While playing this magical realm reviving third-person adventure, a sense of warm familiarity soon emerges. Not so much the fact that Kena first launched on PS5 in 2021 – with this review being of the belated Xbox version – but rather that it feels like an amalgam of similar games. It arguably knows where to …
Around twenty years ago, a fellow gamer asked me to look out for a reasonably priced copy of Tomba. Some two decades later, it’s a request I’ve been unable to fulfil. Since vanishing from store shelves in the late ‘90s, Tomba (and its 1998 sequel) have been tricky to track down. Although they were published …
A few things about this side-scrolling survival adventure are immediately obvious, such as the fantasy setting and its resource gathering/crafting elements. These two features alone are enough to draw early comparisons, with it resembling the 16-bit renditions of Castlevania – even having a vampire-esque character within its playable character pool – but playing more like …
In 2002 the shooter genre was in a pretty good place. We’d just had a double-whammy of Halo and Metroid Prime, while the PS2’s Medal of Honor: Frontline set the foundations for a new wave of WWII based titles. Over on PC, the influences of 1998’s Half-Life were still being felt. The PlayStation 2 was …
With so many of Capcom’s recent titles setting tills ringing – or whatever the digital storefront equivalent is – it isn’t a huge surprise to see new IP on the agenda. Chances are the coffers were full enough to allow for a smaller, more experimental, project. Sorry, Mega Man, Onimusha, and Dino Crisis fans – …
The sights and sounds (maybe even the smells) emanating from an old timely inn must be beyond compare. Imagine the mixture of gallant soldiers returning from or heading to war, a rotation of ladies of the night, flea-bitten beggars, and wanted men or varying notoriety passing through the doors. Rather than lean into the aspect …
Well, this is uncanny. This school management sim bears a startling resemblance to Two Point Campus, especially when it comes to planning and decorating rooms. Be sure to add a window and a radiator, along with a plant or rubbish bin. Indeed, certain aspects are almost identical – it’s just like revisiting Two Point Campus, …
This short top-down 2D adventure game is styled like an original Game Boy title. You play as the eponymous Cat, as it tries to brighten the boy’s mood following his parent’s divorce. It’s clearly a very personal tale to the solo developer behind the project. The Cat, called Midnight, wanders around the house and interacts …
Where does your soul live? Philosophers and theologians have grappled with the question since ancient times, but SCHiM knows the answer: it’s in your shadow, and it’s called a schim. What’s more, if you lose it, you’re going to have a pretty bleak time. That exact calamity befalls your human early in the game, and …
After establishing a new eatery in town, Flora is out to make a name for herself. In addition to being creative when it comes to cuisine, she’s also a fledgling witch keen to learn the ways of brewing magical elixirs. Fortunately, an opportunity to become an understudy soon arises, with Flora’s arrival piquing the interest …
Tap the fire button in this vertical shooter, and you’ll hear a familiar sound – the distinct click of a firearm with an empty ammo clip. That’s because every shot fired in Retaliate must be absorbed by activating a shield first. This fills a gauge not just with bullets, but also later missiles and mines …
Even within the pages of charmingly garish ‘90s video game mags, HOT-B’s Steel Empire stood out. Shoot’em ups set in space were par for the course for the Mega Drive, yet here was something daring to be different, featuring a bi-plane and a zeppelin battling steam-powered contraptions using bullets and lightning-based bombs. Not even the …
Like many examples of the genre, this vertical bullet hell shoot’em up has a tutorial. Nothing usual there, apart from the fact that it explicitly tells you to figure out a crucial mechanic for yourself. This results in a turbulent introduction phrase, not helped by the fact that RPM plays differently from many shooters out …
On first glance, Satryn DX doesn’t appear to offer anything resoundingly new. It’s a twin-stick shooter in which you manoeuvre a teal-coloured warrior around single screen arenas, blasting tiny pixel art enemies and saving blob-like creatures. When all enemies are defeated, you’re transported to the next area – with a flashy blink-and-you’ll-miss-it primary-coloured transition screen. …
If you’re wondering why we’re reviewing something called ‘Princess Maker’ the chances are you’re unfamiliar with the game’s history. This life simulation was a hit on Japanese computers in 1993 before gaining a release on the 3DO, Saturn and Dreamcast exclusively in that region. When the import scene for the Saturn and Dreamcast took off …