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Aphelion is a gripping tale about two people, not just about surviving on an alien world, but also reuniting with each other. Although some players may find the gameplay too basic, those who love a good story will find themselves hooked from beginning to end. DON’T NOD have once again shown that they are masters when it comes to engaging narratives. So, with all that said, Aphelion receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
I enjoy the concept however, I felt that most of my time was spent too much messing around with roads and the turn-styles. With one glaring issue being setting rules for Humus’ to enter specific paths, but you aren’t able to actually stop them from entering your desired building. Well not without creating even more complicated routes. Being able to switch between both the Overworld and Underworld is interesting, but I wish there was a lot more to interact with in the Overworld. Like, actually moving the Humus to look around. Sintopia can feel rather slow at times, especially when starting out a new world. But when it does get going it is enjoyable. There is a learning curve, that I usually struggle with when it comes to these types of games. And this time it is the aforementioned roads and pathways, so that I can separate Humus better when needing to cure specific sins. So I will be giving Sintopia the Thumb Silver Award. This is a game that you will need to have a little bit of patience with.
First and foremost, Replaced is stunning to say the least, but what it does in visuals, it heavily disappoints in gameplay. Most of the players time is spent running through large corridors or vents that seem to go on, and on until R.e.a.c.h. drops into a swarm of enemies. Tie that with the constant avoid the spotlight segments and the whole game just tends to drag on. With some chapters being needlessly long or some too short and just padded for no reason. The best examples of this are chapters 2, 4, and 6. When it comes to chapter 2 and 4, R.e.a.c.h. is at the Station and here he can do exactly 2 side quests in each. But to go as far as have the whole area as a chapter seems odd. Chapter 6 however, go on for too long for only a slight sniff of story to be actually meaningful in the last couple of areas. There is a lot that could have been cut down. On the actual combat side of things, it flows okay, but nothing we haven’t seen before. It is mainly there to break up the abundance of running and platforming. It feels as if the story suffers the most in all this, with anything meaningful actually happening until the end of chapter 6 out of 10. I am giving Replaced the Thumb Culture Silver Award. Because Although the visuals are beautiful, it really gets destroyed by the boring and repetitive gameplay.
I enjoyed my time with Crime Simulator. Mostly… Whilst it’s undeniably better with friends, the solo experience grew tiresome after around 10 hours. If you can grab three other people, then this is absolutely a game worth looking into for some chaotic fun. If you’re strictly single player, then it’s harder to recommend. It can be satisfying to learn from your mistakes and pull off flawless heists, but as I said, it can get repetitive after a while. For those reasons, I’ll be awarding Crime Simulator the Thumb Culture Silver Award!
As a shooter, Mouse P.I. For Hire, fits well with its decent arsenal of weapons for you to use. The level design is amazing with Tinsel Avenue probably being my favourite location, and driving around the overworld looks so damn good. Enemy variety keeps you engaged even if they don’t really require you to switch up for strategy, with the Devarnisher, literally melting most of them. There are plenty of Easter eggs, nods and references everywhere the player looks, showing just how much detail this game offers in the environments alone. Boss fights are fun and some offer a better challenge than just running around gunning. Although The final boss felt a little long but was still enjoyable in the end. And with all my cases closed, I would say that Mouse P.I. For Hire deserves the Thumb Culture Gold Award. I do wish that we could have replayed the levels, and maybe a beige and black art colouration was available in the settings.
KuloNiku: Bowl Up! honestly bet any cozy game that I’ve played so far this year. It eased my mind with how I unlock new dishes with the Cooking Mama mechanics. And just like Cooking Mama, it inspired me to make those same dishes and enjoy the same efforts I get in-game. The time spent was each character and the silliness that they invited into the game was superb. With my favorite character in the game being Ume and our orange cat which I named Ka-rat. There are cozy games that invite you to its world to escape the craziness of our real world. However, a cozy game that can bring the feeling of accomplishment and realism with these dishes is a true treasure. I highly recommend to anyone who misses playing Cooking Mama to give this game a shot. I give KuloNiku: Bowl Up! the Thumb Culture Platinum Award!
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is going to be the one game I’ll be coming back to daily during my breaks and lunches. Watching some Mii become friends, making games that make you ask “I beg your finest pardon!?” If you have friends who get the game and you want to bring over your Mii, you’ll need to be near one another. Or you can have the choices they made about their Mii and copy their choices. There are a few things that annoyed me about this version of the game: the lack of visiting friend’s islands or exchanging Miis unless you are next to one another. We’ve had examples that Nintendo can do it, but just choose not to do it. Sure they’ll be the same, but they’ll be completely different in their code. Now go out there and create the island life Animal Crossing wouldn’t give you! I give Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
From a twenty minute intro to an over 5 hours long chapter, Poppy Playtime has developed into a mammoth of a series. I’m really glad I got to experience this game franchise in quite a signficant chunk. As mentioned, if I played this game in time with each release, I don’t think I would have been invested and the story has quite the potential to fall flat. It was an okay experience. There were parts that I really really loved (looking at you Doey) and parts that I hated. The game as a whole isn’t bad but I feel like the story is overly convoluted at this point. It almost has too much going on at this point but isn’t doing much with the gameplay to make up for how futuristic and developed the technologies are in the lore. Ultimately, I’m going to give Poppy Playtime the Thumb Culture Gold Award. I’m excited to see what happens in chapter six and how everything actually closes out!
I would say the story was rather predictable, but regardless of this, the ending I unlocked was still emotional and beautiful. Especially that last photo scene. OPUS: Prism Peak has a fun set of characters and does well to tell its story. The gameplay is simple, although certain segments seem like a bit of a chore to actually play. No issues while playing, besides the goat character not being sat in a chair properly. OPUS: Prism Peak is definitely worth your time and deserves the Thumb Culture Gold Award. Although I don’t think I will be doing another run through it anytime soon. But on the other hand, I might also check out their other work.
The investigation side of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is interesting and engaging, with making the player look around the environments thoroughly. Also, offering two paths per section adds great reason to do another go around. It was a shame I couldn’t finish the game due to chapter five becoming a major headache of problems. Some of these were items that spawned back in areas upon reloading the game. Not being able to move further due to damage, and lastly, placing key items in the correct places and not yielding any results. My computer also suffered hard frame drops when doing a sonar pulse in chapter 5. To the point, I would have to wait a few minutes for things to settle, even when my character was standing still. For the story so far, I wouldn’t say the story is all that interesting and kinda feels told around chapter 3, which makes playing later chapters a bit of a slog. So as the game is, I will be giving Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, the Thumb Culture Silver Award. It was okay, just not overly filling they Lovecraftian theme for me.
Overall, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Cleaning Up! will be the first game I turn to when I need to destress or take my mind off of things. The game knows that it’s a quick and charming game that doesn’t require much brainpower, and it takes full advantage of that. Whether you’re comfortable in bed or playing something on the bus, Cleaning Up! is an excellent way to pass the time. While Cleaning Up! doesn’t do anything new, it polishes everything it takes from games of the same genre to deliver something cozy and addictive. Because of this, I give the game the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Even if you’re a veteran spook master, I would still recommend Ghost Master: Resurrection. Controls can feel a little awkward on console, and the tutorials could do with improving. However, this was still an enjoyable, light-hearted journey down memory lane. If you’ve never given the original Ghost Master a try, Resurrection is definitely a game worth playing! I’m just glad it’s not an outright horror title, or I’d have been too scared to finish the review… So, for those reasons, Ghost Master: Resurrection receives a frightful Thumb Culture Gold Award!
And so, Angel Engine‘s life draws to a shockingly quick close. But what will be its eternal reward? On the side of virtue, Angel Engine has solid visual and audio presentation and does a great job of introducing mechanics without overexplaining them. On the side of vice, it features a gameplay loop that is more frustrating than frightening, and a confusing, vague narrative that talks horror at you without letting you experience it. And while the time I spent with it was brief, I don’t really find myself craving more. So I, The Lord Of All Video Games For Time And Eternity, deliver final judgement. For being a competently made, but not particularly exciting or frightening game, Angel Engine shall spend the rest of eternity in a Nantucket dive bar, where the water is a little too warm and the grilled cheese is a little too cold. And so the Lord spake, and it was good. In all seriousness, I’d recommend Angel Engine if you’re a superfan of the series. Otherwise, I’d suggest waiting for a sale.
My final thoughts, in simple terms, are that Legacy of Kain: Ascendance does not do this long-standing series justice. Not in voice acting, not in story, not in graphics, in gameplay, or any other metric by which games are judged. I hope that game developers and publishers realize that there is a passionate fan base out there eager for more Raziel and Kain adventures, unveiling Nosgoth’s misty past, present, and future. Legacy of Kain: Ascendance gets the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
Overall, I believe Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together has the bones to be able to be a good game. However, in its current state, I would say it has released more in early access rather than a full game release. The principles of what is being suggested sound like a game which will develop into being the forefront of the cooking simulation genre. However, it is quite a far way from being that at this moment. It must be said that Big Cheese Studios are hot on fixing issues, with there being 3 updates within a matter of days. I am curious to see how the game develops with these fixes; however, in its current state, I will have to award Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together with the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Like a bowl of soup, The House of Hikmah is a satisfying blend greater than the sum of its parts. It takes a hearty stock of engaging story and builds upon it, with beautiful graphics, challenging puzzles, and atmospheric music. And while you may encounter occasional glitches, nothing should be too hard to swallow. In fact, it’ll likely leave you wanting a second helping. I greatly enjoyed my time in The House of Hikmah and I believe you will too. I give it the Thumb Culture Gold Award and my personal recommendation.
Overall it was not that bad, and comes across as rather educational. I would have loved to have played this while in R.E. at high school. As someone who doesn’t follow an any religion, so I could not say if the game follows the New Testament correctly. But ignoring the odd A.I. voices and some uncanny valley looking models, I Am Jesus Christ is enjoyable. Gameplay is fun and simple, and the short mini-games help break up the dialogue between quests. I wouldn’t mind seeing other sims games tell the story of other religious stories, like Muhammed, Dalai Lama, or others from the Bible itself. So I will be giving it the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
There are an overwhelming number of games hitting early access or simply releasing under the radar. Occasionally you find something that feels familiar but fresh that you didn’t expect. I came in expecting more of the same but was pleasantly surprised at the draw it had on me. Grind Survivors is available on multiple platforms as a full release. If you’re looking for a new bullet-hell to sink your teeth into, it’s well worth your time picking up. It offers a variety of loot, builds, characters and ways to modify runs to suit the playstyle or build you want to focus on. I’m definitely going to have to go with the Thumb Culture Platinum Award for this one.
All in all, Hozy is a very cozy game that provides a fun and relaxing experience, perfect for a comfy afternoon. Even though the game is a bit short, the vibes are there and the attention to detail makes every minute worth it. If you are looking for a fun little game to switch your brain off, this is definitely a cute one to pick up. If you want a more custom experience, maybe wait for the teased updates to release, but even right now, the game is already worth giving a shot! Today, I am giving Hozy the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
So with a lot of updates this year to the Franchise, do they refresh it enough for you to buy the newest version? I think so, especially if you are a wrestling fan. The QoL updates bring a nice added extra to the game and gives us a nice indication of how the future is with WWE 2K. Personally, I can’t wait for the next version of the game. Maybe we’ll get 500 superstairs in the opening roster? who knows? WWE 2K26 receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award.