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Dead Format starts off strong with the mystery and worlds, but quickly ends up tedious and the story lacking. Which does suck some of the fun. The stalker is too aggressive at times, and with the amount of portals for her to enter the world from, it seems rather annoying to avoid. Especially during the end segments of the game. I’d probably say the highlight of Dead Format is definitely in the presentation, rather than its game-play. Although the game-play is fun with the minor puzzle moments it has. Yeah, I Would suggest checking Dead Format out, as the game has a noticeable amount of love in it. And I feel it deserves the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
The was an enjoyable experience in the first half, but because of bugs and my hard drive sounding like a engine because of this one game. Even with the many issues I was dealing with, I still had some fun. Hopefully, they fix these issues and maybe add a few more things to the game after beating it. But, that’s just my opinion. I give This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker the Thumb Culture Silver Award
The Berlin Apartment tells its story beautifully through the eyes of many different narrators. There are plenty of opportunities to replay chapters if you’re going for for the platinum like I will be. For the slight bugs and graphics issues, I have to give the game the Thumb Culture Gold Award. Once these issues are fixed, I could easily bump this up to a platinum game.
Though Dream Garden may not feel like a game to someone like myself, it has a solid core. Everything in the game is available right away; without restrictions. No having to unlock or buy things after so much time or effort in advance. It gives the player the creative freedom without jumping any digital hurdles. With that freedom comes the cost of lack of objective or direction. Regardless, Dream Garden is worthy of the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Disregarding the occasional nuisance of not lining up with enemy combatants to land a hit, MARVEL Cosmis Invasion is delightful and slightly addictive. Unlocking characters, learning each of their combat moves, and figuring out which one best suits your play style do not feel like a chore but rather a goal in and of themselves. Obviously, this game relies heavily on nostalgia and caters to millennials, but its modern playstyle and character depth make it fresh and contemporary. It’s a great example for other game developers to follow. Tribute Games took a genre that had aged out and turned it into something new, whilst celebrating the games and comics it was inspired by. I hereby grant Marvel Cosmic Invasion the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
I wouldn’t expect too much from Unboxathon, as the trailer shows everything you will probably experience. You can take your time with it, or simply have it run in the background (when you reach a strong way of making passive income). But overall, the game does well to kill time. A big issue I had was when I reached pretty far into the upgrade trees and newer boxes, the bubbles would randomly stop spawning new boxes. This would happen every time I would open a new menu. My only fix would be to close the game and boot it back up. After a while this issue stopped, but it was weird. I mean, Unboxathon will find its audience for sure, but from me, it gets the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Although not a huge step up from the original releases, Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack is a fantastic collection of three charming and engaging RPGs. For returning players, the new content may not be enough to warrant the cost. If, however, you’ve yet to play any of the Atelier Ryza series, then this is the best way to experience them! With plenty to see and do, and a great cast of characters to adventure with, this should be on any RPG fan’s radar.
I’d say the game made me question if I actually had Arachnophobia, as I wasn’t overly bothered by seeing them. But I will admit the lack of sound and jump scare does excellent to build up suspense. More so, when you can see one of the eight-legged buggers, just out of view. Some highlights for me when Huntsman shines, was the use of different spiders, I honestly thought I was going to only see one kind. Sad that there are a few tedious bugs here, and there, with one that caused my game to soft lock. For more details when heading to the loading dock, I returned to the security room to make a quick save. Only for it to weirdly repeat the opening segment with the player to kill time. This led to me not being able to leave the room no matter what I did. Luckily, a save I had wasn’t that far back. In the end, I would say the game still stands out, regardless of its current issues. I would suggest picking it up for a good creature scare. That is why I’m giving Huntsman the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Although Night Swarm still outranks some of my other recent games, there are some areas for improvement. It has taken a lot of the foundation of the genre and built only mildly upon it rather than reshape it into more of it’s own image. What is there is at least enough to earn Night Swarm the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
So there is no concern that the lack of hype for this game was due to it not being very good. Men in Black: Most Wanted is a very enjoyable VR experience. It finds a great balance of being rewarding for existing fans of the franchise, whilst not allowing newcomers to feel alien in this world. I definitely recommend giving it a try. Even though I’ve wrapped up my review, I’ll still be making sure to finish my playthrough. I award Men in Black: Most Wanted the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Death Howls stands out from today’s crowded space of indie soulslikes with its unique mix of deck-based, turn-based, grid-locked combat. Its oppressive darkness, pixelated Nordic tribal aesthetic, and an incredibly well-accomplished audio all blend together in perfect harmony to create an atmosphere that pulls you into its weird, mysterious, and creepy spirit world. It does fall into a repetitive loop as you farm lesser spirits for upgrades, rather early on in the game. But overall, the game had a level of difficulty and a layer of complexity, both in story and gameplay, that really lured me in. For lovers of the pixel-heavy soulslike / soulslite genre, I definitely recommend this game. It is as challenging as it is rewarding. With that I award Death Howl with the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
The game is okay, and I’d suggest picking it up to numb your brain on the weekend. But it does become repetitive rather quickly, thanks to the lack of tools or fun upgrades. I would have thought as you upgraded the trash bin, we would have unlocked some funny tools, like a vacuum cleaner or maybe bombs for getting through rubbish quicker. I would also suggest maybe having the dog clear trash rather than just finding valuable items. As the game doesn’t make them all that hard to uncover. This is why I’m giving My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Demonschool is a refreshing take on the tactics RPG genre. Simplifying the battle system and giving players the ability to plan and adjust each turn in combat provides a fun and engaging puzzle element to battles that had me tinkering and tweaking my team selection and tactics to find the most efficient solutions to each fight. Unfortunately, playing the pre-launch build led to a few bugs and hiccups along the way, but thankfully, nothing that rendered the game unplayable. Necrosoft have released patches, including a day one patch that updated the in-game font and confused me for a moment, and are continuing to bug fix. Hopefully the bugged PlayStation trophy is fixed in the next patch and people can get their Platinum. If you’re a fan of old-school tactics RPGs and want something a little bit different, but cut from the same cloth, join Faye and the gang in trying to prevent an apocalypse. Demonschool gets a Thumb Culture Gold Award.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the game only allows mouse and keyboard to play, I would have given a higher rating. I did attempt to play the game on my Steam Deck with a lot of issues and just end up playing on PC. Vivid World is a fun game that has a co-op option if you’re able to find someone to play the game with you. I would have loved to use the feature, but focused mostly on aiming to beat each dungeon on my own. If you like playing auto-battlers and want to play a game that only requires 1/4 of your brain to play, in a good way, definitely pick up Vivid World today. Maybe pick up Vivid Knight while you’re at it too! I give Vivid World the Thumb Culture Gold Award
I enjoy the pacing of The Last Case of John Morley, as it is easily digestible, and doesn’t throw so much information at you to make it confusing. This is not without issues, however, since the plot becomes quite easy to guess. Gameplay is rather light, and there are only a couple of puzzles scattered around. Minor issues I had were that some interactable icons would not work unless I was far enough away, while others did not appear. The only thing I’d suggest is that when it comes to uncovering what happened at the scenes, the player should put it together themselves. Instead of the game just making you interact and tell you. I think The Last Case of John Morley deserves the Thumb Culture Silver Award, for the enjoyable story and decent atmosphere.
Anno 117: Pax Romana is not just another entry in the franchise; it is one of the strongest. The Roman setting harmonises perfectly with Anno’s economic, social, and architectural systems. The citizen hierarchy is engaging, the economy is rich, the military layer is meaningful, and the cities are simply breathtaking to watch. It has occasional difficulty spikes and some busy interface moments, but these minor flaws are easily overshadowed by its brilliance. Whether you are a long-time Anno fan or simply someone who wants to build marble cities, raise legions, and shout “For Rome!” at your monitor, Pax Romana is a triumph worthy of an emperor’s laurel crown. I award Anno 117: Pax Romana the prestigious Platinum Thumb Culture Award!
There’s a good game underneath the issues I had, and plenty of fun to be had. My concern is that the issues with graphics, AI and the in game bugs will unfortunately put a lot of people off. I award Tracked: Shoot to Survive the Thumb Culture Silver Award. Just as I submitted my review, Meta store confirmed that Patch 1.1.0 is live and the patch notes show it’s a big one. Hopefully, it will mean some of my concerns have already been addressed, but it does show the devs are taking on the feedback and working through it. Hopefully, we will see this game go from strength to strength with this and future patches, and I’ll be keeping a keen eye on its progress.
Each level is a visual feast for the eyes, game-play is simple and what you would expect of a jigsaw in real life. If you do so happen to get stuck, then a hint system is available. Personally, the asking price seems fair for how detailed the designs are, and I’d happily return to this game if they add additional levels in the future. My biggest issue with the game… it made me hungry for something sweet. UMAMI offers a fun time with cute levels, that you will probably finish in an afternoon, like I did. Congrats UMAMI, on earning the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Contraband Police has certainly surpassed my expectations. Never would I have thought that looking through documents and searching through contraband outside of my job would be fun. I am excited to experience the DLC mode Crimson Fall, which is due to come soon. I will therefore be awarding Contraband Police with the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Coffee Bar Simulator lacks depth or complexity. The game is too simplistic and doesn’t dig deeper into any of the aspects that could have made this game at least somewhat interesting. From an entrepreneur’s point of view, it doesn’t challenge players to take business-savvy decisions to stand out from the competition. Things like lower prices compared to market averages, better indoor decor and seating to create a better atmosphere, higher-quality products, and cleanliness all have zero impact on customer behaviour. The same five NPCs will come back to your coffee shop, no matter how dirty it is, no matter if you have the most expensive coffee in the city, no matter if you decorate your coffee shop or not. Coffee Bar Simulator gets monotonous and dull after just 15 minutes of play. It feels more like a demo, a Beta, or an Alpha, even, rather than a complete game. Accordingly, I can’t rate it, and I won’t dignify it with any of our Thumb Culture Awards.