SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada PC Review 2/10 "Let the record show I have no beef with free-to-play games" 💥 @SYNDUALITY_GAME @synduality

Let the record show I have no beef with free-to-play games. If a game is riddled with microtransactions, paid-for cosmetics, and has a season pass built into it, but also allows you to play without forking out any money upfront that’s a deal I’m willing to take. Fortnite manages it, Genshin Impact has done very well, and Marvel Rivals is enjoying justified success.

All of which means I’m fully prepared to forgive SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada for its sins, because - oh, uh, hang on, I’m getting passed up a note. Uh-huh. Huh. Oh. Oh no. OH NO. What do you mean it costs £35.00?! That can’t be right!

Sadly this is indeed the case. Despite looking like a free-to-play game, walking like a free-to-play game, and quacking like a free-to-play game, SYNDUALITY is a regular retail release, and this simple fact pretty much obliterates any fun that can be squeezed out of the experience.

Highway Police Simulator Xbox Series X Review 2/10 "It’s time to arrest this series" 🚨🚔 @AerosoftGmbH #IndieGame #GameDev

I first caught wind of Aerosoft back in 2020 when I covered Autobahn Police Simulator 2, it was a game that I rated 4.5/10 but with a huge caveat in that, whilst the game had very intense technical problems, there was a charm and ideology that kept me playing for a long time, and the approach, atmosphere, music, and deeply idiosyncratic charm kept me coming back for more. 

It was my ‘go to’ example for a game that had admittedly overreached, but had heart and promise. Fast forward to 2022, and the sequel was released, which threw a load of new ideas and gameplay mechanics at the wall, but failed incredibly to deal with the basic, fundamental issues that the prequel had. As mentioned, this is the game that I bring up in terms of conversations regarding golden ideas that outreach their grasp. 

Death Becomes You PC Game Review 2/10 "Perhaps I’m just not the right person to be writing about anime magical lesbian teenagers" 👧 @pixelhunted @quill_studios #IndieGame #GameDev

Perhaps I’m just not the right person to be writing about anime magical lesbian teenagers.

As I sat on the London Underground playing Death Becomes Her on my Switch I became intensely aware of the passengers on either side of me. Before this moment I’d never been self-conscious about gaming in public - why the hell should I care what some random strangers think of me? But I realized a glance at my screen would show two canoodling cartoon schoolgirls. Let’s face it, this is a powerfully bad look for a middle-aged man.

Brain Show PC Review 2/10 "Brain Show may eventually get better..." 🧠 #IndieGames #GameDev

Sony’sBuzz! trivia game series was a massive PlayStation hit in the 2000s. Its straight forwardness was key to its success, with the game faithfully replicating a TV quiz with the aid of the Buzz! Buzzer controller that lets you chime in to answer just as on a real-life game show.

Sadly the format didn’t last, presumably, because the internet is swimming with free trivia quizzes. These daysBuzz! games and peripherals are most commonly found clogging up the shelves of charity shops across the nation: casual players don’t need this plastic tat in their house and retro games fans are a little snooty about this powerfully mainstream mini-franchise.

It’s now been thirteen years since the last Buzz! game and the (aptly named) developer Simplicity Games thinks it’s time for a comeback. Enter Brain Show, which waits until the dead of night, grabs a shovel, heads to the graveyard, and tries to bring Buzz! back from the dead.

Du Lac and Fey: Dance Of Death XSX Review 2/10 "Half-Arsed?" 🔎 @SalixGames #IndieGames #GameDev

The Collins English dictionary describes "half-arsed" as:

"ADJECTIVE

slang

incompetent; inept; badly organized"

And that's the main takeaway from this game. Let's get the praise part of this review out of the way. Don't worry, it won't take long. 

Du Lac and Fey: Dance Of Death has some nice writing and some really good voice acting. There. I told you it would be quick.  

🩸🌳 Blair Witch - VR Edition | PSVR | Review | 2/10 | "In 1999 I spent a summer working as a lumberjack" 🩸🌳 @PixelHunted @BlairWitchGame #IndieGame #IndieGames #GameDev

In 1999 I spent a summer working as a lumberjack in the mountains outside of Durango, Colorado. Each Saturday night we’d pile into a pickup and head into town to the multiplex. One visit, having exhausted most of what was on offer, we decided to roll the dice on The Blair Witch Project. None of us had heard anything about the movie, but a horror movie about a witch? Rad.

Turns out that The Blair Witch Project is the absolute worst film to watch if you’re camping out in the woods that night. With no evidence to the contrary I thought it was real and - though I still doubted the existence of actual witches - I spent the night sleeping in the backseat of someone’s car. The Blair Witch Project remains the most terrifying experience I’ve had in a cinema and makes me basically the prime target for Blair Witch VR.

💭 Don’t Forget Me | Review | PC | 2/10 | "As far as game titles go Don’t Forget Me isn’t half bad" 💭 @PixelHunted @TheMoonPirates #GameDev #IndieGames

As far as game titles go Don’t Forget Me isn’t half bad. 

There’s an air of mystery: who might I forget… and why? 

But after playing the game it feels unhappily ironic as I will never think about Don’t Forget Me ever again once I wrap up this review.

🩸 Outbreak: Endless Nightmares | Review | 2/10 | “I was completely on board with this game...until I played it.” 🩸 #IndieGames #GameDev

I always like to start my reviews by explaining my relationship to the game, genre or franchise etc. and I feel in this review it’s especially important as I am very specifically the target audience.

It is a game trying to capture the aesthetics, gameplay and vibe of the late ‘90s horror games. I love those games - Resident Evil 2,4 and Silent Hill 2 are in my top 10 games of all time so I was completely on board with this game.... until I played it.

👨‍⚖️ I Am Your President: Prologue | Review | PC | 2/10 | "It’s a bargain bin experience that’s not worth the time" 👨‍⚖️ @PixelHunted #GameDev #IndieGames

If video games are about empowering the player, what better place to put them in the Oval Office? 

The potential is obvious: can a player balance idealism with pragmatic realpolitik, deal with crises, keep themselves electable, avoid scandal and above all project a firm image of confident leadership?

👒 Evan’s Remains | PC | Review by Pixel Hunted | 2/10 | "Evan’s Remains is about hitting ‘A’ over and over and over (and over) again" 👒 @PixelHunted # Evansremains #GameDev #IndieGames

Evan’s Remains is about hitting ‘A’ over and over and over (and over) again. 

The game is 80% visual novel and 20% game: a barely interactive experience in which your participation is mostly jamming a button to cue up the next bit of bad writing.