Ruined King: A League of Legends Story Review – Royal Pain

Publisher: Riot Games

Developer: Airship Syndicate

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: PC

Also on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch

Even twelve years after its initial release, League of Legends stands atop the esports pantheon as one of the most popular competitive games in the world. Ruined King: A League of Legends Story takes several of the beloved MOBA’s notable characters and drops them into an entertaining, albeit overlong, role-playing experience. Skill-based progression, explorable hubs, and turn-based combat might immediately excite fans of developer Airship Syndicate’s debut project, Battle Chasers: Nightwar. However, Ruined King’s implementation of these features is often mediocre. Nevertheless, the total package is an adequate single-player alternative to Riot’s multiplayer-centric titles.

Sadly, Runeterra’s verdant prairies are absent from Ruined King. Instead, I spent several hours predominantly traversing the port city of Bilgewater and its neighboring region, the Shadow Isles, to find and defeat forgettable antagonists. These locales are home to vicious pirates, wild beasts, and restless spirits. Ruined King’s washed-out grays and sickly greens parallel grim motifs like revenge, greed, and displacement. But after retracing my steps through the same shadowy caverns and bleak harbors for several hours, that subdued color palate took its toll; the many marketplaces and temples became increasingly lifeless and dull.

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This is a shame because the ensemble cast – Miss Fortune, Illaoi, Braum, Yasuo, Ahri, and Pyke – have fun and diverse personalities. Silly banter and tense disagreements between the protagonists keep Ruined King’s predictable narrative interesting. Each legend interacts with the game world differently, making for some engaging interactions. Pyke’s expertise as a harpooner allows him to dive into deep waters to access hidden passageways. At the same time, I’d shoot Ahri’s magic orbs from various angles to activate far-off switches or solve environmental puzzles. These skills were always valuable, especially when scouring dungeons for rare gear and lore documents. Of course, collectibles weren’t the only things that awaited me while completing main and side quests. 

Most areas are host to a bevy of enemies, from long-bearded undead warriors to stone giants, and battling these monsters helped make up for the uninspired level design. When a battle begins, an “initiative bar” at the bottom of the screen indicates the turn order, but a “lane” system – inspired by League of Legends mechanics – spices up the formula by allowing characters to move up or down the initiative bar at will. A sword swipe or magic blast from the speed lane will hit earlier with reduced damage. Conversely, gunshots or shield bashes from the power lane take longer to activate but are particularly devastating. “Zones” that appear along the bar have the chance to apply buffs or debuffs, so using lanes to obtain or avoid these random conditions added even more depth to the action. Even though I wish foes were more challenging, the clever rhythm of Ruined King’s lane system made me want to seek out brawls all the time.

I loved using Braum’s “Stand Behind Me” ability in the power lane to cast mighty shields on the entire party. And if I didn’t feel like waiting for a lane ability, I relied on default attacks for instant gratification. An ultimate meter builds up throughout engagements, and activating these super abilities often meant the difference between slaying a beefy boss or losing the bout entirely. Unfortunately, I couldn’t substitute party members in or out of combat, which didn’t allow for much roster experimentation. Moreover, during several combat scenarios, I felt like I was being punished for any tactic that didn’t include the typical healer or tank-focused lineup. Fast-traveling to a rest spot to make emergency swaps and remedy this issue was a constant immersion-breaker.

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Vanquished adversaries drop gold and, more importantly, materials to spend on weapon and armor enchantments. I collected an impressive number of enchantment recipes while traveling off the beaten path, and my combat prowess towards the latter half of Ruined King benefited from this. I often altered my gear to increase crit ratings so that my katana-wielding Yasuo and gun-toting Miss Fortune boasted significant attack numbers. I also earned ability points for leveling my party (experience points are shared), which I’d use to amplify default and lane powers. “Rune shards” were also doled out every few levels and, once equipped, introduced fun modifiers that bolstered stats of my choice, like Illaoi’s healing or Pyke’s evasion. I appreciated having many routes to upgrade my favorite fighters and customize their respective kits.

Ruined King is a conventional RPG set in the League of Legends universe with an exciting lane system that smartly reconstructs the standard turn-based loop. Still, a forgettable story about good vs. evil and reiterative backdrops are apparent drawbacks. The action and imaginative characters do their best to keep the game’s 20-30-hour time sink enjoyable. Still, players that aren’t already fans of Riot Games’ flagship franchise are better off skipping this entry.

Score: 7

Summary: Ruined King: A League of Legends Story might impress fans with its nuanced combat systems, but beyond that, Riot Games’ latest RPG is a mediocre experience at best.

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The Gunk Review – Colorless, But Comfortable

Publisher: Thunderful Publishing

Developer: Image & Form Games, Thunderful Development

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S

Also on: Xbox One, PC

I began The Gunk with eager anticipation, blasting across the swirling clouds of the cosmos. The opening cinematic is beautiful and full of promise. Unfortunately, it is also the apex of the short game’s trajectory. In a game filled with alien worlds splashed with color and populated with extraterrestrial mysteries, The Gunk falls surprisingly flat. Fortunately, this spacecraft manages to stay afloat with likable characters, solid gameplay, and a serviceable story.  

The Gunk’s heroes, Rani and Becks, are a pair of plucky and impoverished space haulers. They touch down on an unknown planet hoping to discover valuable resources to pay off their debts and set themselves up for life. As Rani, you fearlessly explore the unknown world, scanning life forms for data, jumping from craggy cliffs to oversized leaves, and eventually, clearing away obstructive, plant-destroying Gunk. Becks stays with the ship, but the comms allow an easy back and forth between the ship’s co-captains, which reminds me of Cowboy Bebop and Firefly, shows that star intrepid space travelers in constant need of cash. While not bad company to keep, this highlights a problematic pattern: nothing in The Gunk feels unique.

Everything in this adventure is reminiscent of something else, and, for the most part, it’s been done better somewhere else. After encountering the planet’s titular gooey substance for the first time and vacuuming it up with my robotic arm, I flashed back to Luigi’s Mansion. Other features, from opening shortcuts by dropping climbable vines to shooting glowing buttons that open locked doors to harvesting the planet’s plant life for crafting materials, feel incredibly well-trod and uninspired. On the one hand, The Gunk feels familiar and slightly comfortable. On the other hand, nothing really sticks out, making this experience almost forgettable.

Despite evoking other great shows and games, The Gunk never reaches the heights of its inspirations. Despite the range of colors in these alien landscapes, the hues never pop, and the terrain always seems a little unsaturated. Instead of triggering an awe-inspiring moment where the grey, Gunk-infested landscape transforms into a vibrant oasis of exotic plant life, the dulled aesthetic means cleaning the Gunk from a location only has a moderate visual impact, which diminishes the thrill of cleansing each area.

During dialogue-heavy sections, the character models’ lips flap like lifeless puppets, resulting in cutscenes that are fine to listen to but awkward to watch. Running, jumping, and shooting feels smooth, but I occasionally got stuck on the surrounding geometry. Hovering helplessly in the air thanks to a glitch is annoying, as is noticing that plants and rocks often have the same texture, but they didn’t stop me from having a good time running around the world and accomplishing my mission.

That mission is, at first, straightforward. Collect resources from the world to make much-needed repairs to my robotic, vacuum-ready prosthetic arm and look for anything that might sell for big bucks. However, the adventurous Rani can’t stop herself from trying to rid the world of the sticky mass threatening its flora and fauna. Unraveling the mystery of the Gunk’s origin puts Rani at odds with the pragmatic Becks, who doesn’t want to waste their precious and diminishing supplies fixing someone else’s problem. As a result, the conflict at the heart of this story was strong enough to push me on from one linear section to the next.

The Gunk deserves a fair bit of criticism and only a little unreserved praise. The connection between the characters holds up the story, sucking up goo is strangely satisfying, and the mechanics work as intended. However, I wish the world felt more distinctive and better realized. The environment has the potential to be a vibrant kaleidoscope with brilliant hues and unearthly forms. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite hit that mark. All said, The Gunk is a competent romp through space, but not a stellar one.

Score: 7

Summary: The characters' relationship bolsters the story and sucking up goo is satisfying, but The Gunk doesn't offer much that players won't have seen before.

Concept: Clean the toxic globs that threaten to swallow a planet while scavenging for crafting resources and riches

Graphics: Though the concept is bright and extraterrestrial, the final product is lackluster, with dull colors and unpolished textures

Sound: The score mostly recedes into the background, but the back and forth character banter is engaging

Playability: Cleaning an area of sludge and clearing the path forward to revitalize the surrounding landscape is rewarding

Entertainment: Nothing here will surprise seasoned gamers but The Gunk has enough diverting action and puzzle-solving in its brief runtime to keep players’ attention

Replay: Moderate

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It Takes Two Review – The Joys And Heartbreak Of Love

Publisher: EA Originals

Developer: Hazelight

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S

Also on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Beneath exhilarating rollercoaster rides and silly conversations with squirrels, It Takes Two has a heavy heart. It’s about divorce and the toll taken on a daughter who doesn’t want to lose her family. It’s about decaying love and the differences that divide us. It’s about not wanting to face reality and not wanting to let go. It’s also about hope and uncertainty, the past creating a better future, and finding common ground no matter how much it may hurt. All of these elements are beautifully woven into a colorful and soulful adventure that hits hard, both in its moving narrative and clever gameplay. It Takes Two succeeds in being a game that pushes two individuals to work together to create a relationship that works, but for how long?

In an emotional opening shot, we see a little girl named Rose run off to her play space after her parents, Cody and May, tell her that they are separating. She’s devastated and keeps saying she just wants them to be “friends." As hard as it is for Rose to accept the news, we learn she’s been expecting it. Not only has she made two action figures of her parents to play make-believe with – to show them the way she wants them to be – she’s also secretly purchased a “Book of Love” to learn how to make them care about each other again.

Rose’s tears fall from her cheeks onto the figures and book, conjuring magical forces that sweep through the house. When we next see Cody and May, their souls have been passed to their miniature, wooden and clay counterparts. As these two adults rightfully panic in their new bodies, the Book of Love greets them as an upbeat, comical figure named Dr. Hakim, who promises to help them mend the bond they once shared. The entire adventure is told from this diminutive perspective and delivers a nicely written story that unfolds amid treacherous action sequences. The blending of narration and gameplay works incredibly well, giving you plenty of insight into the minds of Cody and May as they leap about and race to find a way to return to their normal lives (and sizes).

Dr. Hakim doesn’t want them to move so fast, however, and thinks they should stay small to work out their differences. This somewhat nefarious desire of his is brilliantly transformed into the foundation of the adventure. As the name of the game implies, It Takes Two can only be played cooperatively by two people, either sitting on a couch together or online. While each player is asked to complete individual platforming challenges, not much progress can be made unless the duo is working together. Almost every significant movement demands teamwork, communication, and patience between the two players. Even when playing online, the screen is always split in two so you can see exactly what your partner is doing, an excellent touch that allows for the other player to problem solve with verbal guidance.

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Cody and May share the same basic moves, but are given different tools to use in each world. This makes them feel distinct and sets the stage for one person to always have ownership over a specific type of action. For instance, Cody has explosive gel, but it can only be detonated with May’s rifle. Later in the game, Cody can change sizes, while May is equipped with magnetic boots – an odd pairing that is used to let both characters interact in the world in different ways to open up new routes.

Combining the actions of both players is used in almost every sequence, which are usually wonderfully designed, delivering plenty of laughs, edge-of-your-seat moments, and a unique flow that necessitates teamwork. A few sequences push both characters to do the same type of action, but with slightly different thinking and motions for each, such as having to spin the water wheels on a boat in different directions to avoid running into mines. This is the type of activity that will have you yelling back and forth as you stumble with what you want the other player to do in conjunction with your movement.

While It Takes Two will be talked about for its cooperative-only design and subject matter, developer Hazelight’s biggest triumph is the variety in action. When a particular gameplay idea has been explored fully, the action transforms into something new, which is taken for a ride in fun ways before expiring and presenting another idea. It's amazing how many different concepts are explored, almost coming across like a greatest hits of everything you can do in action games. Some of these ideas work better than others, but most of Hazelight’s attempts are incredibly well executed, such as riding on the back of a magical catfish, roaring down an icy slope in a bobsled, or using a fidget spinner to launch into the air.

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The core gameplay of running and jumping is consistent in every world, but the problem-solving elements are always being shaken up. Hazelight even provides a breather from the action from time to time through amusing minigames that allow you to compete against your partner, give them a helping hand, or in some cases, take out your stress on them (like hitting them on the head in a game of whack-a-mole).

Constant verbal communication is an absolute must for almost every little sequence, which again gives this game a bit of a unique stance. Many of the challenges will have you saying phrases like “throw the switch…now!" Some of the co-op feats can be brutally difficult both in timing and movement, leading to both players dying plenty, but checkpoints are liberally dispersed. If you miss a jump, you usually start again right at that spot (or just a few gameplay steps back from it). Progress being updated so often helps save the game from its slightly stiff and imprecise platforming mechanics. If both players die, they'll have to restart a boss fight or backtrack to redo a little of the level, but a nicely designed quick self-revive mechanic limits those moments.

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The platforming is sophisticated, requiring double jumps and air dashes, along with rope swings and more. None of these actions are completely reliable or as fluid as you want them to be, but are good enough to get the job done. Hazelight is quite aware of just how often timing missteps can be made and aids the player by having characters automatically be pulled to a ledge rather than miss if they are close. It’s odd to see Cody or May magically move through space, but it’s better than having to try a difficult action again. The helpful warping happens everywhere in the game, whether you are a good five feet under a rail slide and suddenly find yourself on it or are about to miss a jump to a tree branch.

It Takes Two may not be the platforming juggernaut that it aspires to be, but it more than makes up for it with its big heart, wealth in variety, and gorgeous imagery. All of its individual actions are things we’ve done in other games, but when applied to this distinct cooperative approach, they take on a whole new life and are used in wonderful ways over a long adventure. The action will have you laughing and screaming at your TV, and the story stays strong throughout, creating the backbone for an entertaining adventure that roars with excitement and should keep you glued to the controller to see if this couple’s lost love can be rekindled.

Score: 9.25

Summary: Hazelight's cooperative adventure is clever, different, and loads of fun.

Concept: An expertly designed cooperative experience that pushes each player to do different things in concert to solve challenges

Graphics: The worlds soar with realistic details. It’s fun to see how ordinary objects are brought to life to either transform into bosses or NPCs

Sound: Your characters often converse as the action unfolds, and the music fits the sequences well, even conjuring up familiar melodies of classics like “Flight of the Valkyries”

Playability: Many different gameplay ideas are explored, and none overstay their welcome. The variety is great, but the core platforming mechanics are not as reliable as they should be

Entertainment: A roaring success both in its diverse co-op-driven gameplay and mature story themes that unfold in playful and heartfelt ways

Replay: Moderately High

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Halo Infinite Review – A Return To Form, And Something New

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Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Developer: 343 Industries

Release: 2020

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S

Also on: Xbox One, PC

I rumble along in the armored cocoon of my Scorpion tank, scaling an elevated path to the Banished stronghold. With each explosive cannon blast, the outer sentries prove they’re not much of a threat, but my foes have prepared for this approach, and the narrow mountain path hits a blockade. While my marines disembark and charge ahead, I grapple up into the nearby hills and begin to pick off Jackals with a unique variant sniper rifle – spoils of an earlier conquest. But no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and I’m eventually scaling the outer fort wall and dropping into a nest of entrenched Brutes, as the familiar rattle of my assault rifle begins to clear the way.

Halo Infinite walks a narrow line between old and new and does it with as much success as I’ve seen from a game. As one of the most recognizable “feels” of play, it’s confidently nostalgic and rooted in an established legacy, ably recalling the earliest games in the series. Whether it’s the satisfying stick of a plasma grenade, the haughty cries of a sword-wielding stealth Elite, or the gradual discovery of a mysterious Halo ring, Infinite is an homage to Combat Evolved, 20 years after that first release. Simultaneously, 343 Industries’ new game charts its own course. Equipment like the incredibly satisfying grappleshot, open-world elements that inject increased opportunities for exploration, and freeform base assaults that challenge players to think creatively – all of these and more help the formula stay fresh and relevant. The balancing act works, and this is the best a Halo game has felt in over a decade.

Master Chief’s latest adventure opens in media res, with his defeat at the hands of a Brute warlord and the destruction of the UNSC Infinity. It’s a reset of expectations about where the story was going after the last game and a figurative teardown of the complicated fictional framework that defined the previous two series entries. Master Chief awakens six months later, with a new, more naïve AI companion at his side, and sets to work doing what he does best – overcoming insurmountable odds one bullet at a time.

The resultant story is relatively simple, as he unwinds the mystery of what happened during his absence, but the narrative is tinged by vaguely mystical overtones about the absent Cortana and the long-forgotten secrets of the Halo. While some questions get answers, Infinite revels in its head-scratching perplexities, and even fervent lore enthusiasts may reach the conclusion with a resounding “huh?” That, too, keeps to the old Halo form, but this time I found much more to enjoy in the genuine character moments of hope and resilience, and I could have used a bit less bewilderment.

Halo Infinite’s production values are through the roof, with breathtaking outdoor vistas and imposing cathedral-like interiors. The score is impeccably paced, emotionally powerful, and perfectly poised between familiar motifs and surprises. Likewise, the voice actors turn in powerful performances that elevate these sci-fi figures and communicate humanity and loss. In action, everything moves and crackles with tension and excitement, from weapon flashes to vehicle explosions.

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Combat plays like a dream, and whatever else a player might enjoy or dislike, the action should motivate players to complete a playthrough. Each gun brings something rewarding to the table, and enemies are fierce and challenging, especially as you make a run at that vaunted legendary difficulty setting. In particular, boss fights on the more demanding settings are tense and exciting – a rare feat in first-person shooters. The new equipment, particularly the grappleshot, has a transformative effect on gameplay, leading to more mobile and vertical play. Battles carry a constant sense of movement and momentum, and I couldn’t wait for each subsequent encounter.

The new open-world and progression elements borrow heavily from established successes in that genre, and there’s nothing profoundly innovative about the gradual takeover of a zone. But the battles feel so good that I didn’t mind too much. I especially enjoyed the larger bases and outposts, which encourage creative thinking in how you approach routing the bad guys. I also loved the small moments of discovery – hidden weapon caches on a mountaintop or caves that hold the last weapons of a doomed Marine squad.

Infinite’s accompanying multiplayer suite is free-to-play, and it warrants a similar level of enthusiasm to the lengthy campaign. Whether in tense ranked matches, desperately running to capture a flag in quickplay, or smashing Warthogs together in 24-player Big Team Battles, the core competitive shooting is fast and enormously fun. The “fair start” mentality is a breath of fresh air in a multiplayer scene dominated by games with earned weapons or mismatched classes; here, if you win an exchange, it’s because you scavenged the right gun and fought the best engagement.

Slow multiplayer progression systems, limited character customization, and individual weapon and grenade balance all need a good bit of adjustment in these early weeks of play. Those elements hurt my enjoyment of an otherwise rewarding match-to-match experience. But those features have already been tweaked since launch, and may be significantly different weeks from now, so there’s a limit to how much I want to tear the game down when the actual multiplayer battles are so much fun.

Like many, I’m sad that Halo Infinite doesn’t offer cooperative multiplayer at launch, if only because it’s been a bulwark of the series’ identity. It’s a disappointing omission, but I have to judge the game before me, not the features I wish might be there. And by that measure, Halo Infinite is a rousing success. Whether you want a big, mysterious sci-fi adventure or a chance to engage with some intense PvP, Halo Infinite nails the shots where it counts and heralds a new era for one of gaming’s most recognizable mainstays.

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Score: 9.25

Summary: 343 Industries captures the magic, embracing series traditions without being held back by them.

Concept: Conquer alien enemies one firefight at a time in this return to the classic feel of one of gaming’s most familiar mascots

Graphics: Breathtaking environments, popping weapon effects, and grand science-fiction aesthetics combine to impressive effect

Sound: A magnificent score merges old and new musical themes, while the voice talent turns in top-notch emotional performances

Playability: Excellent gunplay is accompanied by a newfound sense of mobility and speedy traversal

Entertainment: A big game with a lot to offer through long-term multiplayer engagement and subsequent campaign plays; the whole thing feels rooted in legacy, but looking to the future

Replay: High

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Solar Ash Review – A Rollercoaster Of Style And Substance

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Developer: Heart Machine

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5

Also on: PlayStation 4, PC

Rei awakens, dazed and confused within the Ultravoid. She’s a voidrunner, meaning she explores black holes with the help of advanced technology. Unfortunately, the Ultravoid is an exceptionally massive black hole with Rei’s home planet ensnared in its vacuum. Time is of the essence; Rei was sent into the Void as part of a team to activate the Starseed, a device designed to collapse the black hole and save her planet. But her allies have vanished, and the Ultravoid has native defenses in the form of ink-like monsters. With dire stakes and Hail Mary solutions, Rei’s solo mission is worth seeing through to its surprising conclusion in this impressive high-speed action platformer.

Activating the Starseed requires slaying six Remnants, humongous beasts that hold dominion over the Ultravoid’s handful of biomes. Awakening these titans is the first step, which involves destroying giant eyeballs connected to them scattered across the landscapes. Thankfully, Rei is a nimble explorer. Solar Ash is all about the flow of movement, and getting around the Ultravoid is a wonderful rush. Rei’s skating feels swift but controlled; I never lost control when it wasn’t my fault, even in the most precarious areas. Even better, she instantly recovers speed when slowing down becomes necessary. I gleefully leaped across floating ruins, bubbling lava pools, and acid waterfalls with calculated recklessness thanks to the expert placement of platforms and grind rails. No matter how far I jumped, I always had a landing to target.

Lock-on grapple points and a slow-motion aim mechanic work well and are woven perfectly into platforming puzzles. I only wish transitioning between grind rails was snappier. Given the speed of Rei’s grinding and how far she can launch, it’s easy to overshoot rails, given their close proximity.

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I regularly said, “wow,” whenever I stepped into a new biome. Solar Ash is beautiful. Its striking color palette and an almost spherical world design lend the experience a dreamlike quality. You can skate up and around this cosmic playground from seemingly impossible angles, and looking across inverted landscapes is always a trippy delight. Each area adds fun twists that take advantage of your movement, such as carrying rapidly fading mushroom spores to matching colored nodes to sprout vines for grinding.

Everything in the game is in service of keeping you moving, and that extends to the simple but satisfying hack n’ slash combat. Most enemies drop after only a couple of hits, meaning you can easily kill them without stopping. Gracefully eradicating foes while artfully dodging their attacks never ceases to feel cool. My favorite encounters are against the Remnants. These towering monsters come in different shapes and sizes, including a bipedal warrior or a flying bat-like creature. They essentially act as moving platforming puzzles and are the final exams of your skills. Racing across their writhing forms to quickly shatter nodes across their bodies is a reflex-focused, white-knuckle affair that had me holding my breath and fist-pumping in triumph. Taking too long and getting vaporized back to the ground is frustrating, but that was usually due to an errant choice in my platforming and often fixed by a quick course correction. 

I also appreciate Solar Ash’s elegantly clean overall design. I wasn’t burdened by complicated mechanics or even new abilities for Rei. She retains the same small skillset throughout the experience, with collectible suits offering useful passive buffs, such as health-restoring attacks or increased speed boosts. Along the way, you collect currency in the form of plasma used exclusively to upgrade your health. Bizarrely, however, defeating each Remnant triggers a sequence that removes one notch of health. I’m not sure what the point is in constantly spending thousands of plasma to regain the same disappearing hit point, but I’m not a fan of it.

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Solar Ash’s gripping tale of desperation and hope against all odds serves as another highlight. I felt for Rei, who is a rookie inadvertently burdened with the weight of her entire species. The story evolves her almost stubborn optimism and sense of duty in an effective – and surprising – way I won’t spoil. I came into Solar Ash expecting to feel indifferent towards Rei, and I’m pleasantly surprised to emerge feeling the opposite. 

Sprinting around the world is fun, but I was more than willing to slow down to absorb the intriguing lore along the edges, which fleshes out the Ultravoid’s history. Journal entries present fascinating tales of survival from those trapped within the Void. While these story beats are positioned as sidequests, uncovering the tragic arcs of Rei’s allies and the few surviving NPCs feels necessary as they feed into Rei’s character development and the story’s primary themes of loss, regret, and isolation. One standout tale involves a native of the Void grappling with his race’s tradition of sacrificing themselves to maintain the cycle of life and death. The writing even does a great job of making you care about CYD, your AI helper and one faithful companion, as the loneliness of the Ultravoid eventually rears its head.

Solar Ash had me racing across its cloud-covered playgrounds in the early hours, searching for the next fun platforming segment. By the remaining hours, I was running to see the conclusion of its gripping narrative. Solar Ash oozes as much substance as it does style, making for a wholly entertaining space romp.

Score: 8.75

Summary: Fine-tuned platforming wrapped around a gorgeous world and alluring storytelling make Solar Ash a wholly entertaining cosmic romp.

Concept: Explore a massive black hole and prevent it from consuming your planet by slaying colossal beasts to activate a powerful device

Graphics: Solar Ash’s vivid environments are stunning. Most screenshots are worthy of being printed and hung on your walls

Sound: Quality voice-acting serves as a surprising highlight, and a great soundtrack manages to be both grandiose and eerie

Playability: Skating and leaping across the fractured landscape feels smooth as butter. The smartly designed levels make it easy to maintain your forward momentum, even during combat

Entertainment: Solar Ash plays as well as it looks with a strong story at the heart

Replay: Moderately Low

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Death's Door Review – Reaping The Rewards

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Developer: Acid Nerve

Rating: Everyone 10+

Reviewed on: Xbox One

Also on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC

Death is one of the few things we all have in common. We all experience death sooner or later, and that can be terrifying because we don’t truly know what awaits us on the other side. Salvation? Oblivion? Death’s Door offers an amusing interpretation of death by framing it as a boring, day-to-day business run by crows. While some of the crows may not find much enjoyment in their work, playing Death’s Door couldn’t be further from their dull reality. It’s an entertaining and engrossing action-adventure romp that you’d do well to enjoy before your time is up. 

As a young crow and a rookie reaper working for this morbid organization, your task is to retrieve one particularly large soul. Once you do, however, it’s promptly stolen by a mysterious figure. The soul’s recovery is paramount because while the crows are immortal in their home dimension, traveling to the living realm leaves them vulnerable to aging and death, and they can’t return home for good until the job is done. While this recovery mission of why your soul was taken is a good hook on its own, the story quickly expands into a larger, more compelling mystery revolving around figures who have cheated death for ages and the true meaning behind your work.

Relieving bad guys of their souls is a fun, strategic dance of dealing simple close-range combos and rolling to evade, all while chipping away at their health from afar using your bow and ranged spells such as a fireball. When it comes to attacking at a distance, you have a limited number of shots, but ammo refills with every successful melee strike. I love this system as it kept me from leaning on ranged attacks as a crutch and forced me to get my hands dirty. It also rewards that aggression by renewing your chances to back off. Tight controls allow for smoothly dealing attacks after making split-second dodges, and that maneuverability becomes swifter by upgrading your abilities. 

That sense of risk versus reward extends to refilling health. Throughout the environment, you collect flower seeds, and when you plant them in scattered pots, they bloom into permanent health stations. However, you have a limited number of seeds, depending on how thoroughly you explore, so deciding which pots to plant requires serious thought. The choice of healing now or waiting until I visit a pot I’m more likely to frequent gives the design a fun element of risk and improvisation as I’m effectively creating my own safe zones. 

You can mix up combat by finding hidden weapons such as daggers that trade power for slightly speedier combos or a mighty hammer that channels electricity. While these alternatives feel fine in battle, the differences between them and your standard sword are negligible. I happily stuck with the sword for much of my adventure. Thankfully, the same can’t be said for your arsenal of spells, all of which feel useful. A chain hook attaches to foes so you can quickly zip in their face and close the gap. I smiled every time I lobbed a bomb-like fireball and watched it obliterate multiple targets in short order.

Combat encounters are often challenging, especially when an assortment of baddies swarms you, forcing you to use every trick you have to survive. That includes using their own abilities and the environment against them. Many projectiles can be deflected back to the sender or to their buddies. Arenas sometimes contain hazards such as laser turrets or plants that fire mortar-like exploding gas bubbles that, with the right positioning, can easily clear entire mobs. Death’s Door does a great job encouraging players to work smarter and not harder to overcome its occasionally overwhelming combat challenges. 

The handful of major boss battles against beings who have lived far beyond their natural life cycle are fantastic and are my favorite confrontations in the game. These epic bouts pushed me to use my full suite of abilities, and the giant armored frog who gradually destroys your small platform with each hop was a particular standout. The final boss battle, in particular, plays out as a neat amalgamation of every obstacle you faced before, offering an entertaining final exam of everything you’ve learned. In a great touch, enemy bodies accumulate scratches and cracks to indicate damage status, which is way cooler than a plain old health bar. 

Your journey to retrieving your wayward soul involves exploring pretty, visually distinct areas such as seaside docks, an eerie-yet-opulent mansion, and a forest-covered temple. I also like how the living world’s color contrasts with the noir-esque greyscale of your otherworldly headquarters. Areas are littered with enemies, tons of secrets, and hidden paths that lead to goodies such as new weapons, flower seeds, collectibles, and vital souls used to purchase stat upgrades. You can even find hidden bosses that bestow powerful upgrades to your spells. 

Many areas are ability-gated; I’m sure you can connect the dots on what a cracked wall or unlit torch requires. Other environmental puzzles and secrets require more observational skills, such as spotting discreet hedge maze entrances or using a bathroom floor’s reflection to find a concealed door. Death’s Door’s world feels like a living puzzle that I was always chomping at the bit to fully unravel. Plus, some of its coolest mysteries don’t reveal themselves until after the credits roll. 

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Despite their long association with death and the macabre, crows are clever animals known for their funny behavior; the game’s tone sports a similar playfulness. Your quirky co-workers include a typing-obsessed data entry worker elated to generate all of the paperwork your adventure creates. A passionate bard tags along for a period in search of inspiration for a wacky song, the quality of which I’ll leave you to judge. A jovial knight cursed with having a stewpot for a head is bluntly, but hilariously, named Pothead. 

Death’s Door is more lighthearted than it looks, and that’s to its benefit. These amusing moments complement weightier themes about respecting the dead (no matter how terrible they were in life), the fear of death’s inevitability, and whether anything we accomplish truly matters when our time is limited. Death’s Door isn’t the most profoundly written story, but it handles these sensitive topics well. My favorite moments, outside of the moment-to-moment action and exploration, are when it reminds us that death isn’t something to be feared. Rather, it’s just a necessary step in the cycle of life; a cycle that cannot exist without it.

Score: 9

Summary: Death's Door marries fine-tuned hack n' slash action with a cool world ripe with secrets to unravel. The result is an entertaining, densely-packed trip to the other side.

Concept: As a reaper of souls working for an organization of crows, you must recover a stolen soul while unraveling a mystery surrounding figures who’ve lived for centuries

Graphics: The black-and-white headquarters contrasts nicely with a colorful world, and Death’s Door biomes are distinct visual treats

Sound: Pleasant piano melodies and epic boss music perfectly suit the ebb and flow of combat and exploration

Playability: I love the strategic loop of executing melee attacks to refill ranged abilities, and exciting boss fights push an otherwise simple combat system to enjoyable limits

Entertainment: Death’s Door presents a compelling world begging to be explored until every secret is found alongside satisfying combat and intriguing lore

Replay: Moderate

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Inscryption Review – Engraved Secrets

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Developer: Daniel Mullins Games

Rating: Not rated

Reviewed on: PC

You wake up in a dark cabin, chained to a worn table. A mysterious man sits on the other side of the room. You can't see the details of his face through the darkness, but his crazed eyes pierce the shadows. Something under your belly lurches as he invites you to play a card game. The rules seem simple; you summon creatures to attack your opponent's army of foes, and you easily win the first few hands. Still, you can't shake the anxiety of what might happen if – no – when you lose. You play on, the eyes on the other side of the table slowly burning a hole in your stomach.

Inscryption is an incredible tone piece that taps into horror themes while telling an engaging and ever-evolving mystery. While those horror elements are important to the narrative, they are also just a backdrop to this adventure. I loved Inscryption’s moody atmosphere, but I also appreciate that it doesn't force any jump scares on the player, making it a fairly approachable horror experience.

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At the center of the adventure is a robust card combat system that has you summoning creatures into lanes on a battlefield. Your creatures deal damage to the critters on the opposite side of their lanes and, ultimately, directly to your opponent. The basic setup should be familiar to fans of games like Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering, but Inscryption puts several fun twists on the formula that kept me coming back for more. For starters, some creatures require a sacrifice to enter battle. This means that when you want to summon a powerful creature like a bear, you'll have to kill several beasts that you already put on the field. I liked the push/pull of trying to get your strongest creatures into the fray without thinning your ranks too much.

Inscryption's deck-building system is also much deeper than it first appears. For example, some creatures can be summoned into battle only if you have a certain number of bones acquired through fallen allies. This allowed me to turn my defeats into victories; even if all my creatures were wiped from the board, I often felt like I had an ace up my sleeve or could tap into another strategy to turn the tide in my favor.

As you continue to take down opponents, you move along a gameboard and encounter random events à la titles like Slay The Spire. Some encounters give you new cards, buff existing cards, or grant additional tools to use in combat, such as a fan that allows your creatures to fly over their opponent's heads. You also have the chance to affix sigils to your cards that offer unique powers, such as the ability to transform into stronger creatures over time or attack multiple lanes at once. These elements give Inscryption's card system a unique flavor, and I loved experimenting with my deck to find new card synergies or create brand new cards that almost felt overpowered.

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Between card battles, you can stand up from the table and explore your cabin. This space is full of locked drawers and other puzzle boxes. Solving these adventure-game-like mysteries earns you new cards and brings you one step closer to unraveling Inscryption's larger mysteries. You eventually reach some startling revelations about who you are and why you're trapped in this cabin, but the less I say about those revelations the better. However, Inscryption successfully flipped my expectations multiple times before the journey was over, and I couldn't wait to see its satisfying narrative conclusion.

Inscryption is an oddity of the best order. It's a horror game that isn't aggressively trying to scare you. It's also a clever card system wrapped around a compelling mystery that plays with video game conventions. Like a bat out of hell, Inscryption came out of nowhere and quickly became one of my favorite games of the year.

Score: 9

Summary: A horror-themed deck-building experience that evolves in unexpected ways the more you play.

Concept: A horror-themed deck-building experience that evolves in unexpected ways the more you play

Graphics: Inscryption's low-fi art style and dark atmosphere sends chills up your spine

Sound: A moody soundtrack helps sell the horror theme, but it's subtle and largely unmemorable

Playability: The card system has clearly defined rules, so playing cards is simple. Building an overpowered deck is highly rewarding

Entertainment: The card combat is engaging, and the larger narrative elements make Inscryption incredibly hard to put down

Replay: Moderately High

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Battlefield 2042 Review

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: DICE

Reviewed on: PC

Also on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Battlefield has always been the largest and loudest multiplayer experience in the business. It’s the video game equivalent of Texas, and its bombast cannot be overstated. Battlefield 2042 offers a variety of ways to participate in simulated near-future warfare. Whether you prefer to fight via land or sky, you can experience dizzying on-screen explosions, tense firefights, and more vehicles than teammates who know how to drive them. Unfortunately, Battlefield 2042 is full of almost as many bugs as bad pilots, dragging down an otherwise solid online shooter.

If nothing else, Battlefield 2042 is familiar. It continues the series’ trend in delivering multiplayer maps with the largest player count possible and a range of reliable character archetypes that have become standard in first-person shooters. The newest addition to Battlefield’s long-standing formula is a weather system that lets you ride lethal tornados alongside the vehicles and debris they pick up on their route across the map. These storms are a neat touch and add a sense of panic to already-tense battles, but their inclusion feels inconsequential in the grand scheme. The 128-player matches and large maps guarantee dramatic moments, but there’s a thin line separating spectacle and chaos, and 2042 often devolves into the latter.

There’s never been a Battlefield game released without Conquest, the signature mode which tasks two opposing teams to capture and defend objective zones across the map. Each side has a limited number of reinforcements that slowly drain according to how many sectors the team controls. The popular format is alive and well in 2042, but unfortunately, it’s my least favorite way to play. For the first time, Battlefield hosts too many players in each match. Without the presence of Commanders to take charge of assaults, Conquest feels disorganized and incoherent at times since there’s no good way for all 64 players on each team to communicate and focus their attacks. Also, respawns frequently place you in the middle of a contested area only to be immediately killed by an enemy from somewhere off-screen.

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Even if the larger picture is occasionally blurred, the moment-to-moment gameplay loop is fun. Gunplay is solid even though hits don’t always seem to register when they should, and the wide array of vehicles are equally entertaining to pilot when running on foot becomes tiresome. I was disappointed by the lack of naval warfare, which is notable considering its importance in the series and the fact that several maps are surrounded by large bodies of water.

Breakthrough is the second mode in the game’s multiplayer suite, and it provides more focused engagements by separating maps into multiple segments, each containing two Control Points. If the attacking team successfully captures all of the objectives in a zone, they can force the defending team to retreat to the next area. While Breakthrough still suffers from an inflated player count, it is undoubtedly the best path to participating in a traditional Battlefield experience.

Hazard Zone, a brand new multiplayer format introduced in 2042, pits eight squads of four against one another and tasks them with retrieving data drives located in satellite crash sites scattered across the map. Each location is guarded by opposing AI forces that attack your team on sight. Hazard Zone has no respawning unless your teammates have a Redeploy Uplink. The only way to win these matches is to extract in a highly-contested Helicarrier, which only visits the map twice throughout the game. If you miss the flight or die before making it onboard, it’s game over, and you lose the credits you spent in the pre-match munitions shop. However, if you successfully extract, you’re rewarded with Dark Market Credits, a meta currency that persists between games, which you can spend to purchase better gear before your next match. Hazard Zone is tense and strategic, and the white-knuckle firefights at the end of each game make it my favorite way to play Battlefield 2042.

Another new addition to the series is Battlefield Portal, a community-driven platform that players can use to make custom games or play others’ weird creations. For example, there’s a free-for-all rockets-only mode in which the only way to reload your launcher is to jump five times. Watching rockets fly across the screen in such a ridiculous scenario is hilarious, but like most of the games in Portal, the fun fades after a match or two.

In theory, Portal is an opportunity for players to create inventive spins on Battlefield, especially since the Battlefield Builder is easy to grasp and is accessible via a web browser. Portal lets you customize the game mode, map rotation, arsenal restrictions, and you can program advanced rulesets with visual scripting in the Logic Editor; however, the latter is less approachable to beginners. As a fan of past creative suites like Halo Forge and Fortnite Creative, I’m not compelled to interact with Portal’s tools since they’re designed for modifying existing game settings and don’t allow you to design your own original levels. 

Portal also includes remastered versions of classic maps, and you can augment their rulesets or play them in their original form in a developer-featured playlist. I love this inclusion and am very happy to have a convenient way to return to beloved locations like Valparaiso, Caspian Border, or the Battle of The Bulge. These are effectively remastered versions of the series’ best maps, and I’m interested to see which ones DICE adds next.

Whether you’re grappling above the competition like Spider-Man, flying through a deadly tornado with a wingsuit, or sniping enemies from behind mobile barricades, each Battlefield specialist offers a unique way to participate in the battle. The title launched with ten specialists, and each of them falls into one of four classes: Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon. You can fine-tune these characters in myriad ways (including being able to use any weapon). Still, my favorite customization feature is the option to swap weapon attachments mid-fight without needing to respawn. My go-to sniper lens is the 6X scope, but I found it convenient to switch to a different optic on the fly with the press of a button. This new feature vastly improves the multiplayer experience and should be adopted by other first-person shooters.

Battlefield 2042 includes seven maps at launch. Hourglass features an isolated city reclaimed by the neighboring desert, Discarded hosts colossal shipyards along India’s western coasts, and Breakaway is nestled amidst the icy mountains of Antarctica. The other maps – Manifest, Kaleidoscope, Orbital, and Renewal – are standard fare but still feature landscapes worth exploring. Every map is affected by violent weather systems that are exciting to navigate, but I wish more maps hosted unique elements like Orbital’s rocket launch and Breakaway’s explosive silos that permanently augment the map mid-match. Regardless, there aren’t any bad maps, and I enjoy playing on each of them.

Unfortunately, Battlefield 2042 currently feels underbaked due to an abundance of bugs. While most bugs I encountered are minor, each one dilutes the fun I have when playing. For example, the grappling hook’s zipline clipping through the front of the device during its animation or not being able to call in air support on a map like Hourglass because of an issue with the sand’s navmesh. More serious glitches can negatively affect gameplay, like when sniper scopes lose their magnification after interacting with gadgets like Irish’s mobile barricades. While playing on PC, the game also hard crashed to my desktop once during a week spent playing the game. One of my friends wasn’t as lucky and experienced several crashes in one of our play sessions. These crashes left me especially disadvantaged in Hazard Zone. 

Don’t get me wrong: Battlefield 2042 is playable, packed with content, and often really fun. The title’s seven maps are distinct from one another, its bevy of customization options make it easy to play how you want, and I love the extreme weather systems and the quick-equip weapon feature. Portal hasn’t reached its full potential, but it introduces a convenient way to access six beloved experiences from Battlefield 3, Battlefield 1942, and Bad Company 2. Battlefield 2042 is an easy recommendation for existing fans or players looking for a modern war game, but I struggle to fully endorse it due to its current lack of polish. As long as DICE continues to publish hotfixes and patches as they have, Battlefield 2042 could eventually become a go-to online shooter, but it’s a shame it was released like this.

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Battlefield 2042 was reviewed on PC with a code provided by the publisher for review purposes.

Score: 7

Summary: An otherwise solid online shooter bogged down by an abundance of bugs.

Concept: Battle for objectives across large-scale maps via land, sky, and in the middle of tornados

Graphics: The visuals are sacrificed in modes with larger player counts, but environments are rendered beautifully in smaller modes like Hazard Zone

Sound: Deep bass, large drums, and guttural synths comprise a familiar but compelling modern combat soundscape

Playability: Myriad customization options and approachable combat make for a varied first-person shooter

Entertainment: Each weapon has a unique feel that is fun to master and contested objectives always keep you busy

Replay: Moderately High

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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Review – Refurbished Gems

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Publisher: The Pokémon Company

Developer: Ilca, Game Freak

Rating: Everyone

Reviewed on: Switch

Originally released in 2006, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl ushered in a new generation of Pokémon games onto the Nintendo DS. With the themes of evolution and creation woven throughout the story, the upgraded designs of the new Pokémon found throughout the Sinnoh region, as well as newly discovered evolutionary lines of fan-favorite monsters, these games felt like a notable step forward for the franchise. In remaking these classics new Pokémon developer ILCA proves it can handle recreating the crucial tenants of the franchise.

For the most part, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are “faithful remakes” – as The Pokémon Company likes to call them – of their namesake DS games. The skeleton is there, with the same towns, routes, trainers, and Pokédex of monsters found throughout the adventure. You still start from humble beginnings in Twinleaf Town, where starry-eyed trainers receive a Pokédex from Professor Rowan and their choice of starter Pokémon. From there, you meet your friends and rivals, Dawn and Barry, and set off along your journey to conquer eight Gyms and become champion of the region. You’ll also uncover Team Galactic’s plans to harness the energy of evolution and the legendary creation duo of Dialga or Palkia. Nothing in the story is new or surprising, but I found that acceptable – and preferable – after being away from Sinnoh for over a decade.

ILCA opted to recreate the DS games’ chibi characters in 3D and keep the world’s top-down perspective, which accentuates the feeling of these remakes remaining faithful to the source material. This is a deviation from how previous remakes have modernized their graphical styles and feature sets. That’s not to say the visuals look dated. New graphical enhancements to lighting, shadows, and water look great. The abundance of reflections on surfaces throughout the world and especially during Pokémon battles is also impressive. Unlike characters in the overworld, fights utilize full-size Pokémon and trainer models with unique environments determined by your location in the world. These scenes look great and are mostly free of framerate drops or the slowdown that plagues other 3D entries in the series.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl deviate from the mechanical blueprint, with varying degrees of success. Newer innovations like autosave or the ability to view the strength and weaknesses of moves in battle are great additions, which I always like to see.  Pokémon also no longer need to be taught HMs to utilize moves like Rock Smash or Cut to navigate puzzles or obstacles in the world, something that would have taken up a move slots in the original titles. EXP Share is, on its face, a great way to cut down on unnecessary grinding to ensure your lesser-used Pokémon are battle-ready. However, the developers haven’t taken any measures to balance this feature, and there isn’t a way to turn EXP Share off. As a result, my teams felt over-leveled as the game progressed, making big matches against Team Galactic or any of the Gym leaders feel easy and insignificant. I steamrolled through challengers on the surface of Sinnoh and had to find more formidable foes elsewhere.

My favorite place to explore has been the Grand Underground, a massive subterranean cave system lying beneath the surface of Sinnoh. I mean it, this place is enormous and spans just about the size of the main map. Here you dig for countless gems, fossils, and statues in the walls and Hideaways. These Hideaways are larger areas found within the Grand Underground, complete with biomes and higher-leveled Pokémon you wouldn’t normally find above ground, many of which aren’t a part of the standard Sinnoh Pokédex. I found the challenge I craved above ground in these Hideaways as I captured new, exotic creatures to diversify my team. Players can create Secret Bases by digging customizable rooms in the cavern wall. Placing special Pokémon statues inside these rooms altered which monsters I found within the Hideaways. Those looking to catch ‘em all should spend a lot of time in the Grand Underground, excavating precious items and tweaking statue combinations to fill out the Pokédex.

Other activities include the Pokémon pageants called Super Contest Shows, which I liked more than I thought I would. You’ll wow judges with a simple rhythm game and unleash a pre-chosen attack at the perfect moment to score points. I also loved customizing my Pokéballs with the Ball Capsule system. With an expanded system from Diamond and Pearl, you can slap various stickers on the capsules to create unique animations and earn extra points when tossing a Pokémon into these Super Contest Shows. Stickers add cool flames, bubbles, sparks, or musical notes to give an extra bit of flash and flourish, granting a level of personalization absent in the DS games. Even better, your Ball Capsule animations show up in battle but won’t affect how fights play out in any way.

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While Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl don’t move the needle in terms of what Pokémon games will look and play like moving forward, they mostly hit the mark in being faithful to the originals. I’ve really enjoyed my time re-exploring Sinnoh, despite my qualms with the lack of critical path difficulty. They’re a welcome throwback to a simpler time when I felt completing a Pokédex was a somewhat realistic task to undertake. Veteran trainers will find plenty here to scratch a nostalgic itch, and new trainers who missed out the first time around have a solid adventure to embark on.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have online features which were not accessible during our time playing the game for review. These features allow players to trade, battle, compete in Super Contest Shows and gather in the Grand Underground with other trainers over the internet. Our review currently does not reflect any online functionality and may be updated if the multiplayer modes significantly add or detract from the experience.

Score: 8.5

Summary: Pokemon's debut DS games have been remade on Switch with welcomed quality of life changes while staying close to the vision of the originals.

Concept: Pokémon’s fourth-generation games, Diamond and Pearl, are recreated with new visuals and modern conveniences while retaining the core story and world of the originals

Graphics: Pokémon, trainers, and environments in head-to-head conflicts look great, using detailed models you’d expect from a modern Pokémon game

Sound: The remastered and rearranged soundtrack is as catchy as ever. Minor additions and changes to the sounds and cries Pokémon make are also neat touches

Playability: EXP Share makes the main-line fights a tad too easy over time, but other quality of life changes like constant access to Pokémon storage boxes and adjustments to the HM system are welcome improvements

Entertainment: Catching, training, and trading Pokémon remains a blast, and Sinnoh is a great region to explore

Replay: Moderately High

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Moncage Review – Think Outside The Box

Publisher: XD Inc.

Developer: Optillusion

Rating: 4+

Reviewed on: PC

Also on: iOS, Android

In a dim, empty room, on a small table, lies a cube. Moncage dumps players right into the action with a few quick notes on how to manipulate this multi-faceted object. It tasks you with connecting similar objects found on the box’s different planes by spinning the cube and looking at things from unique perspectives. At first, the challenge seems simple. However, as the game progresses, puzzles grow more sophisticated, and the seemingly unconnected scenes reflected on the cube’s sides begin to weave into a narrative. I only wish that narrative had more substance.

Each side of Moncage’s six-sided cube displays a distinct vignette – like a window into various environments. Objects in one scene align with objects from another if the player rotates the cube to the right perspective. My first goal in Moncage is to open a suitcase displayed on one side. Inside is a teddy bear, toy truck, and various child’s playthings. The minimalistic aesthetic presents the shape of each object, but not the fine details, which sets a dreamlike tone that compliments the surreal gameplay. The simplistic appearance is also crucial in allowing the optical illusions players need to piece things together and progress through the experience.

With nothing left to do in the first panel, I rotate the box to the left, finding a broken dump truck stalled in front of a factory. Since the trucks in both panels have the same coloring and lines, I twist the cube so that the front half of the child’s toy in the first scene lines up with the vehicle’s back half on the other side of the cube. That does the trick, and the newly fixed truck moves down the road.

Even though this initial solution isn’t difficult, it leaves me feeling accomplished. Moncage replicates this feeling over and over again in new and imaginative ways, making it a really rewarding puzzle game. For instance, in my favorite section, I have to move from one side of the cube to the next, quickly matching up bits of benches, water containers, tanks, and more into a Rube Goldberg machine to allow a tiny object to roll through every vignette without stopping. Stringing this all together and getting the timing correct was gratifying in a vein similar to beating a giant boss from an action game.

However, some answers are not apparent. Like many puzzle games, overlooking some small detail occasionally left me beating my head against the wall. For example, in one level, I could tell a radio antenna fit perfectly with an electrical post, but I didn’t realize for some time that I had to light up one scene for the objects to be the same color before they could match up. Thankfully, there's a creative, effective, and robust hint system. At any point during the game, you can hit a button to make important objects glow. The guidance is subtle and feels more like a nudge in the right direction than a direct line to the solution. If that isn’t enough, the next hints offer written clues, and once you burn through those, the game offers a short video clip showing the puzzle’s solution. This was very helpful in situations where I had the right idea but wasn't precise enough to register the solution. I find this hint system really appealing. It effectively combats the frustrations of typical puzzle games but doesn’t make asking for help feel like defeat.

As I make my way through the game, I find that what had, at first, seemed like random, unrelated tableaus, were actually bits and pieces taken from a bigger, overarching story. Typically, this kind of storytelling fascinates me, but Moncage’s narrative didn’t capture my attention. Overall, the story is too nebulous to be impactful. It doesn't help that much of the narrative is told through photographs carefully hidden throughout the game, meaning players can easily miss significant plot elements. There are undoubtedly evocative moments – several pictures are dedicated to the subject’s wartime experiences, both good and bad. One image, for example, captures a fun outing to the fair seemingly marred by the veteran’s traumatic reaction to fireworks. There are also some interesting moments when the pictures allow me to understand something new about a location I visited as part of an earlier puzzle, especially at the end. However, I walked away from the game wishing I knew a little more about the underlining story and didn’t have to piece together the ambiguous events myself.

Moncage is an intelligent puzzle game, and its perspective-based riddles stretched my imagination as each scene flowed beautifully into the next. The narrative could have hit harder, and it sometimes felt like I had to align things perfectly for the game to accept the correct answer, but Optillusion’s title is a challenge worth picking up.

Score: 7.5

Summary: Though its narrative could have hit harder, Moncage is an intelligent puzzle game.

Concept: Solve puzzles by rotating and connecting images on a cube and discover how each scene connects to an unfolding story

Graphics: The imagery serves both an aesthetic and practical purpose; environmental objects act like puzzle pieces, but their design also highlight’s Moncage’s surreal nature

Sound: The audio design is subtle and unobtrusive, but each scene has its own pleasing soundscape

Playability: With only a few mechanics, Moncage is easy to start. However, overcoming the increasingly challenging puzzles is anything but straightforward

Entertainment: Solutions are often clever and make the player feel smart, even if they call on the robust hint system for guidance. In a delightful surprise, the unfolding narrative connects to the seemingly random puzzles, though the story could be more impactful

Replay: Moderately High

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