Chad Johnson's Reviews
Tormented Souls isn’t going to break the mold or elevate the aged survival horror formula, but if you get around its rough spots, it will transport you back to the golden age of the genre before action and hand-holding took the place of terror and helplessness.
Song of Iron isn’t the biggest or baddest Viking game on the market, but it does manage to tell a compact story that is presented in a downright stunning way by a lone developer. It doesn’t outwear its welcome, and despite having little to no replay value outside of a painstaking achievement/trophy to complete the game without dying, it’s well worth the meager price of admission.
Chernobylite is like playing with a dozen jigsaw puzzles that were taken out of the box, dumped into a trash bag, shaken, and then put back together in an almost perfect way.
Omen of Sorrow may not have everything that makes the bigger names in the genre stand out, but it is a solid fighting game that was released at a third of the cost. If you’re looking for something different that has the spooky theme going for it, you could do a lot worse; just don’t expect all of the little details that other games offer.
I was someone who missed out on Gynoug the first time around, and while I am glad I got to experience a “new” Sega game, I wouldn’t say this is a must-have unless this was something from your childhood you’d like to revisit.
DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game is a niche game that is hard to recommend across the board unless you’re someone who enjoys intentionally bad games. If that’s your thing, this will be right up your alley.
Happy’s Humble Burger Farm didn’t change my stance on most simulator games – I still find Overcooked to be more work than fun, but the overall weirdness and light horror elements tipped the scales to make the stress worth it.
Transient: Extended Edition is a hard game to recommend. It doesn’t really succeed at anything other than looking great, like the shell of an amazing horror experience that is completely hollow on the inside.
Despite having one of the more interesting premises in the past couple years, Mr. Prepper feels like a failure on almost every level due to the plague of bugs that result in this feeling like one of the most broken games I have ever played, at least on the Xbox family.
If you are a fan of 8-bit games, especially early Mega Man, I would highly recommend Trophy, as it’s an enjoyable trip down nostalgia lane.
If you enjoy a solid mystery that dips its toe into the horror realm, and you have a strong stomach and/or a morbid sense of humor, this is something that is worth your time, even if the ending doesn’t live up to the narrative build-up.
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a hard game for me to score, or recommend for that matter. It’s extremely short, clocking in around two hours and change, with little to offer in that time span. If you find combat or platforming to be difficult, this is the title for you. If you like a little more challenge, I would leave this dead in the water.
If you grew up in the days of The Oregon Trail, but want something that’s little bit more Fallout, Ashwalkers is likely for you. It’s not going to be the most engaging game when it comes to mechanics, but it portrays an open-ended story that really does feel like you craft it, even if the road is a fairly straight and narrow one.
35mm is a game that shows promise, but largely feels rushed or unfinished. I can easily see something hidden behind the poor controls, dated visuals, and questionable design choices, but sadly, the cons severely outweigh the positives here.
The one thing that the game has going for it is its narrative, despite the main character being intolerable.
The game looks and feels like yet another clone of the Blue Bomber, but before you roll your eyes like I did (since this seems to be the blueprint for almost every retro-release post-2020), the developer made the brilliant decision to add in a Metroidvania touch that sends you off exploring a metric ton of levels while taking down eight bosses.
House of the Dead Remake is a great way to spend an afternoon at home if you’re a fan of the original, even if it has some minor issues.
Source of Madness is a roguelike that has some interesting ideas and a design that mostly works but is bogged down by uninspired combat that isn’t consistent enough to make it stand out among the mountain of options available in this genre.
Bright Memory: Infinite is a shooter that I would recommend if you’re okay with it being on the short end and having some mild gameplay issues that will pile up after a few playthroughs.
By far the game’s greatest strength is the retro-inspired visuals that uses bright neon colors, leaning heavily on shades of green that callback to the Sci-Fi comics and movie covers from the 60s. If this had been released during the NES era, it probably would be known as being the best-looking NES game in existence.