Recent reviews by Wandering Cavalry

I have to state in advance that I have no intention of slandering Kodaka Kazutaka, the father of the famous text adventure game Danganronpa. Still, looking back at the works he has participated in over the years, most of them have performed very poorly: The mediocre live-action interactive game Death Come True did not live up to its hype; the slightly mediocre World's End Club; and the remarkably polarizing Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, which disappointed many fans... Even the two anime for which he was the original designer, Akudama Drive and the animated version of Tribe Nine, also received terrible reputations.

The animated version of Tribe Nine is equivalent to the prequel to this game. Although the project was released and promoted as early as 2020, the DEMO remains unreleased until the second half of 2024. Kodaka Kazutaka also served as the original designer for this work as well, the world view, plot, and character creation of Tribe Nine are indeed quite interesting. After experiencing a difficult time and a storm of public opinion, just when everyone thought that the game would slowly get on the right track and the developer team showed its determination to continue updating, Tribe Nine announced the end of service without any warning on May 15, 2025, setting a record for the shortest operating time of a Gacha in recent years. However, if we look back at the brief history of Tribe Nine, which lasted less than three months, we will find that all this is not surprising in any way.


The narrative of Tribe Nine continues Kodaka Kazutaka's usual style of suspenseful and tricky narration at the beginning, and the worldview is particularly bizarre. In addition, the plot, characters, art, and music imitate and pay tribute to Danganronpa. In each chapter, players will be involved in a death game with entirely different rules, the characters' personalities are distinct, and the 3D modeling and full voice acting of the main story also fully enhance the immersive experience. In terms of game content, it consists of JRPG-style sandbox exploration, 3D enemy combat that is very similar to Zenless Zone Zero, and XB with baseball as the core, which includes the Danganronpa truth bullets mechanism.

The combat of Tribe Nine has some highlights, three-person teams fight on the same screen and players can switch freely. The action logic of the AI teammate is decent. Though there are differences in character strength, even using a free team is enough to pass the game at all. After reaching a certain level, the player could directly kill low-level enemies during exploration, this is an exceptionally outstanding design compared to other JRPGs. After the turmoil at the start, the gacha bonus of Tribe Nine is now barely acceptable. Apart from the daily task, Tribe Nine is utterly a single-player game at its core, it does not have any stamina system commonly seen in other gacha, the daily pressure is fairly low, and almost all props and materials can be obtained through grinding. Through the map details and design, we could also see that the developer is very attentive. However, as a long-term operating gacha, Tribe Nine is undoubtedly unqualified.


Today's gacha market is different from before. The massive revenue has attracted countless manufacturers to take part, and competition in the industry is intensifying. In this context, although Tribe Nine has specific innovations and features compared to traditional JRPG and AVG, it is still unattractive among gacha games. The plot is slow to start, the graphics are mediocre, and there has only been one event and one new character since the launch of Tribe Nine. This game has almost hit all the pitfalls of gacha games, the probability of a character and tension card being stuck in the pool is only 1% + 1%. The weak promotion and the zero benefits at the beginning also led to numerous player losses. The developer team is operating it based on the idea of a single-player game, and the update frequency is equally low. There are almost no in-game purchases available for players, and the restrictions on development resources require players to invest a lot of time in grinding.

According to insiders, the development cost of the entire Tribe Nine project may be as high as JPY 11 billion(USD 76 million). However, the outdated graphics, rough modeling, poor enemy detection system, and stiff, lagging, and stuck operating feel are entirely unlike the finished product that ought to be created with such a large amount of funds. The plot of Tribe Nine may seem a bit clichéd and childish now, lacking depth, and the character's self-immersive thinking in the climax scenes also caused critical damage to the tension. As a vital part of the worldview, XB, which revolves around baseball, is more refined and smoother in animation and action design than combat, but it is automatic as a whole, which makes it impossible for baseball fans to have any fun in it. The core selling point of Tribe Nine is the plot, but players have to face long map running forced exploration, and stiff combat. Not only does this lack any elements to attract gacha game players, but it is also very unfriendly to those players who simply want to experience the plot. Not to mention that the map is interconnected and separated from each other, there are very few in-game tutorials as well, and the boss has a lot of health, which makes it quite difficult for many players.


The success of Danganronpa is chiefly due to the times. As a project that has been in development for nearly 5 years, despite the bumpy road to development and its highlights in worldview and plot, the finished product of Tribe Nine is still unsatisfactory. It has not been able to catch up with the craze of Danganronpa, the golden age of AVG, and it has even failed to catch up with the popularity of its anime prequel since it came out in 2022. As traditional JRPGs and AVGs are becoming increasingly niche and declining, the result of hastily launching a single game with a core that lacks the appeal of a gacha and has an extremely narrow audience in the market is predictable. If Tribe Nine could have been launched earlier, or if it had been sold as a single-player game, perhaps everything would have been different- but it's too late. This project has undoubtedly entered the final countdown of its life, which is heartbreaking and disappointing.

Tribe Nine may seem very niche, but the supporters of it have always been the most loyal, and many people have been looking forward to this work nearly 5 years ago. In late April, they still promised to continue operating the game, but suddenly announced the EOS in May. Even though the gacha industry has always been profit-oriented, adheres to Gresham's law, and does not focus on gameplay, this is still the worst betrayal. Although Kodaka Kazutaka has nothing to do with it, as part of the original design and promotional selling point of Tribe Nine, this will still have a particular impact on his reputation, and Akatsuki Games, as the initiator, cannot escape blame. In the first half of this year, they closed the global servers of Atelier Resleriana, now its ridiculous behavior against Tribe Nine shows that it has no sense of responsibility and ability to deliver on its promises. It not only trampled on its reputation in the worst way but also triggered a crisis of trust. Presumably, another gacha KAIJU NO. 8 THE GAME, which will also be launched on Steam in the future, will also be greatly affected by this.

Rome civilization, the pinnacle of classical antiquity, is known to everyone for its splendor and has long been a favorite subject of various artistic creations. Within the gaming industry, works with this background, such as Total War: Rome, Expeditions: Rome, Imperator: Rome, etc., although each has its highlights, are all mainly based on management and strategy. Action genre Rome games are almost absent from the market.

Ryse: Son of Rome, which was first released on Xbox 360 in 2013 and landed on PC the following year, is a rare AAA action title set in Rome. Its developer Crytek is famous for the hardware killer- Crysis series, the excellent visual effects in the trailer of Ryse: Son of Rome also make this work highly anticipated by players back then. Unfortunately, the extreme lack of depth and repetitive combat system, the imaginary and slightly incomprehensible plot, and the short linear campaign process make Rise: Son of Rome a mediocre work despite its relatively outstanding graphics.


Although it is no longer considered top-notch, the graphics of Rise: Son of Rome are still not outdated, and it still could present players with a unique Roman-era adventure. By playing the role of a fictional character, Marius Titus, players can not only fight on the front line like a centurion but also command legions as well. This game does a good job of creating a battlefield atmosphere and immersive gaming experience, the combat system is also notably easy to get started, and the defense and dodge judgments are very lenient. By reducing the enemy's health, players can perform execution consisting of QTE(Quick Time Event) checks. There is a wide range of execution animations full of brutal yet pure violent aesthetic art to enjoy. The campaign story draws upon Roman history before and after the Nero era. It is an entirely fictional revenge epic, and if you are familiar with Roman history, many dramatic plot arrangements in this game will make you applaud.


The combat design of Rise: Son of Rome can only be described as a disaster. Instead of saying it is an action game, it would be more appropriate to say it is an interactive movie with certain action content. The extremely singular attack action module makes the combat of this game have no depth at all. The upgrade is also more focused on improving numerical values and experience acquisition and does not bring a diverse gaming experience in any way. Ranged weapons such as javelins and crossbows are also forced to aim automatically, with no sense of operation to any extent. The player must use perfect parrying to break through the BOSS's defense, the turn-based combat is incredibly dull. The forced locked-on camera also makes it difficult to change positions and cameras when facing multiple enemies, which brings a very torturous operating experience. Gladiator mode, which serves as the multiplayer of Ryse: Son of Rome is a PVE arena that supports up to two players, and it requires players to constantly grind to obtain high-tier equipment with enhanced attributes, but with such a lack of depth in the combat system, it becomes repetitive and boring.

The campaign of this game is entirely linear and the process is extremely short. Players who do not pursue collectibles in the game will complete the walkthrough quickly. Gaius Marius, Nero Claudius, Commodus Antoninus, Boudica, and other characters are all placed in the same era in Ryse: Son of Rome. The ancient Greek anecdote of Damocles has also been romanized, though there are many dramatic arrangements and historical easter eggs, players who do not know Roman history will only be confused. The game's plot slightly emphasizes personal heroism, it begins with promise but ends poorly. Many twists are very abrupt and lack foreshadowing, leaving players puzzled and giving a disappointing viewing experience. The fluctuating volume of the character's dialogues also has a particular impact on the plot.


As an action game, Rise: Son of Rome utterly lacks depth and diversity regarding combat. The playability of it is extremely low, and the design of the multiplayer mode itself is unremarkable as well. However, the sales of this work are unexpectedly good, and if you look at it from the perspective of an interactive movie with certain combat elements, Ryse: Son of Rome as a whole will give you a second-rate special effects movie-like game feeling; players only need to focus on fighting and moving and enjoy the plot with excellent immersive atmosphere, excellent execution action design and performance effects. The extremely short process can end before the poor combat makes the player feel bored too. For interested players, I would only recommend experiencing the campaign of Ryse: Son of Rome once, this is enough to represent almost all the content of the game.

As a heavyweight and phenomenal popular IP that is of great significance, although Star Wars has many works in the domain of video games, its influence is far less profound than that in the field of movies. Star Wars Battlefront II, developed by EA in 2017, is a remake of the classic original developed by Pandemic Studios in 2005. Featuring top-notch optimization, gorgeous graphics, and diverse gameplay, it is enough to rank among the top Star Wars battlefiled games. Nevertheless, the poor micro-transaction and loot box system, extremely differentiated and unbalanced character design, and poor balance at the beginning of its release have caused an irreversibly and devastating blow to the reputation of this game. The large-scale loss of players eventually caused this prospect-rich work to stop content updates on April 29, 2020. Since then, Star Wars: Battlefront II has remained lukewarm.

In May 2025, due to a series of coincidences, Star Wars: Battlefront II unexpectedly enjoyed a second spring, with an average daily number of players reaching 10,000, and a peak of an astonishing 15,000 on Steam. This number not only far exceeds that of Titanfall 2, which was in a similar situation, but even makes evergreen works of Electronic Arts such as Battlefield 1, Battlefield V, and Battlefield 2042 far behind. The renewed activity of the community has made the entire game full of vitality, and even the unpopular modes that were formerly disregarded have regained vitality. This is undoubtedly the best opportunity to experience the multiplayer mode of Star Wars: Battlefront II, which has been rare in recent years.


It is hard to imagine that Star Wars: Battlefront II provides gorgeous, outstanding visual effects and demonstrates industry-leading optimization at once. The light and shadow effects at high saturation are exceptional, and each frame is like a wallpaper. The campaign takes the spin-off stories in the Star Wars universe as its main line and allows players to play classic characters from it, the overall difficulty is noticeably moderate. The game also has a 4-player PVE mode, instant action, and arcade modes offering full support for offline play. For players who don't like the actual PVP balance of this game, the rich PVE content can also bring a lot of fun.

The multiplayer mode has numerous maps with different mechanisms, terrains, and mission objectives. In addition to team deathmatch and battlefield mode, there are interstellar dogfights, hero battles, and the unique battle royale mode Ewok hunt to choose from. The characters in the game are also quite diverse. In addition to heroic characters with lightsabers, powerful ranged weapons, or skills, there are also a variety of special units and vehicles. The available units in different camps are also thoroughly different, which can deliver players a highly diverse gaming experience. The exciting soundtrack, the compact and grand battlefield, and the excellent visual expression all provide an incredible sense of immersion, making players feel as if they are indeed on the battlefield in the Star Wars worldview.


The differentiated asymmetric unit strength design is both the most significant feature and flaw of Star Wars: Battlefront II. The special units and heroes in the game can be deployed only after scoring enough points. Ordinary units are already at an overwhelming disadvantage in front of special units, they are like fish on a chopping board in front of heroes, and are at the mercy of others, with no ability to fight back at all. Experts can continuously accumulate scores and slaughter enemies as desired through their proficiency, while ordinary players may have no gaming experience to any extent. The unequal situation brings compelling negative feedback to novices, and the match often becomes incredibly one-sided. The snowball-like poor balance makes it even harder for the disadvantaged side to bounce back. The limit on the number of heroes to 4 ensures balance, but it also makes every game a carnival for experts, with average players lacking the opportunity to experience heroes.

Despite the removal of the micro-transaction, Star Wars: Battlefront II still retains the card upgrade and weapon unlocking systems. The former requires continuous improvement of the character's level to unlock and enhance the bonus, while the latter lets players grind to unlock weapons and accessories. New players already have disadvantages in maps and proficiency compared to veterans, and now they have to face the differences in character values. Coupled with the poor striking and shooting fell, weak hit feedback, and TPS-based operations, players need to invest a considerable amount of time to learn and adapt. It is also no exaggeration to describe the battlefield of multiplayer mode as a battle between gods. The gorgeous special effects, chaotic battlefield, poor transitions between light and dark, and glaring lighting effects all make it much more difficult for players to identify the enemy. In addition, when the latency is too high, the player's operation input will be lost, which makes this game very unfriendly to players with medium and high latency.

The campaign is mediocre regarding level design, the maps are often large and empty, and the air combat is over-covered. The biggest with the plot is that the depth is insufficient, not only does the length issue lead to many strange and abrupt twists in the middle and late stages, but the plot logic and character relationships are also very confusing and chaotic. The plot has a predetermined direction, it becomes increasingly hollow and dull, and the general, self-touching passion and awakening are completely incapable of arousing empathy. The single-player AI logic is quite strange, and you will often encounter wide-ranging unexpected, and peculiar bugs during the campaign.


Most players now may feel that this game is greatly overlooked, but there are too many potential problems in it, both in the campaign and the multiplayer mode. An empty plot and clichéd level design campaign waste the excellent visual effects, TPS as the primary perspective, unique operation feel, and the units with notable differences's multiplayer mode require a great deal of time to learn. It even takes a long time for new players to stand on the same starting line as veterans. Even so, Star Wars: Battlefront II still occupies an irreplaceable and unique position. For fans of the series, this one is definitely the best Star Wars battlefield game that can be found, with unique restoration and creative gameplay coupled with top optimization and gorgeous graphics, it will surely not disappoint you in a short time.

Compared to Titanfall 2, which is in a similar situation to this work, the nostalgia of the original one, the blessing of the Star Wars IP, and most importantly, the overwhelming and comprehensive failure of the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection released in 2024 have all played a vital role in promoting the resurgence of Star Wars: Battlefront II. For lucky current players, not only do they no longer have to endure the micro-transactions and loot box systems that undermine the balance, but now the game's skins and other customized props are all given away directly, and the in-game currency has lost any meaning other than commemoration. Star Wars: Battlefront II's rare second spring is anticipated to reactivate the entire community, and a massive potential market might also promote the birth of new works in the Star Wars: Battleground series.

For gamers of the millennium, Road Rash, a 1991 game, undoubtedly carries countless memories. Combining action and racing, two seemingly unrelated elements, Road Rash brings players unimaginable fun. Unfortunately, after the release of the last work in the series, Road Rash: Jailbreak, in 2000, this classic series, which is of great importance to players, seems to have been forgotten by Electronic Arts. After the release of two spiritual sequels to Road Rash in 2017-Road Redemption and Road Rage, similar games completely disappeared from the market. As the most outstanding spiritual sequel, Road Redemption further expands the gameplay, but there are still plenty of shortcomings.


The player in Road Redemption needs to drive motorcycles to speed in various scenes ranging from roads, ice fields, and high-rise buildings to ruins. The only difference from racing games including Road Rash is that players can, and are even encouraged to kill their opponents to maintain their advantage permanently. In addition to racing opponents, various hostile opponents, police, and friendly forces will join the battle. A variety of weapons such as sticks, swords, guns, grappling hooks, explosives, grenades, and a variety of scene mechanisms, would also make this illegal road race even more chaotic. Characters with different skills in each game all have their own abilities and can bring a new gaming experience for players. The standout heavy metal rock style soundtrack also adds more passion to the exciting racing and slashing.


The campaign mode of Road Redemption consists of a light plot, roguelike, and many repetitive levels. Once you die, you will have to start from scratch. The plot is exceptionally old-fashioned and boring, and the core roguelike content does not provide players with diverse plastic gameplay but instead focuses on the acquisition and recovery of in-game resources, which cannot support players' long-term play. Most of the enemies in the game have a strong desire to attack the player and will constantly try to cut off and interfere. Players will need to balance fighting and even aiming and shooting while driving at high speed. In addition, the driving feel of the vehicles in Road Redemption is not very good, which poses a barrier to entry for new players. Enemies in a race will always gain some wake acceleration when they are at a disadvantage, and this is often enough to catch up to the player, making the racing strategy of killing the opponent often more advantageous.

The actual modeling and scenes of the game seem a bit rough nowadays, especially compared with the trailer. The seemingly diverse scenes are essentially the same, and the enemy types and even the in-game upgrade options are quite narrow. There are also many bugs in Road Redemption in the collision volume judgment between characters and scenes, it is easy for players to get stuck in some scenes that seem to have no obstacles. After completing the campaign mode, Campaign+ and Campaign++ merely add more levels, increase the enemy's health and desire to attack, and make the scene more chaotic, which effectively makes it challenging to bring refreshments to players. Aside from discounts, Road Redemption has always had very few players online, which has made the online mode largely unavailable.


Whether in sales, gameplay, or reputation, Road Redemption is far superior to Road Rage, which makes it the well-deserved, most excellent "spiritual sequel" of Road Rash. Despite this, the core of this game is very different from Road Rash. Various weapons fights and mild roguelike game content are the core of Road Redemption, while racing has become an auxiliary means to add fun. This inherent gap may disappoint fans who came here for the spiritual sequel of Road Rash.

Overall, Road Redemption is hard to get started with, and can fully bring fun to players in the initial period. However, its core is highly monotonous, with too high a repetition rate, old-fashioned and boring plots, and a roguelike design that cannot bring freshness, which all doom it to be nothing more than a throwaway game.

Supervive, also known as Project Loki, is a debut game developed by Theorycraft Games, a company composed of former employees of many gaming giants, such as Riot, Blizzard, and EA. Whether in terms of gameplay or its current situation, it is hard not to be reminiscent of Battlerite Royale. In less than half a year of operation, Supervive suffered a significant loss of players due to poor balance, difficulty retaining and attracting players, a core that is easy to get started but hard to master, and a matching design that is highly unfriendly to solo queue players. Less than two months after it was launched in November last year, the daily average online peak dropped from 30,000 to 2,000, for now, the daily average peak is only about 1,000, the matches are also full of bots. Supervive, a game with great potential, is clearly in a critical condition. Regrettably, everything may be too late.


Supervive uses Battle Royale as the core gameplay, with hero shooting, MOBA, and other elements as enhancements to the combat. Diverse mechanisms, such as crepps. Vision, terrain, equipment, props, day, and night add many variables, operations, and strategic space to the confrontations. More than 20 characters in the game each have their strengths. There are highly flexible melee who are good at charging, firepower pillars for fixed-point output at medium and long distances, and team healers, tanks, and other common positions in a similar genre. Despite this, the unique weapons and skills give each of them different and deep gameplay.

Within a single round, players often need to upgrade their equipment, learn skills, and obtain items by grinding creatures. Three equipment sets that may be substituted before the match can not only affect the combat style in the game to a certain extent, but can also be upgraded in one of the three styles are in the store or through power shards. The highly flexible gliding allows players to shuttle across unconnected terrains. High mobility, long TTK, team combat, props interaction, customized upgrades, and other elements cooperatively make the battles in Supervive quite refreshing. In the early stages of the match, squad members can be resurrected. Even if they fail, players can quickly engage in the next battle, and the overall sense of frustration is relatively low.


I absolutely enjoyed the combat of Supervive, but the shortcomings of it are too numerous to ignore. Judging from today's perspective, the UI and graphics of Supervive are indeed a bit cheap, and the modeling and scene details in the actual match are also very average. The poor graphic quality can easily discourage some players who are on the sidelines. For many players, it is incredibly difficult to step out of their comfort zone. To bring freshness and expand the audience as much as possible, the answer of Supervive is to incorporate as many mechanisms as possible. Though this mode makes the game more fun, it also makes the operations required by players quite a lot. In addition, the game tutorial is average, and it may be difficult for new players to get to the point. The core that is easy to start but difficult to master makes it even harder to attract new players for Supervive with an ever-shrinking player base.

The publicity and promotion of Supervive have been sharply reduced since its release. The game also lacks rewards that can bring positive feedback to players after multiple matches. The skins and passes in the game are also unattractive, as a multiplayer online game, the rapid loss of players and too many bots in the match have become the vital pain points as well. In addition, the balance between characters and modes in Supervive has always been controversial. The high operation limit of the game makes it not very friendly to casual players. The different weapons and skills for each character further increase the players' learning cost and time investment.


Battlerite Royale has a lot in common with Supervive. As the first attempt to combine MOBA, battle royale, and hero shooter, the former has already died without a burial place, and Supervive may be about to follow the same old path in the future. It is a surprise that the developer had the mentality of making the game a hit when it started promoting it, but the fact that the game was neither released on consoles nor on any online gaming platform other than Steam is puzzling.

On May 20, the Simplified Chinese server of Supervive opened for public beta reservations. Though the number of reservations for the Simplified Chinese Server game has always been highly inflated, it still reached 35,000 less than a day. Even this may bring a certain number of players to the global server of Supervive in the short term, based on prior experience, the Simplified Chinese server of Supervive may be completely independent from the international server. By dividing China, the group with the largest number of players, the international server of Supervive, will only enter a more severe situation in the future. The remaining Chinese players may be taken away, and the official operation focus may further shift towards the Simplified Chinese server. From this perspective, Supervive's international server is in danger.

The background setting of Twelve Minutes has a unique, eye-catching charm, coupled with excellent publicity and promotion, so that this work once became a hot topic when it came out in 2021. As a point-and-click adventure game, this one places players in a confined space with a time loop. The plot, which revolves around an unreliable, stream-of-consciousness narrative, is full of ups and downs and twists and turns, presenting a story that leaves players wanting more in just a few hours. However, the game's simple graphics, a plot with too many blanks and extremely unexpected trends, as well as an over-emphasis on exploration and highly repetitive content, may be contrary to the expectations of many players, and has also attracted a lot of criticism.


Although the game lasts for several hours, Twelve Minutes is well-designed and has a tight pace. The game goes straight to the point from the beginning. Players are placed in a strange time loop and need to find a way out of it, unraveling the mystery layer by layer. With the exploration method using pointing and clicking as the core interaction, the available actions in each loop are fairly diverse. Not only will they produce various consequences and affect the plot, but as the loop processes, the player will also undergo corresponding changes when performing such repetitive actions. The responsiveness of this kind of detail is done very well in Twelve Minutes. As for the plot, it is concise but unambiguous, and also constantly reverses in unexpected ways. There are also numerous branches for players to explore. When the truth is understood, it leads people to feel suddenly enlightened, full of emotion, and wanting more.


It is undeniable that the time loop in the secret room is an excellent and expressive idea, whether in a movie or a novel, but at least in Twelve Minutes, its implementation is by no means up to standard. The player's actions are severely limited in both time and space, and they often need to conduct repetitive conversations and actions. The game does not have a save function either, so players may quickly become tired and bored. During the game process, players can only interact with the game via mouse input; the probability of misoperation is somewhat high, and the game UI and graphics are also somewhat crude.

The ending of Twelve Minutes has too many branching options, and overall, the game offers minimal direction. Without a guide, it would likely take a long time to explore. The game will also permanently reset the game progress at certain endings. Though the overall idea is appropriate, it has still been criticized by many players. In addition, the plot of Twelve Minutes can be described as starting strong but falling flat. Many of the reversals are slightly abrupt and deliberate, the plot leaves too much suspense and room for imagination, without an official explanation.


Regardless, as a low-cost suspense puzzle, Twelve Minutes is full of ups and downs and constant reversals, and this game is unquestionably qualified. The short game duration, attractive settings, and easy-to-grasp gameplay have also expanded the audience. Despite this, the operations that players can perform are fairly limited, the game's story is self-consistent, but the viewing experience is by no means perfect. Even if Twelve Minutes could attract all kinds of players, it is difficult to make them all feel satisfied. The slightly poor game experience makes it almost impossible to attract players to play multiple times.

Since the plot is the core of Twelve Minutes, please try your best to avoid any form of spoilers, as they will bring devastating damage to the gaming experience.

Since the release of Genshin Impact in 2020, the work has been troubled by controversy. Although it is far ahead in terms of commercial revenue and has a player base that cannot be understated, its reputation among players has always been remarkably polarized due to factors such as its excessive borrowing from well-known games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its slightly crazy community. In any case, the success of it is unquestionable. Genshin Impact's outstanding commercial performance and revelation of the massive potential market and audience for ARPG mobile games have attracted countless followers and imitators of its model. Wuthering Waves is one of them. While using a more profound oriental culture as the game background, Wuthering Waves excels in combat, art style, and main storyline. However, its highly repetitive battles, monotonous open world exploration, lackluster side storylines, and mediocre gacha bonuses have also become its undeniable shortcomings.


Wuthering Wave's art level and graphics are indeed among the best in similar mobile games. The more refined scenes, character modeling, and support for ray tracing allow players to fully immerse themselves in this mysterious world, abundant in oriental charm. The top-notch music and excellent dubbing further enhance the immersive experience. As a game driven by plot and quests, Wuthering Waves has a significant amount of text, a grand world view, and intricate forces. The main storyline is the most orthodox shōnen style, gradually reaching its climax after act VIII of the first chapter, with breakthroughs in plot presentation, performance effects, and BOSS design. The game's plot, graphics, and gameplay are constantly being optimized and adjusted compared to the closed beta and public beta versions, which shows that the developer team listens to players' suggestions and feedback.

As a game with open world exploration as its core gameplay, the monster levels here will be dynamically adjusted according to the player's progress, and mechanisms such as grappling, gliding, and climbing are also very beneficial to the player's map exploration. It is also characterized by elements of puzzles and other mini-games, the overall difficulty is noticeably low as well. Wuthering Waves provides players with an unexpectedly refreshing and hearty combat experience, with greatly high character flexibility and mobility, team battles of up to three, and cooperative mechanisms such as intro and outro skills, as well as easily triggered parry and dodge counter-attack designs, which make the combat highly operational and enjoyable to watch. Only heavy attacks and dodging will consume stamina, and the player's attack frequency will not be affected. Echoes that can be absorbed like Pokémon and transform briefly during battle also add a lot of variables to the battles. The energy in the game is mainly used to obtain currency, skills, as well as weapon upgrade materials, and echoes. Among similar games that pursue grinding, the daily pressure of Wuthering Waves is relatively light. The game also supports cooperative exploration up to three players. In terms of character strength, the protagonist provided by the game is well-equipped to complete all game content, including high-difficulty levels. If non-paying players are willing to invest time, they can also get a good gaming experience.


As a story-driven game, Wuthering Waves has an extremely long text volume. The plot in the early stage is relatively straightforward. Some side quests and exploration quests closely related to the later exploration are profoundly unengaging and make the player drowsy. Players may trigger the plot content of multiple tasks simultaneously, and the task tracing design also has serious loopholes, and will often replace the currently tracing tasks. The protagonist only has plot voices in highly infrequent situations, and the overly passive plot advancement seriously damages the viewing experience. Wuthering Waves's portrayal of the characters is clustered in a specific version and mission. Many characters have no news after that, and all the completed missions and cutscene CGs in the game cannot be reviewed for now. In addition, the game will experience a brief black screen loading when switching between certain scenes, and characters will often appear to be clipped through the model, stuck in the model, and in other situations that substantially affect the gaming experience, especially when climbing.

The gameplay of Wuthering Waves can certainly bring a lot of fun and freshness to players at the beginning, but as the process continues, the high repetitiveness of combat and world exploration, which are the main content, can easily make players feel bored. In medium and high difficulty challenges, players are frequently required to follow a fixed character and team action combo sequence to maximize damage, and overly dazzling battle scenes often affect operations. Farming for the echoes and their sub-stats is the main point of character enforcement throughout this game, but this process is quite long and highly random. Though various gameplay and mechanics are integrated into the open world exploration, they all lack in-depth content, and the excessive number of puzzle elements is rather convoluted. The rewards gained from exploration are far from enough compared to the time and effort committed by players. As a gacha game, the bonuses of Wuthering Waves can only be said to be average. The gacha resources that players can obtain after entering the game are severely constrained. After the initial grinding, players will inevitably have to go through a long dead period because the character's level cap is tightly bound to the account level. Compared to Genshin Impact, this one primarily targets males in terms of player groups or operational tendencies. The small proportion of female players is one of the biggest differences between this one and Genshin Impact. The game's pool has a guaranteed size of 80/160 and a 0.8% drop rate. It is divided into a character and a weapon pool, and its design is rather malignant.


Though Wuthering Waves seemed relatively immature when it was first launched, after a year of operation, the game has gradually matured, and both its player base and revenue have become stable. Overall, the current Wuthering Waves is by no means as useless as some have disparaged it, but it is also far from being perfect, as its loyal fans claimed. It can only be said to be average, with obvious advantages and disadvantages, and a very clear target audience. This game is quite rich in content, but it is extremely time-consuming. The rigid link between character level and play time also means that players can only slowly savor the game content. Since daily grinding stress is generally low, the ability to tolerate highly repetitive combat and open world exploration will be the key to determining whether players can stay.

Since players cannot re-experience completed quests for now, it is recommended that players who plan to play for a long time try not to skip the main quest and the companion quests plot, both of which are key to shaping the game world and characters. Also, cause the combat of Wuthering Waves still has certain requirements on the player's operation, it is recommended to use a controller or play it on PC for mobile players. It is also worth mentioning that Wuthering Waves is quite friendly for returning players, so to some extent, it can be regarded as a game that can be freely picked up and put down at will.

If you were denied your eyesight and placed in a strange and dangerous dungeon, how might you flee? Dark Echo, initially released for mobile phones in 2015, is one such game. Players can only judge the surrounding environment through visual echoes here, and they have to face numerous traps and ferocious beasts. The game's incredible creativity instantly attracted attention and won the honor of Apple Store's most innovative phone game of 2015. Even in the subsequent wave of Indie games, there were few with similar innovations.

However, the level design of Dark Echo is somewhat mediocre, and the visual experience it brings to players is terrible. The overly brief game content and the horror elements it contains have also invisibly raised the threshold, causing the game to be silent for a time and fall to the point where no one cares about it. It was not until April 5, 2025, when the news that the game would be removed from Steam was announced, that it returned to the vision of many players once more, and for the last time.


Rather than playing the role of a blind person, players in the game are likelier to experience the feeling of a bat using echolocation. In addition to moving, players can also actively make sounds by clapping and throwing stones, and infer the surrounding environment that is differentiated by different colors through visual echos, such as red traps that will cause instant death, blue water flows that make loud noises, and yellow mechanisms that could change the scene. Beasts that track any sound in the scene and various dangerous automated mechanisms are the main obstacles to the player's escape. Occasionally they appear in parallel, requiring players to formulate targeted strategies and deal with them cleverly. The game's stereo sound effects are excellent as well. Whether it's the realistic echo of the scene when moving the dull roar of the beast, or the miserable scream when the character dies, they all fully mobilize the player's imagination and bring a strong sense of immersion and tension.


Dark Echo claims to have more than 80 levels divided into two worlds, black and white. The white is unlocked after the player completes the game for the first time. In almost every level, faster beasts are included, but except for a few levels where the scenes are changed, most of them are similar to the back and too monotonous. The game has an increasingly high tolerance for error requirements for player operations in the middle and late levels. Though there are a few outstanding levels, the overall lack of innovation and the design is far from sophisticated likewise, especially since the game indirectly encourages players to memorize the game and the core of passing level through trial and error after death is quite bad in puzzle games. As a result, though the game levels cannot be said to be difficult, the actual gaming experience is quite torturous.

One of the player's main actions in the level includes luring away beasts, but their movements can completely ignore the scene terrain, significantly destroying the immersion of the game. The alternating black-and-white images are too drastic in visual change, giving players a very uncomfortable visual experience, especially in the white world. The game's UI is too simplistic, the levels where treasures are veiled are packed too tightly, there is no real-time collection progress tracking in the game, and the thriller and horror elements also keep some casual players out.


The creativity of Dark Echo is amazing, but the lack of game content and monotonous level design have failed to maximize its capabilities, and it will inevitably be a flash in the pan. The removal of it from Steam was quite a gimmick, but may also be regarded as the swan song, allowing it, which was previously more of a distant memory of many players on mobile games, to shine for the last time.

In general, Dark Echo is a lightweight puzzle game. Its only highlight is the visualization of sound for exploration. The game process is not long and is very suitable for experiencing in leisure time, but it does not have the charm to attract players to play it multiple times. It is worth mentioning that this game essentially visualizes sounds as game images, so it is inappropriate for visually impaired players.

For a long time, there have been different opinions on the distinction of RTS (Real-time strategy) and RTT (Real-time tactics). Usually, those that emphasize the player's real-time resource collection, base construction, and unit production, and test the player's resource control and macro-allocation capabilities are considered RTS, such as WarCraft, StarCraft, Age of Empires, and Command& Conquer. RTT often simplifies or even eliminates the resource collection and base construction stages, allowing players to focus on coordinating multiple units. It requires high tactic and micro-control skills and introduces simulation mechanisms such as hit rate and more complex vision systems to increase uncertainty, such as Men of War, Sudden Strike, Company of Heroes, and World in Conflict.

The Wargame series is one of the most well-known IPs in the RTT industry today. It has been sought after by many military enthusiasts for its hardcore realistic military simulation gameplay, a wide variety of units, complex mechanisms, and diverse tactical options. Wargame: European Escalation is the starting point of this series. Compared with subsequent works, this one focuses on ground combat, and the single-player campaign is the only one in the series that is objective-oriented, which is quite a highlight. Despite this, it also has many shortcomings that cannot be ignored from the perspective of campaign design, operating experience, etc.


The player could control infantry, armored vehicles, main battle tanks, tank destroyers, self-propelled artillery, anti-aircraft artillery & missiles, helicopters, and other units, building their tactics according to the situation. By leaving command units in zones on the map, players could continuously gain command points for deploying units, only by controlling certain zones with pointing arrows, players are allowed to deploy units. Regarding combat design, there are large differences in the attack distance and movement speed of different units. Depending on the terrain they are in and the attacks they receive from different directions, mechanized units are most likely to suffer from various failures, which is quite hardcore and realistic. Morale is the most unique and important system in this game. Units suppressed by firepower will not only be frustrated in attack and movement but also are projected to collapse uncontrollably when morale is too low. The ammunition capacity of mechanized units in the game is often exceedingly restricted as well, and they consume fuel when moving, requiring players to exercise precise control and supply.

The single-player campaigns are mostly set in the Cold War period with a certain degree of fictional development. The broadcast-style CG brings players a full sense of immersion and a strong Cold War flavor. These campaigns are all guided by different objectives, victory only can be achieved by accomplishing them. Players could earn command stars by completing objectives in the campaign, they can be used to unlock units. As the campaign progresses, deployed units could accumulate experience, become elite units, and gain stronger combat effectiveness. In the same campaign, the number of each unit that players can deploy is limited, and unit losses will be inherited, requiring players to take a comprehensive approach and focus on loss control to avoid becoming unable to move forward at the end of the campaign. Though the game is relatively hardcore and challenging in general, most single-player campaigns can be saved at any time, which to a certain extent increases the player's tolerance for error.


The difficulty of the single-player campaign is constant, and players are almost always at a disadvantage from fighting against a large force with fewer units. The number of enemy AI is always several times that of the players, and they often remain hidden in various corners of the map. In many situations, you even need to actively attack the enemy's command units to break the situation, so the tactics of steady and steady progress may be at a disadvantage, and the player must use unexpected tactics frequently. The in-game speed is fixed, the player cannot pause or slow down during the game, which is very unfriendly to those who are not proficient in operating multiple units. Many enemy units in the game are often forgotten by the AI and left there in a daze, leaving players with many opportunities to take advantage of. The AI's only strength is probably its simultaneous and fast multi-line operation. The campaign is exclusively objective-oriented, allowing players to take shortcuts, completely ignore casualties and battle situations, and even win despite losing everything, once players have achieved the objective. The strength of self-propelled artillery and gunship helicopters in specific situations is too high, which invisibly affects and restricts the player's tactical choices.

As a hardcore realistic RTT, the tutorials in this game are mostly text-based and consist of only a few words. Complex vision, buildings, supplies, and other mechanisms require players to explore and try out their methods. The campaign included with the DLC cannot be saved midway, which adds a lot of difficulty. Though there are a huge number of units in the game, they are relatively homogeneous, and the text descriptions of many objectives in the campaign are also misleading, making it difficult for players to judge whether they have achieved them or not. The map scenes are also very similar, the unit modeling is slightly rough, and the music tracks are incredibly finite and monotonous. Enemies at the edge of the map cannot be attacked directly, and the campaign ends abruptly without a cutscene after completion, which greatly weakens the sense of immersion and accomplishment. The game's single-player skirmish only supports 1V1, and the online mode, which can accommodate up to 8 people, is no longer available due to the loss of almost all players, making the main content of the game now almost entirely focused on the campaign.


As the debut work in the Wargame series, Wargame: European Expansion has both highlights and shortcomings, especially the lack of sufficient tutorials, which makes the entry threshold and difficulty of this work extremely high, and the learning curve for new players is extremely steep. Despite this, it is still an excellent hardcore Cold War RTT that is worth a try for series fans and military enthusiasts, as well as players who are willing to invest the time. Since the overall pace of the game is slow, and one battle will make most players feel tired, so players may experience a longer play cycle. If you simply want a more mature gaming experience and don't care about the single-player campaign, maybe considering the latest work in the Wargame series would be the best option.

Since the Dota 2 community workshop released Dota Auto Battler in 2019, the game genre of Auto Battler has gradually become popular. In the second half of 2019, Teamfight Tactics and Hearthstone's Battlegrounds mode pushed the popularity of Auto Battler as a game type to a peak. Many Indie games have been using it as the main gameplay since then.

Heretic's Fork, characterized by dark fantasy and avant-garde punk visual art, is a roguelike game that incorporates deck building and tower defense elements into the gameplay of auto battler. The novel, interesting and refreshing gameplay can make players addicted to it within a few hours of getting started. Unfortunately, this popularity came and went quickly. The game's levels and enemy designs were too monotonous and repetitive, and the strong balance between different structures was terrible, making it impossible to continue to bring freshness to players.


Integrating the three primary game mechanisms of tower defense, deck building, and auto battler is indeed a bold attempt, and in this regard, the initial impression left on players by Heretic's Fork is excellent. Players need to make operational decisions through deck drawing and card upgrades. The diverse character characteristics, numerous active skills, and unique card effects give the game multiple diverse gameplay styles.

With metal rock and synthesizer electronic music as the themes, the sometimes passionate and sometimes slow music not only echoes the art style of the Heretic's Fork but also adds a lot of fun and immersion to this auto battler game. The game's main menu interface is designed to imitate a computer operating system, and there are many Easter eggs for players to discover. At 2x speed, the game lasts about half an hour for each run, which is a relatively suitable time. For the vast majority of players, within the first ten hours of playing the game, they will be attracted by its refreshing, creative and appealing gameplay and will be reluctant to leave.


Unfortunately, as players spend more time playing the game, Heretic's Fork's multiple shortcomings gradually become apparent. The levels and enemies in the game are very similar in design. The types of maps and enemies are intensely single and fixed, the high difficulty only increases the enemy's spawn rate, health, movement speed, and resistance, which is the most boring numerical expansion. Among the only two structures in the game, garrison, and towers, the towers are too strong, and even among them, the unholy critical hit is the strongest and most brainless. Due to this imbalance design, players have very few strategy choices at high difficulty, With the maximum number of cards being more than 280, the inability to filter through streamlined card pools has instead affected the player's gaming experience.

The game's target acquisition logic is highly rigid and often results in incredibly inefficient performance. For some structures such as Judgment and Sawblade, players cannot freely choose their locations likewise. From the perspective of data visualization and player experience optimization, Heretic's Fork has done a terrible job. In addition to the fact that upgrading card action often leads to banishing due to unintentionally overlap, the upgrade bonuses obtained are not intuitively displayed in the game through numbers, and players have to calculate them themselves. When selecting cards reward, you cannot view the upgrade items as well. When checking decks, there is a bug that prevents all cards from being fully displayed. Some scenes in the game also have frequent screen flickering, which does not give players a comfortable visual experience.


A qualified Roguelike should start from the most fundamental and gradually progress to the complex, unlocking all the content provided in the game through player exploration, and obtaining a different gaming experience in each playthrough under a highly randomized game mechanism. The design of Heretic's Fork makes the fun and essence of the game almost entirely concentrated in the first few hours of players' learning. Players' mid-to-late game experience is increasingly homogenized due to the lack of randomness. The avant-garde punk visual art cannot bring continuous visual stimulation to players in the game due to its pixelated style as well. Perhaps it is most appropriate to regard the game as a snackable Indie game, which is destined not to be a game that can bring lasting fun to players.