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Röki is, at heart, an adventure game heavily inspired by Scandinavian folklore that also includes elements of point & click games and a heck of a narrative. A tale of journey, loss and family, Röki is a totally non-violent, emotional experience – and what an experience it is. Players assume the role of Tove, a young girl living out in the wilderness with her father and younger brother, Lars. Lars has a great imagination and loves his tales of monsters. But, it seems they aren’t just tales anymore. One cold night, a huge, dark creature destroys the family home and leaves Tove and Lars running for their lives. Sadly, this monster captures Lars and drags him through a mystical portal – leaving Tove with only one option – jump into that portal and rescue Lars. This is where your magical journey truly begins.
Clash Force promises to be “a love letter to classic 8-bit run-and-gun action games and 80s cartoons!”. In reality, it is more of a postcard of influence than a love letter. The game definitely has 8-bit vibes but it’s no Contra or Metroid. It also doesn’t have the over the top action or dramatic tension found in all the best 80s cartoons. If Transformers or He-Man had been as flat as this game, we wouldn’t even remember them.
Virtual reality has brought a whole host of sport-inspired gaming experiences. From pinball, table tennis, boxing, to racing, virtual reality has allowed people inside the home to experience these thrilling and fun sports. This is something I’ve admired about VR, and with experiences such as Topgolf, the real-life arcade-styled golf park, being temporarily shut down due to obvious pandemic reasons, Pro Putt delivers a fun, immersive take on the driving-range-focused gameplay with a variety of easy-to-play hard-to-master content.
Online multiplayer games were once a rarity, but now however they are commonplace to the point of oversaturation. From PUGB and Fortnite to Call of Duty, Apex and more, there is a tried and tested formula that seems to reign supreme. So when I saw a code of an (as of that moment) unreleased online multiplayer called Tannenberg come along, I was certainly intrigued. Now, it wasn’t that online multiplayer aspect that caught my attention, but rather, the setting. A WWI game, a part of history that video games tend to overlook in favour of WWII, Vietnam, or more modern fictional wars. I knew nothing more about the game when I agreed to take the code, and that is just the way I like it. So, how did I find my time in the trenches? Did I go over the top for glory or was I left with underpants on my head, pencils up my nose crying wibble in the hope of being sent home? You will have to read on to find out.
The Punchies are a strange, sexless race that reproduce through combat – you heard me correctly! When these creatures fight, it generates a massive amount of power which leaves stars and galaxies in their wake.
Mike: Let’s not waste time here. Evan’s Remains is something special. The difficulty for us, I guess, it is explaining why, without giving anything away. I’m sure you’ll agree that this game sits in that pool of the story-driven experiences, the likes of Gone Home and Undertale, where the player benefits more by knowing less. But, Alicia, let me first ask you this: what made the game first resonate with you?
I am a big fan of dark and creepy games. They don’t need to be horror necessarily, but that dark, melancholy atmosphere, the creaking floorboards of an old house, or the shadows moving between the trees. Then you combine that with a story based in fact on a real place and draws inspiration from several different sources.
Yep, we’ve all said it. Followed by a thrust of our hands forwards and then back towards our chest, imitating the infamous Scorpion setting in his ranged stinger from this critically acclaimed franchise. Mortal Kombat 11 has found its place with casual beat-em-up gamers and pro players alike since its launch in April 2019, and with 13 months of optimisations and updates, we finally welcome the first major DLC for this franchise, ‘Aftermath’ to the fold. Our very own Craig Green already covered the main game back last year, the link to the review can be found here. We won’t be retracing these steps today and will just be focusing on the additions found as part of this pricey DLC.
The year is 2020 and yet the world is not at its peak; therefore, many individuals look to nostalgia to remind them of happier, better times. The current generation is one of remakes and remasters aplenty, and THQ Nordic is capitalizing on that. Not long after the release of their remake for SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (which was a flop), they follow with a remake for Destroy All Humans!.
I’ve had a long-standing fascination with horror from an early age, maybe too early. By the start of high school, I had been equally terrified and enthralled by films such as Candyman and Creepshow, had read The Shining and was devouring any horror novel that came my way. In 1999 Silent Hill dropped me right into a horror story, and I’ve loved horror games ever since. This week I’ve taken a shaky stroll through the psychological horror house of Infliction: Extended Cut.
I am far more accustomed to playing games where my character is equipped with a gun than a sword, so it’s fair to say that Thy Sword is not the typical type of game that I choose. So, was it good to get out of my comfort zone, or did I find myself longing to get back to more familiar ground?
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is ACE Team’s third game in their tower defence/arcade hybrid series. As a fan of the sequel, I was very eager to review Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break. Does this third entry into the series build upon the previous games?
Videogames, like any creative work, are liable to age, or instead to age poorly. Not only from a technical point of view but also from a playable point of view. There are mechanics, and even game concepts that have gone down in history, or at least have gone out of style. However, there are also immortal works, and forms of play that are always fresh, modern, or at least don’t taste old. One of these classics is Dungeon Keeper, which explored the strategy in real-time in such a personal and original way, that in their day, they didn’t even dare to imitate it.
Let’s get straight down to brass tacks. The performance of Deadly Premonition 2 is nothing short of appalling. With a stuttering frame-rate, inaudible cutscenes, texture pop-in that begs the question as to why they even bothered adding the asset in at all and loading times so long you’ll be left wondering if the game has crashed. All of these equate to a game that is almost unplayable. The most important word in this paragraph? Almost.
As the world starts to come out of hibernation, and sport is slowly returning to the screens, it felt like the right time to turn my hand to Rugby 20. Being a fan of the game – playing it – and admittedly a dedicated follower of major tournament rugby only, I was all too eager to get my hands on the game. I am always partial to a sports game and was lucky enough to review NHL 20 for this site earlier in the year. But how does rugby translate from the pitch to the console? Does it score a try, or should it be relegated to the sin bin quicker than Saracens during a salary audit? Keep reading this Rapid Review to find out.
Imagine what it would feel like to be in a coma. Now, imagine that upon waking up from the coma, the world was a nightmare. In Neversong (formerly known as ‘Once Upon a Coma’), the new adventure platformer developed by Atmos Games and published by Serenity Forge, the lead character finds himself in this exact situation.
“Tower of Babel – No Mercy” is a physics-based multiplayer game from DNA Studios where players either compete or help each other build the tallest tower. Building on wonky foundations results in failure but does the game reach for the stars or, like many of my tower-building attempts, result in a catastrophic collapse?
Normally, licensed video games have a hard time being good, however, Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom hit it out of the park and the game gained a following for being so good. So when Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated was announced, you can understand the excitement that fans of that title must have felt. For me, someone who loves the original, my expectations and hype were sky-rocketed, and I couldn’t wait to play this title. Now that I have played it, did the game hit those expectations? The simple answer is… No. No, it didn’t. Keep reading to find out why.
Woodle Tree is a kid-friendly adventure platformer series developed by Chubby Pixel. The original entry has seen its release on an array of platforms over the years, now followed by Woodle Tree 2. As one would expect, the new release is very similar to its predecessor with some changes and adjustments, along with a new story again focused on Woodle saving the Wood Lands from the encompassing evil black-matter.
Sometimes a game comes along that completely splits your opinion in two. Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate is one of those games for me. It is the latest instalment in the Warriors Orochi crossover series; which fuses together the worlds and characters of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. I have always had a “love or hate” relationship with these games, as such I can see both sides of the argument. I’ve enjoyed time with some titles from this genre over the years but I’ve never really fallen hard for one. There’s a couple of things that really turn me off about this game. Firstly, it’s an almost perfect example of an adolescent power fantasy. I’m aware that many popular titles incorporate this theme and as a player, a part of us wants to live this fantasy (we’ve all taken to the streets of GTA with mayhem in mind), but Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate’s sole purpose is this yearning for power and destruction.