Arbites is instant power and introduces 4 new weapons of equal viability. The dog mechanic is a great addition to the game and is quite possibly the most substantial gameplay feature added to Darktide thus far. Not to mention the blitz attached to it. The class is simple fun, doesn't feel punishing to play, works bug free, and makes obvious how much effort was poured into it. Looks even better after the release of Hive Scum.

Excellent voice acting but extremely lackluster in gameplay. A new class designed to be a "glass cannon" but forgets the latter part. The end product turned out to add nothing of substance to the gameplay loop. Dual-wielding is purely visual/aesthetic, Stimm crafting boils down to +damage +cooldown +toughness +attack speed (this is almost exactly what default Stimms do anyway), most of the new weapons are underwhelming, and the abilities are the same abilities shared among every class in the game already.

Will we ever see a more creative ability in Darktide than "have temporarily increased stats"? Where are the career skills from Vermintide 2 that felt engaging and impactful to use. Bounty Hunter pulling out a pistol for a powerful single shot, Grail Knight summoning a giant sword for 2 swings, Necromancer raising skeletons to fight alongside you. Fatshark has introduced more bugs in this last update than creative additions to gameplay in the last 3 years since release. I hope they do better next time.

Battlerite, I know it's been like 4 years now but I miss you buddy. My friends miss you, my enemies miss you, strangers miss you. I know there's no chance of you existing at a time like now, where corporations would probably murder a smaller dev just to have a chance at a successful live-service PvP "hero" moba-like game. Just had to pay my respects.

With a heavy heart,
Dr. Flexical P. Micronius

The game that keeps on giving. Fatshark is a parent who makes obvious which child is the favorite. Mostly through blatantly neglecting all of the others (even their most recent). Vermintide 2 is a game spoiled by it's developers, regularly getting substantial content added (new maps, modes, classes, cosmetics, etc...).

Vermintide 2 is another Left 4 Dead-like that upon first glance, doesn't seem like it'd be up your alley (unless you are a die-hard Warhammer nerd). I knew nothing about Warhammer before I played this and still found major enjoyment out of chopping millions of rats in half with a big sword while the characters endlessly bantered in heavily-accented fake slang and fantasy gibberish. Some would chalk that up to the onslaught of rats and roaches that I am at constant war with in my 80ft² bedroom.

Those people would be wrong though and actually my Grandma told me that it's my neighbours fault that we even have an infestation because she's also old and always leaving food out so it's actually not my fault at all and also the fist-shaped holes in my drywall were because I "dropped something" and no I didn't "punch them in a fit of rage" so stop asking. Vermintide 2 is a labor of love to the co-op horde killing genre and easily establishes a place in the top 10 fantasy games of all time.

Every game enjoyer should experience the first night in this game. True, unforgettable terror that even horror focused games often fail to achieve. Dying Light is a blast alone and with friends. It's like if Dead Island was an actual game. Drop kicks, grappling hooks (before they were in every game), responsive parkour (before it was in every game), a soundtrack that goes way harder than it has to, and most importantly; an atmosphere and tone that perfectly accent the entire experience.

Dying Light has aged better than it's sequel, something that should not be as common as it is.

A game where all the promotional material was spent talking up how high quality the story is and how impactful "decisions" would be. Then firing the only person who knows how to write.

Team Fortress 2. A first-person shooter game with servers hosting Christian Cart Racing.

My dad took me to EB Games after school to buy this on the Playstation 3 for almost $70 on release day in 2011. After the cinematic trailer (still hype to this day) and the premise of creating your own hero and choosing your own powers, we were sold. We got home and popped the disc in, only to be met with a download screen where the progress bar moved so slowly that you could not see the download happening in real time. Even if you stared at the screen for 30 minutes, you had a slim chance of catching 1% being downloaded.

I did not get to play the game that night. Or the next day. I think it took 3 days actually.

I must have at least 1000 combined hours of playing this on every system I have ever owned. Such a timeless classic. I know I should be happy that this game even got any update at all after all these years. But am I crazy for feeling a bit let down that it was just some new character art?

Behemoth games had such a momentum back then, still holding out hope that they return with something as hard-hitting as Castle Crashers or Battleblock Theater.

Starbound was my Terraria.