Unstoppable PC Review 5/10 "You play a bicycle courier, tasked with delivering a mysterious package to a skyscraper" 🩸🔨 @unstoppable_go #IndieGame #GameDev

When I saw the trailer for Unstoppable, I thought “smacking things with hammers and crowbars until they die – right up my alley!” and eagerly volunteered to review the game.

But we all make mistakes. 

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest For Balance Nintendo Switch Review 5/10 💨 @BamtangGames #IndieGames #GameDev

The Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise is now almost two decades old, and Avatar: The Last Airbender - Quest for Balance is the newest video game release and follows the epic adventures of Aang and his friends on their adventure to master all elements -water, fire, air and earth. 

Before we dive into things, I wanted to point out that this content is geared towards younger audiences. The game is designed to be easy to progress through, and the fighting mechanics are very accessible and straightforward, so you might find this slightly less enjoyable if you want to revisit the beloved story in real depth or were perhaps expecting advanced combat mechanics.

Last Labyrinth – Lucidity Lost XSX Review 5/10 "A Puzzle Missing a Key Piece" 🧩 @AmataTokyo #IndieGames #GameDev

Originally released for VR platforms in 2019, Last Labyrinth – Lucidity Lost casts the player in the role of a mute, wheelchair-bound person that can only communicate by using a laser pointer attached to their head.

Assisting them through the labyrinth of deadly traps and tricks is a young girl who can be guided by the aforementioned laser pointer. Working together, both must solve puzzles and make their way through the labyrinth, in a bid to survive the deadly trials laid out before them.

41 Hours XSX Review 5/10 "An Initially Fun But Flawed FPS" ⏰ @ValkyrieInitia1 #IndieGame #GameDev

41 Hours – despite being set in a pretty standard genre (FPS) – began in an oddly endearing way for me, the narrative kicks off in media res, with the protagonist – Ethan – having rescued a mysterious woman with whom he is apparently fixated and escaping from the facility in which she was kept.

The opening chapter is all about putting as much ground between you and the mysterious enemy forces as possible, as fragments of the narrative are laid out. It’s here that the game sets out its stock, and I was initially intrigued due to several aspects of the design choices made.

Sakeworld PS5 Review 5/10 "Outsider art that’s crowbarred its way onto the PlayStation Store" 👊 @pixelhunted @Sakeforever15 #IndieGame #GameDev

Sakeworld is objectively not a good game. This side-scrolling brawler boasts some of the worst combat mechanics I’ve played in years, janky animation, repetitive stage design and generally feels like something that might have popped up on Newgrounds twenty years ago.

But - and this is a big but - it’s interesting. And interesting goes a long way.

🧟‍♀️ REDO! XBOX Review 5/10 "You are scratching a living as the last surviving human..." 🧟‍♀️ @REDO_99 #IndieGames #GameDev

REDO! is a 2D Metroidvania set in a dystopic future where you are scratching a living as the last surviving human.

That is until you receive a message from a mysterious person who wants to meet, kicking off your adventure.

🐼 Pinball Freedom Switch Review 5/10 "Pinball freedom, but not a dream" 🐼 @CGAStudioGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Currently priced at under a fiver on the UK Nintendo eShop, Pinball Freedom by developer CGA Studio Games offers five separate pinball tables as well as an air hockey table, but some foundational issues with the in-game ball physics and flat gameplay detract from the inherent draw of pinball.

⚡️ NeonLore Xbox Series X Review 5/10 "A cyber library" ⚡️@playstige #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

NeonLore has quite an interesting premise - more an interactive short story collection than a game per se, the hour or so you’ll spend drenched in neon sees your character walking around several blocks of a futuristic dystopian city, reading snippets of various characters’ lives, solving the occasional puzzle, and listening to audio stories.

📓Hermitage: Strange Case Files | Xbox Series X | Review | 5/10 | "One is The Loneliest Number" 📔 @ArrowizStudios #GameDev #IndieGames #IndieGame

I recently had a conversation with my brother - I explained to him how I've grown tired of games using HP Lovecraft as inspiration, how there seems to be a plethora of them and most of them aren't very good, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth being the biggest exception. 

I had major reservations for this game from the start as more Lovecraftian horror is not what I particularly wanted, but I'm always happy to be proven wrong and so hoped this game would ease my tiredness of Lovecraft and bring my list of good games inspired by his bibliography to a whopping two.

🕵️‍♀️🔎 Murder Mystery Machine | Xbox Series X | Review | 5/10 "A disappointing experience that had the potential for so much more" 🕵️‍♀️🔎 @BlazingGGames #IndieGames #GameDev

When I saw the trailer for this game, I thought, “wow this looks up my street! An isometric murder mystery where you solve the cases by linking evidence on a diorama board, having to piece together means, motives and opportunity… this sounds amazing!”

🪓🩸🏥 A Way To Be Dead | PC | Review | Early Access | "Find 4 Friends Before You Buy This!" 🪓🩸🏥 @CraniaGames #GameDev #IndieGames

Turkish game devs Crania games bring us a grim-looking asymmetrical multiplayer game that is currently available in Early Access and runs in good ol’ Unreal Engine 4. 

A Way To Be Dead is actually set in the universe of the team’s previous 2017 game, Roots of Insanity https://store.steampowered.com/app/598440/Roots_of_Insanity/ which garnered some good Steam reviews and was also set in a chilling, skin-crawling hospital.

🚀 The Persistence : Enhanced | Review | PS5 | 5/10 | "Sucked into a Black Hole" 🚀 @FirespriteGames #IndieGames #GameDev

I found this review hard to write. Jumping into this game with no knowledge; I looked at the cover art - which appeared to represent a horror game  - and leapt at the chance to review it, but within thirty minutes of playing it, I realized it does something that I am really not keen on and I especially don’t enjoy it when horror games, in particular, do it.

Truthfully, If I was playing this game without intending to review it, I would have stopped after forty-five minutes and put it down as ‘just not my cup of tea’. Though I do enjoy occasionally trying out games that I would tend to avoid -  to see whether the game can win me over and possibly change my view - this game sadly didn’t and in fact, further cemented my thoughts.

🚕🚖 Taxi Chaos | Review | Xbox Series X | 5/10 | "A Missed Opportunity For Some Throwback Action" 🚕🚖 @LionCastleEnt #IndieGames #GameDev

A title that is very clearly explicitly based on Sega’s Crazy Taxi from back in 1999, Taxi Chaos runs well from a technical standpoint and is initially fun but then falls down quickly in almost all other aspects.

👧🔫 Gal*Gun Returns | Review | Nintendo Switch | "A Light Gun Would Light This Up" 👧🔫 @PQubeAsia #GalGun

Whilst I’m not familiar with the Gal*Gun series, my initial thought was that any rail-shooter that is to be controlled by anything other than a light gun would really suffer in the gameplay department and those worries were indeed well-founded. 

As well-presented as the game is, it feels to tame to be titillating and too repetitive to be engaging.

🧟‍♀️🧟‍♂️ Unturned | Review | PS4 | "a tough sell" 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♂️ @SDGNelson #IndieGames #GameDev

A free-to-play title on the PC gets a port to PS4 at a price tag of £19.99. I don’t usually tend to focus on price and when I do, it’s usually to point out that a mobile game has had a lazy Switch port and the paywall removed which massively unbalances the game (yaaaaaay) so in the case of Unturned, things are slightly different but that knowledge of it being free on a different platform does sting, especially when the game behind it feels so empty and in-progress.

♌️♈️♋️♓️♊️ This is the Zodiac Speaking | Review | PS4 | "In short, I was in the zone" ♌️♈️♋️♓️♊️ #zodiacthegame @zodiac_the_game #IndieGames #GameDev

Game Title: This is the Zodiac Speaking

Platform Reviewed: PS4

Rating: 5/10

A cool idea based on real-life crimes marred by esoteric implementation and some relatively serious technical issues.

In a happy coincidence, I had watched David Fincher’s 2007 slow-burn thriller Zodiac only weeks before receiving This is the Zodiac Speaking for review and, having a close friend harbouring dark obsessions with serial murderers, I was already acquainted with the heinous, unsolved crimes that plagued California in the ‘70s. 

In short, I was in the zone.

☁️ Cloudpunk | Review | PS4 | "Never before have I been so sad whilst holding a controller" ☁️ @ionlands #IndieGames #GameDev

Developer: ION Lands

Platform Reviewed: PS4 

Rating:  5/10 (MELTING)

This is not the review I wanted to write. 

Upon booting up Cloudpunk, ION Lands’ voxel-tastic cyberpunk delivery simulator, despite some clear technical issues, I was HOOKED. 

Sadly, eight hours into the game, the issues won out and I was forced to give up entirely. I can genuinely say that this would have featured in my end of year selection but in its current state, it’s a hard one to recommend and instead currently stands as one of the most infuriating gaming moments of the year for me.