MONTHLY FAVES: JUNE 2023 GAMING TOP PICKS

Check out our Gaming Top Picks that we've been playing this month.

JUNE 30, 2023

June has felt like a great month for games. Both of us have thoroughly been enjoying the games we have been playing this month, unlike last month, which was a bit of a bumpy ride with a couple of the games. We are starting off strong with one of our favorite co-op games to play. We had a lot to say about this game, but stay with us. 😅 Now with that in being said, let's dive right into our gaming top picks for the month of June!

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CO-OP TOP PICK

MONSTER HUNTER WORLD + ICEBORNE (PS4)

The guild is dispatching the Research Commission to the New World to study the mysterious phenomenon of the Elder Crossing, which happens once every decade. As a hunter part of the Fifth Fleet pursuing the Zorah Magdaros, you will battle dangerous monsters throughout the various habitats of the New World. With your Palico at your side, you can choose to pair up with other hunters or challenge the monsters on your own.

THE GAMEPLAY

Monster Hunter World is the first of the series that we have played extensively. An immersive experience unlike any other, we can easily lose hours and hours of time to this game. It’s in the name, hunt those monsters, hunter! Hunt, slay or capture, carve or tranquilize, and net all of the monster material rewards. How are these materials used? Monster materials are the bread and butter of building your hunter character- allowing you to craft armor and build weapons with a unique skill set to aid you in your future hunting endeavors.

We will warn everyone though, Monster Hunter is no walk in the park. Every subsequent monster is typically more complex and dangerous than the last - they become faster, stronger, and have far more deadly status ailment conditions that can be inflicted on your poor hunter. Did we mention immersion? The monsters are huge. Massive in fact. Every monster is different, but the sheer scale of each monster makes the player feel very small indeed. Using a variety of tactics and earning research points for each monster will help in the long run. After encountering the monster, research points will be collected and boost your understanding of the monster's weaknesses, main attack element, and materials that can be broken off.

Victoria and I are enjoying our return to the game - we never did finish the DLC expansion, Iceborne, and we were itching to embark on some monster hunts again! With more hunters, the monsters become stronger and more aggressive, but having a team, even just two hunters, will substantially help the hunt go much smoother and quicker than flying solo.

A unique aspect of gameplay from Iceborne is the reliance on a device called the “clutch-claw”. With this grappling combat claw, the player can create a “soft” or weak spot on a monster, force the monster to change direction, and finally fire the entire contents of the slinger side weapon in the monster’s face, launching them forward - hopefully pointing towards a wall or structure. The monster will slam into the structure, take a good chunk of damage and knock themselves silly for a period of time, creating the perfect opening for the hunter to land some hits with their weapon to progress the fight. This has become one of Zach's favorite additions to the gameplay with the expansion - a new and improved way to counter the monster attacks and extra stunning will always smooth a tough fight out.

As we progress through the expansion of the game, we are looking forward to building up our character's for the perfect combination of skills and perfected weaponry to give these oversized menaces a good thrashing. Defeating an elder dragon or a monster that has been an absolute pain to capture or slay (Zach prefers capturing) is an absolute rush and thrill, the weapon and armor crafting is what keeps us stuck like glue to the game though. Hunting a hellishly hot fire monster? Time to craft some fire resistance gear and a weapon that can combat that monster (in the case of fire, usually ice or water). Does the monster have several parts that act as armor until you break them off? Time to start crafting gear for the skill “partbreaker” which gives a boost to smashing those weapon-deflecting scales off. Every skill comes in handy in some way or another among the many hunts you must embark on.

OUR WEAPONS OF CHOICE

ZACH'S

Among the 14 weapon options, I chose the lance for my hunter character- boasting huge defensive capabilities but also a unique attack pattern that leans into breaking parts off of the monsters or creating weak spots. With the lance shield, I can shrug off just about every attack all of the monsters can throw at me. Later in the game though, building upon the shields’ defensive capabilities will be important with the Elder Dragons and Iceborne Master Rank monsters- the final rank of the game and also the most difficult.

Simple yet effective, the lance boasts one of the higher capabilities for dealing with creating weak points and breaking off parts. The lance attacks consist of a 3 jab combo, a leaping thrust, a charging thrust, a shield bash, and wide sweeping attack. The lance is simple, nothing complex about using it-at first I was actually quite bored with the lance. The shield though-this is where the lance becomes an invaluable tool for hunting monsters-especially when they become enraged and attack aggressively more often with greater power. Raise that shield, and your character is able to block just about any attack taking very minimal “chip” damage, which can naturally heal over time. Invest into the guard skill heavily, and you will be rewarded with a shield that laughs at the strongest attacks a monster can throw at you. While some monsters, elder dragons especially, have devastating special attacks that can wipe your hunter out in one shot-the lance can perform the perfect guard ability and even block those attacks, at the cost of massive stamina consumption. It pays to time things correctly with the lance, or your best assets could end up costing you valuable health best saved for outlasting the monster in the hunt. Not many players like the lance, but it has its place in Monster Hunter World for those who can master the countering and blocking while effectively dishing out some hurt to the monster. Give it a try!

VICTORIA'S

I have been trying to patiently await returning to this game with Zach so I can keep working on leveling up my weapon of choice, the Glaives. I have tested three different weapon types, the Dual Blades, the Bow, and the Insect Glaive, before settling on the Glaive being my preferred choice.

While I normally love using bows in games like Skyrim or Horizon, I discovered that bows were not ideal for me when solo hunting or only hunting with Zach. I think bows would work better with a larger team hunting a monster due to the time it takes to get a charged draw and line up the shot while trying to avoid getting interrupted by a monster (although now that my gear is more built up for protecting against wind or roar interruptions, maybe the bow deserves another go.) The bow can do normal shots that aren’t charged up for an extra damage boost, but I found it a hassle trying to keep up with adding the coatings to the arrows while in the middle of an intense battle against a monster. With the bows not working for me, I tried the Dual Blades because they are a weapon that is all about speed. I did actually like the Dual Blades, but I didn’t love them at the time (which again, now that my gear has better skills, maybe I should revisit the blades). They are a fantastic weapon of choice for dealing raw damage. Sure, they were fast and powerful, but they still didn’t feel right for my playing style. You see, the Dual Blades require you to be up close and personal with a monster. Typically, I liked to have a little more distance, so I wasn’t enjoying getting that close and personal. Then I tried the Insect Glaive - the Goldilocks of weapons for me. While this weapon may not boast high damage stats like some of the other weapons, the range and mobility that I have with this weapon is *chef’s kiss*.

With the Glaive, you also have a kinsect you control. There are two broad categories of kinsects, those that do blunt damage and those that sever. These broad categories of kinsects then branch off into their own unique trees dealing various elemental damage. Players must master using their kinsects in order to unleash more powerful attack moves. You can direct your kinsect to attack certain parts of a monster in order to harvest extracts from the monster you are fighting in order to gain buffs for your glaive movements.

I have played a few other games with weapon crafting and have hated it…Destiny 2, I’m looking at you. Monster Hunter World though, I just can’t get enough of the weapon crafting. It is thrilling to be able to finally gather the materials necessary for upgrading your weapon. And the best part is, you aren’t locked into just a couple craftable weapon trees. There are numerous options that open up as you hunt monsters for each weapon tree. I have a desire to craft them all...gotta craft 'em all!

CONCLUSION

Look no further if you want an experience that immerses you in a world with abnormally large monsters and the means to hunt down these monsters for the sake of research…and of course the gear! Nothing feels better in this game than to start as a lowly hunter just barely scraping by; to then transform into a monster hunting machine with every trick up your sleeve as a master hunter. Even as a master hunter though, there are some nasty monsters out there that cast doubt on how effective the current build a player has in a character. There is a high ceiling to the best of the best gear in this game, and it is always a blast to climb ever closer to the top-which I haven’t quite done yet!

Victoria and I love picking this game up and diving into monster hunts together- it will definitely remain one of our favorites to play together!

ZACH'S TOP PICK

METROID DREAD (SWITCH)

The galaxy is at peace, or so we thought? Metroid Dread is shaping up to be my game of the month, a game I've been waiting a long time to finally play, but the wait has been worth it. It is not difficult to see why Metroid games created a genre of games with countless inspirations for the addicting formula of gameplay and stunning environments the players must travel in.

Classic Metroid feel, shiny new polish. In the fewest words possible, this is what this gaming experience is so far. I have quite a few hours into the game, creeping ever close to the finale- I am sure to have more surprises soon! The latest upgrade I have found is the scan ability-using up all of the “Aeion energy” to reveal areas in the wall, ceiling, or floor that can be torn down with various abilities to gain access to a new area. Thus begins a slight “hand holding” feel to the game. Prior to his ability, I had to shoot my way around the rooms to find hidden blocks. I would say this might take away from the immersion to the game, but the developers have dramatically improved upon how difficult these hidden areas can be, thus giving the new scan ability a very important purpose.

And this is how the pacing has been, very typical Metroid style. Hidden areas, blocked passages with some strange and new quirk of a door. Along the way, I have definitely wandered around a bit blindly to locate the next segment of new areas, but this hasn’t been a nag in any way-this is just the way Metroid works. I appreciate that about the game, I find that some of the gameplay loop is fairly linear, but at the same time the game encourages the player to backtrack a bit just to acquire those sweet, sweet upgrades to health energy or missile capacity.

The story is a fairly direct follow up from my first Metroid experience-Metroid Fusion for the Gameboy Advance. The threat of the “X” parasite is seemingly back (we only thought we obliterated the parasite in the previous game)- on a different planet, ZDR. Video surveillance of a floating X was sent to Samus for some hidden objective. The Galactic Federation deploys a team of 7 E.M.M.I.- highly specialized and armored robotic tools created to eradicate such a threat (think of Ultron in the Marvel Universe here). These machines are highly capable with deadly weaponry and armor plating that has yet to buckle under pressure from every conceivable weapon in the galaxy. The team of these 7 E.M.M.I. lose all communication with the Galactic Federation while on deployment - Samus is sent to investigate the reappearance of this galaxy threatening parasitic organism and the mysterious disappearance of the E.M.M.I. Upon arrival though, she has the unfortunate encounter with a Chozo warrior, who hails from an alien species with a bird/raptor like appearance and very familiar armor and weaponry. The battle is over in a blink of an eye - Samus is no match for this mystery warrior even at her full power. She loses consciousness.

Samus awakens only to find all of her abilities completely eradicated and her suit back to the lowest level- back to square one. This sets up the game to reacquire her abilities to make it back to her ship- the main objective of the game. The only problem…these E.M.M.I. are lurking around, being controlled by another entity on the planet ZDR to track and capture Samus- extracting the Metroid DNA in her body. There is no defeating these robotic terrors upon first discovering them. Each of the E.M.M.I. has a designated area separated by special locking doors. The player must find a way to dispose of the robots- but must first evade capture by way of the “cat and mouse” game. Equipped with special tracking systems, the E.M.M.I. can actually detect Samus’s movement, the noise of her running even. If Samus is within range, the robot will actively pursue your last location-chasing you around a series of rooms until the robot’s scanner hits the player. Upon finding you, the scanner field will glow red and faster paced, tense music begins the play-the hunt is on. If Samus is found- the special doors in the area lock and cannot be opened by any means. The only way to unlock those doors is to run for dear life and find a way to hide from the E.M.M.I. robot-if the player is caught, instant game over.

A very frantic experience, one that keeps me on edge while in the E.M.M.I. zone areas-learning and testing every avenue to find the Central room, where a miniboss awaits. This boss is repeating with every E.M.M.I. robot- finding the room is the difficult part-defeating the organism is next- then Samus absorbs a temporary boost in Aeion energy- the sort of boost that becomes the only means to permanently disable the E.M.M.I. The player must then find a good stretch of the map and wait for the robot to show- and it will 100% find you, detecting that source of energy that the robot knows is potentially deadly to it. Samus must first melt the armor plating off the head of the robot-then charge a deadly energy burst shot to the exposed robotic eye. IF successful, the E.M.M.I. is decommissioned for good- and the player can expect to receive a tidy bonus ability from the robotic remains.

I can go on and on about this game, but here I will cut off and let there remain some mystery to the experience. I have found the game highly enjoyable- everything I wanted in a new 2 dimensional Metroid plus more. For anyone wondering why there is a sub-genre termed “Metroidvania”- look no further than this game to help your understanding of the subject. The formula works incredibly well, and many, many game developers in Triple A and Indie games space have created games that are heavily inspired by the many space adventures of Samus Aron. If I were to designate a score to the game or place in my favorites- I would instead suggest every gamer and non gamer out there to give Metroid Dread a play- it is easily one of my favorite Nintendo Switch titles out so far. If you enjoy this genre of game- boy are you in for a treat!

VICTORIA'S TOP PICK

ROGUE LEGACY (PS4)

Rogue Legacy is a genealogical rogue-”LITE” game where death is imminent, but don’t worry, your children will go on in your place in hopes of avenging you. Every child is unique, and while they may be genetically deficient, that’s ok because anyone can be a hero in this game. In this procedurally generated action platformer, you will fight against masters inside a castle that changes each time you die.

Sometimes, you just need a game that is easy to pick up at any time, and the actual time investment is whatever you make it. Rogue Legacy is that kind of game for me. I have beaten this game numerous times on one game file, and it got to a point where it was no longer fun playing on that specific game file. You see, each time you beat the final boss, you enter a New Game Plus, which seems to be fairly endless for the game. I can’t remember which level of NG+ I got to, but I think it was somewhere between NG6+ to NG10+ probably. With each NG+, the game gets increasingly harder. I am the type of person that does like a challenge, but I also want to enjoy myself. So, I started a new game file because I wanted the enjoyment of going through the game and leveling up the castle with zero stress.

Johannes, your ancestor, is a knight guilty of killing the king who was in search of the Fountain of Youth. Johannes has left journal entries of his adventures throughout the shape shifting Castle Hamson for anyone who comes after him to find. Now, Johannes' descendants are on a quest to make their way through the castle, gather loot, find Johannes and defeat him.

The castle, however, is filled with dangers lurking around every corner. Each section of the castle has strange enemies, unique to it, that the descendants must fight as they strive to get one step closer to coming face to face with Johannes. Before you can challenge Johannes, you must first defeat the bosses in each of the 4 sections of the castle. After defeating them, the door to Johannes will be unlocked.

In this hack and slash platformer, it doesn't really matter how many times you die. There will always be an heir to inherit your quest and continue on your legacy. Upon each death, you will choose amongst your three descendants, proceed to your family’s castle to level up skills, armor, health, and to unlock more descendants, before making your way to Castle Hamson.

Did you find a boss door before you died? You can lock the castle map to retrace your steps, but if you do this, you sacrifice the amount of loot you will acquire on this run. Loot is necessary in order to level up your family castle and to unlock armor and traits that you find throughout the castle.

This is a zero stress game for me. I can choose to speed through as many places on the map as possible with reckless abandon, or I can choose to carefully traverse each room. Am I in the mood to be reckless or am I in the mood to see how far I can go before dying? The choice is mine, and the game doesn’t punish either one. There is a sense of carefree freedom that this game brings.

Have you tried your hand at Rogue Legacy yet? If not, you should definitely give it a try.

RETRO GAME TOP PICK

METROID FUSION (SWITCH)

Being inspired and intrigued by Zach playing Metroid Dread, I decided it was my turn to experience the world of Metroid. While exploring the surface of SR388, Samus was attacked and infected by a parasitic life form called “X”. Players must now investigate the space station that has become infected with X, the shapeshifting parasites, in this side-scrolling game filled with platform jumping, shooting and puzzle elements.

Upon first impressions, I can definitely see why so many love Metroid or Metroid-like games. I have found the game design very fascinating, and that might be one of my favorite aspects of the game. I know from Zach that the Metroid games seem to follow the same play-style where Samus doesn’t have her full abilities which limits what areas you can access on the map, meaning that as you acquire more of Samus’s abilities, you can revisit old areas to find any hidden or previously locked sections. While some may find this frustrating, the puzzle lover in me is soaking this gameplay up.

Also, can we talk about the soundtrack for the game? When Zach and I are playing our own games in the same room, oftentimes, I will turn down the volume on my game if the sound is not required as sometimes I find it hard to focus if there are too many sounds going on at once. (Yes, yes. I know there is such a thing as headphones, but sometimes we just don’t want to wear them.) I usually like playing my games with the volume lower than Zach in general, and if it is a game I have played before, I don’t mind having the volume down really low. This game, however, is one that I really enjoy hearing the game’s soundtrack.

I’m not going to lie. It did take me a moment to get used to the buttons for this game. Part of that is due to my sessions playing this game being a little more spread apart because I’ve been enjoying playing Monster Hunter World so much, and I accept that. BUT, one major thing that frustrated me in regards to the game controls is this: you have to move the toggle in the direction you are wanting to jump before you hit the jump button. I was getting so frustrated on my first play session with trying to jump from one platform to another, when they were in a zig-zag layout. I was trying to move the toggle to turn the other way and press the jump button simultaneously, which only resulted in me falling from the platform instead of jumping from the platform. I was positive I was hitting the right button to jump, but I was starting to second guess myself when I just kept falling off the platform. I would check to make sure I was hitting the correct button when standing still, and sure enough I was. So, why wasn’t I able to successfully jump when on the platform?! I had to cave. I had to ask Zach what I was doing wrong, only to discover that it was something as silly as needing to turn to face the direction I wanted to jump, unlike Monster Hunter World and Rogue Legacy, where I can move the toggle and hit the jump button simultaneously.

My other frustration while playing this game is either also due to a gameplay mechanic or it is just the Switch toggle being so sensitive. Samus can point her gun to shoot in different directions - up, down, straight ahead, or diagonally up or down. There were times when I was attempting to point diagonally up or down to shoot a monster, and while Samus would be pointing her gun that way, she would also start walking, which at times, would cause me to walk into another enemy that was coming towards me accidentally. Again, I am not sure if this is the fault of the Metroid gameplay mechanics or if it is the Switch controller that is to be blamed…or I guess maybe it could just be user error…maybe.

Overall, I have really been enjoying this game, and I am excited to beat it. I will definitely be exploring other Metroid games in the future, although I might hold off on Metroid Dread for the moment because it looks a little stressful from Zach’s playthrough right now.

TABLETOP GAME TOP PICK

SAGRADA

In this dice-drafting board game, each player is working to complete their own stained glass window. Players take turns drafting dice representing glass pieces to fill their window pane. Each window has a unique set of requirements that players must follow, which means players must carefully plan each move they make while crafting one of the Sagrada Familia’s stained glass windows.

While the objective of the game stays the same, every play is different. From the randomized private and public objectives to the blindly drawn tool cards all the way down to the luck of the roll, no two games will ever be the same. While the game requires strategic planning, much of the game is left up to chance. You don’t know which colors of dice will be grabbed from the bag, and you certainly don’t know what numbers will be rolled. Throughout the game, it is really hard to tell who will win. It all comes down to the final moments when everyone is tallying up their points on the scoreboard.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, how hard can a dice game like this really be? I mean, you have a window pane that tells you the number or color for some of the dice placements. Well, let us enlighten you on where the difficulty and strategy comes into play.

Before the game starts, players are given two window panes to choose from and a private object card which tells the player which dice color they are working towards to rack up bonus points. Each window pane has its own difficulty level, and there are two sides to each pane, meaning players have a total of 4 options to choose from. You see, that is the easy part. Choose between easy, medium or hard depending on the difficulty levels shown on the panes you’ve been dealt. Reference your private objective card to see if that will also affect your decision. Depending on the difficulty level of your pane, you will be given tokens which can be used during the game to utilize one of the tool cards.

Now for the actual gameplay, which is where the challenging aspects come in. Every player must first start in a corner of their window pane. All dice placements after that must be touching that first dice. On top of that, dice of the same number or same color cannot be played orthogonally. Now are you seeing how strategy plays a part? Each round, only a select number of dice are pulled from the bag and rolled to create the draft pool for players to select dice from for their window pane. On top of that, the dice you need for your pane may be taken by another player before it is your turn to draft.

Ok, well what about those tool cards and public objects previously mentioned? The public objects are another way to rack up those bonus points at the end of the game. Public objects may include no repeating colors in a row / column, no repeating numbers in a row / column, or sets of dice numbers / colors. So on top of having restricted dice placements based on the rules, players are also considering how to rack up the most points by means of their private object and the public objects.

Now you are left to chance on if the draft pool for that round will include the number and / or color of die you are wanting or needing. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice meeting a public objective requirement in order to just fill a spot on your window pane. Other times, you may not be left with a die that you can play because it doesn’t follow the die placement rules. This is where a tool card may be able to save the day! Depending on the tool cards drawn for the game, you may be able to change the number of the die you drafted or draw a new die from the bag, although you are still left up to chance on what color that will be. To utilize a tool card, players must pay with the tokens they received at the beginning of the game based on the difficulty of their window pane. If the tool cards can’t help you out, you might just be left with a blank space on your window pane.

While the game may appear to be a simple drafting game, the placement rules, private and public objects, and tool cards bring a layer of complexity to the game, leaving players excited to play again to see how the next game will unfold. From the gorgeous game design to the carefully thought out gameplay, this game is sure to be a game that does not collect dust on your game shelf.

This game has been a crowd pleaser. Our friends love to play this game with us, but we also enjoy playing it with just the two of us. The gameplay is fun no matter if there are just 2, 4, or 6 players. The standard base game only plays up to 4 players, but Victoria recently received the expansion for her birthday back in March. This expansion allows us to play up to 6 players, which is perfect for a game night with friends or family. This is a game we would definitely recommend for family game nights.

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So there you have it - the games we have been busy playing this month. How many of these games have you played? What game(s) have been your go-to games this month? Let us know in the comments.