Donuts ‘N’ Justice Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "NARC NARC NARCin’ On A Miami Door" 🍩 @FobTi #GameDev #IndieGames

A few days ago, I had a rare spare evening on my hands and thought I would dip into a few of the Switch games that we at GF HQ have been sent, and just haven’t had time to get to, games that have been undeservedly kicked around for far too long in our ‘pending’ bucket.

Luckily, the codes still worked and so began my adventure into the Switch indie vortex, and thus it was a bloody fantastic evening.

The first game I dived into was Donuts ‘N’ Justice, a game that has always tickled my fancy – and, as I was very much in the mindset for some pacey arcade action, it was just the ticket.

A 2D run-and-gun game with pixel visuals and a thumping soundtrack, the way I would describe this one in a single sentence is, ‘NARC, if it was snappier, groovier, and better.’

Developer FobTi also made Gunman Tales, which I covered earlier in the year –  and whilst I didn’t get quite the same punch from Donuts ‘N’ Justice, this is still a very fun game to dip in ‘n out of – especially with a friend.

Fishing Vacation Review Nintendo Switch 8/10 "Some More Bite-sized horror has reeled me in!" 🎣🪱 @TeebowahGames #IndieGames #GameDev

After recently covering a couple of Puppet Combo games and assorted other budget horror titles, my horror trousers were very much still firmly attached to my legs. As I was pottering around through our list of games for coverage, Fishing Vacation stood out – an atmospheric horror with Game Boy visuals? Count me in.

A game that can be completed in under an hour – although it has multiple endings – Fishing Vacation begins with two old friends who haven’t seen each other for years driving up to a rural cabin on a fishing trip. When they arrive, the uncle that owns the cabin is nowhere to be found and everything is in disarray...oh, and the fridge is full of rotting fish-heads…

Homebody | Xbox Series X | Review | 8/10 | “With Death Comes Knowledge” 🔪 @HomebodyGame @Rogue_Co @GameGrumps #IndieGames #GameDev

Homebody is the newest game from the YouTube channel Game Grumps and Rogue Entertainment, the game is a psychological horror with fixed camera angles, retro graphics and a love for some good old-fashioned puzzle solving.

Propagation: Paradise Hotel VR Review 8/10 "Zombies! Hotels! Horror!" 🧟 @PropagationVR #IndieGames #GameDev

Steak and chips. Cannon and Ball. Coffee and cream. Zombies and VR. Some things are just destined to go together. Yes, there are roughly 5 gazillion VR zombie games. Yes, some of them are rubbish. No, this isn’t one of them.

Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! Switch Review 8/10 "Bubble Burstin’ Boisterousness" 🫧 @ININ_Games 🫧

There’s a purity to the Puzzle Bobble games that has always drawn me, a merciless blend of colourful, simple gameplay and snappy action that has entranced me since pounding hours into it on Vs mode on the PS1, back in my days as a teenager.

This new version does a fantastic job of plate-spinning the solid-as-a-rock original mechanics whilst also adding various bells and whistles through extra Modesto giving a neat amount of variety to the usual bubble-popping proceedings.

Dungeon Drafters PC Review 8/10 "Big Deck Energy" 📕 @DungeonDrafters #IndieGames #GameDev

A mage, cloaked in a purple, erm, cloak, pushes the heavy stone door open and peers inside the crypt beyond. The brawler, muscles glistening in the barely visible torchlight, stands behind his companion, ready to step forth into the unknown. The block of granite slides open and the duo step into the cobweb-bedecked room ahead. Before they draw breath they are set upon by hellish creatures - two gelatinous blobs, a giant beetle and a mighty winged dragon! 

The mage flashes a knowing, smug glance at her warrior friend and smiles fiendishly at the beasts before her. They know not of what is to happen next, as she reaches under her cloak and brings her hands back out in front of her, brandishing… a pair of playing cards. The beasts attack and devour the two heroes, as their small pieces of cardboard offer no protection at all, though possibly do provide some added fibre to the meal they become.

That’s how this story SHOULD go. But no. Fortunately, in Dungeon Drafters your cards are magic. Phew. And there are a lot of cards. But let’s rewind a little, shall we?

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse XSX Review 8/10 "More Bite-Sized Horror Gold" 🗼 @marevocollectiv #IndieGames #GameDev

I am a big fan of bite-sized titles that can be enjoyed in a single evening – horror titles especially, as Boomfire’s recent The Creepy Syndrome reminded me.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse is a game with some serious character in its presentation that drew me in on multiple levels from the visual style through to the subtle gameplay mechanics, narrative, and incredible sound design – with the only slight hiccup for me being the final sequence of events.

The game – a first-person adventure - opens with your character being dropped off at a remote island, with the titular lighthouse looming large. The boatman makes cryptic comments about the previous lighthouse keeper before rowing back off into the darkness, leaving you alone on the island….or are you?

Zool Redimensioned PS4 Review 8/10 "A Celebration of a Very Nineties Game" 🍬🍭 @WeAreSecretMode #IndieGames #GameDev

You must feel sorry for Zool, the Ninja from the Nth Dimension. He's fast, he's nimble, he's the star of his own 2D side-scroller... but he got introduced to the world right between the releases of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Poor guy never stood a chance.

Despite not becoming a mascot for the entire industry and inspiring two Jim Carrey vehicles, Zool maintains a place in my heart and some small cult status among fans who didn't grow up with a Nintendo or Sega console. He wasn't Mario or Sonic, but he was ours.

Thirty years after his first title, Sumo Digital Academy (an internship based in Sheffield) has built a remarkably faithful remake, essentially presenting the game as it was with some welcome tweaks to the gameplay, a surprising number of visual options and some fun modes to give this very old, very short game a new lease of life.

Varney Lake XSX Review 8/10 "More Interactive Pulp Fiction From The Best In The Biz" 📑 @lcbgamestudio @ChorusWorldwide #IndieGames #GameDev

The second in the Pixel Pulp series from Argentinian developer LCB Game Studio (following Mothmen 1966), Varney Lake moves away from cryptids and towards classic vampirism. However, there are links throughout that connect the stories in an over-arching narrative.

Before I even go into the narrative, I have to commend the team for the astonishingly evocative introduction sequence, a wonderfully set up image of the story as if presented in a real magazine, complete with a schlocky cover, a missing poster of a child and a smoking match-head as beautifully melancholic music plays over the title screen (all too briefly!). I was instantly hips deep, it’s such an entrancing combination of visuals and audio.

WWE2K23 Xbox Series X Review 8/10 “No Steps Back” 🤼‍♂️ @transvaalgf #WWE

When reviewing the previous entry in the series - WWE2K22 - I mentioned that recent WWE games have a habit of going one step forward but two steps back. Well, finally for the first time in years, that statement does not apply to this entry. After having good building blocks from last year’s version, they didn’t remove a mode or change things drastically for no reason, they simply worked on and improved what they had already built last year.

The gameplay is largely the same, which is a good thing, as there has been a long-running joke between my brother and me in that the first thing he would ask me about the new WWE game would be, “Have they changed the control scheme again?”, so it was nice this year to say “no, it’s the same as last year, they haven’t moved counter to RB… no, its X this year… no, wait! You wiggle the thumb stick!”.

Saga of Sins Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "A Story in Stained Glass" 💀 @BonusLevelEnter #IndieGame #GameDev

I covered Bonus Level Entertainment’s first release, Fox ‘n Forests back in 2018, it was a SNES-tastic throwback to the style of mascot-driven platformer that was pretty rife on the 16-bit machines by the mid-’90s, although FNF would have clearly been a celebrated title should it have been released on Nintendo’s flagship console at the time, and indeed – it still stood out in 2018 as a great release that harked back to that golden era for 2D platform action.

It wasn’t until after I’d played Saga of Sins for a few hours that it dawned on me that I’d played a game by the developer before and it was interesting to compare the style of the two releases, especially visually!

Burnhouse Lane PC Review 8/10 "Super Gory Purgatory" 🔎 @harvestergames #IndieGame #GameDev

There aren’t many games that have allowed me to play as a chain-smoking woman, a cat and a living mannequin, but then there are lots of ways in which Burnhouse Lane is unusual.

At its core, this experience (I hesitate to call it a game) is a puzzle action horror, with the visual style of a graphic novel. It’s hauntingly beautiful, with even the mundane settings (including a farmhouse and a kebab shop) being painted in sepia tones or pastel reds to give them an otherworldly effect.

Go! Go! Pogogirl! XSX Review 8/10 "A Pixel Perfect Pogo Platforming Party" 🤾‍♂️ @ohsat_games #IndieGame #GameDev

There’s something really timeless about a well-done platform game with pixel visuals. A purity to the gameplay that makes everyone feel they can pick up and play, and Go! Go! Pogogirl! Is a shining example of just this.

Your character is a forever-bouncing girl on a pogo stick who must bounce her way through twenty levels – with each group of five representing one of the four seasons. 

Fashion Police Squad PC Review 8/10 "Chalk Fashion Police Squad Up As a Very Nice Surprise" 💃 @nomorerobotshq #IndieGame #GameDev

We’re now three decades on from Doom and iD Software’s cast iron classic has still got it where it counts.

Its blistering speed, streamlined design, badass occult aesthetics, and iconic collection of monsters endures, and many a gamer who wasn’t even a twinkle in their parent’s eyes in 1993 has realized it’s still a supremely fun experience.

The past few years have seen a renaissance in throwback first-person-shooters attempting to recapture that retro magic, with highlights including Ion Fury, Dusk, and Prodeus. But, for me at least, few have nailed it quite like Fashion Police Squad.

Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "A Wonderful collection of Wonder Boy Titles" 🛹🌴@BrittRecluseuk

The Wonder Boy series of games is something that I’ve enjoyed since a friend introduced me to them back in the late ‘80s.

Whilst the action/RPG  entries are what really stick with me, it’s quite astonishing how well the original game holds up as a high-score arcade classic; not to mention the co-op goodness of Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair. 

One Piece Odyssey Xbox Review 8/10 “A Wonderfully Fun JRPG Romp” 🉐🏯 @transvaalgf

One Piece Odyssey begins with the Straw Hat Gang’s ship ‘The Thousand Sunny’ getting shipwrecked on the mysterious island of Waford.

With the ship needing repairs, they set out exploring the island, and soon run into Lim, who is very fearful of them as she has had several bad experiences with other pirates, using her ability, she alleviates the gang of their powers.

Small cubes containing the powers rise out of their chests and are soon scattered around the island. Now depowered, they set out to retrieve the cubes, some cubes are larger - and to be restored they must enter the dream world of Memoria and relive the past to regain the power held in the cube, this takes them to past locations, reliving adventures, but with some differences.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me Xbox Series X Review 8/10 “Once you are in hell, only the devil can help you out” 🔪 @TheDarkPictures @SuperMGames #IndieGames #GameDev

While playing House of Ashes, I remember saying to my brother “I really hope the next instalment is more of a slasher - just a killer chasing you around”, so when I saw the trailer and read that The Devil in Me was inspired by America’s first serial killer H.H. Holmes with a bit of the saw films thrown in, I was excited, it was exactly what I wanted.

And so, come launch day - I gathered three fellow gamers to enter the horrors of the famous murder house… let the games begin.

Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary Xbox Review 8/10 "Nothing to do with Vincenzo Natali" ⏹️⏹️ @qubegame #IndieGames #GameDev

When I opened the box of 78 floppy diskettes containing Toxic Games’ Q.U.B.E 10th Anniversary Edition, I was intrigued. I cradled them in my arms with all the gentleness of a new father. I was curious, however, as I was due to review a digitally downloaded Xbox game, so what did I have in my hands?

It turned out the disks were for a cancelled FMV-heavy video game adaptation of the distinctly average Canadian horror film Cube, from 1997. Shame, it could have been something special.

🤡 Dropsy Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "Hug is all you Need" 🤡 @dropsytheclown #IndieGames #GameDev

Sometimes, there’s nothing finer than a graphic adventure with pixel graphics. It’s a genre and style that has worked since the ‘80s, and through tweaks and differing approaches, still has plenty of life left in it - as illustrated here, by Dropsy.

🎬🎥 The Gallery Xbox Series X Review 8/10 “An Insightful and Engaging Exhibition” 🎥🎬 @paulraschid #IndieGames #FMVGames #GameDev

Paul Raschid is a big name in the FMV/interactive movie genre, having written and directed the wonderful and engaging Five Dates. His name carries a pedigree, and after Five Dates I hoped that The Gallery would continue pushing FMV games forward, with interesting stories, great acting and choices that are both thoughtful and contemplative.

Going into the gallery, it’s fair to say that I had high expectations - they were definitely met.