Recent reviews by alopex

Good game that requires a reasonably beefy PC for now - given Moon Studio's track record with their Ori games, I'm sure however that they'll optimize the everliving daylights out of this during its early access phase. What the game offers in return are stunning graphics with so many little things going on that it's just pure pleasure to watch. The characters I've seen so far a intriguing and are brought to live by very good voice acting performances.

The game doesn't occupy the same niche as Diablo and the likes, but instead is a rather demanding Souls-related title standing ready to punish every mistake you make. Unconcentrated? My bad, that default guard over there might wipe the floor with your pretty face. It's NOT an easy game and demands the player to learn its comparatively slow and methodical combat system to proceed. It's also not brutally hard or even unfair (at least so far): the enemies tend to telegraph their intentions well in advance and give enough time to react, and to punish their puny try with a hefty blow in return. And hefty it is: it feels, looks and sounds very satisfying when you smack an enemy over the head with a two-handed Claymore.

This game has all qualities to become truly fantastic, but there's a reason it's still Early Access. Performance aside, some systems still need some finetuning so they don't get in the way more than they should. Durability is one of them, although this problem should solve itself when people get better - at the start it feels more punishing than it probably should and may deter some new players not used to the game's formula. Few bugs here and there, like button prompts not showing, are expected, but haven't disrupted my enjoyment yet.

No Rest for the Wicked is rough around some edges and surely needs work, but I'll still recommend it even in EA. If you have a somewhat good PC and enjoy what you see, I'll say go for it. No harm either in waiting till some patches polish the experience though. If you want Diablo this is not the game for you - there's a lot of material online that explains what No Rest for the Wicked is, so invest a few minutes of your time before you're taken by surprise.

Ich spiele des Teufel's Advokat und behaupte folgendes: genau wie Portal Knights wird Enshrouded als angenehmes Spiel empfunden und über kurz oder lang vergessen werden. Und genau wie Portal Knights beweist Keen Games, dass bei ihnen ein paar extrem helle, einen Sinn fürs Detail beweisende Köpfe sitzen - also genau das, was die Spiele-Landschaft braucht.

Enshrouded ist bereits im Early Access sehr angenehm zu spielen, behauptet sich durch Designs die so manches AAA-Game alt aussehen lassen, ist relativ bugfrei und besticht durch eine sehr gute, wenn auch in meinen Augen etwas zu konstrastreiche und bloom-zentrische, Grafik. Es bietet eine riesige Voxel-Welt, durch die man sich im Zweifelsfall mit der Spitzhacke und was noch durchhauen kann, durchdachte Mechaniken, die sich hier und da in der Komplexität der elegant schönen, jedoch mit Hinblick auf Konsolen optimierten, UI verlieren, und so cooles Zeug wie kooperativen Multiplayer out of the box.

Ist das Spiel gut? Ja, ist es, auch jetzt schon im EA. Ist das Spiel erinnerungswürdig? Des Teufel's Advokat scheint wieder durch. Es ist sehr auf Zugänglichkeit getrimmt und verfügt - soweit ich das bisher gesehen habe - über keine design-technischen Haken und Ösen, obwohl es klar diskussionswürdige Design-Entscheidungen gerade im Multiplayer gibt, derer sich der Entwickler allerdings anzunehmen scheint. Enshrouded ist angenehm, aber lässt - genau wie Portal Knights - eine eigene Identität vermissen.

Es wirkt wie am Reißbrett entworfen. Es ist ein bisschen Breath of the Wild, ein bisschen Valheim, ein bisschen Elder Scrolls vielleicht, und noch ein wenig Fromsoft oben drauf, und was weiß ich noch. Ich würde mir wünschen, dass der Name "Enshrouded" in dieses Panteon der immer wieder erwähnten Spieletitel aufgenommen wird, denn die Grundlage ist durchaus vorhanden.

Ich empfehle es und wünsche mir für die Zukunft das auch ungewöhnlichere Ideen ihren Weg in das Spiel finden. Weniger Mausschubserei, mehr Scheiß den die immens talentierten Designer lustig fänden. Talent ist ansteckend.

Heavily inspired by Nintendo's Breath of the Wild and of course the Pokémon franchise, Palword is a rather unique take on the survival genre - you know, exploring the world, gathering stuff, building bases, crafting stuff, cooking food, having on eye on the hunger and cold meter, that kinda thing, in single or multiplayer. Now you can also: catch creatures and let them work for you, use them as weapons (handhold flamethrower foxes are a thing, as they should be), or, uh, gather resources from them.

Palword is a surprisingly fun game with very solid creature design - latter can't be overstated, it's really good, much Kudos to the designers. Mechanically the game still needs a tad of polish here and there, but it's nothing that would take the fun away. Climbing mechanics are a bit overeager (yeah, no, that's a slope I could run up in real-life easily, please don't do the climbing thing) and the Poképals seem to have problems navigating the base or find things to do at times, but that's not a deal breaker at all.

Good game, recommended.

I don't particularly like these bait and switch games, trying to be so artsy and special and meta that they're unable or unwilling to convey what they are and what they are about on the storefront - it's disingenuous. It's unfortunate because Inscryption is absolutely a testament to its designer's abilities, which are great.

Funny and weird in all the right ways, Cobalt Core is a deckbuilder roguelite like Slay the Spire and Monster Train with sound and unique mechanics, as well as adorable graphics and characters, and good music. It could use more different bosses or mix up the mechanics of the existing ones, but that's whining at a high level. It's a very solid game already and a lot of fun.

"Hey everyone, it appears we created one of the best puzzle games ever. Let's not disappoint our fans with Part 2!". And disappoint they did not. Talos Principle 2 is fantastic - no wonder this took so long.

Just like its predecessor, Book II embraces its storybook/fairytale approach to the fullest and is a damn fine example of making good use of the VR aspect: some might argue that the game would work on a flat screen as well, and I agree to an extend, but the pure magic Book II instills through its unapologetic VR nature would be all lost. The environments, even more than in Book I, are a sight to behold from beginning to end and the ability to experience and examine them first hand lends a lot to the fascination this game provides: a miniature world made for mice, observed by the human-sized player, who themselves is often surrounded by the remnants of a forgotten civilization.

Gameplay-wise, Book II is rock solid and a proper evolution of its predecessor, but also never gets overboard with crazy ideas or such. Puzzles work, make good use of the VR aspect and are generally nice, the combat system works but is pretty standard (although "Mouse with a big and heavy f-ing hammer" is an archetype I'd now love to see more of) , the level design is straight forward but knows how to entertain with a ton of visual variety.

Voice acting, sound and music do a good job. The story itself is as straight forward as the gameplay, doesn't surprise with any intricacies, works well for the game and is nothing to write home about - its presentation however makes up for any shortcomings. One of these presentation aspects are the beautiful illustrations you'll see as the story unfolds, and another of course (especially, but not exclusively) Quill's animations. So many unique things going on with her that it's just a pleasure to watch, and at some point - and that's a promise - you'll absolutely feel a certain pain she'll be going through at the time.

Moss: Book II is a great game that concludes the story in a satisfying way while still leaving room for a follow-up. Recommended.

Enchanting!

Moss is a storybook adventure with an impressive sense of scale. It feels like catching a glimpse of a miniature world normally hidden away from prying eyes, while the "normal size" world also sprawls out around and above.

Never did I feel more enthralled by the idea of sitting in cold and muddy swamp water, just to watch protagonist Quill going her way to solve puzzles and occasionally fight enemies with my active help. Since I'm also in direct control of her, there's only one person to blame when she accidentally jumps over a cliff (I AM SO SORRY QUILL!).

She's aware of the player's presence, gently nudges towards puzzle solutions through expressive animations and sounds alone and - my heart - at times even offers a high five after a problem got solved. That's sunshine after a cold and rainy day.

Graphics, sound, music and fairytale story play perfectly into this unfortunately so far unique mix. Before I bore you with this review though, I'd like to conclude it with something I said several times during my ongoing playthrough.

"Woah! This is SO cool!"

More of it, please!

An incredibly charming, Mario-like Jump 'n Run with clean graphics, tight controls, very catchy music (the music is REALLY catchy, alright) and a carefree attitude carried out by the overall happy-go-lucky theme of the game. New Super Lucky's Tale (NSLT) is an enhanced version of Super Lucky's Tale (SLT), including its DLCs, which I played on the Xbox One as part of the Gamepass. Contrary to my normal gaming schedule, I 100%-ed it back then, because I just had a ton of fun with it.

While I haven't played NSLT all too much yet, judging by what I've seen so far, Playful took care of the biggest weaknesses of SLT. The camera is free look now and can be tilted and rotated to the hearts desire, and the levels have undergone an overhaul in many regards. It's the same game at heart, but still feels fresh due to the many big and small changes - lot of details added and tweaked and mechanics adjusted to keep the game fresh.

It's a really nice platformer that doesn't try to do anything extraordinary. But the things it does are more than solid and varied enough to carry through without a hint of boredom arising. The difficulty is very manageable in the main game, though the optional DLC levels turn it up two notches without going completely overboard either - they are however meant for advanced players.

I'm absolutely looking forward to a Super Lucky's Tale 2 now. (N)SLT is a game that's able to bring a smile to the face, and I'd love to see the adventures of the adorable fox Lucky continue.