SpecialEffect Invite gamers to join GameBlast24, their annual charity gaming spectacular 💙❤️ @SpecialEffect @GameBlast #GameBlast24

 

Gamers’ charity SpecialEffect invite gamers across the world to join the growing community of streamers, creators, and games studios who’ve already signed up for GameBlast24 over the weekend of 23-25 February

Heralded as ‘the best reason to game ever’, the charity’s GameBlast weekend will see gamers take on sponsored fundraising gaming-themed challenges including marathon livestreams, speed runs, esports tournaments, board games sessions and games-themed office events. GameBlast has raised over £1M to support disabled gamers over the past eleven years.   Signups are open now at https://tiltify.com/specialeffect/gameblast24 or donate at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/gameblast24   SpecialEffect COO Tom Donegan said, “GameBlast has always been very close to our hearts, because it reflects the very essence of what we do: gamers coming together to help their fellow gamers. The buzz is incredible over the weekend and the creativity of the participants each year in devising new challenges to raise much-needed funds for SpecialEffect never ceases to astound us!”   Content creator and SpecialEffect ambassador Kolo, who is also a beneficiary of the charity’s support, will be running a charity stream during the weekend. She added, “SpecialEffect isn’t just about allowing somebody to play a game, [They] help people engage with an entire beautiful community and allow people to do things independently... I’m forever thankful for the help SpecialEffect gave me.”   In addition to the individual gamers and stream teams who’ll be gaming hard over the weekend, a host of games industry partners will also be taking part.   This year, participants can choose to join one of four optional teams on Tiltify to support and inspire each other during the event. Details of the GameBlast Teams can be found here: https://tiltify.com/+specialeffects-fundraising-teams/profile   GameBlast apparel partners Insert Coin have this year created a limited edition GameBlast pin badge with all profits going to SpecialEffect. When taking part in GameBlast24, you've got the choice of signing up via Tiltify or JustGiving! We'll also have access to Crowd Control, which lets your viewers interact with the games you play on stream in return for donations to your Tiltify fundraising page. Sign up on Tiltify here. Sign up on JustGiving here.

Growth Nintendo Switch Ten Minute Taster "Grow Your Bush and Let Your Bees Roam Free" 🦌 @AssembleTeam #IndieGame #GameDev

Rich takes on Assemble Entertainment's relaxing puzzle game Growth for Nintendo Switch. Growth is a cosy, hexagonal-grid based soft-strategy game by VoodooDuck. Explore and populate a procedurally generated world by utilizing the unique abilities of animals. Growth blends the beauty of cosy exploration with challenging navigation around obstacles.

This Bed We Made PC Ten Minute Taster Gameplay "What The Maid Saw" 🛏 @LowbirthGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Rich dons his frilly maid's apron and begins making beds, picking up dirty socks and scrubbing baths in This Bed We Made on The PC.

This Bed We Made is a third-person mystery game in which you play as a maid in a 1950s hotel and snoop around strangers' rooms to uncover their deadly secrets. Discover what links guests together in this tale of love, heartbreak and murder!

The Kindeman Remedy PC 6/10 “Shock and awe, or shock and bore?” 💉 @_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.

The Invincible PC Ten Minute Taster Gameplay "Walking In A Sci Fi Wonderland" 🚀 @StarwardInd #GameDev #IndieGame

Rethink human’s dominion in The Invincible: a story-driven adventure set in a hard sci-fi world by Stanisław Lem. Discover planet Regis III as scientist Yasna, use atompunk tools looking for a missing crew and face unforeseen threats. Make choices in a philosophical story that’s driven by science.

Blasphemous 2 Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "Blasphemous 2, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways" ⚔️ @BlasphemousGame @TheGameKitchen @Team17 #IndieGame #GameDev

I’m going to start off by saying that the original Blasphemous is one of my favourite games of recent years. A difficult hack and slash platformer? Check. Monstrous religious cult storyline with Lovecraftian elements? Check. That’s one for me all day long.

I’m pleased to be able to say that the sequel has all of these elements in spades and may even be better than the first game. 

Toaster Ball Nintendo Switch Ten Minute Taster "Pop Dat Toast!" 🥪 🏐 @toasterball #IndieGame #GameDev

 

How much fun can you have with multiple toasters, a ball and constantly changing arenas?

The answer is surprisingly, a massive amount of toasty ball FUN!

A ball, two goals and... toasters! Welcome to Toasterball. Play against your friends in this physics-based multiplayer sports game, where toasters are athletes, bread flies everywhere and the gameplay changes every time you score a goal!

Gothic 2 Classic Nintendo Switch Review 7.5/10 "odd characters, amusing dialogue and locations" ⚔️ @gothicthegame @AlkimiaGameDev #IndieGame #GameDev

I’ve been a fan of Piranha Bytes since discovering the first Risen game back on the PS3. After completing that game, I was so taken by the rough ‘n ready (also slightly bizarre) style of the Piranha Bytes games that I worked backwards and picked up Gothic 3, also enjoying that title – but finding it a bit awkward to get to run on my PC, at the time.

Since moving on from both the Gothic and Risen series, Piranha Bytes are now working on their third ELEX game, a series that I’ve had a mixed opinion of, especially because of the game-breaking bugs I encountered when reviewing ELEX 2 last year.

Through all of this though, Gothic 2 is held as somewhat of a high watermark of their games in terms of narrative, quest design and atmosphere. Playing it on the Switch was my first time with the game, and whilst it is certainly showing its age in many areas, that janky charm and idiosyncratic approach to quests and dialogue does still feel fun and fresh, and kept me coming back for more, each evening.

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. 

Full Void Nintendo Switch Review 7 / 10 "A Slice of Cinematic Cyberpunk" 👤 @outofthebit #IndieGame #GameDev

The cinematic platformer is a genre well-suited to Switch, as the impact of the pixel visuals works especially well in docked mode, when you can snuggle up in bed or in a comfy chair and dive into a genre that tends to never be overlong, by design, making them relaxing experiences over a night or two.

Developer OutOfTheBit Ltd have delivered a strong slice of such action, in a wonderfully wordless experience that clocks in at around a couple of hours, making it a breezy game to replay – in a similar vein to Devwill Too on MD, a game I routinely return to each year, for its brevity and melancholy.

Nickeolodeon All Star Brawl 2 PC Ten Minute Taster "Sponge Bob Goes To War!" 🧽 @NickBrawlGame @GameMillEnt

Rich sets his sights on Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 which lets you duke it out with the biggest and best Nick fighting character roster yet! Choose your favourite brawlers, master their unique move sets, and use all-new powerful Supers to land the finishing blow with friends or across a unique, roguelike player campaign!

Achilles: Legends Untold PC Ten Minute Taster Gameplay "Like An Arrow Through The Heel?!" ⚔️ @DarkPointGames #GameDev #IndieGame

Rich prepares himself for a ten minute taster vid on Achilles: Legends Untold which is an action RPG with a souls-like combat system. 

Master blocking and dodging, explore vast open world with countless challenges. Rise stronger after setbacks, enhance attributes, acquire skills, wield blazing swords or a poisoned spear. Are you ready for unforgettable adventure?

Famous People Who Are Fans of Video Games 😎

Sometimes, it seems like celebrities live in a totally different world. But actually, that is not true! They have a lot of common things that they do on a regular basis. For example, superstars can be fans of video gaming too.

It has become more noticeable in recent years when the popularity of video games has been growing.  So, let`s discuss the top 4 famous people who play video games from time to time.

Trust GXT490 Fayzo 7.1 Gaming Headset Review By Britt 🎧 @TrustGaming

We’ve covered several Trust products here at GF HQ, and they always deliver a quality experience at fair prices, the Trust GXT490 Fayzo 7.1 Gaming Headset is no exception to this rule in the quality, comfort and accessibility that it offers.

YOU Will DIE HERE TONIGHT PC Gameplay Ten Minute Taster "Resident Evil vs House Of The Dead" @SpiralBound_Dev #IndieGame #GameDev

 

Rich wanders into a mansion on his first day at work only to find himself confronted with unspeakable Pixel art horror! Explore in top-down retro aesthetics and face the horrors of Breckenridge Hall in pulse-pounding first person combat. Scavenge for supplies, solve puzzles, and upgrade your gear. Do whatever it takes to survive, but remember: You Will Die Here Tonight.

40 Best Machine Code Routines For The ZX Spectrum 4th Edition 🕮 @huey_games #ZxSpectrum

Today I received the latest expanded and remastered 4th Edition of 40 Best Machine Code Routines for the ZX Spectrum book.

The book features the full original text from the original 1983 release that was written by John Hardman and Andrew Hewson. 

As an added bonus there are now new forewords from both original authors which does a great job of putting the book into context.

There’s also all-new content from legendary programmer and Spectrum Next founding member Jim Bagley.

As an added bonus there’s new cover art by Mike Berry of Old Skool Pixels fame.

And at the end of the book there’s a great appendix full of ZX Spectrum Memories which is a delight to read!

If you like what you see then Head over to huey games.com to grab your copy for £18.99.

🕮

Make Way Nintendo Switch Gameplay Ten Minute Taster 🚘 @WeAreSecretMode #IndieGame #GameDev

Rich gets stuck into Make Way which is a classic, top-down, multiplayer racing game with a neat little twist!

Grab track pieces from a pick n mix menu and snap them together to build your first course. Dodge hazards, unleash weaponry, and avoid falling off the edge in a chaotic rush to the finish line, then bolt on new track pieces for the next round.

Scrap across ever-growing courses with increasingly perilous features until a winner is crowned before starting over with a brand-new course.

Transvaal’s 2023 Games Of The Year List 📅🏅 #GOTY #goty2023

The legend of Games Freezer that is Transvaal gets to grips with a list of 5 wonderful video games that crossed his path in 2023. 

Our man loves himself some JRPG shenanigans topped off with some mainstream and indie horror scares...

Horizon Forbidden West Vinyl OST Review By Britt "An album that has a world-building vibe to it" 💿 #VideoGameVinyl #Vinyl #VGM

I’ve just covered another Sony Entertainment release – the God of War: Ragnarök OST – and the difference in presentation (visuals, not quality) is quite staggering. Whereas God of War: Ragnarök was filled with freezing blues and expansive whites, here Horizon Forbidden West is instead rich with almost alien tropical landscapes, and hot shades of orange. 

This is also a more ‘meat and potatoes’ release, on heavyweight black vinyl - but with no inserts such as art cards or the like – although there is a collector’s edition deluxe version of this release that is available on vinyl, but it’s the standard version that I’ll be covering today.

Fate/Samurai Remnant PS5 Review 8/10 “There can be only one” ⚔️ @FateSR_Official @TransvaalGF #IndieGame #GameDev

Fate/Samurai Remnant  is set in Japan during the Edo period (1600s), you play as protagonist Miyamoto Iori, a young Ronin who spends his time helping his town doing odd jobs in any way he can, but suddenly his life gets turned upside down. No, he doesn’t get in trouble and have to move to Bel Air, he is instead chosen to take part in the ‘Waxing Moon Ritual’, whereby seven fighters compete to the death, with the winning fighter getting to have a wish granted.