Embedded Files
Upcoming Event!
Upcoming Event!
There is an upcoming event being hosted by the gaming academy at the Concord Hilton. It is a combination of a student tech showcase and an esports tournament.
Make sure to check out the website below to see more details:
An expansion to the Choose Your Own Adventure stories that somebody made has been added. The stories now have a hub that makes it easier to get to the different sections and Masquerade has been completed
\/
Game Reviews
Game Reviews
Slay the Spire 2
by Mega Crit
Reviewer: Tobin Johnson
Slay the Spire is an amazing game, and Slay the Spire 2 improves upon that in nearly every way. SS2 has improved visuals, mechanics, and just more cards and characters. The newly added characters all have their own unique and interesting mechanics, doom is very fun. The preexisting characters have also gotten a little bit of a touch-up, adding some new mechanics. For example, the Silent got a new mechanic called Sly, which allows you to play a card for free if you discard it. It gives you another interesting way to take her build in a run and just adds more depth. Tune-ups like this have happened throughout the game, improving things from SS that I didn’t even realize could be improved. Another example is how in SS there were three* different acts that occurred in the same order repeatedly. Now it is possible to start in different areas, so if you keep failing early on, you aren’t forced to always fight the same enemies.
There are so many of these tune-ups throughout the game, where I could go on and on listing them all, but I’ll move on to my personal favorite new thing that was added to SS2, multiplayer. Playing with my friends has been some of the most enjoyable multiplayer I’ve played in a while. A lot of that comes from how Mega Crit has added or changed some cards to make them more interesting for a multiplayer experience. These cards allow everyone to contribute even if they aren’t outputting that much damage. The multiplayer is an amazing addition to the game, and I never would have figured that a co-op turn-based card game would be so fun with others.
What’s crazy is that the game is going to get even better. It was only released on Steam in early access recently, so they are likely going to add even more content, like a fourth act and a sixth proper character.
Slay the Spire 2 is an amazing sequel that I would recommend to anyone who enjoyed the previous installment or even has an ounce of interest in the idea of a rogue-lite or turn-based game. No matter if you play it now or wait till it exits early access, it is going to be an amazing experience.
9.5/10
Goodnight Universe
by Nice Dream
Reviewer: Tobin Johnson
Goodnight Universe is a beautiful game made by some of the people who produced Before Your Eyes, and if you heard of that game before, you’ll know what you're getting into. The game is a heavily story-focused cinematic game that has a light point-and-click aspect to it. It’s a world that you can interact with, but it’s more like watching a show with you not really being able to change the course of it, except for one or two times. That is not me knocking it at all, but just trying to make you aware of what the game is. It’s not a Telltale game but an interactive storybook that enraptures the readers through the constant interactive elements, really forcing you to be one with the story
Now, I personally found the story really good, a really touching story about family. In fact, it made me tear up a bit at the end. But I would prefer not to get into it to avoid spoilers. If you want to get the introductory plot synopsis, you can check it out quickly on Steam or any other gaming platform it’s sold on.
Now, to get on to the things that are holding it back slightly. First is the one that matters less to me, but the game is about 3 and a half hours, and undiscounted it costs 20 bucks. To me, that price for this standout story is more than worth it, but I understand that some people prefer to be a bit more economical with the playtime of games they purchase. Even so, I would recommend keeping a lookout for any sales, as it’s still really worth experiencing.
That said, in the game, there are a few sections where you are on a moving platform. During those parts, my camera would constantly jitter slightly, just making the experience slightly annoying and hard to focus on the story. Though it has been a couple of months since I completed the game, I hope they’ve patched it out by now.
Goodnight Universe is a delightful little piece of interactive fiction that is excellent to play if you want to really feel something.
8.9/10
MIO: memories in orbit
MIO: memories in orbit
by Douze Dixièmes
Reviewer: Barrett Voice
Another game joining in the ever-present Metroidvania genre encompassed by the likes of Hollow Knight and Super Metroid. Though MIO stands out amidst the sorrowful sea of countless Metroidvania's, from the synth sci-fi music to its unique take on classic genre's abilities. MIO: memories in orbit is game strong enough to be listed with some of the most popular Metroidvania's, yes that means Silksong.
You play as MIO, a robot aboard the vessel; what was supposed to be humanities ship towards a new home. With the humans disappearing hundreds of years ago, many robots have begun to go mad or die. The most important among them, the six voices, must be tracked down by MIO to hopefully prevent the loss of the remaining robot civilization.
Through this journey MIO, like many before her, will find upgrades to enhance her exploration capabilities and mods, similar to Hollow Knight's charm system. MIO's main form of interacting with the world is her yellow tendrils, which extends out the back of her head, with them she can pull herself towards enemies and swing to platforms or crawl across any surface. Though her tendrils won't be enough to fend off foes, for MIO can modify herself with, mods; to explode when an opponent strikes, absorb the life from a defeated nuisance, or cast a veil over MIO that pacifies all hostiles.
Though unlike Team Cherry's recent Silksong, which holds a somewhat punishing souls-like attitude for it's bosses, MIO has quick and safe run backs to bosses that don't waste the players time for using the tools mechanic. MIO's bosses have reasonable attacks where the majority don't do two hearts of damage for every attack and omits the contact damage that every threat has in the Hollow Knight series.
One final point of comparison between the two games is the music, even though Silksong still has a beautifully orchestrated soundtrack by Christopher Larkin. I felt Silksong's music was so ambient that none of it was truly memorable to me, someone who started and finished Hollow Knight after Silksong had come out. While MIO's soundtrack, by Nicolas Gueguen, has so much range from its sort of EDM jazz flare, full of space and movement, and the choral vocals accompanying almost every track makes MIO continue to stand out.
Inevitably all games will have flawed design choices, in the case of MIO its how the health is designed. Like most games, health is increased by collecting pieces of a heart or defense scattered around the world and once the player collects four an extra amount is added to hp, this is no different in MIO, but it also takes away health too. And not in the usual way some games, like Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, do it where the player is teased with max health that's stripped away in the games intro; No, it's taken away incrementally when story based events called tremors happen. Now these tremors do decrease the health of enemies and bosses too, the potential for a player to leave a boss and go exploring for a way to make themselves stronger and come back with less health is still not a positive; though Debby, a mid-game boss, has a required tremor occur right before them.
In summary, MIO: memories in orbit may be a smaller game in comparison to 2025's Game of the Year Nominee, Hollow Knight: Silksong. It still has a place with some of the top Metroidvania's from its creative and unique game design, vibrantly stunning world, and its original soundtrack that will stay in orbit of my memories with the likes of Tunic and deltarune. Also, Kirby, because I can't not mention my favorite pink circle.
9/10- not that it means anything
Page updated
Report abuse