Book of Demons Review

Book of Demons is a deck-building hack and slash adventure game. In plain English, is a game where you will obliterate hundreds of weaker enemies with your mighty power provided by cards. Your goal is to slay the Archdemon and save the world.

Things seem quiet enough...

Gameplay is quite simple. You move through a set path in the dungeon and activate up to ten equipped cards. Despite the simple controls, the game can get quite complex when you layer multiple opponents with different skills. That is one of the things we really liked about this game, it is not hard to play, yet it offers a significant challenge if you wish. (Easy mode is always there for simple Hack & Slash.)

Leveling up a common card.

Progression in the game happens in three concurrent ways. As you progress through the floors, you will get closer and closer to the Archdemon and your final battle. As you explore the dungeon you will find cards with powers that you can equip. You can find multiple copies of the same card, with slight additions depending on the rarity (common, magical and legendary). Third and last is your own level. The more creatures you slay the more experience you rack up. Every time you level up you get 1 point to distribute either in health or mana. Attribute points also drop as loot in the dungeon itself, making leveling up not the main source of attributes.

Cauldron sample.

As you dive deeper in the dungeon and slay many demons, you will acquire riches. Such wealth can be used to upgrade cards and buy the contents of the Cauldron. It holds extra loot from your pillaging and one attribute point opposite to the one you choose when leveling up. Basically the same stuff you find in the dungeon, but in one big pot of boiling goodness.

Book of Demons is a very enjoyable game. The paper theme is superb, with great visual effects, amazing soundtrack and an overall lighthearted theme. If you played Diablo I you will catch some funny references. On top of that, the developers did brilliantly in adapting controller support in-game. Specially the Steam Controller. Last but not least, the game has a splendid mechanic called "Flexiscope", which allows you to change the length of your play session.

Good hunt, adventurer!

Flexiscope in action.

Fallout 76 Review

Fallout 76 is the online prequel where every surviving human is a real person (player). Working together, or not, to survive. Twenty five years after the bombs fell, you and your fellow vault dwellers emerge into post-nuclear America.

As a re-imagining of Fallout 4 with a multiplayer approach, Fallout 76 plays very similarly with Fallout 4. In fact, you will see that there are more similarities than differences, so you can read in full about the gameplay on Fallout 4 Review. Let's highlight the two biggest changes: A first person shooter like any other game, the the first big difference here will be the real time VATS system. Whereas in Fallout 4 time would slow to a crawl, in Fallout 76 you get no time bending abilities. Everything happens in real time, all the enemies will keep shooting and swinging at you. Equipped with the appropriate perk, you can target different areas of the body and use those critical shots for some really critical moments. Believe us, starting a fight with a critical head shot is a sure way to survive!

Food and mutation effects.

The second biggest difference will be the "light survival" aspect of the game. You have hunger, thirst and deceases that you have to manage. They are a soft reminder that you are still human and surviving requires nutrition and care. In the starting area of the game you will find plenty of water and food laying around. As you dive deeper in more dangerous territories you will feel the lack of resources when your hunger/thirst bars start hitting red and you've got nothing to consume. For the decease part, being bitten by wild animals, or even swimming in waste water carry a chance of contracting some sort of condition that will debilitate you. Your choice of just waiting until your body naturally heals from it or, like most things in America, popping up a pill will make you good to go.

Strength Perk Card

Speaking of survival, the progression system for Fallout 76 is still based on the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. status. This time, from level 1 to level 50, you will get one point that you can distribute in any attribute up to the cap of 15. And on every level up, which is infinite, you will get to choose a perk card. You can equip as many perk cards as you can afford based on your S.P.E.C.I.A.L.'s. Having 15 points in Strength allows you to allocate 15 points worth of Perk Cards into strength. If you have only 1 Charisma, don't expect to be the wasteland most eloquent survivor. As in previous Fallout games, perks will range from giving you plain damage bonuses to special and/or convenient abilities. For example, reducing the weight of certain kind of weapons, allowing you to breath underwater or even to prevent mutations (more on this soon). Of special attention is Charisma, as it is the one attribute related to social play. Under the Charisma tree you will find many perks that work towards others, like "Team Medic", which will heal your team mates for some of the health you heal yourself.

Full Build.

Another interesting addition are the mutations. Receive enough radiation and you might find yourself developing some sort of "super power". These are mostly small changes that gives you an advantage somewhere, while costing you a disadvantage somewhere else. One of our favorites is the "Marsupial Mutation", where you get 20 pounds increased carry weight and your actual jump height triples, at the cost of 4 points of intelligence.

Weapon scrapping for material and mods.

To wrap things up, in Fallout 4 we had the CAP system serving as an easy way to transform unwanted loot into resources that you lacked, while the scrap/junk system was more oriented to building. In Fallout 76 we have the inversion: CAPS are much harder to come by and now weapons and armor have durability. Once they break you will require materials to repair them. Materials are also needed to modify equipment and to build your CAMP (a mobile version of a settlement, which we could make a whole post about). This way gathering junk from the wasteland is an essential part of keeping up your gear in top condition while vendors have very limited supply of wares and CAPS. And in order to learn how to modify your equipment you will have to disassemble similar gear. In order to learn how to make something, be it a weapon, armor or a construction you will have to find the plans for it. Nothing comes free in the wasteland... Except radiation, that's free.

One of our favorite pictures!

Fallout 76 plays very similarly with Fallout 4, but the multiplayer aspect brought changes and challenges that make for quite a different experience other than gun play. The map itself is gigantic, offering a level of detail and allowing for a much more pronounced change of environment. The material system is now properly integrated to the main loop of the game while the currency takes a step back. The light survival aspect is a great addition to spice things up while making for interesting opportunities of character builds. The camera mode allows for some great pictures and the lengthy quests can keep you entertained for a while. Unlike most online games though, it can still be fully played and enjoyed solo. While we keep a positive light, there is a lot that can improve and we are looking forward to what Bethesda has cooking up for us!
This became a much longer review than we intended, even only touching upon many aspects of the game. Thank you for reading this far!

May the wasteland provide all you need, Vault-Dweller!

Enter the Gungeon Review

Warning: We play every game until the end before making our review... That said, we couldn't beat Enter the Gungeon. =/

Enter the Gungeon is a pixelated bullet hell dungeon crawler following a band of misfits seeking to shoot, loot, dodge roll and table-flip their way to personal absolution by reaching the legendary Gungeon’s ultimate treasure: the gun that can kill the past.

Our best run, died on boss @4th floor!

Gameplay is very simple, you will move around shooting everything on sight and you can dodge roll to evade bullets. Also, there are tables around most rooms that you can flip for some temporary cover. Although straight forward, the game gets extremely chaotic, requiring fast reflexes, precise planning, resource management, and quick adaptation to ever changing conditions... It almost feels like life itself.

Chest with a rare double drop!

As you progress through the Gungeon you will find keys and chests. They will award you new weapons, items or passive buffs (like extra life). There are many, many guns in this game. Some more useful than others, but since you get them at random luck plays an important factor. Your goal is to reach the 5th stage and beat the final boss before meeting your doom. Easier said than done. Other than that, every time you defeat a floor boss you will get some cash that you can spend at the entrance of the Gungeon to unlock new weapons, items and passives. This unlocks are added to your drop table, you don't get them for your run.

Only a crazy person would run
a shop in a place like this!

As you clear rooms you will acquire what appears to be golden bullets. These golden objects can be used to buy some random resources at this crazy shop keeper that runs his business inside the Gungeon. His prices increase the further down you go, making early purchases more worthy while.

Great soundtrack, good art and non stop action is sure to keep you entertained. Unfortunately one of the things that we don't get to use as much as we wanted are the guns. Being random and requiring chest finds, you get little play time with your favorites. Item descriptions also varies wildly. Some are very descriptive, others not even close. We strongly feel like some auxiliary systems like the ones in Crypt of the Necrodancer that allows for temporary buffs would allow for more exploration while making the game easier for those that, well, just can't beat it.

That said, Enter the Gungeon is a great game with lot of flavor that is worth your time and money! Just beware that it is hard, and it makes no intention of slowing down for your own sake. There are also myths of legendary secrets that lie in the Gungeon, that only those who have mastered it will find... Well, hope you are that one!

May your gun be swift!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a third person action game, where you take on militarized cyborgs in order to bring justice with your sword.

Slicing cubes open in the Tutorial

Gameplay is not very complex, you can move and jump around while cutting enemies down with your sword. There are some combos you can perform, but nothing fancy. Most of the time you will be pressing the attack button repeatedly until the enemies hit the "K.O." point, where you can move into this slow-motion samurai style slicing to dismember your opponents. You can also block attacks if you time it correctly and once you have access to secondary weapons you can use them too, although they are not as effective as your sword.

Body enhancements.

As you progress through the story you will defeat enemies and acquire BP. With them you can buy power improvements to your own cyborg body. Depending on how fast you defeat your enemies, how much damage you take, how many times you sliced them open (a.k.a. Zan-Datsu) you will get a variable amount of BP.

Overall Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a weak game. Personally I try to always find good things to say about a game and the slow-motion slicing mechanic is pretty entertaining in the beginning. That said, that's where it ends. The game has a terribly weak plot, cliche characters and very shallow mechanics. The main system, the slicing mechanic, does not go any further than what you get from the start. Ending up being more in the way when you are forced by the designers to use it, than being integral part of an evolving experience. There are other games, like Bayonetta, that deliver a much richer content with a better constructed experience to the point that you'd better spend your time on them.

If you do decide to take Rising on, beware that it is not representative of the Metal Gear franchise. Also it is not a long game, if you cut out the cinematics time you should be able to finish it in less than 5 hours. Happy slicing.

Ori and the Blind Forest Review

Ori and the Blind Forest tells the tale of a young orphan destined for heroics, through a visually stunning action platformer crafted by Moon Studios.

Skills

Gameplay is more than just jumping around, you will have to use every skill to surpass the challenges ahead of you. With 9 different skills (11 if you have the Definitive Edition) you have a lot of room to play the way you like. Some of those powers will require you to spend your energy, which you can only charge by finding special energy crystals or defeating enemies. Every mistake costs you some of your life energy. If you reach zero, you will load automatically at your latest save point. Very interestingly, you are allowed to spend your energy to make a save point whenever you want. Except at very specific locations, like in a "boss room".

Gliding

As you progress through the story you will unlock new abilities. Being able to do more than ever before, new forms of challenges will emerge making full use of the new mechanics. The developers did a great job drawing the line between letting you practice your newly acquired powers and pushing your comfort zone. Making for a very entertaining experience from beginning to end. Once you unlock all the abilities, you fell like a true badass!

Ability Tree

And as you face the challenges of the world and uncover its secrets, you will be gathering Spirit Light, a sort of experience if you will. Once you acquire enough of it you will be able to unlock an even higher potential in three different ability lines: Combat, Utility and Efficiency. Combat is self-explanatory, utility is for resource gathering and energy usage, while efficiency makes some abilities more efficient.

All of it come together in a beautifully crafted experience, with an amazing eye for art style, outstanding music and great control. Ori and the Blind Forest is a perfect example that platform games can be as polished and mechanic rich as any other games. We are looking forward to Moon Studios next release, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

May the light guide your adventures.