Pirate Yakuza, Avowed, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Sampling February's RPG bounty and a few indie stand-outs
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, out this week, is as earnest as it is loony. Mere hours into its runtime, after stealing a ship and badgering the town barkeep into my service, my crew burst into a choreographed musical number as exuberant as anything from Muppet Treasure Island. While I admired the warm-hearted Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the action combat and high seas tomfoolery of this follow-up has intrigued me even more.
Fittingly, the game sailed into my life the same weekend that I found myself Broadway-bound on a bus teeming with theater geeks. My wife makes costumes for a local high school, which graciously included us on an extended field trip to New York. We imbibed two biographical musicals, What a Wonderful World and Hell’s Kitchen, and then the outrageously campy Death Becomes Her — one of the funniest plays I’ve ever seen.
Riding back, after feasting on a fried chicken salad (tip to travelers: the Jacob Pickles location at Moynihan station is a great deal by NYC standards), I fired up my Steam Deck for more uninterrupted gaming time. Here are highlights from the past few days:
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
I expected the late medieval RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 to rival the grim tone of The Witcher or Game of Thrones. Turns out, it’s closer to A Knight’s Tale. Sure, it opens with a siege and the massacre of your travelling companions, but the game just as often feels like a buddy comedy set in the gorgeous Czech countryside.
You begin in spotless armor, only to find yourself naked and running from bandits moments later. Reduced to wearing patchy rags and covered in literal crap, your loud-mouthed noble friend gets you thrown into the stocks after picking a fight with town guards. One day you might be respected as a proper knight again — but for now you’ll labor like a peasant and find a way to complete your lord’s errand.
It’s a disarming way to start an epic adventure, and I found it nearly as charming as Pirate Yakuza’s surprise showstopper. Relatedly, the game’s also got a deep commitment to period-accurate costuming — my wife approved of its gambesons, gauntlets, and coifs.
Avowed
The brand-new Obsidian RPG Avowed might share a first-person perspective with KCD2, but its spell-slinging and wonderfully weird worldbuilding set it apart. The game immediately invites you to festoon your character with fungal growths of mysterious origin before baptizing you in its complex pantheon and even more complex histories.
As much as I adored its quirky asides and witty repartee, my enthusiasm for exploring Avowed’s lush lands has waned as each succeeding chapter brought steep difficulty spikes. I’m about halfway through its main story and hope my passion for the game will reignite and carry me through to an end I’ve heard is quite rewarding.
Rift of the Necrodancer
Returning to our musical theme, Rift of the Necrodancer distills my old favorite, Crypt of the Necrodancer, into a rhythm game akin to Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution. Playing it activated my lapsed piano training. I learned to respond to each monster’s quirks the same way I learned to sight-read notes on a staff. If only sheet music looked so sexy!
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist
Finally, I’ll end this survey with Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist, a sci-fi sequel to the dark fantasy metroidvania Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights. I blazed through the first game years ago, even as its level design confused me and its bosses crushed me. Ender Magnolia’s more polished and accessible — and it’s also got a lot more dialogue.
Each ability you acquire adds a new personality to your burgeoning party. Your diminutive protagonist doesn’t fight herself; she encounters and attunes homunculi to shoot, slash, smash, scamper, and swing through her labyrinthine world. Each homunculus has a backstory you’ll unravel through cutscenes and occasional conversations. Where Ender Lilies presented a depopulated Dark Souls-style kingdom, hardscrabble survivors and plucky children still wander through Ender Magnolia — and they’re locked and loaded with exposition, commiseration, and good old gossip.
I play a handful of metroidvanias every year and I’m certain I’ll finish this one. Even though it lacks the robust map and snapshot-linking ability of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, I’m more than happy to wile away the hours with Ender Magnolia while waiting for the prophesied Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Other Mastromarino Productions
'Saturday Night Live' marks 50th Anniversary with blow out, celebrity-studded show
I must also recommend this personal remembrance from my colleague Peter O’Dowd: A tribute to Bisbee the dog, and the grief of losing a pet