Greak: Memories of Azur vs Terraria
Greak: Memories of Azur
Greak: Memories of Azur is a gorgeous action-adventure game featuring a young boy in search of his sister in a world engulfed in turmoil, no thanks to the bloodthirsty Uglars. Playing as the boy Greak, you’ll venture across various regions in Azur, exploring every inch of it for hidden stashes, completing quests, and battling enemies along the way.The game starts off like a relatively regular action platformer, where you’ll get to jump, swing your sword around, and solve relatively simple puzzles by switching characters once you manage to reunite him with his sister. This part is actually pretty similar to the gameplay in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, a favorite of mine.
In fact, you’ll get to control both characters at the same time, which is interesting, though it does complicate things a bit during combat especially considering that the sister is a magic user and deals damage from afar while the brother is a sword-wielder and does best dealing damage from a much closer range.
In a way, Greak: Memories of Azur also feels a bit like a Metroidvania in the sense that the game hides secret chests and rare flowers in places that you, if you don’t pay too much attention, might miss. Even if you spotted the items, you will still need to figure out a way to get to them, which usually involves some creative and sometimes very precise jumping. Expect to get frustrated… a lot!
The gorgeous hand-drawn art in Greak is definitely one of the highlights of the game as well. The out-of-focus background in the distance matches well with the stuff at the front too.
In a nutshell, not only is Greak: Memories of Azur a gorgeous action-adventure game with a heartwarming story about a brother trying to reunite with his sister in a world embroiled in war and infested with dangerous creatures, it also comes with a fun gameplay that's perfectly "midcore". So, if you're into story-driven platformers, you'll want to check out this one!
Terraria
Terraria is one of the biggest breakout indie game of 2011 and, like Minecraft, is still incredibly popular until today. However, despite the many similarities between Terraria and Minecraft which is mainly because they are both sandbox games, Terraria is a definitely much more fleshed out version of Minecraft without all the 3D voxels but with 2D pixels instead. The great thing about Terraria though is that it has more of everything that Minecraft has - more recipes, more enemies, more pets, more bosses... well, like we said, more everything. The depth in Terraria is simply astounding!Combat also feels action-packed in spite of being 2D and interestingly, the game provides an immersive storyline that you can follow... again, unlike in Minecraft where you literally have to create your own story if you want all of that. The game is cross-platform game and supports multiplayer as well.
In short though, we'd say that Terraria is more suited to adventure-based RPG gameplay rather than Minecraft but unfortunately, not everyone likes its 2D looks. So, if you're a fan of Minecraft and you don't really mind 2D games, you should definitely check out Terraria. You'll be blown away by the overwhelming size of the content!