Directive 8020 PlayStation 5 Review

Directive 8020 was sent my way by Supermassive Games, and anyone who has played their games knows they are sort of hit and miss, even for their fans. They are narrative-heavy cinematic games, and while they are all beautiful, if you don’t get sucked into the story, all is pretty much lost. I thought Until Dawn was fantastic, but The Quarry left me feeling meh. So, how does Directive 8020 stack up?

Well, like many sci-fi games, Earth is dying, and you are on a crewed ship sent to find a new home. Tau Ceti F seems to be a good place to look, 12 light-years from home. You start playing as one character to set you up, and you will see different viewpoints as the story unfolds. Some may live, and some may die; this is up to the choices you make. Luckily, with the new turning point system, this is easier than ever. You can see branching paths easier than ever. I love this system because I can make a choice, see what happens, then simply go back and see what happens the other way. You can realistically see everything the game offers in around 20-30 hours, depending on how you play. You can also just play straight through like a movie in about 9.

I don’t want to get to indepth with the story; anything I say will involve plenty of spoilers. The game looks great on base PSS5, however. There are plenty of things for people who want to explore and discover more of the story, but if you want to just blaze straight from plot point to plot point, feel free; the game makes this pretty easy to do. This brings me to my only real sticking point with the game. While the atmosphere is tense and the music and sound are top-notch, they, for some reason, feel the need to use jump scares more than they need to. It isn’t really a lot, admittedly, but they never really had to. The story does an amazing job building tension, and cheap jump scares took away from that for me, especially when they were so telegraphed at where they would be.

The game is great, all the same, it won’t bring new fans into the genre, but it is a 9/10 for existing fans. This is Supermassive Games at their best. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Hotel Architect Steam Review

Some of you may remember that a long time ago, I played the Hotel Architect Steamfest Demo Review, and now they were nice enough to send me the full game as it hits 1.0. So if you still haven’t checked out Hotel Architect from Wired Games, now is a great time.

First, as I noted in my Steam Demo review, a game that revolves around building anything, how building functions matter more than anything. It felt great in the demo, and it feels even better now. The menus aren’t clunky, and sorting through different things like carpets and wood floors is simple and intuitive. This applies to anything you want to build, from rooms to items for the rooms. Even adding an extra floor is super simple.

The graphics are also great, I love just watching my little characters bounce around the hotel, cooking meals, or cleaning, and my guests hitting the gym or relaxing. I do mean my people because, since my last time playing, you can create your own guests and workers. The community as a whole is pretty great. I’ve been in their Discord for a while, and there always seems to be some sort of contest going on if that is your sort of thing.

It is also nice how all the menus are crisp and clean and easy to understand. I was never left guessing what a customer wanted or why a critic left unhappy. Don’t let the cute graphics fool you; the game isn’t easy. I have made mistakes that were hard to come back from. The early levels will lead you into a false sense of security.

Which leads me to my only real complaint. There does seem to be some odd difficulty spikes for me. Nothing that can’t be handled, mind you, but they did seem odd. Like going from playing a game on very easy to suddenly being on normal. It was a bit jarring. It is still one of the best simulators out there currently. 9/10, best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Hellforged Playtest Thoughts

Hellforged recently had a public playtest. In fact, I believe it is still going on, so go check it out. Grindstone Games was actually nice enough to let me into the test a bit early. You may know them for Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel, PlayStation 5 Review, which is fantastic in its own right. With this being a similar game, their experience comes in very helpful.

The basic gameplay is the same for every roguelike like this, except it isn’t quite a roguelike. While it has a similar game loop, kill things, level up, pick new moves and powers. The game is really an extraction game. You will collect new weapons, and if you finish the level or manage to make it to the extraction point, you keep them. You can equip them, level them up, etc.

Of course, if you fail at either one of those things, say goodbye to everything you just found. The look is actually very satisfying. Don’t worry about griefers either, since it is a single-player experience. I’m not going to give this a real score. With a release date later this year, there is plenty of time for them to mess with the balance, either good or bad. But as the game sits, it is definitely one to watch. I had a lot of fun and look forward to the full release. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Death end re;Quest: Code Z Playstation 5 Review

Death end re;Quest: Code Z was, believe it or not, sent my way recently by the wonderful Idea Factory. For those keeping track ( I know you aren’t), this sets the record for longest since release I have been sent a released game, and I think that is awesome. But is that confidence warranted?

The artwork is beautiful

First off, the artwork is beautiful. That alone makes the game a solid playthrough if that is the sort of thing you like. I don’t mean that in a perverted way, though the game does earn its M rating for both gore and suggestive themes. It is simply very well done.

That does bring me to my next point: if you are the type of person who is turned away by a sexual innuendo or gore, this game is not for you. If you find those things funny or intriguing, however, we should go out for drinks. Also, this game will be fun for you.

The story and combat are what really matter, and I can’t say too much about the story because right from the start, you will be learning things that fall heavily into spoiler territory. Let’s just say the game takes place in a parallel universe, one of many. You basically control a girl in one of those universes that mirrors our own from the 2000’s. I won’t like it, that hurt a bit because I remember when doing that to the 80’s was considered the decade to do it with, but I digress.

The gameplay is a typical dungeon crawler. The world itself exists only to serve as a story and shop HUB, but the strained area acts as a dungeon where you will spend most of your time fighting and dying. And yes, you will die a lot. This is a non-optional activity during normal gameplay, and this brings me to my one and only, and very major complaint about Death end Re; Quest Code Z, besides the insane name. There are three main ways to increase your power level. Normal levels, your gear, and dying. To each enemy three times. Twice in battle and once in battle, while being essentially driven crazy by being in the dungeon too long. You also have to die to traps, bosses, and yourself. There are over 100 different ways you have to die. This is directly tied to leveling your character, as well as a trophy if you care about that. This just is not fun to do, and the artwork, much of which repeats, just isn’t worth it. If there were fewer deaths, maybe half of it wouldn’t be so bad. As it stands, the game is a nice 7/10. It is fun, but don’t try to collect all the deaths.

Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 R-Type Dimensions 3 PlayStation 5 Review

 R-Type Dimensions 3 was sent my way by Inin Games, and there is a pretty excellent physical edition available on their website. I know how much you guys love that. ( I do NOT make any money if you buy it from that link) I just know many of you enjoy that sort of thing. Anyway, on to my review.

As you can tell from the trailer above, it is your typical old-school side-scrolling arcade shooter. If you like that sort of game and how they play, and you want to be able to play in the old-school 2D or new 3d graphics, you will be happy here. The sounds and music are fantastic, and the controls are crisp and clean.

Now I am sure you are wondering, I said a lot of good things all at once. The review can’t be this short. Is there that much bad stuff? No, not at all. The bad things I have to say aren’t even that bad, but admittedly, they will either have you running to the store to buy it or running away from it. Let’s hit the story first. It is pretty standard stuff. You fight for the Earth Defense Corps, flying the R-90 Ragnorok. A new ship dedicated to defeating the Bydo Empire, a sort of bio-machine empire trying to destroy humanity.

Onto the bad. This game is hard. I don’t mean like when people say something is hard, but it was hard for them. The game has two modes, normal and infinite. Infinite gives you unlimited lives just to let you learn how to play the game and see all the levels, so you can memorize them without having to restart over and over again. There are entire sections of the game where there is only one place on the screen you can go, so you won’t die. The game is fair, I never felt the deaths were cheap, or because the game didn’t co/ntrol well. This is just the design of the game and who it is made for. It is an 8/10 title. I enjoyed my time with it. Not everyone will feel it is worth the $35 price point, though. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

1492 – Colonization of the New World

1492- Colonization of the New World was sent my way by Salty Olives, and as of 5/17/2016 are facing some legal issues with the title. Which before I get to my review, I will copy and paste their statement.

The store page for 1492: Colonization of the New World is currently unavailable due to a legal notice.
We are reviewing the situation and working to resolve it as quickly as possible. The game will return to the store once this process is complete.
Thank you for your patience and support — we’ll share updates as soon as we have more information

This situation is new for us, so we don’t yet know how long it will take. We’re working to resolve it as quickly as possible so we can get back to Update 1.1.

To clarify what’s happening:

Take-Two Interactive has sent a legal notice to Valve Corporation regarding alleged IP concerns. We have not been contacted directly, this is between Take-Two and Valve.

1492 is inspired by Sid Meier’s Colonization, which we’ve always been open about. We’ve only used elements we believed to be in the public domain, but Take-Two appears to disagree.

We’re reviewing the notice and will respond via Valve. Some minor changes may be made.

That said, based on our initial review, we believe there is a possibility that this notice may be automated (AI?) and triggered by specific words or phrases found in the game.

At this stage, we are not convinced there is a valid case. It’s not uncommon for larger companies to take a cautious and wide-ranging approach to IP protection.

Without being out of the way, let me get to my review. The game is much like Civilization on a smaller scale and in a different role to start. You aren’t on your own as a new country, but as a colony of said country. I started by making my own city with a few people and attempting to get things rolling. I had a single ship to send back to England with some furs and to get new people to help run my new settlement.

Thankfully, the ship, after it hits the open see will simply travel to England, then let you decide what you are doing there, then come back. You can, of course, control it on your coast. I really like this approach because it lets me focus on my side of the ocean.

How you handle things like the natives and other countries in the Americas is up to you. I chose not to make my life harder by going to war with them, but it is an option. I simply enjoyed trading and setting up new settlements. You do have to be careful, however, since not everyone will just take whatever you stroll up to their town with. I learned this the hard way with a (metaphorical) truckload of furs nobody wanted until I got to what is probably modern-day Texas from Pennsylvania.

Now I won’t lie to you. The sound and graphics of this game aren’t the best, but the game is fun. It is a nice 6/10 title I enjoyed, but can’t say there isn’t better out there. It is, however, a nice change of pace, and if their legal issues get straightened out, I can see it having a fan base and, with a few updates, being a great game. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown | Patch 1.7 is live – the Delta Flyer is here

Quick heads-up: Patch 1.7 for Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown drops on Steam today, and it comes with a fan favorite: the Delta Flyer is now in the game, completely free for all players. Console players won’t have to wait long either. The patch is scheduled for consoles in early June.

Built in the Shuttlebay, the Delta Flyer brings a brand-new questline with Tom Paris in Sector 7, construction mechanics, and a combat ally role that won’t split your rewards. There are also new Delta Flyer-specific branches in several existing quests, including Old Friends, New Enemies, The Drone, and Uprising.

Beyond the Delta Flyer, 1.7 is a hefty quality-of-life and stability pass: overhauled bridge UI, PlayStation gamepad support, a wave of quest fixes across some of the game’s bigger storylines, and a bunch of crash and save game fixes.

Patch 1.7 Changelog

Patch 1-7 introduces the Delta Flyer, including a new questline with Tom Paris, construction mechanics, and combat support functionality. The update also adds new Delta Flyer event and quest branches. 

Delta Flyer & Shuttle System

  • Added the Delta Flyer as a new game mechanic!
  • Added a new Delta Flyer introduction questline in sector 7 with Tom Paris.
  • The Delta Flyer can be constructed in the Shuttlebay.
  • The Delta Flyer is limited to one and requires a Shuttlebay level 3.
  • The Delta Flyer can be used as a combat ally without splitting combat rewards!
  • Added new Delta Flyer-related event options across several points of interest and sometimes adjusted balancing of normal shuttle options.
  • Added Delta Flyer-specific branches to selected quests, including Old Friends, New Enemies, The Drone, and Uprising.
  • Updated shuttle naming: “Standard Shuttle” is now “Class 2 Shuttle”.

Quest & Event Fixes

  • Fixed several blockers in existing quests, including Duranium Infestation, Friendship One, Equinox, Dark Frontier, Scorpion, Good Shepherd, Innocence, State of Flux, Think Tank, and Live Fast and Prosper.
  • Fixed cases where questlines could become stuck after loading older savegames.
  • Fixed incorrect or missing POI visibility in several missions.
  • Fixed several incorrect dialogue branches, missing conditions, and wrong outcome priorities.
  • Fixed morale questline issues related to dissatisfaction, final warnings, and mutiny.
  • Fixed cases where heroes could become unavailable incorrectly after events.
  • Fixed several missing or incorrect quest tracker texts.
  • Improved handling of questline resets for patched savegames.
  • Fixed some multiple choice event options not being usable at high difficulty settings

UI & UX Improvements

  • Reworked Bridge combat ally room management UI.
  • Added HUD indicators for recruited combat allies.
  • Improved Shuttlebay room management visuals.
  • Added warning when switching production options to prevent accidental progress loss.
  • Added cargo icons to Cargo Bay room overlays.
  • Improved room descriptions for Sickbay, Bio Lab, Borg Alcove, Waste Deassembler, and other rooms.
  • Improved custom difficulty UI text handling.
  • Updated tutorial images to match the current UI.
  • Improved gamepad tutorial images and controller input detection.
  • Reduced visible gamepad cursor flashes between events.
  • Fixed several text overflow issues in UI.
  • Fixed missing or incorrect hero impact descriptions.
  • Added support and icons for Playstation gamepads

Balance & Gameplay

  • Fixed shuttle build cost and build time tech bonuses.
  • Adjusted morale penalties and morale quest timing.
  • Weakened the second tutorial fight to better match shield balance.
  • Adjusted threat level changes in selected quest outcomes.
  • Fixed several room limit and resource modifier issues.
  • Improved Borg encounter behavior so certain enemies can no longer flee or surrender repeatedly.

Stability & Bug Fixes

  • Fixed crashes related to loading screens and game close.
  • Fixed room widgets not reacting correctly after room removal or cancelled construction.
  • Fixed room deactivation/destruction issues that could cause unintended resource loss.
  • Fixed cases where inactive rooms still allowed UI interaction.
  • Fixed resource modifiers not stacking or resetting correctly in some cases.
  • Fixed build limit display issues.
  • Fixed duplicate crew names.
  • Fixed several localization, typo, and text formatting issues.
  • Fixed missing explanation for Contamination Cloud phenomenon

Visual & Audio Updates

  • Updated endgame visuals.
  • Improved hull bar UI visuals and feedback for low hull. 
  • Fixed visual issues in several rooms and cutscenes.

Black Jacket PlayStation 5 Review

Black Jacket is the newest roguelike card game from Skystone Games, and they were nice enough to pass me a copy. The game’s concept is quite simple. You are playing a version of blackjack, and the closest person to 21 wins. Now if it were actually that simple, every loser in Vegas would be a winner, and this game would be over before it even started.

See, in this game, every suit has special abilities. Some will burn your opponents’ cards and maybe even your own, which is more useful than it sounds. Another will allow you to force them to play cards on their side of the field that lowers their score or simply takes up valuable space. Worse, a certain person you will play can rotate cards completely. More than once, my perfect 21 turned into their 21. Getting to 21 sometimes isn’t the best way to win.

All of this strategy is meaningless if the story on which the game is built is bad. While gambling your way out of hell sounds mundane, the people you meet are what is important, and I won’t speak on them other than to say they are truly what kept me playing. Why is this woman, simply known as Better, so angry with me? Why was this literal child cast into hell in the first place? These questions are answered, but first, you will have to master the mechanics of the game. With hundreds of cards and artifacts to unlock, there are plenty of reasons to play one more round. This is a 9/10 title if I ever played one. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Welcome, Dear Human announcement trailer

Sometimes I find some really cool stuff wandering down the Youtube rabbit holes. The trailer looks odd but the art style is really eye catching. The concept looks pretty interesting and I can see it being a fun kinda creepy. Admittedly the narrator made me think of Patrick Stewart which also helps. Anyway, this game looks like something interesting I’d like to check out someday if it lands on consoles. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy

So I never played Remothered so I can’t say I was hyped for this game. However, this installment peaked my interest. The imagery alone is off putting and looks to be more suspense driven then your typical running sim or survival horror experience. I’m always looking to expand my interest when it comes to horror games so I would definitely like to see more. May the gaming gods bring you glory.