🌴 Slipstream | XSX | Review | 8.5/10 | "let it drift into your gaming library" 🌴 @ansdor #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned on these virtual pages before, my taste in racing games leans much more towards the arcade-style over deep simulation, and so Slipstream’s retro aesthetic and pick-up-and-play approach is very much burnin’ rubber down my Strasse.

☔️ Kathy Rain: Directors Cut | Nintendo Switch | Review | 8.5/10 | "A Gripping Point & Click Adventure" ☔️ @ClifftopGames #GameDev #IndieGames

This is my sleeper hit of 2021, I'm very enamoured with Kathy Rain. 

Point and click adventures always bring a smile to my face, they bring back strong memories of my youth, sitting next to my big bro and going through games like Monkey Island or Beneath a Steel Sky, it’s a genre that - when done well - really can create some wonderful and interesting games. 

Whilst I didn’t have my big bro next to me this time, even flying solo this game really struck a chord with me.

🔠 Word Forward | Nintendo Switch | Review | 8.5/10 | "Word Up" 🔠 @thalamusdigital #IndieGame #IndieGames #GameDev

Amidst all the 100+ hours of RPG-ing, shooting, adventuring and racing, sometimes it’s nice to take things slow and get casual. Word-based games have always held an allure for me and I’m pleased to say that Word Forward is the newest title to suck me in.

🔥 Far Cry 6 | Review | Xbox Series X | 8.5/10 | "Rum and Rifles (also the names of my fists)" 🔥 @FarCrygame

My relationship with Far Cry 5 was rockier than Sylvester Stallone in 1976. The darker tone and focus on twisted zealots, cults and brainwashing (sadly reflective of the over-arching social climate of the time, which could well have added to my tiring of it)  – not to mention the constant, constant dream sequences - wore me down and it was only through revisiting it via the online co-op campaign some months later did I eventually begin to settle into it and enjoy the experience.

Far Cry 6 however, drew me in straight away. Whilst there are darker moments here, the overall sense of the game is that of fun and the traits of the series return in a way that makes exploration feel enjoyable - not through any real reinvention but rather through the solid gameplay, vibrant presentation, jaunty music, moment-to-moment scenes and satisfying gunplay.

⚔️ Tales of Arise | Review | PS5 | 8.5/10 | "A Tale As Old As Time" ⚔️ #TalesOfArise

Tales of Arise is one of the games that I've been most excited about all year, finally getting to play a JRPG on the PS5 from a long-standing series that I deeply adore.

My expectations were sky high, I was counting down the days to play it; frothing at the mouth, staring at my watch, screaming at time to move more quickly… ok maybe that’s hyperbole - but I couldn’t wait to finally load the game and start my experience. 

⚱️ Infinitrap: Rehamstered | Review | Xbox Series X | 8.5/10 | "fun, cute, twitchy, very addictive and extremely moreish" ⚱️ @ShadebobGames @showmemagic #GameDev #IndieGames

Like many cool kids of a certain age, I grew up watching the adventure movies of the ’80s and this game, at least in my head, is paying homage to the greats. The plot slightly echoes the Grail Knight scene in The Last Crusade on a seemly endless loop and the main protagonist looks like Quatermain from King Solomon’s Mines; If Sharon Stone makes an appearance, I might never remove this smile from my face!  

⚔️🛡️ Chivalry 2 | Xbox Series X | Review | 8.5/10 | "An Axe-Throwing, Head-Lopping, Catapult-Lobbing Joy" ⚔️🛡️ @TornBanner #GameDev #IndieGames

Historically, I’ve never really played many online multiplayer games. I even have a very close group of friends that regularly meet up virtually to play games that I thoroughly enjoy in single-player modes but don’t appeal to me in multiplayer, maybe I’m a recluse…hence the name of my band (www.recluse.bandcamp.com).

And yet…when I saw the trailer for Chivalry 2, the weighty-looking combat completely won me over as it reminded me of Kingdom Come: Deliverance (another game that completely bowled me over by surprise) and I am a sucker for some medieval action, these two factors led to me taking a dive into the game and it is a choice that has rewarded me deeply!

🕹️ Capcom Arcade Stadium | Xbox Series X | Review | 8.5/10 | "A Rollicking Retro Ride That Rocks" 🕹️ @CapcomEurope #Capcom

Capcom has released a LOT of gold over the last forty years and this Capcom Arcade Stadium collection of 32 of them brings a wealth of gaming history to modern consoles with an eye to keeping things accessible to players of all skill levels as well as embracing that high-score chasing drive that filled arcades of the era.

🌵⚔️ Ittle Dew 2+ | Nintendo Switch | Review | 8.5/10 | "A Bigger Sequel That Keeps The Ideas Coming" 🌵⚔️ @Ludosity #IndieGames #GameDev

I adored the original Ittle Dew when I played it back in 2019, a really punchy top-down game with clear roots in early Zelda titles, a focus on fiendish puzzling and very open to newcomers to the genre. Top this off with the charming design, lilting music and a fun cast of characters – it was a winner.

🐙 The Sinking City (enhanced) | Review | Xbox Series X | 8.5/10 (Ice Cool) | "The Best Lovecraft-Inspired Game Yet?" 🐙 @Frogwares #GameDev #IndieGames

Released to relatively positive reviews back in 2019, Frogwares’ The Sinking City wasn’t exactly a technical marvel, with most of the negativity focusing on the lengthy loading times and visual issues such as screen-tearing and an unreliable frame rate.

I fully intended to play the game upon its original release but it somehow slipped through the cracks and so I had no preconceptions of the title going into this review. I’m pleased to say that this enhanced version of The Sinking City really does seem to solve all the technical problems that it seems people had with the 2019 release and to me, stands up as one of – if not THE - best games based on Lovecraft’s works.

🎮 Gioteck | WX4 Premium | Wireless Controller With Programmable Back Buttons | 8.5/10 | ICE COOL 🎮 @GioteckArmy

I reviewed Gioteck’s WX4 - both wired and wireless versions - a few months ago on the site, having also used them personally for over a year prior to the article  -where they received a saucy 8/10 ICE COOL rating - https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/2020/11/gioteck-controllers-review-wx-4-and-jc.html

Having received the new WX4 premium version – again, compatible with PS3, PC and Switch – the build quality, connectivity and battery life are mostly the same but there are differences here.

⚔️🏹 Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos | Review | Nintendo Switch | 8.5/10 | "Alone or with friends...it’s all good" ⚔️🏹 @Team17 #IndieGames #GameDev

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is a game that came across to me through the trailer as a multiplayer 16-bit Zelda title actually had more going on under the bonnet than I initially assumed and is all the better for it.

⚔️ Immortals Fenyx Rising | Review | PS4 | "I Heart Elias Toufexis’ Voicebox" ⚔️ @FenyxRising #ImmortalsFenyxRising

As I‘ve personally come across multiple statements along the lines of ‘Immortals Fenyx Rising is Ubisoft does Zelda: Breath of the Wild’, I’m going to lay the groundwork for this review by opening with how I wasn’t particularly enamoured with Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which I played a few years ago on the Wii U. 

🌾🍚🍛 Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin | Review | PS4 | "Rice has never been this much fun" 🌾🍚🍛 @XSEEDGames #IndieGames #GameDev

I dived headlong into Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin with no preconceptions of what I was about to be in for and it didn’t take long for its charms to win me over and its depth to pull me in.

A title that pulls off quite an astonishing balancing act that all holds together and feels not only rewarding but vital to the narrative.