Magpie Gamer

Review based on patch 2.18 In 1274 a Mongol fleet led by Khotun Khan invades the Japanese island of Tsushima. Lord Shimura and his nephew Jin Sakai, lead five noble clans against the invaders, but all fall to the Mongols superior weaponry. Shimura is taken captive, and Jin is rescued by the thief Yuna, who teaches him her ways. To save Tsushima, Jin must choose between following the samurai code to fight honorably, leading to countless deaths, or by using practical but dishonorable methods that will minimize the casualties. The narrative is a straightforward tale that is fairly compelling, but not terribly deep. I'd be hard pressed to recall the names of any of the main cast. Too often it falls into the trap of having someone die in almost every mission - whether it makes sense or not, so you just start expecting it and emotionally distancing yourself from the characters. This made 'shock events' like the deaths of Taka and the horse fall flat. The story does a fairl...

Review based on patch 1.4. The focus of this 'cozy' ranching game is more about dinosaur collecting than farming, which is done primarily to earn money. To tame a dinosaur the player needs to lure it near by playing its 'Friend Song' - a series of colored bubbles. Not only does the order of the colors need to be right but the 'loudness' of each note as well. The player then needs to move the needle on a 'Friend meter' into the green zone by feeding and soothing. Too far in either direction and the tame will fail. Once in the green, the player then needs to feed the preferred Poppin (cake) type or the tame will fail. Even feeding the correct Poppin will not always result in an immediate tame, so the process may need to be repeated several times. I imagine children may struggle with this system. Every animal has two skills: wild (Sprinter, Slasher, Discoverer, Smasher, Stomper) and farm (Waterer, Tiller, Clearer, Harvester, Tender) - that will assi...

Story: There is a story to this game but it is murky. From what I could gather: Space people wielding cannabis-powered guns, travel to a desert planet where they are worshiped as gods by the native people for introducing cannabis to the planet. At some point everyone has to evacuate to Earth because sand worms have become too much of a problem. The protagonist may be a native that rediscovered the portal, or they may be a time traveling space-person. It's unclear. Gameplay: The player starts out as a marathon runner caught in a sandstorm (likley inspired by Mauro Prosperi ). They take shelter in an old building and emerge to an alien desert with Earth animals. It's an odd mix of survival game and walking simulator that tries to imitate the feeling of being stranded in the desert by having nothing but sand all the way to the horizon. Landmarks are rare. There is no compass. The only save points are the ones the player crafts themselves, and the map is a blank sheet o...

Review based on patch 1.29. I went back to Borderlands 2 after finishing 3 just to compare the two and couldn't believe how much better Borderlands 3 looked and felt. Gun-play is smoother and punchier. I loved the design direction, new customization options, and being able to switch between elements on the same weapon. Each brand has its own gimmick and enemies have more of a reaction to getting hit. The environments are gorgeous and more varied compared to its predecessors. I had put off playing Borderlands 3 for years after hearing about its abysmal characters and poor performance. Apparently Gearbox managed to salvage this one with patches, although my play-through wasn't without a few hiccups here and there, and at least one crash. After producing a legendary villain like Handsome Jack, I knew whatever came afterwards probably wouldn't be as good, and the BL3 twins are... unique. They are purposefully written to be cringe streamers that went from a life of compl...