Destructoid

It's a weird game to review because so many people are going to expect drastically different things. How many games force you to shave and send your clothes up for dry cleaning? How many times can you say that you hexed an old widow so that you could go bowling in the past...oh say decade or so? Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is another trip. You've been warned.

Despite its age, simplicity, and lack of embellishments, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town proves the Bokujō Monogatari franchise has been on the money since the very beginning. Its content may feel a little sparse compared to its successors and competitors, but I can see myself returning to these lands long after the next harvest moon.

Pokémon Café Mix is currently in that sweet spot where it's mostly harmless with only a few bits of frustration. The puzzle formula is entertaining enough to bring me back two or three times a day to try and get past those roadblocks, but really, I'm firing the app up far more often than that just to get a look at those delectable Pokémon dishes.

For every few moments in Iron Man VR that gave me an absolute rush, there were several that felt comfortably sterile. That's not the best ratio, but I'd definitely play more and I hope that Camouflaj gets their hands on Iron Man again: if only to see how they can top themselves and mend their mistakes.

Like many recent indie games, The Almost Gone isn't afraid to tackle difficult subject matter. And like a lot of its fellow developers, Happy Volcano opts not to get too far into the weeds of the topics it covers. Certainly, there will be players who take the narrative to heart more passionately than I did, but I do find it a curious enough of an experience to recommend to mobile gamers looking for something more melancholy than the newest match-3 puzzler.

It's not like Bounty of Blood is bad though, per se, as it contains a number of great knockout fights with several sprawling arenas. It's still a hell of a lot of fun to stomp through any environment in Borderlands 3, and there's a few fun sidequests afoot: one of which tasks players with looking for clues to suss out buried treasure. The town itself is also full of personality, serving as one of the more built-out hubs in recent Borderlands memory.

That final act lasts around half an hour like the others and then you're done: Slappy's head pops off (not really a spoiler!) and then the credits abruptly roll. If you spent $40 bucks on it, it'll feel more chilling than most of Stine's actual tales. It's such a disappointment.

With a remake, all of this, along with the often questionable level design, could have been corrected. But with SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated aiming to be as faithful to the original as possible, these issues only serve as a reminder of how much better the industry has become at making 3D platformers.

The aesthetic beauty of the game helps keep me going as well as the music but I only wish some more tweaking had been done to some of the shootout mechanics. If you pumped hours upon hours into Enter the Gungeon then chances are you'll find a similar grab in West of Dead, but be fair warned that there isn't as much polish here. If it helps, it is launching day one on Xbox Game Pass so if you have that you can try it as soon as it launches.

Surprise: Isle of Armor does not completely shake up the Pokemon formula. You're getting a very small narrative and another big interconnected Wild Area: that's pretty much the gist of it. With those expectations in check, you'll have a blast if you've been looking for an excuse to get back into the swing of chilling out with Sword and Shield.