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Electrician Simulator VR is a great game, but it’s not brilliant. However, I don’t think that it strives to be. It’s taking an already successful formula on PC and bringing it into the virtual world. It does exactly what it sets out to do. All you now need to do is go and play it for yourself, oh and don’t forget to turn the fuse box off. Electrician Simulator VR gets the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Crashlands 2 is a charming, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt survival-crafting game that knows exactly what it is — and revels in it. While it has some bumps, repetitive enemies, vague quest tracking, and the occasional clunky combat moment, the overall experience is warm, witty, and wildly creative. If you’re after a crafting survival game that blends humour, home-building, and space shenanigans with a loveable art style and great writing, Crashlands 2 deserves a place on your playlist. It’s the survival genre in its comfiest hoodie, with just enough chaos to keep things spicy. With its gorgeous presentation, eccentric writing, and an interesting world to explore, Crashlands 2 earns the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
f you’re looking for a cute casual game Care Bears: Unlock The Magic fits that bill. Whilst this isn’t a long game, and the mini games are not always explained in the best way, it is fun. Is it £25 worth of fun? I’m not so sure. I did enjoy my time with it, and as a Care Bears fan it is a game I will pick up again. Just not regularly. Care Bears: Unlock The Magic gets the Thumb Culture Silver Award from me.
Game Over A Musical RPG?? Is an awesome game to play. If you like rhythm games and adventure RPGs, then this might just be for you. With a rich storyline to unravel, as well as enjoyable musical interludes. The game oozes appeal across multiple genres. The only caveat is that you must at least have a slight sense of rhythm to play. All in all such an enjoyable experience it excites me to see what more the developer is going to do. Game Over A Musical RPG?? gets the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
I’ll be honest the more I played Tiny Garden, the more it won me over. I’ve got lost in trying to collect all the seeds and plant types. Deciding between prioritising buying new seed types or more customisation options. Puzzling together how to get the right soil type in the right place in order to maximise my space. It’s been like a cosy puzzler but without the stress. Ao Norte and Super Rare Originals are currently offering the game at an introductory price of £9.59, and honestly you should be snapping it up. Even for it’s full price of £11.99 this is a cosy game that packs a lot in a compact environment. I said it in my preview, but I’m saying it again louder. If you ever wished your Polly Pocket/Mighty Max toys were real, Tiny Garden is the game for you. I award Tiny Garden the Thumb Culture Platinum Award, and I’m off to buy the DLC now too!
So, what do I think of Atomfall in general? It’s bloody brilliant. I’ve enjoyed so much of my time playing through the game and I’ll probably go back and explore some more. Its environments and characters make the world breathe with life. Add a sprinkling of mystery with what happened at the Windscale Nuclear Plant. Atomfall easily receives the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows was the second game I’ve reviewed being placed in the Sengoku period recently. In fact that gives me a good idea for a feature: a comparison of both games and what one did better than the other. But back to this game. I loved that the two protags had different fighting styles idea since you can’t just have use keeping doing the same thing on loop. Having something different is always refreshing for the body and soul. It honestly has me wanting to get the rest of the games and see what else I’ve missed out in this series!
If you are someone who enjoys relaxing puzzle games, who loves plants or just enjoys decorating cute spaces, Urban Jungle is a real gem. Its gameplay is simple and charming, yet still keeps you engaged. The story and character development are fun to follow, the visuals are adorable, and the vibes are just there. Plus, you can pet a cute orange cat! What more could you want? Since I am unable to give the game a “Green Thumb” Award, Urban Jungle will instead receive the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
The game improves slightly on its predecessor, but still there’s no case explanation, and you can brute-force solutions. I didn’t need pen and paper, which is why I finished all three scenarios in just 55 minutes. The killer never changes, unlike in recent murder mystery games, reducing replay value. As a genre fan, some murderers and motives felt overly simple. As a solo indie developer, I respect the effort involved. However, taking notes seems to just be a feature to artificially extend the playtime past Steam’s refund window, which is a bit dishonest in this writer’s opinion. Although this isn’t the case on PS5. I am giving DETECTIVE: The Test a Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
After playing the game for four hours, I was honestly done and bored. The grind to earn levels in Cinemaster Cinema Simulator is rather tedious in comparison to most sims. Like, not to sound harsh, but the game feels rushed and lacks any real creativity behind it. From the A.I. art, to the rather dumbed-down gameplay, which is there to drag hours out so you can’t refund it. I’d say pick it up on a sale as, sadly, this is one of the more boring simulations out there.
In a sea of unnecessary remasters, Croc is a breath of fresh air and a game that actually warrants a remaster. I have had so much fun going back to this classic game. It’s been the most fun I’ve had in a while and is easy to just pick up and play. I have given Croc the Thumb Culture Platinum Award because I had fun every second I was playing. I think the flashing gems need adjusting by the devs to make the game easier on the eyes. Aside from that, this game was perfect. It deserves nothing less than the platinum because it clearly isn’t planning on giving me one!
Overall, I think Pets Hotel is a good addition to the simulation genre. I was immediately drawn to the game due to my love of animals, and the game hasn’t disappointed. There are a couple of tweaks that I think could be made that I have covered, however, in terms of overall enjoyment, I think Pets Hotel has done well. Therefore, Pets Hotel receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
While Fate Reawakened brings a beloved classic back for modern audiences, it fails to truly elevate the experience. The minimal graphical upgrades, the gameplay feels dated and unbalanced, and the lack of meaningful improvements make it hard to recommend over the originals. Fate: Reawakened gets the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
I’m aware I’ve made a few complaints and nitpicks about Atelier Yumia above. Truth be told, I’ve struggled to put the game down. There’s so much going on, it’s difficult to cover it all. I’ve not even spoken about the energy meter that in theory limits how much exploration can be done and Synthesis you can perform. For me, it never really became a blocker. I’ve also avoided talking about the story and characters because I never like giving these details away in a review. Just know I’ve found the characters and the interpersonal relationships and stories to be charming. Despite not feeling like I want to, or need to, engage with all its mechanics, I’ve had enough fun purely with the exploration, the characters, and the story. I’m not convinced that the other Atelier games would closely match the vibe of Yumia, but I’m definitely willing to give them a chance based on my experience here. As a newcomer to the series, I’d be happy to recommend people could start with this entry and see how they feel about it before exploring further games. For existing fans, I don’t know how this matches up to series favourites. I more than happy to Synthesize Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist Of Memories & The Envisioned Land a Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Rise of the Ronin was the best breath of fresh air I needed when it comes to feudal Japan and sword fighting. Playing a game where it’s a mix of Dark Souls, For Honor and a splash of Shadow of Mordor. I would be recommending this game to those who love Japan’s history and sword fighting, but just on the PS5. The reason is that this game killed my 3070, and I’ve had to regress to continue playing the game. I would have tested it on the Steam Deck, but I’m not willing to lose that too. So, play this game on the PS5, but if you don’t have one, you can play it on PC. Just make sure it’s a Super edition or a 4080 just to be safe. I give Rise of the Ronin the Thumb Culture Gold Award
If you are a fan of the genre and enjoy games with more blood flying around than a transfusion centre then there’s plenty of fun to be had with Cookie Cutter. Control is responsive and fluid, and the game comes to life in its later portions. Once the power is in your hands, letting rip with a flurry of blows or skewering an enemy with your stratoblaster is a real hoot. For me, though, the spikes in difficulty and the slow opening hours required to get Cherry into a place that was satisfying left me with mixed feelings. For the majority of its runtime, Cookie Cutter skirts on the edge of greatness. Lacking one original twist or idea to elevate it from the pack. Overall – I give Cookie Cutter Overkill Edition the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
At only thirty-minutes of gameplay, Spilled! was honestly a nice cosy game to wind-down with. There is no doubt this game is visually high quality. The calming music and soft, dare I say ASMR sound effects made the entire game really enjoyable. I do however have two small quality of life suggestions. The first being to improve the scoopers so that they hold bottles a little better. The second would be to add a cute little horn for the boat. Honestly, even without these I would have given this game our highest award but it felt just that little bit too short. I wish it had a little more play-time! For just being a charming and fun little game Spilled! gets the Thumb Culture Gold Award
So Two Point Museum launched with a lot of hype following it. Thankfully I can report that the hype was real. It is an insanely fun game, even with the Middle of the TC Mini Crew telling me where to put my Sonic claw machine! Speaking of which, the Sonic content was an excellent pre-order bonus for the game. I would love to see more of this explored. Both I and Middle were excited to see the buzz the statues produced amongst our visitors. I challenge you to play this game without a smile on your face. You really can’t! It brings so much joy to watch your guests wander around the different museums, interacting in amazing ways. This award is really easy. Two Point Museum receives the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Now whilst this game isn’t going to be for everyone with a Quest 3 headset, the people that will gravitate to this are the original Farming Sim fans. Those who enjoy big machinery and driving them at slow speeds. It’s immersive, it’s fun, and it’s a joy to play. Farming Simulator VR gets the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
So how do you sum up that this is probably the best wrestling game I’ve played in a long time? Yes, even when compared to the Smackdown Vs Raw era. With so many game modes to play, as well as more event types than I’ve ever seen, WWE 2K25 brings you the ultimate in Wrestling experiences. Giving you the experience that you’ve been wanting for many years. 2K Sports have really hit the top rope with this one. The only thing stopping me from giving this the highest award is the micro-transactions within the game. However, I know there are many people out there who enjoy this feature in games. And so WWE 2K25 gets the Thumb Culture Gold Award.