Wordsmith's Anvil

  Images courtesy of Thinking Stars Cyberpunk has been something of an obsession of mine since before I even graduated high school. I discovered Blade Runner as a teenager while flipping through the channels and landing on AMC, and that's pretty much what did it. I knew Harrison Ford well from Star Wars , knew Ridley Scott from Gladiator, and the Vangelis soundtrack was one of the many that my parents owned and threw on the CD player plenty. Hook, line, and sinker. I was in.       Blade Runner is my all-time favorite film to this day.     With that in mind, anything that comes out in the cyberpunk genre captures my attention. ANNO: Mutationem is no exception. I was intrigued instantly by the combination of graphics, pixels and otherwise put together by a Unity engine, as well as the aesthetics of the setting.     In ANNO , Ann Flores is an investigator who works for a private firm that receives contracts from the local police. She handles eve...

  Images courtesy of Out of the Blue Games Since I started delving into reviewing games I've tried to branch out a bit from my typical genres. I've always been partial to RPGs above all, but action games like Ghost Recon or adventure titles like Tomb Raider have always been fun too. Then there are more narrative-driven games like The Last of Us or hack n' slash action like God of War . Call of the Sea might never have turned my head in the past, but there is definitely a place for peaceful puzzle games like this one that Out of the Blue developed.     Call of the Sea tells the story of a young woman hoping to find her husband on a remote island some 74 miles off the coast of Tahiti. Henry, the husband, went there with the intention of finding a cure for his wife. Our protagonist has an illness that has not only placed concerning dark spots all of her hands, but has rendered her somewhat immobile through exhaustion. As the exploration of the island continues, however, the ...

  Image courtesy of Deck13 "I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating... and it gets everywhere."     Anakin Skywalker would probably have a tough time playing Atlas Fallen , but that certainly doesn't mean that the rest of us can't enjoy it! The Dune- inspired settings and backdrops of the game have dumped hundreds of metrics tons of sand into their proverbial sandbox, but just like little kids running around on the beach... Deck13 has actually made it pretty damn fun to play with.     In Atlas Fallen , you play as an unnamed who comes across something life-changing. If that doesn't make sense yet, just bear with me. The unnamed are essentially slaves in this classed society where they've literally decided that if you were born in the lower class you don't even receive a title of any kind. Sounds pretty difficult to get people to clean up your noble messes when you can't even use their names, but whatever. A gauntlet of incredibl...

  Image courtesy of Passtech Games We all have extra time to throw willy-nilly anywhere we want, right?     Maybe we don't. I don't know.     But if we do, then games like Curse of the Dead Gods can certainly serve as the time-wasters we're all looking for. There's not all that much you're going to get out of playing a similar-yet-not version of Hades , but if you're just looking to zone out and slash baddies then maybe this game is for you.     Curse of the Dead Gods does have a story, despite it seeming like it has skipped one altogether. You play as a spelunking adventurer extraordinaire. His name is Caradog McCallister but I only know that thanks to Google. It's McCallister's thirst for knowledge that has brought him to an immense temple belonging to some ancient deities in the vein of the Mayans or Aztecs. Dodging traps and ancient monsters spawned by the temple's internal maze, McCallister must find a way out or seal his fate as a permanent fi...

Images courtesy of Ubisoft Toronto I don't want to say that I typically avoid reviewing games from massive studios, but perhaps I'd be lying to myself. I've done it a couple times, obviously, but that's not where I like the focus of my attention to be. I suppose I like to shine the light on the little guys a bit more in the hopes that some indie companies will push forward and continue living their dreams of making better and better games as time goes on.     Now all that said... I did recently finish Starlink: Battle for Atlas and I was more than pleasantly surprised at how fun it was.     In Starlink , you play as a handful of star pilots that are going up against a big bad who wants nothing more than to dominate the star system you're in. Eventually, this big bad (Grax) wants to potentially rule the entire galaxy. If it sounds like we're in a time warp back to the 90s and Star Fox 64 , then you're in for a real treat. Especially if you play on the Switch....

  Images courtesy of Thunder Lotus Games Every game studio has to start somewhere.     Sometimes that jumping off point can be a little more strenuous than others. With the right things in place, however, a game can make enough of an impact that a studio generates the revenue needed to push forward and make something else. Ideally, they would be making something better. This can be seen with Digital Sun in Moonlighter as they use their cashflow to springboard a sequel that looks bigger, better, and bolder than the original. I suppose we'll see.     The concept here was also used by Thunder Lotus Games in their development of Jotun . The game is a short jaunt, literally five hours, into a few different realms of Norse mythology's Yggdrasil while playing as Thora. Thora is a shield maiden who had a tumultuous demise that unfortunately robbed her of the glory needed to reach Valhalla. Through a series of trials set by the gods, Thora must prove her worth in the af...