GamePitt's Reviews
Journey to the Savage Planet is a fun and rewarding exploration-based FPS with the option to play with a friend. It’s an adventure which you’ll be thinking about when you’re not playing it, wondering what lies ahead in the areas you can’t yet explore whilst imagining the kinds of creatures you’ll find living there. The colourful and whimsical nature of the game will leave a smile on your face, whether you’re kicking around creatures smaller than you or simply burying the remains of your previous attempt at life, it’s just so much fun! You’ll come for the colourful adventure and you’ll stay for the addictive and charming gameplay.
Shenmue III is exactly what I would have expected to see fifteen years ago, only with much prettier graphics. Newcomers to the series may find the controls, mechanics, and dreadful QTE segments a little frustrating and not at all what you’d expect from this type of game in 2019, but those who have played and loved the originals will feel right at home. I feel the developers have delivered everything they promised within the Kickstarter campaign, offering a new and exciting chapter into the life of Ryo in the search for the man who killed his father. If you go into the game knowing that it’s much slower than titles such as Yakuza, then you’re going to enjoy it a lot more – I honestly had fun despite the abundance of QTE and fund-raising moments.
Toucan Studio’s Selma and the Wisp is a beautiful game to look at and is very ambitious in its design. With the total playtime for myself being around the 2h mark, the puzzles being moderately difficult at times, and the redefined take on platforming, I’d say you get a rather enjoyable game for the price, albeit with some rough edges which need a bit of polishing. If you want a cheap game with a new take on platforming and something you can finish in an afternoon, Selma and the Wisp could be for you.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments is one of the best Sherlock Holmes-based games you can buy, thankfully reinstated on digital storefronts by developer Frogwares. This is basically a Sherlock Holmes simulator, become the infamous detective as you solve six mysterious cases ranging from murder to the disappearance of a train – no two cases are the same. The innovative Mind Palace and Sherlock vision are modes which the developers still use today in their recent games, further enhancing your experience and enjoyment. If you like mystery adventure games where YOU decide the outcome, ensure you pick up this game – you won’t be disappointed.
Still There is a brilliant and challenging puzzle game set within an isolated and immersive environment. Each time you complete a task you feel successful as you worked it all out for yourself rather than being handed it on a plate. The sarcastic, frantic, abusive, and emotional conversations you have with various ‘people’ throughout the next few days are all very memorable and the game really makes you think how you wish to react based on your situation and past events. When in space, either lost or alone, everyone needs two things, hope and a friend.
Bury me, my Love is an emotional narrative-driven adventure game which leaves you thinking about things long after putting your Switch down. You'll come across a lot of situations and events which seem rather horrific and abusive, yet the most horrifying thing is that a lot of the events are based upon real accounts from people who have travelled this path in real life. As a game, there's so much content, nineteen endings, multiple journey pathways, and many different branches along the way, it's an experience you'll play many times and still find something new.
Jurassic World Evolution: Return to Jurassic Park is an expansion which I believe should have been in the game from the start, serving as a tutorial to the game and introduction to the characters. It enables you to not only help the three original protagonists from the movies to rebuild the park to its ‘former glory’, but also unlock iconic buildings and dinosaurs to use in multiple game modes. Although the voice acting was a mixed bag, having three original actors from the film reprise their roles within the narrative of the new campaign was a great experience, something fans of the original trilogy will love. This game still stands as one of the best God-like simulation games on consoles so far this generation.
Dead End Job is a great mash-up of Luigi’s Mansion and The Binding of Isaac, only family-friendly and very colourful. Despite its rather simple premise of picking a stage and cleaning the floor of all ghosts, then returning to your base and choosing the next area, the game itself is quite challenging and offers a lot of replayability. If going for the platinum, the playtime will be much longer than the three-hour single playthrough as there’s a lot of skill-based and collectable criteria which you must meet. This was one of my most wanted games which launched with Apple Arcade, I’m so happy it came over to consoles for us all to enjoy.
With an interesting story, beautiful visuals, and a great soundtrack, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the best Star Wars game in years. The game has its flaws with performance issues, boring characters, the occasional glitchy jump, and overuse of the sliding mechanic, but the positives easily outweigh these, resulting in a very enjoyable and entertaining 15-20 hour narrative adventure. If you’re a fan of Souls-like combat and Metroidvanias, you should already have this game, whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not, as the gameplay alone is worthy of picking it up. Free of Microtransactions and focused on the Single-player experience, THIS is how you make an engaging and interesting Star Wars game.
Arise: A Simple Story has done something no other media has done to me in quite some time, send me on a rollercoaster of emotions. The game’s environments are visually very pretty and often quite quirky, while the musical score is truly moving and compliments the game perfectly. While the time manipulation concept is nothing new, it is done very cleverly and makes for some interesting platforming sequences. Platforming precision may be a minor irritation but it doesn’t impede the overall experience in the slightest.
Space Pioneer is another very addictive Nintendo Switch title which originated as a Free-to-Play Mobile game. The game has been fully adapted to the hybrid console, removing all the microtransactions, rebalancing the rewards and combat difficulty, adjusting the UI into something much more pleasing, and implementing dual-stick controls with the physical Joycons. Although there isn’t that much variety or diversity with the enemies and planets, the gameplay shakes things up with multiple quests, missions, and trophies, as well as requiring strategic thinking around what weapons, gear, and armour to use. Whether playing on your own or with friends or family locally, if you’re looking for a game you can play in short-bursts then Space Pioneer will certainly keep you entertained.
Edna & Harvey: The Breakout – Anniversary Edition is the remaster this game deserves. Not only have the visuals been redone into a new cleaner art style, but the animations have been improved, the controls have been overhauled to become more modern, and the game now fully supports widescreen monitors. The game itself is a fun adventure into the crazy world of Edna and her talking bunny, Harvey, which is filled with strange people and eventful situations. Although some solutions may seem confusing or unbelievable, sometimes doing the wrong thing results in more fun and hilarious dialogue than getting it right! Despite the lack of bonus features for the Anniversary, fans of the game or genre will love this graphically beautiful remaster.
AVICII: Invector is the perfect tribute to the late Tim Bergling, celebrating the music he left behind for everyone. Although initially releasing in 2017 on the PlayStation 4, this re-release can now be enjoyed by PC and Xbox gamers, with the Switch getting a release early next year. Although I initially thought the music may get old fast, due to the songs all being from the same person in a genre I don’t listen to, the different vocalists and brilliant music quickly proved me wrong. As one of the best rhythm-based games I’ve played this gen, this game deserves far more exposure than what I think it’ll get – it’ll take you on a journey which you’ll want to experience over and over again.
Despite the combat and gameplay becoming slightly monotonous if going for the platinum (due to a lot of grinding), CRYSTAR is a beautiful game which evokes a lot of emotions through its brilliant narrative and haunting Memoirs. Just when you think the game is over, you realise you’ve barely begun as you get whisked back to the start in order to build upon the experiences you had the first time and pick new paths to uncover a new narrative each time. This brilliant mechanic along with the memorable protagonists, absolutely superb voice acting, mesmerising music, and truly disturbing lost Memoirs of those you execute, all combine into an experience you shouldn’t miss if you love action RPG games with an emotional narrative and fantastical visuals.
If you’re looking for a unique take on the ‘found footage/phone’ horror genre, SIMULACRA is perfect for you. The puzzles you need to complete, in order to descramble and reveal messages and photos, are fun to solve and interesting to read/look at. Although I wish there were more FMV sequences and meaningful choices which changed the narrative more dramatically as the story progressed, the quality of the videos and writing were both top-shelf.
New Super Lucky’s Tale is one of the best 3D platforming games on the Switch today – the quality and presentation is Nintendo first-party level. If you’ve played the game previously on PC and/or the Xbox One, there’s so much more than simply ‘New’ added to the title as there are adjusted visuals, new skills, re-designed levels and hub areas, new cinematics, a rotatable camera, and even more precise controls. As a Switch owner, I’m glad this game was able to branch outside of the Xbox console exclusivity and I’m hoping, considering the game is so different to its initial release, that we’ll also get it on other platforms too. It may be quite easy for seasoned gamers but it’s just so much fun to play, everyone should buy it.
Headspun has a very interesting concept and narrative, but it’s let down by the technical side due to the bugs and glitches. As of version 1.09, I’ve been able to complete the game and achieve the platinum, but I have played the game seven times in total, unlocking a few trophies with each playthrough until prior versions hit a wall and glitched out on me. The use of FMV was, in my opinion, a really smart thing to do as it perfectly depicts the human viewpoint (FMV) as real life and the cartoon-like ‘Brain control people’ as a much more fantastical concept. The narrative itself is well written and acted, delivering a story which was very interesting and fun to play through.
Other than the dungeons, one of the main features needing a good polishing, Conception PLUS: Maidens of the Twelve Stars was a rather unique and fun game to play. Sure, the difficulty spikes and lacklustre dungeon design left much to be desired, but everything else was so entertaining that you can easily look past those! It’s worth picking up the game simply for the strategy and battles alone as the depth and originality on display greatly enhance the overall experience. Though, with 15 endings, collecting EVERYTHING and getting 100% will take serious dedication if you’re aiming for the platinum.
A clever puzzle mechanic makes WILL: A Wonderful World stand out from similar multi-story visual novels. Become a God and help out those in need by, amusingly, swapping out aspects of one person’s life with another or simply alternating the order in which certain events occur. Despite the game being rather linear with its main narrative and triggers for progression, there are numerous outcomes to each and every letter you interfere with, temporarily changing the writer’s life until you opt for the best possible outcome. The writing is brilliant, the characters are interesting, and the overall concept of the game is fascinating – what more could you want from a fifteen-hour puzzle-based visual novel?
Offering more puzzles, more scenes, and a deeper story, True Fear: Forsaken Souls ~ Part 2 is a fantastic sequel to Part 1. Dropping the Hidden Object puzzles in favour of over 40 standard puzzles was a great choice as the game is now a full-on exploration and puzzle adventure game combined with a psychological and visual horror narrative. The inclusion of various difficulty sliders for each gameplay aspect also allows the game to be enjoyed by players of all skill levels, helpful for those with little experience and challenging for those who want to really think about things. I strongly advise you to pick up and play Part 1 first as it’ll allow you to enjoy Part 2 much more with its continuation of the story.