Prime Gaming 16 April 2025

Hey kids, what time is it? It's Amazon Prime Gaming time!
Let's see what the clown puppet has for us this week!


* God's Trigger (via GOG)
     This one is a top-down twin-stick shooter (with
     the usual expected 'rogue-like elements' that are
     de rigueur for any modern game). It's not a genre
     I'm well versed in, so I can't really judge if its
     a good example of that sort of game, but it looks
     neat and is well reviewed, so I'm glad to see it
     here.


* Mafia III: Definitive Edition (via GOG)
     Well, after "Mafia DE" and "Mafia II DE" were offered
     in previous months, I was wondering when we'd get this
     one. "Mafia 3" is sort of a mixed bag; in some ways I
     actually enjoyed it more than its predecessor, but in
     other ways I found it worse. The game makes better use
     of its open world than "Mafia II" and it was nice to
     take a break from the usual Italian gangster stereotype;
     on the other hand, it wasn't half the visual spectacle
     of the earlier games, and that open world did remind me
     a bit too much of Ubisoft design. The soundtrack was
     great, though.


* Endless Space Definitive Edition (via Amazon)
     Another in a long line of 4X space strategy games, and
     actually one of the better ones. It's got a bit too much
     emphasis on the space-combat for my liking (I prefer more
     abstracted combats in my 4X games) so it doesn't quite
     topple that ancient classics, "Master of Orion", but it's
     good if you're into the genre.


* Dread Out 2 (via Amazon)
     A third-person survival horror, albeit one more in the
     style of "Fatal Frame" than "Resident Evil". It looks
     intriguing, but reviews are quite mixed, pointing at too-
     linear level design and poor combat. But it's creepily
     atmospheric and if you're willing to overlook some its
     flaws (and have a love of the genre) it might be worth
     giving it a chance.


* Projection: First Light (via Amazon)
     Sorry if you've heard me rant about this before, but
     here we have yet another Indie game that's a side-view
     platformer featuring a young child facing off against
     nightmarish creatures who promise a grisly death, all
     using a stylized, shadowy chiaroscuro art style. At this
     point I don't even care if this game is good; I'm so
     tired of every Indie platformer aping "Limbo" that I'm
     ignoring this one on principle. Get a new idea, Indies;
     you're supposed to be the creative ones!


* Paleo Pines (via Amazon)
     A kidified Jurassic Park simulator, except the dinos
     don't eat you. If you've followed me long enough, you
     know that I generally don't go for 'cute', so I've
     little interest in this sort of thing. It might be good,
     it might not; I don't care and will never find out for
     myself.


* New York Mysteries Power of Art (via Legacy)
     The requisite hidden-object game included in every Prime
     gaming bundle. There's so many of these, I guess SOMEBODY
     must like 'em.


* Minecraft Legends (via Microsoft's XBox thing)
     An action/strategy game set in the Minecraft world,
     complete with its blocky aesthetic. Since Minecraft's
     appeal (for me, at least) has always been its creative
     aspect and not its universe, visuals or lore, this game
     attracts me not at all. Reviews are pretty poor too, and
     the fact that you can buy an in-game currency doesn't
     inspire me to want to play it. I'd pass over this game
     twice, if I could.



It wasn't really intended that way, but the list above more or less
follows my decreasing level of interest in the games. The first few,
sure, add them to the library, why not; they're not 'must have' games
but I wouldn't mind owning them and might even give 'em a try one of
these days. But that becomes less and less likely the further you
scroll down the list.

Well, the nicest thing I can say is that there's a lot of variety in
the selection of games. Anyway, in two weeks we'll have a bunch of
other (semi-) freebies to look at, so I'm not complaining too loudly.
We'll see what we get in a fortnight. Ciao until then!