April 26th, 2023
A Gritty RPG and a Roguelike Third-Person Shooter
Disco Elysium
Wake up, Detective. We have a murder to solve. In the heart of an impoverished, war-torn city of Martinaise, a hanged body has been reported in the backyard of a local cafeteria. The Revachol Citizens Militia, the law enforcement agency of the city, sent one of their best, Kim Kitsuragi, to investigate the murder—and sent their worst. You. To make matters worse, you’ve woken up in your apartment with a throbbing headache, a shattered window, a bathtub full of booze bottles, hardly any clothes on, and worst of all, you don’t remember a single thing.In the first few minutes of the game, you’ve come to discover that the character you play has consumed every narcotic they could find, gone on an emotional rampage, and pissed off half the city with your drunken ramblings. Not only do you have to solve the case of the lynched man, but you also must solve who you are—all the while having voices talk in your head. You’ll find yourself in this destitute world, meeting thought-provoking and hilarious characters, and you come to reflect real-life philosophy in the choices you make.Disco Elysium is a role-playing game where dialogue, characters, and story are the center of the game. The game offers a complicated yet rich experience that covers a vast range of social, economic, and cultural problems found in our own world. You’re a cop in a struggling city, uncovering the mysteries of the city while trying to discover who you are. Yet, this is a game of the cop that you want to be. You can be a stalwart bruiser that does not back down from a threat, an emotional sorry cop that breaks down often, or a hobocop that doesn’t care about the world. This videogame is not for the faint of heart either. There are tough themes present throughout the game, but it is done in a manner that is so cleverly written that it makes me treat this game as a modern classic. You put yourself in the shoes of this detective, feeling attached to the choices that you make. Now get ready, Detective. It will be a hard road ahead. Available on Steam and for PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.
Wake up, Detective. We have a murder to solve. In the heart of an impoverished, war-torn city of Martinaise, a hanged body has been reported in the backyard of a local cafeteria. The Revachol Citizens Militia, the law enforcement agency of the city, sent one of their best, Kim Kitsuragi, to investigate the murder—and sent their worst. You. To make matters worse, you’ve woken up in your apartment with a throbbing headache, a shattered window, a bathtub full of booze bottles, hardly any clothes on, and worst of all, you don’t remember a single thing.In the first few minutes of the game, you’ve come to discover that the character you play has consumed every narcotic they could find, gone on an emotional rampage, and pissed off half the city with your drunken ramblings. Not only do you have to solve the case of the lynched man, but you also must solve who you are—all the while having voices talk in your head. You’ll find yourself in this destitute world, meeting thought-provoking and hilarious characters, and you come to reflect real-life philosophy in the choices you make.Disco Elysium is a role-playing game where dialogue, characters, and story are the center of the game. The game offers a complicated yet rich experience that covers a vast range of social, economic, and cultural problems found in our own world. You’re a cop in a struggling city, uncovering the mysteries of the city while trying to discover who you are. Yet, this is a game of the cop that you want to be. You can be a stalwart bruiser that does not back down from a threat, an emotional sorry cop that breaks down often, or a hobocop that doesn’t care about the world. This videogame is not for the faint of heart either. There are tough themes present throughout the game, but it is done in a manner that is so cleverly written that it makes me treat this game as a modern classic. You put yourself in the shoes of this detective, feeling attached to the choices that you make. Now get ready, Detective. It will be a hard road ahead. Available on Steam and for PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. —Aidann Woodcock
Risk of Rain 2
In Risk of Rain 2, you find yourself stranded on a hostile alien planet. The game is a roguelike, which means there isn’t one set storyline; rather you play individual games, or “runs.” At the start, you select a character and are dropped into the randomly generated world empty-handed. The runs are broken up into stages, and your goal for each stage is to find the teleporter at the end, while being attacked by a whole array of enemies the entire time. Throughout the world, there is loot you can acquire to make your character stronger, but don’t get too attached because death is permanent. Each run provides you with a unique experience, with loads of new items and characters to unlock and secrets to be found all over the place. Play with a few friends, or just face the deadly aliens alone in this fun but challenging, chaos-fueled ride through space. Available on Steam and for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
In Risk of Rain 2, you find yourself stranded on a hostile alien planet. The game is a roguelike, which means there isn’t one set storyline; rather you play individual games, or “runs.” At the start, you select a character and are dropped into the randomly generated world empty-handed. The runs are broken up into stages, and your goal for each stage is to find the teleporter at the end, while being attacked by a whole array of enemies the entire time. Throughout the world, there is loot you can acquire to make your character stronger, but don’t get too attached because death is permanent. Each run provides you with a unique experience, with loads of new items and characters to unlock and secrets to be found all over the place. Play with a few friends, or just face the deadly aliens alone in this fun but challenging, chaos-fueled ride through space. Available on Steam and for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One. —Andrew Wiegman