role-playing games Archives

AppWizard

April 23, 2025

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review

Clair Obscur is a JRPG set in a dark version of Belle Époque France, featuring a countdown marked by a figure called the Paintress that signals doom for certain individuals. The gameplay combines traditional turn-based mechanics with real-time challenges, requiring players to develop characters into powerful allies to prevent an apocalypse. The battle system includes quick-time events and real-time shooting, which can lead to frustration due to its demand for precision. Character diversity is a highlight, with each member of Expedition 33 offering unique abilities, but the game often lacks meaningful feedback on strategies. Exploration is streamlined, allowing players to avoid excessive grinding, with a total playtime of around 20 hours. Inventory management is simplified, focusing on combat and storytelling. The game features strong voice acting and vibrant visuals, though its combat mechanics can overshadow the narrative.

AppWizard

April 16, 2025

Best Single-Player PC Games to Play in 2025

Single-player PC games are thriving in 2025, featuring captivating narratives, intricate gameplay, and stunning visuals. Notable titles include: 1. Blue Prince - An indie roguelike puzzle game with a Metacritic score of 93, set in a shifting manor where players solve interconnected puzzles. 2. Assassin’s Creed Shadows - Set in feudal Japan, this game features two protagonists with distinct playstyles and has been praised for its narrative pacing and environmental design. 3. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - A cinematic first-person adventure focusing on exploration and puzzle-solving, released on PC in late 2024. 4. South of Midnight - A magical adventure following a girl with weaving abilities, notable for its claymation art style and emotional depth. 5. Avowed - A first-person fantasy RPG with choice-driven storytelling, set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity. Upcoming games include: - Blades of Fire (May 22, 2025) - A Soulslike combat game with a focus on cinematic storytelling. - Cairn (TBA 2025) - A survival climbing simulator emphasizing precision control mechanics. - Hell Is Us (September 4, 2025) - A narrative-driven action game that eschews traditional open-world design. - Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream (Late 2025) - A stealth-adventure game featuring orphans uncovering a conspiracy. The PC platform remains the best for single-player games due to mod support, performance flexibility, a vast library, and indie innovation. The evolution of gaming technology has led to cutting-edge graphics, immersive storytelling, and innovative exploration mechanics, enhancing player engagement.

AppWizard

March 12, 2025

The PC games with the best graphics

The latest PS5 and Xbox Series X titles are visually impressive, and the Nintendo Switch has visually stunning games despite its hardware limitations. High-end PCs offer superior graphical capability, allowing for higher frame rates and visual fidelity compared to consoles. Many acclaimed PC games are also available on consoles, but playing on a custom rig enhances the experience. Frame rates are important for gaming, and certain titles can be pushed to their graphical limits. The PC gaming landscape includes a variety of genres that showcase modern hardware capabilities. As technology evolves, newer games continue to surpass older ones, making it important for enthusiasts to watch for upcoming releases that may redefine the gaming experience.

AppWizard

March 10, 2025

At least it’s not NFTs this time: The new Wizardry RPG is a gacha game

The original Wizardry, released in 1981, was a pioneering title in party-based computer role-playing games (CRPGs) and inspired an anime adaptation. The franchise has seen a revival, including a faithful remake and unconventional offerings like a blockchain-based game and a gacha game. Wizardry Variants Daphne, available on mobile and Steam, features first-person dungeon-crawling and grid-based movement. Players can collect treasures, including bones of fallen adventurers, which can be revived with a randomized selection system. The game includes a complex economy with various currencies and season passes, and players can engage without spending, although there is an energy mechanic called Fortitude. Reviving characters with low Fortitude carries risks, but is less punishing than in the original game. The original anime adaptation reflects the game's themes and elements, and Wizardry has significantly influenced both CRPGs and JRPGs, inspiring contemporary titles.

AppWizard

March 4, 2025

This Yu-Gi-Oh! retro collection transported me to a simpler time in TCGs, before Pot of Greed was banned and the Avengers were in Magic: The Gathering

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection is a collaboration between Konami and Digital Eclipse, featuring early digital titles from the franchise, including Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games. It includes notable titles like Eternal Duelist Soul and Dungeon Dice Monsters, which offer a nostalgic experience for fans. The collection provides features such as customizable borders, cheats, time rewinding, save states, and a digital gallery. Online play is currently limited to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelists, with plans for expansion to other titles. However, it lacks some key games from the franchise's peak, such as The Duelists of the Roses, and may not be ideal for newcomers due to outdated mechanics and lack of tutorialization.

AppWizard

February 22, 2025

A Skyrim dev broke the game before launch when they made thousands of tiny ants cast individual shadows: ‘Why is the game running so slow?’

Jeff Gardiner, a former producer at Bethesda, highlights the immersive experience in Bethesda's role-playing games, emphasizing the living world around players. After 15 years at Bethesda, he founded Something Wicked Games, the studio behind Wyrdsong. Gardiner recalls the creative freedom at Bethesda, which allowed developers to explore innovative ideas, enriching games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. However, this freedom sometimes led to challenges, such as performance issues caused by the addition of butterflies in Skyrim that followed flowers in the player's inventory and ants that inadvertently cast shadows, straining processing power. Gardiner appreciates these challenges as part of the creative journey, noting that Zenimax allowed Bethesda to set its own goals, fostering an environment of trust and autonomy essential for creativity.

AppWizard

February 20, 2025

The best uniques in Avowed that you can grab early in the game

Avowed features unique weapons and armor that enhance gameplay and simplify gear upgrading. Unique items have distinctive names and special effects, providing bonus skills or elemental enhancements. They can scale in quality based on the player's gear tier, making early-game unique items valuable investments. Notable unique items include: - Beothel's Grimoire: Found at a magical merchant in Paradis, it offers a loop of spells for 450 currency. - Drawn in Winter: A one-handed axe found in ice at Watcher’s Mirror, it deals area-of-effect ice damage. - Stelgaer’s Pride: A medium armor set obtained from the Intimidating Feline Codpiece treasure map, providing stamina regeneration and damage reduction. - Steel Garrote Gauntlets: Located in Ondra’s Reach, these gauntlets enhance parry efficiency for shield users. - Last Light of Day: A flaming sword obtained during the Dawntreader quest, offering fire damage and a heal-on-kill effect. - Caeroc's Pride: A lightning pistol from Tempestuous Luandi's bounty, known for its bonus lightning damage. - The Disappointer: A weapon from a shady merchant in Paradis Hightown, which can be enhanced to turn its negative attributes into advantages.

AppWizard

February 19, 2025

Experience the magic of Avowed day one with PC Game Pass

Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed is a first-person fantasy adventure game set in the Living Lands, where players act as an envoy investigating a plague. The game features a flexible combat system that allows various playstyles, including spells, shields, bows, and firearms. Players can form relationships with diverse companions whose narratives evolve based on player choices. Avowed is available on PC Game Pass from launch day, allowing subscribers to access it without additional fees. The monthly subscription fee is .95 AUD, and members can purchase Premium Skin Packs for .95, which include companion skins, a digital artbook, and the original soundtrack.

AppWizard

February 14, 2025

Avowed fooled us all into thinking you have to commit to playing in first or third person, but you can actually swap on the fly like in Fallout or The Elder Scrolls

Avowed, developed by Obsidian Entertainment, allows players to toggle between first-person and third-person camera perspectives. The camera toggle is accessible through the menu and is mapped to the "U" key by default, though players can reassign it for convenience. The third-person view has been described as floaty and disconnected, reminiscent of earlier RPGs, while the first-person mode offers a more immersive experience. The option to switch perspectives is appreciated, especially for players who enjoy exploring the game world and showcasing their character customization.

AppWizard

February 13, 2025

‘Avowed’ Review (PC): An Excellent ‘Elder Scrolls’ Intermission

Avowed is a role-playing game set in the Pillars of Eternity universe, allowing players to engage without prior lore knowledge. Players assume the role of a "Godlike" character on a quest in the "Living Lands" to confront the Dreamscourge, a blight affecting the landscape and its creatures. The game features a small party of companions with unique abilities, including a fish man, a rabbit girl, and a human healer. Avowed consists of interconnected zones with distinct environments, encouraging exploration and discovery. The main story and side quests take approximately 30 hours to complete, offering a fulfilling experience without the lengthy commitment typical of other RPGs. Combat is engaging, with various build options available, and meaningful choices impact the narrative, enhancing player agency. The game simplifies some RPG mechanics, which can be both a strength and a weakness. The writing quality compensates for less complex character interactions. The game received a score of 9/10.