DeVuego LATAM

I had an excellent time playing Hell Clock, especially as a fan of Diablo, Titan Quest and other ARPGs. The fact that it also has a Hades-like gameplay makes it even more interesting, and the Brazilian-focused story and characters certainly help the game stand out.

Astor: Blade of the Monolith is a project that clearly has potential, and it shows that it was developed with dedication, but it feels like more attention was invested in how the game looks rather than how it plays. The combat system and the game mechanics feel a tad archaic and too repetitive.

The Lullaby of Life is pleasant and relaxing, a perfect game to unwind after a long day of trying to learn complex mechanics or tackle massive bosses. Its setting and its characters are colorful while the story is mostly suggested. The sound-driven puzzles gently increase in complexity, but the focus is not on difficulty.

Saviorless shines when players control Antar, evaluating a puzzle that might stretch across a few screens, then testing possibilities and contemplating how to reach a collectible. Combat isn’t as engaging as the platforming or the puzzle solving, and checkpoint placement is pretty bad. Thankfully, the world is intriguing enough to counter potential frustration.

Dicefolk puts an interesting twist on classic ideas. Controlling both dice sets in combat creates cool challenges and gives players options to deal with powerful enemies. There’s also plenty of variety, powered by tokens and items, to create personalized strategies and find novel ways of engaging with bosses.

The four-five hours of poor nostalgia will actually be much longer, if you can resist the urge to look up the solutions in some walkthrough. But that is the beauty of Unusual Findings: it treats you like a creative (young)adult that can figure out things on their own and does not need to be guided.

No Place for Bravery offers an interesting mix of tough combat and exotic presentation. Some players might be driven away by the pixel art (the weird legs of the characters still annoy me) or the difficulty level. But the story and the gameplay have the quality required to keep players engaged.

Nine Years of Shadows is a good Metroidvania with an impressive presentation and intriguing world. Gameplay mechanics will be instantly familiar to any genre fans and easy to understand for newcomers. There aren’t too many surprises in the narrative but it is imbued with a sense of optimism that kept me engaged.

Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is an interesting mix of ideas, most of them familiar, with some unique twists. The hand-to-hand combat focus is good, although it takes a lot of experimentation to do everything right. The world is intriguing and surprising, especially when it comes to character and enemy design.

What Lies in the Multiverse is a short, but intense experience. Unfortunately, the fun is overshadowed by the loose control scheme and the fact that not even the latest patch fixes the issues of the corrupt save file. It is too bad, especially since the character design and the dialogues are quite inspired.