Developer OutOfTheBit Ltd have delivered a strong slice of such action, in a wonderfully wordless experience that clocks in at around a couple of hours, making it a breezy game to replay – in a similar vein to Devwill Too on MD, a game I routinely return to each year, for its brevity and melancholy.
Seeing that Christmas Massacre had been ported to the PS5 was a nice, early Christmas present, one filled with screams, horror and a very eager, bloodthirsty Christmas tree.
I have dug. I have heisted. And I have loved both. Three of my favourite games on the PC in the last ten years were made by the Swedish studio, Image & Form. Steamworld Dig 1 & 2, and Steamworld Heist are both beautifully formed and have really well thought through game mechanics. It’s simplistic to say perhaps, but both Dig and Heist just work. There’s little extraneous in there, and these elements are combined with gorgeous visuals and engaging characters to make very appealing games that I’ve returned to many times.
As detective Guy and his crime-solving dog Chloe, you’ll roam a mansion and the surrounding grounds in a bid to solve the murder of a world-renowned game designer.
There are eight suspects, and thirty bags of dog treats to find as you try to solve this dastardly crime, as well as a treasure-hunting side quest!
A game that cosily leads you through the mystery as opposed to getting your grey cells pulsating, Murder is Game Over is a fun and light-hearted way to spend an evening, satisfactorily wrapping up its plot in an hour or two, and a big high five for the awesome music, which I would quite happily purchase on vinyl, awesome stuff!
After creating your driver and choosing your starting vehicle, you are free to roam around the island as you see fit. You can free roam or enter one of the myriad of ‘playlists’ (races) available, these range from drag races in highly-tuned performance cars to old camper vans, monster trucks, motorcycles and even planes.
There are currently well over 600 vehicles across these styles available, and each completed race will see you earning XP, unlocking extra vehicles and parts to replace and improve your various rides, in terms of both performance and vanity items.
There really is a huge amount of customisation available – as well as other micro-transactions that you can pay for to speed the process along, should you wish to do so …I personally avoid these like the plague, although it didn’t impinge on my enjoyment of the game as I was constantly unlocking and upgrading my garage of cars through normal play.
This review is for the Nintendo Switch version which we received from the developers for review purposes. I found the Switch version to have a few framerate issues but nothing that made the experience unplayable.
My time at Sandrock is a charming and engaging life simulator game that sets you down in the role of an aspiring builder tasked with rebuilding the bustling town of Sandrock. From the moment you step into the world, you're greeted by a vibrant and welcoming community filled with quirky characters, each with their own unique stories and personalities.
The game's art style is a delightful blend of cartoon style character graphics and watercolour-inspired hues, creating a visually captivating world that's both nostalgic and refreshing.
Hero Survival is a classic survival game featuring enemies such as ghosts, werewolves, and jack-o-lanterns, etc. The objective is to progress through the 10 levels of each stage and then defeat the boss at the end. However, each stage takes roughly 20 minutes or more and surviving for that long is not an easy feat!
I initially played Mondealy off the back of a pretty full-on game, and switching from that to this mellow, slowly-unfolding world was initially a little jarring, but after a mental reset, I completely fell under the pastel-coloured, joyous sway that it conjures, especially enjoying the soundtrack, courtesy of the below talented composers:
Just as before you’re Jack, a true glass cannon protagonist whose speed, agility, and ever-growing suite of techno-ninjutsu abilities is matched only by his constant fragility.
In Ghostrunner 2 you will enter a combat arena and die instantly. At the tap of a bottom (and with no loading) you’re back to try again. This time you might die after a few seconds. Rinse and repeat twenty times and suddenly you have a plan:
Wallrun, slowmo dodge, kill, grapple, deflect, kill, boost pad, shuriken toss, mid-air grapple, kill, slide, vault, slice your cyberkatana through a cyberfreak’s body as the two cyberhalves spiral through the air in front of you. Ah, endorphins. There you are…
For those who were unaware – myself included – Bud Spencer and Terence Hill – the protagonists of the games – were popular Italian comedians back in the ‘70s who made an array of action comedies and spaghetti westerns from the late ‘60s right up to the mid-’80s., much like the various comedy duos of the ages, one is a gruffer, larger man whilst the other is a wiry, quick-witted chap. Good.
When I first heard about the game my excitement level was off the charts, it became one of my most anticipated games of 2023. So, after waiting all this time, will it be a 7-star match in the Tokyo Dome? Or will it be jobbing out in the opening match?
At this point in the review, I will warn you I’m going ALL IN on the wrestling references, there will be NO MERCY, so I suggest opening a ‘Steveweiser’ and preparing to smell what the Games Freezer WrestleQuest review is cooking.
I contacted Goldknights and was advised that an overhauled version of the game was due in a few weeks, and so I held off covering the game until then, and I’m very glad I did. I didn’t play the original release of The Last Oricru. Still, I can quite confidently say that I had much more fun in the 15 hours or so that I spent with The Last Oricru (and completed it) than the 40 hours I spent on Bethesda’s latest release (before giving up on it out of boredom).
Night at the Gates of Hell, however, does not have a subtle, slow-burn approach… it instead goes for an especially nasty Italian zombie horror vibe, which it absolutely nails down with rusty masonry nails in a bloody mess of viscera and gore.