Assassins Creed: Shadows Xbox Series X Review 9/10 “Sharper combat and characters make this a top target” 🗡️ @assassinscreed

I’ve always been a big Assassins Creed fan from the start, which is amazing when you replay the first game in the franchise and spend most of it shouting at Altair for how badly he controls as he leaps and jumps in any direction he feels like. Now, I know what you’re thinking - the ‘i’ in Altair doesn't have a diaeresis over it in this article, and that's because even after looking how to do it on Google, I still couldn’t work out how to do it so maybe I shouldn't be as critical of old Altair, he won’t take direction, and I won’t spell his name correctly.

Anyway, I actually became a bigger fan with the change of direction that Origins brought to the series, although I loved all the previous games, I must say that the last few have delivered some of my favourite Assassins Creed experiences, so when this was announced - combined with the fact that I really like the Feudal Japan setting - meant I was buzzing with excitement.

Starbound Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "Terraria in Space" ⭐️ @ChucklefishLTD #IndieGame #GameDev

A few years ago, my partner and I were hips deep in Terraria, I genuinely think I own a copy on every system it’s been released - aside from Switch, thinking about it - and we would often spend weeks just getting back into the groove with the amazing music (which I am lucky enough to own on vinyl) and just the pure sense of wonder and relaxation that exists in the quiet exploration. To be honest, we barely bothered with the boss fights, it was all about pottering about for us.

My next – and true – love, came through the glorious Aground, and once my gaming thirst had been slaked there, I vaguely hearing about Starbound, but as it wasn’t then available on consoles, I promptly forgot about it and went on my day, a day that was bereft of crafty, pixel, action-adventure games…until now.

Dance of Cards Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "A game that won my heart...and spade, club, diamond." 🃏🃏 @FrogOfHearts #IndieGame #GameDev

I bloody love coming across games like Dance of Cards – which seems to be released on the Switch just for me, at the perfect time. I’ve been playing Balatro on and off over the last few weeks, and one evening, as I failed yet another run, I mused idly to myself how awesome a poker-based RPG would be...and a few days later, Dance of Cards sidled shiftily into my deck. Needless to say, I went in blind.

The game casts you in the role of the heroically named ‘Martin’, a magician and card mechanic in a small town that is getting sent on to the big city by his shady manager, on a cruise ship. And on said voyage...things go somewhat awry.

BZZZT! Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "A Perfect Potion of Platforming Perfection" 🤖🥪 @ko_dll #IndieGame #GameDev

The people who make the best platform games are the people that know the genre inside out from playing the classics and having an understanding of what makes a great platformer. What we have here my friends is one of the best indie platform video games that I have ever had the pleasure of playing. 

Developed by KO.DLL BZZZT! is truly a love letter to the classics of the genre and also brings its own brand of charm and sauce! Bzzzt offers up a fast-paced, precision platforming experience with the game clearly being designed to be accessible to both newcomers and veterans of the genre with its perfectly pitched variation of difficulty levels.

World of Horror Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "A Must For Horror Fans" 🔪😱 @panstasz @YsbrydGames

World of Horror has been on my radar for quite a while, the 1-bit visual style reminded me of the incredible Return of the Obra Dinn, and the Japanese-centric horror backdrop is always appealing to me, there’s something enticing about an alien culture combined with horror, you already have a sense of being an outsider, and out of your comfort zone – before the horror even kicks off!

After playing the game, I feel pretty confident in saying that this is a title that will be raising its head again in my GOTY article in a few short weeks.

Total Extreme Wrestling 9 PC Review 9/10 “A Wrestledream” 🤼 @TransvaalGF @ArlesGreyDog #IndieGame #GameDev #TEW9

I've always been a huge fan of GM (General Manager) mode, a mode that for some unknown reason comes and goes from WWE games. Luckily, it is currently back in the last few games and I have spent many hours living out my dream of being a wrestling booker. The main criticism these games have is the lack of features, things that have been taken out, or should be have been in from the start. TEW9 doesn't have this problem, it was my first time playing this series and wow! Was my mind blown.

Super Woden GP II Review 9/10 "No Wooden Spoon for Woden 2" 🏎️ @maxharvey79 @ViJuDaGD #IndieGame #IndieGameDev #GameDev

As a man of a certain age, and one who cut his teeth on Commodores rather than Nintendo's, my nostalgic heart belongs to isometric racing games. Super Cars, Super Off Road and Skidmarks (*titter*) all get my pistons pumping and having tried a couple again recently (prompted by this review), they stand up fairly well as the gameplay is solid and simple.

Super Woden GP II has a silly name, but we’ll not dwell on that. We will dwell instead on what this game brings to the modern racing table. It brings us something delightfully retro, is what it does. What I will say before anything else is that if you enjoyed the games mentioned above, there’s a very good chance you’ll love this. 

Still Wakes the Deep XSX Review 9/10 "Possibly the most naturalistic dialogue in a video game" 🛢️🗼 @SWTD_Game @ChineseRoom #IndieGame #GameDev

The Chinese Room were the company that introduced me to the walking simulator genre with their minimalistic and glorious 2012 title Dear Esther. This was followed by a firm favourite of our household in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. And so, learning that The Chinese Room were making a game set on a Scottish oil rig in the mid-’70s was enough to make my trousers fly off and fold themselves neatly in a drawer, before definitively slamming it shut.

Letters & Legends PC Review 9/10 "A Wonderful Twist on Classic Word Games" 🏹⚔️🅰️🅱️ @BowNArrowGames #IndieGame #GameDev

I live in a house of gamers. I’m lucky enough to have a partner and son that embrace video-gaming as much as I do, and through that love, I find myself playing a lot of very different genres of games, many different games – but never as many as I’d like, especially when it comes to word-based games.

The last time a word-based game really yanked my trousers down and gave me a fiver was probably Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey back in 2015, the blending of English-centric action and fantasy gaming has been an interest of mine ever since discovering CAPCOM’s Quiz & Dragons MAME over twenty years ago, and so when a word-based games gets sent to GF HQ, my eyes light up.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 PS5 Review "Now a New Generation Can Enjoy Getting Urinated on By a Guard" 📦❗️

Bonfire night, 1998. I’m at a friend’s house for fireworks and, afterward, I watch him playing a new import with a weird name. He’s stuck in a prison cell and his only available weapon appears to be a bottle of ketchup.

I joke: “Why not squirt ketchup on the floor and lie in it so the guard thinks you’re dead?”. It works. A single shard of moonlight pierced the window to illuminate me. Trumpets played, angelic choirs sang. I had discovered Metal Gear Solid.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Xbox Review 9/10 "The most fun I’ve had in a single player game in 2024" ⚔️🐲🔥👹 @DragonsDogma #DragonsDogma2

As someone who is – and will be forever – drawn towards single player RPGs, The last few months have been very, very fun. I’ve played three games that stand out in my mind for different reasons, and between them cover a lot of the main points that appeal to me about the genre at its core.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden won me over with its understated characters, music, atmospherics and earthiness, whilst Outcast: A New Beginning featured incredible traversal mechanics and lore, and now Dragon’s Dogma 2 – and out of the three, this is the title that I, by far, have the strongest history with – comes blazing out of the gate with its main strengths being in how much it embraces and excels at being a video game, completely nailing combat mechanics and explosive, immediate gameplay.

It’s a game that is a pleasure to write about, and I feel like I could just list all of my in-game experiences to get my point across because there are so many personal stories to tell, all through a design sentiment that eschews seriousness to put fun and gameplay at the absolute fore.

Jagged Alliance 3 XSX Review 9/10 "A Modern Turn-Based Classic" 💥 @THQNordic

A series of turn-based games that have roots going way back to 1994, Jagged Alliance has always enjoyed critical success – and yet it’s a series of games I’ve only touched upon briefly since its inception in the mid-’90s. I recall having some friends who were hips deep, thinking very highly of the franchise, and so when the opportunity came up to cover the third major entry, I was keen to have a goosey.

Berserk Boy Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "It pretty much hits the bullseye." ⚡️ @BerserkBoyGame #indieGame #GameDev

Berserk Boy is the latest in a long line of Metroidvania platformers to try and capture the pure retro feel of Mega Man and its contemporaries. Happily, it pretty much hits the bullseye.

The backstory is your basic mad scientist fare, where the bad guy wants to use Dark Energy powers to take over the world. You play as Kei, young soldier who meets a talking owl called Fiore, who leads you to a strange orb which grants you powers and abilities and the adventure begins.

Gameplay-wise we're very much in Mega Man territory, with the classic Metroidvania tropes of defeating enemies while exploring the map, using new abilities to unlock areas and so on. But this isn't just exploration - as you unlock new abilities you find yourself able to chain multiple attacks together in order to build up your Berserk meter, which lets you really let rip with special attacks. 

The key focus here is melee combat - you're not hanging back and taking pot-shots but rather you're right in the thick of it. And that's one of the things that really makes this game fun; you'll find yourself moving around faster and faster to get the perfect sequence before hitting the big moves. The speed and smoothness give the game almost a Sonic the Hedgehog feel, where you're bouncing from enemy to enemy and seeking out more victims on every screen. 

The graphics are very much in keeping with the retro theme: bright and colourful with big chunky sprites that would fit perfectly on the SNES. And the excellent music comes from Tee Lopes, who wrote much of the music for Sonic Mania and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, so you're onto a winner here as well.

As you beat the various bosses, you can unlock different transformations for Kei. Each defeated boss gives you a new way to smash through levels, whether it's digging tunnels, flying or even locking on to multiple enemies at once. You also build up currency that lets you use new abilities for each transformation, so there's a sense of progression throughout too.

If I had to find a drawback, it's that the game isn't massively challenging, although you can select the Retro difficulty level at the start, which gives you the traditional limited lives, so when it's game over it really is game over, whereas the modern setting is unlimited lives and you just get kicked back to the last checkpoint. This is nowhere near a dealbreaker though, as the game is just so much fun. 

SUMMARY

If you're a retro platformer buff this is pretty much a must-buy, and it's accessible enough for all ages to have a blast. More of this please.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "A wonderfully spun tale of love and grief" ⚔️ @DONTNOD_Ent #IndieGame #GameDev

I’ve been hankering for an RPG to sink my teeth into, and when Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden arrived at GF HQ, I was keen to tuck in and get a few dozen hours of adventuring under my belt. What I didn’t expect was to get sucked into the world of Red and Antea so deeply, and so quickly.

Set during the settling of America in the 1600’s, the game begins with Banishers (effectively mercenaries that deal with hauntings) Red and Antea arriving on boat to New Eden - a small settlement near Boston - having received word from their friend Charles that their ghost handling skills are required in this fledging town.

Blasphemous 2 Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "Blasphemous 2, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways" ⚔️ @BlasphemousGame @TheGameKitchen @Team17 #IndieGame #GameDev

I’m going to start off by saying that the original Blasphemous is one of my favourite games of recent years. A difficult hack and slash platformer? Check. Monstrous religious cult storyline with Lovecraftian elements? Check. That’s one for me all day long.

I’m pleased to be able to say that the sequel has all of these elements in spades and may even be better than the first game. 

Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 HD Remaster Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 “Two Under Rated Games, Brought Back To Life” ⚔️ @BandaiNamcoEU #Retrogames #HDRemaster

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and The Lost Ocean and Origins have been in my collection for a long time, they were both some of my favourite JRPGS growing up. It was a real shame they didn’t sell well as they had good reviews at the time and I think they were good games with interesting plots and a good battle mechanic, hopefully, these HD remasters will bring some new eyes to these underappreciated games and fingers crossed for Baten Kaitos 3.

Terror of Hemasaurus XSX Review 9/10 "The Best Rampage Game Ever Made" 🏨🦖 @LorenLemcke @ShawnDaley #IndieGame #GameDev

I am very much a lover of monster movies and games, and to me, Midway’s Rampage series of games always looked more fun than they actually played. It was a great concept, but it always felt let down by lacklustre gameplay, stiff controls and repetition. Luckily, Loren Lemcke is here to smash down those issues, and breathe fireballs all over those lesser games, standing proudly above the ruins, heaving a throaty roar of triumph into the night sky.

Bravery and Greed XBOX Review 9/10 "On the surface, Bravery and Greed looks like a souped-up Wonderboy clone" ⚔️ @BraveryAndGreed #IndieGames #GameDev

On the surface, Bravery and Greed looks like a souped-up Wonderboy clone. And, excellently, that's pretty much what it is. Rekka Games, along with publishers Team 17, have brought us a retro-styled rogue-lite hack and slasher that's really easy to pick up but presents a proper challenge.

Shatter Remastered Deluxe Review 9/10 ⛔️ @PikPokGames #IndieGames #GameDev

Brick-breaking games have been around for ages. AGES. I mean, in gaming terms, they were probably what the dinosaurs were playing just before they got too busy for gaming on account of a massive asteroid wiping them out. Were joysticks invented to address the problems T-Rex’s had with reaching a mouse and keyboard? I suppose we’ll never know. 

For the unfamiliar, brick-breaking games kinda do what it says on the tin – you’re in control of a  paddle, which you use to bounce a ball against bricks until they break. A bit like one-player ping pong. But that’s where the similarity ends as they’re a lot more fun than Forrest Gump’s favourite Olympic sport. 

🏔️⛰️ The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow PC Review 9/10 "Everything about the game is immediately appealing" 🏔️⛰️ @shaunaitcheson #GameDev #IndieGames

Until recently, if I wanted to hear this many gruff Northerners telling each other to bugger off I’d have to dig out my Ken Loach DVD collection.

Now that I’ve visited Bewlay, and delved deep into Hob’s Barrow (not a euphemism), I have access to another world in which robust vernacular is firmly on the menu.