Spear Master Nintendo Switch Review 7.5/10 "Worth a Chuck" 🏹 @OsarionGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Clearly taking inspiration from arcade classic Pang!, Spear Master is a smooth, charming, and unfussy game that works just as well in solo play as it does with friends.

As the Spear Master, you are guided by your father in the ways of the spear, through over one hundred levels, you – and up to three other players – will traverse the islands, popping the bubble threat that invades your lands. 

Outer Terror Nintendo Switch Video Review 7/10 "A Set of Distorted Pixelated Nightmare Hellscapes" 📺 @VoxPopGames #IndieGame #GameDev

DON’T DIE as you assemble a ridiculous arsenal of weapons and desperately hold out against massive hordes of creatures pulled from a variety of classic horror genres reminiscent of 80s and 90s Golden Age comics and B-movies in this stylish action-packed arcade roguelite.

VIDEO REVIEW 👇

Bang On Balls - Chronicles Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "a unique, content-packed, open-world sandbox adventure" 🚀🌌🌎 @bangonballs #IndieGame #GameDev

Are you looking for a thrilling 3D game that you can enjoy with your friends?

If so, then Bang-On Balls: Chronicles may be just what you need.

It is a unique, content-packed, open-world sandbox adventure that offers multiple elements such as combat, platforming, character customization, and a scavenger hunting experience.

Outcast: A New Beginning Xbox Review 7.5/10 "An Outcast No More" 💥🌴 @OutcastGame #IndieGame #GameDev

I’ve had a spotted history with Outcast, when it was originally released in 1999, I played it briefly over a friend’s house and was entranced by the world conjured and possibilities laid out. The unfortunate thing was, I didn’t have a PC that could really get the most out of it at the time, and I fell away from it – assuming that I’d return soon – but the next time I spent any time with the game was when I picked up Outcast: Second Contact in 2020, and, revisiting the game so long after release highlighted the sheer scope and imagination of developers Appeal Studios, along with the unavoidable fact that the design and mechanics were lodged in a transitory period of the third-person open-world genre, and had aged appropriately.

Thus, when I caught wind of this new entry in the franchise- pseudo-reboot, pseudo-revising, pseudo-revisiting pseudo-sequel – call it what you want – I was glad to discover that I feel that this I finally the most complete, accessible, and wonderful way to know the story of the impossibly named ‘Cutter Slade’, and appreciate the full scale of the dev’s vision. A vision set into motion almost thirty years ago.

Cybertrash STATYX Xbox Review 7/10 "A Fun Throwback in The Run ‘n Gun Genre" 💥 #IndieGame #GameDev

Recent rumblings of folks who seem to be of the mind that pixel graphics are tired and old can be pushed aside, because it’s clear that there’s plenty of milage in beautiful, hand-drawn visuals yet, as illustrated by Cybertrash STATYX, a game that casts you in the role of Jenet, a woman who – like many – seem to have completely lost their memories prior to being involved in a program to ascertain their physical and mental abilities so that they can be ‘correctly’ re-introduced to society, whilst the reasons that they were initially extricated from society are curiously obfuscated…

Boiling Point: Road to Hell PC Review 7/10 "Arnold Vosloo Kicks Ass Once More" 🚛💥 @playziggurat #IndieGame #GameDev

In quite a few of my reviews covering beloved (by me, at least) yet shonky games – usually open-world RPGs from the mid 2000’s – Boiling Point often crops up, alongside Xenus 2: White Gold (an oddly-named sequel to Boiling Point: Road to Hell), Precursers, and Hard Truck Apocalypse (which has AMAZING music).

The first two of which come from the same developer, Deep Shadows, a company that seem to have moved into hidden object and mobile titles, which is a shame, as they have real character and craft. If each game mentioned here had more time and money invested, they would be classics still talked of today.

Cannibal Abduction Xbox Series X 7/10 “Leatherface Upstairs, Having a Quick 40 Winks” 🏠 @selewidev @transvaalgf #IndieGame #GameDev

In Cannibal Abduction, you play as Henry - a man who has borrowed his father’s car and is looking to spend time away from his parents; let his hair down, drive the open roads etc. and all was looking good until the engine blows and he is stuck in the middle of absolutely nowhere. 

His luck picks up when a very friendly man offers to take him back to his house and fix the car. Henry agrees, and off to the house they go. Whilst the man fixes the car, he notices tools in Henry’s car and asks about them, he learns that Henry has carpentry experience and asks if he could do him a favour and fix his wife's wardrobe upstairs. It’s a fair deal - he fixes the car, Henry fixes the wardrobe.

Now, on the one hand it was nice of Henry to help, but personally I have a rule in life - if a house looks like Leatherface may be upstairs having a quick 40 winks, I refuse to enter and run as fast as I can in any direction to get as far away as I possibly can. 

I understand that Henry would have to explain to his dad what had happened to the car, but I think that any truly loving father can understand that dodging a possibly cannibalistic family is more important than his nice car. Sadly for Henry, he doesn't live by my rules and well, spoiler alert! He gets chased by a cabbalistic madman.

Alisa: Developer’s Cut PS5 Review 8.5/10 “Made in Heaven” 🏚️ @TransVaalGF @CasperCroes #IndieGame #GameDev

When I watched the trailer for Alisa: Developer's Cut, I thought, “ah, this game definitely has an early Resident Evil vibe”, then as the trailer was coming to an end there is a shot-for-shot remake of the first time you see a zombie in the original Resident Evil, so that absolutely confirmed my thoughts.

Now, over the last few years I’ve played so many ‘We wish we were still in the late ‘90s, playing Resident Evil, when tank controls and fixed camera angles were all the rage and will never ever be replaced’ that it really at this point should be a category on Steam, so many games have tried to capture survival horrors past - with varying degrees of success - and I found that the more of them I played, the more the nostalgia wore off.

Nostalgia can only take you so far and underneath these games you needed to capture the past but also bring your own flavour, as well. With these thoughts in mind, I was understandably elated when that was exactly what Alisa did. Yes, it very much wears its Resident Evil one influence on its heart, but it adds enough interesting twists to feel fresh.

Gloomhaven XSX Review 8.5/10 "How Deep is Your (board gaming) Love?" 🧙‍♂️ @GloomhavenGame #IndieGame #GameDev

Although Gloomhaven was originally released on PC back in 2021, I wanted to cover it here on GF (on Xbox) in 2024 because I had such a rich experience with the boardgame on which it is based at one of our regular nerdy weekends away a few weeks ago. At said weekends, we tend to have several smaller, briefer games, and then a hefty one to tuck into for a good portion of each day. In this way we’ve played some pretty heavy hitters...but Gloomhaven always lurked at the back of our minds. 

WWE2K24 PS5 Review 8/10 “Time to play the Game” 🤼‍♂️

Yearly wrestling games - and yearly games in general - have always had a ‘one step forward, two steps back’ problem. In years’ past, match types and modes would be added in just to be removed in the next instalment, so this year’s edition has rolled around, and I was very eager to see if we were still heading forward… or if we were about to take an unfortunate step back.

Well, it may not be a huge stride forward but I’m pleased to say the WWE2K series is moving forward. Now, if you looked at the gameplay it will feel very similar to last years’ game aside from a couple of small tweaks such as super finishers and the ever-popular ability to throw weapons being added, but largely it remains the same and as DDP would say, “it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing”. The base gameplay is good, the lighting and character models are great, some gimmicks are outdated - but that's going to happen with how much wrestlers change in a year. The matches and combat have been a highlight since 2K22, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. 

A Void Hope Nintendo Switch Review 8.5/10 "An enchantingly melancholic game with a world class soundtrack" 🌲👻🌳 @EldenPixels #IndieGame #GameDev

The team that brought us Alwa’s Legacy and Alwa’s Awakening has returned with A Void Hope, a 2D narrative adventure with a soundtrack provided courtesy of the monolithic skills of Waveshaper.

The game begins with a short prologue that sets the scene; a couple exist in a world where people are becoming ‘empty’, which is to say they slowly lose their memories, before becoming ghostly, wandering figures that ‘haunt’ the city. Whilst the female is the main character of the prologue, the narrative soon focuses on the male, who begins in a forest cabin and must make his way through the city to find out what has happened to his partner, before his memories completely elude him and he becomes one of the empty.

Persona 5 Tactica Nintendo Switch Review 8.5/10 “Let me in your heart again” 👦👧 @Atlus_West #Persona5 @TransvaalGF

I have a very strong attachment to Persona 5, it was released at a time that I would comfortably describe as one of the worst periods of my life. Everything had fallen apart, and for a while, everything seemed a bit hopeless.

Luckily, I have been a huge fan of Persona and the Megami Tensei series as a whole since the PlayStation 2 era, so, just as everything seemed bleak - enter Persona 5, a game I had pre-ordered the special edition for, and it made me feel good. I spent 128 hours playing it with nothing but joy in my heart, it was the thing I needed - it wasn't just a distraction, it really felt like an old friend, and the story and the cast of characters really resonated with me, so every time this universe gets expanded, I’m always hopeful that special feeling will still be there.

Golfinite Nintendo Switch Review 7.5/10 "A surprisingly moreish golf title" 🏌️‍♂️⛳️ #IndieGame #GameDev @pmurph0305

As a keen – and yet impressively dreadful – amateur golfer, I’m always on the lookout for new golf titles to get me swingin’. Golfinite takes an interesting approach, in having a lot of depth to tuck into with the full array of clubs and shot styles available, as well as wind conditions and environmental hazards – the usual elements of golf games – but also taking a lighter approach in some of the wackier hazards that can get in your way, and the arcade-like power-ups that you can purchase with earned coins. These additions allow you to craft a playstyle that suits you, whether it be a ‘straighter’ style of plain golf, or more colourful and fun, which is a nice touch.

Sims 4: Home Chef Hustle Pack Review 8/10 "This pack is well worth the investment" 🏡🍔

If you are an avid fan of The Sims, you might be interested in reading my review of the Home Chef Hustle pack. As someone who has spent countless hours in the Sims series, I am always eager to try out new games or stuff packs as soon as they are released.

This pack caught my attention because I felt that The Sims lacked in the cooking department, and I was curious to see how this pack would address that issue.

One of the most exciting features of this pack is the small gameplay element that allows you to run your own food stall. This feature adds a new level of interactivity to the game, and it was a lot of fun to experiment with different recipes and see how they would sell. The pack also comes with a range of new cooking equipment, including a pizza oven, a mixing bowl, and a waffle maker, which are great additions to the game.

The Monty Mole Collection Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "Modern Monty Mole Maniacal Manoeuvring" 🐻‍❄️ @pixelgamesuk #GameDev #IndieGame

The 8-bit home computing platforming scene is something of a golden era to a lot of people. Filled with extremely challenging games, great music, and a very ‘British’ sense of humour (and social commentary).

Whilst I have played Monty Mole - many years ago - I associate the games more with Rob Hubbard’s astonishing score than the gameplay itself, and so I was keen to delve into this collection and experience them for the first time, on a modern system.

Pinball M Xbox Review 7.5/10 "The spookiest balls around" 👻 @zen_studios #IndieGame #GameDev

Zen Studios have release Pinball M, a game that delivers horror thrills to pinball-lovers around the world through a pretty cool mix of franchises:

– Wrath of the Elder Gods: Director’s Cut – experience the eldritch horror unrestricted for free

– Chucky’s Killer Pinball: Step into a twisted realm where the innocent becomes sinister, and the playful turns menacing. Navigate through an eerie playfield where Chucky lurks in the shadows, ready to pounce.

– The Thing Pinball: Use your pinball skills and battle against the shape-shifting alien through the arctic chill of U.S. Outpost #31. Can you trust anyone, even yourself?

– Dead by Daylight™️ Pinball: Become the hunter or even the hunted in a thrilling fusion of classic pinball and the excitement of one of the most popular horror games ever created.

– Duke Nukem’s Big Shot Pinball: Enjoy the biggest, grooviest, most BADASS pinball table ever made packed with guns and babes. Push start and play with balls of steel!

Bahnsen Knights Xbox Review 7/10 "My trousers began to slowly unbuckle themselves in anticipation..." 🕵️‍♂️ @lcbgamestudio #IndieGame #GameDev

The third in the initial trilogy of Pixel Pulp titles, Bahnsen Knights follows Mothmen 1966, and Varney Lake, visual novel titles – with a smattering of micro-games – in an 18-month period that has taken me on a journey that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed from a presentation and atmospheric perspective, but I can’t help but feel this most recent entry is the weakest of all.

Crashy Laps Xbox Series X (mini-review) 7/10 🏎️💨 @cheapeesoft @JanduSoft

Harking back to classic top-down / isometric racers such as Super Skidmarks, Crashy Laps by CheapeeSoft (which could have easily genuinely been a wonderfully 8-bit, British development house name back in the ‘80s!) is a budget title that aims to capture that vintage arcade-racing feel, with modern touches.

Super Arcade Racing Nintendo Switch Review 7/10 🏎️💨 @outofthebit #IndieGame #GameDev

I recently covered Full Void by OutOfTheBit, and in requesting a code for reviewing purposes, I noticed their previous release, Super Arcade Racing.

As a fan of top-down racers, I thought it would be fun to do a mini-review of this, as I hadn’t heard of it before stumbling across it on the developer’s website, and it takes a slightly different approach to its gameplay when compared to games of a similar ilk, in that it’s much more of a fun, unfolding narrative than simply disjointed races.

Gothic 2 Classic Nintendo Switch Review 7.5/10 "odd characters, amusing dialogue and locations" ⚔️ @gothicthegame @AlkimiaGameDev #IndieGame #GameDev

I’ve been a fan of Piranha Bytes since discovering the first Risen game back on the PS3. After completing that game, I was so taken by the rough ‘n ready (also slightly bizarre) style of the Piranha Bytes games that I worked backwards and picked up Gothic 3, also enjoying that title – but finding it a bit awkward to get to run on my PC, at the time.

Since moving on from both the Gothic and Risen series, Piranha Bytes are now working on their third ELEX game, a series that I’ve had a mixed opinion of, especially because of the game-breaking bugs I encountered when reviewing ELEX 2 last year.

Through all of this though, Gothic 2 is held as somewhat of a high watermark of their games in terms of narrative, quest design and atmosphere. Playing it on the Switch was my first time with the game, and whilst it is certainly showing its age in many areas, that janky charm and idiosyncratic approach to quests and dialogue does still feel fun and fresh, and kept me coming back for more, each evening.