CrossfireX

Based on Smilegate’s super-popular free-to-play shooter, CrossfireX garnered attention because Remedy was behind its campaign. However, this was little more than two short “Operations” with bad writing, cliched and boring gameplay, and terrible AI. The studio’s trademark panache was missing here, though the Northlight Engine looked decent, and the “revamped” multiplayer didn’t offer much either.

Gungrave G.O.R.E

Some games are developed for years, and you hate to see them launch as Gungrave G.O.R.E has. Any notions of style that Overdose may have had all those years ago are overridden by an ugly visual style, from the characters to the levels. The story sounds like it could make for some B-movie-level fun but ends up confusing and outright time-wasting. Gameplay-wise, the sheer amount of jank in animations, movement, and combat are just awful all around.

Source of Madness

In theory, Source of Madness sounds cool. It uses procedural generation to create its Lovecraftian-esque nightmares and neural network AI to animate them. Unfortunately, this results in unpredictable enemies, further adding to the brutal difficulty alongside the shoddy controls. Even if you can appreciate the aesthetic, the sheer lack of strategy that enemies display, horrible bosses, and lackluster progression ensures little payoff for surviving this nightmare.

Winter Ember

As a dark fantasy stealth title, Winter Ember felt pretty ambitious with its 30 arrow types, 70 passive and active skills, and open-ended gameplay. The interesting aesthetic and setting are hampered by poor combat, awful enemy AI, shoddy cover while sneaking, and the same repetitive gameplay loop. Even the audio design, an essential part of a stealth experience, is not good, executing any hope one could have for this mess.

XEL

A sci-fi adventure inspired by Zelda with an appealing art style – what could go wrong? As XEL proves, quite a lot. The sheer number of bugs and lack of polish will put you off immediately. Once you make it further in, the combat and visuals can be somewhat satisfying, but the awful story undercuts them. Too much repetition and some baffling design decisions will further kill your interest if you’re still somehow playing.

The Last Oricru

Serving as one of the poster games for the new Prime Matter label, The Last Oricru takes clear inspiration from other Souls-like titles. But that’s all it is – a shallow inspiration where everything sticks out for all the wrong reasons. It may be the annoying main character, user interface, controls or how clunky everything looks. Whatever it may be, The Last Oricru doesn’t feel good to play, look at or think about.

Dolmen

Like The Last Oricru, Dolmen is a Souls-like but sci-fi with cosmic horror. It’s also terrible, with combat missing many key features and melee combat feeling janky and poorly tuned overall. Despite how interesting the sci-fi premise looks, it’s all fluff with no real purpose or sense that fails to hook you.

MX vs ATV Legends

MX vs ATV Legends isn’t bad enough to be truly awful, but it’s enough to be annoyingly mediocre. Multiple types of vehicles to race with? Good. The slippery controls and haphazard AI? Bad, though the former has reportedly improved. The open world aspect? Good. The lack of anything to do in it? Bad. We could go on with the physics, sound design, polish, and so on. While the new Trails mode and regular tracks are decent, it’s not enough when everything else is undercooked.

The House of the Dead: Remake

With all the remakes we’ve seen in the past few years, The House of the Dead: Remake could have been something good. Maybe not great, but still good. Developer MegaPixel Studio kept almost everything as is, but the visual upgrades look too dark and ugly. The remixed soundtrack comes across as bland, and the lack of much new content (save for the missable horde mode) makes it feel overpriced. The less said about the controls and performance issues, the better.

Diablo Immortal

Maybe it’s fun on mobile, but Diablo Immortal on PC is a travesty. Its user interface is horrid, with annoying pop-ups – especially during gameplay, resulting in misclicks – and the combat is an even more dumbed-down version of Diablo 3. The campaign is there, but any interesting plot is offset by the stupid progression blockers and grinding required. The sheer scale of monetization is also appalling, to the extent that certain end-game activities are just locked off to free players. Even without it, Diablo Immortal would still be a mess as opposed to the ongoing trainwreck.

Monark

Lancarse’s track record has been a bit spotty this year, as anyone who played The DioField Chronicle will attest. There was some hope for Monark, developed by a few former Shin Megami Tensei series members. It has a school setting, Egos, and an Otherworld to explore, just like SMT and Persona. It differs, however, in the awful pacing, repetitive gameplay, and troubling characterization, to say nothing of the shallow visuals and environments. With so many other great RPG efforts this year, like Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Trails from Zero, and so on, Monark hardly warrants a look.

LEGO Brawls

A platform fighter based on LEGO sets sounds appealing in theory. The execution leaves a lot to be desired. Originally released for iOS in 2019, LEGO Brawls made its way to consoles and PC this past September. Despite its looks, the gameplay quickly becomes boring (with little difference between characters), and the sheer grind required to unlock things is a chore. The lack of stuff to do doesn’t help either.

ELEX 2

I found ELEX to be a drag, but Piranhabytes’ sci-fi action RPG garnered a dedicated cult following after its release. ELEX 2 seemed a good time to capitalize on this and deliver something better. Sadly, it’s also full of clunky combat, dull writing, boring open-world design, monotonous side quests, and an underwhelming presentation. Being able to fly with a jetpack doesn’t count for much when there are so many bugs, and the DirectX 12 rollout is a whole other rigmarole on its own.

IKAI

Despite its low production values, IKAI could have been a nice little horror title, weaving in Japanese folklore in unique ways. Alas, it falls flat. It’s very short, the plot makes little sense, and it abruptly ends with almost no payoff. This wouldn’t be too terrible if the gameplay and horror were up to par, but the former is too restrictive and lackluster, while the latter offers bland jumpscares.

Blackwind

In some alternate universe, Blackwind would have been a decent twin-stick shooter/action RPG hybrid. Unfortunately in this timeline, its premise can’t withstand the horrible story, mind-numbingly dull exploration and progression, and awful combat. The glitches and poor controls further hamper your attempts to squeeze any enjoyment out of the experience.

The Waylanders

Developer Gato Studio’s recent The Waylanders is an interesting concept with hints of promise here and there, but all of these good aspects come with their own sets of caveats. While the story is interesting on some levels, it’s marred down by unimpressive voice acting and pacing that’s all over the place. Then there’s the gameplay, which is engaging but is plagued with bugs and glitches galore. Taken as a whole, however – it’s recommended that you pass on this game.

Diablo Immortal

The day it was announced, nearly everyone expected Diablo Immortal to be a pay-to-win shitshow. The final product somehow exceeded their wildest expectations with a battle pass, premium battle pass, empowered battle pass, materials, bundles, cosmetics – anything and everything was for sale. Let’s not even get into entire endgame mechanics – like Awakening – only accessible by spending money. The real tragedy is that even if that was all stripped away, you’re left with a middling, dumbed-down clone of Diablo 3 with a terrible UI and loot.

The opening moments of Blackwind put you in a spaceship with Jimmy Hawkins, an innocent and curious teenager, and his father, an inventor and technology guru who shows Jimmy that he has created a mech-like Battle Frame with an embedded AI. Suddenly, the spaceship is shot down over a planet called Medusa-42, and Jimmy is stuck in the mech and tasked with figuring out why the spaceship got shot down, finding his father, and navigating the hostile terrains of Medusa-42 that is teeming with an alien species known as the Raknos. The basis of the story is simple and engaging enough, and Jimmy is enough of a blank slate that he can be relatable to most people and has a lot of room for growth. For the first half of the 5-6 hour story, the plot progresses in a meaningful and understandable way that, though entirely predictable and thoroughly unoriginal, provides a logical background for the gameplay and a loose enough semi-linear structure as we watch Jimmy fight through hordes of Raknos and uncover more secrets about their origins and their past interactions with the humans already on the planet.

"Blackwind is just a frustrating experience from front to back. It has a hint of a clear vision, but on so many levels it fails to provide balance, a unique selling point, and most importantly, fun."

The story takes a turn for the worse in the later stages in both pacing and content. Without wishing to spoil, there are themes that Blackwind attempts to explore in the later stages of the game that neither it nor its teenaged protagonist have a solid grasp on tackling. It fails to have any discussion of the moral complexity of some of the things it tells you to do and seems to assume your full agreement. In doing so, it also draws out its runtime with an extra hour or so of what feels like padding at the end that culminates in an undeserved and unsatisfying conclusion. It tries to do far too much with far too little in its story and ends up dropping the ball entirely. It doesn’t help that the writing implies the game doesn’t take itself seriously in the slightest, with Jimmy and his mech speaking in quips and eye-rolling one-liners like “I feel like I’m playing a video game right now.” There are certainly some laugh-inducing lines, especially ones coming from the AI, but it isn’t enjoyable enough, nor does it have enough unique in-game one-liners, to keep it from getting old fast.

On the gameplay front, Blackwind has a few notable ideas. Taking from top-down shooters of the past, Blackwind is a fixed-camera action game. You control Jimmy in the Battle Frame as he fights primarily through hordes of Raknos, from the grunts to the most powerful elites. The Battle Frame has a typical suite of melee attacks, longer-range shooting, and special abilities, and there is a surprisingly diverse list of skills and abilities to unlock in the Battle Frame’s skill tree. At a point, you also unlock a “Dark Mode” of the Battle Frame that gives you a limited-time damage and speed upgrade. At a baseline level, the combat is functional enough. I have some issues with the precision of the gun’s aiming, which feels often like it offers less help than needed in auto-aim, but the progression of your powers with the strength of the enemies feels somewhat natural, and often I felt like the upgrades I was getting were making me noticeably and satisfyingly stronger.

But the combat itself suffers from a long list of smaller balancing and pacing issues that make Blackwind increasingly frustrating. Some enemy attacks, for example, have a pushback effect that occurs every time you’re shot. Frequently these shots come in dozens at a time, so unless you can time an almost frame-perfect dash out of the line of fire, you’re stuck being juggled for a few seconds. When you get enemies down to a certain health, too, you can perform a kill on them, which are enjoyable to watch to a point, but they take far too long to complete and grind the pace of combat to a halt. There are also a handful of separate opportunities to be hit by explosives, like exploding enemies or targeted missiles, and more often than not, the amount of time taken when you’re knocked down by one explosive is enough to allow you to be hit by most or all of the explosives coming your way, meaning that getting hit by even one explosive can snowball into a quick death or critical health loss.

"The combat itself suffers from a long list of smaller balancing and pacing issues that make Blackwind increasingly frustrating."

There are a lot of these types of little things that contribute to making Blackwind a somewhat difficult game at times. In a vacuum, that’s not an inherently negative characteristic, but in this case, much of the difficulty comes at the expense of the game rather than as part of a learning process. Most instances where I had to retry a battle multiple times over ended not because I learned the enemy patterns or how to best tackle a fight, but rather because I found a way to break the encounter. Especially in the late game, I often found myself looking for ways to work against Blackwind rather than with it. It’s also hurt by some severely inadequate checkpoints, which often send you back to a spot far earlier than necessary and make you replay sections you’ve already beaten or solved for no particular purpose.

Outside of combat, Blackwind also contains a handful of puzzles that either involve you trying to unlock a specific series of doors or open a path to a new area. Like the combat, these puzzles are passable on a foundational level, especially the ones that see you running through corridors looking for a key or passcode, as they’re usually somewhat interesting to solve. But the issue with many of the puzzles, as well as in the rest of the game, is a severe lack of signposting. I found myself more than once running around multiple of the somewhat colorfully diverse, if not incredibly pleasing to the eye, large areas looking for a path forward for close to half an hour because the game has no objective markers, nor can you look at any minimaps in more detail than in the corner of the screen. It also suffers that the environments, especially indoors, are highly uniform, so aside from a few landmarks, it’s very hard to tell where you are in relation to anything else.

It’s also worth a mention that while the fixed camera is an interesting idea, it frequently works against the game’s best interests. While this should allow a clear visual opportunity to showcase the next steps or points of interest, more frequently it just makes it more difficult to see off-screen enemies or other paths forward. Plus, more than a few times I had camera malfunctions, showing me areas I was likely not meant to see, not to mention a handful of times I fell through the world. I like the idea of the fixed camera in concept, but on the tenth time of running into a mine that Jimmy could’ve likely seen but I couldn’t given the camera’s positioning, it began to test my patience.

"Blackwind doesn’t feel like it’s as fleshed out as it should be. Some of its ideas could be interesting in better, more focused and balanced games, but in the way they come together here, my main feeling was frustration, and for a game as lighthearted and colorful as this, that’s a dizzying disappointment."

Blackwind doesn’t feel like it’s as fleshed out as it should be. Some of its ideas could be interesting in better, more focused and balanced games, but in the way they come together here, my main feeling was frustration, and for a game as lighthearted and colorful as this, that’s a dizzying disappointment. What it does right is vastly outweighed by the laundry list of issues small and large that contribute to its overarching feeling of a lack of balance and a dearth of silver linings. There may have been a strong vision for what Blackwind could have been at one point, but it didn’t show up in the final product.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.

Weird West

Weird West is WolfEye Studios’ first title but its creators – Raphaël Colantonio and Julien Roby of Dishonored fame – are no stranger to the immersive sim genre. Set in the American Frontier where the Wild West meets the supernatural, it tells the stories of five different characters, each with their own goals, from bounty hunter Jane Bell who seeks her husband to Nell Bitterleaf, a future-seer who wants to change “what’s coming.” Along with having the freedom to play how one chooses – either honorably or killing everyone they see – the choices made will ripple through future playthroughs since each character is played one after the other. Another twist is that death is permanent – you may encounter a zombified version of a character while playing as another. Weird West is out on January 11th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, and is shaping up rather well.

Monster Hunter Rise (PC)

Monster Hunter Rise is finally releasing for Steam after almost a year on the Nintendo Switch. Despite the new setting of Kamura Village, new NPCs and new mechanics like the Wirebug, it features many of the same essentials that fans have come to love. The 14 weapon trees are here, this time with new Wirebug moves and skills. Along with various returning monsters like Anjanath, Rathian, and Tobi-Kadachi, it features lots of cool newcomers like Magnamalo, Goss Harag, Somnacanth and many more.

On PC, Monster Hunter Rise supports resolutions up to 4K, an unlocked frame rate and HDR along with ultrawide monitor support. All of the post-launch updates, from new monsters like Crimson Glow Valstrax to collaborations with Sonic the Hedgehog and Street Fighter, will also be available on day one. The jury’s still out on multiplayer but if you enjoyed Monster Hunter World and want something new, then Monster Hunter Rise should be perfect when it launches on January 12th for PC.

God of War (PC)

It’s taken a lot longer than Monster Hunter Rise but God of War is coming to PC on January 14th. Initially launched for PS4 in 2018, it sees Kratos undertaking a journey with his son Atreus, starting from Midgard. Along the way, they’ll battle numerous mythical foes, square up against the Valkyries, converse with the World Serpent, and run into figures like Baldur and Freya. Along with utilizing a more grounded combat system with new weapons like the Leviathan Axe, God of War also features larger environments teeming with secrets to discover. The PC version includes 4K resolution support, unlocked framerates, improved screen space reflections and higher resolution shadows, GTAO and SSDO, Nvidia DLSS and Reflex support and ultrawide monitor support. It also supports DualShock 4 and DualSense with fully customizable key bindings.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction

Following multiple delays over the years, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction releases on January 20^th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia. As a member of REACT, players can choose from 18 different Operators – with pretty much everyone similar to their Rainbow Six Siege versions – and battle the Archaeans in four different regions across 12 maps. Each mission consists of three maps with each having a random objective (out of a pool of 13), whether it’s saving a hostage or defending against Archaeans. Upon completing the objective, the team can either extract or venture into the next map which will be more difficult. Along with the Archaeans, there’s also the deadly Sprawl which spreads indiscriminately and can spawn new foes if not destroyed. Beat the mission and reap the rewards, like upgrading your Operator’s various abilities and tools, and then take on even tougher challenges.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Game Freak’s next big Pokemon title is making a number of big changes to the standard formula. Set in the Hisui region, which is akin to 19^th century Japan, it’s composed of large 3D environments that can be freely explored (though not open world, its various zones are interconnected). You can now capture Pokemon by throwing PokeBalls at them while exploring, or seamlessly unleash your own Pokemon to do battle, which is still turn-based but allows for multiple actions in one turn. Pokemon can also utilize Agile and Strong Styles to prioritize speed and strength accordingly in battles (which the trainer themselves can now take damage in). On top of the new Alpha Pokemon, Wardens, expanded exploration and more, Pokemon Legends: Arceus looks to be the biggest game in the series yet. It’s out on January 28^th for the Nintendo Switch.

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection

The Uncharted series finally comes to PS5 on January 28^th (and later for PC) courtesy of Iron Galaxy Studios. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection includes Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy in one package for $49.99 with three different modes – Fidelity which provides native 4K and targets 30 FPS; Performance for a 60 FPS frame rate; and Performance+ which offers 120 FPS at 1080p resolution. Spatial 3D audio, haptic feedback and adaptive triggers are also supported along with fast load times. But best of all is that current owners of either game, whether physical or digital, can upgrade to the remastered collection for just $10.

Blackwind

If you can’t get enough of mech games, especially top-down isometric action titles, Blackwind may be worth a look. Releasing on January 20^th for PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One, it stars James Hawkins who’s trapped inside of a prototype Battle Frame. Exploring the surface of Medusa-42, he battles the bug-like Raknos in search of his father. In terms of play-styles, one can engage in long-range shooting or hack and slash melee combat while utilizing finishers to slay the Raknos. Various skills and skins can be equipped to customize one’s frame and there’s even support for local co-op.

Rugby 22

If Big Ant Studios could make a comeback with Cricket 22, then why not Eko Software’s Rugby? Announced this past July, Rugby 22 is slated to release in January for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. Very little is currently known aside from having “stacked club rosters” and national teams but the developer promises improvements to the AI along with a new difficulty mode. If nothing else, it should be better than Rugby 20 (hopefully).

Ikai

There are a number of intriguing horror games that fly under the radar nowadays and Endflame’s Ikai is no exception. It’s a first person title based on Japanese folklore with various yokai out to make your life miserable. The story centers on Naoko, a priestess in the mountains who quickly comes face to face with all kinds of evil spirits. With no combat and relying on slow realistic movement, your choices are being stealthy or attempting to flee. Bits of puzzle solving and drawing seals arise but for the most part, you’re unraveling more about Naoko and the spirits while attempting to survive. Ikai releases in January for PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Kingdom of the Dead

Another relatively unknown horror title, Kingdom of the Dead is developed by Dirigo Games which contributed to the excellent Dread X Collection. Its newest title is a first person shooter but with a monochromatic pen and ink style while the gameplay is akin to a retro shooter. As Agent Chamberlain, your mission is to defeat Death, venturing across eight different missions and slaying over 22 different types of enemies to do so. Bosses, difficulty settings for each level (which each add unique goals), cheat codes, Endless mode – it’s all included and coming to Steam on January 26^th.

"Blackwind’s core story is basically “war seen from a teenage perspective”."

Blackwind’s got an interesting premise that sees the protagonist, a teenager, being stuck inside of a mech suit and having to fight aliens. How does the game’s story and dialogue use that premise to its advantage?

James Hawkins is a teenager and this helps a lot during the game because of his natural approach to jokes and having fun.

Being a teenager, James thinks of the Battle Frame as an “expensive toy” at the very beginning. But when he faces the real threat of war, he’ll be forced to grow up quickly to make the right decisions. Blackwind’s core story is basically “war seen from a teenage perspective”. The most frequent dialogue happens between James and the Battle Frame AI. It’s a computer with no emotions but programmed to learn and evolve from its “symbiote” and it’s going to learn from a scared kid that only wants to find his father.

How much variety in mechanics does Blackwind’s combat offer with the abilities and weapons of the Battle Frame?

Blackwind features melee combat, ranged combat, auto aiming missiles, unlockable special attacks and the ability to deploy the Drone that is capable of ranged attacks and using mines and traps. The player can switch from the Battle Frame to the Drone at any moment so any fight can be faced with different approaches according to the player’s play style. Also there’s an additional power, called “Black Mode”, that allows time-warping action to deliver the most devastating attacks.

How extensive are the progression mechanics in Blackwind? How much variation can players expect in how to power up their Battle Frame as the game progresses?

Basically any of the above features I’ve mentioned can be upgraded. Many powers and features will be unlocked as the game story progresses and then they can be further upgraded. There are many progression branches the player can choose from so they will fit any play style. Just as an example: you can increase your defence skill with a shield, you can enhance the fighting capabilities of the Drone or you can turn your Battle Frame into a speed demon with enhanced dash attacks. It’s up to you.

Outside of combat, what should players expect from the game in terms of things such as exploration and optional content?

Exploration is a key point of the game. There are some “secret” areas that hide extra power ups, and a good number of alternative “skins” for the Battle Frame, hidden in the game’s levels.

"Exploration is a key point of the game. There are some “secret” areas that hide extra power ups, and a good number of alternative “skins” for the Battle Frame, hidden in the game’s levels."

What sort of platforming elements are there in Blackwind? Are they crucial to the experience, or more of an ancillary mechanic?

Platforming is an important aspect of Blackwind. For example: extended jump, gliding and ledge grabbing will allow the Battle Frame to reach for previously inaccessible areas.

How important is the story to the game? The central premise and the fact that James has some own personal stuff going on as well are interesting elements, but do they have a large role to play in the overall experience?

Actually, Blackwind’s story goes beyond what the premise says. We don’t want to spoil any of the plot twists in the game, let’s just say it’s going to be more complex than it looks at the very beginning. We also modelled the gameplay based on the game’s story to have the best mix of action, dialogue and narrative.

Can you talk to us about the game’s local co-op mode? One player plays as the Battle Frame, one plays as the drone- what can the Drone do in gameplay and combat in comparison with the Battle Frame?

At any time the Drone can be separated from the Battle Frame. The Drone can shoot, deploy mines and special traps, it’s much smaller than the Battle Frame so it can access areas where the Battle Frame can’t go.
When the two are separated, so are the powers. The Battle Frame can’t shoot when the Drone is detached, it can only perform melee attacks, it can’t double-jump (because double jumping is performed with a thruster that is part of the Drone). So when the Battle Frame and the Drone are separated they surely represent a fearsome attack force but they need each other to perform some actions. So in co-op mode the players must collaborate to progress through the game, even deciding when it’s time to rejoin as one and when to separate again.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of Blackwind be?

The whole campaign takes about 12-15 hours. That’s our usual time but I can think that someone that approaches the game for the first time can even have a longer lasting experience.

Since the reveal of the PS5 and Xbox Series X’s specs, a lot of comparisons have been made between the GPU speeds of the two consoles, with the PS5 at 10.28 TFLOPS and the Xbox Series X at 12 TFLOPS- but how much of an impact on development do you think that difference will have?

Our goal is to have the best experience regardless of the underlying hardware. Developers that are working on exclusive games for those consoles will surely have the opportunity to exploit the hardware to the last drop of performance.

"Platforming is an important aspect of Blackwind."

The PS5 features an incredibly fast SSD with 5.5GB/s raw bandwidth. This is faster than anything that is available out there. How can developers take advantage of this, and how does this compare to Series X’s 2.4GB/s raw bandwidth?

Surely any game will benefit from such loading speed, considering consoles haven’t used SSD since last gen. Especially those games that need to stream large amounts of data will surely receive a good boost.

There is a difference in Zen 2 CPUs of both consoles. The Xbox Series X features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz whereas the PS5 features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz. Your thoughts on this difference?

We don’t know if such a small difference will be of relevance considering that the GPU, more so than the CPU plays a greater role in a game’s performance.

The Xbox Series S features lesser hardware compared to Xbox Series and Microsoft is pushing it as a 1440p/60fps console. Do you think it will be able to hold up for the graphically intensive next-gen games?

1440p is not 4k. GPU will have a much smaller job to perform so Xbox Series S could be a valid cheaper version if not targeting 4k.

Super Resolution is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. How do you think this will help game developers?

Our opinion on this is that shading is more important than resolution. If Super Resolution is going to handle that side, developers can focus on making better looking games.

What frame rate and resolution  is the game targeting on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S?

We aim for 60 fps at native resolution (4k for PS5 and XBS/X).