By Ronald Gordon 

Happy Spring from the Roundup, where we gather up stories from the Critics Circle’s Members and Interns alike! With the new season, there’s: FATE: Reawakened, Reus 2, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, three games released in March you should definitely play, news of the Nintendo Switch 2, Atomfall, Doom: Dark Ages, and so much more! 

Jade Entien gushes about FATE: Reawakened, A magically enhanced remaster, a top-down dungeon crawl akin to Diablo and Hades. FATE: Reawakened is the kind of game that Jade enjoyed as a kid, enhanced and combined into a better and brighter experience. Jade highlights its alluring single player nature, saying “One reason – maybe THE reason – I enjoyed FATE: Reawakened so much was because it proved that even in a world of multiplayer games, the single-player experience can be just as exciting and memorable. The only downside that I can see is that even after 20 years, there’s still no consistent voice acting, which only adds to the feeling of emptiness the game brings to the single-player experience. Most single-players allow you to engage in meaningful dialogue with the NPCs while in the FATE series, NPCs will talk as you greet them, but they don’t read what’s stated in the rather plain text boxes that show up on the screen. It’s just quiet, and it makes the game feel lonely.” 

Alay Polanco enjoyed a simple time as a godly being in Reus 2, a colossally cheerful simulation game. Beginning their thoughts with reflections on prior simulation games, Alay writes, “Going into Reus 2, I didn’t expect much. I thought the game would be just another god simulation. To me, that meant plain, boring, and monotonous. But Reus 2 was intriguing, and it offered a unique experience that set it apart from other similar strategy games.” Reus 2 chooses not to hold the player’s hand, giving full autonomy over the sequence of events in any given playthrough. While it may be a small change, Alay greatly appreciates it: “Reus 2 is the near-perfect balance between creativity and chaos and I was able to use my will to shape any reality. It is simply a sandbox that provides the tools to give me my own desired experience and let imagination thrive. I have complete ownership over everything, it seems. I was never deprived of their sovereignty, never stripped of my power. With its complex systems and endless possibilities, I never felt I was doing something repetitive, which allows for an experience that evolves with each playthrough. Even though it’s not my preferred genre, Reus 2 opened my eyes to a kind of world-building experiment that I’ve never experienced before.”

Khloe Wilkerson felt the familiar power of youth in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. Beginning her thoughts with a sense of familiarity, Khloe writes, “In the complexity of teenage life, the line between dreams and nightmares is typically blurry. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage vividly captures the essence of youth, rebellion, and the haunting nature of the past in a way that feels both deeply personal and commonly nostalgic.” The freedom of youth is something that the media still struggles to capture, with many examples being quite campy or too over the top. Yet Bloom & Rage manages to not only form a great story around the idea, but also expand it even further with a cast of characters people Khloe can’t help but empathize with. Her only complaint is that there wasn’t enough weight behind them, which she mentions as she writes, “I wished for more moments showing who they’ve become rather than just implying it. This would have made their personalities feel more developed and impactful. The friendships feel real, but the emotional weight of their reunion could have been explored more deeply. I found myself craving more action, more revelations, and more emotional stakes as the story unfolded.”

Harold Goldberg appreciates all good games out there, and doesn’t want anyone to miss these 3 great games that came out of March mentioned in his column for the New York Times. While the news around gaming may have mainly been around massively appreciated games like Split Fiction or Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Harold paid attention to the lesser known title, Karma: The Dark World. Relating his thoughts on Karma: The Dark World, Harold writes, “The brilliant Karma: The Dark World is one of the most aggressively disturbing horror games released in some time. When the investigator Daniel McGovern wakes to an empty hospital room, his left arm is grossly black and bionic. After removing three tubes, he sees ebony ooze burbling out and screams, a little too emotional to be a government sleuth.” Karma gave Harold plenty of chills and thrills, yet he writes, “Midway through, I stopped again because one of these dizzying rooms induced nausea. But I kept returning to investigate this potent mix of speculative and realist fiction, learning how democracy died, somehow feeling brainwashed as well.” Despite shaking him to his core, Karma always managed to pull Harold back in with its enthralling narrative. 

Game File’s Stephen Totilo writes about Donkey Kong Bananza & thoughts on the Switch 2. After attending a New York event where the Switch 2 was showcased, Stephen had time to experience their newly announced games such as Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and many more. Shedding some light on how the console may run when it releases in June, Stephen writes, “Make no mistake: I had a great time with the Switch 2’s games. I had near-zero complaints about the hardware. And yet, as the day went on, and as news about money—the price of the system, the price of the games, the price of the game upgrades, and then, also announced yesterday, those global-economy-shaking new U.S. tariffs1—it was impossible to stop thinking about how expensive Nintendo’s next age of gaming will be.” It’s no surprise that the Switch 2 has practically taken over the internet at this point, especially when it comes to the pricing of the console and its games. Mentioning his thoughts on the matter, Stephen addresses this as he writes, “They left pricing details out of their hour-long Switch 2 Nintendo Direct yesterday for a reason. This is also a company that typically prefers not to talk about hardware specs, lately won’t even tell you exactly who is making their games before they’re released, because they want you to focus on—and feel—the magic of their games. Good luck to all of us in that regard.”

If you’re a fan of Doctor Who, Deven McClure suggests you play Atomfall, featuring the TARDIS and many more references. The genre of post-apocalyptic games can get quite oversaturated because many games choose to replicate classics like Fallout or Metro. Yet Atomfall decides to be different by not only being outrageously British, but also featuring many references to pop culture’s favorite British franchise, “Doctor Who.” Questioning this in an interview with Rebellion, the team behind Atomfall, Deven writes, “Atomfall draws inspiration from many classic sci-fi, particularly classic Doctor Who. Developers didn’t necessarily have specific episodes in mind, but there are often ‘moral quandaries’ dealt with that raise ‘questions about whether people should be doing what they’re doing’ or ‘whether this is a goodie or a baddie.’ Ben Fisher, head of design at Rebellion, echoed similar sentiments when we spoke at the Atomfall preview, sharing how the game eschews typical moral alignment systems. The game features ‘a lot of people with a lot of agendas, and often the ending isn’t necessarily a nice one.’”

“Game directors Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin are sitting across from me in Hell. Well, it’s technically a room decorated in the style of Doom: The Dark Ages, Id Software’s highly anticipated first-person shooter launching on May 15, but it might as well be Hell. An eerie red glow is cast over the space, plumes of smoke spew from what looks like chasms leading to dark, demon-filled depths, and a medieval version of the iconic Doomslayer helmet rests on a nearby column.” Alyssa Mercante’s first paragraph tells you everything you need to know about Doom: The Dark Ages, and its face melting metal experience. Id Software isn’t pulling any punches, especially when it comes to showing off just how epic their newest installment of the Doom franchise can be. Getting a firsthand look with its directors, Alyssa was overjoyed to see that Doom: The Dark Ages still rocks as hard as Doom 2016 & Doom Eternal. Finishing her thoughts with a colorful analogy, Alyssa writes, “The results are as face-melting as you’d hope. Watching a Dark Ages cutscene feels like when Mad Max: Fury Road’s War Boys huff chrome paint before going into battle — you can’t see one and not want to rip the heart out of a demon immediately afterward. Lucky for you, Doom: The Dark Ages will let you rip out hearts and tear through armor as much as you’d like, and it’ll pump you up to previously unimaginable heights before letting you loose.” 

Beyond the Circle 

To the many U.S based fans of Nintendo out there who have been looking into pre-ordering the Switch 2 console, sadly there will have to be a longer wait, as Harold Goldberg pointed out in an update to his Switch 2 preview, which was at Nintendo’s New York event. GameStop has put out an official statement, declaring that U.S preorders will no longer be open on April 9th due to tariffs. There will likely be more news at a later date, but for now there’s only the promise that GameStop and Nintendo will continue to plan out the potential preorder date. The console is still planned to release in June without any foreseeable delays as of yet. 

Beyond Totilo’s and Goldberg’s perspectives, here’s a detailed, chart-filled look from the analysts DFC Intelligence. They predict the fastest selling console in history, but their sales forecast is lowered from 17 million to 15 million in numbers of unit sales of the Switch 2.

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.

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