https://www.thegamer.com This is where we give whatever scores the gaming companies tell us to give. Remember, if you agree with our review or preview, it’s unbiased, and if you disagree, even if you haven’t played the game yet, then we’re definitely a bunch of shills. Thu, 27 Jul 2023 12:00:29 GMT en-US hourly 60 There are very few times when you look at a video game and say, “this was made specifically for me”, but that’s exactly what Disney Illusion Island is. As a Donald-Duck-loving Disney adult whose favourite genres just so happen to be platformers and Metroidvanias, Illusion Island eerily felt like Dlala Studios had peered into my brain to make the most George Foster game there ever was. The strong Rayman Legends vibes it was giving off didn’t hurt its case, either.

]]> Thu, 27 Jul 2023 12:00:29 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/disney-illusion-island-review/ Camina Drummer is a badass. She is one of the best written characters in The Expanse universe, whether you’re talking books or television, and is fully deserving of such a detailed spin-off. Cara Gee returns as Drummer in The Expanse: A Telltale Series, a story that explores Drummer’s life (and the mysterious MK Core) before the events shown in Amazon’s show. Everything about this game is The Expanse; the atmosphere, the grim sci-fi themes, and stellar acting pull this experience together tightly. But it’s not without its issues. And was always going to be a tricky debris field to navigate for the newly reborn Telltale Games.

]]> Wed, 26 Jul 2023 14:30:20 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/telltale-the-expanse-review/ The Armored Core Legendary DualShock Grip is not a real thing. I know, I was disappointed when I found out too. The urban legend of Armored Core players holding their PlayStation controllers backwards was just a meme, and not a legitimate method used by the hardcore community. A joke that only works because Armored Core has traditionally been such a difficult and unapproachable game, so even though I know it isn’t real, it was still on my mind when I arrived at the Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon hands-on preview event earlier this month.

]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2023 22:08:58 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/armored-core-6-hands-on-preview/ I am in constant awe of Resident Evil’s prevalence in our lives. How one of the first games I fell in love with as a kid, a campy zombie shooter, is somehow still around and constantly gaining momentum. Not a year goes by without a new Resident Evil game, film, or TV show, and while they aren’t always successful - like the recent Netflix adaptation - the fear of oversaturation hasn’t slowed Capcom down at all. Another live action movie is reportedly in development, while Resident Evil: Death Island, the fourth canonical Resident Evil animated film, releases today.

]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2023 21:17:34 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/resident-evil-death-island-review/ There were several moments throughout Heartstopper’s second season where memories of my own life came flooding back. Nick Nelson arguing with his asshole of an older sibling when it comes to his boyfriend, all while a defensive mother backs him up. Or Charlie Spring looking back on the bullying he experienced as the only out person in his whole school. Moments of young love and queer hardship that thousands will relate to. Alice Oseman brings it all to life with untold authenticity because she has clearly lived what it means to grow up LGBTQ+ in the UK, while lining these experiences with a respectful dose of heartwarming sweetness.

]]> Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:18:55 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/heartstopper-season-2-review/ Pikmin 4 understands the overwhelming appeal of scale. We explore a tiny version of our world filled with household objects like Game Boys and alarm clocks which, at this size, could easily crush us to death. Microscopic insects and similarly insignificant wildlife we’d previously wipe underfoot are capable of swallowing us whole or throwing us across the environment like insignificant ragdolls. Virtual experiences like this are simultaneously enthralling and terrifying.

]]> Wed, 19 Jul 2023 13:01:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/pikmin-4-review/ I’ve never once looked at Mary Poppins and thought “God, you know what would make her cooler? A nine-gauge shotgun”, but Doinksoft clearly has, because that’s exactly what it’s done with Gunbrella. After going hands-on with the first few hours of the game, my third eye has opened to the possibilities - let’s turn every Disney classic into a gunslinger. Can’t wait for Winnie the Pooh to shove a glock in my face.

]]> Tue, 18 Jul 2023 16:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/gunbrella-preview/ It was only a matter of time until games started to play on our experiences during the first months of the Coronavirus pandemic. Global lockdowns and a total shift in how we approach life, health, and public safety is a big pill to swallow as a society, and seeing that change reflected in the art we create and consume is to be expected. Full Void is one such example with its haunting dystopia ruled by a rogue AI.

]]> Tue, 18 Jul 2023 09:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/full-void-review/ The evening sky is littered with smatterings of stars as my fellow exosuit pilots and I stand atop the remnants of a broken highway. On the horizon, yet another portal appears before us prepared to rain down a waterfall of prehistoric nasties. Thousands of prehistoric beasts snarl and claw their way towards us with the single, immovable goal of tearing our party to pieces. With the odds clearly stacked against us, we stare down the threat and live to fight another day. We have no other choice, trapped within the clutches of a hostile AI who wants to flood the world with dinosaurs capable of wiping out humanity. So we do it all again.

]]> Mon, 17 Jul 2023 16:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/exoprimal-review/ I’ve been excited for Venba ever since it was first unveiled. This story-focused game has you play as an Indian mother, Venba, who immigrates to Canada with her family in the 1980s. Part visual novel and part cooking game, you’ll be preparing various dishes and rediscovering lost family recipes, all while having branching conversations and exploring themes of family, love, and loss.

]]> Mon, 17 Jul 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/asian-diaspora-venba-language-culture-loss-immigration/ WrestleQuest isn’t your average wrestling game. Remove any ideas of No Mercy or Def Jam from your head, and come at this like it’s Final Fantasy 6 or Chained Echoes. While you’re still putting opponents through tables and performing acrobatic finishers, this is a turn-based tactics RPG with more akin to Pokemon than WWE. That is, unless you understand the references.

]]> Wed, 12 Jul 2023 13:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/wrestlequest-preview-yes-yes-yes/ I’m a big fan of Oxenfree. I remember playing it for the first time alone while on a business trip to China, locked up on my own in a quiet, lonely hotel room. What surprised me most was that, although I was alone in reality, I didn’t feel alone – Night School Studio’s characters would chat, joke, and argue their way through Edwards Island. As you explore the world, you have conversations with your friends, and what you say and do to them affects how your game ends. The dialogue and voice acting was extremely compelling, making me fully invested in what happened to the people around me. It was creepy enough that I got chills at times, but not enough that I got too scared to sleep alone in a dead quiet hotel.

]]> Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/oxenfree-2-review/ The Pokemon Company invited me to a sleepover this week to try out Pokemon Sleep, its upcoming sleep tracking game for mobile. I already spent practically all of my waking hours thinking about Pokemon, so why shouldn’t I think about them in my sleep too? Pokemon Sleep is the latest attempt to gamify everyday life with Pokemon following the success of Pokemon Go, which we all know and used to love and now kinda like maybe, and Pokemon Smile, a toothbrushing app that teaches kids how to brush the Pokemon way, I assume.

]]> Sun, 09 Jul 2023 21:47:43 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-sleep-preview-hands-on/ I have a complicated relationship with Payday. I loved the first game after playing through the PS3 demo dozens of times as a kid, and took that love straight into Payday 2. I enjoyed the many hours I spent busting open bank vaults and waiting for faulty drills, but console players were stuck with an inferior version of the game that was constantly outshined by the PC release. Considering how much I enjoyed the base game, it left a sour taste in my mouth and made me apprehensive about the third game.

]]> Fri, 07 Jul 2023 12:10:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/payday-3-preview/ I was at the Ubisoft presentation when the gameplay trailer for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was shown - its second trailer after its big reveal at Summer Game Fest last Thursday. When Sargon, the new PoP, uses his time travel powers to bash an enemy into his past-self and continue a lengthy combo chain, the crowd erupted with excitement. I got a chance to play The Lost Crown a few hours later, and every time I pulled off one of those flashy timey-wimey moves, I could still hear the whole crowd cheering in my head. 2D action hasn’t felt this precise and stylish since Ori, if ever.

]]> Fri, 30 Jun 2023 20:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/prince-of-persia-lost-crown-preview-ubisoft-forward-summer-game-fest/ We have decades of evidence to suggest that games that mess about with time are inherently fun. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Singularity, Titanfall 2, Braid, the list goes on. If you want a way to make your game cooler, give it a time-twisting angle. That is, unless you’re Crime O’Clock.

]]> Fri, 30 Jun 2023 13:13:03 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/crime-oclock-review/ Who doesn’t love a good whodunnit? When it comes to mysteries, old tropes go down just as well as fresh ideas with would-be sleuths — fake suicides, murder plots, locked room mysteries, government cover ups, and enough red herrings to open a fishmongers. Not to mention the Bowsette-like death god who is obsessed with boobs and regularly vomits up clues in a rainbow splurge.

]]> Thu, 29 Jun 2023 23:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/master-detective-archives-rain-code-review/ Summer Games Fest is a distant memory at this point, but due to its late embargo I wasn’t able to talk about Sand Land until now. It’s a shame, because it’s one of my favorite games I saw during the show. I know we’ve all moved on from SGF hype and now we’re 50 hours into Final Fantasy 16 and dreaming about Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but humor me for a moment while I tell you about driving tanks and kicking velociraptors in the face in my new most-anticipated game, Sand Land.

]]> Thu, 29 Jun 2023 21:41:33 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/sand-land-preview-summer-game-fest/ Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is an ingenious puzzle experience that doesn’t come around very often. Shu Takumi of Phoenix Wright fame created a supernatural tale contained within a Rube Goldberg machine of constantly shifting parts housing great characters, sharp humour, and narrative stakes that actually matter. It didn’t blow the doors off when it originally launched for the Nintendo DS in 2010, but now this underrated classic has another chance to take the world by storm.

]]> Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:00:19 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/ghost-trick-phantom-detective-review/ As I stood in a crowded room alongside fellow journalists where we all stared dumbfounded at a talking horse on a giant television screen feeding us instructions, it felt like I was joining a cult. We obediently followed directions, took hold of the Joy-Cons handed to us, and slowly competed in fun new games. Nintendo has made a fittingly bizarre sequel to its underwhelming Switch launch title that far better understands the modern appeal of party games. This is less a showcase of the hardware and more of a sanitised Jackbox Party Pack with a far more absurdist visual direction. Better yet, it works.

]]> Tue, 27 Jun 2023 13:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/everybody-1-2-switch-preview/ My Adventures With Superman never takes itself too seriously. While the journalist trio of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen are always hot on the heels of new stories over at The Daily Planet, there’s still time for cutesy shenanigans and romantic outings away from the great evils threatening to destroy Metropolis. It’s swift and adorable in its interpretation of timeless characters and stories, confidently taking on an anime-esque aesthetic with all the blushing cheeks and excessive melodrama one would expect from such inspiration.

]]> Mon, 26 Jun 2023 16:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/my-adventures-with-superman-review/ I’ve never been able to get over how messed up Pikmin is. You crash-land on an alien planet and within minutes have enslaved a race of adorable little creatures to murder the local wildlife, pillage resources, and even throw themselves into the inevitable jaws of death if it ensures the survival of the Hocotatians. Olimar is a monster.

]]> Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/pikmin-4-preview/ I've always thought that sports games were the secret sauce for VR. While it's exciting to pretend you're aiming a gun or grabbing an apple in the virtual world, and playing Tetris with blocks all around you is a compelling experience, sport has always felt like the most natural link. This goes for all movement-based games - just look at the success of Wii Sports. Rather than adapting the usual confines of a video game to fit VR as in, say, an adventure game, sports games remove the hurdles between video game and the true version, and bridge the gap. Unfortunately, C-Smash VRS has built a bridge that is rickety. Beautiful, intelligent, but still rickety.

]]> Thu, 22 Jun 2023 11:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/c-smash-vrs-review/ You are an anthropomorphised bird named Finley. You’ve just moved to Porcupine, a small town where everyone knows everyone. You’ve just started work at the local hospital as a junior doctor, and already things are going a little haywire. You’re trying to keep up with your boss’ expectations, while trying to have some kind of social life outside of demanding hospital shifts, and you do your best to build friendships with the other residents of the town. But the career you’ve chosen begins to take its toll on you, and before long, everything is going to shit.

]]> Wed, 21 Jun 2023 19:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/fall-of-porcupine-review/ Final Fantasy 16 has an astounding sense of place. Throughout my journey I’d retire to the Hideaway to walk through its hollowed airship halls to catch glimpses of abstract conversations or catch up with people I’d come to call friends. Some might have new missions to offer, while others reflect on the daunting battles ahead. Each of them depends on me, representing a small part of what Clive Rosfield is fighting for.

]]> Wed, 21 Jun 2023 14:00:13 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-16-review/ Crash Team Rumble has been a long time coming. The N.Sane Trilogy's return back in 2017 was supposed to herald a brave new dawn for the once legendary mascot, and for a while things were going well. Crash Team Racing and Nitro Kart were mashed together into Nitro Fueled, another success, and then came Crash 4: It's About Time. All three of these games were made by different studios, and all three were soon pushed away from Crash or anything with passion behind it into Call of Duty. Crash Team Rumble, known in the whispers of the rumour mill as Wumpa League, was dead. Toys For Bob, awarded for its work on Spyro's trilogy and Crash 4 with CoD, might as well have been dead with it, crushed in the gears of gun skin manufacture. Now Team Rumble and Toys For Bob have been brought back to life. Isn't it sad that they shouldn’t have bothered?

]]> Wed, 21 Jun 2023 12:27:41 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/crash-team-rumble-review/ We live in a world that teaches us to be scared of anything different. Past generations have raised us to look after our own and shun any and all races, cultures, places, and even media that skirts an archaic definition of normality. This leads to an abundance of ignorance and lack of compassion, even as the wider world tries to tell us it’s becoming more accepting.

]]> Tue, 20 Jun 2023 16:15:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/nimona-review/ ‘Say no to violence’, the 12 year old declares as she whips out a gun and fires at the woodland critter before her. You don’t expect someone so regal to be packing, especially in a classic pixelated turn-based RPG with a traditional fantasy setting, but that’s all part of the humour of the Rhapsody series. The more I played, the wilder things became. Crea, the gun-toting girl, is accompanying her best friend, Princess Kururu, in her quest to find true love, but you’re in for just as much comedy as you are emotional twists in this port from the past.

]]> Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:30:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/rhapsody-marl-kingdom-chronicles-preview-disgaea-precursor/ Not even two months after launch, Age of Wonders 4 has some DLC for us to dig into. Dragon Dawn is a reptile-themed content pack that introduces a ton of new customisation options, and also has a new realm (read: campaign type) to try. With the major criticism levied at Age of Wonders 4 being its repetitive nature, it’s clear that this pack aims to assuage that particular condemnation.

]]> Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/age-of-wonders-4-dragon-dawn-review/ Getting into a long-running series with such a large fan base can be daunting, but a preview event for Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless seemed like the perfect opportunity to find out once and for all whether Disgaea was my cup of tea. More importantly, I wanted to know whether a newcomer like myself could gel with it coming in so late.

]]> Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/disgaea-7-vows-of-the-virtueless-preview-not-too-late-for-newcomers/ Remakes are always tricky. Fans want games to be just how they remember them for nostalgia's sake, but they also want extra bells and whistles to bring them up to modern standards. The problem is the more you lean into one, the further you get from the other.

]]> Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/story-of-seasons-a-wonderful-life-review/ Of all the games I saw at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days, I have the most mixed feelings about Islands of Insight. Revealed at the PC Gaming Show, Islands of Insight is a puzzle adventure game from Lunarch Studios and published by Dead By Daylight’s Behaviour Interactive that takes place in a semi-open shared world. It is an MMO puzzle game, which is a thing I never thought I wanted, and I’m still not sure that I do.

]]> Mon, 19 Jun 2023 21:30:44 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/islands-of-insight-preview-summer-game-fest/ Every good horror starts with someone investigating panicked screams all by themselves. Aliens: Dark Descent is no different. The prologue begins with us venturing below deck to look into the commotion we saw on the failing security cameras, bringing nothing but a torch and some goodwill. We find facehuggers wrapping their tails around people’s necks, hatched eggs twisting the environment around them, and eventually, a lone xenomorph hunting for prey. They’re so terrifyingly strong that all we can do is hide, sneaking around to the exit—the game is teaching us to use the shadows and cover to our advantage. One xenomorph is that much of a threat. But five minutes later, it’s asking us to gun down a horde of them.

]]> Mon, 19 Jun 2023 18:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/aliens-dark-descent-review/ Previewing a game is often little more than a sophisticated vibe check. The engine of the story is just humming along while the mechanics barely get out of first gear. It’s easy to tell if a game is bad from an hour’s play, but it’s much harder to tell if it’s good. Eternights is not a bad game. But it’s certainly a strange one.

]]> Mon, 19 Jun 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/eternights-preview/ My first Metroidvania was Super Metroid, and incidentally, it's also still my favorite. As a seven year old, I had never known true terror before being trapped in Kraid’s lair as the massive beast emerged from the floor beneath me. The tone and atmosphere influenced so much of my taste, and the music is seared into my memory. I learned so many fundamentals from Super Metroid that I’ve been able to build upon throughout my game-playing career, and I don’t know if I would have developed such a passion for games had I not had such a formative experience playing Super Metroid.

]]> Sun, 18 Jun 2023 22:55:45 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/disney-illusion-island-preview-summer-game-fest/ Playing Cocoon at Summer Games Fest last weekend, the prevailing thought that was stuck in my head the entire time was “Inside-like”. Though stylistically very different, it offers the same kind of meditative and melancholy experience that’s both beautiful and unsettling.

]]> Sat, 17 Jun 2023 23:30:12 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/cocoon-preview-summer-game-fest-inside/ Ahead of this week’s Ubisoft Forward event, I was asked to send over my availability for a few demos, interviews, and hands-off opportunities for some of the games that would be featured at the show. One of my appointments was for a short play session with The Division team, which I assumed was for The Division Heartland, a free-to-play extraction-style spin-off revealed during last fall's showcase.

]]> Fri, 16 Jun 2023 21:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-division-resurgence-preview-ubisoft-forward/ I jumped off the Assassin’s Creed train when Ezio’s story ended in Revelations, so I’ve missed a lot. When Origins launched in 2017, it was touted as a bold new direction for the series, but the pivot towards grindy RPG progression was even less interesting to me than the ceaseless march of annual entries that strayed further and further away from the core values of the series. When it was announced that this year’s Mirage was taking things back to basics, I was intrigued for the first time in over a decade. And, having been in attendance during Monday’s Ubisoft Forward where the first gameplay trailer premiered, I can say for certain I’m not the only one.

]]> Fri, 16 Jun 2023 20:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/assassins-creed-mirage-preview-ubisoft-forward-details/ Remnant 2 was my most-anticipated game heading into Summer Game Fest, and the hands-on demo I played at Play Days didn’t disappoint. It appears to be everything a sequel should be. Refined gameplay, an expanded world, more impressive graphics, and greater ambition. But Remnant 2 also takes a rather bold step away from the approachability of the original in order to explore a deeper loot system that wouldn’t have been possible in Remnant: From the Ashes. It’s a decision that might turn some players off, but as a certified loot goblin, I can’t wait to munch on those sweet, sweet numbies.

]]> Fri, 16 Jun 2023 19:03:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/remnant-2-preview-summer-game-fest/ Park Beyond aims to bring back the theme park builder in a new way. It has two main components: a story-driven campaign mode that sees you build new parks and revive old ones and a sandbox mode where you can create the theme park of your dreams, with or without restrictions and goals. There’s a point-and-click style coaster building interface, and each ride has two versions, a regular ride, and an Impossified version.

]]> Fri, 16 Jun 2023 17:30:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/park-beyond-review-pc/ It is always wise to be skeptical of a new Sonic game. Over the last 30 years the Sonic series has been batting about 100, and that’s if you’re being extremely generous. 2017’s Sonic Mania proved that there’s still creative space left to explore in the world of 2D Sonic games, and that fans still have an appetite for classic Sonic. Now, Balan Wonderworld studio Arzest is hoping to recapture the golden era of Sonic in the upcoming co-op-focused Sonic Superstars. Writing that sentence gave me acid reflux, but luckily, actually playing the game didn’t.

]]> Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:10:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/sonic-superstars-preview-summer-game-fest/ Powerwash Simulator is one of those games that seems super niche and kind of basic until you find out that it has one of the most dedicated hardcore fanbases out there. TheGamer staff is serious about it too, both because of its therapeutic effects and its recently discovered crossover potential (more on that in a bit). Unfortunately, I’ve never been bitten by the high-pressure hose bug. I understand the appeal, I totally get why my colleagues are all obsessed, but it only takes a few minutes to make me feel like I got my fill of Powerwash Simulator. I don’t need to spend an hour hosing down Croft Manor, I get it.

]]> Thu, 15 Jun 2023 23:21:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/powerwash-simulator-vr-preview/ Viewfinder is one of those technical marvels that doesn’t seem like it should be possible. It’s a first-person puzzle game that uses forced perspective and non-Euclidean geometry as a gimmick, similar to what we’ve seen before in Superliminal, Manifold Garden, Antichamber, and even Portal, but the freedom it gives players to create their own solutions to each puzzle make it feel like a revolutionary step forward for this style of mind-bending puzzle game. I was incredibly impressed by what I played at Summer Game Fest’s Play Day last weekend, and even though the demo is only about 10 minutes long, I felt like I had a decent grasp on what Viewfinder is and how it's supposed to work. As is often the case though, once the speedrunning community got its hands on the game, it quickly turned into something else entirely.

]]> Thu, 15 Jun 2023 22:30:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/viewfinder-preview-summer-game-fest/ Foamstars was the first game I played at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days last weekend, and it definitely started the event off on the right foot - and not just because Square Enix had an open bar. Game journalists come from all walks of life, but one thing we have in common is that we will get fiercely competitive over any game you put in front of us. I had never met the seven other people playing Foamstars with me, but by the third round we were all screaming at each other and threatening to end each other’s lives in foamy suffocation. I have a lot of doubts about Foamstars' ability to compete in the live-service team-based shooter space, but I still had a blast playing it. It’s too bad everyone can’t have the experience of playing Foamstars live in a room full of aggro game journos, because I have a feeling this game is going to get lost in the sea of established online shooters immediately.

]]> Thu, 15 Jun 2023 21:47:09 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/foamstars-could-be-great-but-it-doesnt-have-a-chance/ Before I started playing Layers of Fear, I was confused about what it even is. Given that the new release from Anshar Studios and Bloober Team shares a title with the series’ first entry from 2016, you might expect a remake or a reboot. It’s kind of both, with a sequel wrapped in too.

]]> Thu, 15 Jun 2023 16:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/layers-of-fear-2023-review-bloober-team/ The moment I finished Return to Grace, I fought the urge to dive back in and play it again. It wouldn’t have taken me very long – it only takes three hours, the perfect length for a post-work gaming session – and it was clear that playing differently would unlock a different ending. Mine was poignant, thought-provoking, and bittersweet, but I wanted to know what would’ve happened if I had taken more risks or chosen the easier, faster solution when presented with two options. The beauty of Return to Grace is that the story is compelling enough that I wouldn’t have minded immediately reliving it. In fact, its narrative tides it through many of its less refined moments.

]]> Tue, 13 Jun 2023 14:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/return-to-grace-review/ Life/farming sims are the game equivalent of easy-listening music. Though I’m content with the same old basics when done well, I still appreciate it when a life sim puts a fresh spin on things, like by throwing loveable dinosaurs into the mix. Paleo Pines makes even the most ferocious carnivores look adorable with bright colours, soft features, and big puppy eyes that melt your heart.

]]> Mon, 12 Jun 2023 13:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/paleo-pines-preview/ A pet peeve of mine in any farming sim is juggling between multiple tools in quick succession. You have to clear the ground, till the soil, plant the seeds, and then water the saplings. While I realise one tool couldn’t possibly encompass all of this, it gets tedious when you’re flipping in and out of inventories or blitzing through buttons to find the tool you need.

]]> Fri, 09 Jun 2023 22:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/fae-farm-preview/ There’s something uneasy about extraterrestrial life. The idea of a more powerful and intelligent life form that’s not only out there, but is actively watching us from afar. At a glance, Greyhill Incident appears to capture this, pulling from that X-Files-eque sect of media culture that we seldom see in modern gaming. But you can’t trust everything ‘The Man’ tells you, can you? Beneath the deep state, the truth is out there: this game is a terrible, frustrating mess.

]]> Fri, 09 Jun 2023 15:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/greyhill-incident-review/ When Lies of P was first revealed back in 2021, pretty much everyone compared it to Bloodborne. It was easy to see why, since the dark, horror-filled streets of Krat shared more than a few similarities with the gore-covered streets of Yharnam. Its inspirations are clear from the get-go, but mimicking a game as highly regarded and beloved as Bloodborne would always run the risk of setting expectations far too high. Thankfully, Lies of P is on track to be a great spiritual successor, one that will unlikely reach the heights of its inspiration, but will scratch an itch that Bloodborne fans have had for quite some time.

]]> Thu, 08 Jun 2023 19:59:47 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/lies-of-p-preview/ Stories about fate are often nihilistic by nature. The very idea of fate suggests we have predetermined paths to walk down, and can either submit to them and accept that nothing we do ultimately matters as it has all been decided by a deity above us, or rebel against that notion and try to seize control via destruction, which may have been our fate all along. Fate, at its heart, is a hopeless concept. How fitting then that I often felt bereft of hope while making my way through Harmony: The Fall of Reverie.

]]> Thu, 08 Jun 2023 17:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/harmony-fall-of-the-reverie-review/ As a lifelong Diablo degenerate, my first few hours with Diablo 4 were marred by confusion, frustration, and minor bouts of rage. It felt like everything I did was harder than it needed to be, and I couldn’t understand why so many things seemed intentionally designed to slow me down.

]]> Tue, 06 Jun 2023 20:47:25 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/diablo-4-review/ As I make my way through the desolate corridors of a World War 1 bunker, I glimpse a locked door before me. In previous Amnesia games, this would send me on a wild goose chase for a nearby key or alternate route, but in Amnesia: The Bunker, a locked door is an obstacle that can be tackled in myriad different ways.

]]> Mon, 05 Jun 2023 13:34:47 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/amnesia-the-bunker-review/ Immortals of Aveum wants so badly to be Doom Eternal, and at times it almost pulls it off. When I’m darting around an arena slinging spells and trying to outmaneuver a horde of evil wizards, it’s the same kind of frantic, adrenaline-infused experience the modern Doom games are known for. Combat is similarly puzzle-like with a skosh of resource management. Hurling the right spell at the right time to shatter your enemies’ defenses is the key to managing the battlefield, and spending mana efficiently can be the difference between easily controlling the crowd and getting overwhelmed. But unlike Doom, Immortals overloaded me with more abilities than my mind - or keyboard - could handle. The momentum of magical battles and the constant splash of colorful particle effects makes Immortal shine in trailers and livestreams, but it doesn’t feel as good in the hands as it looks on the screen.

]]> Thu, 01 Jun 2023 20:58:51 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/immortals-of-aveum-preview-weilding-magic-in-the-unweildiest-way/ I have to say this right off the bat: I’m a huge fan of The Expanse. I binged the entire series over lockdown and loved it, although I haven’t read the weighty novels on which the sci-fi show is based. So when I heard that I would be returning to the gritty, pungent, and brutally political world of The Expanse through the realm of video games, my pulse picked up.

]]> Thu, 01 Jun 2023 13:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-expanse-telltale-series-preview/ Try as I might, I’ve always had a tough time getting into Street Fighter. The crunchy core fighting mechanics and focused competitive play should have appealed to me, but just never clicked like I’d hoped. Street Fighter 5 didn’t help, which as my entry point into the franchise also doubled as one of the most empty and soulless launches I’ve ever seen. For years, I was hesitant to trust Ryu with my wallet ever again.

]]> Tue, 30 May 2023 07:00:07 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/street-fighter-6-review/ As I round the corner of the dilapidated building I spot the last remaining enemy, a lone caster. Elvis and Diggs are injured, just out of range on the other side of the road, and only sniper-extraordinaire and general badass Jade remains. As ever in Miasma Chronicles, there’s a choice to be made. Do I cross the road and revive a teammate or take a shot at the caster from behind this wall?

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 16:46:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/miasma-chronicles-review-pc/ System Shock is one of the most important games ever released. It put the immersive sim genre on the map, and without it, we’d likely never have had many of today’s all-timers, like Thief, Deus Ex, BioShock, Portal, Dead Space, Dishonored, and Prey.

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 12:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/system-shock-remake-review/ Gollum is a pitiful creature. Not wholly evil but definitely not nice, his fate is cruelly tied to that of the Ring, his dedication to which forces him from Mordor to mountain cave and back again. Possibly the most interesting character in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, many will immediately associate him with Andy Serkis’ scene-stealing mo-cap performance in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. But it’s high time the creature gets another shot.

]]> Thu, 25 May 2023 08:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-review/ Before Telltale hit the jackpot with The Walking Dead, it had Poker Night At The Inventory. Ostensibly a poker game, it was instead more of a stage for its various crossover characters to perform; seeing the Heavy from TF2 bounce off Max from Sam & Max, Strong Bad, and Tycho from the Penny Arcade webcomic was awesome. I’ve always been surprised that, other than a single sequel a few years later, Poker Night At The Inventory didn’t cast a larger shadow.

]]> Wed, 24 May 2023 13:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/sunshine-shuffle-review/ Games Workshop has licensed its IP to a wide variety of video games over the past few years, which have served to expand its universe and interpretations of its characters far beyond the tabletop game. It kicked off a little earlier, with Space Marine, a pretty standard third-person action affair akin to a movie tie-in, but soon expanded its horizons with three Total War: Warhammer entries.

]]> Tue, 23 May 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/warhammer-40000-boltgun-review/ Video games don't always have a lot to say. They may have characters that go on epic struggles or a mighty quest of good versus evil, but on the whole, they comment on the world around them far less than cinema does. That's why it's so refreshing to play a game like After Us, and so disappointing that it cannot carry out its vision. A platformer set against the backdrop of a world turned to ruin, it wants to speak up on issues with the modern world but rarely musters an original thought, while using gameplay as little more than thin glue to hold these trite observations together.

]]> Tue, 23 May 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/after-us-review/ Samba De Amigo: Party Central took me back in time, to a simpler place where shaking the controllers around as a cutesy mascot struts their stuff on screen was enough to get by. But it isn’t 2006 anymore, and it doesn’t take long for the basic mechanics to grow old, even after little more than an hour with this rhythm game revival. With its immediately charming characters and stellar selection of songs there is some appeal here, however the simplicity means Party Central doesn’t always rise to the occasion.

]]> Tue, 23 May 2023 14:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/samba-de-amigo-party-central-preview/ It’s hard to justify Farming Simulator to those who don’t already immediately see the appeal of a game called “Farming Simulator”. When you could be off scrambling around Hyrule, or pulling off heists in Los Santos, why would you want to plough your fields to make sure the wheat is sown in time for the summer?

]]> Tue, 23 May 2023 07:00:19 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/farming-simulator-23-review/ Star Trek Resurgence has an identity problem. It’s a better Star Trek story than it is a Star Trek game, and its most important quality is the fantastic Telltale-esque mechanics. Strangely, it seems to be doing all it can to pretend it's not a narative game at all.

]]> Mon, 22 May 2023 16:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/star-trek-resurgence-review/ Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook opens to a lonely sight. A single adventurer, created by you only moments before, is dying from hunger and thirst. Dauntless, they push on through the mysterious dungeon - the one that was supposed to be an ‘easy outing’. At the end of a tiring journey that has their HP ticking down to single digits thanks to unbearable hunger, they come across a massive carcass. Starving and dehydrated, they eat some of it. Temporarily reinvigorated, it’s not long before they’re then crushed in combat and have to be rescued by some other adventurers, also customised by you. This amuse-bouche of a sequence is effective; it whets the appetite and sets the tone. Monster Menu is not a kind experience. This is a roguelike, not a roguelite, and it expects to be respected as such.

]]> Fri, 19 May 2023 13:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/monster-menu-the-scavengers-cookbook-review/ There’s a scene in Fast X that feels like the series is finally looking at itself in the mirror. The agency that once funded our cavalcade of petrolhead power rangers has turned against our heroes, watching their growth from humble street racers to international crime fighters before a Neon Genesis Evangelion-esque board of faceless executives vote to have them wiped off the face of the planet. All because Jason Momoa tried to nuke the Vatican for a laugh.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 16:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/fast-x-review/ Theme park simulators have been an integral part of my gaming life ever since I was introduced to RollerCoaster Tycoon by the babysitter as a kid. Older classics have undeniable charm and depth, and the newer, more glamorous simulators like Planet Coaster are unbelievable in how minutely you can customise your creations. Park Beyond makes a conscious effort to stand out from the park sims of yore while learning from what made them so compelling. The preview build I played was restricted to a few tutorial levels and a sandbox, but those alone got the game’s message across.

]]> Tue, 16 May 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/park-beyond-preview-2023/ I can’t tell if I’m getting old, but the allure of fancy gaming chairs has been lost on me in recent years. There’s something to be said about how my personality has shifted from radical aesthetics to increased practicality. Basically, I want a chair that is comfortable and doesn’t give me a backache after sitting on it for several hours. I want to be able to buckle down and get to work, and get up for the occasional stretch knowing I won’t immediately collapse into a heap. To mark their anniversary this year, I was able to take one of Flexispot's latest desk chair offerings for a spin.

]]> Tue, 16 May 2023 13:25:51 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/flexispot-bs11-pro-review/ When I played Humanity’s demo in February after it shadow-dropped during a State of Play stream, I was confused as to what point the game was trying to make. Its reveal trailer said only that it was a tale of ‘hope’, ‘conflict’, ‘chaos’, and ‘order’. It seemed to imply that this physics platformer had a larger narrative, but I was concerned about how effectively this could be expressed without feeling hamfisted. Unfortunately, my fears were very much founded – but that doesn’t make for a bad game.

]]> Mon, 15 May 2023 16:01:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/humanity-review/ These days, Lego is playing by the book more than ever. You buy a set that's designed to be the Death Star or The Shire or the Infinity Gauntlet, you follow the instructions, and at the end you get exactly what you asked for. Lego 2K Drive is a strange beast in this world. It feels a little bit like the devs have poured all three of these pre-made kits into a box, tossed out the instructions, and started building from scratch. What we have here is a game that is full of charm, a little bit chaotic, but ultimately doesn't know what it wants to be.

]]> Mon, 15 May 2023 15:31:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/lego-2k-drive-review/ Princess Zelda has constructed a series of solemn memorials across Hyrule after the defeat of Calamity Ganon. These stone slabs hold only a single sentence and a solitary flower atop the cobblestone. While insignificant, stumbling across these monuments on your journey is a reminder of all that’s been lost, and what Link and company are still fighting for.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 12:00:36 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-review/ Afterimage is a sprawling 2D Metroidvania that, at times, feels like it goes on forever in all directions. The problem is that it's almost impossible to know which of those directions you should be headed.

]]> Wed, 10 May 2023 17:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/afterimage-review/ Two minutes after launching Peridot, I knew it was something special. The game wastes no time in hatching your first dot, and no sooner had I laid eyes on my adorable little cuddle bug - a sparkly, cheetah-printed creature I named Shoosh - than I started sending pictures of it to all my friends. Peridot’s adorable interactive creatures are the culmination of all of Niantic’s AR work on Pokemon GO, but with a focus on Tamagotchi-style pet maintenance and social media engagement. The built-in photo mode and GIF creator make it incredibly easy to take fun pictures with your dot and share them with the world, so Twitter is already full of free marketing for the game. I could easily see Peridot taking off and becoming a phenomenon this summer, but as it stands the game is a little too confusing, and way too expensive, to be a breakout hit the way Pokemon Go was in 2016.

]]> Tue, 09 May 2023 20:31:50 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/peridot-review/ During the first moments of Warframe’s The New War, Ballas severs the Lotus’ hand and impales the main character, leaving them adrift in the endless Void. At the same time, in another plane of existence, that severed hand arrives just as the Drifter is going to be executed.

]]> Mon, 08 May 2023 15:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/warframe-the-duviri-paradox-review/ As I walk through the luscious halls of Herta Space Station, my attention is diverted to a roundtable with a faint glimmer upon it, emanating from a small computer. I quickly sprint over and interact with it, only for the game to suddenly describe how my character feels anxious and is compelled to act. Instead of saving the world of springing into action like a typical hero, I use this cute little monitor to schedule a meeting.

]]> Mon, 08 May 2023 14:30:13 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/honkai-star-rail-review/ Some people expect reviews to be objective and unbiased, as if the reviewer is little more than a robot programmed to scientifically assess the quality of a game. AI-generated game reviews may be on the horizon, God help us, but in the meantime the best I can do is be honest about my biases as a critic reviewing the woefully underdeveloped Redfall.

]]> Wed, 03 May 2023 19:59:34 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/redfall-review/ Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is caught between two worlds. On one hand, it tells an intimate, well-crafted story of low yet meaningful stakes that pulls you into Cal's reality and provides an antidote for the much bigger, much more reckless and aimless Star Wars stories Disney has been leaning on. On the other, it tries to rebel against this by offering up an open world to lose yourself in. For some, it will be a perfect compromise, but this identity crisis, several performance issues, and far too many niggling annoyances leave the game short of greatness, and not even the extended grasp of the Force can pull it closer.

]]> Tue, 02 May 2023 13:11:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/star-wars-jedi-survivor-review/ Isolation can push us to do things we never would have dreamed of doing before. It changes our outlook on life, and lets us hyper-focus on all our past mistakes. As a result, our personality and behaviour often changes, sometimes pushing us to drastic measures. Would you ever consider casting a forbidden spell to summon and make a pact with a behemoth? Well, you haven’t met Fortuna yet.

]]> Thu, 27 Apr 2023 15:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-cosmic-wheel-sisterhood-preview-interview/ In my most recent Age of Wonders 4 campaign, what started out as a peaceful era of expansion and harmony turned quickly into a bloodbath when Dafal Dea, the snide toad ruler from across the sea, insulted my attempts to be friends with the numerous city-states around us. You see, I’d been eyeing up his land for some time now, as it would secure me a foothold on the other continent. It’s shocking how easily the bloodlust takes you in a game like this.

]]> Thu, 27 Apr 2023 13:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/age-of-wonders-4-review/ I walked down the sandy capitalist dunes of Santa Monica Pier in Dead Island 2 for a solid hour and not a single dude tried to sell me his mixtape. A few zombies tried to tear my guts out and were met with a polite dismemberment, but otherwise Dambuster Studio’s rendition of the City of Angels is arguably more peaceful than the real thing. The apocalypse slowed traffic to a standstill and you can actually walk everywhere, albeit with the threat of imminent death looming overhead. No changes there then.

]]> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 20:31:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/dead-island-2-review/ Humanity is a very unsettling game. The premise of the puzzler is simple - you must create a path from the start of a stage capable of reaching the end, employing techniques like jumping, climbing, and swimming, while also flicking switches to manipulate pathways and find new routes to avoid potential dangers. Problem is that you're not controlling something inanimate like a ball, or a single loveable character who pops right back onto the screen if you accidentally make them fall off the edge, but a herd of mindless humans who will tumble off the edges of buildings lifelessly at your command. But then, maybe that's less of a problem and more of the point.

]]> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 16:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/humanity-preview/ Cassette Beasts is a game made for me. First of all, I love Pokemon (totally unique, right?), which Cassette Beasts lovingly riffs off. Secondly, I’ve been asking for a return to 2D Pokemon games for ages. Thirdly, I grew up on the mythical Wirral peninsula, which the game’s region New Wirral is clearly named after thanks to the developers’ similar heritage. There’s more connections, but all you need to know is that this is a game made for me.

]]> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 15:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/cassette-beasts-review-the-most-innovative-pokemon-like-in-years/ The stories parents tell their children differ across the globe, and some are as old as words themselves. From the boogeyman to Hansel and Gretel, these stories change and evolve over time, sometimes becoming dark and twisted. Bramble: The Mountain King captures the unsettling feeling of a story whispered in your ear. It’s ethereal, haunting, and once or twice, I said “Oh my god” out loud. Under my breath, of course, in case there were any monsters listening from underneath my bed.

]]> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 13:00:20 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/bramble-the-mountain-king-review/ It’s understandable that Stranded: Alien Dawn has been compared to Rimworld. Most colony simulators, in one way or another, are compared to Rimworld. You crash-land on an alien planet with nothing but your wrecked ship and a few measly supplies - rations, medicine, maybe a weapon or two, and then you need to lead your small group of survivors to self-sustainability and survival.

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2023 16:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/stranded-alien-dawn-review/ Miasma Chronicles is both incredibly familiar and entirely unique in its execution. The tactical RPG adventure is set in a post-apocalyptic world that feels simultaneously held together and torn apart by a unique substance known as the Miasma.

]]> Mon, 24 Apr 2023 17:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/miasma-chronicles-preview/ Horizon Forbidden West was a much bigger journey for Aloy than Zero Dawn, and to see her grow alongside friends close to her, both new and old, gave us so many more reasons to care. While Burning Shores might not make huge leaps and strides beyond the base game, it does give us a deeper and more significant look into Aloy as a person, and concludes in what I consider a new high point for the series.

]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:01:21 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/horizon-forbidden-west-burning-shores-review/ I never thought I’d be shouting at my monitor for an elephant to get off a button, but then I didn’t know what to expect from Pastagames’ KarmaZoo. It’s a quirky pixel platformer with two to ten players working together to complete a set of levels called a loop. Each player starts as a little blob that can jump and sing, but completing levels together earns you karma points to purchase better avatars and abilities.

]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/karmazoo-preview/ The first Coffee Talk launched to overwhelmingly positive reception from players, with many praising its charming fantasy characters, beautiful pixel-shaded art and soothing music. With a January 2020 launch date, it was an unexpectedly perfect game to pass a few hours while isolating in the early days of the pandemic. I remember how as the first inklings of loneliness started kicking in, I drew my curtains and got lost in the world of Coffee Talk. I brewed coffees and teas for my customers, learning about their lives in the process. I talked through their problems with them. It felt like an escape.

]]> Wed, 19 Apr 2023 14:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/coffee-talk-episode-2-hibiscus-butterfly-review/ Advance Wars is a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch, and it’s hard to believe it has taken the series this long to make the jump. Obviously it couldn’t have predicted Russia invading Ukraine, but even without that context the franchise has been on ice for decades.

]]> Wed, 19 Apr 2023 13:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/advance-wars-1-2-re-boot-camp-review/ It’s amazing how quickly The Mageseeker pulls you in. Before you finish the prologue, you’ll have all the skills you need to unleash brutal combos with your chains, gracefully dance around your enemies’ attacks, and steal their magic to fling back at them. No matter how many hundreds of monsters and mageseekers I killed, I never tired of using those simple combat skills you’re taught in the first five minutes. There are ways in which The Mageseeker doesn’t quite reach its full potential, but after spending 15 hours waging bloody war against mystical fascists, my only real complaint is that it left me wanting more.

]]> Wed, 19 Apr 2023 02:58:28 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-mageseeker-review/ As much as I love games with evocative narratives, moreish gameplay, or challenges that push me to the point of frustration, sometimes I just want something a little more mellow. A game that’s so laid back that you can pick it up and play whenever the feeling takes you without worrying about where you were or what you were doing.

]]> Tue, 18 Apr 2023 17:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/townseek-wasd-preview/ The Library of Babel is a stealth platformer inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ story of the same name. In short, the story discusses ideas of the infinite, and the paradoxical nature of life. The developers, Tanuki Game Studio, cite Apocalypse Now and a manga named Pluto as major inspirations as well. Unfortunately, despite drawing on so many sources – or perhaps because of it – The Library of Babel doesn’t seem inspired at all.

]]> Mon, 17 Apr 2023 17:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-library-of-babel-review/ I have a complicated relationship with Star Wars. Thankfully, mine doesn’t involve harassing actors or fancying Jar Jar Binks, but it does mean watching everything in the series even though I know most aren’t very good. For every great bit of Star Wars media like the original trilogy, Revenge of the Sith, The Last Jedi, and The Mandalorian, there are stinkers like The Rise of Skywalker, The Book of Boba Fett, and Attack of the Clones.

]]> Fri, 14 Apr 2023 12:10:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/star-wars-jedi-survivor-preview/ You’re busy exploring a cave, minding your own business and mining away before three energetic god-like beings pluck you from the underground to fight in a war against the invading Piglins. I didn’t sign up for this, but it’s at least something to do while the pork chops cook. The signature creativity Minecraft players are known for is why they picked you—you have the imagination needed to lead this new world to victory. It’s a shame then that Minecraft Legends doesn’t let you do much with it.

]]> Fri, 14 Apr 2023 07:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/minecraft-legends-review/ Whenever you go to gaming conventions, there’s generally that one game that is always packed with people waiting to play it. You either have to get to that booth as soon as the doors open, or stand there camping out in the queue like it’s Splash Mountain. At WASD this year, that game was Paper Trail.

]]> Thu, 13 Apr 2023 17:54:37 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/paper-trail-preview-wasd/ I went into Tron: Identity with a lot of patience. I adore the original Tron movie and often forgotten game sequel Tron 2.0, so while I wasn’t as fond of Legacy, I have a lot of time for spinoffs like Uprising and even the likes of the janky Tron Evolution.

]]> Tue, 11 Apr 2023 17:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tron-identity-review/ When it comes to goblins, what do you normally think of? The bad guys? Creepy little green men who attack the heroic warriors? Goblin Stone shirks these stereotypes by putting these goofy green guys in the role of the heroes, as once valiant adventurers become the baddies. You’ll find yourself leading a little troupe of adorable, large-nosed goblins to victory as they attempt to save their nearly-extinct species from certain doom.

]]> Mon, 10 Apr 2023 16:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/goblin-stone-preview-wasd/ Metroidvanias are the backbone of the indie space. At PAX East last month, PID Games successfully made the argument why the genre has a spine strong enough to support the medium.

]]> Sat, 08 Apr 2023 17:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/vernal-edge-elypse-plug-in-digital-metroidvanias/ On paper, Curse of the Sea Rats has everything I love in a Metroidvania. It looks stunning, has a huge world to explore, and plenty of upgrades to experiment with. In the right light, it even manages to resemble something of a compelling game as I spend ages exploring a mixture of gorgeous caves and tombs.

]]> Fri, 07 Apr 2023 14:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/curse-of-the-sea-rats-review/