GameOn Magazine - Issue 169 - November 2023

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Welcome to issue 169 of The GameOn Magazine! Nice. We’ve been working hard to bring you the best gaming coverage around, as usual, and with a whopping 20 reviews jammed into these pages I think it shows.

Our articles this month take a look at the shuttering of Volition, wondering what happened to Atlas Fallen, how one game can ruin another, and a bunch of other things. Also, a piece celebrating 25 years of N64 Zelda, and another looking at an overlooked Spider-Man game!

As for previews, we looked at three Early Access titles, as there are a load of them and even more every single month. We also checked out Tevi which is out in a few weeks, and made space for House Flipper 2 which hits the digital shelves in December!

Finally, our reviews this month are heavy on the AAA, but like I said there are 20 of them in total so we’ve got smaller things too! Violet sold the Fae Farm, Artura told some Lies of P, and Mike spent the Eternights at school. Then Jacob shouted Mortal Kombat 1, making Alana shoot her Gunbrella, and Ariel mutter Ad Infinitum. Okay, that last one was a bit thin I’ll admit…

There’s plenty more, of course, so just get to reading and GameOn until next issue!

I Can't Believe Volition Is Gone

Back in 1999, I played a game called Freespace 2. It was a game about spaceships fighting other spaceships, with massive capital ships lighting up space with great big space laser beams. Honestly, I just wanted to play a spaceship game that wasn’t the demo of STAR WARS - X-Wing that I occasionally messed about in. It was developed by Volition, but I was 16 so I didn’t really take note of that name. All I knew was that I adored Freespace 2, even without playing Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War first.

3 mins

Revisiting Ocarina of Time 25 Years After Its Release

I have a bad habit of coming back to the same things for years. It's evident as I just watch the same five shows and continue to come back to the same old games; this is why it wasn't shocking to me when my wife suggested we revisit one of my childhood favourites —The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

3 mins

Hidden Gem Insaniquarium Deluxe

Insaniquarium Deluxe is an aquarium simulator… I think? It’s an incredibly odd title, and it’s very difficult to fit into any single genre, yet it is still somehow one of the games which defined my childhood. I would assume many people born within the early 2000s have played this, but aside from my generation, I haven't heard much talk about this gem.

2 mins

Where Did Atlas Fallen's Narrative Go Wrong?

Atlas Fallen was recently released, and anyone who has read my review will know that I was not thrilled by one specific part of the game: its narrative. While I genuinely enjoyed the gameplay, world, and co-op elements, the story, characters, and overall writing felt so wrong and off that I just couldn't like it; as a person who really loves lore, this is a pretty big deal for me.

6 mins

Game Over: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

So, I’m a big Spider-Man fan, and once I started earning money, I began hunting down every Spider-Man game I missed out on when I was a kid; the first one I was eager to find was Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. Developed by the now-defunct Shaba Games, it was released on the 21st of October 2008 to mixed reception, but I wanted to see it for myself. And to summarise my thoughts after playing through both the Red Suit and Black Suit campaigns: I consider it to be the best Spider-Man game in combat and traversal, but not great at everything else.

3 mins

From the Top - God of War Part 4

In this mini-series, I have been going through my own little labours by playing through the mainline God of War games (with the addition of God of War Ascension) that precede the 2018 soft reboot of the same name. My goal, simply enough, is to figure out who the main character, Kratos, is and how he goes from a man angry enough to squeeze diamonds out of coal with his frown alone to the slightly-less-angry but responsible father figure we see now. If this is your first time joining me on my journey, I recommend starting from the top to get the full experience! But without further ado, let us dive into the final leg of this Sisyphean quest and explore the final title, God of War III.

10+ mins

How the Unity Scandal Could Affect Your Favourite Upcoming Games

Recently, Unity — a very famous videogame engine that has been used to create many masterpieces — underwent a massive scandal over its new upcoming pricing practices. In a post announcing an increase in price and a runtime fee, what might have seemed harmless for some and those unaware of the situation became a scandal for many developers and a potential threat for some of the most anticipated upcoming games.

3 mins

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Diaries Part Four

This is my exploration of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let's Play. This time I continue Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

5 mins

How Disney Dreamlight Valley Ruined Animal Crossing For Me

Spoiler warning: My article contains images of Disney Dreamlight Valley that show the end of the game. Please read with caution!

3 mins

The Itch.io Chronicles Haunted PS1: Part 2

Welcome back to The Itch.io Chronicles, where today we'll be taking another dive into the first entry of the Haunted PS1 Demo Disk. I'll cover another four titles in this piece: Filthbreed, In Somnio, Dread Delusion, and Erasure.

3 mins

10 Lies of P Tips & Tricks to Get You Through Krat

Despite its humble origin story of a puppet who seeks to become a true boy,Lies Of P is anything but humble... or nice. Truthfully speaking, as a soulslike experience, it had me screeching and crying at various points where I wished Pinocchio would just turn into a wooden puppet and die... permanently. Though despite the flack I give the title for its oft-tedious boss design, I loved my time with it, and to help you feel less frustrated and irritated by it, here are 10 tips & tricks to get you started in your journey to save Krat from the Puppet Frenzy!

6 mins

So I Tried... Persona 5 Royal

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never tried before. Will I find something new to love? Will I make my “did not finish” list one entry longer? I’ll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time I went for a spooky visual novel that is said to be one of the best narrative games you can play: Persona 5 Royal.

2 mins

Moonlight Peaks

It's no secret that I am absolutely obsessed with spooky themes (what with my name being Spooky_0ne everywhere I sign up!), so when I found out there was a life sim game coming out with vampires, witches, potions, nightshades, etc.... Well, I kind of lost my mind from excitement! Thankfully, the team over at Little Chicken gave me the fantastic opportunity to interview them.

7 mins

Farmer's Father: Save The Innocence

I had the opportunity to preview the survival videogame Farmer's Father: Save the Innocence. Prequel to the farming simulator Farmer's Life, you play as the former protagonist’s father as he, his wife, and baby child try to survive 1945 East Europe. The game begins with the Axis forces marching on your front door, forcing the three of you to flee your burning home to the safety of a nearby bunker. Once safely inside, you sleep the night off, now alone during the middle of winter. In the bunker you’ll find: a rifle with 10 rounds of ammunition, a bunk bed, a single lamp resting on a table, a working fireplace/oven, and a chest where you put all of the provisions and items.

3 mins

Tevi

TEVI is a bullet-hell metroidvania, developed by Crespirit and was an utter joy to play. Full of fascinating systems, fluid combat, and some fantastic world-building, TEVI is a very interesting title.

2 mins

Fae Farm

Fae Farm is a new cosy farming simulator title by Phoenix Labs set in the enchanted lands of Azoria — a world full of magical issues that begs for your help!

8 mins

The Crew Motorfest

The Crew is a series I’m very familiar with; since its inception back in 2014 I’ve spent countless hours driving across the scaled down versions of mainland America. For the third entry into Ubisoft’s open-world racer series, The Crew Motorfest takes players to Hawaii, focusing instead on a much denser, detailed environment rather than the scaled down ‘Murica. Whilst not as drastic a tonal shift as The Crew 2 was from its predecessor, can Motorfest provide an enjoyable cruise through one of the world's most beautiful locations?

4 mins

Baldur's Gate 3

Through a litany of modern games mired by microtransactions and shifty live-service releases emerges a shining beacon of light: Baldur's Gate 3. Your buddies at work are talking about it; your favourite Discord servers are awash with videos about it; heck, even Grandma and her bridge club are wittering away about it (probably). The game has quickly become a cultural phenomenon and with my playtime knocking the three-digit mark, I finally feel ready to evaluate my adventure through Faerûn — so let’s dive in.

9 mins

Astrea: Six Sided Oracles

Astrea: Six Sided Oracles is a deck-building roguelike with noticeable inspiration from Slay The Spire. Despite this inspiration, however, it manages to hold its own incredibly well, even going so far as potentially being one of my favourite deck-builders of all time.

4 mins

Gunbrella

Sometimes, a game title tells you everything you need to know about that game in just a word; Gunbrella is an amazing example of this. If you’ve ever had thoughts of becoming a lethal Mary Poppins, this is the game for you. The developers at Doinksoft have you playing as a quiet woodsman, decked out in a brown bowler hat and a long white scarf whose life has taken a tragic turn. At the beginning of the game, we see him out gathering mushrooms. In the distance, we see a wooden cabin covered in flames, this is our woodsman’s home. He runs there as fast as he can, and runs into the burning building. Alas, it’s too late to save his wife. She has been killed.

4 mins

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GameOn Magazine Description:

GameOn Magazine is a monthly video game magazine that focuses on everything gaming, from Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Reviews of games out, previews of games not out yet, interviews with development teams and gaming article, each month is packed with over 30 different features.

GameOn Magazine is published by GameOn Networking Ltd. and is available in the UK, the US, in mainland Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many other countries.

GameOn Magazine features articles on a variety of topics, such as:

* Reviews: Reviews of the latest video games, from AAA blockbusters to indie gems.
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* Interviews: Interviews with developers, designers, and other industry insiders.
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* Columns: Columns by leading gaming journalists and personalities.
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