Month: February 2025

This is how the world will look after the war. The buildings still stand, but they are in a state of ruin. Walls, ceilings, and floors have crumbled away, and the healthy foliage that covers every surface gives the appearance of a thriving ecosystem, though no humans are around to enjoy this taste of nature. Pools of water mixed with toxic chemicals provide a deadly oasis that can be admired by sight but not touch. Mechs travel in small groups, attacking anything that moves, and the turrets that perch on higher ground shred anyone unfortunate enough to wander into their path. In this bleak tableau, two escaped slaves named Monkey and Trip must travel through this decrepit wasteland to find a hidden village that offers the only glimmer of hope. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a memorable adventure that uses a strong sense of place and excellently crafted characters to lure you into its postapocalyptic world. You have to put up with rigid platforming, slow-starting combat, and a camera that zooms in too close to the action, but these problems are just small pieces of a big picture. What Enslaved lacks in refinement, it more than makes up for in beauty, heart, and thrills.

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First comes War; then comes Death. Appropriately enough, Darksiders II turns its eyes from its predecessor’s protagonist to a new one: Death himself, War’s brother and one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. His story plays out over the same time period as War’s, but Darksiders II’s narrative isn’t so much about plot as it is about place and tone. The original Darksiders set a darkly fantastical mood, but the sequel hones its edges. The armor is still chunky and the sound of steel on steel still rings across battle arenas, but the skies are more ominous, the shadows grimmer, and the architecture sharper, as if every spire threatens to puncture the heavens and make them bleed.