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I love Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, and I have since day one. Even so, I acknowledged in my review that it’s not quite the game that Fatshark had promised–and it had so much more potential. It was also heartbreaking to see the fanbase hate on it, since it had so many good things going for it. Since the class overhaul, the community is singing a different tune–and even praising Darktide for things that have been in the game since day one–and that warms my cold, cynical heart. However, the class overhaul was necessary to turn Darktide from wasted potential to the best modern four player co-op game you can play right now. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide–or just Darktide–is a four player first person perspective cooperative game set on one of 40k’s hive worlds that has a bit of a Chaos problem brewing. You play as a character arrested for whatever reason you decide in your backstory, and forced to fight the Emperor’s enemies as a pawn for the Inquisition. It’s seen as a suicide mission, and your character isn’t expected to survive–but as they complete more missions, they gain more trust and eventually get accepted into the ranks of the Inquisition. There are four classes in Darktide: veteran, zealot, ogryn and psyker. When the game first released, each class had a set of inherent skills and you could further hone them into the character you wanted by choosing a few key talents. That entire system has since been thrown out, and now each of these classes have three robust branching paths they can take to build their character–or you can even choose to turn your character into a hybrid of two classes. The class overhaul significantly changes the potential for each class. Instead of each class being defined by their ultimate ability and a few other details, you can make the class into exactly what you want it to be. Each character now has access to three different grenade types (for the Psyker, this is three different casting abilities instead.) For instance: I always loved the Ogryn’s weapons, but in the original class system I was forced to play an Ogryn with few ranged abilities and emphasis on melee. Now I can build an Ogryn that is all about shooting his oversized guns–and it’s glorious. There has also been an overhaul to Darktide’s weapon procurement and upgrade system. There’s still a lot of gambling involved, but now you can switch weapon Blessings out without fear of locking your weapon. It’s still possible to get a “brick” weapon–one that meets max weapon level, but is stuck with bad perks. But it’s by no means necessary to min-max in Darktide to succeed–and those trying to find the perfect weapon are just wasting their time. I would have liked to see more levels come along with the patch, but the levels that we have are still pretty great. While some of them are just alternate routes that have you running “backwards” through a level, the design of each level is fantastic–just like I said in my original review. There are often multiple paths forward, and if you take an alternate route you can usually get to where you want to go–instead of being met with a dead end. Levels are also dripping with atmosphere, and gives the sense of claustrophobic dread. Despite Darktide having great gunplay with impactful weapons and having melee that is one of the best melee combat systems in any first person game I’ve played it was missing something. The class overhaul turns Darktide from a good game into a classic I will play for years. It creates a way to make fun new builds that just weren’t possible in the previous class system.

Okay, I’ll say it: this is better than Deathloop. I’m biased, because I loved Prey, but I also loved its setting. Mooncrash is the last good thing that developer Arkane Austin has produced. Especially compared to the abysmal Redfall. Mooncrash is less horror than Prey, and more roguelite. But you’re on a space station full of killer robots and angry mimics: close enough. Prey: Mooncrash was a surprise. It was announced and released during this year’s E3 and it’s for a game that hasn’t been making many splashes since its release over a year ago (check out our review of Prey here: it was the first full game review to appear on Third Coast Review!) and it has since sort of drifted into obscurity, overshadowed by bigger Bethesda franchises and announcements. That’s what made Mooncrash feel like it came out of left field for me, but it got me to revisit a game I had thought about properly in months. Prey: Mooncrash isn’t just a mission set in the Prey universe. Instead of retreading the same formula as the main installment, Mooncrash went a completely different direction and opted to feature rogue-lite elements. It’s probably not what anyone expected, but it turned out to be a pretty genius move. It’s a variation on the Prey formula done in an extremely effective and fun way. If you’re looking for more Prey, you might be disappointed, as though Mooncrash does retain some of the base game’s stealth, exploration and looting, it’s presented in a completely different form factor. The premise of Mooncrash is interesting: you’re working for a company that is in direct competition with the Transtar corportation called Rasma. Your goal is to use a simulation to navigate the Transtar lunar base—a sort of sister facility to Prey’s Talos 1. The lunar base is having the same problems as Talos 1—the Typhon have escaped containment and most personnel are dead. In Mooncrash your objective is relatively simple: escape from the moon. How you choose to do that is largely up to you—sort of. You start with one character, and as you explore around the moon base you will not only discover the fate of the test subjects and personnel, you will unlock different items via fabrication plans, gain points to spend on later runs, and find different characters to unlock, with there being five playable characters total. Eventually, as you unlock more characters, more abilities will open which will allow more exploration of the facility. Using Neuromods on a character unlocks that ability permanently, so even after a successful escape—or an untimely death due to the Typhon threat—you will keep your abilities once you reset the simulation. Until the simulation is reset, though, you can continue to move your characters who are not dead, or who have not escaped through it . The facility itself doesn’t reset after a run, either, unless you specifically tell it to. That means that anything your character has repaired, looted, etc. will remain in that state until the simulation is reset. You don’t have unlimited time with each character to explore the facility, though. From the moment you enter the simulation, you’re battling a timer in the form of worsening corruption level. There are 5 levels of corruption, and once it gets too high you are kicked out of the simulation and it resets. Corruption doesn’t only act as a timer, it also acts as a difficulty modifier: the higher the corruption level, the harder the enemies get. Not only that, but changing from one corruption level to another will respawn enemies that were previously defeated. There is an item that you can loot, buy, or create that reduces your corruption level, though, so you aren’t entirely beholden to the timer if you plan well enough. Planning for a run is half the fun I had in Mooncrash—whether it was outfitting my character before running them through the moon base, or planning on who I was going to utilize for what purpose and what exit they will ultimately be taking. Mooncrash allows for a fair amount of optimization when it comes to how to approach an escape run, but there’s a catch: each simulation reset means the lunar base may be slightly different from your previous run: some entry doors will be broken, stairs that were previously broken may be usable, etc. There are also a series of environmental hazards that can afflict an area like fire, radiation, or even lack of power or oxygen. The story in Prey: Mooncrash is compelling. In fact, it was my main motivating factor in completing all of the 27 objectives that you are expected to eventually perform once in the simulation. These range from escaping the moon, to scanning a certain number of Typhons, to eventually finding a way for all five of your crew members to get off the moon simultaneously. Completing more objectives gives you access to more story outside of the moon base simulation. I found little I didn’t like about Prey: Mooncrash. It was definitely a surprise—and an addicting one that I had trouble putting down. If you ever played Prey or similar games and wondered what it would be like if you had put your ability points into hacking instead of repair, or into combat psionics instead of weapon proficiencies, Mooncrash allows you to play in multiple different ways, and even forces you to try different loadouts as each character you can play as has their own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities available to them. The only thing I really wished Mooncrash had was the ability to set the simulation to exactly what you want it to be. The ability to manipulate variables to make the facility harder or easier to navigate, at say, the expense of being able to complete objectives, would be great for planning purposes. Also, I wish the moonbase was a little larger. As it is right now, there are three major departments—Moonworks, Pytheas Labs, and Crew Annex—which are all centered around a reduced gravity moon crater. Any additional size probably adds a ton of variables to anyone trying to find the best run through the moon base, but I just like the world of Prey so much I just want more. Also, the story, despite how compelling it was, didn’t pay off as much as I was hoping, and only gives us the slightest peek into the greater Prey universe. If you liked Prey but aren’t considering Mooncrash because it’s too much of a variation on the main formula, you should reconsider. Mooncrash is an extremely fun, tight experience that can easily add hours and hours of playtime on top of the already meaty Prey. Prey: Mooncrash is available now as downloadable content to the base game. This article was originally published on June 18, 2018 at this location.

Prey is a phenomenal game, and it has really held up over the years. It really does the empty space station sci-fi horror thing pretty well. And it’s definitely a better game than developer Arkane’s misfire this year with Redfall. It sucks when you release a terrible game during one of the best video game years in recent memory. But yeah, Prey is great, and it has some pretty spooky moments. Go get scared. Prey has had a long and storied development. Originally being developed by a different studio as a follow up to 2006’s Prey, it took on a life of its own when it was handed to Arkane Studios, who are best probably known for the Dishonored series. One thing that was immediately apparent was that I’ve played this game before. Not exactly this game, but there are many things familiar about Prey. It feels like a spiritual successor to 1999’s System Shock 2 and it borrows heavily from other games that would use that formula such as the Bioshock series. People who have played those games will find the mechanics, and sometimes the themes, to be familiar. Prey is a game that can’t help but be compared to others, but Arkane Studios have done a great job of putting it together. Minor plot spoilers follow. Prey is a sci-fi horror shooter that takes place in an alternate future of 2032 mostly aboard an orbital research space station named Talos-1. The setting is both sprawling and fully realized. Each section of the station has a purpose and has a worked-in or lived-in feel. Talos-1 is adorned in a gorgeous retro-future aesthetic and reflects a world where John F. Kennedy didn’t die but was a monumental influence through mankind’s foray into space. You play as Morgan Yu, your choice as either a male or female protagonist who is being subjected to seemingly unethical scientific tests and is suffering from narratively convenient memory loss. Things go awry when a malevolent alien presence called the Typhon make their appearance. Smaller Typhon possess the ability to mimic common objects which can lead to paranoia whenever you come across things – you never know if that scavengable piece of gear is really a power supply or really an alien in hiding that’s trying to kill you. This makes for some tense gameplay early on before you are equipped with weaponry to handle them easily, but the mimics serve mostly as jump scares towards the end of the game. Unfortunately, the rest of the Typhon you encounter aren’t as imaginative. They were scary at first, but once the initial awe wears off, fighting an ink monster that shoots fire at you instead of an ink monster that shoots electricity does nothing to ramp up the tension. You have free roam of the space station Talos-1 which, while easily one of most exciting parts of Prey, can also be the most tedious. You will acquire access through the different parts of the station through exploration and story progression. You will find yourself constantly having to backtrack – either to fulfill a mission objective or to discover an area that you didn’t previously have access to. Eventually your explorations will have you travelling outside the station into the black of space using your spacesuit, which you can use to fast-travel between sections of the research station. Despite the exploration being so rewarding, actually traversing the space station is where the tedium comes in. Talos-1 is not seamless. It is divided into several sections that are behind time consuming loading screens. Each loading screen is a progress bar followed by a loading icon resulting in two loading screens. I assume this was an attempt at making the load times seem shorter. I only mention this because I have never encountered a game that gives you two full loading screens for every occasion. I tested these loading times between various platforms and often found them to be at around 30 seconds on my PC and up to almost 2 minutes on Xbox One. The Xbox One version also had noticeable performance issues I did not see on the Playstation 4 version. You have a selection of weapons and abilities to deal with the Typhon threats you encounter. You'll collect Neuromods, a product of the Talos Corporation that serves as a way to enhance your abilities. These neuromods can be spent to learn new abilities or empower your old ones, and range from the abilities to hack certain computers, keypads and turrets to being able to be more effective at combat. Eventually you will be able to gain the Typhon’s alien abilities, such as the power to use telepathy to move objects or even mimic a coffee cup. The conventional firearms in Prey aren’t nearly as exciting, nor do they feel like they pack much punch. There is also a crafting system that allows you to create ammo, health kits, and even such items as Neuromods and weapon upgrades. Hacking is its own mini-game, and is often immersion breaking. One moment you could be creeping through the dark being pursued by unspeakable horrors, and the next you’re playing a lively game of techno-pinball. It could be forgivable if it was fun, but it was something I always wanted to end as quickly as possible. Despite being firmly rooted in the horror genre, Prey’s horror is in the atmosphere. Your ability to fight off most threats, the frequency of encounters, and the generic nature of most Typhon make fighting them something that gets in the way of exploring Talos-1. The prevailing theme in Prey revolves around a series of ethical dilemmas, with this theme being introduced at the very start of the game. These decisions have an effect on the story, in a small but significant way. Prey is comfort food. It’s well-tread and familiar territory, but so masterfully crafted I can’t help but recommend it. Despite generic enemies and lackluster weapons, Talos-1 itself is so fully realized it will give you hours of fun just to explore. Prey‘s flaws, meanwhile, are few and forgivable. If you are a fan of sci-fi horror and first person shooters, you can’t go wrong. This article was originally published on May 10, 2017 at this location.

I have thirty minutes to write this before my deadline, but that’s okay: I have speed on my side. That’s what it feels like after playing Ghostrunner II, the follow-up to developer One More Level’s fantastic Ghostrunner. If you’re here, you probably like cyberpunk, parkour, speedrunning or sci-fi ninjas doing all of the above. And Ghostrunner II has what you want. Ghostrunner II is a first person sci-fi action game and follow-up to critical darling Ghostrunner. After the events of the first game, the tower has been secured after the first game’s uprising. In charge is a motley crew of once-resistance fighters turned leaders of the remnants of humanity. You’re back as Jack, robot ninja with a heart of gold and some severe katana skills. Slice your enemies, deflect projectiles, and otherwise be a pain in the side of the Asura and their campaign against the new caretakers of The Tower. There’s even a motorcycle! It doesn’t get any more cyberpunk than that. If you’re familiar with Ghostrunner’s style of movement and combat, there’s not much difference here, it just does more–and each ability that is added on feels like a natural progression of the first game’s skills.Enemies still die in one hit, but so do you. Sometimes it only takes a single failure to redo an entire sequence, and that makes Ghostrunner II extremely difficult at times. But it never punishes you with that difficulty, and always puts you back to a location where you can pick right back up at the most fun part of the action. Combat and parkour (essentially jumping puzzles) are your two main antagonists in Ghostrunner II–but you’ll also face the occasional boss. Bosses, like the game’s combat sequences, require you to play perfectly to a certain point. Some of the bosses in the first game made you restart the entire sequence on failure, but Ghostrunner II seems to have embraced the checkpoint system more thoroughly–especially on the default difficulty, which I chose to play for this review. Something Ghostrunner II does everything more than the first game: That means crazier moves, harder (and bigger) bosses, and some insane acrobatic sequences–it also means more lore. In fact, Ghostrunner II loves having you speed through its levels, but then asks you to slow down in between so you can learn the goings-on of The Tower. These were not my favorite sections, but it gave you a great opportunity to see a little bit more of Ghostrunner II’s world, which I have no complaints about. If you want to beeline to the person that starts your mission, or cut through any dialogue, you have that option. If you’re into speedrunning, Ghostrunner II has that built-in. It has its own system of recording your time on each level and how many deaths you suffered at the hands of–checks notes–gravity. You can even set the timer and death count on your screen to keep that information handy, or so your stream chat can see how much you suck at this game (in my case. I’m sure YOU’RE fantastic, you beautiful person.) But that’s the thing: Ghostrunner II–like Ghostrunner before it–does an excellent job of putting you in the shoes of a super elite Ghostrunner. Anybody picking up this game will immediately feel like a hyper fast ninja that can wall run, use a grappling hook, etc. *Glances at clock* damn, I still have twelve minutes to spare. I am become speed, writer of fast reviews. But it’s not hard to extol the fantastic Ghostrunner II and its lightning fast movement and combat. If you want to check out the Ghostrunner series or are itching to play this sequel, you won’t be disappointed. Ghostrunner II is an absolutely fantastic follow-up. *Hits timer* Woo, 23 minutes. A Steam key was provided to us for this review Ghostrunner II will be available on 10/26

Despite the fact that Layers of Fear keeps coming up in “best of “ lists when it comes to scary games, I just couldn’t get into it. There’s unmistakable talent in Bloober Team, and Layers of Fear was one of the first games of its type. I could be wrong about this one, and you should check it out for yourself. Most of the gameplay in Layers of Fear involves walking while looking at items and suffering the occasional jump scare. There are some puzzles to solve, but these are sparse. When people derisively describe walking simulators, I don’t know how the Layers of Fear series isn’t mentioned more often. It doesn’t feel like a game so much as a haunted house. While it’s effectively spooky, it never comes close to invoking true terror. Instead, it’s just trippy imagery and walking. Rinse and repeat for hours. While the developers were no doubt going for an unsettling depiction of characters descending into madness, there isn’t enough to ground the player to what’s real. And because of that, there aren’t any narrative stakes.Even failure (when it’s possible to fail) is just a temporary setback. If the majority of the game plays out like a nightmare, after a couple of hours it starts to lose its effectiveness. Despite the dominantly boring gameplay, there are actually some moments that got my heart racing. This is when Layers of Fear truly shines. However, these truly scary moments are too far between with long stretches of often nauseating psychological torture that ended up being torture on me. Even the story in Layers of Fear is lost in all of the howling and madness. Any pretense of subtlety flies out the window within the first few minutes of gameplay, and you’re forced to suffer through ham fisted portrayals of tragedy and angst. For instance, in The Artist segment of the game there is a moment where the character is remembering feeling alienated because of their status as an artist, so the next room has a fish flopping on a saucer with the words “out of water” written on the wall. Layers of Fear isn’t particularly effective in its gameplay or storytelling, but it sure is pretty to look at. Bloober Team has used every bell and whistle available to them in Unreal 5 to make these games look better than they ever have before. With Ray Tracing and HDR support, Layers of Fear is one of the best looking games I’ve played this year. However, that’s really just putting lipstick on a pig. I know there are people that absolutely love Layers of Fear (2016) and I wish I was one of them. I feel like I missed the boat, and was subjected to so many imitations that I can’t appreciate Layers of Fear (2016) for how groundbreaking it was. Sadly, that means my patience for Layers of Fear wore thin, and I could only play it in short bursts. Even then, I felt like I was twisting in the same never-ending corridors hoping to find an exit. Luckily, it really only takes pressing the Esc key and quitting to desktop to get out of that nightmare. Layers of Fear is available now on Steam and the Epic Games Store as well as for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X A Steam key was provided to us for this review This article was originally published on 06/15/2023 at this location.

Man, coming back to my review over a year later and seeing my optimism is a little heartbreaking. I knew Dying Light 2 wasn’t great on release–but based on Techland’s treatment of Dying Light I thought we’d see something better. It’s a shame that Dying Light 2 didn’t meet expectations story-wise, and then didn’t meet DLC expectations either. However, there’s still some fun to be had in Dying Light 2–and it’s the perfect season to go back and check it out. I’ve been a massive fan of Techland’s brand of zombie slaying for over ten years, starting with the release of Dead Island. That game was known for having you build creative weaponry to kill zombies. Techland followed up Dead Island with a spiritual successor Dying Light, which proved that the best way to survive the zombie apocalypse isn’t just with crazy weapon modifications — but with prodigious use of parkour. Dying Light 2 Stay Human is a first person action adventure game and the follow-up to the massively popular and insanely fun Dying Light. In Dying Light 2 you play as Aiden, or as I like to think of him, Kyle Crane 2.0. Aiden is looking for his sister, and to find her, he travels to one of the last cities on Earth. To accomplish this, he’ll have to navigate two factions trying to survive, and come face to face with his past. He’ll also have to fight through hordes of ravenous infected, and groups of armed thugs that you can defeat with the power of parkour. If you’re coming into Dying Light 2 hoping for great melee combat and fun parkour, you won’t be disappointed. Combat in Dying Light 2 will be familiar to anyone coming from Dying Light. You equip yourself with (often homemade) melee weapons to dispatch infected “biters” and any aggressive non-infected people you might come across. The melee combat feels great, which is good, because you spend the vast majority of your time in Dying Light 2 swinging a melee weapon. Melee combat sticks and slices where appropriate, and is one of the best examples of first person melee combat I’ve encountered. The weapons of Dying Light 2 play a major role. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much fun modifying and finding new weapons in Dying Light 2 as I did its predecessor. While combat feels great, finding high quality weapons isn’t as exciting as it was in the previous game. And while you can’t repair weapons like you could in Dying Light, the weapons in Dying Light 2 last far longer—I think I completely replaced my weapons five times or less in my playthrough. Weapon modifications aren’t as exciting in Dying Light 2, either. Previously, you could turn a mundane sword into a fire belching weapon of doom (for example). While that’s possible in Dying Light 2, there are a few more steps. Each weapon has several modification slots, which allow you to mix and match weapon mod types. However, weapon mods themselves must be applied through the use of blueprints, and these blueprints must be upgraded through a special vendor called a Craftsmaster. It doesn’t seem possible to find ridiculously overpowered blueprints in the wild—you have to grind out every upgrade. I ended up beating the game with a couple of basic weapon mods I kept throwing on my weapons—but if I had more time before the review embargo, I probably would have spent more time upgrading my weapon mods, and scouring the city for materials. The City—humanity’s last bastion—is a parkour playground. It makes sense in-lore, since people have had 15 years of experience with surviving against the zombies with parkour. It has ramps and platforms that make getting around a blast. There are lots of activities to partake in, too—from running challenges, to side quests. I even managed to find a few interesting locations off of the beaten path. The City is huge, and full of goodies and secrets to uncover. The City itself also changes as you play and align yourself with one of the two major factions. The more sections you grab for one faction, the more faction-specific changes to The City you’ll see, either in forms of ways to protect yourself or ways to stay off of the street level. Dying Light 2 has a lot of familiar gameplay for those returning for the sequel—but some significant changes. The biggest one is the paraglider. This upgradeable tool allows you to use The City’s awesome verticality to your advantage as you soar high above danger. There is also a grappling hook that works much differently than the original game’s—it’s no longer possible to grapple to the ground to save yourself from falling to your death, for instance. Instead, it acts more like a grappling hook should, merely allowing you to swing from one point to another. Just like in the original Dying Light, the infected are far more dangerous at night. The super dangerous Volatile infected type return, and while they seem even deadlier than they did in the first game, night just isn’t as scary as it was. Even with Howlers causing other infected to chase you down, night time never approaches the same level of peril in Dying Light 2 as it did in the first game. The skill tree returns from Dying Light, and it works much the same way as it did in the previous game. You can increase your skill in either parkour or combat by merely jumping and climbing or engaging in combat, respectively. The skill tree is a little disappointing, and while there are a few essential skills to grab, I rarely found myself anticipating my next cool ability. One of the main draws of Dying Light 2 is its story. I feel like one of the weakest aspects of the original was its lackluster story, and even after teasing a robust narrative that relies on character choice, I still felt underwhelmed. Dying Light 2 sure tries earnestly to invoke emotion, and to connect you to its characters—but even good voice acting by a stellar cast can’t elevate hammy dialogue and juvenile characterizations. Another major selling point for Dying Light 2 is the effect play choice has on its world—and I would say that’s true, but only to an extent. Often when I made a choice in Dying Light 2, it felt like the “right” one. Choices that are supposed to come off as morally grey, to me, felt like a choice between helping a group of desperate people who happen to be jerks, or authoritarians that are nicer but just trying to use Aiden to gain more control. These choices are usually between two major factions: the authoritarian Peacekeepers, and a group of loosely organized survivors called “The Free People.” These “Free People” aren’t really a faction as they are just “everyone else,” though the game treats them like one. While Dying Light 2 tries to paint these two factions as morally grey, one faction stood out to me as the most obviously evil. Dying Light 2 had the potential for great, impactful storytelling, but its inclusion of a third faction, the Renegades, completely undoes any nuance and conflict having two morally grey factions would. Instead, the Renegades act as almost Saturday morning cartoon style villains, screechy voices and all. It’s strange that Techland would take all of the effort to make a story that had the potential for some tough choices, only to throw in a group of cartoonishly evil psychos. Choices do seem to matter in Dying Light 2, however — at least, most of the time. I would have loved to go through a second playthrough and make all of the opposite choices to see how much the outcome would change, but I didn’t have the time. I’ll just have to save that for my impending co-op playthrough. Dying Light released all the way back in 2015, but Techland is still releasing updates for it. Thankfully, they have come out and made a similar pledge for Dying Light 2, with DLC (both paid and free) planned for the next five years. With five years of promised support, there is some seriously exciting parkour meets zombie killing days ahead. Dying Light 2 may not have lived up to my expectations in regards to its story, and I would have liked a few more exciting weapon mods, but it excels at absolutely everything else. The City is large, beautiful, varied, and interesting. Traveling around The City is pure parkour bliss, and combat is equally fun. I’m already champing at the bit for more Dying Light 2, and can’t wait to jump in with friends—and sink my teeth into their upcoming DLC. Dying Light 2 is here, and it’s exactly what I wanted. This article was originally published on 02/02/2022 at this location.

While Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed looks a lot like a typical prop hunt game, it really does a lot of things so well–especially with its Ghostbusters presentation. I’m already a sucker for asymmetrical 4v1 games. Illfonic really knocked it out of the park with this one–too bad for the Epic Game Store exclusivity. When I heard Illfonic was making a 4v1 game based on the Ghostbusters franchise, I was a little skeptical. I mean, how can you capture that Ghostbusters movie feel while also making compelling (and fun) gameplay? It had to have been a balancing act, but I feel like Illfonic has mostly pulled it off, though it does feel a little light on content. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a 4v1 asymmetrical multiplayer game where four players take on the role of the Ghostbusters, and one player takes on the role of a ghost haunting one of five locations. As the Ghostbuster you’ll use your gadgets to track, find, and attempt to capture the ghost, destroying its respawn rifts along the way. As the ghost, your job is to haunt the building and scare off patrons. When the building is completely haunted you have a chance to win. But if the ghost loses all of its respawn rifts and is captured, the Ghostbusters win. As the Ghostbusters, your goal is to find the ghost and wrangle it with your proton packs, ultimately capturing it. If you manage to capture the ghost, it can still escape! There are three rifts hidden through each map, and as long as there’s a rift standing, the ghost can respawn. However, respawning also destroys the rift—so if you aggressively hunt the ghost, you can end the level after capturing it three times to close each of its rifts, and a fourth and final time while it’s riftless. As a ghost, your goal is to haunt the building, scare off people, and generally subvert the Ghostbusters’ effort to stop you. While some ghosts can go head-to-head with a Ghostbuster or two (especially the Basher) a full four Ghostbusters can easily tether and trap you. As the ghost, you can break tether, and even break out of a trap as its pulling you in. If you want to be extra annoying, you can even close and steal the trap. Additionally, if the Ghostbusters find one of your rifts you can take the rift and hide it into a different object—making them search for it all over again. You can also cause all sorts of little annoyances that will help slow down the Ghostbusters, like closing and stealing traps, sabotaging Proton Packs, and more. It’s important that the Proton Pack feels good, and I’m impressed with how Illfonic managed to make it actually feel like you’re wrangling a spirit at the end of an energy beam. Throwing traps is an important skill to have, because sometimes a perfectly thrown trap can mean the difference between capturing the ghost and it slipping out of your tether again. You are armed with your trusty PKE meter, too, but I found that tracking the ghost and its rifts with a PKE meter really depends on the type of ghost you’re playing against, because if a ghost doesn’t try to stay hidden it’s pretty easy to find—you just have to look for its trail of slime and other telltale signs of the ghost, like haunted objects. The PKE meter is great for sending out a burst of EM energy, stunning ghosts and destroying haunted objects. Each match of Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is pretty short, with most ending in under 10 minutes, and rarely going over 12. This is the perfect match length because it makes you want to keep jumping in for “just one more round.” It also helps that each map is perfectly sized for hunting: not too big that you run for minutes without action, but not too small that it’s impossible to hide in as the ghost. While there is gear and ghost progression in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, I actually thought it went a little too fast. I was able to unlock most everything the game had in under 12 hours of gameplay. As the Ghostbusters, you unlock cosmetics as your account level goes up, but you unlock better equipment as you use each set of gear. If you want to get a better trap, for instance, you have to have successes in wrangling the ghost into your trap. To unlock different ghosts, you just have to play the game as they unlock every 10 account levels. However, each ghost has three variants, which you unlock through playing as that specific ghost. That goes the same for its cosmetics, which unlock the more you play as any specific ghost. There are five different ghosts you can play as, each with their own stats and ultimates. Some ghosts are better at haunting the building, while others are better at scaring off people—both of which increase the haunt level. Some ghosts can fight the Busters, while with others it is best to always avoid them. While each ghost has their own strengths and weaknesses, none really have a completely unique playstyle. But their differences are enough to make them interesting to both play as, and against. One of the things that really surprised me about Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is how family friendly it manages to be, while also being compelling and fun. Even my friend, who is all about gritty realism and gore, played Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed without a complaint. It’s not exactly a scary game, but visually it borders on Pixar and realism. But ghosts don’t actually kill people—just scare off patrons, or “slime” Ghostbusters, incapacitating them for a while. As you play the game and increase your player level, you’ll unlock new story beats. Yes, that’s right: there’s actually a narrative as you progress and increase in account level. Your progress in the story has no effect on the world or the gameplay, but it does add a nice bit of flavor for the Ghostbuster fans . As much as I love Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed for the week or so I’ve been playing it, I really worry about its longevity. I’ve only played Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed for only about a dozen hours (according to the Epic Game Store’s tracker) and I’ve unlocked almost everything in the game. While I was intentionally trying to level up my account as fast as possible to see everything the game had to offer, I was still able to finish the task surprisingly fast. The one thing that I’m most impressed with Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is just how much it feels like a Ghostbusters product. In fact, everything from its character interactions with the environment to its musical cues. This is a rare game where IP marries with gameplay wonderfully. I’m just worried since it feels a bit light on content for now. However, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is great fun, and manages to even be family friendly. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed will release on October 18th on PC via the Epic Games Store and on PlayStation 4 and Playstation 5 as well as Xbox Series S|X and Xbox One. An Epic Games Store key was provided to us for this review

Control is something that has been coming up in a lot of discussions about video games. I’m among the minority when I say “it’s just okay.” Control does some things fantastically well–especially in its atmosphere, setting, and lore. But it was just never very fun for me to play. And it’s harder to enjoy even the best story when you’re forced into parts that aren’t very fun. I know I’m in the minority on this, so save your seething hatred and just go play through the fantastically atmospheric Control. Oh, and I’m totally going to play any sequel that comes out, and even Alan Wake II, though I didn’t really like Alan Wake, either. *runs away* Control is a game that enjoyed some early good buzz and review scores—it was probably the most popular video game released in August. When Control was originally announced, the trailer was so cryptic, I didn’t really know what to expect beyond telekinetic powers and striking but trippy visuals. While it is indeed that, Control ends up being something familiar, yet unique. Control is a third person shooter, with a little bit of survival horror thrown in—and while it has heavy Resident Evil and Evil Within vibes, it also has the DNA of developer Remedy’s other games: Max Payne, Alan Wake, Quantum Break, etc. My point is that Control is comprised of a bunch of ideas you’ve probably seen before, held together by a compelling premise, and its amalgamation of these familiar parts ends up making Control feel pretty unique—mostly. In Control you play as Jesse Faden—a woman looking for her brother who has been held by a secretive government agency called the Federal Bureau of Control. Control takes place entirely inside of a creepy, vast government building with supernatural properties. Hidden in plain sight, smack dab in the middle of New York City, people can’t see it unless they know it’s there. Control has some heavy SCP vibes—a user made wiki of internet “creepy pasta.” Even the formatting for the supernatural item containment files almost exactly match that of the SCP wiki—an obvious homage. There are also heavy X-Files, Fringe and loads of other shadow-agency-story vibes. Despite these homages and other comparisons, Control manages to have its own unique take on things, and interesting lore. There was no shortage of intrigue, from Jesse looking for her brother Dylan, to the bodies of the office workers suspended in the air—victim of some catastrophe that has engulfed the entirety of the Federal Bureau of Control. Control is a third person shooter that leans pretty heavily on the action-shooter part. Jesse, soon upon her arrival, is made the new Director (because of course she would be) of the Federal Bureau of Control after their last director died in an apparent suicide. You get his gun—an “Object of Power” that shifts itself into multiple different firearm types—from shotgun to railgun, the archetypes all exist within Jesse’s new shifty gun. You can also upgrade Jesse’s gun with modifiers that up damage, reduce charge times, etc. Jesse will also pick up several new abilities, thanks to the various altered objects she runs across. These objects are linked to the astral plane, and Jesse can draw power from them, giving her the ability to throw objects telekinetically, levitate, dodge, and seize other enemies. She also has an incredibly impressive melee attack that throws particles in all directions—with chunks of office wall and debris flying constantly. Control’s combat is exceptionally visceral, and satisfying without a hint of gore. Firefights throw debris like confetti into the air, and tear the façade off of walls and pillars as bullets and objects fly. It’s too bad the enemies aren’t as interesting as the fights they take place in. The Federal Bureau of Control has been overrun by a “resonance” called The Hiss. It’s a terrible name, but an interesting, if cliché, concept. The Hiss has taken over the bodies of office workers, security officers, etc. and are hell bent on spreading across our world. Being trapped in The Last House is the only thing stopping them from wiping out humanity. And it gives you lots of opportunities to do combat with them. Most enemy types are soldiers with guns—albeit with cool visual effects. Some enemies share similar telekinetic abilities as Jesse—such as the ability to shield, throw objects, etc. Unfortunately, The Hiss ends up being a series of combat encounters, and never feels like the malevolent force that it is. There are a few boss fights thrown into the mix, but they are too few. Control has had a lot of thought given to its setting. The Last House is certainly an interesting one, and I found myself intrigued by the concept of the setting as much as what was happening inside of it. The whole game takes place within a massive labyrinthine building that breaks physical limitations. It has an impossibly massive interior compared to its exterior—and an interior that is constantly changing, thanks in part to the Hiss, but also as a natural function of the building. What Control does really well is presentation. It has a great atmosphere and premise. Unfortunately, most of what excited me about Control’s story and premise was relegated to window dressing—like the various altered objects, which sit behind glass. You can get some great context to the world and the goings on in the bureau, but that’s all in various bits of information you can pick up while exploring offices, etc. Control manages to have some interesting characters, even if everyone seems a little…off. I had a hard time trusting the people I met, but surprisingly, there is no social deception. They find out you’re their new director, and strangely, accept you with no question. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen actual video used in a video game so extensively, and never this seamlessly. Well, it’s not exactly seamless, but it fits the theme and tone so well, I never once thought it was out of place. This video overlays scenes, and shows off one of my favorite characters, the infectiously happy and curious Dr. Darling—who himself feels like someone directly out of the SCP wiki. For as visually exciting as Control is, it really doesn’t do much with its premise. It’s just a third person shooter with some neat abilities. Its atmosphere and lore elevate it to being a really good single player game, instead of a “just okay” one. The story is great, the powers and the combat are visceral, and fun. Control is a solid single player experience with a decent amount of life after you finish up with the story. Control is available now on the Epic Game Store, Xbox one, and PlayStation 4. This article was originally published on September 14, 2019 at this location.

There was a time when first-person shooters were known as “Doom clones”—a reference to the extremely popular 1993 game that popularized and shaped an entire genre of games, and many others that followed—and there were a ton. Since the 90s, through the 00’s and even today, it’s hard to not think about video games without thinking of the myriad of shooters—Call of Duty, Battlefield, Fortnite, etc. DUSK is an homage to a time before modern shooters, back when you could still find the utterances of “Doom clone,” and before iron sights and cover mechanics were a thing, with speed and twitch reflexes winning the day. DUSK doesn’t just emulate the retro style, it feels like it could easily exist in that era right alongside Quake. In DUSK you play as an unnamed protagonist fighting for his life. In a setting ripped straight from a horror movie, you must fight off robed cultists and chainsaw wielding madmen wearing burlap sacks on their heads. Despite DUSK’s chunky, polygonal style, the horror is translated well. Even though it does feel a little silly, it isn’t entirely ineffective. Though given a stated purpose at the beginning of your journey, your goal is to fight to the heart of the evil and find out what is driving it. DUSK is a dark game, in setting, tone, and visuals. While it might have set off a congressional hearing in the 90’s, these graphics would look cartoonishly silly to most today. Still, it tries as hard as it can for that Gen X, 90’s style edginess that was such a popular look for games of that day. DUSK pulls it off effortlessly, while even managing to throw in some Duke Nukem 3D style humor here and there. DUSK is fast: it eschews cover mechanics for speed. In this way, it emulates a style that existed before cover mechanics—where circle strafing and fast aiming are the only ways to survive. Sometimes, it’s how you just barely survive, as DUSK throws wave after wave of enemies at you. Often, this is done in clever ways—after you find a power-up, or as sort of another trap—not just a mindless wave of enemies. The enemies themselves, while also blocky polygons, actually manage to be interesting. They don’t just beeline towards you; instead, different enemies act differently. Melee enemies will try to flank you, or outright run towards you. Flying enemies will get better vantage points to shoot at you, while ranged enemies on the ground will track you down to get a firing line on you. Enemy projectiles are not instant, so even the bullets can be dodged (with enough space) making every interaction with enemies feel challenging, but never unfair. If you take damage, you definitely know it, and often know where it is coming from. You don’t regenerate health, either. Instead, you rely on pickups for both health and armor (called morale in DUSK) so you always have to be on the lookout for not only ammo to power your killing, but health to keep those bullets flying. My biggest gripe, however, is the lack of notification when you are low on health. The screen does turn slightly red around the corners, but if you are absorbed in a battle you may not know you are close to death unless you are dead. And, in keeping with this old school style, any progress you made since your last save is lost. Save points are NOT automatic, so be sure to hit “quicksave” as often as you can, and manually save if you’re taking any risks. I managed to forget this myself, despite having played games during that era, and quickly relearned a few of my old habits. DUSK throws a few boss encounters at you, but these experiences aren’t that interesting beyond the locations they exist in. Most bosses act like larger enemies, and sometimes are indeed just larger models of enemy types you will encounter later. There could have been some real potential for boss encounters, but instead you just have to fight a few tougher, bullet-sponge enemies. They’re not bad encounters, just not very interesting, either. The weapons in DUSK are exactly what you would expect from a first-person shooter of that era. You have your token melee weapon, pistols, shotguns, etc. The weapons, while fun, don’t feel like they have much oomph to them. But they get the job done, and there is enough variety to usefulness for each weapon that you’ll find yourself using each pretty regularly—depending on the situation. There are also a multitude of pick-ups and power-ups to help cut down the hordes of enemies. Pick-ups allow you to fire faster, survive lava, or even wall climb. There is even a power-up that mimics the “enemies move when you move” gameplay style of Superhot. As fun as that power-up is, though, I found it more annoying than useful. There are also plenty of secrets to find, with some levels having many such secrets to uncover. There are three episodes total to play through, with each episode consisting of about nine levels each. You’ll be fighting through various locations, like farmsteads, secret laboratories, military bases, and ancient ruins on your journey to stop the source of the evil. The level designs in DUSK range from the mundane to the inspired. Some levels are completely forgettable, and others use ideas that I have never even seen before in a first person shooter—old, or new. I don’t want to get into too many specifics, lest I spoil some neat moments, but rarely did I find myself bored with DUSK’s levels. Sometimes it may be a little hard to figure out where to go next (there are no waypoints) but each level is small enough to be run through in about five minutes—shorter if you know where to look. There are plenty of shortcuts and other interesting areas that make DUSK seem perfect for speedrunning. In classic first-person shooter style, most of the time the only thing blocking you from progression through each level is locked doors. Red, yellow, and blue keys are usually scattered about, and finding them is the only to progress. Just hunting for keys isn’t fun, so DUSK likes to throw surprises out to make your trek back to locked doors either more hazardous—or in some cases, outright trippy. Even the options in DUSK help maintain an “authentic” retro experience. You can even change the graphic levels to make it look more authentically retro. I was even able to set it up to look exactly like Quake did on my crappy Pentium 90 that was barely able to run it. Despite these graphic filters, I think DUSK looks great with its low polygon aesthetic. The soundtrack and sounds are all spot-on, too. The soundtrack is appropriately heavy for most of the game, and gets your blood pumping appropriately for the amount of polygonal chunkiness you’re about to unleash. The sounds themselves are also “authentic,” with the perfect balance to make them sound like they were recorded as .WAV files back in the 90s. DUSK fully embraces its retro nature. As with graphics and gameplay, even the multiplayer has a retro feel. With its multiplayer component an obvious homage to Quakeworld, DUSKWORLD is your online portal and your window to fragging other players. Now you don’t have to worry about your mom picking up the phone and killing your internet connection. Despite that, it doesn’t seem like many people are regularly playing DUSK’s multiplayer. I jumped into a match, but with only two other players on that particular server (the most populated I could find) I don’t think there was enough time make an accurate assessment of its capabilities. It looks like a hell of a lot of fun, though! DUSK succeeds where a lot of similar titles have failed. Games like Strafe tried SO HARD to give us that classic 90’s shooter feel, but managed to only get the pixelated look with barely any of the flavor or feel. DUSK feels like a modern version of classic, deserving to sit right alongside Duke 3D or Quake. With little modern quality of life improvements, some gamers may find DUSK a little unpalatable, but it perfectly does what it sets out to: recreate the 90’s shooter look and feel. This article was originally published on 12/18/2018 at this location.

For today’s game I wanted to highlight a hidden gem: Scavenger SV-4. This is a game I’ve never seen discussed anywhere, and I think that’s because it was a little ahead of its time. It wasn’t until games like Dusk popularized the low poly horror genre later that year. It’s a shame, because Scavenger SV-4 is a bit like Iron Lung in its presentation, but it’s IN SPACE, and that automatically makes it 100 times cooler and scarier. The Steam Summer Sale is upon us again. Sometimes, I feel like it’s a bust–every year I buy way too many games, with few ever hooking me. It was mostly the same this year, until I ran across a strange, rogue-lite ship-based sci-fi game. It was released early this year under the unassuming title Scavenger SV-4. Actually, everything about Scavenger SV-4 is a unassuming, making it easy to pass by–I almost did, but despite its unassuming quality, its premise grabbed me. The Steam store page describes Scavenger SV-4 thusly: “Part simulator, part roguelike, it has elements of action, combat, resource management and a dash of horror. It is not quite like any game you have played before.” I remember thinking that last sentence was a pretty bold statement, but I was intrigued. I’m really glad I checked it out. If that sounds intriguing enough for you, I totally recommend picking it up. If you’re not convinced, keep reading, but beware: there are minor spoilers ahead. The premise of Scavenger SV-4 is the same from playthrough to playthrough—you’re a lone explorer who has parked their ship above a radioactive planet in hopes of finding something—but the details are different each time. There are many rogue-lite elements, including permanent death. You start by making a character—choosing their name, and making a few other cosmetic choices for that run. Everything else is decided for you: your character’s motivations, background, and how the planet below is arranged. I don’t want to spoil too many aspects of Scavenger SV-4, since most of the fun I had with it was through discovery, but the crux of the gameplay is this: you send a rover down to the planet to explore, collect artifacts, and then send your rover back up to your ship. The only way you interact with the planet is through the rover’s sensors, cameras, or whatever other modules you install—meaning, the best you usually see is the real-time camera image that often suffers from interference from all of the planet’s radiation. The rover itself is completely self-sustained, and capable of many tasks. It can fly to and from the planet, collect artifacts (with the proper installed module), and is capable of bearing modules that make it capable of all sorts of tasks, including combat. Despite how focused on exploration Scavenger SV-4 is, you will run into some resistance on the planet that will require weaponry. Your rover can sustain damage, as well as the modules it carries. If the modules are damaged they must be repaired—if they can’t be, they are lost. You either have to find an artifact that can serve as a replacement module or you have to do without. If your rover is destroyed, your ability to explore is gone, and that playthrough is essentially over, making it time to start another run. Your base of operations is your spaceship, which starts each mission already in orbit–you won’t actually fly it. The ship never changes in layout or function, but there are different events that require different solutions be implemented on your ship. Again, I don’t want to spoil any of these events, as discovering them for yourself is half the fun, but things can get kind of scary in space sometimes. The ship has systems that can be controlled with various consoles. Sometimes consoles will shut off and require a reboot, which can be done from the engineering section. The airlocks can all be opened, to blow out oxygen (or anything that you might not want on your ship), or you can use the doors to seal off any specific area. The science bay is used to research any artifacts you find to discover potential usefulness, or even lore tidbits. As you’re orbiting a highly radioactive planet, radiation damage to your character is a constant concern. You can stave this off with trips to the med bay, but there’s only so much the automated medical system can do before you start suffering from permanent effects. This means that you have to act relatively fast, as you only have a few hours in orbit in real-time before the radiation becomes too much. The run ends when you decide if you’ve collected enough, or you die. Afterwards, you are given a screen detailing the aftermath of your journey, and your score is tallied. Based on your choices, the aftermath can vary. One non-spoiler example is this: stay in orbit too long, and you may not live long enough to enjoy the fruits of your discoveries. Scavenger SV-4 is a hidden gem. It might not have the most modern graphics, but it is extremely compelling for those who like the idea of exploring a dead planet from orbit. When I first tried it out, I played it for several hours straight—like a good story, I couldn’t put it down until I was done. Scavenger SV-4 is available now on Steam, and will be discounted 20% for the remainder of the Steam Summer Sale, which runs through July 5th. This review was originally published on 07/03/2018 at this location,

Dead Space series creator Glen Schofield’s Callisto Protocol was overshadowed by a remake of his own creation–and there’s a reason for that: Dead Space managed to capture the feeling of sci-fi horror in a way no game did before it. And while the original manages to hold up, the Dead Space remake is pitch perfect and graphically gorgeous. I’m really appreciating this trend of horror game remakes, and Dead Space definitely raises the bar. When Dead Space released earlier this year, I knew I would have to write about it eventually. I was a huge fan of the Dead Space series–and I even tolerated Dead Space 3 more than a lot more than other fans did (I know, I know. I’ve heard it all.) This Dead Space remake was more than just a new coat of paint over old geometry: it was made from the ground up in the style of Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes–and as a result, it’s one of the best sci-fi horror games I’ve ever played. Dead Space is a third person survival horror game. I'm throwing “action” in there because the original Dead Space was made right before the trend of making you run away from monsters that you can’t kill. Instead, it makes its necromorphs difficult to kill, and throws you into desperate situations in an effort to dispatch them. And aiming center mass won’t do it, you have to cut off their limbs–something you are taught not through a tutorial or tooltip, but by blood scrawled across the wall where you retrieve your first weapon. While some games struggle to skirt the line between terror and schlock, Dead Space navigates this hurdle with ease. It also doesn’t just throw terror in your face the entire time -- the developers knew to slow the action down to build the tension back up. There’s also a tendency for the necromorph enemies to show up in areas you have already cleared out, making sure that you’re always on the lookout for potential dangers. Dead Space does an excellent job with its weapon design. The original came right around the time developers stopped getting creative with their guns–and I’m glad that we got some more “engineering” type devices to fight the necromorphs. There are some redundant feelings between the weapons, however, like the Line Gun feeling like a giant Plasma Cutter. And while there is a more traditional firearm with the Assault Rifle, it’s never quite as satisfying as the various engineering tools Isaac wields The stasis ability in Dead Space is also something that sets it apart from other games, and makes the action sequences not only more bearable, but also more dynamic. Introduced as a way to slow down doors and solve other such puzzles, it also has the ability to slow down necromorphs. This makes it an incredibly useful tool against an enemy that moves quickly and has erratic behavior. There’s even a “gravity gun” in Dead Space in the Handheld Graviton Accelerator. This is another item with puzzle solving abilities that also allows its usage in combat. If you’re out of ammo, and if you can find something to hurl at the enemies you’re not helpless. Most of the praise I’m giving Dead Space is for things that the original game did. The remake, however, not only makes some changes–but brings up the graphical fidelity to an impressive level. It’s hard to find a game that looks better than Dead Space. The remake did make some other notable changes, too. For one, Isaac’s face is revealed at the end, something player’s wouldn’t see until Dead Space 2 originally. There’s also the ability to fly in zero gravity in the remake–something that was, again, relegated to the sequel. You’re also spared having to man the defense turrets in a strange sequence that felt completely out of place in the rest of the game. Dead Space is almost a perfect horror game. It walks a fine line between making you feel vulnerable and giving you the ability to fight back. It’s a game that other have tried to emulate–even its original creator–but nothing has topped Dead Space in terms of sci-fi survival horror.

Ok, so this isn't exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to see here. I mean, it's called *Cozy* Grove, not Creepy Grove, right? And you'd be right. But the thing about Halloween is that the fun should be accessible to all, and truth be told, some people don't really like bloody, gorey or even super scary things. But those people may want to still enjoy Halloween in their own way, with trick-or-treating, movies like Nightmare Before Christmas, and something more Goosebumps than Stephen King. That's where Cozy Grove comes in. Are there cute animals and a bunch of small tasks to keep you integrated into your little village full of bears and birds and whatnot? Yes, there are. But are there also fires that demand daily sacrifice, boneyards and ghosts? Well...also yes. Cozy Grove is haunted, adorable, and perfect for a low-key Halloween leadup. It starts off innocently enough. You’re a little scout, heading off to a fun little scouting adventure in a little place called Cozy Grove. I hadn’t heard much about Cozy Grove except that it was supposed to be some sort of Animal Crossing clone type game. I was tentatively excited for my scouting adventures, because, let’s face it, I was full on obsessed with Animal Crossing: New Horizons–not only did it come out at exactly the right time to be the perfect escape, but I’d already had some pretty big attachments to the franchise thanks to my husband introducing me to the series back in the days of the DS. If it’s hard to do a sequel, it’s even harder to ape something so beloved and have people who liked the original thing like a new thing that’s like it. Fortunately, what I heard about Cozy Grove was…not super accurate to say the least. See, Cozy Grove plays a lot like Animal Crossing, but it won’t even take three hours for your tour to go, well…a little dark. If you’re a little scout you’re probably expecting merit badges, arts and crafts, hikes and songs around the campfire. What you might not be expecting is a forest full of ghost bears, who aren’t too keen on your presence, since they were all killed in a big giant forest fire that was the result of the negligence of one of your fellow Spirit Scouts. Shortly after talking to the first bear who’d let me in a little, Charlotte Pine, I had to talk to a strange and, I still assert, somewhat sus campfire named Flamey, who helped me get acquainted with my new life on the island, and helps hook you up with the various residents to meet their needs. Now that you’re here for the long haul thanks to an unmoored boat, you’ll have to help repopulate the island with its ursine residents, and help guide them through their memories to restore them to life and the island back to full glory and color. Help them uncover more of their stories and you’ll in turn get that day’s allotment of Spirit Logs, which keeps Flamey happy, if sort of scary in his insatiableness. You’ll accomplish this through a series of daily quests and tasks that include fishing, collecting, finding hidden objects, cooking and talking to various bears who have some truly strange dispositions and backstories, and day by day piece the story of the island back together, in the hopes of proving yourself as a Spirit Scout and maybe one day getting back home to your parents. Cozy Grove features a lot of the same sorts of mechanics you’ll find in Animal Crossing or even Stardew Valley. You start out with a small plot of land and a tent that you can expand, and a backpack and campsite that offer precious little storage. The various bears will teach you how to craft things, including the tools you’ll need to mine for ore, fish, dig and chop down the big twisty weeds that crop up all over. Eventually, as days go by, you’ll add the ability to bake and even use a dowsing rod to look for relics to unearth. Just like in Animal Crossing, there’s a fashion element, with a giant kitsune fox named Mr. Kit who offers a daily selection of wares including some fun fashion choices for you to peruse and lust after. You’ll earn money selling items you harvest, including fruit from trees, and mushrooms, tubers, radishes and the like from the ground. There’s even a seagullbear who catalogues new discoveries and rewards you for your donations a la Blathers. There’s a few other interesting mechanics at play, though, including one I both love and loathe–the color mechanic. When you first arrive at Cozy Grove, precious little of it is in color. As you work to unlock a bear’s story and help guide it to peace, the story progresses, as indicated with little hearts that fill gradually. Each time you unlock a new story point with one of the bears on the island, they’ll temporarily light up their corner of the world. This does a few things. Most obviously, it adds some contrast and beauty to the land, making it easier to spot things like leaf piles and digging spots, but it also allows you to harvest goods in that area like fruits and nuts. It doesn’t last though, and you’ll need to keep progressing the story daily to keep the color going. There’s also a decoration mechanic at play in Cozy Grove, beginning at your campsite. Every valuable object and creature in Cozy Grove has a list of likes and dislikes, and most have happiness meters to fill up, too. Decor, which can be crafted, gifted or bought, comes in a few varieties, like spooky, cozy or rustic, and can be rare, epic or common. Putting an item a plant or animal doesn’t like near them will reduce their happiness and make their harvest less fruitful, or nonexistent. And though you’ll start decorating at home, as the demand for resources goes up, so will your need to string more and more decor across the island, lighting up areas in full color and ensuring the happiness of trees, flowers, birds and deer all over. My biggest gripe with Cozy Grove, at least in early gameplay, is that it has a pretty harsh ratio of available resources to required resources for quests. I got pretty involved in the character’s backstories early, but having to wait a couple of days to a week to get the resources to make one egg or repair one tool feels overly punishing. It’s something early players have mentioned to the devs and they seem to still be adjusting, but it’s a huge pain point. At current, I’ve got about 3 bears I wish I could unlock more story with that I simply can’t due to a lack of iron ore, eggs or some other such item that can’t be easily gathered in large quantities, even though the recipe for one boiled egg, for example, means collecting a dozen. This can be alleviated somewhat through the shop and wandering salesman, but they aren’t available every day, and I really feel like the resources required still needs a tweak. Meanwhile, the dark undertones keep creeping to the surface, with references to liches and old gods, mysterious “you-should-have-said-something-fish” and drowned mermaid souls you’ll reel in, strange statues and relics and some truly terrifying stories and parcels received via my favorite bear on the island but probably the most troubled, Patrice Furbac, an extremely lovable bear who just wants to deliver mail and hang out with her wife, and keeps getting truly terrifying mail that leaves her in cold sweats, including a parcel full of bloody bear paws. There are terrible things that happened on Cozy Grove island, and after about a week and a half of gameplay, I feel I’ve only scratched the surface. Finally, at least on Nintendo Switch, Cozy Grove doesn’t run very well at all. Not only did I run into save issues, my character would get stuck, and very often when the world would become colorful, it would jitter and sometimes even freeze my game, as it also did when digging or harvesting. What Cozy Grove does best is cross the familiarity and cutesiness of a game like Animal Crossing with a sort of Lovecraftian kind of mystery and a forest of really odd but troubled characters you’ll like and want to help. I love its hand-drawn style, and though its sense of humor is pretty dark, it’s garnered real laughs. As much as I went in thinking I wouldn’t like the game, and as much as I still don’t like the game some days when resources seem scarce and I’m off on a wild goose chase for blue leaves, I found myself determined to keep going, to find out what really happened in Cozy Grove, and hopefully, help Patrice and her friends find real peace. Cozy Grove is cute, fun, slightly disturbing and a little frustrating, but I think it’s a place I’ll visit for a while longer to find out more. Cozy Grove is available April 8th on PC via Steam or the Epic Game Store as well as via Apple Arcade and for Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation. This review was originally published on April 21, 2021 at this location.