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Building a criminal empire isn't all fun and games, you know. In Evil Genius 2, the sequel/reboot of the 2004 cult classic strategy game , running a casino and super-secret volcano lair with a doomsday device takes vision… and the ability to manage an army of minions. It's a management sim that requires careful planning and timing; you need to build a base that runs like a well-oiled machine that can mint the resources you'll need to conquer the globe. To succeed where every Bond villain has failed, the base needs to double as a labyrinth of wild traps like shark pits and laser walls that can keep nosy secret agents from bringing too much heat down on you. Though aspects of the game can feel like they're at cross-purposes from time to time, Evil Genius 2's goofy, lighthearted vision perfectly captures a cartoony retro spy vibe that lets you revel in pretending you're the ultimate evil boss. Taking advantage of nearly 20 years of technological advances since the...

For all its automated systems, Loop Hero can be incredibly stressful. Battles play out without any input from you, navigation loops over a predetermined path, and resources are collected for you, but that doesn't mean you can take your eyes off the battlefield for even a second. This captivating mix of familiar genres demands constant attention, testing your ability to think well into the future when making your moves. It's a riveting balance of risk and reward wrapped in a deviously challenging roguelite that will tempt you into pushing forward for just one more round. Loop Hero is a distinct mish-mash of multiple genre ideas, none of which influence gameplay enough to easily classify the overall gameplay experience. Loop Hero is primarily a run-based role-playing game in which you indirectly control a hero through procedurally generated loops. Instead of controlling the hero's movements, you mainly control what they encounter by placing objects on the loop that create t...

In It Takes Two , you fight the kind of common, red toolbox that might be sitting in your garage, or your parents' garage. It's one of the best boss battles I've ever played. In the level leading up to this, co-op protagonists Cody and May learn to chuck nails and wield a hammer head, respectively. Cody can shoot nails into wooden surfaces; May can use the hammer to swing on those nails. Cody can nail moving platforms in place; May can hop onto those platforms, or wall jump between vertical surfaces that Cody can position via strategic nail shots. Eventually, he gets three nails to throw instead of one, leading to some excitingly frantic platforming. The boss fight that closes this level uses those abilities in concert. Cody and May stand on a plywood platform, facing off against the toolbox. It can swing at them with bolted on plywood arms, which the duo needs to dodge. To deal any damage, Cody has to pin its long, wooden limb to a wall with his three nails, allowing May...

We don't see enough Chinese legends and folklore explored in Western games, which is what makes the pitch for Immortals Fenyx Rising 's second expansion, Myths of the Eastern Realm, so exciting. Developed by Ubisoft Chengdu, the DLC moves Immortals' open-world structure from Greek to Chinese mythology. But while its open-world fundamentals are still solid, the Chinese mythology that defines its aesthetic is more of a coat of paint than an imaginative look at a new realm. Myths of the Eastern Realm wastes no time getting you up to speed. After a brief explanation of how chaos threatens to upset the balance of Heaven and Earth and how a mysterious force has wiped out most of the world's gods, new hero Ku wakes up inside a cave filled with his compatriots, who've been turned to stone. The legendary Bu Zhou mountain has erupted and caused the emergence of the Scar, a powerful primordial force reverting the world back into chaos. The premise is almost identical to the b...

Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 2 is a workout for your hands. That isn't a result of inaccessible controls; with this DLC, id Software has added the option to fully remap console controls. Even with that flexibility, after a few hours with the new DLC expansion to the 2020 shooter, my palms and knuckles begin to ache. I'm playing on PS5, and the DualSense is a beefy controller. The Ancient Gods Part 2 pushes you to use every square inch of it. There are a lot of demons to kill here and with Ancient Gods Part 2, id Software has given us the Doom Slayer's most expansive arsenal of weapons to do so yet. Far from being just a set of three new levels, Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 2 introduces multiple new enemies, a new traversal mechanic and a new weapon, all of which alter the flow of battle for the better. I had my frustrations with The Ancient Gods Part 1 , most stemming from the introduction of new enemies (like the Blood Maykr and the Turret) that required pi...

Editor's note: At the time of publishing, we still need to play more of Monster Hunter Rise's multiplayer. This review will remain in progress until we're able to do that at launch. Stay tuned for the final review in the coming days. The locations you explore in Monster Hunter Rise have already felt the delicate touch of humanity's hand. Traditional Japanese torii can be found weaving through mountainside paths, leading to sacred shrines, while decaying temples have been reclaimed by nature as local plant life envelops the aging architecture. Signs of human life can even be found at the base of a raging volcano and in the midst of a flooded forest, where a Mesoamerican-style pyramid dominates the landscape. If 2018's Monster Hunter World was all about unearthing a new continent as an intrepid frontiersman, then Rise is a triumphant return to the Old World with valuable lessons learned. An enhanced port of the 3DS title Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate may hav...

If the fights in John Wick were choreographed by the plays you made with a deck of cards, you'd get Fights in Tight Spaces. The roguelite deck-builder puts you in increasingly cramped and intricate spaces, challenging you with figuring out an efficient and safe way to punch, kick, and outsmart every enemy stuffed in there with you. It's a fascinating mix of recognizable genres that produces something distinct and satisfyingly complex, even in its Early Access state. Fights in Tight Spaces currently features the core loop of the game spread out across five stages, each their own unique enemies, rewards, and final boss fights. You have four styles of play to choose from, with decks of moves focused on counter-attacking, all-out assault, or combinations of the two. Each run is unique, too, shaped by the small decisions you make regarding what routes to take in each stage. These influence what rewards you might get out of each fight, what vendors you'll have access to, and wha...

The journey, rather than the destination, is the focus of Mundaun --the reasons you take it and the travel required to reach its conclusion. In this way, it feels like a spiritual successor to Half-Life 2's Highway 17, a mid-game chapter that finds crowbar-toting protagonist Gordon Freeman traveling by buggy along the lonely coast. It's a lengthy, melancholy section of the 2004 shooter where the driving is occasionally interrupted by combat, puzzles, and on-foot exploration. Mundaun is like Highway 17 expanded to a full 10-hour experience. In your journey to the mountaintop, you sit passively in a bus, drive a hay-baling truck along bumpy terrain, and ride a sled across quiet alpine slopes. You're guided through a series of dark, labyrinthine tunnels by a trolley car the size of a toaster. You ride a chair lift. The inclusion of vehicles might not sound noteworthy on its own, but traversing the mountain in all these different ways--on foot, by sled, by truck--has the effect...

In a sense, Apex Legends is not the same game that we reviewed back in February 2019 --the roster of playable characters has doubled to 16, three full maps are in rotation, and several different modes (including ranked) are included. There's also a story that's delivered weekly via map changes and comics that have built the game's lore. Additional features have been implemented, like clubs for players to join, cross-play support, and limited-time events. On top of all that, seasonal content introduces substantial meta changes, daily/weekly challenges, and rewarding battle passes, transforming Apex Legends into something greater. And yet, despite these adjustments, the core of Apex Legends remains intact. It's still a squad-based battle royale that encourages teamwork with an excellent ping system, where you begin each match picking from a roster of hero characters that possess unique abilities in order to fulfill different roles in battle. The core principles that mad...

Adrift in space, a ship faces a terrifying crisis: Some of its members are no longer human, and plan to take over the vessel to offer it to an otherworldly being known only as the Gnos. To succeed, these beings--the Gnosia--must kill the other crew members, one by one, and deceive the others into thinking that innocent crew are the enemy. Trapped in a terrifying time loop that only you and another crew member are aware of, you must protect the ship from the threat of the Gnosia--or, as fate might dictate, eagerly destroy everything for your sinister overlord. If you're thinking that this concept sounds a lot like a certain multiplayer game that's become extremely popular over the last year, you're not wrong--the similarities in concept between Gnosia and Among Us are undeniable. But Gnosia, which released a few years back on the PS Vita and only recently came to Switch in English, takes that concept and puts a very different spin on it. By utilizing a visual novel-like pre...