Gaming
2024
Important note: Although I only post positive reviews, that doesn't mean every game automatically gets one. My biggest layer of quality control is that I only review games I think I'm likely to enjoy. Even then, only around 75% of games reviewed have received my recommendation. Long story short? Just making it to this list is a mark of quality.
Songs of Silence
21 December 2024
A HoMM-inspired game featuring autobattles and cards which looks promising but unfortunately I found myself hindered by a terrible press roll-out.
Aaero 2
20 December 2024
Aaero 2 is a fun rail shooter with strong rhythm elements and a great soundtrack. Features 2 player mode, boss fights.. Gets challenging late game when the mechanics combine. It's fun, check it out.
LOK Digital
19 December 2024
LOK is an exceptional puzzle game. Tons of levels, well-designed, perfect difficulty curve. Clever use of overlapping and layered mechanics, particularly manipulation of adjacency and space. Brilliant
FuryDough
15 December 2024
FuryDough is a very simple but fun shooter that features maze levels. To win, you kill the spawn points. Endless mode only..Could use a touch more balance and polish, but it's fun. Kids will enjoy it.
Gacha Fever
13 December 2024
Cute pocket monsters aside, Gacha Fever looks great, has a good range of weapons and enemies, smooth (and fast-paced) gameplay. Weird focus on environment and area traps but quite fun.
Rocket!
9 December 2024
Rocket! is a very casual top-down shooter that boasts a ton of different play modes and some roguelike elements for replayability. Simple but fun. Very chill experience, be great for kids.
Goo Goo Grapplers
24 November 2024
Goo Goo Grapplers is a new MOBA with a fun baby theme. The weapons (RC car, rattle, milk shots, bouncing balls, etc.) are delightful - and upgradeable. Levels well designed with interactive components
Hidden Cats: Thief
23 November 2024
Hidden Cats: Thief is probably the cutest in the series so far. Only the one map this time, but 200 objects (cats & rubber chickens) to find. Does feature a few bonus (& trickier!) hidden objects
Miner Open Chests
22 November 2024
Miner Open Chests is a simple but fun platformer with some puzzle elements. Fairly easy - kids will enjoy the most. Could use a touch more polish but good for casual fun as-is.
Astral Flux
21 November 2024
Astral Flux is a terrific platformer with quirky roguelite level generation and other elements. Looks & sounds great, controls are super smooth, good enemy variety, great boss fights. Challenging fun!
Velvet 89
11 November 2024
Velvet 89 is a Where's Wally-style game, albeit with a much more sombre atmosphere. Relaxing fun but also tells the tale of the Velvet Revolution through a range of testimonials. Interesting history.
Citadelum
06 November 2024
Citadelum is a relaxed citybuilding experience. Features all the expected content as well as some limited exploration & combat. Also features access to sandbox & user-made missions. Beautiful game.
GUTTER: The Cursed
05 November 2024
Gutter is a quirky rpgmaker game that's quest- instead of narrative-driven. Features combo-based combat. What it lacks in polish, it makes up for with a distinct and interesting setting.
Ode to Castlevania
04 November 2024
Best VS DLC yet! Bloody huge and the gated map (explore & beat monsters to unlock new areas) means it takes several runs to beat. Features tons of hidden passages and more enemy variety than usual.
100 Hidden Cats: Kitty House 2
01 November 2024
Another gorgeous little hidden item game by Sons of Welder. More of the same - 2 beautiful detailed levels, 100 cats (& 100 rubber chickens!) to find. My kids loved it too.
Spotless
29 October 2024
Spotless is an interesting take on a shooter. You use your brush to kill dust bunnies, but also to clean. Time is short so you have to be efficient. Get good and you'll unlock upgrades for better runs
The Last Man Survivor
27 October 2024
Last Man Survivor is an interesting, under-stated survivors-like. It takes a fair whack of grinding to unlock characters & new weapons/abilities but still super fun & addictive somehow.
Prim
26 October 2024
A lovely new story-driven point and click with a solid range of puzzles and a great sense of humour (very Addams Family). Highly polished, a solid gaming experience.
The Best Treasure
23 October 2024
The Best Treasure is a short-ish (still 100 levels!) precision platformer. Surprisingly chill. Looks & sounds great. Levels are well made, traps well placed, and new mechanics every ~10 levels.
Abyssal Blood
22 October 2024
Abyssal Blood is a cool take on the bullet heaven genre. Simple but fun 2d sidescroller with an interesting dual wielding system with a mix of swords, guns, and spells and ammo/mana/charge abilities.
Europa
20 October 2024
Europa is a nice piece of visual storytelling, though I think it might be aimed at slightly younger gamers. I most enjoyed the story that unfolds as you explore the ruins of the utopian moon.
Melon Head
14 October 2024
Melon Head's really well done. It's obviously a bit bizarre but that fits the point & click genre really well. Actually the inventory items are some of the most normal I've encountered, though the characters & story certainly aren't. Solid puzzles, no pixel hunting or broken logic, well-written, good sense of humour. It's a winner.
100 Hidden Cats: Pirates
13 October 2024
As always, 100 Hidden delivers a short but sweet hidden item experience. The pictures are bloody gorgeous. Most cats are easy to find but there's a few tricky ones. Chill game. Kids will enjoy too.
Super Video Golf
12 October 2024
Super Video Golf is a faithful throwback to the old Links games from the 90s. Plenty of levels and their all designed well with a range of putting & longer-range challenges. Looks & plays great.
Little Rooms
11 October 2024
Little Rooms is a nice little hidden item game. Love the range of game modes, especially the riddle mode. Plenty of levels. Could use a little more value add like timed challenges. Chill experience.
Bearnard
10 October 2024
Bearnard is an exceptional platformer. Has a great sense of humour, plenty of secrets, consumables, enemies, bonus challenges. And it features a clever turn-based tactical combat system. It's awesome
Iron Meat
09 October 2024
Iron Meat is an awesome run and gun. Looks and sounds awesome, smooth controls, super polished. Fast-paced, brutal (get touched and you die!). Awesome levels and boss fights. Great for co-op too!
An Everyday Story
07 October 2024
An Everyday Story's a nice little piece of interactive storytelling. Voice acting and art direction are both lovely. Actual gameplay's very simple and linear- best for younger audiences. Short & sweet
Silence of the Siren
06 October 2024
Silence of the Siren is a HoMM clone, sure. But with a unique setting and factions & so much attention to lore it's much more than just a re-skin. Interesting level design & combat, well-written.
Devil's Hideout
05 October 2024
Devil's Hideout is a small but solid point and click. Nails the terror vibe it's trying for. Strong art direction, characters, writing, and voice acting. Simple puzzles but memorable story
Idylls of the Lunar Maria
03 October 2024
Idylls of the Lunar Maria is a quirky match-3 game where you match tiles to attack, defend & heal while trying not to trigger enemy attacks. Can also combo into more powerful abilities. A tad easy.
Paws for Adventure
01 October 2024
Paws for Adventure is a charming and relaxing game that sees you playing as a cat - hunting (sneaking, pouncing), fighting, & exploring. Quite a few nifty puzzles snuck in too. Be great for kids.
100 Hidden Cats: Kitty House
28 September 2024
Fun but exceptionally short (a single map, which I beat in 5 minutes). Art style is awesome. Would love to see some value-add features like time challenges added. Chill scavenger game.
Drill Core
27 September 2024
Drill Core is a highly polished mining game with a fun defender phase that even includes some cool boss battles. Can get a tad repetitive at times but it's fun and has a great sense of humour.
Frostpunk 2
26 September 2024
Frostpunk 2 is an exceptional game, just don't go in expecting a continuation of the original. It's focus on expansion rather than survival and offers a very different gaming experience. Still awesome
Edge of Sanity
21 September 2024
Edge of Sanity is a quality Lovecraft-themed sidescroller. Doesn't break any new ground but it's high quality - looks great, well-written, plenty of action. Embrace the trauma.
Crimson Diamond
19 September 2024
A murder mystery presented faithfully as a graphic adventure with text parser in gloriously garish EGA colours. A touch tedious at times but has an interesting story & characters, well-written
Hackshot
18 September 2024
Hackshot is an interesting hacking-themed puzzle game built on slingshot mechanics. The puzzle is in resource management and careful shot planning to beat a range of obstacles. It's thoughtful and fun
Unicopia
17 September 2024
Exceptional retro platformer - the arcade mode's tough as nails. Story mode's great for getting through all 45 levels (you'll die often, especially on boss levels!). Smooth controls, great soundtrack.
Orbs of Chaos
15 September 2024
Orbs of Chaos is an interesting bullet hell / heaven hybrid featuring an intricate and hard-to-master spell combination system, timed events, and intense boss fights. UI needs work but solid gameplay.
Mystopia
12 September 2024
Mystopia is a cute little builder where you're supplied with a constant stream of new tiles & decorations randomly. I'd prefer goals personally but it's definitely super chill. Great for casuals.
Micro Star Command
11 September 2024
Micro Star Command is an exceptionally modern take on the old Caesar's Legion puzzle. Features great graphics, formations, good range of upgrades. It's a hard game but has lots of difficulty options.
Demon Loop
08 September 2024
Demon Loop is an interesting digital boardgame with lots of unusual mechanics but it all somehow works. Levels are challenge-based which is fun. Also has a nice little story to tie it all together.
CyberRush
07 September 2024
CyberRush is a bizarre modern take on the old Tomy Racing Turbo dashboard game except with guns, police, even a boss battle. Only 8 levels but very challenging and also has an endless mode. Addictive!
Turbo Sliders Unlimited
06 September 2024
Turbo Sliders is a delightful spiritual successor to games like Micro Machines that I loved in the 90s but with sexy modern graphics. Controls are perfect, levels are well-designed and challenging.
FlipScapes
01 September 2024
FlipScapes is a brilliant new pinball game that absolutely makes the most of its digital nature with highly interactive levels, dynamic objectives, characters and special abilities. It's top notch.
Grimstone Valley
31 August 2024
Grimstone Valley is a fun little twinstick "shooter" (except you have an eldritch lasso arm) with a weird west theme, some unusual aesthetics which I've grown to love, and a surprisingly strong story.
Hadley's Run: A Starship Saga
30 August 2024
Hadley's Run is a solid twinstick shooter with excellent progression and metaprogression so it never feels tired. Good range of enemies and bosses but the environmental challenges are the best feature
Defenders of the Omniverse
26 August 2024
Defenders of the Omniverse is a top shelf Survivors-like. Looks & sounds great, good range of unlocks, enemies and fun boss fights. Love that each character's perks put a twist on core abilities.
DLC: Vacation Season
21 August 2024
This review took me a long time to work through (it's big! And relatively complex) - new Vacation Season DLC adds almost a whole new game-within-a-game to Highrise City.
100 Hidden Cthulhu Fish 2
20 August 2024
100 Hidden Cthulhu Fish is a short but sweet item finder. The fish are easy to find, making for a chill experience. The two overarching images are fantastic but I'd love more - beat the game in 10mins
JDM: Rise of the Scorpion
19 August 2024
JDM: Rise of the Scorpion is has a nice little story told through a manga but the real star is the drifting. It's an arcade racer (not a racing sim) so just strap in and have fun - handbrake to drift!
Silent Depth 2
17 August 2024
While Silent Depth 2 is a fairly clunky experience with small scope at the moment, the roadmap looks promising. This is a sim-lite, not a spiritual successor to Silent Hunter. Go in with an open mind.
DeathBound
16 August 2024
DeathBound's a clever fighter with a gnarly modern fantasy vibe and tons of demons ripe for slaying. You control a bunch of characters with totally different attacks/abilities, it's challenging & fun.
Baimason's Thing Finder
15 August 2024
Baimason's Thing Finder's as relaxing as it is fun - or race against the clock. Proc-gen and daily challenges keep it endlessly replayable although it could use just a touch more variety
Forgotten Mines
14 August 2024
Forgotten Mines makes for a very tight tactical experience. The maps are small and fixed, loaded with obstacles to manoeuvre around, and you're constantly overwhelmed. It's tough. Tons of unlocks.
Mini Airways
11 August 2024
Mini Airways is intense! Planes come from all directions and you have to somehow guide them - around mountains - onto tight runways that also have planes taking off. Gets the blood pumping!
Soul Park
10 August 2024
Soul Park is a theme park tycoon with a sweet spooky supernatural theme, a few side games (fixing your rides & catching intruders). Simplistic as far as tycoons go, which makes it kid-friendly.
Rogue Genesia
08 August 2024
Features different worlds with a roguelike campaign approach and shorter, mission-based levels. Graphics are pretty sweet too. Rogue Genesia is a sweet, top-shelf survivors-like, check it out.
No Creeps Were Harmed TD
05 August 2024
No Creeps Were Harmed is a highly polished tower defence game with some great level design and an even better sense of humour. Upgrades can be grindy but there's plenty of them. Fun, addictive.
Riddle Tower
04 August 2024
Huge game with excellent range of maths, text, rebus, and logic riddles/problems. Fun and challenging as is but could use more QoL features (progressive unlocks) and a better clue system.
MOODS
31 July 2024
MOODS is a sweet roguelike shooter with an unusual theme. Good variety of characters and play styles straight out the gate, plenty of unlocks, good range of enemies, boss fights are awesome.
Outrage: Fight Fest
30 July 2024
Outrage: Fight Fest is a fantastic party brawler. Highly polished - it looks great, sounds great, plays smooth as. Fast-paced, non-stop action, plenty of game modes and variety. Full of attitude!
Tachyon Dreams Anthology
28 July 2024
Tachyon Dreams is a fantastic homage to Space Quest and its ilk. Puzzles are occasionally obtuse but solveable through experimentation. Love the palette & faithful retro art style. Well-written
Treasure Journey
26 July 2024
Treasure Journey is a surprisingly challenging puzzle game. The premise is simple with limited mechanics but it uses 3 dimensional space well. Good range of levels with rapidly increasing difficulty
Towerful Defence
24 July 2024
Towerful Defence is a fun survivors-like that swaps mobility for control. Hold up to four weapons & configure their targeting or control manually to maximise efficiency. Fast-pace endorphin rush.
Seraphim Slum
22 July 2024
Seraphim Slum is a quirky visual novel about ... fallen lesbian angels. Also love and lust and freedom and control. Visuals are all over the shop but it's well written and voiced. Weird & interesting.
Virtual Presenter Room
21 July 2024
Virtual Presenter Room is easy to use; you just screenshare it to any conferencing client and away you go. Looks great, user friendly. Would also be a fantastic tool for roleplaying sessions.
Kriegsfront Tactics: Prologue
19 July 2024
Kriegsfront offers scrappy tactical mech combat in which resource management is crucial- you might win the battle but you have to survive the war. Also features narrative adventures and a strong story
SCHIM
16 July 2024
SCHIM combined platforming with visual story telling. Love the shader art. Very simple start but puzzles become more challenging as more moving parts are introduced. Nice game for younger players.
Granvir
14 July 2024
Reminiscent of MW3 but in a delightful roguelike format involving resource management and upgrading your mech after every level. Solid variety in mech components and weapons for different playstyles.
Block-ed
10 July 2024
Block-ed is an exceptional puzzle game. The premise is simple but the mechanics (bombs, lasers, teleporters, splitters, moving platforms) combine well. Has community maps and a great level editor too!
Metroplex Zero
07 July 2024
Metroplex Zero is a very solid card game involving resource and party management, deck building, and collection. Scenario-based combat. Actually requires strategy and synergy to win, it's great.
Grapplers: Relic Rivals
01 July 2024
Grapplers is an exceptional party brawler. Great level design with heavy environment & trap focus. Grapple as both movement and attack makes for an interesting challenge. More players = more fun.
Kurwa Sprint
29 June 2024
Kurwa Sprint is a faithful Mario clone. The environment's a little more forgiving but the enemies are a little tougher. Coins to collect, secrets to find, and it's a tough game, 90s-style. Cute & fun.
Giltsteader
28 June 2024
Giltsteader's a TD \with a stack of quirky features that set it apart from the others. Towers are random and must merge to upgrade, and there's farming. Very interactive, there's never a dull moment.
Ad Fundum
20 June 2024
Ad Fundum is a simple but addictive mining game. Dig for minerals, sell for $. Pressure is on managing fuel, temp, health & storage - oh, and earthquakes! Surprisingly large variety of upgrades.
Swarmsign
19 June 2024
Swarmsign is simple but very fun topdown shooter. Farm defence mode is good but herd defence is even more fun. Offensive mode's pretty cool too. Good variety of enemies & weapons/abilities. Moreish!
Quantum Conflict
16 June 2024
Quantum Conflict plays a lot like Asteroid or Gravitation. The graphics are much flashier and modern, and there's a good range of special pickups. Little clunky but still a fun multiplayer party game.
Zpellcatz
15 June 2024
ZpellCatz is a fun dungeon crawling looter-shooter. The graphics are cute and child-friendly although the game itself is surprisingly generic. But executed well - combat is fun, plenty of variety.
Songs of Conquest
12 June 2024
Pre-release review: Has some promising aspects; looks good, and bullet hell-style boss fights seem promising. Right now, it's a little clunky and the level & enemy attack patterns need more work.
Echoes
08 June 2024
Echoes is a visual novel that starts as a detective murder mystery but unfolds into a dark supernatural government conspiracy. It's very well written and the art style perfectly fits the mood.
Check and Slash
07 June 2024
Check and Slash is not what you'd think. It's essentially realtime hack-and-slash (except the baddies shoot) with some rogue elements. It's a bit grindy and repetitive but the boss fights are decent.
What the Car?
06 June 2024
What the Car? is a bonkers fun party-style racing game full of all manner of zany "driving" mechanisms. Levels are packed with shortcuts and alternative routs and the "bonus" levels are awesome.
Whispers in the Moss
04 June 2024
Whispers in the Moss is a fairly traditional JRPG but with retro text-based UI. Interesting characters, decently writing, interesting locations to visit, and the ANSI/ASCII art is impressive.
The Last WarMage
31 May 2024
The Last WarMage could use a little more polish but it's a lot of fun. Essentially tapper but with weapon & enemy variety, ammo management and dynamic controls. Thoughtful and can get hectic
Archaeogem
29 May 2024
Archaeogem looks good and plays smooth even if the whip mechanic is a little counter-intuitive. It's a challenging precision platformer with huge levels that require both thought and reflexes to beat
Vampire Survivors
DLC: Operation Guns
DLC: Operation Guns
27 May 2024
Operation Guns is a massive DLC and totally worth the price even if you know nothing about Contra (and of course there's a huge nostalgia bonus if you are familiar). It comes with two new maps; the main map is huge and I think one of the most interesting in the game with different regions separated by bridges, buildings, secret passages through forests, and of course it's populated by hordes of Contra baddies. The big mecha bosses are particularly cool. Also, Operation Guns comes with a whopping 11 new characters (and of course I absolutely love Bill Rizer with his long gun), and 22 new weapons - machine guns, homing missiles, and some cool new passive upgrades that don't take slots. As if that wasn't enough, there's also a new adventure. Oh! And the new music is bangin'!
Songs of Conquest
26 April 2024
Songs of Conquest is an impressive homage to HoMM while featuring enough subtle but key differences - lore, story, factions, mechanics - that it stands up on its own. Love the campaign & aesthetics
Parkour Legends
25 May 2024
Citadel Stormer is an exceptional retro-style shooter. Never mind the cute kiddy graphics, this is a challenging game with ammo management and platforming. Very fun, reminds me of Commander Keen.
Parkour Legends
20 May 2024
Parkour Legends is an exceptional platformer that makes the most of the sport it mimics. Run, slide, crawl, jump, grab, flip - timing is crucial and the controls are well thought out. Fast-paced fun.
Fay's Factory
19 May 2024
Fay's Factory is a gem. An RPG at heart, packed full of meaningful choice & consequence. Features top shelf low poly art, unique setting pivotal to the story, and an unusual & innovative combat system
Asta Pool
18 May 2024
Asta Pool is an exceptional pool game featuring a range of innovative cue game rules (I love freeze mode!), tables (no gravity rules!), balls & holes with special abilities. Very creative and fun.
Let Bions be Bygones
10 May 2024
Let Bions Be Bygones is an adventure game with an engaging, unexpected story carried primarily through dialogue and visual storytelling. Absolutely love the artwork and cyberpunk/noir aesthetic
Dice Assassin
05 May 2024
Dice Assassin is a chess-based tactical roguelike. Features a good range of enemies & special abilities but slow progression means it can get grindy. The boss fights are excellent.
Hexahedra
04 May 2024
Hexahedra is an interesting puzzle game that integrates (visual) coding. Requires critical thought, clever design, and the right sequencing with lots of complex moving parts. Fun and challenging.
Command & Conquer 3
01 May 2024
One of the best C&C titles and one of the best RTS games out, even today. It's aged surprisingly well - still holds up remarkably well even in 2024.
Pilapila
30 April 2024
Pilapila's a fun, challenging puzzle game. Concept's simple; lay blocks to get to the exit but new mechanics introduced every few levels adding complexity. 70 levels with challenges (and bonus levels)
Footgun: Underground
27 April 2024
Footgun is a super fun shooter with a fresh soccer-based shooting gimmick. That makes aiming tricky and there's lots of bouncing and special weapons and attacks. Love the bosses and bonus levels.
Rauniot
21 April 2024
Rauniot has a few imperfections but overall it is a very solid point and click with great artwork, an interesting setting that really comes to life, dark gritty characters, and an engaging story
Cakefoot
15 April 2024
Cakefoot could use more polish (esp. arcade mode) but it's actually really fun! Trying to move along a winding disconnected track while dodging a variety of moving obstacles and bullets is tricky!
Laysara: Summit Kingdom
14 April 2024
Laysara is an exceptional city builder with a unique Himalayan aesthetic that really concentrates on the environment. Challenges are fun & management mechanics are tightly interwoven, really well made.
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
13 April 2024
Yellow Taxi is an exception retro platformer with a great sense of humour, really fun level design (which gets better as you play through), some tricky obstacles to beat and tons of secrets to find!
Nuke Them All
11 April 2024
Nuke Them All is a promising new RTS that replaces base building with Capture the Flag and tick timers. It's an interesting concept held back at the moment by balance issues. But still in Early Access!
Cease to Breathe
10 April 2024
Cease to Breathe is a faithful rendition of the parser adventure games from the 90s. It's big for the genre; tons of screens & interactables. Nice art. Very challenging - not for the faint-hearted!
A Living Room
09 April 2024
A Living Room is an interesting foray into.. existentialism, maybe? Presented as a quirky point and click. It's surprisingly clever, often funny, but only around ~30 minutes playtime.
Citizen Sleeper
07 April 2024
Citizen Sleeper is an absolute top shelf text adventure with a deep, complex narrative, engaging world building, and full of very real characters with very real problems. Every decision matters.
Mighty Mage
05 April 2024
A bullet heaven with some promising new mechanics that's unfortunately a little too shallow to really deliver on. Keep going, devs! This could really be great!
Koala Kids Golf
04 April 2024
Koala Kids Golf is fantastic, one of the best party/golf games I've played. Really fun (and huge) levels, love the special challenge levels & had a great time playing multiplayer with my young fella.
Azoove
03 April 2024
EA: Azoove is a fun new card-based survival game with strong resource management elements. I love the way you build your story as you play through. Could benefit from more variety but still in EA.
Outpost: Infinity Siege
02 April 2024
Outpost Infinity Siege is a very ambitious shooter with base management, exploration/salvage elements, and a campaign story. Looks great but needs more TLC, particularly AI upgrade. Keep an eye on it.
StarsAway
01 April 2024
StarsAway is a genuinely fun & challenging rail shooter reminiscent of maybe Star Goose (1988)? 3 difficulty modes which is good but could use a tad more variety in the track with each run
Cosmic Express
30 March 2024
Cosmic Express is a bloody big puzzle game. It's sokoban-based, but the addition of the rail system means you can't backtrack, adding another layer of complexity. Fun but gets challenging quickly!
Starlight & the Silver Key
29 March 2024
Starlight & the Silver Key has a grindy repetitive start that's a bit of a turn-off.. but once past that I was hooked for the next two hours. Decent puzzles, quirky story, great sense of humour
A Good Snowman is Hard to Build
28 March 2024
A Good Snowman is fun puzzle game built on a simple premise. Cute graphics & kid friendly although puzzles do get more challenging as you progress. Clever level design makes for a fun game.
Acolyte of the Altar
25 March 2024
Acolyte of the Altar is a strong entry to the card battler genre with a small range of exciting new mechanics for an engaging and challenging experience. Awesome card art & UI too.
Sokobond
17 March 2024
Sokobond's fun. Could benefit from a touch more guidance as working out the winning bond can be trial & error but good range of chemistry-themed mechanics, clean ui, and 100 levels to play through.
A Monster's Expedition
16 March 2024
A Monster's Expedition is a super chill puzzle game where the world itself is the puzzle. Its best feature is its sense of humour as you explore the strange world of humans through a monster's eyes.
Bonfire Peaks
15 March 2024
Bonfire Peaks under-sells itself. It's actually a great little puzzle game. Sokoban-based but it makes great use of all three dimensions. Includes a good range of layered mechanics. Looks good, fun.
Astral Vangard
11 March 2024
EA Review: Astral Vangard has the bones of a good game. Full version should have ample variety of upgrades & enemies. Needs animations or SFX and greater variety in enemy attack patterns to shine.
Cat & Onion
10 March 2024
Cat & Onion is a delightful little platformer. Cute characters, charming story, good sense of humour, few secrets to find. Fun but very short (~30 mins). Would love if it was 10 levels longer!
Bore Blasters
09 March 2024
Bore Blasters is an addictive loot & shoot game. A story pushes you through the game with missions but you can play each level in a different world. Tons of upgrades. Good simple fun - addictive!
Showdown Effect: Reloaded
07 March 2024
Showdown Effect's a fun multiplayer brawler. Fast paced and can get intense. Best feature is the level design; sprawling but somehow never feels empty and plenty of environment interactions.
Potions: A Curious Tale
06 March 2024
Potions is a lovely child-friendly RPG with a nice story. A touch heavy on fetch quests but also includes exploration, puzzles, battles, and a solid crafting system that encourages trial & error.
Floramancer
05 March 2024
Floramancer is a chill top-down shooter with an impressive variety of spells, randomly generated areas for better replayability, exploration, and some challenging boss fights. Fun for all ages.
The Thaumaturge
04 March 2024
The Thaumaturge is fantastic. With its unique setting, engaging story, strong writing, and surprisingly nuanced combat, it's rapidly shaping up as one my favourite recent RPGs.
Sokobond Express
29 February 2024
Sokobond Express features a range of chemical interactions turned into sokobond puzzle mechanics. It's very clever but can be challenging to engage with if your chemistry knowledge is not solid.
Nemire
26 February 2024
Nemire's kind of like Dungeon Keeper if DK was a turn-based tactical game. Could use a touch more polish but I love the characters - weapon skills and perks actually make for interesting combat. Fun.
Geometry Survivor
25 February 2024
Geometry Survivor is more retro arcade shooter than it is survivors-like, and I love the splash neon vector art. Tons of variety, very replayable (addictive!) - it's definitely worth the look.
Which Way Up Space Olympics
20 February 2024
Which Way Up is an awesome multiplayer arcade game that features a stack of different game modes to compete against. Fun with 2P, be even better with 3-4. Young fella and I love it!
Of Murder & Moonshine
16 February 2024
Unusual mission-based shooter where you play a hitman. Features a great noir setting, jazz track, glorious pixels, delightfully challenging gameplay, and a sense of humour. Loving this one!
Rotate Word Puzzle
14 February 2024
Solid puzzle game - doesn't break any new ground but it looks good, clean UI, it's very simple to jump into, the clues give just the right amount away, and there's plenty of randomisation & variety. Not super challenging but enough to get the brain ticking and a relaxing way to kill some time.
Panda Go
11 February 2024
Panda Go is a clever turn-based puzzle game. Puzzles are all logic based but take patience and forethought. Some clunky moves but great range of guards and trap mechanics & well-designed levels.
Exiled Survivors
8 February 2024
EA Review: Exiled Survivors is an exciting upcoming survivors-like that feature skill trees and more diverse enemies & bosses (some shoot back). Needs more polish (particularly UI) but v. promising.
Magnus Positive Phototaxis
7 February 2024
Magnus Positive Phototaxis is a short but neat puzzle game with some engaging visual storytelling elements. There's a decent range of puzzles packed into such a short game. Worth the jaunt!
Lazarus AD 2222
6 February 2024
Lazarus is a v. short but decent visual novel with an interesting story and some surprisingly engaging puzzles. I like the art style - evocative - but it and the writing could use a touch more poilsh.
Ruiga Pirates
5 February 2024
EA Review: Ruiga Pirates is a well-made survivors-like with a sweet nautical theme. Still some kinks but constantly being improved. Love the different ships & weapons. Missions & deeds will be awesome
Jett Rider
4 February 2024
I'm a sucker for any game with a jetpack but Jett Rider really is an exceptional modern platformer. Tons of variety, loads of secrets to find, smooth controls, super polished, really heaps of fun.
Twilight Oracle
2 February 2024
A delightful light-hearted point and click. Veterans may find the puzzles a little simplistic but the retro feel's authentic, the story's fun, the locations and inventory are interesting. V. enjoyable
Quantum Fluctuation
31 January 2024
Great puzzle game - very unusual and very hard. Graphics are minimalist but clean but you won't have time to worry about them anyway. Trying to match (or sometimes oppose) colours, symbols & sizes to get another series of different colours, symbols & sizes, while trying to ensure you get exactly the right amount for the final product after splitting and putting back together, creating layers of challenges while also competing against a time limit. Enjoyable but very tough!
The Cub
26 January 2024
One of the best visual storytelling games I've played. Great art, surprisingly interactive for the genre, but the real standout is the martian radio element. Only a few hours long but memorable.
Wild Legion
23 January 2024
Wild Legion's a fun new Survivors-like. Needs a little more polish in some areas but looks & sounds great. Good range of weapon and I love the pet catching, day/night phases & turrets were interesting
Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic
26 January 2024
Hidden Through Time 2 is an exceptional "Where's Wally-like." Great graphics, user friendly, super interactive and I love the themes. A chill way to spend a lazy afternoon and kids will love it too.
Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic
13 January 2024
I wrote an in-depth review of Vagrus: The Riven Realm last month. I've now added additional review for all current DLC: Vorax, Seekers of Knowledge, and Sunfire & Moonshadow
IREM Volume 1
11 January 2024
IREM have come out swinging with Volume 1, bringing us Raiden-like titles Image Fight 1 & 2 as well as X-Multiply, which plays similarly to R-Type