Combat – Random Game Reviews

Sundered: Eldritch Edition

February 23, 2023February 23, 2023olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

Sundered: Eldritch Edition developed by Thunder Lotus Games (the same team behind Jotun) is a metroidvania game with stunning graphics. The story follows Eshe who finds herself in a mysterious ancient ruin where she is bound to Trapezohedron, an ancient force that allows her to fight her way through the world she now finds herself permanently trapped in.

The game follows the standard metroidvania recipe of 2D platforming, non-linear progression and various weapons and upgrades scattered around the world, each potentially unlocking other areas of the map. In Sundered every time you die (or return the the start area) you get to spend all the shards you’ve collected on permanent upgrades and face the newly randomised map again. Key rooms remain in place but the various paths to get there may change. The enemies aren’t overly diverse but are stronger in later areas, you will also find they sometimes attack in hordes which will have you mashing buttons while you cling on for dear life.

As you progress through the game and acquire new skills you will also come across elder shards. These will give you an interesting dilemma that determines the end outcome of the game – you can chose to corrupt your skills moving you towards the dark and corrupted side or you can destroy the shards for a random skill upgrade and a pile of shards to spend on upgrades. As the story progresses and you defeat more bosses you learn that the ancient Eldritch powers that once inhabited these ruins were at war with the Valkyries – humans with advanced technology set to destroy the magical beings. You fight corrupted versions of both factions as you navigate the ruins.

Worth it?

I am personally not a major platformer player or fan of metroidvania style games, but the artwork on Sundered really pulled me in. The Thunder Lotus team has some serious pedigree in terms of other games like Jotun: Valhalla Edition and Spiritfarer. The artwork on Sundered: Eldritch Edition really hits the mark. The gameplay and combat mechanics are also really satisfying, especially as you get more and more powerful and unlock the various skills. I did find the charged attacks a little hard to use and the enemies can get a little repetitive (especially when the mini-bosses are just more powerful versions of them). The choice between corruption and purity adds a nice bit of depth and replay value to the game – making you think about your choices and the path you would like to take.

Brand new the game will set you back around £15.49, but it’s available for free for PS Plus Extra tier and often on sale for quite cheap on other platforms anywhere from £1.50 on Kinguin to £12 on CDKeys. You will get decent playtime out of the game (around 10-15 hours) and it even has a reasonable amount of replay value in terms of which path you end up choosing. There is even an option to play up to 4 player co-op (if you have enough controllers) in Magnate of the Gong (not the full game). Overall I would seriously consider picking this game up and if you’re a metroidvania fan then absolutely check it out.

Tips

You can destroy your elder shards in order to get a large amount of shards and a random skill upgrade (this is unlocked in the skill tree and you have to upgrade your way to it).
You can use elder shards to corrupt your powers making them more powerful or giving them key modifications.
Corrupting the gravity boots is particularly useful as it allows you to crawl up any wall that you come into contact with (rather than having to start at its base with just the boots).
Sometimes it’s worth just running through an area in an attempt to unlock a shortcut or to get to a specific perk.
The gong room in the left/2nd area is much easier to complete once you have the grappling hook.
Check out the complete guide on corrupting or incinerating shards below.
Getting the skill that allows you to see treasure on the map will also show you the locations of secret elder shards scattered throughout the world.

Useful Links

Complete guide to corrupted and upgrades abilities: https://www.player.one/sundered-guide-abilities-corrupted-upgraded-elder-shards-final-boss-118701
Game on CDKeys
Game on Kinguin
Wiki: https://sundered.fandom.com/wiki/Sundered_Wiki

Empire of Sin

September 27, 2022September 27, 2022olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

Empire of Sin, published by Paradox Gaming is a strategy simulation game with turn based combat. You play as a 1920s gangster during the period of prohibition, competing with other gangsters for control over Chicago and running your various rackets. Rackets range from speakeasies to casinos and brothels and a few extra special buildings. The key resource that you need to ensure you have a steady production rate of is alcohol. You upgrade your breweries and the quality of alcohol to ensure a steady flow and good profits. As the game progresses and you get into the politics of it you can begin to make trade agreements, pacts or go to war with other mob bosses. You hire a team of various gangsters and when you engage in combat it plays out like a turn based XCOM-style battle.

The game allows you to build a badass crew of gangsters from a big roster of unique characters from a variety of classes and in a variety of tiers (differing in price and abilities). Each of the gangsters will have relations to others or can even develop them while you’re in a crew – for example they may fall in love with each other or if you kill one of their friends in a different crew they may refuse to work for you for a while. As you progress in the game your gangsters will unlock new skills, you will find new weapons to equip them with and their loyalty to you will improve.

Ultimately your aim is to take over Chicago by either killing all other major factions or finding ways to buy them out and establish control over all neighbourhoods.

Worth it?

Overall the game will set you back around £15 (or around £5 on sale) and while the theme and characters are quite cool, the game falls a bit short in terms of delivering on player experience. The combat gets repetitive extremely quickly, there’s little variety in the environments you fight in. The game makes you grind other mobster’s rackets and districts, slowly building up your empire but after a certain while you are just spamming upgrades on your rackets and fighting the same fight in the streets and enemy rackets. There are also various known bugs in the game which tarnish the experience even more.

Winning the game feels like an incredibly long grind, it would be nice to see more variety in environments and a bit more diversity in enemies and scenarios. The characters, their dynamics and their personalities are an interesting element of the game and could be built upon. There is DLC which adds an extra racket and new playable gangsters and weapons, but for £10+ it’s a considerable additional cost. Overall the concept, characters, art and theme are good but the repetitive gameplay and a buggy experience, I wouldn’t pay more than £5 and the game offers little replay value (it is free on PS Plus Extra at least).

Tips

Use taxis to travel around the map
Don’t rush into hiring too many gangsters, but at the same time their cost remains at the level it is when you first hire them (or goes down) so hiring higher tier gangsters early is better
Don’t overextend – secure and upgrade neighbourhoods before adding more
Focus on thug-run neighbourhoods – they are easy to take over and won’t affect standings with other mobsters
If you kill a gang-leader their districts will all become thug owned, initially with 0 rackets – if you take over the thug depos you will get the district clean with all rackets immediately purchasable
Remember to check the black market trader every so often
Make sure your gangsters have health items equipped
When on the streets try to ambush enemy guards to get an advantage
Focus on your character’s bonuses and types of rackets that they scale from
Try not to anger the police – don’t kill officers and don’t be afraid to bribe them

Useful Links

Jotun: Valhalla Edition

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

Jotun: Valhalla Edition made by Thunder Lots Games is an amazingly aesthetic game based on Norse mythology. Battle your way past gods and figure out weird puzzles on your way through the afterlife. You play as Thora – a recently deceased human wielding a massive two-handed axe. This is quite a challenging game which will have you in potential fits of anger as you face up against some of the later bosses. Each big boss (known as Jotun) fight is preceded by a couple of relatively peaceful missions to find some runes, often accompanied by a puzzle of sorts. Often you will also find special shrines that give you some interesting skills ranging from healing and shields to decoys and even the blessing of Thor’s hammer.

Once you have collected the appropriate runes you face off against a boss, and boy do these bosses pack a punch. The sense of scale is something the game plays with really successfully by pitting you – a tiny human against some truly gigantic deities. Each Jotun will have various phases, attack patterns and timings that you will need to learn and master in order to get past them. These fights can be very frustrating and you will suffer a quick death if you make too many mistakes. The process of figuring these bosses out and beating them is extremely satisfying.

Worth it?

Generally the game will set you back around £12 depending on platform, but is very often on sale up to 75%, allowing you to pick it up for less than £5. At that price it’s a must have. The game is an acquired taste in terms of difficulty, but an audio-visual masterpiece. The narration, soundtrack and artwork are something truly special and a testament to indie game development. If you see this game on sale make sure to pick it up. Overall it’s definitely worth the purchase and while the gameplay itself won’t last you more than around 5-6 hours, the world is so beautiful and the gameplay is extremely satisfying (and also challenging), making it an absolute must have.

Tips

Keep on the look out for Ithunn’s Apples – these will upgrade your health bar
The shrines of Mimir will replenish your skills and health, but they can only do so once
Take time to study a boss’ movement patterns and attacks
Heavy attacks will often do different things than basic attacks – experiment with this
Look for openings between legs arms or other bits where you can avoid being hit

Useful Links

Kinguin Cheap CD Key: https://www.kinguin.net/category/29712/jotun-valhalla-edition-steam-cd-key?r=rndgamereviews
Wiki: https://jotun.fandom.com/wiki/Jotun_Wiki
Nintendo Tips Video (Spoilers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4WvivL0R_M

Minecraft (Bedrock Edition) – Coming Back to Minecraft After 10+ years

March 22, 2022March 22, 2022olivlaytchev1 Comment

The Game

Minecraft a game developed by Mojang needs little to no introduction. The game started in Alpha in 2010 and was officially released in 2011. There are technically two independent versions – Bedrock and Java edition, where Bedrock is the version available on all consoles, mobile and windows 10. Over the years the game has continuously been developed and grown far beyond what it was in those very early days. It still carries on growing even today with the recent 1.18 Caves and Cliffs update and the upcoming 1.19 Wild update.

If you haven’t played for as long as I have you really are in for a treat. The world generation, biomes, creatures, NPCs, crafting and literally every single element of the game has had some sort of addition or expansion over the years. There are new animals like pandas, bees, axolotls, alpacas and more. The Nether has been completely overhauled with new nether biomes and structures like bastions, there is more to the End than just the dragon – end cities allow for late game dungeons and loot to be obtained. Oceans have changed massively, sunken ships, buried treasures, corals, sea turtles, ruins, ocean monuments and elder guardians and many other additions have made the oceans of Minecraft a lot more interesting and worth exploring as much as any overworld biome. There are now various types of mountain, taiga forests, ice biomes. There are new types of caves and the world goes deeper than ever before.

Villagers were only just introduced when I last played Minecraft all those years ago and while initially they didn’t have much purpose, they are now an integral part to surviving. There are a variety of villages depending on the biome they spawn in, various villager professions, each with its own set of trades. Trading with villagers will level them up, unlocking new trade options – sometimes even allowing you trade for incredibly rare items. The villagers now also have enemies in the world, their evil counterparts – the illagers. These can spawn on patrol in the world, in woodland mansions, at pillager outposts or during raids. There are various types of illagers each with their own skills, weapons and abilities. There is also a sequence of events whereby killing an illager captain (gaining the Bad Omen status) and then walking into a village will trigger a raid by consecutives waves of illagers. Defeat the raid and you might get an amazing drop – the Totem of Undying (hold in your hand when you die to instantly respawn).

Worth it?

Generally speaking whichever version you may choose you will likely be spending anywhere from £10 to £20 for the game. There are various CD Key outlets offering lower prices too. What’s most important is to define that any platform other than desktop will be the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft. On PC you will have a choice between the original Java edition and Bedrock Edition. While the majority of the core game mechanics are the same between games, there are some very key differences in terms of mob spawning and various other niche elements that could potentially make all those tutorials for farms you are watching irrelevant to your version. The other very notable difference between the two is that on Java you will have access to endless free mods, texture packs and other community content. On Bedrock you will need to purchase Minecoins in order to buy the same types of things.

While on the one hand the store in Bedrock is a nice chance for content creators to get recognised and make money from their work it also takes away from so much that Minecraft originally was and feels like a bit of a cold attempt at squeezing more money out of the player. On consoles you cannot play split-screen unless the other player also has a purchased version/account on Minecraft – making local/offline couch co-op not an option, which was actually a major disappointment and feels like a bit of slap in the face. Changes are also being made to bring Java edition more in line with this, under the guise of improving player safety.

Overall it’s very difficult to fault Minecraft as a game – it really has withstood the test of time and coming back to it after being away for so long is like rediscovering something you loved as a kid which has kept growing and changing over all these years. The game has proven itself in terms of depth and potential and the continuous work on it means there’s always something to look forward to. If you want to lose potentially thousands of hours building and surviving in your very own Minecraft world, or last played it more than 5 years ago – then by all means give it a go.

Tips

Make a shield and equip it as soon as you have access to iron
Donkeys can be equipped with chests to help carry more
Animals can be leashed to fence posts
Scutes dropped from baby turtles can help make a helmet that will help you spend more time underwater
Mobs cannot spawn on bottom half slab blocks (or other non-whole blocks like rails, string, carpets)
Traveling 1 block in the Nether is equivalent to travelling 8 in the above world
Enable coordinates on Bedrock – make note/screenshots of coordinates you want to come back to
Keep a water bucket on you, it can be useful to go up/down into ravines or to put yourself out if you’re on fire
Mending is a great enchantment for your high-level gear – it will repair your equipment with exp
Automate things using redstone contraptions
You can reset villager trades by removing their work station and replacing it – once you have made a trade with a villager that will lock their trades in even if the work station is moved
Check a seed map to find out where various things in your world are located

Useful Links

Cheap CD Keys Kinguin: https://www.kinguin.net/listing?active=0&hideUnavailable=0&phrase=Minecraft&page=0&size=25&sort=bestseller.total,DESC&r=rndgamereviews
JC Playz – YouTube Bedrock Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC28FPve5TtZ469khubfiAPw
Pixlriffs – YouTube Survival Guide (Java): https://www.youtube.com/c/Pixlriffs
Wiki: https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Minecraft_Wiki
Seed Map: https://www.chunkbase.com/apps/seed-map

Card Guardians: Deck Building Roguelike Card Game

October 28, 2021May 9, 2022olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

Card Guardians (as it should be called) is a deck building turn based combat game by Tapps Games – PT. The game has likely drawn a good deal of inspiration from the popular Slay the Spire. It is a simple concept based around fighting various mobs using a deck of various cards. Every time you beat an enemy you will advance on your current adventure – you will get to choose a card to add to your deck (for this adventure only) and a choice of what to do next. Sometimes you will get to choose a way to improve your deck or heal up, other times you will have to choose which enemy you would like to take on.

Your adventures will get you gold and armour – armour can be upgraded in quality by merging 4 alike pieces. Each piece of armour can then be upgraded using gold to increase the base stats that it provides (gloves boost attack, helmets boost defence, chest pieces boost health). There are different types of armour and armour sets that provide unique set bonuses which will give you a better chance at the start of the battle.

Worth it?

Overall the game takes some clever and familiar mechanics and delivers an enjoyable and challenging experience. The game is also easy to pick up and drop as it will save your progress on your last run. My biggest issue with the game is that in a way you are “forced” to watch videos after each battle to get the better loot. While you don’t have to, if you want more gold and a better card selection – it will be in your interest to do so. One slightly annoying aspect is that it seems you need 4 piece of the same armour to upgrade the quality as opposed to 3 (which is sort of what the UI suggests). The game currently has two playable characters which are completely different – giving the game quite a bit of variety in terms of play style.

The ad-free version is £6.99 which is a bit on the expensive side for what it actually offers – the key benefit being a free way to upgrade your loot after each battle and a free revive if you die on an adventure. If the overall price was 15-20% cheaper it would make a lot more sense to go for as the perks are pretty useful. Gameplay is fairly repetitive but the randomness of the cards you may get allows you to try different tactics and ensures that each run is completely unique.

Tips

You can use defend or magic cards once you’ve filled up your super power without resetting it.
Exile cards can only be used once per battle, but will return to your deck in your next fight.
When offered the shop choice – you can buy multiple cards using gold.
Your armour will be lost on your next turn so don’t overextend your use of “Defend” cards.

Useful Links

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tapps.roguelike.rpg.cardguardians&hl=en_GB&gl=US

The Survivalists

September 11, 2021September 11, 2021olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

The Survivalists is a pixel-graphics survival game by Team17. You are stranded on a deserted (or is it?) island in the middle of the ocean with nothing but the clothes on your back and the wreckage of your raft. It’s up to you to build up your base and arsenal of tools and weapons and eventually make your way to other islands and even back home. The game shares a lot of similarities with other popular survival games (like Don’t Starve), but is also quite forgiving and can be quite chill at times (rather than the hectic panic that other such games induce). There are regular attacks by the goblin natives of the islands – you will always be warned the evening before these occur and you’ll have a good amount of time to prepare yourself for the impending attack.

Where The Survivalists really comes into its own is it’s unique monkey buddy system. While exploring the islands you will run into monkeys who will need your help – sometimes they’ll be capture in a cage that needs breaking, other times they will need a specific item. Once you’ve helped them they will join you on your adventures and quite literally follow all of your orders. The monkeys allow you to automate production, construction, resource harvesting, combat, etc. as you can teach each monkey to perform one of the roles described above. This is quite a unique mechanic and makes for some pretty interesting scenarios, especially as you amass a bigger and bigger following of monkeys.

The game also features vaults and labyrinths, which are basically dungeons with cool loot and secrets to be uncovered. These are scattered throughout the world and up to you to find on your adventures. The labyrinths will require special keys to be purchased from the Mysterious Stranger. There are a few other NPCs and some quests that will keep you busy when you get bored of building up your base and gathering resources. If that’s not enough for you, you can also play cooperatively with your friends online (sadly no couch co-op options available).

Worth it?

The game has all the classic survival game mechanics you’d ever want and the monkeys give the game something truly unique. I would even argue that they make the game what it is – they take away the tediousness of crafting and resource gathering and allow you to focus on the bigger picture problems like layout out your base, exploring or even just watching them to all the hard work while you take a nap. The game will generally set you back around £20 but is often on sale for around £10 (you really can’t say no to that). I played the PS4 version and have very little to fault it on there.

Overall it’s a very enjoyable game with a great amount of depth to it – it can be quite chill at times, at other moments you may be fighting for your life. As with all such games, things to tend to get a bit repetitive after a while and the loop of finding better materials for better tools to get better materials starts to become a bit tedious – that would be my only major criticism. Other than that the game has some truly unique elements to it and will keep you busy for hours on end. It also has that addictive moment where you just keep thinking to yourself: “one more day, one more job” and then you find you’ve actually played a few hours longer than expected.

Tips

Only go up 1 difficulty when moving to a new island, otherwise you won’t be able to gather resource and will probably get killed.
Gather as many monkeys as you can.
Setting monkeys to follow you and giving them weapons will allow them to fight alongside you.
Vaults aren’t too difficult, especially on the first island – they often contain monkeys as well.
You can give a chest to a monkey to carry as a way to have more storage space when out in the world.
Try to get to the 3rd difficulty island asap as you will find the materials for portals there – this will help you massively with navigating the world.
Find the Mysterious Stranger to buy the Mysterious Chest (36 slots) for 500 Doubloons – this will help you massively when adventuring.
Complete 3 quests for the Beastmaster to unlock the first backpack upgrade to be purchased from the Mysterious Stranger – these will then appear on the 2nd page of the crafting menu.

Useful Links

Wiki: https://thesurvivalists.fandom.com/wiki/The_Survivalists_Wiki
Steam CD key: https://www.kinguin.net/category/77596/the-survivalists-steam-cd-key?r=rndgamereviews
Deluxe Edition Steam CD key: https://www.kinguin.net/category/79217/the-survivalists-deluxe-edition-steam-cd-key?r=rndgamereviews

Horizon: Zero Dawn

June 13, 2021June 13, 2021olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

It’s been a couple weeks since gameplay footage for Horizon: Forbidden West were shared by game developers Guerilla Games. With that you may be asking yourself if it’s time you finally played Horizon: Zero Dawn if you haven’t already or giving it a replay if you already own it. The short answer is YES.

For those who haven’t already played it, Horizon: Zero Dawn is set in a post-apocalyptic version of our world, where the earth is roamed by giant mechanical beasts and civilization has descended into warring tribal factions. You play as the badass machine hunter from the Nora tribe – Aloy, a woman outcast as a child with a mysterious past that is more connected to the state of the planet than she thinks.

The tutorial zone brings you up to speed with hunting machines and sneaking around the world, which are the main two actions that comprise the core gameplay loop. There are a variety of machines and classes, much like animals in the real world. Each machine will have one or more elemental types, vulnerable spots (hit these), and behaviour. Initially you’ll start out with a bow and staff as your weapons, but as the game progresses you will amass an arsenal capable of taking down even the toughest machines. You’ll have access to bows, traps, slingshots and some more unique weapons like the ropecaster, rattler or tearblaster.

Once you’ve completed the tutorial zone you’ll be thrown onto into the massive open world onto your mission – this is where the game really opens up and let’s you do whatever you please. There are loads of side quests, collectibles and challenges to keep you in the game for ages and as if that wasn’t enough, the game has an awesome photo mode which will allow you to tinker with Aloy’s pose, filters and many other options – allowing you to get the perfect shot.

Horizon Zero Dawn™: Complete Edition_20210502205426

Worth it?

Generally you can find the game on sale for around £10.00 including the Frozen Wilds DLC, which is an absolute steal. If you focus on only the main quests, the main game will probably take you around 20-25 hours to complete, but if you’re like me and end up helping almost everyone you meet or getting side tracked with collectibles and various other activities you’re looking at at least 40 hours. The game is a visual masterpiece – the thought and details behind every machine are amazing, the scenery, the landscape and the story all deliver on a both a personal and a big picture scale. There are some minor ease of life improvements to be desired like being able to pay to fill your medicine pouch, also sometimes the climbable areas can be a little hard to see, but none of these are really deal breakers. The size of the world and amount of things to do can be a bit daunting and I did occasionally struggle to find the motivation to finish it, but I was very glad when I did finally see it through to a close.

Overall the narrative, character design, aesthetics and gameplay will transport you to another world. The size of the world and the amount of things to do will keep you busy for days. Some fights will really get your heart going and the story will make you think about the world and humanity as a whole. This is a modern classic, making it most certainly a must play. With a sequel coming soon, it’s definitely worth picking this up, especially considering the low prices.

Tips

Get the machine override components as soon as you can
Choose your fights – you don’t have to take down every machine you see
Farm animals for meats and skins
Upgrade your carrying/ammo capacity from the “Crafting” part of the menu
Rather than trying to figure out a machine’s weaknesses with your focus in the fight, open the menu and check your notebook for details on all scanned machines
Use overrides to pit machines against each other
Use the ropecaster to tie down flying enemies
The tearblaster is incredibly strong at close range and can help strip a machine of it’s most lethal weapons
Aim to get the purple level weapons/armour as soon as you can, you can also have a variety of weapons to switch between depending on the enemy
The lure/call skill can be very useful when trying to pull a specific machine to a stealth area for a quick and quiet kill

Useful Links

Kinguin CDKeys: https://www.kinguin.net/listing?active=0&hideUnavailable=0&phrase=Horizon%3A%20Zero%20Dawn&page=0&size=25&sort=bestseller.total,DESC&r=rndgamereviews
Wiki: https://horizon.fandom.com/wiki/Horizon_Wiki
Horizon Forbidden West Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpgXz5Z9v-U&ab_channel=PlayStation

Abstrrkt Explorers

May 29, 2021May 29, 2021olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

Do you have that feeling that all mobile strategy games are just annoying gatcha games with loads of microtransactions to help you speed things up? Me too, but this one is something different. Abstrrkt Explorers (or just Explorers) by Abstrrkt is a free, turn based strategy game for android. The game is reminiscent of some familiar classics (live Civ 6) with its hex grid setup and conquest mechanics. The game is pretty much a fully fledged 4X game which lets you build, explore, develop and fight for control over the world. It has a campaign mode, single player and even a local multiplayer option.

The campaign serves as a tutorial and introduction to the game. It gives you series of increasingly challenging and complex scenarios. Things start out simple with a small settlement and 4 initial types of resource wood, stone, food and population. You need to build up your economy through farms, lumberjacks and fishermen or hunters, later on gold is also added. You can then expand your empire through barracks which you can later upgrade. This is where the combat element of the game is introduced.

The combat is a bit of a different take and is based around the influence zones of your barracks and taking barracks from your enemies using your units from your own adjacent barracks. The game adds a bunch of other buildings as you progress, including catapults, harbours and ships. All this and more is delivered in a nice pastel low poly style with simple and intuitive controls.

Worth it?

A beautiful game with a lot of depth. The various game modes will give you plenty to mess around with, the campaign has a lot of gameplay for you to get stuck into (6 missions total). There are 3 types of game you can run in single player (Fixed, Domination, Survival) and a bunch of other settings you can configure. There are some ads, mainly in between campaign missions or when you start a game, overall they aren’t that intrusive but if you’d like to help the developer out you can buy an ad free option for £3.09. The game has a lot to offer, but there are some drawbacks, personally I think the combat can get to a point where you are just trading buildings with the AI without making much progress and that can be a bit frustrating. It feels like maybe another dimension can be added apart from the catapults and you can only ever build one new soldier per turn per barrack. The research tree has a good amount to uncover and keep you busy and it could easily be expanded with new buildings or upgrades.

Overall a great game for short to medium length sessions, although the game definitely has that “one more turn” element that can keep you locked in for ages. The simple style and low poly aesthetics make for a very beautiful and chill experience. There’s a bit more to be desired in terms of the combat, but other than that it’s quite a solid game with various gameplay modes and even a local multiplayer option.

Tips

Focus on food the most (especially early game)
Try and place as many buildings as you can each turn
Reinforce your barracks with units – ideally build a unit every turn
If you set a barrack to receive units it will pull in units from all barracks which have the “deploy” option on

Useful Links

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.abstrrkt.explorers&hl=en_GB&gl=US
Developer’s Site: https://abstrrkt.com/explorers

Final Fantasy VII Remake

March 20, 2021March 20, 2021olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

Final Fantasy VII Remake by Square Enix is a brilliant introduction to the Final Fantasy series for anyone who’s never played any of the other games in the series. The original game was released in 1997 and made quite the impression. 23 years later the remake version was released. It keeps much of the original story, modernises the visuals and and has a truly unique battle system.

The game is a JRPG with “turn based” strategy elements in the combat – they aren’t really turn based, but you can essentially pause time and pick a move to perform. During fights you will be battle using your basic and heavy attacks to fill your ATB gauge, once that’s filled you can essentially pause the game and choose from a variety of spells and abilities to perform on your enemies. This system is quite rewarding, and fun to use, the combat itself can be quite hard as you block and dodge attacks and spells. There are some truly epic boss fights and monsters in this game, becoming more and more powerful as the story progresses.

The story is based around a group of “eco-terrorists” attempting to take down the evil corporation Shinra that is destroying the planet by draining it of its magical life force – mako. It’s set in a steam-punk(ish) fantasy world and you play as Cloud, an ex-SOLDIER – as you find out that means you have some pretty unique combat skills and are generally quite powerful. You are a mercenary, but you find yourself helping out Avalanche (the eco-terrorists) and cultivating your friendships with the key characters of the game. The game is rich with amazing side characters and stories all set in a detailed semi-open world (zone/level-based).

Worth it?

The game has a gripping story that makes you want to keep playing for hours on end. The combat system is quite unique, although it can take some time to master blocking due to the fact that dodge can be somewhat unreliable. There are some truly epic boss fights and the game is visually stunning. Levels are generally quite linear (except the more notable districts). The game is exclusive to PlayStation and will set you back around £60 on the PlayStation store, so you may want to keep on the lookout for better deals or discounts. Admittedly it’s only a year old and has hours of gameplay for you – with side questing (which I highly recommend), it took me around 32 hours to complete the game.

Overall I’d highly recommend the game, especially for anyone who’s never played a Final Fantasy game – it turns out there’s actually little connecting the various games in the franchise story wise, so this is as good a game as any to jump into the series. The game offers a good challenge, hours of gameplay, a rewarding and unique combat system, stunning graphics and a compelling story.

Tips

Always have Materia equipped so that you can level them up – they increase their level simply for being equipped in battle
Get the Assess Materia as soon as you have an option to do the side quest for Chadley, which is basically one of the first side quests in the game
Use blue Materia in linked slots in order to enhance or interact with the other Materia – Magnify and Elemental are two of the more notable ones
Always be on the look out for hidden chests and destroy any Shinra boxes you encounter
Interrupt enemy spells by using spells or abilities on them while casting (while they have a red text above them)
You can reset your weapon points/upgrades by visiting Chadley
You can use healing spells outside of combat

Useful Links

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) Amazon £32.95 – https://amzn.to/3cPl1sF
Final Fantasy VII Remake Deluxe Edition (PS4) Amazon £68.95 – https://amzn.to/3c3KWh1
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS5) Amazon £69.99 – https://amzn.to/3lCiHZZ
FF VII Remake Wiki – https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII_Remake

The Wanderer

February 6, 2021February 6, 2021olivlaytchevLeave a comment

The Game

The Wanderer is a mobile game made by Jamie Parish, an indie developer. The game draws inspiration from other post-apocalyptic titles (a few nods to Fallout), you will be challenged to survive and wander around the irradiated plains of what used to be a civilised world. At the beginning you are given a base camp where you can manage and store your resources, upgrade certain devices that will aid your survival and generally rest and reset between exploration missions. The core gameplay loop consists of you venturing out from your camp to various points on the map where you hope to find resources. Each hour of movement will cost you water and food, which you must replenish with the resources that you find. You will also have to maintain your health, illness and radiation levels as various foods or events can have an impact on those.

The game gives you some neat customisation options when starting out as well as a list of options that can make your playthrough even more challenging (should you choose to enable them). You will also have skill points to spend and you’ll earn more each time you level up. On your adventures you will often encounter random events where you will have a choice between several interactions – sometimes you may run into someone who requires some items, other times you may get attacked by irradiated monsters or bandits. When you arrive at points of interest you will be able to collect resources, these will reset each time you return to your home base. While there isn’t much to the core loop it can be quite addictive as you try to collect the resources you need to upgrade your tools and the ultimate goal is to repair the old van, which will massively aid you on your journeys.

Worth it?

The game has come a long way from its humble beginnings and there is really very little to fault on it. It’s great as both a casual game or something you spend hours on, trying to gather the right resources. There are some very minor gatcha elements like a log in reward, reward chests and you can watch videos to help boost XP or buy premium currency (which allows you to fast travel or respec), but for the most part these are completely unneeded and not intrusive at all.

Overall it’s a great little game and has all the key elements to keep you engaged for longer periods of time – things to build and upgrade, plenty to explore, some tricky resource management at times, quests, achievements, levels and even things like daily login rewards. It can be great for either a short play where you just go and explore a few locations or for extended sessions where venture much further from your home base or work towards building that van and upgrading your camp as much as possible. Definitely worth checking out as it is still being updated and actively improved,

Tips

If you are over exposed to radiation you will mutate – this will prevent you from getting radiation or illness from eating bad food, but you will lose health every hour. This can be easier to manage than constantly buying radiation masks
Revisit places near to your base – these reset every time you go back to your home base.
Focus on upgrading your backpack and base storage
Recruiting the dog companion can be very useful as it can do really good damage at a higher level, however you will need to give it food and water
Don’t bother healing the dog as it will restore health provided it’s got food and water
Invest some points in Agility and Strength in order to increase the size of the hitbox in combat, as sometimes combat is pretty unavoidable
Ammo sells for quite a few caps
Karma will affect the sort of things that you find when scavenging – better karma, better loot

Useful Links