April is in the books, which marks the end of another month of Fantasy Critic 2025. 1/3 of the year is now complete, and with every passing week, we get closer & closer to the summer showcase window where our Publishers will either fill or nearly fill their few remaining roster spots – completing their “squad” for the season. Through the 1st third of the year, Crystal Cross Games (Eddie) has been able to hang on to his lead via his many early-season game releases. But if we look at the Projected Points column, we can see that Fantasy Critic is heavily favoring Frozen Headlights Studios (Nate) and Bearded Brethren (Adam) over the other publishers because of some very heady drafts/pickups as well as some very promising upcoming games. Let’s look at the full standings so far after the events that took place this past month.
These were the 6 games that were released in April:
- “South of Midnight” – Iota Strain (7.2 pts)
- “Blue Prince” – Bearded Bretheren (19.4 pts)
- “The Talos Principle: Reawakened” – Bearded Bretheren (18.7 pts)
- “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered” – Iota Strain (13.7 pts)
- “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” – Frozen Headlights Studios (23 pts)
- “Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves” – PixelPioneer Studios (10.8 pts)
Here are the Full League Standings as of April 30th:
The highest reviewed game this month belongs to Frozen Headlight Studios (Nate) once again (Nate’s had the highest reviewed game in February as well with “Monster Hunter Wilds”). This time it is “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” (23 pts) – a JRPG-style game from the French studio Sandfall Interactive. This game seemed to have a lot of promise upon its reveal, and the hype continued to grow every time it was shown. It seems to be justified as the reviews have been very high and have propelled the 30-person development studio into the spotlight!
The 2nd highest reviewed game this month belongs to “the other” Projected Points leader in Bearded Brethren (Adam). His pickup of a smaller, lesser-known title, worked out greatly in his favor as “Blue Prince” (19.4 pts) racked up some big points for his publisher. Reviewers and Players alike have been raving about the addicting and puzzling qualities in this roguelike, mansion builder / puzzle game. Adam also enjoyed (18.7 pts) from his flex pick of “The Talos Principle: Reawakened” – a very solid score for this remaster.
The newest game that shadow-dropped into our lives but didn’t catch Iota Strain (Luke) by surprise was, “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered” (13.7 pts). In a weird move by Fantasy Critic, this was originally able to be slotted into one of Luke’s normal roster spots, but then later upon its official announcement was declared to be a ‘Remake’ and thus had to be pushed to Luke’s Flex game if he was going to continue to keep it. He did, and now he’s enjoying the points as well as probably enjoying this beautiful remake of the Xbox 360 classic!
Now, we move to May and the games that we can look forward to this month. There will be six (6) games dropping this month, and strangely all of them will be releasing on or after the 15th. They are:
- “DOOM: The Dark Ages” (May 15th) Dougsvest Digital
- “Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker” (May 20th) PixelPioneer Studios
- “Monster Train 2” (May 21st) Crystal Cross Games
- “Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3” (May 28th) PixelPioneer Studios
- “to a T” (May 28th) Bearded Brethren
- “Elden Ring: Nightreign” (May 30th) Ranch Walker
Where should we start? I think I’ll focus on these three things:
1st – The Doom Slayer is back! But this time we’ll be participating in a Prequel story that involves Medieval armor, dragons, and of course, Kaiju-sized mechs! What’s interesting for me here, are two things: Will this title live up to the very high standard that critics have for ID software games, and the Doom series? And also, will this score well as Dougsvest Digital’s (Micah) very first game of the 2025 season to be released. This could be the start of his runback as reigning champ!
2nd – Next, we have the battle of the smaller titles with BIG DREAMS! “Fuga: Melodies of Steel 3” (PixelPioneer Studios) is trying to complete a trilogy of strategy & tactical turn-based RPG games on a very high note – VS – the sequel to the surprising, roguelike, deck-building card game, “Monster Train 2” (Crystal Cross Games) – VS – a brand-new indie game from Keita Takahashi [creator of ‘Katamari Damacy’] and a game which recently got some shine on PlayStation’s last State of Play “to a T” (Bearded Brethren). All these games have the potential to be critical darlings, but which will rise to the top!
3rd – Lastly, we cannot forget about Ranch Walker’s (Marhsall) 1st round draft pick and From Software’s first foray into pure multiplayer gaming, “Elden Ring Nightreign”. By the end of May, we will know if the risk of trying something different and catering to a slightly different crowd was worth it. Or maybe we will see that From fans will play and enjoy multiplayer focused experiences just as much they would a single-player, story driven experience, as long as the same care and effort (which From’s development teams are known for) is still shown through the game.
Okay – sorry that this is getting to you a day or two late. I am about to enjoy a little vacation time with my wife, so please think of me this upcoming week when you are bogged down with work and frustrated with the world! Hopefully, knowing that I’m not working AT ALL and that I’m probably sleeping in and/or relaxing by a beach will ease your frustrations. LOL
Take care & God Bless,
Alex C.
UP TO DATE – DCL 2025 Round 1 Draft Choices:
- Bearded Brethren – “Grand Theft Auto VI”
- Iota Strain – “Fable” DELAYED TO 2026
- PixelPioneer Studios – “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond”
- Dougsvest Digital – “Unannounced Mainline 3D Mario Platformer”
- Crystal Cross Games – “Ghost of Yotei”
- Suladin Software Ltd – “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach”
- Ranch Walker – “Elden Ring: Nightreign” [coming soon]
- Frozen Headlights Studios – “Mario Kart World”
- Agon Analytics – “Avowed” [81]
Deer Critics League 