Lichdom: Battlemage (2014)

For those that may stumble upon it on sale somewhere, feel good in knowing that you are picking up a solid, and unique title, that is finally worthy of sitting on a retail shelf.

I find myself thinking back to a Gabe Newell quote from the book Half Life 2: Raising the Bar, regarding the game's large portions of missing content. "It doesn't matter what we cut, so long as we cut it and it gives us the time to focus on other things." I feel like this outlook is more pertinent than ever; there are too many games being released these days for them to waste players' time in the way Battlemage does. Editing in game design is as important as it is in writing or filmmaking. Get to the point. Respect both the time and financial investment of your audience. Above all else, don't send me chasing after the goddamn lorry.

Lichdom: Battlemage is a fun magic-driven shooter with a deep crafting system, but repetition creeps in across its 20-plus-hour playing time.

Its core combat is sensational, but Lichdom: Battlemage never evolves a proper game around it.

With an remarkably robust spell crafting system and spectacularly entertaining combat, Lichdom: Battlemage finally brings the glory to the magic user that it has long deserved. Creating your own options for how to play lends depth and complexity to the game as a whole, and lets you tailor the experience to literally any style of combat you want: stand far away and lob fireballs, or use charge blink to rush into the fray, unleashing novas along the way, and using your wits to keep yourself alive.