Evertried tasks players to ascend up a tower of sorts, which of course entails procedurally generated battles. Players will have to fend off enemies using turn-based combat. Players can also use the environment to their advantage, which lends a tactical nature to the game’s proceedings. During their travels, players will encounter a number of characters who will reveal more about the protagonist’s past.

There’s also a fair bit of progression, and players can customize their spirits with upgrades to suit a specific playstyle. Evertried also boasts a great pixel art design, along with what’s shaping up to be a solid soundtrack. Evertried releases on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on October 21.

Like I said, Ultra Age’s first impression isn’t great and it just happens to look exactly like a launch Xbox 360 title in most ways. Whether this was a conscious decision to make sure it runs well on the Switch or if it was merely due to budget constraints, regardless, it’s hard to ignore at first. Character models are fairly flat, lighting and coloring often seems to lack depth and modern sheen, and many areas and enemies end up looking more similar than I would have liked. The entire game seems a bit desaturated as well and, while that may very well be a deliberate stylistic choice, it also made my eyes glaze over at times. All of that said, other than introducing a bit of monotony every so often, the lackluster visuals ultimately do very little to fundamentally harm the overall experience. It’s not a game that needs to rely on AAA graphics the way so many AAA games do. The bread and butter of Ultra Age lives beneath the skin anyway. But to its credit there are some nice effects and cool animations here and there; mostly reserved for the big finishing moves and boss battles. It also helps that the game runs extremely well on PS5 and PS4 pro. No real stuttering or tearing to report. At the end of the day, I’ll take a well-optimized action game over any degree of the opposite.

The gameplay ends up more than benefitting from Ultra Age’s back-to-basics approach. Age is fast and responsive to control and will immediately feel familiar to veterans of the hack ‘n slash genre. He also has several weapons that all serve their purposes and we are introduced to them pretty quickly. The katana is fast and highly preferable when you need to sneak a few quick strikes in short windows of time while doing a good amount of damage on organic enemies, the claymore does considerable damage to most enemies with slow, massive blows, the lightning sword disables shields while also stunning enemies after a few successful slashes, and the basic sword is your well-rounded weapon that can get you through most situations if need be. Each weapon has a similar move set that has you stringing light attacks together and punctuating them with a heavy attack at a moment of your choosing that creates a different ending to the combo depending on where you do it.

"While Ultra Age never seems particularly interested in expanding upon the fundamentals of its genre, it does reap many rewards from an intense focus on – and execution of – those essential elements."

Each of Age’s swords also have a lifespan to them of sorts that requires you to always be on the lookout for corresponding energy to keep them in use. If you use any one of them too much and run out of energy for that sword, it’ll be out of commission until you find more – which, usually won’t be very long. This incentivizes you to keep switching things up and getting familiar with each weapon. Thankfully they’re all fun to use and well-balanced, so you’ll enjoy switching around between them anyway. Ultra Age also comes complete with a obligatory rage mode that fills up over time and can help you cut down enemies more efficiently, which is fine, but I wish I could turn it off and save what’s left when I was done with it instead of having to use 100% of it each time.

Speaking of enemies, the variety of foes throughout the game definitely leaves a bit to be desired. If you’re not fighting some version of the bi-pedal robots, then you’re probably fighting some version of the animalistic tiger-esque creatures. We do see some variation of these things with coloration, size, and being imbued with different elements, but it doesn’t go as far to break up the repetition as I was hoping for. Still, the effort that is made with these variants is acceptable for the price tag and goes well with playing the game in short bursts. Ultra Age’s combat, overall, has just enough of a twist on the fast-paced multi-weapon melee systems that we’ve seen a million times from similar games that keep it from feeling overly derivative while still smartly benefiting from it’s familiarity. When you couple the game’s ability to walk that tightrope with a time-shifting mechanic that allows you to jump forward in time to when crystals have regenerated, you end up with a surprisingly well-executed hack ‘n slash system that stays fun for most of its short stay. Well played, Ultra Age. Well played.

You might be wondering why I haven’t mentioned the story yet and that’s largely because there isn’t a whole lot to mention, other than the fact that the story is probably the game’s weakest point, yet also it’s least relevant. Ultra Age seems to go out of its way to have an uninteresting story and tell it poorly. Most of the dialogue is comically trite and generally useless to advancing any sort of coherent plot. Age himself has some of the worst voice acting I’ve heard since the early 90’s when voice acting was, itself, still just a novelty. There’s no way around it; if you come into Ultra Age expecting to invest in dynamic characters or a captivating story, you will almost certainly be disappointed. That said, it does sort of have a pulpy “so bad it’s good” quality to it that some might find enjoyable in its own way.

"Ultra Age seems to go out of its way to have an uninteresting story and tell it poorly."

The music and sound effects in Ultra Age are somewhere between the quality of its gameplay and its story; Not bad, but not great. The music mostly stays in the background and generally supports the game’s action-heavy moments while also sliding some basic but appropriate subtle tracks underneath the game’s calmer sections between battles. It’s not a soundtrack you’re going to want to add to your collection but it does get the job done. Sound effects are also equally serviceable with appropriately unique slashes, slices and booms assigned to each of Age’s weapons, but can sometimes feel a bit lacking in the “oomph” department.

While other games are trying to get ahead in the rat race of being the most innovative or unique action game of their time, Ultra Age hangs back and delivers a refreshingly stripped-down experience that delivers the goods in their purest form. It pays a price for its dated graphics and inconsequential story, but ultimately makes good on its promise of satisfying, engaging combat that fills out its short runtime. Ultra Age successfully pays homage to the handful of game’s it’s so clearly inspired by while redefining just enough of their rules to feel like its own thing. It might not win any awards for this approach but it does confirm that the age-old hack ‘n slash fundamentals from over a decade ago can still be fun. They just need to be done right.

The PlayStation 4 version of this game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility.

Among the top-notch role-playing games to release in the past few years, Radical Fish Games’ CrossCode has been on the down-low. This is mostly due to the fact that it was in Steam Early Access for PC for a long time. However, those who played it swore it to be a true successor to action RPGs like Secret of Mana. After 7 years in development, CrossCode is now finally complete and available for all to play.

Well, “complete” is somewhat untrue. Not every feature, like Steam Achievements and Trading Cards, made it into the game, but the developer is currently working on the same and will implement them within the next few weeks. All Achievements are tracked by the game, so you won’t have to replay it to earn them on Steam. Other content that didn’t make it into the final release and will be added with subsequent updates includes:

• NPCs, quests, enemies, and food items that we need to implement for our Indiegogo Backers
• A New Game+ Mode
• The Last Minute Hero Guild
• More Quests and proper NPCs for Rhombus Square
• The Arena in Rhombus Square with more combat challenges
• A Ninja Skin for Lea that we promised some of our Indiegogo backers is still in development. It will become available within a few weeks.

Still, given that CrossCode in its current state boasts 30 to 80 hours of gameplay with 7 unique areas, 7 large dungeons, 120 enemy types, over 30 boss fights and so on is really something. The developer isn’t done yet – it also has some plans for post-game content that it will talk about more in the coming weeks. CrossCode is also currently in development for PlayStation 4.

Joakim “Konjak” Sandberg’s latest action platformer Iconoclasts has been available for PC, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 since January 2018. However, with the Nintendo Switch booming and indies receiving widespread attention, exactly when can we expect to see it on the hybrid platform?

According to publisher Dangen Entertainment, Iconoclasts will be out on August 2nd… for Japan, at least. Revealed by Famitsu, the game will hit the Nintendo eShop next week in the region. When will it arrive in the United States and Europe? Hopefully, more information will be provided on that front soon.

If you haven’t played it already, Iconoclasts is certainly worth a look. The story centres on Robin, a mechanic who helps people but operates without a license. When the Agents of One Concern decide to persecute her in the name of “Mother”, Robin has to escape and team up with some unlikely allies to survive.

Why is Ivory in short supply? What’s happening to the Moon? There’s a lot going on throughout the game’s numerous locations (which collectively house over 20 bosses to fight). Stay tuned for more details on the Switch version, which adds a Boss Rush mode and a new difficulty on top of the stellar base game.

In development for more than three years, Radical Fish’s CrossCode has earned a solid reputation for being the Secret of Mana spiritual successor that everyone wanted. The developer recently revealed that its long ride is nearly over as CrossCode will exit Steam Early Access this September. It will also be coming to PlayStation 4 at a later date.

Before that, Radical Fish will make an appearance at Gamescom 2018. Though there won’t be a dedicated booth in Cologne, Germany, the development team will visit the trade fair on August 21st and 22nd. The event itself will start on August 21st and end on August 25th. Companies like Microsoft, THQ Nordic, CD Projekt RED, and Bandai Namco have already confirmed their attendance.

As for CrossCode, the game is a top-down hack and slash action RPG. Its aesthetic channels the 16-bit SNES era. There are allies that can assist you in combat, dungeons with numerous puzzles, elemental customizations in combat, and tons of different side quests. Stay tuned for more information in August on the official release.