Ready or Not Xbox Series X Review 8/10 “A Surprisingly Dark Descent Tied To SWAT Tactics” 👮‍♀️💥 @VOIDInteractive #IndieGame #GameDev

I tend to play online co-op games with fellow GFer Transvaal, and our usual approach of ‘shoot, shoot, shoot’ sometimes hits a wall when playing games frolicking on the more tactical side of life, such as here with VOID Interactive’s Ready or Not, a game playable in both single and multiplayer modes that casts you in the role of a SWAT team commander in the fictional Los Suenos Police Department (LSPD) as you make your way through a surprisingly generous amount of missions, in the hope of arresting the guilty whilst protecting the innocent. Each mission leading on from the last – although you wouldn’t necessarily know this until you get a high enough ranking in completion of said missions, which adds key context to your actions, filling out the narrative background.

Victory Heat Rally Nintendo Switch Review 7/10 "A Super Vibrant Retro Racer" 🚗💨 @skydevilpalm @PTonicFriends @VHRgame #GameDev #IndieGame

A vibrant racing game with retro-arcade style mechanics, Victory Heat Rally makes a great first impression with its energetic audio, bright graphics and kinetic sense of energy. Indeed, whilst the devs of Victory Heat Rally are based in LA, it’s very easy to assume that this is a Japanese-made game, so strong are those classic arcade vibes! 

Featuring many stages and environments, the order of the day here is super-fast arcade racing. It’s a very bare bones setup in terms of the core game loop, the tracks are often short, and you can whip around them in around thirty seconds, with the high speed action being all about avoiding other cars and managing your boosts. 

Tiny Pixels Vol. 2 – Stormy Knights Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 “Bite-sized, princess-rescuing action” 🏰👸⚔️ @eastasiasoft #IndieGame #GameDev

A snappy, heavily timing-based adventure game that casts you in the role of a knight on a quest to rescue several princess trapped in separate castles, you’ll find yourself adjusting to the simple control setup quickly, and timing your movements, shield blocks, dashes, swipes and magic accordingly as you cut your way through the enemies ahead of you, in single-stage battles.

Hole Digging Master Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 “Take a deep breath, and dig...deep.” 🕳️⛏️ @nostra_games_ #IndieGame #GameDev

I have to admit to covering Hole Digging Master out of sheer curiosity, the premise seemed somewhat bland, but hey – Fishing Vacation was awesome! There was also the fact that the trailer promises mysteries and treasures, tied to relaxing gameplay...good.

Hole Digging Master begins with a swift tutorial that introduces the game mechanics and core loop, that is – you dig, you sell, you upgrade...you dig. Played out entirely in POV, Hole Digging Master takes place entirely in a garage and the nearby garden, with a large square marked out on the grass, and the surrounding paraphernalia suggesting that the reason for digging – initially, at least! - is to get a swimming pool on the go. And so you grab your – erm – battery-powered shovel, and get to work. 

Gore Doctor Xbox Series X Review 5/10 “Gore, Gore, Gore” 🩸🪓🤡 @Salient_Games #IndieGame #Horror #GameDev

I am someone who reviews a lot of horror games, and I am also a massive fan of the Saw franchise - it being my favourite horror series of all time. I also have House M.D as my favourite TV show, so a game entitled ‘Gore Doctor’ sounded right up my street and was something I thought would be hard for me to not enjoy - and yet this game struggled to fully grab me.

The Siege and The Sandfox PC Review 7/10 "A Cunningly Stunning Stealthvania That Lands On 3 Legs" 🦊 @siegeandsandfox #IndieGame #GameDev

Let me start by saying: I wanted to give this beautifully crafted game a higher score. From the moment it boots up, The Siege and the Sandfox dazzles with its pixel art—rich in detail, bursting with colour, and animated with a loving, frame-by-frame touch. The sound design is equally lush, with a narrator whose warm voice adds instant storybook gravitas to your journey.

The controls are intuitive—if you’ve played any platformer with climbing mechanics, you’ll feel right at home. On-screen prompts are crisp, and the stealth system is a genuine delight. You crouch to move silently, extinguish lights to melt into shadows, and monitor your tiptoeing like a true sneaky old fox in a one-hit-kill world.

BrewOtaku – The Homebrew Gaming Magazine Review By Britt 📖 @brewotakumag #IndieGames

 📖 Physical gaming magazines are a beautiful thing, especially when they are focused on more specialist, niche topics as it adds to that sense of a community built purely on passion. Cue BrewOtaku! A hefty 78-page magazine that celebrates all thing homebrew, with each page packed to the gills with nothing but information about upcoming homebrew projects in the form of news, reviews, and interviews.

Running since January 2024, BrewOtaku is run by a small team that have their work cut out for them, judging by the sheer amount of games covered in each issue (it’s genuinely impressive!) Produced on glossy paper and currently stocked at Gaming Museum Wien in Austria, and RETRO Games in Germany, if -like me – you live outside of these areas, you can order the physical or digital copies online via this link.

The cover stories on one of the latest issues are the Monkey Island series of games, as well as S.E.U.C.K (Shoot ‘Em Up Construction Kit), as well as an interview with Francesco Terracciano (Straynus game studio, based in Spain) discussing their new game Cronela’s Mansion – which looks to be quite cool and influenced by Maniac Mansion – as well as a plethora of mini-coverage, and articles on both commercial and free games – more on that later.

System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster – Rich’s Rapid Review 🎮🔫 @NightdiveStudio #IndieGame #GameDev

In just 3 minutes, I dive into Nightdive Studios’ remaster of the legendary System Shock 2.

Is it still terrifying? Does it hold up in 2025? And what’s been upgraded for modern players? From SHODAN’s chilling monologues to the claustrophobic corridors of the Von Braun, this remaster brings back one of the most influential immersive sims of all time.

The Secret of the Four Winds SEGA Mega Drive Review 8.5/10 “One of the Most Technically impressive Mega Drive Games Ever Released” 💨 @Kai_MSX #IndieGame #GameDev

Kai Magazine Software seemed to burst from the ground with the sole mission of pushing the Mega Drive beyond its known boundaries and limits. I’ve been lucky enough to cover all of their MD releases over the last five years or so, and each one has breathed new life into Sega’s much-loved 16-bit console, and given thousands of retro gamers worldwide reason to boot up the black Sega classic.

From the tongue-in-cheek MERCS-esque Metal Dragon through the Metroidvanian Life On Mars to the run-n-gun ‘tastic Life On Earth: Reimagined, Kai Magazine Software push the hardware in different directions, through differing genres – but none have felt quite so special as The Secret of the Four Winds.

Beginning with Inspector Henge in pursuit of a suspect – a suspect running on foot as Henge chases in his cop car!- resulting in them both entering an abandoned warehouse, where the suspect disappears and Henge watches a man die, stealing his gun to discover it’s a supernatural weapon that kills ghosts, it’s safe to say that The Secret of the Four Winds has one of – if not, THE – best kick-off to a Mega Drive game, helped immensely by the anime-style cut scenes, and – I will be talking about this a lot – the incredible, INCREDIBLE music.

Honestly, when the game first booted up and I could select between between the enhanced or standard music, I sat bolt upright the moment the energetic, sax and guitar laden soundtrack kicked in during the intro chase, it was a clarity – and style – of audio that I had simply never heard come from my Mega Drive in the thirty-five years I’ve spent with the console, and on the strength of that aspect alone, my genuine, reflexive initial response was “well, this game is getting 10/10 as far as I’m concerned”.

Even more impressive was the fact that, when I switched the audio to ‘FM’ style, there was still a gorgeous swing to everything, that called to mind the saucy soundtrack of Side Pocket (which is yearning for a vinyl release).

Moving away from the soundtrack though, the visuals are tasty, and depict a top-down world in which the characters that you control – an eventual choice of three in total  - move through with quite a unique control scheme. One button runs – and drains stamina – whilst the others act as aim and shoot. It initially feels very esoteric, but quickly becomes second nature as you make your way through the mostly night-time locations that the game takes you through.

Whilst some stages require simple detective work and puzzle solving, the vast majority of The Secret of the Four Winds involves making your way through the waves of enemies – most of which are weak to light and strongest in darkness – as you hold down the aim/shoot buttons, taking them out before they can get anywhere near you.

Whilst there are three characters to – eventually – choose from, and there are RPG aspects of the game that level up stats such as accuracy, health points, and power etc. this is the part of the game that starts off positively, but becomes a crutch relatively quickly.

Look, I love this game, and I’ll reiterate that the retro Japanese style of visuals, incredible music, beautiful physical presentation, nuanced and bold control scheme, as well as the mood and narrative of the game is fantastic...but my word, does the core gameplay result in a bone-crushing grind. Not just a grind of the type you’d see in most modern games, where you hit a rut and go off exploring, giving at least a little variety in the proceedings, this is a game in which you hit various points that result in you incrementally making your way forwards through areas that are just designed to kill you over and over until the numbers in your stats are high enough for you to make progress.

Thus making what is initially a thrill in how it blends action and RPG (and that world-beating music), and the heart of the enjoyment of the game itself an eventual brick-sieving, repetitive sludge-fest of progress. I promise you that there will never be a speed run of this game, the grind is too built-in to ignore.

SUMMARY

Kai Magazine Software are one of the most exciting developers around for the Mega Drive, and The Secret of the Four Winds is a game that deserves to grace a lot of shelves, pushing the Mega Drive not only through its saucy music, but also in blending genres, visuals and creating a mood in general that seems genetically designed to please me on a cellular level.

That said, the incessant grind and repetition that kicks in after a couple of hours can’t be be ignored, and perhaps leans too heavily on retro-Japanese design philosophies to connect with me, personally. That said. The music? Play it again, Sam.

Purchase Link

Locomoto Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 “A wonderfully cosy train ride with a few unfortunate bumps” 🚂🚂🚂 @GreenTileGames #CosyGame #IndieGame #GameDev

As the father of a four year old who loves trains, Locomoto was a no-brainer when it came to having the chance to cover it. I don’t particularly have a history with the cosy game genre, but I have enjoyed Stardew Valley in the past, and watched my other half pound hundreds of hours into Animal Crossing over the years – a game I find too oddly regimented to enjoy.

Locomoto allows you to create an animal character, who naughtily ‘borrows’ an abandoned train in a bid to help the local villages and towns with the various issues that raise their cheeky heads, thus begins our adventures in the world of Locomoto.

Lies of P: Overture PS5 [DLC] Review 8/10 – "The Deserved Encore to a Twisted Puppet’s Tale" 🎻 @Liesofp #GameDev #IndieGame

When Lies of P launched in 2023, it stunned the Soulslike community with its twisted reimagining of Pinocchio’s tale. Now, with the Lies of P: Overture DLC, developer Round8 Studio proves that the puppet strings still have plenty of tension left. This DLC doesn’t just extend the story—it elevates the entire experience, delivering a prequel that’s as emotionally resonant as it is mechanically refined.

Set years before the events of the base game, Overture transports players to a Krat untouched by the full devastation of the Puppet Frenzy. The narrative uses time travel to explore the roots of the Petrification Disease and the Alchemist faction’s twisted experiments. You encounter characters whose fates were only hinted at in the original game, adding emotional weight and tragic irony to every interaction.

Kiborg Xbox Series X Review 7.5/10 "lock ‘n load...again, and again, and again" 👊💥 @SobakaStudio #IndieGame #GameDev

I was quite a keen follower of Kiborg during its development, developers Sobaka Studio (I previously covered their game Redeemer in a past, pre-GF life) very clearly have a knack for guttural combat, and the trailers promised a silky smooth 60fps title featuring some very involved melee combat that gnawed away at the part of me that still craves visceral versions of the 16-bit brawlers that used to rule the roost such as Streets of Rage, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs... and Crisis Beat. 

A genre that is very much alive today thanks to Lizardcube and Cartel Studios frankly amazing Mother Russia Bleeds (another blast from the past). Kiborg though, leaned into a 3D realm and seemed to encompass the glowing, beautiful future that titles such as Fighting Force merely hinted at. 

What Kiborg ended up delivering, however, was a brawling rogue-lite that has an incredible amount in it’s favour, but feels oddly limited by the very rogue genre that it so leans into. This is a solid and fun game that could have been truly great.

Turtle Beach Kone II Mouse Review By Britt 🖱️🐁 @TurtleBeachPC

We’ve covered a few Turtle Beach products here at GF, and today we’re going to take a look at the Turtle Beach Kone II:

The mouse makes a great impression straight out of the box with the bold design, and smoothness of use. The Kone II is a wired mouse, and as such there’s no need to worry about dongles and charging etc. as that’s covered by the braided USB-A cable that feels practical and robust as well as being lightweight. 

The Kone II has two side-strips of RGB lighting as well as a lit mouse-scroll, which is initially set up to phase through the colours with a breathing effect. This is also customisable, and you can fiddle with the brightness of the LEDs as well as the many effects and colours on offer – all of this is explained clearly in the included quick start guide.

PGA TOUR 2k25 PS5 Review 8/10 “Drive For Show, Putt For Dough” 🤑⛳

I always enjoy reviewing pretty much any golf game, it’s something I don’t just like - I love it, and I’m not just talking about the video games, I enjoy watching it on TV - seeing Rory McIlroy complete the Grand Slam brought me a lot of joy - I also love playing it in real life.

Well… I say ‘playing it’ but even though I do suck I still love being out on the course. I noticed for the previous instalment in the PGA2K series how many reviewers stated that they ‘tried golf once, sucked at it and would never play it again’ which is fine, you don’t have to do something in real life to review a gamified version of it, I'm neither a professional hitman nor have I ever been trapped in a town overrun by zombies, but I have reviewed games about those things and my knowledge and experience is a big fat zero. 

It doesn’t matter really, but I do like at least the thought that when the game tells you about the different shot types, that I at least understand the difference between a punch shot and a flop shot. I struggle to do them in real life mind you, but I know what they are, and I come at both PGA2k25 and golf itself with some knowledge and a lot of love.

Jerry Anker and The Quest To Get Love Nintendo Switch Review (physical edition) 7/10 “An Extremely Graphic Adventure” 🍒💖 @FunboxMediaLtd #IndieGame #GameDev

 ⚠️WARNING, EXPLICIT CONTENT ⚠️

I once had a soft  massive, raging, stiff spot for more adult games... when I was in my teens, bizarrely.  There was something about playing a more lurid and provocative title that made it feel like you were playing a game ‘outside the rules’. From sheepishly purchasing Strip Poker 3 from Electronics Boutique (or rather, coaxing my mum to, brilliant!) through to discovering Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love For Sail a years later, there was always a primal thrill when I discovered something that appealed to the more base instincts that dwell in us all.

As I got older, and pornography (and dalliances with the fairer sex) became more readily available, adult gaming very much faded away, and even the more recent Leisure Suit Larry games – whilst having various positives – felt somewhat watered down when compared to previous counterparts. And so for a long while, the likes of Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City, and Knights of Xentar were far from my mind...

..until I caught wind of Ktulu Solutions’ Metropolis: Lux Obscura back in 2018, a game that – whilst flawed in tone – featured some saucy bare skin and reminded me of the seemingly lost adult genre – lost in  a mainstream context, at least.

CYBERCORP XBOX SERIES X Review 7/10 "It's the definition of a quick-couple-of-goes blast" 💥 @apcrol #IndieGame #GameDev

While on the surface CyberCorp is your standard isometric twin-stick shooter fare, reminiscent of 2021's excellent The Ascent or PC port Synthetik, the hardcore loot mechanics and online co-op draw inspiration from the likes of Destiny or The Division, leading to a hybrid experience that sits between the two camps.

In the future, agents like you don't even need to leave the house to engage in corporate espionage - you can just upload your consciousness into a Synth, a tooled-up battle droid that does the hard work for you. Your former employer, the eponymous CyberCorp, has found a rat within their ranks, and has engaged the shadowy Operator as the middleman who sets you the task of rooting them out.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "Take a swig from a true holy grail" ⚔️ @TaintedGrail_AR @awaken_realms @Aga_Szostak #IndieGame #GameDev

I’ve played some very good games over the last year, but very few gripped me quite as much as Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. Polish developers Questline have created what I’ve secretly yearned for, for many a year - a spiritual successor to the likes of Oblivion and Skyrim with a nod to the darker side of life. 

A huge world begging to be explored, tied to an Arthurian storyline courtesy of Polish writer Krzysztof Piskorski, who originally created the world of the Tainted Grail for a board game that was an enormously successful Kickstarter project back in 2018. Questline previously released a game based in the Tainted Grail universe that was in the deckbuilder genre back in 2021, called Tainted Grail: Conquest – which I haven’t played – but the fact that four years later they’ve released a fully-fledged open world RPG in a ‘Western’ style is incredibly impressive, not to mention the full voice acting, audio, narrative and all the other glorious aspects of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon that I’ll delve into here. 

Basically, this game is absolutely fantastic and has kept me apart from my trousers for over two weeks now, it’s one of those games that creeps into my mind throughout the day and pulls me back towards it with an almost sexual magnetism. If there was ever a game designed to seduce me into neglecting my family so I could play it all day long in 2025? Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is that game.

NACON RIG 400 GEN2 HS in Arctic Camo Review By Britt

The first thing you notice when unboxing the headset is how striking the camo design is, the colours match the PS5 and result in a nice visual parallel. The Arctic Camo is a PlayStation edition, but there is also another edition - Urban Camo - which is designed for Xbox consoles.  The headset works with most consoles (PS5,PS4,Xbox and Switch) and PC so you can pick up either design, it doesn't just have to match the console, maybe if you are in the middle of the Antarctic you would pick the Arctic Edition and if you’re in the middle of a concrete jungle you can pick up the Urban Camo edition...or maybe just pick whichever design you like most.

Stunt Flyer Xbox Series X Review 7/10 "A fun title for casual pilots, tally-ho!" ✈️ @TorusGames @ULTGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Originally released on the Wii back in the ‘00s, Stunt Flyer is now unleashed on Xbox with a host of visual upgrades to bring it up to speed. Also playable in local multiplayer, Stunt Flyer is a game more suited to more casual, or younger gamers.

You’ll find yourself diving into action with very little tutorial, and working out the majority of the buttons for yourself, as you barrel roll and loop-de-loop through various rings and missions, shooting your water guns at hidden gift boxes along the way in a bid to unlock all three islands and a host of aircraft. 

Agent Fall Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 "A brief ‘n breezy 2D shooter for the casual player" 🔫🕵🏻‍♀️ @PufferfishDig @eastasiasoft #IndieGame #GameDev

Whilst the blurb for the game may look to convince you that this 2D run ‘n gun title will provide a serious challenge, it is actually a very short, simple and quite charming little title that provides an hour or so of blasting action, with a paper thin story that acts as an excuse to move from place to place, all the while taking down enemies in droves in single player, or co-op.

From the Website:
'Agent Fall is an action game inspired by classic titles, where you face an intergalactic government conspiracy. With aliens siding with the government, you, as an agent, must take down this dark alliance. Prepare for frantic combat, with powerful weapons, relentless enemies, and epic bosses.'