Paul Hunter's Reviews
Ultros is a gorgeous hallucinatory escapade that dazzles visually as much as it impresses gameplay-wise. From the mesmerizing alien ship backdrop to the methodical combat to the taxing-yet-rewarding gardening mechanic, this game is full of surprises. If you're looking for a wholly original Metroidvania game with innovative new roguelite elements, Ultros is quite the trip.
I've been thoroughly enjoying my time with Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons and it's an easy recommendation for anyone who's enjoyed Nintendo's Picross series or is a fan of Story of Seasons. Virtually anyone can enjoy this game given the myriad of accessibility options that lets you customize the challenge exactly to your likely.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake takes you on an unforgettable journey that simply should not be missed. The enhancements, including the new local co-op option, the revamped graphics and the re-recorded orchestral soundtrack make this already exceptional indie masterpiece even better.
Alone in the Dark offers a compelling world filled with interesting characters and engaging puzzles, brought together with its great ambiance and immersive audio. Combat is sloppy and could use refinements, although it wasn't enough to deter me from thoroughly enjoying this eight-hour descent into madness.
Rise of the Ronin may not push the boundaries of the open-world genre, but it’s an enjoyable game with superb combat, deep mechanics and a great cast of characters. Highly recommend it if you enjoy samurai games like Ghost of Tsushima or past Team Ninja games like Nioh and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue is an excellent Metroidvania-light game with pleasing visuals and rock-solid gameplay. Whether you're a fan of the Love Live! Sunshine universe or simply want to experience Inti Creates' next great action platformer, this game gets an easy recommendation.
WrestleQuest delivered exactly what I was hoping for: a charming adventure mixing the best parts of wrestling with classic RPG exploration and combat.
Layers of Fear is easily Blooper Team's crowning jewel and the best way to experience these games. Leveraging the power of Unreal Engine 5, the team has delivered their true vision of psychological horror without compromise.
From the very first suplex all the way to the explosive boss-gauntlet final stage, I had a blast playing Cannon Dancer - Osman. It's such an amazing game and I have no idea how this game slipped past me in the arcades in the '90s, but I'm glad I got to experience this gem on my PS5.
Peppa Pig: World Adventures is an easy recommendation for parents that have kids into this popular series. Its wonderful presentation will have your young ones thinking they're playing an interactive TV show featuring their favourite loveable pig family.
Go! Go! PogoGirl is a fantastic homage to classic platformers that fans of Sonic the Hedgehog or DuckTales will surely love. It offers top-notch level design, a charming aesthetic and a nice mix of platforming challenges and puzzle-solving to get through each stage. It's the perfect length, too, and encourages replayability.
For a game based on such a non-exciting task, PowerWash Simulator is way, way more fun than it ought to be. That mainly comes to down the game embracing its silliness, putting you the perpetually dirty Muckingham and tasking you with washing ridiculous places like a giant shoe home or a washroom with decades of baked-on piss stains. Once you settle into the game's zen-cleaning state, you'll easily melt the hours away obsessively cleaning objects until they look brand spanking new.
Going into Forspoken I had cautious optimism, but I walked away happy with the experience. The gameplay is the real winner here: from the hyper-fast traversal to the deep magical combat there's a lot to appreciate. Yes, Frey and Cuff's dialogue often made my eyes roll but at least the game's lore is intriguing and worth exploring to its fullest.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake delivers exactly what I'd hope for: a fun-filled new SpongeBob adventure that takes the gameplay, graphics and vibe of Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated to the next level.
While I wasn't too thrilled about the Court of Owls storyline, thankfully the villain subcases featuring Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze and Clayface are top-notch. Batman fans shouldn't hesitate to grab this game and step into the knight.
Resident Evil Village Winters’ Expansion is a great add-on with its new third-person mode and new story campaign, but I thought The Mercenaries Additional Orders was the best new content. If you enjoyed RE Village, I'm convinced you'll be lycan this DLC expansion.
Evil West is a silly slaughter-fest that has gameplay I instantly got into and enjoyed.
Jitsu Squad is pure brawling awesomeness. The gameplay is buttery smooth, lightning-fast and thoroughly satisfying—exactly what you'd want from a beat 'em up. Mix in the eye-popping hand-drawn cartoon graphics, finessed animations and a thumping soundtrack and this game delivers the goods. It's a shame then that in its current state the content is a bit lacking, but hopefully, the Kickstarter stretch goals get rolled out soon as they'd make the game an unqualified recommendation.
The Devil in Me is Supermassive's best entry yet in The Dark Pictures Anthology series. The new gameplay mechanics push the series into the modern era (finally!), but it's the haunted antagonist Du'Met that's really the star of this horrorfest. If you've enjoyed previous entries in the anthology, don't hesitate to book your ticket to the murder hotel.
The Callisto Protocol is an impressive first release from Striking Distance Studios with sublime visuals and immersive 3D audio, all set in a captivating new game world I just have to see more of. The performance on PS5 is exceptional: buttery-smooth frame rates, crisp 4K resolution and one of best implementations of ray tracing and DualSense features I've seen yet. If only the combat was better this would be a near-perfect outing, but alas that aspect needs some major reworking.