MONTHLY FAVES: MAY 2023 GAMING TOP PICKS

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

MAY 31, 2023

We're not gonna lie. May has felt like a hectic month for us, but we are excited to share with you our May 2023 gaming top picks. This month threw us a couple unexpected curve balls. Let's get started and dive right in with our Co-Op Game of the Month.

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CO-OP TOP PICK

DEEP ROCK GALACTIC (PS4)

If we are being completely honest, this month’s cop-op game has us feeling a little so-so about it. We did enjoy it, but we feel that our time restraint on how often and how long we were able to play this game that is new to us affected our impression of the game. If given more time, we think this game could be one that we might find ourselves picking up more often here and there to play together.

Team up with other dwarven miners in this delightful resource gathering and alien bug slaying game where players are employed by a powerful corporation sending its workers to alien planets to harvest the valuable minerals found in the deepest reaches of the hostile planet, Hoxxes IV. Choose your miner according to your playstyle and team up with others to uncover the procedurally generated caverns that provide a fresh experience in every mission, with varying sets of objectives to complete and unique weapons to dispose of the nasty critters below that take extreme offense to the drilling operations underway. Collect what your team needs and then get out before the horde of menacing alien bugs can overwhelm you!

If we had to rate this game, we would give it a 7.5/10. Would we play the game again? Most definitely. Is there a chance that our opinion of the game will change as we progress further and upgrade our gear? Of course! This is a game that requires lots of grinding, which we aren't necessarily opposed to, but due to the limited time we had to play each time we did sit down to play this game, we felt our overall experience with the game was not what it could have been.

There’s multiple types of mining missions, which on one hand is amazing as you aren’t doing the same old thing over and over again, but on the other hand, each mining mission you are trying to figure out what exactly you are supposed to do, so there’s a bit of a learning curve each time. The game also doesn’t hold your hand. Every aspect of the game is about attempting to do something and finding out if it will work. At times, we found this stressful. For example, back at base, we visited the forge, and it said to promote your miner in order to use the forge. How the heck do you promote your miner? Do you have to reach a specific level and upon reaching that level will you be prompted to promote your miner? Later Victoria discovered there were perk points - would these allow you to promote your miner after redeeming them? Well, so far, the answer is no.

Overall, the co-op experience for the game was mostly good, but there were some minor connectivity issues present that left us a little frustrated during a couple of our play times. We found ourselves not loving it as much as we hoped, but we do not think that is the fault of the game itself. This is a game that we think has great potential, but we feel it requires more time than we were able to give it this month.

ZACH'S TOP PICK

ZELDA BOTW (SWITCH)

I have something to admit. My first play-through of Breath of the Wild left me very disinterested in the future of The Legend of Zelda. Sometime during that first play of the game, I had completely bored myself with what felt like a long list of completion tasks-just for the sake of collecting them all. Not only did this become very boring, I started nit-picking at all of the little annoyances of the game I could find. When this starts to happen…I need a break.

Instead of the small break, I was so frustrated with certain aspects of the game that I decided it was time to put the game down for the foreseeable future. A few years down the road…and I start seeing advertisements for the next game in the franchise- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I immediately felt disgust-all of my bad memories of Breath of the Wild came cropping back up-I really had no desire to play the game. This brings me to the present, where I am now in possession of the newest title by way of a birthday gift from my mom. A little while ago before the gift was given to me, my awesome mom sent me a message. I’ll paraphrase a bit here: “do you have this game yet???”

Immediately I knew that my mom was thinking about me and the gift she was looking into. This triggered something different in the back of my mind…I might need to give this series another shot- specifically with Breath of the Wild. I have been playing the Legend of Zelda since childhood you see… my grandfather Bowman wanted to give me a crack at this game on his NES. The original Nintendo console features a lot of gaming memories and nostalgia for me-but this game started my obsession with the Legend of Zelda. I followed the series from there to almost all titles in between the first and now the latest, with my favorite title being The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (still my favorite title of the series). On a whim, I decided to start Breath of the Wild again-and I mean truly start again. I began a new game, wiping the saved data that I had from my first play of the game. Some may think this is a little crazy- but I was fully intent on giving the game another shot-before jumping into the newest title with the wrong mindset about the current games in the series.

It was here, in the beginning of a fresh new game, that I took a different approach to the gameplay. What could help rekindle my love for this game? The key to helping me accomplish this is in the settings, plain and simple. My long time gaming partner, good friend, and fellow Legend of Zelda fan-Patrick Carter- gets full credit on this one. He explained to me when I first played that I would want the “Pro” setting for the HUD display when playing. This simple setting is the default in a new game. Pro mode for the HUD display severely limits the information available on the screen. Life, displayed in hearts. That’s it- stamina shows when being used. Normal mode for the HUD display gives everything- a mini map, a temperature gauge, a noise meter, and a button guide to remind the player of the control scheme. I rocked that normal setting in my first playthrough- I had grown used to this setting being a given in any open world game I had ever played- it was my brain telling me that I somehow “needed” that stupid mini-map, and all of the other junk cluttering the screen.

All the clutter…and no immersion. Eventually in the normal mode, everything quickly started feeling like a chore-with my hand being held every step of the way. I knew where to go, when the temperatures were getting too extreme, and if I needed to slow down because of the noise level, all I had to do was keep an eye on the noise meter. I was so busy creating my “perfect” gameplay experience, that I forgot how to slow down and enjoy the game-being able to fully immerse myself in the world of Hyrule. It turned out that a true adventure for me is cutting through all of the obvious tools and help- in this playthrough- I chose the pro mode for HUD display. Hearts only left more room for the full view of the game on the screen- without all of the clutter. All of a sudden…this started to feel like the Legend of Zelda I used to know from so many years ago. I was hooked, and over the next few weeks it was really the only game I could pick up to have another dive in the world of Hyrule to defeat the Calamanity, and ultimately defeat Ganon.

I am on the verge of approaching the end of the game, and I can confidently say that I have changed my opinion of Breath of the Wild. It has gone from one of my least favorite titles in the series, to easily in my top 5-10 Legend of Zelda games. Still not at the top, but good enough to remind me that I can still enjoy the game series again-sometimes I just need the right approach to a good adventure, one filled with wonder, danger, and surprises around a large world, begging to be explored and secrets to discover and puzzles to solve. It is time to beat the game, and you what? I didn’t collect all of the items, I didn’t find all of the armor, I didn’t find every shrine. You know what else? I couldn't care any less that every secret was found- I enjoyed the game without feeling like I had to be a completionist-it’s just not my style. Cannot wait for the new game! I’ll be jumping into Tears of the Kingdom soon, so be on the lookout!

VICTORIA'S TOP PICK

FIRE EMBLEM: AWAKENING (3DS)

Ah, where do I begin? This game was my introduction into the Fire Emblem series and tactical RPGs in general. I had heard Zach talk about this game before, but growing up, my family had zero Nintendo consoles. A few years into our marriage, Zach got me my very own 3DS XL, and I was finally able to try my hand at this game that Zach had talked about. Fast forward to now, and I am revisiting the game for either my third or fourth play-through. I have played a few of the other Fire Emblem games that have been released, but this is the one I keep yearning to play again and again after playing the newer ones.

In Fire Emblem Awakening, your character awakens in a world that is on the verge of war, and guess what…you have amnesia. There are details about your past that you can’t remember. You join Chrom’s, the prince of Ylisse, forces as his Tactician and grow your team to battle the evil forces that span entire kingdoms. Throughout the game, you are battling to save Ylisse from the Fell Dragon, destroyer of human-kind.

Carefully select your units, weapons, and moves in this in-battle strategy game that features unique character customization. Pair units together either based on stats to produce a more powerful or well-rounded unit that is their child, or pair together simply based on dialogue interactions - the choice is yours. I tend to go with a mix of both - mostly based on stats, but I do consider character interactions when pairing to some degree.

Each time I return to this game, I try to experiment with my play-style, although I will always play on the Casual Hard Mode. Say what you will, but I know that I will not actually enjoy the game if I play on the Classic Mode where my units will die off. I am all about playing a game in a way that you find most enjoyable. For me, that means playing Casual instead of Classic in the Fire Emblem games.

From my very first time playing this game, there were distinct characters that I enjoyed having on my team due to their stats and abilities, and, well, there were ones that I certainly did not enjoy and purposefully shied away from using... *cough, cough, Miriel*. Each time I return to this game, I try to give the characters that I shied away from a new chance, even though I am still drawn to the characters I loved using when I first played the game. For example, Miriel drives me nuts! There are so many magic users you can have on your team, and she is always the one I leave on the bench. And, if I had to choose between Cordelia or Sumia, I would choose Cordelia every single time. Her stats are better and she is not annoying like Sumia is. That doesn’t mean I don’t use Sumia. You better believe I am leveling her up as a Dark Flier so I can get Galeforce, but I am more inclined to use Cordelia over Sumia if I had to choose.

Unlike my previous play-throughs, this time, I have been experimenting with reclassing characters a LOT more. Gaius I took from Thief to Trickster to Assassin. With Tharja, I took her from Dark Mage to Dark Night so she could get Lifetaker, and now she has been reclassed to Sorcerer, which is the class that I think best suits her. I’ve been pushing myself to level my characters up to get their best skills before going to get their kids because I want to see how strong I can make my units. I even fully leveled Miriel up to level 20 as a Mage before using a Master Seal on her, which I think normally I would just try to get her to level 10, because I dreaded using her. Oh, and I actually got Donnel this time instead of passing over him, although I am still not sure what I think of him yet.

Out of the few Fire Emblem games I've tried, this one is my favorite. Maybe thats just because it's the first one I played in the series. Who knows? Awakening just seems to have the perfect balance of story telling, to play style customization with the ability to reclass units however many times you want, to actual battle options to level up your units outside of the main story game play.

RETRO GAME TOP PICK

YS ORIGIN (PC - STEAM)

So here is where the second curveball from this month comes into play (if you didn't catch the first one, we'll fill you in...it was the co-op game for this month and how we didn't end up loving it as much as we had hoped).

At the beginning of the month, Zach was pretty confident he would be returning to this game a lot as he didn't foresee BOTW sucking him in as it did. Zach found himself primarily in the mood to play BOTW instead of Ys this month, and we don't believe in forcing a game play when you aren't feeling it. That's a sure ticket to burn out. We are all about playing a game for enjoyment, not to meet deadlines or because you feel you "have to".

So with that being said, Zach is going to hold off on writing about this game. While he has played through the game before, he didn't feel he could justly write about the game this month since he did not end up playing it as much as he had hoped. Keep an eye out in the future to see Zach dive into his thoughts about this game. For now though, here is the short synopsis Zach wrote about the game earlier this month.

Ys is a large series of action role-playing games that feature a wealth of characters and fascinating locations, with plenty of enemies to cut down as the hero discovers the large expanse of ruins and temples.

In Ys Origin, the player must choose one of two heroes, Yunica Tovah or Hugo Fact. Yunica excels in strength, welding an ax to protect her from the dangers of the tower, while she is woefully inadequate in the mysteries of magic. Hugo forgoes the physical prowess in exchange for heightened magical abilities, wielding a staff as his weapon of choice to enhance his spell casting.

Zach chose Yunica and her ax to take on the challenges of the mysterious and dark tower that was built to reach the holy cities in the sky-the last stronghold of the good in the world since the surface was completely corrupted and destroyed by evil magical forces and fiends.

Again, stay tuned for when Zach fully dives into this game at a later time.

TABLETOP GAME TOP PICK

ARKHAM HORROR

Reality is quickly deteriorating into a twisted version of your darkest horrors, controlled by unknown mythic forces. A city is troubled with gruesome deaths and mysterious events, and only a select skilled and dedicated sleuths can discover the source of these strange occurrences.

Let us introduce to you Arkham Horror: Night of the Zealot, a deckbuilding, role-playing, strategizing beauty of a card game by Fantasy Flight Games that has completely captured our interest in tabletop gaming this month. The struggle is real, and the effort is worth climbing the learning curve to get the hang of taking on the dark mysteries of Arkham, Massachusetts. In this game you play alone or with up to 4 players, working to advance the act deck-all while the agenda deck continues to progress and encounters with the arcane work against you in a race against time as reality continues to slip away, revealing the horrors from another dimension.

The fragile dimensional border of reality has a slight crack, growing ever wider as mysterious events continue to unfold in Arkham, calling forth a set of investigators intent on discovering the mystery- before it is too late and madness takes its toll. Rife with difficult arcane encounters that players must deal with to progress and keep sane while reality melts before their eyes.

When we say this game has a learning curve, we aren't kidding. This game had us questioning if we were even playing it right almost the entire time, which you'd think that were turn us off from the game. Nope. We were hooked. Frustrated, but hooked. Our competitive nature took hold and we were constantly striving to come out on top. Spoiler, we lost the campaign both times we played and there were definite areas that we realized we were playing wrong.

You know how Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring are all games that, going into it, you know your butt is going to be handed to you? Yeah, Arkham Horror is essentially like that. But it's addictive! This living card game has enthralled us. It's unlike the majority of tabletop games we own. After our first campaign, we realized that Fantasy Flight had released a second edition that had way more upgrade cards than the first edition, we like to think it's because the first edition, the one we own, is almost impossible without those extra cards. We are just going to keep telling ourselves that so we feel better about ourselves. We decided that we wanted an expansion pack to beef up our decks a little for a second play-through of the campaign. We still lost, but we feel like we are figuring out how to better play so that our next campaign will be successful...hopefully.

This game is not for the faint of heart. It can be frustrating when you are learning to play. We had more questions than answers on some occasions. We had disputes on how to play because we both interpreted the directions differently. This was something we played over multiple sessions. It is challenging. But, if you like campaign games, we think it's worth a try. It might just suck you in like it did us.

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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.