Anno 1800 is a real-time city building strategy game developed by Blue Byte and published by Ubisoft, released on April 16, 2019. It is the seventh game in the Anno series, taking place during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century.

Website link: https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/anno/1800

Lens 2: The Lens of Essential Experience
The essential experience of Anno 1800 is to build sprawling, beautiful and powerful cities. Players settle islands in the game and build production chains to produce goods for their population. Progress is made by advancing citizens to higher social classes by meeting their needs, from Farmers to Workers, Artisans, Engineers and finally Investors. As the player’s population grows larger and more advanced, the player will unlock new and more advanced production chains and buildings.

This sense of progression is what drives the main gameplay of Anno 1800, and players are rewarded as they progress through the different social classes. For example, upon reaching Engineers, new buildings are unlocked such as the Steam Shipyard which can build powerful new steamships, or the Oil Power Plant which provides electricity to boost productivity. Upon reaching Investors, the player unlocks the ability to build a monument known as the World’s Fair, an incredible building that is not only glamorous, but hugely beneficial to the player by giving powerful and game-changing buffs. All of these mechanics serve well to fulfill the greater purpose of allowing the player to build and sustain larger and more productive cities. It really gave me a great impetus to keep working towards progressing to the next tier to keep growing my city larger.

Lens 9: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad
Mechanics:
The Anno series has always had a unique mechanic where citizens of a social class must have all their needs fulfilled completely before advancing to the next social class. Each need would usually require a different production chain, often with new resources. Players will usually be implored to search for new resources elsewhere on other islands, settling on them and linking trade routes. If there are NPCs or pirates in their game, the player would also have to contend with potential aggressors. These other mechanics all build upon this central mechanic, which results in a very cohesive experience. It also provides a clear direction for the player to head towards.

Story:
The game features both a sandbox mode with no story and also a story campaign. Both however share a common theme of the influences of industrialisation, of how it not only leads us to progress and wealth, but also leads us to pollution and war. There are also self-contained stories in the form of expeditions, where the player sends a ship in search of new lands or rare items to collect. Each expedition plays out like a typical tabletop RPG, with random events where the player is given choices on how to proceed.

Aesthetics:
The buildings, ships and environments are all designed in painstaking detail and with great fidelity. Factories show animations of goods being loaded or unloaded, citizens roam the streets in horse-drawn carriages or Penny Farthings. All these tiny details give a level of authenticity to the world and really immerses the player in the 19th century time period. I definitely feel that Anno 1800’s strongest aspect was its graphics.

Technology:
Anno 1800 was created with the “Anno Engine” with its own terrain system that allowed for massive mountains systems and more detailed environments. Besides graphical capabilities, the Anno Engine also allows for seamless, almost-instantaneous transition between different regions in the game’s world map, which happens very often during play. Even with the addition of more regions in subsequent DLCs, the transition between them is still equally quick.

Lens 7: The Lens of Endogenous Value
In Anno 1800, there is a mechanic known as attractiveness. Attractiveness is a measure of how attractive your city is, and buildings such as the Zoo and the Museum can raise this value. Attractiveness is not just about making your city more aesthetically beautiful however. Tourists will be more likely to visit attractive cities and they provide a significant source of income. Some of these tourists are also specialists, which are powerful buffs for the player’s population or production buildings. Players are therefore encouraged and rewarded for building more beautiful cities.

Lens 8: The Lens of Problem Solving
To eventually reach the final social class of Investors, players have to overcome many problems in satisfying the needs of their population. They will have to make decisions of where certain goods should be made, setting up trade routes, the city layout etc. The player is constantly engaged with finding solutions to new problems and also other hidden problems that may arise. Expeditions also encourage the player to think ahead, anticipate what problems may occur on the voyage and try to prepare accordingly.

Lens 38: The Lens of Challenge
My main criticism with this game was a very jarring difficulty spike that came mid-game trying to progress beyond the Engineer class. Despite the fact that I was expanding slowly and fulfilling my population’s needs (and had experience with previous titles), I was still losing money for about half of my playtime at that point. I am sure that someone with a lower skill level would have likely lost. However, upon reaching Investors, my income had improved drastically and I was coasting along for the rest of the game. I definitely felt that this part was poorly designed challenge-wise and it deserves some balancing to ease the increase in difficulty.

Conclusion:
Despite my criticism above, I do feel that this game is masterfully done and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in city-building games or just looking for a relaxing game to play. This is definitely the best title in the Anno series. From a game design perspective, this game is mostly very well-designed and the developers have done a great job introducing new mechanics to enhance the game’s experience.

Detroit: Become Human is a decision-based adventure video game developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Interactive for PlayStation 4 in 2018. It explores what it means to be human in a futuristic world where humans and androids are living together. There are three main characters with different stories that sometimes intertwine, and the player gets to control them and make decisions that’ll shape the story.

Website link: https://www.quanticdream.com/en/detroit-become-human

Story

The story follows three androids: Markus, Kara and Connor. Each of them has a unique story that follows their transformation of becoming a deviant as they acquire consciousness. The game questions whether it is possible for androids to have their own emotions and thoughts, and how the public views them. There are multiple endings to the story that depends on the character’s decisions and skills.

Aesthetics

The game has beautiful 3D graphics that includes detailed environment and character designs. The looks of all characters are based on real-life actors as their facial expressions, motions and voices are captured. The game has an incredible soundtrack that is distinguishable for each character, conveying different emotions for them. Hence, the game aesthetics make the game realistic and immersive.

Mechanics

The game is mainly based on decision-making. Thus, there aren’t many mechanics related to the character’s motions. The characters can walk, run, pick up objects and even scan the environment for clues. The main mechanic is that the story branches as the player makes decisions. The character’s knowledge about an event or a location affects the available choices too, so exploring the environment is a crucial mechanic.

Technology

The studio didn’t reveal the game engine they were using, so it is assumed that they programmed one by themselves for this game. The game was first developed for PS4, but later it was ported to PC and Vulkan API was used for this purpose.

Lens 1: Emotion

Throughout the game, there are various emotions a player can experience: sadness, joy, shock, nervousness as the story unfolds. The dialogues and connections between the characters allow the player to feel empathy towards them. All characters have personal relationships and goals that the player can relate to. Thus, the player is expected to have similar emotions with the characters. For example, there is a scene where Kara and her daughter are trying to get on the bus before the time limit to escape. The player is nervous throughout the scene as he/she wants them to escape without getting caught and is happy or sad depending on whether they accomplish this goal.

Lens 2: Problem Solving

In the game, there are various stages where the player is asked to solve a specific problem, especially with Connor’s story. He is an android detective who is assigned to trace the deviants and find their hideout, so he investigates many crime scenes where deviants have been associated with. These scenes require the player to actively think and come up with solutions to achieve a better ending. However, the game does not generate new problems, so a player who already played the game before does not face a new problem when he/she plays the game again.

Lens 3: Meaningful Choices

Perhaps the most important aspect of the game is choices. As the player makes critical decisions the story takes shape. There are generally 2 to 4 options a player can choose. A short explanation is given for each option and some of the choices have time limitations. Depending on the player’s decisions, the character’s mission might succeed or fail, the relationship between two characters can be love or hatred and even some characters might die. There are also morally questionable options that make the player think about what it means to be human. Another interesting aspect is that the player is not allowed to change his/her decision once he/she makes it. So many times the player might regret his/her choice as he/she sees its consequences.

Lens 4: Character Transformation

Depending on the player’s choice, the character goes through different transformations. Markus becomes the leader of an android revolution that can be either peaceful or violent, Kara can be a distant or a loving mother figure and most importantly Connor can become a deviant or remain as a soulless machine. These changes are portrayed with arrow signals as decisions are made. For example, if an unexpected decision is made for Connor, his software instability increases as shown in picture below. These character transformations are also communicated through the dialogues and actions of the characters.

Lens 5: Time

Reaching one ending of the main story takes around 12 hours, but the player can start over and play as many times as he/she wants. The gameplay duration is sufficient to convey the message of the game as it is not too long or too short. The player can take as much as time he/she wants to explore the areas if there’s no time limit, so each player can play the game at their own pace. The time limitations for some tasks challenge the player to think/act fast, and make the game engaging and not boring.

Conclusion

Detroit: Become Human is an emotional and philosophical journey that questions what defines humanity and how AI challenges this definition. It allows the player to explore the answer to these questions at their own pace. As a story-based game, it serves it purpose of engaging the player with the characters and the story through lenses and provides a unique experience for each player.

Fate/ Grand Order (FGO): a Japanese mobile gacha game where you use different characters based on real life historical figures to clear quests battling against enemy NPCs in a turn-based RPG format. 

By all accounts, its gameplay system is quite frankly outdated, acquiring the newest highest rarity unit is at a rate considered extremely low by modern gacha standards and recent activities and events have been dolled out at an inconsistent pace! And yet, why do I feel so much fun when I play this game?

Gameplay

The gameplay is simple, field 6 different units when entering a quest, every turn choose to either activate the units’ respective abilities or go straight into battle and pick 3 out of 5 cards as shown above.  Watch the units attack the enemies with unique animations, then receive attacks from the enemies and repeat.

When it comes to daily farming quests, I simply happy tap away at the different cards, seeing the different unique attack animations of each unit.  However, when it comes to certain unique boss fights exclusive to the campaign mode, it feels like every step I take, I do not know whether the boss is going to one shot me or let me live for another turn.  I feel nothing but pure uncertainty and danger. 

Link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DmWGvfNOUE)

If I were to view it through the Lens of Action, during these boss battles, I would like to think there is a somewhat fair balance between strategic (skills, special attack usage) and basic (card selection) actions, though the strategic actions acts as more like precautionary measures towards enemies. Having said that, one has to factor in the enemies unique abilities that could also render whatever skills you use use mute, not to mention sill cooldowns.

Events

Gacha games typically have monthly events that run for a few weeks.  The most recent event that happened last year was a raid event where players “cooperate” to beat a raid boss by defeating the boss a cumulative number of times.  I quoted that specific term because it is more of a race against other players to be able to beat boss before the threshold is hit and the boss is gone.  That was the case until 1 boss in particular.

 

Link (https://fategrandorder.fandom.com/f/t/Tunguska%20Sanctuary)

In this case, there are at least 7 enemies to defeat.  You could either defeat the main boss and clear the quest in 1 turn, or you could try to clear it in 3 turns and defeat all the enemies to maximize your loot.  Essentially, if you were to 1 turn, you would be clearing the boss faster but losing out on drops.  This forced players to instead of destroying the boss within a few hours normally, to take a day and half to clear the boss.  Viewing it from the Lens of Competition vs Cooperation, you could say the players were playing both cooperatively (clearing slow enough for everyone to get drops) and competitively (clearing as much as they could before time ran out.

Story

Link(https://www.reddit.com/r/grandorder/comments/pe22qf/some_minor_but_interesting_missable_dialogue_with/)

Story has been one of this game’s strongest points.  Simply put, the story brings together all these fantastical characters in ways where even if the characters were the most vile villains known, you could not quite hate them.  This can be seen in its most recent storyline with the character Fairy King Oberon.  I won’t quite got into the specifics, but through the Lens of Emotion, I’d like to think they managed to bridge some gap between the players’ emotions and what the designers intended..

Gacha

Link(https://fategrandorder.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Marie4Life/How_to_Get_SSR_More_Easily_(maybe,_just_try_it))

Simply put, gacha is a mechanic where players acquire units via chance, essentially gambling.  When using the gacha or “rolling” here, there is no particular way to tell what you will get specifically, aside from the type and rarity.  Above indicates that you will get a unit of the highest rarity, but whether its what you were aiming for is not yet known.  This kind of randomness, can elicit excitement in possibly getting what you want, or sadness or lack of control if you fail to get it.  Aside from that, abiding by the Lens of Chance, this can also be factored in to certain effects that take place in battle that may or may not “proc” when truly needed.  In this case, players would be taking risk to survive.

Conclusion

There is much more to discuss about this game, but I will leave that for you to explore. If I had to sum up its experiences, FGO is a game with simple yet unpredictable battle system, has a deep story and cooperation via competition.  IF I had to relate to the Elemental Tetrad, the game fulfills the Aesthetics, Mechanics and Story components, but not quite that of Technology. I am certain the above 3 aspects are working in harmony with one another to deliver an enjoyable experience, and perhaps the Technology can be improved to further enhance the experience.  Granted the game was made using the Unity engine, and that it has come a long way since its roots, there is still room for some form of technological improvement. Time will tell I suppose.

Game website: https://fate-go.us/

Game is available on IOS and Android

For challenge runs using the bare minimum of units:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR1qqjQs8Fg6vcCLX3btacQ

Basically doable hard mode if you can’t get highest rarity units with the best skills.

Metroid Dread is an award-winning action-adventure game developed by MecurySteam and NintendoEPD for the Nintendo Switch. In this game, the player plays as Samus Aran, an intergalactic bounty hunter, as she explores Planet ZDR upon receiving a mysterious transmission from a source on the planet.

Based on a 2D side-scrolling platformer gameplay, this game features a large interconnected world map that the player can explore. However, many areas of the map are made inaccessible due to locked doors or obstacles which can be passed once the player unlocks certain abilities or upgrades which are acquired throughout the game by defeating challenging bosses or reaching certain locations in the game. At times, the player will be required to retrace their steps to previous locations in order to progress in the game.

Lens 9: Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

In this game, the Samus is able to move laterally with the ability to jump, crouch and slide. Her primary weapon is her arm cannon which can be aimed freely. Samus’s health and her missiles are the 2 main resources that the player has to maintain, which can be restored by reaching checkpoints or killing enemies. As Samus explores Planet ZDR, she will gain upgrades and additional abilities for her Power Suit, which can be used to interact with the environment to unlock new or hidden areas. These new abilities also help Samus to fight/fend off tougher enemies which usually requires a strategy. One such enemy would be the E.M.M.I., short for Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier, a very powerful enemy which cannot be destroyed by Samus’s normal weapons. As such, Samus can rely on her Phantom Cloak ability to make her invisible to avoid detection by them.

Story

The X Parasites are alien parasitic organisms capable of absorbing the DNAs of their hosts and replicate their forms. While living in their hosts, they could even access their memories, making them extremely dangerous. As a result, their native planet SR388 was destroyed and they are believed to be extinct. Soon after, the Galactic Federation receives a video transmission from an unknown source on Planet ZDR showing a living X Parasite that survived the destruction of SR388, which poses a threat to the entire galaxy. Samus being the only one immune to these parasites, sets out to Planet ZDR to find out if they truly still exist.

Aesthetics

Every major area on Planet ZDR has a different environment, distinct from one another yet connected by a strong sci-fi horror theme. The dark and moody aesthetics of the game, together with the grim background music and sounds, formulate a very hostile and inhospitable Planet ZDR, creating that “dread” for players. If there are moments of peace within the game, they are usually short-lived. The game also does well to quickly change the mood depending on the situation. For example, when the player encounters and gets chased by an E.M.M.I. The gloomy environment is filled with panic by blaring alarms and flashing red lights, and in that moment, the hunter becomes the hunted.

Technology

The game looks visually stunning with high levels of detail in the environment which can be seen throughout the game. Player movement is also extremely fast and fluid with Samus running over and sliding under obstacles with very precise feet and body placement. At the time of this review, the game is only playable on the Nintendo Switch, using button and joystick inputs.

Lens 6: Curiosity

Metroid Dread rewards those who are curious. There are many hidden secrets within the game, such as additional items and shortcuts. Without breaking down hidden walls or performing a series of precise manoeuvres, the player would not be able to access them. While playing this game, I found myself constantly pushing myself to figure out exactly where these secrets may be hiding and which are the actions that I have to perform to get to them.

Lens 79: Freedom

At the beginning, the game might seem linear, giving the player only one path to progress. However, once the player attains more abilities, many paths will be opened. There is no single correct path. The in-game map does not provide guidance on where to go, giving the player the freedom to create their own path. There are even areas that the player can skip entirely and still finish the game. This freedom makes each play-through a unique experience, motivating the player to play this game many times, creating new paths on every attempt.

Lens 34 & 38: Skill & Challenge

This game is challenging. Without any guiding markers in such a huge world, it is easy to see why players who are new to the Metroidvania genre lose their way while trying to progress in the game. To make things worse, even the boss fights are gruelling too. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I have died to the bosses in the game. Admittedly, a great amount of skill is needed to play this game. However, practice makes perfect. Each time the player challenges a boss and dies, he or she will understand more on how to avoid dying by studying the boss’s moves. And for those who are having problems with navigating the map, the game introduces markers which the player can use to mark out important locations within the game.

Conclusion

Metroid Dread may be a challenging game, especially for newcomers. However, it is a game that brings out our instinctive need to explore. And by encouraging practice and persistence, the player will be able to acquire the skills needed to complete the game and even possibly other games within the Metroidvania genre.