Tag: PlayStation

Posted on

R.I.P. E3 2023 [Showcase Ranking] – Who Won This Whole “Summer of Game Fest” Thingy?

@travmoody

Kids.

This is complicated.

This time of year for us crazy hardcore gamers used to be called “E3 Season”, named after the now seemingly deceased annual mega video game convention — Electronic Entertainment Expo (better known as E3). Every bit of gaming reveal news, trailers and gameplay was always grouped under this easy as hell to remember, reference and say moniker.

Now, these past 10 days have been labeled or awkwardly described as a cross between famed games journalist Geoff Keighley‘s Summer Game Fest and IGN‘s Summer of Gaming. Then you’ve gotta throw in a 2 week early PlayStation Showcase from Sony (thanks for that…), Microsoft‘s annual Xbox Games Showcase and smaller digital pressers like the Ubisoft Forward, Capcom Showcase, and, heck, a full blown Final Fantasy XVI Pre-Launch Celebration that felt like an entire evening on its own.

There are others (PC Gaming Show, Devolver Digital, etc.), but the aforementioned video game showcases and digital pressers are the ones I watched and shall rank. Strangely, there’s no Nintendo Direct this time of year, but they likely own 2023 already with landslide GOTY winner, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, so there’s absolutely no need.

1. XBOX GAMES SHOWCASE x STARFIELD DIRECT

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Bookended by arguably the greatest deep dive E3 presentation of all time (yeah, hyberbole, I’m going there), Xbox gave their players the summer Showcase they so desperately needed to give.

They opened with Playground Games’ long-awaited Fable (Day One Game Pass) and finished with 45-minutes of Starfield. Unless you’re a Sony fangirl/boi and keep trolling on the 8 years in the making Bethesda title being console locked at 30 fps, you’ve got to take your NASA helmet off to Bethesda Softworks and God Howard. Starfield looks like 5 games in one with its interplanetary exploration, spaceship travel/dogfighting, intense character creation/progress, mega Mass Effect-level dialogue decisions, much improved FPS/3PS combat, ship building, base crafting/farming, etc. Speaking of Todd, he was especially candid in a near 30-minute follow-up interview with IGN. Even if you don’t YET own an Xbox Series console, don’t miss ANY of the Starfield Direct.

LET’S NOT FORGET: a yearning to play Cyberpunk 2077 (again, or for the first time), thanks to a hella impressive Phantom Liberty expansion, starring Idris Elba and a returning Keanu Reeves (out September 26); Obsidian’s Avowed wasn’t set to be a star in this showcase, but I still wouldn’t sleep on it (Game Pass, baby — out in 2024); Compulsion’s South of Midnight received Microsoft’s seal of approval from the jump, so let’s hope it leads to more jeers from just a “Happy Few” on Game Pass; and inXile’s Clockwork Revolution turned some heads (or is that hands?) with its new steampunky, Bioshockesque Game Pass manipulator.

XBOX FIRST: to show off Massive’s Star Wars Outlaws (2024), a surprise new IP from Persona devs with Metaphor Re Fantazio (2024) and Persona 3 Reload (next year on Game Pass), RGG’s Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth was the funniest trailer of the season, too. In all, Xbox showed off more “Sony” type games than Sony did less than 2 weeks prior. Way to go, Phil. We forgive you for RedFAIL and all of 2022.

Xbox Showcase = 4.75/5 Whiskeys
Starfield Direct = 10/5 Whiskeys

2. FINAL FANTASY XVI PRE-LAUNCH CELEBRATION

Yeah, a singular game earned my second spot in the Summer Gaming of RIP E3 Game Fest thing. Actually, almost a single man won this spot. I give you new Square Enix CEO, Takashi Kiryu — whom I wish every other CEO was like on the planet. If so, we’d be living in so much happier times! Kiryu took to the stage at the tips of this FFXVI pre-release shindig and won the crowd over with childhood stories that have never been more relatable or even flattering from CEO-to-peasant. “One of us! One of us!” should have been the chant following the hardcore gamer/school-slack turned Square Enix success’ amazing opener.

That said, the Square Enix team did a wonderful job deep diving into every important aspect of the next Final Fantasy — from gameplay details to an incredible live-action trailer to the title’s score — kicking off with Creative Director Kazutoyo Maehiro and Localization Director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox.

FANTASY OF THRONES: the art direction and dialogue tone inspired by HBO’s Game of Thrones, Active Time Lore — a new system that allows players to gain information/lore on the current characters/setting in the current scene, and the fact that PlayStation players were able to download the FF XVI demo just hours (!!) after the celebration. I’ve consumed, finished, and ultra loved the 2-hour Prologue and I cannot wait to head over to Best Buy on June 22nd to pick up my steel case edition.

If only that super, huggable, loveable and stupidly expensive Torgal were 50% cheaper ($120 for a PLUSH! DUDE!), I would’ve been hard-pressed to give this game showcase a higher grade. All in all, a big recommend for modern day Fantasy fans.

4/5 Highball Whiskeys

3. UBISOFT FORWARD

Ubisoft seems to have the most bizarre Summer Games/E3 presentations, pressers, digi showcases year in and year out. While 2023 for Ubi was certainly no exception, beginning with a Just Dance thing and having some good ol’ boys drone on about Skull & Bones (which, I don’t even know what is anymore.. is it out?), there was a lot of decent to unpack here in the near hour and a half of hard-to-understand French accents and continuous push to do too many things at once.

SPEAKING OF TOO MANY: Why there gotta be so many Assassin’s Creed games, yo! We have Mirage, which I think is the mainline title, since looks like a 4K update of the old AC games. Then you have the long-awaited set-in-China Codename Jade, which is.. a mobile game. R.I.P. And Nexus is a VR game. Also R.I.P. Okay, okay — I know there are audiences for that; it just ain’t me, pimp. I’m also not sure if Mirage is for me, because I suck at stealth, and this is a return to stealth, and I really loved the intense open world combat of Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla (although, I didn’t dive in that one as much as I wanted). Sorry, but this is the least excited I’ve been about the franchise pre-Origins.

OUTLAWS WE RIDE: Really digging the Watch Dogs/GTA vibe set in Star Wars galaxy of Star Wars Outlaws. Without this game, this year’s Ubisoft Forward might be better off called Backward. But, I’m real thrilled for Massive (The Division devs) because this is the Star Wars game we never knew we wanted–and supposedly you can fly anywhere whenever within reasonable limit. Gameplay looks solid with cutesy alien companion assists and commands, and the dogfights certainly aim to rival that of Starfield.

TIDBITS: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is at least something new, a cartoony Metroidvania whose art style didn’t overwhelm; And, what in the DUNK was that presentation for the Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix anime? Great ambition, love the look of Netflix Castlevania appeal, Adi Shanker — but, man. But at least the Forward kicked off with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. I’ve never been an Avatar person, but this looks solid and far more ambitious than we imagined for a movie tie-in title and features online co-op. December 7th is a safe release date, too.

3.25/5 Blue Milk Whiskeys.

5. PLAYSTATION SHOWCASE

Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Literally, the only thing worth top-billing from the typically strong Sony summer shows this side of a surprise remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which, when released, will be 20 years after its original iteration. Awesome. But, past Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (which looks amazing, spectacular, sensational thanks to Insomniac), there was NOTHING from Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, or even Bluepoint and Housemarque. Just.. weird. Maybe they saw their chief competitors so extreme on both sides of the spectrum (Nintendo winning the year no matter what with Zelda, and Microsoft losing forever with.. everything) that they took this “Summer of Gaming” for granted. And, releasing a “Showcase” 2 weeks before the usual E3 time is further proof of that.

Like I said above, Microsoft out-Sony’d Sony in this year’s summer of digi-pressers. That said, Sony has God of War, Horizon, Final Fantasy, Spider-2, Ghost of Tsushima, and 8 million other exclusives, while Microsoft has a dominant racing series and.. a whole lot of catching up to do.

3/5 Glasses of Spidey-Sauce

6. SUMMER GAME FEST

This show has “long covid” been an exhausting far cry replacement for the more appreciably compartmentalized E3. Back in the Before Times, you had Xbox Showcase kicking it off, typically followed by Ubisoft Forward, with EA Play (like, wtf happened to that?), Sony and Bethesda closing off the second day, with Nintendo owning that Tuesday morning as we wait behind hundreds of smelly gamers dying to crash the LA Convention doors to get 40th in line for a game they have to wait 6-hours to play. Oh, those were the days! Toss in a pointless Square Enix or Capcom stage direct here and there, and you had your E3.

Now, E3’s substitute, Summer Game Fest, I guess is.. a bunch of games — mostly small/unknown/indie schmindy stuff — from all developers, consoles (including the always annoying Mobile and PC-only), a bunch of celebrities, commercials/ads, interviews, movie things and celebrity/influencer jockying.

I DON’T HATE: The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest or Geoff. It’s just always AIGHT. This year, Mr. Keighley had the benefit of having Ed Boon on stage to show off an incredible Mortal Kombat 1 — a sequel/reboot that already has me forgetting about Street Fighter 6, which, like, just came out. Then, sure, he had Nic Cage talk to folks but it was a Dead By Daylight chapter, so meh. The Witcher Season 3 trailer was both sad and fantastic (yeah, I’m not happy about Henry either), but it’s not a game so there’s that.

BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT: there was a great pop from the crowd for Sonic Superstars — a 2.5D retro Sonic reimagined out this Fall; Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a return to the classic beat ’em style Yakuza, set between Yak6 and the hit Like A Dragon (November 9); a teaser trailer for the Twisted Metal tv show; and, finally, the game that saved Summer Game Fest — Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Holy heck, Geoff better praise Square Enix for loaning him this one. Not only is it gorgeous and dreamlike and everything we wanted it to be, the game will also release on 2 discs — unheard of in current day gaming.

The rest of the show has several hours.. hell.. days of filler.

2.75/5 Whiskeys.

7. CAPCOM SHOWCASE

“What the hell was THAT?” was the immediate response IGN game journo dude Max Scoville shouted when his Podcast Beyond hit the air post-Capcom Showcase. Yeah, man. Exactly. I have no idea. Pretty sure Capcom just wanted to be relevant in this Summer Games space, but this was.. nothing. No DMC. No Resident Evil. And barely a blip of its just recently released hit Street Fighter 6. They could’ve at least teased some future DLC or something for it, rather than a 2-minute recap of what we already knew. At least we saw more of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (or, as my buddy Felipe labels the game: “Flowers May Cry”). I love the art style, it’s powered by the RE engine and seems like a very cool way to sink a few hours.

WE ALREADY KNOW, BRO: almost every game “showcased” here was already announced. Dragon’s Dogma 2 definitely had the most intrigue, with a lengthy gameplay reveal featuring NPC Pawns and details of the sequel’s sizable world. Dino hunter mech thing Exoprimal is out next month, but do you really care? It doesn’t look bad, but it’s not exactly pushed like the machine it could be. But what did look bad and incredibly boring (even one of the Beyonders claimed to have fallen asleep during this portion) was Ghost Trick. Yowzers. And before all that we got a moment of sadness with the announcement delay for Pragmata — a straight up hand-written apology, nonetheless. Classy, but I’d rather Capcom gave us a hand-written apology for this entire hour.

1.75/5 Whiskey Sours

8. XBOX EXTENDED SHOWCASE

Naw… I’m not even going there. Does this extended thing even count? The Games Showcase and Starfield Direct went SO GREAT that I’ll let this entire hour slide. At least Forza Motorsport had their own little mini demo direct on the side…

N/A/5 Whiskeys.

-Travis Moody

Posted on

THE LAST OF US [TV Show Review] – On The Yellow Brick Road.

“Reverend” Lauro Rojas
@Cheeky_Basterds

HBO’s highly anticipated adaptation of Naughty Dog and Sony’s groundbreaking video game The Last of Us is finally here. The video game was lauded as GOAT since its release in 2013 earning unanimous praise and getting two remasters and, a not so beloved, sequel. With fans hyped since the casting of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, as Joel and Ellie, everyone’s been wondering how true it will stick to the source material.

We’re introduced to the world of The Last of Us through the eyes of Sarah (Nico Parker) Joel’s daughter that has a compassionate quality to her. What starts as an idyllic day unravels into chaos and madness as we see the fungal virus take a stranglehold of the citizens of Austin, Texas. Joel and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) arrive in time to stave off an attack from Nana, the elderly infirmed neighbor, leading to a harrowing escape as our protagonists are engulfed in pandemonium. Just as the audience is endeared to Sarah the rug is pulled from under us as she and Joel are heinously gunned down by an overzealous soldier and she passes away in his arms.

This is only the first thirty minutes y’all.

Fast forward twenty years later and Joel is a broken man with no real purpose except as just another cog in the Boston quarantine zone doing menial jobs. As survivors are burning bodies of the dead one of the workers sees the body of a child and hesitates, fumbling over her words and stammering she taps Joel for help. Without hesitation Joel hefts the body and tosses it into the pyre.

The quarantine zone looks like it is lifted from Alfonso Cuaron’s classic Children of Men; it’s unforgiving, drab, dangerous and grimy where the citizens have nowhere else to turn to and are trying to eke out an existence. Here we meet Tess (Anna Torv) Joel’s partner and romantic interest as they unknowingly become intertwined into the Fireflies latest mission, transporting valuable cargo out of the QZ: Ellie. Who, when we meet her, is a fiery and robust ball of energy, a complete 180 of Sarah and someone Joel wants absolutely nothing to do with.

Pascal’s rendition of Joel deserves high praise as you see two different sides of the persona, going from a family man to a shell that’s been grinded down to nub by the world at large. Same with Ramsey. Her Ellie is someone who was born to an uncompassionate and cruel world where she had to mature quickly and who’s defenses are always up. In a way these two characters belong with each other, both sides of the same coin. In the coming weeks it will be a pleasure to see their relationship grow and evolve.

Fans of the video game series will recognize the major story beats matching up the thrilling exodus from Austin almost shot-for-shot. So far, we’ve only seen the infected on-screen with snippets of the full blown Cordyceps but make no mistake these mutants are grim, kind of like the running zombies from Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later but more ferocious and aggressive.

The Last of Us is not so much a story about the cruelty of man and Cordycep created mutants, but more so a tale of survival and finding the eroded humanity that’s calloused over. Joel and Ellie will encounter wondrous and terrifying things on their journey that will irrevocably change them. Prestige television does not get any better than this.

Episode 1 = 5/5 Fireflies

-Lauro Rojas

Posted on

THE GHGAMER AWARDS [Best Video Games of 2022] – The ‘Ring’ of Power.

Dee Assassina
@assassinasan

1. Elden Ring – When I was becoming fatigued of open world games, Elden Ring somehow managed to refresh the genre. I haven’t felt this much freedom in a game where my path and interpretation of the story was completely different from everyone else who played. It improved the Souls formula by a tenfold while creating an expansive environment where every inch felt like a painting and every sound evoked an emotion, without spouting a single word. This took the crown as my favorite game of all time. – 5/5

2. God of War Ragnarök – Kratos Saga has become an incredibly emotional experience that tugs at my heart strings by developing a character I’ve been familiar with for about 17 years. I was constantly laughing and crying in this game. It’s a premium title that checks all of the boxes with top tier combat, graphics, story, characters, beautiful environments and impactful music. My only issue is that it feels extremely formulaic next to other Sony first party titles and I really need a break from it. It’s one of the best in its class but it is held back my unnecessary RPG mechanics and lack of innovation. I still absolutely adore it though. – 4.75/5

3. Sifu – This game surprised me! Not only did it innovate with its implementation of an age system upon death but it also redefined the beat em up formula, and became my favorite beat em ups of all time. The combat is so fun and challenging. It’s pulls direct influence from martial arts which really enhanced combat, but made the story a bit too surface level. The art design is top tier and coupled with some amazing music. This game is special and I wish it was nominated for GOTY 2022. – 4.5/5

4. Cult of the Lamb – This game was an immediate buy just due to aesthetics. What’s not to love about cute little animals that are part of a satanic cult? What I didn’t know is the gameplay loop would innovate so hard and make me addicted. It’s basically Animal Crossing for dark minds by melding roguelike dungeon crawling with farm sim elements. This is one of those stay up until 3am mindlessly playing as if I was under the spell of this cute ass satanic cult. – 4/5

5. Stray – I love cats so I’m biased but cats are statistically one of the most entertaining creatures to watch. Like a cat, you use your agility to traverse a post-post-apocalyptic Cyberpunk-like city and do cat shit like knocking down things or scratching on rugs. It’s so frikkin’ cute but it also had some emotional story moments, though some story threads left a lot to be desired. It also had some interesting puzzles that forced you to think like a cat, and the gameplay loop introduces different mechanics that don’t overstay their welcome, providing some excellent pacing. Plus, the graphics are really amazing, the environments are super detailed and the music is a bop. I can stare at my cat do nothing all day and be entertained so this game was an extra treat. – 4/5

Honorable Mentions: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, TMNT Shredder’s Revenge, Vampire Survivors.

-Dee Assassina

Felipe Crespo

Happy End of the Year times, people! I apologize for how brief some of my input might be, but I’m feeling a bit under the weather. I still wanted to chime in with what we think are the Best Games of 2022, though…

1. Marvel’s Midnight Suns – What I expected was simple — X COM with Marvel characters. That’s honestly all Firaxis had to do and I would’ve been happy. What I got was an innovative roguelike card strategy game that’s nothing like X COM‘s combat, and highly addictive. Mixed in is a sprawling, surprisingly story-heavy epic that mixes in relationship-building mechanics akin to Mass Effect and Fire Emblem: Three Houses (though people’s enjoyment of this has been divisive, I’ll admit). As a bonus to long-time Firaxis fans, you can see the X COM DNA baked into a lot of the Abbey’s (HQ) upgrade systems. – 5/5

2. Triangle Strategy – A lot of people still won’t shut up about Final Fantasy Tactics. And I get it. It was amazing. I loved it too. But a lot of them also haven’t played this. It’s time to move on. – 4.5/5

3. Nobody Saves The World – Fantastic humor and next to Darksiders 1 and 2, it’s one of the best Zelda games ever made not developed by Nintendo. Do with that comment what you will. – 4.5/5

4. Elden Ring – I’m not a Soulesbourne guy. Hell, the gatekeepy surge of “nO! dOn’T uSe SuMmOnS! oNlY uSe BiG sWoRdS” of veteran fans made me even less interested in that whole scene. But something about Elden Ring just reels you in. It’s vast, brutal, engrossing, draining, and deserves to be on all the GOTY lists. – 4.25/5

5. Vampire Survivors – If your first reaction when you saw footage of this game was “really? This is what people won’t shut up about?”, then you’re not alone. Then you decide to give it a shot and realize 4 hours have gone by. It’s crack. Digital crack. For like 5 bucks! – 4.25/5

Honorable Mentions: Horizon Forbidden West, Pentiment, As Dusk Falls.

-Felipse Crespo

Michelle “Magdalene” Kisner
@MichelleKisner

1. Tunic – The story drops you right into the world with no exposition. The main character is an adorable little fox in a green tunic with no weapons or items. The only help you have is an instruction book that you can refer to at the click of a button. The catch is that the instruction book is in a different language (one that you can translate yourself if you want to put in the time) with a few English words scattered here or there for context clues. The manual is missing a lot of pages, and these are hidden all over the world. The book is very reminiscent of the manuals in the NES and SNES Legend of Zelda games. The manual is something they created in real life and scanned to put into the game—it even has coffee stains and handwritten notes in it!

Literally, all of the progression in the game is reliant on the player’s ability to parse context clues and explore. It will probably get a lot easier if one is intimately familiar with retro gaming and basic game design. The gameplay is a mixture of top-down action adventure like A Link to the Past, mixed with the dodge/roll mechanics of a Dark Souls game — and, yes, it can be quite difficult, especially with boss fights. The graphics and music are absolutely fantastic, as I played it on PS5 so it ran at 60fps and had gorgeous lighting. The amount of secrets in this game is ridiculous, there are super ambiguous puzzles like Fez, hidden fairies to find, a language entirely comprised of music (!), and another separate written language that can be translated by the player. – 5/5

2. Elden Ring – Hard as nails, obscure, soul-crushing, maidenless, I was equally frustrated and amazed playing my first FromSoft game. Once I figured out the flow thanks to some help from the fan community, I was obsessed. The world is haunting and an exercise in extremes. One can wander in an ethereal underground galaxy and then find themselves in hell on earth surrounded by poisonous swamps and abominations. I would love to see a few QoL improvements like a damn quest log, but outside of a few technical issues, this is gaming in its purest form. – 5/5

3. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe – I have always wanted to play this now console port (Switch), and it comes complete with a bunch of new material! The story follows Stanley, an office worker who is surprised to learn while he was typing away on his computer that all of his coworkers have disappeared. Luckily, there’s a disembodied narrator who will tell him everything he needs to do to escape! You don’t have to do whatever he says though, and when you go “off-script” and make your own decisions it gets…weird. The writing is hilarious, and the game is fantastic at switching from humor to existential horror at any time. Runs fine on the Switch too. Pretty short, it took me around four hours to see all the endings and branches (there are around 20 endings). THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END. – 4.5/5

4. Stray – The basic premise is you play as a cat in a post-apocalyptic city where all humanity has died out and there’s nothing left but robots. You gain the companionship of B12, a little flying drone robot that is trying to recover its memories from the past. At 5-6 hours, Stray is packed with a whole lot of detail, endearing characters, and a fully realized environment, and it will make you want to look around to find hidden areas! The graphics are gorgeous on PS5 and it runs at 60fps with very few dips. I found the story to be quite touching and may have shed a few tears at the end. Great game for casual gamers too, I would recommend this to anyone just for the story alone. – 4/5

5. Infernax – This is one of the best retro-inspired indie games I have played in a long time! Fantastic from start to finish. It’s a super brutal and gory combo of Castlevania II and The Adventure of Link. You play as Alcedor, a knight who has returned from the Crusades to discover that his homeland has been infested with demons and evil magic. I love evil routes in games and you can be absolutely HIDEOUS in this one, it’s very well implemented! Lots of hilarious Easter Eggs for other NES-era games are hidden around and the music is hot fire. The controls are tight (I found the jump to be a touch floaty personally, but it’s easy to get used to it). – 4/5

-Michelle Kisner

Keiko Fukuyama

1. Elden Ring – Take the tried-and-true Souls formula, mix in a vast almost-endless open world, and you have an amazing experience from start to finish. No matter how much or little you put into Elden Ring, you will find a rewarding Souls experience. Want to just play it linear like Souls? Enjoy! Spend hours exploring? Go for it! Just a magical game. – 5/5

2. Sifu – Roguelike beat ’em up? Bringing some unique mechanics to the table, where your character ages as you play, and some smooth as butter controls. What was produced is just a joy to behold and play, where you just want to keep doing one more run, to get further, or pass stages younger. Do not miss this underrated gem! – 5/5

3. Chained Echoes – One of the two games that came out of left field for me this year and completely engrossed my life for days on end. My biggest passion in games still is turn based Japanese RPGs and what Chained Echoes does is simply outstanding, giving us one of the deepest and just sheer fun turn-based combat systems in a while. And I can’t leave without mentioning the beautiful pixel art and one of the best stories I’ve played through in years. – 5/5

4. Infernax – Do you like Simon’s Quest? Do you like Faxanadu? If you answered “yes” to either of those, or both, you owe it to yourself to look into Infernax. Written like a love letter to Simon’s Quest, it exceeds that masterpiece in every single way imaginable, producing one of the best retro style games I’ve played in ages. It may be a horrible night for a curse, but it is a great day to own this game. – 4.75/5

5. Cult of the Lamb – The other game to come out of left field and take me by surprise. Take smooth combat from some of the best action roguelikes like Hades, mix in some city building, some Animal Crossing, and you have a weird mix of perfection. Held down by some bugs, if you can overlook them the game is almost perfection. – 4.5/5

Note: I have not finished God of War Ragnarök nor Horizon Forbidden West, not going to include, obviously, games I have not played or games I have gotten less than halfway through.

Honorable Mentions: Xenoblade Chronicles 3, High on Life, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Kaiju Wars, Vampire Survivors.

-Keiko Fukoyama

Posted on

MOODY’S BEST GAMES OF NOT-E3 2022 [Top 25]: Summer Scares-City.

Travis “Unbiased” Moody // IG @TravMoody

Seeing how E3 died (then was recently resurrected by the ESA for live and digital action in 2023) and there were only four true video game “press conferences” this year — PlayStation’s State of Play, Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest, IGN’s Summer of Gaming, and, of course, the Xbox/Bethesda Showcase — I didn’t think I’d bother covering any gaming stuff this June.

I mean… why bother?

But, thanks to the Video Game Trooper himself, fellow GHGer Patrick Obloy (and his wife, Sarah, for not being able to attend *insert cry laugh emoji*), your boy’s enthusiasm for the next year (or three) in gaming has certainly leveled up with a fun stay yesterday at the Xbox Fan Fest. But, no Nintendo Direct from the godfathers of this whole digital showcase mess?!?? Wild.

Regardless, here are my personal top video game reveals/trailers of the summer “E3” season:

25. MINECRAFT LEGENDS (Mojang Studios/Xbox Game Studios – Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC – 2023) – I’m not a Minecraft guy. That said, you can’t disrespect a franchise that Microsoft paid 2.5 billion for– with excitement from plenty of folks at Fan Fest. Legends is a real time strategy spin-off, too.

24. ARK 2 (Studio Wildcard – Xbox Series, PC – 2023) – This one is intriguing as hell. Of course the Vin Diesel appearance got a chuckle or two from the Fan Fest audience! Otherwise, Ark 2 soars with impressive Unreal 5 dino-combat. Not sure I have the patience for craft-survival (I barely touched that element in one of my fav games of all time, Fallout 4), but everything else looks fun. We’ll see.

23. EREBAN: SHADOW LEGACY (Baby Riot Games/Raw Fury – Xbox Series, PC – 2023) – Sometimes, going the stealth route can be a true kick in the pants. Thankfully Microsoft’s friends over at Baby Riot recognize this and make our titular hero the shadow! Toss in some stellar cell-shaded, robo-apocalyptic vibes and crisp, cyber-cut-em-up combat and this could wind up one of next year’s dopest dark horses.

22. ALIENS: DARK DESCENT (Tindalos Interactive/Focus Interactive/20th Century Studios – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC – 2023) – Since it’s an Aliens game and not an Alien one, expect more James Cameron-spun action. Pulse rifles and smart guns return and have motion-trackers, and — thank god! — because there will be far larger hordes of Xenomorphs. Maybe the game isn’t over for the Alien series, man.

21. FLINTLOCK: THE SIEGE OF DAWN (A44 Games/Kepler Interactive – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC – 2023) – Ashen was a major hit in 2018 and this is that team’s follow-up. It looks dope. Fans of Assassin’s Creed Origins and the Horizon series shouldn’t shy away from this potential God Butcher.

20. FORT SOLIS (Fallen Leaf Studios – PC – N/A) – SO. MUCH. SCI-FI. SURVIVAL HORROR. But this one caught attention at Summer Game Fest due to its surprising star power in Troy Baker and Roger Clark. If they believe in Fallen Leaf Studios who pitched this title as sort of a “Dead Space meets Moon“, why shouldn’t we?

19. THE CALLISTO PROTOCOL (Striking Distance Studios/KRAFTON – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC – December 2, 2022) – Speaking of…. yes, sci-fi survival horror, and, oh yeah, Dead Space, former head of that famed EA series, Glen Schofield, has a new project and it’s a hyper-ambitious one. Expect tons of mystery swirling Jupiter’s moon inhabitants and an insanely deep gore system that wound up a 2-year development process. Wild.

18. DNF DUEL (Nexon/Arc System Works – PS5, PS4, PC – June 28, 2022) – Since IGN’s Summer of Gaming focuses in on games that fly under the radar, maybe you missed that Arc System Works moves faster than imagined! While we’re still not done with Guilty Gear Strive (right?), this pret-ty similar anime brawler pops in as quite the surprise. While I never heard of the 16-year Dungeon and Fighter RPG series (again, right?), the Awakening signatures and steampunky stage designs bring back more of that ASW GG goodness.

17. FORZA HORIZON 5: HOT WHEELS (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios – July 19, 2022) – Forza Horizon 5 was my GOTY last year and it gets the delightful Hot Wheels DLC treatment from FH3. Go live your life a quarter mile at a time.

16. WO LONG: FALLEN DESTINY (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo – Xbox Series, PC – 2023) – The only thing keeping Wo Long lower on this list is how damn hard Nioh was. Tecmo’s samurai adventures were unfair as it is, and then you add Bloodborne producer Masaaki Yamajiwa. Eh. And I couldn’t have been the only one at Fan Fest initially confusing this one with the 16th Century Chinese monkey-warrior RPG adventure, Black Myth: Wukong, right?

15. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHREDDER’S REVENGE (Tribute Games/Limited Run Games – PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC – June 16, 2022) – Out this week on digital! Coming later this year to all consoles in the physical form. It’s essentially a tribute sequel to 87 Arcade game and Turtles in Time, hence the dev’s namesake, with special attacks, personality taunts, and the classic overexaggerated 80s cartoon animation style. Throw in the Wu’s Raekwon & Ghostface on the soundtrack, and I’m ordering my pasticcio sardine pizza right now.

14. A PLAGUE TALE: REQUIEM (Focus Ent/Asobo Studio – PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, PC – 2022) – It’s the follow-up to the sickly-overlooked A Plague Tale: Innocence, with even more of the rats the title is known for. But our bro ‘n sis protagonists will sneak around a more vibrant colony of France, exploring under more optimistic measures than in their last quest.

13. HOLLOW KNIGHT: SILKSONG (Team Cherry – Xbox Series, PC – 2023) – Hunt! Survive! Vanquish! This will wind up the little game that could. Since the team from Ori is taking a break, this metroidvania is sure to fill all those voids missing in your platforming life.

12. GOTHAM KNIGHTS (WB Games Montreal/WBIE – PS5, Xbox Series, PC – October 25, 2022) – Don’t worry; the game has more or less nothing to do with the shitty-looking CW show. Another smart move by WB Games: the newest trailer focuses on Nightwing, arguably the biggest fan favorite of Batman’s fearless foursome. Arkam Origins had super awesome boss battles, so I wouldn’t count this one out yet.

11. MARVEL’S MIDNIGHT SUNS (Firaxis Games/2K Interactive – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC – October 7, 2022) – Spidey winds up on the Xbox, after all! Thankfully, this Marvel title is exclusive-free and coming out this year. Doesn’t hurt that Firaxis is among the best devs in the strategy atmosphere. There’s even a “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” feel to The Abbey — a fully explorable hub where your created Hunter can craft items and hang out with all the other Super Friends in between your intense, card-based combat missions.

10. THE LAST OF US, PART 1 REMAKE (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive – PS5 – September 2, 2022) – If you never played the original on PS3 or PS4, there’s no better time than now. I’m legally restricted from saying any more.

9. REDFALL (Arkane Austin/Bethesda Softworks – Xbox Series, PC – 2023) – This looks like the most fun game of the showcase. And if you played Deathloop, then there should be zero doubt in Arkane’s shoot-to-thrill capabilities despite years of shadowy stealth in Dishonored.

8. OVERWATCH 2 (Blizzard Entertainment – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC – October 4, 2022) – The once biggest game in the world is getting a sequel 6.5 years later (at least in “early access”0, and — despite not being an Overwatch fan per se — I couldn’t help but be blown away by this trailer. PVP is also F2P, so why not download it?

7. CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE II (Infinity Ward/Activision – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC – October 28, 2022) – Since there are no good G.I. Joe video games for modern consoles, just buy this one and pretend that shit got real serious for Duke, Lady Jaye, Stalker, Tunnel Rat and pals. Modern Warfare has always been CoD’s bread ‘n butter, and Infinity Ward’s track record is stellar despite the obvious franchise fatigue. LFG.

https://youtu.be/r72GP1PIZa0

6. FINAL FANTASY XVI (Creative Business Unit III/Square Enix – PS5 – Summer 2023) – Devil May Cry 5 designer is working as combat designer for this game. Need I say more? Nope. Just watch this beauty…

5. FORZA MOTORSPORT (Turn 10/Xbox Game Studios – Xbox Series, PC – Spring 2023) – If this was a selfish list, this would be #2, but we still have to wait a bit for before Turn 10 gears this one up for Spring. Microsoft Flight Simulator aside, this was arguably the most visually striking game at the Xbox Showcase, and spotlighting the F1 popularity boom was a brilliant move, too. Every race receives the dynamic day/night/weather treatment and everything in the game has real-time raytracing. Vroom.

4. DIABLO IV (Blizzard Entertainment – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC – 2023) – I definitely popped for this one. Despite not closing the deal just yet with Blizzard, Xbox didn’t hesitate to deep dive in this one, especially with old friend Rod Ferguson at the helm. As a longtime Gears guy, there’s no lack of faith in Diablo 4 on my end. The Necromancer is a much-welcomed fifth class, environments are super pleasing for the isometric eye, combat feels heavier than ever, and there are 150 dungeons, any of which you can play solo or with/against friends on the couch or online, including crossplay.

3. STREET FIGHTER 6 (Capcom – PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, PC – 2023) – With Capcom still supporting Street Fighter V as of this article, the launch of another Street Fighter comes as a bit of a surprise. Even more stirring, however, are the features! There’s Real Time Commentary (although, I can’t say I’m a fan of the English play-by-play by Jeremy “Vicious” Lopez in the new trailer; maybe it’s because I don’t watch enough eSports?).

There’s an all-new Game Face Feature, which allows players to alter their fighter’s facial animations during the match-up screen. Capcom also hip-tosses in the option to battle with the classic 6-button control layout or a modern Smash Bros-inspired set-up with special moves being executed by the simple press of a button and directional pad. But above all else is the startling inclusion of a free roam single player mode called World Tour.

2. RESIDENT EVIL 4 REMAKE (Capcom – PS5, Xbox Series, PC – March 24, 2023) – If it wasn’t a remake this would be #1. While far from the scariest, Res 4 is arguably the best Resident Evil game and a remake of it even has this lukewarm R.E. fan shaking in mah boots. I’m def all for more action than the survival horror of the first two games– which arguably needed more of the remake treatment than this one. Still, there’s no sleeping on one of the 2023’s early frontrunners for GOTY.

1. STARFIELD (Bethesda Game Studios/Softworks – Xbox Series, PC – 2023) – As we can see from today’s responses that your mileage may vary. How much do you love No Man’s Sky? Do you own an Xbox Series X/S or plan to? Do you love Fallout? Diehard Elder Scrolls fan? Miss the humor of The Outer Worlds? Overlooking the fact that we barely saw 1% of everything that God Howard and company have in store for us with Starfield?

Wild, and maybe it’s because I was with a bunch of like-minded Xbox/Bethesda diehards at Fan Fest yesterday, but Bethesda’s Starfield gameplay reveal and trailer was among the very best E3 presentations I’ve ever seen: 1.) Ship, base and crew creation; yes, you can create your own Razor Crest-type ship and fly it and get into intergalactic dogfights, 2.) Detailed character creation and skill system; yes, you can pretty much make your own Han Solo, Mando or Bo-Katan, 3.) Intense combat; yes, you can blow pirates up with their own jetpack, 4.)  Starfield has over 100 galaxies to explore and 1000 (!!) planets to scan, battle, and takeover. GEESH.

-Travis Moody

Posted on

HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST [Review]: A Beautiful, Bloated Adventure.

Dee Assassina
@assassinasan

When Horizon Zero Dawn didn’t win GOTY in 2017, I teared up. When I revisited Zero Dawn in preparation for the sequel, I discovered the game wasn’t as strong as I remembered. I figured that perception stemmed from the game’s age showing; but, after playing Horizon Forbidden West, I realized that maybe this open world formula doesn’t intrigue me nearly as much as it did in 2017. Horizon Forbidden West feels like another open world full of bloat, with markers and mundane activities everywhere. It suffers from the Ubisoft open world syndrome…

Maybe you like that! I even enjoyed that formula many years ago, but after playing so many games of this type, I burnt out. I almost feel bad that every time Horizon comes out, it’s overshadowed by another open world game that refreshes the genre (e.g. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in 2017 and Elden Ring in 2022). No doubt, they’re all completely different games, but when you have to make a choice between which open world game is going to take your time, it’s harder to choose the one that feels very similar to every other open world game. While Horizon Forbidden West was contributing to my open world fatigue, Elden Ring invigorated it.

Regardless, there’s no denying that Forbidden West is gorgeous. There were many moments where I had to stop and take in the scenery. I often gawked at the sun rising above as I was climbing a tall mountain. I enjoyed paragliding down into a deep dessert or making imprints in snowy terrain. I remember traveling on my machine mount and seeing how the trees transitioned from being dry in the arid climate and when I got closer to a forest, the trees turned luxurious. Even the underwater areas were full of color and wildlife. Horizon is, no doubt, an evolution in graphical fidelity for open world games.

The graphical fidelity and details weren’t limited to the environments, but also in the character designs and animation. There is so much expression, body language, and emotion displayed during cutscenes, dialogue sequences, and gameplay. It’s on the level of The Last of Us, Part 2. Even the NPC’s who weren’t core supporting characters had this high level of detail. This is a welcomed improvement from Horizon Zero Dawn.

The emotive character models saved the dialogue in this game. Otherwise, I found that a large portion of the dialogue was very boring. Part of this is because a lot of the optional dialogue choices were repetitive to ensure you understand the deeper lore. The other part is, there is too much optional dialogue. It’s a shame because there’s some interesting information within the optional dialogue, which is why I didn’t just skip it altogether, but too much of it was muddled by useless information.

It was as if Guerilla Games took influence from Mass Effect by implementing a hub area where you chat with companions in between missions. Like Mass Effect, there is more dialogue than there is combat, but the dialogue in Horizon wasn’t nearly as integrative to the character and world building. In Mass Effect, I looked forward to hearing what my companions had to say in between missions but in Horizon, every time I saw an exclamation point for new dialogue, I scoffed. The ironic thing is, I really like the character companions in Horizon — far more interesting than they were in Zero Dawn. New characters introduced feel purposeful and existing characters had better development. I just hope that any sequels to Horizon sincerely consolidate their dialogue options or just find a way to make the optional dialogue more interesting.

Despite feeling dragged down by the dense dialogue, I still constantly felt intrigued by the mysteries of this world. The idea of a post-post-apocalyptic world is riveting. The advanced technological world is gone, and humanity was saved with the sacrifice of knowledge, thus putting them back to tribal ways of life. This is fascinating setting that is always treated with care.

Remnants of the “old world” were ever present in the Forbidden West. Abandoned cars are weathered and overcome with vines, museums were turned into settlements, and even underground casinos were deep under water. My favorite moment in Horizon was submerging deep into water surrounded by neon lights and broken machines from an “old world” Casino, before I was whooshed away by a giant sea turtle machine. Horizon Forbidden West takes this game even further, adding more to the world than discovered in Zero Dawn and fleshing out the Project Zero Dawn AI’s systems a lot better. This sequel even goes as far to introduce new surprising layers to the world that help create sophistication and mystery. Many questions are answered but the new layers introduced created an ever present state of intrigue.

So intrigued by these new layers and the bigger picture, I had a difficult time being engaged when we were learning about the different tribes. There’s so many interesting cultural and political situations explored with the tribes, but the heavy dialogue and bloated open world made it really difficult to feel connected.

When I arrived at the first region Chainscrape, a thin corner of a very large map, I felt compelled to complete every marker. Not only because it was a small area but everything I did felt impactful to that people who dwelled there. Once the world opened up, that sense of connectivity with other areas got lost. I so badly wanted what I felt in Chainscrape to carry through the entire game, but it didn’t.

Considering Aloy is created to save humanity, she presented with the typical hero complex, where she doesn’t want help from anyone. Don’t get me wrong; I love salty Aloy, especially in comparison to Zero Dawn‘s Aloy who felt emotionally inconsistent depending on the dialogue choices. I did feel the hero complex at times was a bit overbearing yet still made sense to her character, what she’s been through and her overall purpose. Thankfully, she and other characters have some great character development as the story unfolds.

The combat is my absolute favorite part of Horizon. The dodge rolling, running, sliding, tagging, and arrow-based combat feel smooth. I never got tired of scanning machines, exploiting their elemental weakness and knocking off components. The joy mostly comes from the enemy variety. There’s so many different, super cool machines introduced in Forbidden West. Of course, you also have a variety of human enemies and against them is where the improvements in melee combat shine. The combat had its hooks in me as soon as I was faced with a giant snake machine called Slitherfang and the machines to follow didn’t disappoint. The idea of dinosaur and animal machines in genius. It makes combat and exploration really exhilarating. Seeing a giant bat machine hanging in the distance or being chased by a crocodile machine when swimming under water never got old. It’s this exact reason that I think the upcoming Horizon Call of the Mountain VR game will be successful.

As enamored as I am with combat, it does feel as though this game held back by its RPG systems. Having to switch out my weapons from a menu just to equip the ones that exploited an enemies weakness was tedious. It wasn’t until later in the game where you unlock weapons that have multiple elements attached, but by that time I was close to done with the game. There’s just too many weapons and gear to swap in between. It would be so much better if I could just beef up one or two outfits and weapons with all the machine parts I gather, instead of managing so many. At the very least implementing a load out system would help.

Even then, Forbidden West adds so many quality-of-life improvements from Zero Dawn. Items automatically go to your stash, each weapon has their own upgrade path, you can pick up items from your mount, and fast travel between save points without crafting a fast travel kit. Yet, there’s still some things that could’ve added to the quality such as not slowing down when you’re picking up items from your mount and being able to fast travel from anywhere, not just from another save point. For a AAA game there’s no need to have features that create extra work, especially when other games have made those systems way more convenient.

I’m critical of Horizon Forbidden West out of love. I want it to be one of the best and it has the potential to be, but it just isn’t. The details and graphical fidelity in the environments helped me not feel dragged down by the open world bloat. The emotive character designs helped make the drawn out dialogue more tolerable. The imaginative enemy designs and smooth combat helped me not feel so annoyed by the cumbersome RPG mechanics. There’s so much good here to enjoy but unfortunately, there’s not enough about Horizon Forbidden West that stands out. 4/5 Whiskeys.

-Dee Assassina

Posted on

SIFU [Review]: You And I Have Unfinished Business!

Dee Assassina
@assassinasan

I thought my time with challenging games were reserved for Elden Ring, but here comes Sifu making my hands sweaty. This is a game where you’ll need to repeat levels and bosses to perfection. At its core, Sifu is a beat em’ up game, but you won’t just be spamming punch or kick, and eating chicken for health. Instead, it pulls elements from a variety of genre’s like rogue-like’s, fighting games, and even Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

This is a tough game, for sure; but what’s most appealing is the satisfying combat, painterly art style, fantastic soundtrack, and detail-oriented level design. Sifu will no doubt be a contender for Game of the Year in 2022. 

This game’s story is basically a Kill Bill vol 1 revenge story. Your father is killed by a group of people who each have a distinct martial art’s style, and your character is on a path of revenge. You get to choose a male or female character, but this has no influence on the story or gameplay. Although, the male character model looks better.

This sets the stage for the remainder of the game where you’ll be visiting five different locations, each with a boss at the end. There’s very few cutscenes and some of the lore is baked into the few collectibles found in the game. The story and characters are definitely the weakest points of Sifu. It’s a basic story that takes influence from many classic kung-fu films. Is revenge the only way? You get to choose.  

Even though the story felt too safe to be remarkable, I didn’t even care. From the moment you experience Sifu’s intro, it’s vibe and creativity shine. It so seamlessly melded the introduction and tutorial together. It was at this moment that Sifu had its hooks in me. My admiration of this game accelerated as I hit the first level, a run-down drug house within a garden. The environments are littered with details and color.

The other levels include a club full of neon lights, a museum full of paintings and colorful exhibits, a tall office tower with sandy underground caves, and a sanctuary full of hot springs and massage parlors. Each location has their own vibe, color scheme, and, most importantly, music.  

“You Can Catch Me In the Club, Bottles Full of Bub”

The music in Sifu is outstanding. Not just because there’s intense electronic bass reverberating throughout the club level, but because the music modifies as you traverse through the level. It’s as if a new tune is added to the song as you get deeper into the level. More importantly, the music intensifies when you’re in the middle of combat. The music supplements the combat so well. 

The combat makes you feel cool. Your characters stance looks so bad-ass when executing attacks, dodging, parrying, weaving, backing up, or even standing still. The amount of unique animations poured into the combat is outstanding. You perform attacks in a more simplified way than you would in a fighting game. For instance, flicking the analogue up twice and then pressing light attack or heavy attack. Additionally, performing a combination of light and heavy attacks together, or holding down the heavy attack button for a devastating charge attack. You’ll be able to get through the first level button mashing the attacks, yet later areas will require a more sophisticated execution of attacks, parries, dodges, and weaves.  

Notice how I mentioned not only dodging, but also parrying and weaving. The game doesn’t do a good job in explaining the difference and you’ll have to keep dying and retrying to see which is most effective. I started playing the game like Sekiro, parrying every attack in quick succession. That got me through for the most part, until I faced the 2nd boss who’s attacks quickly broke my structure. Structure is basically stamina (or posture in Sekiro). This is when I discovered the art of weaving because dodging pretty lead me to putting my face into some unforeseen attack. For the sake of clarity and because the game doesn’t explain it, let me break it down: 

  1. Parrying – Tapping block at time of attack.  
  1. Dodging – Tapping dodge and flicking analogue in the direction you want to move. 
  1. Weaving – Holding down block and flicking the analogue in the direction you want to avoid (side, down to duck, or up to jump over a low attack).  

I found little benefit in dodging, except when I needed to get space in between me and the enemy to regain structure or to avoid getting surrounded by hordes of enemies. Parrying was most effective against big groups of enemies and against specific phases of bosses. Weaving is probably the most effective tool against elite enemies, mini bosses, and main bosses since you can scale successful weaves to regain structure or focus (unblockable special attacks). It’s also a lot easier to hold down block and flick the analogue in a direction, than it is to properly time parries.

I got beat down a lot before I wrapped my head around these systems, and each enemy has a different kung-fu dance to master and exploit. I wish the game tutorialzed the combat more deeply, but there is a somewhat helpful training room in the main hub area if you want to test out different moves. The combat is very satisfying once you get into the flow.  

The crazy thing is, the combat isn’t unforgiving because you need to figure out when to properly attack, dodge, weave, or parry. It’s unforgiving because every time you die, you age. The more deaths you have stacked, the older you age upon your next death. For example, if you’re 25 and you died 3 times, the next time you die, you’ll be 28 years old. As you age, your attacks become stronger, but you have less health. Once you reach around age 70, it’s game over and you’ll have to start all over again.

“Be my Valentine.”

The cooler part of the age system is your character model’s appearance changes. Your character becomes less muscular, hair turns white, and wrinkles form. I hope I look that cool and move that well when I’m 70 years old. In other unforgiving games like Souls games or Returnal, once you defeat a boss, you can take a sigh of relief and enjoy your victory. In Sifu, you’ll have to face the enemies and bosses over and over again in hopes that you complete it at a younger age. If you beat the first level at age 55, you’re not likely to even make it through the 2nd level before game over. Therefore, you have to replay the first level again and hope that you’re young enough to make it through the next level.

Thankfully, the game saves the earliest age you completed a level. For example, if you beat the first level at age 23, you can always start the 2nd level from age 23 and that progress doesn’t go away. Your goal is to complete each level at the earliest possible age, just so you can get closer and closer to completing future levels, and completing all 5 levels before game over. I loved the game so much, that I practiced until I beat Sifu at age 23. 

Artsy, Fartsy

This repetition of re-playing levels, makes Sifu feel like a rogue-like. Another reason it feels like a rogue-like is you can unlock skills after every death, but you only keep the one’s that you permanently unlock. You have to pour in points to a skill 5 times before you can permanently unlock it, and even then, you have to pour in another 5 permanent unlocks before the skill is there forever. That sounds confusing right? That’s because it is, and the game doesn’t explain it at all. Rule of thumb, focus on one skill per run, so you can permanently unlock it for future runs. Leg sweep for the win.  

Going back to level design, not only is it aesthetically cool, but there’s secret rooms to discover and shortcuts to unlock. Granted, some of these secret rooms only have harder bosses that are protecting a key to open a door in a previous level, but it’s still really cool. You will have to progress within a level or in future levels to collect items to unlock shortcuts or hidden rooms.

I love shortcut systems in games and for a game like Sifu, it’s really handy to skip an entire area of enemies and get to the boss quicker. In the museum level, you can skip the entire level and take an elevator straight to the boss. The only downfall to this is there’s an entire sequence in the museum that uses colors and silhouettes in a really breathtaking way, but I’m not going to complain.  

Sifu isn’t a passive game. You’ll need to keep at it, focus in, trial and error, repetition, GIT GUD. If you don’t like that kind of experience, there isn’t an easy #MoodyMode or accessibility features to bypass some of the more intricate combat features. Considering the combat is the main focus of the game, I don’t think you’re missing out if you skip this game to avoid the stress. The only thing I wish everyone could experience is the artistic level design, amazing music, and some really awesome set pieces within levels. 4.5/5 Suntory Whiskeys.

-Dee Assassina