Cocoon

Akin to Inception but with more otherworldly bug-like…things, Cocoon eases you in delicately enough with its world hopping, power unlocking, and puzzles. However, beyond the halfway point, you’re suddenly dealing with earth-shattering bosses, ascending through multiple levels of worlds while carrying others on your back and leveraging portals to enter and exit. It’s an experience unlike any other, delivered in roughly five to six hours and leaving you with more than a few questions when it’s over.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Expectation was moderate following Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s announcement, perhaps given the mediocracy of Assassins Creed’s side-scrolling Chronicles games, but The Lost Crown, in fact, will be remembered as a modern platforming masterpiece. Deep combat, enthralling, satisfying platforming, and time manipulation powers to unleash upon a host of enemies render this action-adventure game an exhilarating must play.

]]> 605136 https://gamingbolt.com/15-best-first-person-single-player-games-you-need-to-play Wed, 02 Oct 2024 12:39:02 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=599284 Dozens of new games hit shelves every year and it is hard to keep up with every release. Sometimes, a great game comes along and there’s simply no time to play it. This is the fate of quite a few first-person single-player games that deserve more attention than they’ve received. If you’re looking for unique first-person games to play on your own, this list has got you covered.

What Remains of Edith Finch

There are quite a few games disparagingly labeled “walking simulator” due to the lack of action present. What Remains of Edith Finch proves that “walking simulators” don’t have to be boring and they can present some of the best examples of video game storytelling.

What Remains of Edith Finch tells the tale of the titular Edith Finch who visits her ancestral home and uncovers the terrible events that led to their deaths. It’s a game that packs an emotional punch, and there’s a lot of tragedy to process. For a unique gaming experience, this is a title not to be missed.

]]> 599284 https://gamingbolt.com/11-amazing-action-adventure-games-you-need-to-play Wed, 24 Jul 2024 13:03:01 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=594271 When you think of action-adventure titles, it’s usually a game with incredible set pieces, varied locations and a one-and-done narrative. Some titles portend to more, though, offering up memorable storylines but continuously giving in terms of content, additional activities and interesting things to do. Check out our picks for the best action-adventure games that fit this category.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Insomniac Games had much riding on it after the success of Marvel’s Spider-Man. How would it take advantage of the PS5’s technology? What direction would it go with the introduction of the Symbiote and Venom? While some looked at it as more of an iterative sequel than revolutionary, it’s interesting how much it does so well. The ability to play as either Miles Morales or Peter Parker is great, especially considering each has unique suits and abilities, while the Symbiote adds an extra layer of brutality to the latter.

Then there are all the technical improvements, from the almost non-existent loading times to the always-on ray tracing and increased scale of New York City. With so much to do and collect, the pacing never suffers for it, delivering a memorable story and fights. It also doesn’t hurt that new suits and features continue to be added with post-launch updates.

Before we move ahead, do keep in mind that calling a game AA or AAA isn’t a measure of its popularity or quality so much as it is a measure of the scope of its production and its development budget, which means we might also talk about AA experiences made by companies that usually operate in the AAA sphere. With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

DISCO ELYSIUM

You could call Disco Elysium a CRPG, and on paper, technically, you would be correct, but that would also be an incredibly reductive way to describe this masterpiece. From its surreal setting to its heavily flavoured and thematically dense writing, from its complete lack of combat to how bizarrely yet ingeniously it uses its RPG mechanics in conjunction with its storytelling, Disco Elysium is a singular game that’s unlike anything else out there.

DRAGON’S DOGMA 2

Most companies developing a long-awaited sequel to a relatively niche game that was considered too opaque by many who played it would have tried to streamline things to appeal to a broader crowd, but with Dragon’s Dogma 2, Capcom not only stuck to its original vision, it doubled down on it. Whether its through its lack of quest guidance, the by-design unreliability of its autosaves, its limited fast travel options, or mechanics such as Dragonsplague, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is all about creating engagement and memorable gameplay through an abundance of friction. Something like that can easily break an entire experience, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 thrives with that approach.

ELDEN RING

Elden Ring obviously had to be on this list. FromSoftware’s design ethos has always revolved around offering players as little guidance as possible, something that has enabled some truly excellent experiences over the years, and that same philosophy enables Elden Ring to craft a spectacular open world. Funnily enough, with its generous checkpointing and fast travel system, Elden Ring actually feels more hospitable than previous From titles in some regards, but the feeling of absolute freedom to go anywhere in its massive, gorgeous, intimidating world isn’t something that many other games have been able to nail in the past- or at least not nearly as well as Elden Ring did.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

Even if Tears of the Kingdom had been a cut-paste follow-up to Breath of the Wild, its open world experience would have merited it a place on this feature, with the whole point of these games being to place no restrictions and offer no suggestions to players about how they should play. All of that is, of course, present and accounted for in Tears– but this is also a significantly larger and more complex game than its predecessor, which makes it that much more impressive to see how well it balances its lack of handholding and how easy it is to grasp its core concepts. Tears of the Kingdom very rarely nudges you in any specific direction, because it has the confidence that no matter what you do, you’re going to end up having fun- and honestly, that confidence is well earned.

OUTER WILDS

Outer Wilds is obviously not your typical open world game, to the extent that labelling it as an open world experience almost feels inaccurate, even if it isn’t on paper. How it’s structured has a huge hand in that. As you go through multiple, repeated 22-minute loops and explore more and more of its mysterious space setting, the pieces of its narrative puzzle slowly start falling into place, and as its many fans will tell you, that’s only as effective as it is because the game goes out of its way to stay out of yours. You’re the master of your own destiny in Outer Wilds, and the game simply cannot be praised enough for how confidently it gives you the freedom to unravel its tantalizing mysterious however you wish.

SUBNAUTICA

In Subnautica, you crash on an alien planet and find yourself in hostile underwater locations. Your only objective? Survive, and find a way off-world. How you choose to do that in its oceanic setting is left up to you. Braving the surreal yet alien depths of its underwater locations, you constantly have an abundance of choices to make, with very little restrictions placed on you in where you want to go, what you want to explore, or what you want to build. The fact that the game manages to have the balanced progression curve that it does in spite of how hands-off it is for the vast majority of the times probably doesn’t get as much recognition as it should.

SONS OF THE FOREST

Sons of the Forest isn’t a friendly game. It’s setting is brutal and harsh, it’s brimming with nightmare-fuel of the scariest kind, and mechanically, it’s not afraid to piss you off with how opaque it can be from time to time. But though all of that could easily turn many people off, its harshness is exactly what makes Sons of the Forest the brilliant game that it is. Every second you spent on its cannibal-infested island is the definition of a waking nightmare, and the fact that the game makes no effort to make that experience even slightly pleasant for you only makes its terrifying offerings stand out in memory that much more.

OUTCAST

Easily one of the oldest games on this list, but a feature like this one would be incomplete without any mention of Outcast. Recognized as one of the first true open world games ever made, above all else, Outcast emphasized immersion. A lot of that came through the use of diegetic elements rather than the overreliance on UI that modern open world titles have become known for, which, paired with the game’s focus on player freedom and agency, made for a game that, for its time, felt truly limitless. Obviously, it had a great deal of technical issues (especially if you play it today, even if you’re playing the remaster), but from a design perspective, it was very much ahead of its time.

METRO EXODUS

Metro Exodus isn’t a fully open world game, instead letting players explore a series of larger, semi-open maps, but it uses its openness to great effect, because never does it feel like it’s inundating you with pointless, filler content, or offering excessive guidance in what to do, or how to do the things that you’re doing. That was, of course, the case with its predecessors as well, but Metro Exodus takes those elements and cranks them up to eleven. Conserving ammo, dealing with the dangers of a post-nuclear wasteland, finding your way around environments, and hell, even using a map- almost nothing in this game feels “gamified”, for the lack of a better word.

KENSHI

Kenshi is definitely a flawed game, especially from a technical perspective, but if you’re aching for an open world RPG sandbox that lets you have whatever kind of adventure you want, it’s well worth a look. The level of systemic and mechanical depth on offer here is almost staggering, to the extent that it can be a bit much in the early hours, but once you get to grips with it, it’s hard not to be taken aback by the agency that you as a player are constantly afforded in Kenshi.

ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED

Like a few other survival games (some of which are on this list), Ark: Survival Evolved prides itself on being almost entirely devoid of handholding, to the extent that it can be almost intimidating to completely new players jumping in for the first time. Its large, unforgiving open world is brimming with a variety of different challenging, and figuring out not only how to get past them, but even learning what those challenges are, is left entirely to you and your ability to explore, discover things, and improve at the game.

VALHEIM

Yep, another survival game- this is a a genre that lends itself incredibly well to the no-handholding philosophy. Valheim is admittedly a little bit more welcoming than a lot of the other games we’ve spoken about on this feature, but even so, when you first jump in, the game tells you awfully little about how to move things forward. Thankfully, everything from combat to exploration to gathering resources to building your bases is a hell of a lot of fun in Valheim, so even when the game’s being a bit opaque about what it wants you to do, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun.

GOD OF WAR RANGAROK

God of War Ragnarok’s approach to wide-linear design differs a bit from its predecessor, because rather than using the hub-and-spoke design of the 2018 title, it instead takes you to numerous larger maps throughout its experience, and it’s a change that works out for the best. In addition to boasting excellent design that constantly encourages exploration, God of War Ragnarok’s maps also exhibit an impressive amount of visual and design variety.

RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE

The Resident Evil franchise has always held up exploration as one of its key pillars (with some notable exceptions), so expanding that to a setting that emphasizes that aspect even more heavily felt like a natural step forward in Resident Evil Village. The titular village is a large environment that remains immensely fun to navigate throughout the experience, especially as more of it opens up over time, while at the same time, through the four main areas connected to the village, the game also delivers the tight, claustrophobic design the series is known for in spades.

ALAN WAKE 2

Where the original Alan Wake was a hyper-linear series of shooting galleries, its sequel goes in the exact opposite direction. Alan Wake 2 revels in slowing down the pace and allowing players to thoroughly immerse themselves across its main locations, where you have quite a bit of freedom to explore at your own pace (the rewards for which are almost always well worth the effort). Backtracking through older locations also always remains satisfying as you gain access to previously inaccessible sections, while there are, of course, plenty of meticulously crafted linear sections to enjoy as well.

PIKMIN 4

Exploration is king in Pikmin 4 in a way it never has been in any previous Pikmin games. By almost completely removing the concept of time limits, Pikmin 4 lets you explore every nook and cranny of its areas to your heart’s content, without anything urgently pushing you towards your next main objective, and that is reflected in the way the game’s maps are designed as well. Each of them is significantly larger and boasts impressive variety, not only in visual terms, but also in terms of how you interact with the environment and make it easier to navigate for yourself and your army of Pikmin.

LIKE A DRAGON: ISHIN!

Like all other RGG Studio games, Like a Dragon: Ishin! focuses on depth and detail over pure expanse. The bulk of the game takes place on one not-all-that-big map set in Edo-era Kyoto. As far as pure map design in the series goes, this isn’t a particularly special map- it’s good, but nothing that stands out. What pushes it over the edge is the incredible sense of place and atmosphere that it drips with, properly recreating the architecture, layout, and aesthetic of Japan in the dawn of its modern era. RGG Studio has made a lot of great maps- few are as memorable as this.

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

Uncharted 4 introduced elements of wide-linear and semi-open world design to Naughty Dog’s traditionally hyper-linear series, and its standalone follow-up, The Lost Legacy, took that to even greater heights. Though those design sensibilities are limited only to the early sections of the game where you’re exploring the Western Ghats of India, that section is also surprisingly sizable, and leaves quite an impression. From navigating the terrain, both on foot and in a four-by-four, to uncovering its secrets and optional content, it stands as one of the game’s strongest sections.

SUPER MARIO: BOWSER’S FURY

People have been wondering what an open world Mario game would look like for a long time, and never have we come closer to seeing what something like that would look like than with Bowser’s Fury. Released to the world as a standalone addendum to Super Mario 3D World’s Switch port, Bowser’s Fury is an incredible four-hour romp that somehow manages to perfectly blend Super Mario’s tight platforming and level design with open-ended design and an emphasis on exploration. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of that from the franchise in the not-too-distant future.

LIES OF P

Soulslike design has become like a second language to many by now, but even though there’s no shortage of games that try their hand at it, very few of them in recent years have done it as well as Lies of P. The city of Krat is massive and winding, and making your way through its intertwining areas that loop in and around themselves never loses its spark. It helps, of course, that the game looks as gorgeous as it does, because around nearly every corner is something new and exciting to see.

LORDS OF THE FALLEN

Developer Hexworks said prior to Lords of the Fallen’s launch that it was building the game as a Dark Spuls 4.5, and while the Soulslike action RPG doesn’t quite hit that level of quality, it does have plenty of the right elements in place. Its expansive world, though not fully open by any means, encourages exploration constantly, which is made that much more interesting by the game’s dual realm mechanic. That feeling of gradually mastering and unlocking the world around you is one of the biggest strengths of the Soulslike genre, and Lords of the Fallen delivers that in spades.

MONSTER HUNTER RISE

Monster Hunter Rise continued the move towards more open maps that Monster Hunter World started. Rise’s maps are actually smaller,and have less going on than World’s, which had a lot of environmental effects and interactions independent of the player. What Rise’s maps do have, however, is design that is perfectly tuned to all the wonderful new traversal tools the game gives you in the wirebug and the Palamute. The act of actually moving through the maps to find the monsters has never been as fun in Monster Hunter as it is in Rise, and the traversal tools, as well as the maps designed around those tools, are both to credit for that.

OUTER WILDS

Outer Wilds’s exploration serves as the perfect marriage between gameplay and narrative, thanks to how intrinsically those two elements are tied together throughout the experience. In each loop, the more you explore, the more you learn the Nomai, the solar system they once used to be spread out across, and the time loop that it’s currently caught in, and the game paces that almost to pitch-perfection. Pretty much the entirety of Outer Wilds is unlike anything else you’ll play, and how rewarding it makes its exploration through narrative discoveries contributes to that uniqueness massively.

STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a solid first foray into Metroidvania design for Respawn Entertainment, and with its sequel, Jedi: Survivor, the developer expanded that idea with significantly larger play spaces. There are, of course, plenty of Metroidvania locations scattered throughout the game, but the Koboh map in particular is where Jedi: Survivor taps into a much more expansive and open-ended design style. And it does that excellently, somehow managing to sprinkle that large, semi-open world map with plenty of Metroidvania design elements.

PREY

Prey’s Talos I is probably the best setting we’ve ever seen in an Arkane game, which, as those who’ve played other Arkane titles will tell you, is high praise, to say the least. The space station is not only dripping with atmosphere, it’s also spectacularly designed. Navigating its environments and slowly being able to unlock more and more of it as you grow more powerful makes for an incredibly satisfying and organic progression curve throughout the experience.

DEATHLOOP

Deathloop is decidedly more linear than most other Arkane titles (Prey especially), but in spite of being much more focused on action and forward momentum, it does still retain its fair share of the open-ended design that you expect to see in the studio’s games. There are multiple maps to explore, and going out of your way to do that is always encouraged. Not only do you learn more about the world and the people you are targeting, you’re also constantly treated to the incredible art design that’s so abundantly found throughout Deathloop’s world.

SNIPER ELITE 5

The Sniper Elite franchise probably doesn’t get as much credit for its level design as it should, and Sniper Elite 5 exemplifies that perfectly. Every single map is designed as an incredible stealth sandbox where player freedom is emphasized first and foremost. By allowing you to constantly discover new and creative ways to tackle obstacles and sprinkling in a healthy dose of optional content, every map in Sniper Elite 5 becomes an absolute blast to explore as thoroughly as possible, while also making replays that much more rewarding.

30. Just Cause 2

Although almost all games in the Just Cause series are fine sandbox experiences, the second game is perhaps the best the franchise has to offer. Featuring over the top bombastic action set pieces along with stellar mission design, Just Cause 2 features a vast playground to do some of the craziest things possible in video games. Although the combat is disappointing, it’s the open world and the crazy amount of destruction one can do in it is the star of the show here.

As recent leaks suggested, at the recent Indie World showcase, it was announced that Outer WIlds: Archaeologist Edition will be launching for the Nintendo Switch next month, on December 7. In addition to the acclaimed base game, the release will also include the (also acclaimed) Echoes of the Eye expansion, which launched in 2021. Pre-orders for the title are open on the Switch eShop, while a physical release has also been confirmed.

Outer Wilds is currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Stay tuned for more details on its Switch port in the coming days.

Though delayed to an unknown date, there could be an announcement coming soon. @Pyoro_X, known for their accurate leaks of Nintendo Switch games, teased on Twitter, “Finally, we will be able to roast some marshmallows on the Switch.” If that sounds too vague, he also noted the February 2021 Nintendo Direct, where Outer Wilds was announced for the platform.

As such, it’s also referring to one of the core inspirations for the game – roasting marshmallows. Throughout the Outer Wilds, players will meet characters at campfires and can even roast and eat marshmallows. While this tease could indicate a release date, it’s unknown exactly when the title will launch. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Finally we will be able to roast some marshmallows on the switch.

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) November 13, 2023

Feb 2021 Direct

— Pyoro (@Pyoro_X) November 13, 2023