Author: M. A. Ligocki

  • Review: Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian (Nintendo Switch)

    Review: Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian (Nintendo Switch)

    My journey into Gusts long-running, cozy Atelier RPG’s may have started a little late in the series life but in that time, I’ve come to be enamoured with the games. Each game usually tells a standalone story and falls firmly into the JRPG bracket. However, what set the Atelier series apart for me was its focus on stories that rarely had anything to do with saving the world and instead focused on saving or making your community better. It’s a series that’s about friendship, community, and the journeys you go on together, one in which alchemy makes the journey that much better. And it’s a concept I’ve found to be thoroughly refreshing.

    Later games in the series have delved into larger themes beyond the borders of mere community, with some even changing tone and direction. With twenty-seven titles in the series, some change has to come along somewhere down the line. But it’s always the games based around characters and friendship that bring me back to this enchanting series. And with Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian, Gust have brought the series back to it’s cozy and uplifting roots.

    Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian Cutscenes

    Set after the events of Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and The Polar Night Liberator – sadly a mobile and PC Gatcha title that reached the end of its life earlier this year – The Red Alchemist throws you into the shoes of dual protagonists, Rias and Slade, who come together by chance in the depths of some ancient ruins. Their discovery of an Atelier and Rias’ gift of a natural born alchemist puts them on a long journey together to restore their hometown of Hallfein, which was damaged in a mysterious incident some twelve years before.

    While tragedy and the makings of something darker add depth to our heroes, The Red Alchemist firmly places its storytelling boots in what got me interested in the Atelier games to begin with: the light-hearted and heartfelt desire to make life better for others. Slade may be on a journey to decipher his father’s secrets, but Rias embraces the role of becoming a better alchemist so that she can use that skill to improve the lives of others.

    Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian Storytelling

    Along the way, they’re joined by an assortment of amusing characters. New party members join and there are various cameos of major characters from other Atelier games, popping up to keep the story light-hearted and fun. There’s a lot of cut-scenes, fully voiced dialogue, and story bits here that keep the game progressing at a steady enough pace and it’s all wonderfully engaging.

    That story is backed up with some addictive gameplay that made it hard to put The Red Alchemist down. There are a whole bunch of systems at play here, from turn-based battles, to harvesting mechanics and even running a shop – all of which you’re going to have to contend with. For the most part, the developers have made most of the systems easy to understand and link them together towards one of your main goals: rebuilding Hallfein.

    Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian Cast

    When you first get to Hallfein, damaged buildings and mostly empty streets meet your arrival, but as you begin to fix the place up, new shops open, more people appear outdoors, and more customers come to your shop. It’s a nice visual showcase and satisfying feedback for all your hard work.

    Rias has a store in town that you can run and upgrade over the course of the adventure. The sales you make benefit one of Hallfein’s industries, from mining to nature. Running the store is easy peasy, especially if you hire fairies to do all the work for you. You can let them choose which products to sell if you don’t want to spend time picking them yourself, and you can customise the interior with wallpaper and products that boost sales.

    All of the products you sell can be found in the field through the games harvesting mechanics – which are just as easy. You will need to craft new harvesting tools to harvest from specific sources or get rarer and higher-level resources, but harvesting is as simple as pressing the action button and watching your character whack the resources into existence with one swing.

    Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian Exploration

    Combat is one of the games other joys. It’s traditional turn-based JRPG fare but with just enough depth to keep battles interesting and fun. There’s a timeline you can use to plan your attacks, which is very useful as sections of the timeline come with buffs that can affect you or the enemies. Interrupting enemy attacks can delay them but also let one of your party members make use of that buff attribute.

    There’s a front- and backline for party members and you can use technique points built up in battle to initiate combo moves that swaps their places at the end of the turn. Backline party member don’t take part in battles otherwise, but everyone receives experience from combat regardless.

    Once unlocked and a gauge has built up, you get an automatic combo attack by frontline party members that uses special attacks and, along with the swop-out mechanic, typically decimates foes in beautifully explosive displays. Even with Field and Dungeon bosses, The Red Alchemists combat may be too easy for some.

    Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian Combat System

    Personally, I loved the difficulty curve of the game (which gets a bit harder during the latter half) and the ease with which foes were decimated. It kept fights short, interesting, and fun, while making it feel like I was never grinding. In fact, this is one of The Red Alchemists strengths. Grinding, whether for XP or items, never feels like a grind at all because the game is just such joyous breezy fun to play.

    Alchemy does present a fair amount of complexity that I feel the game didn’t explain as well as it could have. There’s a lot to take in when trying to craft the perfect item. From colour-coded items that increase an items level, to various effects that can be crafted into it, along with a transmutation function that can be used to change one item to another. There’s a fair amount to wrap your head around, especially when you get a request to craft an item you don’t have a recipe for yet.

    One area that The Red Alchemist does drop the ball a bit on – along with showing its mobile roots – are the games Dimensional Path dungeons. These areas are procedurally generated rooms that take you across different floors of enemies to find more fairies, chests, items, and story snippets for Slade. They accomplish the goal of giving you more enemies and repeatable bosses to fight, but don’t have the strength of a handcrafted dungeon.

    Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian Alchemy System

    From a performance and visual perspective, Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian runs at a stable and smooth 30fps on the original Nintendo Switch. I encountered no performance issues, but that smooth performance does come at the cost of the visuals. Make no mistake, The Red Alchemist does have its visual flair, especially in the character designs, but the visuals have a fuzzy, un-aliased look to them that we’ve come to expect from a lot of multiplatform Nintendo Switch games.

    With Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian, Gust have taken the Atelier series back to its cozy RPG roots featuring fun and endearing characters. And they’ve backed up those themes with highly addictive and fun gameplay that made the game incredibly hard to put down. Fans of the Atelier series will love Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian, while those looking for a new RPG series to dive into can do no wrong by starting with this stunning gem.

    Pros:

    • Fun gameplay that’s hard to put down
    • Endearing characters
    • Harvesting ingredients is easy
    • Surprising depth to the alchemy system

    Cons:

    • Procedurally-generated dungeons
    • Slightly fuzzy visuals on Nintendo Switch

    Score: 9/10

    Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist and The White Guardian was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC, Xbox Series S|X, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

  • Review: Castle of Heart: Retold (Nintendo Switch)

    Review: Castle of Heart: Retold (Nintendo Switch)

    With the original Castle of Heart, released back in 2018 as a Switch exclusive, developer 7Levels decided that they wanted to bring back really old-school action-platforming to the market. One that gave us the difficulty of yesteryear wrapped in a shiny new hardware package. Castle of Heart managed to earn a reputation for being quite difficult, but not always for the right reasons.

    Seven years on, 7Levels have half remastered, half remade Castle of Heart with a significant number of improvements, both visually and behind the scenes, to make this the definitive version. And they haven’t skimped on the difficulty in the process.

    Castle of Heart’s story is one we’ve heard countless times in the fantasy genre. An evil wizard gains too much power through shady, otherworldly dealings and begins to subjugate the world. One priestess dares to stand against him, earning the wizard’s wrath. And, when a brave knight stands up to the wizard to protect the priestess, the wizard abducts the priestess and turns everyone else into stone. But, don’t you know it, thanks to the priestess’ tear, the knight is only partly transformed. Grabbing his sword, he goes on a mission to rescue the priestess, slay the wizard, and, hopefully, undo the curse before it does him in fully.

    As the brave knight, you have twenty visually distinct levels to survive, along with a handful of bosses to slay on the way to saving your love and yourself. While the knight is mobile, the curse is still active, slowly turning him to stone as you fight your way to salvation. Health pick-ups from the environment and defeated enemies will restore a portion of your health, but you’re always on a strict time limit, watching it whittle away as you charge across each stage. And charge you will have to, if you want to make it to the end before crumbling into stone.

    As the knight, you can dual-wield weapons for extra damage, block attacks, dodge roll out of the way, and jump high enough to put most superheroes to shame. All of these skills you’ll need to chain together on a regular basis. You’ll want to dual wield, whether that’s with swords or crossbows, to deal extra damage because every little bit of health you save makes the difference between life and death.

    Castle of Heart: Retold Stone Mechanic

    With your health always depleting, losing too much of it causes your arm to shatter and eventually the rest of your body follows suite. Getting through enemy encounters and environmental traps as quickly as possible is therefore paramount to your survival. The stages are littered with health pickups and enemies drop slivers of health on death, while hitting a checkpoint restores you fully before the next section. However, between the damage dealt by enemies – which increases in later stages – and how long it may take to get through an encounter, you always feel like you’re on the back-foot. Even with gems hidden throughout each stage that increases your total health, it always feels like you’re one step away from crumbling to dust. The sense of urgency is very real.

    That said, enemy encounters have been retooled. Unblockable attacks now have a visual prompt, and early enemies don’t take as many swings to put down. You can get caught between them though, which makes for some troublesome times but, thankfully, your dodge roll also knocks down enemies to create some valuable breathing room. Enemy placement can be a bit of a pain and feel unfair at times, such as projectile enemies at the lip of a jump you need to reach or flying enemies just going about their business near a rope you need to swing on.

    Castle of Heart: Retold Platforming

    Stages are very linear, but the developers build upon each environmental design after they’ve been introduced in early levels. Before long, you’ll be swinging across large gaps to land on collapsing platforms, jumping over spikes, and leaping into a group of enemies. These are some of the best moments in the game and require you to be absolutely on point to make it through. There’s no room for even a tiny misstep in these sequences.

    That said, instant death haunts you on just about every step of your journey. Mistime a swing or jump too late from those floorboards, it’s curtains and right back to the last checkpoint. To mitigate the number of instant deaths in the game, the developers have liberally placed checkpoints around the stages and give you infinite lives. There’s no game over screen here, just another chance to get it right. While that is appreciated, it doesn’t mitigate how unforgiving certain instant death platforming sequences feel, such as having to make it to the top of a flooding mine before the water catches you were even a split-second delay in your response time determines whether or not you succeed.

    Castle of Heart: Retold Set-pieces

    Castle of Heart: Retold has been rebuilt with better textures and materials, improved meshes and geometry, and significant lighting improvements. It is, quite simply, gorgeous with much of the game falling into the screenshot worthy status. The 3D world with a 2.5D perspective making for a stunning spectacle, with multiple layers of scenery adding tons of depth to each location. Animations have been improved as well, for both our hero knight and the various enemies you’ll encounter, making the game feel closer to a remake than a remaster at times.

    While it seems that the bulk of the original’s issues have been addressed – such as combat difficulty, control issues, visual quality, and a complete script rewrite – Castle of Heart: Retold still has some issues that keep it from old-school greatness.

    While enemies may be visually distinct, with each area introducing new ones that fit the biome, attack patterns are repeated. Later encounters less about learning and exploiting new move-sets, and more about dealing with more incoming damage. This may make it easier to use the same tricks to defeat them, but between the escalating damage and your life draining away, I found it made more sense to just jump over enemies and rush past those that I could.

    Castle of Heart: Retold Updated Visuals

    Another issue that increases the difficulty is a common problem that most multi-layered 2D games suffer from: foreground elements obstructing the action. That happens in quite a bit in Castle of Heart: Retold, especially in the sliding sequences. Yes, it makes the game look beautiful, but when that tree trunk or rock in the foreground hides the edge of a cliff or drop from a roof at any point in a long platforming sequence, it can feel infuriating.

    On the whole, Castle of Heart: Retold is a great remake/remaster of an existing game that focuses on fixing the original releases problems, while bringing back old-school action-platformer difficulty. With a beautiful visual upgrade and plenty of tense set-pieces, it will suit those in the mood for significant challenge from their platformers.

    Pros:

    • A gorgeous visual remake
    • Some nicely constructed platforming sequences
    • The turning-to-stone premise keeps you on the edge of your seat

    Cons:

    • Some sequences can be very frustrating, especially when the environment can obscure your view
    • Later enemies just feel like reskins with the same move-set

    Score: 7/10

    Castle of Heart: Retold was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by the publisher. It is also available on PC, Xbox One/Series S|X, PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

  • Review: Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening (Nintendo Switch)

    Review: Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening (Nintendo Switch)

    Space Adventure Cobra… there’s a name I’ve not heard since the IP peaked in late ’90s. And, since we have to go that far back to the last time it was relevant, it’s best to give you a little rundown on what Space Adventure Cobra is (in addition to reviewing the videogame that you’re currently checking out).

    Back in 1978, Buichi Terasawa created the manga known as Cobra, a pulpy, SF action-adventure series that placed you in the shoes of treasure hunter and lovable wise-cracking rogue, Cobra. Cobra, along with his partner in crime, Lady Armaroid, travelled the galaxy searching for adventure and putting a stop to evil doers. To escape his enemies, the Space Pirates Guild, Cobra faked his death, changed his face, and erased his memory. But you can’t hide forever, and the past always catches up. Cobra once again finds himself going up against the Space Pirates Guild across a galaxy of adventure.

    Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening Anime Cutscenes

    In 1982, the manga was adapted into the classic Space Cobra anime, followed up by a movie, two OVA’s in the ’90s, a reboot attempt in 2010, and merchandising that included videogames. The original anime was a colourful extravaganza. Terasawa’s creation was inspired by a variety of media, most notably samurai movies, Spaghetti Westerns, and a healthy dose of James Bond. It’s a melting pot of ideas that shines through in its Saturday Morning Cartoon look. Make no mistake, as with many older anime and manga, darker themes were just as present in the source material and show, but they never diminished Cobra’s cavalier and playful pulp spirit.

    And that spirit has made the transition into the videogame as well, along with its bright, shiny, cartoon-esque visuals and design. Now, despite taking its name from the movie, which I do think sounds better, Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening faithfully adapts the first twelve episodes of the original 1982 anime. Licensed IPs are notoriously difficult to get right and the amount of poor licensed videogames, including those still filling up landfills, is a testament to that. But Space Adventure Cobra bucks that trend with a game that is not only faithful to the source material, but a really fun adaptation of it.

    Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening Switch Combat

    As Cobra, you’ll be tearing through the anime’s story in a classic side-scrolling action-platformer. For a game based on an old IP, the developers have used old-school gameplay designs to bring Cobra’s antics to digital life. You’ll be running, jumping, air-dashing, and sliding your way across a variety of locales full of environmental hazards and enemies galore. More often than not, you’ll be expected to do all this while avoiding the oodles of blaster fire coming your way. It makes for a pretty challenging game right out of the gate.

    But Cobra isn’t useless in the combat department, In fact, he’s downright formidable. Keeping in line with the source materials Bond-ian inspiration, Cobra has a variety of gadgets at his disposal to even the odds. From a grappling hook to exploding cigars, and a revolver that disables shields, you have all the tools you need to take down the endless goons of the Space Pirates Guild. But it’s Cobras signature weapon, the Psychogun, that is your greatest ally.

    The Psychogun – basically a laser rifle that takes the place of Cobra’s left arm – is powered by the user’s mental strength and, along with Cobra’s life, one of the most coveted prizes in the Space Cobra universe. You have a high fire rate, a charged shot, and (the cream of the crop) thought controlled shots that let you guide the Psychoguns beam to its destination, usually through multiple opponents. Finally, you can build up a super meter that lets you unleash the Psychogun in one explosive, screen-clearing shot that decimates every visible enemy.

    Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening Animations

    One of the aspects that I really enjoyed is how the Psychogun turn encounters into small little puzzles that challenge you to clear out a section of enemies efficiently with the controlled shot. You can run and gun you way through each encounter in the most basic manner, but I don’t recommend this. At least not on the default difficulty which puts up a pretty stiff fight, especially in the later stages where caution and exploiting all of your abilities is the key to survival.

    Depth has been added to the game and it’s stages by making sure there are plenty of power-ups and unlockables scattered across the environment. These range from items that increase your health and damage output, to artwork that can be used to customise Cobra’s spaceship, The Turtle. Some areas can only be reached once you’ve gotten the requisite gadget and this adds replay value for those looking to 100% stages.

    Credit goes to the developers who have managed to keep this formula feeling fresh throughout the games runtime by varying up the way in which levels are laid out, so you rarely feel like you’ve just done the same thing you did only fifteen minutes ago (even though you have). There are multiple bosses to fight in each level – some of which do get overused – and they rely on the tried-and-true method of pattern recognition plus fast player reflexes.

    Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening Switch Visuals

    I really love the way in which the developers have integrated the anime into the game as well. Each of the levels is presented like a TV episode, with original clips providing all the story meat. But, instead of just having a clip at the beginning or end of a mission, multiple clips play throughout each level, with each gameplay sequence leading in and out of the clip, thus making each section feel like a natural extension of the anime. And there’s a lot of video here, so if you’re not familiar with the anime and its art style, consider your education taken care off.

    Watching the anime clips, I’d also say that the original Space Cobra anime seems to have aged well. The animation is great, the voice acting is excellent, and it captures the golden age of anime and its spirit wonderfully. Enough so that I’m tempted to jump back into the show again.

    The games 3D visuals and environment design follow on nicely from the anime’s look. Each new are feels pleasantly distinct and the animation does a lot of work helping Cobra’s personality shine through in his moves. I particularly love the animation for dodging an attack in mid-air – the one with Cobra doing the splits to avoid whatever was coming his way. For the most part performance is pretty good on the original Nintendo Switch, but there are some moments of slowdown when things get too hectic and in a few spots where some fancy camerawork has been employed to highlight the environments.

    Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening Cinematics

    Cobra controls pretty well for the most part with snappy, responsive movement but I do have some issues with the control layout that I think could have been better thought out. For one, being unable to crouch just feels odd in a game where so much blaster fire is headed your way and crates or rocks litter the environment. Cobra is also a little on the twitchy side when jumping and I’d occasionally over-jump or miss a platform.

    My biggest peeve, however, has to do with aiming. You have a 360-degree field for shooting around Cobra and can do so while moving, but aiming is also tied to the left thumbstick that moves him. This makes for some frustrating run and gun moments when you’re avoiding enemy fire while trying to hit enemies above, below or at an angle to you. You can hold down the L button for precision aiming, but this locks you into place while firing which is an issue with so many laser blasts heading your way at any given time. I feel like this needed to be thought out better – perhaps put control of your gun hand on the right thumbstick that lets you pan the camera slightly up or down. It becomes incredibly frustrating during boss fights when you have a small window to hit the boss, but you can’t stand still to do so because there are too many projectiles filling the air.

    I’ll be among the first to admit that I wouldn’t have thought to make a game based on Space Adventure Cobra, but I’m certainly glad that Magic Pockets has done so. Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening has some control issues that need work, but the care, attention to detail, love, and inventive use of the source material is on display throughout the game’s fun and carefully constructed design. Not only have they created a rare videogame adaptation that does the source material proud, but they’ve also managed to rekindle my interest in an IP I haven’t thought about in ages.

    Pros:

    • Excellent use of the original anime to tie together gameplay sequences
    • Fun but challenging game design
    • Good story
    • Great visuals and animation
    • Amazing voice work

    Cons:

    • Some slowdown on the original Nintendo Switch
    • Having aiming use the movement stick can get very frustrating

    Score: 8/10

    Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by the publisher. It is also available on PC, Xbox One/Series S|X, PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

  • Review: Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree (v1.6 Update)

    Review: Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree (v1.6 Update)

    With the release of Patch 1.6, we finally got to give Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree a go. As with most modern games, the game has received a number of post-launch changes, both in terms of quality-of-life features and new content. However, before we get into what the patch has added, we’re going to take a quick look at the game itself and give it the gameblur review treatment.

    If you missed it at launch, Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is a dark-fantasy action-RPG Metroidvania with Souls-like elements. If that sounds like a lot of ingredients thrown into the mix, that’s because it is. Mandragora packs quite a bit of diverse DNA in an attempt to set it apart from the pack, which also goes a long way to make sure it doesn’t quite sit on one genre completely.

    Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree Story

    The world of Faelduum is on the brink of annihilation. Dark forces besiege the land and the only hope for its people lies in the hands of the King Priest and his army of Inquisitors. You are one of these Inquisitors, sent on a mission to find a witch after you made a move without the King Priests orders and unleashed a dark power within yourself. But your journey will neither be simple nor quick, nor prone to keeping the dark truths of this world hidden.

    Mandragora presents a large world which, in traditional Metroidvania fashion, requires you to beat bosses, collect keys, or gain new abilities to fully explore the interconnected locations. Unlike most Metroidvanias, platforming is less of a focus here than the combat. That isn’t to say you aren’t going to be leaping around the place, but you won’t find hardcore platforming challenges. Instead, it’s used to give the fully 3D world viewed, which you view from a 2D perspective, a sense of depth that it works really well.

    Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree Beautiful Visuals

    Combat and exploration are Mandragora’s focus and you’d best be prepared to fight a lot. Combat is also where the games Souls-like elements come into play. You’ve got your melee attacks, spell attacks, a block if you’ve chosen the appropriate class, and both a dodge and dodge-roll. Stamina governs your melee and dodges, while mana powers your spells. So far, pretty much par for the course.

    Enemies drop loot and crafting materials on death and, while it’s nice to collect a specific set of armour with their own stats, what you really want are Mandragora’s equivalent of souls as collecting enough allows you to level up. Each level up gives you one skill point that you can invest in massive class skill trees. This is where the game gives you leeway for character building, as there’s a whole bunch of stats to pay attention to, along with passive and aggressive skills to unlock.

    Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree Upgrade Trees

    One aspect that I do appreciate is that the game only locks you out of the other skill classes until you hit level 25. At that point, you can start unlocking alternate skill trees and class abilities, including their weapons to further augment your character. With two weapon load-out slots, you can, essentially swop between two classes at any time or mix and match your favourite weapon with your favourite projectile spell.

    As with most Souls-like titles, dying drops all the souls you’ve collected and you’re going to have to make the trek back to regain them. Between these mechanics and respawning enemy locations, the Souls-like elements are limited and Mandragora is nowhere, at least on the first run, as challenging as traditional Souls-likes. Yes, you have to be careful in combat and the multi-phase boss fights require you to pay close attention, but I never found the game hitting that Souls-like ceiling of brutality. Combat is fun and relies on having fast reflexes while memorising enemy attack patterns, and gets better as more build options open up.

    Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree Classes

    The RPG aspects far outweigh the Souls-like mechanics. The story, while not chock full of hard-to-spot revelations, remains front and centre throughout the experience. There are plenty of NPC’s to speak or listen to, sidequests to complete, and a whole bunch of power levelling to engage in. You get your own little encampment, complete with quirky shopkeepers and the ability to craft or enhance gear in various ways. In many ways, we’ve seen all this before, but Mandragora still manages to make it feel fresh and engaging – so much so that I made the effort to go back to camp on a regular basis to level up the shopkeepers and grab new bounties.

    It’s also worth highlighting that Mandragora is a gorgeous game. While the 3D models may not look as detailed as we’ve come to expect from modern titles, the stylised art style – made to look like a painting – breathes life into the characters and environments. Life that is emphasised by some great animation work and plenty of screenshot-worthy locations.

    Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree Combat

    Focussing on the version 1.6 update, the developers have addressed a whole bunch of bugs while rebalancing many enemy encounters and boss fights. Certain quests have had their rewards improved, while quality-of-life improvements have been across the game and its interface. Most notable is that you can now refund spent skill points and abilities if you feel like you want to re-spec for a tough encounter.

    Three new weapons have been added to acquire for your collection and a promised mode has finally made it’s debut: New Game+. This is significant for players who want more challenge than the games first run, as each NG+ cycle offers enemy levels that will scale with your own, along with random buffs and attributes for a higher challenge and better reward drops.

    Mandragora: Whispers of The Witch Tree Queen Of Smiles Boss

    There’s a significant amount of changes made we won’t list here, but these are the most important ones for improving the experience. That and some changes to environmental hazards and world geometry. The NG+ modes are always a great way to expand the lifetime of a game, especially for those who like stiffer challenges.

    All things considered, Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree crams in plentiful mechanics that make certain it comfortably straddles multiple genre. Better still, they’re all executed wonderfully to provide a fun and interesting take on the dark fantasy RPG genre. The visuals and world design is gorgeous, while the many sidequests and skilful combat make running across the land worth the effort. When you factor in the NG+ mode, you have a fantastically fun game that’s set to drain hours from your life.

    Pros:

    • Fun, skill-based combat
    • Great world design
    • Wonderfully stylised, painterly visuals
    • Expansive skill tree for diverse builds
    • New NG+ modes expand the challenge

    Cons:

    • Some surprisingly adult language that feels out of place
    • The main story is predictable

    Score: 9/10

    Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree was reviewed on Xbox Series S|X using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.

  • Review: Turbo Kid (Nintendo Switch)

    Review: Turbo Kid (Nintendo Switch)

    Once upon an apocalypse, in a 1997 wasteland, there was a kid, his friend, and a bad guy trying to control everything. With his BMX and Turbo Glove, the “Kid” had no choice but to take on the bad guy in a no-holds-barred, gory brawl. But, when the dust had settled and the damage was too great, the Kid rode away into the Wasteland sunset to explore what was left of the world.

    That, boiled down to its essence, is the synopsis of Turbo Kid, a low-budget SF/Superhero movie that, most likely, many have never heard of nor seen. That makes reviewing a videogame based upon said movie a rather amazing thing in of itself. Not only because it’s based on a movie that came out in 2015 and promptly disappeared into the cult market, but because movie tie-ins have a checkered past. The chances of a good adaptation are, as we’ve sadly come to accept, pretty thin on the ground if not backed by massive studios.

    Turbo Kid Story

    We throw around the expression “labour of love” around a lot when it comes to entertainment and this is one of those times where it shows throughout the experience. Developers Outermind Inc., have joined forces with the original movie team to create an experience that channels the essence of the movie, while expanding upon it in significant ways.

    The world feels bigger and more detailed, with a history behind it that shines through in what you’re told, along with the many visual clues showcasing this new version of post-apocalyptic 1997. There’s a new cast of odd characters, even weirder situations, and a more fleshed out take on the world revealed through impressive visual storytelling.

    The game doesn’t set out to recreate the movie in playable form, instead it continues where the movie left off with the Kid riding out into the Wasteland. He doesn’t get very far though before he’s ambushed and robbed of his weapons and bike. Thus begins a new journey to get his stuff back that eventually dovetails into a new threat for the struggling survivors of this world.

    Turbo Kid Character Selection

    The Kids journey is canon, though there are two playable characters you can choose from: the Kid or his friend Apple. Apple’s journey is a non-canon one and, even if you haven’t watched the movie, it’s not hard to guess why.

    There’s a lot of story on offer here, either to give context to what’s happening or merely to add some humour to the proceedings – usually through the sidequests which are fun to do because of how they play out versus the rewards. There’s a giant mutant rat looking for sweet, sweet turtle meat; a mysterious voice educated on bygone cult movies; and a sad tale of a robot looking for meaning, amongst others.

    Turbo Kid Platforming

    While the story alone is worth the price of admission, we’re lucky that it’s been paired with some truly addictive gameplay.

    Turbo Kid is as Metroidvania as it gets, following the common gameplay designs to a tee. There’s the expansive world to explore, replete with blocked off passageways and doors that can only be opened with new abilities; a variety of enemies that make exploration challenging; hidden pathways to find; and bosses to fight for the aforementioned abilities.

    While that is as traditional as it gets, Outermind have managed to implement whatever digital magic it is that makes a genre you’ve played a thousand before times feel just as exciting and fun as your very first go around. Turbo Kid managed to grab me right from the get go and never let go.

    Turbo Kid Environmental Hazards

    As expected, the Kid’s BMX plays a huge part in traversing the landscape once you’ve reacquired it. Thanks to the magic of technology, you can teleport it to you anytime, anywhere. Once you have it in your arsenal, it becomes even more apparent just how much like a BMX track the world has been designed to emulate. The labyrinthine layout makes great use of half-pipes and jumps to get you around and reach those hard-to-get to areas. You can pull off tricks on your bike and engage in races for various upgrades, such as spiked tires that help you scale walls and ceilings. And it plays just as much a part in the multiple-stage boss fights as your Turbo Glove does.

    While the bulk of your upgrades will be familiar – such as Air Dashes and charged shots – the game lets you customise passive abilities through a chip system which gives you extra abilities or enhances standard ones, such as letting your BMX’s spike wheel ability last longer. You can only equip three chips at a time though.

    One control aspect that took me a bit of time to come to grips with is needing to hold down a button to crouch. Holding down a shoulder button for precision aiming was fine, but having to hold one to crouch went against years of ingrained muscle memory of just pressing down on a D-pad or analog stick to crouch in a 2D game.

    Turbo Kid Silver Ghost Boss

    Visually Turbo Kid is a gorgeous pixel art game featuring wonderful animations for both the characters and background elements. As I’ve stated before, the visual design does a ton of heavy lifting in breathing life into the world while telling you it’s backstory.

    From the enemies that heft weighty spiked shields around to those ambiguous, drill-headed characters in the background drilling through garbage, Turbo Kid is gorgeous to look at. The art style reminded me of that classic 1991 2D adventure game Another World, though a more direct inspiration can be found in that other phenomenal 2D action platformer from 2021, Narita Boy. And it’s all rounded out with a pretty good soundtrack to boot.

    If I have any issues with Turbo Kid, it would be that boss fights, while inventive, can feel a little bullet spongy. It’s the one area in the game that did frustrate me occasionally, but on the whole, Turbo Kid is a case of the stars aligning to buck the trend of poor movie tie-in adaptations. It’s addictive, impressive, and a whole heap of fun that kept me hooked from the opening to the finale. Turbo Kid isn’t just amazing, it’s bloody brilliant and one of the best games I’ve played this year.

    Pros:

    • Fun and addictive gameplay
    • Fleshed-out world
    • Gorgeous visuals and animations
    • Labrynthine maps
    • Great soundtrack

    Cons:

    • You need to hold a shoulder button to crouch
    • Bosses can feel like bullet sponges

    Score: 9/10

    Turbo Kid was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC and Nintendo Switch 2.

  • Review: Dead of Darkness (Nintendo Switch)

    Review: Dead of Darkness (Nintendo Switch)

    Dead of Darkness is the kind of title that screams pure pulp horror. The kind of title you’d expect to see plastered on the cover of an ‘80’s direct-to-VHS horror. You know the kind, on the shelf in the dark corner of the store that you’d rent for the weekend, watch on repeat with your best mate, and then talk about for years even if wasn’t any good. Yeah, it’s that kind of pulpy, badass title.

    But instead of a movie, it’s strapped on to a 2D survival-horror title. The sort that we might call a love-letter to the greats of genres past. Dead of Darkness takes us back to that time when survival-horror ruled the roost and you couldn’t take two steps outside your front door without been accosted by any number of games trying to cash in on the genre’s success. The game is bathed in the tropes of old school survival-horror, from the story to the various gameplay mechanics. It’s like a mash-up between Resident Evil and Alone in The Dark, with a bit of cosmic folk horror thrown in for good measure.

    Dead of Darkness Cutscenes

    Like any good pulp horror story, Dead of Darkness provides us with a colourful cast of characters and a significantly ominous location. A damaged ex-cop turned drunken private eye? Check. A mysterious, isolated island chock-full of secrets? Check. A strange family that aren’t all that they seem to be? Check. Armies of monstrous abominations stalking the darkness? Double-check to infinity and beyond!

    Set in 1985, Dead of Darkness throws you into the shoes of a reluctant P.I. When a letter arrives asking him to come to Velvet Island for answers surrounding his daughter’s death, Miles Windham doesn’t hesitate to grab the next ferry out. But things on the island are about to go from bad to worse when a scream shatters the dead of night.

    Dead of Darkness Combat

    Instead of throwing us into a classic whodunit, Dead of Darkness propels us headfirst into a creature feature as monstrous forms roam the island and mansion hallways, tearing apart anyone foolish enough to get too close. The shambling horrors are only the beginning though and, as the night crawls on, nastier creatures come looking for a snack too. Does the island harbour the truth Miles needs? Will he even survive to find it?

    The only way you’re going to know that is to run through Velvet Islands death trap locations. And, thankfully, the games story is it’s single, strongest element pushing you forward. This twisty, turny tale is powered by some great voice acting as well, though be warned, like Still Wakes the Deep, there’s surprisingly adult language chucked your way at times. And while the usual Resident Evil-like ne’er-do-well corporation conspiracies do make an appearance, the bulk of the narrative – also fleshed out through plenty of letters – is a really good tale and well worth the time to explore.

    Dead of Darkness Boss Fights

    Gameplay is traditional survival-horror to the tee, just in a top-down, isometric 2D world. There are plenty of items to collect, locked doors needing specific keys, there are puzzles to solve, and not enough ammo to go round. Some of the best moments are built around puzzle solving, which lets you combine clues with items to do so. While there’s nothing in here that will cause the old brainpan to overheat, they’re nice filler to the rest of the gameplay, which is as traditional as can be – though not always for the best.

    Item management, along with an unhealthy amount of back-and-forth between locations, will be taking up most of your playtime as you struggle to manage what you need for a specific task versus what you need to keep yourself from keeling over. One nice addition to the map system is that any room you haven’t cleared or collected everything in, remains coloured red on your map, along with doors that need specific colour-coded keys. This way, you’re never lost as to where you still have to explore or complete an objective.

    Dead of Darkness Visuals

    The problem, of course, is that inventory space is limited to a measly eight slots. You can chuck items into the storage crate in every save room, which synchronises its contents across all crates, but it doesn’t stop you from having to run around picking up and dropping off items all of the time. Your weapon selection may be limited, but you’re going to have juggle that along with ammo and health pickups, which left me with only two open slots most of the time. And, because monsters can respawn or get swopped out for different ones in areas you’ve already cleared, you don’t want to be left short of ammo.

    Ammo is certainly in short supply. Not so much because there isn’t enough to pick up, but more because enemy damage seems to be randomised. When your regular flesh-eating zombie things can take between three to five pistol shots to go down, those seventy rounds of ammo you’ve picked up disappear pretty quickly. The shotgun, thankfully, packs a nice, meaty and disgusting punch, especially on the more common grunts that it turns into misty gibbets with ease. Weapons can be upgraded, but that random element means that I didn’t notice as much difference in stopping power as I would have liked. There are multiple difficulty settings to choose from but, honestly, I only noticed about a one bullet difference between normal and easy most of the time.

    Dead of Darkness Storytelling

    The amount of back and forth does damage the games pacing as well. During a second playthrough, after a consistent and unavoidable crash was patched, I found the pacing more enjoyable as I already knew where to go and what to do, thus cutting the tiring backtracking. This did wonders for improving the pacing. While I admire the developers desire to make a truly retro experience, certain elements were best left in the past.

    One of the other aspects I enjoyed, even if it meant sacrificing an item slot, was the sanity meter. Every successful monster attack doesn’t only damage your health but your sanity. There are items to help restore it, but the game does throw in some cool insanity effects when it starts to get low, like creepy voices and the game seeming to “crash”. Beware though, if your sanity drains completely, you can die.

    Dead of Darkness Shotgun

    Combat may divide players. As with classic games, you can’t move while shooting or reloading, so you have to use the environment to your advantage during combat and boss fights revolve around observing attack patterns. In general, combat just feels very basic. It’s effective but doesn’t get the blood pumping. And while there’s guts and gore galore, Dead of Darkness isn’t very scary at all, even with some insta-death sections that I could have done without. This may be a buzzkill for some, but the general overall enjoyment of the game goes a long way to making up for a lot of its flaws.

    Another potential issue for some will be the pixel art that, although nice to look at, is far less detailed than what we’ve come to expect from many indie games lately. It does a bit of disservice to the monster designs and animations but, like the combat, the visuals are serviceable.

    Overall, Retrofiction Games’ Dead of Darkness is an ambitious title in the 2D survival-horror genre. While the combat may be passable and the pacing could be better, it’s buoyed by a great story, good voice acting, and fun puzzles that mostly manage to capture the best parts of survival-horrors past.

    Pros:

    • Great story
    • Fun puzzles
    • Good voice acting

    Cons:

    • Pacing hampered by too much back and forth
    • Combat is just okay
    • Insta-death sections were painful

    Score: 7/10

    Dead of Darkness was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC, Xbox One/Series S|X, PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

  • Review: Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition (Xbox Series)

    Review: Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition (Xbox Series)

    With Final Fantasy XVI, Square Enix has continued to experiment with and dramatically depart from their flagship IP’s traditional roots. At the same time, it is a game that feels closer to those classic roots than the series has been for some time. That experimentation, over the course of many mainline games and spin-offs, has had variable degrees of success that seems to have finally culminated with the splashiest Final Fantasy to date.

    To say that Final Fantasy XVI feels like the offspring between Final Fantasy and Devil May Cry will give you a clear indication as to what Square Enix has cooked up with this one. Now, two years after its initial PS5 launch, Xbox Series owners can join in on the fray.

    Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition Cutscenes Xbox

    Final Fantasy XVI takes place on the continent of Valisthea, a world on the brink of an environmental disaster that pushes the world’s nations into resource-driven conflicts. Players are dropped into the shoes of Clive Rosfield, a young lord whose empire is destroyed overnight and his younger brother murdered. Clive embarks on a journey of vengeance to find his brothers killer, a journey that will reveal mysteries about himself, while plunging the world deeper into political conflict.

    Final Fantasy XVI is the very definition of an action-RPG. This is a big, bold, and splashy visual extravaganza, much like a summer blockbuster movie, that straddles the line between hack-and-slash and JRPG. Those expecting a return to traditional mechanics will be disappointed as the RPG elements are stripped back even further when compared to previous entries in the series.

    The main essence of an RPG still remains, with plenty of locations to explore and angsty moral dilemmas to chew on. There are enough NPCs to speak to that flesh out the world, and there’s a lengthy, complicated story that veers from vengeance to world saving. The story is certainly one of the games strongest aspects and benefits from some stellar voice acting that raises the bar for the series.

    The story and setting are where the game does hark back to its roots. The ubiquitous crystals are here, along with a medieval fantasy setting reminiscent of the original hexalogy, and a story that veers between personal and political.

    Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition Visuals Xbox

    Gone, though, are tons of items to manage in your inventory, replaced by a moderate amount of consumables that are hot-linked for combat. Instead, copious amounts of crafting materials take the space normally reserved for endless inventory glut. The amount of gear you can equip has also been scaled back, limiting you to a weapon and some accessories that change up your effectiveness in combat significantly. Gone too is an overworld to run around in, replaced by a world map that lets you fast travel between locations. The locations themselves are large enough to allow for exploration on the back of a Chocobo, but can’t hide the games overall linearity.

    In its place are systems more at home in action games. There are skill trees to purchase and upgrade new abilities, while combat loadouts play a significant role towards the end-game. Clive’s combat abilities allow for the use of fast sword strikes that can be charged up for heavy blows; the use of magical abilities based on the elements; a dodge that can allow you to counterattack if done quickly enough; and a quick dash that’s close to a classic teleport move.

    Party members help out in combat as well, which allows you to chain combos with them or use your trusty hound, Torgal, to launch enemies into the air for some punishing aerial combos. Instead of learning traditional FF spells, Clive can harness Eikon abilities. Eikons in Final Fantasy XVI are the classic summon spells, only this time Bahamut and its ilk play much larger roles in the game. Literally.

    Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition Eikons Xbox

    Clive can use the abilities of Ifrit, Phoenix, or whichever Eikon you’ve beaten to spice up combat significantly, flowing between hectic sword strikes into Eikon specific abilities: such as launching walls of flame across the ground or multiple wind-based slashing attacks that look and feel stupendous when used in an air juggle.

    The big selling point for Final Fantasy XVI are the Eikon fights, in which you either transform into one yourself, or take on one of them in a blistering duel of pyrotechnic spectacle that’s right up there with any modern high octane Kaiju fight. As good looking as Final Fantasy XVI is, it’s these moments that are truly a sight to behold and the games showcase. Make no mistake, normal combat is blisteringly fast and flashy, with enough special effects and fireballs thrown around to trigger an epileptic fit, but it pales in comparison to the Eikon battles that are on par with any modern Hollywood blockbuster.

    From Crisis Core to Final Fantasy VII Remake, it’s a testament to how much Square Enix have learned over the years that I can call Final Fantasy XVI’s combat thrilling.

    Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition Combat Mechanics Xbox

    That said, Final Fantasy XVI isn’t a perfect game. The pacing can be inconsistent in terms of how much is doled out for you to tackle.

    The bulk of the game favours a linear thrust to keep the story flowing, with the occasional side-quest doled out to offer a break and help with the world-building. However, towards the games climax, you’re suddenly inundated with a list of people to help out. I’m all for more content, but these optional quests could have been better sprinkled throughout the games runtime to break up the corridor feeling that the main story evokes.

    Combat-wise, the game also favours bullet-sponge enemies and bosses, which makes many fights last far longer than they should. There’s a stagger mechanic at play that lets you stun an enemy for a short duration once you’ve broken its stagger bar. The further into the game you get, the more reliant you become on exploiting this mechanic to deal significant amounts of damage. Towards the endgame, it’s essential to set up your character to quickly break stagger bars and keep the enemies in a stun-lock state. This overrides a lot of the thrill of the games heavily DMC-inspired combat, as it becomes less about skilfully chaining attacks and more about triggering staggers to shave those massive health bars down.

    Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition Ifrit Xbox

    As with the PS5 version of the game, the Xbox Series X version comes with two graphic modes: Quality and performance. Quality favours visual fidelity with a 30fps frame rate, while Performance favours a 60fps frame rate at the expense of visuals. Both modes on Series X ran well and I never noticed performance issues regardless of which mode I played with.

    Performance mode feels silky smooth, but that does come at a noticeable visual cost. It runs at a much lower resolution that makes the visuals seem a little blurry and less defined. And with a game so built on visual spectacle as this one, a lower resolution really isn’t the way you should have to experience it.

    Quality mode still has visual issues if you look closely enough, such as shimmering when the characters move, but the performance is still rock solid and fast enough that I never felt as though the 30fps cap was limiting me in anyway.

    Final Fantasy XVI Complete Edition Eikon Battles Xbox

    The last thing to touch on that the Complete Edition of Final Fantasy XVI obviously comes with the two expansions: Echoes of The Fallen and The Rising Tide. Both add even more goodness to an already stacked game and, with the Complete Edition installed, you’ll be able to access them at key points during the main campaign.

    Elevated by an intensely fun battle system and stunning voice acting, Final Fantasy XVI is easily one of the best mainline games in the series in recent years. It manages to capture the spirit of the original games with a strong story and great characters, while the spectacular boss battles and pyrotechnic visuals are the icing on a particularly wonderful action-RPG cake.

    Pros:

    • Excellent hack-and-slash combat
    • Boss battles are an intense visual highlight
    • The story and setting hark back to the classic games
    • Stellar voice acting
    • Both Quality and Performance modes run well

    Cons:

    • Bullet-sponge enemies drag out battles
    • Poorly paced distribution of sidequests
    • The resolution drop in Performance mode is noticeable

    Score: 8/10

  • Review: Ruffy and the Riverside (Nintendo Switch)

    Review: Ruffy and the Riverside (Nintendo Switch)

    Playing Ruffy and the Riverside has been like jumping back into the past. Like way, way back into the good old days of PS1, PS2, and, more specifically, N64 platforming.

    There’s an earworm of a soundtrack that embeds itself in your mind, an expansive world to jump and run through, tons of quirky characters to meet, gorgeous visuals bringing the world to virtual life and, the most important ingredient to stand out in a crowded market, superb gameplay innovation that turns a fun time into a must-play title.

    And that is exactly what Ruffy and the Riverside is: a must play platformer for all platformer fans who want the nostalgia of the past running on modern engines and hardware. But Ruffy and the Riverside is so much more than nostalgia-in-a-box, it’s a joyously addictive exercise in taking a simple concept and spinning it into a defining gameplay mechanic.

    Ruffy and the Riverside Switch Visuals

    Sure, the basic action-platforming rulebook is at play here, with melee attacks, a gliding system, and a butt smash to deal with certain enemies to go along with traditional platforming shenanigans. There are platforms to pounce around on, spiked traps to avoid, and puzzle areas to navigate. But what really shines a light on Ruffy’s already colourful world is the main gameplay trick: the “Swap”.

    Ruffy has the god-level ability to transform one object into another by swapping textures around – essentially changing its look and properties. This really simple concept elevates a good platformer into a great one, creating a myriad of charmingly inventive gameplay moments. These range from the more obvious uses of the mechanic to think-outside-the-box moments that are always a highlight.

    Ruffy and the Riverside 2D Puzzles

    Need to get to the top of a cliff but can’t find a path there? Just copy a vine texture and turn that waterfall in front of you into a giant vine to climb. Stone pillars blocking your path? Turn them to wood and punch ‘em down. Need to cross a body of water? Why not make use of that ice floe just to your left?

    These, of course, are the more obvious uses of Ruffy’s power designed to help you move across the world, but you’ll also solve simpler puzzles by changing the markings on rocks or turning a pillar into a magnet to break the chains holding a door closed. The world has been designed to make use of the Swap mechanic at just about every moment, with some changes more permanent than others and some more beneficial.

    Ruffy and the Riverside Texture Swap Puzzles

    But it’s really those think-outside-the-box moments that breath such fresh air into the genre with their more elaborate puzzle solutions, such as turning a stone pillar blocking your path into wood and the water spout just beneath it into fire to bring a fiery end to the obstacle, before turning that fire spout back into water and riding it up to your goal. The game is full of these kinds of puzzle sequences which, I must admit, occasionally had me scratching my head. But they were never too tough to figure out in time, and always left me with a “Damn, that’s cool” smile on my face.

    Of course, if you are struggling to figure them out, the NPCs are always willing to help you out for a few coins. Though I’d argue against it, because part of the charm of Ruffy and The Riverside is seeing just how much creativity you can get away with. There are obviously limitations to what the Swap mechanic can achieve as, if there weren’t, you’d probably be able to break the game in ways the developer hadn’t conceived. Still, it’s rather surprising at the level of leeway you’re given to play around with the world and its textures and properties.

    Ruffy and the Riverside Environments

    The world itself is rather large and perhaps a little too full of things to do and collect. Seasoned gamers who love that stuff will find plenty of collectibles to scour high and low for, while the rest of us can focus on every little platforming, puzzle, or racing sequence on offer.

    Visually, the game is gorgeous and really looks like a an N64 game presented at an ultra-high resolution. And I mean that in the best way possible. The world and its segmented areas are gorgeously colourful and exude personality. The art style, which goes back to that 90’s blocky aesthetic while using 2D sprites in a 3D world, is just stunningly realised, bringing to mind classics like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie. It’s all backed up with some wonderful 2D animation for the games oddball characters and a soundtrack (and sound effects) that really stuck around long after I’d finished playing.

    If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m smitten by the games infectiously joyous charm.

    Ruffy and the Riverside Platforming

    That said, it’s not a perfect blast-from-the-past as the original Nintendo Switch occasionally struggles when there’s too much being rendered onscreen. There’s some frame rate jitters and a bit of a sluggish feeling in the controls during these sections. To keep the frame rate high, I imagine, distant vistas fade in an out depending on the camera angle your distance from those areas, giving a bit of a fog-of-war feeling to the proceedings, while making sure the zone you’re in gets rendered in full.

    Ruffy and the Riverside is easily one of the better, nostalgia-tinged platformers of late. It’s gorgeous visuals and enthusiastic characters are elevated by one of the more fun gaming mechanics in recent years that will have you spending hours swapping around textures and properties just to see what can be done. Performance issues on the original Switch aside, developer Zockrates Laboratories has developed an impressive and fantastic debut title that platforming fans should play.

    Pros:

    • Super fun texture swapping mechanic
    • Gorgeous N64-inspired visuals
    • Stunning 2D art and animations
    • Impressively large world full of things to do

    Cons:

    • Some performance issues on the Nintendo Switch

    Score: 9/10

    Ruffy and The Riverside was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC, Xbox One/Series S|X, PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

  • Review: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of The Zone Trilogy Enhanced Editions (Xbox Series)

    Review: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of The Zone Trilogy Enhanced Editions (Xbox Series)

    My experience with the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl, released way back in 2007, was a brief affair of unrealised possibility. An experience quickly neutered by the numerous bugs and awful performance. It was a game I always meant to get back to but never did. The game spawned two expansions in the following years; Clear Skies and Call of Prypiat and, in 2024, a Legends of The Zone Trilogy that bundled all three games arrived as a refined package for last-gen consoles – with backward-compatible performance modes for current-gen consoles.

    This release was a timely affair, coinciding with the long-awaited and highly-anticipated sequel, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. A little over a year later, the “enhanced” Legends of The Zone Trilogy has arrived as an alternative to the PC originals, and offers a few embelishments for modern consoles. The question is, does this update make it worth braving the radioactive and mutant-infested wilds of The Zone again?

    Before we get to that, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is, if you have never played it, an FPS survival-action hybrid that dips its toes into the scientific-horror genre. As the name implies, it’s set after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown that, in this universe, has given birth to The Zone, a large expanse of land now haunted by radiation pockets, deadly anomalies, and all manner of nightmarish, mutated creatures. Into this inimical landscape have come the titular stalkers; soldiers, mercenaries, and all manner of folks for whom the draw of The Zone is too much to ignore.

    In the original, you play as an amnesiac stalker, on a journey to find and eliminate another stalker named Strelok, who once made it to the mythical centre of The Zone. What has he done to deserve this fate, and how does it tie into the ongoing expansion of The Zone? All these questions, and many more, may be answered in your journey.

    The prequel, Clear Skies, and direct sequel, Call of Prypiat, throw you into the boots of different stalkers, fleshing out events that led into Shadow of Chornobyl, and setting the scene for the sequel, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

    Despite new mechanics and quality-of-life improvements in the subsequent games, the one thing that remains consistent is the unforgiving, hardcore, role-playing experience. The life of an unprepared and reckless mercenary is short, and life in The Zone is shorter still.

    While most FPS at the time were content to continue as blistering fragathons, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games chose a more RPG-like and survival-focused approach. Supplies were in short, well, supply. Armour would deteriorate. Weapons would jam. Pockets of radiation and anomalies littered the landscape, so you had to keep an eye on your Geiger counter and detector while simply exploring.

    Gunfights against mutants and other stalkers were tense affairs that could result in a lot of autosave or quick-save reloads. Even if you found exoskeleton armour and a decent shotgun, you were no Duke Nukem, and running around in the open was certain death.

    Finally, there was the quest and reputation system to keep you pushing deeper into The Zone. All three games are full of primary quests and no shortage of secondary tasks to earn money and move the story along. All of which results in a lot of back and forth across the relatively large and dynamic world. Add in a quest failure system and NPC’s that could be killed, and you have a game that requires careful thought to how you approached its world and tasks.

    Now while I use the term “roleplaying”, it’s not in the traditional videogame sense. There are no skill trees to upgrade or new abilities to learn. Improved weapons and armour can be picked up or crafted in the later games. Instead, roleplaying is about how you approach the game, its many combat scenarios, and a few mission choices. It’s about immersing yourself in the experience and taking responsibility for acquiring gear and stockpiling sufficient ammunition and consumables before heading out.

    By today’s standards, what S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was attempting with its gameplay may seem commonplace but, at the time, it felt groundbreaking and its influence can be seen in the Metro IP and no shortage of other first-person survival games since then.

    The “Enhanced” editions boast a number of changes, from bug fixes to an enhanced UI, gamepad support, and other quality of life changes. Beyond resolution and framerate optimisations for current-gen consoles, there are a myriad of visual tweaks.

    Water quality and surface shaders result in a more realistic appearance for fluids, with wetness shaders to make the world look that much more muddy. Skyboxes and atmospheric effects have been enhanced too and look fantastic, with a more painterly look to the clouds that better match the various weather settings and locales.

    Legends of The Zone Enhanced Lighting Upgrades
    The field of view has been expanded if you want it, and textures for characters, clothing, weapons, and the environment have also received an overhaul, featuring more noticeable details such as creases on cloth and the wrinkles on character faces. Perhaps the most significant change was to the lighting system, which includes new effects and global illumination. Rounding out the visual enhancements are screen space reflections that look great on water surfaces in a few maps.

    There is a big caveat though. If we’re comparing the Legends of The Zone Trilogy – even before this latest update – to the original PC S.T.A.L.K.E.R. release, the difference is night and day. But if we’re comparing it to last years console release, it gets a little muddier. In short, this release is going to feel most impactful to PC players who have only experienced the vanilla games, are looking for official gamepad support, and aren’t interested in modding the game.

    Unless you’re starting off with Clear Skies or Call of Prypiat, both of which give you a nice view of the new water effects and reflections in their swampy starting areas, the bulk of the additions will be barely noticeable to returning console players.

    Nowhere is this more true than in Shadow of Chornobyl. While the updated character textures are noticeable in direct comparisons, aspects like the changes to the lighting system either don’t stand out much, or don’t interact with environments and NPC’s in the way you’d want them to. As an example, in the opening scene that has you chatting with the merchant Sidorovich, you’ll immediately notice how the lighting emphasises the polygonal nature of his face but does not illuminate it correctly as it moves.

    As later and more refined releases, Clear Skies and Call of Prypiat interact better with the new visual features, while Shadow of Chornobyl probably needs a more substantial overhaul of assets. These are 18-year-old games after all, and it would take a full remastering to bring them up to modern visual standards.

    One the upside, these enhanced Legends of The Zone versions of the game are a free upgrade to all owners of the PC originals (on Steam and GOG) and for consoles bar the original Nintendo Switch at the moment – something I expect may change with the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2.

    While the enhancements may not be as visually enthralling or noticeable as one would hope on console, they’re still nice additions to a classic collection of games whose PC originals are looking a bit long in the tooth – particularly for those who don’t want to navigate the trial and tribulations of modding (and just because you’ve been doing it all your life, that doesn’t make it easy for others).

    GSC Game World also deserves credit for simply ensuring these iconic and influential games remain accessible on as many platforms as possible. Regardless of your feelings on the visual “enhancements”, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of The Zone Trilogy Enhanced provides some much-needed fixes while keeping the spirit of the original games intact.

    S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of The Zone Trilogy Enhanced was reviewed on Xbox Series S|X using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PC and PS5.

    Pros:

    • It’s a solid choice for PC players who want gamepad support and dislike modding
    • The spirit and atmosphere of the original games is untouched
    • New water shaders and screen space reflections look great in a few areas
    • The new skyboxes are wonderful and better match weather conditions

    Cons:

    • Console players will find most enhancements difficult to spot compared to the 2024 release
    • Shadow of Chornobyl doesn’t always work well with the updated lighting

    Score: 7/10

  • Review: Song of Horror (PS4)

    Review: Song of Horror (PS4)

    Travel with me, if you will, back to the 1990’s when survival horror titles were all the rage. When pre-rendered backdrops presented an immense amount of world depth and tank controls were just another challenge to be overcome. To the days when Resident Evil and all its sundry impersonators were the juggernauts of our nightmares and thrilled us late into the night.

    Time has moved on since then, with the likes of Resident Evil reinventing itself into a brand new Juggernaut, yet the thrill of those games remains ever vigilant in our nostalgic memories, providing moments and scenarios that we still talk about enthusiastically today. Even if replaying them in the light of modern amenities removes some of their sheen and lets us realise that some things were best left in the afterglow of our memories. Not that we would ever really admit that.

    If this longing for the gloried past of survival horror games still has a hold on you, then look no further than Song of Horror for this retro-inspired title has all the goods. Developer Protocol Games brings back the heyday of 90’s survival horror games, warts and all.

    Set during 1998, Song of Horror begins with the disappearance of author Sebastian Husher. Sent by his publisher to find him, Daniel Noyer soon disappears as well and it’s up to a varied group of individuals to find both him and what happened to Husher and how it all seems to tie into a missing music box. Before long our protagonists find themselves haunted by a malignant supernatural presence. Spanning five episodes, it’s up to you to find the origin of the curse and hopefully, some way to nullify it, before you’re dragged screaming into the darkness.

    If you’ve played any survival horror game in the last two decades, then you’ll know exactly how Song of Horror plays. You’ll investigate each location for clues and items to use to solve the puzzles around you while reading the notes left behind to further the story and explain why each location is devoid of human life. Because Song of Horror focuses on a cursed music box, sound plays a vital role in the game. If you choose to run, the noise you make can attract the entity, known as The Presence, to your location. This adds a wrinkle to how fast you can get through each location to the game’s overall mechanics. Paying attention to the noises around you are vital to your survival. One of the mechanics of listening at a door to what’s behind it before you open a room, will save you from many instant death moments.

    And these moments are frequent, depending on the difficulty you choose. Song of Horror is littered with instant death moments and trap locations. If you hear crying behind a door, then it’s not a good idea to enter the room, as is pulling the tarp off a strangely covered mirror in a storage room or sticking your hand into a bathtub full of grotty water. Song of Horror is designed with permadeath in mind, meaning you can lose the character you’re playing with permanently if you’re not careful. Lose all the characters or the main one for the game and you’ll have to restart the episode. When a new character enters the fray, you can pick up the previous characters items where they perished.

    With four difficulty settings to choose from, each named after a horror writer such as M. R. James and Edgar Allen Poe, determine the games severity. Higher difficulties have more shock encounters and permadeath is a feature of all, with one caveat. The easiest difficulty lets you load up a checkpoint save when a character dies to just before that fatal moment if you’re not in the mood to lose anyone. With Trophies for completing each episode without losing a character and for completing each episode with every character available for that scenario, gives completionists a reason to replay.

    The game has no combat as you can’t fight The Presence. The most you can do is hide from it or interact in mini-games that have you trying to slam a door closed in time while it’s trying to break through or to control your breathing while hiding from one of its manifestations. Knowing your surroundings is important so that you can get to a cupboard or beneath a table in time. Hiding spots do get scarcer as the game progresses.

    Song of Horror places you in familiar haunted locales; an abandoned manor, a mental hospital, an empty apartment block, etc. The scares are also of the traditional haunted house variety, though there’s definitely an Asian horror vibe to many of the manifestations and blink and you miss it moments.

    Though the game uses static camera angles for its environment, the environment itself is fully 3d modelled and is one of the games strongest assets. The set dressing is absolutely superb with Husher Mansion and an antique shop looking absolutely gorgeous in the amount of detail and clutter present. Character models look good, but don’t quite measure up to the environment around them.

    Sadly, for a horror title, Song of Horror isn’t actually scary. Dealing with The Presences attacks becomes rote unfortunately. However, where the game does succeed wonderfully, along with its sumptuous environment details, is in atmosphere. With the use of sound as a warning trigger, the developers have managed to craft a sense of tension and expectancy that permeates each area as you’re always waiting for the shoe to drop, as it were. The palpable sense of dread and suspense is wonderfully realised, something even movies often struggle to get right.

    Song of Horror does have some issues though. First is the character’s movement and speed. Close to “Tank Controls” are the order of the day, making characters a bit of a chore to get used to. Controlling them is tricky with a turn radius that can get you stuck on objects in tight locations or go the wrong way at times, especially when a camera change occurs. Then there’s the character speed which can be frustrating. When you’re being chased by a nigh unstoppable force that can disembowel you with ease, you should be taking off like the Road Runner and not like a geriatric on a Sunday walk down by the lake. This is a peeve I have even with modern horror titles that feel like a slow walk through a museum when you should hot-footing it for your life.

    Finally there’s the game’s bugs. While not game breaking at all, there were plenty of instances of enemies spawning in the floor, characters walking through doors and in one instance Daniel’s torch not syncing with the character as you walk.

    With an atmosphere seeped in tension and dread that can have you holding your breath, Song of Horror more than makes up for its lacklustre scares with gorgeous set dressing and an intriguing, Lovecraftian story.

    Pros:

    • Gorgeous set dressing and environment design
    • Intriguing story

    Cons:

    • Bugs
    • Tank controls
    • Slow movement speed

    Score: 9/10

    A review code for Song of Horror was provided to Gameblur by the publisher.