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Garfield has never exactly enjoyed the greatest reputation when it comes to video games. There have been plenty of attempts to turn the lazy cat, his love of lasagna and his hatred of Mondays into interactive entertainment, but very few have managed to rise above the level of forgettable licensed fare. That made Garfield – Escape from Monday an interesting prospect from the start. OSome Studio’s involvement offered reason to be hopeful, particularly given the developer’s earlier work, and thankfully the result is considerably better than the character’s previous gaming outings might have suggested. It certainly isn’t going to redefine the 3D platformer, but it does something arguably more important for a Garfield game: it understands that simply being a licensed character isn’t enough and delivers a genuinely enjoyable platforming foundation. Continue reading “Garfield – Escape from Monday review”

Rivage puts players aboard the A.R.E.S. space station as Miranda Vigneau, the lone apparent survivor of a mysterious incident that has caused the rest of the crew to disappear. Orbiting the potentially habitable planet VESTA, the station should represent a major step forward for humanity, but instead has become a strangely distorted prison where reality, gravity and time no longer behave as expected. From there, Exnilo Studio builds a first-person sci-fi puzzle adventure that is much more interested in making players investigate their surroundings than simply walking through them. The result is a deliberately slow-burning mystery with an intriguing setting, some genuinely satisfying puzzles and a convincing sense of place, although its time-loop structure and occasionally awkward execution can make the journey more cumbersome than it needs to be. Continue reading “Rivage review (PS5)”

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave takes a rather unusual approach to telling a Fire Emblem story. Instead of starting with a young hero who gradually grows into the role of savior, the game opens in a future where everything has already gone terribly wrong. The demon god Balor has brought Dagda to the brink of destruction, and the player is introduced to Eshmel, a remarkably powerful protagonist who is sent back five years into the past by the goddess Fortuna. The objective is to change the fate of four warriors who will eventually become crucial to the fight against Balor: Cai, Dietrich, Theodora and Leda. It is an effective narrative hook because the player already knows that these characters have a doomed future, giving even relatively quiet character moments an additional sense of importance. The mixture of traditional fantasy, ancient-world influences and a surprisingly science-fiction-tinged opening also gives Fortune’s Weave an identity of its own. Continue reading “Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave review (Switch 2)”

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter had a difficult task even before Nihon Falcom started working on its remake. The original Trails in the Sky SC is one of the most beloved entries in the long-running JRPG series, while the remake of 1st Chapter had already established a modern visual style and a new hybrid combat system. More importantly, this is a direct continuation of a story that ended on a major cliffhanger, meaning there is considerably less need for the slow world-building of its predecessor. Instead, Estelle Bright wakes up to find Joshua gone and sets out to find him, while the mysterious Ouroboros begins making its presence felt across Liberl. It is a much more dramatic starting point than the first game, and the personal nature of Estelle’s search gives the increasingly large conflict a surprisingly human centre. Continue reading “Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter review (PS5)”

RuneScape: Dragonwilds is an unusual evolution of a franchise that has spent more than two decades being associated with MMORPGs, but Jagex has done more than simply transplant familiar names and monsters into a survival game. This new adventure takes the recognizable skills, progression and fantasy flavor of RuneScape and places them inside a handcrafted survival RPG set on the dangerous continent of Ashenfall. The result is a game that clearly wears influences from titles such as Valheim and Enshrouded on its sleeve, yet gradually develops enough of its own identity to stand apart. The story itself is fairly straightforward, with dragons threatening the continent and the player gradually becoming strong enough to confront them, but the RuneScape connections give the journey considerably more personality. Familiar characters, creatures, quests and lore references reward longtime players, while newcomers can follow the adventure without having to know the MMO beforehand. The world also does a good job of telling parts of its story through abandoned structures, enemy settlements and hidden discoveries rather than constantly stopping the action for lengthy exposition. It is not a narrative that will carry the experience on its own, but it provides a welcome sense of direction in a genre that can otherwise leave players wandering without a clear purpose. Continue reading “RuneScape: Dragonwilds review (PS5)”