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Vermintide 2 is a compulsively playable den of slaughter

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by Amr (@siegarettes)

  • Warhammer: Vermintide II
  • Developer- Fatshark 
  • Publisher- Fatshark
  • PC, Xbox One, PS4

Warhammer has got to have what is personally the most off putting, wretched and boring fantasy worlds put to pen and paper. Everything about it, from the aggressive focus on the ugliness of its world to the aggressively unlikable characters with ridiculous names spouting fake ol’ timey insults really represents everything that I personally dislike about fantasy as a genre. Warhammer: Vermintide II is one of the few games good enough to make me put up with that. 

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Super Hydorah is a loving homage to classic shooters, for better or for worse

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by Omar (@siegarettes)

As of writing this there are two things that I’m sure of: Super Hydorah is a fantastic homage to the shooters I grew up with, and I might never be able to finish it. It’s obvious that Locomalito grew up loving the same games I did. The aesthetics, soundtrack, and even opening waves of enemies make his love for arcade shooters like Gradius and R-Type clear. The measure of a good homage, of course, is whether they make the originals their own, or simply imitate it. Hydorah undoubtedly makes the spirit of those games its own, but it brings the frustration of those early games along with it.

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Tooth and Tail is a fresh, micro-sized take on Real-Time Strategy

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Time, it turns out, was my greatest barrier to entry into the real-time strategy genre. More than the complexity of tech trees, the need for fast responses, or juggling an economy, time is what has kept me from diving into the genre. At least, that’s what I’m learning from my time with Tooth and Tail, the new micro-RTS from the developers of Monaco.

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What’s new in Nidhogg 2? Gameplay Overview and Tips for Playing

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by Omar (@siegarettes)

  • Nidhogg 2
  • Developer- Messhof
  • Publisher- Messhof
  • PC, PS4

For a lot of people the original Nidhogg was something difficult to improve upon. It was sleek, with a minimalist moveset and aesthetic that belied its frantic pace and hype making duels. 

Nidhogg 2 is a different game. You probably noticed thanks to its new art. It’s both gorgeous and grotesque, with gorgeous environmental art, contrasted against slapstick brutality that would feel right at home in an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon. It might be tempting to see this game as a simple expansion of the original, albeit with a big visual makeover, but Nidhogg 2 makes some subtle changes that make it a more fluid and dynamic game.The core of Nidhogg’s fencing tug of war is still here, but you’ll have to play a little bit smarter to get past your opponents.

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Single Press: Without Direction

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by Marie (@rlpte)

Single Press is a series of short writings on small games.

What makes one person to matter to another? And how would you express that? What words would you use? What picture would you paint? Direction tries to paint it’s own picture through a series of increasingly surreal, loosely connected vignettes, arching towards a broader question: how can we represent the things that defy words?

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Amnesia: Memories is an anxious romance

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by Omar (@siegarettes)

  • Amnesia: Memories
  • Developer - Otomate
  • Publisher - Idea Factory 
  • PC (Steam), PS Vita, iOS+Android (TBA)

This is an impressions piece based on a single playthrough of the game. The full game has multiple worlds and endings.

Amnesia has to be one of the most played out narrative devices in fiction. It’s an easy way to create a sense of mystery and give the protagonist the same denial of information that the audience has. That gets weird real fast when you drop that into the context of a romance, especially when you’re not trying to build up a relationship but figure out what it was to start with.

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The Hakuoki Primer

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by Omar (@neo_graphyte)

With the latest release of Hakuoki on mobile platforms, I thought I’d throw up a general primer for both Hakuoki and the otome (maiden) game genre. Consider this the start point if this is your first foray into either otome, visual novels, or Hakuoki. If those are already familiar to you, feel free to skip to the full review.

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