Gaming Round-Up: What Horrors Await

Posted on June 12, 2026 by Tyler F.M. Edwards

Time for another rundown of what I’ve played over the last few weeks. By purest happenstance, a lot (though not all) of this has been games that are at least horror adjacent.

Path of Exile:

I did finally get around to finishing the story in Path of Exile. My final judgment is that playing PoE on ruthless mode felt about equal in difficulty to my first playthrough of Diablo III on normal difficulty. I only really struggled on the final bosses of acts five and ten, mirroring D3, where I only struggled with Belial and Diablo. I’ll also note again the act five boss was mostly so hard because it was bugged out when I did it. The statues I was supposed to hide behind never spawned.

I only briefly sampled PoE’s endgame offerings, doing one “map.” It was a complete faceroll until I got to the final boss, at which point I was one-shot halfway through the fight by I have no idea what. The whole thing felt like the perfect microcosm of the PoE experience, and I decided I’d had more than enough at that point.

Some will say I haven’t really experienced PoE without getting into its endgame properly, but if you think you can’t form a fair opinion of a game after finishing a fifty hour story campaign, I think you’re a silly person.

Scars Above:

This is a horrorish sci-fi shooter I picked up for 90% off on Steam. Scars Above is pretty much your standard 7/10 AA jankfest, and I do mean that as a compliment.

Pretty much every part of the game is rough to some degree or another, but overall I had a lot of fun with it. I quite enjoyed the main character, Kate, who felt like a great example of competence porn. She shows enough vulnerability to feel human while also meeting every challenge with courage and wit.

There’s an interesting combo system around elemental status effects that can be triggered by both your weapons and the environment. It’s simple, but satisfying, and it helps strengthen the fantasy of Kate as a character who fights smarter, not harder.

The game’s greatest flaw is probably its difficulty. I’d read in the Steam reviews it was a very hard game, so I played on easy, but even so I almost gave up in the first hour because it was such a slog. However, once I leveled up a few times and unlocked some perks, it became a pretty effortless journey.

I was also a bit disappointed the final boss is just a buffed up version of a standard mob you’ve been fighting throughout the game, but otherwise, Scars Above was a good time. Given its apparent lack of recognition, I doubt a sequel is forthcoming, but I’d probably buy one if it does get made.

The Chant:

Another low to mid budget horror title I got for 90% off, but a less impressive one. I found the character movement, animations, and combat all felt painfully sluggish. Maybe authentic to the classic Resident Evil style experience they were going for, but certainly not for me, and the story was also less compelling than I’d hoped, so I bounced off after about an hour.

Amsterdam 1666 and other Summer Game Fest news:

One of the previews that most impressed me during the Summer Game Fest show was Amsterdam 1666. When they said it already had a demo live, I downloaded it immediately.

Unfortunately the demo ratcheted down my hype for the game considerably. The camera and character movement felt extremely awkward. That might be fixed before launch, but even more concerningly, the story didn’t seem that good. I kind of checked out when the father’s letter to his daughter started waxing poetic about his weird freaky BDSM sexscapades. Awkward…

It’s also concerning how little actual gameplay was in the demo. From the trailers, there will be combat in the main game, but the demo had none, which feels like a bit of a red flag.

Aside from that, there were a few other trailers at SGF that caught my eye, but nothing that immediately blew me away, more just things that might be worth keeping an eye on. Crossfire, Last Harbor, Haex…

I thought that the trailer for the Stellar Blade sequel looked really cool until I realized it was a Stellar Blade sequel, and now I just feel deeply conflicted and slightly gross.

Aion 2 setting a Western release date was probably the biggest news for me. Given my long history of bouncing off Korean games, my expectations are fairly managed, but it’s still probably the game I’m most anticipating, at least in the near future.

While not part of the main SGF show, around this time we also got news of the next expansion for Age of Empires IV, Raiders of the North. I’m disappointed by campaigns being neglected once again, but the expanded Crucible mode at least means there’s something for single-player, and I do think both the new civilizations look fun. It’s frustrating they’re calling them “Vikings” instead of something more accurate, but otherwise what we’ve seen so far seems like a fairly accurate and historical depiction.

Overall I’m looking forward to the DLC. I’m definitely rioting if the next civilizations aren’t from Africa or America, though. Those are way overdue for more representation.

Tides of Tomorrow:

I’ve already covered this on Massively, so I’m just adding it for completionism’s sake. I mostly enjoyed Tides of Tomorrow, and I would recommend it, but it wasn’t as special as Road 96, and I did have an issue with the ending (spoiler-filled elaboration on reddit for those interested).

New World:

I dipped back into New World a little bit. I made yet another alt, as I wanted to replay Monarch’s Bluffs (thankfully the game cooperated and landed me there). Since I feel like my time in New World has contributed to my success with Brigitte in Overwatch, I decided to make a character modeled after her. Made her look as similar as I could and gave her a flail/lifestaff build.

Funny thing: New World’s character limit for names isn’t big enough to fit “Brigitte Lindholm.” It cut me off at “Brigitte Lindho.”

WELCOME
LINDHO

I ended up going with “Brigitte Lind.”

Had a lot of fun revisiting Monarch’s Bluffs, but wasn’t sure what to do after that. I do want to play more New World while I still can, but I’ve always struggled to motivate myself in games without clear goals to chase. I’ve already done all the stories in the game, often at least twice, and I don’t really need better gear on my high level characters, especially with the shut down looming.

The Secret World:

My returns to TSW are becoming ever shorter and less frequent, but I did pop in for a couple hours recently. The Dragon alt I have been very slowly leveling since the maintenance mode announcement is closing in on the end of Transylvania. She’s already super OP from all my GM perks, so I’ve started skipping most missions outside the main story.

I did have to do Last Dance of the Padurii. Wasting a gear manager slot on a hinder build you literally only use for one mission is an essential part of the TSW experience.

When the maintenance mode news first came down, I thought the servers would be shuttered before too long, and for whatever reason one of the things that made me saddest was the thought this character would never see Tokyo. I’m now within striking distance of achieving that goal at long last, which feels kind of surreal. There’s still a decent chunk of Transylvania left, but maybe one day soon.

World of Warcraft:

I wasn’t planning to be back in WoW until the next major content patch, but I really wanted the May and June Trading Post stuff, so I ended up burning a WoW Token. I’m not treating it as my main game, though. As this post attests, I’m still playing lots of other things.

There just isn’t much for me to do in WoW right now. I’ve done all current content, and I don’t like most of the tier sets this time around, so there’s not much transmog to chase. I am still enjoying my characters at least. Rogue, monk, and paladin all feel great right now.

Once again I lament WoW’s forced subscription. I honestly quite like having it as a background game I can just pop into now and then, but with the sub it’s just not financially justifiable long term.

Overwatch:

I continue my love/hate relationship with Overwatch. My problem is I really do love the setting and the character design (in all respects — lore, visuals, gameplay), but I’m just not much for competitive games. I don’t really mind losing as long as I don’t feel like I’m the main cause of the loss… but I very often am.

It’s especially frustrating that most of my favourite characters are the ones I’m bad at. After a strong start, Ramattra seems to have turned out to be another character I’m no good with, with my win rate on him having fallen below 50%.

The weird thing is unlike other characters I’ve struggled with, I don’t feel like I’m doing badly when I play Ram. I get lots of kills, don’t die that much, am frequently the MVP by Stadium cash, and get PotG often. The other day I hit 80K cash by round five, which is by far the best I’ve ever done with any character and near double what most of my teammates had (we still lost). By every metric other than the win rate, I’m doing great with Ram, but I guess the win rate is all that matters.

Weirdly I have the opposite issue with Vendetta. I feel like I do nothing but flail and die when I play her, but I have a win rate well above 50% with her… though admittedly I haven’t played her enough to have a strong sample size of matches.

I may still try a few more matches with Ram to see if I can turn things around, but I’m not optimistic.

I’m still over 65% win rate with Brigitte after around 150 games, which seems absolutely insane to me. I never had anywhere near a win rate that high after so many games on any character in Heroes of the Storm. I usually settled around 52-55% for my mains.

As much as I like Brig, though, I don’t want to be stuck just playing her. I do have good win rates on a few others, but they’re usually characters I’m just not super passionate about. It’s fun playing Sigma now and then, but I’d much rather be D.Va or Ramattra if I’m going to tank. Doesn’t seem fair to my teammates, though, when I have win rates around 48% with those two but over 60% with Sigma.

Het universum zingt voor mij, I guess.

You’d think after a year I’d be getting better at this game, but no. It’s hard to get excited about new characters when it’s so unlikely I’ll be any good at them. Shion looks awesome, but gods know when she’ll make it to Stadium, and when she does I’ll probably just suck at her, too.

At least I’ve still got faithful Brigitte. If no one got me, I know mace to the face got me.

Gaming Round-Up: Lousy Smarch Weather

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Tyler F.M. Edwards

The weather sucks. Let’s talk about video games.

World of Warcraft:

Naturally, with Midnight launching, WoW has been my main game this month. You can find my initial reactions over at Massively. At the time I’m writing this, I haven’t finished Voidspire or the ensuing story yet, so my feelings may have changed by the time you’re reading this, but right now that weak story (so far) and slower leveling have sapped a lot of my enthusiasm for WoW.

Still, I press on, for now, and it’s not all bad news. The endgame reward structure is largely the same as it was in The War Within, which is very good, and I’m having a lot of fun playing my paladin, who seems to have become my main for this season.

Partly it’s how well being a Blood Elf paladin fits into the current story arc, part of it is how much I’ve always loved the paladin archetype in general and the lore of Blood Knights in particular, and part of it is Holy spec being in maybe the most fun state ever. I’ve got a simple but satisfying damage rotation and a healing tool for every need in a compact set of spells with minimal button bloat. I’m the battle cleric I always longed to be.

Aside from the pally, my demon hunter is my other currently capped character, but while I’m still playing her, the class isn’t as fun as it was last expansion. Havoc just feels a bit clunky now.

I do like Devourer, and I’m playing it a fair bit, but it still feels a bit too difficult to maintain Void Meta for how long it takes to build up, and Devourer is absolutely terrible in the open world. It’s so squishy and takes way too long to ramp up. I’m also not pleased to know they’re removing the option to make Soul Immolation passive in the next patch. Avoiding maintenance cooldowns like that was a huge part of Devourer’s appeal to me.

So my paladin is overtaking her as the preferred character. I actually leveled the DH up first, taking her through the campaign. I’m pressing ahead with my plan to do each alt through the side quests of a different zone, though the slower leveling means I’m having to add a lot of dungeons, delves, and other grinding on top. Right now my Legion Remix death knight is around 85 after clearing out Zul’Aman, and my plan is to take Mai through Voidstorm and my monk through Harandar.

That leaves the warlock as the odd one out. I don’t really have any strong complaints about the current state of warlock, but there’s just other things I’d rather play more. I’d still like to get her to cap at some point for tradition’s sake.

Overwatch:

My other regular game these days is still Overwatch, where I spent many weeks fighting for Winston and the team in the Conquest event.

While I still play Brigitte a lot, I feel Juno may be slowly overtaking her as my main. I find her neurosis relatable. I think I’m starting to get the Juno mains brainrot, too. Wandering around my apartment muttering about chicken fried rice like a madman…

Mei also seems to be overtaking Pharah as my preferred damage character. Pharah is very fun, but also very stressful, and punishing of the slightest mistake. Mei feels more chill, no pun intended.

I do have weird luck with her. I’ve had some big win streaks and absolutely dominant games — I got my first four endorsement match the other day after rolling the enemy team — but then I’ll go like 0-7 and completely tank my win rate.

I tried Vendetta when she arrived, and I’m still making attempts with her here and there. After much struggling, I settled on a “spin to win” build using her whirlwind as my bread and butter. I do have a positive win rate with her right now, but I’m always at the bottom of the scoreboard, and it feels like I just keep getting carried. She’s incredibly satisfying when things go well — the sound design on her attacks is immaculate — but I just don’t seem very good with her.

One other event of note. A couple weeks back I accidentally queued for regular quick play instead of Stadium quick play and didn’t realize until I got into the match. Since I love her character and can’t play her in Stadium, I picked Illari, and I fully expected to be rolled, but we actually won.

Since then I’ve occasionally been spinning up mainline Overwatch just to get my Illari fix, and I’ve been doing okay-ish. More wins than losses so far, couple PotGs. I think I’ve had enough practice in Stadium that the first person camera doesn’t feel as bad as it once did.

I still prefer third person, though, and I’m hesitant to invest too much time into the main game. Aside from the camera issue, I miss Stadium’s customization, and more than anything I do not want to muck around with hero swapping. I can’t be bothered to learn who counters who out of a roster of ~50 characters, and I just want to play the character I like.

I’ll probably play a bit more here and there, but mostly I’m going to keep hoping my favourite characters make it to Stadium sooner rather than later. In the meantime I consoled myself with coming up with a fan concept for Illari’s potential items and powers.

Eldegarde:

New World’s Catacombs left me with a hunger for more PvE extraction play, and Eldegarde was much praised by my fellow Massively writer Sam Kash, so I decided to pick it up.

Unfortunately, I didn’t end up liking it that much. The idea had potential, and the graphics were pretty, but despite supposedly being finished, it still felt like an early access title. Very limited content, no tutorial, lots of jank, no way to mute voice chat or report people…

And then they announced they were sunsetting it. Thankfully I was able to get a refund.

Diablo IV:

Speaking of paladins, I checked out Diablo IV’s free trial of the new class. For all of my griping about D4, I had been thinking the arrival of the paladin and Skovos might finally be enough to get me to pull the trigger on buying the game.

I haven’t necessarily been put off that idea, but I gotta say having tried the paladin, I’m once again disappointed by D4. It’s not bad, but it felt pretty underwhelming all things considered. Very slow animations and pretty resource starved, and no real creative abilities or builds, either. Every D3 class felt like a fantasy archetype elevate to its most bombastic platonic ideal, but every D4 class feels like it was built to have the bare minimum tools for its archetype and nothing more.

I did have some fun with the Avenger’s Shield equivalent, and I might still play a pally if/when I buy D4, but it’s not the absolute guaranteed main material I thought it’d be.

I also decided to revisit some older classes briefly. I still mostly like the druid, though the resource mechanic isn’t ideal. I found a pretty fun necromancer build using the Sever upgrade that makes it drop a corpse comboed with Corpse Explosion.

I appreciate that sorcerers have an elementalist capstone passive now. Of course I didn’t level anywhere near far enough to unlock it, but I tried pretending I had it to see how the playstyle would feel. Conceptually it’s very similar to the Tal Rasha’s Elements build I used for my wizard in D3 — you get buffs for cycling different elements — but the execution is actually fairly different.

Tal Rasha’s only cared about how many elements you used in quick succession. The order didn’t matter. The D4 passive only cares about the order. You could only ever use two spells and just alternate and get max benefit. I think I liked the smoothness of Tal Rasha’s better, but you could argue the D4 version is better design because it does require you to think about the order of your spells. It’s basically like playing a Windwalker monk in WoW, and I do like that playstyle.

If and when I buy D4, my main will definitely be one of those four classes. I’d say necro and sorcerer lead the pack right now.

Demos:

I’ve rounded out the month by checking out a bunch of demos on Steam. Not all merit discussion, but there’s a few I’d like to touch on briefly.

Pragmata was the most interesting overall. It’s a good old-fashioned “gruff dude protects surrogate daughter figure” game like it’s 2013 all over again. Its main gimmick is that enemies are heavily armoured, and you need to hack them to make them vulnerable. This isn’t just an extra key press; you need to do a whole-ass hacking mini-game mid-battle.

If that sounds overwhelming, it certainly was at first, but the enemies do tend to be a bit slow and dumb, and by the end of the demo I was beginning to see the vision. Like Alan Wake’s “fight with light” mechanic but more fleshed out. Pragmata’s not a game I’d buy at full price, but it’s intriguing enough to keep an eye on. That little girl’s character model is damn creepy, though.

1348 Ex Voto (terrible name) had some promise. “Classic save the princess story but make it sapphic”* is a fun enough concept, and the voice acting was strong, but the character animations were horrendous, and the combat felt a bit rough (that might be a skill issue, admittedly).

*(Nothing in the demo explicitly labels the relationship between the two heroines as romantic, but the subtext is very strong.)

I came away thinking it was a promising alpha build and that it might be worth playing after another year or two of development, but then I saw the release date was this month and was like, “Oh… Oh no.”

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando had pretty graphics and fantastic music, but the dialogue was horrendous, and the gameplay didn’t really feel distinct compared to any other zombie shooter you’d care to name. If it was free to play I might play more, but it’s not worth the asking price.

Finally, Space Tales seemed like it could be a charming enough low budget StarCraft clone, but the demo was too lacking in content to get a good feel for it. Will keep an eye on it, if only because the options for new RTS games are fairly limited these days, but probably another “buy on sale if at all” game.

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Gaming Round-Up: What Horrors Await

Gaming Round-Up: Lousy Smarch Weather

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