QCF: Kentucky Route Zero: Act 2

fter several months of waiting, we finally return to Kentucky Route Zero only to find that things are more bizarre than what they seemed. At the end of the first episode, as Conway and Shannon stare off into what must be Route Zero I imagined that the many questions I was left with would have some form of an answer after I hit the road. As I know now at the conclusion of Act 2, the answers will not come as easy, and that dealing with the questions is what makes this experience unlike any games on the PC right now.

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QCF: Zeno Clash 2

lmost four years after the release of the first person brawler Zeno Clash, we return to the eccentric world of Zenozoik and its bizarre inhabitants. In Zeno Clash 2, players will explore much more of the landscape, while completing quests and finding allies along the way. While combat has been improved along with new weapons, the overall game play still has the same issues as the original. ACE attempts to flesh out the experience within the nine or ten hour campaign, however punching and kicking will only carry this abnormal adventure so far.

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QCF: Evoland

amers are a fickle bunch, and while I understand that I’m posing an opinionated statement as fact, the evidence that supports the conclusion isn’t just some common consensus that you can argue, it’s reality. Keeping that in mind, when a game pays some sort of tribute or homage to some bit of allusion in video game culture that only a gamer would recognize then the odds have always shown the reference to be a surefire hit among players as a standout moment within the game. Whether it’s shameless and shallow or well thought out and brilliant, the love letter mechanic has always been met with open reception. Still, how well does the concept pan out when the game is entirely built around it?

Shiro Games aims for the stakes with Evoland, a literal portrayal of the growth in adventure video games from the late eighties to the present. While the gimmick is heartwarming and will appeal to an audience in some capacity, it barely stands to prop up a game that can’t competently stand on its own otherwise.

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QCF: Thomas Was Alone

ver the years we've seen video games grow from a simplistic collection of various shooter, puzzle, and platform titles to a wide array of entire virtual worlds that players lose themselves in for weeks. With the combined work of multiple developers on a single team, the standard modern video game consists of realistic visuals, compelling soundtracks, and an overall story-driven environment that often leaves players craving more.

With games continually following these new trends, it's harder for more simplistic throwbacks to convey any highly compelling story elements – that is, if they're not created with enough heart or offer players enough groundbreaking elements. However, not too long ago, one creative indie darling proved this could still be done with a minimalistic presentation created with few resources: Thomas Was Alone.

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QCF: Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Ep4

This Review was Frelanced by Johnathan Sawyer; you can find his other work here.

n 2012, Zeboyd Games picked up what was thought to be a dead series with Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, and with it, brought life back into it with the release of Episode 3. The risk seemed great into changing it into a classic console-style RPG, but it wound up being a major improvement over the two previous games. While the game itself was a blast, missing story elements and other needed improvements prompted a little to be desired.

But here we are in 2013 with the release of Episode 4. it takes every aspect of Episode 3 and either corrects or improves upon any issues that one would have seen in the last episode, and definitely leaves all of your senses smiling (you know, if they had mouths).

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QCF: The Night of The Rabbit

aedalic Entertainment pulls double duty as developer and publisher to bring us their game vision, The Night of the Rabbit. It’s an adventure title of the point-and-click variety that saw release on PC and Mac on May 29, 2013. Characters, story, exploration, and visuals tend to be the driving point for most point-and-click adventures, and I’m happy to report that The Night of the Rabbit delivers in all categories.

The story book scenery is flat out beautiful. From the rich warm colors of a setting sun to the aurora borealis bristling over the arctic, you can tell the art team put their very best effort into their work and had fun doing it. My wife (who doesn’t typically play video games) was immediately drawn in by the game’s presentation. That says a lot about the influence a great art team can have on a product.

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QCF: Game Dev Tycoon

ame Dev Tycoon is a game I've wished for since playing Game Dev Story back in 2010. I couldn’t tell you how much I played that game. In fact, it was my game of the year back then. So when picking up Game Dev Tycoon and diving in to a deeper, more fleshed-out version of that same experience, you’d think that I'd be jumping for joy the entire way through. However, what I really discovered is a game so difficult to wrap my head around that it's almost a cautionary tale about the current state of game development.

GDT starts you out as an indie developer toiling away at your computer and developing games in your garage. There's no real narrative in place, so you just start making games back in the early days of gaming before the NES even launched. Being that you're a one-person game making machine, you begin to pump a text adventure here and military strategy game there. Once you gain a little money you can invest in developing your own engine and research new types of games.

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QCF: Guacamelee

very culture possesses a title of incredible significance, one that grants the individual who bears it fame and the opportunity to leave behind a legacy for those who succeed said title; the proud lineage of the luchador is such a title. Majestic forces of strength in the ring, these masked heroes symbolize the principals and codes of virtue as they launch from colorful ropes and transform into deadly flying emissaries of justice against their opponents—Lucha libre is storied lifestyle and that’s what Drinkbox Studios’ Guacamelee aims to deliver, and it does just that, and surprisingly more.

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