"It’s no secret that I’m a fan of developer Spiders. I really enjoyed their last PS4 title, Bound by Flame, and was eager to give their new sci-fi ARPG The Technomancer a go. Story: Mars seems like a pretty rough place to terraform. 200 years after the planet’s been colonized people are fighting over water – understandable, considering how dry it looks up there – the sun bakes anyone who’s unlucky enough to be caught in it, and really no one is happy. You play Zachariah, a Technomancer-in-training. These guys can harness electricity to zap bad guys and hopefully bring peace to a world that’s slowly getting pushed over the brink. Gameplay: The Technomancer feels like a game from a bygone era, for both better and worse. It’s an action RPG not unlike 2005’s Jade Empire and its Bioware-brethren. There are different combat styles that utilize a variety of weapons and your electric gloves, plenty of quests and levelling to get sunk into, some branching dialogue trees and even a morality system of sorts"
DBC: “Out of the multitude of terrific genres out there, it’s fair to say that role-playing games have the potential to be the most ambitious and immersive experiences of the bunch.”
Remnant is also a pleasant surprise and it was only $40. I'm a big supporter of mid tier gaming, as long as it has mid tier prices.
Outward, Technomancer, Kingdoms of Amaleur and Kingdom Come are gems, and they're personally the good kind of b-tier RPGs. Not a big fan of both Risen 3 and Bound by Flame, although I can definitely say that Risen 3 is a better pirate rpg than Raven's Cry.
And as for Greedfall? Definitely excited for it. Hoping it will be the devs' magnum opus.
Elex is pretty decent, but extremely difficult at first until you level up a lot and get better gear. I died countless times from the start. Just stick with it and keep doing quests, often times running away is necessary.
WTMG's Leo Faria: "AA games are the closest reminder to how the gaming industry used to be back in the fifth and sixth generations, a simpler time where we would get a mid-sized but complete product aimed at a specific gaming demographic."
A Plague Tale: Innocence is the best thing to come out of AA gaming in a very long time.
At some point I need to pick up A Plague of Innocence. Haven't really seen much being said about The Sinking City, hoping it reviewed well by critics and fans alike.
Both games seem very interesting with unique premises.
In an age where some AAA studios like EA insist they can’t afford to make games without screwing us over with MTs, I think it’s a very good thing the AA scene has made a comeback. I also love some AAA games (not those by EA), and some indie titles, but I’m glad this mid-tier still exists.
There isn't any "rise of the AA."
There has always been regular produced games and those developers with the funds who make bigger production games. It's not new.
As a gamer, it doesn't matter how much money went into a game. Only if it's fun to play. I have more regular games than AAA games because those smaller developers and smaller games take more risks in trying something new.
Instead of the same annual, cookie cutter games from AAA. Or AAA developers who copy other developer's games after they were a surprise hit. Then, every other developer jumps in trying to copy that gameplay.
Just don't try and sell me a reoccurring service with them and call it a good deal.
Carlos writes: "So, April is here already and I’m betting that, much like myself, you’re sat there with a shameful backlog of games that you had hoped to have already cleared by this point. Well, just to confuse matters even more the free Xbox Games With Gold titles for April 2019 are here, and that can only mean one thing - more games for you, for free, to either add to your backlog or to jump right on into straight away. First though, let’s take a look at the Xbox games on offer to see just which ones are worth your time and which you’d be best off leaving for a rainy day."
Technomancer is ok if you like the genre, I’ve never even heard of outcast. Battlefront 2 and ghost recon 2 were good for their time-but could be fun if you’re in the mood for them.
It’s a meh month.
The XB1 games not so much, but Battlefront 2 is awesome! They said somewhere that it might be playable online. I doubt that's true but if it is then that's a big deal considering how beloved BF2 multiplayer is.