The Ithacan

Video game developer Remedy Entertainment loves a good pastiche.

Ubisoft’s “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” regurgitates the cliche, fictional story of a crumbling society as the same crippling epidemic from the previous game in the series brings the United States to its knees.

Resource management games can be charming to some, but Goldfire Studios’ “Exocraft” is an uninspired knockoff of many other sci-fi games.

“Metro Exodus,” a first-person shooter by 4A Games, is a deep, intoxicating inhale of contaminated air that has players fastening their gas masks and jumping straight into a world where survival is not guaranteed.

A rich landscape of beautiful, rolling hills is quickly followed by the silhouette of a man in his window — then a heart-stopping bang leads to peaceful silence.

WarGround is a free-to-play, turn-based strategy game on Steam — a platform that distributes games and related media, not unlike an online Gamestop — that offers new ideas and art styles to hide a mountain of flaws.

. The lack of a human voice diminishes the lovable lore players come back to the series to experience.

The gaming community might have a long wait ahead of it for the next part of this mysterious game, but it should be worth it.

Insomniac’s version of Spider-Man is not only the best video-game adaptation of the scarlet web-slinger but the best onscreen take on the character.

“Celeste” is a stellar, stylish and soothing game that succeeds in telling a pertinent story without succumbing to unearned truisms and clichés.

Reviews Editor Jake Leary sits down with Ithaca alumn, Fred Topel to discuss what it’s like to freelance in the crowded world of pop culture journalism and how his work at the Ithacan lead to his life in the industry.

The New Colossus” is the second act in a larger story: It ends with the promise of a future fight and consequently feels incomplete.