Rising Lords Review 6/10 "Medieval Mediocrity" ⚔️🛡️ #IndieGame #GameDev @argonwood

Life in medieval times was tough. The local lord or royal type wouldn’t think twice about forcing peasants to work for 28 hours a day in the fields, before sticking a spear in their hand and making them go and stab a peasant from a neighbouring village. All in the name of expanding the fiefdom and extending the empire of their glorious leader.

And Rising Lords lets you be that ‘benevolent’ ruler. This game has been loitering on PC for a few years, going through lengthy development stages before launching on consoles in its current form. A form honed and perfected to be a sleek mix of Risk-style battles and Civilisation-esque resource management, right? Right?

Wrong. Sadly. 

Cookie Cutter XBOX Review 8/10 " My Cherry Amour " 🤖 @maxharvey79 @Rogue_Co #IndieGames #GameDev

Cherry was cheery. She was an android with a lovely girlfriend, and life was good. But you know the old story – girl bot meets girl bot, girl bots fall in love, bad guy steals girl bot and stomps the other to a pulp. A tale as old as time. And so it’s not surprising that Cherry’s demeanour switches from joyful to rageful pretty quickly. 

Steamworld Build Xbox Review 8/10 "Over Steamulation?" 🛠️🪨 @SteamWorldGames #iNDIEGAME #GAMEDEV

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.

NACON MG-X Pro Controller | Review By Max (and a bit of Britt) | "The Phat Controller" 🎮 @Nacon

September 2021 was a different time. I mean, obviously, it was. All times that aren’t NOW are a different time. Even the start of this paragraph exists at a different point in time to this word here. Time that is so precious and yet I have wasted valuable seconds for both of us in trying to explain a point that is irrelevant to what follows.

And this is partly because I am a big fan of a nonsensical opening to a review and partly because (for reasons that will become apparent) the bulk of the review itself is not very long.

Back to September 2021. It was a time of lockdowns and consequently opportunities to indulge in al fresco Xbox gaming were not plentiful.

Despite this, I gave a score of 9/10 to the NACON MG-X, an Android controller that basically turned your phone into a mini Xbox.

It was a solid product that delivered on its promise and though I mainly used it sat on my sofa, I could see the potential for use in the great outdoors (internet connection permitting…)

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?

Pirates Outlaws XBOX Review 7/10 🏴‍☠️🦜 @FabledGame #IndieGames #GameDev

Like Willem Dafoe with Madonna’s hot candle wax, I really need to get something off my chest. Before I get into this review. Before I finish the delightful pain au chocolat sat next to me. It isn’t a comment on the game itself, merely the title. But oh, it grates. The game is called “Pirates Outlaws”. It’s tautologous nonsense. Though still a bit rubbish, I’d accept Pirate Outlaws or Pirates: Outlaws, at a push, but not that.

Speedonauts PC Review 7/10 "Speedonauty, Very Nauty…" 🎿 @WorldAwayGames #IndieGames #GameDev

Alto, the lonely goatherd and toadly gnarly snowboarder have a lot to answer for. Fire up one of his adventures on your phone and time has a tendency to disappear. This sideways scrolling endless runner game had a beautiful simplicity to it and a series of increasingly difficult challenges that draws you back in. And draw me in they did.

So, when presented with the opportunity to take a closer look at World Away’s Speedonauts, I was excited, but also concerned about developing another snowsport addiction.

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.

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.

🏔️⛰️ 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. 

⚔️ The Tale Of Bistun Xbox Review 6/10 "A little less conversation, a little more action…" ⚔️ @IMGNPRO @Bart_IMGN #GameDev #IndieGames

The Tale of Bistun appeared to be an interesting prospect. It’s a heavily narrative-driven adventure, and most that we Western audiences are exposed to commonly involve a modern setting and/or some sort of zombie apocalypse. So, this was certainly something new.

I can safely say that this is the first game I have played that is based on a Persian poem, namely Khosrow and Shirin, written by Nizami Ganjavi in the 12th century. I won’t go into what the poem is about because it unfolds in front of you as you play the game.

🐲⚔️ Souldiers Nintendo Switch Review 7/10 "A Lot of Dungeon for Your Dollar" 🐲⚔️ @souldiersgame @plugindigital #IndieGames #GameDev

I’m not a completist. I’m not all about getting 100% on games. I didn’t even think about trying to hunt down all TWO HUNDRED pigeons hidden across the vast map of GTA4, for example, just for the sake of a fleeting smirk of satisfaction and a digital plaque on my avatar’s wall. 

🃏🔥 Deck of Ashes Xbox Review 6/10 "Spire Slayer?" 🔥🃏 @AygamesO #GameDev #IndieGame

After the more cartoony and simple presentation of Slay the Spire (the most famous and probably well-regarded of card battle games), the distinctive aesthetic of Deck of Ashes immediately drew me in. 

Hand-drawn, Lovecraftian creatures abound. Ghoulish witches and genuinely unsettling undead creatures litter the battlefield, and I am all in favour of it. 

On top of this, the battles themselves are brought to life by creepy animations (the jester character sprouts monstrous claws from his back when he attacks) and a suitably gothic soundtrack.

🤖 Blackwind | Xbox Series X | Review | 3/10 | "Groundhog Slay" 🤖 @drakkardev @maxharvey79 #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

My first impressions of Blackwind were positive. I’m a fan of the mecha anime aesthetic, and the story of a boy having to use a super-powered robot suit (à la Titanfall) to battle enemies and rescue his father, was an appealing prospect. The voice acting is a little cheesy, but I felt like it set the scene well, with an AI voice in the suit giving instructions that worked as a tutorial without that being too contrived.

But. 

BUT.