Adam Riley's Reviews
Illusion: A Tale of the Mind is a marvel to look at and enjoy from a puzzle standpoint. However, it starts to bog itself down with a quirky storyline that carries the action along well enough to start with, but becomes increasingly convoluted and eventually downright boring, to the point where the ending will leave most sighing with relief, which is a massive shame as the core gameplay is very intriguing to start with, but is dragged down by an over-reliance on switch-hitting towards the end.
The Thin Silence hits all the right notes when it comes to the puzzling situations faced, with extremely smart ways of working through the various stages faced, continuously crafting new objects to aid with progress. Sadly, it does hold itself back too much with a painfully slow walking pace for the lead character, and some weighty prose that misses the mark, too often proving to actually be boring and/or confusing. A sequel more focused on the puzzle adventure element would be welcomed with open arms; just ditch the convoluted story-telling aspect, please.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a real delight to play, holding its appeal even several years after its original Wii U release.
From the gorgeous settings, to the wonderful narrative development, and the smart implementation of sharp puzzle elements, Nihiliumbra is an absolute joy to play.
Late Shift is a great attempt at reviving FMV-led gaming, avoiding the pitfalls of The Bunker by choosing to opt for a purer movie direction rather than including unnecessary forced interactions, making it almost visual novel-esque with its decision-making route and multiple endings inclusion to encourage repeated play-throughs.
Without Escape is the perfect dish for those hungry for classic 1990s puzzle adventures like Zork, Myst, et al.
There is more than enough depth included in the Touch series to make this perfect for those looking to delve into the intricacies of management either at home or whilst on the go, but also stripped back enough to appeal to the wider audience that lapped up earlier editions of the team's venerable series.
Beckett is a surreal experience, but a wonderfully unique take on the point-and-click style adventure that makes the delivery of the gripping story far more digestible for a wider audience.
Burly Men at Sea is a very quaint and surprisingly enjoyable twist on the point-and-click genre, with lovely visuals, an impressive-and-quirky soundtrack, and more replayability than first thought. However, saying that, the whole experience can be breezed through in an hour or two, and it lacks enough real meat to be it a truly satisfying dish, especially given this is the highest priced version on the market right now. In the end, it is undoubtedly a pleasant experience, but one that will be forgotten quite quickly upon completion, unless extremely motivated to spend more money on the digital or physical storybooks offered post-game via a web-link. It is definitely worth trying, but just be mindful of the price and check your expectations before diving in.
The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle: Episode 1: A Dreadly Business is a breath of fresh air in the point-and-click genre, bringing with it fantastic art work and excellent voice acting, along with tough-but-not-overly-so puzzles, a wonderfully intuitive inventory and control system, as well as bucket-loads of charm and personality. Spiffingly good work, ol' chap!
This is a back-to-basics, side-scrolling puzzle effort that will draw people in with its addictive gameplay and cleverly-crafted stages, and then test even the most hardcore with its extra challenges later on. The balance is perfect, and gets the old grey matter working hard throughout, proving to be extremely inventive and charming, in equal measure. Toki Tori deserves to shine, and hopefully on Nintendo Switch it will now get the attention it deserves.
Last Day of June is a great example of how to turn a short tale into an engaging interactive experience, one that importantly does not overstay its welcome. There may be one or two frustrations along the way but, all-in-all, it tugs at the heart strings in the right places on the story front, and also engages the brain on the gameplay side of things enough to make everything feel extremely satisfying once it reaches its conclusion.
Fun for all your friends and family, Kirby Star Allies is a Kirby-by-numbers, sticking to the formula that has worked for so long, and proves to be just as fun as ever before. Mixing in the four-player element makes for some hilarious antics, and the augmented powers that can be utilised make for some extremely exciting scenarios. The only drawback is the age-old concern of things being a bit simpler than desired, but HAL has packed in plenty of entertaining content to appease fans new and old alike.
What a way to end the Little Nightmares saga! Tarsier Studios has taken its original fantastic experience, and split up the core concepts to craft some sublime DLC episodes, and this final one, The Residence, brings with it some real thrills and chills, whilst also delivering on the puzzles front. Admittedly shorter than the previous two, yet more satisfying overall, it leaves gamers thirsty for more, with an eventual sequel hoped for.
Old Man's Journey is such a gorgeous looking title, complete with a beautiful soundtrack. Those aspects are then draped over a moderately engaging puzzle idea, and comes with a story that aims to be touching, but will leave many feeling either apathetic to the theme, or actually frustrated by the progression of the old man's life and foolish choices. It also ends extremely quickly with nothing to come back to after. It will pass and fade away quicker than it should, but deserves to receive an expanded sequel (or prequel, perhaps?).
Some may look at Toki Tori 2+ and immediately embrace it or dismiss it because of its cute-looking nature. Both parties need to understand, though, that this is in no way a simple platform adventure. Instead, it is a gruelling puzzle-adventure, with so much hidden depth and challenge that hardcore gamers will rejoice from the rooftops. It is the game that just keeps on giving, and with tweaks to perfect the formula, now is the best time to pick it up.
Sadly, even paying the now reduced price for Bolt Riley, A Reggae Adventure - Chapter 1 after it exited Early Access status will be frustrating for many, not only due to its extremely short length, but because of the bugs still present, ropey animation, glitches with the resolution, weak user-interface design choices, and tiring puzzles included.
Extremely well voiced, highly amusing for the majority of the adventure, complete with smart puzzles that mimic the best of the genre, and all for the grand price of…nothing! The Adventures of Nick and Willikins proves to be a highly entertaining piece of point and click adventuring goodness that definitely deserves a lot more attention, as well as an expanded sequel.
SteamWorld Dig holds up tremendously well considering it originated on 3DS back in 2013. All these years later, despite its sequel surpassing it, this original has so much to offer that it should not be overlooked. If having never tried it before, Nintendo Switch fans owe it themselves to dig deep, unearth their hard-earned coin, explore Image & Form's treasure, and definitely make this gem of a game their own.
Sadly, The Red Strings Club will fool some into thinking it follows in the footsteps of classics from WadjetEye Games purely because of its aesthetics. Do not be mistaken, though. This is not a patch on any of that company's releases, nor is it affiliated with it at all. Instead, this takes an intriguing style and theme of the world gone mad for technology, mixes in some extremely random love story between the lead duo of hacker and bartender that bears no relevance to the underlying tale, adds in a heavy dose of some of the most painful attempts at puzzles, and then perfectly tops it all off with an overly wordy script filled with too much padding.