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This is a fine game for people who want a basic story, and no pressure while playing, which this does well. You have no timer on your day, and missions will not expire. The game itself is good to sink a few hours into. But that’s all it is, there’s nothing to keep the player coming back for more. While having potential, it falls short in my opinion. This is why Lake will be getting the Thumb Culture Silver Award from me. There’s not enough content here to keep the player interested long-term. While there are story elements to it, they’re pretty shallow and the only impact they have is on the outcome of the main story. I will leave you with the game trailer as always.
Not going to lie, this is one of my favourite games I’ve played in a long while. The concept of Dice Legacy is presented in a clean, crisp, and beautiful fashion. It combines strategy, survival, city building, roguelite elements, and the depth of politics and knowledge trees without being overly complex. At the same time, it is challenging enough to have you starting a new game not because you have to, but because you want to try something different. Honestly, I’m likely going to pick this up on the Switch to be able to take it with me wherever I go. The polish, gameplay, and style make Dice Legacy deserving of Thumb Culture’s Platinum Award.
Before it gets shot out through my chest, I can put my hand on my heart and say this is the best game of the Sniper series that CI Games has made. Congratulations to them. Do they hit the mark after a long line of mediocre games? Well, it isn’t a headshot, but it definitely kills. It seems they have learned from mistakes and created a pretty good game. Yes, there are a couple of bugs at the time of writing this, but nothing a patch can’t fix. I found myself going to bed late a couple of nights because I wanted to finished one more assignment. And, I will be going back to look at the challenges. I award Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
This is by far my favourite escape room styled VR game. The humour used throughout the game keeps you smiling even through various deaths. You need no prior knowledge of the franchise however both games are worth picking up if you haven’t already. It is comfortable to play for all experience levels and leaves you frantically searching for the next clue. I highly recommend this game Therefore I award I Expect You To Die 2 a Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Tinytopia is very creative and fun. It is the type of game, if you have children, you would let them play. As gamers of all ages would find this awesome and entertaining for hours on end. The oddities found in the game are its great strengths but is held back by scenarios that feel like they are on repeat. The game mechanics feel like this could also do with a polish. However, having said that it was great to play. You will find yourself having fun though. I give Tinytopia a Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Demeo is a Fantasy RPG game from Resolution Games that allows you and up to 3 other friends to take on monster infested dungeons….ALL IN VR!!! Available on the Quest 2 and on PCVR through Steam VR right now, and coming soon to Rift and also to non VR through Steam. Resolution Games has given us an experience that will stay with you for a long time. An experience that you WILL struggle to survive on your own.
Project Cars 3, the racing is great fun. Its just a shame that it has the preconceptions that a game with the Project Cars name will always carry. If you can look past the name and see the game for itself, as an arcade racer then you are in for a treat. Whilst it is no means perfect, its a great change in direction and one that I am happy they have gone in that direction. Project Cars 3 races to a Thumb Culture Gold Award
For fans of RPG, simulation, strategy games and previous Crusader Kings titles, this is a must-have. I have already seen people crying over on Reddit on how much they want the game to drop already. Bonus for Crusader Kings 3 fans who have Xbox GamePass for PC that’s available on day one too. Now I did play the preview version and there were some tiny little niggles but not game breaking bugs, and which were confirmed on the Crusader Kings 3 discord are fixed when going live. With that in mind I’m going to award the Crusader Kings 3 the Platinum Thumb Culture Award!
Super Crush KO is a delight to play. It’s fast, fluid, and hugely satisfying. But even in it’s short stay, it’s all becomes a bit too familiar. I just wish the game mixed things up more, or added more challenge overall. That said, I can’t wait for more from Vertex Pop, and look forward to the next dive into the world of Super Crush KO. But for now, the only thing left to do is award Super Crush KO a Thumb Culture Silver Award.
To be honest whilst I have pretty much watched most if not all of the Doctor Who series I am not a serious “Whovian” by any stretch of the imagination. I do however consider myself a fan and was really looking forward to playing Doctor Who: Edge of Time. Whilst there are many nods to the Doctor Who Universe and lots of fan-pleasing enemies and elements included, the game in my view failed to live up to it’s potential. What you have is a fairly generic bog standard puzzler with the now slightly cliched VR jump scares wrapped in a Doctor Who skin. It is by no means a bad game and I did enjoy my time with it however I was left slightly disappointed that yet again the potential of making an excellent Doctor Who game has been missed. It’s definitely worth a look if you are a fan and only the most fanatical and obsessed Whovian will find fault with what is in effect a deliberately fan-pleasing effort. All in all an opportunity wasted but hopefully, the devs will add some further adventures by way of DLC and therefore lengthen the game and add a bit of variety.
Hardcore Mecha has balanced itself just right. It is graphically impressive, It’s audio is excellent, and it gives you that golden oldie feeling with a modern control scheme. Harcore Mecha gets a Thumb Culture Gold Award. It’s a great game and you should give it serious consideration for your games library.
WarpThrough is a charming game, with its simplistic story about destroying monsters and collecting warps. The art style is simple and retro-inspired; the controls take a little bit of getting used to but are incredibly easy to learn. Available on Steam as of December 19th, 2019 for $11.99US, £5.79GBP. WarpThrough earns the Thumb Culture Silver Award for the value of gameplay to dollars spent.
In short, AO Tennis 2 isn’t for everyone. Some may complain about its difficulty, struggle with its mechanics and not enjoy the slower paced realistic approach to the sport. Others will love it. I fall in to the latter category and can firmly say that this is an ace! I award the game a Thumb Culture Gold Award!
To conclude, this is a tough one for me, I personally would give ETS 2: Road to the Black Sea a platinum award, no question. As a fan of the truck sim games and simulation games, in general, it ticks so many boxes for me. Also, I applaud the continued dedication and support shown by SCS Software who are constantly releasing patch’s which bring new features to the game asked for by their loyal community of fans, adding quality of life additions and also updating older area’s of the map which haven’t seen much change since the game launched back in 2012. I struggle to think of another single-player game of its age which is still receiving patches and content. and I’m already looking forward to the announcements of the next planned map expansions. However, I have to think of the wider community of gamers when giving my recommendation, which is why I still stand by my opinion of highly recommending the game to everyone! Whether you enjoy simulator games, driving games or you’re just looking for a relaxing game to take a break from first-person shooters, the ETS 2 series and it’s latest DLC Road to the Black Sea is, in my opinion, a must-play and I firmly believe it deserves the Platinum Thumb!!
Interrogation is a good game. It lacks the cut and thrust of a shoot ’em up, or the intensity of driving an F1 track. But for what it lacks it makes up for in atmosphere and pressure. I really enjoyed playing Interrogation, but I felt that it would be a very good part of a bigger game. All the other aspects could have been more interactive to make the game grow. Maybe Critique Gaming will expand upon the idea and go bigger and better. Fingers crossed, because I’m definitely on the look out for what they are going to do next. I have decided to award Interrogation: You Will be Deceived a Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Overall, I did enjoy my time with Sparklite. It’s a lovingly crafted game with buckets loads of charm. However, it just doesn’t have enough variety to make it stand out from its peers. That said, Red Blue Games have shown a lot of promise here, and I truly look forward to whatever they do next. For now, though, I’d recommend Sparklite to fans of the genre looking for a short game to play over a weekend. Just don’t expect something you’ll keep coming back to. With this in mind, I award Sparklite a Thumb Culture Silver Award!
I love the fact that I could go back to it a few weeks later still understanding the mechanics of the game. I genuinely thought the gameplay all the way through to the mechanics were great. Not only that they really did make an amazing soundtrack.
To summarize: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries is exactly the game I’ve been waiting almost 15 years for. It ticks all the boxes. It made me feel like a kid again, stomping around in big robots in a sci-fi setting. I couldn’t stop thinking about what ‘Mech builds I was going to try out next, and just couldn’t get enough of the gameplay. I gave Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries the Thumb Culture Gold Award because in my opinion, it’s an absolutely fantastic game. However, it doesn’t quite get the platinum, but only because I know that the BattleTech universe isn’t for everyone (just the absolute coolest people, ha).
AVICII Invector is a brilliant and challenging rhythm-action experience and is very different from a lot of the games that are currently out there. I found the game to be refreshing, and considering the heartbreaking tragedy of AVICII during the making of it. This stands as a legacy to the amazing artist which will stand forever. Hello There Games should be proud of what they have achieved for AVICII’s fans, As well as the support they are giving towards the Tim Bergling Foundation. I give AVICII Invector a solid Thumb Culture Platinum award.
Although the combat was quite dull and the puzzles were basic. I really enjoyed my time on Trover Saves the Universe, The game nails the humour. Due to this, I played the game with a permanent smile plastered across my face. It’s a flawed game but it’s fun romp in a dark, demented world and due to this, I give the game a Thumb Culture Silver Award.