Press Start Review: Owlboy

If you like a certain genre of games, they sometimes can run together. You like Mega Man style jump and shoot games? That mechanic can get tiresome after a while, unless it’s changed up sometimes. What about rail shooters? They can be fun, but after ten of them you start to chafe under the yolk.

Now, I love me some Metroidvania. Defined broadly as a story driven adventure game with a focus on exploration, getting new abilities through gameplay that allow you to find new areas of the game world. And seriously, any time I see that tag on steam I have to keep myself from clicking “buy now.” I’ve failed on multiple occasions, of course; this stuff is like crack to me. I always have to have one ready to go… but even your favorite game become tired after a while. If the story is dull, if the characters aren’t engaging, if the exploration is barely there… meh. Why even bother.

So with all that said.

BUY THIS GAME. DO IT NOW.

Press Start Review: Seraph

I’ve written this review a few times, and I’ve found this game kind of hard to describe… but it’s been like two months since it came out, so I’ll try one more time: This game is what would happen if you threw the Bible and DVDS of the Matrix into a blender, boiled the resulting slurry into a concentrate, then tricked John Woo into drinking the whole thing while dancing at a rave.

Press Start Review: INSIDE

This is one of those games that… wow. When you think of “games as art” this is definitely one that should be on the list: the change between cramped claustrophobic quarters to expansive rooms, the simple art style that can convey so much information, the fluidity of movement of every character, and most importantly the way it can tell such a deep story with such basic elements.

Press Start Review: Shadow Complex

Sometimes people use 2.5D as a gimmick… They just want to show off how good their visuals can be, but they don’t take advantage of the different styles of gameplay it can give you, or how it can drastically affect the player’s perception of their surroundings. If you’ve read my review of Deadlight (basedgamer.com/review/2123review/Deadlight) you’ve seen an excellent example of the use of the technique. It can create an air of tension – you can only move right or left, up or down, but the enemies can come in from the SIDES.

MADNESS.

Press Start Review: Deadlight

We all have some darkness inside. No matter who you are, what walk of life you come from, everyone has a little voice inside that tells us to do evil, to steal, to mock, maybe even to do harm. But we all (I’m hoping, dear reader, I can include you in this) push those thoughts away… Either by pushing them down as deep as they can go, or letting them drift out of our minds like a mistaken fart in the wind. We survive our day to day lives because we have the ability to know right from wrong.