⛳ GolfTopia | Review | PC | Early Access | "The Spiritual Successor To Sim Golf?" ⛳ #IndieGames #GameDev #GolfTopia

In Golftopia you are the General Manager of a randomly generated blank slate of a golf course and you’ll need to DESIGN, BUILD and MANAGE your own futuristic dream course from scratch. All the while you’ll be required to keep 200 persistent visitors fed, hydrated, and happy by improving the course and providing for their needs. You’ll also be tasked with defending your golfing utopia from the infestation of weeds with robotic worker drones and even defensive turrets!

Game Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1144020/GolfTopia

😱 Carrion | Review | Nintendo Switch | "Carrion Screaming" 😱 @devolverdigital #IndieGames #GameDev

Carrion is a surprisingly addictive and satisfying ‘reverse-horror’ title that feels unique in its take on the genre.

Whilst there are games that cast you as an anti-hero or even full-blown villain, there aren’t many examples whereby you play an all-consuming, morphing beast that lurks in the shadows, a force of sheer terror. 
Game Title: Carrion
Platform Reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Rating: ICE COOL

🎮 Crosscode | Review | PS4 | "I’m The Seven-Foot-Tall Mecha-Unicorn Called Funty Quank" 🎮 @ININ_Games #IndieGames #GameDev

Crosscode is a deep and lovingly-designed ARPG that, whilst having a throwback appeal in its visuals has an ultra-modern heart which results in a successful and satisfying adventure for all.

Game Title: Crosscode
Platform Reviewed: PS4
Rating: Ice Cool

🎮 Venom Travel Kit | Review | A Cool Piece Of Kit For Use With XBOX ONE and XBOX ONE ELITE Controllers 🎮 @VenomGamingUK

Product link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Venom-Project-xCloud-Mobile-Gaming

Rating: ICE COOL

Available on Amazon and priced at £19.99, the Venom Travel Kit is a handy, robust and practical package designed with the upcoming Project XCloud in mind. 

For me personally, however, it was surprisingly useful beyond this and actually opened a doorway into a different realm of gaming.

For your money, you receive:

• A sturdy controller carry-case (with a flexible mesh pocket to hold spare batteries and cables etc.)
• Mobile phone controller clamp
• 2-metre USB charging cable
• Rechargeable battery pack
• A pair of Venom-branded textured thumb grips.
• Some Venom branded decals

The case is surprisingly robust and tastefully designed, perfect for situations where you take your controller to a friends or would throw it into a travel-case for hotel stays or weekends away whilst the thumb grips are more of a bonus inclusion that I took advantage of, mainly just to jazz up my controller a bit.

The battery pack is handy, especially if, like me, you are currently using standard AA batteries for your controller. 

I estimated that I got around 6-8 hours playtime out of the controller on standard XBOX games such as Farcry 5 with the rumble function being used, the battery lasts slightly longer when used on mobile games as the rumble function isn’t as heavily utilised. 

A word of warning though, that green charging light is brighter than an industrial mining torch and can get distracting, especially when playing at night where your neighbours may mistake the green, illuminating flashes as a sign of alien abduction.

The real treat here is the phone clip, it snaps on snugly to the controller and is designed so that all ports, buttons and lights are still usable and visible, yet the clip never feels in the way of your hands. It is adjustable and folds away, although is in fact so tight that feels a little tough to remove so I just got in the habit of keeping it permanently on the controller so that I could switch between console and mobile gaming more easily. 

The physical sliding movement of the phone clamp is smooth and the device overall feels both flexible, designed for repeat usage and doesn’t feel cheap or fragile. Good.

I have to admit, when I received this for review, as I don’t yet have access to project xCloud and don’t tend to play games on mobile, I wasn’t sure how - despite its solid design – it would appeal to me personally. 

I’ve missed a lot of fun-looking iOS games over the years as I just hate getting my stupid dude-fingers smudging their way all over the screen and getting in the way of the action. 

Touch-screen games of any form have always just seemed cumbersome to me. After installing a monthly trial of Apple Arcade specifically for the purposes of this review and booting up Beyond a Steel Sky, however, the benefits of this kit were revealed to me. 

As someone who has a partner that is as hips deep into gaming as I am and, more specifically, pumps hours into Animal Crossing on a daily basis, this new Venom setup is a great way that I can get some gaming done without having to play a console in a different room. 

It’s been great over the last few days trying out games that have passed me by with full controller support, comfortably mobile-gaming as my partner plays next to me, she – picking turnips and the like whilst I take Robert Foster on his journey through Union City.

When we are able to safely visit friends, I know that the carry-case will get a  fair bit of use from me taking it over for gaming parties at friends’ houses, instead of having my expensive controller clattering around a carrier bag or backpack as it did before. 

This, combined with how thanks to the rechargeable battery (which looks great on a  white XBOX controller as it breaks up the colour nicely) has stopped me caning through AA batteries means that I’m happy to give this Venom Travel Kit the Games Freezer seal of approval. 

It has opened the world of mobile gaming to my peepers, which can now view the games on a smudge-free screen.

Whilst using the Venom Travel Kit, my mind drifted back to the occasions when I saw my young nephew struggling to play Fortnite over his grandparents’ house using touch-screen controls. 

If this kit was available then, it would definitely have been a gift for him.

BRITT

👹 Roki | PC | Review | "A Grimm Fairytale" 👹 @UtdLabelGames #GameDev #IndieGames

Polygon Treehouse brings us Roki which is an adventure game inspired by Scandinavian folklore and as such it feels like you’re living out a Grimm Fairytale interspersed with point n click style puzzles.

🕹️👾 Britt's AntStream Arcade Adventure 🕹️👾 @AntstreamArcade #Arcade

Antstream arcade has been around for almost a year now and it was something I was keen to get involved with. 

For those who aren’t aware of the service, it’s a subscription-based site that allows you to stream games ranging from the 8-bit home micro-computers of the 80’s such as Amstrad, Spectrum and Commodore 64 through a selection of 16-bit titles from systems such as the Amiga and Mega Drive up to an impressive amount of arcade ports that span decades. 

💥 UltraCore | Review | PS4 | Switch | "Run & Gun Retro Fun!" 💥 @RealStrictlyLTD #IndieGames #GameDev #RetroGames

Ultracore (originally known as Hardcore) presents a really interesting piece of arcade a run and gun game history.

Developed by Digital Illusions it was Originally due to be released for Amiga, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD platforms but the game was cancelled by its publisher, Psygnosis, in 1994 after development had been pretty much completed.

🕹️ GAME LINK:🕹️ https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP3547-CUSA15866_00-0000220078458833

PS4 https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch/Ultracore-1799080.html

NINTENDO SWITCH

🔫 Outbuddies DX | Review | Nintendo Switch | "A Hefty Metroidvania With Retro-Styled Visuals" 🔫 @HeadupGames @IndieJGames #GameDev #IndieGames

Outbuddies DX is a hefty Metroidvania with retro-styled visuals, Outbuddies DX has some neat twists on the formula and some sterling audio-work but a clunky control scheme and an unwieldy map-system are detrimental to the flow of the game.

Game Title: Outbuddies DX
Developer: Julian Laufer
Platform Reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Rating: Melting