a game jam, with the theme being “Arcade.” Sky Racket describes itself as a “shmup breaker” – a shoot-em-up spliced with the traditional block-breaker games most of us remember from the simpler days of gaming. For those unfamiliar, block-breaking games usually involved ricocheting a ball back and forth, like a one-sided game of tennis. You have items to break, and have to move quickly to keep bouncing the balls back and forth until the stage is cleared. Sky Racket leaves a lot out in terms of story. You’ll get a few sentences here and there, and there’s a general storyline, but it’s pretty forgettable and not too detailed. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m bothered by that – as much as I love a good story, I’m more into mechanics when it comes to games like these. An awesome story is a great bonus, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I want to enjoy the physical action of playing. Sky Racket’s main mechanics revolve around dodging and hitting, which is why sometimes it can get a little frustrating that the characters have surprisingly slow movement speed. Maybe I’m a little spoiled by fast-moving games, but I’m used to beat-em-ups and block-breaking games both moving at a quick pace. It’s part of the addictive joy of it all – you get into the feel of fast movement and learn to be quicker and better each time. Sky Racket can sometimes get tiring when you see an attack you want to smack back, and react quickly, but are just physically unable to make it across the screen. That flaw aside, I found the gameplay to be a good mix between cathartic and difficult. In the first couple levels I thought it might be too easy, but I was soon set straight when I saw the list of goals after each stage – clearing the stage is just one thing to do. The player will also be tasked with various challenges, including destroying all the blocks in a stage (a task I still haven’t managed). As you increase in levels, more and more chaos is thrown into the mix. Objects will come faster, and there will be new interactive complications – like cats that cling to you until you shake them off, and bursts that completely distort your surroundings. It’s a challenge, but the fairly static stages help players to learn and improve if it’s too challenging the first time. Most of all, I loved the varied, colourful stages, and unique bosses (though I do have concerns about the giant banana with tentacles). It reminds me of all the things that called out to me from the shelves during my childhood, and that just always made me happy to look at. Paired with music that makes you want to dance in your chair, it’s a great callback to the nostalgic memories of arcade-style fun and classic games. Overall, Sky Racket features a nice mesh of gameplay styles (even pinball!) and an excellent aesthetic, which makes it pretty enjoyable to just sit down and start playing – especially if you want an experience where you don’t have to pay attention to tons of intricate details and can focus on perfecting your technique. There’s a lot of fun here, wrapped up in a gorgeous, smooth-playing package.

The Atelier series of JRPGs has been one that I’ve been trying to get into, but just haven’t really been able to. A long-running franchise that receives a new entry nearly every year, I’ve attempted to jump in multiple times, but the games have failed to hold my attention every time. I tried out Atelier Rorona nearly a decade ago, Atelier Sophie a few years back, and a bit of Atelier Lulua earlier this year. Each time, I barely made it in a few hours before losing interest. To be fair, though, this is a franchise where storytelling and fighting usually takes a backseat to cute girls crafting items, and that’s where it loses me. Seeing trailers for the newest entry in the series, Atelier Ryza, repiqued my interest in the franchise. From everything I was seeing, this entry was going to head in a different direction. While, yes, it was still going to be “cute girls doing alchemy,” it appeared that this new release would bring a bit more focus to storytelling and battling. Thusly, I embarked on my fourth attempt to get into the Atelier franchise. Developed by Koei Tecmo Games and Gust, and published by Koei Tecmo Games, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is set for release on October 29th, 2019, for PS4, Switch, and PC via Steam. The PC version was played for this review. In Search of Something Greater Atelier Ryza follows a young girl named Reisalin Stout, or Ryza for short, and her two friends Lent and Tao. Having spent her life on a rural farming island, Ryza is desperate for adventure. The game begins with her roping Lent and Tao into stealing a boat and rowing to the mainland, in search of something new. Shortly into their little adventure, they are attacked by a monster, but are saved at the last moment by a wandering alchemist named Empel and his warrior partner, Lila. Empel and Lila are in the area exploring the ruins of a long-lost kingdom, and their stories and knowledge manage to enthrall our three main characters. Ryza in particular takes interest in Empel’s alchemy, deciding to pursue the craft for herself. Right off the bat, I appreciate that Atelier Ryza wastes no time in introducing its world and its characters motivations. Past entries in the Atelier series I’ve experienced all meander during their intros, following their characters through their regular day-to-day lives. Ryza, it its first hour, establishes its world, the main characters’ motivations, and a firm goal for each of them. It certainly helps that Ryza’s motivations are something that I can relate to a bit. The feeling that life is stagnant, wanting to get away from where you’ve spent most of your life, the desire to experience something new. As a kid who grew up in the hell known as suburbia, with aspirations of moving to a big city, I know these feelings well. The plot remains at the forefront of the game as well, staying focused rather than falling aside for slice-of-life antics. While I was worried the game would slip into the same old Atelier I’ve come to know from previous entries once the alchemy system was introduced, the character interactions actually became more interesting after this point. The main characters’ families, as well as the other townsfolk, become uneasy and occasionally fearful that these kids are getting into this “weird alchemy thing,” causing a number of interesting conflicts to drive the plot forward. Overall, Atelier Ryza did something that no other entry in the series has managed to do for me: keep me interested with its storytelling. No Slowing Down Between all of these little moving parts, the battle system of Atelier Ryza feels both fast-paced and strategic. Having to decide how to best use your AP and Core Charges becomes a key part of every battle. You can switch between the character you’re controlling at the touch of a button if you want to give them specific commands. You can also have a party member unleash a special attack if you follow a command they ask for mid battle (e.g. “Use an item” or “Do fire damage”). Again, Atelier Ryza manages to break my thoughts on the Atelier series. The battle system here is engaging, and it feels like a lot of thought went into it. Sure, I was thrown for a loop when I found out I could only control one character at a time, but the ability to switch characters did help to mitigate any worries I had. The fights are brisk as well, with trash mobs often going down in seconds if you have your strategy right. They Save Lives Ryza has gone for the one-two punch on me with an enjoyable story and an interesting battle system. With its presentation, it manages to get a third strike in as well. In general, the visual presentation of Atelier Ryza is extremely attractive. While the Atelier series does have a strong following, there is a reputation amongst some that it can often look a bit rough, mostly due to the connotations of being a yearly franchise. While, yes, we’re not looking at the pinnacle of JRPG graphics here, what we do have is pleasing to the eye. The character models are distinctly designed and animate well, from the main party to various NPCs. Enemy design is a bit more iffy, often relying on pallet swaps even just a couple hours into the game. Environments are surprisingly detailed, especially with the shading and shadow work put to use here. As for graphics options on the PC version, unfortunately, they are lacking. The only options are windowed/fullscreen and resolution. My setup maxes out at 1440p, so I can’t say for sure if 4K or super-wide are supported here. There’s no detailed settings here, nor anything as simple as a general quality setting or even V-Sync. To address the elephant that’s been following news on this game: yes, Atelier Ryza is a bit more fanservicey in its character designs than past Atelier games. Ryza’s design…well, let’s just say that her last name, “Stout,” is an apt description. Lila’s design looks like she stapled bowling balls to her chest. A lot of interest in this entry to the franchise seems to have been driven by these designs, but I can at least say there’s much more to the game than just the thick thighs and bouncing breasts. Doing a 180 As someone who’s long figured that the Atelier franchise just isn’t for me, Atelier Ryza comes as a huge surprise. It seemed like Gust had been resting on its laurals for so long, pumping out these feel-good low-stakes cute girl games year after year that just didn’t interest me. Ryza, though, shows that they’re willing to change things up and do something new. If anything, it feels like Ryza may be Gust’s attempt to step out of the niche they’ve carved for themselves. This game feels like one that the general JRPG fandom could get into, rather than just the subset interested in zoning out and crafting items. That’s not to say series fans will be disappointed with this release either. The characters are endearing, and the alchemy system here is fun to mess around with. Is Ryza enough to get me to go back to earlier games in the series? No, probably not. But if it represents the direction the series is going in the future, you can count me in as a fan from this point.

its not a big problem,just re-install ur cs,and all things will be good. i would supose u to get an other cs,like na'vi fnatic,lh etc because this version have no problems and it haves good quality,models etc. G.L