🏨 Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “A case of metathesiophobia” 🏨 @transvaalgf @PulsatrixStudio #GameDev #IndieGames

I’ve had a bit of a problem with budget horror titles in the past few months, every game I have played is just trying to be like its predecessors - mostly Resident Evil -  which is fine in small doses, but when every game is mired in the past, it just feels dull.

I’ve really wanted a game to shake up horror and be bold and try something completely new. 

Enter Fobia-St Dinfna Hotel, I had seen the trailer and had my reservations - and on playing through the game, yeah, it falls into the category of titles just described. It’s not a bad game - though for me and a few others it does have one major problem which I will go into later - it just feels like we’ve been here before and not just bought the T-shirt but also the mug, commemorative plates, and snow globe.

🤖 Biomotor Unitron Nintendo Switch (originally Neo Geo Pocket Color) Review 6/10 "Climbs into the arena for one more round" 🤖 #RetroGaming #NeoGeo

Originally released in 1999 for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, Biomotor Unitron was an early RPG for the system. As I’d never heard of it before, my first impression was one of perhaps a mecha/Pokémon hybrid due to the style used in some screenshots, however, Biomotor Unitron is far more focused on upgrades and random dungeons as opposed to narrative and exploration, which makes the game, unfortunately, feel repetitive – and shallow, despite the number of menu-driven upgrades and items.

😱 Source of Madness Xbox Series X Review 6/10 "A 'Nearly' Game" 😱 @CarryCastle #IndieGames #GameDev

It's happened again. 

Anything with 'Lovecraft' in the description is summarily thrown my way by the GamesFreezer gods, so this landed in my inbox before I'd even heard of it. 

Source of Madness is a roguelike action platformer, wherein the best traditions of the genre, each run is designed to teach you more about the game before your next attempt. 

The Lovecraft connection comes in through atmosphere, tentacled monsters and the odd reference to Cthulhu or Azathoth here and there.

🐼 Pinball Freedom Switch Review 5/10 "Pinball freedom, but not a dream" 🐼 @CGAStudioGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Currently priced at under a fiver on the UK Nintendo eShop, Pinball Freedom by developer CGA Studio Games offers five separate pinball tables as well as an air hockey table, but some foundational issues with the in-game ball physics and flat gameplay detract from the inherent draw of pinball.

🃏🔥 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.

⚡️ NeonLore Xbox Series X Review 5/10 "A cyber library" ⚡️@playstige #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

NeonLore has quite an interesting premise - more an interactive short story collection than a game per se, the hour or so you’ll spend drenched in neon sees your character walking around several blocks of a futuristic dystopian city, reading snippets of various characters’ lives, solving the occasional puzzle, and listening to audio stories.

😎 Foreclosed | XSX | Review | 6.5/10 | ‘Metal Gear Solid for the Hipster Generation’ 😎 @showmemagic #IndieGame #IndieGameDev @MergeGamesLtd

I’ve already sunk several hours into Cyberpunk 2077, so I’m going into this review hot and ready to be entertained. Unfortunately, I’ve already lost interest in the aforementioned game, so let’s see how Foreclosed holds out. Don’t worry, I won’t be making any comparisons, that’s just unfair. It’s just good to know I’m in the futurist zone and keen to play this game. It has, how the French would half-say, ‘piqued my interest’.

Foreclosed is a sleek, stylish interactive graphic novel and immersive narrative-driven action-shooter with the difficulty default setting of Hard-Boiled! I like my games to be sunny-side up - but sod it, I’m in the mood for a challenge. Le regret?

🗡️ Pathologic 2 | Xbox Series X | Review | 5.5/10 | "Tedious mechanics wore down my love for its creepy atmosphere and intriguing mysteries" 🗡️ @transvaalgf @IcePickLodge #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

After a few hours of Pathologic 2, I could tell this was going to be a real marmite game, there was a great atmosphere and an interesting mystery being developed but the mechanics were already becoming beyond tedious, so the question would be, “would the interesting philosophical plot with a great atmosphere be enough, or would the increasingly frustrating mechanics be too much of a pain and drag the entire experience down?”

🥚Egglia : Rebirth | Nintendo Switch Review | 6/10 | "You Gotta Break Some eggs To Make An Omelette" 🥚 #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

I picked up Egglia Rebirth and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. It's actually a redesigned mobile game that has had the trappings of mobile microtransactions removed and has been remade/remastered/rebirthed over onto the trusty Nintendo Switch where every single game that ever existed must now reside. 

So does Egglia's move from mobile to Switch land sunny side up or are we left with egg on our faces?

🏎️🌪️ Moto Roader MC | PS4 | Review | 6/10 | "Burnin' Retro Rubber!" 🏎️🌪️ @RatalaikaGames #Retrogaming #IndieGameDev

Moto Roader was originally released in 1989 as a futuristic racing game developed by NCS for the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16.

Since then it has been ported over to the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles. Now in the year of video games 2022, we have a port that is hitting Xbox, Switch, PS4 and PS5.

🦖Elex II | XSX Review | 6.5/10 | "More RPG action from the team behind the Gothic and Risen series" 🦖 @Piranha_Bytes #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

When I came across Elex in 2017, it really made an impact on me. I resonated with the dry humour that was scattered throughout the game and, whilst it had technical issues, the sense of character that ran throughout made it stand out from the crowd, despite not being a graphical showcase.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this sequel and, whilst it retains the humour and fixes some problems that were present in the first game, I couldn’t quite relax fully, due to some vague mission design and implementation which ultimately marred the experience.

⛳️⚔️ RPGolf Legends | Nintendo Switch | Review | 5.5/10 | "Fighting for Par" ⛳️⚔️ @KEMCOGLOBAL #IndieGames #GameDev

I went into RPGolf Legends with as much enthusiasm as I could possibly muster for a game.

Being a huge RPG fan and a complete golf nut, my excitement for this game was immense. All signs pointed to a hole-in-one but, like my actual golf game - it didn’t take long to realise it's more likely going to be a double bogey.

🏌️‍♀️⛳️ Smoots Golf | Xbox Series X | Review | 6/10 | "Not Quite Up To Par" 🏌️‍♀️⛳️@JanduSoft #IndieGames #GameDev

The last title I reviewed from Jandusoft was Cards of the Dead, a clever and simple zombie survival deck game that was released just before Halloween and provided a few hours of tense, pixelated fun.

When I saw that Jandusoft were releasing Smoots Golf, I leapt at the chance to cover it without even looking at the trailer, as I’d had such a good time with Cards of the Dead – and I love to golf!

😼 Astro Aqua Kitty | Nintendo Switch | Review | 6.5/10 | "Is it the cat's meow?" 😼 @TIKIPODltd #IndieGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Astro Aqua Kitty is the action RPG shmup follow-up to the well-received, Aqua Kitty!

As adorable as the kitties are in Astro Aqua Kitty, the hidden difficulty is very much not adorable. Not that difficult shmups are anything new or different. But kitties in an aquatic-space shmup, with RPG elements, do separate them from the pack.

📓Hermitage: Strange Case Files | Xbox Series X | Review | 5/10 | "One is The Loneliest Number" 📔 @ArrowizStudios #GameDev #IndieGames #IndieGame

I recently had a conversation with my brother - I explained to him how I've grown tired of games using HP Lovecraft as inspiration, how there seems to be a plethora of them and most of them aren't very good, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth being the biggest exception. 

I had major reservations for this game from the start as more Lovecraftian horror is not what I particularly wanted, but I'm always happy to be proven wrong and so hoped this game would ease my tiredness of Lovecraft and bring my list of good games inspired by his bibliography to a whopping two.

🦝 Backbone | XBOX SERIES X | Review | 6/10 | "One small step for noir, one giant misstep from Backbone" 🦝 @backbonegame #IndieGames #IndieGame

The word noir conjures up so much joy for me, I absolutely adore it - if I see the word in a description of any piece of media, it's almost guaranteed I will consume it.

In theory, Backbone was so far up my street, I could have bought a three-bed terrace house there and lived a very happy life… or so I thought.

🚴‍♂️💥🚗 Crash: Autodrive | Nintendo Switch | Review | 6/10 | "Who’s gonna drive you home?" 🚴‍♂️💥🚗 @StudioNightcap #GameDev #IndieGames

A lightly futuristic visual novel with some adventure elements, Crash: Autodrive puts you in the verbose shoes of Emily, a young woman who – sharing an auto-driving cab with three other passengers – hits and kills a cyclist, a cyclist that everyone personally knows – and all involved have motives for murder.

🕵️‍♀️🔎 Murder Mystery Machine | Xbox Series X | Review | 5/10 "A disappointing experience that had the potential for so much more" 🕵️‍♀️🔎 @BlazingGGames #IndieGames #GameDev

When I saw the trailer for this game, I thought, “wow this looks up my street! An isometric murder mystery where you solve the cases by linking evidence on a diorama board, having to piece together means, motives and opportunity… this sounds amazing!”

🌕 Jettomero: Hero of the Universe | Nintendo Switch | Review | 6.5/10 | "I’m stompin’ around, move out of my way" 🌕 @GhostTimeGames #IndieGames #GameDev

Having so recently been completely enamoured with the GOTY contender Tux and Fanny, I delved into Jettomero, the previous title from Ghost Time Games. Whilst it didn’t grab me in the same way that Tux and Fanny did, there are some real highs here but they are unfortunately offset by some points that ultimately heavily detract from the experience.

📮 Lake | Xbox Series X | Review | 6.5/10 | "A Break From The City That’s Maybe Too Mellow" 📮 @Lake_The_Game #IndieGames #GameDev

Lake was a game that really stood out to me when I watched a showcase from the publisher last year. The trailer depicts a woman (Meredith Weiss) taking a two-week break from her busy computing job in a city - the game is set in 1986, so there’s some cool, old tech kicking around - to cover her postman father’s job back in her hometown of Providence Oaks.