Gamebox 2.0: Games of November 2023

As we enter the festive season, we loaded up our plate full of games to try out this month. We tried a remade Atari classic with Bezerk: Recharged, suited up as a cybernetic ninja again in Ghostrunner II, tried to solve a mystery in Forest Grove, and more! Check out everything we got to play this November below in the Gamebox.

Ghostrunner 2 (Chris): When a deadly AI cult emerges and terrorizes Dharma Tower, the final bastion of humanity in a post-apostolic wasteland, Jack is once again asked to be the city’s protector in 505 Games and One More Level’s Ghostrunner 2. One year after the events of Ghostrunner, Dharma has been undergoing change to its control. The Keymaster was a tyrannical leader, whose absences created a power struggle. A group of resistance fighters are pushing back against remnants of the old authority and the growing threat of the Church, a fanatical group seeking to replace humanity with machines. They are led by a cybernetic group of warriors called the Asura, who were once former guardians of Dharma. Now Jack joins the resistance to help stop Dharma Tower from falling into the wrong hands.

The gameplay of Ghostrunner 2 keeps the challenging mechanics the same as the original. The game demands that the player be as fast and lethal as possible without taking a hit. Jack is many things, but he cannot tank damage. One blow from a melee weapon or a shot from a projectile, and Jack goes offline. Armed with a katana and shurikens, Jack has to rely on his enhanced agility to get him up close and personal for combat. Every combat situation is focused on closing the distance between the enemy and Jack. Enemies will be chasing after Jack or fire projectiles from a distance away. Jack’s cybernetic abilities let him wall run, slide and grapple hook to avoid enemies or rush right toward them. The upgrade tree is changed to be simplified. You collect chips found through the levels and earned by completing time trials, then can be used to unlock new upgrades. These upgrades are automatically applied to Jack, so you don’t have to figure out the best chip configurations. Jack’s ability to enter a slow-mo state returns and with newer special abilities to even more formidable. Now Jack can unleash a deadly laser weapon to quickly damage enemies or turn invisible to avoid detection.

The setting of Dharma Tower is a mix of stylized neon-soaked city blocks and industrial tubing. Dharma Tower is a gritty cyberpunk landscape, perfect for the cybernetic ninja to stalk his prey in. Each level challenges some mechanic of Jack’s ability. Enemy placement and layout are part of the puzzle that can have many approaches. Even when the initial assault goes slightly off, there is plenty of room for improvise mayhem to clean out enemies. The gameplay still remains on skill and improvisation from the player to adapt to the challenges. Getting a good understanding of the basics carries over well for the first few levels. But by the level stages, having the moves and recognizing attack patterns is a must.

The levels and the lore are further expanded when Jack is able to venture outside the Tower. Once outside, Jack is able to explore the ruined wasteland and fight enemies in more open environments. There are also new driving sections in the game. Jack obtains a motorcycle that lets him travel to new areas, but also must face new dangers. There are a few driving sections that require Jack’s ability to navigate tight turns and harrowing jumps. Plus triggering switches that open up gates. The motorcycle also comes equipped with machine guns to clear up enemies standing in the way.

Ghostrunner 2 is a gorgeous cyberpunk title that utilizes the setting and brutal combat. The premise and character development get a much greater focus this time. There is a great sense of scale and emotional impact that Jack and his resistance fighters are working towards. There is also a bonus mode for turning the game into a rogue-lite that lets players take on random challenges. The player starts out with the basic abilities and just three lives in an attempt to clear challenges. The player can obtain upgrades and abilities, plus a few new ones that are only available in this mode.

Ghostrunner 2 is a must-play for fans of the original and more hardcore gamers. It offers a tight gameplay experience that mixes shift fighting and free running. Once you step into the mechanized feet of Jack, it’s hard to not look at every steel wall or beam as a perch or ramp. The extra mode adds a lot of replayability to test your skills and the roadmap for new content looks interesting. Ghostrunner 2 was released on October 26th for PS5, Xbox X/S, and PC.

Bezerk: Recharged (Zach): The latest game in Atari’s “Recharged” series, which updates some of their classic titles, Bezerk: Recharged brings back Evil Otto and the villainous robots of Bezerk to modern consoles and PC.  The game features two main modes of play, Arcade and Challenge.  Arcade sets you in an endless maze as you see how long you can survive while racking up a high score.  You’ll move from room to room and battle the robotic enemies in each room.  Clearing out all the enemies in the room is the best way to achieve a high score but Evil Otto, the invulnerable evil smiley face will show up eventually. There’s no way to stop him, so it’s up to you if you want to hang out and try and get that last enemy while avoiding Otto or getting out immediately to another room.  There are various power-ups like speed boosts and more powerful weapons and it feels more like Smash TV and other twin-stick shooters than the original arcade game, which is great because Smash TV is one of my favorite games of all time.

Challenge mode sets you in 30 pre-built mazes with a set number of enemies to destroy and they get increasingly more difficult as you go along.  I actually think I prefer the Challenge mode as it gives you a reason to stay in each room and take out each enemy and makes Otto more of a persistent threat.  Both modes are fun and if you’re a fan of the original Bezerk or just twin-stick shooters in general, you should find some fun in Bezerk: Recharged. I do think the “Recharged” aspect of this game isn’t quite as striking as the other games.  Last year we got to check out Yar’s Revenge: Recharged and it featured a much more dynamic neon art style and Bezerk: Recharged feels a bit more generic.  The iconic voices are also a little lackluster, as they don’t have the same chilling robotic quality and only Otto speaks when he enters the room.  It does feature some of the iconic lines along with new ones but it doesn’t have quite the same impact as the original’s “Kill the Humanoid”.  Bezerk: Recharged is still a solid remake of an arcade classic, despite a few quibbles about the art design and sound, and it plays great, which is the most important aspect.  It’s out now on all consoles and PCs.

You Will Die Here Tonight (Chris): A squad of special rescue officers makes their way into an eerie mansion to contain an unknown threat. But soon, they will find out that the mansion is not what it seems in Spiral Bound Interactive’s You Will Die Here Tonight. Inspired by the Resident Evil series, You Will Die Here Tonight is a creative twist to the classic survival horror genre. Mixing 2D exploration and 3D combat, with some rogue-lite elements, You Will Die Here Tonight has an interesting presentation than a simple Resident Evil clone.

The premise of You Will Die Here Tonight begins with six members of Aries Division being sent on their mission to a remote mansion in the woods. Once arriving by helicopter, they enter the mansion and are mysteriously separated. The player will take up the role of each member one at a time, to explore the mansion and uncover its secrets. However, undead creatures and mutated beings stalk the grounds of the mansion and they won’t let visitors escape without a fight.

The devs borrow some visual elements from Resident Evil Gaiden and Resident Evil: Deadly Silence. Most of the game is explored with a 2D plane, but when the player encounters a battle, the view switches to a first-person perspective. The gameplay follows the standard survival horror mechanics. The player will explore the mansion and its underground layers. There are enigmatic puzzles that require multiple steps and items to solve. Weapon ammunition is limited and it always feels like it barely gives you a sense of security. Conversing ammo and health packs is important, as well as deciding on a fight with common enemies.

They also give the game the creative mechanic of playing multiple characters one at a time. Each member of the Aries Division has a unique trait that gives them access to certain items and areas of the map. However, if one character dies, they leave behind items for the other characters to equip and continue on the mission. There are plenty of ways to get a character killed, but the trick is to accomplish just enough to help the character you play next.

There are some fights you can’t avoid, but the game does not make you battle every encounter. Fights can be engaged by the player from a distance, which starts the battle from a range. But the enemy can grab the player and start off the battle with the enemy close up and damaging the player. There are pistols, machine guns, and a few others that can equipped. Fights take place with the player firing in a static position but can swivel all around to attack targets. Enemies will come at the player from all sides, so you have to be ready to at all angles. There is a melee and a knife attack which comes in handy for fights with weaker enemies, but won’t be enough against a crowd. You can avoid fights completely by quickly escaping enemies before they are close in. There is also an escape option in combat, but there is a slight risk that you can still get attacked. It’s a smart tactical move to retreat and live to fight another day.

You Will Die Here Tonight can be easily judged as a simple RE clone, but looks can be deceiving. You Will Die Here Tonight is a fun homage to the Resident Evil series and finds its own footing. The narrative gets strange but it ties very well to the gameplay. The game really begins to form its unique tone after a few play-throughs. After some characters have built up a good amount of inventory and unlocked a few pathways. There is a bizarre situation that surrounds the already mysterious mansion that creeps from the background. The game never tries to take itself too seriously about its convoluted plot (sadly it never reaches to boulder punching levels of ridiculous). There is a lot of trial and error to figure out the puzzles and tactics, the game doesn’t exactly punish players for failing. The graphics don’t get overloaded with gruesome horror, but the survival elements can create a good sense of panic and dread. If you love all things related to Resident Evil, this is one title that should be right up your alley to check out. You Will Die Here Tonight was released on October 29th, and is available for PC.

https://youtu.be/pMZtwscAmqU

Beyond Sunset (Zach): Coming from Movie Games and Metacorp/Vaporware, Beyond Sunset is basically if you took Cyberpunk 2077 or Ghostrunner and turned it into a “boomer shooter” in the vein of Doom.  You play as Lucy, a street samurai who takes on missions for a mysterious client who promises to restore her missing memories.  Lucy has to take on the Yakuza, robots, zombies, and more with her trusty katana and a variety of guns.  The game looks and feels like a classic FPS, with superfast movement and framerates, so if you enjoy games like Doom and its imitators, you’ll feel at home here.  It also has some more modern movement options, including an air dash and double jump, so there’s some platforming along with the frenetic action.  Something that sets it apart from its inspirations is the fact that you are in a large open area instead of contained levels to begin with.  You have to investigate, talk to NPCs, gather items, and do things like hack computers to open up sections of the map.  Once you get into a building or area, it becomes more of a classic shooter as you have to fight your way through to the end.  There are also side missions you can take on to earn extra money or gain new weapons.

The game has a classic FPS look, with pixelated environments and enemies but it all looks great, with an obvious homage to Blade Runner and other cyberpunk properties and there’s tons of bloody violence as you hack and slash through enemies, with the bloody splatters remaining on any walls that get splattered.  Your main weapon is the katana, which you can use to deflect projectiles as well as hack and slash and you can build up a special execution move that feels a bit like Doom 2016 where if you use it, you get back some health and ammo, so it encourages you to get up close and personal with enemies, especially if you are getting low on enemies.  The action can be a little too frantic at times, especially if there are a ton of enemies who also have katanas and they are surrounding you and slashing but you have enough control and abilities to get out of most situations and the game has frequent save points and auto-save points, so if you die, you probably won’t be set too far back. If you’re looking for a cool, old-school cyberpunk shooter, definitely check out Beyond Sunset.  It’s out now on PC and Mac.

Alien Hominid Invasion (Chris): After a long waiting period, The Behemoth has finally dropped off a direct sequel of Alien Hominid in Alien Hominid Invasion. This sequel further builds upon what made the original fun and now making it more chaotic than ever. Alien Hominid Invasion is a 2D, action-adventure title that takes the chaos of gameplay like Metal Slugs and The Behemoth’s offbeat humor. The game still focuses on the fun-size extraterrestrials with itchy trigger fingers. But now there are rogue-lite elements that further expand the gameplay and replayability. Up to four players can take up the role of one of many alien hominids this time around. They are tasked with researching human activity and finding out what happened to the original hominid that crashed. However, in the 19 years since that alien arrived, humanity has stepped up its armament. The alien invaders are the now targets to be taken down with brutal force.

The gameplay of Alien Hominid Invasion remains relatively the same as the original with some adjustments for quality of life. There are customization options to improve the player’s abilities and give them better odds in battle. Instead of one-hit deaths for the player, there is a health bar. Weapons can be collected and sold off. There are shotguns, lasers, machine guns, and even a beam sword. Each weapon has stats and attack ranges, which can be slightly altered in more upgraded forms. The players can acquire new mutations that grant passive perks to the character or weapons. These can give the player buffs to their damage output or increase weaponry stats. There is also pigment that can be collected that changes the color of the player’s alien.

The game’s loop has changed also; instead of being a linear order of levels, the player determines which paths the levels will be played. The setup is that the aliens are attempting to conquer as many city blocks as possible to reach the secured government facility. Each block is slightly different, with some blocks containing stronger enemies or better loot. Each block contains a random amount of objectives. The player must collect intelligence papers dropped by enemies that will reveal an objective. These objects are short and task the players with a challenge such as eliminating a certain amount of special enemies, escorting an object, or enduring a fight with a time limit. The government facility contains a big boss battle that will yield big rewards if completed. However, the fights are pretty challenging and it will take several attempts for many gamers to even reach the first boss battle in the facility. We focused on gathering gear on the first few runs we attempted to risk a boss battle we were not prepared for it. There are safe blocks that have hideouts or bonus mini-games. The hideout allows the players to spend the currency they have collected. This can purchase new weapons and mutations to be used in their customization. Each hideout space is a one-time visit, so make sure you have the ideal stats ready until the next hideout is found. Nothing worse than grinding a level with a badly optimized load out. The bonus mini-game lets the players take on waves of enemies to earn rewards to bring back to the hideout.

Invasion can be played with one player, but the gameplay is designed around the multiplayer aspects. The combat is fast and frantic, and you will be dodging enemies from all angles. There are plenty of projectiles and enemy movements to track on screen having a human ally can cover a few blind spots. There are friendly NPC allies that will help in combat, but they easily get stuck into objects and die. However, solo play is still a fun time that acts like a challenge to be a one-person army. The single player gets all the risk but also takes in all the rewards.

Alien Hominid Invasion greatly improves many of the fun aspects of the original and does not hold back on pushing the player to be quicker and fiercer with each play-through. It should please both new and old fans of the series. It offers options to make the game easier or harder to suit a range of gamer’s abilities. There are a few instances where the levels can get repetitive and the objectives being to blur a bit. But the gameplay experience can be boosted with a couple of friends helping alongside (Or them riding your character into a hail of bullets). If you are a fan of chaotic run-gun action, Alien Hominid Invasion steps up to be a great experience that shouldn’t be missed. Alien Hominid Invasion was released on November 1 on Steam, Xbox One/S/X, and Nintendo Switch.

Forest Grove (Zach):  Coming from Miga Games and Blowfish Studios, Forest Grove sees you trying to solve a mystery using sci-fi crime scene investigation tools.  A teenage heiress to a tech empire goes missing and you are called in to investigate the family estate virtually to try and determine what happened.  You’ll step into a simulation of the family’s massive home and explore each room. You spend time uncovering physical evidence, audio clues, and digital evidence, and can even recreate moments using nanodrones.  It’s a cool idea and there are definitely some interesting mechanics, like digging through chat logs and determining what messages you think are important as clues or not.  You’ll also find objects and manipulate them to get DNA and other evidence from them and there are some puzzles to solve, like trying to figure out the password for a laptop or tablet based on clues gathered elsewhere. Some of the investigation tools are not quite as interesting, like when you find audio clues but all you do is hold a button and move the analog stick back and forth until you find the proper spot and wait for a meter to fill to “clean” the audio. The main issue is that everything feels a bit too finicky, at least playing on a PS5.  It feels like this game was made for VR but as far as I can tell, it wasn’t.  All of the manipulation of objects, moving around the environment, and investigation tools all feel like they would work great if you were actually the one doing them but using analog sticks, it’s frustrating at times to try and get a piece of evidence in just the right spot, especially when you are manipulating an image that you need to overlay over a digital framework that will allow you to see a recreation of a moment that happened in that room.  The game also uses a virtual cursor for most of the menus, which is something that I’m never really a fan of.

It also needs to be said that the character models for the various characters and suspects are just plain ugly to look at but, fortunately, a lot of the time you are just seeing digital wireframes, so it’s not a game-ruining issue or anything.  The voice acting also ranges from OK to pretty bad, so that takes away from the game as well.  It’s not quite the same type of game but Forest Grove is definitely lacking compared to something like The 7th Guest VR, which had tons of great atmosphere and exceptional puzzles.  I think if this was actually a VR game, a lot of the issues I had with the controls would go away and the graphics would be more acceptable.  There are still some interesting ideas and concepts in Forest Grove and if you want to check it out, it’s out now on Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Mac, and GOG.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World (Chris): Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by spirits to learn from his mistakes and live a life of redemption. Now time has passed and Scrooge is once again sought out by spirits to save not only Christmas but the fate of the London in Orbit Studio and Play on Worlds’ Ebenezer and the Invisible World. Set in a reimagined world of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer and the Invisible World is a Metroidvania title. You play as Scrooge, the once bitter capitalist who has changed his ways with the help of kind spirits to show him the error of his way. The spirits are in need of Scrooge to stop Caspar Malthus, an industrialist who has become a terrible boss. Scrooge sets off to find other helpful spirits to aid him on his journey and prevent Malthus from unleashing a dark power.

The premise of the game slightly takes a more dramatic tone with the traditionally whimsical cast of characters. Scrooge appears in his classical Victorian-era England attire. But he somehow has combat training with his walking cane (unless he always had that and was just waiting for the perfect situation to show off his sweet caning skill). The game starts off around the Christmas season and London has been decorated to look very festive. However, Caspar Malthus has been underpromising and over-demanding his employees, which attracts the Christmas spirits to intervene.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World plays just like many other Metroidvania that have come out over the last few years. The player has to explore and find key items to progress while facing off against the occasional imposing boss battle. Levels are designed to be a huge sprawling maze with multiple pathways and secret shortcuts. There is a good amount of variety of level designs that take Scrooge through the snowy streets of London to grand laboratories and libraries. At first, many areas are locked behind puzzles and requirements. This usually involves having the right item or having a spirit ability. These special abilities let Scrooge reach a new distance.

Scattered around levels are enemies that will attack Scrooge on sight. They are typically forced to be in one spot, but a few enemies will chase after Scrooge. There are a variety of fun enemy designs that fit the theme and are not typical of the Castlevania-type monsters. Caspar Malthus employs brutal enforcers and ghostly beings to carry out his bidding. But since Scrooge has been gifted the ability to see spirits, he can recruit helpful souls that will launch special attacks. These attacks cost spirit energy that must be recharged by Scrooge’s cane attacks. There are also side quests that Scrooge can accept, which are mostly fetch quests but help towards Scrooge’s stats and abilities. These side quests are worth it if you have the patience to make traversing the levels a bit easier.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World is easy on the eyes. A very solid strong point of the title is its hard-drawn designs and interesting backdrops. There are some areas in which the game lacks a few polished points. The controls can feel stiff at times, making platforming an issue. There aren’t enough move sets that make combat flow very effectively. Most of the time, you can tank damage than try to perform dodges that don’t feel fast enough. There is no voice-over work for the dialogue and narration that would have given the presentation that extra immersion for a Christmas theme game. The game works well for a family-friendly audience. There are elements that every Metroidvania fan will enjoy, but it is missing some depth to the gameplay that offers a bigger challenge for more experienced gamers. However, for young gamers, this is a nice holiday theme title to check out. Ebenezer and the Invisible World was released on November 3 and is available for the Nintendo Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One/S/X, and PC.