Prime Gaming – August 2022

Another month, another Prime Gaming article to trot out of the stable. As always, you can pick up your Gwent, WoW, Brawlhalla, Roblox, and all the other “in-game content” available through Prime this month. I’ll be honest, I was surprised when I saw among the regulars of World of Tanks and sports games like FIFA, NBA, and NFL, that Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers is now flogging the knock-off heroes and boosts out the back of Jeff Bezos’ suspicious white van. I wouldn’t worry about it, it is still the same awful skinner box game.

The triple-A headliner is taking the first spot this month, mostly because I view Blizzard games the same way I view firing turnips out of one of my orifices. 2017’s Starcraft: Remastered is the big one this month. It is an RTS originally released in 1998, a year after the best of them all, Total Annihilation. Despite having the only expansion, Brood War, I don’t believe the remaster comes with the add-ons signed off by Blizzard, Insurrection and Retribution. I am sure like most things popular in Korea, this will be welcomed by those on the internet with open arms (and open legs).

Staying with the past, (the 80s this time) we’ve got the next game after Maniac Mansion. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders isn’t just one of the longest names for an adventure game by Lucasfilm Games, it is another game that involved Ron Gilbert too. Set in 1997 (technically the future) it is like all games of this era, criminally insane. You’re a journalist trying to stop the aliens dumbing down the population via AT&T (good luck with getting a connection) with their goal to emit an annoying 60 HZ hum (which is real) and bend minds. I told you, I don’t sound like a sane person talking about that plot, do I?

Recompile is one of the most interesting 3D platformers/Metroidvanias about hacking and exploration. However, it is sadly mired when it comes to reviews for a number of reasons. With gameplay that might be considered uninspired and a simplistic art style, the story of Recompile might fly over some people’s heads as they skip the collectible text logs and lose interest quickly.

To begin with, platforming will be dull before the Metroidvania-style unlocks offer dashing, gliding, and pulling a sleigh. Those issues are married with a world that is the construct for our human-like program to run around in. Also, I was joking about the sleigh.

Of course, it is games with Prime so there just had to be a Rogue-like/lite in there somewhere. Flying Oak Games’ ScourgeBringer might as well step up to the plate. From the minds behind NeuroVoider, this time the fast-paced action sees you flying across rooms rapidly trying to kill everything as if you have a grudge against them and they owe you money. It is an endless dance of flailing about as you die, die, and die again. The highlight I find is often brought up time and time again is the game’s combat and movement.

You know it isn’t a great month when my penultimate game is the first in a series of modern hidden object adventure games that tries desperately to intrigue you with the line “alluring women and corrupted cops.” If I wanted that, I am sure CBS’ Tuesday night primetime slot has exactly that. Nonetheless, Family Mysteries: Poisonous Promises is available to pick up if you’ve lost all your sanity or you’ve played everything else in your Prime Gaming Library to death. Released in March of 2020, it is actually the only thing well received from the period we’ll soon call, the beginning.

As I said last year during the Wholesome Direct showcase two days after its release, I was already in love with this off-rails Pokémon Snap that is nothing but the color and simplicity of indie games at their best. I’m tired of killing in everything. Sometimes I just want to take a camera into the jungle of a fantasy world and take some photos of a parakeet. So all this month, I am sure I’ll be playing some of Beasts of Maravilla Island and having the best and most wholesome of times, as the world sets fire to itself.