Rob Kershaw's Reviews
A gripping slow-burn of oil-slicked horror and atmosphere, Still Wakes The Deep delivers mood in spades - but its shallow gameplay and heavy hand-holding keep it from drilling deeper.
Your House offers up a combination of accessible and tricky puzzles couched in an interesting story and a tactile, enjoyable series of escape room chapters.
The first tape in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a beautifully crafted return to the narrative genre for Don't Nod. Veteran players will feel right at home, while newcomers should prepare for a dialogue-driven, richly observed, and poignant study of '90s nostalgia and teenage angst.
Profound or perplexing? Pine: A Story of Loss has an angle on grief which will either resonate, or feel like two hours of dreary padding.
The House of Da Vinci successfully translates its puzzle formula into VR, offering an engaging experience. However, some of the same issues from the original game have carried over, preventing it from reaching the genre's full potential.
Rich atmosphere, engaging visuals and some thoughtful gameplay tweaks make PRIM a macabre delight, while traditional point-and-click fans will enjoy the familiarity of a well-made adventure.
Survey Scramble offers bite-sized, streamlined polling games for all the family across four different modes. They may be variations on the same theme but it's an enjoyable aperitif while you fight over which other Jackbox games to play.
Aloof yet captivating, Phoenix Springs teases moments of brilliance within its world, but its story remains elusive, frustrating those in search of clear answers.
There's plenty of potential in this first Naughty Pack. Hopefully it will be successful enough to encourage the development of something newer and more substantial in future instalments.
Astro Bot is a truly remarkable feat of platforming, and one which puts the wonder back into gaming in a way that very few titles manage.
The gaming equivalent of an alleycat: it's rough around the edges, but you'll learn to grow fond of it despite its numerous quirks.
A robust walking sim mixed with some scares should have made a great indie game, but Shift 87 flunks the landing, making it hard to recommend.
Sugar Mess is a surprisingly decent and varied VR experience. It may be short, but it's exceptionally sweet.
Broken Roads has elements of a great RPG, but they're buried beneath a broken quest system, tedious combat and numerous bugs.
Tales From Candleforth impresses with its music, visuals and (mostly) logical puzzles, but falls short in both the story and scares departments.
Rauniot won't appeal to mainstream point-and-click fans and its grim content places it further into niche territory, but there's still something intriguing about its desolate world... if you can stomach the game's quirks.
If you want to spend a couple of hours pacing back and forth between screens filled with identically speaking characters and a dreary story, Skaramazuzu will tick your box. For everyone else, it's a game which looks far better than it plays.
Alone in the Dark is a scare-free horror experience, rife with technical issues, a nonsensical plot, and lacklustre performances from its two notable stars.
As Dusk Falls is a supremely confident first title from a talented indie studio, one that raises the bar for interactive narrative gaming by several notches.
Brothers ticks all of the same boxes of its 2013 predecessor, with the same powerful story beats, simple control system and stunning upgraded graphics, but fans of the original will be left mourning what could have been if more had been added to its luscious and varied world.