Blind is a ‘must have’ game on both the PS4 and PC Virtual Reality headsets – the experience you’ll have is one of a kind. From the moment you don your headset and step into this surreal world filled with darkness and mystery, you’ll begin to become absorbed by both the visuals and the story as you embark on quite an emotional and ‘eye-opening’ experience. However, I would strongly advise you to play this game ‘blind’ (without watching others play it on YouTube) as it does get pretty ‘dark’ towards the end as you begin to ‘see’ exactly what’s going on.
Personally, I feel that The Outer Worlds is much more than ‘Fallout in Space’, it’s a brilliant masterpiece which strives on player-choice and morality. Whether you’re exploring the numerous planets, working your way through the many quests, trying to get on the good side of a faction, or simply having a ‘blast’ killing everyone, there’s always something to do. Visually the game is simply gorgeous, Mechanically it’s deep and highly customisable for your playstyle, and in terms of the story and lore, there’s so much to read, discover and become a part of. The Outer Worlds isn’t a simply a game, it’s another universe awaiting your direction.
Personally, I’d say that Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is one of, if not THE, best game from Frogwares so far. It takes the open-world and immersive quest gathering aspects from The Sinking City and brilliantly combines them with the charm and quirky nature of Sherlock Holmes. Although the performance isn’t perfect at launch, it never impacted my enjoyment of the very interesting story, intriguing cases, well-written conversations, and wide variety of missions. Having to be mindful of what you wear, who you talk to, and what you talk about, makes you feel like Sherlock himself, it’s a level of immersion and interaction we’ve not seen in any of his prior adventures.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II is the perfect way to deliver a sequel to an amazing game, it takes what was great about the first title and expands various aspects whilst adding in new mechanics in order to further enhance your experience. It has an extensive explanation on what happened in the first game but I’d highly recommend you play that first and then this one in order to get the full story and live the journey for yourself. From the addition of new attacks, giant mech battles within Valimar, a map-based exploration system, and evolved skills, everything is what you’d expect from a Nihon Falcom JRPG – it’s an amazing game and stands up today despite the fact it originated as a last-gen title.
Bloons 5 TD used to be my favourite tower defence game yet now I tell everyone it's Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten DX. It just goes to show that not everything has to look all glamorous and pretty in order to be a solid game. Personally, I'm not a fan of the pixel art style in general, but with this game, I found it to be very charming and shows that the vast amount of development work went into its gameplay rather than the visuals – which still look good but it isn't going to win an award for them.
Omensight is a great Action-RPG time-manipulation indie game set within the same universe as Stories: The Path of Destinies. As you reset time and replay the same day over and over with different companions, you will gain new insight into who was behind the untimely death of the Priestess. Yet, every day feels different, the same environments feel new and the same enemies create unknown obstacles. As you level up and gain new skills and attacks, the game gets more interesting and exciting. Graphically, the game is beautiful, with its simplistic design yet bold and colourful art style which will have you questioning if you're playing a game or looking at some Modern Art.
Overcooked 2 vs Overcooked is like comparing an executive chef to their sous chef – they are both amazing at what they do but the executive is clearly more advanced and built on experience. As such, Overcooked 2 has taken on board all of the feedback from the original game and improved on every aspect to the point where going back to the amazing Overcooked feels like a downgrade! There are tonnes of fun and frustration to be had in solo-play, couch co-op, and even online multiplayer modes – although it’s a much better experience to play with friends or people you know the majority of the time.
This is the Police 2 is a great example of how to present a Tactical RPG game on Consoles. Everything from the menus to the GUI is fully optimised for either the Mouse on PC or the Controller on Consoles – this may seem small, but there are some games out there which don't get this right. The game is full of action, excitement, humour, and manipulation – a perfect list of ingredients for a game about dirty cops, corruption, criminals and the law. If you've played the original game then you need to play this as it follows on directly. If you haven't played the original, either go pick it up or just jump right into this one as all the backstory is fully explained.
My Memory of Us is an emotional tale of two friends determined to never let go and become separated, ever. As you make your way through this intense story, you’ll encounter many puzzles, stealth segments, environmental obstacles, and even find lots of ‘memories’ of real-life people. This is an edutainment game done correctly – you’re working your way through a fantastical journey of love, friendship, loss, and adventure, yet it’s all symbolising the horrific real events of Poland in World War II.
The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Remaster is an essential purchase to fans of the series and those who like Investigative Visual Novels. Sure, the game has simply received a new coat of paint over it’s pixelated 4:3 ratio grandfather, but the game looks and feels like something you would expect to see release in 2019 as a new product. I would have liked it if the images and certain characters had greater detail upon them, and less of a filter-like overlay, but that’s just me being picky, the game looks amazing in comparison to the original.
Farm Together is like an addictive mobile phone game but with modern graphics and none of those annoying ads or Microtransactions. Either with friends or solo, this game is the definition of fun, a time-waster, and relaxing. When you’re not sowing seeds or planting trees, you’ll be harvesting fruit, fishing, picking up eggs, or even playing ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ on the piano. There’s a lot to do and see down on the farm, the farm which you can fully customise and create into your own paradise or a simple allotment.
Observation is one of the most immersive interactive narrative-based games I've played outside of Virtual Reality. Instead of taking control of the protagonist directly, you'll be in control of the AI which can traverse through the various systems as you investigate the disappearance of the crew. You'll be fooled into thinking you're watching an '80s Sci-fi film with all of the VHS post-effects and familiar surroundings which look like they've been ripped right out of the set from Alien. Although built around the incredibly strong narrative and immersive interactions, you'll have to overcome various puzzles as you move around the ship trying to uncover the truth.
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is my new favourite Atelier game, it is a fantastic and perfect instalment to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the franchise. Every gameplay mechanic and process has been improved upon, making Sophie’s latest adventure feel very fresh, new, and even more exciting than usual. The story was engaging, introducing new characters that you’ll instantly fall in love with due to their strong personalities and abundance of charm. If you’re a fan of previous Atelier games or JRPGs in general, you really should check this out.
Turmoil is the kind of game I can put on when I have some free time and then realise I have just spent the last two-three hours playing and it only seemed like a few minutes. It's very addictive and all the mechanics work perfectly in tandem with each other to deliver a very enjoyable and satisfying management sim. The base game itself offers a lot of challenge, many hours of fun, and it also requires a strategic mind in order to take full advantage of everything it has on offer and emerge the victor. The game also does something which a lot of management sims don't do – it made a mundane task entertaining, fun, and a joy to play.
>observer_ is a fantastic cyberpunk horror game with a hint of stealth and mind-fucking. The story is all about finding out the truth, leading spontaneous investigations, and trying to lift the lockdown on the building. However, this will require you to hack into the memories and nightmares of dead bodies as well as explore the run-down apartment building as you scourer for clues and evidence. Not everything is as it seems, some things will disturb you, you’ll get hit with moral choices, and you will get creeped out.
Strange Brigade is one of the best action-adventure co-op shooter games I’ve played in a long time + it has lots of puzzles. When you’re not burning a mummy to a crisp with a flamethrower, you’ll be solving puzzles on the wall or stomping on a downed zombies head in order to crush what little life it has left within it. Personally, I felt the lack of unique character stats and the small number of weaponry a little disappointing, but overall there is a tonne of fun to have as you take on hordes of horrendous beings who will stop at nothing until you’ve been ripped apart. Strange Brigade is just as much fun and accessible in single player as it is in multiplayer with friends and strangers alike – however you chose to play it, you’re in for one of the best mindless arcade-style games you’ll play this year!
Hitman 2 is the best stealth-based action game I’ve played this entire generation. The game is extremely generous with the amount of content you get, especially if you can get hold of season one and unlock all of the extra content both for free play and the entire first game’s story arc. As someone who’s not a fan of stealth games, the fact I couldn’t put it down just shows how brilliant the game design is and how addictive the developers have created it to be. Completing the challenges isn’t a chore, it’s exciting, entertaining, and above all, extremely addictive. Before long you’ll be replaying the same mission over and over just because…
The Gardens Between is, in my opinion, one of the most original and emotional puzzle games to hit the PS4 this year. Each of the puzzles has been carefully planned out and crafted into memorable and fun situations, even the ones which don’t seem like puzzles at first until you look around and work out what you have to do. The music can get a little repetitive in-game (it changes as you move through the chapters), but the ambient sounds and the calmness of the tune really help you think about the solutions. It also allows you to immerse yourself as you sink into the world of Arina and Frendt within the spectacular looking dream-like environments.
Visual Novel fans looking for a new story to become absorbed into should pick up Song of Memories upon release. The game is a flip on the Otome style, having a male protagonist who is surrounded by big breasted beauties who he’s grown up with yet has suddenly begun to have feelings develop regarding one of them (players choice). The baseline story sees you preparing for and hosting a Halloween event within October, the real endings kind of bring about the end of the world! However, depending on your choices, what happens next will leave you with very mixed emotions, tears will fall, people will shout at their TV, and minds will be blown as we all know, happiness comes at a price.
Cook, Serve, Delicious 2 is a great sequel with tonnes more content, food and mechanics to master. I always felt the original game didn’t receive as much love as it should have, as to me it was a hidden gem that a lot of people never knew existed. As such, I really hope people jump in and try out Cook, Serve, Delicious 2 for it’s fun, frantic solo and cooperative action as you aim to cook and serve delicious food to the very impatient customers. The only downside is that it takes a while to master the controls, but once you do – you’ll become an unstoppable Executive Chef