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.

Set sometime, somewhere in Feudal Japan, Ikai sees you playing as Naoko, a young priestess who has to protect her shrine against invading forces of evil, from terrifying yokai to spirits to demons. The story is delivered largely through brief monologues or notes here and there, and though there are some attempts at connecting the events with Naoko’s past, by and large, the whole affair feels rather straightforward. That’s not necessarily a bad thing- it allows Ikai to get right into the thick of things. That does, however, mean that the story isn’t ever really there to get you invested in the experience. The poor localization, writing, and voice acting certainly don’t do the game any favours either.

"Endflame’s Japanese folklore-inspired psychological horror experience is not without its merits, and at times, it does hint at greatness- but the sum of its parts is far from satisfactory, and the game as a whole is as brief as it is frustrating."

The setting, however, is a fairly interesting one, laden heavily with Japanese folklore and some of the imagery that goes hand-in-hand with that. The small shrine and the forest surrounding it that serve as the game’s setting feel like quaint, believable places with a surprising amount of detail that adds some authenticity to them. You can also find collectible notes scattered about the environments that teach you more about the yokai you face in the game, which is another neat touch.

The issue, however, is that in spite of being a very brief game at just 3-4 hours in length, Ikai often feels like a bit of a slog to play through. There are multiple reasons for that, though chief among them is the fact that you spend a bulk of the game going through repetitive and often the same environments as you move through the shrine and attempt to seal evil spirits. It doesn’t take long for a feeling of repetition to set in as you find yourself walking through environments that feel far too familiar.

It doesn’t help that the gameplay itself doesn’t do much to break up the monotony. Ikai has no combat, and is structured, for the most part, as a walking simulator. You walk through environments, investigate objects in your surroundings, do some puzzle solving every now and then, and try and find specific objects needed for specific tasks. That means there’s a lot of sifting through shelves and opening and going through drawers and what have you, which isn’t exactly riveting gameplay. It gets boring pretty quickly, and it doesn’t help that manually moving objects with the on-screen cursor using a controller feels quite clunky.

"There’s a lot of sifting through shelves and opening and going through drawers and what have you, which isn’t exactly riveting gameplay. It gets boring pretty quickly, and it doesn’t help that manually moving objects with the on-screen cursor using a controller feels quite clunky."

The controls let the gameplay down in other ways as well. The normal walking speed is slow as molasses, but sprinting comes with a strangely exaggerated hopping animation that felt jarring to me. Meanwhile, crouching feels sluggish, and having to wrestle with the controls during tense chase sequences to avoid obstacles and manually pull doors open was never enjoyable. Ikai also places quite a lot of emphasis on drawing seals using a paintbrush to seal spirits, but you have to do that manually as well- it felt like a neat and novel gimmick at first, but having it in the game as an important mechanic is a bad idea. When you have to quickly draw a complicated seal to lock a door before a yokai that’s chasing you breaks in and do it all using the inherently inaccurate movement of an analog stick, tension can quickly turn into frustration.

Puzzles are another big focal point for Ikai, but they, too, are inconsistent at best. Though there are a few in there that were genuinely fun to figure out, most others disappointed one way or another. Many were too easy and straightforward, to the point of feeling like busywork, while others were on the complete opposite end of the spectrum- completely obtuse, with frustratingly vague hints and next to no cues to help you figure out what you’re supposed to do. It kills the pacing in a game that already struggles with it.

I’ve been quite critical of Ikai up until now, but I do want to give credit where its due- building atmosphere is a crucial part of any horror game, especially one that claims to rely on psychological horror like this one does. Fortunately, that’s one area where Ikai impresses in several ways- though mostly thanks to its audio design. From the creaking of wooden floorboards to sudden thumps on the floor above you, from the chilling rustling of leaves to manic whispers in your vicinity, Ikai’s audio design is always on point, and never failed to make my skin crawl.

"Ikai has major technical and visual problems."

Sadly, the visuals don’t match up to the audio. Ikai has major technical and visual problems. Even when everything is working as it should, Ikai looks decent at best, but all so often, it just completely crumbles. The game’s got severe texture pop-in problems, especially when you load right into a save, to the point where often it can take dozens of seconds (if not longer) for huge, blatant swathes of textures to load in, leaving behind ugly blocks. Loading, too, can be surprisingly long- and I played this on an Xbox Series X.

All said and done, Ikai is a frustrating game. There’s a kernel of a good idea in there – psychological horror inspired by Japanese folklore is always interesting, while the atmosphere the game builds from the first second is also commendable – but it’s all outmatched to an almost overwhelming degree by the game’s many issues. The fact that it’s as short as it is and still manages to feel longer than it should be should tell you what you need to know about Ikai– that it’s a good idea that’s failed to evolve into a good game.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.

The horror game will now be out on March 29, both physically and digitally, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, as well as for PC via Steam, and is available for pre-order. The physical editions of the game will also come packaged with a postcard and stickers as a part of the launch edition exclusive bonuses.

Ikai aims to deliver the feel of classic psychological horror games, where the main character is defenseless and incapable to attack any of the evil creatures you facee. The game, however, plans on creating a sense of helplessness by making players face your fears directly, instead of fleeing or attacking.

The game is currently available to pre-order for $29.99. PC players can currently try out a slice of the game to get a feel of it by playing the demo, which is downloadable from Ikai’s Steam page.

We also conducted an interview with Laura Ripoll, producer and designer at Endflame, where she talked about the various aspects of the upcoming psychological horror game last year.

https://twitter.com/PMStudiosUSA/status/1482027854158204928

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.

"Japanese folklore has a whole world of mysteries, ferocious creatures and fascinating ghost stories appealing to any horror lover. It is just something that has always attracted us, a common interest between every member of the team. Not just as developers, but as players, we felt that there were so few games that had successfully brought to life such creepy J-horror tales, thus we decided to create our own approach."

Horror can be a difficult thing to implement properly, especially psychological horror, which is what Ikai seems to be focused on. Can you talk about how you’ve approached that aspect of the game during development, and how you’ve ensured that the horror is as potent as possible?

We’ve taken the approach horror movies take, indeed. Ikai follows a designed pace that keeps evolving in the course of the game, with its highs and lows, which makes it easier to guess what the player is feeling at each situation and plan the gameplay accordingly.

We didn’t want to fall into trying to keep a high level of tension during the whole game because it can get tedious and players would eventually get used to it, making the events lose their desired effect consequently. By avoiding this practice, we have been able to design Ikai more accurately. This lets us ensure the game is actually scary.

Ikai’s usage of Japanese folklore in its story and settings is definitely one of its more intriguing elements. Why did you decide to build your game’s story around that?

Japanese folklore has a whole world of mysteries, ferocious creatures and fascinating ghost stories appealing to any horror lover. It is just something that has always attracted us, a common interest between every member of the team. Not just as developers, but as players, we felt that there were so few games that had successfully brought to life such creepy J-horror tales, thus we decided to create our own approach.

How much of an emphasis does the game put on exploration? Additionally, what’s the approach you’ve taken to level design and the size of the game’s environments in light of that?

Exploration is the way throughout the story of the main character is revealed, so it is something of the game we really want to highlight.

The level design has been a bit tricky because we wanted the players to recognize the environment to strengthen their bonds with the place. However, it is difficult to make them remember a huge space interesting enough to keep exploring the same areas. That is why we have kept the main small scenario of a shrine, where the players will keep returning and, additionally, we have added other bigger exterior scenarios that will let the players explore very differentiated areas and prevent the monotony.

Ikai is focusing quite a bit on stealth, it seems, but will the game also have combat mechanics?

Ikai won’t have any sort of combat. Nevertheless, we did come up with a tool to purify evil yokais without involving direct combat and thus achieving a feeling of powerlessness.

The seal drawing is a double-edged mechanic, and that’s what makes it intriguing. The seal is the only thing which can defeat the evil creatures, but time and concentration are needed because drawing the seal involves real precise movements instead of just pressing a button. The player is found in a vulnerable situation while drawing, being completely unable to see what is happening around. It is up to the player whether to quit drawing and check if there is any threat, look for a safer place or to keep making the seal regardless of what may occur. Yet, at the end, the seal must be done anyway in order to defeat the creatures.

"We play with the same couple of simple mechanics to ensure that any player can master them easily. What makes them interesting enough, once the players know how they work, is not the mechanic itself, but the situation where it is required."

One of the most interesting things that you’ve said about Ikai is that every mechanic in the game is built to put further emphasis on its tense atmosphere and invoking a feeling of dread in the player. My question is, how do you ensure that that is being done effectively, especially without perhaps going overboard with things, which is a trap that horror games can sometimes fall in?

By trying to keep things simple. We play with the same couple of simple mechanics to ensure that any player can master them easily. What makes them interesting enough, once the players know how they work, is not the mechanic itself, but the situation where it is required. We break the pattern the players have gotten to know in past situations and that makes them feel tense and uncertain while, at the same time, they know perfectly how to perform because it is a mechanic they have already mastered.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of Ikai be?

Ikai will last an average of 3 hours, but it can very likely last longer for people interested not only in the lore of the game itself but also in the Japanese folklore, since there is a Collectibles system that gathers the several yokai pages and hidden objects found in the game to convey the mysteries behind each of them.

According to the publisher, “Ikai embodies the spirit of the classical psychological horror genre with a defenseless main character incapable of attacking the evil creatures. However, it explores a new sense of horror by making the player face the threats directly neither fleeing nor attacking.”

Every mechanic in Ikai is designed to make the player feel helpless and create tension. Players take on the role of Naoko, a priestess trying to make it from her shrine to the river before dark. Unfortunately, strange occurrences have been happening in the village as of late, and while Naoko doesn’t believe the rumors of demons and spirits, she’s about to find out she’s wrong firsthand. The game will task players with exploring, drawing protective seals, solving puzzles, and running or hiding to try and stay alive.

You can watch a trailer for Ikai below: