If you’re looking for a place to wind down and relax, Feather is for you. Although the game itself is quite short, you can easily lose hours within the experience as you fly around and explore both locations either alone or with random people from all other platforms. The beautiful low-poly aesthetics are vibrant and colourful, offering you a surreal adventure which is akin to games such as Journey. How much entertainment you get out of the game depends on what you’re looking for, trophy hunters may finish it quickly whereas casual gamers wanting a place to escape to will get much more out of it.
Jenny LeClue – Detectivu is one of the best adventure games I’ve played on the Switch since buying one. The beautiful visuals, brilliant voice acting, thrilling and mysterious story, and intuitive gameplay all combine to create an experience you’ll instantly become hooked to and unable to put down. Although this is only part one of two, it doesn’t feel like anything was cut or removed – it tells the story it set out to tell and builds up your excitement and hype for the next episode. If you’re a fan of adventure games, either the modern Telltale style or old-school point-and-click ones, you should certainly check out Jenny LeClue – Detectivu today. It’s a funny, mysterious, spooky, and heartwarming adventure you’ll never forget.
Kingdom Rush Origins is easily one of the best Tower Defence games I’ve played in quite some time. Although I would have loved a speed option and the ability to use unlocked towers in earlier levels, I still had a great time playing the game and found it very challenging and satisfying. There’s a number of difficulties, gameplay modes, and a whole host of upgrades and heroes to unlock, if you like the genre then you’ll easily sink many hours into the game.
As a fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, I really enjoyed the mechanics and story within Wintermoor Tactics Club. The short combat missions were great as they didn’t last too long yet they let you experiment with multiple character load-outs and various unlockable skills which you get as you progress in the story, keeping every new battle varied and exciting. The story which holds the game together was well-written and intriguing, keeping me hooked until the end as I really wanted to find out what was ‘really’ happening at the Academy. It’s a shame there’s no voice acting but the music created the perfect atmosphere and fans of tactical strategic games will really enjoy the mechanics during the battles.
Descenders is a fast, exciting, and ever-changing adrenaline-pumping addictive game which I find hard to put down. The game on the PS4 suffers from some slowdown, jerky moments and unresponsive controls, especially in levels with a lot of assets, but I still found the overall experience fun to play. There’s a bunch of difficult and long-winded trophies which will keep you busy within the procedurally generated main game, plus the multiplayer, Freeride, Daily Challenge, and bonus custom Bike Parks – you’ll never run out of things to do within the game. I play this game daily and every session feels new and exciting.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is one of the best Action RPG games out there, and now you can easily play it on modern consoles! The combat is very satisfying, the customisation is plentiful, the environments are beautiful and vibrant, and the wide variety of quests will keep you busy for hours (even after you’ve finished the main story). With over 100 hours of content to play through, two DLCs, five factions with their own storyline, and the main quest, there’s never a dull moment as you travel the world seeking dangers to slaughter and people to help. There are a few issues with crashing, stuttering and horrendously slow loading times (at this point), but I imagine the technical issues will be addressed with upcoming patches.
If you like games in which you need to manually investigate to find the answers, Jessika is for you. Nothing is handed to you on a plate or shoved into your face, you have to listen to every video, read every chat message, and examine every image you find and receive in order to uncover the hidden files that lead to the truth behind Jessika’s suicide. There’s no alternative ending or branching story, so you’ll find yourself only playing through the game once or twice in order to get everything out of it, but the experience you have is one which will stick with you for a while. Although trial and error are going to play a major part, using your own deductions and figuring out keywords without guessing is very satisfying and makes you feel like a real cyber sleuth!
Whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not, Vader Immortal is a brilliant experience to show off the immersion which can be created within VR. The story itself is interesting and has enough interactive moments and combat to keep you engaged and active, yet the optional Dojo modes are where you’ll probably spend the most time. This game allows you to live out your childhood fantasy of wielding a lightsaber and using the force to take out those who oppose you, even if the battles are over quite fast. If you’re looking for an immersive, surreal, and visually stunning experience, you need to pick this game up today – If you’re a Star Wars fan, you should already have this downloaded on your PS4!
Although the game has a number of flaws and runs really slow in comparison to alternative racing games, Kandagawa Jet Girls was fun to play thanks to the intertwining arcs and multitude of customisation options – I also enjoyed the mini-games. The character models are all well-done and the physics on each of the six limbs are very realistic and nice to watch in motion, but the game itself is far too slow. I was hoping for Mario Kart and Wave Race speeds but we ended up with Mario Kart at 50cc with four flat tires. No, that’s a bit unfair, maybe three flat tires? If you play it in chunks and enjoy the stories being told, you’ll get more out of the game rather than expecting a fast, exciting arcade racer.
If you’re looking for a wholesome and genuinely cute and adorable game to play, Giraffe and Annika is for you. Instead of defeating enemies and brutally barging your way past anyone who stands in your way, Annika is all about avoiding the foes and dancing in order to overcome the bosses who are trying to prevent her from leaving this dream world. It’s a charming and innocent adventure which is great for people of all ages, delivering a fun and delightful story for young children and a challenging platinum for those who wish to try and pursue it. I’m now eagerly awaiting a sequel where I get to experience another adventure with both Giraffe and Annika.
Although it’s not the longest or most immersive game out there, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a brilliant mix of puzzles, strategy and time-manipulation which will keep you hooked for hours. Taking control of each individual then swapping so that you can work in conjunction with your past self is very creative and the whole process works seamlessly. The lack of voices is a shame, as it loses some immersion due to this, but I enjoyed the narrative and dialogue, it held the game together nicely and linked all ten levels into one long story. As far as TV show tie-ins go, this is one of the best I’ve played for a while and will be enjoyed by puzzle and strategy fans whether you’ve actually seen the show or not.
Fans of Souls-like games will love the challenge and unforgiving gameplay within Mortal Shell – those with little patience should maybe give it a miss! For quite a small-scaled game, there’s a lot of variety within the enemy types and locations you have to venture through, making each Gland quest even more exciting. Pick your Shell, your weapon, your accessories, and your skills, what happens next is all up to you as the game has no direction and no strict order of completion, you’re free to do whatever you want – some will find this enjoyable whereas others may get confused and overwhelmed. So far, this is 2020’s best Souls-like game, one which people who love the genre must buy.
Through the Darkest of Times gives players a glimpse of what life was like under Hitler’s rule within the heart of Germany. The gameplay is very strategic, requiring you to pre-plan events as you work towards your goal of helping those who can’t help themselves, yet the stories will test your morality and judgement of others. Despite knowing that history is written in stone, you’ll find yourself determined to try and help as much as you can, not because it’ll change the narrative, but because it’s something you feel you have to do. A second playthrough may not have the same impact as the first one, due to the strict timeline that holds the game together, but you’ll still find yourself drawn back into this dark narrative as you try to help those who you failed the first time around.
Little Town Hero is a charming RPG with gorgeous art design and very unique combat mechanics, resulting in a very strategic and tactical experience. Although it may take you a few hours to become accustomed to the gameplay during the boss battles, the satisfaction of taking down the enemies by utilising a long-winded chain of combos and pre-planned set-up is glorious. For a game set within a ‘little town’, there’s a lot of adventure and excitement to behold, introducing new characters and unravelling secrets the further and stronger you get. By the end of the game, I was very satisfied and came to appreciate the unique nature of the game along with the challenging gameplay and intriguing story – I’d certainly recommend giving Little Town Hero a shot if you like games which try something new.
Despite the combination of the scorching heatwave and the confusing puzzles giving me the biggest headache of all time, Relicta is one of the best looking and most complex first-person puzzle games I’ve ever played. Although the game is built around a single concept – magnets and no gravity – each puzzle introduces new mechanics and rules to keep you thinking and experimenting for the solution. The narrative holds the game together nicely, giving you a reason for why you’re actually trying to solve the puzzles, yet there’s a lot of backstory and exposition to be found in the optional PDA collectables which are scattered around as well. This isn’t a puzzle game for those who get confused easily, but it’s a massive challenge for those who are looking for something unique and special to sink hours into.
pixelBOT EXTREME! is a very addictive ‘one more go’ retro-inspired shoot ’em up with a colourful twist. Despite the game making me rather frustrated and constantly in a panic, I found that I couldn’t stop playing it due to being determined to make it to the end and cross the flag, even if it meant bypassing most of the collectables. There are three difficulty modes (four if you include the unlocked Extreme levels), and a few assist options to make the game a little easier for those new to the genre, but if you’re going for 100% trophies then good luck – it gets quite tricky and really tests your reaction speeds. Also, if you have someone else in your house to play with, the co-op mode sounds fun as you really do need to co-operate in order to win.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth: Infinite Combate is an enjoyable dungeon crawling visual novel with an end game that’s longer than the main story! Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of the simple combat and limited amount of customisation, I found the story very enjoyable and the bonus dating and ‘sexual’ events very entertaining. I imagine fans of the franchise will enjoy experiencing these events more, as they’re unique to the game, but you will have to play through the entire story before they’re unlocked. The gameplay does get a little monotonous and spike in difficulty, but I never got bored thanks to the visual novel-like narrative holding it all together.
Despite the frustration and anger which Skully built up within me, this challenging puzzle-platformer is very addictive and one of the most visually stunning indies I’ve played this year. Utilising three different clay-based Forms to solve the multitude of environment-based puzzles was fun and tricky at times, often requiring you to combine their various abilities to come up with a solution. The game is quite brutal and unforgiving, especially if you’re going for the platinum, but as long as you have enough patience and perseverance, you’ll make it through to the final cutscene. It has a few flaws and questionable choices, but the journey is worth it in the end.
What Happened was confusing, shocking, depressing, and increased my anxiety, which I believe was its goal from the start. Step into the shoes of a young mentally ill teenager who has just lost his father and finds comfort in drugs, it’s an experience unlike any other as you delve into his thoughts and emotions, visualising his fears and paranoia as disturbing manifestations. Although I found it hard to understand what was happening at times, the game made me feel lost, confused, helpless and alone, pulling me further into the world of Stiles and how he was feeling. The story felt like it was a little too long as there were a few sequences which dragged out the game without adding context, but overall it was a thought-provoking game which I can’t wait to re-experience on consoles in the near future.
As someone who hasn’t seen a single episode of Fairy Tail, I bloody loved this game! It felt like a re-skinned Atelier game, minus the synthesising, with enhanced combat and a whole host of addictive mechanics, such as the rebuilding of the guild. I wasn’t impressed with how they used the source material (the anime), but the expanded interactions, character stories, and unique game-only events made up for the lack of animated anime segments and chunks of the game reduced to the storybook-like narration. Fans of the franchise will enjoy playing as their favourite characters and reenacting various arcs from the series, and newcomers will enjoy the interesting stories and solid gameplay mechanics.