Games of the Month: Rogue Legacy 2, Vampire: The Masquerade and Trek to Yomi

At the end of the month, NU.nl will discuss the biggest games that are yet to come out. with this month Fraudulent Legacy 2I Vampire: Swan Song Masquerade and Hike to YomiI

Fraudulent Legacy 2

• Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
• Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

when original legacy of thieves Released in 2013, it was a surprising success. As a member of a noble family, armed with a great sword, it is up to you to explore a mysterious castle where you are unlikely to survive. But it didn’t matter, because once you die, you put yourself in your child’s shoes to try again. This way you tried to conquer the ever-changing castle with a new generation of adventurers, each with their own unique strengths and quirks.

This same explanation still applies Fraudulent Legacy 2, a game that stays so close to its predecessor that it almost feels like a remake. But anyone who thinks this is an inconvenience is wrong.

While essentially not much has changed, developer Cellar Door Games has made many small improvements. It starts with the look of the game: the somewhat cumbersome pixel work from the first episode is gone, and replaced by beautiful hand-drawn animations. It looks like some kind of HD upgrade.

Other changes are less noticeable, but make the game much more enjoyable to play. This makes it a bit easier to jump off your weapon, you can run away from your enemy if you get hit and each knight type gets its own weapon. These weapons are also much more varied than the returning Great Sword from the first game. How about a pan that can knock down bullets or whistles with deadly tones?

Plus, there’s just more. Newer game classes, such as a fast-paced boxer and a pirate with his own ball in his pocket. There is no longer any distinction between the six different parts of the castle, which is much more beautiful this time. And no more challenge, because Fraudulent Legacy 2 slightly more difficult than before. Therefore, you need to acquire certain skills before you can see the whole castle.

Fraudulent Legacy 2 therefore it is bigger, thinner and spicier than the first serving. Enthusiasts will enjoy hours of fun with this. But if you didn’t like the first episode, don’t miss this sequel.

Vampire: Swan Song Masquerade

• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch
• Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Vampire: Swan Song Masquerade a strange duck that has been bitten, or rather: a vampire that bites strangely. You can expect a lot of action and spectacle in a game about blood-drinking fantasy characters such as vampires, but swan song nocturnal animals usually talk and run around.

You play as three vampires whose group is hiding in Boston when the alarm is raised among the Immortals. Humanity is about to discover that vampires exist, even though they have struggled for centuries to hide from the outside world. The trio must defuse this danger and find out why the vampires fell into the bushes.

Then there is a lot of dialogue where your choices influence the course of the story. These decisions can be quite heartbreaking at times, but unfortunately the interesting, loose backgrounds of the various characters never come together in a truly compelling story.

Explore different environments, such as a crime scene or a vampire bar, when you’re not talking. You also solve puzzles, such as cracking the code for a safe, according to instructions in someone’s documentation. These puzzles are sometimes exciting, but often puzzling and frustrating.

The game doesn’t seem finished yet. With wooden characters and emotionless faces, images aren’t exactly expensive, and unexpected mistakes can sometimes hinder your progress.

Still, it’s great that the game’s story continues in a logical way, even if you make dramatically bad choices or miss all the puzzles. Your decisions and actions actually affect the story, leaving you wondering how your characters will end up.

Hike to Yomi

• Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
• Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

It’s no surprise that many games are inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s samurai movies. The Japanese director is known for tales of lone samurai wrestling with honor and responsibility, bloody sword fights, and long camera shots that brutally heighten the tension. games like Ghost of Tsushima Show that these components are also good play material. Hike to Yomi fits perfectly into this trend, but with a smaller budget.

You play as a samurai who has to defend his village, but in the process he makes a big mistake that he tries to fix. It’s a good starting point, but unfortunately the story doesn’t go any further. Soon you will be given a sword and have to kill bandits and monsters as you run from area to area.

Gradually you unlock new combinations and skills. It won’t help you much: Hike to Yomi it’s never too difficult and most enemies can be wiped off the screen with a few taps of the right button.

Hike to Yomi is somewhat simplistic and repetitive in most areas. What does work are the photos. Everything in Hike to Yomi it is black and white and each area places the camera in a fixed position like in the movie. It provides beautiful images of burning houses and the Japanese countryside, but is not easy to navigate. Too bad, because the game puts a lot of emphasis on finding hidden parts with extra tools. But hey, the game is so simple that you don’t really need it anyway.