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Gamedec is an amazingly well-polished CRPG that stands head and shoulders above its peers. It does a incredible job of making the illusion of choice matter (while being all about choice), as you bounce between one cybercrime to the next, while a larger plot unravels around you. I highly recommended this game, if you haven’t played it you are doing yourself a disservice.

Story
You play as a Gamedec, a detective for hire that investigates issues that happen in the numerous virtual worlds that the vast amount of humanity spend time in. A lot of attention has been spent fleshing out the world around the setting, and it comes together as a unique mix, with serious vibes The Matrix, The 13th Floor, Existenz, amongst many others. It ticks all the boxes you would expect from a cyberpunk setting- mile high city enclaves where the poor live at the bottom, ruined wastelands outside the city, functional immortality by uploading your “self” to a brain in a box so you can continue living in virtual worlds, child and societal exploitation, discussions around AI before moving onto questioning what defines an existence and how your perceptions and choices could be altered by slight changes in events.

Gameplay
Ultimately gameplay resolves around you solving the case in front of you. This is done by gathering hints from each game environment and the people who live in them, and making deductions based on the evidence you have found. Missing a piece of evidence can lock you out of a deduction, which changes the flow of future dialogue and can change the outcome of your case. You can’t gather every hint for each deduction, as some are locked on competing story paths, or require certain professions to be available.

Professions are “jobs” that allow you additional dialogue options or to manipulate the environment in subtle ways. They can help you get more dialogue options, bypass systems, make you seem more trustworthy or open up other branches of investigation. Your dialogue choices award different aspects, each which is based on your communication style (direct, empathetic ect), and each professions requires a different amount of each of the 4 aspects to unlock. These aren’t required, but add a lot more flavour to the game.

You have complete control over how you investigate (or ignore) each case, and many of the dialogue options serve to either give you hints or world build. Many of the characters are reoccurring and remember past actions and options, which helps steer the game in branching directions. The great thing is there are essentially no wrong answers, as every decision influences future paths.

Being a isometric investigation game, gameplay is limited to exploring each environment, and talking to people. Combat is non-existent outside of scripted dialogue battles though your actions can have fatal consequences.

Graphics
The graphics match the world(s) that have been built. There’s enough detail in everything to tell the story without going overboard, and important things can easily be found if you are prepared to snoop around. Each of the game worlds you investigate feel like games you could play now, and the “real” world environments match what’s been described in game, from the opulence from living up high to the dark and grimy lower levels. When going for second playthrough, I was surprised at how much I had actually missed, and I thought my first run was very thorough.

Music
The game has no vocals (all dialogue is text driven), and the classical music does a good job of setting the scene while not overshadowing what’s happening on screen. It hums along quietly in the background, never overstepping it bounds, but in a few instances really helps set the pace of urgency for what’s happening in game.

DLC
There’s a few different packages of DLC, from extra skins and premade characters, guides, an Art book and Soundtrack. Everything is free except the Art book and soundtrack. I can’t comment on the art book, however the music was quite good in game.

Achievements
If you are wanting to get 100% achievements it’s easy enough, though there are plenty that are missable without making the right actions. Do yourself a favour, play through on the true detective mode one the first run to fully enjoy the story, before going back to clean up.

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If you are going to purchase DLC for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, Heroes of the Inner Sphere is the DLC you want to purchase. It offers by far the most additional mission content, with 7 high reward multi-mission questlines, 7 new types of Mechs, an additional 50 Mech variants, 4 additional weapons, 5 new types of equipment, the moon Biome and the new mission type beachhead. If you are going to play MW5, you will want this DLC.

Story
Each of the additional questlines are quite well designed, and all offer substantial money, reputation and Mech’s as rewards. All of the questlines are short affairs (3-4 missions each) and while they don’t result in drastic star map changes like some of the other DLC, the missions are spread out across all the major factions. Unlike the procedurally generated maps and missions the base game provides, these are substantially better to play being a lot more fun and being voiced. Each of the different quests become available based on your reputation level, so offers a nice way to boost your company’s coffers and reputation without having to complete tons of “lesser” quests.

The difficulty of some missions does seem to spike, though this could be attributed to your lance mate AI piloting like rookies. There were some standout missions, one where you are fighting 2 enemy lance’s across a ravine so loadout become really important, and another where you are fighting your way around a active volcano to take on the enemy commander at the top.

Gameplay
This DLC adds a ton of scripted missions that act and play like the main campaign missions. I feel this is much needed, as it breaks up the chore of just playing random missions for next to no reputation reward.

The new Mechs are mostly heavy and assault based, making them mid to late game content. While none of them are essential (there are other Mechs with higher armour and DPS) that you will want for the endgame, they are good in a pinch, and can give you a substantial boost if you manage to salvage one early. I do have a soft spot for the Marauder II, being a 100 Ton jump jet capable Mech. The new Hero Mechs (unique one off variants with a separate history) are fun, and while not essential are enjoyable to battle against and collect. Other than a different load outs and usually unique weapons and armour they aren’t anything game breaking, but I found they tended to become available long before you start encountering their standard Mech variants in the wild. There are a few additional weapons that are added (rifles are good), but more importantly the BAP (increased sensor range) and ECM (reduces enemy targeting), which can substantially change the survivability of your lance.

The biggest addition the DLC adds is the career mode, which removes the main story missions and starmap changes, but lets you pick the starting house you want to work for, gives you 4 starting Mechs, and then lets you progress as you see fit. You can import your Merc company if you have a campaign game save if you don’t want to lose hours of progress. All the conflict zones are available at the start, and the overall difficulty doesn’t increase based on what mission you are on.

The new beachhead missions are a tough challenge, where you are responsible for taking out installations that are usually heavily guarded. There is the option of destroying secondary targets that when completed will send a few allies to help, and most of the missions I remember playing had an additional objective of destroying the artillery formation to stop you getting constantly bombarded, which is highly recommended as I always ended up taking a pounding in these missions.

The new moon biome looks exactly how is sounds. I was thinking it would be like the previous Mech warrior game BattleTech where it really affected heat, but it’s not the case.

Music
All the new missions that were added are voiced, and I felt its done to quite a high standard.

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I can’t really recommended MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Call to Arms. Out of all the available DLC, this is the weakest one by far, with a very limited questline, and situational upgrades. This is a shame, as the free updates/quality of life improvements that appeared alongside this release were actually really good. I’d only recommended picking this up if you really, really want to hack enemy Mechs to death rather than blasting them to pieces and if it’s on sale.

Story
The additional questline is a short, 5 mission affair that appears quite early and has you fighting large amounts of the new Melee Hatchetman Mech and some of the other new variants that have been introduced. The questline is hampered by the fact that its situated on the other side of the universe in Steiner space, so its costly and time consuming to get to if you haven’t progressed a to certain points in the campaign.

Gameplay
Unlike the other DLC, this one is purely about adding Melee combat into the game. I bought the DLC after I had played the base game for a while so I was massively over equipped for these missions, and could breeze through them without too much thought. I don’t think it would be much better if I had attempted them earlier, as with the base game the AI doesn’t really know how to use the melee weapons well (they use them if in range, but still prefer to shoot with the few weapons the mechs are armed with), and if your relying on getting into combat with the Mechs something has seriously gone wrong with your game plan. That said, early to mid-game you can get some usage from the melee weapons before you start getting into the regular fights with 3-4 enemy lancers with no backup. It is also stupidly fun running up to enemy Mech’s and beating them to death (more so than just using your standard fists), it’s just not a viable strategy later on (and doesn’t help you raise any skills other than taking damage). Some of the weapons you can equip can do stupid amounts of damage, so in the large city fight maps where there’s tons of cover or where you are funnelled into tight terrain there might be valid cases to use these variant Mechs that can support melee weapons over the more long range types that usually prevail.

There’s 3 new biomes to fight across, with the scrapyard being fairly interesting. It looks exactly how is sounds. You have a desert biome with also looks pretty nice and the maps usually feature giant rock formations you can bulldoze through. The Tourmaline (Rubellite) biome is very similar to what was in the Kestrel Lancers DLC.

Music
The few new missions that were added are voiced, and I felt its done to quite a good standard.

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I’d recommended MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Rise of Rasalhague, but that comes with some caveats. It’s a late game (starts after the Kestrel Lancers questline finishes), tightly scripted mini campaign that offers veteran players a real challenge (the last 3 missions are stupidly difficult) that follows events as they happened in the BattleTech universe. Its punishingly difficult if you aren’t equipped correctly.

Story
The campaign is focused around the birth of Rasalhague, a new republic that’s situated between Kurita and Lyran space, and has your mercenary outfit helping them as they fight for their independence against the hardliners who want to defect back to the previous galactic owners.

Gameplay
The mini campaign follows the same setup as the Kestrel Lancers, in that you accept the job and are given time to prepare for the conflict. While the first few missions are easy enough to do and offer something different in having a 3rd force that is hostile to you but you get rewarded for not damaging the future missions are brutal. The recommended requirements are quite high, being 3 full Lancers of assault Mech’s, and 12 pilots and the game isn’t kidding. I’d recommended having as many 100 ton Mech’s as possible that do decent damage and having pilots in the high 50’s skill level, otherwise the last 3 missions are going to be impossible. At this point you are also expected to be changing the load out on the Mech’s for more favourable setups and installing upgrades otherwise the missions are going to be impossible to complete. I feel you would save a lot of tears if you played this in multiplayer, with competent squad mates who know how to shoot.

Most of the campaign feels like it’s feeding the player with false hope. Early missions have you at least fighting with allies, or in a 3-way battle where you can play it safe and take down enemies without being caught in a horrendous crossfire. Unlike the Kestrel Lancers you start at 0 rep with the new faction and have no chance to improve before the campaign starts, so Mech salvage isn’t usually a reward you can get. That also makes repairs harder, and the payouts smaller. A lot of the missions have decent Mechs as rewards, but you won’t have time to repair them before the campaign finishes even if you have the money on hand. The time between missions is usually a week or 2 at most (with the last 3 having no downtime) being an absolute endurance test of patience vs cancelling the contract.

There are some standout missions, with the assassination of Kelswa (3 way warzone) and the final mission (assassination of Alexander Kurita) being excellent, if stupidly difficult because you are forced into a trap right at the end and have to fight your way out while likely being heavily damaged from the preceding missions and stage.

After the main campaign is finished there’s 1 additional questline of 3 missions that are just as brutal (you are taking on around 3-4 lancers of enemy Mechs, though at least you can repair between them)

The charger, a fast assault Mech lacks sustained long range firepower but as its name suggests is great for getting up close to punch other Mech’s into submission. I didn’t find much use for these, though had fun collecting them like all the other Mech’s in the game.

The update also adds other Mercenary companies to the game, which are spread out all over the map. Fighting in their sphere of influence might have them appear and either help or hinder you. I found this a neat game mechanic, though it is entirely optional to select missions in their areas.

Music
All of the new missions are voiced, and I felt its done to quite a good standard. There’s lots of chatter between the Rasalhague commanders, enemies from both sides taunting them and the other Mech companies you fight alongside.

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Lego MARVEL’S Avengers is a child friendly, action adventure Lego adaption of The Avengers movies and comics. It offers a good amount of kid friendly puzzle solving, free world exploration, crimes to stop and plenty of collectables and characters to unlock, but not much that is new to the series. If you are looking for a suitable couch co-op game to play with a younger player you wouldn’t go wrong with this, and I recommend picking it up. Any kids who like superpowers should love playing with the custom hero maker, allowing them to fly, web sling, race or shoot their around the city or through the many majors scenes from the franchise. The only complaint would be that the DLC is required for achievements, and not everything is included in the season pass.

Story
The majority of the campaign follows the major events from the Avengers movie, followed by the Avengers: Age of Ultron. There are singular stages that follow the events of Iron Man 3, Captain America, Thor 2 and The Winter Solider. A lot of the darker moments (like heroes and villains being killed) have been changed so they survive in line with other Lego games.

Gameplay
You play as characters from each of the major events of each movie, and each stage generally follows what happens in the movies. You control multiple characters at a time, all which have different superpowers or abilities and are required at certain parts of the stage to progress through puzzles. You have the option to do the stages in any order, or visit any of the 8 hub worlds to complete the challenges in each area. After a mission has been completed it opens up free play, where you can change to any character you have unlocked, which allows more exploration and secrets to be found.

While the environments aren’t completely made out of Lego, they look fairly detailed, and there are plenty of destructible objects that drop studs to collect. Studs are used for purchasing characters, vehicles and red bricks, but aren’t really an issue once you have a few of the multiplier red bricks enabled. Red bricks are given for finding objects The Collector wants in each stage, while mini-kits award a comic that has been converted to look like a Lego version. There is an insanely large cast characters to collect (over 200), taken from the Movies, TV shows and comics, with 3 being hidden in each stage and the rest as quest rewards around the hub worlds. Races are easier and award new vehicles though I do wish the next gate you have to go through were better marked on the screen. Stan Lee makes a cameo in each stage (you need to help rescue him), which I thought was a great way of keeping his traditional appearances alive in the game.

The menu UI isn’t too bad, but there have been Lego games that have done it better. You go to space to select your missions, and in a kind gesture the game actually advises your tally for collectable items in each stage (each stage in broken into 3 parts). The hub stages are really well designed, and where you will likely spend more time in game find items that the main missions. New York City is gigantic and where most of your free roam time will be spent, though the game lacks a proper map so you have to make do using the radar mini-map. It would have been great being able to filter what’s shown (for jump pads, vehicle spawn points ect). I for the life of me couldn’t find the collectors room where you go to purchase red bricks without consulting an online guide, so everything’s not as intuitive as you would hope.

The game does have low level violence, with “killed” players exploding into their lego bits, but they are respawned instantly to continue on and should be suitable for younger players. There is a fair amount of fighting (as to be expected) and the enemies do shoot guns or explosives, but it’s fairly tame in a cartoony way. Boss battles are just QTE events or follow a simple logic of removing a few hearts, waiting out their next special attack, then following the process. In places where people would have died in the movies, they instead get covered in ice-cream, or survive in keeping with a younger audience in mind.

The controls are intuitive if using a controller, and I found easy to pick up. Using the mid stage saves seems to bug achievements for that stage (so you have to replay them), which can be fairly annoying.

Graphics
I thought the stage design and environment were really well done. While they aren’t all made of Lego objects, there’s a ton of different powers you need to interact with certain objects, the puzzles aren’t mind numbing easy but not too difficult for kids to work out and there are plenty of objects for players to smash along the way. Most of the Lego object you build are object that certain characters can use (like the lightning chargers that Thor can power, shield locks for Captain America ect), not the more random things that some of the other Lego games have you building. Each of the hub worlds are well designed, and have enough things to do in them (though only New York city is really big enough and has enemies to fight).

Kids will love the custom super hero creator, which functions the same as in other previous Lego games (where you get to mix bits of heroes you have already own). Each character looks great, and the idle animations are great to watch (and are linked to the abilities of each hero). The Character menu is easy to navigate (its alphabetical), but the DLC chatacters are added at the end by DLC number.
Iron Man has 14 variants, with most of them have different suiting animations that are nods to the movies.

Music
All of the music has been copied from the movies (which was pretty good), with majority of the voice work also being copied from the movies (Stan Lee did his own VA) for his cameos. The narration for the stages and DLC was good.

Multiplayer
This game was made of couch co-op. A second local player (no online play available) can easily join your game and take control of any of the spare characters. In story missions this is locked to who is available to play as, but in free play you can play as who you want. The screens split vertically, and merge together when both players are near each other. Both players can be anywhere in the city, but if anyone starts a mission or fast travels then both are teleported to the same location. In some missions the second player might be forced to be outside the area (like when the hulk buster is fighting the hulk, or when fighting Loki at the stark tower), which can be not as immersive (as their actions are only required at set times). If someone also tries to change what iron man suit they are in, it blocks the screen for both players.

DLC
The game has a season pass that consists of quests from the comics (not movies) of Captain Marvel, Doc Strange, Black Panther and the masters of Evil. There’s also a stage that ties into the Agents of SHIELD TV series. There’s also a separate paid Ant-Man DLC available (which is from the Ant man Movie). They aren’t bad and add a maybe a extra hour to 2 to the game, but are required for 100% achievements.

Achievements
The achievements are easy to get, though many of them are a wink to long-time fans that would likely go right over the heads of the younger target audience. Many of them were quite well thought out, and aren’t just awarded for doing basic things. In a somewhat annoying trend, you need to purchase the season pass and the separate Ant-man pack if you want to get 100%

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Out of the current batch of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries DLC, the Legend of the Kestrel Lancers is one I’d highly recommend (especially as you can get it on sale at significant discount). It offers something slightly different in that its narrative focus isn’t just additional missions, but a time based mini campaign that follows events as they happened in the BattleTech universe.

Story
The main gist of this DLC is focused on the Kestrel Lancers, a Davion based invasion force that deploys to capture large swaths of the Capellan Confederation as a wedding gift from House Davion to House Steiner which starts the 4th succession war.

Gameplay
The mini campaign in itself is quite unique as once you start it you are locked to a set invasion plan with the only option either to continue or abort it entirely. You don’t have the luxury of taking large amounts of damage, farming missions for repair money or better equipment (like you do with the rest of the game), but are locked into a timetable where suffering heavy damage in a previous mission can seriously hamper your ability to continue and you need to manage your spare equipment and c-bills carefully. The campaign focuses on 4 sequential questlines, with the first being a test run with you being given a 2-year window to get enough mechs and pilots ready, before the fun really kicks off. The rest of the quests in this campaign are brutal (but lots of fun to actually complete), with ever reducing repair times between them, with the last subset of missions (which have almost 0 repair time) being an endurance test where your team gets absolutely pounded, and you have to be lucky to finish without having pilots die or Mechs being totalled.

A lot of the actual missions are quite entertaining (as well as difficult). Some of the earlier missions have you working in tandem with another Lance of Mechs to take out different facilities at the same time. There’s a really good assault on a Mech production facility missions, that’s only hampered by your teams stupid AI as it blunders through every wall (you are rewarded on the condition of the facility at the end). Theres a few significant jungle missions where you have to fight off multiple waves of heavy and assault mechs as you hide out in a crashed ship. One of the later missions is a raid into a Megacity, where its actually easier to take small fast Mech to destroy the buildings where a large Mech group would suffer significant damage.

Its adds a significant challenge to the game where the it only previously existed with the warzone missions (multiple missions back to back). These quests aren’t available at the start, and take about 10 in game years for them to appear, so you have a decent amount of time to do the main campaign and other available missions before this consumes 2 years of your in-game time, though they might be unavailable if you have already spent 10 years in-game. If playing in career mode then there is an option to jump to the timeline just before everything kicks off, with a premade Mech roster for you to start with.

The rest of the individual questlines are ok, with the expected rewards of unique mechs at the end. The DLC added 20 new Mech variants to the game as well, which depending on your preferred setup could be totally missed if you aren’t particularly wanting a set loadout.

Graphics
The DLC introduces 3 new Biomes, with the megacity and Tourmaline desert being my favourites. The Mega city terrain has you weaving around buildings (or ploughing through them if you pilot like I do), dodging fire by using structures as cover (especially from the helicopters), while enemy reinforcements just keep appearing. The desert stages have long canyons and a metallic sheen, which might not sound appealing, but allow for some good chokepoint moments as you try and funnel enemies through them. The jungles stages can visually hide your Mechs and enemies until the foliage is destroyed.

The DLC added free quality of life updates to the base game, like being able to switch between the AI controlled Mechs, which can help trying to reduce aggro in the AI (and get back into the fight as you watch the AI blunder around if you do manage to get your Mech totalled), as well as allowing you to do basic Mech combat. Its great fun being able to run up to a Mech and give the enemy a quick one-two then unload all weapons into it at point blank distance.

Music
All of the new missions are voiced, and I felt its done to quite a good standard. There’s lots of chatter between the Davion Merc company you work alongside as you work together to survive and complete your missions.

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Unique doesn’t even begin to describe Catherine: Classic. Part choose your own romance, part puzzle platformer hell, it offers a unique experience on the meaning of marriage, friendship and being honest to yourself. There’s ample replaybility with different choices, plenty of different things to explore and experience outside the puzzle stages, excellent voice work and animation, co-op mode racing, with the only thing letting it down being some of the controls. While it doesn’t contain the additional content from the Full Body version and was released over 10 years ago I recommend it if you like a good challenging puzzle game with an adult storyline.

Story
You play as Vincent Brooks, a 30yr old who is happy to keep things in his life as they are, effectively living a bachelor life even though he is in a 5+ year relationship with Katherine. After getting drunk and having a one night stand with Catherine, Vincent starts having nightmares where he is being chased up a tower, with some unknown entity questioning his outlook and motives in life. The next day Vincent and his friends are informed of the curse of the woman’s wrath that’s sweeping through all the unfaithful men in the town, leading to grizzly discoveries of men who have died in their sleep from unexplained means. Adding to his predicament is Katherine, who drops the bombshell announcement that she is pregnant and wants Vincent to marry her and commit. During the nightmare Vincent is advised that if he reaches the top of the tower, he can attain true happiness, and be spared the effects of the curse. With this goal in mind, Vincent starts to climb.

Gameplay
Gameplay is effectively split into 3 sections, the daytime movie events which show how Vincent’s life is spiralling apart as he deals with his unfaithfulness and life decisions, the night drinking sessions with his friends and other regulars at the stray sheep, and the nightmare tower climbing exercises.

You get to control Vincent while in the stray sheep, talking and interacting with the other patrons. Much of the games ongoing story is divulged here, and choices made while talking to other patrons can greatly affect who survives to the end, and also can affect Vincent’s attitude towards law or chaos. There are alcohol facts to learn, arcade games to play, patrons to talk to as well as watching who has recently died on the TV. You can sample the bars many alcoholic beverages, which make you drunk in this world, but speed your movement up in the nightmare stages.

The meat of the game happens in the nightmare stages, where all the “sheep” have to climb to the top of the tower to escape. Failing here leads to death in the real world, and the puzzles aren’t the only obstacle to avoid, with other sheep being stuck in the nightmare all fighting to get to the top to survive as well. There’s a nice slice of physiological horror as the sheep realise that other sheep are actual people, and they have been pushing people to their death in their own haste to escape, though everyone seems to forget the specifics of the dreams when they wake up.

The concept of the puzzles is quite simple. Push or pull blocks out of the way to make stairs up, and climb to the exit. At first I thought it was quite easy, but it didn’t take long for them to get really, really difficult. It’s like Qbert made by Satan. There’s actually quite a lot of thinking involved, and when the more advanced techniques come into play (like hanging on ledges, pushing certain blocks to make entire sections drop or using any of the numerous trap blocks to change the layout) it can make you feel like flinging the controller at the screen in frustration. When you succeed however it’s a glorious feeling, and the Messiah “Hallelujah chorus” is the perfect fit for the feeling of success. Then you find out you didn’t get the gold rating and it’s a slap in the face, but you continue on.

This is where I think some of the controls feel like they let the game down. Depending on which way the camera is facing or if Vincent has stopped moving (eg you have let go of the button) left might be right, forward might be left ect. I couldn’t count how many times Vincent went anywhere but where I wanted him to, which becomes a problem when you are on a tight schedule, or there is a manifestation of your worst nightmares below you. The game is made for a controller (I didn’t even attempt with a keyboard and mouse), so you need to keep that in mind.

Graphics
The game does a excellent job with its graphics. The movie scenes are good, animated quite well and generally humorous, it’s like watching a slow moving train wreck happen, you want to turn away but you can’t. The stray sheep bar looks good, anything you can interact with is clearly displayed. Time management is in effect here as patrons have their own lives and leave after certain times, so there’s plenty of events you can experience depending on what you are doing.

Most importantly the puzzle sequences are executed well. You can easily tell each of the different types of blocks apart, can see where you are in relation to the falling floor and stage in general, can pan up to see the what you will be dealing with, and can sort of rotate around the column you are scaling. The game runs at higher resolutions, and looks nice, though there aren’t very many options.

Music
The music is quite the mix, with climbing sections being remixes of classical scores, with the already mentioned Hallelujah chorus at the end (which trumps everything). The bar music is jazz, though there is a jukebox where you can play music from other Atlus games when you unlock the rewards. All the voice work is of a really high standard, even the side characters in the pub (the other stray sheep), and it helps that the dialogue is really well written and it makes the characters relatable, if not likeable.

Multiplayer
There is an option to go heads to head with someone else and compete in climbing the tower stages (with the best of 3 being the winner). While I didn’t get to experience, you could have a lot of friendly competition in this mode with another local gamer.

Achievements
You would have to be a masochist (or really like the climbing puzzles). There’s at least 3 play thoughts required (or 1 with a good amount of set saves), and so many missable achievements. There’s at least 9 different ending, a hard mode and the arcade game to complete as well.

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Children of Morta is a casual action RPG with heavy rougelike design elements. It has an excellent story, plenty of replayability, great narration and art style (its pixel art), offers co-op and is extremely polished. I’d highly recommend it, it’s a great game to play.

Story
You initially play as John, the father of the Bergson clan, whose family have been tasked by Rea Dana (goddess of the land) to be guardians of Mount Morta for generations. Corruption starts spewing forth from the mountain, turning the animals and beasts of the forest where you live into horrifying creatures. Along with your eldest daughter Linda you set forth to go to the goddess’s shrine, and set out to discover what is causing the corruption and if it can be stopped before your family is put into any more danger. Additional family members step forward to help fight adding to the family’s repertoire of skilled fighters and as you venture further away long lost secrets are revealed and hard choices might have to be made while the corruption comes closers to your house and family.

Gameplay
Gameplay is casual, through rougelike in nature. Each dungeon run will consist of 3-4 stages, along with a boss fight. Once you select what map or area you are going to start at, the game randomly creates the dungeon, including possible pickups, random events and mini bosses (tougher enemies), upgrades and challenge rooms that you might encounter. If you complete any random scenarios, collect any lore or souvenirs, or beat the boss the next area opens up and you proceed home with any collected money to spend but everything else is lost. If you die, or retreat you still return home with exactly the same items as if you had been successful (other than the next area being open), and can come back slightly stronger or with a different character to try again. The game is forgiving in this manner, death isn’t really a put off (you don’t lose progress) and at worst failing a run lets you purchase some upgrades that will make you stronger for the next attempt.

Each character has a wildly different playstyle, with some being able to tank enemies or block attacks, while others are super nimble and evade enemy attacks quite easily. Others are long range fighters, who can easily pick off enemies from distance, but prone to getting overwhelmed up close. While you can focus on using just a few characters to progress (depending on your skill level) you are highly recommended to play with each and the game enforces this buy giving characters you rely heavily on corruption fatigue, which drastically reduces their health.

Experience and levelling up is handled slightly differently, with base stat upgrades (like max health, base damage, crit change ect) that affect the whole family being purchased with gold back at the family home in-between runs, while unique character skills are only improved when the characters are used. Each character gains experience for every enemy killed and has their own upgrade tree, where each skill can be upgrades 3 times, and when you get to major level tiers (5, 10,15 ect) unlock a fixed bonus that helps all family members out. In this way it’s quite helpful to at least get the first few tiers for each family member unlocked, as the bonuses offered to everyone can give you a significant boost early on. Some of the later skills and abilities melt enemies and bosses, so there can be a significant reward for finding a character you like and focuses on them.

The dungeons themselves are quite well designed (even if randomised). Each map has 3-5 main areas you will likely traverse through, though you could stumble upon the exit room sooner than that, with random scenario rooms having a translucent blue wall (that stops enemies following you). Challenge rooms (where you fight a few waves of enemies for random rewards) are also shown by the unique gate they have on the entrance. There are tons of vases to break (which might have health pickups, money or souls) in them, with chests scattered around that might also contain those items, or the converted divine graces, relics or runes in them, as well as plenty of area’s with trap floors. Enemies usually come in swarms, though its only when fighting the tougher enemies (mini bosses) where things become frantic as they have added effects that randomly happen around them (like poisoned floors, electrical balls, or stunning crystals), though no area is truly safe and enemies will sometimes spawn in cleared areas. Until late game I’d say success is likely down to the divine graces you have acquired (passive abilities that enhance your character), as some can significantly buff you, or drastically increase survivability and there doesn’t seem to be a limit. The divine relics are active powerups, which can help significantly, though you are limited to 2 at a time. Charms are once off bonuses that could be a buff on a timer, or persistent for the entire run with a possible drawback. Runes are weapon or skill upgrades that change how your attacks work, but can mix in attacks from other family members or add affects to attacks, but run out after a set amount of usage.

Graphics
For using pixel art, the graphics are very well drawn. Everything looks great and there is no mistaking what things are. There are lots of movie scenes throughout the game or slight breaks (might be characters looking out at the distance) and they are gorgeous to watch. Everything in the dungeons is very clear (and items hidden behind objects are highlighted), there’s no unfair moments where you get killed because of an off-screen enemy. I’d say after nearly every run there is an in game scene where something is happening with the family, which really drives home the family dynamics and while things are in no way perfect for the family, you see them come together to overcome the obstacles in their way.

The enemies are animated well, and while the same types are carbon copies of each other, they aren’t reskinned anywhere else and help you learn the attack patterns. Each area has a good variety of enemies and put each character’s abilities to the test. The bosses are all unique and varied, which was refreshing and can take a while to figure out how to beat them without getting yourself killed.

Music
The music is quite atmospheric and dark, full of songs with long piano and string instrument pieces, with occasional vocals, or threatening with frantic drum and string works, but there’s very little that’s cheerful about it. This is offset by the somewhat relaxed music that plays when you are back at the family home, which helps add to the tension when it’s not playing when you expect it. The game is heavily narrated, and the voice over work is excellent. Every family scene, the intro, the ending, all of it has the same consistency, and is very polished.

DLC
There are 3 DLC’s (2 paid). The free one is 6 narrated stories based on the in game characters and well worth listening to. The first DLC is one that adds animals and pets to the game, some additional perks and donates money to charity. The other DLC adds a new character for the endless mode (not main story) so it only worth it if you are going to give that a try.

Achievements
Theres a fair few achievements to grind out, so if aiming for 100% will likely take you a fair amount of time. Many of these will be random (depending on what spawns in each run), and also requires you to play in co-op

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Wildfire is a pixel art 2D stealth platformer, where you have to use your elemental abilities to free your fellow villagers and escape the numerous hunting parties that are after you, as well as avoiding environmental hazards. There’s a good amount of puzzle solving (especially if you aren’t doing the bare minimum in stages), and replayabilitiy if you want to complete all the optional extras for different awards (no kills, unseen, speedrun ect), an expanded new game+ mode, and couch co-op for some extra mayhem. Also you can set most things on fire, like nearly everything. I’d highly recommended picking it up, though if you only plan on doing a minimal run then play time will likely be around 6 hours depending on skill level.

Story
The game does a great job of drip feeding you the story, keeping you exploring the stages and notes to slowly expand on why events are happening. You play as an unknown villager, one who might be marked as a village protector. As a part of your trial, you come across a strange, glowing meteorite, which grants you the power to control fire. As you rush back to your village, you see it burning, with soldiers marching off survivors, and yourself being hunted for being a witch. You follow the raiding force, trying to free your fellow villages, and figure out why this is happening while harnessing your new powers.

Gameplay
I thoughts the gameplay was fairly slick and well designed. You have a good range of normal movements (walking, jumping, swimming, climbing & sliding) with faster versions (like running) creating noise (in a bubble around you) that enemies can use to detect you. You are mostly defenceless, with few options at your disposal to directly confront enemies, with most of your options being limited to distracting enemies, or stunning them, though as you unlock upgrades or pick up equipable skills the options expand.

There’s around 25 stages, with them being split into different environments (forest, caves, mountains and city), each which presents different environmental hazards. The beginning areas are lush with grass to hide in, but these also make excellent areas to set enemies on fire if needed to make them panic. The downside being that burnt grass generates noise as you move through it, and no longer hides you. The icy environment makes control of the character more difficult as you slide, and noise might cause icicles to drop on you. Some areas can freeze your character to death if they don’t keep close to a heat source. The caves are full of bobcats, which can smell you if you are within their range and will actively hunt you if you are detected. The cities act as a mix of everything, while introducing enemies that are immune to fire.

The upgrade system is well thought out, and lets you pick from what you think will help you the most (from what’s unlocked). While the major element class (fire, earth and water) is locked behind story progression, it does give you the ability to become well versed in using them. Every new power unlocked has its own tutorial, which you have to do to continue. These upgrades greatly expand on the move set available to you, and can significantly help you move through areas. You can’t get everything unlocked in one play through, that’s what’s the NG+ mode is for, as well as expanding on the guard’s search patterns. Each stage has multiple collectables, from elemental upgrades (which you can pick from depending on the offering you make), random meteorite shards to collect (which buff different abilities), as well as other collectables (for achievements). Each stage has optional extras you can do, which grant additional upgrade points (for buffing health, ability range ect). I’d say most of these are meant for NG+, as you have a full moveset at your disposal to use.

While the map screen shows you what objectives have been completed for each stage, it would have been great to show some of the other collectables as well, though they do carry across playthroughs. I didn’t find the game buggy, and encountered no issues though it does have a long initial load time, though I was playing with a controller which might be the preferred way to play.

Graphics
The graphics are designed in that retro pixel art, but actually look quite good. There’s no mistaking what things are, your powers advise what can interact with what objects (hover your fireball over a plant and you will see it show it will go up in flames). There is a good amount of trial and error involved, and you set a new checkpoint everytime you touch a shrine. While each stage only has 1 exit, there usually multiple paths through or ways to tackle each given situation, though some of these will be highly dependent on what upgrades you have.

Music
The sound effects in the game were good. Moving on different surfaces produces different noises, and running increases the tempo. The game lacks any direct voice work, though all the guards scream when they panic, and make other noises as they move through different levels of alertness. Interacting with the elements or objects in different ways all have their own effects, some which are critical to traversing stages. The music is actually quite good and really suits the game, though seems to fade quickly from memory when not being actively listened to.

DLC
The only DLC available is the soundtrack, which I thought was quite good. Not sure if I’d listen to it outside the game though

Achievements
If your aiming for 100% achievements then I think its possible, but you need to be prepared to sink some time into playing the game. You need to do at least 2 runs (NG+), complete all the optional objectives, and play in co-op mode

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Lego: The Incredibles is a child friendly, action adventure Lego adaption of the 2 films of the The Incredibles franchise. It offers a good amount of kid friendly puzzle solving, free world exploration, crimes to stop and plenty of collectables and characters to unlock. If you are looking for a suitable couch co-op game to play with a younger player you wouldn’t go wrong with this, and I recommend picking it up. Any kids who like superpowers should love playing with the custom hero maker, allowing them to fly, swim, race or shoot their around the city.

Story
The game follows the major events from the 2 films (starting with the second), before moving onto the golden years (pre first movie), then following the events of the first. You also have the option to fight crime waves throughout the city, which when completed displays on the map all the collectables and races to complete in that section of the city. A lot of the darker moments (like heroes and villains being killed) have been changed so they survive in line with other Lego games.

Gameplay
You play as characters from each of the major events of each movie, and each stage generally follows what happens in the movies. You control multiple characters at a time, all which have different superpowers and are required at certain parts of the stage to progress through puzzles or certain boss battles. Each mission loads directly into the next (there’s no free roam to get to the next mission), though you can explore the city or access completed missions.

While the environments aren’t completely made out of Lego, they look fairly detailed, and there are plenty of destructible objects that drop studs to collect. Studs aren’t as important in The Incredibles, as they are only used for purchasing vehicles and mystery bags to unlock some characters or objects (collecting over a set amount in each stage is still important to get the golden bricks). Red bricks are scattered around the city, and require the crime waves to be completed, though don’t need to be purchased (just enabled). Each of the stages has 10 minikits to collect, which typically unlocks are vehicle for driving/ flying in the city. The hub area is really well designed, having criminals to catch, ongoing crime waves to stop, plenty of collectables and races to take part in, and generally being a large place to explore and test out your super powers. The Menu UI here is great, being the best I’ve seen in a Lego game, allowing you to select a mission you want to play, select which mode (story or free roam) and then who to play as (in free roam), you no longer have to hunt down a random starting point, or unlock a missable map point. You have to make your way to the prison to replay crime waves once they are completed, but its fairly easy to do so.

The game does have low level violence, with “killed” players exploding into their lego bits, but they are respawned instantly to continue on and should be suitable for younger players. There is a fair amount of fighting (as to be expected) and the enemies do shoot guns or explosives, but it’s fairly tame in a cartoony way (i would consider the movies more violent). In places where people would have died in the movies, they instead run away, or survive in keeping with a younger audience in mind.

The controls are intuitive if using a controller, and I found easy to pick up. Saving seems to be a little better, giving you the option now to save and exit the stage, and the game auto saves when you find a collectable.

Graphics
I thought the stage design and environment were really well done. While they aren’t all made of Lego objects, there’s a ton of different powers you need to interact with certain objects, the puzzles aren’t mind numbing easy but not too difficult for kids to work out and there are plenty of objects for players to smash along the way. The characters build some fairly cool things (like the giant can opener for getting into the Underminers drill car). The hub world (the city) looks lived in as you race or fly through it, there’s plenty of people walking around (or in distress who need help). Kid’s will love Edna’s house for customising a unique super hero, with the powers and costumes bits they have unlocked. The character menu is easy to navigate, and if you want to build a car or plane its easy to switch to that menu. I loved getting the new characters, they are in the minikit bags that simulate opening the actual Lego mini-figure bags.

Music
The VA was good, with most of the lines being from the movies. The crime waves are all new vocals, and are pretty humorous. All the characters mutter different lines as they collect items or perform actions, I thought this was very cool. There’s plenty of other Pixar characters to unlock and play as, who all use lines from their respective movies. The music in the missions was good, but none of it really stood out. The Incredibles Main riff does play a lot (especially in the crime waves), so be prepared to hear that often.

Multiplayer
This game was made of couch co-op. A second local player (no online play available) can easily join your game and take control of any of the spare characters. In story missions this is locked to who is available to play as, but in free play you can play as who you want. The screens split vertically, and merge together when both players are near each other. Both players can be anywhere in the city, but if anyone starts a mission or fast travels then both are teleported to the same location.

DLC
There’s is a vacation skin pack, if you really want to see the Parr family in vacation clothes. I’d give it a skip unless that’s really your thing.

Achievements
The achievements are easy to get, though some unique mission only achievements will pose a challenge to younger players. Everything else some come through normal gameplay and exploration

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