Streets of Rage 4 is the perfect sequel, it builds upon the original trilogy whilst modernising it without alienating fans. Visually the game is gorgeous, all hand-drawn with brilliant lighting effects, visual styles, character designs, and original pixel-art protagonists and special moves. The music is just as good as I remember it, allowing you to alternate between the new music or classic tunes, this really is the perfect homage to the infamous Mega Drive games. Although not a very long game, you’ll get hours of entertainment out of Streets of Rage 4 thanks to the satisfying combat and progression-based rewards.
Book of Demons is a very interesting take on the hack-n-slash, dungeon crawling and action-adventure genres. Its unique gameplay mechanics, card-management abilities, and procedurally generated construction, all combine to make a never-ending experience which will surely entertain you for hours upon hours – even if you’re not interested in the platinum. Although rather simplistic to look at, there are more layers than an onion as you delve deeper into the customisation, levelling up, planning out your runs, and using the enemies weaknesses against them.
Whether you tackle the harsh weather conditions with friends, or you brave it alone, SnowRunner will challenge your determination, patience, and strategic thinking. Fans of the climbing and slow-paced movement aspect of Death Stranding will most likely find pleasure in the purposefully clunky, realistic, and heavy controls and mechanics within this game as well. Although the one key aspect of the game is to go from A to B (via very stressful pathways), it’s a very therapeutic and relaxing game in which you become both mentally and physically more adept the longer you play. This isn’t your standard no-physics simulation game, this is about as realistic as you can get without having your living room covered in mud, water, and snow.
Deliver Us The Moon is a thrilling sci-fi narrative adventure which touches on real-world issues with a hint of fantasy. Although I’ve played the game before, I felt the same rush of excitement and intrigue the second time around, discovering things I missed the first time as I now sought out the various trophies and Easter Eggs. The music, voice acting, sound effects, and gorgeous environments all combinate into an interactive adventure which fully immerses you and pulls you into this sad, apocalyptic world. If you’re a fan of story-driven experiences with simplistic puzzles and a great narrative you uncover as you play, Deliver Us The Moon is for you.
If you’re looking for a challenging and brutal strategy game to play at home and/or on the go, Tharsis is for you. With your entire world literally breaking down all around you, tough decisions must be made and your morality will be pushed to its limit, should you save the ship or sacrifice a crew member to prolong the life of those still alive? With its newly revamped difficulty modes, the Nintendo Switch edition makes it a little bit easier for newcomers whilst still being just as challenging as I recall on the PS4. Despite how frustrating and unforgiving the game can be, just remember; in space, nobody can hear you scream…
Zombie Army Trilogy perfectly combines three Nazi-filled chapters into one satanic package. Follow the exciting story from beginning to end(?) as you stand up against Hitler and his horrific hordes of nasty Nazis, determined to deliver every single one of them back to Hell. Whether you wish to take on this journey alone or with up to three friends/strangers, you’ll be constantly on the edge of your seat as you never know where the enemy will come from next. The Switch edition also introduces motion controls which greatly enhances the overall control you have over your character when engaged in intense combat – seriously, every game with a gun should have this option.
Although mechanically working like your usual Picross puzzle game, Depixtion uniquely combines various puzzles to make a colourful solution, unlike anything I’ve seen in this puzzle before. Whether you’re new to the world of Picross/Nonograms, or you’re a pro, there are puzzles ranging from the simple 5×5 to the insane 24×24 which are sure to challenge anyone who attempts them. Unfortunately, if you’re playing in portable mode, the 24×24 grids are rather small and the numbers are hard to see, and there is no touchscreen or stylus support (most likely for this same reason) – but I imagine those playing on TV won’t care about these points.
Moons of Madness perfectly balanced the various gameplay mechanics to create a creepy, cryptic exploration-adventure horror game. The audio and visual quality helps immerse you within the dark fantastical world the developers have created, making you feel like you’re all alone, isolated from everyone around you other than the nightmares which live within your head. The story is engaging, the scares will make you jump, and the puzzles are fun to solve, what more could you want from a Lovecraft-themed horror game set on Mars?
Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories was so much bigger and more in-depth than I originally thought it would be. Try and find your way home as you abuse desperate people or try to help those in need, the way you react and deal with the various situations all comes down to your own personality. Although the core narrative is set in stone, only deviating at set waypoints, the comedic and down-right silly interactions you can have are all rather unique and special. I’m very grateful that we were able to experience this fantastic game, easily one of my favourite games of the year so far.
If you like original, creative, unique indie games, Bohemian Killing is a great title to pick up. It takes an intuitive spin on the murder mystery genre by removing the mystery and having you recreate the events in order to exonerate yourself through lying, framing others, or claiming insanity – alternatively, you can recreate the murder exactly as described by the prosecution and endure your fate. There are lots of subtle changes and deviations to discover, changes which affect the final verdict and the opinion of the judge you’re trying to convince. This is a very clever and complex narrative-driven adventure game which seamlessly adjusts based upon your choices and actions.
As far as FMV games go, The Complex sits among one of the best I’ve played this generation. With almost 200 scenes to discover, nine endings, multiple branches and pathways, and a tracker keeping tabs on your Relationship status with all the other characters, this game was aptly named as it’s rather ‘complex’. The entire experience felt like I was simply watching a film on TV, only I was the director, telling the actors what to do and how to proceed. I’d highly recommend this game to all fans of FMV titles and those looking for something they can casually play through on their own or with their family.
Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son delivers a fun, immersive, and interactive unorthodox sequel to the hit 1993 movie. The number of choices and pathways you can choose from is beyond anything I’ve seen in VR so far, requiring you to think outside of the box and experiment in order to see how one or two changes can alter the direction the story is going in. Whereas the art design and aesthetics didn’t appeal to me at first, for their cartoony and simplified looks, I grew to enjoy them and believe the comedy and charm wouldn’t have been pulled off if the devs had stuck to realistic visuals
The Room VR: A Dark Matter is one of my favourite PSVR puzzle games of all time, offering a bunch of unique and entertaining puzzles within a beautiful and magical world. Although the length of the stages got rather short towards the end, my journey up until that point was a very memorable and enjoyable one, so the final stage didn’t alter my overall opinion, I just wished it had cranked things up and presented us with harder and longer puzzles to solve. If you’re a fan of puzzle games and own a VR headset – I can’t recommend this game enough – this title is a must-buy, it’s that simple!
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected may not be the best Saints Row game but it’s still tonnes of fun! Whether playing on your own or with you homie in co-op mode, there’s a multitude of activities, side missions, story missions, and challenges to complete, not to mention the hundreds of orbs to find and collectables to… collect. With the addition of all the DLC, the massive open-world adventure just got even bigger, providing many, many hours of entertainment and mindless destruction. If you like Crackdown, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this new direction for the Saints Row series.
Paper Beast took me on a journey filled with magical moments and fantastical creatures – I didn’t want to come home. The puzzles are all well thought out, the environments are beautiful, and the beasts are simply amazing, when combined you get an experience which is unlike any other, especially when you factor in the terrain manipulation and realistic physics. The sandbox mode was a fun addition, allowing you to mould and sculpt your own mini-island, playing God has never felt so good!
Jump, Step, Step is a fun logic-based programming puzzle game which is sure to challenge people of all ages. The colourful nature of the game and simple controls means that everyone can play it without fear of being overwhelmed or confused by the more advanced solutions towards the end of the game. I’ve personally not seen a game like this on the PS4 so far, so if you’re looking for a unique puzzle game to eat away an hour or two of your time, you can’t go wrong with this cheap adventure.
Available digitally as two separate games, or physically as a collection of both games on a single 16GB cart, Metro Redux pushes the Switch to its limits and delivers an amazing experience both visually and in terms of the performance. Replaying these games reminded me just how good this series is, the depth, setting, environments, and story are all very immersive and engrossing, pulling you within their world and keeping you engaged right until the credits roll. Despite having a few compromises on the Nintendo Switch versions, the developers hit a perfect balance and were able to keep the identity and gameplay intact without sacrificing any mechanics or modes.
Welcome to Primrose Lake is a great first outing for the franchise on the Switch and I can’t wait to see more from the Carlyle girls. Time-management games have their audience, they’re for people who play casually, maybe playing one or two stages at a time, who like a good story which gets more interesting as you progress through the many (sixty) levels. As such, this game is perfect for those types of people as it kept myself entertained throughout and had me hooked right until the end. If you have a choice of how to play the game, I’d recommend in portable mode with the touchscreen, but using the Joy-Cons will give you practice before you jump into the co-op mode with your friends and family – you’ll get hours of enjoyment out of this game.
Ski Jumping Pro VR delivers the excitement and thrills of performing the ski jump without actually getting cold, or falling on your butt – which is great. Despite wishing there was more to the game other than just the ski jump, I can’t really complain as that’s what the focus of the game is. If played in short bursts then you’re bound to get more enjoyment out of it as you’ll experience the progression through unlocks and rewards without feeling the monotony and repetition which can be felt with long play sessions. Ski Jumping Pro VR is the most realistic ski jumping simulation game I’ve played in VR so far, even with the QTE motions (which work really well).
If you’re looking for a simple, yet dynamic VR application to relax within, ArtPulse is an easy recommendation. Even if you don’t feel like manually laying shapes in order to create your own dynamically-created beats, you can turn on the Cinematic Mode and sit back as the game randomly generates it all for you. Although the selection of tools and base music is currently not that large, the team does have plans on expanding the experience with updates – as they did with their previous title. ArtPulse is a very niche product for people looking for a particular release from the real world, it’s a very relaxing and therapeutic experience.