Review: Blackguards
Neutral: There is certainly enough to love in the story and roleplaying of Blackguards, but the combats are pretty painful. Drawn out mercilessly in some cases and filled with the occasional newbie trap, the tactical combat system is slow, clunky, and makes the game feel like much more of a grind than it needs to. Nonetheless, a high-production game that is worth picking up on a sale if the slow pace and high micro on the combat isn't something that turns you off (or indeed, appeals to you).
Review: Bayonetta
Recommended: The story is daunting at first, but Bayonetta offers a brilliant and varied spectacle fighter. The depth of combat options and great flourishes in art design have a lot to offer, as does how the protagonist absolutely exudes character. It can be a bit difficult, relies on some pretty bullshit QTEs in part, and has some rough edges, but it is nonetheless a quite fun game.
Review: Fancy Skulls
Neutral: It's a very functional arena shooter "roguelite", but there wasn't anything that I really enjoyed. It seemed really unsubstantial, something that I can't say I didn't very mildly enjoy while I played but immediately forgot about after playing. The art style is the one notable thing, everything else treads on ground so well-trodden its not so much that as basically purged with fire and salt right now, and while the art style may be of interest to some, it didn't hold mine.
Review: Ziggurat
Recommended: More of a niche title given the roguelite elements, but it is a solid arena shooter, with only a few minor flaws. You'll find a lot to like if you've been following the recent trend of shooter "roguelites". A few obscure bugs and some accessibility issues don't keep this from being one of the best examples of this emerging genre to date.
Review: Dragon Age II
Not Recommended: There's a good game in here desperately trying to get out, but it feels far too buggy and disjointed to recommend. Some good character writing is what will no doubt salvage the game for some, but the actual combat is fairly uninviting, and the overarching story never seems to amount to much. On a good enough sale, pick it up if you want to be a Dragon Age completionist, but honestly, you wouldn't be missing a whole lot if you skipped it.
Review: Victory at Sea
Recommended: While it feels that there could be more to Victory at Sea, if you're complaining that the game is fun and you want more of it, its not a bad complaint. It combines an interesting mission-based overworld with a highly-positional tactical battle view that I found rather compelling. My two big complaints would be that the UI could use some streamlining in places, and that some people may find the simplicity of the guns modelled a bit off-putting, but I found the game a good bit of fun and challenge in equal measure.
Review: Quest of Decay
Recommended: If you're able to look past its rather glaring interface issues, there's a lot of fun to be had with Quest of Decay. This game showcases simplicity at its finest, with a lot of its mechanics built around pre-existing or simple ideas that have been tweaked or taken in a slightly new direction. If you're a fan of roguelites or dungeon crawling games and are looking for a game to satisfy your fix, you'll be able to find that here. Despite the game's lack of permadeath, difficulty is quite high and gameplay is challenging.
Review: Shadowrun Returns
Neutral: A game that is literally style over substance, Shadowrun Returns absolutely oozes theme and setting, but to this day - well after release and promised patches - has a variety of flaws in a janky, unfinished, and buggy engine that seems to use questionable dice. There's fun to be had here most certainly, but for me, there was frustration in approximately equal measure. Worth picking up if you are a fan of Shadowrun and/or attracted to it's premise or themes, but if you're looking for a game to prove to you what western RPGs were in their heyday, this is not it.
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