By Ronald Gordon

Seasons greetings to you all and a warm welcome back to the Roundup, the column meant to highlight great articles from members and interns alike! The end of 2024 is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean reviews and news around gaming have come to a halt, there’s still plenty more games to talk about going into 2025. This roundup features stories about, Horizon Zero Dawn with a blocky twist in the new Lego Horizon, the grand spectacle that is Behemoth in VR, Bloomtown and its simplistic beauty, Xreal smart glasses, The sequel to Plague Inc., and so much more! 

Before we start, I’d like to announce that the 14th Annual New York Game Awards is happening! 2024 is wrapping up, and with its passing means it is now time to give the games of this year their flowers at SVA Theatre on 1/25/25! There’ll be our members, interns, Reggie, and our Legend Winner Sam Lake! There’ll be plenty of games to highlight, as well as faces within gaming to shout out. So don’t miss the big event and buy your tickets now at this link! 

Tragedy is a powerful call to action for change, and our senior intern Karoline Castillo-Troncoso reviewed a game with facts about Gun Control, titled The Final Exam. School shootings are some of the most devastating attacks in our history, and when looking back on such incidents, it’s no wonder why most people call for stricter rules for past, present, and future gun owners. The Final Exam, a simulation made by Webcore games, serves as an example to those who wonder what a lack of gun control can provoke, and includes details from parents of victims of the unfortunate shootings that occurred in recent history. Karoline writes, “The devastating nature of mass school shootings, having occurred throughout various parts of the United States, has left and continues to leave a profound and lasting impact on families. It also affects the conscience of the nation. School shootings have become a tragic phenomenon and a popular topic within the scope of politics. These horrendous occurrences have become a heartbreaking reality for numerous families around the world and have sparked intense debate surrounding the passage of gun control laws, the concept of school safety, and mental health.” You’ll feel frightened. Your heart will beat hard. And, in the end, you’ll learn about the proposals and laws surrounding guns and their control.

A collaboration between Horizon Zero Dawn and Lego may not have been on everyone’s radar, but Khloe’s experience in the game may signal to the fact that it’s a fantastic pair. Lego: Horizon Adventures is more than just a copy of Horizon Zero Dawn, it’s proof that Lego adaptations are still holding strong! “The game’s visuals truly stand out, blending Lego’s blocky design with Horizon’s lurid, inventive landscapes. From dense forests to towering cliffs, every environment is meticulously crafted, with vibrant colors and unique details. Whether exploring lush valleys, climbing Lego-built mountains, or delving into ancient ruins, the attention to detail is impressive. The world feels unknowably vast yet full of personality, thanks to the clever fusion of realism and Lego charm.” Aside from adapting the world of Horizon into Lego blocks, another huge change that Lego Horizon adds to the game is its newfound availability, featuring it on Windows devices and even Nintendo Switch consoles, becoming one of many PlayStation exclusives that have gone cross platform. Founder Harold Goldberg issues similar sentiments in his New York Times column, saying “As a fun romp for all ages, Lego Horizon Adventures will probably be one of the season’s most requested holiday games.”

Isaac Espinosa thoroughly enjoyed Skydance’s newest Behemoth, a VR game about slaying beasts. Getting the chance to play the demo in person, Isaac had this to say about what he experienced, “Whether it was me walking through the snow-filled but empty forests, or an abandoned colosseum, Skydance nailed the atmosphere. Considering it was in VR, the isolation that came from being alone in this world they created felt very real. That isn’t even to mention how the added movement option of the Grappling Hook makes it so the game doesn’t feel slow. It was a surprisingly fun addition that made me feel as though I was Spider Man in the Barbarian Era!” Although his experience wasn’t the sole takeaway of this demonstration, he also got to speak with game’s Director, Brian Murphy, to get his insights as to what the game is truly about. “Walking through the world, I couldn’t help but feel in awe at the sheer scale of the game’s giant monsters, named Behemoths, and how their size made it even more of a task to defeat them. Speaking with Brian Murphy confirmed with me that this was an intentional choice inspired by games such as Shadow of the Colossus, where you would have to climb the surprisingly docile Colossi and take them down via weak point hunting. Imagining such a scenario in VR was a huge point of creating Behemoth, according to Murphy.”

“After blowing the dust off the Xbox I was positive I wouldn’t be touching for the entirety of my semester, I downloaded Bloomtown: A Different Story, developed by Lazy Bear Games and Different Sense Games.” Jade Entien starts their review of Bloomtown: A Different Story by mentioning how quickly they were sucked into everything it had to offer, “I prepared myself for what I assumed would be a typical pixel turn-based RPG. However, it took under 30 minutes for me to be immersed in the story of this small town and its residents, and the demonic evil that lurks within their neighborhood.” Games don’t always have to have amazing graphics or huge open worlds to draw you in, sometimes a game just has to have loveable NPCs and a thriving locale to bring in dedicated players. That’s not to say Bloomtown is lacking in story, as Jade describes, “The beginning quests seem harmless enough, getting groceries, doing some gardening, picking dandelions. While running an errand for Grandpa Cooper, we’re asked by a few kids at the park to help them locate their missing friend, a brown-haired girl in a blue dress. I made sure they paid me 30 cents, which in this game goes a long way. After solving a riddle on a log and gaining access to a treehouse, we’re thrust into the blackness the game teases in its opening sequence. Bloomtown isn’t the safe haven it appears to be.”

Member Scott Stein, a master of AR/VR and all things tech, got to experience the newest Xreal One Smart Glasses, which have put a functional twist on wearable tech. “Perching a pair of tethered glasses over my own lenses in an office in midtown New York, I see a familiar sight: Floating in front of me is a widescreen Mac monitor. It’s just there, hovering in space. I move my head around to take in its size. Ironically, I’m not using a Vision Pro headset to do this. Instead, I’m wearing Xreal’s newest glasses, which can cast larger displays and pin them in space, and it works with any device — laptop, phone, game console — that can output video via USB-C.” There have been many attempts at a pair of glasses with the power of a computer, each one trying its best but falling short in the long run. Yet in comes the Xreal One Smart glasses, which have all the power of a VR headset, which is one step closer than anything before. Says Stein, “Smart glasses are ready to start working better with the devices you already have, and Xreal’s newest display glasses are making gradual moves. But, chatting with Xreal’s founder and CEO Chi Xu about his company’s new glasses and where things are heading next, these seemingly straightforward display glasses are about to start flexing into some smarter territories: AI, more display customization and a custom chip that could be the beginning of building a better bridge with other devices.” 

Stephen Totilo talks about the unexpected sequel to Plague Inc. titled After Inc. which ironically takes place after a world halting epidemic. Stephen details the challenges of rebuilding after a zombie virus sends the world into isolation, including tidbits from designer James Vaughan about development and the various ideas that sprung forth. “Vaughan said he’d long wanted to build a strategy game like this, ‘one that was more suited to mobile phones and shorter play styles.’ My three games, across three settlements, were quick. But they also contributed to a meta progression that had me unlocking new ideas for my society—pigeon coops, rain collectors, etc.—that would carry into the next settlement game. ‘After Inc. crunches a whole load of different things together and we end up with a pretty unique game which lets you build up a settlement in 20 minutes and improve your overall civilization at the same time for future games,” Vaughan said.’” 

Fans of the original PlayStation console rejoice: Michelle Ehrhardt brings news of Sony’s newest update, and how to startup your PS5 with the PS1 screen. Recently celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the first PlayStation console, Sony made a loving call back to the old days of the PS1 by allowing users of PS5 consoles to change their boot up screens. “As part of an update released yesterday, PlayStation 5 owners can now customize their home screen, menus, and system sounds to resemble the interfaces of past PlayStation consoles instead, all the way from the original to the PS4 (portable consoles notwithstanding).” Writes Michelle, updating fans on not only the range of themes available, but also their unfortunately short lifespan, “It’s the system’s first real go at ‘themes,’ which are a standard feature over on Xbox, but sadly, the changes will only work ‘for a limited time,’ with no announcement yet on when the fun will be over.” If you’ve been a longtime fan of PlayStation consoles, it’s now the perfect time to indulge in your nostalgia and feed the inner child! 

There have been many great games to come out of 2024, but also many announcements of what’s on the horizon, which the Lords of Gaming are looking forward to. “It’s the holiday season! Gamers are getting some GREAT gifts to close off 2024. Here is what some of us here at Lords of Gaming are looking forward to unwrapping during December.” Cerebral Paul of the Lords of Gaming details which game each of the various writers and personalities within have on their checklist. From editor-in-chief Mahmood Ghaffar wanting Path of Exile 2, to CEO and Lord of Gaming Lord Cognito wanting Warframe: 1999, the list is an interesting look at not only the names and titles within Lords of Gaming, but also what they’re excited for in the future. 

Beyond the Circle

The Game Developer Conference, or GDC as it’s widely known, is once again exploring the possibilities for game development and AI thanks to their partnership with The AI Summit New York. Not only is the AI Summit already packed full of the various uses of artificial intelligence in today’s technological advancements, they‘re also set to demonstrate how AI can revolutionize game development in the near future. Featuring panels from various sponsors and partners of GDC, to hosting zones and stages dedicated to games built with AI involvement, the AI Summit wants it known that there’s a pairing between the two that may just come to fruition in the near future. If you’re interested in the possibility of AI assisted game development, or what AI could do to improve development as we know it, go check it out while you can! The event only lasts from December 11th – December 12! 

Ronald Gordon is a New York Videogame Critics Circle Member & Mentor. He was the first of our writers – or any intern anywhere – to complete an internship at Rockstar Games.

---