The Backlog Check-in Vol. 257: 12/3/22: Chained Echoes/Dragon Quest Treasures/Samurai Maiden Edition
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:36 pm
Played: Valkyrie Elysium
Finished: Nothing
Playing: Valkyrie Elysium
Added: Akiba’s Beat, Almost My Floor, The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut, Crazy Strike Bowling EX, The Cruel King and the Great Hero, Dark Nights With Poe & Munro, Hard Reset Redux, John Wick Hex, Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience, Mighty Switch Force! Collection, Moon Raider, Olija, Poison Control, Retrace: Memories of Death, Roki, Smoke and Sacrifice, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, The Technomancer, The True, Tunche
I’m currently in chapter 5 (of 9) in Valkyrie Elysium, and the game has gotten better in this chapter. It wasn’t bad before, but a little average. This chapter has been the best looking and best designed level in the game so far. I was mildly enjoying it up until this point, but now I’m really enjoying it.
The game is AA mid-tier that looks and plays kind of like a PS3/Xbox 360 game. The graphics are a mix of cel shaded and realistic which is a bit of an odd combination, and the colors are somewhat muted. The environments/levels are kind of barren and lifeless which is purposeful, but makes them a little less interesting. The levels are fairly basic and linear lacking exploration, platforming, or environment puzzles. There’s some areas off the beaten path where you can find loot, but you’re pretty much funneled down a straight and narrow path most of the time. This is a linear third person action hack ‘n slash game for the most part, there’s unlockable skills and you can level up your weapons but you use collected gems and not XP. There’s no XP or character leveling, this isn’t really an RPG.
Combat is what this game is primarily about, and thankfully it’s really good. You have two attacks, a soul chain grapple, a block, parry and dash. You get different weapons, unlock new moves and have different magic attacks. You also have spirit companions that you can summon to help fight alongside you for a limited time. Combat is fairly deep without being complicated, and is always fun which is good because it’s basically what you do in the game.
The story and characters are kind of average, they’re nothing really all that exciting but still interesting enough to be somewhat entertaining. The combat is definitely fun, but it would be nice to do more than basically just fight enemies over and over again. Some exploration, platforming and environment puzzles would have added to the experience.
The game in general just seems a little low budget and older kind of like a PS3/Xbox 360 game, it doesn’t seem like a big budget modern AAA game that came out this year. I’m finding it to be worth the $40 that I paid for it because I’m enjoying it, but that should have been its regular price as it’s not quite the quality of a $60 game.
Games releasing this week
Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent
Afterglitch
Art of the Rail
Cafe Owner Simulator
Chained Echoes
Choo-Choo Charles
Crossfire: Legion
Cyber Hook
Dad’s Monster House
Divine Knockout
Dobo’s Heroes
Dragon Quest Treasures
Dwarf Fortress
Far Cry 6: Lost Between Worlds
Firefighting Simulator: The Squad
The Forest Quartet
Goonya Monster
Hello Neighbor 2
Hindsight
Hubris
Impaler
Inner Abyss
Ixion
Jitsu Squad
Knights of Honor II: Sovereign
Kukoos: Lost Pets
Kynseed
Medieval Apocalypse
Paper Cut Mansion
Paragon: The Overprime
The Rumble Fish 2
Terror of Hemasaurus
Samurai Maiden
She Wants Me Dead
Shredders
Stalcraft
Super Kiwi 64
Swordship
Togges
Two Point Campus: Space Academy
Witch on the Holy Night
Zombie Cure Lab
Finished: Nothing
Playing: Valkyrie Elysium
Added: Akiba’s Beat, Almost My Floor, The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut, Crazy Strike Bowling EX, The Cruel King and the Great Hero, Dark Nights With Poe & Munro, Hard Reset Redux, John Wick Hex, Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience, Mighty Switch Force! Collection, Moon Raider, Olija, Poison Control, Retrace: Memories of Death, Roki, Smoke and Sacrifice, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, The Technomancer, The True, Tunche
I’m currently in chapter 5 (of 9) in Valkyrie Elysium, and the game has gotten better in this chapter. It wasn’t bad before, but a little average. This chapter has been the best looking and best designed level in the game so far. I was mildly enjoying it up until this point, but now I’m really enjoying it.
The game is AA mid-tier that looks and plays kind of like a PS3/Xbox 360 game. The graphics are a mix of cel shaded and realistic which is a bit of an odd combination, and the colors are somewhat muted. The environments/levels are kind of barren and lifeless which is purposeful, but makes them a little less interesting. The levels are fairly basic and linear lacking exploration, platforming, or environment puzzles. There’s some areas off the beaten path where you can find loot, but you’re pretty much funneled down a straight and narrow path most of the time. This is a linear third person action hack ‘n slash game for the most part, there’s unlockable skills and you can level up your weapons but you use collected gems and not XP. There’s no XP or character leveling, this isn’t really an RPG.
Combat is what this game is primarily about, and thankfully it’s really good. You have two attacks, a soul chain grapple, a block, parry and dash. You get different weapons, unlock new moves and have different magic attacks. You also have spirit companions that you can summon to help fight alongside you for a limited time. Combat is fairly deep without being complicated, and is always fun which is good because it’s basically what you do in the game.
The story and characters are kind of average, they’re nothing really all that exciting but still interesting enough to be somewhat entertaining. The combat is definitely fun, but it would be nice to do more than basically just fight enemies over and over again. Some exploration, platforming and environment puzzles would have added to the experience.
The game in general just seems a little low budget and older kind of like a PS3/Xbox 360 game, it doesn’t seem like a big budget modern AAA game that came out this year. I’m finding it to be worth the $40 that I paid for it because I’m enjoying it, but that should have been its regular price as it’s not quite the quality of a $60 game.
Games releasing this week
Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent
Afterglitch
Art of the Rail
Cafe Owner Simulator
Chained Echoes
Choo-Choo Charles
Crossfire: Legion
Cyber Hook
Dad’s Monster House
Divine Knockout
Dobo’s Heroes
Dragon Quest Treasures
Dwarf Fortress
Far Cry 6: Lost Between Worlds
Firefighting Simulator: The Squad
The Forest Quartet
Goonya Monster
Hello Neighbor 2
Hindsight
Hubris
Impaler
Inner Abyss
Ixion
Jitsu Squad
Knights of Honor II: Sovereign
Kukoos: Lost Pets
Kynseed
Medieval Apocalypse
Paper Cut Mansion
Paragon: The Overprime
The Rumble Fish 2
Terror of Hemasaurus
Samurai Maiden
She Wants Me Dead
Shredders
Stalcraft
Super Kiwi 64
Swordship
Togges
Two Point Campus: Space Academy
Witch on the Holy Night
Zombie Cure Lab