Recent reviews by Cawkles

Hunt: Showdown is a game of cat and mouse. Sometimes you're the cat, honing in on audio cues, and stalking unsuspecting enemies. Other times, you're the mouse, paranoid about every sound you make and painfully aware of the enemies who want nothing more than to kill and rob you. The tension between these two aspects of the game make for a level of excitement I haven't experienced in an FPS for a long time. There's nothing better than winning a high stakes gunfight in this game, or escaping the map with a posse on your tail.

Combine this with excellent sound design, exquisitely recreated antique firearms, and a detailed Southern Gothic setting, and you have yourself a certified hood classic of a game. I just wish there was more of it: more maps, more bosses, and more guns to play with it.

XCOM 2 is one of my favorite tactical games to date, combining crisis management with easy to pick up, yet hard to master tactical game play. Although veterans of the genre might find some of the macro management elements too simplistic or forgiving, I personally like the streamlining of the XCOM:EW formula.

My only real complaint is some of the design choices made in regards to voice acting and writing. Man, the voice acting in this game can be absolutely awful at times, and the writing is downright laughable at many points, though the expansion cuts out some of the worst segments in this regard. Still this game's core loop is addictive and satisfying, and doesn't need a strong central narrative to work; in fact, the stories I found myself making about my soldiers and their exploits tended to be far more entertaining than the bland conflicts and enemies offered by the story. Play this game if enjoy roguelites, RPGs, or anything turn based.