The Medium Review

Far from the Silent Hill spiritual successor games media painted it as pre-release, sparked by Akira Yamaoka's involvement, The Medium is nonetheless an interesting fork in Bloober Team's portfolio. It's their most ambitious project, but ambition doesn't translate to quality. The Niwa Hotel The Medium's plot follows Marianne, a grieving medium who receives a call …

Easy Day Studios Has Mishandled Skater XL

Skater XL's pre and post-launch support is some of the worst in the live-service area. Updates have come so infrequently with the eight month early access period receiving little support followed by the 1.1 update arriving five months after a lackluster 1.0. Add in the studio's lead developer's alleged departure made with no fanfare and …

Romance with Haven

Video games have had a complicated relationship with romantic...relationships. But what about *insert game with romance options here* ? Most games treat relationships as an act of lust. Rewarding players through building a bond with a relationship, often solidified by a kiss or sex scene, simplifies their complicated nature. This official label is also often …

Devil May Cry 5’s Cathartic Purity

Devil May Cry 5's existence is remarkable. Devil May Cry 4's troubled development led to a positive response upon launch, which has fallen more out of favor as discourse has evolved through the years. Ninja Theory's divisive reboot, followed by a Definitive Edition release two years later didn't instill much confidence in the original series' …

Love, Loss, and Lost Odyssey

Disclaimer: Heavy Lost Odyssey Spoilers Inbound Since home console gaming's inception nearly 50 years ago, the industry has tackled most subject matter. Violence, in particular, has remained a reliable standby. Many games either parody the industry's absurdist violent depictions or chastise gamers for finding pleasure in killing. This is worn out discourse in 2020. With …

New Things Coming

A quick update concerning the state of the site...

Writing for Bagogames (2020 Update)

For any followers or viewers that may have happened upon this blog site: I have been writing for bagogames.com for a few months. If anyone that may see this is interested in following my work, I'll link my author page. https://bagogames.com/author/darkwatchman/ Edit: as of January this year, I now write weekly articles for Gaming Instincts. …

Quantum Break Review(8/10)

Founded in 1995, Max Payne carries Remedy Entertainment's legacy. In the fourteen years since Max Payne 2, only two console games have come from the studio--Alan Wake and Quantum Break. The latter was built up as one of Microsoft's major eighth generation exclusives, though it came and went with a whimper. Is Quantum Break worth …

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Prey 2017, and The Modern Immersive Sim

The mid-late 90's spawned the immersive sim, a genre defined by influential PC titles such as Thief: The Dark Project and System Shock with the original Deus Ex following suit at the start of the millenium. Ion Storm and Looking Glass Studios pioneered the open-ended design we currently associate the genre with--design that consists of two core …

Gang Beasts Review(8/10)

Entering steam early access in the summer of 2014, Gang Beasts' gestation period has been a little too long for comfort. December 12, 2017 signaled the end of that era, with the game leaving its early access surname in addition to launching on Playstation 4 and Playstation VR. Despite launch day woes, Gang Beasts positions itself as a …