Matt Gander 
After waking in a blood splattered prison cell, you’re presented with a slot machine and informed that to earn your freedom you’ll need to win big, reaching increasingly exorbitant debt deadlines to survive. That’s the premise for CloverPit, a new gambling themed escape room roguelike influenced by Vampire Survivors just as much as the poker …
October saw a glut of horror games primed for spooky season, varying from psychological thrillers that delve into the protagonist’s psyche, to more fantastical themed endeavours borrowing from the works of Lovecraft. Few can compare conceptually to QUByte’s Saborus though, which puts a spin on the genre by placing you in control of a chicken …
It seems that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 really isn’t performing as well as Activision hoped. It’s no longer no.1 in this week’s all formats UK retail chart. It isn’t at #2 either, outsold by both the returning chart topper EA Sports FC 26 and the Switch 2’s Mario Kart World. Instead, Call of …
It’s the calm before next week’s new release storm. As alluded to a few weeks ago, November is quieter than usual, and this week is evidence of that. Xbox Wire seems to believe Terminator 2D: No Fate is due this week, but they’re just behind the times – it has had a revised mid-December release …
Even with hardware able to effortlessly throw around countless detailed 2D sprites, it’s still easy to imagine making a visually spectacular run ‘n gunner is a tall order. To fulfil that quota, lengthy scrolling stages require rich and varied backdrops with minimal repetition. At the same time, backdrops can’t be too busy, or the risk …
Poncle, creators of the smash hit Vampire Survivors, are currently working on something that can be considered a sequel. To keep us hooked until then, a dungeon crawling spin-off is underway, with development beginning around the time VS took off. Set in the same universe, ergo featuring many characters, weapons and other elements from the …
Just two new releases make an appearance in this week’s UK retail (physical) chart. One sits astride the top 40, while the other only just manages to scrape in. It’s the annual military shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 that rules the roost, topping the all formats chart along with the PS4, PS5 …
Kirby games tend to release towards the end of a Nintendo platform’s life, offering carefree experiences aimed at a more casual and less-discerning audience. This stance has changed over the years however, with the best example of this being this week’s Kirby Air Riders, launching barely six months into the Switch 2’s lifecycle. While …
Back when the Switch made its debut it was speculated that 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot – originally released on Xbox 360 and PS3 to critical acclaim – would appear on the then new-fangled hybrid console. It has taken several more years than anticipated, but finally the day has come. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is available …
One of 2023’s highest rated indies was DREDGE, a compelling and bleak (or compellingly bleak) fishing sim with an unmistakable Lovecraftian influence. Imagine, if you can, a side story set in the same universe, only you play as a hardworking lighthouse keeper instead of a humble fisherman. That’s Static Dread: The Lighthouse in a nutshell, …
2003’s ghoulish strategy game Ghost Master – known as Ghost Master: The Gravenville Chronicles on consoles – is about to gain a new Unreal Engine 5 powered remake. The original was (ahem) a spiritual successor of sorts to EA’s Haunting: Starring Polterguy, in which you must scare the bejesus out of groups of citizens. It had …
Nintendo has spent the last few months pointing out the difference between Mario Kart World and Kirby Air Riders, clearing up any potential confusion as to why two character-driven racers are launching on a system barely six months old. The main reason appears to be that Kirby Air Riders is more combat oriented, with a …
For the past few years, two new Evercade cartridges have launched every two months. This month however the moons have aligned, and five new cartridges are due on 28th November – an amount not seen since the retro-dedicated format launched in 2020. There is a reason behind this surprise glut. NeoGeo Arcade 2 and NeoGeo Arcade 3 …
The Switch 2 has found itself between two major first-party releases, with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment having just launched and Kirby Air Riders out next Thursday. Things might be patchy on the PS5 and Xbox this winter, but Switch owners are definitely “eating good” – and Metroid Prime 4 is still to come. The …
By the mid ‘90s Namco knew how to woo arcade goers, creating games that were simple to grasp yet had a degree of depth, while also sporting flashy visuals and perhaps a cabinet with a gimmick or two. The stakes were reasonably high at the time, with the PS1 and Saturn close to matching the …