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Helix: Descent N Ascent is an elegant and striking puzzle game set in a world of black n white sketches of passageways and ruins with a postgame that’s brought down by bugs. The hand-drawn art and animation are immediately captivating, and the soundscape is equal parts disquieting and sensorially satisfying. The toolset builds ingeniously. In those intervening moments between the bottleneck and the breakthrough, no matter how long it takes, I am purely mindful and at peace: studying, probing, imagining, experimenting. I know the answer is in front of me, waiting there, ready for the spark.
I want to keep this review short and sweet, just like the game. This isn’t the deepest game of all time. There’s nothing groundbreaking here. But it ran smoothly even on my potato laptop, and I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time, which doesn’t happen much. If you like platformers and a good, silly time, you’ll love this one for sure. The only thing holding me back from a perfect score is that it does play oh so very safely within the boundaries of the genre, so it’s hard to call it a “must play.” That said, this is a very, very fun game, and you are guaranteed a fun time!
What fun this game is. At times it can feel almost overwhelming, especially when shops run out of ingredients while a bunch of garbirds are roaming the streets, you’re puking rainbows and all of your storage is full. But it never becomes frustrating, and you always find a way out of trouble. Or you can thrive in the chaos, if you’d prefer. Go-Go Town! leaves it up to you. It’s a full-on toybox where you get to decide just how you want to play, and you’ll have a blast no matter
Despite the handful of technical issues and my grievances with the camera angles, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It’s a brilliantly fresh idea that is executed fully with nothing held back. The visuals are cohesive and interesting and beautifully done, and the music is incredibly delightful. As long as you enter with an open mind, you will not be disappointed in this game!
Moonlight Peaks doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it certainly does well to replace the worn tyres. Featuring a satisfying gameplay loop supplemented by interesting elements of magic, the game manages to be incredibly engaging; sadly, this is let down at times by uneven pacing, rough loading times and characters who seem to lose their sense of self when they leave the cutscenes – even so, the game remains a great time for fans of cosy farming simulators.
A perfect mix of colour, sound and satisfying gameplay makes Denshattack! a must-buy, both for completionists and score-chasers, but don’t let the simple controls fool you; this can be a difficult game, especially for those chasing those exclusive high scores!
D-topia won’t tax your brain muscles as much as some would like, so if you’re expecting some real brain twisters, you’ll be disappointed. But for others this will be a breath of fresh air with its cosy, friendly approach to logic puzzles, alongside its intriguing narrative and fun friendship mechanic.
In the end, The Incident at Galley House left a favourable mark on me. Through its mixture of interesting gameplay mechanics, mystifying narrative, wonderful sound design, and excellent accessibility options. It lets itself down slightly with the death scenes, but it has still ended up being one of my most positive experiences of the year. It does, however, beg the question that maybe some things are best left in the past.
Black Flag Resynced is exactly what a remake should be. It modernises the areas that have aged while understanding why people fell in love with Edward Kenway’s adventure in the first place. Not every new addition lands, and some of the modern Assassin’s Creed influences will divide opinion, but they do little to diminish what remains one of the series’ strongest entries. More than a decade later, Resynced proves why some games are better preserved than reinvented.
Teeto is a 3D action platformer and collect-a-thon that harkens to its late 90s inspirations in both mechanics and personality. The writing and voice performances are enjoyably eccentric, and the plot is streamlined. The game boasts an ample moveset for traversal and combat, and exploration is rewarding without being overly demanding. A perfect game for those looking to jump around a big playground and collect little guys for nine hours or so.
A rocky performance and some unusual gameplay choices mean that Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains isn’t a must-play by any stretch, but for fans of Star Wars looking for a way to shake up their board game nights, you will be pleasantly surprised – just don’t expect a normal game of Monopoly.
Ultimately, my time with The Caribou Trail was refreshing. It provided me with a very important, albeit overlooked, perspective on a soldier’s life that deftly captured the doldrums that Orwell enumerated during his time in the trenches. The game honored a real World War 1 regiment that not many people know about, using a touching story about the bonds formed among countrymen. While the psychological horrors and exaggerated heroics didn’t really work for me, this game had a bleeding heart that will stick with me whenever I think back on this great world war. “We didn’t do nothing here,” one soldier said as they evacuated Gallipoli. “Getting out alive is not nothing,” the other responded. Perhaps, like that first soldier, I need to recalibrate my definition of a war hero.
Thunder Lotus has created yet another masterwork unlike anything they’ve made before. The hand-drawn animation and music are characteristically stunning. Players choose between eight playstyles and join with friends or strangers to battle online through the three different settings of Dante’s Divine Comedy, conquering imposing and eldritch bosses. Replay and cooperation are effectively incentivized, and full completion is no easy feat.
Maseylia: Echoes of the Past will not be the most polished game you’ll play, but thanks to its great exploration, interesting world-building and exhilarating platforming, it will be one that’s hard to put down. The abilities you pick up contribute massively to this feeling, as Maseylia contained multiple of the most original and fun powerups I’ve encountered in recent years. If you are out to find a Metroidvania with a difference, then look no further.
Catto’s Post Office is a perfect example of the short and sweet gaming experience done right. Characters are simple and easy to remember, the world is varied without straining its boundaries, and the story only demands a sliver of your attention to enjoy. Sadly a lack of accessibility options does cost the game half a star in the final rating, but the overall experience remains incredible.
Dark Scrolls is a trip down memory lane that emphasizes more tripping than memories. While charming in its adherence to retro stylings, it’s a lesson in why some of that game design is no longer the standard for roguelikes. For folks itching to relive the glory days of figuring out how to play a game all on your own, Dark Scrolls is a hunk of coarse sand paper to scratch that particular itch.
All said, Mini Murder Mysteries is a decent game. All the mysteries were interesting and nice brain ticklers. As an interactive-book-style game, I think it’s a real winner. It’s nice and bite-sized, has just the right sort of noir music in the background, and is overall a competent entry into the detective game genre.
Until Then: Afterimages is a much-anticipated expansion to the hit Filipino visual novel/adventure game. This substantial DLC offers the same poignant, realistic writing and cinematic art direction that made the base game such a success. It offers 2 new chapters featuring Mark and Sofia, which wisely focus on interpersonal relationships and slice-of-life activities over paranormal occurrences.
The return to the world of Tavern Talk with this prequel is one that doesn’t offer much difference from previous entries, but it’s different enough to make it stand out as a game of its own. In a similar move to the Coffee Talk series, you are welcomed in with gameplay that feels like a warm embrace, where you might know what to expect but will still end up pleasantly surprised by the twists of the stories and the warmth of the new characters. If the developers keep this high standard up in future entries, I’ll certainly be there to play each and every one of them.
The action roguelike scene has been flooded with high-quality titles in recent years, and Savara is no exception – boasting an incredibly strong set of combat and loadout management systems, this stylish standalone entry in the Wakfu universe is only let down by some of its more tedious mechanics – the constant fight for stamina and the lack of biome variety hold back an otherwise stellar title.