Review Round Up: Dreamscaper, Metamorphosis And More
Summer is drawing to a close. That’s right, the hellfire season is over, and hopefully, we can all go back to wrapping up warm, staying inside, and continuing to subsist mostly on biscuits and takeaway food. Do you know what goes well with those things? Video games, that’s what, so here’s a little list of games that I’ve been playing this month that you should/should not check out.
The Battle of Polytopia
The Battle of Polytopia plays a little bit like a “babies first 4X” game. It’s good fun and has you trying to expand your tribe across a tiny cutesy little world. It’s easy to play, easy to understand, and fairly easy to lose a few hours too as well.
While it’s going to be a little too simplistic for some people, it’s a very good game if you’re looking to introduce somebody else to strategy games, then it might well be the perfect chance to do so.
[Reviewed on PC]
7/10
Dreamscaper
Dreamscaper is what happens when you cross a roguelike with the social systems in a Persona game. At night, you fight your way through your own dreams, uncovering your past, and fighting against horrifying figments of your imaginations. During the day, you get to talk to the denizens of your little town, get to know them, and unlock new abilities and weapons as you go.
It’s a really interesting idea, and it’s very well executed. The flow of the game is never too fast either, even the more intense battles have a little more space than in most roguelikes, and it leads to a more relaxed game overall. I really like Dreamscaper and I hope that a lot more people will play it.
[Reviewed on PC]
8/10
Risk of Rain 2
We have finally lived through the full release of Risk of Rain 2. With the full release comes a new character, who is excellent, and a true final level, final boss, and an ending. On top of that, we get even more excellent music from Chris Christodoulou.
It cements Risk of Rain 2 as one of the best roguelikes of all time, and certainly one of the best co-op roguelikes too. There are a couple of things I was hoping to see with the full release, like more skills for the other survivors, but I’m sure they’ll arrive somewhere down the line. As it stands, if you’ve not played Risk of Rain 2, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
[Reviewed on PC]
9/10
Ogre Tale
Ogre Tale is a beat ’em up that probably would have felt pretty good last year when we were still waiting for Streets of Rage 4. It’s undoubtedly good fun, which makes sense given that it comes from the team who made the excellent Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds, which is a very good beat ’em up.
Unfortunately, despite some an interesting story, a good chance to learn some new folklore, and some solid combat, it just doesn’t reach as high or hit as hard as I’d like it to. This is a good game if you’re looking for something short, but it’s not going to change your world.
[Reviewed on PC]
6/10
Metamorphosis
I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Metamorphosis. Normally, you get a good feel for what kind of game you’re going to be playing just by looking at screenshots or reading a synopsis. In this case though, I just knew that I was going to be turned into a bug and had to try and stop a friend being arrested.
It turns out that Metamorphosis is a wonderful little adventure game that has you exploring a world you know but from an unknown perspective. It’s just a solid game about being a bug and how strange that is. You get to solve puzzles, climb walls, and try not to get squished a few times as well.
[Reviewed on PC]