THE SABOTEUR

The definition of a cult classic, Pandemic Studios’ 2009 World War 2 stealth action game is one that deserved more praise than it got back in the day. Though it certainly had issues, it had more than enough strengths to make up for them, from an incredible visual aesthetic and an atmospheric setting to excellent open world action and much more.

inFamous: Second Son

The inFamous series peaked during the PS3 days with inFamous 2, and while inFamous: Second Son was well-received by critics – it didn’t really have the same magnitude of an impact as its brothers. And that’s quite a shame because Second Son is a well-made game that makes good use of the PS4’s capabilities to render a beautiful open world alongside some solid gameplay mechanics.

The Last Guardian

Fumito Ueda is widely considered to be a video game auteur thanks to his work on Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian is a project that had been in development for a long time. But when it was released in 2016, the game was met with a divisive critical reception – primarily because the companion dog would refuse to listen to your instructions at times, which made it a really frustrating experience at times. To be honest, those aren’t technical problems but a conscious decision on the developer’s part – and that combined with the unique world and themes of the story makes The Last Guardian a truly special game that deserves to be experienced by a lot more people.

Days Gone

Days Gone was Sony Bend’s take on a post-apocalyptic open-world game, and it turned out to be one of the more disappointing first-party games of its time. It would be an utter lie to state that Days Gone is a spotless masterpiece, but it’s also a game that perhaps got a lot more hate than it deserves. The bike riding mechanics are pretty good for the most part, and the Freaker horde mechanics are fun to interact with – even though the game holds that particular part hostage until the very end. It’s not a life-changing game by any means, but it is a fun open-world nevertheless.

No Man’s Sky

Hello Games’ CEO Sean Murray created a lot of headlines with his brief on how No Man’s Sky would be a game of endless possibilities, but those claims were turned to dust when the game finally came out in 2016. No Man’s Sky took place in a bland world where there wasn’t anything interesting to do, and the procedural generation of planets felt like a faint shadow of the big promises that he made pre-release. Fans were understandably upset which made it a disappointing game back then, but the team has put in the hard work to turn the game into a much better version through consistent content updates and overhauls. As it stands now, No Man’s Sky is easily one of the best space exploration games on the market – and is absolutely unmissable for genre fans.

Gravity Rush 2

Gravity Rush 2 thrusts players into a fantastical world and takes them on a journey like no other, and an interesting gravity shift mechanic sits at the epicenter of everything you do. It’s a beautiful game that excels in more aspects than one, but it’s a shame that not many people actually played it in the first place. A lot of that could be blamed on the incompetent marketing by Sony, and that limited exposure ultimately turned Gravity Rush 2 into a cult classic.

Sniper Elite 4

Sniper Elite 4 puts us back in the shoes of Karl Fariburne as he embarks on increasingly difficult missions behind enemy lines. The series has always never been so polished in terms of its mechanics or story, which is perhaps why Sniper Elite 4 never really got much mainstream attention. But if you are able to look past those flaws, you will find a truly dynamic stealth game where you can make some really creative use of your toolset and come up with unique solutions for your problems.

Just Cause 3

The Just Cause series has been in a downward spiral following the success of Just Cause 2, and Just Cause 3’s rather tepid commercial reception is proof of that theory. Just Cause 3 did a good job of building upon the concepts of prior games, and critics generally liked the game. But many fans weren’t really interested in its brand of chaos-driven open-world gameplay, and that’s disappointing news because creatively wreaking havoc in this game continues to be an extremely satisfying activity even after dozens upon dozens of hours.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission

Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a game built to showcase the capabilities of PSVR, and you might be forgiven for discarding it as a glorified tech demo of sorts. But that’s not really the case, because Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a really polished and fun platformer that is more than the sum of its parts. It makes good use of the VR capabilities to really immerse you in its world, and there are plenty of smart touches peppered throughout this adventure that makes it so charming.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

Supermassive Games’ The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes follows a group of soldiers exploring an ancient temple, and coming face to face with the many horrors that lie within. The story is well-written, and it can take some sharp turns depending on the choices that you make at critical points in the adventure. Between this flexibility and a strong visual presentation, The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is a very solid horror game that fans of the genre should definitely check out.

Concrete Genie

Developed by PixelOpus Studios, Concrete Genie is a charming game about using your creative powers to bring a murky town back to life. The gameplay is simple yet works well within the context of the experience, and that combined with the wonderful story makes it a game worthy of your attention. It’s a sad state of affairs that it never got the audience it deserves, and a lot of that can be blamed on poor marketing from Sony.

Alienation

Alienation comes from Housemarque, the team that recently released Returnal to some excellent critical and commercial acclaim. Alienation is a twin-stick shooter that tasks you to control different kinds of supersoldiers – each with their different sets of strengths and weaknesses. The gameplay is an absolute blast through and through, and the developer has done a good job of adding even more content to the experience.

The Surge 2

The Surge 2 takes what worked in the original, and cranked it all the way up to eleven – which resulted in an experience that’s big in almost every regard. The Surge 2 takes players to wonderfully well-realized locales and pits them against brutal bosses, but the game wasn’t really able to capture much of an audience when it released in 2019 – most likely due to an oversaturation of Souslikes at that point. If you were one of the people who skipped it back in the day, give it another try and you might be really surprised.

Yakuza 0

The Yakuza series has started to gain a lot of traction in the West, and recent entries like Yakuza: Like a Dragon have been widely praised by fans. Yakuza 0 didn’t get the praises of the same intensity, and that’s a shame because it is a really great open-world game that condenses a ton of varied content within a rather small virtual district. It seamlessly switches between serious moments and goofy antics at the flip of a button, and that adds a really distinct charm to it all.

What Remains of Edith Finch

What Remains of Edith Finch is a moving tale about the tragedies that happened to the Finch family. It’s a simple game that looks like a walking simulator on the surface, but it features some really interesting level design that expertly uses mechanics and visual imagery to tell its engaging stories. It’s also a really snappy experience that doesn’t waste much time with exposition or filler, so you could blast through it all in just a couple of hours.

Infamous First Light

inFamous First Light is a surprisingly fleshed-out standalone expansion that puts players in the shoes of Abigail Walker from the base game. The gameplay is largely based on the same foundations as Second Son, which is to say it’s an absolute blast through and through. It’s a great excuse to explore the many corners of this beautifully recreated fictional Seattle, and it’s unmissable for fans of the franchise.

ULTRA NECROZMA (POKEMON ULTRA SUN AND ULTRA MOON)

A general and ever-increasing lack of challenge has been one of the biggest issues with the mainline Pokemon series for some time now, but credit where credit is due- Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon actually had some pretty tough fights. In fact, the fight against Ultra Necrozma is probably one of the toughest fights ever in a Pokemon game. Boosted stats, a sudden jump in its level, a moveset that can do devastating damage, and more ensure that even with the best party composition, you’ll struggle in the fight against Ultra Necrozma.

German developer Deck13 has garnered a reputation for itself as a developer of strong, solid action RPGs over the last few years, first with Lords of the Fallen and then with The Surge and The Surge 2. The latter in particular launched not that long ago, and if you were hoping that it would receive next-gen enhancements and ports the way many recent PS4/Xbox One releases have- well, don’t hold your breath.

Over on Twitter, the developer said that while it would “love to get the opportunity” to work on a patch of The Surge 2 for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, their resources right now are “pretty much all tied up” in the new IP that they’re working on with publisher Focus Home Interactive (who acquired the developer earlier this year).

Deck13 goes on to re-iterate that its next project isn’t going to be The Surge 3, adding, “It’s time for something fresh.”

If you do have a hankering to play Deck13’s sci-fi Soulslike, The Surge 2 is available currently on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

https://twitter.com/Deck13_de/status/1333350846709555205

Warcraft 3: Reforged

How do you possibly mess up a classic game like Warcraft 3? It’s one thing to have multitudes of bugs, horrible multiplayer, an underwhelming UI, and an uneven graphics update. It’s quite another to claim ownership over all custom games with players not even getting credit. Or outright lying about remastered cutscenes and presentation. Or making it so that owners of the original had to update to Reforged, thus ruining their nostalgia as well. Or a dozen other things that make you wonder how Blizzard got to this point.

Focus Home Interactive have announced the acquisition of German studio Deck13 Interactive, developer of the likes of The Surge, The Surge 2 (both of which were published by Focus Home Interactive), and Lords of thee Fallen. In a press release, the company said that they have acquired 100% of Deck13’s share capital, which gives them full ownership of the studio, all of its IP, as well as Deck13’s publishing initiative of indie titles, which Focus Home plans to leverage to “explore new opportunities”. The deal saw Deck13’s acquisition coming up to a total of €7.1 million.

“We are very happy to welcome the team of Deck13 and look forward to working together to achieve our ambitious objectives,” said Jürgen Goeldner, chairman of Focus Home Interactive’s management board. “This acquisition marks a major milestone in our growth story and will strengthen our business model.”

“I am delighted to announce that Deck13 is now part of Focus Home Interactive,” said Jan Klose, Deck13’s management director and co-founder. “Our companies have been working together successfully since 2011, developing award winning brands such as The Surge. We are looking forward to leveraging the incredible capabilities of Focus Home Interactive to develop new successes.”

Deck13’s The Surge 2, published by Focus Home, launched for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in September last year. In our review, we praised it for its combat, weapon variety, level design, and progression, but pointed out issues with its story, lack of originality, and technical hiccups. You can read our full review through here.

A few months prior to The Surge 2’s launch, it was also confirmed that Deck13 and Focus Home Interactive were also working on a new IP together. Read more on that through here.

A new slate of high-profile games is coming to Xbox Game Pass for consoles tomorrow. Bandai Namco’s Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and Focus Home Interactive’s The Surge 2 will be available along with investigative thriller Kona from Parabole. The Surge 2 will also be available for Xbox Game Pass for PC later in March.

On March 24th, Xbox One and PC players get Bleeding Edge, Ninja Theory’s team-based brawler. March 26th marks the arrival of Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid on consoles, which will also be available for Xbox Game Pass for PC later this month. Astroglaster rounds out the remaining PC releases for the month.

Unfortunately, there a number of titles that will be leaving both Game Pass platforms this month. Console players will be losing Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, The Golf Club 2 and LEGO Worlds. PC players will be losing out on Battle Chef Brigade, Kingsway and Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You. Both platforms will lose Operencia: The Stolen Sun, Cities: Skylines and Vampyr in addition to the above.

The Kraken is accessible midway through the campaign, taking place entirely on the V.B.S. Krakow, a beached military vessel taken over by a sentient machine known as CAIN. As you make your way across and inside the ship, you work alongside a woman who guides you to your objectives and assists you in your goal of reaching CAIN to destroy him. Like the base game, there’s little about the story here that intrigues or surprises, but for those who want the full plot, scattered audio logs can expand on the narrative and fill in some blanks if you take the time to find them all.

"Two bosses stand between you in and end of the DLC, one of which is simply a reskin of one of the add-on’s larger foes."

As I first arrived on the ship, I had dreams of charting a path across its vast and eerie surface and delving deep into its interior, but exploring the vessel and unraveling the central mystery of CAIN’s oppressive presence took me about an hour. It doesn’t take long to realize that there are really only two areas in the DLC, both of which include one or two tiny interiors and an open area with a handful of enemies that are virtually indistinguishable from those found in the main game. A few shortcuts lead back to the single med-bay where you can level up and craft new gear, but otherwise, there is very little in the way of hidden paths to find or cleverly-concealed loot to track down.

Two bosses stand between you in and end of the DLC, one of which is simply a reskin of one of the add-on’s larger foes. Neither pose a significant challenge, especially for a late-game character with plenty of healing stocks at their disposal, but I did enjoy the final challenge for its manic attack patterns and general sense of disarray. And though it was during this concluding showdown that I had the most of my fun, it only drove home just how badly I wished that such a clever and compelling finale had been preceded by equally interesting content.

"If you love The Surge 2 and just want the full experience, spending an hour exploring the V.B.S. Krakow will be worth it just for the sake of completion."

I could forgive the brevity of this detour from the game’s main path if it offered something of significance that made it worth getting sidetracked, but a few new weapons, armor sets to craft, and a smattering of drone modules hardly seem worth the effort for anyone besides the most hardcore of collectors. A couple of short side-quests offer fleeting diversions, such as when a humorous robot asks you to watch films with him so he can learn more about how to be human. But the payoff is never worth the time investment – nothing found on the V.B.S. Krakow has any meaningful impact on The Surge 2’s core gameplay, leading to me leaving the DLC with absolutely no interest in revisiting any of the main game’s areas to try out my new findings.

The Surge 2 still suffers from the horrible screen tearing and performance problems that have plagued the game since launch, and it’s a damn shame that Deck13 couldn’t have improved on these issues rather than focusing their attention on producing the middling additional content provided in The Kraken. That said, if you love The Surge 2 and just want the full experience, spending an hour exploring the V.B.S. Krakow will be worth it just for the sake of completion. For everyone else, there really isn’t anything in this half-baked DLC to make it worth a return to Jericho City.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Deck13’s first story expansion for The Surge 2 is now live with The Kraken. On top of adding a new area and storyline aboard the VBS Krakow, it also introduces new enemies, new weapons and armor, and a new boss. If you own the Season Pass, then the expansion should be available now.

Along with The Kraken, The Surge 2: Premium Edition has become available. It encompasses the base game along with all of the DLC released till now. This includes The Kraken expansion, Future Shock Weapon Pack, JCPD Gear Pack, the URBN Gear Pack, Jericho’s Legacy Gear Pack and the Public Enemy Weapon Pack.

For those who’ve yet to take the plunge with The Surge 2, the Premium Edition presents a good solution. It’s out now for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Check out our review for the base game here to see how it fared and stay tuned for more information on subsequent updates.

WARGROOVE

Position itself as a spiritual successor to the fan-favourite Nintendo series Advance Wars, Wargroove had a lot to live up to, and for the most part, it met those expectations expertly. And among the many things that endeared Chucklefish’s strategy title to the masses was its difficulty- Wargroove is a challenging game, and nearly every fight, every skirmish in the game is an uphill battle. And while Wargroove does occasionally become a bit too harsh with its difficulty, by and large it maintains a pretty healthy and consistent balance.