Latest Reviews
Review The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (PS5) - There's Nothing Precious About This
We don't likes it, precioussss
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum poses itself as an epic quest across the treacherous realms of Middle-earth, where an inner conflict will rage inside the mind of one halfling. Of course we refer to the split-personality of both Smeagol and Gollum, an integral character across both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings...
Review Miasma Chronicles (PS5) - A Frustratingly Uneven But Mostly Rewarding Tactical RPG
Kicking My-Ass-Ma
Miasma Chronicles is a tactical role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic America in which the disparity between the haves and have-nots has grown to an unfathomable degree. The country is ruled by The First Family; an untouchable, self-serving elite born from the ashes of big corporation in the post-cataclysm world. They've got...
Review After Us (PS5) - Big Swings and Some Big Misses in This Artsy Platformer
The Last of After Us
When developing a game, having lofty ambitions in mind for your project can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, if everything involved works in concert to execute on a well-defined creative vision, the results can be magical. However, if any of what you strive to accomplish misses the mark, each failure shines that much...
Mini Review Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (PS5) - Rock Solid Shooter Gets Bogged Down in Design
Heretical thoughts
The resurgence of old school shooters has given us some corkers in recent times, including the fantastic Prodeus. But to stand out in this new era of DOOM-esque blast-'em-ups, you need a hook — and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun certainly has that, thanks to its unmistakable Warhammer 40k aesthetic. You play as a big and bulky space...
Mini Review Glitch Busters: Stuck on You (PS4) - Co-Op Platforming Shooter Doesn't Stack Up
Stuck on the environment
Glitch Busters: Stuck on You is a one to four player, cooperative, platforming shoot-'em-up from developer Toylogic. In a far-flung future, you play as four AI Tubers that can only be described as emoji-faced Smarties with magnets for legs. They're on a mission to cleanse Interland of Badface's bugs and glitches, with the...
Review Bus Simulator 21: Next Stop (PS5) - Bright and Breezy Sim Is Better Than Ever
Stop it
Bus Simulator 21: Next Stop is not the refined PS5 showcase you’re going to show to all your friends. Despite benefitting from a couple years of extra iteration, this expanded new-gen port is still scrappy, with buggy AI behaviour and an underlying sense that the game code is almost falling apart behind-the-scenes. That said, few series...
Not quite haute cuisine
Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook is a turn-based, strategy RPG roguelike that sees a group of adventurers in the wrong place at the wrong time, stuck in an increasingly difficult dungeon while on the brink of starvation. Picking your primary character, you’re instantly thrown into a whole host of customisation...
Review LEGO 2K Drive (PS5) - A Creative All-Ages Kart Racer with Irksome Microtransactions
Building up speed
LEGO 2K Drive is so nearly there. This colourful arcade racing title makes great use of its licence, and has laid down a great foundation for fun, chaotic driving. However, for as much as the LEGO brand brings to a game like this, publisher 2K Games clearly saw dollar signs over its monetisation potential. The end result is a super...
Mini Review Tin Hearts (PS5) - Charming Lemmings Inspired Adventure Has Moving Storytelling
Quick march
Tin Hearts is a Lemmings-style game from Guildford based developer Rogue Sun. You play from the first-person perspective of a spectral being, exploring and experiencing Albert J Butterworth’s family life memories as you lead wind-up toy soldiers around his workshop, getting them from point A to point B by possessing various objects...
Mini Review Walkabout Mini Golf (PSVR2) - Teerrific, Whole-in-One Experience Fore the Players
May the course be with you
Walkabout Mini Golf is a mini golf virtual reality game from the developer Mighty Coconut. You’ll be teeing off solo or with up to seven other players online across a wide range of different locales. From a good old-fashioned turf course to wading through the dark depths of the ocean floor, golfing has never been more...
Review Humanity (PS5) - PS Plus Puzzler Is an Unusual But Enthralling Journey
We're just innocent men
In many respects, Humanity feels very much like something Sony's Japan Studio would've made about 15 years ago. We of course mean that as a compliment; an experimental game that doesn't quite conform to normal conventions, instead carving out a new path with a weird, singular vision. We can put this bizarre new puzzler from...
Mini Review Zool Redimensioned (PS4) - Blast from the Past Packs Neat Modern Features
Return of the ninja
Gremlin Interactive has a storied history, dating back to the early days of console gaming. Developing titles for Commodore 64, marshalling the Premiere Manager series through several generations, and later heading to PlayStation (anybody remember cult isometric shooter Loaded and its sequel?) — it's safe to say it has a varied...
Mini Review Another Fisherman's Tale (PSVR2) - A Charming VR Sequel to a Charming VR Game
A whale of a tale
The first Fisherman’s Tale was a clever puzzler that made use of a recursive lighthouse as the crux of its problem solving. Now, in the sequel, you assume the role of the titular fisherman’s daughter. You have a cluttered basement loaded with some elaborate dioramas. It turns out that when you were a kid, your Dad would use...
Mini Review Garden Simulator (PS5) - Grow Your Troubles Away
The grass is greener
Garden Simulator does what it says on the tin. Fed up with the rat race, and with a very pointed reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, the main character has had to work from home for the last few months and is struggling with worsening mental health. They move to their family’s old homestead to revive it and improve their own...
Mini Review Revita (PS5) - The Ultimate Roguelite Experience
It’s high time you clocked in
Revita is a 2D platforming roguelite twin-stick shooter from small indie developer BenStar. You play as a young blue-haired child, who awakens on the metro with no recollection of who they are. When leaving the train, you are faced with a long journey of self-discovery as you ascend an ominous clocktower in search of...
Mini Review Minecraft Legends (PS5) - Streamlined Strategy for the Young at Heart
The Piglins are revolting
Minecraft Legends brings a fairly unique mix of action and strategy to Mojang's famous cubed universe, in which you must defend the Overworld from a ravaging horde of interdimensional Piglin invaders. It's quite fun in short bursts, too, but simplicity and repetition quickly set in, meaning those looking for an engaging...
Mini Review TramSim: Console Edition (PS5) - Make Your Own Fun in a Visually Splendid Virtual Vienna
Super tram
While we would have preferred the sights and sounds from Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach through to Bispham, we suppose Vienna’s iconic tram line comes a close second. TramSim: Console Edition is a scrappy locomotive title looking to expand on the success of Train Sim World 3, and while it lacks the TLC of Dovetail’s flagship simulation,...
Mini Review Afterlife VR (PSVR2) - A No-Frills Horror Experience
This is your life
While Afterlife VR is a barebones experience not really doing anything new, there’s a certain charm to it that caught us by surprise. You play as Adam Bernhard, a police officer who arrives at Black Rose Mental Hospital in hopes of locating your missing sister. However, something is clearly amiss as you navigate the facility...
Mini Review Nuclear Blaze (PS4) - Short and Basic Pixel Platformer
Fire Starter
Nuclear Blaze is a firefighting, 2D pixel platformer from Sebastien Benard, lead developer and game designer for Dead Cells. As a firefighter, you are tasked with extinguishing an out-of-control forest inferno, but while doing so you stumble upon a mysterious military facility and head inside to uncover the source of the ferocious...
Mini Review Stray Blade (PS5) - Solid Entry Level Souls-Like Adventure
No Amygdala here
Stray Blade is a Souls-like, RPG title from indie developer Point Blank Games. You play as Farron West, a self-proclaimed adventurer, who meets an untimely demise when stumbling across The Lost Valley of Acrea. You awaken to find yourself bound to Acrea by a crystal that has been pushed into your chest by Boji, a magical talking...
Review Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5) - Fantastic Sequel Is Bigger and Better in Every Way
Cal shot first
No matter how good or bad its mainline movie entries have been as of late, the Star Wars series is one of few franchises so uniquely positioned in the public consciousness that it's probably never going away again. But while The Rise of Skywalker has some hardcore fans begging for a break, it's the likes of Andor that prove quality...
Mini Review Afterimage (PS5) - Gorgeous Metroidvania Doesn't Break the Mould
In good company
Afterimage is a beautiful hand-drawn Metroidvania-style game with satisfying melee combat and a gratifying array of options with which to overcome its many tough boss encounters. Fans of Hollow Knight and Blasphemous will likely find much to love here as it has in common a similarly excellent visual aesthetic, tense platforming...
Mini Review Strayed Lights (PS5) - Defence Is the Best Medicine in This Mysterious Adventure
Artful dodger
Demonstrating a striking visual style from the outset, Strayed Lights is an indie fantasy that opens with an abstract sensory assault. A newborn spark (a fitting first protagonist for dev studio Embers) staggers out of a cave into a vast, alien landscape. Quickly evolving into adult form and battling a shadowy version of itself, it...
Fight for your right
The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story is the next building block in Riot Forge's ever-expanding League of Legends universe. It's a top-down, story-driven action RPG that tells the tale of Sylas, a magic-sensitive revolutionary who seeks vengeance on the titular Mageseekers after years of being kept in chains. Keen to...
Review Live A Live (PS5) - 90s JRPG Is Still Amazingly Unique All These Years Later
Live life throughout time
Last year saw the remake of Live A Live launch on Nintendo Switch, some 27 years after its original 1994 launch on the Super Famicom. This marks the first time the title has been made available outside of Japan, and now that it's coming to PS5 and PS4, we're happy to report that Live A Live is still a unique and...
Mini Review Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster (PS4) - One of the Greatest 2D RPGs of All Time
Locke it in
Final Fantasy VI arguably perfected the 2D Final Fantasy formula. Ahead of the series' shift to 3D graphics in Final Fantasy VII, the sixth instalment delivered previously unparalleled drama through breakneck plot pacing and a diverse cast of interesting characters. The storytelling that's so often revered in titles like Final Fantasy IX...
Mini Review Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster (PS4) - Oft Forgotten RPG Deserves Another Chance
V has come to
Final Fantasy V is probably the most overlooked instalment in the mainline series. It didn't come West until years after its original release, and by the time that it finally got a PlayStation port, it had been left in the dust by its genre-defining successors. What's more, V never really received the retroactive attention that was...
Mini Review Teslagrad 2 (PS5) - Puzzle Platformer Focused on Tremendous Traversal
A shocking shadow drop
Teslagrad 2 is a sequel to the well-received PS4 title, Teslagrad, developed by Rain Games. It is a three to five hour Metroidvania-style 2D puzzle platformer in which you play as a young girl, Lumina. While out training to become a teslamancer, she crashes her airship in Wyrmheim, stranding her in this treacherously foreign...
Review Disney Speedstorm (PS5) - A New Direction for Racers That Will Raise Some Eyebrows
Mickey Mouse Kart
Disney video games are slowly making their impact felt on the industry again lately. For a long-time Disney fans, the re-emergence of Mickey Mouse and other iconic characters being used in video games like Disney Dreamlight Valley and seeing success is something we have waited what feels like forever to see. In the case of Disney...
Mini Review Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (PS4) - The Gripping RPG That Rocked Square's Series
Go ahead and jump
Final Fantasy IV is the game that put Square's series on a new path, one that prioritised dramatic, character-driven stories — something that would define the franchise going forward. It tells the twisting tale of Cecil, a skilled knight who starts to question his country's militaristic ambitions. Even 32 years after its initial...
