Cozy and Critical
The Gamers Lounge is a video game news, review and opinion site run by gamers like you.
Earth Defense Force 5 continues in the tradition of the series with no real regard to story besides “There’s monsters, blow em up!” While a little rough around the edges, EDF5 provides some good mindless gaming, something missing in today’s modern gaming society.
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The Farming Simulator series is back again with it’s 2019 edition. Sporting a brand new graphical engine, the game is prettier than ever before, and the final inclusion of John Deere adds a new realism to many American fans. With the increased realism comes a strange feeling of loneliness, with a down-home country town completely barren of interaction. It is a farming sim, but there’s some quality of life that needs polished for the game to be enjoyable.
Read MoreThe Bug Butcher plays as a classic arcade shooter reminiscent of Super Pang! (Super Buster Bros) and at a value price is an easy recommendation for twitch and arcade game fans.
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Townsmen is a very Sim-City-esque game set in medieval times with a deep resource management vibe. As ruler of the land you must balance resource management with the overall happiness of your subjects to protect your town from natural disasters, bandits, and the like. As a traditional world-building game, it harkens back to times past and feels like a strong bit of nostalgia.
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Heavy Fire: Red Shadow pulls an arcade shooter into your living room. Unfortunately the VR aspect adds another $10 to the price which is a frustrating piece of a rather simple puzzle. In the midst of a loud, crazy arcade this game would be amazing. As an at-home event, though, the cracks begin to show.
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Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption makes it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. The title crosses Shadow of the Colossus boss battler gameplay with the world and mechanics from a Soulsborne game. Unfortunately, the lack of generic minions makes you fall right into difficult battles with no time to learn core mechanics. A unique “level down” system provides a new kind of challenge, but it can be frustrating to work your way through only to have to sacrifice progress to take on another villain.
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Gal Metal subverts the expectations of a rhythm game by telling a slice-of-life style visual novel in between songs where there aren’t dedicated rhythms to follow: you just have to “feel the music.” This may throw off traditional music game enthusiasts but will provide plenty of fun for real drummers or people just looking to get in and have fun.
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Yomawari: The Long Night Collection is a two-pack of isometric horror games that have come out over the past couple years. Within both, you play as a little girl lost on the streets far too late at night. You must overcome the horrors that you find as you search for safety.
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911 Operator puts you in the headset of a dispatch officer responsible for managing the emergency resources of a city. With 300 cities to choose from, there are plenty of maps to play on. The Nintendo Switch version may be an ideal place to play but it loses one of the biggest functions of other versions.
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Tied Together offers fun for two to four players in a dedicated party mode. With a rope connecting all players together, you have to use your heads and coordination to succeed. The simple controls can be a benefit and a detriment depending on whether all team members are at the same skill level. Win or lose, Tied Together will guarantee a few laugh riots at each party it is loaded up at.
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The Council continues it’s wonderful spiral into madness, frustrating reviewers and YouTube personalities alike with differing stories based on how your decisions branch. While Episode 4 was weak (at least for this reviewer) and full of strange twists, it further shows the power of choice within this universe. Big Bad Wolf has a lot of work ahead of them if they are going to make a satisfying Episode 5.
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Go back to where it all began with a new HD-ified rerelease of the first game in the revered Disgaea series. While the game promises a lot with “Complete” in the title, it may still feel lacking as most all of this content has been rereleased a couple times now. Those new to the title will still find the most definitive-and beautiful-edition of the game to date.
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Armello makes it’s way to the Switch, available as a standard and Complete Edition. Within, you’ll find the same beautiful graphics and tactical gameplay that meshes RPGs, board games, and tabletop games into one cohesive unit. While the game could benefit from optimization to the new console, it still provides a wondrous tale and fun for up to four board game fanatics.
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In STAY, you find yourself in a chat room with a victim of kidnapping. Quinn is lost and alone and doesn’t know who his captors are or why he is in his prison. Will you help him succeed, or toy with his emotions? Every moment matters, even the ones when you are away. Quinn needs you to STAY and help him survive.
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Ultimate Chicken Horse makes its way onto the Nintendo Switch with it’s new Chimply Amazing Update (coming to other systems as well). This game grabbed the hearts of reviewer Ryan Johnson’s kids, and he does his best to review the title despite the smaller hands grabbing for the controllers.
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The Gardens Between is a wondrous tale of friendship and learning what it means when a dynamic changes, as told through a series of memories with a unique time-controlling mechanic that has to be seen to be believed.
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Hover is a futuristic cyberpunk neon-infused trip reminiscent of Jet Grind Radio, where you speed around the city, tagging graffiti, helping the citizens, and finding the best way to overthrow an oppressive government. While the core gameplay is amazingly fun, the story and missions can be bland and the interface seems as if it wasn’t optimized off of the PC for home console users.
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NASCAR Heat brings simulation management and fun arcade simplicity together in a mesh that works rather well. The new manager mode allows you to watch and upgrade your cars which adds another dimension to the intense bumper-to-bumper racing action.
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Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle is a dungeon crawler crossed with a horror element. Unfortunately it is rough to put something so twitch based (horror) with something so methodical (dungeon crawler) and have it come out satisfying either party. The new mechanic the game introduces (splitting the party in two) feels shoehorned in rather than an integral part of gameplay.
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Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is a new dungeon crawler from the makers of the Disgaea series. Within, the mysterious witch Dronya attempts to discover the mysteries and treasures that await within the titular labyrinth. This statistic-heavy game is sure to please fans of the genre.
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