There’s only one bit of housekeeping to share before I start on what I played throughout April: where is the Vultures review I promised in last month’s review?

In short: the game’s release date was pushed back to May 13th. Assuming there aren’t any more delays, you can look forward to a review for Vultures in a few week’s time.

That’s it. On with the games.

Mewgenics

Starting off this month, is the persistent time vampire that is Mewgenics.

I’ll be real with y’all: I don’t have much more to say on the game at this time. I unlocked Act 2 so quickly that the game has been playing catch-up with me insofar as story-centric unlocks are concerned. As such, I’ve mostly been spinning my wheels while completing quests, and seeing what other stupid bullshit I can throw together from run-to-run.

Honestly, the article I wrote earlier in the month, My Ever Evolving Relationship with Roguelikes, already summarizes how I feel about the game fairly well. Give it a look if you’re curious. If nothing else, it’ll save me from having to repeat myself here.

Guilty Gear Strive

If you’re even a little familiar with Fighting game news then you knew this was coming.

For months, Arc Sys has been teasing a massive update to bring in Guilty Gear Strive’s fifth year, which they’ve dubbed Strive 2.0. The promise was that problematic systems (ex. Wild Assault) would be removed, system mechanics would be overhauled, and several characters would receive massive reworks. It was a fairly lofty promise, and, personally, I was fairly skeptical of their ability to meaningfully deliver on what was promised.

At the time of writing, the patch has been live for 3 weeks, and my skepticism was proven to be completely unfounded. Everything that Arc Sys said they were going to do, was meaningfully delivered on. Damage output has been lowered across the board, most of the really degenerate techniques (ex. throw whiff into PRC) have been removed, and there is less disparity between the strongest and weakest characters in the game. It’s still Strive, but the game isn’t nearly as cheesy, nor as explosive as it was prior to the update going live.

It isn’t just me who feels this way either. Wider community sentiment about the patch i also fairly positive.

For example: former Smash player Leffen, who regularly competes in Strive tournaments, complains incessantly on social media about every single patch, and has done so for the entire duration of Strive’s lifetime. This update is the first, and only time I haven’t seen him complain about a patch. In fact, he said it was good.

It isn’t just Leffen who thinks the update is good either. Several other pro players have praised the developers for being bold enough to nerf so much of the existing game. Many modern Fighters try to avoid nerfs at all costs, so it was really refreshing to see Arc Sys hit the reset button after 2 years of constant buffs that weren’t actually changing Strive in any meaningful capacity.

Anyway, I’ve lost dozens of hours to Strive over the past few weeks as a direct result of the new update. I was already having fun playing the game before when it was super degenerate, but the new changes have felt like a massive buff to both Dizzy, and to my general approach while playing. I can say that with some degree of confidence because I shot straight through Diamond 2, and hit Diamond 3 following the patch. Turns out I can cook when I don’t have to worry about dying in 2 flubbed interactions.

Here’s a brief highlight reel from the final 1000 RP that I needed to get into Diamond 3, if you’re curious:

Review Round-up

Murder at the Birch Tree Theater

As is usually the case with this section, you can read the review for my full thoughts on Birch Tree. The short version is that it’s a little derivative of the Golden Idol games, but the original score, setting, and the drama that unfolds across the game’s story more than make up for that. I enjoyed the game much in the same way as I would a good mystery novel even if the puzzles weren’t as puzzling as I would’ve liked.

Regardless, I gave the game a thumb’s up, and I think if you’re into Detective games, or are a former theatre kid then you’ll get a lot out of Birch Tree.

Indie Spotlight

Alabaster Dawn (Early Access)

First up for the May Indie Spotlight is Alabaster Dawn, the next Action RPG from CrossCode developer Radical Fish. This is one that I already covered in a Demo Dive, but the gist is that you’re playing a game with Diablo-style combat, but the story-telling chops of classic 90s RPGs. The demo mostly showcased Alabaster’s combat which feels like a, pardon the pin, radical step up in terms of depth with weapon swapping serving as the backbone to the whole thing.

Personally, I’m not sure if I’ll buy into the Early Access. With more story-focused stuff I tend to prefer playing the full game from end-to-end, but I suppose we’ll see how I feel once I empty out my backlog. Lord knows I played Hades 2 well ahead of its release, and that didn’t end up changing how I ultimately felt about it.

Crashout Crew

The other game I wanted to call out for May is Crashout Crew, which is the latest…friendslop (really?) game from Aggro Crab.

If you weren’t aware, Aggro Crab co-developed PEAK alongside Landfall, and it seems they’ve decided to branch off into making a different goofy co-op title while Landfall continues to support PEAK. 

For what it’s worth, I rather enjoyed playing Crashout Crew with Mir during a previous Next Fest. It gave me a lot of the same vibes as when we played both Overcooked games together. Lots of organized chaos. As such, I’m fairly certain we’ll have a good time with it, though we’ve got a few other co-op titles we need to make time for first.

With that, I think that’s where we’ll call it for April.

As always, thank you for reading, and stay safe out there!

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