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The story of Tiny Terry is wholesome, wacky, and witty. Terry goes on a tiny journey of self-discovery of what it means to live among the residents of Sprankelwater, and what it means when you achieve your goals. The best part of this game, besides being able to play at your own pace and having amazing side quests and challenges, is the dialogue of all the characters you interact with. The narrative writing of the personality and humor of the characters in Tiny Terry is unmatched and is just a joy to read and experience. Exploring the city of Sprankelwater, even when it's a small map, is full of life, densely packed, and vibrant.
Until Then isn’t just my game of the year (so far) it’s up there with my favorite games of all time. The jaw-dropping artstyle alongside the witty dialogue and emotional beats all combine to make a visual novel that is In my opinion, a masterpiece, and a true labor of love. Some mini-games slightly sour the experience, but winning is not necessary to progress the story. And that story is too good to care. This game is 100% worth your time and money. Give it a go…or three.
Killer Klowns offers an incredibly enjoyable experience that is ultimately marred by game-breaking bugs, constant disconnects, and a general lack of polish. Things such as locking doors not having an animation, and overall jankiness. This prevents Killer Klowns from reaching the heights it should with both the amusing gameplay and quirky IP. Unfortunately, in this state I have to award Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game the Thumb Culture Bronze Award. I’d love to revisit this review of the game and award it based on the gameplay in the future.
V Rising stands out as an excellent survival game held back by a few minor issues accompanied by the fact that players will most likely get value out of their first playthrough, but feel tired during their subsequent ones. However, the game shines brightly (ouch) with its vampiric charm, extensive base building, and satisfying and varied combat mechanics making it one of the best survival games I’ve played period. The game’s dedication and love for its theme are palpable, evident in its systems, even with weaknesses like garlic being turned into a fun mechanic. Due to these reasons, I am awarding V Rising the Gold Thumb Culture Award.
Paper Trail is, at its core, a wonderful adventure through page bending worlds. Paige is an adorable main character and the atmosphere that it creates through its design and music is stellar. The reason I’m not giving a platinum award is because the difficulty curve felt a little too steep. I would still recommend Paper Trail to any fans of puzzle or cozy games. That’s why it has been awarded the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes was fiendishly difficult to put down or stop thinking about. I would load it up even in short 15 minute bursts to try a puzzle solution. If I'd been playing on the Switch it would have accompanied me everywhere. I play a fair few games that have puzzles within them, and if I get stuck for a short time, chances are I'm going to go looking for a solution online. With this game though, I always felt like either the answer was staring me in the face, and I just needed a little more brain time or power to crack it, or that I had other options to progress. I never felt a sense of frustration, my sense of pride never truly threatened. That's a really delicate balance to strike, and I think Simogo have nailed it. I can't recommend giving this game a go enough. I've barely scratched the surface above as I honestly don't want to give anything away. Do yourself a favour, grab a notebook, pencil and cuppa, and go play it.
MADiSON VR combines many classic horror themes across games and film to bring together an effective, immersive, anxiety-inducing Horror experience that is not for the faint-hearted. The deep lore you discover throughout the playthrough (if you read every note) builds up the world of the Hale house. As someone with vision issues related to my pupils adjusting correctly to light meant that the pure black parts of rooms against the dimly lit sections caused me some issues but without this, they would struggle to hide the jump scares. MADiSON does a great job at creating the experience of being possessed and the confusion that it induces on Luca. I hope that Bloodious games continues to build up their world and the lore around it.
Overall, I enjoyed diving feet-first into this quirky and interesting narrative-driven mystery. While some may be deterred due to short attention spans or needing that quirk and fast-paced content this game will reward you for your time spent fishing for clues and unspooling the mystery. I'd encourage anyone looking to venture into this sub-aquatic adventure to devote some time to it allowing the game to grow. There's nothing out there at the moment to rival its quirky setting, it's out of the ordinary story and unique characters.
There’s nothing negative I can say about Crow Country; The puzzles were great and backtracking to different areas didn’t feel like a chore. I found controls very responsive and the enemies do great at being an obstacle and not a hindrance. Crow Country’s way of adding more difficulty as the game progresses by adding fake items, traps and larger creatures was great. Crow Country is short, sweet, and filled with a lot of personality! I am awarding it the Thumb Culture Platinum Award. If you love the classic PS1 style horror games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil and Clock Tower, then I highly recommend this game.
While Phantom Fury started as a charming, fun and easy-going game, issues began to crop up. The final parts of the game were too long, and some boss fights were tedious. The worst problem I encountered was a bug that made all my weapon and bionic arm upgrades disappear. I had to reload the game two levels back to fix it, which is worse, considering there is no manual saving. While early-level designs were great, later levels lacked decent cover from the mass of enemies attacking you. A level that frustrated me was an underwater level. It was too dark to navigate well, and I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to go, and the submersible was awful to control. Some of the weapon's damage didn't seem effective, even upgraded. I wish the bionic arm had more upgrades besides a shield and punching.
After playing Harvest Hunt for two hours, I got bored. The lore didn’t pull me in, and I found the game lacked any consequence for losing. The gameplay loop does get repetitive, and it didn’t seem to change much apart from the cards you picked. The UI when wearing the mask is too cluttered. I also found using the mask redundant, apart from when needing to locate the Devourer to banish it. The creature can grab you too easily, making it difficult to strike it with the pitch forks. Though the game’s primary objective is to collect Ambrosia, I do wish that there were more tasks for the player to finish. I was not a fan of the Blight card either, as it can ruin a run easily for new players. Although the Harvest Hunt’s art style is beautiful, I found the gameplay and story didn’t captivate me. That’s why I’m giving it the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
So all this sounds great right? Well for the most part it is a great game. The difficulty of the game steadily ramps up so as to introduce you to the game elements before unleashing the full operational coastguard on you. Does it keep it’s fun factor the more you play. Actually yes. The game is a souls-like on water. It’s punishing but rewarding. Regardless of how you play the game, there are hours of fun gameplay to be had with Bootleg Steamer.
Maybe I've been sleeping too long on some Mobile Games, because What The Golf absolutely nails what fun games are all about. This is genuinely on another level when it comes to design and it subverts your expectations right from the get go. The game constantly finding new ways to entertain, challenge and surprise. I would love to see what the creative genius of this talented team at Triband could come up with if tackling some other genres of games.
The best way to describe House Flipper 2 is that it is the older sibling of House Flipper. The grown-up version, but is still familiar. But there is plenty of room to grow and develop. It's not often I say this, but I genuinely believe that this game is worth its money. Frozen District has taken the well-loved mechanics from the first game and has improved them. Although House Flipper 2 is not at the level of its predecessor in terms of furniture, objects, houses, etc.. the game will just keep improving, and I am genuinely excited to see how it improves. It is with all this in mind, that I will be awarding House Flipper 2 with the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
SO: TD is a short but sweet game that delivers an interesting horror experience. It does suffer from being too short and the abstract narrative left mostly unexplained. In its two-hour playtime, there are stunning visuals and solid audio to go with it. And for a linear game, it delivers a compelling plot to ponder and revisit afterwards. But I do wish there were more answers than being left with mostly questions. I enjoyed my time playing SO: TD and am curious to see what Juan-Mod brings us next.
Nyaaaanvy is a bizarre but really enjoyable battle game. At first, I was a little unsure, however once I had played the first match and got to grips with the controls and arena physics it became one that I couldn’t put down. For a game that is quite simple, nudging and spin attacking your opponents is great fun and makes for a brilliant game both in single and multiplayer.
Overall I liked my time playing Planet Zoo and I'm glad to have gotten to experience it. The setup is excellent and Frontier Development put a lot of care into the game. However, in practice, this visually fantastic game didn't do as well with the gameplay mechanics. The variety of content combined with the mechanics almost shot itself in the foot. There is so much going on and even during the tutorial there is no way to revisit support/guidance and ends up becoming more frustrating than fun. The graphics and audio of Planet Zoo are also amazing and designed and run very well, especially in busy zoos. It is so easy to stop and simply watch the animals in their habitats. The cliché British characters, soundtrack and sounds were fantastic and worked well with the intended ambience of the game. And with so much content and options there are many hours of gameplay and so many zoos to build and see.
The ‘90s badass tropes will wear thin very quickly, but they won’t stop you coming back for more. Beat Slayer is a thoroughly enjoyable rhythmic romp that is both fun and deceivingly addictive. With an exceptional soundtrack and mix-and-match gameplay with something for everyone, you’ll be saying “Just one more run” until the wee hours.
The Outlast Trials is a fun coop game with friends (you can play alone as well). But there doesn't seem to be much in the way of content. The main maps are great with having the players do various objectives, but I found the MK Challenges tedious and lame.
An exquisitely crafted experience Freedom Planet 2 was definitely worth the long wait. The sheer amount of little details that have been implemented with such thought, care and attention shows not only the abundance of talent at Galaxy Trail but also the passion they have for their projects. DO NOT let this one speedrun past you! It should absolutely be on your radar. Having taken an already excellent first game and dialing everything up to 11 for this sequel, I look forward to what this gifted team of developers has in store for us next.