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Signalis kind of came out of nowhere. It was just another game in a sea of review keys that didn’t do much to stand out–that is, until I played it. It was a surprisingly novel take on the survival horror genre. If you are a survival horror fan, you have to play Signalis. I’ve been replaying classic horror games a lot lately, and there’s something about their low polygon, low resolution nature that makes them scarier than a lot of modern games. But Signalis isn’t a game that leans on nostalgia in any obvious way. It doesn’t even really bill itself as a retro experience, because while it has those elements, it’s more than a game that’s just banking on nostalgia. Signalis is a survival horror game mostly played from an isometric perspective. In it, you play as Elster, a synthetic person who is looking for her lost partner who is trapped on a frozen planet, in a facility full of walking nightmares. There’s an extra layer of horror as you uncover that the society in which you live is a fascist, totalitarian regime. Replikas work and live among the normal populace, serving as guardians and workers—not quite human, but resembling them. In classic survival horror fashion, you have to explore the facility uncovering the truth, while fighting off enemies with a variety of weapons, bypassing locked doors and other obstacles to progress. It’s very Resident Evil-like, but with a retro-glitch veneer and a little bit of anime flavor. There are puzzles to solve, and enemies to avoid or fight—ammo is scarce. And unlike some games that claim ammo scarcity, there were some moments in Signalis that I had to choose to avoid enemy encounters rather than use what precious few bullets I had left. While Signalis dabbles in both traditional horror and psychological horror, it’s more effective towards the latter. I just didn’t find Signalis to be a very scary game overall. There were parts that were definitely unsettling, but that was mostly despite its setting and environment instead of because of it. Signalis also relies heavily on horror tropes—but mostly uses them well. However, despite its attempts at a scary atmosphere, I was never so much scared while playing Signalis as intrigued. But Signalis does use its environments well, and uses shifting perspectives even better. Occasionally, you will shift into a first person view, usually to interact with a specific object, or to solve a puzzle. Sometimes, usually during flashbacks, there are entire sections played in first person. These parts really helped to amp up the psychological horror aspects of Signalis. There is an underlying mystery throughout Signalis, and you’ll get glimpses of it as you progress through each area. But at first, you start off with little information on the what, who or why of anything—and you won’t even be sure that if what your character is experiencing is real. Sometimes new clues will unlock new memories, and adventures into these different memories can even yield objects that you can take and use in the waking world, which deepens the mystique. While you can avoid much of the fighting in Signalis, there are times you will be forced to fight. Combat in Signalis works almost identically to how Resident Evil established third person horror combat way back in the 90s: aim your weapon to ready it, and then fire. There are tools to help you avoid combat, or survive if your HP hits zero. Which is good, because Signalis using a bit of an archaic-made-new-again save system—you can only save at certain checkpoints, in safe rooms, much like Resident Evil. The equipment that you carry in Signalis can actually be pretty powerful—and I found that the game was pretty generous with how it gives out items. To combat this, Signalis gives you an incredibly limited inventory space of only 6 items. You don’t have to play inventory Tetris to get everything to fit, however. In addition to the simplified inventory, like items stack to a certain number. However, weapons, tools, and consumables all take up inventory slots per item type. Therefore, you will have to pack carefully. If you want to bring extra health, you might not have enough room for extra ammo, too. And since ammo can be genuinely scarce, sometimes inventory management is where the real horror of Signalis comes in. Despite how familiar Signalis is, it does a few things differently, and the things it apes from other games it does very well. Signalis is an unexpected hit, and my favorite new survival horror game this year. It’s a little light on scares, even despite its limited ammo. But it has an intriguing mystery and excellent sci-fi world building. If you are looking for a survival horror game to play this Halloween, Signalis should be towards at the top of your list. Signalis will be available 10/27 on PC via Steam and is also available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X through Humble Bundle. A Steam key was given to us for this review This review was originally published on November 2, 2022 at this location: https://www.culturecombine.com/post/signalis-is-a-great-throwback-to-classic-horror-with-lots-of-new-ideas

If you asked me 10-15 years ago about scary games, I’m sure System Shock 2 would have been brought up. It’s a classic that genuinely scared me in a way its sprite-based predecessor didn’t. Now we have the superbly remade System Shock, lovingly crafted from the ground up by Night Dive Studios to bring Shodan’s original terror spree to contemporary gamers. Not only was it great at launch, but the developers have been listening to feedback, and it's still getting updates as of August of this year. GLaDOS is perhaps the most famous rogue AI in video games, but long before I played Portal I was facing off against an antagonistic AI that absolutely terrifies me in a way that GLaDOS doesn’t: Shodan. While there is some humor in GLaDOS’s horror, Shodan is a terrifying megalomaniacal AI that revels in genetic experiments and creating cyborg monstrosities while demanding her subjects worship her as a god. System Shock is a first person adventure game that has been painstakingly recreated by brilliant retro resurrectors Night Dive Studios. In it, you play as a who is hacker forced to fight their way through Citadel station after the station’s AI went rogue. In fact, you’re the reason Shodan’s leash is unhooked. It’s your job to undo this damage as you find yourself trapped on a Citadel Station that is controlled by Shodan, with its cramped corridors filled with mutants, cyborgs, and robots bent on destroying or enslaving you. Body horror abounds in high definition. Before the denizens of Citadel Station were depicted in highly pixelated gore, you can see the fruit of Shodan’s carnage in a whole new way. Despite System Shock’s graphical overhaul, Night Dive Studios left a bit of pixelated retro feel in their art. If you get really close to an object the textures are pixelated in a way that feels like a deliberate art choice by the developers. It helps maintain that retro feel. But you also have all of the modern graphical bells and whistles you’d expect. While the graphics changed significantly, there has been obvious care put into System Shock’s gameplay. It feels like a modern game, but it’s surprisingly faithful to it’s the original’s design. And that means this is a true retro adventure. There is absolutely no hand-holding, so you have to pay attention to dialogue and the environment to find your next task. There are no waypoints. You can reference dialogue snippets that you find as you explore Citadel Station and discover audio logs left from the deceased crew. There are also little to no explanation on the game’s mechanics—if you’re not familiar with this type of game, the learning curve might be frustrating. Especially because there’s a real possibility you can play yourself into a corner. If you don’t save often enough, or lose track of an important game item, you can lose chunks of time. I found myself going back to my old habit of saving frequently, and creating a new save file each time I saved so I could go back and undo anything that might get me stuck. System Shock comes from an age of corridor shooters, and feels only one step removed from a grid-based role-playing game. What I mean by that is: most of the game takes placed in cramped environments. You could argue that this is appropriate for a space station, but it does make System Shock feel labyrthine and claustrophobic—but more in a hard to navigate way than in a scary way. In fact, despite the Shodan’s threats and the prodigious amounts of gore, System Shock isn’t a very scary game. It does achieve a cyberpunk sci-fi atmosphere, but the hacker you play as feels very capable of handling the threats that Shodan produces. Once I got a lightsaber (sorry, laser rapier) and boots that let me run super-fast and nearly fly, I felt like Shodan should be afraid of me. System Shock is definitely one of the most authentically cyberpunk games I’ve played in a long time. Even the original game’s infamous cyberspace hacking segments are created in bright neon colors that invoke the feeling of flying through the ‘net and compromising systems in a way that 90’s popular media promised us. While System Shock contains some frustrating elements for the uninitiated, fans of the original will absolutely love this remake. It’s even more accessible to modern audiences, if they possess a little patience to weather the 90’s video game design. This is my favorite game of its type since 2017’s Prey, and an absolutely worthy remake to a 90’s sci-fi video game classic. System Shock is available today on PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store. A Steam key was given to us for this review This article was originally published on May 5, 2023 in this location: https://www.culturecombine.com/post/system-shock-is-a-brilliant-remake

So--we’re about halfway through the fourth season of Lower Decks, and we finally have an episode that’s all about the show's newest Lower Deck regular T’Lyn. It also has a few throwbacks (of course) and some surprisingly poignant moments while fleshing out Trek lore. Honestly, this intro is completely unnecessary, because I’m essentially just describing the show at this point. Most of this season has been fantastic, and “Empathalogical Fallacies” has some genuinely great Trek moments. In Empathological Fallacies, the USS Cerritos is tasked with transporting three Betazoid diplomats. As I would have expected from Betazoids, these are real party aunt types–loud, boisterous, and flirting constantly and openly. You know, like three Lwaxana Trois, except drunk and (surprisingly more) disorderly. T’Lyn, the Vulcan addition to the Lower Decks crew, cannot stand their behavior, and finds it extremely off-putting. Soon after, the crew begins to experience heightened emotions–something Captain Freeman thinks is being caused by the Betazoids. It’s always hit or miss when you have a Star Trek episode that revolves around characters losing their inhibitions, but “Empathalogical Fallacies” does a great job riding the line between satire and parody, while staying true to Trek’s spirit. There are also some interesting lore tidbits that popped up in this episode, especially the fact that Caitians used to hunt Betazoids. Seeing T’Ana feverishly looking for the Betazoids to hunt was hilarious–but it’s hard to find a scene with Doctor T’Ana that isn’t. While telepathic hell is breaking loose on the Cerritos, Boimler is somewhere deep in the ship during a B-plot with Shaxs and the security crew. Boimler is hoping to learn some moves to kick ass, but instead is invited to play board games and listen to slam poetry. I love how much of a Papa Bear Shaxs is, and the whole episode turns out to be a sort of Karate Kid moment for Boimler. I wasn’t sure where “Empathalogical Fallacies” was going at first (despite its title hinting at the truth) and I thought T’Lyn was being set up as a villain. Thankfully, that’s not the case, as I’ve really grown to like her character. T’Lyn has turned out to be a great addition to Lower Decks crew. In fact, it’s strange to think that she wasn’t there acting as the “straight man” all along. Certain characters took that role every now and then, and I think Boimler may have originally been meant to occupy that space, but all of the Lower Deck crews are quirkier and more enthusiastic than any straight man can be. “Empathalogical Fallacies” ends with some hints towards the season’s big mystery. While we’re not given any answers, we’re brought a little closer to the truth. I’m hoping they’re not saving the reveal for a two part ending, and that we’ll get a few more clues to its purpose and who is behind it before any finale.

This isn’t exactly a horror game, but it isn’t NOT a horror game. While there are a few things in this deckbuilder that are unconventional (and lots of surprises for those who managed to avoid spoilers) and sometimes horrifying. Either way, it’s a game that had unsettling moments that left an impression on me almost three years after its release. This review strives to be as spoiler-free as possible. It’s hard to write about Inscryption. It’s a game that’s full of surprises—and those surprises are part of the fun I’ve had while peeling back Inscryption’s many layers. But writing about it proves problematic because of spoilers—and while I know my efforts will be in vain, since spoilers will be on the internet once the embargo lifts, I don’t want to be the reason that you are spoiled for this amazing game. Inscryption is a darkly atmospheric deckbuilding and puzzle game. If you’ve played games like Slay the Spire, Inscryption may look familiar to you—but that’s surface level. Inscryption’s brilliance is hidden within multiple layers of compelling mystery. To start the game, you find yourself a hapless victim in Leshy’s cabin—an insane hermit who is forcing you to play a deadly game of cards against him. If you lose, it costs you your life. The gameplay of Inscryption not only requires you to build good decks to defeat the challenges you’ll face, but to also solve puzzles to reveal secrets, and uncover its mysteries. Screenshot: Inscryption My first impression of Inscryption was that it was a haunted game—like it was something I discovered, but wasn’t meant to. It uses its dark atmosphere, and scaled down retro style graphics to set the tone of a game that feels like it was plucked straight from creepypasta. It’s not long before you start to realize that things aren’t necessarily as they seem, as the cards begin to talk to you. Get up from you seat, and you can explore the cabin, finding secrets including hidden cards, and information that reveals the truth of Inscryption. As far as deckbuilders go, Inscryption takes a whole lot of bold and exciting steps, and is one of my favorite card games in recent memory. Card duels in Inscryption are extremely fun, and very high risk—with decisive moves making duels over in only a few rounds. It’s set up a bit like Magic: The Gathering: cards are played opposite one another in a number of lanes. Cards that attack with no card in the opposite lane will instead do damage to the other “player.” There aren’t conventional hit points. Instead, if you’re hit, a scale is weighed down in your direction—if the scale lowers too far, you lose. This makes health dynamic, and sometimes duels are a tug of war, trading blows back and forth. Screenshot: Inscryption There is a lot of room for crazy, unconventional, or just plain overpowered cards in Inscryption. There are a few methods of upgrading or modifying cards, with certain combos of abilities that make for fun synergies. Cards have health values and damage values—but they also have sigils that determine their behavior. Inscryption’s style of card dueling rewards high risk behavior and sacrifice. In fact, especially to start, sacrificing cards is necessary to even play them, though new card mechanics are added (and removed) as you play. There is an underlying mystery in Inscryption, and to get to the bottom of it, you’ll need to explore everything you can. Nothing in Inscryption is as it seems. It creates an incredible atmosphere of dread, propped up by the amazing soundtrack by Jonah Senzei. Screenshot: Inscryption A major part of Inscryption is interacting with its environments. There are many puzzles and other unexpected things to interact with and discover. While some of Inscryption’s puzzles are easier than others, none of them had me stumped for long. There are so many things to discover, that I felt like I was hardly ever stuck—and always moving towards the answers to Incryption’s secrets. Inscryption pays homage to video games in many ways. It uses meta narrative in a way that reminds me of what was so exciting about Undertale—and while I can’t predict if Inscryption is destined for such massive popularity, it deserves to be. Inscryption is easily one of the best games I’ve played all year. Inscryption is available tomorrow for PC via Steam. This article was originally published on 10/18/2021. The original article is located here: https://thirdcoastreview.com/2021/10/18/review-inscryption/

31DoH is our 31 Days of Horror series, where we will post one horror game review every day for the month of October. Enjoy! To start off this 31 Days of Horror games I wanted to highlight one of my favorite horror games this year: Amnesia: The Bunker. I was a little bummed by the direction of the Amnesia series after Rebirth–it was a solid game, but it pulled the curtain a little too far back. The Bunker, however, takes the series in a different approach. Developer Frictional seemed to be channeling their earlier works–like the Penumbra series–as well as a bit of Alien: Isolation (among other titles) to bring an experience that is genuinely terrifying. I’ve been a fan of developer Frictional Games since I played Penumbra: Overture. In fact, I heartily recommend their game Soma to anyone who might ask me for game recommendations. But Frictional Games is best known for their Amnesia series. While I thought their previous entry Amnesia: Rebirth might have pulled the curtain back a tad too far, Amnesia: The Bunker is a return to form for Frictional Games, with gameplay that calls back to the Penumbra series. It’s also damn scary. Amnesia: The Bunker is a first person survival horror game. In it, you play as a World War I soldier who has recently recovered from a wound only to wake up to a horror: trapped alone in an underground bunker with a bloodthirsty creature. The officers escaped, and collapsed the tunnel behind them, so you have to find a way out of the bunker while avoiding the creature. It won’t be easy, however, as you also have to find your way around obstacles, through locked doors, and around traps left by the soldiers who have died before you. You have to do all of this while trying to keep the lights on at all costs, because the creature prefers to hunt in the dark. But the generator loves to gulp down fuel, and you’re either forced to use your noisy wind-up flashlight, improvise a light source, or attempt to survive the bunker by groping around in the dark. Screenshot: Amnesia: The Bunker When you first start up Amnesia: The Bunker ( or The Bunker) you’re forced to play through a clumsy beginning that establishes the setting, and works a bit like a tutorial. It’s an unfortunate first impression, but it’s quickly forgotten as the game immediately creates a tense atmosphere that only gets more intense as you continue to play. Once you’re on your own, there’s a message that informs you that “if you think it’s possible, it probably is” in regards to what The Bunker’s physics-driven interactions can be. While there is definitely some possibility for emergent gameplay, I found this mostly means finding creative ways to break down doors, and sometimes clever ways of warding off the creature. Doors are your main obstacle in The Bunker, and while some can be smashed open (or blown up, shot, etc.) others will require you to find keys or combinations to the locks that impede your way forward. Most of these keys and combinations can be found through careful exploration, but also by reading the various notes left around. This is how the story is told, and gives you an idea of what happened in the bunker leading up to its current state. Screenshot: Amnesia: The Bunker There’s always a sense of dread in The Bunker. There’s the constant time pressure of the generator and its fuel consumption, and the pressure of item management: inventory space is limited, so you have to decide what’s important, or what gets left behind in your stash. There’s only one “safe” room in The Bunker, and one save point, meaning you’ll have to explore outward from there. The further out you go, the more intense the pressures can be. And of course, there’s the constant dread of knowing the monster is actively hunting you and may be lurking just around the corner. The creature itself never quite invoked the same childhood induced trauma levels of fear that the xenomorph in Alien: Isolation caused me—but it comes pretty damn close. While most games developed by Frictional Games have you helpless and unable to fight, you can actually fight back against the monster in The Bunker—but anything you do to it will just slow it down. While the creature is repelled by the light, you aren’t safe just because you’re in a bright room: once he sees you, unless you can fight back you’re dead. While the monster isn’t the only enemy you’ll face in The Bunker— it will be a constant threat through your entire playthrough. Screenshot: Amnesia: The Bunker Even after you’ve played through The Bunker the first time, new playthroughs can have their own challenges. Certain elements in The Bunker are randomized. The codes you find in your playthrough are randomly generated, and even sometimes randomly placed. Resources are randomly generated and placed in different locations on each new playthrough. Even traps are randomized by placement and type. There is also Steam Workshop support, which opens up the possibility of being able to play user made content—and I can’t wait to see what the community comes up with. If you find that The Bunker is too difficult, there’s an “easy” mode that allows you to explore with a little less pressure from the monster. Conversely there’s a “hard” mode for those who want an increased challenge. Amnesia: The Bunker is a fantastic game. It’s easily the most terrifying game I’ve played since Alien: Isolation. It instills a sense of dread and its intensity ramps up until the very end. If you’re a fan of horror Amnesia: The Bunker is one of the best and scariest games out there.  Amnesia: The Bunker is available June 6 for PC via Steam and on the Epic Games Store. A Steam key was given to us for this review This article was originally published on 6/5/2023, and was originally found at: https://www.culturecombine.com/post/terrifying-and-brilliant-amnesia-the-bunker-is-a-return-to-form

Riot Fest was back again in Douglass Park with its classic carnival atmosphere. The stage set ups remained similar to previous years, with headlining double stages and cascading secondary stages, which led to some heavy trekking for some trying to see multiple artists in a row. Nonetheless, the Chicagoland crowd showed up in droves for such headliners as Foo Fighters and The Cure but how did it fare comparative to its previous years? The answer is found in its fine tuning of the formula. The stage design has always been an interesting one. It manages to remove a lot of cross sound but is just far enough away to be annoying. At the same time, their bathroom situation has improved with rows and rows of porta potties placed in strategically convenient spots. Rarely did we have to wait in line longer than a few minutes, which is a breath of fresh air. The prices for most things remain on par with what you’d see at concerts, overpriced but not out of the norm. The food was also an improvement with lots of variations of tacos, and burgers but with style. What did stand out were the bands. The Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and the Cure are definitely some bigger pulls but snagging the rare appearance of the defunct indie sensation Postal Service was a massive drive for many. Considering Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie share singers, it was nice to see them as a double bill. Throw in the cult followings of ICP, Mr. Bungle or 100 Gecs, and we have a jam packed festival with something for everyone. Another staple of the festival scene in the last decade has been full album plays, and that was in no short supply here. We had The Breeders, Braid, Quicksand, Rival Schools, Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie, and Gorilla Biscuits all bringing replays of their classic albums. The rain couldn’t stop the crowds or bands alike, with many bands continuing their sets throughout. Riot Fest 2023 is another one for the books. In many ways, it was a classic Riot Fest, but the slight improvements of food options and bathrooms plus a first class line up made for a much easier experience.

It’s been over three years since Animal Crossing: New Horizons brought cozy games to the mainstream. I’ve been enjoying the trend, even though I end up playing more bad cozy games than good ones. Some cozy games are resorting to what seems like gimmicks to make them stand out. While “cozy game, but with dinosaurs” sounds awesome–I’m sad to report that I just couldn’t find the fun in Paleo Pines. Paleo Pines is a third person adventure game with some farming sim elements. It follows one of the very worn tropes that (I believe) started way back with 1997’s Harvest Moon: you own a farm, but it’s run down and you have to fix it up. While you’re fixing it up, you have to farm, meet the quirky townspeople, etc. The only main difference here is the introduction of Lucky. I have to admit: I would die for Lucky. Lucky is a parasaurolophus (no idea how to pronounce that) and she’s possibly the last of her kind. You’ve had her since she was an egg–and you’ve actually come to this island to find the others of her kind. While Paleo Pines’ premise does set it a tad bit apart from other games of its ilk, there really isn’t anything groundbreaking here–most of the gameplay checks the boxes of other games of its type. With, again, the main difference being the ability to collect dinosaurs. You do this by communicating with them through your musical flute. Also with you is your trusty companion Lucky. She’s not only your BFF, she’s also your ride. However, as you get more dinosaurs and tame them you’ll not only be able to ride them–but you can use them as farm equipment to take some of the tedium out of your daily chores. It’s a living, right? Paleo Pines is extremely charming at a glance, and looks good in short snippets or screenshots. However, it hasn’t endeared me with its floaty controls and strange baby people. While I can get over bad character design, having a game that doesn’t feel very fun to play–even if it’s supposed to be a “chill” game–kind of ruins the whole experience. The more you explore in Paleo Pines the more people you’ll find–and the more people you end up helping, the more of Paleo Pines opens up. There are a few distinct biomes in Paleo Pines, each with its own wild crops to forage and dinosaurs to discover–and tame. There isn’t a lack of things to keep you busy–but whether that busy work is fun really depends on your tolerance. I’m not saying that Paleo Pines is a bad game. In fact, it checks all of the proper boxes and does what it sets out to be: a bright colorful cozy game with dinosaur friends. If that’s good enough for you, than Paleo Pines should be good enough. But if you’re looking for something to replace Animal Crossing: New Horizons or you’re chasing the next best thing: this ain’t it. Paleo Pines is available today on Steam, Xbox and Nintendo Switch A Steam key was provided to us for this review

After playing El Paso, Nowhere I was pretty excited to see where El Paso, Elsewhere would take the story and gameplay. It’s a cool idea, and an awesome visual style that’s a nod to retro games – specifically looking like something you would play on Nintendo 64. It has a lot of good things going for it – unfortunately, it suffers from mediocre gameplay. El Paso, Elsewhere is a third person shooter that’s a strange melding of Max Payne and retro action horror games. It’s oozing with style, has a fantastic voice over and an awesome soundtrack that lends itself to mowing down hordes of vampires, werewolves, biblically accurate angels, and other supernatural creatures. You play as a hard-boiled protagonist that fell in love with the wrong woman. And she turns out to be the Lord of the Vampires. One day she decides to rip a hole through reality, and one three story Texas motel is turned into a trippy (and crumbling) labyrinth full of monsters and people to rescue. To get through these monsters you’ll need stakes, guns, and lots of ammo. And also painkillers that you gulp down prodigiously in one of many nods to Max Payne. There’s even a “bullet time” (we don’t call it that anymore, right?) style slowdown effect you can use while diving all dramatically. It’s all very cool. It’s just not very fun. If I could recommend El Paso, Elsewhere on style points alone, I absolutely would. However, it’s just not very fun to play. I remember after my first session I looked at the playtime expecting to see hours played, only to be surprised to find out I’ve been exploring El Paso, Elsewhere’s trippy motel for only 30 minutes. Oh man. There are a laundry list of things wrong with El Paso, Elsewhere, but I want to start with its enemies. There was a time when enemy AI in video games seemed to be getting better, but now I play so many games where enemies’ most sophisticated behavior is to run right towards me. Sometimes developers can get away with that, especially with satisfying gunplay. However, guns in El Paso, Elsewhere just don’t feel very impactful. To make it worse, early on ammo is extremely scarce. I spent many levels just running away from enemies. Why the hell can I do all of these cool dives if I don’t have the ammo to kill things? This gets better once you start getting more guns, but it leaves a bad first impression. The level design in El Paso, Elsewhere is just awful, too. I don’t mean just aesthetically, but in layout. It’s intentionally labyrinthine, but in the worst way. There is also too much reliance on having to collect items or find keys to progress. All while shooting enemies that (mostly) run at you in a straight line. It also doesn’t help that most of the floors in El Paso, Elsewhere look almost identical with little change. I get it–it’s the same, nightmarish location. After its initial shock value, though, it's extremely boring. I might seem to be overly harsh about El Paso, Elsewhere. This one hurts me. It’s just so damn cool. I wish I could recommend it just for the voiceover work done for the main protagonist, and the great soundtrack. However, a game is only as fun as its gameplay–and El Paso, Elsewhere also felt like a chore to play. El Paso, Elsewhere is available today for PC via Steam and on Xbox. A Steam key was provided to us for this review

Lower Decks Season 4 Episode 4 “Something Borrowed, Something Green” is a bit of a surprise. There were some hints at D’Vana Tendi’s backstory, but this episode removes all mystery, and lays bare Tendi’s Orion heritage–also giving us a unique glimpse into Orion culture that other Trek shows haven’t quite touched on. First of all–I love that T’Lynn has become a regular Lower Decks crew member. They really needed a “straight man” to act as a foil against all of the cast’s enthusiastic energy. Because let's face it, there’s not much these guys aren’t enthusiastic about, especially when it comes to science or exploring new cultures. That’s so damn wholesome, and so very Star Trek–and that’s what make Lower Decks great, along with its ensemble cast that has such great chemistry. I really dig what T’Lynn brings to the group. It’s been hinted at through the last few seasons that Tendi’s Orion background is a little bit cooler than she wants people to know. This entire episode is essentially all the juicy Tendi backstory you’ve wanted to know–and yeah, she’s totally badass. (I’m a huge Tendi fan, so I’m biased). In this episode, Tendi is summoned back to her home planet to help her sister, D’Erika, who has been kidnapped. Bridal kidnappings are a normal Orion custom, apparently, so she isn’t too worried. However, Mariner and T’Lynn insist on Tendi going on the rescue mission–and taking them with her. “Something Borrowed, Something Green” does reference a few previous Trek episodes in regards to the Orions, but this episode surprisingly stands on its own, and even manages to have a few poignant moments. Also, I can’t help but find Tendi’s embarrassment about her badass prowess to be incredibly endearing. She just wants to be a scientist, dammit! While Mariner, Tendi and T’Lynn are on Orion, Boimler and Rutherford enjoy a predictable and funny side plot that involves them having disputes as roommates–and hashing it out via holodeck conversations. In character. The same character. Yeah, it’s weird. There’s also a throwback to a semi obscure alien called a Chalnoth–this race originally appeared in the TNG episode “Allegiance.” Lower Decks doesn’t stop with the obscure throwbacks–and I hope it never does. As a huge Trek nerd it’s not lost on me that “Something Borrowed, Something Green” takes some huge leaps in revealing the Orion culture and home world. In fact, I think this is the first time the Orion homeworld has been depicted on screen–which is pretty awesome. And while the enemy that’s been hinted at since the first episode makes another appearance, there is little revealed. However, it seems closer than ever to running into the Cerritos and its crew.

The third episode of the fourth season of Lower Decks, “In the Cradle of Vexilon” sees the USS Cerritos helping the inhabitants of an artificial ringed world get their supercomputer back in working condition. It’s a classic “of course things are going to go wrong” situation, and while I would have appreciated a bit of subversion, “In the Cradle of Vexilon” manages to move along some character development for the recently promoted Boimler, who is tasked with leading his first away team. The world of Carazonia, a ring shaped artificial planet, has perfect living conditions controlled by a computer called Vexilon. This computer is starting to break down, and Starfleet has been called in to help fix it. Captain Freeman gets in a little over her head, and this eventually leads to an apocalyptic event that has to be stopped. Meanwhile, Boimler is tasked with leading his first away team, and he’s a little paranoid about people getting hurt under his command. In fact, he’s so paranoid that he refuses to delegate any tasks, and performs the entire away mission himself. When disaster strikes, of course, teamwork gets the job done. Mostly. Interestingly, one of the members of the away team–Ensign Taylor–is a Kzinti. This was a cat-like species that showed up in Star Trek: The Animated Series. They’re also a creation of classic sci-fi author Larry Niven who is well known for his Ringworld novels, which feature ring shaped worlds like Carazonia. Most likely not a coincidence, and the second time in as many episodes that Lower Decks overtly made a reference to a classic sci-fi author that contributed to Trek. While the action is happening on the ringworld, there’s a B-plot with Tendi, Mariner, and Rutherford being tasked with scanning a huge wall of isolinear chips to find a less than one percent error variance. While this side story has a clever use of obscure references like the Betazoid gift box and the Wadi game from Deep Space Nine, it feels a little out of character for Rutherford and Tendi not immediately falling into this task. However, they’re all recently promoted Lieutenants forced to do an Ensign’s work. I mean, I get it–it just feels like a bit of a contrivance for a task earlier season versions of Tendi and Rutherford would absolutely love doing. “In the Cradle of Vexilon” doesn’t advance the season arc at all, either. Unless there’s a sneaky detail I missed on my first viewing, that powerful mystery ship that was teased in the first two episodes is missing. Overall this is a decent episode, but it does some strange things with character motivations, but this isn’t the first time this or any other Trek has done that. Or maybe being a Lieutenant junior grade is really getting to their heads.

I’m old. And that means I grew up watching cartoons that sound and look exactly like Mythforce. I haven’t really seen another video game attempt that same aesthetic, and Mythforce nails it. Hands down. I think the only thing it’s missing is a muscular shirtless dude and probably more big cats or something. But despite being tonally spot on, it’s a bad game. Mythforce is a first person roguelite action game with an emphasis on cooperative gameplay. Team up in groups of four to take on rooms full of exploding plants, skeletons, living mushrooms and more as you kick ass to a pseudo 80’s soundtrack. You can choose between some pretty basic hero archetypes like a rogue, hunter, mage and a paladin-like knight. I mean, it’s based on the classics, so you have to use the classics, right? Each of the four classes has their own weapons, set of skills, etc. It all just sounds so fantastic on paper. But it falls apart once you start to play. There are so many things that went wrong with Mythforce it might seem like this review is unfair. Hell, I even read some of the Steam user reviews and thought to myself, “this looks great. Really! How bad could it be?” After all, games like Warhammer 40,000: Darktide sit with a mixed review score, even though the combat in that game feels fantastic. Mythforce, however, did not have the same care put into its combat systems. They’re not bad, and I’ve certainly played worse–but that’s never a great endorsement. Nothing feels impactful, even when there’s an amazing amount of effects on the screen. Honestly, if the only problem was with the combat, I could still recommend Mythforce. But I have issues with the enemies, the levels, and even the gameplay loop itself. The enemies in Mythforce, though designed to fit into the 80’s cartoon aesthetic, are mostly terrible. The enemy AI seems very dumb, with enemies charging at you. Thankfully there are some ranged enemies that stay back and change up the pacing a bit. The levels themselves are also horrible. Its just room after room of stone and plants. Most of the time the layout of the room doesn’t even matter, because enemies will coming streaming at you, to their death, one after the other. Another issue I have with Mythforce is its very gameplay loop. Thematically it makes no sense to put these heroes into a “die and repeat” type loop. I didn’t grow up watching my heroes fail week after week. I was watching their nemesis make an ass out of themselves as they threw themselves at the stalwart heroes on the screen. Any wound they suffered (if at all) was temporary, and hardly a setback. If anything, playing as a villain in a Saturday morning cartoon would feel way more appropriate. What I’m saying is: Mythforce looks great, sounds great, but is very bad. It’s not Early Access, so I can only hope that its developers make some substantial changes to bring it up to its potential. Either that, or someone should totally rip off this art style and do the concept justice. Mythforce just ain’t it. Mythforce is available now on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, Xbox One X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4/5. Steam keys were provided to us for this review.

Few shows make me laugh out loud so frequently as Lower Decks, and that was especially so in “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee,” the second episode of the latest season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. This episode does what Lower Decks does best: pays homage to classic Trek while also poking fun and subverting its tropes. “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee” sees Mariner freshly promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade–a rank she has attained before, but always loses. On purpose. This time, First Officer Jack Ransom is determined to have Mariner keep her rank, no matter how insubordinate she acts - something Ransom discusses with Shax while wearing skimpy workout clothes, an obvious homage to the famous Crusher and Troi stretching scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Mariner overhears the conversation and thinks Ransom is determined to demote her–so she gladly obliges. And as usual, antics ensue. Ransom, Mariner and a new character named Ensign Gary are tasked with freeing a couple of humans who were “accidentally” captured into a Narj’s Miraculous Menagerarium, a typical “menage” situation as Ransom calls it. However, once one of the creatures escapes, Ransom, Mariner, Gary and Narj have to run from a predatory creature known for “drinking bones.” This is extremely hilarious situation that's funnier on screen than I can describe without spoilers. There are also a couple of B plots going on in this episode that meet up with each other occasionally. Boimler, after his recent promotion, is struggling with finding a room that is suitable for habitation, while Rutherford attempts to earn a promotion to catch up with his friends who are all Lieutenants now. There are some great character moments in this episode, and it really shows off Lower Decks' fantastic ensemble cast. Obviously, the episode title is an homage to late, great sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, as it's a riff on “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” Ellison’s most famous work. But among trekkies he’s probably best known for the time traveling episode of Star Trek the original series “City on the Edge of Forever.” Ellison famously hated what Roddenberry did to his screenplay. However, despite sharing a name and a few tropes from the original Star Trek, “I Have No Bones and I Must Flee” is an homage in name alone. Looming over this season is a threat that has yet to be identified. While the mysterious ship encountered at the end of the episode isn’t anything we’ve seen before, it vaguely resembles a clown head to this author–or maybe the head of a Ferengi. It doesn’t have any visual indication of being a Ferengi ship, however–and it's still quite possible his new threat is something we haven’t seen before. It remains to be seen, and we look forward to finding out more.