John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando PC Review 8/10 "John Carpenter’s name may be on the box, but Saber Interactive brings the bite" 🧟‍♀️

Toxic Commando Review – The Best Left 4 Dead‑Style Zombie Blast in Years

An hour into John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, I was curious about what exactly Carpenter had contributed to this game. After all, this PvE zombie shooter has no aesthetic or thematic similarities to his work, and despite his impeccable horror pedigree, Carpenter has never made a zombie movie. If anything, it’s stylistically much more reminiscent of James Gunn than Carpenter.

So I did some research. And…“I was not brought on as a creative force, except they wanted to use my name, so they paid me to use my name.” As it turns out, aside from providing a few pieces of music (which I suspect were lurking on his hard drive long before this project), Carpenter’s involvement, in his own words, was “Well, I played it!”

Fair enough! Might as well be David James’ Toxic Commando then, because I also played it… And I think it’s just great!

The Last Case Of John Morley Xbox Series X Review 5.5/10 “An interesting mystery that stumbles in the darkness” 🕯️🫆🕵️

The Last Case of John Morley Review – Atmosphere, Intrigue, and a Faltering Middle Act

When Atmosphere Shines but Gameplay Falters

You play as John Morley, a private detective who has recently woken up in hospital. Remembering only a few things, you awake to find you've spent days in the hospital but are now healthy and free to leave. You head back to your office, where almost instantly you have a new client, an older woman who wants you to investigate the murder of her daughter. Decades have passed since the murder occurred – it was originally attributed to a pair of thieves, but she isn't satisfied with this conclusion and offers you an obscene amount of money to investigate the cold case. Liking both money and a good mystery, Mr Morley takes the case and heads to the Manor to begin his investigation.

The 7th Guest Remake Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "Stauf is back!" 🔦🕯️

The 7th Guest Remake Review – Wine, Whispers and the Wonders of Stauf’s House

A Haunting Journey Through a Reborn Classic

I can’t believe that it was back in 2023 when I reviewed The 7th Guest VR, of which this game is a port. Awarding it a 9.5/10, it was one of our highest-rated games ever, perfectly capturing as it does the essence of what makes The 7th Guest such a special game for so many whilst bringing it to the eyes of modern audiences. 

A huge boon here for me is that as much as I adored The 7th Guest VR, I struggle with motion sickness when playing in VR, and so it was tough to get through certain sections, and I had to play the game in bite-sized chunks. 

Whilst the move from VR does leave the cobwebs of some elements that now feel unneeded – such as the ability to pick up everything and rotate it in your ghostly hand – this realisation of Stauf’s manor and the guests and puzzles within is so strong that it feels fickle to focus on those aspects. As above, if you want to know my personal history with this title and get a deeper dive, check out my previous review of the VR version as it covers a lot of this ground.

Gothic 1 Remake PS5 Review 7.5/10 "A Throwback in the Truest Sense of the Word"

Gothic 1 Remake Review – A Gritty, Grubby Triumph with Proper Old‑School Bite

Bugs, Quirks and the Lack of Hand‑Holding

I’ve had many a dalliance with the Gothic series over the years, most recently in 2024, when Gothic 2 was released on Switch. Piranha Bytes very much had their own approach and vibe to their creations, and I was gutted when they closed their doors last year, having given us the Gothic, Risen and Elex series of games. Titles that were definitely flawed, but also idiosyncratic and rich with a dry sense of European humour as well as being unique, memorable experiences for better or worse.

I heard of this Gothic remake a couple of years ago, and I have been yearning for it ever since, and reviewing and scoring this game was oddly difficult because…well, it kind of does what you want/expect a Gothic game to do. Still, there are some design issues and other aspects that are lacking. That said, I fully appreciate that there is a large chunk of fans of the original out there that will embrace this and see it as a genuine GOTY, and I completely understand that viewpoint.

The original Gothic was released in 2001 on PC and is set in and around a penal colony that is under a magic barrier. Nothing living can escape the barrier, and the folks who live within it have split into various groups with their own ways and goals. The remake reflects this main plotline whilst breaking away in terms of the various side quests and its own twists on the design of the original. 

Britt’s Mini-Review Round-Up - Loco Motive, Sea of Stars, CyberBlocker 🚂⭐

Mini Review Round‑Up: Three Modern Gems That Celebrate Classic Gaming Vibes

Indie Adventures, JRPG Charm & Arcade Chaos

Quick-fire reviews of Loco Motive, Sea of Stars and CyberBlocker—three modern games packed with charm, style and classic gaming spirit.

Loco Motive (Switch, PC, Mac OS)
Developer – Robust Games
Publisher – Chucklefish

A jazz-laden graphic adventure with an accessible point-and-click interface featuring a quirky cast of characters on an express train during which the murder of a wealthy heiress takes place, Loco Motive is a very fun – and often funny – cartoonish adventure in the classic Lucasarts vein. With top quality voice acting, a glorious visual style, and a classy soundtrack, Loco Motive is a great modern take on a traditional formula that tastefully teases you through a twisting tale of tribulation and treachery whilst travelling on a train.

Hollowbody – Rich's Rapid PS5 Review: "British Survival Horror Done Right" #survivalhorror

Hollowbody – The One‑Man Horror Project That Deserves Your Attention

Where Retro Survival Horror Meets Modern Indie Spirit

Hollowbody is a one‑man survival horror project with big Silent Hill energy — atmospheric, tense and proudly British. 

In this Rapid Review, Rich dives into its eerie world, clever design choices and the rough edges that come with a solo‑dev passion project. Is it worth your time? 

Let’s find out. If you love indie horror, retro vibes and games made with pure graft, this one’s for you.

Postal - Brain Damaged and These Sunny Daze DLC PS5 Review By Mike 5/10

Postal: Brain Damaged – A Flawed, Repetitive Shooter That Somehow Earned My Respect

From Crude Chaos to Unexpected Introspection

I wasn't planning on playing Postal: Brain Damaged. After Postal 4, I had done my tour of duty. I said I'd review it to make the Games Freezer team laugh and then, God help me, I had to play it. I ventured into the wilderness, stared into the abyss and discovered that the abyss occasionally got stuck in doorways and forgot to load its textures.

As far as I was concerned, the Postal series was locked in a 'race to the bottom' cycle of diminishing returns. A relic of a different era when shocking people was enough and a man urinating on strangers could somehow generate national headlines.

Enter Postal: Brain Damaged.

Pengilo PS5 Review 6.5/10 "A Pleasant Penguin Physics Puzzler" 🐧

Pengilo: A Simple Slice of Penguin‑Tossing Puzzle Zen

Verdict: Fun, Floaty, but Not Quite Stand‑Out

A simple and accessible physics-based game from developer Double Mizzlee and publisher Eastasiasoft, Pengilo is a single-screen puzzle title with fifty stages of circular penguin-chucking action.

A bright and colourful entry in the genre presented in 2D, Pengilo tasks the player with tossing a penguin into the air, collecting stars and keys to unlock the door in order to exit each stage.

A budget title that currently costs under a fiver, Pengilo only allows you to take control of your penguin for a follow-up directional shove after a single bounce; this means that you have to be accurate if you don’t want to fall off the screen, resulting in a retry of the stage. 

GluMe PS5 Review 8/10 "Let’s Stick Together"

GluMe Review – A Charming, Cartoonish Sokoban Puzzle Challenge

Sticky Mechanics, Bright Presentation and 80 Fiendish Single‑Screen Stages

A sliding puzzle game in the Sokoban style. GluMe casts you in the role of a cartoonish blob who must move around the single-screen stages collecting gems by sticking to other blobs in the correct sequence. A single miscalculation means that you won’t be able to complete the stage – which can be but a few seconds long if you know the route! – and requires a restart. 

I found the whole approach of GluMe quite appealing. There’s a heavy sense of cartoonishness with the animated blobs having large eyes and gently bouncing around. The chiptune music by Liniker Nasciento is absolutely a perfect match for the breeziness of gameplay and keeps things bright and light to match the visuals.

Letter Quest Remastered Xbox Series X Review 9.5/10 "There are no words for a game this good!" 🔤 @thebaconbandits #IndieGame #GameDev

Letter Quest Remastered: The Undisputed King of Word‑Based RPGs

The Humour, Art, and Personality That Make Letter Quest Shine

Over the years, whenever I cover word-based puzzle games, Letter Quest often crops up as the standard-bearer for quality. It seems unusual to retrospectively cover a game released over a decade ago, but I was sure that I had sung the praises of Letter Quest in an article upon its initial release - I had certainly played it enough! - but I checked during my research for Beyond Words, and no, I hadn’t. So I’m getting to rectify that here.

A.I.L.A Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “An interesting idea that's sadly front-loaded” 📺📼🐈‍⬛ @PulsatrixStudio #IndieGame #GameDev #Horror

A.I.L.A Review – Psyche‑Driven Horror With Big Ideas and Uneven Execution

A Postmodern VR Nightmare That Starts Strong but Loses Steam in the Final Acts

In A.I.L.A, you play as a video game play-tester in a postmodern sci-fi world. You get the new VR gaming system- AILA. It is a brand-new system that uses the user’s psyche to adapt the horror and give a unique experience.

The system uses an AI to guide you through the horror scenarios, the avatar of which is a little girl whom you talk to before and after you play through each of the scenarios, asking questions and guiding you through the experience, checking how you react and how you feel. 

Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors Nintendo Switch 2 Review 9/10 🧛🍷 "A surprising spin off that stands as tall the original" @poncle_vampire #IndieGame #GameDev

Vampire Survivors melted the world when it was released back in 2022. I’ve had friends and colleagues here at GF that adored that game and spent many, many hours with it, and whilst I dipped my toe in for a few weeks and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, Vampire Survivors never really sucked me in as it did for others…Vampire Crawlers, however, has crawled out of its sarcophagus, plunged its teeth into my neck, and yanked my trousers down with such force and intent that the friction burns blistered my trembling thighs. Good.

The words ‘roguelike deck-building game’ have almost become burned onto my retinas due to how often I’ve come across them over the last couple of years. Whilst I love the genre, it seems to have replaced ‘soulslike’ as a term that makes my eye twitch whenever I stumble across it whilst checking out upcoming games. That said, as with anything, if a game is good, it doesn’t matter how many others there are in the field; it’s a cracker. 

Such was the case with Vampire Crawlers, which was kindly sent over to us from Nosebleed Interactive, who are the minds behind Arcade Paradise, a game that my editor, Rich, very much fell in love with back in 2022. 

I was offered the code, installed it on the Switch 2, and that was it; I was hooked.

Mouse: P.I for Hire Nintendo Switch 2 Review 8.5 /10 "A Very Gouda Game" 🧀 @mousethegame #IndieGame #GameDev

When you think about games set in a fictional world akin to 1930’s cartoons, Cuphead will probably spring to mind, and as much as that game made an incredible impact – although I admit, its boss rush gameplay wasn’t for me, and I’ve spent far more time engrossed in the Netflix series – Mouse: P. I for Hire really caught my eye when I saw early trailers, and I pounced when the option to review it here at GF popped up. 

I’m very pleased to say that this is a game that really lives up to the promise of the trailer, and dives deep into the mousey, cheesy, noir world of Mouseburg, balancing challenging gameplay with great voice acting, an incredible sense of vibe, and visuals you’d ink your shorts for.

Set in the fictional city of Mouseburg in the ‘30s - a place inhabited by anthropomorphic rodents – you are private eye Jack Pepper, a typical hard-nosed noir detective who has his office next to a bar, and is friends with both the seedier side of town as well as up-and-coming mayoral prospects. Through a seemingly minor case, he soon finds himself embroiled in a city-wide scandal far outside his usual scope. So far, so noir.

Amnesia: Rebirth Nintendo Switch 2 Review 6/10 🤰"Did it Thrill Me, Intrigue Me and Scare Me?" #GameDev #IndieGame

Even by the generally miserable standards of horror game protagonists, Tasi Trianon has a real bad time in Amnesia: Rebirth. Barely ten minutes go by between things happening that, if they happened to you, would be the low point of your year.

By now, many fans of horror games will be familiar with Trinanon’s woes. Rebirth was initially released back in 2020 on Windows and PlayStation 4, the sequel to 2010’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent and 2013’s Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Both of the latter games have languished unplayed in my Steam back catalogue for years, but thankfully, you don’t need to have played them to enjoy Rebirth.

And I’m pleased to confirm I did enjoy Rebirth quite a bit. One of my benchmarks for enjoying a game is it giving me an experience I haven’t had before. On paper, it doesn’t. Rebirth is boilerplate horror gaming, delivering a spooky atmosphere, an isolated heroine, monsters hunting you, and tense environmental puzzles.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss PS5 Review by Regan 7/10 🐙 @PlayCthulhuCA #IndieGame #GameDev

Step into the shoes of Noah, an Ancile field agent, as you explore a deserted deep-sea mining station in 2053. Tasked with unravelling the fate of a missing crew, you'll be challenged by intricate puzzles and an atmosphere thick with mystery. 

This immersive experience sets the stage for a gripping adventure that will keep you guessing until the very end.

‘Kero Kero Cowboy’ and ‘Yap and The Enchanted Bubbles’ - NEW Game Boy Color Games From Broke Studio 🎮 @HomebrewFactory #IndieGame #GameDev

We’ve covered a few games over the years from Broke Studios / Homebrew Factory (more info on them here) and their products are always of a high quality, with a heavy focus on giving tasty indie titles a professional-level physical release. 

Today we will be taking a look at two of their Game Boy Colour titles, Mike Bedsole’s Kero Kero Cowboy, and Cel Design’s Yap and The Enchanted Bubbles.

Beyond Words Nintendo Switch 2 Review 9/10 "So Good That it’s Almost Beyond Words!" 📖 @PQubeGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Beyond Words is exactly the sort of game you’d expect from era-spanning veterans of some of the most celebrated FPS titles of all time… a word-centric puzzle game with deck-building / roguelite mechanics. Yes, the only head-shot you’ll come across here will be a word comprised of Scrabble tiles and will net you some tasty points and multipliers...not a frag.

Word-based games are treasured here at the Welsh branch of GF, with one of the best-loved here being Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey, but Beyond Words takes a different approach that rewards failed runs and scratches that one-more-go vibe by constantly rewarding you with unlocks and bonuses that can make or break on the tougher stages.

Beginning with a snappy tutorial that sets the stage for the simple game mechanics, you’ll find yourself making words up from the hand you are dealt, with the ability to shuffle and change a few, if needed. The main game board has a simple image behind it to add a bit of personality and colour to the proceedings, whilst there are also special tiles that act as multipliers or upgrade tiles to boost your word score. 

Dread Delusion Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "A Beautiful Misery" 📖⚔️ @DreadXPGames #IndieGames #GameDev

I knew nothing about Dread Delusion before diving in, and what I discovered excited the hell out of me. Dread Delusion is one of those games that aches like it’s the final burst brainchild of a single individual, and – as with all truly great prose - takes a while to get to grips with.

A first-person RPG beginning with your character being tasked with tracking down known sausage Vela Callose (aka - the most wanted person in the Apostatic Union.), your task soon branches out into various side and main quests over the various ‘skylands’ before you. 

Presented in a PS1 visual style with a surprising amount of options as to just how PS1 you want your experience to be – you’ll soon find yourself traipsing around the world of Dread Delusion, accompanied by a beautiful, keening (if slightly repetitive) soundtrack, sparse visuals, and tightly-funnelled game design that feels like a lesson in world-building without waste.

Marvel MaXimum Collection Nintendo Switch 2 Review 6.5/10 "Welcome to DIE!"❌🦹‍♀️ @LimitedRunGames #RetroGaming

With some games featuring regional variations (JP, US, EU) and also archival details – as well as a ‘jukebox’ section – on the face of the matter, this looks like pretty decent ‘snikt!’ For your buck, but the age and design of some of the games, as well as a bare bones feel to the package in terms of the extras included does end up making things feel a little lacklustre overall, although you do get the usual save state and rewind features along with the choice of using a CRT filter.

A collection of six games from the early to mid-nineties starring beloved Marvel characters, Marvel MaXimum Collection puts the below games in one place:

1. Silver Surfer (NES)
2. Captain America and The Avengers (NES, Arcade, Genesis)
3. X-Men (Arcade)
4. Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge ( Genesis, SNES, Game Boy, Game Gear)
5. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (Genesis, SNES)
6. Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (Genesis, SNES)

Skinfreak PC Review 7/10 “Not so much ‘super freaky’, more ‘slowly freaky’” 🔪 #GameDev #IndieGame #Horror

I have a very simple and happy relationship with Puppet Combo and developer Jordan King; they release games, I really enjoy them - and then I look forward to the next one, Stay Out of the House and Night at the Gates of Hell remain two of my favourite indie horror games, so any time another release from Puppet Combo comes along - I’m excited. I must admit that I am a bit late to this one but was still keen to start my journey running away from a man who looks like Leatherface’s distant cousin.

In Skinfreak you play as Belle, who has been called into the office late at night. you arrive to a very empty office and are to install new software – which is to be delivered later in the night - and yeah …that's mainly it.