Rogue-like or Rogue-Lite

Empty Shell is a stylish rogue-lite horror game. Randomly generated maps that change each time you start a run are used in Empty Shell. Empty Shell is developed by CC Arts and it seems to be one of their first projects. Published by a Polish company, Hyperstrange, the game released on Nintendo Switch on 12th March 2024. The version reviewed here is the Switch version.

A rogue-lite is similar to a rogue-like, a rogue-like being a game where you explore, fight, and die. The player then repeats the run and no weapons, or key items that the player may have collected are saved for future runs. In other words, in rogue-like games, the player is often fighting enemies in dungeons, exploring, finding new paths to make progress, but then, when the player dies, they have to return to the start of the game with nothing that they’ve collected being saved. In a rogue-lite, you keep any key items that you found on previous runs.

In Empty Shell I noticed that some of the electronic devices that you find (that help to describe the game world) are kept on your next run. So, over time, you build up a library of lore documents. Each time you play the game, a character is given to the player and there is detailed biography information of the character that you are playing as. For example, I could be a 22-year-old named John Smith. The background to the game is that there is a group of people being held against their will and one at a time, they are sent into a facility in order to complete certain objectives. For the group, they hold fear of the facility as no one who goes there ever returns.

Horror

There is a clear Squid Game influence in the way that the characters are being held against their will, and sent to complete dangerous tasks. This is similar to the Netflix show, Squid Game. The game is definitely a horror title. There is little or no music as you explore the facility, but there are sound effects and generally an eerie sound design. I feel that the sound design isn’t perfect as the absence of a thematic soundtrack means that Empty Shell isn’t exactly a game that you can sit and chill to. However, it is appealing in other ways. The survivalist elements of being left in a facility swarming with monsters with only a shotgun, some shells, and a shovel does give you an adrenalin rush, and the gameplay is addictive and suitable for a playthrough every so often.

The combat with your melee weapon (which could be a shovel, or iron bar) is satisfying. You can almost feel the edge of the shovel crushing an enemy giant spider’s thorax. However, because the graphics are in black and white, and you see the action from a top down perspective, you can often hardly see what kind of creature you are fighting. There are spiders, zombies and other creepy monstrosities crawling towards the player at most times. It is wise to save ammunition for when you really need it and use the melee weapons on most enemies.

Gameplay

The game controls like a twin stick shooter. You hold the R button to engage you’re rifle or shotgun and then use the second analog stick to aim. It actually controls similarly to Diablo and other Diablo-like action RPGs. A game that I would say Empty Shell is very similar to, is Undead Storm and Undead Storm: Nightmare on DS and 3DS respectively. However, Empty Shell is many times more polished, has serious lore woven around it, and generally doesn’t feel like a budget game (unlike Undead Storm). Ironically, Empty Shell probably will fill the same gameplay niche as Undead Storm for most people who play it.

However, the genre of rogue-likes is prone to eliciting frustration in its players and Empty Shell is no exception. There is little feeling of progression when the player dies repeatedly and is sent back to the start of the game multiple times. Rogue-Likes aren’t my favourite genre of videogame so I’m sure that if you do like rogue-likes, you’ll enjoy Empty Shell because even though it’s not within my favourite genre, I enjoy playing it in bursts.

Conclusion

Overall, Empty Shell is an enjoyable Rogue-lite with a unique look and great horror elements. Reminiscent of past horror games, and with satisfying combat, Empty Shell is great to play in short bursts. While the gameplay loop may put some people off, if you are a horror fan, you could do a lot worse than Empty Shell. Furthermore, there is a wealth of lore hidden around the facility, and if you let the story ensnare you, you could get addicted to the experience of running through the facility narrowly escaping death at every turn.

A soothing story driven fetch quest.

Skaramazuzu is a rather interesting project. The premise is rather basic , you wake up with no recollection of who or where you are. The art style even though quite simple is very clear, from the character you can interact with to all the objects in the over all world that can be used or picked up. Following in the footsteps of its art direction , the gameplay is also very simple. The games mechanics only require you to walk and talk to various character who are in possession of some item that you will need, and since they never have the need for said item themselves you are free to grab it off them. For a price. The entire game is you finding out more about the situation you found yourself in by chatting away to certain creatures in this ‘limbo’, and then fetching something for them so that they may give you an item that you were tasked to fetch for someone else.

Other than these characters and creatures you will also find yourself interacting with items, keyholes and rotating mechanisms in order to find 4 orbs spread around the games world in order to finally learn exactly what and who you are.

I will not mention anything about the story as the game is rather short, I have completed it within 3 hours or so. it is definitely a nice experience if this is the sort of game you are into. To me the walking back and forth and talking with the same no voice acted characters to see if there’s something I missed was tedious, but definitely rewarding when my brain finally clicked and I solved the puzzle / riddle. The game is sitting at $10.59 which in my opinion isn’t worth it for a 3 hour experience with no replay-ability factor but that may be due to me not being a fan of such games. With that in mind I still commend the game for what it is. A story focused puzzle experience, and this it does pretty well.

One of the most lovely things about video games is that even if you are not a gamer, you can always find a game that attracts you, because there are many games based on movies, series, books and sports, and easily attract the fans of these industries to the video games, so that they buy the new version every year and even buy new consoles to play the newer and more optimized versions, over time, they become interested in other games and the number of gamers increases.

The first game of the MLB: The Show franchise, which was developed by San Diego studio, was released in 2006, and since then a new version has been released every year, MLB: The Show quickly became very popular and is currently the most famous baseball simulator, and it is welcomed by baseball fans every year.
After 15 years of MLB being exclusive to PlayStation, in 2021, with the release of MLB: The Show 21, the first game of this franchise was released for other consoles, and after that, newer versions were not exclusive and were also released for other consoles.

MLB: The Show 24 is my first experience of this franchise, and this review is more useful for those who want to play a game of this franchise for the first time, and there is not going to be much comparison with previous versions in this review.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay gives you a lot of freedom in choosing how to play, for each of the positions you play in, there are 3 or more interfaces that you can choose at the very beginning of the game, for hitting there are three selectable interfaces: zone, directional and timing, three for baserunning: analog select, button select and auto baserunning, five for pitching: pinpoint, meter, pure analog, pulse and classic, four for fielding: drifting ball, track ball, catch indicator off and auto fielding, four for throwing: button accuracy, buttons, analog and auto throwing, you can try any interface you want before choosing and choose the one that suits you best and the gameplay is completely customizable to your taste.

The gameplay is fun and smooth and at the same time simple, if you are familiar with baseball and its rules, you will master the gameplay in less than half an hour and start your enjoyable experience, if you do not know much about baseball, Don’t worry, it may take about two hours to get used to the game and it becomes enjoyable.

There are five game modes in the game that create variety in the game, road to the show: in this game mode you create your character, customize its skills and choose its position, after playing and getting stronger You will go to higher ranks and become more successful and get to better teams, making a character and making it successful in the game is very enjoyable and can be very attractive for baseball fans.

March to October: In this game mode, all 30 teams in the major league are placed in four different categories, and after choosing your team, you start the game and experience an MLB season that includes 162 games, but you have to You don’t have to play all 162.

Franchise mode: you are in control of the whole team, management, financials and etc.

storylines: after entering the storylines section, you have two choices, the negro leagues and Derek Jeter, by choosing the negro leagues, you have eight players whose stories you can experience: José Méndez, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Larry Doby, Leon Day, Henry Aaron, Toni Stone and Rube Foster, eight separate stories that are so exciting for baseball fans to see the legendary players of the game.

Diamond dynasty: you build your team and you can play in single player and multiplayer modes, single player modes have four different modes: mini seasons, conquest, showdown and play vs cpu, and multiplayer modes have five modes: ranked, battle royale, events, play vs friends and casual, by playing in diamond dynasty you can get packs that contain players, uniforms and team equipment and you can strengthen your team. Players and other items that you get by opening the pack can be sold and by selling them you get stubs, by selling quickly you get the amount determined by the game itself, but you can sell the item yourself at your wnted price in the marketplace. These stubs are used to buy stronger players or more packs and items in the marketplace.

The gameplay is smooth and it is a complete baseball simulator, and with the variety of game modes, it prevents the gameplay from becoming repetitive.

VISUALS

Visually, it is not bad at all, but for a game that releases a new version every year, and its maps are not very different from each other, the quality of the sand and grass textures is not acceptable, and the facials of the players could be better.

Performance and resolution are stable and have no problems.

REMOTE PLAY

After experiencing the first two hours, I felt that this game can be very enjoyable on the PS remote play and I was completely right, you don’t need to press different buttons at the same time, so it can easily be played with touch controls. When you are lying down, you can easily enjoy the game with your phone.

MLB The Show Companion App

With the MLB the show companion app, you have access to the market and packs shop and you can make your purchases with your phone, the face scan feature helps you put your face on the character you create in the road to the show game mode. You can see your team’s performance or get news about the game.

CONCLUSION

MLB The Show 24 is a great baseball simulator that has a very enjoyable gameplay that does not have annoying bugs and can entertain you for a long time with its various game modes.

Visually it’s just fine but it could have been better.