Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Preview – A Metroidvania tinged with melancholy

Microsoft has announced the first wave of titles coming to Game Pass in May. It’s kicking things off early with Have A Nice Death, a 2D action rogue-like available today on console, PC and the cloud.

The Xbox Game Pass library has expanded to include Have a Nice Death. The stylish and scintillating roguelike is the 17th new title to reach Xbox Game Pass in April 2024.

Five more games have been confirmed for Xbox Game Pass as part of the latest ID at Xbox showcase, including one that can be played today. When it comes to new Xbox Game Pass games, fans are treated to a huge variety of titles. Some of the games that are added to Xbox Game Pass are massive, AAA games with blockbuster budgets, but other times, they are smaller-scale indie games.

The horror veterans at Bloober Team have partnered with a Take-Two Interactive subsidiary on a new game based on an original IP. Bloober Team itself recently confirmed the existence of this mysterious project, in addition to providing a status update on one other yet-to-be-revealed game that it currently has in the works.

A newly announced Stardew Valley mod seeks to introduce a variety of Baldur's Gate 3-inspired content to the game. The ambitious project could hence add to the ever-growing list of community-created Stardew Valley add-ons, assuming it manages to realize its avid aspirations.

Tech Glitch, an indie title developed for Xbox, is now completely free to play, and it's filled with easy achievements. Many may not be familiar with the likes of Tech Glitch, but the deal is a perfect opportunity for those looking to rack up some serious points that are also low-effort.

Xbox Game Pass members can play Another Crab's Treasure as part of their subscription starting today, April 25. This day-one addition to the Xbox Game Pass library arrives in the form of a colorful action RPG with an important message about environmental preservation.

is celebrating its 20th anniversary with three epic expansions which will tie together to form, the first of which is coming later this year with the release of the expansion. While the overarching narrative will be one that looks at the greater picture of with Azeroth's history, Titans, and what is going on with the Sword of Sargeras, will have a more enclosed story going on in a new area.

We are in the midst of a Metroidvania renaissance. Metroid: Dread, Ori, Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and more have kept fans of the genre fully satiated in recent years. 2024 has already seen the launch of one of the genre’s best in Price of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Loss is inevitable, and yet, knowing that makes it no less difficult. Grief is all but guaranteed to touch your life — to touch my life. And, most certainly, it already has. That assuredness — that we’ll all be touched by death — is part of the reason so much art is dedicated to interrogating those feelings. For so long, video games have been one medium that, for all its death, dying, and multiple lives, had not quite unpacked the emotion of grief. There was little reason to: When you die in a video game, you always come back to life. The danger of death amounts to nothing but a few hearts on a screen, a number. Oftentimes, it’s encouraged. The more kills you get, the better. Death is not something to mourn there, but a celebration. But this isn’t a universal truth across all games. More and more video games are exploring what it means to lose — no longer just a level, but the more tangible, life-altering loss. It’s games like Spiritfarer, a “cozy management game about dying,” which is about life after death; What Remains of Edith Finch, about the stories that are left behind; or A Mortician’s Tale, which has you going hands-on with death. You’ll find grief in games, too, that are not explicitly about loss; like I said, it’s inevitable.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau MSRP $20.00 Score Details Pros

There's something about playing Tales of Kenzera: ZAU that never feels quite right. Whether it's the slow, sluggish controls or frustratingly frequent one-hit kills, reaching any sort of flow state where you're vibing and jiving with the latest EA Originals title is nigh-on impossible. It's a very stop-start experience at odds with the usual hallmarks of the Metroidvania genre, instead spotlighting a touching, personal tale of parental loss. Such a heavy narrative focus is no bad thing, but with little gameplay satisfaction to count on between plot points, it feels so lopsided that anything else comes across as an afterthought.