Short Nail Designs For Beginners

Hey everyone, my partner unfortunately got very sick with longcovid, so I didnt really get to a whole lot unfortunately, but since I just updated the list to 120 and mods and other posters asked me to keep posting updates as my last post was very popular, I might as well throw an update into this sub. :) I added 17 more games since my initial thread of playing 100 Roguelikes, so now its 120 Roguelikes over in this thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/i-played-120-roguelikes-so-you-dont-have-to.1324564/ Here are all the updates in one Reddit post if you just want to read the new ones, but if you have any suggestions on Roguelikes I didnt play, or have questions about the ones I played or want a recommendation, please do feel free to reply to this post! What are other games you liked that I should look at? You can find general recommendations, tier list explanation and the full list with all titles linked in the thread above. I ended up playing a few "roguelike-adjacent" games too, as I wanted to see what is available on Switch and have impressions for all games that semi-sorta fit the genre on Switch as that platform is just a barren wasteland for pure Roguelikes. I needed to cut out the games that I liked the least, because of the Reddit character limit, the full overview of just the 17 updates is here: https://www.resetera.com/threads/i-played-120-roguelikes-so-you-dont-have-to.1324564/post-155577610 I would love to hear what you think! Golden Krone Hotel https://preview.redd.it/jwneiqn2a44h1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c21a77789e9a1ae65ca68d5a8d8f3fdd055d60d3 PC/Mac: store.steampowered.com/app/497800/Golden_Krone_Hotel/ Really strong streamlined Roguelike that is a fantastic introduction to more serious traditional Roguelikes because of its accessibilty and slow drip of new mechanics and options, while not skimping on challenge either. The main selling point is the human - vampire transformation that the game revolves around with day/nighttime casting light into the dungeon floors, where a human character can traverse it normally, but as a vampire you will need to stay out of sunlight and drink blood from enemies to heal. Using that as an underlying system for the entire game is incredibly unique, as it gives you a consistent layer of decisions: Will you use potions to stay in human form or let your vampirism build up for the power buff? Will you learn skills that might benefit you in one form or the other? Or focus on other forms that add another option to your shape shifting options like Werewolf or Shadow Form which make you even more flexible but vastly more complex to play? But the real strength of the game is how it combines many smaller elements and progression systems into a unique, but recognizable new challenge every single time, making it very addictive to keep retrying new runs. Unidentified Potions can be one of three options, so you start balancing the potion use around when you would get most benefits or the least challenges with any particular set, slowly making potions more reliable when you learn about them. Special dungeons contain challenging bosses and other smaller challenges, like the sewers being filled with water which might be hard to traverse depending on your forms or the Hive that contains breakable honey comb walls. Skills are learned from a pool of random choices every time you find a skill book and starting classes have small, but impactful differences like "Heals on level up", "Has Pet Wolf" or "Gold piles heal you". All of these systems arent ground breaking, but they offer just enough intriguing options to provide interesting challenges every single time you run these dungeons. I am currently trying to get a successful Shadow Form run going, which will remove Level/XP and health/strength stats from you, but raises your evasion for every form of shadow form and gives you a 10% chance per level of enemies reanimating as your minion. Its just an incredibly pleasant little sandbox and the somewhat limiteed set of special dungeons doesnt hurt it all that much as I first thought, as you start to learn them and the dangers their bosses pose better with every run. The first few runs this game seems a bit too simple and I wish the random dungeon generation was a bit more creative at times. Its also not a game that will light your heart on fire if you want truly deep interconnected systems that make you brood over your options and items for hours or that you might play for years to come as the only Roguelike, but as far as small, digestible roguelikes go that give you interesting challenges and rewarding gameplay progression, this is one of the best games in that sub genre that I have played so far. Absolutely addictive and polished gem. (SSS tier) Demon https://preview.redd.it/aojm9x0r944h1.png?width=1152&format=png&auto=webp&s=76a5b4d4483a2e80d35a4ad747508c4f77bab0cf PC/Mac/Linux: https://ferretdev.itch.io/demon Shin Megami Tensei style monster negotiations in a Roguelike. I didnt know that I needed this, but now I do. Considering you can recruit, fuse, level, brand, mix and match abilities to demons and yourself and hunt for unique demons, there is a LOT going on here that feels a bit overwhelming at first and you will just need to let the first confused rush wash over you before slowly understanding how progress works here. Where this game shines is how intricately many different subtle sub systems feed into the demon mechanic. Whereas it would have been easy to just collect the monsters and let them fight, the way the game opens up as a laboratory for demon mixing alchemy is pushing far beyond a simple SMT inspiration into becoming its own unique blend. Here is how this all combines: You start by finding a demon and can initiate the recruitment talk. Any opponent you meet, even super strong unique, ones can be recruited. Depending on the demon, you might start the above pictured negotiation (where they ask you to give you some life, sacrifice other demons or a variety of other things) or, what I find even more interesting, have a varying set of combat challenges and failure consequences. A fast enemy might task you to fight while keeping it in sight, or it might challenge you to defeat 3 other monsters or just... wait for 15 turns, whereas a failure to accomplish those tasks could mean getting a debuff, or the already strong boss monsters becoming stronger or a variety of other effects. This is such a nice risk reward balance and gives the player an entirely emergent and consistent stream of mini challenges to achieve with varied new challenges that this poses for your combat situation, which is honestly just flat out genius. Once you do have some demons, you can of course level them in combat, teach them and yourself specific abilities from other monsters (Making it very rewarding to learn and hunt specific monsters to be able to learn/teach skills like life regen, dash, or specific attack skills and other passives). Alternatively, you can fuse them giving them additional modifiers based on the monster traits, so fusing a slime with a fairy creates a Lifegiver Slime or a Solid Fairy depending on the base monster, increasing stats and immediately teaching a few random skills for the resulting monster. And then you got a system for runes/brands to further customize your specific monsters and the options you have in any given run, which add a variety of stat buffs/debuffs and also might have some mini requirements attached to them like a demon needing to have 5 pierce skills to be able to apply a rune to give +10% speed and 5 more attack. The itemization is well done, the game contains specific special challenge dungeons for better item and demon rewards and later dungeon levels give a nice variety of challenges and item toys to play with. The only thing I find a bit lacking is the variety in the dungeon design with the relatively standard set of dungeon rooms and corridors without anything to make the dungeons themselves a bit more intriguing to traverse, but the clear standout are the demons, giving it a very unique identity and challenge and the resulting options to tinker with are absolutely superb. (S Tier) The Ground Gives Way https://preview.redd.it/q8vvbp3da44h1.png?width=1114&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c85483b0d139e01fe065593c5c015f41779f837 PC: https://www.thegroundgivesway.com/ This is a fantastic roguelike that I wouldnt recommend to most people. Its brutal and ridiculously unfair on many attempts, but it does shine brightly getting a player to carefully consider every option they have, thinking about the minute detail of using every single item and combat interaction. Sounds from neighbouring rooms, enemies that you should learn to avoid outright or armor that can kill them if you dont read the item description and decapitates you on button press. Due to the developer wanting to achieve that tough as nails experience, many fresh runs can be ruthless to downright impossible, especially in the beginning when you have no items at your disposal at all. The game could see you start in a room with two enemies blocking the exit, making it impossible to go past or survive, or you will end up scraping by JUST enough to survive the first level, but because you didnt find any item drop, you are bound to lose against stronger enemies on the next level. Alternatively, the first level could start you off with strong shields, equipment, staffs to use powerful magic and valuable gems everywhere to upgrade your stats or buy support at the next NPC you find. The game also feels wholly unique, with several systems that I havent seen in any other game yet. Most enemies dont die, but are knocked unconscious, which means they can reawaken at any point. That on top of enemies not giving any XP makes you reevaluate your surroundings a lot more differently than usual. Ignoring an encounter is the norm, defeating enemies is the exception as they are genuinely dangerous. Action points are another unique limited resource, that you can use to equip and identify items. Players also dont regenerate health, but the game instead includes a rest/sleep mechanic that you can trigger any time as long as you still have food left. Rest will then reset any active buffs and action points. There are a ton of items to interact with and it also has an enjoyable and subtle humor. How about donating 50 Gold to the Healer's Guild, but remember to never use sharp or cruel weapons, unless they are made of silver. There is a LOT here and the game is genuinely refreshing, even if the first few levels of the game arent entirely indicative of the depth that later levels provide in enemy variety and items that allow for varied level approaches: Enemies you can distract with meat, stealth & thieving options, body mutations permanently altering your body and abilities or even just random events while you sleep. The game is thankfully very easy to pick up with simple controls and a very good tutorial, introducing you to every basic and even the more subtle mechanics. Due to that the barrier of entry to see how much punishment you can endure is pretty low, but due to the ruthless randomness, this is still probably not a good candidate for your first, second or even third roguelike. However, for players who want the most brutal challenges, this game is among the best games and most unique games in the genre. (S Tier) Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy! https://preview.redd.it/df4u1inha44h1.png?width=1350&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d1ec3a8175db7e6945a09db3701f4c7ece1b06b PS4 /Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/chocobos-mystery-dungeon-every-buddy-switch/ This game is good, very good even, but I have some thoughts. (Shocking, right?) So the game sticks close to the Shiren formula of having a cutesy overworld, which introduces you to its characters, mechanics and acts as a hub for its different challenge and main dungeons. The main difference being that this game was intended to be an entry level roguelike, a beginners Shiren so to speak, back when it first released in 2007 on Wii. The Switch/PS4 rerelease also thankfully included a hard mode, which makes the difficulty pitch perfect in line with other games in the genre and I wouldnt want to have it any other way, but that brings its own issues with it that I'll mention later. The story has a pretty cute hook. You are visiting a town, where the inhabitants seemed to have forgotten plenty things about themselves and their past due to a mysterious bell chime. Shortly after the game starts, you get the abilities to enter the dreams of the affected characters and defeat smaller challenge dungeons inside their mind to unlock character interactions, plot progression or even to access the basic shops in the game. Everyone of these challenge dungeons revolve around a different gimmick, be that enemies that hit hard but only have 1 health, or enemies that immediately explode in your face or just endless goblins swarming you, which makes for a nice variety in between the rather straight forward main dungeon challenge. Similar to Shiren, the game also features some meta progression in you levelling and fusing equipment to create stronger items that you can carry into the main dungeons. On hard difficulty, you will lose that equipment if you die, but there are of course ways to prevent that loss. Chocobo adds 2 more meta progression systems: Jobs & buddies. Compared to many other roguelikes letting you choose a job with different skills, here you will need to unlock professions first and then you can level them up slowly over time, giving you access to more powerful spells. The black mage for example learns AOE magical spells affecting a wide area, somewhat trivializing some challenge rooms. The buddy system on the other hand allows you to be accompanied not only by 20 or so characters in the game, but also every monster you encounter and have beaten enough to unlock its powers for yourself. These two mechanics make for an incredibly satisfying permanent drip of upgrades to your arsenal, that is just really darn satisfying to tinker with. Will you pick the fire spewing dragon to your agile thief or the mandragora to blind enemies, while your own black mage sets up devastating spells? Or would you rather take a safer approach with the healer class, while you get accompanied by a dangerous elemental that will die if it gets into close combat? Which also gets me to the issues I have with this game. I enjoy it, I really do, but its very noticable that the game wasnt designed around being a tough challenge. Some bosses feel outright ridiculous if they stop using their summoning attacks because they only got more HP, leading you to needlessly whacking 10 more rounds past the point where the fight was supposed to end. Similarly, the side activities in this game were clearly designed for someone picking this game up as a "first roguelike" experience, the "farming" and "fishing" minigames feel almost insultingly barebones and are probably a cute distraction for the normal mode, whereas hard does make you feel inclined to engage with it, but that honestly feel just like glorified fetch quests. And my biggest pet peeve: In a game about exploring people being stuck inside their minds and dreams, the dungeons are all identical. I cannot wrap my head around that, but I have rarely seen a game be this repetetive in its dungeon layouts, even the original Rogue felt more varied, which is absolutely ridiculous. Almost no decoration, fitting backgrounds and the exact same rooms for every dungeon, including one single room that every single boss fight is in. This game is incredibly lucky that the core gameplay loop is that strong and the additions it does give it a unique identity, but man are there a lot of missed opportunities here. All in all, I still rate the game very highly as I think the game is the single best introduction for someone wanting a traditional normal roguelike. Its colourful, charming, and very forgiving in its normal mode, where you wouldnt even lose your equipment upon death, while still having plenty of mechanics and enemy abilities that cant be entirely ignored. The hard mode is very fun in its own right, but if you come to this game with more genre experience, the nuts and bolts keeping its layers together are incredibly visible and somewhat jarring. Despite that, its still a fantastic game for either challenge level as the main Mystery Dungeon gameplay loop works like a charm and the original mechanics give it a nice niche for curious newcomers and players who enjoy some meta progression systems. (S Tier) Moonring https://preview.redd.it/cawavy3oa44h1.png?width=1162&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3c5a116c9633d401eef4668ecf616e7238d1fc5 PC / Mac: View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2373630/Moonring/ Its a bit mad that this game exists and is free. Its a love letter to the Ultima games and for those who never played an Ultima game: Its a turnbased roleplaying series, in which you explore a world with several cities, random tactical encounters and even more secrets and mysteries that you gradually uncover by exploring the world and talking to the inhabitants of this realm The game does technically include a permadeath mode, but its very much a more narrative experience in a static world that is not really meant to be replayed dozens of times. Playing the normal campaign still gives you roguelike style permadeath dungeons in the open world, which are definitely the highlight of the game. Enter the dungeon, kick over a barrel next to the entrance that sets you on fire until you slowly burn to death without knowing how to put out the fire on your body. Dying resets you back to the beginning of the dungeon, which is a really cool system to allow for smaller randomized roguelike challenges in a bigger persistent world, without risking losing any progression in the world exploration you might have done before, especially because enemies and dungeons will introduce new elements over time that you can easily experiment with this way. The game is a lot better than it might seem at first, where you might end up dying repeatedly without knowing why. Running away to recharge energy or your shield is a must, grinding a bit to stock up on healing items before every dungeon is a huge boost. And that leads me to talk about why this game is an S-tier game, but probably an A to B-tier roguelike. You absolutely can and need to get better to conquer this game, but there is a good bit of grinding here for new equipment, heals or other items, especially because your tactical options in this game are still somewhat limited. This absolutely works for a roleplaying game, but makes a lot of the roguelike dungeon challenges a matter of checking how much you grinded before and if you went to the areas/dungeons in the right order. You can also try to conquer these challenges with less grinding, but spending an hour in a dungeon only to realize you might lose it because you didnt spend another few minutes to get more heals is just a bit of a weird sensation. Even then, the game is very intriguing to explore. The communication system is sleek and rewards players for attentive reading if they find keywords that the game might not spell out for you and the game feels mystical and intriguing in a very unique way to make you want to inch forward. Dungeons have rewarding treasures and combat tactics are pretty satisfying even with just a few items and skills. (S-Tier) Pathos / Gnollhack https://preview.redd.it/ucxyp7dsa44h1.png?width=2732&format=png&auto=webp&s=dfe1884d9f909d0b657a4442f6c97efd9c78d302 https://preview.redd.it/vik50h4ta44h1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=88fddb7d6fb02f3131c35a4a9d3920b65a17760b Gnollhack PC / iOS / Android: https://gnollhack.com/ Pathos PC / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android: https://pathos.azurewebsites.net/ For the past few days, I have been jumping between Pathos and Gnollhack as both are mobile variations on Nethack, but honestly its not nearly enough to judge these games thoroughly. There are a few differences, as Gnollhack feels a bit more modern with its UI and graphics, while Pathos has more content (for example 30 classes in Pathos vs 13 in Gnollhack), while both games are a ton more streamlined, optimized, newcomer friendly and more content rich than the original Nethack. They still come with some of the same issues though. The original required a ton of reading and theorizing and the right items to make progress, while these versions allow for a much more fair and even game experience, without making it trivially easy. Its all just a lot better balanced. These games are massive and deep challenges with a huge variety of classes, items, artifacts and feel endlessly replayable with the expected standard features like traps, unknown potions and a hunger system with different effects based on the monsters you eat, which led to me walking around randomly through the maps, confused or being trapped in a vortex, continuously wasting turns, until I ate the first random corpse, which gave me hallucinations that started coming to life, and a hallucinated dragon roasting my pet turtle, while I scramble to make it to the stairs, to barely escape to the next level that immediately hits me with an effect to not be able to read, so I cant use any of my healing scrolls, leaving me to sneak slower than I have ever walked around these halls to get back to my feet. It might be a bit of a preference, but Pathos is the clear winner here for me, as the dungeon generation is more solid and hidden doors are a bit less annoying, while the context menus openly inform you about any action you can take. Both have an interesting solution to the mobile navigation, allowing you even to click on unexplored tiles, navigating your character as close as possible to that space. However, the very static feeling room layout still feels like the weakest link in these games, with most levels feeling very similar, reminiscent of the classic Rogue/Nethack formula they spawned from. They are deep and fairly challenging games, which have a great sense of progression through its continuous item hunt with increasingly stronger equipment, spells and items, especially when you move past the first few levels, even if they dont do as good of a job as Brogue or Caverns of Xaskazien 2 to keep me wanting to push forward to discover and experience more levels. (S-Tier) Rift Wizard 1/2 https://preview.redd.it/sez941xxa44h1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=df3589d0c6ca262eceb52ce1a00cb9fd2906b102 PC: View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1271280/Rift_Wizard/ View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2058570/Rift_Wizard_2/ This game is seriously dangerous to my barely existent free time. Compared to most other roguelikes, where a varied character build is part of the core identity, you are only ever given the choice of being a wizard here, but isnt the wizard the most fun class anyway? You can summon minions, freeze enemies, dance around burst damage killing your enemies (and yourself) or focus on line of sight lightning damage and all kinds of fun power upgrades and variations of those. Every game you start with choosing one of just a handful of spells and then start killing things, which at first I thought would be a bit repetetive and lead to the same builds over and over, but what truly makes this game tick, is its level progression. Every level, you get 3 portals that lead you to new worlds, which contain different dangers and goodies. Do you take the easy path into a level with just a handful of grunts and a solid health uprade? Or maybe the portal that allows you to upgrade your fire spells for less skill points, but you will need to think around the bomb throwing boss that awaits you here and that might seriously endanger you. Or how about that alluring shrine in the other portal that allows you to give a unique upgrade to one of your spells, that suddenly allows your fire spells to summon a swarm of fireflies every time you kill an enemy... and you kill a lot of those... and maybe you should avoid the portal with the fire resistent enemies all together. And I havent even talked about abilities which range from straight forward "you now exert more pain" to "here, you now have a magical defense turret stone that teleports with you throughout a level for every arcane spell you use, but otherwise cant move and you will heal it with every nature spell you cast". Then when you finally decided on a rift, you can also pick which spot in the next level you want to teleport to. Do you choose to stay close to enemy spawners to take them out? Land right on top of a magical circle that allows you to upgrade your most important spell before you fight through this level? Land on the item that would allow you to let all monsters fight each other in this level? The way these skills, abilities and micro decisions intertwine with an ever expanding roster of magical spells that get increasingly more ridiculous is absolutely insane. After playing, i understand why this game has such a dedicated following now despite its seemingly simple premise. There are also 500 enemies to encounter, almost 200 spells with 4 upgrades each on average, and a myriad of random unique effects and items that make every run honestly super fun to tinker with. Once you got used to the spells and basic gameplay loop, you can then dive into new Trials that change the game rules and enemy behaviour in various challenging ways, just as randomly locking spells or making all enemies spawn vampire bats. This is a roguelike, where you have every single information at your finger tips, no traps, no surprising enemy attacks, no unlockable skills that you might not understand before. Its all clear and out in the open, and in return makes it a rock hard puzzle challenge to overcome. The biggest issue I have is that there is only a relatively small amount of variation for the levels itself. They can be wide open, allow you to cast through walls (and naturally you have spells to melt walls), but overall, there is just not a lot that the level layout adds to the game outside of the basic path finding and blocking, which does feel rather one dimensional in a game that is otherwise this varied. The game would also deserve to be a bit more flashy, and sometimes its not entirely clear why some effects work the way they do and if you arent careful you can actually get yourself to a position where its impossible to win despite you being alive, but overall thats just tiny complaints. Amazing games. A quick note on Rift Wizard 2 in particular: The main difference is that Rift Wizard 2 only ever allows you to get 1 upgrade per spell, while adding a shit ton of new equipment with all kinds of fancy item effects, which effectively replaces the various effects you could previously bolt onto a spell. This makes it feel a bit more in line with how roguelikes work, giving you a random cool piece of equipment that you can now try to make your build work around and its genuinely exciting to find and explore these new items. However, by removing the upgrade paths of spells that you could choose yourself, the game also became infinitely more random, where you could have multiple runs with effects not stacking up for you at all. This also leads to the game forcing you into a wider set of skills and allows less focussed builds, which isnt really a plus in my book either. I think Rift Wizard 2 feels like a very large sidegrade to the first game, a game that changes the base ruleset as its own "challenge mode" basically. If you only want to get 1 game, I honestly dont know what to recommend. RW1 is a very meticulously laid out sandbox that you can tinker with and have a fair challenge and upgrade path. RW2 feels more random, less fair, but also with much, much more powerful upgrades and more satisfying items that can blast your build wide open or make you scratch your head wth you are supposed to do with that and then just die because you didnt get a meaningful upgrade in 2 levels. I suppose if you play roguelikes for the thrill of discovery: get RW2, if you play roguelikes for meticulous puzzle challenges, get RW1. And if you like both: Just toss a coin to your Witcher of choice. (A Tier) Omega Rebirth https://preview.redd.it/54wcto03b44h1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=5521f7941c307c89f3069d04e6354922f015e29b PC + Source code: https://github.com/Lyle-Tafoya/Omega/releases So my first death was due the time honored tradition of punched-to-the-face by a fully armored city guard that I accidentally bumped into. Then I starved outside the city gate as I didnt realize my hunger at the sight of this exciting new world, still in sight of guards who made no attempt of rescuing me. My third death was inside the city walls, as the local hedge maze containg a fire trap, probably also overseen by the City guard. And then I died over and over and over again to different random layouts of the first goblin dungeon (Protip: Do not anger Goblin Chieftains. Also do not try to make them happy. Just run). Omega Rebirth is as enraging as it is a beautiful thing. Also stemming from an era with no regard to your sanity, the game has some unique ideas that I have not seen in other Roguelikes, while also being maddeningly opaque for a beginner and being utterly... brutal to anyone venturing these halls. The game came out in 1987 and more or less adheres to the standard formula of a major hub city and different dungeons around it that will require you to slowly turn mini exploration stints into very deadly territory into proper progress. I am a bit surprised how much this game added on top of that though, a beautiful color palette for its revamped version, intriguing overworld and multiple towns to explore, story and history, different optional possible ending requirements, a play-yourself-mode which asks you some highly relevant questions to give you some puny stats (I am the most average Joe that has ever lived!) quest and reputation system that affects your standings and potential quest givers, a city with time based shops and locations (orphanage, libraries, pubs..) that require you to experiment a lot what even the base layout of the city has to offer, as half of the locations wont be open at any given time. This is compounded by the game having one of the most unpleasant UI I have encountered yet, even in the remade Omega Rebirth variant. It takes a lot of unintuitive button presses and things like the player often getting locked into y/n decision make basic traversal already a bit of a pain to deal with. Whenever you accidentally do a thing that could be harmful, the game gives you a y/n question dialogue. Do you really want to hit this guard? Do you really want to step through this maze? Technically a good protection, but this happens constantly, meaning the n button is basically a constant companion for basic travel and keeps bugging the player consistently. On the other hand, the world, mystery and sense of place this game exudes is very impressive. The time locked NPCs give a real sense of getting to understand the world and items that you have absolutely no idea how to use, just beckon the player in to explore its system, knowing that you will die a lot more, but the game will taunt you ever closer into learning its many little bits and bops, learning how items can be used, how to learn spells, at which time of the day you can pick up valuable rewards, how you can use seemingly undrinkable potions etc. Its genuinely an interesting place to explore, but that also leads to one of the biggest downside of the game: as soon as you found a route that optimizes what you can get in the beginning, every new run will be just mindlessly running the same route to the quest giver, item shops, adventurers guild, which already takes several minutes just to start the first proper distinct move of your run: Entering the first goblin cave. Thankfully, those dungeons are very fun in the classic Rogue way, traps, super strong elite enemies, different dungeon layouts, curious loot and random events being random. The core is absolutely here and very engaging, but the game needs a LOT of commitment and a lot of minutely planned trips back to the main shops if you want to make any headway. Absolutely incredible experience and insane feat by the developer as far as traditional roguelikes goes, but only recommended if you are in the mood for pain. (A Tier) House of Necrosis https://preview.redd.it/d4733ey8b44h1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=cc59aa929a04f60b9badd072b5ac5a820ca04694 PC: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2005870/House_of_Necrosis/ Its a roguelike following the Shiren/Mystery Dungeon formula set in a Resident Evil style setting. You go into the house and try to defeat all monsters with the items, weapons and armor you find in the dungeon. If you die, you will lose everything, but there are ways to mitigate that danger. You can throw some items into a permanent chest, you can unlock some permanent inventory slot unlocks or you could carry an item with you which allows you to leave the dungeon with everything you have, sell your loot and safely restart your run. Similarly, finding spell books allows you to permanently unlock these spells to use once per run, which are very satisfying to unlock and give you an extra emergency button to use once per run. The game is rather addictive as the constant hunt for loot & spells and especially the fantastic itemization and item effects are incredibly fun to play with. How about a pistol that randomly doubles or halves the damage? Or a weapon to confuse your enemy? Armor that allows you always see the exit on your map? Or armor that never triggers any traps on the floor? The main dungeon of House of Necrosis feels like a comparably simple and relatively straightforward challenge that you can easily grind out if you know when to mitigate your risks. Enemies show when they will use a strong attack, so you can easily sidestep that for a move. Others might have more annoying effects, but positioning yourself properly or using a well placed shot to the monster face from your range increased, poisoning and crit raised shotgun will put them into kill range for your next melee attack. I absolutely love the dedication to the setting, from items, to the monsters, the tank controls in between the dungeon levels, the low poly graphics or even the C button putting you into a first person mode, not only allowing you to stare into the face of the horror in front of you, but also giving you another, more subtle way to view your surroundings, adding to the ominous pressure this game exudes. Its a very cool blend of two worlds that I didnt expect to see as well executed as here. Unfortunately, it is rather obvious that the gameplay and tactical options is a lot less robust than most other games in the genre. The bonus dungeons after the main campaign offer a much more interesting challenge for veterans of the genre and I cant fault the game for its main dungeon being a good introduction to the genre for anyone, but it does leave me wanting a bit more mechanical depth. Anyone loving the idea of playing a Roguelike in a Resident Evil setting will get a kick out of this, but players who know their way around Roguelikes will notice that this game has a lot less bells and whistles than most others games in the genre. Fun genre blend to explore still that deserves some recognition for being one of the most accessible introductions to the genre, be that mechanics or controls that are incredibly easy to wrap your head around without needing to resort to endless menu juggling. (A Tier) void tRrLM(); // Void Terrarium https://preview.redd.it/orj7q4pfb44h1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=f1d1809805827004b5fea8176034683b159ed509 PS4/ Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/de-de/Spiele/Nintendo-Switch-Spiele/void-tRrLM-Void-Terrarium-1795812.html After playing this for a quite few hours and looking around the internet, the discourse around this game makes me go a tiny bit insane. People are saying its too hard, complain about needing to restart from level 1 every run, which is the entire idea of a roguelike and I cant wrap my head around people complaining about the difficulty of the most forgiving traditional roguelike I ever played, while most impressions and reviews dont talk about the issues the game does have in the context of the genre. So from the top: Void Terrarium is a equal parts traditional roguelike and Tamagotchi/Pet simulator in which your tiny little roboter hands craft furniture and decoration for the last surviving human, which increases your Roguelike stats as meta progression. To build those furniture items, you crawl around several dungeons collecting new crafting recipes and taking home resources from your run. The difference to other roguelikes is that every run will always convert your found items to resources, no matter if you die or finish the run. This is simultaneously one of the most unique aspects, giving you a constant sense of progression with a good amount of choices in how you want to progress in build your character (Are you going to work towards permanent active skills, a variable set of abilities you can switch out depending on you needing more defense or autoheal or just outright more stats inventory space?), while also almost completely removing any tension from the core gameloop, especially because the dungeon and monster variety is relatively low. On the other hand, the pet aspect is incredibly unique and it is very adorable to see the robots talk about human fate and the connection they are building towards the human. How these systems interact is also pretty original: The human, Toriko, needs to be fed, which also serves as your time limit for any dungeon because once the human runs out of food, you will need to exit the dungeon with your resources. Similarly, you will need to clean Torikos terrarium regularly, or use energy in a run to clean it from afar. Toriko can also have a variety of wildly different diseases that need to be treated in different ways, adding to the sense of connection you will build towards the terrarium and Toriko, making you acutely aware of how important it will be to put in some extra effort to find contamination free food for her. This game could be outright amazing if any individual run would provide a more interesting challenge, making you more invested in the tactical options you have at your disposal with the different variety of bombs and upgrades. Even when dungeons might become a tad more challenging, the best course of action seems to be to just grind out your character stats by crafting the various furniture items for Toriko, often even just taking the items that give you the most resources, instead of the items that provide the most tactical versatility. This leads to the somewhat silly situation of you often entering a dungeon just to mindlessly grab some items, die on purpose and repeat, just to most efficiently farm resources. Despite all that, the game is still very unique, touching, adorable and has some good fun if you just want to grind out some levels without wanting to feel the live or die pressure. Very addictive loop. (A Tier) submitted by /u/Toma_L to r/roguelikes [link] [comments]

https://preview.redd.it/4j78ksrpp24h1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55ae0a625d852d1dbdbb9d5f608c61584c212e81 Bloons TD 6 v55.0 - Update Preview! Preview of what is to come in the next update! There is no confirmed release date for this update but it will be coming very soon, please note that the final version may include further fixes / changes Update Video: https://youtu.be/-5Uweu4vFds New Awesome New Hero & Skin Introduction As the final piece of our collaboration with Mattel, we are excited to welcome the newest Hero - He-Man, the most powerful man (err, Monkey) in the universe! As all well-versed Masters of the Universe fans know, He-Man is the alter ego of the noble Adam, Prince of Eternia. While He-Man is the eponymous hero, Prince Adam plays a huge role in the classic and more recent cartoons, so we went above and beyond to create 2 heroes in one with distinct attacks and abilities and the ability to transform between them! Prince Adam is always the deployed hero, who attacks quickly as a large melee style sword wielder and is immune to negative effects like Stuns from Bloons or Bosses. But you don’t have to wait long (or at all with the right Knowledge), as the real magic happens at level 3 when he unlocks his iconic Transformation ability, allowing him to hold aloft his magic sword and swap to his super-powered alter ego who trades the attack speed for sheer devastating damage, by the power of Grayskull! Now as many of you know from community discussions on She-Ra and Skeletor, the Mattel items must be presented as in-app purchases (IAPs) to fulfill our license obligations and do justice to this awesome, long-standing He-Man universe. We feel this full hero does that justice, and brings fun and exciting new mechanics that we want to make sure can be fairly used in all of our events and competitive modes. After much discussion, we made the only logical and (in)sane conclusion - instead of doing 2 heroes in 1, let’s do 4 heroes in 1! So we’re also introducing the noble Monkey of the Court, Dan D’Monke, and his secret identity, The Masqued Macaque! Technically identical for game balance but with entirely different 3d models, animations, descriptions, and voiceovers, Dan D’Monke fills the base Hero position on which the He-Man skin is applied, just as Adora and Obyn provide the base for She-Ra and Skeletor. To support the release of the major motion picture release of He-Man, we are presenting the He-Man and Dan D’Monke bundle pack exclusively for 2 weeks only upon release of v55. After two weeks, Dan D’Monke will become available for Monkey Money purchase like any other Hero. Until Dan D’Monke is available for Monkey Money unlock, he will not be enabled in any events or competitive modes. The Hero & Abilities Level 3 Transformation - Activation will blast nearby Bloons with crackling lightning and leave a short lingering attack speed bonus while swapping him back and forth between a quick supportive base form and a solo wrecking ball with alternate attacks and abilities. Level 7 Strategically allows another target tower to be teleported to another location. But when he’s transformed, he takes matters into his own hands and leaps across the battlefield to smash down at the target location himself in a devastating, stunning impact. Level 10 Ability rallies nearby towers, inspires them to shrug off negative Bloon effects and deal increased damage for a short time (at the cost of a slower attack speed) and the cry even activates the effects of passive abilities in radius as if a life were just lost. While transformed however he unleashes a Berserk Warcry that sends him into a hyper-speed frenzy, dashing wildly between Bloons across a huge range, shredding them into confetti (that you definitely shouldn’t let your cats play with). Hero Ultimate Survival Kit While certain attacks and effects are limited to one form or the other, this hero is tough as nails built to survive the densest Bloon rushes. Some of the mechanics that make this work are: the Net Trap catches and slows small groups of Bloons, the Magic Barrier where escaping Bloons cause a magical shield to burst out from the exit to reduce lives lost while shoving the Bloons back and stunning them, Taunt & Stomp to distract and reduce the damage of Bloons or confuse and scatter them, the Quick Thinking (pensive cooldown) clutch mechanic distracts Bloons on the verge of escape backwards, and First Aid will completely heal any damage from a leaked Bloon (assuming you survive the hit!) but only at a rate of 1 life healed per second for only one Bloon at a time - so try not to get hurt again until the healing is done! At the highest levels Mana Shield is generated just from popping Bloons, and his damage scales up the tougher the Bloon threat and the further they are through the track! Unlocks As noted before, He-Man & Dan D’Monke can be obtained from the He-Man Booster Pack, He-Man Prestige Pack or the new Masters of the Universe Mega Pack which contains the entire set of the Mattel collab items. He-man comes with his own absolute secret Banner & Avatar, slackcircus style! Not to be forgotten, this bundle will also give a New Power - The Sword of Power. Throw the Sword of Power into the ground where it pulses periodically, generating Mana Shield and dealing damage while sending Bloons backwards. For the Power’s duration, both He-Man & She-Ra attack faster New Beginner Map - Skull Tweak The Iconic Skull from the legendary Skull Peak in Bloons TD5 makes a triumphant return, though slightly tweaked, who would’ve guessed it hadn’t yet reached its true peak? Originally a community made winning submission by Adriano Rossi released in 2014, this fan-favourite battlefield retains its classic layout, complete with rocky cliffside walls, deep fissures and Tim. Seeing this classic map come to life in a modern Bloons 3D setting is really rad! New Quests Another Path on the Park - A normal game of Bloons on Park Path. Except there’s another path for the Bloons to follow! Middle of the Wild West - Middle of the Road against some wild, rampagin’ Bloons. Join a Posse of Monkeys and try to win with reduced income Primary Power Pairs - Use Primary Monkeys to beat Underground with the Tier 5 limit increased by 1 for all paths! He-Man Has the Power! - Help He-Man and She-Ra save the day New Trophy Store Items Monkeys: OG Wind Up Dart Monkey pet for the Dart Monkey Game & UI: Classic Ninja Avatar, Classic Dart Monkey Avatar, Classic Monkey Ace Avatar, Wistful Quincy profile banner New CT Team Store items Building Props: JuiceBar Base Props: Sandcastle, Icecream monkey, Beach Umbrella, Volleyball Net, Monkey Drinking Coconut Water Props: Lifeboat, Swimming Monkey, Shark… Flying Props: Paragliding Monkey, Seagull Team Banners: PArty Hands banner Icons: Snoozing Cat icon, Fortified Castle icon Frames: New Scroll frame Social Seasons Social Season #2 is coming up, aiming for late June-early July, and we’re excited about the changes that we’ve made based on our own play experiences and community feedback. Right off the bat, we agree there were too many ‘win games’ goals for the first season. We had already done a significant pare back of target numbers and repeat tasks, but the goals released in Season #1 were still more of a time investment than intended, especially for players who were not setting up their games to make progress on 2 or more goals at the same time. Season #2’s goals have been designed to reduce the time investment overall and also to help players make progress on multiple goals at once. Our hope for Social Seasons continues to be that we’re providing fun, themed events with cool Perk and Global rewards that also provide reasons to mix up your normal play and try new builds. More details: For any ‘Win Games’ goal no single tier asks for more than 5-10 game wins Season #2 goals list has a more varied tasks and more tasks that can be mixed together with others for those who like to plan out simultaneous task clearing with the fewest games possible An indicator will now display when you have hit your daily contribution to global goals Season #2 has 7 new Perks, including Global Jungle Drums & a Monkey Super Star Of course, a new exclusive to Social Seasons Banner & Pet have been created for the Global rewards Theme hint: moustache Full list of Balance Changes & Bug Fixes will be included along with the final update notes when the update is released submitted by /u/samninjakiwi to r/btd6 [link] [comments]

What are Nail Designs for Beginners, and can you do them step by step without messing up? You can—if you nail prep, use the right thin layers, and follow a simple sequence. Start with beginner-friendly patterns that don’t demand precision. For the best staying power, prep matters more than the art: lightly buff the nail, remove dust, and skip skipping base coat. When applying polish, use 2–3 thin coats instead of one thick coat to prevent lifting and bubbles. Finally, seal the edges with top coat and cap the free margin. The guide focuses on low-stress practice designs like dots, taped lines, and quick glitter accents. Those are great because they forgive small mistakes while still looking intentional. You’ll also learn how to clean up around the cuticle and avoid common “smear” problems while the polish is wet. Why read the full article? It’s not just inspiration—it's a step-by-step walkthrough that matches what beginners struggle with: messy application, short wear, and uncertainty about which order to do everything in. It also offers a realistic beginner practice flow so you don’t waste supplies figuring out technique. If you want easy results fast, give the guide a try here: Nail Designs for Beginners: Step-by-Step Guide. What’s your biggest hurdle right now—prep, steady hand, or polish durability? submitted by /u/memfania to r/Myeducator [link] [comments]

Hi everyone! 😊 I’m looking for recommendations for the BEST nail tech schools in Orlando, Florida that teach from absolute zero. I have no experience at all, so I’m really looking for a program that is beginner-friendly but also very thorough and professional. I’m not interested in short workshops — I’m looking for a full course/program that includes: • Nail anatomy and diseases • Proper sanitation and safety • Manicure prep (cuticle work, nail prep, etc.) • Acrylic, builder gel, and poly gel • Nail shapes (almond, coffin, square, etc.) • Modern techniques (Russian manicure, structured gel, etc.) • Some level of nail art/design Ideally, I’m looking for a school that: • Is accredited/licensed in Florida • Offers in-person training (not online) • Actually teaches well (not just rushes through material) • Gives enough hands-on practice • Provides a certificate or helps prepare for licensing If you’ve personally gone to a school in Orlando or know someone who has, I would really appreciate your honest feedback, good or bad! Thank you so much in advance 💅✨ submitted by /u/Hocuspocus2024 to r/florida [link] [comments]

Sorry for the delay ladies & gentlemen. This one took a lot of extra on-hands research, and this is due to how I decided to choose games for 6th gen. Cross-platform games always existed, but 6th gen is where it became almost universally expected to have parity for third party games. Fortunately, Xbox makes it easy by usually having the best version due to the hardware. Unfortunately, emulation is not equal on all platforms: Xbox is by far the worst, it often runs worse than hardware, and has no modding support. As a result, I decided to throw out considering hardware entirely when deciding what games go on which console's list. Instead I focused solely on the emulation experience, with the exception of games that have major changes or extra content on Xbox to the point that it's almost a different game. Thus, "where is x game" and "why not x port" will be done differently for the next few posts. But just because I love you hardware only fans, I made notes about which is better for hardware on those posts as well! RULES This is NOT a retrospective. This is a list of games that are exclusive to this console, or the console is the best way to play it NOW. Only the best version of a game can make the list. If you think I missed a classic game, there's probably an explanation in a comment I made on the post as to why, and what platform I recommend. All games on a list are worth playing despite any criticisms I may have for them. Ranking is not necessarily by which is the best, but in terms of what I most recommend playing. For example, perhaps my theoretical opinion is that the worst Mario is better than the best Street Fighter. But the best Street Fighter would still rank higher, because it's a unique experience, and the best version of that experience. Only consoles & PC (Windows/DOS) are considered. No arcade/Neo-Geo, mobile, or other home computers. MAME is difficult to work with & high maintenance. Mobile changes architecture too often for all-time lists, and often don't support controllers. Other home computers rarely meet rule 1 & rarely have controller support. I default to PC when available. If it's better on console, I'll put it on the console's list. Usually though, it's better or the same on PC, and more accessible. Games with the same name will be clarified by year or console within (). Games not released in North America will have the region abbreviation within []. Alternate names will be included within {}. My lists are in increments of 10 to make it easier to track & for quality control. If there are 61 good games, I make a cut to make it an even 60. #50: Kirby Air Ride Mario Kart but with Kirby...and nothing like Mario Kart actually. And it sure is in the top 3 best Kirby racing games of all time. In all seriousness, it does nail the vibe of Kirby, has a decent amount of game modes, a good progression system, and OK controls. You can tell the devs had fun with it, it's worth messing around with. The truly weird thing I can't forgive it for is not having an accelerate button. There are other things you can do besides occasionally moving the analog stick left or right, such as sucking up enemies, but it's just not really a racing game without throttle control, is it? Kirby is always easy, which is fine with me, but that's a step too far & gives near-zero replay value. #49: Teen Titans An above average 3D beat-em-up/brawler that nails the vibe of the 2003 show very well, and uses the same voice actors. It lacks mechanical depth, but it's pretty fun, and hard to complain about since it was $20 at full price. It knows it's a B tier game & that's OK sometimes. If you're not a fan of the show, or actively dislike it (you monster!) then it probably won't win you over, but I had fun, and even enjoyed returning to it much later. #48: Star Fox Adventures Seems like this game is often dumped on. I get it, it's not a third person air combat game anymore. But it is a competent third person shooter, has fun maps, and still feels like Star Fox to me in a way I can't describe. I would try Assault first though, and if you want more come here. #47: Battalion Wars Advance Wars, but on a big boy console instead of a handheld. I like Advance Wars quite a bit, it's a good strategy game that is easy to pick up with a decent amount of depth. But I can't help but feel Battalion Wars was expanded juuust enough to be a full-on console game. It does meet those expectations, but nothing more. The art style was also never interesting, but hidden slightly by the sprite work on GBA. Not so much here, though it's arguably better in art style than the Switch remake of Advance Wars 1-2. #46: Medal of Honor - Rising Sun It is a nice change of pace to have the campaign in the Pacific Theater of WW2 for once, but that's about where my praise for the campaign ends. It doesn't have the cinematic quality of the PS1 games, nor the level design of Frontline. Rising Sun's biggest deal is that it added multiplayer, which Frontline didn't have on PS2. You may notice this is the GameCube list though, and GameCube already had local multiplayer in Frontline. Rising Sun is locked to 30 FPS, not great for an shooter. All of this is not to say the game is bad, just a little underwhelming. Multiplayer seems to have been the focus, and it has good maps, modes, and decent bot Ai. #45: Mario Party 4 GameCube was the golden era for Mario Party, though 4 is the most "whatever" entry. The gameplay & roster is the same as 3, and the graphics are barely better than 3, which was released on N64. The boards are not very good, far too straightforward. The minigames, however, are VERY good, they went for quality over quantity. This is the one you throw on for people who don't usually play Mario Party or video games. It's the simplest, and the lack of content won't show since you're not playing it a ton. 4 is a better overall experience than 3, which is the same with worse graphics & minigames, and also better than 5, which innovated but had speed bumps that I don't care to return to when 6 & 7 exist. #44: Mortal Kombat - Deadly Alliance The 3D MK games are not looked back fondly upon, generally speaking. I do prefer 2D for the type of movesets in MK, and balance is pretty atrocious in the 3D era. But it does what MK does best, and that's being a fun casual fighting game. It looks great, there's a well done story mode (for a fighter), a mission mode that doubles as an incredibly in-depth tutorial for various levels of play, lots of unlockable content, and 3 different fighting styles for every single character. One being a weapon style. At the time I thought it was great, being a combo of old MK & Soul Calibur. Over time, this combo has proven to not mix well, but there is fun to be had here. To criticize it too much would be like those negative Steam reviews you see with 200 hours on record. #43: Mario Superstar Baseball GameCube was the golden era for Mario Sports games too. There are no misses, and it feels like passion were put into them (which isn't always the case for Mario Sports or Mario spinoffs in general). This one is my least favorite simply because I think the Wii's motion controls work especially well for baseball, so I don't often play this one. But it's solid. #42: NFL Street 2 The core gameplay isn't as strong as a "normal" football game, but this game strikes a good balance between that & flashy moves like wall running. The soundtrack is good, and I'm a fan of the own the city mode. It doesn't quite reach the heights of NBA Street, but it does a good job of being that concept but for football. #41: Wario World The first & only 3D (but often 2.5D) Wario platformer. I think it nails this concept a lot better than it gets credit for. It's short, but so are WarioWare games, and everyone loves those. Admittedly, the level design is just OK, and mechanics lack depth. That being said, Wario games manage to have a quirky tone that other games cannot replicate, and this one is no exception. It's not a must-play, but it's one of the only big GameCube platformers besides Mario Sunshine. PS2 has way more, even Xbox has more surprisingly enough, so in that sense WW kind of IS a GameCube must-play if you like 3D platformers. #40: Pokémon Colosseum The evolution of Pokémon Stadium. It still isn't a true main title for some reason, but it does a better job at pretending to be. There was a lot of criticism for the total lack of story in Stadium, so now there is one,and it slaps. It's not quite "dark", but dark for Pokémon, and a welcome departure. The graphics are...good (for Pokémon, for the time). But I don't care for the art design.the animations are detailed...but too long, it takes 5 minutes to do anything. There's a lot of grind but not enough Pokémon either. The best part is that it is not a pure clone of a regular Pokémon game: it's not unfamiliar, but the gameplay loop is much more fresh. I'll take that over uninspired to an extent. A mixed bag to be sure, but I can understand why it has fans. #39: Mario Power Tennis This doesn't wow me because it can get a bit repetitive in comparison to Toadstool Tour for example. But it is very solid, worth playing, and a good baseline for Mario sports games. If it isn't at least as good as this game, I drop it. Like the Wii U Mario Tennis shudders. It's a solid evolution from 64, with more content and significantly better graphics. #38: Wave Race - Blue Storm Primarily a graphical showcase for the GameCube (those water effects...in 2001), but also a good game underneath. The physics & controls are good, the characters have personality, and there is a decent amount of modes. Perhaps the best jetski game of all time, though I guess it's not too impressive to say that. #37: Pokémon XD - Gale of Darkness Colosseum but more. They tweak a few things too, the progression, location, and tone is different. It's not a direct upgrade that replaces the original like Stadium 2, but I do think it's better by most measurements. #36: Mario Golf - Toadstool Tour This is a near perfect mix of accessible controls & deep gameplay. The physics are great, maybe one of the better golf games in general. The courses & conditions are varied, the tone charming & goofy, but relaxing. And best of all, there is a smooth difficulty curve of different mechanics & strategies. #35: The Legend of Zelda - Four Swords Adventure The gimmick is that there are 4 Links, all of which can be controlled via local multiplayer. You can play single player, but you need to regularly switch Links in order to make it through the puzzles. The buy-in for this game is ridiculous: you're supposed to play with a GBA as a controller. So you buy 4 entire other gaming systems, 4 adapters for the GameCube, and get 4 people to play with you. All for...this. It's a Zelda game, so it's good, but nowhere near the best ones. The level design is just OK, despite implementing this cool idea. The story is kinda whatever, especially if you believe the official timeline that this Ganondorf is reincarnated within living memory of old Ganandorf, and just so happens to also be called Ganondorf despite OG Ganondorf being widely hated. The graphics are disappointing. The idea was to have it be visually consistent on the GBA screen sections, but Minnish Cap, an older GBA title, looks better in some ways. Still, it is, and I cannot stress this enough: a Zelda game. #34: NBA Street Vol. 2 I'm not always the biggest fan of sports games, and a lot of that is about everything surrounding it, not necessarily the sport itself. You know, peacocking, rules lawyering, faking injuries, the billionaires that buy up all the good players and fly them over instead of it being an accurate representation of your city, the unaffordable tickets, the ads, the sports betting. Hell, I'm absolutely a nerd, but fantasy football is too nerdy even for me. But the Street series has none of that. It's just picking up a ball in your area and having a good time. With a healthy dose of video game-isms to spice up the moveset and make it more interesting than reality. It's not as over the top as something like NBA Jam, but more honest, and more successful at pulling in the "regular yearly sports game" buyers to have a good time with the general gamer population. #33: Star Fox Assault A marked improvement from Adventures, since you have vehicles AND on-foot sections. I know it's not the "in thing", but I like local multiplayer a lot more than online, and I had a lot of fun with the multiplayer modes here, especially Crown Capture. Lore-wise, it's not as weird as Command, but I can see how Nintendo thought that they'd strayed too far from the original concept and needed to reboot. Personally I like it more than I probably should. #32: Mario Party 7 7 rides 6's coat tails a bit too hard for my liking, but you know, 6 is the best so I'm not complaining. It does expand the game too: if I'm not mistaken it has the most content out of any Mario Party to date. Like 5 & beyond, the graphics are good. If you upscale it's not too different looking from the Switch titles. #31: Mortal Kombat - Deception Basically the improved version of Deadly Alliance. It has the same fundamental issues, but feels a lot better & more balanced. It continues the story too, if you care about that, and has just as much unlockable content. If you're interested in 3D MK, I'd say this is "the one". Then again, maybe Armageddon with its total disregard of balance but with every MK character ever is a more accurate summation, and arguably more fun. It did make the Wii list after all. I'll let you be the judge. #30: Metal Arms - Glitch In The System A 3rd person shooter that flew right under the radar for most people. Mostly because it looks like the GameCube Star Fox games: a whimsical cartoonish shooter that is probably below par, but with even less marketing. However, MAGITS is surprisingly robust & intense, with impressive graphics & sound effects for the era. The local multiplayer is great. The campaign has some downsides: the level design is just ok, a bit repetitive. There is very little music which is weird because of how good the sound design is. Also it's pretty hard. These things keeps MAGITS from being a classic, but it's close. #29: Super Mario Strikers The best GameCube Mario Sports game, and perhaps the best of all time. Soccer is the perfect sport for wacky Mario shenanigans, the art style is great (especially for menus), and there are a lot of good additional modes/content. Multiplayer is frantic, but easy enough to follow & pickup. #28: 007 - Everything or Nothing Probably the best plot of any James Bond game. Brosnan returns one last time to voice act Bond, and this story is a good send-off to his version of the character. Better than at least one of his movies. My main issues is that you auto target enemies. I prefer aiming, not sure why we couldn't have just done that with twin sticks like everybody else. Otherwise, the gameplay is decent too. #27: Harvest Moon - Magical Melody Perhaps inevitably, we must compare this to Animal Crossing. Harvest Moon doesnt have a time limit, which is less stressful, but it also has more complex systems and doesn't hold your hand at all. The side content isn't great. The pace is slow. I actually kind of want to rank it above Animal Crossing for what it focuses on, like relationships with the other characters, even marriage. But I rank it below Animal Crossing for the above reasons, because there are better Harvest Moon games, and because there are better games that are more similar to it than to Animal Crossing. HM MM isn't unoriginal though, it stands out with its love of music, and there are some changes to the gameplay loop that make you want to check it out, even if it's not strictly the best one. #26: Mario Party 6 Pretty easily the best Mario Party, except for Jamboree now probably. The capsule system from 5 is refined significantly, a day/night cycle is added, it looks good, there is a nice balance of content VS still being able to see your favorite minigames regularly. Quality minigames & boards, good roster. #25: Call of Duty 2 - Big Red One This makes some subtle, but noticeable improvements from Finest Hour. First, it's not a side story to the "real" COD2, it's a separate game. There are gameplay improvements, and better execution in story, voice acting, and level design. It's still not the best COD game in the world, or even the best WW2 COD. You could rank it lower in a day & age where we have access to a billion good FPS titles not locked to 30 FPS. But I do think there is something special about the tone of WW2 shooters in this era. The comradery of the eponymous team is well done, you feel for them if one dies. #24: Chibi-Robo This starts as a cute robot game with creative semi-opem level design ideas, then reveals itself to be a metaphor for emotional issues & dysfunctional family dynamics. Surprisingly it does this well, it does not feel shoehorned in. The graphics & frame rate are not great, and few mechanics are half baked. But I will always appreciate it for being heartfelt, and unabashedly itself. #23: TimeSplitters - Future Perfect This looks a bit better graphically than 2, with a continued, expanded story, and different side content. I prefer 2's side content, mostly because the Ai is better. The story mode is a toss-up: I like the level design and speed running capabilities slightly better in 2, but I appreciate that I can actually follow 3's story, unlike 2. I love the announcer for multiplayer in 3, and all the new weapons. Future Perfect is a very satisfying sequel. #22: The Incredible Hulk - Ultimate Destruction The name says it all, this is a pure power fantasy where you destroy everything in your path. The graphics hold up, the story is competent as far as Hulk stories go, but you are here to crush things and be entertained. The game understands that assignment, and executes it beautifully. Not the greatest game of all time, but there is often something lost in modern games that do not seem to know how to deliver the same raw fun levels as this. #21: Viewtiful Joe 2 I feel that 1 had a bit more passion put into the level design & story, and 2 doesn't expand on the gameplay as much as it probably should have. Nothing game breaking, but that's why it's lower. 2 continues the story & continues to be a blast. #20: 007 - Nightfire This is what Goldeneye should have been, but for some reason it's not nearly as remembered. Nightfire controls far better, looks far better, runs far better, has slightly better level design, the local multiplayer is just as good. The story is even good. The only downside is having the same weird aiming thing where it jerks back to the center if you're not actively moving the C stick. #19: Animal Crossing I must admit, I was a gatekeeping weirdo about this game when it came out. I thought it was super boring, exclusively for 7 year old girls. Sue me, I was a kid myself. Over time, I have grown to appreciate it. It's not nearly as good as any of the sequels, but it nails the charm, relaxing nature, yet addicting gameplay loop from the start of the series. There is plenty to do and to manage without feeling overwhelming, or like chores. Sometimes you just want to decorate your home. Saving the world all the time gets so tiring. #18: Super Monkey Ball One of the all-time greats for "pick up and play". You control a monkey who is trapped inside a clear ball...but not directly. Instead, your controller tilts the level itself in various ways, which will then make the monkey ball roll downhill. It sounds deceptively simple, but the level design is truly top tier. The controls & frame rate are perfect, I never felt cheated. There are good single player and multiplayer modes. What's not to love? #17: Tales of Symphonia I like Tales of; I always root for them even if they frequently end up disappointing. It's a B-tier franchise almost by definition, but this is one of their titles when they fired on almost all cylinders. The graphics aren't impressive on a technical level, but the cel shading art style aged very well. It's an action RPG with various special moves you can learn in addition to basic combos. It has multiplayer, but only during combat. If you play a lot of JRPGs, the story may seem familiar, but it is heartfelt with great characters. The themes of racism, authoritarianism, and religion are executed well. The presentation of it is a bit childlike at times, but not in an overly simplistic way that makes me groan, the way Tales of Arise did. #16: Medal of Honor - Frontline A HUGE improvement gameplay-wise from the PS1 MOH games. GameCube has local multiplayer as well, which is really fun, if not quite as great as TimeSplitters, Nightfire, or even later MOH games. There are occasional issues with aiming: you need to be closer than you'd expect or you'll miss. No true ADS, more like zooming in slightly. Otherwise, it's one of the first truly modern console shooters. No more Spielberg, but it has a similar level of reverence put into the story & level design as the PS1 games. The opening D-day level is classic, but Frontline also excels at the small moments, like the Dutch countryside level. While walking next to a windmill atop hills that looked like the edge of the earth, I was struck by how beautiful & foreign this land was to me. How everywhere, no matter how small, was affected by this real-life war. As I turned a corner I pointed my rifle at a figure in front of a door. It was an old woman, gripping onto a broom, her hands shaking. I said nothing. She said nothing. I turned to leave, and her eyes remained fixed on the patch of grass between us, never looking up. #15: Luigi's Mansion I'm having a hard time explaining to you why I enjoy LM so much. It doesn't exactly scream "all-time classic" by looking at it. But it's just...nice. It explores the idea of why there are ghost mansions in the Mario games, and combines it with Ghostbusters without fully feeling like a knockoff. The level design is varied enough to be interesting, and the game doesn't last long enough to get bored with it. It sounds a little silly now, but the facial animations were impressive at the time as well. Nintendo finally gave Luigi something unique to do, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. #14: Skies of Arcadia Legends First of all, I LOVE the setting. Always enjoyed the idea of sky pirates and sky castles. It nails the pirate fantasy; yes epic stuff happens, but the main thing is that you're here with your buddies, exploring, adventuring, and beholden to none. As a result, the story isn't terribly inspired, but that's by design I think. You're more meant to marinate. The combat is decent, if by the numbers & long. The ship battles are a highlight, though again, long. Getting anywhere is...also long, with a high encounter rate. If I'm being honest, it's not exactly the first JRPG I'd recommend to a new player, but it manages to rise above all its issues and be something truly special. #13: Spider-Man 2 All these years later, this is still one of the top Spider-Man games. The web-swinging is just that good, and never replicated until the modern PS4/5 games. It is also a watershed moment for open world gaming. Certainly it wasn't the first, but the accessibility of locations like every wall & roof in Manhattan was more impressive to me than even PS2-era GTA. The story mode is solid, if short & cheesy. There are good additions from the comic, including memorable boss battles. I appreciate that they got the movie actors to do the voice acting, and the banter is on brand, though infamously repetitive. The upgrade system is also solid, there is just enough to do without feeling like a chore if you're under-leveled, or feeling like a different character because of the new abilities. #12: Eternal Darkness - Sanity's Requiem Horror games are usually hard to rank because of how subjective being scary is. If nothing else though, EDSD gets full points for being relentlessly creative. You have a "Sanity Meter", which slowly (or not so slowly) goes down when scary things happen or when your character becomes stressed or tired for other reasons. As you become less sane, things start to get weird in such a way that makes you question your own real life sanity, like breaking the fourth wall. This merges wonderfully with the nonlinear storytelling, time travel, and Lovecraftian horror. Sometimes it feels like it's all over the place, but this is very much on purpose, and comes together, despite the pacing dragging at some points. #11: Fire Emblem - Path of Radiance Still one of the better Fire Emblem games out there. FE stories tend to be good-ish but a tad generic. PoR bucks some of the FE tropes, which makes it feel unique. You play as Ike, a down to earth, likable mercenary. Not the chosen one, or a king, or a prince. But it still does a good job with the world's politics, making it simple enough for an outsider to understand. There are some fun audience mouthpiece moments where Ike will cut through the politics & say "just do obvious solution that isn't politically correct then". The villain is sufficiently evil and hateable, while feeling like a real person who is internally consistent, to the degree that makes you almost respect him for it. The gameplay is not the most refined in the series since it's 20+ years old, but doesn't feel clunky either; maybe a bit slower than you're used to at worst. #10: Star Wars Rogue Squadron III - Rebel Strike This game looked INCREDIBLE, and still does when upscaling. This is also my personal gold standard for air combat. Is it the BEST air combat game? I'd say definitively no. There are games with better level design, with more detail. Sometimes too much detail, and too complicated for their own good. So by gold standard I mean that I ask myself: "am I able to just pick up the game & have fun like I can with Rogue Squadron?". It must be mentioned that the on foot sections are ass, but at least it has all the flying levels from 2, so it technically wins for having more content. #9: TimeSplitters 2 Aside from the Halo Trilogy, I cannot remember having a better split screen FPS experience than this game. TimeSplitters really has it all. The campaign is a theme park ride through fan favorite period tropes like a western, James Bond, Victorian cult/zombie movie, sci-fi, and more. It has perhaps the most in-depth side content I can remember seeing in a shooter; there are a ton of missions & challenges that are bigger than the campaign itself. The weapon choice is great, the enemy Ai is top notch. Sometimes I wonder if I was imagining enemy Ai declining in recent years, but now I know I'm not imagining it. The only real downside is doing things the Goldeneye way, where the reticule snaps back to the middle when aiming. #8: Mario Kart Double Dash Second only to Mario Kart 8, in my estimation, and the dual-driver switching mechanics set it apart enough to return to it regardless. Great graphics (better than Wii somehow), great controls, great gimmick. Good alternate modes, decent amount of content, good roster that cover the important characters. #7: Super Monkey Ball 2 Despite the dearth of content in 1, apparently Amusement Vision was just getting started. 2 gets even more creative with the levels, mechanics, and multiplayer modes. The graphics also seem slightly better to me. An all-timer. #6: Paper Mario - The Thousand-Year Door The best Paper Mario, and in my opinion, the best Mario RPG in general. You dont think of Mario as having very deep lore, yet this game manages to have a real story that feels epic, yet down to earth, approachable, and even silly, as a good Mario game should be. The combat isn't too complicated, but the badge system has enough meat on it to be fun to mess around with different builds, such as a glass cannon. There is a mild amount of real time action which I'm starting to appreciate more and more in turn based games. The pacing can drag in some spots, but overall, it's a delight. #5: Viewtiful Joe The gold standard of 3D beat-em-ups/brawlers. It's mostly 2.5D, but not exactly a side scroller. You go at angles and different directions, sort of like Tomba 2 on PS1. Let's call it 2.75D. You gain many different abilities, primarily throughspeeding up and slowing down time, leading to different combos and interactions with thr environment. The cel shading has aged well, the level design is creative, and the music is rockin'. The story doesn't exactly...matter or make sense, but the game knows this, it is clear from the opening moments. Viewtiful Joe is purely a recreation of the crazy daydreams that you had as a kid, of interacting with random locations and objects as a superhero and beating up ninjas. #4: Super Mario Sunshine Almost nobody's favorite 3D Mario, but VERY underrated. Yes, there is only one biome type, tropical, but they do a much as you could possibly expect them to do with the concept, and much more. Honestly, this is a nice change from the incessant grassland, desert, ice, fire, water, and mountain biomes in every other Mario game, that often copy off each others' homework for level design ideas. The FLUDD mechanic is...overpowered, but in some cases needed, and a nice change as well. The graphics are great, I didn't have a Nintendo console at the time so I can only imagine what it would have been like to go from 64's smushed face to this, in only a few years. The worst things about Sunshine is that the difficulty spikes are extreme in some areas but too easy in general. Also it is 30 FPS, for a platformer, during 6th gen: yikes. But none of that stops it from being one of the best games on one of the best consoles of all time. #3: Soul Calibur II Possibly the best SC, which is my favorite fighting game series. It is even smoother than 1, has better graphics, adds key mechanics like guard break & clash, adds additional weapons for each character, and has the best guest character: Link. Despite the new mechanics, it isn't overly complicated yet, it is still one of the best fighting games to pick up for a beginner, but plenty to enjoy for an experienced player. #2: F-Zero GX The best futuristic racer of all time. The graphics, controls, track design, and amount of content is out of this world. The only downside is that the difficulty can get pretty crazy. Even then, the rubber banding that is employed doesn't feel like blatant cheating most of the time, the Ai is just that good. #1: Super Smash Bros Melee The best Smash Bros. Well, maybe Ultimate is better in a lot of ways, particularly content & ease of online play. But Melee will always stay alive competitively. I've always liked 64 & all, but it feels like a proof of concept next to this. The character selection, the stages, the graphics, the mechanics that have a ton of minor details with a high skill ceiling, yet balanced to have a blast casually. A true labor of love, and a true legend. Think I missed a game or wonder why I picked the GameCube version of the game? Check here for 6th gen explanations part 1, here for part 2, and here for non-6th gen. submitted by /u/Not-Clark-Kent to r/patientgamers [link] [comments]

Game Information Game Title: Marathon Platforms: Xbox Series X/S (Mar 5, 2026) PlayStation 5 (Mar 5, 2026) PC (Mar 5, 2026) Trailers: Rook Cinematic | Marathon Marathon - Rook Cinematic Trailer | PS5 & PC Games Launch Gameplay Trailer | Marathon Developer: Bungie MetaCritic - 81 average on PlayStation 5 with 35 reviews | 81 average on PC with 32 reviews OpenCritic - 80 Top Critic average - 69% recommended (nice) - 58 reviews Critic Reviews 3DJuegos - Mario Gómez - Spanish - Recommended Divisive as it might be, Marathon is an incredibly polished product that ultimately brings the genre into maturity thanks to its ideally sized maps, flexible matchmaking, deep and satisfying combat and (perhaps most importantly) rich endgame system full of both short term and long term goals for the whole season. Game has you building up some quality loadouts, then wasting it all on unfortunate runs and not giving a damn about it since you'll be back in stock in no time. Great gameplay loop overall... if you have the patience to learn it. 4P.de - Christian Just and Sören Wetterau - German - 7.5/10 Marathon is an extraction shooter that truly does its own thing. It is visually unique, yet complex and not easily deciphered. However, those who stick with it are rewarded with fantastic matches and a motivating gameplay loop. Areajugones -Álex Pareja - Spanish - 8/10 Marathon demands a great deal of patience and time before you begin to truly enjoy it, but as the hours pass, it manages to transform into an obsession. Bungie’s signature touch is evident in its gameplay, as well as in the construction of its universe and its difficulty. It stands unique among extraction shooters, yet its high barrier to entry—along with the constant dedication it demands—won't win over everyone. Atomix - Sebastian Quiroz - Spanish - 85 Marathon is a difficult game to recommend. It's undeniable that Bungie has done a great job with this title, but it's not an experience for everyone. The gameplay is too aggressive for a large portion of the audience, and even those initially interested may be discouraged by the steep learning curve. It remains to be seen whether this game has what it takes to survive this challenging period for games as a service, but if anyone can make it happen, it's Bungie. But Why Tho? - Matt Sowinsky - English - 8/10 Marathon has me locked in, sitting in my brain until my next run. The barrier to entry is high, but it’s rewarding, with each death being a lesson learned. CD-Action - Jakub Dmuchowski - Polish - 8+ Marathon is a very good shooter, but in the long run, it may paradoxically suffer from being limited to just one game mode. CGMagazine - Zubi Khan - English - 8.5/10 Marathon is an addictive extraction shooter featuring the same masterful gunplay that has made Bungie legendary, making it a must-play for fans of the genre and even those adverse to it. Console Creatures - Johnathon Cariati - English - 7/10 If you give Marathon your time, it will reward your patience. I really believe that. I also think the time commitment is a big reason this game won’t be for everyone. And maybe it doesn’t have to be. After all, a game for everyone is a game for no one. This isn’t a casual shooter that’s welcoming to new players. If you’re willing to stick with the game, learn the systems and play with friends, then there’s a good chance you will find a shooter you really enjoy. If you’re looking for something easier to jump into and understand right away, then Marathon is going to be a much tougher sell for you and your friends. Daily Star - Tom Hutchinson - English - TBD Gameplay is brilliantly addictive, the graphics and sounds standout - it’s just that crappy menu system that falters. There’s more to come from Marathon but this is a great start to a live service shooter and a great rival to the likes of Arc Raiders. DayOne - Győző Baki - English - 7 / 10 Marathon is a hugely inconsistent game. Some marvelous vistas and stylistic choices, yet the world feels void of interesting events and feels small, with only a few small, static and repetitive maps. Some great shooting is accompanied by a crazy low TTK that encourages playing as passively as possible. Destructoid - Scott Duwe - English - 8.5/10 Everything about Marathon has been polarizing from the start, including its very existence as another live-service game alongside Bungie's Destiny 2. But in spite of its faults and struggles, the studio has managed to ship a great yet niche extraction shooter, even with its high barrier of entry and existing flaws. It's absolutely not for everyone, but if it's for you, it may be your next addiction. Dexerto - Nathan Warby - English - 3/5 Marathon is a wildy inconsistent game that reaches blood-pumping highs, in between rounds of pure frustration. There's a great shooter hiding in there, but players will jump off before they find it. DualShockers - Shane Limbaugh - English - 8.5/10 Marathon is hands down the best extraction shooter on the market. From the gunplay to the way the game handles the distribution of story, there's a lot to love in Marathon. While the quality of life could be improved in some respects and some of the UI elements could be adjusted, the overall game stands as a testament that Bungie knows how to make a good game. Eurogamer Germany - Benjamin Schmädig - German - 5/5 Marathon is an incredibly intense, nearly perfect first-person shooter in a visually breathtaking scenario. It keeps you engaged with an incredibly well-tuned cycle of looting and improving, while you constantly progress even after failing a mission. EuroGamer Portugal - Adolfo Soares - Portugese - 3/5 Not even Destiny's brilliant gunplay can save Marathon from its own mess. Bungie's new shooter drowns in too much visual noise, rudimentary menus and boredom. An extraction shooter that doesn't innovate and becomes tiresome long before it becomes fun. If you're hardcore in this genre, Marathon can be seen in a much more optimistic light. Everyeye.it - Giovanni Panzano - Italian - 8/10 Marathon is not a game for everyone. The hardcore nature of Bungie’s latest effort creates an experience with a high barrier to entry—one that will drive away anyone unwilling to commit to mastering its intricate mechanics, while conversely trapping everyone else in an endless loop of runs. This specific quirk ensures the game will likely never become a mainstream hit or reach record-breaking levels of popularity; yet, there is no doubt that Bungie’s take on the extraction shooter genre is one of the most compelling titles currently available on the market. Anyone with a visceral love for this subgenre should at least give it a chance—or, to put it more aptly, try going for a run. Final Weapon - Saras Rajpal - English - 4.5/5 So far, Marathon is an absolutely fantastic multiplayer shooter. The narrative manages to be compelling, even without a single-player campaign; the presentation is a treat to look at, and the gameplay still has me hooked. While I fear for its ability to deliver consistently good content in future updates, Bungie's care for the game thus far and the fact that it already has a committed fanbase have me hopeful and even excited to see how Marathon continues to grow in the coming weeks, months, and years. If you're a fan of multiplayer shooters, then this is a must-play. Finger Guns - Joshua Thompson - English - 8/10 Bungie are once again at the forefront of sci-fi with their extraction shooter Marathon. Whilst none of the elements are purely unique individually, Bungie have cultivated a brutal ecosystem that gives you as much as you're willing to put in. The barrier to entry is high, and the player base are already daunting, but what is on offer is an FPS with exceptional gunplay and heightened encounters, wrapped in a brilliant setting. Game Informer - James Galizio - English - 9.25/10 Like any good extraction shooter, Marathon is a game about the choice and consequences inherent within a run. Yet, it's more than just that. Bungie's excellent audio design and gunplay, paired with increasingly complicated level design borrowing from over a decade of expertise designing Destiny raids coalesce into something special. Marathon is proof Bungie is still at the top of its game. Gamekult - Alex Cortes - French - 6/10 Marathon makes excellent use of Bungie's strengths, whether in its narrative, visuals, or gameplay. But despite this polished presentation, it remains a relatively conventional extraction shooter, and the few attempts to differentiate it—particularly the fast-paced and challenging combat and the hero system—fail to truly convince. There's no doubt the game will find the dedicated community it deserves for its undeniable qualities, but following the vibrant Arc Raiders unfortunately makes Marathon somewhat bland for the average player. GameLiner - Rudy Wijnberg - Dutch - TBD Marathon shows moments of brilliance, especially in its signature Bungie gunplay, but the current package feels limited. A low amount of maps, heavy monetization push, and reliance on coordinated teammates hold the core experience back. There's potential here, but Bungie still has serious work to do. [Review in Progress] GameOver.gr - Alexandros Papadopoulos - Greek - 7.5/10 Bungie once again nails the shooting, delivering consistently satisfying combat moments in Marathon. Its retro-futuristic aesthetic and lore create a dilapidated sci-fi world that feels both mysterious and captivating. During traversal and tense firefights, as you attempt to extract valuable loot, the game offers a thrilling and engaging experience. However, it’s baffling how convoluted the menus are, creating unnecessary confusion even for simple tasks. Additionally, in its current state, the content feels somewhat lacking,though Bungie has promised to expand it in the near future. Gamereactor UK - Magnus Groth-Andersen - English - 7/10 Marathon’s foundations are solid, strong, and well-functioning, and although the game might lack a hook, or simply maps that build on this solid foundation, I feel confident enough, even without Cryo Archive, to recommend Marathon solely on the basis of this rather fantastic loop. That doesn’t mean Marathon is a fantastic game in itself, but it could very well turn out to be one, and that’s more positive than for a great many other live-service games. Gamer.no - Espen Jansen - Norwegian - 7/10 Marathon delivers a plethora of deep mechanics, engaging gunplay and a truly unique look, but there's simply too much tedium and way too much busywork between fights. GamersRD - Alejandro Paula - Spanish - 8/10 Marathon is an addictive extraction shooter with the unmistakable hallmark of Bungie. Its hostile map Tau Ceti IV offers great tension and survival, standing out for its colorful aesthetic and an accessible learning curve. Although the on-screen interface is overwhelming and gives the feeling that it could have launched more polished, its solid endgame content makes up for the experience. Gamer Social Club - Adam S. D. Stewart - English - 9 /10 Coming from someone who is completely new to extraction shooters, Marathon is a triumph. The excellent visuals, audio design and gameplay creates a game and world that wants you to have “just one more run”. Hell, I’m only writing this during the server maintenance downtime, otherwise I’d struggle to tear myself away! Bungie have succeeded in creating a world that is begging to be explored and experienced even if the lore and storytelling feels slightly secondary. It may feel overwhelming at first, but a little perserverance, and not much at that, will open up a game that is incredibly well made and demonstrates a lot of love and work. GameSpot - Phil Hornshaw - English - 9/10 I've now sunk nearly 90 hours into Marathon, and it has quickly eclipsed many of my other go-to multiplayer games. It's currently all I'm thinking about and all I want to play. I'm excited to see how else the game will change over time, whether that's with new Shells, new contracts, new story, new modes, or new enemies. And so far, Bungie has been highly attuned to player feedback, and that has already resulted in lots of tweaks and improvements to the experience. GamesRadar+ - Andrew Brown - English - 4.5/5 Marathon steals the breath from your lungs. An intense shooter that thrives on PvP encounters and a well-realized setting, Bungie's extraction shooter is off to an exceptional start Gamesurf - Simone Rampazzi - Italian - 7/10 Ultimately, Marathon presents itself as a kind of digital Rorschach test in which each player projects their own tolerance thresholds for frustration and aesthetic fascination: it is a work dedicated to gunplay fetishists who demand a physical response to every mouse input, and to those who, tired of the reassuring linearity of modern blockbusters, seek the thrill of fragmented and brutal storytelling. The shift toward the extraction shooter genre proves to be a bold strategic move to test the limits of competition, attracting anyone curious to see how the DNA of 1994 has mutated under Ziegler’s vision, while simultaneously forcefully repelling those who look for a guided approach or a minimalist UI. It is not a game for those who detest extraction anxiety or the permanent loss of loot, since the absence of waypoints and the informational overload of the HUD require a cognitive investment that many might find exhausting. Those with modern hardware and ultrawide displays will derive the greatest visual pleasure from this chromatic jungle, but they will still have to reckon with a system that gives nothing away and turns every mistake into a definitive erasure. Marathon, ultimately, is a technological shell that admits no compromises: either one accepts living within its distortions, or one is rejected by the system like obsolete code. Gaming Age - Austen Canupp - English - 90 I will not pretend that Marathon is a game for everyone. I don’t even think it’s a game for most people who enjoy FPS games, but… that does not stop it from being a great game in the end. Marathon offers a lot to give people the ability to experience a hardcore looter shooter in a more well-designed and refined environment than has otherwise been available before its existence. Tarkov or Delta Force might look good, but what they are both missing is that casual friendly polish that you can only get from a studio with a long history like Bungie. In my opinion, both of the aforementioned games suffer from being unpolished in the grander view in a way that, while not necessarily making them bad, definitely makes them hard to approach. Marathon’s UI might be a bit wild, but it’s not the crazy patchwork that you’ll find in its competitors. It does what every other extraction shooter before it has done, but more polished and cohesive. There’s always clear goals and expectations, and upgrades are easy to understand and progress. Marathon is, in my opinion, the clearest winner of the genre to date that offers the kind of experience it does. Gaming Boulevard - Toon Borremans - English - 9/10 The gaming landscape rarely sees a PvP first-person extraction shooter like Bungie’s new Marathon. It blends fun, engaging gameplay with fast-paced matches and smartly chosen mission structures. Tao Ceti IV feels like a vision of the future that we haven’t already encountered in sci-fi, boasting a unique visual design and a futuristic soundtrack that shapes the atmosphere like no other. I really hope this game finds a consistent player base, because I want Marathon to stick around and show me more of its world for years to come. GamingBolt - Ravi Sinha - English - 8/10 Bungie delivers a compelling extraction shooter in a trippy new setting, though whether that will be enough remains to be seen. GamingTrend - Corvo Rohwer and Joe Morgan - English - 85/100 Marathon is top-tier Bungie gunplay in a beautiful extraction shooter setting, and it makes for an addicting gameplay loop. Exploring the dangerous world of Tau Ceti IV and the looming colony ship with your gear on the line makes for some of the most intense PvP available, though the punishing early game might be too brutal for some. Gfinity - Chris Davison - English - 8/10 Bungie’s Marathon reboot successfully transforms a sci-fi classic into a tense, visually stunning extraction shooter. While a steep learning curve and punishing seasonal resets may alienate some, the satisfying gunplay, unique Runner Shell abilities, and addictive loop of high-stake runs make it a rewarding experience for those who brave the dangers of Tau Ceti IV. GRYOnline.pl - Dariusz Matusiak - Polish - 7.0/10 Despite these shortcomings, Marathon still manages to be deeply intriguing—if only for its distinctive audiovisual style. It truly feels like a small work of art in a museum: the kind that some would instantly want to take home and admire at every spare moment, while others might not fully grasp it—or perhaps wouldn't choose to display it on their own shelves—yet will still find themselves gazing at it with fascination, if only for a moment. I am incredibly curious to see how Marathon evolves over the coming seasons, and I will certainly be keeping a close eye on it. Hobby Consolas - Álvaro Alonso - Spanish - 90/100 Marathon's return as an extraction shooter had everything stacked against it... But Bungie always hits the mark. The studio's three strengths mesh perfectly with the extraction formula, resulting in a game you always want to play again. IGN Adria - Mladen Tapavički - Bosnian - 9/10 Marathon is a challenging FPS multiplayer extraction shooter that will not leave you indifferent as you explore the ruins of the Tau Ceti IV colony. It allows players to experience incredible success and defeat in a game that has a surprisingly good narrative and audio/visual presentation. We hope this will be the basis for a long series that will add new content regularly. IGN Benelux - Tom Van Stam - Dutch - 9/10 Marathon is a game that is truly unmatched, especially in terms of style and gunplay. Beneath its visual presentation and incredibly strong soundtrack lies a game that is remarkably special, though it will not immediately appeal to everyone because it is so hardcore. For me, it is one of the best first-person shooters ever made. In terms of level design, Marathon is even better than Destiny, and the release of its most recent level, Cryo Archive, only reinforced that even further. It takes a little while to get into at first, but once you push through that initial barrier, you are in for an unforgettable experience. IGN Brasil - Bruno Renzi - Portugese - 7.5/10 Marathon offers the best of what Bungie has to offer in terms of pure gameplay and a unique hardcore experience within the extraction shooter genre. However, pacing issues and its appeal to a niche audience make the barrier to entry too high for the vast majority of players. IGN - Travis Northup - English - 9/10 Marathon is a ruthless and unforgiving extraction shooter that’s worth every ounce of hell it puts you through. IGN France - Paul Blanchard - French - 8/10 Memorable for its excellent game feel and striking artistic direction, Marathon is a punitive, extreme and exponentially addictive extraction shooter. IGN Spain - Estrella Gomez - Spanish - 8/10 At first glance, Marathon feels strange and confusing. It's a game that demands a lot of patience from the player, as only then can you truly discover the wonders of its world. This extraction shooter doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it stands out thanks to its fast-paced gameplay, which always feels satisfying, and its distinctive style. Jeuxvideo - Alexis Mariel Zema - French - 17/20(?!) Marathon is a radical proposition (you either love it or hate it), and if you have nothing against its unforgiving PvP and art direction, then I highly recommend it. The art direction, the atmosphere, the demanding nature of the game captivated me. I was completely absorbed on the planet Tau Ceti IV, displaying heightened vigilance against other Runners, fascinated by the universe Bungie has created. The creators of Halo and Destiny have put their FPS expertise to work in service of an excellent extraction shooter. Jeff.zone - Jeff Gerstmann - English - 5/5 I think that’s the thing about Marathon. It all fits, creating a cycle where even failure can be more inspirational than discouraging. Considering most of my time with other extraction shooters ended after a way-too-discouraging defeat, I’d say that’s a huge part of what sets Marathon apart from the pack. They’ve created (well, iterated on) a story and universe where you want to know what’s next, you want to see the next part of this mystery unfold, whether that’s in-game or through some kind of ARG. Bungie’s set the stage for something truly special, and I hope they take this opportunity to really play around in this space and come up with a wide variety of weird activities to match the game’s vibe. Kotaku - Zack Zwiezen - English - Unscored Marathon is a good game. It is a great game. It’s a special game. This is something that I’ll remember for a long time, even if it dies like so many other live-service games. Metro GameCentral - Adam Starkey - English - TBD At the moment, Marathon shows signs of being able to go the distance, especially if its thrills deepen the more you sink into its breadth of upgrades and weapons. But after this early test, it feels like there are a lot of obtuse hurdles, and peculiar design choices, stopping it from being a true contender. [Review in Progress] MMORPG.com - Justin Harmon - English - TBD From what we've played so far, Marathon feels like a modern love letter to the classic games from Bungie’s past, while keeping their sights on the future. While the learning curve is steep, the community the game is building is already growing strong. PC Gamer - Morgan Park- English - 90 Marathon is a brilliant distillation of what makes extraction shooters great, and a glimpse at where they could go next. PCGamesN - Jamie Hore- English - 8/10 Marathon is a feast for the senses - vibrant sci-fi visuals and world building, amazing sound design, and a brilliant combat experience are the main things elevating it above its extraction shooter competitors. Its endgame map, Cryo Archive, also creates the same intimidating yet jaw-dropping atmosphere of some of Bungie’s finest Destiny raids. However, issues such as clunky inventory management and dull faction quests hold it back from true greatness right now. PCMag - Matthew Buzzi and Zackery Cuevas- English - TBD We tag-teamed the server slam to parse the good and the bad of Marathon's public debut, and after 10 hours of play, found it an engaging shooter with a few head-scratching elements. [Review in Progress] Playstation Country - Mike I really did try to find a last name. I did. I listened to five minutes of podcast intros from nine years ago. I can’t find it. I stalked LinkedIn. I can’t find it. I don’t know who this guy is. It’s just Mike. He “gets all the racing games.” - English - 7 Overall Against some odds, Marathon is a compelling extraction shooter that offers some really satisfying combat. I do think having only one contract at a time slows progression down but there's plenty of other meters to work towards. Solo play has a tension to it which I really enjoy, although the game seems to be built more around squads. With just a few maps available at launch, I only hope that the game evolves and grows over time. I love the aesthetic and, generally speaking, it's doing quite a few things right. PlayStation Universe - Tommy Holloway - English - 9/10 Marathon is further proof of Bungie's pedigree and ability to create enthralling, engaging, and addictive shooters. While Marathon is brutally challenging and unforgiving, especially for the solo or casual player, it begs to be experienced. Pocket Tactics - Sam Comrie - English - 9/10 Bungie’s unwavering commitment to its hardcore niche makes Marathon an enthralling experience the FPS genre needs. Best-in-class gunplay, sleek art direction, and masterful sound design deliver white-knuckle tension in spades. Its versatile playstyles let you approach it as a stealth powerhouse or turn it into a squad-based riot. Press Start Australia - Brodie Gibbons - English - Unscored Marathon is a special game that, like Destiny before it, is firmly rooted in the team’s focus on shared communal experiences, immaculate gun feel, and just straight-up vibes. I hope it finds enough of a foothold to exist in the live-service space longer than some of its contemporaries, because if death is the first step in Marathon, I can’t wait to see what the next one is. PSX Brasil - Bruno Henrique Vinhadel - Portugese - 85% Marathon is special within its own universe and shows how Bungie continues to deliver high-quality first-person shooters over decades. It still needs slight refinements and more content over time to remain consistently interesting, but its release is a huge success. Push Square - Aaron Byne - English - 9/10 Marathon doesn’t have that instant fun factor and casual appeal that an extraction shooter like ARC Raiders does. And for a lot of people, that likely means it isn’t the game for them. But Marathon is a game that gives more to you the more you give to it. With impeccable Bungie gunplay, a gorgeous world and artstyle, and a gameplay loop much denser than its competition, we think Marathon is something special. The more we play, the more we love it. Region Free - Joonatan Itkonen - English - 3/5 If you're really into extraction shooters and you've gone through all the other major competitors, chances are you might love Marathon, too. But if you're a solo gamer or with friends available only occasionally, it's best to skip it for now. There are other worlds than this. Restart.run - Jesse Vitelli - English - 4.5/5 [Marathon has] brought a multiplayer shooter back into the rotation for my friend group. A central game for us to rally around, to share memes, tips and tricks, and just discuss theories and where it could go next. The possibilities in Tau Ceti IV feel endless if Bungie is given the runway to continue building out this universe. Screenhub - Michael Murphy - English - 4/5 Longevity is a touchy subject in this day and age, as many live-service titles have struggled to keep up with the gaming landscape. Marathon, for a while, looked to be one of those one-and-done that would be lost to time...Fortunately, Bungie has crafted something that proves that wrong, but looks to get better with each update. While not a single-player haven or easy-to-enter title, what you get is a great multiplayer extraction shooter that many should get in on as soon as possible. Screen Rant - Chris Carter - English - 7/10 With any luck, developer Bungie will spruce up the strong foundation of Marathon to make it a bit more palatable. SECTOR.sk - Peter Dragula - Slovak - 70 Marathon is an interesting project from Bungie that has some merit, but so far it doesn’t feel like it’s living up to its full potential. It’s held back by limited content, a cluttered layout, poor navigation, and repetitive gameplay. That said, the game has a solid foundation in its shooting mechanics, movement, and the need for tactical decision-making during extractions. Spaziogames - Andrea Maiellano - Italian - 8.5/10 After dozens of hours, Marathon left me with something rare: a deep, renewed respect for a studio that, week after week, always seems on the brink of collapse. It’s not a perfect extraction shooter, nor an accessible one, let alone easy to love. But it is authentic and consistent. It’s a production that doesn’t seek compromise, that rewards dedication, punishes improvisation, and above all refuses to follow any trend. Stevivor - Hamish Lindsay - English - 9/10 I could write a whole other review on just how much I’ve come to adore Marathon. The gentle patter of rain, the falling rocks that sound like footsteps. The designs of the guns and the sounds they make. There’s genuinely so much excellence here that I can’t help but lament the troubled path Bungie took to get here. What I can tell you though is that, without a doubt, Marathon is not only the best extraction shooter available right now by a wide margin, but also one of the premier PvP experiences out there. It’s a must buy for anyone who enjoys thrilling PvP combat. TechRadar Gaming - Dashiell Wood - English - 3/5 Marathon looks great and benefits from some excellent moment-to-moment action, especially if you’re playing with friends. Even so, the clear lack of content, terrible cosmetics, and abundance of repetitive fetch quests give you few compelling reasons to keep coming back for more once the initial burst of excitement wears off. The Games Machine - Alessandro Alosi - Italian - 8/10 Marathon takes the Extraction Game philosophy and molds it into the Bungie style. It's not perfect—the UI is awful, and the missions lose their edge over time—but the gameplay loop is fun, and the shooter foundation is solid. And what a style, guys. VGC - Diego Argüello- English - 4/5 Despite the tumultuous landscape of live-service games around it, Marathon firmly carves its own place in the extraction shooter genre with an unmatched presentation and breakneck rhythm. Voxel - Igor Almenara Carneiro - Portugese - TBD Marathon is a brutal and potentially frustrating extraction shooter. It's not beginner-friendly, but offers significant value for those who persevere. The art direction is bold and extremely striking—capable of attracting or repelling players from the very first moment. [Review in Progress] Wccftech - David Carcasole - English - 9/10 All that said, Cryo Archive is still an incredible endgame reward for the players who make it there, and in the meantime you get to enjoy the rest of Marathon's wonderfully designed zones. Now that I've experienced Cryo Archive, I can definitively say Marathon is the full package for shooter fans, stealth game fans, and anyone who feels like they've been missing some of the magic that made Bungie the iconic studio it is today. Xbox Achievements - Richard Walker - English - 75% As disheartening as failed runs can be in Marathon, it's worth sticking around for the triumphs and the game's cool and frenetic, albeit slightly headache-inducing, 1990s-style neon-hued design. Its Designers Republic-esque iconography and surreal cutscenes are uniquely bizarre (I've never loaded into a game while watching a big moth chewing on some weird worm thing), but it's all part of a unified design and vision. It all hangs together nicely, but Marathon's survival will ultimately hinge on whether Bungie can keep it fresh and whether players will be prepared to stick with it. I hope that they do. Xbox Tavern - Jamie Collyer - English - 80 While there’s no denying Marathon is an aggressive PvPvE extraction shooter, it is also a remarkably moreish one. The core loop of exploration, looting and fighting feels great as we’d hope from FPS veterans Bungie, and while the UI could use some touch ups in both inputs and clarity, that one more game feeling is present and correct enough that I can see myself sticking with this for some time to come. With constant updates and additions promised, I think the future is bright for Marathon indeed. submitted by /u/LycaonMoon to r/Games [link] [comments]