World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands Review – Old Ghosts And Bold Beginnings

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Reviewed on: PC

Compared to the lifespan of most games, World of Warcraft is ancient - but it’s hardly a relic. Even today, Blizzard’s MMORPG continues to keep the content flowing for players old and new. Shadowlands is the eighth expansion, and this journey through the afterlife comes with fresh features alongside systems that will be extremely familiar to veterans of the game. At the core, Shadowlands succeeds with powerful world-building fantasy, player identity, and bold gameplay elements.

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Shadowlands’ premise is simple and straightforward. You invade the many realms of the afterlife to foil the plans of a mysterious arch-enemy called the Jailer. He is exceptionally boring as a villain right now, and takes a backseat to the true all-stars of the afterlife: the four distinct factions that the player explores and eventually aligns with as they reach the level cap. Making the choice to side with one of the realms comes with a ton of flavor and personality. 

I aligned myself with the crushed-velvet, soul-sucking, vampiric aristocracy of Revendreth. Its gothic horror trappings, magic mirrors, and giant bats gave me a different perspective of the world than players who sided with other factions. I even got to host VIP parties to try sucking up to nobles to get big payoffs. However, my nature-loving friend sided with the gorgeous ethereal forests of Ardenweald, where they put on plays in the woods and tend gardens. Whatever your decision, it feels more like you’re becoming part of these soul societies and not just jumping on an endgame progression treadmill. There’s flavor behind the functionality, and it counts for a lot, even if you are still roaming from zone to zone completing world quests. Each dungeon has elements that can be interacted with from a faction standpoint as well; discovering I could tame the gargoyles in a Venthyr dungeon to help defeat enemies was a nice surprise.

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Each zone in the afterlife is beautifully constructed and sells the fantasy well. While the sacred fields of Bastion and its angelic warriors bored me, it’s a necessary realm to serve as a foil to the darkness of Revendreth. All of the zones are impressive to view from above, and they look incredible considering how old the core of World of Warcraft is. Each zone is markedly different from the others in terms of aesthetics, personality, and feel. Blizzard takes advantage of being able to tap into heroes and villains of ages past; as this is the afterlife, it’s a great chance to bring the greatest hits from across WoW history into the spotlight. Great attention has been paid to bring forth major characters, obscure single-quest references from a decade ago, and popular newcomers like Battle for Azeroth’s Bwonsamdi.

Shadowlands serves up many staples of what is now understood to be the norm. While world quests, dungeons, war tables, and other endgame progression features are all still around with a sparkling coat of faction flavor, they don’t really alter anything in a fundamental way. Many of the quests on the way to level cap feel like stale and tired filler fare, like collecting acorns or killing fifteen cultists, with some interesting larger scale beats scattered in. However, new systems within an incredibly dangerous zone the Maw (It’s supposed to be hell) and a roguelike run experience known as Torghast make Shadowlands stand out. 

The Maw is an incredibly hazardous realm that offers risk-reward balance as you hang out in the Jailer’s backyard, battling lethal monsters without any real safety net to speak of. You may even have to run back to where you die to recover some lost resources. The Maw adds some pressure and challenge to an open-zone environment, which is absolutely refreshing in a game in which it’s all too easy to end up on autopilot world quest mode while watching Netflix. Participating in Maw activities raises the ire of the Jailer, who focuses on you like the Eye of Sauron in Mordor as you slay his fiends. While it’s functionally just another way to gate how much you can do in The Maw every day, it’s again the colorful packaging that makes the difference here.

The pinnacle of Shadowlands content is Torghast. Take the variance and unpredictability of roguelike runs and do them on your WoW character, alone or with friends, in a damned dungeon tower that’s different every time. After doing a decade of dungeon runs that never change, Torghast is a beyond welcome addition. Even the greatest curated dungeons lose their luster after completing them a dozen times, so the prospect of something new each dive is tantalizing. Each run is another opportunity to try out different builds and strategies as your powerups and situations change constantly. One run may turn you into an overpowered god stacking multiple scaling sources of damage to annihilate everything in sight or accumulating enough regeneration to handle anything. Complete puzzles to open caches, rescue some companions you can take back to your hideout, run into a mimic, or slay a rare miniboss that confers special powers. The Torghast climb is great fun and quite replayable – I found myself going back in even after I had capped my rewards for the week just to explore, experiment, and enjoy.

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It’s worth mentioning that the new leveling experience that rolled out with Shadowlands is excellent, allowing you to get a character leveled, geared, and into the new content in a fraction of the time it would have taken before, so you have time to learn your class easily before hitting the Shadowlands. This allows players to level up through any of WoW’s old expansions at a rapid pace, tempting adventurers to enjoy the old content whilst keeping it relevant in a new era. I leveled several characters for fun just to explore the old expansions, and it felt great to have a few more options in my stable to explore Shadowlands with.

Shadowlands plays it safe with numerous takes on established systems and structures, but lets players enjoy those features with a plethora of personality via the covenant factions and themed zones. Shadowlands also takes chances with a deadly zone that promotes teamwork and careful play alongside a fantastic roguelike run tower that’s full of surprises. Shadowlands is a satisfying addition to the annals of World of Warcraft expansions, and with a robust and revamped leveling experience rolling out with it, it’s a great time to come back to the MMORPG that made the genre mainstream
 

Score: 8.75

Summary: Venture to the great beyond in World of Warcraft's latest adventure.

Concept: Save the world by entering various realms in the afterlife, meeting old friends and enemies along the way

Graphics: Breathtaking and striking environments make it hard to imagine that the game is 16 years old

Sound: The core sounds of World of Warcraft haven’t changed much, but there are always unit barks and meme-worthy boss quips to enjoy

Playability: A revamped and customizable levelling process makes Shadowlands a great time for new or returning players to join in

Entertainment: Shadowlands adds some daring elements into the mix while also retaining many of the same hooks that have kept the MMO going over the years

Replay: High

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Immortals Fenyx Rising Review – Divine Inspiration

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Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Quebec

Release: February 25, 2020

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S

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

When a powerful titan defeats the Greek gods and scatters them across the Golden Isle, an unproven shield-bearer named Fenyx washes up on shore. More of a storyteller than a soldier, Fenyx must now write a legend of their own, reuniting the gods and challenging the evil force known as Typhon in an ultimate underdog story. Much like its protagonist, Immortals Fenyx Rising strives to be more than a game that just repeats the glories of others; it adds its own mythical flair on top of developer Ubisoft Quebec’s previous work on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The result is an exciting and unique open-world adventure worthy of a place in the gaming pantheon.

Exploring the Golden Isle is a joyous experience. Rich visuals (inspired by Studio Ghibli’s films) create lush and diverse biomes, and your traversal abilities make it simple to navigate the world. Fenyx (who can be male or female) can climb nearly any surface as long as they have the stamina, or jump off a mountain or statue and glide across long distances with ease. Even when I had fast-travel options to reach my destination quicker, I typically opted to make the journey manually. Every corner I turned or nook I explored rewarded me with puzzles to solve or enemies to battle for gear, resources, and other rewards.

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As Fenyx progresses, Immortals fulfills a terrific power fantasy. At first, the combat system emphasizes basic attacks, parries, and dodges, but that run-of-the-mill repertoire quickly builds to one that allows you to chain together awesome, godlike powers. You can command your bird companion to rain death from above while you summon a cluster of spears from beneath the ground, then finish the combo with a devastating swing of a giant hammer. Immortals consistently delivers stylish action that encourages you to build your combos and optimize your gear to suit your playstyle. Unfortunately, the enemy types get repetitive; by the end of the journey, I was tired of battling the usual cyclopes and griffins, which is why I actively sought out the unique optional bosses.

When I wanted a tough fight, I took on the corrupted forms of legendary heroes like Achilles and Odysseus, or tracked down Mythical forms of monsters like Medusa or Ozomene. Though you grow rapidly in power as you continue Fenyx’s adventure, these optional fights provide distinct, edge-of-your-seat battles that test your skills and strategy – and reward you with unique gear.

Outside of the challenging fights, my favorite tasks to undertake in Immortals are the often-outstanding Vaults of Tartaros. Much like the Shrines in the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, these large, themed rooms throw distinct puzzles your way, with a different tactic required for each one. I enjoyed the innovative ways Immortals forced me to wrack my brain. One tasked me with activating gusts of wind to blow over obstacles, while another had me figuring out how to move boxes to pressure switches without getting destroyed by lasers. These Vaults feature such careful and intentional design that I always appreciated how clever the solutions were when I finally saw the big picture. Standard Vaults are often short and sweet, but God Vaults, which usually take place at the end of main storylines, are long, involved rooms that can take up to an hour to complete. Not only did I love working through these longer Vaults, but they serve as the perfect way to put a bow on the story arcs featuring some of Greek mythology’s most iconic characters, as voice lines play as you progress through the Vault, giving additional insight into the true nature and motivations of that god.

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With a narrative that involves a world-reshaping beast alongside the mightiest warriors, gods, and monsters of Greek mythology, you may think Immortals Fenyx Rising takes itself seriously. However, its high stakes and dark premise are punctuated by comedy, providing a lighthearted tone full of endearing moments with many of its characters. While the jokes don’t always land, I appreciated the strong mix of sarcasm, self-deprecation, and fourth-wall breaking. While an out-of-nowhere joke has the potential to take you out of the action-packed story, the writing is done in a masterful way that keeps the tone consistent throughout, making neither the serious moments or the comedic ones feel out of place.

Immortals contains all the ingredients I want from an epic, open-world adventure steeped in mythology. With empowering combat, rewarding exploration, and a story that shines a spotlight on its characters through humor, Immortals Fenyx Rising leverages its myriad inspirations to discover its own identity and deliver an outstanding open-world experience.

Score: 9

Summary: Immortals Fenyx Rising draws inspiration from movies and other games to create a unique and exciting mythological journey worth embarking on.

Concept: A humorous, action-packed adventure in which players explore a massive island brimming with prominent figures and creatures of Greek mythology

Graphics: The characters may look like strange puppets, but the world they populate is utterly gorgeous

Sound: An appropriately heroic score accompanies your feats, and the funny narration (by Zeus and Prometheus) hits the mark more than it misses

Playability: Though some of the environmental puzzles are poorly executed, the challenge-room Vaults are often clever, creative, and fun

Entertainment: Rewarding exploration, satisfying combat, and imaginative puzzles converge with endearing storytelling and well-executed humor to provide an excellent open-world experience

Replay: Moderate

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Destiny 2: Beyond Light Review – Smaller World, New Trajectory

Publisher: Bungie

Developer: Bungie

Reviewed on: PlayStation 4

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

Beyond Light has the feel of a turning point. In a long-running living game with many expansions and seasons to its name, Destiny 2 is always changing, but this installment feels different. The past and future of the franchise rotate around this release, which clears away much of the old and sets the stage for new story and gameplay beats. Like a tree that needs to get pruned back to allow for healthy growth, it also means that Beyond Light’s release leaves the game looking especially barren. Even as I’m excited to discover new powers and activities, the breadth of the overall experience has been reduced.

Several separate storylines converge to kick things off, sending players to the frigid moon of Europa to meet a couple of long-missing allies and fight a surging army of ice-cold Fallen aliens. In a plot turn that doesn’t feel especially earned after years of fighting its encroachment, your Guardian is forced to take on the powers of Darkness itself to hold back the tide. The campaign features several fun missions, but I was surprised at the way it is balanced, demanding either significant grinding or several battles that are frustrating endurance chores to tackle solo.

The Darkness-infused Stasis powers are mostly used against you by enemy bosses in the early hours, and it simply isn’t much fun to be frozen in place in a game all about speed and freedom of movement. Once the Stasis powers open up for regular use, the new subclasses add an interesting strategic tool to explore, and feature some gorgeous visual and sound effects that recall crystalline ice formations and shattering showers of sleet. The Hunter and Warlock powers are exciting and distinct, though I was disappointed by the Titan’s similarity to its own existing Arc powerset. No matter the class, I enjoyed using Stasis in PvE activities, but I’ve struggled to warm to its presence in PvP, where it feels like the barriers and freezing slow down the pace of play. I was also frustrated by the grindy nature of unlocking the subclasses for multiple characters; for the significant percentage of players who like to try out all three, it’s quite tedious.

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Huge swaths of old activities and destinations have been swept away in Beyond Light, and a design decision to “sunset” the majority of old weapons and armor combine to subtract a lot of beloved playstyles. Simply put, the absence is keenly felt. Europa is a beautiful new location to uncover, filled with vast snowy plains and mysterious underground facilities, but in a game about ever-expanding horizons, it’s strange to suddenly have fewer places to play out missions. Europa is forced to bear too much weight as a gameplay and mission destination, without the relief of more alternate locations. And as of now, there are too few new armaments to justify the obsolescence of so much of players’ existing collections.

I was pleased to see the return of the original Destiny’s Cosmodrome destination. The site is largely unchanged, but notable because it now houses the best onboarding for new players that the franchise has ever seen. The New Light mission thread echoes the opening steps players first encountered way back in 2014, but with several new twists that confront the challenging task of introducing the many interlocking systems that make up the game.

Bungie continues an admirable trend of introducing seasonal content that gradually evolves the state of the world’s story and activities, and these first couple of weeks in Beyond Light prove that effort is ongoing. The arrival of the Crow character is a clever plot twist that reintroduces an old foe in an intriguing new role, and his hunting missions are a good time, with some simple touches that give you the sense that you’re stalking a dangerous wounded animal. Meanwhile, the new Deep Stone Crypt raid once again proves Bungie’s flexibility and eye for balancing complex encounter design. Equally important, the raid’s initial completion also kicked off a whole new loop of missions and story for all players in the game. That sort of reactivity makes the universe dynamic and unpredictable, and I love it.

I respect the hard decisions that were involved in chopping the size of Destiny 2 down and consolidating the focus of play, and the similar moves that were involved in refocusing on gear acquisition rather than letting players continue to endlessly reuse old favorites. But it doesn’t change the reality that Destiny 2 feels greatly stripped back at the moment, even with the addition of several new ventures in these early weeks of Beyond Light. As an expansion, Beyond Light introduces some captivating narrative beats and missions, but it’s not enough all on its own to carry the load of the Destiny universe. I’m left ambivalent, with plenty of enthusiasm for the new content, and excitement about what comes next, but also the sense that for the first time, my longtime hobby game feels lesser than before.

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Score: 7.75

Summary: Beyond Light is a major turning point for the franchise in both story and gameplay, but the accompanying departure of older content diminishes the game in significant ways.

Concept: Rediscover the lost and frozen moon of Europa, and take steps along the dangerous path of wielding new powers of Darkness

Graphics: The new frozen locale emphasizes massive scale and boundless space, and the new shifting blizzard weather patterns deepen immersion and a sense of place

Sound: New music maintains Destiny’s reputation as one of the most compelling soundtracks in gaming, and the voice actors turn in strong performances

Playability: The initial campaign features a difficulty curve ill-suited to casual play. Significant grinding is necessary across this expansion to see the full scope of core missions and new abilities

Entertainment: An engaging story feels like a turning point in the canon, but the game feels diminished after stripping away roughly half of the locations, activities, and other core content

Replay: High

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