Welcome to the abyss. This moonbase megastructure was abandoned after being consumed by a force known as The Scourge. Now a prison, those incarcerated can knock a few years off their stay by taking on missions considered too dangerous for anyone else. This proposition tempts our heroine, Fawkes, a jailbird with a hefty sentence. It …
There’s something very appealing about slot machine roguelikes. The mechanics of a gambling device translate well to the genre, lining up matching reels perfectly either for a huge payout or a damaging blow. The flashing lights, pitched sound effects, and chinking of coins are all pleasing to the senses too. Recently, CloverPit and Luck Be …
Back in 2021, the relaxed town-building art tool (of sorts) Townscaper hit PC and Switch, and more crucially, Xbox Game Pass. Now, five years later, comes SUMMERHOUSE – a similar chilled experience centred around creating cosy neighbourhoods, with a special focus on sun-drenched locations. While it isn’t available on Game Pass, which is the ideal …
Many indie games in the roguelike genre can be considered unassuming. Rune Dice fits that bill, predominantly featuring a single screen consisting of a dice pit and little else. The same could also be said for the smash hit Vampire Survivors, with its diminutive crudely animated sprites. It’s not until playing these games for a …
Without wanting to sound like a broken record, there was a time in the late ‘90s and early noughties when 2D visuals had fallen out of fashion. Some ‘90s critics even scoffed at the PS1 and Saturn versions of In The Hunt – a precursor to the almighty Metal Slug, sporting a similar art direction. …
Do you believe it’s okay to judge someone entirely on their taste in music? American teen Stacy Rockford thinks so. She also believes that life should be accompanied by a bespoke soundtrack, full of transcendent highs and melancholy lows. When the time comes to move home and say farewell to her closest friends – the …
I can’t remember exactly what I was into at the age of five, but if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say the delightfully clashing worlds of He-Man and Postman Pat. As for video games, I almost certainly knew of them, but still had a couple of years to go until owning a vastly …
You may have a good idea of what to expect from something called Priest Simulator. We’re going to be listening to confessions, standing solemnly at funerals, putting on fundraisers to fix the church roof, and performing exorcisms, right? Well…yes. But you also play as a demonic vampire who finds themselves caught in a holy war …
Long time PlayStation fans may recall Namco’s Cyber Sled – an arcade sci-fi tank shooter that came to Sony’s brand spanking new console not long after the publisher’s own Ridge Racer. While Cyber Sled will likely gain an Arcade Archives re-release at some point, Hamster has chosen to release this 1994 follow-up first. Considering Cyber …
Even though I worked weekends at a newsagent while in college, I was a little worried that inKONBINI’s unique brand of nostalgia would be lost on me. It takes place in a Japanese convenience store during late 1993, and as such, features products and imagery inspired by that era – from magazine racks lined with …
The name “Adorable Adventures” may not inspire much confidence, sounding uncannily similar to Switch eShop shovelware, but you only need to play it for a minute or two – or perhaps even just glance at the screenshots – to discover that it has been blessed with a modest budget. This is evident not just in …
True to its name, this Lovecraftian-inspired horror commences on a shoreline. Setting the tone of dread and despair, the shore is peppered with wreckage from small fishing boats, skeletal remains from former crew included. Such sights no longer faze protagonist Andrew, the last inhabitant of this accursed island. Every attempt to return home has resulted …
When Vampire Survivors launched to critical acclaim, it ushered in a wave of imitators. The first of these weren’t up to much, cobbled together with various recycled assets and mostly relying on their themes (sci-fi, primaeval, steampunk, etc) to stand out. Today, things are a bit different. The roguelike auto-shooter genre has proven itself not …
When the all-conquering PlayStation launched in 1994, it arrived with some of the most impressive games around. By the time it was superseded by its successor and entering its twilight years, circa 2003, the release roster couldn’t have been more different. Amongst the tired annual sports updates, Platinum reissues, and the moderately big name releases …
Due to being described as a retro style survival horror, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from Malformation Games’ debut release. While it definitely makes good on its promise to provide an experience recalling Capcom’s 32-bit era horrors – with a little bit of Silent Hill and Parasite Eve …