Say what you want about Resident Evil Resistance; It's a below-average, if not downright bad multiplayer title that feels underbaked, underdeveloped, and unbalanced. Despite that, Resistance at least felt like it had effort put into it. The graphics were solid and it had some semblance of a budget. It wasn't a good game, but it did feel like a somewhat-earnest effort from developer NeoBards Entertainment. NeoBards returns for a second attempt at bringing Resident Evil into the competitive multiplayer space. Resident Evil Re:Verse being greenlit at all is a surprise considering Resistance's lack of popularity, but it's clear it came with some consequences, such as a far lower budget.

Re:Verse, then, feels like a mobile game that Capcom licensed to some random developer, not a major title released on PC and consoles. While I can't say I had no fun whatsoever, the fun I had with the game was from my friends and I laughing at its expense, not because of anything quality or interesting NeoBards created. The gunplay doesn't feel downright terrible, but it feels slapdash and, for lack of a better term, "uncalibrated". Re:Verse in its entirety can feel that way; the movement, the character abilities, the maps, et cetera, all feel like they're from a thrown-together pre-alpha pitch to get publisher approval, not a full game you'd download and play with friends. Everything feels barely reworked to fit the criteria of a multiplayer environment, and the maps themselves, taken from prior RE games, just feel lazy. Each character has a different loadout and abilities, but there's no balance. Some characters are just obviously better than others and when there aren't really "counter characters" there's quite literally no reason to use certain characters outside of being a fan of them. Re:Verse does at least present the interesting concept of dead players becoming BOWs, with their level determined by kills before death. There's a huge disconnect in usefulness though - the basic fat molded is practically useless against any player of half-decent skill, and after a certain point I would immediately self-destruct just to get back to the game. On the other hand, the super tyrant can stunlock other players, which makes him extremely useful. This disconnect leads the BOW system to only be fun if you're doing well and just becomes a burden if you had a bad run. Gameplay issues aside, the game has a severe lack of content, too. There are only three maps: the RPD from RE2's remake, Dulvey from RE7, and the cemetery from Village, the latter of which was added in a post-launch update. While there are a decent amount of characters, nearly half of them are generic "literally whos" from Chris's squad in Village. While it's fine to have one of them, it's a totally missed opportunity to fill in the rest with fan-favorite characters like Rebecca, Barry, or even Wesker. It even looks cheap; the game has absolutely zero production value at all. While the graphics options feature the usual bells and whistles that RE Engine games tend to feature, even maxing the game out results in a title that looks cheap and unimpressive. You're given the choice between two aesthetics: the usual realism the series tends to offer, and a comic book filter. Neither is good and both have drawbacks - the comic filter looks garish and terrible, and the filterless mode makes Re:Verse's asset flip nature more apparent. Combine that with very little in the way of an original score (the match theme is just a slightly dynamic version of Looming Dread from RE2make) and you have a game that feels like it was put together in a few months.

Resident Evil Re:Verse was infamously delayed over a year past its original release date and to what gain? I played the game's open beta back in 2021 and felt lukewarm, albeit charitable. I gave its general lack of polish and content some slack due to being an incomplete game. Playing the finished game in 2024 only to find out it's hardly any different at all was massively disappointing albeit not surprising. On some level, I am rooting for NeoBards. I can't imagine that neither Resistance nor Re:Verse turned out how they would have liked had they been given better circumstances and Capcom is likely equally at fault for how these games have turned out. It seems that with Silent Hill F they are being given the opportunity to make a game that isn't microtransaction-laden multiplayer slop, and I'm willing to give their unproven skills in that field a shot. I do know, however, that I will not be playing any new multiplayer games from the studio anytime soon.

One of the best games I've played in a long while. I played through the campaign on the "Hurt Me Plenty" difficulty and had one hell of a time (pun intended).
Improvements over the previous entry include a wider and more diverse variety of enemies, a wider variety of glory kill animations, a thoughtfully expanded arsenal, more movement mechanics, more maps, larger maps, a hub world full of easter eggs, more boss fights, more interesting combat encounters, and a massively climactic ending.
Things that are present in both games: top-tier optimization (seriously this game ran at 60+ fps on the highest graphics settings while I was rendering something in After Effects), buttery-smooth and intuitive movement and gunplay, incredible environments, genius level design, gorgeous graphics, sound design that is pure ear candy, and a phenomenal, angry, hard-hitting and expertly produced and mixed soundtrack to drive it all home.
This game is a pure adrenaline rush as well. Everything I mentioned above made me feel like a god when I pulled off crazy shots and narrowly escaped death via clever use of the mechanics. Not only that, but introductions, reveals, and payoffs all hit their mark in the presentation department.
Even the story, for me, was really interesting. I get that not many care for it too much (DOOM was never a game you play for the story), but the dedication to its presentation did not go unnoticed. All the voice acting was fantastic as well, and I love when the Slayer's personality shines through in the cinematics.
Any gripes I have with the game are small. I ended up getting fatigued in the last level due to all the back-to-back encounters that I surpassed only by the skin of my teeth, and the final boss was one of the longest boss fights I've played in recent memory. Additionally, some enemies felt more annoying than challenging (I'm looking at you, Whiplash). But again, these are small gripes that would probably disappear if I just got better at the game. One other small complaint is how the Crucible is originally bound to V, but that's customizable as well so it's not a big deal.
If you like shooters at all, this is definitely a game I'd recommend. Even if you don't like shooters, this one could definitely turn you into a fan.
High-energy, brutal, gory fun for the whole family. 10/10 would Rip and Tear again.

The closest any studio has gotten to creating a souls-like that compares directly to its inspiration.
Takes the best parts of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro and repackages them into an entirely new experience: a dark re-imagining of a children's classic set in the Belle Epoque era.
Runs pretty well on PC for the majority of the experience save for a couple areas with unexplainable frame drops, has given me ~50 hours of playtime so far and the replayability is high. Loved the level design, even if the final area tends to drag for a bit. Boss design is nearly on par with From Software themselves. Story is intriguing, voice acting is great, and while dialogue is also great most of the time, there are some lines that really stand out as forced or unnecessary. Leveling system is familiar, but the addition of the P-Organ skill tree is lovely. The ability to reassemble weapons is interesting and unique. The lying/humanity feature is really cool and I'd love to see more done with it.
Overall, fantastic effort by Round8! Excited for the DLC and eventual sequel!

Back before Contra became... whatever the hell Rouge Corps was supposed to be, it was one of the greatest franchises from Konami, and you only have to look at the original game to see how it was kicking ass from the start. It's a simple game about menly men shooting up an alien armada, but it was executed extremely well, and still holds up exponentially to this day.

The story is enough to get you pumped and ready to fight, the graphics are still very appealing nowadays, the music is catchy and iconic of course, the control is solid and extremely responsive, the gameplay is fast, frantic, and addicting in all the right ways, not to mention being varied as well, with multiple level types throughout where you will be walking forwards sometimes, most of the weapons are really fun to use, the bosses are tough and satisfying to take on, and it ends on a solid note.

If I had a complaint, I could say the level design could've been done a little better, but it doesn't bother be as much as other games. I wouldn't say it's my favorite game in the series, and I don't absolutely adore it, but it is pretty solid all around.

Overall, it is a fantastic start to a fantastic franchise, and definitely the definitive port of the original game.

Game #44