Smoke and Sacrifice (Nintendo Switch) - Review

Smoke and Sacrifice is available now on the Nintendo Switch and is priced at £19.99. There is a launch discount running at the moment that takes the price down to £15.99.

The beginning of Smoke and Sacrifice is quite something. It throws you into the game as Sachi, a new mother living in a village that believes they have to sacrifice a child to a Sun God for protection. Guess who just got picked as sacrifice? Yep, you got it; Sachi's new little boy, Lio.

Walking through the village before the sacrifice you are thanked, even celebrated for what you are about to do. One woman comments that sacrifice's shouldn't be named, to save yourself from a little of the pain. Whoops. Seems Sachi is something of a rebel. You have to go pick the baby up and drop him off under the watchful gaze of a laser beam.

Just as you're feeling completely disgusted with yourself and your actions the game then skips you forward seven years. Sachi is still living in the same village and dines't truly believe her son is gone. Then the protection surrounding the village fails and monsters attack the village and its people. Sachi is sent to find the village priests but in all of the confusion they're nowhere to be found. She heads into the temple and is transported to a completely new world and immediately sets out to see if she can find her sacrificed son.

I feel like I've given you more story than I ever have in a review before, but honestly these aren't spoilers. What I have described is literally the first fifteen minutes or so of the game, probably less. But I wanted to speak a little about those opening moments, to give you an idea of what the game is about. It started off looking so charming, but is much darker than I expected. It's a survival game with something actually at stake - you have to survive to see if Sachi can find her son. Don't worry though, no spoilers from here on out. Guess you'll just have to buy Smoke and Sacrifice if you want to find out what happens to Sachi and Lio :-) (or watch it on YouTube or something).

The new world is very different to the one we started in. Its gloomy and smoke-filled, and has monsters and something called Drear's roaming around. They're friendly enough and will set you tasks that start off simple enough and are actually helpful to Sachi. They'll teach you ways to keep the smoke at bay, craft weapons and even a warmer jerkin, and later some fur boots, so that you can enter another biome to continue your quest.

The crafting in this game starts out simply enough, with you being able to make nothing more that make-shift weapons and items. Eventually though your crafting recipes will increase to include much tougher weapons - even elemental ones.

I feel like the crafting system is much deeper than I initially expected given how simplistic the combat is. That's not to say that the combat isn't good, because despite it's simplicity - you literally just bash one button over and over until your foe dies - it is both fun and challenging. There is a dodge button too and you WILL need to use it. In a way playing Smoke and Sacrifice made me think of Kingdom Come: Deliverance. If you read my review for that, you'll remember that I liked that you played as someone who was rubbish at fighting. He was on a learning experience, just like the player. He got better as I did and it really helped my enjoyment of the game. Smoke and Sacrifice is exactly the same. Sachi isn't a warrior. She's a mum who's been thrust into a terrible world and will do anything to find her son.

The monsters in Smoke and Sacrifice don't always have to meet their end at the hand of whatever weapon you've managed to cobble together either. You can set traps, tame some of them, and even milk some of them to help heal yourself - as long as they're stunned first. And trust me, healing is important in Smoke and Sacrifice.

Smoke and Sacrifice is a fantastic entry into the survival game market. Yes, some of the tasks set can feel monotonous, but it's not so bad as to ruin the enjoyment of the game. The manual saves at terminals set at intervals around the world are something I really enjoyed, but I know they're not for everyone. Remember though, when playing on Switch you can just put your console into sleep mode if you suddenly need to stop gaming. The game looks gorgeous and playing a survival game with a story you really want to get to the bottom of makes a nice change to. I think Smoke and Sacrifice would be a valuable addition to anybody's Switch library.

The Solus Project (Xbox One) - Preview

The Solus Project is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £11.99.

The Solus Project is another addition to the Game Preview Program on the Xbox One, which features games that are not yet fully finished. Most of them lack a little polish, some campaign or even whole modes when they first enter the Preview Program but they're constantly updated until launch. I have to say The Solus Project is one of the most polished games I've played on the Preview Program yet. Graphically it is superb, with no jagginess or drop in frame-rate encountered, by me at least. The Solus Project is also the first Preview Program game that released on Xbox in the the same window as it did on Steam, something I think it should get a lot of credit for, let's face it that couldn't have been the easiest week of the devs life.

So The Solus Project is a survival game. Yep, another one of those. I for one happen to love survival games, so I was very excited to get hands on with this. Unlike many other survival games there isn't a constant stream of nasties ready to off you in a moments notice, instead with The Solus Project you get a more pure survival experience, with you having to keep an eye out for things like dehydration, starvation and exposure instead of yet another gang of rabid animals out for your blood or whatever. Another thing that sets The Solus Project apart is the fact it actually features a strong, intriguing narrative - unlike many survival games that see you set out just to see how long you survive, The Solus Project sets you on a fairly linear path towards one ultimate goal meaning you actually have a reason to root around in dark caves and explore the furthest reaches of this alien planet. You still have plenty of scope to explore, but for now at least once you've explored an island or cave your only option is to travel to the next, but with this game only being in Preview still it could possibly become much more open as development progresses.

The Solus Project is a really well-made, atmospheric survival game that I thoroughly enjoyed. I am really looking forward to future updates, and I will come back here and update this review when I can. As always with a Preview game I am loath to give it a star rating right now, it is still an unfinished game after all. This isn't to say that I don't recommend it though - I wholeheartedly do - it's more about being fair. If I gave it say, an eight, now then where would it be able to go to from there? I'm hoping for many more excellent updates in this games future, and I want the score I eventually give it to reflect that.

How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition (Xbox One) - Review

How To Survive was released on last gen consoles around a year ago and was a game I was pretty intrigued by. I never got around to getting it though, and when I heard about the plans to release it on the Xbox One I waited it out so that I could play it on my nice shiny new console.

For the new gen console they've bundled it with all the DLC and named it How To Survive: Storm Warning Edition. This adds some pretty fun new modes, including the AMAZING One-Shot Escape mode. This mode gives you just one chance (duh!) to fix a vehicle and get your ass off of the island. Supplies are randomised and pretty scarce so this game mode is pretty stressful but a LOT of fun. Another mode added to the game is Barricade, which is like a horde mode - spend the day gathering supplies and try and survive the night.

I don't know whether I'd eat these fish?!

I am a huge fan of the open world zombie games. State of Decay is my all-time favourite and I cannot wait until it is released on the Xbox One. I did expect How To Survive game to come up short in comparison, but it really doesn't. I'm not a big fan of the asymmetric viewpoint in How To Survive, but this game gives us a robust crafting and upgrade system and its piece de resistance? Its CO-OP!

Yes, as you all know I am always keen to find some good co-op games for my partner and I to play and How To Survive delivers this brilliantly. It is this, and probably this alone really, that puts How To Survive above State of Decay in my estimations. For me State of Decay is screaming out for co-op, as are all open world Zombie games really. Who wants to face the Zombie apocalypse alone?!

The horde is coming...

The fact is though that How to Survive does deliver on almost every front. I have to admit that the biggest drawback from this game for me is just the asymmetric viewpoint. I find that these detract from the tension of the game a little, especially in this genre. Asymmetric to me always feels a little cheap, which I understand is a terribly ignorant thing to say, but it is just my opinion. If this had been third or first person it would easily have gotten 10/10 from me as at its core is a fantastic survival game where every decision counts.

The skills trees are great!

The crafting system, as I mentioned before, is really good and there is a great skills tree for you to work your way up to. I love these elements to the game. The characters are all well-thought out too, they are well-balanced and each have their own clear qualities, making playing with a friend a little more tactical - there's no point both of you going for a weak but fast person really is there?

Overall I think this game is a great addition to the Xbox One roster. It's good fun (especially the two modes mentioned earlier) and is a really easy game to pick up and play, even it's just for ten minutes. There are a few things I'd  change with it if I had the power, but it's pretty damn good as it is. Go buy it people!

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.