Taking place in the 1890’s, over one hundred years before Harry first picked up a wand, Hogwarts Legacy casts the player in the role of an unnamed student commencing their studies in their fifth year. The adventure that unfolds is rife with exploration, well developed supporting characters, an interesting narrative and exciting spellcasting combat. Mastering new spells inside and outside of the classroom, forging friendships and the freedom to explore the Hogwarts castle itself and iconic locations such as Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest allow players to leave a legacy of their own design.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I want to preface my review by saying I do not share, nor support, the views of JK Rowling. Her opinions are undoubtedly harmful, hurtful and unacceptable. My decision to purchase, play and share my thoughts of Hogwarts Legacy don’t come from a place of similar views.

As soon as the game begins the player is tasked with creating their witch or wizard from an impressive suite of customisation options before launching the player into the prologue which wastes little time in introducing them to their role and forging a bond with Professor Fig who goes on to guide the player throughout the fifteen hour plus adventure. Upon learning of a pending Goblin uprising, the pair must unravel the sinister plot around the scholastic schedule of the player, balancing student responsibilities such as classes and assignments while also undertaking excursions into the broader Overland region that surrounds the castle.

Fellow students, professors, characters and creatures from all walks of life are interwoven throughout the story that inform not only the narrative but the gameplay elements that are discovered upon the way. What the player learns from them and the tools at their disposal can be put to use to carve a direct line through the story or to take in the wonders of the world around them and complete optional side quests and extra curricular assignments outside of the main quest path.

My full playthrough of the prologue can be found below.

Developer Avalanche Studios have crafted a satisfyingly cinematic story full of twists and turns and populated it with interesting characters and ideas. Diving into the past and experiences of key supporting characters, including the main antagonists – the Goblin Ranrok and dark wizard Victor Rockwood, explores and reveals each of their motivations and intentions in the looming power struggle. By the time the dust settles on the finale it ultimately feels as though the stakes were exaggerated and the big showdown to determine whether the might of the Goblins can overthrow the magic dwelling residents of Hogwarts fails to feel as epic or as high staked as the adventure suggested.

While the story might wrap up in underwhelming fashion the character development excels when it comes to the students, professors and other supporting characters. The personality injected into each of them in terms of depth and performance keeps them incredibly interesting and unique, with each character feeling authentic and full of unbridled purpose. What they say and do matters, whether it’s towards the story or their relationship with the player, the cast of characters that guide, help and educate them feel essential and would leave a genuine void were they not a part of it. I can’t recall the last time I personally experienced a video game that justified its entire supporting cast the way that Hogwarts Legacy has managed to accomplish.

Since the player’s character is starting their Hogwarts journey five years later than the other students, a rare exception that has only been seen a handful of times in Hogwarts’ esteemed history, a Wizard’s Field Guide has been provided by the Ministry of Magic to assist in the player getting up to speed. Full of challenges to complete, information to store and plenty of rewards to unlocks, this Field Guide is also home to the player’s inventory, gear customisation suite and more.

Gear can be obtained by looting, as quest and challenge rewards or by purchasing from vendors located throughout the world. Players can equip handwear, facewear, headwear, neckwear, cloaks and robes and outfits. As with most RPGs gear comes in varying rarities that increases in strength depending on its grade and higher tier gear can have Traits crafted and slotted to provide additional passive perks such as increased spell damage or decreased damage taken from specific elements for example.

Offence is the primary stat attributed to gear that provides an increase to attack damage but Defence can also be increased on gear items via crafting too. A wide variety of styles are available and luckily Transmog is a feature, allowing players to select gear with better stats but if they are unhappy with its appearance they can change it to look like any gear they have previously discovered. There is no need to wear a wheat sack as a head piece and wear a trash bag for trousers in Hogwarts Legacy, players can dress for stats and alter their appearance so as not to big down the experience by having a depressingly mismatched attire.

Wand handles can be found and equipped, offering the only form of customisation for your wand outside of choosing which wand to start with early in the story. As mounts become available in the story, they too can have their appearances altered in the Gear menu too.

Talents are the equivalent of skill points that are obtained by reaching a certain point in the story and are awarded when reaching a new level of progression by gaining XP. These can be spent in five categories, each packed with options to enhance various aspects of combat, exploration and crafting.

Collections documents every new thing encountered, whether it’s a beast, an enemy type and collectibles, this is reserved mostly for completionists seeking to uncover absolutely everything that Hogwarts Legacy has to offer.

Challenges are an excellent way to unlock exciting new cosmetics and perks by completing various tasks X amount of times. These encourage exploration and contributed to a steady XP flow to help players level up, essential for progression in the story as unfortunately, main quests are gated by level requirements, meaning players can’t simply power through the story but are forced to explore and complete other activities in order to continue the story.

The map is also located in the Field Guide and allows players to switch between a map of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the broader World map. All points of interest are visible, such as undiscovered side quests, fast travel points and activities. The number of fast travel points is very generous and since it shows the locations of ones not yet discovered it certainly makes open world traversal more accessible and clear in terms of where the player should go to trigger new fast travel points to ease the burden of backtracking. A very small portion of the map can be seen below.

Initially players must explore on foot and via fast travel points. With story progression players will be able to purchase a broomstick which can be used anywhere with the exception of a very few locations, a Hippogriff mount is also unlocked late in the game which can also be used as well as an additional secret mount which I won’t mention to avoid spoilers. These mounts are all very fun to play with and make traversal more enjoyable and unique. The broomstick can be upgraded with speed and acceleration boosts by completing a certain chain of side quests which is well worth doing.

Classes are just a small part of the Hogwarts Legacy experience, more so as a means of introducing the professors and students that will go on to become key parts of your adventure. Herbology, Charms, Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts classes for example all teach the player some essential spells but also how to grow different types of plants for varying purposes, brew potions for temporary buffs or other effects, all of which can be done inside their respective classrooms or later in the game in the Room of Requirements.

This room becomes somewhat of a customisable hideout that players can decorate with art, construct potions stations and herbology tables for instance. Eventually beasts can be rescued from the wild and stored in a Vivarium and can be fed and groomed to provided unique materials required for crafting Traits for gear. It’s a great way to further personalise the experience by affording players the freedom to have their own little place to call home all while being extremely functional and beneficial to maximise the ways the room can be used.

Outside of classes, Assignments are a special type of side quests that are available where teachers lay out a handful of tasks to accomplish before teaching a new spell when they have done so. Most of these are completely optional and typically only enhance exploration and environmental puzzle solving but some are tied to story progression, which is a little odd as they are supposed to be optional. Regardless, the tasks are very simple to complete and don’t take more than a few minutes, I highly encourage players to get these done as they become available to make exploration more accessible early on.

Before getting into the excellent spellcasting gameplay I want to first share a piece of advice I wish I had known earlier in my time with the game. Sebastian Sallow is a Slytherin student with whom the player becomes acquainted with early on, progressing his side quest chain is the path to unlocking all three of the Unforgivable curses available. Crucio, Imperio and the killing curse known as Avada Kadavra are only obtainable by completing Sebastian’s quests. These are easily the most powerful spells in the game and are a lot of fun to experiment with, so for all those players wanting to fight dirty… you’re welcome.

The crux of Hogwarts Legacy, pun intended for fellow franchise fans, is the spellcasting gameplay. Once spells are learned they can be equipped to what is essentially a set of four hot keys, using Talent points and reaching certain levels allows players to assign four sets of spells that can be switched between with ease. Spells can be assigned at any moment, even when in combat, and understanding their use and strengths is essential to late game success in particular. Spells fall into seven categories and have a variety of functions from damage, freezing, levitation and other throwing for example, each having strengths and weaknesses against different types of enemies.

Executing spells is a simple as holding RT on Xbox (R2 on PlayStation) and pressing one of the four face buttons, switching between sets of spells if the ability to do so has been unlocked via Talent points. Attacking is simple and luckily so is defence, with a button prompt appearing on screen for when to defend or dashing out of harms way.

The combat is so simple on the surface as far as actually casting attacks but the depth of the combat is wonderfully developed, especially when it comes to combining spells for maximum damage or crowd control when dealing with multiple enemies at once. Enemy targeting is available but the game does an excellent job at auto-targeting any available enemy, making combat accessible for players of all skill levels with regards to combat. Experimenting with different combinations of spells and unlocking new ones along the way keeps the combat feeling satisfying and refreshing while introducing new enemy types and alternate combat tactics throughout.

Hogwarts itself is full of secret passages, chests to find and loot, students to help with side quests and countless collectibles and other secrets to discover. The fact there is a larger world outside of the castle that is just as packed with things to do, enemies to fight and puzzles to solve goes a significant way to maximise player retention and keep the world exciting and dense with opportunity. There are dozens of hours worth of side quests, exploration activities and collectibles to find to keep Hogwarts Legacy at the top of player playlists.

Hogwarts has been brought to life with such meticulous detail and depth that is genuinely awe inspiring. The jaw dropping environmental art design is stellar and the variety of landscapes that players can explore each have a distinct look and feel to them that prevent visual repetition from setting in and dampening  the wonder of exploration.

The way the castle itself has been animated to be so lively and fluid, especially considering the likes of the rotating staircase and magically appearing passages for example, it’s all so faithfully adapted from the books and films we’ve come to adore throughout our lives, and childhood even in my case.

When it comes to character models Hogwarts Legacy looks as though all attention has been giving to the supporting characters, with background characters lacking the detail of their narratively relevant associates. Even the players character looks out of place, due in part I suspect to the customisation aspects that mean we could look a million different ways. It’s a shame to see our character not quite fit in when surrounded by key characters but the general immersion does not suffer as the world is so beautifully realised and the smooth animations maintain the authenticity of the experience.

Sound design and the score is such an integral part of this experience and both have been so flawlessly implemented. Beautiful, magical melodies accompany moments of enchantment when necessary and dramatic, ominous overtures that preclude tense encounters and secretive happenings. Each spell has a satisfying kick to their execution in their sound design and it’s fun to pay attention and listen for them in combat when they are being cast against you, making them identifiable even if they are coming from an enemy out of your direct line of sight.

I did stumble across a few technical issues throughout my experience such as doors not opening when I approached them and having to wait for a loading icon to spin in front of me until it was ready, sound effects disappearing and only being fixed by closing the game and restarting it and few occasions of the voiceovers getting a tinny and echo-like sound that would come and go on its own. Aside from that, my journey as a fifth year was considerably smooth.

The sheer scope and ambition of all that Hogwarts Legacy had to offer is genuinely breathtaking. Stunning visuals, excellent gameplay, meaningful exploration and incredible character development have all come together to deliver a unique and unforgettable showcase of the magic of video games.

Hogwarts Legacy is an enchanting triumph, offering an unparalleled experience of the wizarding world that has captured the imagination of Harry Potter fans for over two decades. Set over 100 years before the source material, the emotionally charged original story teeming with layered characters, satisfying magically infused combat and rewarding exploration, this is an adventure not to be missed.

+ Excellent spellcasting combat

+ Stunning audio-visual presentation

+ An open world full of fun activities

+ Depth of character development

+ Solid customisation

– Underwhelming conclusion to the story

– A few technical issues

Developed by: Avalanche Studios

The post REVIEW – Hogwarts Legacy first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Gotham has descended into chaos following the death of Batman in an incredibly epic cinematic opening that establishes the passing of the torch to his quartet of titular Gotham Knights. Red Hood, Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin must step up to fill the boots of their fallen mentor and protect the city that he gave his life for.

The beautifully detailed and gritty sandbox of Gotham City offers a surprisingly brief main story, a variety of side missions and activities as well as collectibles and secrets to discover that don’t quite maximise the explorative potential of the crime ridden metropolis.

Taking to the streets as any of the four playable heroes alone or with one other player in seamless co-op allows for a more personalised experience due to the unique move sets and play styles that each hero offers, as well as the unique input and interaction they have in each cutscene.

Administering justice to the bottom-feeders of Gotham’s twisted underworld is a pretty personalised affair with fun cosmetic customisation, a somewhat randomised crafting suite and simplified combat system. With the ability to switch between the four heroes at any time between missions, Gotham Knights leaves the city in the players hands to protect in their preferred play style, a gesture that opens up this world to be accessible in a genuinely unique fashion.

It is impossible to talk about Gotham Knights in any capacity without first addressing the Gotham sized elephant in the room. This is not a continuation of the critically acclaimed Arkham franchise that first began with 2009’s Arkham Asylum which, along with its two sequels, was developed by Rocksteady Studios. The only similarity between Gotham Knights and Rocksteady’s trilogy is the world that the game takes place in.

The characters and events from the Arkham series are not the same in Gotham Knights, the events any characters that appear in both franchises has been through are not connected. The Batman of Arkham Asylum is not the same Batman that loses his life to establish the conflict rooted in the foundations of Gotham Knights. To compare the gameplay in particular is not fair, Gotham Knights has adopted a more simplified style than the combo heavy, rhythmic flow of the Arkham series. For better or worse, Gotham Knights is not “another Arkham game”.

The tragic loss of Batman pails in comparison to the loss of Bruce Wayne to Gotham’s new protectors. Bruce gave each of these characters a new lease on life, mentorship and family. The bond he shared as Bruce has left a mark different to that which he left as Batman to these young adults. Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon and Tim Drake are just as central to the story as the masked counterparts Red Hood, Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin respectively. The relationships these characters had with Bruce and each other is interwoven with the main story cleverly to inject a touch of personalisation to each of them without overshadowing their vigilante personas.

With the publicised death of Bruce Wayne, only a handful of Gotham’s citizens are aware of the fact that this means Batman is dead but unfortunately, Gotham’s dirtiest players are quick to notice that Batman is absent, opening a unique window for an archaic wave of crime to populate every corner of the city. Led by Bruce’s trusty butler Alfred, the Knights look to restore justice to their city and overcome the pending conflict with the League of Shadows and the secret society that has infiltrated Gotham for centuries, the recently revealed Court of Owls.

The Court of Owls are positioned as the primary antagonistic force throughout the incredibly brief main story arc but fail to feel like a meaningful threat at almost every turn. Having infiltrated Gotham at such a deep level in secret for centuries presents a genuinely interesting storytelling opportunity that just isn’t capitalised on. Despite appearances from a host of characters from Batman’s rogues gallery and the big picture conflict that is laid out early on, the story feels as though it’s more interested in highlighting the rise of the Knights as a team and their struggles with this responsibility and death of Bruce. That’s not to say this isn’t interesting, it’s easily the highlight of the story but the broader physical conflict the Knights need to overcome is full of predictable moments, missed opportunities and non-threatening “big bad”.

A giant clock tower referred to as the Belfry serves as the base of operations for the Knights, equipped with crime monitoring and lab tech, a home twisting facility and of course, an impressive display for the suits of the heroes. The heroes that remain at the Belfry communicate with the player remotely to provide updates on their mission, acting as an eye in the sky and general overseer of their activities. The Belfry is perhaps best described as the launching pad for the players exploits in Gotham, referred to as Nights or Patrols.

Every time the player leaves the Belfry, a new night begins, and whenever they return, the night ends. Everything that happens in between, is happening in the Patrol. Without Batman to keep the streets under control, it’s up to the Knights to clean up the crime that’s ravaged the city for decades. It’s worth noting that Gotham is fully explorable from the get go, no regions are blocked off or accessible only with story progression. There are small Opportunistic Crimes which can be thwarted, larger Premeditated Crimes to prevent and a variety of other optional mission chains that become available as certain characters are met throughout the progression of the story.

Every crime stopped, every enemy defeated and a host of stats related to damage are tracked and presented at the end of a Patrol. Think of a Patrol like a gameplay session, everything you do in that one outing is tracked from the moment you leave the Belfry to the moment you return to it. These stats are presented on screen at the end of each Patrol.

While exploring Gotham and unleashing beat downs on the criminal masses, players can interrogate members of the three factions – the Freaks, the Regulators and the Mob – to uncover clues for crimes that will happen on the next Patrol in the form of Premeditated Crimes. The more clues uncovered in one Patrol will introduce even more Premeditated Crimes to track and prevent in the next. This completely optional mechanic is a fun way to introduce more to do for players looking for a deeper experience while also giving the more casual player just enough to do when taking a break from the main story without forcing them into lengthy play sessions unnecessarily.

These Premeditated Crimes however will only be available in the next Patrol after their clues are uncovered, ending the Patrol will abandon any that haven’t been completed and more clues will need to be uncovered to reveal more. There is not a fixed number of these crimes though so just because some have been abandoned doesn’t mean there will be less to do overall, it just means that enemies will need to be interrogated to uncover more clues to increase the amount of available crimes in the next Patrol.

All activities can be tracked by a rather cumbersome menu that divides them into Case Files for the main story chain, optional mission chains and individual crimes. The map is definitely easier to use to follow missions by simply looking at the icons and travelling accordingly.

Traversal in Gotham Knights is initially by foot or grapple gun, the latter of which can attach to almost any surface, and the Batcycle. While near any road the Batcycle can be summoned with a simple button press which makes covering ground a lot quicker and stylishly. The Batcycle can simply accelerate and drift, with no boost mechanics, and can perform wheelies to ride over small obstructions such as barriers. Ejecting from the Batcycle is a great way to get some additional elevation to reach higher surfaces with the grapple gun too, making for a solid combination of quick traversal where verticality is concerned.

There is a unique Heroic Travel ability for each hero that can be unlocked by completing a very brief mission chain called Knighthood. There are three steps that are identical for each hero, completing a specific training exercise at the Belfry, defeating five of a specific enemy variant of the Freaks faction and for completing ten Premeditated Crimes. Despite the mission chain being identical, it must all be completed for each individual. Doing so will provide access to the ability in a style that suits that hero.

For example, Red Hood has access to the Mystical Leap, which taps into powers from the Lazarus Pit which brought him back to life, and allows him to spring forward with a burst of that energy, and Batgirl is able to glide with her cape. As these traversals act like gliders, there is no way to go higher, rather they slowly descend and will need to jump from something high to re-trigger it as it can’t be initiated from the ground. Leaping from buildings or bridges for example will allow the ability to be used.

Additionally, there are a handful of Fast Travel points scattered around the city that can only be accessed by meeting Lucius Fox in the story. Once he has been met he tasks the player with travelling to locations and scanning drones in the area, and once this has been done, that area become accessible by a small Batwing style glider to Fast Travel to. All of the Fast Travel points can be unlocked in about twenty minutes total, which I highly recommend due to the frequent need to backtrack and move from one part of the city to the next throughout the story.

The combat. As I mentioned earlier, players comparing Gotham Knights to the Arkham series are setting this title up for failure before even picking up the controller. The highly fluid, free-flowing combo driven and rhythmic combat system from Arkham is nowhere to be seen. Gotham Knights has opted for a more simplistic combat offering that in many ways is more accessible, to casual players especially, though this does lead to combat encounters being as simple as button mashing for those that like to play in this fashion.

There are light and chargeable heavy melee and ranged attacks at your disposal to use in unison with a total of eight Momentum Abilities, all of which are uniquely tailored to the combat style of each of the four playable heroes. It is impossible not to acknowledge and appreciate just how unique these heroes feel, all distinctly different to each other and this isn’t just limited to their physical combat skills, but their movement, how they evade, slide and jump around is all unique. It genuinely feels like these four heroes have been built from the ground up in such a way that you could look at it as four games rolled into one, it’s very impressive.

Red Hood’s powerful range and hard hitting brawling prowess feels completely different to Nightwing’s ally buff focus, which in turn plays nothing like Robin’s stealth or Batgirl’s tech based play styles. This assortment of characters represents a broad host of play styles that are fun to experiment with.

The complete absence of any kind of block or counter system is certainly a head scratcher as players can only dive roll out of the way of incoming attacks or, if they’re lucky, possibly get their attack in first. This singular omission shifts the flow of combat from being dynamic to simply being a case of staying mobile and getting attacks in when there’s an opening.

Crouching and approaching enemies silently from behind, or sometimes from above, can allow for Silent Takedowns to dispose of enemies without others noticing or with Ambush Takedowns, unapologetically brutal and loud that let the enemies know you’re here and ready to throw hands. The dynamic of elemental damage keeps combat encounters tense, with fire, ice, shock and poison damage for instance being something to actively avoid while, with the right build, being able to distribute it effectively and turn the tides in a more explosive manner.

Adopting a variety of light RPG systems is perhaps most evident when it comes to building a load out. Each hero has three pieces of gear to experiment with; Suit, Melee and Ranged, and each of these gear pieces have a variety of stats to play around with such as Rarity, Level, Power, Defense, Health and elemental damage and other stat buffs.

Each hero has 15 suits, unlocked by crafting. These 15 suits each have a distinct look and draw from all sorts of the source material such as the Teen Titans and Batman Beyond. There are a variety of colour combinations, referred to as colourways, to unlock and there are three, readily available variants of the cowl, symbol on their chest, gloves and boots for each suit. This level of customisation is a lot of fun to play with and allows players to further play Gotham Knights their way, how they want to look and with their play style.

Cosmetics aside, the player is able to find and craft new weapons. New blueprints are unlocked as mission rewards and drops from enemy encounters, varying in rarity, level and stats. There are a wide array of crafting materials used to craft gear and where they can be found is viable by highlighting them in the gear menu, showing which enemy Faction can possibly drop them.

Mods can also be found and equipped to all gear types though different gear allows different amounts to be equipped. Some allow none while others can have up to three mods applied. Unwanted mods can also be fused by selecting four and creating a new, stronger mod that is influenced by all of the stats of those dedicated for consumption.

Gaining XP during combat and missions contributes to a player level that is shared across all four heroes, including the Ability Points that are awarded for doing so. For example, increasing in level by playing as Red Hood will award an Ability Point for him to use while also still being available for Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin. This is an excellent decision by developer Warner Bros. Montréal to allow players to have a more seamless experience when switching characters to prevent each hero having to be levelled up individually.

Each hero has a number of abilities to unlock that is specific to their play style. The initial level cap is 30 for the first playthrough but is increased to 40 if starting New Game + after completing the story for the first time. XP is given fairly generously and I had reached level 30 by the time I had completed the story and most of the optional side missions.

It’s great news that the four heroes share level progression as the grind would otherwise become very repetitive, very quickly, as the variety of crimes to fight in the seedy streets of Gotham seem grander at the beginning than they actually are. A handful of crimes soon become familiar and Gotham Knights’ mission pool is soon exposed to be as shallow as the length of its story. The fact that a lot of these random crime missions are needlessly tied to story progression, often serving little to no purpose or relevance hurts the pacing immensely, especially when tied to finding a specific enemy type that only has a chance of spawning during certain crime types at certain locations.

It’s a shame to not have a more dynamic offering of things to do, things such as car chases randomly breaking out and needing to be stopped or maybe bounty hunters randomly appearing are just two random ideas that could introduce an element of variety and surprise to the mission pool.

Much like their fallen mentor, the Knights all use detective elements to solve crimes and complete their missions. An Augmented Reality (AR) scanner is heavily incorporated into the structure of both main and optional side missions. Scanning objects to find clues, hidden switches and connecting clues to solve a puzzle become second nature, there were no instances where the solution was not apparent when the AR scanner had to be used.

The interactions between the supporting cast of characters and the four playable heroes is slightly different depending on which combination of characters are present. The overall narrative remains unchanged however, there are no alternate endings that are derived from particular characters being played but instead, it’s the smaller human interactions that feel varied enough to allow each hero to feel like they are the star of the scene and story instead of supporting characters reacting and conversing with them in a more generic manner that would cover the team safely.

Personal tidbits from their backgrounds are referred to by themselves and others that transform these interactions into something more meaningful. Instead of juggling the narrative to have each of the four heroes referenced within every interaction, this approach allows Gotham Knights to feel as though the story is played out from a singular, more personalised perspective that, given the brevity of the main story mission chain, allows for exploration in subsequent playthroughs.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the story is its length. To play through the story mission chain only, ignoring any optional missions or exploration, took just over eight hours on the Normal difficulty, entirely solo. No grinding levels or better gear, no co-op partner, no exploration. While I understand and appreciate that most people will mix their exploration and side missions with the main story in their playthroughs, this is alarmingly short for a title that has such a wonderfully realised world as this Gotham City.

By the fourteen hour mark I had completed the three side mission chains that feature iconic villains and found most of the collectibles, still solo. There are still races for me to do, optional mission chains to earn some more XP and gear rewards but overall, a short story and equally shallow variety of things to do will make it difficult to encourage people to return in the long run, at least without friends.

Co-operative play goes a long way in managing to expand the fun factor in Gotham Knights. With the entire city explorable for both players, and no distance restrictions to keep players tethered to a certain proximity of each other, Gotham becomes a different kind of playground to explore. Each player can go off and do their own thing or can work together as intended and complete missions and optional crimes twice as fast.

Though not instantly accessible, co-op becomes available after completing just a few missions. Oddly, despite starring four butt-kicking heroes, only two players can take to the streets of Gotham. A four player game mode has been announced prior to launch, set for a November release, though this is waves based combat encounters and not the free-roaming exploration of Gotham that is currently present in-game.

Gotham Knights is a great looking game. Gotham itself has been brought to life with a wonderfully contrasting vivid, gritty and dark style that make it a believable sandbox for Gotham’s grim underworld societies. The Knights all look excellent and the attention to detail in their suits is truly amazing. For as good as Gotham Knights looks it doesn’t quite live up to the standards set by the current generation of consoles. Performance wise I personally ran into no issues with the singular exception of a crash during multiplayer.

The sound design is excellent, with top notch voice acting from all of the main and supporting characters, a tense and atmospheric score that shifts its focus to match the mood of a scene in an instant, satisfying sound effects during combat and in particular when the various gadgets of the heroes and their criminal opponents come into play.

Gotham Knights sets itself apart from the Arkham series it undeniably fails to escape comparison of in a number of ways but it’s also unable to achieve the greatness that latter achieved on a number of levels.

The customisation of the four heroes is easily a stand out highlight. From cosmetic to functional, switching between the four heroes and having them feel and look so unique is a genuine joy and the city of Gotham is genuinely jaw dropping. Everything on the surface is excellent, it’s not until the bones of the open world and gameplay are exposed as rather shallow that Gotham Knights succumbs to the shadow of its admittedly unaffiliated predecessors.

Gotham Knights is a good game, especially in co-op, that unfortunately just can’t reach the high bars set by Rocksteady’s Arkham series. The brevity of the main story, simplistic combat and repetitive crime variety keep the experience feeling safe rather than taking some bold risks to even try to compete. If the Arkham titles didn’t exist, Gotham Knights would stand a little taller and shine a little brighter but shallow mission variety and a combat system that lacks depth and fluidity leave a different kind of mark that, like Bruce Wayne, can’t escape its fate.

+ Epic opening

+ Excellent customisation

+ Distinct play styles of the four heroes

+ Solid writing and personalisation of the Knights

+ A lot fun in co-op

– Extremely short story

– Most story missions are very brief

– Repetitive crimes and mission variety

– Only two player co-op

– Simplistic combat

Developed by: Warner Bros. Games Montréal

Published by: Warner Bros. Games

Release Date: October 21 2022

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

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

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

The post REVIEW – Gotham Knights first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Opening with a village engulfed in flames, the corpses of its inhabitants lay strewn throughout as a lone Viking fights through its destroyers to find their loved one dying. Given a special necklace that once belonged to the gods, the nameless player takes on their loved one’s dying wish to save their people in the side-scrolling epic, Song of Iron.

With axes, swords, shields, a bow, and godly abilities to assist the player on their quest for vengeance, Song of Iron is a stunning experience brought to life by solo developer, Joe Winters. Visually beautiful and aided by an epic, harrowing score, the experience is memorable and enjoyable, a quest befitting of a Viking hell bent on painting their path with the blood of those who stand against him.

The first thing to note is that it’s impossible to talk about or experience Song of Iron without immediately being drawn to the beautiful visuals. The world this game takes place in wonderfully realises riverbeds, caverns, snow-capped mountains, lush fields, and ravines that are so striking and atmospherically consuming. Each new area draws the player into the dark and gritty tone of the story, playfully animating it with gorgeous lighting and reflective water that adds layers of depth to the authenticity of the experience.

A sense of loneliness is atmospherically present at all times, while the world never feels empty, the narrative journey of the nameless protagonist, which can be either male or female, truly feels like it is one versus all, them against the world. The visuals take the first steps in setting up the tone of the world, the story, and the tension the player is always surrounded by.

The gameplay is cleverly simplistic. Melee and ranged attacks are complimented by a shield block and dive roll system to easily navigate the enemies and the battlefield. Melee attacks can be charged to inflict additional damage and break shields, the bow and arrow is great at clearing enemies at a distance and the axe throw is a lot of fun to play with. It all comes together to create a simple and accessible experience that is only faulted by poor controller mapping. With no option to set the buttons to the player’s preferred layout, it doesn’t feel as seamless as it could.

A handful of story related upgrades are introduced that add elemental effects to the gameplay such as the ability to ignite the melee weapon and turn it into a burning tool of destruction, summon electricity to shock the enemies and even summon the axes after it has been thrown, not unlike the legendary Thor. These are very fun to play with and add a mythical layer to the otherwise grounded experience.

Aside from cutting through the competent variety of enemies, which includes the likes of typical warriors, trolls and giants, platforming and light environmental puzzle solving is peppered throughout the approximately three-to-four-hour adventure. Climbing short ledges and vine walls, jumping gaps, and crouching through low areas doesn’t feel like a chore, nor does the moving of large boxes to climb in order to reach higher plateaus.

One thing that Song of Iron nails is its understanding that less is more. From the gameplay, platforming, puzzles and even its story, the journey seamlessly transitions from combat to traversal while pushing forward with the rather loose, premise-only story.

The story itself is well set-up though aside from interactions with the Norse god of thunder it doesn’t really evolve in a meaningful way. As far as the ending goes, it feels like one of those situations that players will either love or hate. I personally didn’t feel like it fit the world and the established narrative but at the same time, it was undeniably interesting. Whether that translates to a satisfying conclusion is something I will leave prospective players to decide.

Throughout the entire adventure the ominous, epic, and haunting score accompany the player and instil a sense of war, adventure, and authentic Norse atmosphere. It was distracting at times, in the best of ways, to feel overwhelmed by the impact the score had on the tone of the game. There is little more to say than it was masterfully thought out and executed.

Song of Iron is one hell of an adventure. It tells an interesting story, delivers a fun and simple gameplay experience, and is presented with visual flair and a ridiculously epic score to set the tone of a Viking epic. Despite the 50/50 ending and questionable control mapping it is genuinely difficult to fault Song of Iron and the effort made by the solo developer behind it.

The post Song of Iron Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Providence Oaks is a beautiful, scenic, sleepy town that Meredith Weiss once called home in Lake. Returning to the town she grew up in for two weeks to fill in for her father, Meredith trades in her IT hat to don the blue attire of the Providence Oaks postal service. Delivering mail on her daily rounds introduces her to some of the quirky townsfolk and reacquaints her with faces from her past and those close to her parents.

Doing daily delivery rounds, completing optional side missions given from some of the mail recipients and taking in the sights of the charming Providence Oaks leads to a rather relaxing story set in 1986 that is full of charm and decisions to make. These decisions can affect Meredith’s friendships and relationships as well as determining which of the alternate endings will play out.

Stepping into the postal shoes of her father, Meredith’s days are laid out with multiple deliveries to make of both letters and parcels, some of which will lead into scenes with the recipients, giving the player control of Meredith’s responses and, in some cases, the decision of whether to accept the optional side missions they propose.

The main storyline simply requires Meredith to complete her daily deliveries Monday to Friday and spend her nights at home either reading or watching TV. As for the weekends, Meredith has often made plans to meet up with characters depending on the choices of the player that pass the time with deeper character moments and interactions.

The gameplay tasks players with driving the mail van around Providence Oaks and delivering letters into the recipients’ mailbox or leaving parcels on their doorsteps. Some mail recipients answer the door and these lead to somewhat lengthy character interactions that typically serve as the introduction to a longer lasting arc that involves optional side missions or character moments for the player to accept or decline.

A diverse range of characters including a lumberjack, a fisherman, an elderly cat lady and teenage mechanic make for some entertaining story beats that are worth taking the time to explore.

When delivering the mail, the player is able to drive around Providence Oaks and can utilise a map to see all of the locations of the deliveries. Once discovered, some locations can be fast traveled between while others can be selected with auto-pilot to have the game drive the player automatically to the destination.

Upon arriving at the destination, the player can simply approach the mailbox and interact with it to deliver a letter, or if it is a parcel that is to be delivered, the player must open the back of the van and select the appropriate parcel as per the address attached. The address the player is currently at can be seen at all times next to the mini-map on-screen, alleviating any possibility of selecting the wrong parcel to deliver.

As a narrative adventure driven by the player’s decisions, Lake can be rather mellow and quiet if the player declines invitations to spend time with the locals she crosses path or it can be a little more adventurous and heartfelt should the decision be made to make some plans.

This freedom lets players take their experience with Lake into their own hands, allowing them to simply complete the main story in as little as 3 or 4 hours while offering a playthrough of closer to 5 or 6 for players that choose to take on all optional side missions and invitations to spend time with the characters Meredith meets along the way.

With three possible endings, Lake offers a little replayability though a strategically placed manual save allows the player to witness all three with a simple save reload.

The folks of Providence Oaks all have varying dramas to draw Meredith into that allow their relationship to grow in certain directions with interaction. These are a nice addition to pad out the experience and add depth to the characters that would otherwise just be named NPCs. The variety of relationships Meredith is able to strike up include romantic possibilities that are fun to see play out and the implications of decisions play out just as memorably.

Despite being on a break from her regular IT duties in the city, Meredith is often called by her boss, Steve, filling her in on what she’s missing out on and occasionally asking for some work to be done which can be accepted or declined at the player’s discretion. This further adds to the short-term experience the player seeks to find within Lake but also has potential implications on a particular ending.

Unfortunately, Lake is not without its technical issues. On countless occasions my attempts to interact with the van, parcels in the back of the van or characters, went unregistered, requiring several button presses to register. When using auto-pilot the van would often appear inside a building and become stuck or drive in an endless loop with the inability to exit auto-pilot as per the button prompt.

Reloading to an earlier checkpoint or sometimes quitting and restarting the game were required on occasion to allow me to progress. These issues aren’t game breaking but they do break the immersion of an otherwise endearing experience.

In addition to the cast of characters that enlighten Meredith’s brief stint in Providence Oaks, a stunning and beautifully realised art design adds layers to the experience, almost bringing the environment into the category of a character.

The charming country outskirts, sleepy suburban cul-de-sacs, and woods that surround the beautiful titular lake are brought to life at various times of the day, allowing for some striking storms and sunrises for example that help Providence Oaks feel alive. Accompanied by a beautiful score that adds to the serenity of the playfully charming environment, Lake hits all the right notes with its sound design.

Lake is short, sweet and surprisingly relaxing, offering a scenic tour of the gorgeous Providence Oaks while affording the player the luxury of controlling Meredith’s free time, relationships and ultimate direction in life with the various choices to be made throughout the experience. There is a wholesome feel to the simplicity and charm of Lake and the stories it has to tell but the fact that these can be directly influenced by the player, and in multiple ways, the overall experience feels personal.

+ Simplistic gameplay allows story to shine

+ Relaxing pace

+ Character development and relationships

+ Decisions that matter

+ Charming visuals

+ Beautiful score

– Control issues

– Little replayability, despite multiple endings

Developed by: Gamious

Published by: Whitethorn Digital

Release Date: September 1 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S and PC

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

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The post Lake Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Taking place in a mystical world, Mask of Mists puts the player on the path of tracking down a missing mage. Basic platforming and simplistic combat accompany the core gameplay experience and exploration of the world in search of ingredients to craft potions, statues to collect and puzzles to solve.

Having originally launched on the Xbox One in September last year, Mask of Mists is back and this time it has been optimised for the Xbox Series X|S consoles. The sharper visuals and ridiculously fast load times in particular are immediately noticeable for players of the original release.

The opening dialogue establishes the premise and outside of it the story is limited to its pair of alternate endings at the end of the one-to-two-hour affair. There are no cutscenes, no characters to interact with and dialogue to be exchanged. Mask of Mists substitutes story for a series of puzzles that are essentially fetch quests. Finding items to access new areas or to craft things to progress is the essential flow of the gameplay.

The introduction of basic combat using a sword and eventually a pistol keep things simple, emphasising the focus of puzzle solving and exploration over a more meaningful system to combat the sludge monsters and dangerous vegetation that roam the fantastical land and ancient ruins.

Featuring dungeons, caves, houses, and ruins to explore, the world is a respectable size and non-linear in its structure. There are no waypoints, objectives, or indications of any kind where the player needs to go, instead progression is driven by the obstacle the player comes across, such as a locked gate, and the logical thought process of the player seeing slots for statues for example, or a towering tree that looks about the exact size of a gap that needs crossing will lead them in search of an axe.

Some logic and lateral thinking are certainly required to progress, and this may make the experience more challenging for casual players or those seeking a linear, guided experience. The explorable areas aren’t particularly large though they are open enough to disorientate.

Automatically running, dashing and jumping are the means of player traversal and there aren’t many instances where jumping is required and the intended use of the dash is for some toxic environments to be passed quickly before it damages and ultimately kills the player though it is an invaluable tool to spam with the constant backtracking required, speeding up the process of getting from A to B. Interacting with levers is the primary form of puzzle solving in the dungeons which are all set within gorgeous temples. Pressure plates, hidden switches and a few other tricks keep the puzzle solving situations in the labyrinthian ruins interesting.

The environment ranges from the interior and exterior of ancient ruins, deadly caverns, and a surprisingly supernatural landscape in the final act. Each of these areas look great, full of various hazards yet a sense of emptiness is ever-present that feels both fitting and a little disappointing at the same time. With such few enemies or other meaningful points of interest the landscape comes across as little more than a thoroughfare.

The music feels magical and light throughout, pleasant, and relaxing. The sound design is just as soothing and helps instil calm when frustration with puzzles or getting lost likely kick in. The visuals are simplistic and fun, reminiscent of similar titles in the genre. The final act of the game in particular stands out with its contrasting aesthetic when compared to those that preceded it.

Mask of Mists is a relatively straightforward experience full of puzzles to solve that may or may not be considered difficult, almost entirely dependent on exploration and consultation with collected scrolls for clues. My first playthrough took nearly 2 hours, getting lost and failing to look at collected clues being the largest culprit for the length while my second playthrough took just over an hour.

It’s a brief experience regardless and is likely to satisfy those that enjoy puzzle solving while casual players of the genre may get frustrated or simply lack interest. As a fan of the genre, Mask of Mists mostly succeeds but its lack of purpose and narrative restrict it from feeling more than busy work.

+ Surprising size of the explorable environment

+ Final act has a fun visual twist

+ Clever puzzles

– Story essentially absent outside of intro

– A LOT of backtracking

– Pretty disorienting

Developed by: 9 Eyes Game Studio

Published by: Sometimes You

Release Date: August 25 2021

Platforms: Xbox Series X|S

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

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Twelve Minutes is an interactive thriller with a star-studded cast trapped in an intriguing time-loop mechanic. A husband finds himself trapped in a repeating twelve-minute time loop that restarts regardless if he lives or dies. Unable to escape it, the player must guide him to uncover new clues, conversations, and information regarding the background of his wife and himself, retaining this information with every ‘loop’.

A thrilling narrative throws twists at every turn and its most shocking revelation is kept until the end, one that is certain to have people talking about it for a long time. Whether you enjoy it or not, Twelve Minutes is an experience you will remember.

It’s important to note right off the bat that the gameplay in Twelve Minutes takes place in twelve-minute loops in real time. In that window players must interact with things within the living room/kitchen open area, bathroom, bedroom, and closet to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the happily married couple. These rooms never change. The objects and points of interest that can be interacted with never change. Everything the player will need is here already and not only does that make future playthroughs significantly faster, it also speeds up the progression with each loop that passes.

There were wild numbers of 6-8 hours thrown around in the media for a playthrough but my first at launch took less than two hours to complete the game and all but one of the missable endings. Having replayed the game dozens of times in search of one last missing ending, a player that knows what they’re doing can be done in just over an hour but first-time players that are logically minded and take note of the significance of the dialogue will likely sit around the two-hour mark.

The idea of each loop is to learn a pivotal piece of information that can be used in future loops to uncover additional vital clues. With a little over a dozen interactable objects and new dialogue opening when new things are discovered the search area, for lack of a better term, is very small. Failing to pay attention to dialogue however could send a player mad searching for things they don’t have the answer too. I cannot stress enough how important it is to take note of dialogue from the three core characters in Twelve Minutes – husband, the wife, and the cop. The story can start out in a familiar fashion but can take wild and unexpected turns based on things like dialogue had in previous loops that can change the characters’ moods and reactions for instance.

The puzzles the player must solve by connecting information or using objects on other things are clever but not overly complicated. For example, if something needs unscrewed, a knife, spoon or even a key are logical tools to try. Once a particular puzzle has been solved it’s likely to be used again in future loops. While this may sound repetitive, given the brief length of the thrilling story it is all over before that has a chance to settle in. As for repeated dialogue, that can be fast forwarded once heard for the first time. For a game focused on reliving the same twelve minutes over and over it does a fine job of evading the monotony of repetition.

Brought to life by James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoe, the unnamed husband, wife, and cop respectively deliver solid performances, as could be expected by performers of their calibre. Twelve Minutes throws these three characters in a wild combination of situations that allow incredible emotional range in their performances that encompass romance, fear, excitement, and shock. Without these top shelf performances, the nameless characters could easily have buckled under the weight of their narrative arcs and leave the player to witness forgettable characters in unforgettable situations.

A point and click title with this level of production quality is a first, with Twelve Minutes utilising an extremely simplistic set of gameplay mechanics in an almost claustrophobic explorable area that manages to stand out. For such a small game it tells a big story, with deep characters, clever twists and turns and a shocking revelation that stay with the player long after the credits have rolled. With multiple endings to experience that are influenced by the player’s decisions, interactions and dialogue at key moments, the replay value is incredible. And as additional playthroughs will only take an hour before being able to set up these new endings, it’s short enough to replay several times without tedium setting in.

Twelve Minutes is an incredible experience. A simple genre, a complex mystery and excellent production value all come together much like its layered narrative to provide an emotional impact on a level that I personally haven’t witnessed in a video game. As I’ve mentioned, love it or hate it, you will remember Twelve Minutes.

+ Top notch cast and voice acting

+ Incredibly layered mystery

+ Deep and ever-evolving narrative

+ Fun time loop mechanic

+ Beautiful score

+ Perfect length

– Controls a little clunky and unresponsive at times

+/- Shock value of the ending

Without spoiling the ending, the nature of it is without doubt intended for shock value. Regardless of whether the player picks up on clues along the way, seeing it unfold is memorable for the right or wrong reasons as per the player’s interpretation and feelings towards it.

Developed by: Luis Antonio

Published by: Annapurna Interactive

Release Date: August 19 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S and PC

* Twelve Minutes is available in Xbox Game Pass *

 * Players looking to unlock all of the Achievements can find my 100% walkthrough made for Achievement Land HERE. This will get you all of the Achievements in less than 2 hours *

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The post Twelve Minutes Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Augmented with implants at birth, the inhabitants of the cyberpunk world that serves as the setting of Foreclosed are essentially corporate property. Playing as Evan Kapnos, the company that owns his identity has been foreclosed, and in just a few short hours his identity will belong to the state.

The blend of third person shooting and stealth with hack-based puzzles mashed with a comic book art design will take the player on a two-to-three-hour thrill ride as Kapnos fights to save himself.

The story is surprisingly interesting, layered with tension and revelations befitting of a thriller film. Corporate espionage, shady deals and manipulation keep the pacing tense and constantly evolve the narrative in a new direction. By taking place in a cyberpunk setting Foreclosed can capitalise on sci-fi concepts such as augmentation, telekinetic abilities and shield generation that create some dynamic gameplay experiences in the combat encounters as well as general progression and exploration.

Crouching to avoid enemy detection allows the player to sneak within close proximity of enemy, of which they can see as red silhouettes through walls and perform stealth takedowns by overloading their implants.

If stealth isn’t the preferred playstyle, then going in loud, guns blazing is an option but tacky aim mechanics make this more complicated than it needs to be and the bullet sponge enemies can take a ridiculous amount of shots before dying, even headshots aren’t guaranteed to get the kill in a single shot. Unlimited ammo and no need to reload compensate for the technical issues however and allow the shootouts to continue unhindered.

With story progression the player can unlock telekinetic abilities to lift enemies and suspend them in the air, slam them into the ground or to pick up objects in the environment and launch them at their targets. The combination of shooting, telekinetic abilities and stealth keep options open for the player in the combat situations and the freedom to alternate between offensive styles keeps the combat interesting throughout the largely wave based affairs.

The player can explore the environments in search of devices that award XP by filling a wifi-like signal to track them down and interact with them. As the player levels up by earning XP from killing enemies, hacking things, and finding these pick-ups, XP turns into upgrade points which can be used to unlock new abilities, shield generation, methods to overload enemy implants and an assortment of weapon upgrades such as bullets that can pierce armour or turn the semi-auto pistol into a submachine gun. Using any ability takes a toll on the player’s implant and if it overloads the player will be temporarily stunned by the body rattling headache that accompanies it. These moments leave the player vulnerable so care must be taken when using any augment abilities to not overdo it.

Light puzzle solving is required at intervals that tasks the player with activating consoles, controlling container cranes to create bridges, and hacking panels to open doors for example, simple yet a welcome addition to the otherwise room-clearing shootout affair.

By adopting a comic art design developer Antab Studio have opened the floodgates to have fun with panel-like cinematics and layered gameplay windows that feel genuinely look and feel like a playable comic at times. This does however lead to some frustrating directional issues when it isn’t always clear where the player is when there are multiple panels to look at or when the free control of the camera is restricted, and the player can only walk forward or sideways. Some transitions from cinematics to gameplay and vice versa aren’t always clear which also creates some control frustration.

An ominous, tense and thrilling score keep the atmosphere urgent and unexpected, rounding out the overall thriller film vibes established by the stunning cinematic structure. Foreclosed oozes suspense in its presentation in a way that often overshadowed the gameplay.

Foreclosed is a surprisingly solid experience that is layered visually, thematically and within the confines of its simplistic but varied gameplay. The cool comic presentation is fun, and the thrilling atmosphere and score keeps things tense as the web of lies and manipulation-laden narrative unfolds for Kapnos as he fights to save his identity.

+ Amazing comic presentation

+ Tense atmosphere and score

+ Varied gameplay

+ Interesting story

– Gunplay isn’t great

– No replay value

– Camera issues

Developed by: Antab Studio

Published by: Merge Games

Release Date: August 12 2021

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

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The post Foreclosed Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Developed and published by Paper Cult the cartoonishly violent Bloodroots is a wild beat ’em up ride that follows the player, as Mr. Wolf, embarking on a murderous rampage with an interesting drip-fed story that does its best to ‘justify’ it.

Death is simply one hit away, for the player and their enemies, and with a wide array of weapons and seemingly harmless objects like vegetables to be used as life-ending tools of insta-destruction, the rampage is a blast. Full of platforming elements and area clearance objectives, Bloodroots is pretty bloody good.

Three acts comprised of five missions and a boss battle are the format of Bloodroots‘ story, showing Mr. Wolf’s pursuit of the three bosses he seeks to destroy. A revenge story is the perfect set-up to justify the wild and wacky arsenal of weapons at the players disposal. Swords, axes, tables, carrots, fireworks and chain guns are just a very, very small example of the arsenal that can be used to take down every enemy in a single strike. Experimentation with these is a lot of fun and encourages the sampling of every single new object encountered.

To make things even more fun, as each level is broken into areas that need cleared before being able to progress, the final kill in an area results in a cinematic execution that is only as ridiculous as the weapon in hand. These are amusing, violent and over the top, really selling the tone of Bloodroots that Paper Cult have wonderfully established.

Each act takes place in a unique location and each mission inside the act is set in it’s own little section, preventing a sense of familiarity or repetition in the environment from setting in. The environments are beautiful designed, gorgeous landscapes to be painted over with the blood of the enemies. Every enemy defeated leaves a splashing trail of blood that makes for some lusciously red terrain. The playful art design may have a childish and cartoonish charm but the trail of destruction left behind by the player is certainly not an experience to be viewed by children.

Missions are scored based on the likes of number of enemies killed, the time taken to complete it, number of deaths and whether a secret wolf hidden in each mission has been discovered or not. Completing certain missions with scores also awards a unique hat that can be equipped, essentially a skin, that provides perks or abilities.

In between each mission the player is returned to a campsite which acts as the hub world. Here they are able to switch their current hat, talk to the ghosts at the campfire, select missions to replay or continue the adventure. Let’s talk about them ghosts. As the player exacts revenge on each boss they return to the campfire area and can be talked to. It’s a fun concept that works well in the grander scheme of the story.

The levels are cleverly designed and full of environmental hazards such as fire, spikes, moving objects and of course dozens of enemies that want to insta-kill the player. Some levels favour verticality and have cannons or jumping pads to reach higher plateaus, adding a welcome variety to the visual design and typical traversal which consists of jumping or using certain weapons such as swords to dash across wide gaps.

The boss battles are fun and epic, throwing various smaller enemies at the player to keep things chaotic. It is important to mention that if the player is struggling to survive with the one-hit kill situation they can toggle an Invincible Mode to allow the game to be enjoyed for the story and experience without the difficulty. Additionally, the player can also toggle an area clear, both that and the Invincible Mode can be found in Options, to instantly clear the area of all enemies and allow progression. While some will view this as cheating, I think it is smart to accept these features as accessibility tools for casual players that want to experience Bloodroots without the pressures of perfect runs.

Bloodroots is suspiciously enjoyable with its ridiculous arsenal of ‘weapons’, cool execution animations, beautiful art design and fun platforming. The ability to revisit previously completed missions and unlock all of the hats and their associated perks adds some replayability. Playing the story legitimately took just over three hours but with the accessibility-friendly Invincible Mode it can be completed in a little over an hour. As this title is a part of Xbox Game Pass I highly recommend checking it out. It’s a bloody treat.

+ Beautiful visuals

+ Cartoonish violence

+ Ridiculous weapon variety

+ Accessibility options (Invicibility and area clearing)

+ Challenging insta-kill dynamic

 – Too short

 – Ending is a little predictable

Developed by: Paper Cult

Published by: Paper Cult

Release Date: July 15 2021

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC – Bloodroots is available in Xbox Game Pass

– Additional Links –

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The post Bloodroots Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

Whether you’ve watched the show or not chances are you’ve heard of Doctor Who. Spanning decades of television, movies and almost every type of medium possible, Doctor Who has rarely made an appearance in video games on console, primarily featuring in mobile or small-scale PC titles but for the first time on Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, fans will be excited to see the arrival of Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins.

Presented in the format of a mystery, essentially visual novel title, the experience unfolds through a phone. Browsing its contents for messages, pictures and clues, the player must find out what happened to a pair of amateur investigators who set out to rescue the titular doctor who has found himself trapped in the past.

Playing an unnamed character that happens across a lost phone, the player must use the phone to learn what happened to its previous owner. It isn’t long before contact is established with military organisation UNIT operative Petronella Osgood, serving as a guide for the player to unravel the mystery. Regular guidance is provided by Osgood and conversations with her occur in the form of selection from a list of responses.

Seemingly regardless of the choices chosen the conversation steers the player in the direction they need to go in order to advance the story. Primary objectives are noting important information, piecing together damaged data fragments and getting information out of other characters. The story can be completed in as little as an hour depending on the depth of optional exploration of the contents of the phone and alternate endings add a little replayability for those curious to see how other decisions pan out.

Reading text messages, emails and studying photos comprise the bulk of the experience which is nestled with easter eggs that fans of the Doctor Who universe will appreciate more than a complete outsider with no knowledge of the franchise such as myself. The phone itself is pretty easy to navigate due to its realistic design featuring the likes of time stamps, layout and general accessibility that a genuine phone possesses.

One aspect of the experience that fails to feel justified is the inclusion of a handful of jump scares, a term I use extremely loosely. These are very poor, cheesy and undermine the experience. Unless these are an actual part of the Doctor Who television series, in which case they may be appropriate, they have no business in The Lonely Assassins and undermine the serious tone established by the rest of the game.

Characters from the Doctor Who universe that make an appearance are portrayed by their actual actors which is an excellent touch and adds depth to the immersion of this experience for fans while also giving newcomers a taste of what the television experience may be like.

The telling of the story through a mobile phone is surprisingly effective thanks to the authentic Doctor Who experience afforded by the actual actors, layered details of the fan-favourite universe and impressive production quality. Fans of the series are certainly going to find more reasons to enjoy the experience than those that know nothing, with The Lonely Assassins feeling like little more than a well-presented visual novel that still manages to tell an interesting story, despite lack of prior knowledge in regards to who is who if you’ll excuse the pun.

+ Actual actors from the series

+ Hidden Easter eggs for fans

+ Interesting story, regardless of awareness of Doctor Who media

 – Very short, little replayability for non-fans

 – Phone presentation wears thin early

Developed by: Kaigan Games

Published by: Maze Theory

Release Date: August 12 2021

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

– Additional Links –

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Godfall received some pretty mixed reviews when it originally launched alongside the PlayStation 5 in November but after a handful of updates, it started to be received the way it deserved. With the Fire and Darkness expansion that arrived with the PlayStation 4 launch of Godfall, my review of which can be found HERE, it seems to be unanimous that Godfall is where it should have been nearly a year ago. Adding a new realm to explore, new challenges and new gear – including the Cursed tier, Fire and Darkness has brought Godfall to heights as epic as its premise.

The expansion wastes little time in introducing a menacing new antagonist in the form of Moirax, a dark and towering monster that introduces himself by draining the life force of the Seventh Sanctum, leaving the player’s character Orin alone and dispatched with the wave of his hand. Four new story missions and five hunt missions encompass the new narrative and it feels as epic and grand in scope as the base game, providing a satisfying yet brief expansion that meaningfully enhances the overarching world of Godfall.

The new Fire realm is hauntingly stunning, peppering the dark, dull and ashy landscape with vibrant blue flames that truly add an ominous feel to the fiery domain. Continuing the trend of each realm having unique enemy designs and variants, Fire and Darkness feels unique and fresh, offering fun and new varieties to the environment, enemies and combat encounters. Considering this realm is also the largest one to date it had a lot to live up to but luckily, Fire and Darkness manages to fill the landscape with beautiful visuals and meaningful content that prevent a feeling of emptiness from creeping in.

Each of the twelve Valorplates each received several new skin variants to unlock by fulfilling certain requirements. These are merely cosmetics that offer coloured variants but they are worth the effort to unlock with the fun themes they each represent while also adding a much needed reason to continue the endgame grind.

It is worth mentioning that on the day Fire and Darkness launched, as well as the PlayStation 4 version of Godfall, players were also treated to the free Lightbringer update as well. This introduced the titular Lightbringer game mode, designed with co-op in mind, tasking players with defeating the Heart of Darkness freeing portions of the Sanctum’s light while defatting waves of enemies. It’s a blast in co-op and offers countless hours of a fun to the endgame loop and grind for better gear.

The new Cursed-tier items can be earned which require cleansing by completing associated challenges, a further enticement to players looking for more bang for their buck. A level cap increase from 30 to 50 seemed steep originally but considering the combined content from Fire and Darkness and the Lightbringer update, as well as the new gear and loot associated with them, Godfall has so much to offer than it did in November that is worth investing in.

Godfall feels more like a complete package that offers dozens of hours of new content with Fire and Darkness and the Lightbringer update, enough to entice new players and managing to recapture the attention of existing players that wanted that little bit more to justify returning. It’s fun, its dark and twisted and most importantly it feels rewarding with its wealth of new loot and customisation offerings.

+ Stunning new Fire realm

+ New Valorplate skins

+ Menacing antagonist and dark story

+ New endgame content

– Surprising lack of new Valorplates

– Familiar gameplay with the exception of Lightbringer mode

Developed by: Counterplay Games

Published by: Gearbox Publishing

Release Date: August 10 2021

Platforms: PlayStation 4/5 and PC

– Additional Links –

For more of my reviews, click HERE.

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The post Godfall – Fire and Darkness Expansion Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.