In an effort to homage the kart-racing classics of the 32-bit era, Coffin Dodgers merely layers unattractive visuals atop an antiquated control scheme and generic world design. If you're yearning to relive your childhood through the goofs of a solid kart-racer, you're better off consulting Mario Kart.
TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is a repetitive hack n' slash that forces the player time and again into encounters with samey enemies against a paltry selection of passionless backdrops. It's really only saved by the bosses, but the amount of filler you'll need to sift through to fight them just keeps a'coming.
Mighty No. 9 is cut straight from the heart of one of Capcom's best-loved franchises, but suffers several wounds in the process. Whilst it makes some attempt to shine on its own merits, I can't help but feel it's this retro love that holds it back. Frustrating, uneven and painfully restricted; something made all the more apparent by its current-gen status.
Shadow of the Beast is pretty to look at, but poor level design and lack of reward leaves the player frustrated and disappointed. It's evidently bursting to share nostalgia with the world, but that fondness ultimately thwarts the game's potential as a current-gen brawler.
With a rigorous control scheme and tweaked level design, Balthazar's Dream could have offered a quite adorable puzzle-platformer to complete in a few hours. Yet its attempt to give each mechanic its own doggy bent results in a toilsome, repetitive experience that feels disappointing against its charming concept.
The Path of Motus is ambitious in what it seeks to communicate about the relationship we often share with games, and includes several notable spins on traditional gaming components of the puzzle platforming genre. But its arguments need to be embedded within a more rigorous gameplay structure if they're to truly land.
Inked tries in earnest to make a small folk tale into a wider allegory about creative expression, and though admirable in theory, the self-reflexive bent ultimately hinders the sense of unease it creates through its pleasantly hand-drawn realm.
The Inner Friend was in much need of adding risk to its puzzles and encounters, if it hoped to create the eerie, unsettling atmosphere of which its subject matter and visual design are more than capable.
Stage Presence combines mic-improvisation with the immersive givens of the headset to deal a gut-punch of stage fright. Outside that momentary thrill, however, it's a noticeably mundane gig: if conquering one's fears means facing them head on, then Stage Presence unfortunately sets itself up to grate after its first few objectives.
If visual quality is what Tequila Works had in mind, three years have been well spent on fabricating a stylish, truly wondrous environment, despite drawing obviously from previous adventure accolades. It'll likely underwhelm if approached explicitly as a puzzler, but Rime's brief tale manages moments of genuine poignancy. The PC port is in dire need of patching, however, if such charm is to survive.
All the Delicate Duplicates shows remarkable integrity to its ambivalent tone and psychological themes, but it’s often the same integrity that renders its puzzle-solving mundane. Fans of resolution will likely find the ending underwhelming, but in terms of original world-building and character development, it’s an appreciable two-hour wander.
If Double Dragon, Final Fight, Streets of Rage or Golden Axe were your go-to coin-ops on childhood trips to the arcade, 99Vidas might well resurface some fond, pre-millennium memories. But alas, nostalgia only gets a game so far, and once the thrill-ride is over, there's very little reason to return for a second playthrough.
Despite its technical hitches and messy conclusion, Firewatch's study of a flowering friendship makes for a riveting experience, against a gorgeous backdrop that breathes with fragile solitude.
Killing Room's onscreen murderhouse makes for a challenging roguelike shooter, and its reality-TV slant injects the sadistic premise with a welcome touch of humour; even if it routinely finds itself punctured by irksome design details and patchy technical performance.
If 90's thriller is your bag, Virginia does it magnificently. Loaded with surreal coincidence and unsettling theatrics, its deliciously David Lynch. In another medium, this thing could’ve been great, but its allegiance to film form ultimately restricts its potential as a game.
Shio evidently understands the appeal of gliding elegantly between obstacle-riddled levels like an invincible pro, and often comes across as a more casual Super Meat Boy. Yet, the foggy storyline feels distanced from its rapid-fire level design, which can make the attempts at a meditative atmosphere feel forced and alienating.
Final Days fully embraces its identity as a predictable co-op romp, and in so doing will likely provide genre fans with a comfortable mutant-mashing session.
Well written, quaintly designed and only occasionally fatiguing, Towards the Pantheon fully embraces RPG convention, using the genre's familiar narrative themes and battle systems to provide an unavoidably charming fantasy quest.
Attentat 1942 provides an insightful history lesson into the events of the Czechoslovakian occupation, while its cinematic interviews prove a crucial gateway into understanding the impact those events had on human life. It doesn't provide the interactivity of Her Story or This War of Mine, but it's pleasing to see the game format being used to educate.
Copy Kitty exemplifies Nuclear Strawberry's emphasis on fun, and through an accessible control scheme and periods of glorified heroic power, it could very well open the action platformer genre to wider audiences.