Mark Isaacson
Tiny Metal is an admirable return to the traditional turn-based strategy genre. There's enough of a challenge both in the campaign and skirmish mode to keep players happy for a good while, but the lack of any sort of multiplayer at launch hurts its overall score.
Fans of Control or those simply curious about who ‘that Alan Wake guy’ is would do well to pick this remastered edition up. At a solid asking price, it’s a fantastic narrative experience that’s worth playing even with the janky older controls, while returning fans will get a kick out of reliving the experience on modern hardware.
Pure joy from start to finish, Moonglow Bay delights in its colour and story with some well executed fishing mechanics.
Happy Game will leave you wanting more yet still be satisfied with its creativity and pure manic sense of being.
Solar Ash is a neon dream that will not fail to delight fans of Hyper Light Drifter and beyond.
If a challenge is what you’re after, you’ll find it within Aeterna Noctis. There’s still plenty to appreciate and enjoy if that’s up your alley, but it doesn’t do enough to allow its concept to stand out from the competition.
A welcome return by Drinkbox Studios, in a title that manages to entertain on various fronts. It's an action RPG definitely worth diving into a dungeon for, with a lot more exploration needed for those looking for every secret.
It’s hard not to be impressed, despite the lack of multiplayer features, with OlliOlli World's wonderful take on skateboarding and its creative storytelling.
Grapple Dog is a lot of fun, and for platform fans new or old it should provide plenty of entertainment. But the concept doesn’t push the ingenuity slider high enough, and many of its other tricks have been used aplenty elsewhere.
This isn’t the PlatinumGames experience I expected, and that’s the most depressing part of it all. An absolute waste of potential that should have been far greater than this mess of a release that will quickly be forgotten.
Tunic surprises and delights. It doubles down on its environmental storytelling which may put off those looking for a cruisy experience, but true adventurers will be well pleased with the little fox and his quest.
There’s plenty of space for engaging narratives that don’t rely on traditional gameplay and opportunities to craft smaller tales. A Memoir Blue manages both very well in the process of pulling at the heart strings in just the right way.
I really did want to enjoy Ann’s story, it’s visually beautiful and has some clever little in-game tricks to its aesthetics. It’s just a damn shame the narrative couldn’t quite keep up, leaving ANNO: Mutationem a visually stunning but muddled, confusing game.
If you enjoy clever puzzlers or first person, narrative-driven tales, Eternal Threads should be on your radar. Some of the tales at play can be confronting, but playing with time and discovering the outcomes has rarely felt so enthralling.
It’s just disappointing that a lack of polish and modern sensibilities hinder the product at all turns, leaving what could have been a chunky and ambitious slice of indie action horror down a path forgotten and overshadowed.
Neon White perfectly captures the sense of speed without compromising on accuracy or enjoyment. It’s a ride that’s worth playing, whether to appreciate its finely tuned level design, its enjoyable narrative or that sense of accomplishment when you best a run on the first try.
It still amazes me that TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge is real, but the eight-year-old within me is incredibly glad it is. Reliving the classic arcade games with a whole new lens made me smile from ear to ear, but newcomers and youngsters alike should find Story Mode a good way to introduce themselves to the wild, brawler antics. It’s a must play, even beyond the wonderful nostalgia factor.
Stray is everything I wanted from it, an enjoyable and engaging journey across a well told tale that is every bit as cute as it is mysterious. More importantly, it made me feel empowered and brave in the face of uncertainty – I can’t remember the last time I’ve audibly cried out in delight so many times in the space of a few hours. Cuteness overload, no doubt.
Cult of the Lamb stands as a true masterpiece of not one but two genres. I just couldn't find any issues that got in the way of my enjoyment of its various mechanics, and the love I have for my clan will continue long past the final boss encounter.
If you loved the original Life is Strange, We Are OFK should be on both your list of games to play and most definitely on your music playlist. It's a banger, though it should be said, Debug deserves its own game.