Before Exit: Gas Station Review
There is a particular kind of sweat, rare in a medium that usually hands you a gun and a map, in watching a gas station employee flip a sign to Closed while a pump in the dark asks whether you checked the oil stain. The boss is not a metaphor. Miss three tasks and he is outside. Before Exit: Gas Station, the anomaly-detection closer from Katowice’s Take IT Studio, is built on that audit, and...[Read More]
Halls of Torment Review
There is a particular kind of greed, rare in a medium that usually hands you a skill tree and a map, in watching a pre-rendered hero spin in place while a thousand undead pay rent on the same pixel. The clock is a dare. The Lord is a calendar appointment. Halls of Torment, the horde-survival roguelite from Stuttgart’s Chasing Carrots, is built on that appointment, and the appointment is deep...[Read More]
Fresh Tracks Review
There is a particular kind of flow, rare in a medium that usually hands you a highway and a combo meter, in watching a skier named Skaii cut a line through a forest that is also a song. The trees keep time. The sword keeps a secret. A god in your ear is arguing about genre. Fresh Tracks, the music-action roguelite from Buffalo Buffalo, is built on that line, and the line is ruder and kinder than a...[Read More]
Darkenstein 3D Review
There is a particular kind of loyalty, rare in a medium that usually hands you a nameless marine and a red key, in watching a furious American drifter empty a shotgun because someone took his dog. The castle is not a metaphor. The pie is not a metaphor either. Darkenstein 3D, the bullet-dodging retro shooter from Rowye and MicroProse, is built on that rescue, and the rescue is funnier and meaner t...[Read More]
SHOCK Review
There is a particular kind of dread, rare in a medium that usually hands you a sprint button and a gun, in watching a wheelchair scrape across wet concrete while something with too many joints listens for the wheels. The elevator is dead. The lights are a rumor. You do not remember the drive in. SHOCK, the third-person psychological horror from Hero’s Punch Productions, is built on that scra...[Read More]
CloverPit Review
There is a particular kind of panic, rare in a medium that usually hands you a health bar and a map, in watching a number on an ATM climb while a slot machine in a rusty cell asks you to pull the lever one more time. The floor is not a metaphor. Miss the deadline and the grating opens. You fall. CloverPit, the rogue-lite slot machine horror from Panik Arcade and Future Friends Games, is built on t...[Read More]
Formula Legends Review
There is a particular kind of joy, rare in a medium that usually hands you a license and a livery pack, in watching a car that is almost a legend take a hairpin that is almost Monaco, while a driver who is almost a hero argues with rain that is entirely real. Formula Legends, the stylized sim-cade racer from Milan’s 3DClouds, is built on that almost. It is not trying to be the official open-...[Read More]
Bloodthief Review
There is a particular kind of hunger, rare in a medium that usually hands you a health bar and a map, in watching a blood gauge tick down while a crypt asks you to go faster. The floor is a suggestion. The wall is a runway. The knight in front of you is not a fight so much as a fuel stop that happens to scream. Bloodthief, the ultra-fast melee dungeon-runner from Blargis, is built on that hunger, ...[Read More]
Mars First Logistics Review
There is a particular kind of pride, rare in a medium that usually hands you a vehicle and a map, in watching a machine you bolted together five minutes ago carry a watering can the size of a bungalow across a ridge that did not exist last contract. The can sloshes. The ridge lies about its slope. The rover, which looked like a triumph in the editor, becomes a suggestion. You flip. You laugh. You ...[Read More]
Folly Of The Wizards Review
There is a particular kind of courage, rare in a medium that usually hands you a chosen one and a prophecy, in sending a kid who cannot read the glyphs to save the world from a demon invasion. Folly Of The Wizards, the comedic 2D roguelike action game from UpFox Labs and Numskull Games, is built on that joke, and the joke is sturdier than a wacky cult has any right to be. I played the PlayStation ...[Read More]
Katanaut Review
There is a particular kind of quiet that only exists on a space station after the people have stopped being people. Lights flicker like they are trying to remember a schedule. A corridor that looked like a hallway last run now looks like a throat. You are Naut, a cybernetic cleanup specialist with a katana and a job description that stopped being honest the moment the distress call went unanswered...[Read More]
Wander Stars Review
There is a particular pleasure, rare in a medium that usually asks you to pick an attack from a list, in shouting a sentence at a rival and watching the sentence become a fist. SUPER. FIRE. KICK. The words land like title cards. The kick follows a beat later, as if the universe needed a moment to typeset the violence. Wander Stars, the Super! Anime! Turn-Based! RPG from Paper Castle Games and Fell...[Read More]