One of the things I love about Indie games is that, just like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. In a time where most of the top games on all platforms are all very similar to one another, it’s…
Category: PS4
There are days when I crave a long, narrative-driven adventure, sometimes I just want to shoot and kill things, and then there are times where I want to keep my brain active by solving a few puzzles. Access Denied falls into the latter category as…
Sometimes, even the simplest of ideas can be created into an enjoyable and entertaining game, they can even be twisted into a sadistic and difficult one should the developer wish to increase its challenge. I and Me is one such game. It’s built from a…
Lightwood Games have returned with another one of their clinical-looking puzzle games, this time it’s less logic-based than their previous sudoku and picross series’. Mixups by POWGI is a game in which the gameplay is perfectly described within the title itself, it’s a bunch of…
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Atelier franchise, Gust and Koei Tecmo have created a new game in the series which looks very similar yet plays completely different. Instead of sticking to the standard format, we’re invited to a celebration which includes pretty…
Simulation games can come in all shapes and sizes; from full-on 1:1 simulation games like Train Sim World, which has you driving a realistic train, to God-like games where you control the action as an overlooking ethereal being, such as in Dungeons III. Then there…
I don’t really have fond memories of every game series from my youth. It’s not to say that the games were bad, but I just don’t think about The Adventures of Lolo, Kid Icarus or Ninja Gaiden anymore as they hold no nostalgic draw to…
I have a love/hate relationship with ‘rogue’ games. Developers sometimes make them stupidly difficult just so you can only progress a few minutes at a time, whereas others are very generous with their implementation of the mechanics. Over the last year, I’ve played games such…
Normally I start all my reviews with some sort of backstory or other witty banter, but this time things are very different. Up until about a year or two ago, I wouldn’t touch Indies with a 12-foot barge pole, but I have discovered the error…
What do you hope happens to you upon your departure from this world? Do you hope to see a bright light which you can use to ascend to the heavens? Maybe you’d like to be reunited with loved ones for an eternity? Perhaps you don’t…
I’m a massive fan of hack and slash games such as Devil May Cry 5, Warriors Orochi 4, and Dynasty Warriors 9, the representation of yourself as a major badass really appeals to me. You can turn on your console, boot up on of these…
Old MacDonald had a farm; E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm, he had some friends; E-I-E-I-O. With a tap tap here, and a tap tap there; here a tap, there a tap, Farm Together and tap tap! Old MacDonald had a farm; E-I-E-I-O! Farming sims on…
It’s hard to imagine that Devil May Cry originated as a Resident Evil game all those years ago. However, instead of Resident Evil taking a more action-packed and arcade approach, they opted to turn it into its own IP, an IP which could be taken…
If you had one shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment – would you capture it, or just let it slip? That’s the choice you’ll have to make within The Occupation, the new fixed-time investigative thriller from Manchester-based White…
I’ve played a variety of Visual Novel games over the last 12 months. Thankfully, I’ve not played any generic ones as each one has its own identity, mechanics and visual style to pull you in and keep you invested in their story. From the adventure…
After numerous years of releasing season passes full of new costumes for fans to purchase, Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo announced last year that post-game content will be stopping for Dead or Alive 5 in preparation for their new game, the aptly named Dead or…
Ever since the original Destiny, I have been looking for another game that offered the same great co-op experience and addictive gameplay. So far The Division and Elder Scrolls Online hasn’t really done the job of reuniting all my friends into one game, will Anthem…
Today marks the release of the final ‘8-Bit’ game in the trilogy of pixel-art RTS games, 8-Bit Invaders. Just like its previous siblings, 8-Bit Armies and 8-Bit Hordes, 8-bit Invaders not only looks and plays like a much more casual Command & Conquer title, it…
Regular readers will know that I’m a fan of most genres but there are a few which a clearly love more than others. One such genre is the resource management variety such as games like The Settlers, Tropico and Railway Empire. Sure, there is more…
Ah yes, another day another game that emulates the games of the 1990s. Now don’t take that the wrong way, as a gamer that was moulded by the platformers from that time frame, it’s almost as if Rad Rodgers was made for my generation. Although…
Back in June last year, the Nintendo Switch received a rather beautiful looking puzzle platformer in which you can either play solo or share your Joycons with another player and engage in some rather entertaining and thought-provoking puzzle solving. This game was called Pode, from…
Visual Novels are taking up a lot of my time lately. I’ve recently reviewed the excellent Song of Memories and I have four more still being worked on for reviewing very soon. However, the common theme among all of the ones I’m working on is…
As a kid, I used to have rather vivid dreams and nightmares. We’ve all dreamt about dying or running away from something only to find you’re running on the spot and can’t get away. However, ever since our house was burgled, whilst we were upstairs…
H.P. Lovecraft is a name which the majority of people will recognise instantly. His most popular works of fiction are based around Cthulhu, a beast with tentacles on its face who resides within the ocean awaiting the summoning from its dedicated worshipers. However, Lovecraft also…
We’ve been getting some really good experiences on PSVR recently, especially in the narrative and puzzle department. Red Matter had a brilliant narrative combined with stunning visual effects, A Fisherman’s Tale was a quirky puzzle game with a twist, and Guns’N’Stories humorously combined a static shooter…
Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut is a sliding puzzle game brought to us by the twisted mind behind Bejeweled and Peggle – who is now part of Blue Wizard Digital. It originated as a mobile phone game but it’s now presented to us as a feature-rich puzzle game…
Over the past thirty years, video games have changed dramatically. From simple blocky sprites on a green LCD screen upon the trusty GameBoy, through the 8 and 16-bit console wars, and into the age of 3D gaming on more modern consoles. Sure, games have changed dramatically…
Have you ever played a video game in which you become so emotionally attached to the characters and their lives, that it literally brings tears to your eyes multiple times? Recent games such as Yakuza 6 and My Memory of Us come to mind as they…
Puzzle games come in many forms these days. We have a bucket-full of logic-based and casual puzzles from Lightwood Games, Puzlogic will rattle your brain on both PC and Mobile (soon), A Fisherman’s Tale will blow your mind in VR, and the Artifex Mundi titles…
Point and Click adventure games are one of those types of games that we don’t quite see enough of, in my honest opinion. I’ll never forget my first Point and Click style game, 1997’s ‘Yoda Stories’. Obviously, that had more of an action-adventure feel to…
Nostalgia is a powerful thing, isn’t it?! Recently we’ve been getting remasters, remakes, ports, backwards compatibility, and re-releases of classic games from the last ten to twenty years. Atari was at their peak many years before that, with their Atari 2600 home gaming console. If you’ve…
I’m a fan of a number of genres, such as Resource Management, Base Building, Roguelike, Exploration, Simulation, First Person Shooters, etc… However, I don’t think I’ve ever thought to myself – what would happen if you shoved all of the above into a blender and…
The butterfly effect is a curious mechanic which has featured in various forms of media over the years. The whole concept that one small action could cause a chain reaction of events which could, in theory, ultimately lead to an alternative reality where things turn out…
The year is 1996 and yours truly is but a young pup of 11 years old (but almost 12!) and ready to play any game you throw at me. My older brother, 13 at the time, has friends that also own a PlayStation and a…
Back in 2017, at Paris Games Week, we were presented with our first look at The Hong Kong Massacre – a top-down twin-stick shooter which focuses on slowing down time so you can pull off some awesome looking combos and manoeuvres. Since then, we didn’t…
Back in November 2018 I reviewed 8-Bit Armies – a blocky pixel RTS in the vein of a simplified Command and Conquer. I noted at the time that 8-Bit Armies was but 1/3 of a series that was due to fully release over the next few…
A few days ago I was casually checking out a few of the trailers PlayStation had uploaded to their YouTube channel. One game instantly stuck out to me with its bright colours, emotional soundtrack and imagery, and extremely cute aesthetic – that game was Wandersong. It appears…
Ah yes, the year is 1983 and the world is a slightly better place. Gaming is on the cusp of something massive with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System. We do not see them as much as we used to, but back in the…
I think it’s safe to say that the RPG genre isn’t exactly a dying breed. We have your standard RPG games like the Vampyr, JRPG like Star Ocean, SRPG like Achtung! Cthulu Tactics, and ARPG games such as Titan Quest. Due to the vast numbers…
I’m not the biggest fan of survival-based games if I’m being honest, I tend to become very frustrated with them and usually give up after an hour or two. However, there’s something about Smoke and Sacrifice which had me hooked from the start. However, Smoke and Sacrifice…
Sometimes, when you want to play a game in the style of an old-school 3D platformer, you’re best simply going back and playing an old-school 3D platformer, right?! However, nostalgia goggles tend to make us believe things were once better than they actually are – this…
Have you ever woken from a dream as you’re falling down, getting shot, or becoming involved in some other horrific accident or event? That’s the core gameplay concept within Suicide Guy: Sleepin’ Deeply. It’s not a game about death and actual realistic events, it’s all…
I’ll start by saying I’m a terrible father. That’s how Sheltered made me feel. On starting the game you’re given the choice of the makeup of your family and I decided to pretty much base it on my own, though I did gift myself an…
Does anyone remember King of the Monsters? The old SNK game in which you choose to be one of a number of giants creatures as you engage in one-on-one combat within the confines of a small, enclosed city? Well, Modus Games and The Balance Inc. certainly…
Puzzle games are becoming more and more plentiful on the PlayStation store as one developer has brought us a number of their delightful puzzle games over the last twelve months. This developer is Lightwood Games, a small husband and wife indie developer which is run by…
Oh, I do love a good puzzle game and Lightwood Games always seems to release one when I’m in need of something more casual to pick up and play between major gaming sessions. Just like their previous release, One Word by POWGI, Pic-a-Pix Pieces is a…
Atelier Meruru ~The Apprentice of Arland~ DX was the third, and final, entry into the Arland series of Atelier games which we received in the new Atelier Arland Series Deluxe Pack. Once again, don’t expect anything major if you’ve already experienced it before on the…
Atelier Totori ~The Adventurer of Arland~ DX is the second game in the Arland collection. This is yet another rather minimalistic port of the PS3 and PS Vita ‘Plus’ version which debuted in Japan in 2012. As this game actually came out before the ‘Plus’ version of…
Atelier Rorona ~The Alchemist of Arland~ DX is an enhanced port of Atelier Rorona Plus ~The Alchemist of Arland~, which in itself was an advanced version of the original game which was re-released on the PS3 and PS Vita back in 2014 here in the UK.…
“Pipe Push Paradise is a difficult open world puzzle game about plumbing.” That’s the first thing you see when you go to the Pipe Push Paradise website. Let me digress though, “Pipe Push Paradise is a difficult open world puzzle game about plumbing” “Pipe Push…
I’ve played a lot of genres through my PSVR headset, from your common wave-based FPS to the top-down third-person games. However, I never thought I’d actually play a full-on Visual Novel in Virtual Reality! The Midnight Sanctuary is a rather mysterious and haunting story from Cavyhouse and…
The Quiet Man, ironically, caused a lot of verbal outcry upon its release back in November from the media and gamers who chose to pick up this eagerly anticipated PC and PS4 exclusive. Upon launch, the game was a strange, confusing, and bizarre experiment which…
As a rather surprising turn of events, Gaming Minds Studios have moved on from the Americas and delivered a DLC for Railway Empire which I’ve been eagerly awaiting since playing the game almost 12 months ago – Railway Empire: Great Britain & Ireland! Being from…
In October 2018, Gaming Minds Studios gave us their third piece of DLC for Railway Empire, Railway Empire: Crossing the Andes. This was the final piece of ‘known’ content coming to the resource management sim which was highlighted in the roadmap they shared with us six…
Gaming Minds Studios are back with another DLC add-on for their very popular game, Railway Empire, only this time we see ourselves not in the United States but further North within Canada. Complete with a new scenario, map, engines, goods, and even weather system, Railway Empire:…
Where do I begin with GRIS, the first title developed by Nomada Studios? Every once in a while you come across a game that is so mesmerising and impactful that you’re left in complete awe and disbelief. The last game that hit me this hard…
Back in October a new Rollercoaster Tycoon game came out exclusively for the PlayStation 4 here in the UK, called Rollercoaster Tycoon Joyride – was anyone aware of this? I wasn’t until I received an email asking if I would like to review the game as it…
The original Cook, Serve, Delicious has been out for a while now on a number of different platforms. It’s a game in which you run a fast food establishment within a popular building and must supply the customers with their orders as fast as possible throughout…
Strap yourselves in and make sure you have your headphones on as I don’t think you’re quite ready for the adrenaline thrill ride that is Aaero. It’s all about the music, the feeling of energy coursing through your veins, the beats pumping in your skull…
The award for the craziest game I’ve played in 2018 goes to… Nippon Marathon! I can’t think of any other game I’ve played where you get the chance to ride shopping trollies, race against lobsters and narwhals, become an old man dressed in a Sailor…
This year has been amazing for fans of the last generation’s popular RPG games. The year opened with a great remaster of Star Ocean: The Last hope, brilliantly brought to us in resolutions up to a full 2160p at 60 frames per second. A few weeks…
Artifex Mundi is back with another one of their Hidden Object Games (HOGs) on the PlayStation 4, developed by Brave Giant. This time though, it’s not a game which is part of a trilogy, unlike most of their games prior to this one. Noir Chronicles: City…
What was your most anticipated game this quarter? Did it involve plumbers and yoga instructors beating each other up, riding around on a horse, venturing out into the vast wastelands alone, or maybe you couldn’t wait to place coloured shapes into a grid as they…
Now that all five episodes have been released for The Council, I think it’s only right that I come back and take a final look at the nine-month journey Big Bad Wolf have taken us on. This rather unique blend of RPG, Narrative, and Adventure…
We’ve reached the end of our nine-month adventure, an adventure that started back in March this year and had us constantly awaiting the next instalment with excitement and intrigue. I don’t think I’ve ever awaited the next chapter in an episodic game as much as…
I grew up in the 1980s/90s, back when point and click games were a popular genre for game developers. I always enjoyed this style of game because they could last a very long time if you got stuck, as there were no internet guides or…
There are very few games out there that would suit a rhythmic game based on their soundtrack. The Persona franchise is perfect for this immortalisation as their soundtracks have all been incredibly memorable and so catchy you’ll find yourself humming and singing them long after…
During the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, we had a lot of JRPGs which went above and beyond by delivering us tens, or even hundreds, of hours of engaging stories around some rather interesting mechanics. This generation we’ve had a few, but most publishers seem…
Certain genres I try and stay away from as they frustrate and annoy me to the point where I know for a fact that I won’t finish them and come to an honest conclusion for my reviews. However, every now and again I spot a…
Darksiders is a franchise which everyone has heard of yet a lot of people haven’t really taken the time to try out yet, which is a shame as it’s an interesting set of games. Not only were Darksiders I and II released on the previous gen,…
I really don’t like stealth games as I’m not very good at them. I bought the original Hitman Season One when it came out on the PS4 and I think I played about an hour or two before deciding the game wasn’t for me. However,…
H.P. Lovecraft fans are getting double the fan service at this time of year! First, we had the creepy and atmospheric Call of Cthulhu from Cyanide Studios and now we have Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics from developer Auroch Digital and publisher Ripstone. However, Call of Cthulhu was…
Melbits World, from the aptly named Melbot Studios, is one of the latest PlayLink titles on the PS4 and mobile devices. Just like the previous PlayLink titles, all the action takes place on your TV screen with up to four players joining in via their mobile…
Hoping to jump on the momentum of the amazing success of the Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy remakes, Activision is back with another classic trilogy that has received a full remake from the ground up, this time it’s our loveable purple dragon. The Spyro Reignited Trilogy…
I’m not a fan of camping. My list of strengths doesn’t include the ability to hunt, fish or other essential survival techniques. So, if I were to take on the role of “The Forest” protagonist Eric LeBlanc, I would last a maximum of 24 hours.…
We’ve seen lots of different top-down shooters this generation, some good, some bad. The common mechanic/genre which a lot of developers love to mix with their top-down shmups is the bullet-hell genre – where you’ll spend most of your time ducking in and out of the…
Blizzard Entertainment is one of those companies that just always get it ‘right’. Between every one of their franchises, they are constantly putting out games which basically prints money for them! Over the past few years, they have seen great success with Overwatch and games…
Dooo do do do, do do do, do do do, do do do; do do, do do do; daaaaaa… If you’ve just instinctively sung one of the most infamous tunes from the original Tetris game on the Gameboy, you’re in for a treat! Tetris has…
Your dungeon master stares you in the eye and asks are you absolutely sure if you want to continue past the heavily scratched door. For the last hour, you have trekked through a long corridor dungeon, and while the loot was great, you had no…
FMV games were the ‘future of gaming’ back in the 1990s with the advent of the Mega-CD, although those games never got very far due to their ‘Full-motion video’ very rarely being ‘full-screen’! PC Gaming took it a step further with games that incorporated FMV…
Castlevania Requiem was brought here by humans who wished to pay the series tribute. Tribute, by stealing men’s souls and making them fans. Perhaps the same could be said of all game series’? Mankind needs a Castlevania on The PlayStation 4 such as Symphony of…
I was first introduced to Hello Neighbor many years ago when all the YouTubers were playing it pretty much all the time via the free Alpha version from the developer’s website. Since then, it’s been Greenlit, Kickstarted, Published, put into the Xbox Early Access program,…
If I was to ask you to name one genre which hasn’t really had much exposure on current consoles, I imagine a lot of people would say the RTS genre. Sure, we’ve had Halo Wars and Sudden Strike 4, but we’ve not had a lot – why?…
The LEGO games have been slowly declining in quality over the years, which is a shame as I loved playing these last gen. With each new game to the franchise came new innovations, new mechanics, and new issues which weren’t seen previously. Thankfully, LEGO DC Super-Villains…
H.P. Lovecraft is a name we all know due to his stories and creations being the basis of most modern horror films and games. His most popular creation was his stories around the Cthulhu Mythos and how these unforeseen events and creatures could turn a…
Aksys Games are one of the most underrated game publishers in my opinion. They have helped localise and bring quite a few unique and unusual Japanese games to western audiences and they published my GOTY last year, Tokyo Xanadu eX+ (which is now available to download on…
If you, or a loved one, loves casually solving puzzles yet you’ve already completed all of the previous releases from Lightwood Games – Don’t worry! They’ve brought us yet another cross-buy, triple-platinum puzzle game for us to work our way through on the PlayStation 4…
‘Tis the time of year where we torture ourselves by sticking on a scary movie or start playing that game you’ve heard was a spooky one but never got around to playing. I personally don’t mind thrillers and psychological horrors, when playing a game, but horror/intense games…
They say to never judge a book by its cover, and that is exactly what I did when I saw the Yomawari games for the first time. On their exterior, Yomawari Night Alone and Midnight Shadows look cute. I even thought to myself, “How can…
Gather up your friends because the wacky minds at Jackbox Games are back with the newest instalment of their party games, The Jackbox Party Pack 5! The Jackbox Party Pack 5 is a series of minigames where players battle against each other in a wild…
Does anyone remember the infamous Sim Tower game? Personally, I never played that but I did play Smooth Operator which has a similar concept, only your building and running a call centre rather than a commercial tower. Well, Project Highrise: Architect’s Edition is basically your…
Drifting onto PlayStation 4 is Nickelodeon Kart Racers! Featuring characters and stages themed from popular Nickelodeon cartoons, players will race to the finish line, while using power-ups to boost and knock out their rivals. Does it get the gold cup or disqualifies? Let’s check it…
Anyone remember Cube? The rather exciting and unusual film from 1997 about a group of people stuck in a labyrinth of cube-shaped prisons which moved around as they tried to escape, each one filled with rather elaborate traps and even a hint of time travel…
911 Operator is a realistic simulation video game developed by Polish studio Jutsu Games and published by PlayWay and SONKA (depending on the system). In the game, the player assumes the faceless role of a 9-1-1 telephone operator who must answer phone calls and dispatch police…
Heavy Fire: Red Shadow is the latest addition to the Heavy Fire arcade shooter series. Unlike the previous titles, this isn’t an on-rails shooter, it’s a stationary one in which you operate a heavy machine gun and a rocket launcher. The game is currently out…
I’m more of a puzzle and adventure fan than shooters, but I do have a guilty pleasure of playing one every now and again for some mindless carnage. FullBlast is a surprisingly solid shooter with full 3D rendered environments and even an old-school feel to…
Jack n’ Jill went up a hill, to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after – with the platinum trophy in her hand. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Ratalaika Games have published another game with an extremely easy Platinum…
You best put on a couple of pairs of adult diapers in preparation as Home Sweet Home is one of the most intense PlayStation VR compatible horror games released to date, and it’s ready to take you on an experience you’ll never forget. Home Sweet…
Back on the PlayStation 2, a series from Konami was released called Zone of the Enders. They featured mecha battles and action, along with anime-styled characters and story. Years later, a high definition collection came out on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with crisp,…
I’ve waited almost seven years to say this, Warriors Orochi 4 Is now out for all consoles and PC. If you’re unaware of this game yet you’ve seen or played either a Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors game previously, the Warriors Orochi series basically creates fantastical…
