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I’d say the game made me question if I actually had Arachnophobia, as I wasn’t overly bothered by seeing them. But I will admit the lack of sound and jump scare does excellent to build up suspense. More so, when you can see one of the eight-legged buggers, just out of view. Some highlights for me when Huntsman shines, was the use of different spiders, I honestly thought I was going to only see one kind. Sad that there are a few tedious bugs here, and there, with one that caused my game to soft lock. For more details when heading to the loading dock, I returned to the security room to make a quick save. Only for it to weirdly repeat the opening segment with the player to kill time. This led to me not being able to leave the room no matter what I did. Luckily, a save I had wasn’t that far back. In the end, I would say the game still stands out, regardless of its current issues. I would suggest picking it up for a good creature scare. That is why I’m giving Huntsman the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Although Night Swarm still outranks some of my other recent games, there are some areas for improvement. It has taken a lot of the foundation of the genre and built only mildly upon it rather than reshape it into more of it’s own image. What is there is at least enough to earn Night Swarm the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
So there is no concern that the lack of hype for this game was due to it not being very good. Men in Black: Most Wanted is a very enjoyable VR experience. It finds a great balance of being rewarding for existing fans of the franchise, whilst not allowing newcomers to feel alien in this world. I definitely recommend giving it a try. Even though I’ve wrapped up my review, I’ll still be making sure to finish my playthrough. I award Men in Black: Most Wanted the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
The game is okay, and I’d suggest picking it up to numb your brain on the weekend. But it does become repetitive rather quickly, thanks to the lack of tools or fun upgrades. I would have thought as you upgraded the trash bin, we would have unlocked some funny tools, like a vacuum cleaner or maybe bombs for getting through rubbish quicker. I would also suggest maybe having the dog clear trash rather than just finding valuable items. As the game doesn’t make them all that hard to uncover. This is why I’m giving My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Demonschool is a refreshing take on the tactics RPG genre. Simplifying the battle system and giving players the ability to plan and adjust each turn in combat provides a fun and engaging puzzle element to battles that had me tinkering and tweaking my team selection and tactics to find the most efficient solutions to each fight. Unfortunately, playing the pre-launch build led to a few bugs and hiccups along the way, but thankfully, nothing that rendered the game unplayable. Necrosoft have released patches, including a day one patch that updated the in-game font and confused me for a moment, and are continuing to bug fix. Hopefully the bugged PlayStation trophy is fixed in the next patch and people can get their Platinum. If you’re a fan of old-school tactics RPGs and want something a little bit different, but cut from the same cloth, join Faye and the gang in trying to prevent an apocalypse. Demonschool gets a Thumb Culture Gold Award.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the game only allows mouse and keyboard to play, I would have given a higher rating. I did attempt to play the game on my Steam Deck with a lot of issues and just end up playing on PC. Vivid World is a fun game that has a co-op option if you’re able to find someone to play the game with you. I would have loved to use the feature, but focused mostly on aiming to beat each dungeon on my own. If you like playing auto-battlers and want to play a game that only requires 1/4 of your brain to play, in a good way, definitely pick up Vivid World today. Maybe pick up Vivid Knight while you’re at it too! I give Vivid World the Thumb Culture Gold Award
I enjoy the pacing of The Last Case of John Morley, as it is easily digestible, and doesn’t throw so much information at you to make it confusing. This is not without issues, however, since the plot becomes quite easy to guess. Gameplay is rather light, and there are only a couple of puzzles scattered around. Minor issues I had were that some interactable icons would not work unless I was far enough away, while others did not appear. The only thing I’d suggest is that when it comes to uncovering what happened at the scenes, the player should put it together themselves. Instead of the game just making you interact and tell you. I think The Last Case of John Morley deserves the Thumb Culture Silver Award, for the enjoyable story and decent atmosphere.
Anno 117: Pax Romana is not just another entry in the franchise; it is one of the strongest. The Roman setting harmonises perfectly with Anno’s economic, social, and architectural systems. The citizen hierarchy is engaging, the economy is rich, the military layer is meaningful, and the cities are simply breathtaking to watch. It has occasional difficulty spikes and some busy interface moments, but these minor flaws are easily overshadowed by its brilliance. Whether you are a long-time Anno fan or simply someone who wants to build marble cities, raise legions, and shout “For Rome!” at your monitor, Pax Romana is a triumph worthy of an emperor’s laurel crown. I award Anno 117: Pax Romana the prestigious Platinum Thumb Culture Award!
There’s a good game underneath the issues I had, and plenty of fun to be had. My concern is that the issues with graphics, AI and the in game bugs will unfortunately put a lot of people off. I award Tracked: Shoot to Survive the Thumb Culture Silver Award. Just as I submitted my review, Meta store confirmed that Patch 1.1.0 is live and the patch notes show it’s a big one. Hopefully, it will mean some of my concerns have already been addressed, but it does show the devs are taking on the feedback and working through it. Hopefully, we will see this game go from strength to strength with this and future patches, and I’ll be keeping a keen eye on its progress.
Each level is a visual feast for the eyes, game-play is simple and what you would expect of a jigsaw in real life. If you do so happen to get stuck, then a hint system is available. Personally, the asking price seems fair for how detailed the designs are, and I’d happily return to this game if they add additional levels in the future. My biggest issue with the game… it made me hungry for something sweet. UMAMI offers a fun time with cute levels, that you will probably finish in an afternoon, like I did. Congrats UMAMI, on earning the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Contraband Police has certainly surpassed my expectations. Never would I have thought that looking through documents and searching through contraband outside of my job would be fun. I am excited to experience the DLC mode Crimson Fall, which is due to come soon. I will therefore be awarding Contraband Police with the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Coffee Bar Simulator lacks depth or complexity. The game is too simplistic and doesn’t dig deeper into any of the aspects that could have made this game at least somewhat interesting. From an entrepreneur’s point of view, it doesn’t challenge players to take business-savvy decisions to stand out from the competition. Things like lower prices compared to market averages, better indoor decor and seating to create a better atmosphere, higher-quality products, and cleanliness all have zero impact on customer behaviour. The same five NPCs will come back to your coffee shop, no matter how dirty it is, no matter if you have the most expensive coffee in the city, no matter if you decorate your coffee shop or not. Coffee Bar Simulator gets monotonous and dull after just 15 minutes of play. It feels more like a demo, a Beta, or an Alpha, even, rather than a complete game. Accordingly, I can’t rate it, and I won’t dignify it with any of our Thumb Culture Awards.
Dreams has delivered another great VR title, as it’s an impressive showcase of what VR action-adventure can be. It’s a combination of great movement, cinematic storytelling, and finely tuned combat. The environments are rich and atmospheric, and the spatial audio pulls you deep into its world. The voice performances bring real emotional weight to the journey. While it’s not the longest game out there, every hour feels purposeful — packed with discovery, danger, and beauty. The intuitive controls and strong sense of momentum make exploration genuinely exhilarating, and the narrative balances mystery with heart. Reach receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award. I really wanted to give the Platinum, but with the bugs and glitches was hard.
Overall, Truck Driver: The Dutch Connection is a disappointing attempt at a truck simulation game. Sure, it has its moments, but it just isn’t in-depth enough. If you’re looking for something that’s a bit less strict when it comes to playing by the game’s rules, then you may enjoy this. Unfortunately, it’s not a title I can recommend, with so many other great sims already out there. So, for those reasons, I’ll be giving Truck Driver: The Dutch Connection a Thumb Culture Bronze Award!
Syberia Remastered feels like someone bought a shack, added a new sign, and called it a renovation. The smoother controls are welcome, but leaving the CGI untouched and no new voice acting means it never escapes the early-2000s feel. It’s a shame as there’s a wonderful atmosphere buried beneath and with a bit more care, it could’ve been special. Instead it a decent effort that polishes the past but never fully revitalises it. Even so, I still found a curious mix of old and new that’s easy to appreciate for it’s time but hard to love through modern eyes. For its half-baked execution, I’m just about awarding Syberia Remastered the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Honestly, my experience thus far with Skopje ’83 has been tedious, at best. My confusion trying to find any type of gear pick up, and lack of any direction, led to time looting sparse areas when I should have been trying to explore as much as possible. I don’t expect games to hold my hand, but some indication of where items and gear improvements could be found would have been helpful. For many reasons, Skopje ’83 is getting the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
Whilst, yes, it does feel like a slightly less-polished version of a Burnout game, there’s no doubt that this is a lot of fun to play. As someone who put countless hours into Criterion’s long-dormant franchise, it’s refreshing to be able to play something familiar, yet with its own unique mechanics. With that being said, I’ll be giving Wreckreation the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
It’s great to see more studios bringing cosy, fun, couch co-op titles to players. It’s been a fairly neglected genre. I feel many publishers focus on MOBAs, Military Sims, and Hero Shooters as the main multiplayer attractions. Thankfully, Studio Mantasaur have seen fit to grace us with a game for gaming couples, friends, or even parents and children. I was impressed with the puzzle design throughout. Especially how different mechanics are introduced and eventually combined to make longer solutions which managed to stay pretty intuitive. If you can look past the slightly calloused skin, you’ll find yourselves in comforting hands. Don’t let this one slip through your fingers. All Hands On Deck grabs itself a Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Dispatch is honestly an amazing piece of storytelling. Probably the best we’ve had about superheroes in a long time. The game honestly had me gripped. I have been fully invested in the story and characters since first playing episode 1. For some that statement might mean nothing, but to those who played episode 6 it hits hard. I can’t wait to see where this will end and hope we might get a sequel. All I have to say to all our readers is, Keep Up. Here’s to more amazing storytelling games from AdHoc Studio in the future. In the meantime, I give Dispatch the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Satisfactory is genuinely a marvel of a game. The idea of building up a factory and slowly making it automated didn’t really appeal to me on paper. However, playing this game has opened my eyes to a rather niche genre. Not that I’ll have time to go looking for something new, as I’m now hopelessly addicted to draining this alien world of all its resources and creating my own little industrial utopia! If the issues pertaining to the crashing and pop-ins were a non-issue, the game would easily get a Platinum Award from me. As it stands, though, I’ll be giving Satisfactory a well-deserved Thumb Culture Gold Award!