After almost six years of writing, I have decided to discontinue Black Red Gaming. Back in March, I announced that I was beginning to wind down but didn’t know how long it would be before I close up shop. Well, that time has come now.

As I stated in the Winding Down blog, I stopped pursuing a career in games journalism and instead started focusing on public relations. For awhile, I thought that maybe I could do games PR and stick to the writing, but over time that too began to fade. With my focus shifting more and more towards public relations writing, I found myself with less time and energy to give to games writing. Also, my time in general has gotten more limited, and I have found myself drifting away from games overall as a result. I still enjoy playing them, but I no longer care to be up-to-date on releases and news and whatnot.

To be clear, I still enjoy the writing. I enjoyed the writing I did here, and I enjoy the writing I do elsewhere such as for my internship with a minor league baseball team. It is not due to a lack of love for writing or for games that I end this blog. I am simply just in a different stage in my life where my love for writing is shifting away from this. I am starting to put more focus into my career, and while the writing I do here helps with certain aspects of it, I just don’t think allocating my time and energy to this is the best course of action.

I already pretty much stated all of the reasons why I’m ending this blog in my Winding Down blog, so there isn’t really much to say here. It’s been a lot of fun creating content, fleshing out my ideas, and interacting with the community, but now it is time to move on. Thank you for all the fun between here, Destructoid, and Black Red Gaming, and I hope that video games continue to be as great in the future as they were when I was writing about them.

-Ben Guthrie

The months of 2022 continue to roll on, and these lists aren’t getting any easier to make. Maybe it’s just my general waning interest in games or it’s just been a slow few months, but there hasn’t been much to really get excited about in a little while. Still, there are some noteworthy titles releasing, so here I am with another monthly list going over July 2022.

The game has to release on at least one major systems (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch). I do not count re-releases or remasters, but I may make an exception for remakes. I do count games either entering or exiting early access, though I will lean towards the latter. If a game has multiple release dates like Destiny 2 or GTA 5, then I will only count the earliest release date. The exception to that is if the game has a pre-order bonus of entering the game early, in which I will count its normal release date. If I put a game in my list but its release is delayed, I will not qualify it for the list in its new release month. Finally, it has to be a game, not a DLC. With the rules out of the way, here are my top four anticipated titles of July.

eBrain Studio’s Loopmancer is a rogue-lite action platformer set in a cyberpunk world about a detective going on the hunt for a missing journalist. The cyberpunk setting isn’t really doing it for me anymore, but where this game does hook me is with its gameplay. The fast-paced combat looks reminiscent of Dead Cells, and I’m interested in seeing how this game handles replayability. Loopmancer will release on the 13th for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.

Stray by BlueTwelve Studio is a third-person adventure game about a cat trying to find its way home through the alleys of a cybercity. Just like with Loopmancer, the cyberpunk setting isn’t doing it for me anymore, but what is interesting to me is the concept of playing as a cat. I think it would be neat to interact in a city environment as an animal known for agility, and I wonder how else this game will allow this cat to interact with the environment and the people (or rather robots) inhabiting it. Stray will release on the 19th for PC, PS5, and PS4.

Aegis Descent by Traega Entertainment is a rogue-lite vehicle shooter about descending into the depths of a secret World War 2 testing facility and fighting off the alien threat that overtook it. What I think is really interesting about this game is how it’s a dogfight-esque game but with low-flying planes because it takes place in caves. I think that restriction of space could be interesting to play, and I think the sci-fi WW2 setting looks pretty neat. Aegis Descent will release on the 8th for PC.

Escape Academy by Coin Crew Games is a first-person co-op puzzle game that’s all about escape rooms. As someone who has done a few escape rooms with friends, I think they are a lot of fun, and I can see that fun translating pretty well into the video game landscape. I can easily imagine me and a group of friends getting a fun few days out of puzzle solving, though I do wonder if the game will make any changes to the levels for multiple playthroughs. Escape Academy will release on the 14th for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

That is going to wrap up this list. Thank you for reading, and tune in next month for another set of anticipated releases.

Like every other major Ubisoft IP, Far Cry continues to trudge along. As a (former) big fan of Far Cry, I used to believe that the more, the merrier. Maybe not anymore. As always, you can find the rank itself at the bottom of this blog.

Far Cry 6 travels back to the lands of palm trees and humid weather. Instead of fighting off pirates and mercenaries, however, this game chooses to fight a dictatorship on a fictionalized Cuba. Dani Rojas was planning on leaving the island while its tyrannical grip grew tighter on its people for the sake of making a cancer-curing plant, but the boat she was on was captured and her best friend died in the process. With vengeance in his/her heart, Dani charters a war path through the island of Yara to kill dictator Anton Castillo and liberate the island from its vicious cycle of dictatorships.

Like a Marvel movie, the Ubisoft game formula is one that works but can only work if it’s incredibly formulaic and is stripped of any substance. Where a Marvel movie gets butts in seats using cheap amusement park thrills and witty dialogue, Ubisoft gets butts in chairs by offering high hour counts and callbacks to their older games before they were horrendously commodified. Remember the weed-burning mission? Remember cool villains? Remember outposts? It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t, because Ubisoft will make sure you never forget. Not only is Far Cry 6 a drag to play through in comparison to other Far Cry games, but it also doesn’t stand great on its own merits.

In my opinion, the two biggest pillars of this series are the combat and world. In regard to combat, there is a core to it that I think is actually pretty solid, but that core is wrapped up in so many layers of crap that it’s impossible to enjoy on its own. At its core, everything is about the same, but there are some welcoming additions. The weapon wheel is better designed, the game gives the ability to call a car from most anywhere on the map and that car can be customized, there are more weapon options, more customization options, new enemy types, tanks, fun companions to call upon and even level up, and so on. One of the more notable combat additions are the Resolver backpacks, which are abilities on a recharge like a guided missile launcher, EMP device, and so on. I only found the missile backpack to be of any use, but I still think it’s neat nonetheless. If this was the end of the story on combat, then I’d be a happy man, but the story still continues.

With Ubisoft increasingly embracing RPG mechanics in combat (including the last Far Cry game), it’s hard to see Far Cry 6 offering the same combat progression as its older brethren. Well, it’s the unfortunate truth here. In this game, you and various regions around the map have levels, and those levels impact the damage and health of each other. This isn’t a looter shooter, though, as every weapon and armor pickup is permanent. Instead, you level up by completing missions and various world activities, and your weapons will follow along. Weapons do have a rarity system, but it took me awhile to figure out that it ultimately doesn’t matter.

Like every other game I’ve played that injects weapon, character, and enemy levels into the combat, the only thing it really does here is artificially bottlenecks world exploration and screws up the combat. It also allows Ubisoft to make their game grindy, which is exactly what they do here. Everything from leveling to material farming to main mission design is grindy, which leaves me wondering how we started with Far Cry 3 and are currently here. The worst part about this is that a lot of this feels half-assed, pointless and tact-on, making it feel like a required aspect from higher management rather than an integral part of the game. Both options suck, but whenever I play this game I can easily imagine it without the numbers and I believe it would benefit tremendously without them.

Progression further loses its meaning with its skill system. Where previous Far Cry games have you earn xp and unlock skills, the skills in this game are either tied to clothing items or are automatically available from the start. What this means is that rather than learn new skills and evolve through experience, the game already starts you off as a killing machine who only gets better through wearing a wacky crocodile hat that just so happens to be one of the best hats in the game. There is a narrative explanation for starting out as a killing machine, but that lack of evolution just makes Dani feel like a Mary Sue.

The addition that impressed me the most with its sheer size is the amount of customization offered here. There are a ton of customization options available, ranging from ammo types and attachments for weapons to cosmetic and weapon options for vehicles to even customization options for your fishing rod. It’s almost overwhelming how many options there are here, and I not only enjoyed how many options are here but also how they unlocked (buying an attachment for one assault rifle unlocks said attachment for all assault rifles). This system isn’t perfect though. Ammo types such as flame rounds, poison rounds, and so on seem neat at first, but it eventually becomes a hassle and I found that only armor-piercing rounds are really needed. Attaching perks to clothing items means only being able to choose a few perks to have (and it also doesn’t help that again, one of the best hats in the game is a tourist crocodile hat). Special weapons, while cool-looking, can’t be customized, so using basic weapons and customizing those is far better than special weapons.

True to Ubisoft form, Far Cry 6’s map is the largest Far Cry map to-date. Many open-world games have taken this philosophy over the past 5-10 years, but not all of them are right. Bigger isn’t better when bigger isn’t expanded upon with more both in terms of quality and quantity, and Far Cry 6 doesn’t understand this.

With the older games, progression through the world was more naturally gated by surrounding enemy outposts with enemies, essentially requiring players to clear outposts to make the area safer to traverse. This game, however, isn’t the case. instead, the world is filled with restricted areas big and small, and those areas stay restricted regardless of clearing out enemies. Whose restricting these areas if I kill them all? The other thing I noticed while exploring this world is how little of it I actually ended up exploring or wanted to explore. I started Elden Ring at around this time, and it didn’t take long for me to notice that I don’t really wander or explore this world. I go to where I need to go, and the size of the world only really makes travel times longer.

Now in terms of the world itself, I like the theme. The not-Cuba is a cool place as it’s lush, full of history, and has plenty of personality to it. One of my favorite world features in regards to this point are the guerrilla trails. They are a bit obvious with how blue they are, but they play into the theme and history of guerrillas fighting an endless cycle of dictators. It does also lead into one of the new world features of this game: a network of hideouts. There are three main hideouts and a bunch of smaller hideouts hidden either deep in the mountains or in plain sight. The three main hideouts each house one of the three guerrilla factions. When inside the hideout, you walk around in third-person which is neat but rather pointless, and the area is filled with various interactions. Shops, vehicle spawn points, a few structures to unlock and upgrade that offer various services, and more. The hideouts are a neat way of showing off the different factions and upgrades, but I wouldn’t say they are game changer or in any way really needed.

The two biggest features of the hideouts are the Bandidos Operations and cockfighting ring. The Bandidos Operations are passive missions in which you send named characters to complete missions for rewards. Ubisoft has featured similar modes in various other games with varying degrees of success (the early Assassin Creed games are of note here), but the missions aren’t all that great here because the resource requirements to complete missions often outweighed the reward. Cockfighting, on the other hand, caught me by surprise. This mini-game actually involves you playing as the rooster and competing in a 2.5D fighting game. The mini-game is rather basic, but I found it to be a nice break from the rest of the game from time-to-time.

As for the rest of the world in terms of what to do in it, expect the expected. The best way I can describe the world activities is that it seems like people were complaining about the checkbox world design of the previous games, so they tried to hide the checkboxes without actually evolving the world design. There are some new activities and slight redesigns to old ones, but anyone whose played the previous games knows almost exactly what to expect here.

The big world activity for Far Cry games are the outposts. The outposts (called FND Bases in this game) are pretty much exactly the same, though I do think some of the bases like an offshore oil refinery and city cathedral are pretty cool. This game changes things up a bit by adding a few smaller outpost-like activities such as military checkpoints and AA guns. Both of these activities do serve a purpose in the world (checkpoints add road spikes to the roads, AA guns restrict air space), but both also just feel like lesser activities meant to add a few more hours of playtime. The AA guns in particular are extraordinarily boring as all you need to do is just destroy the gun to complete it, which takes about three seconds to do.

Outside of the outposts and outpost-like activities, there’s a bunch of other activities to partake in. Treasure hunts will be familiar to Far Cry 5 players, side quests offer some esoteric glimpses into the world and people of Yara, vehicle races are pretty self-explanatory, collectibles are waiting to be picked up, and so on. Some of the new activities I found include ambushes which involves you and other guerilla fighters ambushing a supply crate, interceptions which involves racing to a supply drop and taking it before the enemy does, and criptograma chests which are little puzzles to solve. The new and old world activities are about par for what to expect from a Ubisoft open-world game, but one thing I appreciate about these world activities is how they reward the player. Just about everything I do in this world feels either useful to liberating Yara or has a visible effect on the experience. For example, one of the collectibles are USB sticks that add more songs to the radio playlist, AA guns allow for greater air space travel, destroying billboards recruits people for Bandido Operations, and so on. Everything here is pretty much par for the course, but since these are smaller world activities I didn’t really mind the lack of evolution or change.

Speaking of pretty much being par for the course, navigating this world is about the same as Far Cry 5. Cars, boats, planes, helicopters, a wing suit, and a parachute can all still be found here. This game does add two new methods of travel, though: tanks and horses. The horses are neat for faster off-road travel and not popping tires at occupied checkpoints, but at some point I just stopped riding horses altogether. As for tanks, they are a good deal of fun to ride around and mow down enemies in, but they aren’t perfect. For starters, the only way to enter an occupied tank is with an EMP device which is nonsensical, and there is an article of clothing that auto-repairs vehicles you are driving, and wearing that in a tank means you are unstoppable which is a bit dumb. One last thing I’ll say about vehicles is that helicopters and planes feel super stiff to fly on keyboard and mouse, though I can’t remember if this issue plagued Far Cry 5. All-in-all, navigation is about the same, but I do like having the horse and tank additions.

One last thing I want to talk about in regards to the open world is Esparanza. Esparanza, which is a large urban area at the top of the map, was something I was looking forward to. Being able to play a Far Cry game in a dense urban environment sounded super cool, and this game certainly hypes it up. After working my way through the game and finally reaching the city in the distance, I found the place to be…incredibly disappointing. Most of the city is walled off even after beating the game, the streets are empty, and there’s nothing to do in the city. Not only is Esparanza a huge let down, but it’s also a perfect representation of the game as a whole: something that could be great when viewed at a distance, but is disappointing and conservative in change when close.

I know some people like to make a big deal about the story and politics and whatnot of Far Cry games, but outside of the characters (particularly the antagonist) I couldn’t really care less. Still, there’s a story to talk about, so I’m gonna talk about it. Believe it or not, the story of this game involves liberating an island from the enemy until you kill the main baddie in a final confrontation and walk away in the sunset. This story follows particularly close with Far Cry 5’s story in that the island is divided into three districts with their own sets of heroes and villains to help and destroy. This story does feel like the most creatively free and with the most personality, but it only really acts like a nice wrapping on a mediocre present.

The prologue starts off somewhat promising. The story adds a bit more of an emotional catch to Dani, and the prologue island simultaneously sees Dani fight for vengeance and the guerrillas fight to gain more control. As soon as the game hits the mainland, however, all of that emotional weight is thrown out the window in favor of committing wacky violence. I’m fine with the idea of this game playing light with its tone, but trying to transition from a more emotional and grounded prologue to this doesn’t work. Once Dani and the guerrillas hit the mainland, it’s pretty standard Far Cry affair. You complete missions for smaller guerilla factions to gain their trust, you take on different facets of Castillo’s regime headed by villains of various levels of depravity, and so on until you defeat Castillo himself (in this game, his death feels particularly lame). The only neat aspect of the story that I can think of is that the story touches on the cycle of dictators on the island. In terms of story, if you’ve played Far Cry 5, then you pretty much know what you are getting into here.

Characters are usually the most notable part of a Far Cry story, and I think that’s still true here. My favorite characters are the different guerilla factions that each represent different types of guerillas. One group consists of a farming family dynasty who has had favorable influence over others for many years, one group consists of revolutionary musicians who are fast and loose, the final faction consists of a combination of old revolutionaries from a previous Yara revolution and a new age of college-aged revolutionaries. I’m not the biggest fan of the musician faction, but the other two factions have their own dynamics, methods for fighting Castillo, and set of characters I mostly enjoyed being around. I also think Juan Cortez is a blast to be around as he feels like the embodiment of the good and bad aspects of revolutions.

Interestingly enough, I think the two weakest characters in this game are the main character and main antagonist. Dani Rojas has practically zero development as a character as he/she starts out as a killing machine and his/her role in the revolution doesn’t really change until the very end. Castillo seems like a cool villain living in the interesting conundrum of creating a cure for cancer at the cost of the Yaran people (which the game pulls the rug out from under at the 11th hour to ensure he is in-fact the villain), but little time is spent with him, resulting in the character not having enough time to really shine.

Once the story is complete, there are a few more activities to partake in if you so desire to keep playing the game. Spec Ops missions are available at any time, but I played them at the end. These are missions on separate maps with the goal of stealing PG-240X and delivering to an extract. One neat part of these missions is that you have to stay in the shade or hose PG-240X down with water to keep it from overheating, but otherwise these missions are a side distraction that didn’t keep my attention for all that long. Insurgencies are where the actual post-game can be found. Every week, a different territory is taken over and you have to do a series of activities to reclaim it such as outposts, checkpoints, and so on. It’s a decent way of engaging players in the world after the credits roll, but the problem with it is I don’t think it’s worth seeing credits roll in the first place.

Throughout this whole experience, there are two underlying themes weaving everything together: exhaustion and grind. There are some neat things this game is doing, and it is my favorite location of all the games, but I just couldn’t care less because I’m tired. I used to love this series, but now the only feeling I have towards it is apathy. Everything about this game just feels braindead to me, and the deja vu I get from this series now makes this game incredibly boring and mind-numbing. Even if this game was created in a vacuum, however, it still wouldn’t be great because of how grindy every aspect of this game feels. Filler missions, artificial world bottlenecking, exorbitant upgrade prices, and more stretches a 10-hour experience into a 30-hour one. Whether you are a longtime fan of the series or a newcomer, Far Cry 6 is just not a good Far Cry game for anyone.

In the end, Far Cry 6 is just like any other late-stage major Ubisoft title: it’s a functional game, but it’s so beyond its prime that it’s hard to enjoy for even hardcore fans. For as much as I dislike Far Cry 2, it at least tried for something and is a rather influential open-world title. The only thing this game tries to do is shoot for mediocrity for the sake of appealing to the lowest common denominator and selling microtransactions. I really wanted this game to succeed because of my interest in the setting and love for the series, but this game is inexcusable. Even though my frustrations with Far Cry 2 far outweigh most other games in general, I’d rather give that a second chance than endure the grind, boredom, and disappointment of this one. Because of that, I’m ranking this game dead last.

9. Far Cry 6

8. Far Cry 2

7. Far Cry Primal

6. Far Cry 1

5. Far Cry New Dawn

4. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon

3. Far Cry 4

2. Far Cry 5

1. Far Cry 3

I was originally planning on just playing Resident Evil: HD Remaster and letting that be the sole representation of the first game, but I discovered that there are enough changes between this version and the original to warrant another playthrough, so here we are. As always, you can find the rank itself at the bottom of this blog.

It’s time to head back to the mansion that started it all. Instead of modern control schemes and character models who can emote, however, we instead find ourselves back in time. Some parts of the mansion are different, some parts are the same, but it is still the mansion through-and-through. One thing worth noting is that I initially tried to use ink ribbons for saves, but frustrations with my initial lack of adaptability to the different controls and the fact that I already essentially played through this game resulted in me using external saves instead. So with that said, let’s re-enter the world of survival horror.

Just like the last playthrough, I started with Chris, and it didn’t take all that long for me to find my stride. Well, find my stride in regards to what to do anyways. Since this game predates thumbsticks, I had to use the traditional control scheme in which d-pad up and down moves the character and d-pad left and right rotates them. Also, as far as I’m aware, this game doesn’t have auto aiming or running, which meant holding a button to run and having to line up shots though the game is pretty generous in regards to aim. Since I’ve never really played a game like this before (other than, of course, the last game), it took a lot of time for me to adjust. I don’t think this is a flaw of the game as it’s simply just a sign of the times, but I also think the modern control scheme in HD Remaster is leagues better even with its imperfections.

Controls are by no means the only change here. The mansion itself, while mostly recognizable, has some significant changes as well. Sections of the map like the graveyard and underground tunnel underneath the main staircase are gone, there are some layout changes here-and-there, some item and zombie placements are different, some storage boxes and typewriters have shifted around a bit, and the game overall seems to have less puzzles. I had some small issues with the mansion and puzzle changes compared to HD Remaster such as items being harder to see and some storage box and layout changes leading to more backtracking, but overall this version wasn’t missing anything or was really all that bad in any way. Rather, I think this version’s mansion is fine, whereas I think HD Remaster’s version is better, which is a running theme throughout this game. At the very least, the changes are similar enough to easily navigate while different enough to feel fresh.

Zombies still roam the halls of the mansion just like its more recent brethren, but combat does see some more significant changes. For starters, zombies do not turn into crimson heads, which is a win in my book. In this game, zombies are actually much more predictable in regards to killing them. You shoot them, they go down, they come back up, you shoot them again, they drop, and that’s that. Once you see them bleed, it’s over regardless of whether or not their head pops. As a result, combat dynamics are different as weapons shift from a survival tool to a room-clearing device and empty hallways that stay empty means running around with much more comfort. I enjoyed this zombie consistency at first as I was struggling enough with controls as-is, but over time I found it less enjoyable as predictability also means less dread and horror when I know full well just how safe I am at any given time.

How zombies act isn’t the only change with combat in this game. Defensive items are gone, which would’ve been particularly helpful for me with my controls struggle. Zombies sometimes spit, which I don’t remember being the case with HD Remaster but I could be misremembering. Since there are no crimson heads, there’s also no burning, which is fine by me. I found fighting hunters in this game to be far worse, though I also found chimeras to be a bit easier, so it somewhat balances out. Finally, I found fighting tyrant on the helipad more frustrating because of all the camera angle changes and corners I got caught on. Just like the mansion, combat as a whole isn’t bad here, but it is better elsewhere.

One thing that is rather poor when judging this game on its own is some of the story elements. More specifically, the voice acting and writing. A lot of the documents (and thus, the backstory) are the same here, but the dialogue and voice acting is different and a lot worse. I found it amusingly bad, and the story of Chris and Jill are even shorter here than the other game, so it didn’t bother me all that much, but it is still worth mentioning nonetheless. What’s also worth mentioning are some of the cheesy 90s elements I found amusing in a good way, such as the FMV segments at the beginning and end of the game. Story overall plays second fiddle to the rest of the game, but I think the disparity between this and HD Remaster is larger compared to combat and the mansion.

When it comes to the horror aspect, I said the last game nailed by having each element of the game contribute to the horror. Rather than just rely on jump scares (though a few small ones can be found), the game instead filled me with dread and anxiety. The dread of running out of ammo, the dread of losing progress because of limited ink ribbon saves, the dread of a stormy mansion with a more sinister side to it, and so on. With this game, it just didn’t quite live up to it. Part of it was my fault for not using ink ribbon saves, but the predictability of combat and reduced atmosphere of the mansion certainly didn’t help. The game does have a few small but neat jump scares using enemies and camera angles, but they are cheap thrills compared to what HD Remaster does with its horror.

While this game mostly plays well given its age, it also has elements that have aged like a fine milk. The most frustrating one for me were the slight delays not seen in HD Remaster. Changing camera angles has a slight pause, menus are a bit slow, and there are loading screen animations for more areas like staircases. The one other complaint I have that is somewhat within this regard is that the map doesn’t include 100% completion for each room, which would’ve been nice considering the lesser visibility of items but ultimately didn’t hinder things too badly.

After the Chris Run, I of course played as Jill, and it’s in the character differences where there is the most similarity between this version and the newer one. All the changes I can think of between the two characters are the same. One thing I noticed with Jill’s run this time around is that different grenade types have the same damage for all enemies rather than certain enemies being weaker to different grenade types, but it didn’t really bother me all that much. By the time I hit Jill’s run, however, I fully found my groove with the controls and with the game to the point where I essentially one-shotted the whole thing, which I think is neat as it shows how long or short these games can be depending on how well you know them.

In the end, the original Resident Evil is still a great game even with over two decades on its belt. It still has that addicting game loop of progressing through the mansion, and it still kept me glued to the screen just like HD Remaster did. This game, however, does feel like a less refined version of its more modern counterpart, as just about everything from story to combat to even its horror just doesn’t quite stack up to the heights of the remake. Because of that, I am ranking this game below Resident Evil: HD Remaster in the number two spot, and I think it will be within the top half of the list by Resident Evil: Village.

2. Resident Evil (Original)

1. Resident Evil (HD Remaster)

June marks the halfway point of the year, though it still feels as though the industry is recovering from February’s insane lineup of releases. Still, games are releasing, and Summer Game Fest is just around the corner. So with that said, here are my top five anticipated releases of June 2022.

The game has to release on at least one major systems (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch). I do not count re-releases or remasters, but I may make an exception for remakes. I do count games either entering or exiting early access, though I will lean towards the latter. If a game has multiple release dates like Destiny 2 or GTA 5, then I will only count the earliest release date. The exception to that is if the game has a pre-order bonus of entering the game early, in which I will count its normal release date. If I put a game in my top five but its release is delayed, I will not qualify it for the top five of its new release month. Finally, it has to be a game, not a DLC (with exception to this month). With the rules out of the way, here are my top five anticipated titles of June.

The Hand of Merlin by Room-C Games is a turn-based rogue-lite RPG about heroes in an Arthurian time period travelling from Albion to Jerusalem while fighting off cosmic horrors. This game is more of a space filler on this list than anything, but there are still aspects of this game that interest me. I’m a fan of turn-based strategy which this game has, and I think the setting sounds neat. The Hand of Merlin will leave early access on the 14th for all systems.

Mario Strikers: Battle League by Next Level Games and Nintendo EDP is the next multi-generational Nintendo franchise to make its way to the Switch about the Mario characters playing soccer. I’m not the biggest fan of sports titles, but I always enjoy checking out games that give a neat twist to the sport. In this case, it’s soccer but with the ability to get physical, which sounds like fun. Also, it’s a Nintendo game, and usually they can at least deliver something worth playing even if it isn’t up my alley. Mario Strikers: Battle League will release on the 10th for Switch.

Capcom’s Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is an expansion to Monster Hunter Rise that introduces a new storyline, monsters, locales, and more to the game. Monster Hunter is a game I keep telling myself I should play more of, and this expansion may get me back on-board. I remember hearing that the expansion for World brought on a ton, so I’m hoping this expansion will do the same. Monster Hunte Rise: Sunbreak will release on the 30th for PC and Switch.

The Quarry by Supermassive Games is a drama horror game about the last night at a summer camp turning deadly. These drama horrors have been Supermassive’s bread-and-butter since Until Dawn, even though their Dark Pictures Anthology hasn’t quite lived up to their 2015 hit game. The Quarry, however, is pinned as a spiritual successor to Until Dawn as it is trying to hit upon older horror movie tropes. The Quarry will release on the 10th for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

Studio MDHR’s Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course is an expansion to my top game of 2017 about Cuphead, Mugman, and Ms. Chalice exploring a new area of Inkwell Isle. This expansion sounds pretty simple, as it is adding more levels and bosses to defeat, but that’s all I need to hear to jump back in. This expansion has been kicking around since 2018, so I’m glad for it to (hopefully) finally release. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course will release on the 30th for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.

That is going to wrap up this list. Thank you for reading, and tune in next month for another set of releases.

Resident Evil is one of the most successful video game franchises around. With over two decades and dozens of releases across multiple mediums under its belt, it’s hard to think of a more successful survival horror series out there. I originally ranked six games of this series between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 7, but ever since then I’ve thought about redoing this rank to include as many games as possible. Since there are so many games to play, however, I decided to split this rank into two parts: the mainline releases and the spinoff releases. I’ll be sticking to the main releases first, then I’ll hit the spinoff titles as a separate rank once I’m finished here. As always, you can find the rank itself at the bottom of this blog. So with that said, let’s jump into the remaster of the remake of Resident Evil.

The original Resident Evil has seen many different releases, with some having greater impact over the overall experience than others. For the sake of this rank, I will be playing through two versions of the original game: Resident Evil HD Remaster on the PS4, which is a remaster of the 2002 Resident Evil GameCube remake, as well as the original PS1 version of the game. The reason why I’m playing this version before the original is because I decided to check out the original after starting this game. From here-on, I will trying to stick to the order by release date. Also, since I won’t really talk about this until later, I started the game off with Chris.

I’ve played a fair amount of Resident Evil games before, but with the exception to Resident Evil 7, none of them have felt like this. One of the big obvious contributors to that is its fixed camera, but I think its differences from Resident Evil 4-7 go way deeper than that. The combat is different, the horror is different, the level design is different, the puzzles are different, and the atmosphere is different. I’m not the biggest fan of Resident Evil’s more action-like take on the franchise starting with Resident Evil 4, and playing through the game that started it all only confirmed that for me.

One of the biggest highlights for me with this game is the mansion itself. While other elements of this game feel old-school (though I don’t think that’s a bad thing), the mansion in this game feels ahead of its time. Its Metroidvania level design flows with puzzles and keys rather than abilities, which I think results in a much more addicting game loop. I found myself playing for hours on-end wanting to see what keys open what doors as well as see what every room has to offer. Speaking of the rooms, a lot of rooms feel hand-crafted in such a way that makes each one feel unique and fun to explore. One feature I love about exploring the rooms is that the map will display when each room has been 100% explored, which helps a lot with not missing anything.

What also helps is how the game builds an atmosphere within the mansion that is equal parts scary and mysterious, which is also bolstered by its music and rendered art. Who built this mansion and why is it full of these traps? Who is Umbrella and why are they here? Why is S.T.A.R.S. here? A lot of these questions and the story in general are told through notes rather than cutscenes, but I found this game to be a rare case of me actually wanting to read the notes as I was intrigued in seeing where the story went. What’s interesting about this game compared to other Resident Evil titles is that the mansion and its puzzles take the forefront of the overall experience rather than the combat, but I find this not only refreshing but also as a great choice the game makes as the mansion and its puzzles are in my opinion one of the best parts of this game.

Puzzles aren’t the only thing lingering in the halls of this place though. While I have played many zombie games before, none have felt as claustrophobic and terrifying as this one. Rather than just fill the level with a bunch of zombies and turn the game into a shooter fest, this game instead carefully places each zombie, making each one feel unique and personal. Resources are limited, zombies have a fair amount of health, each one of their attacks can take down a decent chunk of health, and they will come back to life unless you burn them using an extremely limited amount of kerosene or pop their head (which I think happens randomly). All of this culminates in zombie encounters being more terrifying than others as I always had to weigh the pros and cons of killing each zombie versus trying to avoid them. Since zombies are unique spawns, however, fully killing them also means clearing up wherever they were standing until the game spawns a new set of enemies (which the game announces and only happens a few times), and as a result I would find myself carving a safe route consisting of cleared-out hallways and rooms. This game treats zombies as individual threats rather than a collective one, and it results in encounters unlike any other zombie game I can think of.

To combat these threats, Chris has a few tools up his sleeve. The weapons in this game are pretty basic (pistol, two shotguns that operate similarly, and a magnum revolver for Chris), but they get the job done. One set of unique weapons that help quite a bit, though, are defense items like a flash grenade or a knife, which are used as a get-out-of-injury-free card whenever a zombie attacks. What also helps with combat more than any weapon is knowing that zombie positions (the ones not fully killed anyways) reset every time you enter a room, which helps a lot with fully understanding each zombie position and how to avoid them (and as a result further characterizes them).

The combat isn’t perfect though, as there are some issues here-and-there I wasn’t too fond of. If zombies aren’t burnt or left with an intact skull, they will eventually turn into crimson heads, which are way faster and more aggressive zombies. I like the idea of burning a body using a limited resource to fully kill it, but turning the unburnt zombies into super aggressive enemies feels more like the game is punishing me for engaging in combat more than anything else. Also along those lines, I found it annoying that I couldn’t just crush zombie heads while they were “dead” on the ground, as that would also stop them from turning into crimson heads. I also didn’t enjoy fighting any enemy type outside of basic zombies, but I also found the game well paced enough to the point where I felt adequately equipped to handle these enemies. Combat may have a few small flaws, but it is overall a lot of fun and works well as a background element to the game.

Coinciding with the combat is the inventory, which I would normally talk about within the context of combat but felt like it needed its own spot to shine. Like I said with combat, resources are limited, so every move has to be careful. One aspect of the inventory that is limited but not to my liking is Chris’ carrying capacity, as it is super short to the point where I was constantly running back-and-forth to safe rooms to drop stuff off. The one resource worth talking about more than ammo or healing items, though, are ink ribbons. Saving in this game uses an ink ribbon, which means that saving is also a resource. Limiting saves is actually an incredibly powerful tool in adding to the survival horror element as it asks how far you want to go outside of the safety of a save. You can’t save too often or else you’ll run out of ribbons, but you need to save enough so that you don’t lose hours of time if you die. The longer you travel without saving equals the more time that will be lost if you die, and I think having that push-and-pull of deciding whether or not to continue advancing through danger or fleeing to safety plays well into the rest of the game.

Another two elements worth talking about within its own paragraph considering its differences to other games (more modern games in this instance) are the point-of-view and controls. Rather than view the game in the first-person, third-person, or top-down perspective, this game instead has fixed camera angles similar to switching through a bunch of security cameras to follow a single person. As the character moves through the environment, the camera will switch to a different fixed position, and often times it will be at different angles. To complement this, the game has a more unique style of controls. This version of the game has a modern control scheme option that is indicative of top-down controls (which is what I used); but no matter what it, takes some getting used to. The fixed cameras aren’t perfect as trying to fight zombies while shifting cameras a bunch gets frustrating, but once I got used to everything I found this style of play fine. Obscuring the visibility of the environments helps with building the horror, and fixed cameras allow the environments to be pre-rendered 2D environments rather than 3D spaces, which I found fascinating. I think the fixed camera and controls are the worst element of this game, but even the worst part of this game is still pretty dang good and refreshing to me.

The story in this game isn’t exactly a selling point, but events and story bits are littered throughout. The story of the castle and who’s running it is told through notes picked up around the environments, while the story of the S.T.A.R.S. team is told through cutscenes. I like how the story is presented here as it keeps things simple with the main story while diving a bit deeper with optional reading notes and backstory. None of it is crazy complex, but there is enough here to set up a world worth exploring both within this game and sequels. As Chris, most of his story involves him and Rebecca trying to survive, with Rebecca essentially acts as a deus ex machina more than anything. There are small variations to story events such as saving Richard versus not saving him, and I like the fact that these variations come-and-go without really announcing themselves as multiple options, but everything ultimately leads to the same ending (which also has slight variations but ultimately ends the same way). The only issue with the story is with the writing and voice acting as it feels stiff and somewhat poorly localized (though I also heard this was somewhat done on-purpose to capture the notoriously terribly charm of the original version’s writing and dialogue), but overall the story in this game is surprisingly engaging and interesting despite its passiveness and simplicity.

One thing I have noticed with the horror games I have played is how it often feels like a balance between horror and gameplay. The more gameplay elements added, the less scary the game is as it often gives more player agency, resulting in reducing the threat of the game. The thing that Resident Evil does better than most other horror games is being able to have both. Every element of this game (the mansion, the combat, the enemies, the camera, the story, the inventory, etc.) adds something to build up the horror. Not every horror game gets this, and the fact that this game nailed this back in 1996 (assuming the original version plays similarly to this version) makes me appreciate and love the game even more.

After my first playthrough with Chris, I decided to boot up a Jill run as I know there are usually enough differences between characters in a Resident Evil game to warrant a second playthrough. Well, I was right. Not only does Jill have different stats, but the story itself plays out differently too. Jill gets less health and worse defensive items, but she gets to carry more, has a grenade launcher, and can lockpick rather than use generic keys. Despite the health, I think Jill’s run is easier as having more character storage makes a huge difference and the grenade launcher is a powerful weapon with multiple ammo types (including flame rounds that insta-kill and insta-burn zombies).

As for differences outside of character stats, there are a few story and gameplay differences. Rebecca is replaced by Barry, and Barry is more of an involved character rather than a deus ex machina. There is more of a plot and relationship arc with Jill and Barry, though the game still ends the same way. What this also means, though, is more exposure to the game’s poor writing and voice acting. In regards to gameplay, most everything stays the same, but I did notice a few small changes like zombie and item placements (or at least I think there were changes). Since Barry is a more involved character, there are a few gameplay moments with him such as choosing whether or not to trust him with giving you cover as you deal with Lisa Trevor. The runs between Chris and Jill are just different enough to warrant a second playthrough while being similar enough to easily cruise the second playthrough (no matter who you play as), which I think is a nice balance to have because at the very least, the second playthrough shouldn’t take up too much time.

As someone who has played the more action-oriented Resident Evil games, this game left me with one question: how did we ever end up with Resident Evil 6? This game is fantastic in so many ways, and I believe it is the pinnacle of survival horror even after all these years. In the end, this game is going to be number one on my list (as it’s the only one on the list as of writing this), but I think it will stay pretty high up by the end.

1. Resident Evil (HD Remaster)

The long month of May is upon us, but before we can celebrate Cinco de Cuatro, it’s time to look at the upcoming releases of this month.

The game has to release on at least one major systems (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch). I do not count re-releases or remasters, but I may make an exception for remakes. I do count games either entering or exiting early access, though I will lean towards the latter. If a game has multiple release dates like Destiny 2 or GTA 5, then I will only count the earliest release date. The exception to that is if the game has a pre-order bonus of entering the game early, in which I will count its normal release date. If I put a game in my top five but its release is delayed, I will not qualify it for the top five for its new release month. Finally, it has to be a game, not a DLC. With the rules out of the way, here are my top five anticipated titles of May.

RiffTrax: The Game is a party game by Wide Right Interactive about inserting your own lines into old movie clips. I’m a big fan of the Jackbox games, and I think taking that formula and applying it bad movie clips sounds hilarious. My one point of skepticism and the one thing holding this game from being higher on the list is that answers are put through text-to-speech which I think won’t be as funny, but hopefully I’m wrong on this. RiffTrax: The Game will release on the 5th for PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.

Evil Dead: The Game by Saber Interactive is a survival horror asymmetrical multiplayer game set in the Evil Dead universe about Ash and friends trying to close the breach between worlds. I have yet to watch the Evil Dead movies, but it’s an IP I’ve been interested in for quite some time. My experiences with asymmetrical multiplayer games so far (Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th: The Game as far as I can remember) haven’t been hits for me, but I think the gameplay in this one looks more fun and engaging than other asymmetrical games, even if the combat doesn’t look quite up-to-snuff. Evil Dead: The Game will release on the 13th for all systems.

We Were Here Forever by Total Mayhem Games is a co-op first-person puzzle game about two prisoners attempting to escape Castle Rock. I only recently learned of the We Were Here series, but I think it looks like a lot of fun. I can picture me and a friend getting really deep into the story and puzzles this game has to offer. I also haven’t really had the escape room-esque experience with video games before, so I’m interested in trying something new. We Were Here Forever will release on the 10th for PC and at a later date for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

Leonard Menchiari and Flying Wild Hog’s Trek to Yomi is a side-scrolling samurai action game about a samurai taking revenge for the townspeople he swore to protect. From the moment I first learned about this game, I fell in love with its cinematic visuals. The black-and-white color palette, framing, backdrops, and lighting speaks to a game honoring the samurai films of old. I also think side-scrolling sword combat sounds fun, and I’m interested in seeing where the story and character goes as he walks down his path of revenge. Trek to Yomi will release on the 5th for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

Straka.studio’s Loot River is an action rogue-lite where controlling the platforms of the world is just as important as controlling the character. The idea of moving around the tiles of the level sounds really interesting, and I love it when games try something unique in a way that flips conventional strategy on its head. Plus, I think the art style looks neat and I’m interested in seeing the permanent progression this game has to offer. And as a side note, this game is being published by the Superhot team, which I think is rather peculiar. Loot River will release on the 3rd for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

Here are some more interesting titles releasing this month that didn’t quite make the list.

Achilles: Legends Untold

Citizen Sleeper

Decision: Red Daze

Hardspace: Shipbreaker

Salt and Sacrifice

Sniper Elite 5

Songs of Conquest

Souldiers

That is going to wrap up this list. Thank you for reading, and tune in next month for another set of anticipated releases.

Warstride Challenges (originally called Warcry Challenges) is a first-person shooter that combines the modern arena shooter combat of new Doom with the level structure and time trial nature of TrackMania. The game first released into early access on April 19th, 2022 for PC, and the game is expecting a 1.0 release approximately one year later according to its Steam page. The game has only been out for a few days, but it’s not hard to see the end product with what they currently have, and what they currently have is an absolute blast.

Structurally, this game takes the form of TrackMania. Levels are one-off linear ordeals about getting from point a to point b in the fastest time possible. Both games (for me at least) run well, have tight and precise controls, and have instant level restarts, which I think are necessities considering how often I need to restart a level for the sake of trying to craft “The perfect run.” The levels for both games have medals to try and earn, and better medals are rewarded for faster times. Finally, both games feature a way to race against the ghosts of other players as well as your own ghost. As a fan of TrackMania, Warstride hits on all of the technical features I want out of a time trial game.

While there are a lot of similarities to TrackMania in terms of its level design and structure, there are also a few differences. For starters, each level has five difficulty modes (only two are available as of writing this), and each difficulty mode actually makes a surprisingly large change to the level in such a way that makes each difficulty feel like its own level. Whether it be going through the level backwards, adding more enemies, changing the weapons, adding or removing map elements, or more, each level feels like five (or rather two at this current time) levels. Each level also has a secret skull to find, and finding enough of them will unlock secret levels. The game also features some alternative levels here-and-there that range in quality. Some are focused on killing enemies or exploding urns as fast as possible while others are platforming-only. My favorite alternative levels are the BFL levels, which combine five normal levels into one long level, and trying to keep a consistently “Perfect” run through five levels consecutively is tough but rewarding.

Not all of the similarities to TrackMania are positive ones, however. Some of the tutorials are scattered throughout the levels rather than front-loaded at the start of the game, and not all of the tutorial levels are replayable in the tutorial level menu. Where this game is really lacking currently, though, is with the community level side of the game. Community levels play a huge role in TrackMania, and while there are tools and some community levels available here, I think the game could do a lot more more to improve it. I didn’t dive too deep into the level editor (I’m more of the playing type rather than the building type), but from what I played I could only find bland map elements (instead of the more jungle temple-esque map elements of the developer levels), and I couldn’t even find out how to do basic features like erase or undo. Also, the current menu for navigating user levels is extremely basic and will become less intuitive as more levels are added. As it stands, the community level side of the this game feels like a side addition rather than a main feature, and while I think this is just the result of being an early access launch rather than a fundamental flaw with the game, I think building up this side of the game will be important for Warstride’s future.

As for what happens within the level, that’s where Doom (or whatever fast-paced arena shooter you want to reference) comes in. Since TrackMania is a game about trying to be as fast as possible, it only makes sense to take that philosophy and apply to a style of gameplay that’s about being fast. Fortunately, I believe this game has everything needed to deliver on that fast gameplay.

For starters, Warstride offers a good amount of combat and platforming mechanics to play around with. B-hopping is the main way of getting and keeping speed, sliding allows for getting under low entryways (and looks really cool when looking left or right), slow motion slows down time to line up headshots, shockwave can be used to blow open doors and large groups of enemies, jump and boost pads allow for long or high traversals, and the game even offers the ability to do a backflip which seems completely unnecessary but stylishly welcoming. The game also includes basic puzzle elements like levers and door switches to shoot, and while some of these elements can mess with the flow of the level, they still add an extra level of complexity not seen in TrackMania.

As for the combat, the game currently includes a surprisingly high amount of enemy types and a couple of different weapons. What’s interesting about the combat in this game is that difficulty doesn’t come from how hard enemies are to fight but with how to deal with each enemy in such a way as to not disturb the flow of the run. Enemies defeated me not by them killing me, but by me not dispatching of them efficiently. The different enemy and weapon types essentially break down to weak or strong, and I had to not only plan out what weapon I wanted to use on each enemy, but also plan out ammo so that I either didn’t have to reload or reloaded in quiet parts of the level. All enemies have to be killed in order to complete the level (essentially acting in a similar capacity to the checkpoints in TrackMania), so skipping enemies isn’t an option.

The two key words that tie the platforming and combat together are ‘speed’ and ‘flow,’ and boy howdy does this game have both. This game feels like the end of a Superhot level where the level replays at normal speed, except that is the speed of this game. For me, this game converts white knuckling to a full body experience, as I often found my feet pushing into the ground, my legs and head tilting to the movements of the game, and my fingers hard-pressing my keyboard. This game is mentally exhausting for me, but having this intense reaction to this experience is one of the many reasons why I love it.

To help out with the gameplay, Warstride offers a ton of gameplay options to tailor the experience. Jumping options, crosshair options, equipping weapon options, and more can be chosen to help with how to deal quick death and quicker times. One of the features I found useful was turning off all of the blood splatter as I found the blood to be rather distracting. It also helps that the controls are tight and responsive, which means I am able to focus on the platforming and shooting rather than focusing on managing the controls.

What all of this leads to is a planning out of each level to an exact science. For each level, I planned when and for how long I jumped and slid. I planned on when to use my slow motion and shockwave abilities if I had them. I planned on how I would kill enemies, what weapon I would use on each enemy and when to switch weapons, and how to fully utilize each weapon so that I could avoid reloads. I even planned how I wanted to shoot door switches if that was something worth planning. Trying to plan all of this can be overwhelming, but plugging away at a level over and over and eventually getting that “Perfect run” is not only incredibly rewarding, but also capture-worthy and really cool looking as well.

In regards to being an early access release and what should be added leading up to 1.0, I think the biggest thing to focus on is fully developing the community side of the game. I want to see community levels be as feature-full and important as the developer levels, as I think that’s where the longevity of this game will lie. There is also, of course, adding in all of the other levels and difficulty modes to the developer levels. Outside of that, I think adding a few features like melee, double jump (as an ability, not a core movement component), and some sort of video replay feature to save and share replays would be nice. I didn’t really encounter any bugs or technical issues which I appreciate for an early access release, so it’s pretty much about adding more content by this point.

In the end, Warstride Challenges is an absolute blast. It takes what I love about TrackMania and applies it to an arena shooter, making an experience that is equal parts frenetic and rewarding. Its current early access state is pretty solid, and I hope to see the game develop well into a 1.0 release. I’m going to sit on this game until the community level features are more developed, but there’s still plenty to do with what’s currently offered, and I recommend checking the game out even in this early state.

P.S. here are some successful runs I recorded.

After all of these years of playing video games, I finally managed to hit 1,000 hours on a game. Now for some, that may seem like nothing as I know there are those who have 10,000 or more hours in games. But do keep in mind that I have been playing a wide variety of games over the past five years for blog writing and I never leave a game running on my desktop unattended for longer than 15 minutes (outside of Cookie Clicker), so squeezing in 1,000 hours of something in the cracks is impressive for me. So with that said, I present to you my 1,000 hour game: Hunt: Showdown.

I first tried out this game in alpha back in January/February time, and I picked up the game on day one of its early access release on February 22nd, 2018. From there, I can only speak on memory, which may or may not be accurate. From what I remember, I put in around thirty hours into the game right when it released, dropped off for awhile, redownloaded the game when it hit 1.0 in August of 2019, put in around another thirty hours off-and-on until around early 2020 when I decided to fully commit, then consistently played the game until then. During that time, I put out two blogs on the game: one in 2018 talking about my time with the alpha, and one right before the 1.0 release talking about how the game builds tension. I also put out a blog in May of 2020 talking about the games I played during quarantine, and one part of that blog includes Hunt: Showdown.

I have always loved the game since the moment I started playing, but I dropped off of it for a variety of reasons. It’s a mix of not being consistent with competitive multiplayer games at that time, being consistent with other games where my friends were at, and not knowing where a consistent game like this could fit into a schedule of playing other games. My next two highest hour count games are Counter Strike: Global Offensive at 389 hours and Payday 2 at 328 hours, but the bulk of my CS:GO hours were put in before I started writing and I managed to put in a bunch of Payday 2 hours because all of my friends own the game and there is a ton of content to play around with.

With both games, however, I eventually tired out, and that plus having a better grasp over playing all the other games for writing purposes meant I had a consistent game-shaped hole to fill in. Leading up to early 2020, me and my friends were bouncing around from multiplayer game to multiplayer game, but not really finding anything that stuck. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was pretty close, and we even tried going back through some of our older games like Payday 2, Overwatch and CS:GO, but nothing ever really worked out. I grew tired of the moving and all the times I would throw away my skills of one game so I can build up my skills in another, so I decided at this point to settle down on one game. I’m super into RPG mechanics in multiplayer shooters like in Call of Duty, but Call of Duty cycles every year which I’m not a fan of. While Hunt: Showdown has a bit of these leveling mechanics, I wouldn’t really say this game checks off that box. And yet, I decided to go back to Hunt, and the sheer amount of fun I’ve had made this game stick for me.

From there, things have been getting better. I got a bunch of friends to get into the game, and while some faded away from this game, others have stuck to it just like me. At around the time I started playing, the developers started to go heavy into events and updates (I actually hit the 1,000 hour mark during their Traitor’s Moon event), and they have been putting out some pretty significant content additions such as a new map, a new boss, new weapons, new skins, new abilities, and so forth. The game has consistently grown in population, and I can get into full quickplay matches, which wasn’t always the case.

While it has grown in popularity, it is still a niche game that only really resides on PC (there’s console versions, but I heard playing there isn’t that great). So, for those who don’t know, I’ll explain what this game’s about. Explaining everything is going to take some time though, so I’ll mark the beginning and end of this explanation.

Beginning of long explanation of this game

Hunt: Showdown is a PvPvE first-person multiplayer shooter set in a late 1800s Louisiana. The game takes place on battle royale-esque maps (a large area filled with a bunch of smaller named areas), but the map doesn’t shrink in the sense that being outside of the playable area will hurt you. That is about where the battle royale ties end (despite some initial coverage of the game labeling this a battle royale game). Before entering a game, players must purchase a hunter from the roster (which are generated characters and can be refreshed after each match), and each hunter can be equipped with two weapons, tools, and consumables. Players can keep whatever items the hunter comes with, or they can swap out items and purchase whatever they want from the shop using the game’s in-game currency (or go into the match with nothing, if they so desire).

Up-to twelve players are in each match, ranging from groups of 1-3 (the trios are segmented off, so it’s usually solo and duo matches or trio matches). They start the match at the edges of the map. The first part of the match is to go to the named locations within the map and pick up clues. They can find these clues using a mechanic called ‘dark sight,’ which can be used at any time and will blacken your vision but will show clues in a bluish glow at long distances. Throughout the map, players will encounter NPC enemies like basic zombies, stronger zombies, an enemy that explodes into a fiery ball when stabbed, an enemy that will direct a swarm of bees at players, and so on, and it is up to players on whether or not they want to kill them or avoid them. The world is also filled with what I call ‘audio queues’ such as a murder of crows, a kennel of dogs, half-dead horses, glass on the ground, and so on that will make loud noises when interacted with.

Once a team has picked up three clues (or if they happen upon the boss incidentally), the game will give them the location of the boss (each match can either have one or two bosses). Once a team defeats the boss, they have to banish it. A banish takes a few minutes to complete, and starting a banish will show the location of the banishing to all other players in the match. Once the boss is finished banishing, it will drop two bounty tokens. When a bounty token is picked up, it will give the player five seconds of enhanced dark sight, which will allow them to see the silhouettes of players through walls within a certain range. Bounty carriers, however, will show up as a little lightning bolt on other player’s maps, and lightning strikes can be seen constantly hitting the bounty carrier in dark sight, showing their general location at all times.

During this time, players will most likely fight each other. If a player dies, they can be revived by a partner (though they will permanently lose a chunk of their health, and there are only a few ways to get health back). If a team dies, then it’s game over for them.

The goal of bounty carriers is to extract at one-of-three extraction points found at random points on the edges of the map. The goal of the other players is to kill the bounty carriers (and anyone else standing in their way) and become the ones to extract with the bounty. At any point in the game, players are allowed to leave the match through these extraction points regardless of bounty.

After the match ends, players earn what is called ‘bloodline xp.’ This is a permanent form of experience that will unlock new items to purchase in the shop. If the player survives, they will also earn character xp, which is experience only applied to their used hunter. Leveling up a hunter will give them trait points, which can be spent on recovering permanently lost health chunks or buying traits such as better stamina, reduced weapon sway, the ability to fan (fast-fire) revolvers, and so on. If a character dies, all of their experience, traits, and items are lost (weapons can be picked up off of dead players in-game by the way), but the bloodline xp remains. From there, players will need to buy a new hunter and new items to keep playing.

End of long explanation

So, what got me to stick with this game for so long? I guess I’ll start with why I initially stuck with it. For starters, when it comes to games or movies, I’m usually more attracted to more unique experiences. I’ve had enough of the Call of Duty experience to know what the next game will be like, so a unique experience like this is fun because it’s new. Also in that same vein, I’m not a fan of the idea of dropping the current game as soon as the next on releases as I don’t want to reset my progress after every game release. I know that Call of Duty has somewhat fixed that problem with Warzone, but I prefer the traditional multiplayer experience which doesn’t quite have that, and Hunt seems to be a one-off game that I can keep my progress in without worrying about any Hunt: Showdown 2.

So why not just play Warzone? That leads to another reason of why I stuck with Hunt initially (any why I still like it now), and that’s its time-to-kill or TTK. What eventually got me to hop off the battle royale train while it was (and I guess it still kind of is) full steam ahead is the TTK, as just about every battle royale game has some sort of armor system that I believe ultimately screws around with the time-to-kill. I’m not a big fan of high TTK, and Hunt’s TTK is super low. Most of the weapons range from single-shot to semi-auto firearms due to its late 19th century setting, so where they lack in rounds-per-minute they make up for in power. Even the weakest pistol can one-hit headshot, and there is no armor in the game that can change around people’s health/damage resistance outside of a few character traits for explosive, elemental, or melee damage. Sure, a low TTK can lead to frustrating moments, but I have found greater frustrations in a higher TTK, and I have learned over time how to avoid the low TTK frustrations of Hunt with smarter play.

As I played the game more and more, I started to appreciate all of the other elements of this game. When thinking about what makes this game great in my opinion compared to other multiplayer shooters, one of the first things that comes to mind is audio. Hunt: Showdown has some of the best 3D audio in any multiplayer shooter. With the audio in this game, I can judge weapon type, distance, footsteps, ground type (what type of ground a person’s walking on), footstep pattern, direction, different levels of aggression among NPCs, and so much more. The game even has a feature in the menus in which you can choose any gun and see (or rather hear) what it sounds like at different distances. Audio plays such a major role in this game, and the amount of information I’m able to gather through every little bit of noise makes me equally impressed of myself and the game.

With how important audio in this game is, it’s not surprising that a big element of this game is stealth. The maps are full of audio queues/traps that set off noise when you get too close to them. Even NPC enemies follow these same rules and can be quite loud when aggravated. As a result, I and the others who play with me find that stealthily and tactically approaching enemy encounters is the best way to go. Yes, people can play aggressive and use shotguns (though I and others tend to frown upon this style of play), but they too need to be smart about their battles. What I find interesting about this is how tactical and stealth play is often associated with modern military settings, so having this style of play using revolvers and bolt-action rifles is rather unique.

The tactics aren’t for nothing, however, as the game’s semi-permadeath system means that there are stakes put into each match. Every hunt has a time and/or money investment into it, and losing a character with a lot put into them means losing an investment. By this point, the stakes don’t affect as much as they used to, but I remember this being a really big deal for me for most of my time with this game because I wanted to build up characters with specific traits so I could make specific builds with the few weapons I was good with. I remember budgeting when funds were low and spending extravagantly when they were high. Nowadays I can do fine with most weapons (and there is another reason why I don’t mind the stakes as much which I’ll touch on in a bit), but having that investment put into each match was and still kind of is exhilarating.

Another aspect of Hunt that I love is its setting, as I think it has one of the most unique and cool settings out of any multiplayer shooter. It essentially combines Western bounty hunters, monster horror, and a Louisiana setting into one stew. Beyond that, however, is a lot of lore that builds up various characters, events, and history. More than just a cool setting, it’s a fleshed out one that I believe permeates into the gameplay itself.

The main way this world permeates into the gameplay are with the maps themselves. While each map is similar in size, amount of locations, amount of supply points, and so on, they each have different dynamics going for them. Stillwater Bayou is more swampy while Desalle is more mountainous and Lawson Delta is in between the two. Each location offers different strategies on how to attack or defend them, whether it be hiding in a cornfield next to Stillwater Bend or sniping from the tower of Healing-Waters Church. Throw in random weather conditions like fog or night time, and it could even result in certain loadouts becoming detrimental, like packing a sniper rifle and having to defend the underground lair that is Pitching Crematorium. The areas between locations include paths, thick wooded areas, mountains, water, flat lands, smaller buildings, and more. These maps are a lot of fun to fight in, and I hope to see more of them in the future considering how great their most recent map Desalle is.

Ultimately though, the coolest part for me about this game is how I’ve combined all of these things together in such a way that I actually feel like a bounty hunter. I know, it sounds cheesy as hell and like something a journalist would say, but the way I’m able to track and stalk enemies through audio, stealth, and knowledge of the maps makes me feel like I’m tracking down a bounty through familiar lands, which I guess I am. I know the maps inside and out, I am able to judge threats based on audio and player actions, I know how to handle every type of NPC enemy and boss, and so on. Learning all of the intricacies and truly inhabiting the role of the character can be said for every game, but I think becoming a cowboy monster hunting bounty hunter is a pretty cool role to fill.

While it’s been a lot of fun to see the game develop and its population grow, it also means being exposed to the game’s flaws for more time than others. Hunt: Showdown is not a perfect. No game is. And while I would consider myself a bit of an apologist with this game and can let some smaller things slide, there are flaws I have noticed that are inexcusable.

The big flaws for a lot of people have to do with the technical side of this game. The servers aren’t great, Cry Engine-while it certainly looks pretty and leads to a fantastic atmosphere-makes my computer want to cry, and there are small bugs and technical flaws found here-and-there. I never really experienced any major server issues and a lot of the bugs I’ve come across are usually too small to care about, but performance is a pretty big issue for me. My PC is getting a bit older (I’m running a GTX 1080, 16 GB of RAM, and an Intel Core i7-6700 CPU), but even at the lowest settings I’m lucky to keep 60 FPS. I’m still able to have a fun time regardless, but sometimes I wonder how much better this game could run if it was developed on a different engine.

Another issue I’ve had with this game over time (which is one I alluded to earlier) is how the game is starting to feel a bit streamlined. I’m by no means saying the game is like Call of Duty now, but I do think the game is losing its edge a bit as a result of its increasing player counts. I’m personally fine with the game adding in the option between traditional shooter aiming and Hunt’s original aiming schemes, but stuff like adding in more semi-automatic guns and shotguns for increased aggressive play and easier forms of making money makes the game feel a little more casual. The other reason why I don’t mind the semi-permadeath systems anymore is because I make enough money to buy whatever I want whenever I want thanks to daily xp rewards, small money bags found on the ground, and so on. It’s a slight change and I still think Hunt is mostly at the same levels of difficulty and whatnot as before, but it is something to watch out for.

My last major complaint with this game has to do with their events. While their events aren’t anything special (either just Twitch drop campaigns or in-game events in which you earn points through destroying sigils spawned around the map, and those points unlock event skins), I still think they are a nice recent addition to the game. The developers have been trying to get a bit greedy with the last few events, however. This most recent event, for example, includes five event skins, but four of them are unlocked through getting event points and whatnot while the fifth skin has to be purchased using ‘blood bonds’ (which can either be earned slowly through playing the game or purchased), and the fee for that skin was extraordinarily high. They also gave four legendary hunters a slight event point boost, but all four hunters chosen are DLC purchases, and there was a big blood bond reward for completing three event-related tasks, but one of the tasks was to purchase a DLC legendary hunter. It’s ultimately all for skins that give no combat benefits or advantages, but it still feels scummy nonetheless.

One last point I’ll touch on before wrapping up is a question meant for any person with a lot of hours in one game: am I good? Honestly, I don’t know. Whenever I play with someone new and they talk about how they are going to suck at the game as a newcomer, I always tell something along the lines of this: nobody’s good at Hunt, they’re just less bad than others. I certainly know my way around the game better than others and I am “less bad” than newcomers, but to say I’m good at Hunt is like saying I’m good at blogging. Saying I’m “good” at either makes me feel like I’m at an endpoint in terms of learning and improving, but there is still so much room for learning, improvement, and change with both. Hunt is a game where even now I’m still learning, improving, and can never truly rest on my laurels, and that is another reason why I love this game so much.

Interestingly enough, Hunt and Escape From Tarkov are starting to spawn more experiences like this, with even a big dog like Battlefield taking up the idea in Battlefield 2042. But even with other games taking up the idea, I’ll still stick with Hunt. Even at 1,000 hours in, I’m still having a lot of fun with the game. I don’t feel myself wearing out on the premise or getting frustrated with the experience. And besides, I’m this far in, so what’s the point in turning back? I’m excited for the future of Hunt, and I hope to see more people exposed to the game in the future.

After the release of Spear of Destiny, the Wolfenstein series took a near-decade hiatus. Just as the name states, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a return to this franchise but with all the bells and whistles of shooters at that time. What that means for this franchise is an evolutionary step for B.J. Blazkowicz, and one with more room for story, new gameplay mechanics, and identity. Here is my ranking of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. As always, you can find the rank itself at the bottom.

Taking place during World War 2, the game follows Blazkowicz escaping from Castle Wolfenstein after being caught snooping on a German paranormal division in Egypt. After his successful escape, Blazkowicz is sent back in to investigate and fight the paranormal division. From there, he chases around SS Special Projects Division head Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse and the paranormal division as they attempt to reawaken Heinrich the Fowler and unleash a supernatural army.

No one can deny the importance of Wolfenstein 3D, but I think it’s with this game where the series begins to find its own. Wolf 3D is great and all as a piece of innovation, but it isn’t the best game to play as it’s very simple in its mechanics and gets both repetitive and frustrating pretty fast. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, however, is an early 2000s shooter, and while it may be simple in today’s terms, it’s still leagues ahead of the last two games in terms of, well, just about everything. Simply put, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is the first game in the series to truly have a story, world, and identity; and while it may not have the importance of Wolfenstein 3D, it is in my opinion a better game.

Normally I would start with story or combat by this point, but I think the environments and levels are worth talking about first because this game actually has something recognizable. The previous two games have one-off maze levels with neon colored walls and occasional décor that I found frustrating, confusing, and even at times nauseating. This game actually has recognizable environments and connected levels that feels like a real place rather than a bunch of disjointed levels. The environments use realistic textures and colors to convey locations such as the castle, a town, underground catacombs, and more. The environments also feel more densely populated with environmental objects like décor and furniture, and a surprising amount of it is interactable. Levels have verticality and solid level design as each level flows well and don’t just feel like a series of boxy rooms. Secret rooms feel like actual secrets with secret environmental levers and doorways hiding these rooms rather than an interactable wall. Even with all of the new, though, some of the old can still be found here such as similar pickups, level stats at the end, and a whole lot of doors to open. In just about every way imaginable, the levels in this game are better from aesthetics to design while still calling back to the games of old.

Complementing these environments is a story which, while basic, still is more than what the previous two games have to offer. The story follows B.J. Blazkowicz as he foils the plans of a Nazi paranormal and science divisions’ attempt of creating a supernatural army. There are some new story elements in this game like cutscenes and dialogue, but none of it particularly stands out. More than anything though, Return to Castle Wolfenstein has given the series an identity as an alternate-WW2 game with a bit of a darker undertone that explores a more fantastical side of the war such as scientific abominations and occult beliefs. Sure, one could argue that the previous two games also have these elements with the Spear of Destiny or zombie-like enemies, but I think this game really cements the series’ identity thanks to the story and environments.

Speaking of drastic changes, combat has also seen some major renovations. Gone are the retro shooter days of the weapon residing in the middle of the screen with only horizontal aiming, and in are the modern shooter days of an off-center weapon, reloading, 3D aiming, and so on. Weapons also have more definition, as the simple ‘machine gun’ or ‘pistol’ are instead replaced by a variety of WW2 weapons and throwables. These weapons range from the classics like the MP40 and Colt M1911 to some fictional weapons like a Tesla gun or a sniper rifle with an infrared scope. All the weapons here are either classic weapons seen in other WW2 shooters or a basic science fiction weapon like a gun that shoots lightning, but it’s certainly better than the older Wolfenstein games. There is also a decent variety of enemy types ranging from traditional soldiers to Frankenstein-esque creatures. Again, nothing that hasn’t been done in other games before, but for this series it’s new and fresh.

Beyond just new weapons and enemies, combat and gameplay as a whole has a variety of changes. Armor is now an available pickup, which helps. The game offers the option to lean, though you cannot shoot while leaning which sucks. There are quick saves, which would’ve been nice in the past two games, but I see this as a positive for this game rather than a negative for the last two. There are less boss fights and they are as equally boring as the last two games, but the bosses are a bit more fleshed out with some unique attacks (though they ultimately don’t compare to the sheer memorability of seeing Hitler in a mech suit). And ultimately, combat difficulty has more of a natural progression throughout the game with tougher enemies and better weapons showing up later on. Combat isn’t perfect as throwing grenades is abysmal, moving while aiming with a sniper scope is finnicky, and it would be nice to lean and shoot, but overall the combat in this game has major improvements over the last two.

While the game as a whole is overall a lot better, where things fall apart is the stealth. While the last two games don’t have stealth, the two games before those do, and the whole ‘infiltration’ tone to this series makes stealth seem like the most sensible addition to this game. This game has more traditional shooter stealth unlike the original two games, but the stealth here just straight up sucks. There are a few silenced weapons as well as alarm boxes that can be destroyed, and it’s cool to be able to stealth kill through a few enemies, but it feels like the game forgot to implement all the other basic stealth elements like alert statuses or instantly alerted enemies without a radio. In other words, stealth is essentially impossible, which sucks because it would’ve been fun to dabble with it in this game. It also makes leaning pointless because leaning can only effectively be used in stealth, and stealth can effectively be used nowhere. Where this really sucks, though, is that there are one or two forced stealth levels. There is a neat part where you have to follow a specific track to not get spotted, but being forced to stealth in a game so inadequately equipped with stealth mechanics was quite miserable for me.

Even with bad stealth though, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a standout game. While it may not be as much of an important or influential release as Wolfenstein 3D, I believe it is very influential in giving the series an identity. More than that, I enjoyed playing this game a lot more than any of the previous games, and for that reason I’m putting this game in the number one spot on my list.

P.S. I had trouble trying to get into a match for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, and I decided I’m going to skip Wolfenstein RPG, so the next game I’ll be covering is 2009’s Wolfenstein.

5. Castle Wolfenstein

4. Beyond Castle Wolfenstein

3. Spear of Destiny

2. Wolfenstein 3D

1. Return to Castle Wolfenstein