Gareth Brading


61 games reviewed
91.8% of games recommended
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Worth your time - Beacon Pines
Oct 25, 2022

In many ways Beacon Pines is a fairly standard adventure game but the great emotive writing and specifically the branching narratives exploration do make it feel quite different from other games of this style. Being able to go back and undo any decision and choose differently, and then play through that path before jumping back to the old one can lead to interesting developments, such as meeting certain characters earlier, or learning information which while you as a player know, Luka and his friends experiencing this linearly do not. There are minimal traditional puzzles and most of the game involves talking to the right characters, but there is certainly plenty of atmosphere and personality in every part of the game. Beacon Pines is a lovely way to spend some hours in the company of some charming characters and a nicely emotional sequence of branching narratives.

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Liked - Scorn
Oct 28, 2022

It’s also quite a short game, although I personally thought the length was sensible given this kind of overwhelmingly horrifying atmosphere can become tedious if used too long, which was one of the criticisms pointed at the otherwise excellent Alien: Isolation. Scorn is a difficult game to love, but for its singular visual flair, it is one I respect.

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Worth your time - Goat Simulator 3
Nov 16, 2022

Goat Simulator 3 is undoubtedly a meme game, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t also some meat behind the memeing. Goat Simulator 3 is deliberately mindless, easy-going fun, with no plot to speak of and activities designed to give you an easy laugh. Its brand of humour is a somewhat acquired taste but I will admit to chuckling at the absurdity of many of the situations you can get into with a goat who knows no fear. Goat Simulator 3 is a bigger, more action-packed version of the same madcap wackiness which many enjoyed in the first game, and I suspect for most players, that will be the bee’s (goat’s) knees.

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Nov 22, 2022

Gungrave G.O.R.E. is the kind of game that is going to appeal to two different groups of people: Fans of the original two games, or people nostalgic for this particular style of bullet hell third-person shooter. Returnal in 2021 is an example of this kind of game done in a modernized format with some Roguelike elements, while Gungrave G.O.R.E. deliberately eschews any modernization in an effort of being an authentic, era-appropriate experience. If you’re in the mood for some over-the-top action and can stomach some repetitive shooting, Gungrave G.O.R.E. will satisfy that itch.

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Dec 3, 2022

Much like Spider-Man (2018)’s excellent launch on PC back in August, Miles Morales is another fantastic PC version of a previous PlayStation exclusive. Next year we’re anticipating The Last of Us Part 1 (the remake version) will make its way to PC and likely God of War Ragnarök at some point, but I also hope we see some older PlayStation titles such as the earlier Uncharted games. I just hope the gap of time between the release of Spider-Man 2 planned on console and its PC version is not as long as the four years between the original game and its PC release.

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Worth your time - The Oregon Trail
Dec 5, 2022

The Oregon Trail is absolutely one of the paramount classics of the edutainment games genre, and this newest version pays homage to that history while also introducing plenty of new content, and being more inclusive in its treatment of Native Americans. With plenty of unlockables, different modes, collectables and quests to undertake on every journey, the variety of things you can encounter means no two expeditions are likely to be the same. Plus, it might teach you a thing or two about 19th Century pioneer life along the way.

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Mind-blown - Chained Echoes
Dec 13, 2022

Chained Echoes is a must-play both for fans of old school JRPGs as well as story-centric role-playing games.

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Feb 16, 2023

Tails wonderfully brings more context and depth to the world of Backbone, while telling some interesting stories in its own right.

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Worth your time - Like a Dragon: Ishin!
Mar 19, 2023

Like a Dragon: Ishin! is absolutely another Yakuza/Like a Dragon game. If you love this style of game, and are ready for the sometimes slow pace the story moves as well as some of the more frivolous side activities and stories, you’ll get exactly what you were hoping for plus plenty of fun surprises. However for those who either haven’t tried the franchise or have dipped in before only to bounce off, this game doesn’t offer any evolutions on the formula which might tempt new players, beside the historical setting itself. But if you even have a passing interest in Japanese history, you can learn a surprising amount from it.

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Jun 14, 2023

Do Not Feed the Monkeys 2099 skews rather too close to simply redoing the original game again but in a futuristic setting.

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Loved - Viewfinder
Jul 17, 2023

Viewfinder might not be a particularly long experience, but I never stopped loving its unique photographic magic trick.

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Worth your time - Verne: The Shape of Fantasy
Aug 14, 2023

For those well acquainted with the works of the famous French author, Verne: The Shape of Fantasy is an unequivocal recommendation.

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Loved - En Garde!
Aug 16, 2023

En Garde! is a game which invokes the spirit of Zorro in the best way.

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Mixed - Starfield
Sep 7, 2023

Starfield is an enormous and impressive experience, but it struggles to make its myriad parts feel like a cohesive whole.

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Sep 20, 2023

Phantom Liberty and update 2.0 absolutely makes Cyberpunk 2077 a lot closer to what its original vision had promised.

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Masterpiece - The Talos Principle 2
Nov 2, 2023

The Talos Principle 2 somehow managed to impress me even more than the surprise of the original game did, leaving me completely blown away not only by the sheer size of the game, its beautiful environments and interesting characters, but also the masterful integration of the puzzles into both the world and the storyline. It might seem artificial and contrived to be solving these puzzles, but in the same way that the Portal games managed to make them seem entirely natural, so too does The Talos Principle 2 ground them geographically and philosophically within its world. It might have been almost a decade since the first game, but The Talos Principle 2 was more than worth the wait.

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Nov 27, 2023

While the hard sci-fi story is consistently interesting, the slow pace of The Invincible may be frustrating for some.

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Dec 5, 2023

SteamWorld Build is still a lovely merger of streamlined city-builder and dungeon delver.

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Unscored - A Highland Song
Dec 13, 2023

A Highland Song is frequently beautiful, elegiac and magical, but one’s tolerance for its somewhat uneven gameplay will impact how much you will get back out of it. It should also be mentioned that on PC there is no mouse support, and while it plays fine with a keyboard, a controller is certainly the preferred method. Nevertheless, I did enjoy my jaunt across the Highlands, whenever I wasn’t falling off them or getting lost in the rain.

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Worth your time - Alone in the Dark (2024)
Mar 19, 2024

Alone in the Dark is a slightly more campy form of horror compared to Resident Evil, with its focus on occult magic and otherworldly monsters over evil megacorporations unleashing deadly bioweapons. The performances and story of this remake kept me engaged, but weren’t groundbreaking. That said the atmosphere was strong throughout and included a number of moments which felt genuinely unnerving, although nothing as terrifying as Resident Evil Village for example. As a tribute to its original namesake, Alone in the Dark certainly lives up to being the best game in the franchise since The New Nightmare in 2001.

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