Comprehensive Game Reviews

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From AAA titles to indie games, we cover it all. Our comprehensive reviews provide detailed insights to help you find your next favorite game.

Windrose Early Access Review So FarTaking to the high seas in a buccaneering survival crafter with deep combat.

IGN PC ReviewsApr 13

Super Meat Boy 3D Review – Death Perception Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: Headup Developer: Team Meat Rating: Teen When a 2D platformer leaps to 3D, the results can vary wildly. Mario stands as the poster boy for what the most successful 2D-to-3D transition looks like, as the plumber flourished in the third dimension. Conversely, Sonic the Hedgehog has often stumbled since making the same jump, and, in my opinion, never truly found his footing. Team Meat admirably tries its hand at reinventing Super Meat Boy in the same way, and the result hovers somewhere between the highs of Mario and the lows of Sonic. Super Meat Boy 3D is a respectable and often fun translation of the series’ tight platforming, but its style of play sometimes clashes with the demands of a 3D world to frustrating degrees. Super Meat Boy 3D’s dozens of levels have a linear 2D framework, but with depth that lets you move towards and away from the screen. Some levels put the camera above Meat Boy in an isometric view, behind him as you explore straight ahead, or take a traditional sidescrolling perspective. I fell in love with the original Super Meat Boy when it launched in 2010, thanks to its skin-tight controls, expertly tuned yet demanding platforming, and forgiving respawn system that eases the sting of failure. I’m impressed with how well 3D adventure retains most of these traits – sprinting to hit long jumps to bounce off of walls, sliding down surfaces, all while navigating deviously placed hazards that require split-second reactions to avoid can be a blast.   Meat Boy largely controls well, and when a stage clicks, I feel confident in my ability to deftly leap over spinning buzzsaws, adjust in mid-air to avoid landing on a spiked floor, then quickly wall-run to cross a pitfall. The brief but impressively varied stages can be completed in seconds with the right mix of skill, timing, dexterity, and a pinch of luck; reaching the captive Bandage Girl at the end (only for her to be routinely re-abducted by the evil Dr. Fetus) creates an emotional high, accompanied by a sigh of relief, that few platformers provide. Super Meat Boy’s signature instant respawns make it easy to try again (and again), and watching the post-level replay of Meat Boy clones, which represent failed runs, barreling through a level looks even cooler in a 3D game. Completing stages fast enough to earn an A+ rank unlocks a Dark World variant of the level, which basically means an even tougher but wholly different take on the stage. Some may say that acing a tough stage only to be rewarded with an even harder version of it is nigh masochistic, but that’s part of Meat Boy’s appeal and a bonus treat for invested players. Decently entertaining boss battles are similarly succinct, varied, and challenging. I like dodging the homing missiles of a robot in a sidescrolling stage or hopping between a circular array of platforms to avoid the tentacles of a slime-like beast in the center. One boss, a rat that chases Meat Boy while launching attacks you must evade while running, drives me nuts due to how tricky it is to perceive your positioning in the world due to the perspective. This foe represents my biggest recurring problem with Super Meat Boy 3D: knowing where you’re jumping can sometimes be tricky as hell. I can’t remember the last platformer I played where positioning and depth perception became such a recurring headache. Certain camera and platform angles, combined with the zoomed-out view, can sometimes make Meat Boy tough to read and leads to frustrating misses you don’t realize are such until it’s too late. I routinely asked myself, “Am I actually facing this correctly?” when taking certain jumps because I thought I kept thinking I was good… until I wasn’t. A red ring below Meat Boy helps in determining his landings, but it does nothing to telegraph forward horizontal movement. Free camera control would mitigate these problems, but with a fixed camera, you must suddenly adjust to odd and hard-to-read angles in microseconds due to the breakneck and unforgiving pacing. In many 3D platformers, you have time, if only a few seconds, to adjust and line yourself up before jumping. Not in Super Meat Boy 3D. Sitting still for even a second often means death, and while that worked in a 2D template, it routinely clashed with the positioning variables introduced by 3D. I also wish the soundtrack were better. The playlist of bland, mute-worthy metal tracks does no justice to the zany world Meat Boy routinely showers in his blood. Despite these hardships, both intentional and otherwise, I eagerly fired up the next stage, excited to test my skills and get angry all over again. When stages click, it’s a deliciously fun challenge. When the perspective makes it tough to even tell how to proceed, it can be frustrating. Still, Super Meat Boy 3D makes a strong argument that Team Meat’s formula can work in three dimensions, but it needs to iron out some kinks before it reaches the same heights as its 2010 classic. Score: 7.5 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsApr 13

Review: Pragmata Feels Inspired by Sci-fi Blockbuster Movies Some video games feel like popcorn flicks. You go in expecting the big explosions, some over-the-top elements, and storytelling that wouldn’t feel out of place in movies like Armageddon or Transformers . You know what I mean. Big blockbuster style atmosphere designed to entertain. Pragmata feels like the kind of video game designed to entertain. Is it a revolutionary experience that’s going to inspire a whole genre? I doubt it, even though its quirky hacking mechanic is more fun than I expected. Will it be remembered forever as one of the pinnacles of a console generation? Even though it’s quite fun, no. Will I, in the coming months and years, tell people they should play this Capcom game in the same way I badger them to try Enslaved: Odyssey to the West ? Absolutely. I think we're looking at a new cult classic. Hugh Williams is part of a team of agents sent to the moon to check in at a station with a gigantic printer and facilities designed to use Lunum Ore’s Lunafilament to create anything from cars, vehicles, and buildings to robots and electronics. The problem is, nobody’s heard anything from the facility, and when trying to make contact for their landing there seems to be nobody around and signs that things fell apart. A lunar quake exacerbates the situation, putting everyone in danger, but also leading an injured Hugh to finding a Pragmata android named Diana. His goal is to find a way to reach Earth to advise people of the situation at the base and return home. However, the IDUS AI running the place designates him as an enemy, putting the two in danger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzBtbtOghV0 The first thing that stood out to me in Pragmata is that the storytelling and narrative feel very cinematic. It feels like the sort of dialogue, pacing, and direction you’d see in a typical type of space odyssey. Considering the otherworldly situation, Hugh’s dialogue comes across as being realistic considering the situation he’s in, and we see genuine growth both for him as a person and with his relationship with Diana. Especially in the downtime when the two are in the safe-space base. Meanwhile, Diana herself is also delightful and feels eerily human given she’s established as an AI at the outset of the story. The script also features some foreshadowing and commentary on things like corporations, humanity, and artificial intelligence that feel like they ring true given the current state of things. To be honest, the options with Pragmata ’s gameplay also feels like it’s an attempt to perhaps reach out to a wider audience and offer a quirky fun type of time while still playing within the confines of third-person shooters. On the lunar base, Hugh needs Diana’s hacking abilities to get past IDUS and actually deal meaningful damage to foes. This means occasionally bringing up the hacking puzzle that involves using the action buttons to move through a grid to pass through certain points and reach a goal for benefits. While there is a more challenging difficulty, even the standard mode felt a bit forgiving to me in order to make that additional element feel more manageable. Yes, trying to go for headshots and playing efficiently by grabbing appropriate weapons, deploying things like nets to slow foes down, and using items to allow for multi-targeting is deal. There’s a strategic element to it all. But it’s also designed in such a way that it doesn’t feel overwhelming when you consider the other factors. Images via Capcom Of course, that sort of fits in with other elements of Pragmata . While this is a third-person shooter, there are times when I would say calling it an action-adventure game with gun-based combat wouldn’t be out of place. There are platforming elements, and they feel much better than I expected. Part of this is due to the fact that, in the settings, you can judge the distance between the camera and Hugh. It allows for ease of comfort, but at the same time doesn’t have a negative effect on difficulty. There are actual puzzles to work out and solve, though I didn’t find them too difficult. If you are looking for a challenge, it is possible to also find it in Pragmata . The higher difficulties can pit you against formidable foes who hit hard. There are also Unknown Signals to challenge you. It is also possible to face bossed Hugh defeated again, which can provide a fun twist. It feels like the sort of game you can return to after you’re very familiar with the hacking gimmick and weaponry. Which, ideally, is exactly what you want from this type of title. You want an excuse to return and get more out of the experience later, and Capcom gives it to us. Images via Capcom All that said, Pragmata gameplay can get weird! The hacking element can be a lot, especially in more frantic moments. Even after getting five hours into it, I’d sometimes forget and default to the typical D-pad directions instead of the necessary action buttons when hacking. The nature of it also means if things are critical enough, I sometimes prioritized just getting through it instead of maximizing damage to ensure I could keep up my assault while also dodging and aiming, Also, while the lower difficulty levels feel quite well balanced, I sort of feel like the most challenging one could perhaps use a bit of rebalancing. Pragmata is a quirky, fun game with likable leads and the kind of story you’d expect from a summer Hollywood blockbuster. Capcom did a great job of blending skill-based shooting with puzzles. However, it is unusual and the hacking mechanic takes getting used to. That could result in the more challenging difficulty levels feeling unreasonably difficult or some encounters leading to someone not taking full of the thing that makes it truly unique. Pragmata will come to the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on April 17, 2026. We may earn a commission if you purchase from certain links. Learn more here . The post Review: Pragmata Feels Inspired by Sci-fi Blockbuster Movies appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraApr 13

Pragmata ReviewCapcom's sci-fi hack-and-shoot debut is just good, chunky fun, weaving in a fresh gameplay system to make it stand out.

IGN PC ReviewsApr 13

Pragmata Review - Capcom's Next Great FranchiseYou don't see games like Pragmata very often. Big-budget single-player shooters aren't as common as they once were, and even more rarely do they launch new franchises. They often come with trade-offs--a game might nail the fundamentals, or have some surprising new hook, or have a resonant story, but rarely do you get all of them at once. Pragmata is the total package, a blend of tense and satisfying combat elevated by deep underlying mechanics and strategic choices, all in service of telling an impactful tale that spends time nurturing the relationship between its memorable characters. It's one of my unexpected surprises of 2026 so far and an early shoo-in for one of my favorites of the year. You play as Hugh Williams, an everyman astronaut dispatched to a corporate medical research colony on the moon. There's an eerie stillness to the base that suggests something isn't quite right, but before you and your crew have any time to investigate, a moonquake rocks the base and leaves you as the only survivor. Now stranded and beset by legions of hostile robots, you're befriended by a mysterious android girl who helps you to survive by hacking the otherwise near-invincible robots. When she tries to give her alphanumeric name, Hugh calls her Diana to make it easier, and the two are joined at the hip from that point forward. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsApr 13

Pragmata Review - Hack And Blast Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Rating: Teen Third-person action-shooters have been around a long time, so it’s relatively rare that we see a wealth of new ideas at play. Pragmata’s greatest feat is successfully introducing a twist on the form, integrating two distinct mechanics – hacking and shooting – that run simultaneously in the midst of a fight. While Capcom’s long-awaited action game has some other problems, that single innovation keeps things interesting, even while some of the surrounding game treads familiar ground. Hugh is a specialist sent to a corporate moonbase where 3D-printed environments, bots, and other objects are researched and built at the direction of a morally questionable and profit-driven company back on Earth. After a disastrous arrival, he’s forced to partner with an uncannily advanced robot he names Diana, who just happens to look like an adorable little girl, complete with all the mannerisms befitting her appearance. With Diana capable of hacking the dangerous robots that hunt them, and Hugh equipped with ever-more devastating weaponry, the two navigate the mysterious moon habitat while blowing up increasingly towering automatons. Pragmata Video Review:   Despite some early intimations that the story might be trying to say something about the hazards of AI or artificial experiences, Pragmata never really raises any thoughtful questions or draws any conclusions on that score. The scale of theming is smaller and more intimate here; Hugh and Diana make for a memorable partnership, and while the father/daughter dynamics are more than a bit heavy-handed, the emotional hook still lands. The space station environment is sterile and a little stale after the first few hours, but the setting is saved by the elaborate artificial spaces players move through as the plot unfolds, from a simulacrum of New York City to a holographic ocean shoreline. The juxtaposition of stark lab walls with objects like a 3D-printed forest that looks like the real thing creates an intriguing backdrop for encounters. Battles play out in tight arena-like spaces where several varieties of robots aim to take you out. Each foe has weak points, different attacks, and ways to protect itself. It’s fun to ferret out those characteristics and build mastery over the different encounters, even if the baseline shooting mechanics feel a little stiff and unwieldy. Diana’s hacking adds much-needed complexity. By aiming at a target, in addition to just blasting away with a gun, you can also use the face buttons to navigate a grid to hack and weaken that foe. Additional power-ups layer more ways to disrupt, delay, and destroy. It all happens in real time, so the challenge of juggling your hack with dodging and shooting foes can be a lot of fun, especially as the game throws more twists into the mix, like unpredictable enemies or grids that glitch as you navigate them. Pragmata guides players through a mostly linear critical path that risks feeling on rails. As such, I appreciate the way each area of the space station hides numerous hidden rooms, extra combat challenges, minor traversal jumping, and other secrets to discover and aid in progression. Sadly, the in-game map is unhelpful in navigating those spaces, so I often got lost, especially when returning to a zone after passing it, though at least a solid radar ping system helps identify item locations while exploring. In between battles, Hugh and Diana return to a shelter for character and weapon improvement, along with some extra daddy/daughter bonding moments. The respites are a pleasant change of pace that offers a steady sense of advancement, though I’m not crazy about having to return there every time I want to get my health, ammo, and heal charges back. The novelty of the dual mechanics starts to wear thin after a time, and some of the battles begin to feel repetitive in the later hours, so it’s a good thing Pragmata doesn’t wear out its welcome; a robust first playthrough hits the credits around 15 hours in and nails a satisfying conclusion. Between some challenging training missions, New Game +, and an extra post-game mode focused on battles and rewards for completionists, Pragmata pads out its offering into something more than just a single run. Gamers often complain that big publishers refuse to roll the dice on new properties with unique systems; I give Pragmata big props for doing precisely that and experimenting with something unconventional. The story and structure as a whole feel a bit by-the-numbers, but the beautiful futuristic visuals and inventive battle system are solid wins. Score: 8 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsApr 13

Review: Shinehill Feels a Little Like a Resident Alien Life Sim Did you ever hear of the Syfy comedy starring Alan Tudyk called Resident Alien ? The concept is an alien crashes on Earth and starts to get adjusted to life there, hiding who he is, while also dealing with the initial assignment that led to him ending up on the planet. Shinehill feels sort of like that, in that we follow what’s essentially an alien spy heading to an island for a recon mission to determine if the race should settle there, collecting biodata and resource information to determine if it’s worth it. The tone and concept feels similar, and it’s refreshing to play through a sort of farming and life sim where the focus becomes your mission rather than just being productive and getting rich following a regular routine. In Shinehill , you’re a general alien donning a human form sent to investigate a potential invasion site. However, due to asteroids surrounding the planet, you crash land. Fortunately, your new neighbors mistake you for an individual who bought an abandoned farm and was expected to move in after a few months. After a bit of care at Dr. Jack’s, Mayor William welcomes you, shows you your new home, and lets you get on your way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N97vm_HyC3I While this does mean some farming and exploration, like in life sims, Shinehill is also about maintaining your cover and keeping people in town from realizing who you are. For example, shortly after meeting with Mayor William, he asks if you’re okay. You need to keep disguise points high by offering correct responses and “typical farmer behavior” to ensure you don’t fall below 10% and make folks suspicious. So when he asks if you’re fine, you could say, “I’m fine. I fall down from space every day” or “Actually, I’m an alien.” Naturally, the former response grants you two points and is taken as a joke. Staying in character is honestly a highlight in Shinehill. It’s because it feels like you’re trying to maintain a role, while also answer in ways you think folks will like. But at the same time, it’s handled in a comedic way. A good example is the test Stacy gives you when you go to get a weapon. She’ll ask you why you want to fight and want to do. The options always include one reasonable one and one that is a variant of “to kill.” So much so that the last question that asks what happens if you find a second sword, and the “bad” choice is “I’ll kill with both hands.” There’s also the matter of dealing with the person named Roo who actually was supposed to be the new farmer moving to town. While you will need to do some farming to complete your orders, it almost feels a little more like an RPG in that it gets very quest-focused and the socializing and life sim experiences happen along the way. Images via Peach Bite Shinehill is also a minigame-heavy life sim and adventure, which can be a mixed bag. Most are fine, and they always involve a Helpinator 3,000 screen coming up and a simple, black-and-white experience that typically only takes a few minutes showing up. For example, before you crash land in the introduction, you go through a shoot’em up along the lines of Astrosmash . When you visit the beach, you can catch crabs in a simple strategy game that involves blocking the critter into a single square by placing walls. There’s a mind-control one that involves working out the right order in which you force a bee to pollinate flowers. But sometimes, these feel a little out of place and weird, such as when you need to move a glass around to collect drops of an unspecified drink while avoiding human and dog faces so they don’t sip what you collected. Since these are so short, it never feels like they negatively affected my experience. The only downside is, I would appreciate a few more patches. I experienced some seemingly random crashes on my Lenovo Legion Go running the latest firmware and Windows 11. It never happened in any guaranteed predictable fashion, so it wasn’t like I could avoid that action or report it. The first time, it came up when I took the training arena test to get my sword on the second day, but when I reloaded and went through it again things went fine. Once, it came up when I was going to head into my house so I could go to bed and save after 10 days. Another time, after I was about five hours in, it happened after I checked the map. And, since there are auto-saves when the indicator appears or you choose to sleep in a bed and you can’t just bring up the menu and choose to do so, it’s easy to lose a day’s worth of progress if things go awry. On the plus side, the developer is very active in the Steam Discussion Board taking bug reports and issuing patches, so it seems like some things that might have been issues for me in the past are completely eliminated now. Images via Peach Bite Shinehill is an unexpected delight, and it offers a Resident Alien sort of twist on the farming life sim genre. Is it still cozy even when you’re infiltrating a community and carrying out not-always-moral objectives? Shockingly, yes! It is a little buggy in its current state, but it feels stronger every day and is absolutely an unusual approach to a traditional type of simulation. Shinehill is available on PCs via Steam . The post Review: Shinehill Feels a Little Like a Resident Alien Life Sim appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraApr 12

Pokemon Champions Review - The Battle FrontierPokemon's turn-based combat can be best described as an inch wide and a mile deep. Its rock-paper-scissors style is easy to understand, but below the murky surface lies an entirely different game. Moves that may seem useless at first glance take on a different meaning in a competitive setting, where complicated stat spreads are tweaked ever-so-slightly to maximize a Pokemon's efficiency and a constantly evolving meta-game makes it hard to nail down which strategies are viable and which aren't. Toss in over 1,000 unique monsters that can be trained in hundreds of thousands of different ways, and you're left with arguably the most impenetrable competitive video game scene of all time. For decades, Pokemon's competitive scene was just that: a near-impenetrable experience that requires hundreds of hours--and hundreds of dollars--to keep up with. Pokemon Champions is The Pokemon Company's attempt to bring white-knuckled, competitive battling to the masses. The financial barrier to entry, at least ostensibly, is low thanks to its free-to-play model, and the snappy stat-training mechanics reduce a lot of friction. However, Pokemon Champions lacks the necessary onboarding to captivate a new audience while also giving clear advantages to players who've invested in Pokemon Home. In its current state, Pokemon Champions falls just short of being the be-all and end-all of competitive play that I hoped for. Despite Pokemon Champions' lackluster onboarding, there are a lot of tutorials. When you first start up the game, you're introduced to a cast of characters who teach you how to battle, obtain Pokemon, and build a team. Assuming you don't skip any dialogue, it takes roughly 30 minutes before you're set loose. From there, you can battle online, train Pokemon, build teams, or continue with supplementary tutorials. I opted to do the latter. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsApr 10

Deadzone: Rogue Review - Rewarding Repetition Reviewed on: Switch 2 Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: Prophecy Games Developer: Prophecy Games Rating: Teen Science-fiction themed first-person shooters can feel a dime a dozen. I would bet anyone reading this review has long lost count of the number of times they've taken up heavy arms against an alien or robotic threat that outnumbered them multiple-hundreds-to-one. Deadzone: Rogue may look like an unassuming first-person shooter on the surface, but through superb gunplay and excellent utilization of the roguelite formula, I was left kicking myself for not discovering this game when it arrived on other platforms last year. As a man who awakens alone on a space station with no recollection of who he is or why he's there, your only option is to push forward through dozens of rooms swarming with enemies. Thanks to terrific gunplay, regardless of which weapon you equip, blasting through Deadzone: Rogue's bite-sized rooms is an exciting delight. Developer Prophecy Games has found the sweet spot for its aim assist, creating a rewarding gameplay feel whether you're sprinting around with a shotgun or popping heads with a sniper rifle. Your weaponry, especially early on, is largely dependent on the loot either dropped by enemies or picked up at the end of each room, and the feeling of building out your kit brick by brick, room by room, is among the most rewarding feelings I've had in gaming this year.   As you work through the multitude of rooms in each unlockable Zone – either solo or cooperatively – you accumulate various weapons, items, perks, and more. The fact that every bite-sized room rewards you with a new upgrade, and multiple enemies per room drop not only resources but also equipment and weapons, provides a constant upward trajectory. Whether I swept through a room like an unstoppable killing machine or barely made it out by the skin of my teeth, I was always eager to roll the dice and see what rewards I could pilfer. I loved settling on an elemental assault and then selecting perks to amplify the damage and effects of that specific element, even using scraps dropped by enemies to re-roll the elemental affinities of my weapons, melee, and grenades. At one point, I kept dying in a particular room because I was simply overwhelmed by the relentless onslaught of too many enemies. Deadzone: Rogue allows you to not only level up your character and arsenal through permanent upgrades between rounds, but also form strategies to address your shortcomings in particular rooms; in this case, I started selecting perks that granted companion bots that fired at enemies and drew aggro, allowing me to distance myself and thin the herd to manageable numbers. However, if a run is too easy or challenging, you can always tweak the difficulty level, which impacts the rewards you receive, either breaking down roadblocks or creating an enticing risk/reward calculus. The enemies start simple enough, with robots that walk slowly or charge at you in a straight line, but as you progress through each unlockable Zone, you encounter more sophisticated, powerful, and grotesque creatures. Before I knew it, I was battling teleporting robots, zombie-like synthetic organisms, self-destructing orbs, and spiders that swarm and blast projectiles. As you shoot through each Zone, you encounter skill-check rooms with Elite enemies; these foes serve as barriers in early attempts, but by the time you reach the end of the Zone, they eventually appear alongside normal minions, aptly putting on display how far you've progressed in the span of one run. Each room lasts just a couple of minutes (or less, if you're quick), with successful runs concluding around an hour after you embark. But you'll likely spend many hours in the lead-up to that successful run as you learn the ins and outs of each room, as well as slowly upgrade both your character and your skills. There were certainly times when I had failed in a particular Zone so many times that I dreaded repeating the early rooms for the umpteenth time, but the gameplay feels so good, I ultimately didn't mind – except for certain rooms that require light first-person platforming. Those rooms felt bad the first time I played them, and only felt marginally better upon repeat playthroughs. Thankfully, those aren't common, but whenever they popped up during a run, I was ready to be done with them before I even entered the room. And though the boss battles are engaging and inventive, they sometimes border on being bullet-sponges. Once you conquer a Zone, you unlock the subsequent Zone with new rooms, enemies, and bosses to face, as well as side challenges for the Zone in which you were just successful. Though I was laser-focused on beating each zone individually, I appreciate the excuse to return to older Zones to try my hand at extra challenges with different gameplay modifiers, like perks that encourage you to get up close and personal with your victims. Through its stellar use of the roguelite formula and ability to build your loadout in such rapid fashion, Deadzone: Rogue provides a compelling shooting experience that I look forward to firing up for a few runs every day. But it's not just the structure that has its hooks in me; the shooting mechanics, varied enemy types, and the compelling narrative mystery all coalesce into one of my favorite shooters in recent years. Score: 9 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsApr 10

Review: Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike Relies Heavily on RNG A key element of a roguelike game is knowing that even though it might seem impossible when you first start, you’ll be getting closer to an opportunity to succeed with each run. Maybe it is because you’re learning how to approach certain bosses and build with them in mind. Perhaps it is due to unlocks earned by making more progress. It could come down to pattern recognition and skill. While Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike does fall into the genre, the fact that it relies so heavily on RNG means that it’s more of a dopamine-hit novelty than a more serious challenge. The concept behind Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike is a simple one. You are presented with a coin pusher in an arcade. You can choose whether a coin shoots out the left or right ramp onto the top level by pressing a trigger, with 20 coins to start. You can also buy an (upgradeable) clip to hold single-use special coins that feature a special effect or spend money on Chips that add a permanent effect or Prizes that act as a single-used effect when deployed. As you go through more runs and hit milestones, you’ll unlock things like new characters with unique effects, stickers that can change coin properties when they slide over them, and keychains that can do things like net you an extra change, replicate prize and makes things cheaper in the shop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fGzU2pCYSg If you’re familiar with coin pushers, this is a lot like it. You keep an eye on where high value coins or items you want in the pusher are, then deploy the 20-at-a-time in your pocket to push them down to meet increasing goals in each round. So much of it is left to chance and physics. Yes, if you time it out and get accustomed to the triggers, you can send out coins at the right time to get positioning in such a way that you hit certain spots. There are absolutely ways to exploit the multiplier function to ensure spins so you can get more Prizes in balls dropped on the lower tier of the machine. But at the same time, the nature of it means you can just… have a bad run. Especially if you get Bad Coins on the field and the necessary special coins aren’t appearing in the shop for you to zap them out of existence and remove their penalties in the process. This isn’t to say Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike isn’t fun. It can absolutely be a dopamine fix. If things are going right, it will be a good time. It’s very silly, and the fact that it isn’t serious with dire stakes means you can spend 30 minutes or so tossing coins in and enjoying seeing numbers go up. But the fact that it is so RNG-related means the overall experience can feel very uneven. You can sail through using certain characters like the Biologist, Manager, and Mystic, or you might end up with a handful of runs that won’t get past a certain point because it will be dependent on ensuring you get certain types of coins on the field. Image via Doraccoon Another thing about Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike is that as I play, I can think up ways in which I’d enjoy it more. It is a deck-builder, but the single-use nature of that makes it difficult to build it up sometimes. Getting the special coins I used back after they are deployed, then pushed out of the machine, would be a fantastic option. Coins not being single-use would allow the “deck” you build to matter, instead of relying on coins to remain in the machine between rounds. Telegraphing of nuisance coin types would allow for a sense of strategy. Once you hit a wall in a run, it’s very clear that there is no way you will win, but you have to exhaust everything before you get that chance to let it end. I also would have liked if the coins you get to drop might’ve been added to the amount you could fire out in some way, just like in real-life, so we could “reinvest.” How much you enjoy Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike will depend on how you feel about luck determining the course of every run instead of skill. It is a roguelike, but the influence of RNG in so many ways can make it feel like it’s all up to chance instead. Because even though you are gradually unlocking new characters, coins, prizes, and such via hitting milestones, the very nature of it means that builds might end up feeling meaningless unless factors outside of your control align. It will still be fun, but it means accepting how little influence you can exert over each run. Raccoin is available for PCs. The post Review: Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike Relies Heavily on RNG appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraApr 10