Games of the week – Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Skater XL, Mortal Shell and Darkestville Castle
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Platform: PlayStation 4, PC
Genre: Battle royale
Price: Free on PS+, £15.99 on PC
A gameshow-esque survival battle
Despite being a battle royale game, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout feels more like a bonkers game show gone perfectly wrong, with a splattering of bold colour for safe measure. It’s all online-based with no solo practice mode, so you’re thrown right into the deep end with 60 other players, battling in one of 25 mini games in order to make it to the next round. In a world filled with guns and weapons, Fall Guys takes the most family-friendly approach yet, using the natural skills of running, jumping, diving and taking hold of objects as your way to get around obstacles. The games are fun – if a little silly – and could do with a local co-op option to play against friends.
Skip to the end: Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout moves away from the usual weapon-driven beat to make a simple, family-friendly take on battle royale.
Score: 8/10
Skater XL
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Genre: Sport
Price: £34.99
A jump above the rest
Some things are best left simple, which is where Skater XL comes in, if you’re keen on the board sport and a physics-based title. There is no career mode, which actually serves to its advantage. This is all about mastering skate-boarding tricks but without the real-life pain. Tutorials are front and centre, with five glorious areas to choose from, each with a huge list of skills to learn. You can start with the basics or jump right in at the deep end, it’s that easy-going. It’s all about how your move your fingers to perform some of the amazing tricks many of us can only dream of doing in reality, so this is as close as the vast majority of us will get for now. The only real gripe is the unrealistic falls, which leave your skater staggering all over the place when hitting objects, as opposed to hitting something and showing some actual pain.
Skip to the end: Simple yet challenging skateboarding skills-based game, let down by some minor elements in the realism department.
Score: 7/10
Mortal Shell
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Genre: Action RPG
Price: £24.99
Unclear but intriguing
You will be forgiven for wondering what exactly is going on in self-described ‘soulslike’ title Mortal Shell, as the direction is not immediately clear. What does become apparent is you have the ability to take control of dead bodies from the mortal world – i.e. mortal shells (ta-da!) – four of which you will possess and make use of their different qualities. This is by far the most unique experience about the game, as well as a hardening skill, which makes you temporarily invulnerable during attacks. While we were intrigued by the direction, the map layout made it incredibly difficult and frustrating to navigate further. Game play is also quite punishing, adding to the frustration.
Skip to the end: Difficult to follow but interesting concept, even if it isn’t abundantly clear where you are going with it.
Score: 7/10
Darkestville Castle
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Puzzle adventure
Price: £11.99
The lovable demon
Darkestville Castle is a point-and-click adventure, putting you in control of cheery demon Cid, who is more cheeky than evil as demons go. He has forged quite the mischievous reputation in the titular location and resident Dan Teapot has had enough of it all, so hires a trio of demon-hunters to bring it to an end – but it doesn’t go quite as planned. Darkestville Castle is a mixture of sensory delights, with a decent voice cast and artwork, marred by troublesome challenges, which can leave you feeling pretty clueless. To progress, you need to move around and interact with different settings, using your inventory to combine items and solve puzzles, but some are so obscure, you might find yourself muttering ‘really?’ when you finally figure one out.
Skip to the end: A visually stunning and vocally spot on point-and-click adventure filled with ‘scratch your head’ obscure challenges.
Score: 7/10
