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Starfield, which has been the hallmark moniker for “Toddslop,” has set the bar for future Bethesda games fairly low. Starfield’s launch has been met with a considerable amount of negative reception and I fully expect that Elder Scrolls 6 will meet the same fate. To succinctly put my point: Skyrim will remain the gold standard and Elder Scrolls 6 will fall as flat as Starfield has. That is unless Bethesda does some major restructuring with their creative design. Skyrim is where this series will rest on its laurels forever, unless innovation comes fast. Starfield gave us an inferior experience to Skyrim, even with the wealth of new technology and learnings from Skyrim and Elder Scrolls Online, along with Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. Starfield Sets the Bar Low Starfield should have been the latest open world RPG that players flock to. A space setting, with the Bethesda world building and…

The gaming landscape, now more than ever with the modern proliferation of indie games, has shown that great games can come in all sizes. There are low quality AAA games that cost millions of dollars to make, and there are fantastic games from one-man studios that were crowdfunded, and some not even that. Further, while all of us wish we had the kind of money in real life as we tend to end up with in our favorite video games, that’s not always the case. And even for those who do, there is no income limit where you are required to stop being careful with how you spend your money. So, why pay a lot for a bad experience when you can pay a little for a great one? For someone with a computer, there is a vast, wide sea of Steam games that are both high quality and wallet-friendly.…

The top RPGs from the 1990s onward are essential for fans, redefining the genre’s standards. Skyrim offers expansive moddable gameplay, while The Witcher 3 delivers impactful choices and story. Final Fantasy VII is celebrated for its narrative, and Ocarina of Time is notable for immersive play. Mass Effect set precedents with its narrative and gun-based action. These games exemplify the transformative escapism RPGs provide, setting benchmarks for future titles.

In 2023, our staff collaborated to create a comprehensive ranking of the year’s games. Standouts include Alan Wake II and Armored Core VI in the S+ tier, with titles like Dead Space Remastered and Tales of Symphonia Remastered in the S tier. The A tier features games like Cities Skylines 2 and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

Beyond Sunset is a fairly decent retro cyberpunk shooter and a fantastical journey through the story and sound, provided by Karl Vincent of a wild cyberpunk world. The world is bleak but so full of character, embodying the idea of synthwave / cyberpunk aesthetics weaved with a lot of DOOM. This review covers the November 2023 Early Access Build. This is one of the few games where the smooth door animations actually impress me. A world built around a strong cyberpunk theme waits for players to jump and slide their way through its streets and towering mega-skyscrapers. If you’re at all into the music or the gameplay of DOOM, this is a definite purchase. If you need some more details, let’s dig in. What is Beyond Sunset? Built on GZDOOM, Beyond Sunset is a retro DOOM-like FPS with multiple hub maps, a full story driven campaign, inventory, RPG elements, side…

You should play Mondealy if you have the chance to. That’s our review. If you want to know why we say that, read on, but ultimately, we’re going to tell you to play Mondealy. If you don’t like visual novels, that’s fine. If you don’t like pixel art, that’s fine. If you don’t like indie games, that’s fine. Go play it. That’s as high of an honor as a game can get from us and we’ll gladly hand it to this year’s best visual novel adventure game. Mondealy is a journey of friendship in a weird world that exists slightly below our own. The best way to describe is what happens in Undertale if the barrier went down but no one left and classism is at the top of the discussion list. Modern culture weaves through with love and affection as Michael journeys through a world that evokes both nostalgia…

Alterium Shift is an aspirational JPRG designed to follow in the footsteps of Legend of Mana and Chrono Trigger. Still in Early Access, the development so far has shown great promise that we may yet see another breakout hit this generation with the essence from decades ago. Alterium Shift is an aesthetic charm and once a bit more buttoned up will definitely be a competitive player in JRPG arena. We took a deep dive into the game and gave the early access a preview. It’s nice to note the game has a demo, which means if you’re on the fence about what’s available now you can always check it out before you commit. In the developer’s notes on Steam, which are really heartwarming and extremely fair, they even encourage users to. Be sure to give it a read if you’re curious about more details about the game. What is Alterium…

Everspace 2 is a beautifully crafted massive open world first person space shooter action RPG with tight controls and a lot of fast paced action. ROCKFISH Games, a small independent studio, have overdelivered in their sequel to Everspace. This time, instead of being a roguelike, the game follows more along an ARPG path where you’re exploring a vast open world with easily 50+ hours of content. It is easily worth the price of admission at full price but let’s dig a bit deeper into that. To be perfectly clear – Everspace 2 is not a roguelike unlike Everspace, although Everspace 2 is much more like an ARPG, i.e., Diablo in space with an open world like Freelancer. So Much Good Content Everspace 2 has so many areas to visit that it can be overwhelming and all of them have different aesthetics and vibes. That’s important that the content is good,…

Truth is what we’re best known for and I’d like to start this off with an honest one: Testament: The Order of High Human is expected to be perfect and is not. It is a beautiful, gorgeous game with deep lore and very fun puzzles with some decent combat. It has an old school scrappy developer vibe to it that makes a lot of old games endearing with graphics that appeal to the modern eyes. We don’t use numerical rankings because it’s sitting on 6/10 on Steam right now and is at “All Reviews: Mixed” on a sample size of roughly ~20. I don’t think games that have the artistic depth that Testament does deserve to be put on a numerical scale where anything below 8 is a waste of your money. There’s an audience out there for Testament who love this style of game and when it comes to…

Playing together can be a lot of fun and the Internet enables us to play remotely. There are, however, many scenarios where it’s more fun to play together when together in real life. There’s no excuse to try out tons of games together considering Game Pass is an all you can eat buffet of games as long as your subscription is active. We’ll take a look at the best couch co-op games of 2023. In our list below we outline what games we think are worth playing, even if they are C tier, they’re on the list so it might be worth checking out. Our highest recommended are going to be right now: It Takes Two (2 player), Undercooked 2 (4 player), and Fable II (2 player RPG). We’ve got some more options we’ll explore below as well. Best Couch Co-Op Games on Xbox Game Pass To mark the best…