Drew Sherratt's Reviews
Europa isn’t quite the boundless adventure that I was expecting. The joyful aerial exploration is held back by portions of lead-heavy ground traversal, slowing the gameplay to a crawl and sapping enjoyment from the experience. The visuals are striking at a distance but fail to hold up to closer scrutiny, making the decision not to make the game an entirely fly-by experience all the more baffling. Underpinned by a meaningful message that’s delivered with real heart, and boasting an incredibly powerful soundtrack, Europa, sadly, feels like an agonising near-miss.
Caravan SandWitch is a small-scale open world adventure that delivers a tale that’s as heart warming as it is sombre; it’s filled with nuanced relationships and impressively deep lore, and I found it a joy to experience. There’s little to fault about the cosy, risk free gameplay except that it simply may not be to everybody’s taste, but for me, it makes a nice change of pace to a landscape that’s currently bubbling over with ultra-tough soulslike adventures. Pottering around in your beat up old van and doing good deeds for people feels genuinely rewarding, and exploring the final abandoned outposts of civilisation on Cigalo offers a sense of adventure that’s so much bigger than its 10-15 hour runtime.
Dreaming Sarah is a rather nonsensical wander through a string of surreal environments and sadly never coalesces into much more than a hodgepodge collection of ideas. It’s a carefree and low stakes affair which may appeal to some, but with almost no story to speak of, and driven by only the tiniest sliver of gameplay, I found my attention span waning long before the two-hour runtime was up.
The Iron Rig DLC offers that trademark DREDGE spookery, a myriad of new tools, and shoals of extra species to lengthen the overall experience. This new tale isn’t as well told as The Pale Reach, but the extra gameplay content is much broader in scope, encouraging me to even polish off quests from the main game that I had previously consigned to the deep. If ‘more of the same’ makes you want to pull your waders on one more time then you won’t be disappointed, but players expecting vast new experiences may want to give it a miss.
Machinarium is a ‘straight off the lot’ point-and-click puzzler that excels through some wonderful world building, clever storytelling and adorable characters. Whilst never straying far from the standard formula, there’s still plenty to enjoy, not least the fantastic, rust-covered visuals and well constructed soundtrack. This is one I’d recommend to newcomers and veterans of the genre in equal measure - while old school fans might not get much brain stretching out of it, it’s worth everyone’s time for the chance to experience this wacky welded world for yourself.
Overall, Sword of Convallaria leaves me torn. On one hand, the stunning artwork, impressive soundtrack and detailed tactical combat are all huge positives that would normally propel the game to a much stronger recommendation. But on the flip side, the time-restricted gameplay, unbalancing gacha aspects and aggressive microtransactions are pretty sizable turn-offs. Perhaps more palatable to experienced mobile gamers than traditional TRPG fans, it irks me that so much potential is buried beneath so many unsavoury pay-to-win mechanics.
SCHiM is a sweet little platformer that takes a joyous childhood idea and turns it into a heartwarming story that’s engaging and enjoyable. It shows off some great silent storytelling that connects you to the main characters by way of a great introduction and finale, despite losing some steam in the middle. SCHiM showcases an undoubtedly wonderful mechanic against some striking backdrops, and while it doesn’t quite get into high gear, there can be no denying that this shadowy hop-fest is great fun, and that some of the finer details will certainly bring a smile to your face.
Overall, Noreya: The Gold Project is a sprawling Metroidvania that offers 20-hours of nimble exploration amidst some simple combat and a somewhat fractured plotline. Despite sporting some lovely pixel art visuals, a wonderful musical score and an intriguing premise, there’s a general lack of polish that left me a little wanting. Established Metroidvania fans will find a solid addition to the genre with plenty to enjoy, but in the end Noreya might serve as a reminder that all that glitters is not gold.
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is a send up of the detective noir, and it’s executed almost to perfection. The simple, yet highly effective mechanics do a tremendous job of steering you through the case, which is filled with engaging characters and bolstered by some wonderful voice-acting. The bright and playful visuals are adorable and almost belie the well-written mystery that plays out. Hampered only by its short runtime of 2-3 hours, I dearly hope this is just the first of many sleuthing stories for Eugene McQuacklin. Play it at the risk of being left with a serious hunger for bread… and justice.
We had an excellent time playing PlateUp!, and have no hesitation recommending it for players with a hankering for a decent portion of multiplayer fun. The roguelike mechanics are both solid and tricky to master. It’s addictive to play, and you’ll find yourself laughing and squabbling with your buddies in equal measure, which is great fun. Whilst entirely understandable, the lack of cross-play is one of the only downsides, with perhaps some rather sudden spikes in difficulty coming as a close second. If you’re looking for an engaging, long term multiplayer challenge, tuck in your napkin and take a big bite out of PlateUp!, it’ll satisfy you nicely.
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a lovely RPG that excels at drawing you into a well designed world with pretty visuals and some really well written lore. The gameplay is something of a hodgepodge affair, mashing together chunks from every other JRPG into its own clunky system that’s just unique enough to keep you engaged throughout. Ultimately, the fun story, well-voiced characters and Studio Ghibli visuals weren’t quite enough to overcome the repetitive and oft-frustrating combat for me, though there’s plenty here to recommend for established JRPG fans.
Isles of Sea and Sky is a tremendously fun puzzle game that weaves a grand fabric of mystery from the humble strands of gaming fundamentals harkening back 30-years. I’m amazed how well a collection of incredibly simple mechanics have been carefully layered on top of one another to eke out an ever-increasing difficulty in such a steady and measured fashion. With a polished NES-style look, engrossing score and a boatload of secrets, it’s a game that’s as addictive as it is enjoyable, suffering only mildly from some murky storytelling. Make no mistake, this is a victory for indie gaming and solo developers the world over.
All told, OTXO is quicker than a muzzle flash, offering rapid-fire twin-stick action that is seriously intense. Wrapped in a cool monochrome package and splashed heavily with the blood of your enemies, what it lacks in visual clarity it more than makes up for with an impressive sense of style. The gameplay isn’t built for lasting impressions though; with no long-game to speak of, it’s strictly a ‘how far can you get this time’ affair that harkens back to the arcade shooters of the 80s and 90s. Best enjoyed as a run or two in between more meaty experiences, OTXO is perfect for the Nintendo Switch or the Steam Deck, where you can wile away short commutes with a hail of bullets before slipping your machine back in its holster, ready to let rip again at a moments notice.
I fell in love with Greak: Memories of Azur from minute one and would be overjoyed to see a sequel sometime in the future. Navegante Entertainment have created a world rich with lore and overflowing with melancholy storytelling that I quite simply wish there was more of it to explore. The powerful orchestral score adds considerable weight to both the action and the narrative, folding in another layer of depth to the experience. The puzzle-solving may not be the most taxing, but the levels are well designed and showcased with the most beautiful hand drawn visuals. Short, sweet, but almost perfectly formed, Greak: Memories of Azur should be on the radar of every Metroidvania fan out there.
With some excellent backgrounds and a well crafted soundtrack, there’s a tonne of atmosphere packed into Goetia. In fact, the point-and-click puzzler has a fair amount going for it, offering an interesting premise, a well written story, and some decent puzzles that lean on the occult themes incredibly well. But with poor signposting, buggy menus, and puzzle solutions that are often just too tenuous, I found Goetia as frustrating an experience as it was interesting.
Berserk Boy is a beautiful homage to the 2D games of yesteryear, offering lightning-paced platforming that’s an absolute blast. With stunning environments and wonderful, anime-inspired pixel art characters, the visuals are to die for - as is the top-tier, turbo shredding soundtrack. A lean towards being slightly too easy, along with some level design oversights late-game keep it from being a classic, but Berserk Boy certainly offers a fun experience. I hope this is just the inaugural entry in a great new series of 2D platformers - it certainly has the potential.
The Pale Reach DLC adds another solid level to an already excellent game, bulking up the playtime of Dredge by another couple of hours and offering some great new equipment options for captains exploring the Eldritch seas. The content loses some impact if you’ve already completed the rest of the game, as you won’t really enjoy the longer term benefits of the new gear, but if you loved the original game (like I did), The Pale Reach offers the opportunity to enjoy more wonderfully grisly storytelling from Black Salt Games. For players yet to pick up Dredge, I’ll fly the flag for buying The Pale Reach alongside the main title, as this icy tale and additional kit will add plenty to your experience.
Makis Adventure is the inaugural project from a young solo-developer and honestly, it plays as such. The love for the project pours from every pixel, but from a pure gaming perspective, it’s a little all over the map. Essentially, this is a small collection of mini-games held together by a rudimentary story and basic cast of characters, created by a passionate dev looking to test a variety of skills for the first time. Makis Adventure is limited in what it offers to a player, but can act as a stepping stone for Zoroarts to create bigger, more polished projects in the future, and we wish Matteo Covic all the best as he continues his journey through game development!
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a faithful port of a PSP classic. It ticks all of the boxes for a typical noughties JRPG that offers a tonne of nostalgia for fans of the genre, but with an arcade action-adventure style that brings a fun pick-up-and-play vibe for a broader audience. That said, it’s a game that shows its considerable age; with few modern improvements added, players may well grow tired of the formulaic gameplay long before the heavily padded content is complete.
After all these years, Another World still tells a great tale and is chock full of exciting moments - I had a tonne of fun with it, but it’s such a product of its era that I fear it’s unlikely to endear itself to modern audiences especially well. The original pixel art visuals may shine in the retro-renaissance we’re living through, but the 3D cinematics look thoroughly ancient and the entire runtime is shorter than a modern tutorial once you know what to do. If you’re a fan of old school experiences and want to play a shining example of adventure from a bygone era then give Another World a try, just be prepared for endless trial and error and more “gotcha” moments than an M. Night Shyamalan marathon.