The titular Violett’s striking purple hair is as vibrant as the world her point and click adventure unfolds in. Having recently moved into a new home in the country with her parents, Violett is drawn to a glowing light in a hole in her bedroom wall. Upon reaching in and retrieving a glowing amulet, she somehow shrinks and finds herself in an otherworldly dimension.

Rife with puzzles and objects to find, collect and interact with, Violett Remastered is a noticeable improvement over its 2013 original and also offers new levels. The point and click adventure still provides a decent challenge for genre fans with its strong and memorable puzzles.

Violett Remastered is a tale told visually, with no text-based dialogue or narration, effectively communicated within the confines of its gorgeous art-style. When Violett and her parents move to an old house in the middle of nowhere, she has no idea that an old necklace hidden in her bedroom wall will send her on a wild, unexpected and puzzling adventure. Magically shrunken, Violett experiences the world from a much smaller perspective, with everything and every creature she encounters feeling larger than life. Over a dozen levels teeming with insects – giant from Violett’s newfound perspective – are also home to some clever and admittedly challenging puzzles.

As a point and click adventure, Violett Remastered certainly delivers in the puzzle department the genre is adored for. Violett is able to move between environments and interact with countless objects and characters that populate them, using them to solve puzzles that increase in complexity with story progression. Some of the interactions are well hidden amidst the vibrant backdrops and sheer density of the artistic landscape, making them difficult to find without through exploration. For players struggling with the puzzles there is an excellent hint function that highlights all possible interactions on-screen.

I am not ashamed to admit I had to use this several times, even though I had played the original title nearly ten years ago. While it highlights the things that can be interacted with it is still up to the player to determine which items from their inventory need to be used with other objects or characters to keep the story moving. This guided assistance certainly helps and when all else fails, trying everything within the inventory with all of the points of interest identified by the hint function will eventually get even the most casual of puzzle players through.

The areas Violett journeys through are so diverse and interesting, ranging from the likes of libraries, caverns, volcanos, islands and many more clever takes on the world from a smaller perspective. These locations are vibrant, exciting and cleverly designed.

The playful interactions and animations breathe life into this micro-world and it’s fun to have to put in the work to progress and see more of it. Playful sound design and an enchanting score keeps the atmosphere light and fun, a welcome approach to the presentation to compliment the potentially stressful puzzle-solving.

Violett Remastered is a genuine improvement over the original and a faithful representation of the beloved point and click genre. Casual and franchise fans can enjoy the experience at their own pace with the invaluable hint system available if things feel a little tough. The charming visuals in the delightful micro-world Violett finds herself in keep each location interesting and unique, a playful distraction to the increasingly complex puzzles standing in the way of progression.

+ Fun art and level design

+ Genuinely challenging puzzles

+ Excellent hint system

– Story is minimalistic

– No character development

– No replay value

Developed by: Forever Entertainment

Published by: Forever Entertainment

Release Date: June 4 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC

 * A digital code was kindly provided by the Publisher for the purpose of this review *

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All digital photography was captured in-game on Xbox Series X by Games of DAYNE

The post Violett Remastered Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Surviving the dangers of an amazonian rainforest pushes anthropologist Jake to the brink of insanity in pursuit of his wife Mia in Green Hell. Mia’s experience living amongst one of the indigenous tribes goes awry, sending Jake on a dangerous mission to rescue her and escape the forest alive. Predatory wildlife and violent tribe-folk aren’t the only threat to the player with their wellbeing becoming just as much of a threat to their survival if not managed correctly.

Offering a single-player story, survival and co-operative survival modes, Green Hell is an endurance test for up to four players. Managing hunger, thirst, energy and sanity while scavenging the forest for supplies to craft shelter and weapons to hunt, survival is not guaranteed.

Green Hell is a first-person survival experience that has offers an excellent variety of difficulties to choose from. The option to enjoy the story with no predators or attacks from tribes, coupled with decreased depletion rates of hunger and thirst for example is an excellent way to introduce players unfamiliar with the genre. Three higher difficulty options include predator and tribe threats and add various other stat altering modifiers to ramp up the challenge and provide a more genuine, and obviously difficult, survival experience. By being accessible to casual and experienced survival players Green Hell allows players to enjoy the story at their own pace and comfort levels, enticing players who enjoy it on a lower difficulty the first time to not just re-experience it, but almost play a completely different version of it by adding the more stressful, tense enemy encounters and harsher survival conditions.

The narrative spans several years and to go into much depth would be to enter heavy spoiler territory. What can be said is that a special mushroom is discovered that has the potential to cure diseases with a notable side effect of unleashing a deadly virus. This double-edged sword plot device unfolds in interesting fashion and ultimately delivers a clever story with a pair of endings to unlock, either good or bad. It is well worth replaying Green Hell to experience both and after an initial playthrough, the second can be completed in as little as 3 to 4 hours.

Survival in Green Hell is easier said than done and requires constant awareness of the player’s wellbeing, visually indicated by a watch that tracks health, hunger, thirst and energy. Maintaining these requires an understanding of the vegetation, meat and water available, not just where to find them but how to properly consume them. As new things are discovered they are added to the journal, which can be viewed at any time. Their entries offer insight into what things are, their uses and in some cases any effects that may come with their consumption, either proper or improper. Drinking water for instance is not as simple as going into the nearest stream or puddle. It must be collected and treated in order to be changed from dirty water to clean water. Drinking dirty water may make the player sick, hindering their health replenishment and possibly presenting other side effects such as vomiting.

Crafting is an essential component of Green Hell and the variety of tools is impressive. The likes of improvised knives or hatchets made from stone can be used to cut down trees to collect varying sizes of sticks, branches and logs that can be used to craft other tools or even shelters. A number of frame, wall and roof types are available to build from different types of resources that are fun to experiment with. The fun with crafting is exponentially increased when playing co-operatively, with up to four players working together two collect resources and craft things simultaneously, speeding up the process of building either simple or complex home bases with shelters, gardens, resource stacking stations and so much more. The inclusion of co-op is perhaps the greatest addition to this survival experience. The teamwork aspect is a lot of fun with consistent communication and really becomes a new type of experience as a result.

All of the wildlife that roam the forest can be killed and eaten but the roles can just as easily be reversed and the player can be mauled to death by a jaguar or bitten by a rattlesnake, fatal if the poison is not treated. Also roaming the forest are the local tribes. They can be bypassed with stealth but confrontation should be avoided unless weapons such as spears have been crafted as hand-to-hand melee combat is often no match for their crafted weapons. The constant threat and lurking enemies add to the atmospheric tension and excitement but as mentioned earlier, can be turned off altogether by playing on the lowest difficulty to allow players to simply enjoy the story without the pressures of the survival elements.

Any injuries sustained from fall damage, insect bites, animal attacks or showdowns with the tribes is cleverly displayed in a body inspection system, with each arm and leg able to be selected and turned – from the player’s perspective, to observe any injuries they may have. This is cool and a fun way to see the damage as opposed to a simple health bar. These injuries may require a type of grass for a bandage or perhaps something may need to be crafted using the animals and vegetation that populate the jungle. Left untreated these injuries will become infected and and various ailments will constantly hinder the player’s movement and stat depletion/replenishment.

The visuals in Green Hell are a little inconsistent. While the jungle itself is quite striking, the animations of the predatory animals in particular, as well as the jungle-dwelling tribes-folk leave plenty to be desired with wooden movement and stiff animations that hinder the immersion. The dynamic day-night cycle presents some beautiful views, especially around sunrise and sunset, with flashes of pink and orange cutting a very striking skyline. The constant whizzing of insects, trees blowing and predatory growls keep the jungle feeling alive, exciting and terrifying at the same time. Overall the presentation of Green Hell is as the name suggests, beautiful green paradise in one sense and a hellish prison full of danger in another.

Green Hell features an enjoyable story, fun crafting elements and excellent accessibility and co-operative support for players looking to experience it at their own pace and on their own terms. I can’t recommend enough how enjoyable the experience is in co-op and how satisfying it is to see a small camp blossom into a little farm with some teamwork. Genre fans have a fairly familiar experience ahead of them in terms of the core mechanics while casual fans can be introduced to the survival experience with as little or as much pressure as they want. All of the mechanics and features come together in satisfying fashion and the result is a well executed survival experience that doesn’t have to be endured alone.

+ Interesting story

+ Fun crafting options

+ Accessibility for both newcomers and veterans of the genre

+ Co-op is like a brand new experience

– Animations are stiff

– Journal and Inventory are clunky to navigate

– Predator variety is limited

Developed by: Creepy Jar

Published by: Creepy Jar

Release Date: June 9 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC

 * A digital code was kindly provided by the Publisher to Game News Aus for the purpose of this review. This review was written as a member of their team *

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The post Green Hell Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Taking place in a distant future Scarlet Nexus is a third person RPG that puts the player in the middle of an epic conflict as either Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall as they join their fellow members of the Other Suppression Force (OSF) to defend the city of New Himuka from monstrous creatures known as the Others.

Using the power of psychokinesis, players can string together combos and utilise the unique variant abilities of their ally party members in fast paced action as they explore together, grow stronger together and ultimately suppress the Others together.

Players assume the role of either Yuito or Kasane before the story kicks off, a decision that cannot be changed within the entire playthrough. Regardless of the character chosen the story essentially plays out the same way with the other character adopting a supporting role. Encouraging replayability, playing a future playthrough with the opposite character will show the story from the other character’s perspective, just subtle enough to be intriguing and worth exploring throughout the approximate 25-hour experience. Yuito favours a close-range combat style with Kasane is more appropriately used at mid-range. Aside from a perspective shift narratively, this is the only difference between either character.

The story is interesting and unique, the world it takes place in is embroiled in conflict just as humanity entered the dawn of a new era and one where a psionic hormone in the human brain allows people to tap into extrasensory abilities. This historical evolutionary feat would have little time to be celebrated before mutant creatures known as Others descended from the sky with an insatiable hunger for human brains. The arrival and chaos unleashed by the Others led to the formation of the Others Suppression Force to repel these monsters and prevent the fall of mankind.

New recruits Yuito and Kasane barely have time to come to terms with their new positions before being thrust into combat with the Others, learning on the fly with the more experienced members of their squad. With the fate of humanity resting on the shoulders of the duo and the OSF, the story constantly feels epic and tense, delivering a satisfying conclusion when all is said and done. An impressively fleshed out cast of characters, and the bonds they grow to share with Yuito and Kasane, give the ensemble troupe of saviours’ emotional depth and reasons to care for the various relationships that develop.

A fairly comprehensive tutorial takes place almost immediately as the story starts an introduces players to a somewhat overwhelming amount to process. Luckily, any tutorial information can be revisited at will in the menu screen, a feature I certainly resorted to on many occasions. With a little time, it becomes more familiar though as Scarlet Nexus is constantly introducing new mechanics along the way, demanding the player’s attention in order to keep up with the arsenal of attacks and manoeuvres at their disposal.

This constant evolution of the gameplay keeps things interesting. At its core, the combat is focused on stringing together the largest combos possible by utilising the equipped weapon, the environment, psionic abilities and the abilities of party members. Mastering perfect dodges, follow-up attacks and some very cool execution moves known as a Brain Crush. This Brain Crush has a different animation depending on the enemy it is used on which keeps it varied and satisfying as new ones are discovered. Using telekinesis to launch cars, rocks and anything in between at the enemy is a novelty that soon wears thin and becomes less interesting than the combos that can be formed with simple melee attacks and other psionic abilities.

Some truly epic and larger than life boss battles introduce a variety of elemental effects that require careful consideration in order to exploit enemy weakness and deliver maximum damage. The deep level of party member control can make these, and any enemy encounter for that matter, dynamic and enjoyable to experiment with. Effective team management can make or break these battles against the gigantic bosses in particular.

There are a variety of options that can be chosen from that determine how the party members will react in combat situations. They can be left to default to behaving however they please but they can also be set to react offensively or defensively, to attack the same enemy as the player or only enemies not currently engaging the player. Each party member can have different allocations to their combat response which allows for very flexible control and tailoring it to the player’s preferred playstyle.

In between enemy encounters players can access what are known as Brain Messages, typically aligned with story progression and the relationships between the characters as per the strength of their bonds. These messages are relatively pointless in the grand scheme of things while some can be replied to, albeit in a predetermined manner that does not even offer a choice.

Areas of exploration are fairly linear, though there are a few hub type areas that are more open and have items scattered around such as cosmetics, weapons, consumables that replenish health or temporarily increase stats in combat for instance. Perhaps the most useful type of item to find are plug-ins. These function like mods and can be allocated to provide stat boosts during combat.

This level of customisation really lets the player take control of how they want to play, and the best part is that every type of customisation the player can control for their character can also be applied to their party members. Their appearance, their weapons and their plug-ins can all be customised. This level of depth is such a highlight, offering the flexibility to genuinely feel like this is YOUR team in every sense.

With experience from combat and story progression the player can access the Brain Map, a skill tree that branches out and offers offensive and defensive stat boosts, increased combo lengths, additional use of certain abilities and so much more. As experience is rather generously earned it doesn’t take long before the player has access to a variety of combat bonuses that increase the joy and satisfaction from each enemy encounter.

As the story progresses and new characters are introduced, the player can tap into the unique abilities of more members that join their party such as pyrokinesis, electrokinesis, clairvoyance and teleportation to name just a few. These actions are only available for a short duration before a brief cooldown is required for repeated use. Increasing the effectiveness of party members abilities comes down to the bond the player has with that particular character.

This bond is strengthened by side missions and special interactions that take place between the story chapters, known as Phases, in the form of Bond Episodes. Between Phases the player is transported to a hideout, which can also be accessed at any point when not in active combat. These hideout sequences, known as Standby Phases, are where these Bond Episodes occur. Little more than a dialogue interaction, these can be missed if characters are not engaged. It is worth talking to all team members that are scattered around the hideout to ensure no opportunity to strengthen the bond, and therefore combat performance, is missed.

The visual style of Scarlet Nexus is a striking take of anime in a three-dimensional format, with the characters adopting a noticeably different style the environments they inhabit. It feels slick and stylish, an appropriate companion for the elegant combat animations. The enemy design and variety are impressive, varying from monstrous and a little outlandish with the latter working in the favour of the unique world this adventure takes place in.

The sound design is fun with an upbeat electro-pop type score that is a little familiar for fans of anime or JRPGs. Satisfying sound effects during combat match the energy and pace of the chaos and ultimately rounds out a solid presentation on the audio-visual front.

+ Constantly evolving gameplay

+ Excellent customisation options

+ Combat grows increasingly fun

+ Unique and interesting story

+ Fun enemy design

– Story feels a little too long

– Bond Episodes not as fleshed out or exciting as they could be

– A lot to digest at the start

Developed by: Bandai Namco Studios

Published by: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Release Date: June 25 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5 and PC

 * A digital code was kindly provided by One More Game/Xbox Gamer Dad via the Publisher for the purpose of this review. This review was written as a member of their team *

– Additional Links –

For more of my reviews, click HERE.

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The post Scarlet Nexus Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.