Wordsmith's Anvil

  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...

  Image courtesy of Digital Sun Retro never really goes out of style, does it?     This is evident in the clothes people wear, the music they listen to, the movies they throw on, and the notion has even pervaded the games we play. Moonlighter is a great example of a retro-style game developed in the last several years that fills that retro niche so many people look for. Others that have come out to great success in recent years would be Children of Morta or Sea of Stars . All three of these games tackle different elements of the same void, but with their similarities it could easily be said that the latter two were the games that turned my head towards trying  Moonlighter.     Moonlighter is a little adventure roguelike where the protagonist, Will, heads to the dungeons near his hometown ever night. It's in these caverns that Will moonlights as an adventurer, gathering loot and exploring the secrets of these dangerous chambers so that he can come back to t...

Image courtesy of me A chill lingered in Tartarus's spring air. With a drowsy mind and clumsy feet, Xander stepped off his hay-stuffed mattress and scratched idly at a louse in his unkempt hair. The Thalassan lieutenant eased his weight back and forth on unsteady legs. His right leg still ached where a Gaian shortsword has punctured his calf muscle and just his own body weight was discomforting, to say the least. He glanced at his armor heaped on a chair. It seemed wrong to avoid wearing it, especially given his surroundings, but another twenty pounds of armor would only aggravate the wound only just fully sealed. It took over a month for it to heal properly because Xander continued to tear the struggling muscle open repeatedly. A good remedy for that? A few days doing nothing besides lying in bed. However, that did little to boost the ego or alieve the clumsiness Xander felt with his every move. His hands lumbered about too. With broken bones in his left wrist that rendered his ar...