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.
21/03/2024
Cannibal Abduction Xbox Series X 7/10 “Leatherface Upstairs, Having a Quick 40 Winks” ๐ @selewidev @transvaalgf #IndieGame #GameDev
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.
19/03/2024
Alisa: Developer’s Cut PS5 Review 8.5/10 “Made in Heaven” ๐️ @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.
13/03/2024
WWE2K24 PS5 Review 8/10 “Time to play the Game” ๐คผ♂️
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.
26/02/2024
Persona 5 Tactica Nintendo Switch Review 8.5/10 “Let me in your heart again” ๐ฆ๐ง @Atlus_West #Persona5 @TransvaalGF
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.
16/01/2024
The Kindeman Remedy PC 6/10 “Shock and awe, or shock and bore?” ๐ @_Troglobytes_ #IndieGame #GameDev
“The most blasphemous, diabolical and insane management game ever created!” – a quote taken directly from the trailer of The Kindeman Remedy, and the main reason I wanted to play this game, now granted I’m not sure how blasphemous or diabolical other management games are, so I was just going to have to take their word for it. That said, it’s an interesting hook, and I was dying to see just how insane this game was.
04/01/2024
Transvaal’s 2023 Games Of The Year List ๐ ๐ #GOTY #goty2023
21/12/2023
Fate/Samurai Remnant PS5 Review 8/10 “There can be only one” ⚔️ @FateSR_Official @TransvaalGF #IndieGame #GameDev
20/12/2023
Christmas Massacre PS5 Review 8/10 “Bad Santa” ๐ ๐ช @PuppetCombo #GameDev #IndieGame @transvaalgf
Puppet Combo has been a revelation this year, Stay Out of the House and Night at the Gates of Hell have been real highlights of 2023, which is saying something when taking into account how great 2023 has been for gaming.
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.
31/10/2023
Anthology of Fear Xbox Series X Review 4/10 “Five Minutes on YouTube” ๐ฅ @AnthologyofFear #IndieGame #GameDev
Walking down corridors and having something shout “boo!” is great, but they do wear thin after a while, and as much as I love horror, I definitely need a break from the horror walking simulator genre. Well, after playing Layers of the Fear a couple of months ago, I booted up Anthology of Fear put on my walking shoes and headed down the creepy corridors.
27/10/2023
Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 HD Remaster Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 “Two Under Rated Games, Brought Back To Life” ⚔️ @BandaiNamcoEU #Retrogames #HDRemaster
18/10/2023
WrestleQuest Xbox Series X 8/10 “One Hell of a Slobberknocker” ๐คผ♂️ @megacatstudios #IndieGames #GameDev
WrestleQuest is two of my absolutely favourite things combined, wrestling and classic RPGs.
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.
02/10/2023
Daymare: 1994 - Sandcastle PS5 Review 6.5/10 "Backtracking to the ‘90s" ๐ง @transvaalgf @InvaderDevs #IndieGame #GameDev
19/09/2023
Rainbow Skies Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 “One For The Die Hard Fans” ๐ @RainbowSkiesRPG #GameDev #IndieGame
I was a bit sad that I wasn't picking up my dusty old Vita and bringing it out of retirement, but instead, I picked up the Nintendo Switch and set out to see what I had been missing out on for a number of years.
06/09/2023
Mordhau Xbox Series X 8/10 “Fun and frustration” ⚔️๐ก️ @mordhaugame #IndieGame #GameDev
I'm going to start my review by admitting that although I thoroughly enjoyed Mordhau, god I suck at it. The expression ‘as useful as a chocolate teapot’ really does sum me up when it comes to this genre! The first thing I did when I loaded up the game was to laugh at the idea of playing through the tutorial, and instead jumped straight into a large battle. Within the first thirty seconds, I had pressed the button to un-equip your weapon, and had swapped my sword for my fists - I was in trouble, but luckily I only had that problem for about forty seconds before a kind person stabbed me in the gut and put me out of my misery. Instead of re-spawning, I decided that it was probably best to quit out and actually play the tutorial.
09/08/2023
Layers of Fear Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “Constant corridors and predictable scares” ๐ฑ @Layers_Of_Fears #IndieGames #GameDev
Layers of Fear is an enhanced remake of - you guessed it - Layers of Fear, but it’s not just an enhanced remake of the first game, it also includes a remade version of the sequel as well as ‘The Inheritance’ DLC, and two new additional stories – ‘The Writer’, and ‘Final Note’.
I have never played any of the original series, although I have heard of them, and had an idea of what they were about - but I never went ahead and gave them a go, so with this release, it seemed a perfect chance to jump in and experience them in all their new Unreal Engine 5 glory.
08/08/2023
AEW: Fight Forever Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “Great in-ring action, but certain areas need more depth” ๐คผ♂️ #AEW
AEW Fight Forever is the new wrestling offering from developer Yukes, upon its first announcement it was made clear that this game was going down a different path, it would not concern itself with the more simulation style of gameplay, instead opting for a more arcade-orientated approach. For me this was music to my ears, as I’ve complained for years that arcade was the way to go, opting for fun over realism.
I’m happy to say that the gameplay is the game’s biggest strength; it’s fun, brutal, and packs a punch. Matches are about building momentum and damaging your opponent, you use a combination of strikes and grapples - strikes are a combination of punches and kicks, which can be chained together for maximum effect; grapples can be done in a variety of positions and take many forms, they are easy to execute and have a nice variety. There is a nice fluidity to all of the combat giving a fast pace to matches.
24/07/2023
Stay Out of The House PS5 Review 8.5/10 “The home of sleaze, gore, madmen, slashers, and maniacs” ๐ช๐ฉธ @PuppetCombo #IndieGames #GameDev
Stay Out of the House is the new game from developer Puppet Combo, now I must admit that I’m not familiar with any of their work, although when I went on to their website it pretty much told me all I need to know, this is a quote from the website –
Stay Out of the House is split into four sections; the first act is named Night Shift, whereby you go to your character’s night shift at a gas station. Things start out pretty normally, you clean up, deal with customers etc. the store also has an arcade cabinet in the corner which you can play when the store is quiet - oddly enough the arcade game is about a killer chasing you, and you must collect things in order to escape. I really liked this introduction it was a nice build-up of suspense, and even though you can see what’s coming, it still made me jump.
13/07/2023
Amnesia: The Bunker Xbox Series X 7/10 “One Element Away From Being a Stone-Cold Classic” ⏱️@frictionalgames
28/06/2023
Homebody | Xbox Series X | Review | 8/10 | “With Death Comes Knowledge” ๐ช @HomebodyGame @Rogue_Co @GameGrumps #IndieGames #GameDev
Homebody is the newest game from the YouTube channel Game Grumps and Rogue Entertainment, the game is a psychological horror with fixed camera angles, retro graphics and a love for some good old-fashioned puzzle solving.
12/05/2023
Arcana of Paradise - The Tower Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 “A game full of charm that just needs more variety” ๐ผ @TheTowerEN #IndieGames #GameDev
I picked this game purely on the strength of its trailer and the interesting concept. Several children suffering from amnesia are stuck on top of a gargantuan tower, the top of the tower is in ruin and the kids are barely surviving, but in their minds lies a thought that if they can reach the bottom of the tower and escape - they will enter paradise. It’s an interesting set-up, so I was eager to play, I then learned it was a roguelike deck-builder, which are two words I understand but have never seen together, so I was excited to dive in.
Right out of the gate, Arcana of Paradise has a very ethereal feel thanks to its wonderful art style and gorgeous music. You feel you are in a strange - almost dreamlike - world, the combination of both really paints a vivid picture, and I was sucked into its vision very quickly.