DayOne's Reviews
This is DON’T NOD at the top of their game. Tried and true game mechanics are elevated massively by fantastic art direction, sound and creature design. Most importantly, Aphelion weaves a gripping narrative with two incredible performances from the main voice cast. As a video game, it’s not doing anything new when it comes to game mechanics, but what it does do, it does very well indeed. Aphelion is a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi adventure of loss, desperation, survival, and importantly, hope. Despite a few very late-game wobbles, this is one mission for humanity you should undertake.
While not as groundbreaking of an evolution as last year’s game, MotoGP 26 pretty much does everything right. It tweaks both the simulation and arcade riding styles, it adds more options to career and multiplayer modes alike, and offers plenty of content and customization options. It has a few technical issues that are atypical for this series, and it may still lack the incredible depth and variety of the licensed F1 games. Yet, MotoGP 26 is a fine step forward for an already excellent racer, even if its iterative nature makes it a less essential upgrade than last year’s game.
The Last Gas Station is a solid game that pushes the grind a bit too hard in the latter half. Hopefully, a post-launch patch helps, as this is an enjoyable experience otherwise.
I very much enjoyed my time with Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, and for those looking for an adorable and charming way to spend a few hours, I would heartily recommend it. It is visually stunning, enjoyable to navigate and play and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you are into cosy, story-driven puzzlers, then I would definitely encourage you to check it out.
Kiln is, more than anything, a fun, frenetic, and maybe a too chaotic work-in-progress. With something in the spirit of old Xbox Live Arcade titles there is a real ‘hidden gem’ feel that harkens back to an older style of Double Fine titles, seen through a multiplayer lens.
Tides of Tomorrow does a lot of really cool things, and the narrative is the star of the show. I have to admit, in the early hours I wasn’t massively engaged, but by the mid-way point I began to care for several of the main characters, and did want to see just what happens to this broken world, and whether it can be saved.
Lord of Hatred is an excellent expansion, bringing Diablo IV ever closer to that 'Reaper of Souls' moment that fans have been waiting for. An emotionally heavy story, new endgame systems, and two solid new classes should have fans of the series enthralled.
SIGONO’s newest adventure tells the story of environmental struggles that naturally become personal. After what seems a long life yet lived and having nothing to show for it, you’re invited to look back again and understand. Sometimes they’re happy thoughts. Sometimes, it hurts so much you’ll want to crawl up in a hole and die. Sometimes, retrospection gets all too real. OPUS: Prism Peak’s answer to this middle-aged conundrum is to look back, walk straight forward, and be nicer to yourself. It couldn’t have worded it in a nicer, more beautiful message.
Vampire Crawlers is one of the best roguelike deck-builders on the market right now. It’s fast, charming, addictive and tremendously well-crafted. Poncle has done it again.
A significant upgrade to the first game in almost every single way, Hades II takes the already really high bar and brings it even further up. Fifty hours in and I still can’t seem to put the game down. Hades II is an absolute must-play for pretty much everyone, fans of the genre or not. Death to Chronos, again and again.
With weighty platforming and crunchy, satisfying combat, this is a world full of heart and incredible detail presented with an eye-catching art style. It’s backed up by a punchy soundtrack that elevates every pixel on display. REPLACED oozes style and imagination, and it’s almost everything I wanted it to be.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire was worth the wait. The team at Fumi Games has matched their fantastic artwork with solid gameplay, great writing, and fantastic audio. Shooter fans are eating Gouda with this one
PRAGMATA is a fantastic video game. Solid gunplay, excellent variety in its hacking, incredible visuals, and an enjoyable story work together to create what I hope is a new IP that we’ll see a lot more of in the future.
Samson: A Tyndalston Story fails to make the most of its setup. A mix of poor combat and repetition pulls down what could have been an interesting tale of redemption and revenge.
People of Note tries to do a lot – a video game-musical, with turn based combat, a world of musical references and plenty of dungeons and puzzles. Some of that is pretty great. Alas, the gameplay felt to me like a track stuck on repeat, and the story didn’t quite have enough going for it to be truly worth the journey. This is one album I won’t be playing again any time soon.
Full of charm and humour, Darwin’s Paradox plays out somewhat like an interactive Pixar film. It certainly looks the part, thanks to some gorgeous artwork and animation that adds a layer of polish and charm to the game that just about camouflages some of the its weaker design elements. Fans of the genre will want to get ‘kraken’ with this one.
Make no mistake, Super Meat Boy 3D is as pure a punishing speedrunning platformer as you'll get, just like it's predecessors. It's fast, tight, infuriating, hilarious, bloody and just outright white-knuckle fun. But yeah, f**k this game right off as well.
Grime II is a phenomenal video game. Every aspect of it is a huge improvement over the original. If you have some patience and love a good Metroidvania, Grime II is the best one I have played since the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I cannot recommend it enough.
The golden era of track-based arcade racers may be behind us, but that didn’t stop Milestone from developing a marvellous one in this day and age. This reboot of Screamer has all the core elements of a modern classic: a meaty single player campaign with a rich story, a fantastic sense of style, a snappy arcade-style driving model with a high skill ceiling, and plenty of content to enjoy in both local and online play. Screamer is bold, exciting, but most importantly, incredibly fun, and it may just be one of the finest arcade racers in years. If you miss the good old days of fantastic arcade racers with personality, do yourself a favour and buy Screamer.
A mediocre plot and bland writing can't hold back one of the most ambitious games ever made. Stunning graphics, great gameplay, and excellent music carry you through hundreds of hours of systems-based fun. It somehow lives up to all the hype, with some rough edges in tow.