I was so primed for this game, having finally played through (and loved) Wolfenstein: The New Order earlier in the year and being very much in the mood to punish Nazis for absolutely no particular reason whatsoever. And the game's first half is actually quite good, a solid selection of memorable set pieces and engaging character moments. But at a certain point - and if you've played it, you know what I'm talking about - Wolfenstein II doesn't just go off the rails, but turns around, rips the rails out of the ground, and tosses them off a cliff. The longer I played, the more Wolfenstein II felt like a directionless attempt to one-up the first, but lacking the tightness of that game's narrative or any awareness of what 2016's Doom reboot brought to this genre. (Clue #1: No one plays a game like this for stealth.) I was hoping this would be a GOTY contender, but instead, I struggle to remember that it even released, and I can barely muster any excitement for the next part of Blazkowicz's story. Not a bad game, but one of the year's biggest letdowns. 6/10
Although it usually takes some extra pushing to get me to play a narrative adventure game, I eventually checked out Edith Finch and can say that I agree with the consensus. Centered on a "cursed" family in which nearly every member seems to die in a tragic manner (albeit one befitting of the character), Edith Finch follows its title character as she explores her old house and relives her relatives' final moments. It'd be criminal of me to describe these vignettes in any detail, so I'll simply say that the game is just the right combination of dark and whimsical, avoiding the trap of making this cavalcade of horrific deaths too sensationalist. As a lovely showcase in visual storytelling, my only complaint is that the narration is often piled on too thick, the devs seemingly unwilling to trust the audience to follow what's happening when the vignettes themselves are almost universally masterful. The cannery sequence in particular, for reasons I won't spoil, is a brilliant emulation of what it's like when a productive mind slaves away in a working-class job. 9/10
This is the sophomore project from Fullbright, the studio that previously brought us Gone Home. I enjoyed that game for using misdirective tropes to veil a surprise ending that was, in fact, far more grounded than what we'd been conjuring up in our minds. Tacoma kind of feels like an inverse of that game's strengths - although there are "twists," they don't force us to re-evaluate what came before them and they're not the reason to play. Instead, play Tacoma for some of the most authentic-sounding conversations of 2017, depicting a crew of six after an accident dooms their space station. Tacoma's coolest innovation is the fact that its crew's interactions have been recorded via an augmented reality interface which allows us to relive pivotal moments, and in realistic fashion, multiple things are often happening at once and it's necessary to rewind and view scenes from two or three angles in order to see everything. Although the ending is a bit weak, it didn't make me in any way regretful of having spent a few hours with these convincingly-sketched characters. 8/10
This is a gladiator management sim featuring pixelated graphics and a rockin' soundtrack. With very little control over how the actual battles play out, your job is instead to run a ludus, monitoring your funds and keeping your slaves trained, nourished, and well-equipped for an increasingly trying series of battles. There's a lot to like here, particularly stylistically, though it's also a bit simple in design, since upgrading gladiators is a relatively straightforward affair and only being able to hire a few specialized employees at once barely registers as a restriction since most of them can be fired as soon as they complete the handful of tasks they're needed for (usually involving ludus renovations). Although perma-fail isn't a massive setback given that a campaign only lasts an hour or two, random number generation can still be frustrating given that they're no way, going into a battle, of knowing whether or not you're prepared. The best thing about Domina is the requirement for getting the "good" ending. I won't spoil it, but it cleverly rewards a certain type of player. 7/10
After a seemingly endless intro sequence in which players do nothing but slowly walk through corridors for a full half hour, Echo finally unveils its gimmick: that the enemies constantly mimic the way you play. Though intriguing, from the few hours I spent with the game, Echo never does anything interesting enough with the concept to rescue the experience from the tedium of its design. A mark of a stealth game's quality is how much fun it remains when the player gets sighted, and here, it's a mess - the main character is laughably fragile (she can't take more than one hit in quick succession), her gun is far too short on ammo, and the checkpoints are frustrating beyond belief. The point where I gave up was when I was arbitrarily asked to flick about two-dozen switches scattered around a massive room teeming with enemies, and after hitting all but one, this ridiculous glitch forced me to restart the entire ordeal. Yeah, go to hell, Echo. 4/10
My only experience with the Dynasty Warriors series is the occasional crossovers we get with franchises I'm already a fan of. Hyrule Warriors was my introduction, and now my interest in Fire Emblem has pulled me back in. While the simplistic nature of these games - spamming a button to cut through thousands upon thousands of enemy soldiers in a rather transparent power fantasy - would almost certainly wear on me were I to seek each and every one, I'm cool with hitting the franchise up every few years, particular in in a season like autumn 2017, where something like Fire Emblem Warriors is an effective counterweight to all of the mentally taxing releases I ran through. Seeing these characters in 3D, looking like they did in the pre-rendered cutscenes that blew me away at the time in Path of Radiance, is a joy, and the signature mechanics of the Fire Emblem series (like permadeath and the rock-paper-scissors weapon balance) give this particular Warriors entry a unique flavor beyond its visuals. Nothing altogether innovative, and the dimension-hopping mechanics used to bring characters from different eras together was already seen in the series' mobile entry earlier in the year, but this game just went down so easily for me. 7/10
To close us off, here are all of the proper reviews I've written since the last time I did one of these updates.
Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)
Super Mario 8 Deluxe (Switch)
Yooka-Laylee (PC)
Vanquish (PC)
Everspace (PC)
Arms (Switch)
Beholder: Blissful Sleep (PC)
Immortal Planet (PC)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PC)
Sundered (PS4)
LawBreakers (PC)
Splatoon 2 (Switch)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4)
Absolver (PS4)
Distrust (PC)
Inmates (PC)
Cuphead (PC)
The Evil Within 2 (PS4)
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
Doom (Switch)
Divinity: Original Sin II (PC)
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