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As I mentioned earlier, I did enjoy Bus Bound for a time. Eventually, though, there was less and less for me to do besides heading out on the road and picking up passengers. Sure, it makes sense that that should be the main focus of a bus simulator, but I would have liked a more in-depth sim to keep me engaged. However, for the budget-friendly price of £24.99, there’s quite a lot of fun to be had. Depending on what you’d call fun, of course… It looks great, the performance is smooth throughout, and it’s just a pretty laid-back simulator that doesn’t overwhelm players with too much. Therefore, Bus Bound receives the Thumb Culture Silver Award!
The Third Shift is a pretty solid horror game. The gameplay loop is simple but enjoyable, and I found myself mostly invested in the story. The graphical style lends itself well to the horror, and the soundtrack is decent. Finally, while short, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and has quite a lot to see in repeat playthroughs. I have to say, as much as I enjoyed The Third Shift, I didn’t find it too scary. There were a couple of solid jumpscares, and the atmosphere was fantastic, but I didn’t feel much looming dread outside of the worry that I’d fail the final minigame and have to redo the fight. Even so, I really enjoyed my time with it, and I’m sure plenty of people would find it more frightening than me. If you’re looking for a solid spooky time for a free weekend I’d suggest you give it a shot. I’m happy to award The Third Shift the Thumb Culture Gold Award and my recommendation.
Bring me back to my childhood by letting me build the most ridiculous and deadly vehicles I can. Then keep me engaged by turning it into a bullet hell roguelite? If this sounds good to you, then TerraTech Legion is right up your alley too. With vehicular combat at breakneck speed, simple progression and endless builds, this one is another Thumb Culture Platinum Award in my book!
Despite the confusing start and my lack of knowledge when it comes to Slavic folklore, The End of the Sun was a pretty interesting journey. That said, it isn’t without its issues. The lack of actual puzzles harms the game the most, with most simply being basic fetch quests. Coupled with the story that doesn’t reach the emotional heights I was expecting and the poor graphical performance, The End of the Sun is an interesting, if flawed, experience. Therefore, The End of the Sun receives the Thumb Culture Silver Award!
I have, unironcially, been waiting for a horse game that rivals the 2003 PS2 classic Barbie Horse Adventures and nothing has ever quite hit the spot. Rival Stars Horse Racing might be the closest I’ll ever get to that level of perfection. In all seriousness, I really do enjoy this game and I know I’m going to be playing it for a long time. It’s easy to play, it’s entertaining and is everything I want from a horse racing sim. I’ve got no choice really other than to give Rival Stars Horse Racing the Thumb Culture Platinum Award. It’s a fun game from beginning to unofficial end. I can’t wait to sink even more time into it.
Personally, Rumbral feels like it’s trying to be a little too gentle with the players. It relies heavily on curiosity and trusts the player to put the work in. For some it would definitely work but it just feels like there isn’t enough substance to push that curiosity further. There is a focus on the lonely feeling but the game isn’t long enough to make the most of it. The part I keep getting stuck on as well is that you can rush through this game in 45 minutes but it still has the £12.99 price tag. In the grand scheme of things that isn’t a lot, especially when AAA games are charge £70 for 8 hours. However, the lack of replayability doesn’t do it any favours. Ultimately, I’ve given Rumbral the Thumb Culture Bronze Award. This isn’t a bad game, but it just didn’t live up to my expectations.
Global Rescue is a triumph of “Local Scale” gaming. PeDePe GbR has managed to take the technical wizardry of real-world map integration and turn it into a compelling, often hilarious management sim. Is it perfect? No. The traffic AI sometimes has the spatial awareness of a goldfish, and the UI can feel a bit cluttered at times. But the thrill of seeing your own streets used as a digital playground is unmatched in the genre. If you have ever wanted to be the hero of your own high street (or just want to see a police chase end in a drive-thru), this is an absolute must-play. Just do not expect a Happy Meal if you end up in the Folkestone lock-up. I award Global Rescue the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
This version of ICARUS just isn’t for me. Hopefully things will improve over time for the console port. The game looks great and like it probably has a lot of enjoyable things in it, but the awkward controls, interface, and failure to just naturally feel playable on the console aren’t going to keep me around. ICARUS on PS5 is going to be a Thumb Culture Bronze Award from me.
Blades, Bows and Magic is a simple card battler that understands how to make a small ruleset feel readable and occasionally clever. Its best card abilities create the kind of sneaky reversals that make you grin, and its straightforward design makes it very easy to pick up. On the Other hand, the lack of real deckbuilding leaves the whole thing feeling lighter than it should. You can read the board, spot the threat, and understand the counter, but you cannot always shape the outcome satisfactorily. That makes the strategy feel reactive rather than authored. Still, there is something quietly likeable about it. Not flashy, not especially rich, but tidy, mischievous, and easy to grasp. Blades, Bows and Magic know exactly what sort of game it wants to be. It just does not always give the player enough say. Blades, Bows and Magic gets the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Aphelion is a gripping tale about two people, not just about surviving on an alien world, but also reuniting with each other. Although some players may find the gameplay too basic, those who love a good story will find themselves hooked from beginning to end. DON’T NOD have once again shown that they are masters when it comes to engaging narratives. So, with all that said, Aphelion receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
I enjoy the concept however, I felt that most of my time was spent too much messing around with roads and the turn-styles. With one glaring issue being setting rules for Humus’ to enter specific paths, but you aren’t able to actually stop them from entering your desired building. Well not without creating even more complicated routes. Being able to switch between both the Overworld and Underworld is interesting, but I wish there was a lot more to interact with in the Overworld. Like, actually moving the Humus to look around. Sintopia can feel rather slow at times, especially when starting out a new world. But when it does get going it is enjoyable. There is a learning curve, that I usually struggle with when it comes to these types of games. And this time it is the aforementioned roads and pathways, so that I can separate Humus better when needing to cure specific sins. So I will be giving Sintopia the Thumb Silver Award. This is a game that you will need to have a little bit of patience with.
First and foremost, Replaced is stunning to say the least, but what it does in visuals, it heavily disappoints in gameplay. Most of the players time is spent running through large corridors or vents that seem to go on, and on until R.e.a.c.h. drops into a swarm of enemies. Tie that with the constant avoid the spotlight segments and the whole game just tends to drag on. With some chapters being needlessly long or some too short and just padded for no reason. The best examples of this are chapters 2, 4, and 6. When it comes to chapter 2 and 4, R.e.a.c.h. is at the Station and here he can do exactly 2 side quests in each. But to go as far as have the whole area as a chapter seems odd. Chapter 6 however, go on for too long for only a slight sniff of story to be actually meaningful in the last couple of areas. There is a lot that could have been cut down. On the actual combat side of things, it flows okay, but nothing we haven’t seen before. It is mainly there to break up the abundance of running and platforming. It feels as if the story suffers the most in all this, with anything meaningful actually happening until the end of chapter 6 out of 10. I am giving Replaced the Thumb Culture Silver Award. Because Although the visuals are beautiful, it really gets destroyed by the boring and repetitive gameplay.
I enjoyed my time with Crime Simulator. Mostly… Whilst it’s undeniably better with friends, the solo experience grew tiresome after around 10 hours. If you can grab three other people, then this is absolutely a game worth looking into for some chaotic fun. If you’re strictly single player, then it’s harder to recommend. It can be satisfying to learn from your mistakes and pull off flawless heists, but as I said, it can get repetitive after a while. For those reasons, I’ll be awarding Crime Simulator the Thumb Culture Silver Award!
As a shooter, Mouse P.I. For Hire, fits well with its decent arsenal of weapons for you to use. The level design is amazing with Tinsel Avenue probably being my favourite location, and driving around the overworld looks so damn good. Enemy variety keeps you engaged even if they don’t really require you to switch up for strategy, with the Devarnisher, literally melting most of them. There are plenty of Easter eggs, nods and references everywhere the player looks, showing just how much detail this game offers in the environments alone. Boss fights are fun and some offer a better challenge than just running around gunning. Although The final boss felt a little long but was still enjoyable in the end. And with all my cases closed, I would say that Mouse P.I. For Hire deserves the Thumb Culture Gold Award. I do wish that we could have replayed the levels, and maybe a beige and black art colouration was available in the settings.
KuloNiku: Bowl Up! honestly bet any cozy game that I’ve played so far this year. It eased my mind with how I unlock new dishes with the Cooking Mama mechanics. And just like Cooking Mama, it inspired me to make those same dishes and enjoy the same efforts I get in-game. The time spent was each character and the silliness that they invited into the game was superb. With my favorite character in the game being Ume and our orange cat which I named Ka-rat. There are cozy games that invite you to its world to escape the craziness of our real world. However, a cozy game that can bring the feeling of accomplishment and realism with these dishes is a true treasure. I highly recommend to anyone who misses playing Cooking Mama to give this game a shot. I give KuloNiku: Bowl Up! the Thumb Culture Platinum Award!
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is going to be the one game I’ll be coming back to daily during my breaks and lunches. Watching some Mii become friends, making games that make you ask “I beg your finest pardon!?” If you have friends who get the game and you want to bring over your Mii, you’ll need to be near one another. Or you can have the choices they made about their Mii and copy their choices. There are a few things that annoyed me about this version of the game: the lack of visiting friend’s islands or exchanging Miis unless you are next to one another. We’ve had examples that Nintendo can do it, but just choose not to do it. Sure they’ll be the same, but they’ll be completely different in their code. Now go out there and create the island life Animal Crossing wouldn’t give you! I give Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
From a twenty minute intro to an over 5 hours long chapter, Poppy Playtime has developed into a mammoth of a series. I’m really glad I got to experience this game franchise in quite a signficant chunk. As mentioned, if I played this game in time with each release, I don’t think I would have been invested and the story has quite the potential to fall flat. It was an okay experience. There were parts that I really really loved (looking at you Doey) and parts that I hated. The game as a whole isn’t bad but I feel like the story is overly convoluted at this point. It almost has too much going on at this point but isn’t doing much with the gameplay to make up for how futuristic and developed the technologies are in the lore. Ultimately, I’m going to give Poppy Playtime the Thumb Culture Gold Award. I’m excited to see what happens in chapter six and how everything actually closes out!
I would say the story was rather predictable, but regardless of this, the ending I unlocked was still emotional and beautiful. Especially that last photo scene. OPUS: Prism Peak has a fun set of characters and does well to tell its story. The gameplay is simple, although certain segments seem like a bit of a chore to actually play. No issues while playing, besides the goat character not being sat in a chair properly. OPUS: Prism Peak is definitely worth your time and deserves the Thumb Culture Gold Award. Although I don’t think I will be doing another run through it anytime soon. But on the other hand, I might also check out their other work.
The investigation side of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is interesting and engaging, with making the player look around the environments thoroughly. Also, offering two paths per section adds great reason to do another go around. It was a shame I couldn’t finish the game due to chapter five becoming a major headache of problems. Some of these were items that spawned back in areas upon reloading the game. Not being able to move further due to damage, and lastly, placing key items in the correct places and not yielding any results. My computer also suffered hard frame drops when doing a sonar pulse in chapter 5. To the point, I would have to wait a few minutes for things to settle, even when my character was standing still. For the story so far, I wouldn’t say the story is all that interesting and kinda feels told around chapter 3, which makes playing later chapters a bit of a slog. So as the game is, I will be giving Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, the Thumb Culture Silver Award. It was okay, just not overly filling they Lovecraftian theme for me.
Overall, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Cleaning Up! will be the first game I turn to when I need to destress or take my mind off of things. The game knows that it’s a quick and charming game that doesn’t require much brainpower, and it takes full advantage of that. Whether you’re comfortable in bed or playing something on the bus, Cleaning Up! is an excellent way to pass the time. While Cleaning Up! doesn’t do anything new, it polishes everything it takes from games of the same genre to deliver something cozy and addictive. Because of this, I give the game the Thumb Culture Gold Award!