What I love most about Otome games is how varied they are. You’d think that once you’d played one dating sim with a cast of hunks to choose from you’d have seen all the appeal this genre has to offer, but there are so many creative settings where you can find love. From Feudal Japan to drama school, I’ve been on dates in all sorts of wacky and wonderful scenarios. Radiant Tale caught my attention immediately with a setting that is near and dear to my heart, the circus.

In the fantasy world of Escholtia, a tragedy has happened. The crown prince has fallen into a mysterious slumber, and no healing spells or medicine has been able to cure him. Magic flowers called Chloris that bloom when people are happy will apparently do the trick though, and under the orders of the king a group of traveling performers called CIRCUS have been assigned to travel the land and spread joy to help heal the prince.

Our protagonist Tifalia doesn’t have any special skills to help with this mission, she’s just a humble barmaid at her aunt’s tavern in the capital city. She’s always dreamt of life outside the walls of this urban locale, but knows her family would struggle without her. Well when one of the performers falls on her from the sky it sets into motion a chain of events that’ll change her humdrum existence forever.

As you can probably imagine, the circus is a place with a rather diverse cast of characters. There’s the fabulous ringmaster, the fearsome warrior and the man who can transform into a dragon at will. Yes the world of Radiant Tales contains creatures who can switch between various animals and humans at will, which as you can imagine goes down a treat in the big top. Between this and the characters who can cast magic, a bit of juggling just isn’t going to cut it around these parts.

One aspect of Radiant Tale that really impressed me was the journey that you and the other characters go on. As this merry band of misfits travels on their royal quest, they’ll visit all the major cities of the continent from the dangerous city of gladiators where only the strong survive to the beautiful city on the water famed for its artistic spirit. In each location you’ll have to figure out what makes the people tick, and tailor your show accordingly. This loop of learning about the city (and often one or two of your characters who have history in the location of the day) is really engaging, and when the show starts and the gang succeed in blooming more flowers it’s hard not to feel happy for them.

At its core Radiant Tale is a pretty straightforward dating sim, with a handful of characters to romance. To get close to one of the talented lads you’ll need to spend time with them, which generally involves selecting them at one of the moments in the story where you’re free to explore a city with a partner. Then you’ll have a bit of time together promoting the circus or learning about the locals, during which you’ll be presented with a couple of conversation options. Picking the one that resonates most with your current love interest will help you grow closer to them, and if you do this enough you’ll end up happily ever after together. It’s a simple way to make the game a little more interactive, but don’t expect anything more in depth than that.

The love interests are all delightful though, and have surprisingly deep backstories that I really connected with. On my first playthrough I fell for the beautiful blue haired boy with a heart of gold, who it didn’t take long to discover was hiding a few shocking secrets. I wasn’t disappointed romancing any of the cast, and each playthrough just made me love the ragtag performing troupe even more as I got to know them better.

Once you’ve completed your first playthrough you’ll unlock the ability to fast forward scenes you’ve seen before (which is really handy) and can blitz through to see what happens when you fall in love with someone else. The first playthrough took me around ten hours to complete already, so if you start aiming to see all the endings you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck.

Radiant Tale is one of the most charming Otome games I’ve ever played, with a wonderful cast of characters and a colourful setting that couldn’t appeal to me more. If you’re not into text heavy visual novels that don’t expect much from the player then it likely won’t change your opinion of the genre, but the rest of us will be too busy smooching the clown to care.

The post Radiant Tale review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

It feels like we’re currently in a golden age of puzzle gaming, but this isn’t the first time that puzzle games have taken the world by storm. Back in the late noughties some genius developers realised that combining match three games with fantasy RPGs could lead to some seriously entertaining games. First came Puzzle Quest, but the game that stole my heart was Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. Even more people will get to try out this fantastic puzzler soon, because Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition is here on modern consoles.

The world of Ashan is under attack from a demonic otherworldly force, and it’s turning the five kingdoms against each other. With all the world leaders brutally murdered by this devilish foe, the only ones left to save the day are their young heirs. You’ll need to gather allies, legendary units and powerful artefacts from across the land if you want to win this war, so get ready for an epic fantasy adventure full of drama and battles.

Each combat encounter in Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes takes place across two halves of the screen, the top half belonging to the enemy and the bottom belonging to you. Both of these areas are filled with coloured units, and on your turn you can pick them up and drop them wherever you want. By lining up three identical units vertically you’ll activate them and a few turns later they’ll charge at the enemy, whereas lining them horizontally will turn them into a defensive wall.

Once a unit has charged up and is ready to attack, it’ll head straight upwards into the enemy forces. If it’s strong enough it’ll take down any walls and units in the way and reach the back of the army and deal damage to the enemy commander. Winning is (usually) as simple as dealing enough damage to reduce their HP to zero, but that’s easier said than done when the enemy is trying to do the same to you.

One way to get the edge over your opponents is to delete individual units to set off chains of matches and gain extra turns. You can also activate units of the same colour at the same time to set up a combo, which powers up the units enabling them to deal more damage. There are a lot of intricacies to this fantasy puzzle game, and you’ll need to keep them in mind if you want to deal some serious damage.

Another thing you’ll need to keep in mind are the differences between each of the units. You’ll start with simple archers that attack really quickly but don’t deal a ton of damage, but soon you’ll get hard hitting bears, soldiers, and even elite units. These special units are way more powerful than the rest of your army, with powerful special abilities like the deer that can jump over enemy walls, or the Treant that drains HP from the enemy and gives it to you. You’ll unlock all sorts of mythical creatures as you play, and can level them up to make them stronger too.

That’s right – Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes isn’t just about puzzle gameplay, it’s a full blown RPG. You’ll gain experience for your general and units after every battle, as well as resources to buy elite units and equipment that will add some interesting passive buffs to your team. The progression is really satisfying, and will ensure you stay interested for the entire lengthy campaign.

The story isn’t just made up of back to back battles either, there’s a world to explore, side quests, puzzles and boss fights packed into the twenty hour runtime. Separated into different chapters where you control different armies, there’s a wonderful amount of variety in this engaging puzzler.

Once you’re finally done with the main campaign, you can head into versus mode and take on bots, local friends or people across the globe. With a variety of different characters and units to use in this competitive mode it’s a blast taking on your friends, and it’s certainly a lot easier than online play was on the DS.

There’s not a whole lot to complain about in Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition, but calling it the definitive edition does feel a bit cheeky. The visual overhaul isn’t exactly jaw dropping, and the additional content is a single piece of non-story DLC. It’s a good job that the game was so good the first time around, and still feels fresh today.

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes – Definitive Edition is a wonderful match three RPG that’s just as good in 2023 as it was in 2009. The army battles are thoughtful and engaging, and the campaign manages to change things up constantly throughout the twenty hour runtime. The Definitive Edition doesn’t add a whole lot of content, but if you missed it the first time around then this is your chance to play a classic that’s aged like a fine wine.

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Puzzle games have been around for decades, but outside of Tetris I don’t think any are as well known as Minesweeper. Installed on all the Windows PCs of our childhood, players were challenged to avoid all the mines on the grid by using numbers on certain squares that told you how many mines were nearby. Now Minesweeper isn’t really as culturally relevant as it once was, but that doesn’t mean its mechanics aren’t worth applying to new titles. Enter Let’s! Revolution!, a combination of Minesweeper, tactics game and Roguelike that is bloody delightful.

The aim of each stage of Let’s! Revolution! is to find the king who is hiding and chase him off, until eventually you catch the corrupt monarch and fight in the final stage. This is easier said than done though, because each grid based level has a road running through it with a few enemies on. Any non-road space has a number that represents the number of roads next to it, so that’s how you avoid it and the enemies that inhabit it.

The issue with this is that the king is hiding on one end of the road, so you need to figure out where the branching paths of this concrete line come to a halt. As well as His Royal Highness you’ll also find helpful extras like shops and chests (more on them later) on these dead ends, so getting your head around how to follow these paths without getting in too much trouble is the name of the game.

Which class you’re playing as makes a huge difference in how you accomplish this though. You’ll start as The Trooper, who is awarded extra cash for killing all the enemies on a stage and has a skillset to help him do so. This includes a whirlwind attack that deals damage to all squares next to him, and a bow to finish off anyone further afield. These attacks cost stamina to use and have a cooldown, but you can earn this back by revealing tiles so it’s worth using when you’re worried about bumping into an enemy and taking damage.

The next class you unlock is completely different, using stealth to find the king and leave the map as uncovered as possible for bonus gold. Switching from the violent Trooper to the stealthy Shadow takes a lot of getting used to, but with a little help from smoke bombs you’ll be able to hide any enemies you accidentally reveal and make your way to the king.

Finally you’ll unlock the Oracle, who gains a whole heap of extra wonga if she reveals all the tiles on the map that don’t contain a road. With powers that reveal how many enemies are in a certain column and the ability to teleport, this class is particularly hard to master and definitely not for the faint of heart.

No matter which class you pick, you’ll need to take advantage of all the shops, gyms and weapon vendors you find on your way to the showdown with the king. From health and stamina upgrades to perks like gaining interest on your money or even brand new attacks, there are plenty of options to try out on each ten to twenty minute Roguelike run you set out on.

By collecting special gems from chests you’ll also unlock more upgrades and weapons for the future runs, as well as the classes that aren’t available to you yet. The starting pool of upgrades and abilities is pretty small, so adding a whole lot of extra options always feels rewarding.

It probably won’t take you too long to overthrow the king and succeed in a run for the first time, because Let’s! Revolution! is designed to cleverly make you feel like a genius by keeping the initial difficulty on the manageable side. Once you do complete a run as a class though you’ll unlock new game plus mode which gives you new negative traits and less health to work with, and if you manage to beat that yet another level of new game plus will unlock. It’s a wonderful system that ensures there are a whole load of challenges to take on if you dare.

As well as being a thoughtful and engaging puzzle game, Let’s! Revolution! is also absolutely lovely to look at. The pastel cartoony art style brings this game that could easily be made up of just numbered squares to life, and adds an unnecessary but lovely level of charm to this grid based world.

If I had to complain about one aspect of Let’s! Revolution! it’d be about the fairly lackluster onboarding, especially when it comes to the new classes. It’s really hard to work out the best way to succeed as the two less combat focused classes, and a tutorial or two for each of them would have saved me a lot of heartache and failure.

Let’s! Revolution! is a wonderful Roguelike puzzle game that uses familiar mechanics to create a truly unique experience. With new game plus modes and plenty of additional content to unlock, this game will keep puzzle fans busy and satiated for a heck of a long time.

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If I had to pick my two favourite genres of video game, I think I’d probably choose 2D platformers and turn-based RPGs. As other types of video games come and go from my life, these are what I fall back on. It’s pretty rare for these genres to be combined successfully though. You could argue that the Mario RPGs add a bit of platforming into the mix, and there are some cracking indies like Monster Sanctuary who have managed to make great games involving elements of both, but there aren’t a huge amount of examples of my favourite genres being totally blended. Well Worldless will be doing just that in the near future, and based on the preview build I tried it could be something special.

In a universe that’s only just finding its feet, existence is currently fairly conceptual. Orange and blue lights shine in the sky and clash with each other, but there’s no real explanation as to why. As different creatures made up of various shapes fight for a place in this new world, adapting and surviving is all that matters. Fortunately our glowing sword wielding protagonist is good at all that malarkey, and sets about becoming a powerful being that’s guaranteed to cope in this hostile world. The vagueness of the narrative isn’t normally something I’d be into, but you’re thrown into the action quickly enough that it’s not a big deal.

Combat in Worldless is really engaging even from the start of the game. When it’s your turn you basically have a set amount of time to attack your enemy. You start off with a three hit combo you can unleash with your sword, and a two blast lightning attack for magical damage. Switching between the two will help you juggle enemies and deal a whole lot of damage, but after a few seconds it’ll be time for the enemy to hit back.

Enemies have physical and magic attacks too, which you’ll need to guard with your physical and magic shield respectively. Because these are tied to the same buttons as your attacks it’s easy to remember which is which, and you’ll know which one to use in advance thanks to some handy flashing lights just before impact. You’re also rewarded for perfect timing on your blocks, so getting into the rhythm of combat is key.

Perhaps the most important aspect of a battle though is breaking an enemies guard. When you do this you gain the ability to absorb them, by playing a quick minigame that gets easier the more you break them. Hitting weak points to break enemies is the name of the game here, because any you absorb give you a skill point to put into the skill tree. If you want to get stronger it’s all about assimilation baby.

Even in this short preview build, I was able to power up my character a hell of a lot thanks to these skill points. Extra attacks in a combo, charge attacks and a stronger shield made me feel so much more powerful against the early game I struggled with at the start, but the extra strength was needed against the increasingly tricky shape based foes of new areas.

I’ve talked about the turn based combat, but what about the platforming? Well the movement of the protagonist is floaty but satisfying, and the environments are enjoyable to navigate. It’s actually closer to a Metroidvania than a pure 2d platformer, with new powers to unlock as you explore the world around you. In this build I got an air dash which proved invaluable, and I’m sure there’ll be plenty more where that come from.

The two areas I had access to for this preview were wildly different, with their own fun obstacles to overcome. The opening area was pretty basic with a bunch of platforms to turn on and off with little glowing switches, but the second area had floating rocks that spawned more floating rocks, waterfalls you needed to dash through, and even little trapeze nodes you could fling yourself from. If Worldless continues to add more fun elements in each new area then I’ll be a happy jumping boy when the full game comes a knocking.

I think my only real issue with what I played with Worldless was the setting. It’s quite a barren environment (which I guess makes sense since it’s a newly evolving world) and just feels a bit empty and dull to explore. Hopefully in the full game I’ll get used to it though, and the level variety could help with that.

Worldless is showing a lot of promise, and anyone who loves platforming or turn-based RPGs as much as I do should have their eye on this one. The level variety and upgrades were impressive even in the opening couple of hours, and I can’t imagine that’ll change in the full game. I’m looking forward to evolving more later this year, and you should be too.

Worldless hasn’t got a release date yet, but you can try the demo on Steam.

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There are many words you could use to describe a zombie apocalypse, but boring wouldn’t usually be one of them. The tension of surviving in a world without easy access to food and water; the horror of losing loved ones: these things are awful, but they’re certainly not boring. Dead Man’s Diary apparently didn’t get the memo about the apocalypse, as it’s one of the most tedious games I’ve ever had to play.

Dead Man’s Diary does have an interesting premise for the zombie game though. A self obsessed villain decided that when he died the Earth should no longer function, and set up a chain of nukes that pretty much destroyed everything. When this happened people started to hide in underground bunkers, but space was limited and supplies started to run low pretty quickly. After drawing the short straw our protagonist is kicked out of the bunker so others can live longer, so prepare for a whole lot of walking around in a desolate world.

Walking about is pretty much all you’ll be doing for most of the game, gathering supplies to make yourself shelter and to generally be healthy. There are four things you have to worry about in terms of staying alive in Dead Man’s Diary. Food and water are obvious, but there’s also radiation level (which you lower by taking Iodine Pills), and fever (which you lower by wrapping fabric soaked in vinegar and water around your legs). It’s standard topping-up-meter gameplay, but finding the items to do so is a chore.

The main reason for this is that there’s a chance that all the food and water you find is unsafe due to the radiation. This means scanning every single tin of beans and water bottle with your Geiger counter. And sadly, it takes ages to scan them. Most of the supplies you find end up being contaminated anyway, so it’s usually all for nothing. The worst aspect of this gameplay loop though, is that when you switch back to your torch afterwards you aren’t able to move until you release the controls entirely for a moment. I don’t think I really need to explain why that’s frustrating.

Dead Man’s Diary is split into distinct areas, and in most of these you’ll need to find the materials to build a fire and shelter before you progress. The grind of walking around environments where all the houses and alleys look the same is miserable, and you need so much wood, straw and metal posts to complete this tedious objective. After a few minutes of gathering, a handy white dot will start just pointing to the exact place you need to go, as if the developers knew how much of a drag this endeavour would be. You can turn this off if you want the true immersive apocalypse experience, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Once you’ve done enough collecting, it’s time for things to start kicking off. A loud noise will alert you to some sort of incoming threat (or sometimes will just happen for no reason at all) and you’ll need to find a safe space to avoid death. Whether it’s an angry bear or an atomic bomb, there’s only ever one place the game expects you to magically know where to go and if you don’t make it there as fast as possible then you’ll die. This will happen to you, and when it does you better not be expecting a handy autosave to ensure you don’t lose too much progress, because Dead Man’s Diary doesn’t like providing those.

It’s these little things that really ruin Dead Man’s Diary. Things like the sheer amount of invisible walls that’ll stop you from exploring and occasionally even trap you forever. Or your helpful white dot suddenly taking you to materials you don’t even need. In a game that’s already laborious, anything that makes it feel even worse to spend time playing is just not acceptable.

I also can’t talk about Dead Man’s Diary without mentioning the story and voice acting, which is cringe inducing. Cheesy and occasionally nonsensical lines are constantly spouted by the protagonist, and it’ll either be the worst or best part of the game for you based on how funny you find it.

As much as I didn’t enjoy playing Dead Man’s Diary, I can’t deny it has a few impressive elements. The visuals are way better than they have any right to be, and if you enjoy Skyrim style lockpicking you’re in for a treat. I’ll admit this doesn’t really feel like much of a selling point, but I like to give praise where it’s due.

Dead Man’s Diary is tedious, full of invisible walls, and often downright unfair. Whether you’re repeatedly scanning food to check for radiation or looking for the same old materials to build yet another shelter, I can almost guarantee you’ll be bored doing it. When there are so many better games with an apocalyptic setting, there’s sadly really no reason to play Dead Man’s Diary.

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When it comes to RPGs, there’s no other series that can compare to the Trails games when it comes to universe building. By telling a story that spans multiple games, Falcom have created a fantastic world that is almost impenetrable for newcomers but beloved by those dedicated fans who have played hundreds of hours of these RPGs. Never had this divide been more apparent than with The Legends of Heroes: Trails into Reverie, which is a fantastic game that frankly I am not the target audience for.

Essentially Trails into Reverie is a continuation and ending of two different story arcs, the Crossbell arc (made up of the recently released Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure) and the Cold Steel arc. That’s six massive games that you pretty much need to have completed to fully enjoy the newest entry in the series, or you’ll be as lost as I was thanks to my lack of Cold Steel experience. I at least recognised Lloyd and the other SSS members though, so at least that’s something.

Recognising a few characters in a game with this many people in every scene is simply not enough, especially once you leave the first story route focused on Lloyd and his Crossbell friends. From start to finish big reveals were lost on me, but if you’re up on your Trails then this game is like Avengers: Endgame on steroids. Even without that required knowledge though, Trails Into Reverie is an epic tale with sensational turn based combat.

Trails Into Reverie has similar combat to the Crossbell games, with characters taking turns to use their Arts and Crafts. Crafts are individual to each character, use CP and can do anything from damage, heal or deal painful status effects. Arts are the magic of this series, and although they take time to cast the elemental effects they unleash are more than worth the wait.

To ensure you have the right Arts for the job you need to equip Quartz to your characters, which are basically gems you put into a little grid. Providing passive buffs and access to powerful Arts, you’ll want to experiment with these colourful rocks to create a team of powerhouses. Since Trails Into Reverie expects you to be familiar with the series, your characters come equipped with some decent Quartz from the jump, and you won’t have to worry about lengthy tutorials and boring battles in the first few hours.

This is especially true when you take into account all the special attacks and complex systems you’ll be expected to remember and use right away. S Crafts are special attacks that use up all your CP but can be used even when it isn’t your turn. Then there are follow up attacks that use up teamwork points and special Order Commands that apply buffs. It might sound a bit overwhelming at first, but before you know it you’ll be a master of combat and beating up bosses with the best of them.

To level up your team and be ready to save the day you’ll need to head into the True Reverie Corridor. This weird pocket dimension houses a big dungeon full of enemies, treasure and items called Sealing Stones which unlock characters, mini games and bits of story that help fill in some narrative gaps. You’ll spend a lot of time in the True Reverie Corridor, so it’s a good job it’s full of as much interesting stuff as it is.

All the best RPGs have plenty of mini games to invest your time into, and Trails into Reverie is no exception. There’s the series staple of fishing, a card game (be still my beating heart), and a quiz which is probably more enjoyable if you know the series inside out. When you don’t fancy whacking mechs with an axe, they’re the perfect distraction.

The biggest shock for me coming into Trails into Reverie were the 3D visuals. After the 2D chibi character models and isometric perspective of the Crossbell games it was interesting to see some of my favourite locations and party members in all their high fidelity glory. The visuals are nice enough, but I think I preferred the charm of those remastered PSP games.

The English voices were an unexpected addition too, but they’re certainly a welcome one. The audio in general is absolutely top notch, with some fantastic tunes waiting for you both in battle and while exploring the world. I’d expect no less from a Trails game, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive.

I played through Trails into Reverie entirely on the Nintendo Switch, and unfortunately that meant dealing with an inferior version of the game. The framerate of the game is shoddy at best, and while exploring the 3d world and moving the camera about the slowdown is real. Fortunately the combat isn’t really affected by these issues, but it’s pretty damn distracting and disappointing regardless.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is clearly an epic RPG set in a deep and interesting universe, but unless you’ve played through at least six massive games before this one you won’t really understand what’s going on. Even if you’re a Trails veteran though I wouldn’t recommend you play the Switch version, and instead find another way to enjoy this brilliant and much anticipated game.

The post The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

All these fancy sequels are fine and dandy, but sometimes it’s nice to look back to the roots of our favourite series and see where they came from. When one of your favourites is the Atelier series though, that might not be so simple. With no easy way to play Japan-exclusive PS1 games, most of us hardcore alchemists had given up on trying out the game where it all began. The fine folks at Gust had other ideas though, and Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is here to give us a lovely history lesson.

Our protagonist Marie isn’t the potion making whizz kid you’d expect from an Atelier game, she’s actually the bottom of her class at school. In order to light a fire under her posterior, Professor Ingrid gives her one final test, in the next five years either make an item worthy of a true alchemist or be expelled from Salburg academy. This isn’t long for Marie to step up, so get ready for a big adventure with a healthy dose of time pressure.

Although based on a game well over twenty years old at this point, the gameplay loop is pretty similar to the alchemy games we all know and love. You head out into the wilderness to gather materials, fight a few monsters along the way, then make your way back to the Atelier and make some items. Even in the simpler form of this older title it’s a great hook, and has all those lovely levels to raise so you improve along the way.

What makes Atelier Marie Remake different though is that five year time limit. Every action you take in the game uses up at least a day of your time, and they tick down fast. Gathering materials at a shiny spot, fighting monsters, and even going home to your Atelier will take a day of time away from you, and if you’re not careful those five years will be up before you’ve become a master cauldron mixer.

Alongside this overall time limit, there are also mid-semester assignments and quests from the inn that have their own deadlines. Whether you’re being made to gather a bunch of herbs or make friends with a certain number of the townsfolk, having a month to do so might sound like a breeze, but before you know it you’ll have spent a week fighting blue slimes.

The combat in Atelier Marie Remake is about as simple as it gets for a turn-based RPG. Marie and anyone she hires to adventure with her can attack, use an item or use their single special ability, and that’s pretty much it. That doesn’t mean that the battles aren’t enjoyable, but if you’re expecting to have to think long and hard about moves to use and different combat systems then you’ll be disappointed.

Alchemy is a lot simpler than it gets in later entries of the series too, and pretty much just involves finding the right items and hoping your alchemy levels are high enough to make a handy new bomb without anything going wrong. Crafting as much as possible will help level you up though, and with a bit of cash you can buy more recipes from the academy shop and extra equipment to make more advanced items. Although it’s lacking the puzzling elements of games like Atelier Sophie and Atelier Ryza, it still feels pretty good when you realise you can make something new of a decent quality rating.

Although the combat and alchemy feel a little dated compared to modern games, the visuals are fresh and modern. The chibi style character models work perfectly with the isometric viewpoint, and I loved pottering around the village and looking at the other adventures and NPCs doing their own thing. The music is delightful and catchy too, which is pretty much standard for the series at this point but appreciated nonetheless.

There is one aspect of Atelier Marie Remake I really need to bring to people’s attention, and it involves the five year time limit. This game is a pretty lengthy RPG that you’ll likely put dozens of hours into, and if you fail to make a good enough item once the five years is up then you simply fail. There’s no way to get extra time or rewind and make the game easier, you just have to start all over again and try harder next time. There is a difficulty mode that negates this (at the cost of a few story elements) but don’t go into the standard mode expecting to relax and take it easy if you want to actually finish the game.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is an interesting look at the genesis of a popular RPG series, but compared to more modern entries it’s hard not to be a little underwhelmed. The time pressure you’re under provides an interesting hook, but the simpler combat and alchemy just don’t cut the mustard. If you’re looking for an RPG history lesson then you might get a kick out of Marie’s adventure, but don’t expect it to hold up to other recent releases.

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I love a good visual novel as much as the next guy, but I have to admit that my favourites usually involve a little more gameplay than just reading text. Games like the Ace Attorney series do this by adding mysteries to solve and evidence to present, but there are plenty of other ways to make a visual novel more thrilling. Jack Jeanne blends in rhythm game sections and Persona time management into this word-heavy genre, and the end result is magic.

Our protagonist Kisa has always loved acting. As a child her older brother would come up with plays for her and her best friend to act in, and ever since she’s had the theatre bug. Cut to present day and with her brother off chasing his dreams it’s up to Kisa to look after the rest of the family. At least until she’s approached by the principal of the Univeil Drama School and given a unique opportunity.

You see Univeil doesn’t allow girls to study at the academy, and the principal thinks this is unfair. The school bigwigs won’t be convinced to change, and without any other options the principal has decided that sneaking you in and proving you’re just as good as the guys is the only way to prove his point. Yes, Jack Jeanne is basically Mulan at drama school, and it’s just as amazing as it sounds.

The way Univeil works without girls to perform the female roles is all a bit Shakespearean. Students at the school are assigned as Jacks (actors playing male characters) and Jeannes (actors playing female characters) for each performance, and because of this about half of the students live day to day life as girls. This is ideal for Kisa because everyone just assumes she’s another Jeanne, but that doesn’t mean her time studying at Univeil will be easy.

Once it has been decided which of the school’s four houses Kisa will join, the intense semester of drama begins. You only have a set number of days until the first performance of the year, and with Kisa landing a big role there are lines to learn, songs to sing and a whole lot of rehearsals needed. While you’re reading about all the trials and tribulations of daily school life you’ll also need to decide how best to grow Kisa’s talent, by choosing one of six stats to focus on. Do you want to improve at singing and dancing to make the rhythm sections easier and impress the lads, or would you rather focus on charm so that you understand how to play different roles better? Every weekday you’ll choose a stat to improve, and at the weekend you can make a bit of time for your friends.

Because Jack Jeanne is an Otome game at heart, there are six hunky boys that you can get to know in your downtime. Whether you’re into eccentric writers, graceful dancers or athletic leading men, there’s someone to pursue for everyone. The individual stories of each of these characters are all really interesting, and getting to know them better will only make you love them more. To trigger the main relationship scenes you’ll need to raise the acting stat they care about and hang out with them enough in your downtime, but all that effort is definitely worth it.

As much as I loved hanging out with all the boys, the best parts of Jack Jeanne for me were the rhythm game sections. Any time a song or dance number needs to be rehearsed or performed you’ll trigger one of these, and they’re an absolute blast. For the songs you control a cursor that goes along a track, and using the shoulder buttons you have to switch lanes in time with the music. The dances function more like a traditional Guitar Hero style rhythm game, in which you need to press one of four buttons when a note reaches you. Both are the perfect way to break up the reading though, and the music accompanying them is sensational.

I was initially a little disappointed by the music in these sections though, because how they function in rehearsal is totally different to when they appear during a performance. Your practice runs feature no vocals and a plain background, but when the curtain comes up the performances have singing, dancing and are frankly the highlight of the whole damn game. Seeing how the show comes together as a whole after months of hard work is incredibly satisfying, and although you know the jist of the story from rehearsal seeing the end result is just delightful.

Jack Jeanne is one of the best visual novels I’ve played in a very long time, but it does have a few minor issues. Later in the game it takes ages to level up your stats, and it just doesn’t feel great to spend a week leveling up a single point. There also just aren’t enough rhythm game sections, and I actually ended up replaying some in the menu to break up the reading.

Jack Jeanne is an incredible visual novel with a really unique setting. The rhythm sections are a great way to break up the story, and getting to know all the other students at Univeil is a joy. It’s been a long time since I got this invested in a video game story, and if you have even a passing interest in visual novels or Otome games then you owe it to yourself to play it.

The post Jack Jeanne review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

After years of Pokémon dominating the market, we’ve started to see a whole slew of indie developers show off their take on the monster collecting formula. From Cassette Beasts to Coromon, there are plenty of fantastic turn-based RPGs available right this minute for people who want to catch ’em all. If the slow-paced battles put you off the genre though, then you’re in luck, because Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers is (as you might have guessed by the title) a monster collecting auto battler.

This preview build of Kādomon began very simply, with three pictures of cute elemental creatures and a choice. The traditional Fire, Water and Grass types are all represented here, and whichever you pick will be joined by a rubbish little Gnome without a type before you have your first battle. As you’d expect, each type of Kādomon is strong against certain others, and you’ve got all the staples from Ice to Bug to try and figure out how to best utilise.

Because this is an autobattler there are no real moves to have to worry about when you get into a fight; a battle just starts and each of your four active Kādomon will let out an attack once their action bar fills. Generally these attacks hit the critter on the front line of the enemy team first, so if possible you’ll want to bring Kādomon that deal super effective damage to clear out the walls at the front and get to the more powerful ones at the back. At first it’s hard to figure out the best way to succeed, but before you know it you’ll be battling with the best of them.

There’s a wonderful feature you can take advantage of to figure out the best team for the job too, and that’s hovering over any Kādomon before a battle starts. Doing this will show all the monsters that Kādomon will deal extra damage to, and you can also hover over the enemies to see how much they’ll hurt your team. With multiple types on each creature it’s a really handy way to figure out how to setup your team, and when I discovered it I suddenly started winning a whole lot more.

Elemental types are only one aspect of combat you’ll need to keep an eye on, because each Kādomon also has a special effect in battle based on their type. Grass types give themselves regenerating health at the start of battle for example, whereas Fire types buff the attack of their allies. Combining these effects can lead to some devastating results, so it’s worth keeping an eye on them if you want to succeed in a run.

The structure of a run of Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers will be immediately familiar to fans of Slay the Spire and similar Roguelikes. That branching path to the boss that we all know and love is back, and there are all sorts of icons indicating battles, random events (that might see a monster gain a special effect in battle, for example) and rest points that’ll grant you some experience. Each battle icon even tells you the types of Kādomon you’re going to face in that fight, so if you’re really clever you’ll be able to pick a route that keeps your critters alive and makes them stronger.

It wouldn’t be a monster-collecting game without a bit of evolution, so gaining experience by winning battles is important. Evolved monsters are a hell of a lot stronger than their initial baby forms, and to beat the boss at the end of this demo build I needed to evolve one of my team fully to finally scrape a win. The best way to earn experience fast is to fight an identical Kādomon to one on your team, because then at the end of the battle instead of choosing one of the beaten enemies to join the party you can pick the one you already have to get a shed load of bonus EXP. It’s an interesting leveling up system, and one that’s really rewarding when you finally have a powerful team that’s ready to take on anything.

I really enjoyed what I played of Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers, but after beating a single boss on a twenty minute run my preview build came to an end. It’ll be really interesting to see what other tricks the developers have up their sleeves for the full game, because I’m really keen to get back out there and gather a selection of plants, worms and teddy bears that can’t be beaten.

Kādomon: Hyper Auto Battlers is a wonderful and fresh take on the traditional monster collecting formula, and from what I’ve played seems like a heck of a good time. The strategy involved in creating an unbeatable team of cute critters is surprisingly deep, and finally beating the boss of this build was incredibly satisfying. I’ll definitely be trying to catch and battle them all when the full game arrives, and I’m sure those battles will be both hyper and, erm, automatic.

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With Pikmin 4 just around the corner, it’s an exciting time for fans of Olimar and his friends. The Pikmin series sometimes feels like it gets lost in the Nintendo shuffle, with Mario and Zelda stealing the limelight away from the adventures of the tiny carrot-like creatures. Hopefully Pikmin 4 will change that, especially with Nintendo building the Pikmin hype for newcomers and veterans alike with the surprise release of Pikmin 1+2 on the Switch.

If you haven’t played a Pikmin game before, the story follows Captain Olimar, an adorable astronaut who crash lands on an unknown planet and discovers the Pikmin. These goofy little guys grow underground, and once plucked will follow their new master and perform tasks for them like breaking down walls or carrying heavy items. The only way Olimar can make it home is by using the Pikmin to help recover parts of his ship, and with a limited supply of oxygen time is of the essence.

You have thirty days to make it home safely, and each of these lasts around fifteen minutes of real time. To make the most of this limited time you’ll need to get yourself a whole load of Pikmin, which involves commanding them to gather coloured tokens that grow on stems and take them back to their home – a weird UFO called an onion. This then poops out some seeds which grow into Pikmin, and before you know it you’ll have an army ready to explore the world for ship parts.

You won’t get far with just the starting red Pikmin though, and will need to find the yellow and blue species if you want to make it past certain obstacles. Each Pikmin type has its own set of skills to take advantage of, so having a selection of all three with you is usually a good idea. The red Pikmin are the toughest fighters and can’t be hurt by fire, yellow Pikmin can be thrown higher and are able to carry little explosive rocks, and blue Pikmin are the only ones that can swim. Some trickier ship parts will be hidden behind rock walls, over streams and with flame breathing enemies guarding them, and it’s your job to use the appropriate Pikmin to bring these electronics home safely.

Combat in Pikmin is pretty straightforward, and mainly involves Olimar rapidly throwing the little fellas at an enemy until it collapses and you can carry it back to an Onion. Sometimes the aiming can be a little tricky with your little cursor, other times you’ll need to quickly call your Pikmin back to avoid them being chomped. There’s not a lot more satisfying than watching a big ole Bulborb with dozens of Pikmin clinging to it collapse, but there’s always a decent chance you’ll end up with a few Pikmin eaten and you’ll have to watch their sad ghosts drift away.

Pikmin 2 progresses the series perfectly, featuring Olimar’s brother Louie and a whole host of improvements to the formula. No longer stranded in a dangerous environment, this time around our protagonist’s peril is financial. Turns out that being an intergalactic explorer doesn’t come cheap, and Olimar has worked up quite a bill. Realising that there’s plenty of junk that’d sell for a fortune on the planet of the Pikmin, they set off to raise some money and clear their debts.

Pikmin 2 has some new features that spice things up a little, and the most important of these is Louie. At any time you can switch between Louie and Olimar, and because of this it’s easier than ever to efficiently explore multiple areas at once. There are also new types of Pikmin to utilise, Purple and White Pikmin. The purple Pikmin are chonky fellas, who can carry more and use their weight to solve puzzles. White Pikmin are immune to poison, and actually hurt enemies that eat them. The added variety of carrot minions makes the second adventure much more interesting, and there’s less pressure this time around without the thirty day oxygen time limit.

Regardless of which Pikmin game you’re playing, you’ll be hit with an overdose of that Nintendo charm. From the colourful visuals to the delightful music, Pikmin 1+2 just ooze pure joy. There are so many little touches that add to the magic of this series, from the trumpet fanfare that plays when you guide your Pikmin in a certain direction to the little noises they make when thrown through the air. There wasn’t a single moment playing these games where I didn’t have a massive grin on my face.

The HD upgrade to these games certainly improves the visuals, but don’t expect it to hold up against Pikmin 3 or 4. The colourful cartoony graphics hold up much better than a lot of games from the GameCube era, but there are plenty of muddy textures throughout too. The framerate is also locked at 30fps, which is totally fine for the game in question but some will obviously be disappointed with this. With a price tag of £39.99 for the two games, it’s hard not to be a bit disappointed with the amount of work that’s gone into this collection.

Pikmin 1+2 is a joyous bundle of two fantastic games, but the price tag and lack of technical improvements might put some off. The Nintendo brand of RTS style gameplay still holds up perfectly in 2023 though, and the charm of the games is undeniable. If you need something to keep you busy until Pikmin 4 arrives, then these two updated GameCube games are the perfect cure for Pikmin fever.

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I’ve always liked the idea of city building games, but in practice I’m very bad at constructing a functional virtual town. Whether it’s struggling to make enough money to expand or making all my citizens poor and miserable, the end result of my city planning career is always rather disastrous. I am pretty good at card games though, so when I heard that These Doomed Isles would let me use cards to build a fantasy settlement I was more than a little intrigued.

As one of a selection of gods (with two available in the current demo) you are tasked with building and expanding a civilisation centred around your holy relic. This is done by taking structures or other bits of land from the cards in your hand and placing them into the world. First you’ll probably want some cabins for the people of this land to live in, then you’ll need to build places for them to work and gather materials for you. It’s pretty simple in theory, but it won’t take long for you to realise there’s a lot to think about when building a functioning town.

Each card costs materials to play, so making sure you earn enough of these each turn is a good starting point. All the usual suspects like wood, stone, metal and gold are here, but there are other important numbers to keep track of too. One of these is faith, which powers cards that use your godly powers. These include blessings that make your citizens happy, as well as more aggressive powers like lightning bolts and meteor storms. You’ll also need faith to draw a new hand when you run out of cards you want to play, otherwise you’ll have to end your turn and go to the next season.

Moving to the next season will give you all the resources your subjects have gathered, allow any enemies to move, and will visually change the weather. Once a whole year is up, you’ll be presented with a selection of new cards to buy with the gold you’ve gathered. You’ll probably want to focus on extra cabins for your homeless citizens first (because once they’re happy in a new home you can put them to work) but then it’s up to you to decide if you want to buy storehouses to hold more resources, crossbow towers to keep enemies at bay, or extra land so you can expand across the water.

Growing the area where you can build things is incredibly important early on, because you start on such a tiny island. By placing the little Tetris blocks of land across the water, your aim is to connect to other islands so they become part of your domain. What’s really cool about this is that when you gain a new landmass you’ll be given a reward, and these hugely boost your kingdom’s power. Sometimes you’ll be offered the ability to max out one or two of your resources, other times you’ll gain a permanent buff that grants you extra stuff if you max out a supply at the end of a turn. It’s a really rewarding system, and even without it expanding is satisfying.

After a few expansions you’ll probably start getting messages that enemies are on their way from a certain direction. This is your chance to set up some defences before they arrive so they won’t damage your settlement. I found the bow towers to be the best for this, but if you misjudge where the raiders are going to approach from you can also unleash god powers on them when they arrive. Since everything is turn based you don’t have to worry about rushing to wreck your shit, but you’ll probably want to redraw a new hand or two to get what you need to take down the baddies.

In this demo build of These Doomed Isles you’re given three objectives to complete to finish the level, and once you do a boss will appear that needs dealing with. These objectives were all pretty easy, involving keeping a number of citizens happy, building wonders and beating up raiders, but the boss was much more of a challenge. Spawning right on top of my city centre with thirty health (when the highest I’d seen before that was three) it took me building new bow towers and throwing a load of spells at him to eventually take him out, and not before losing a few buildings.

Once he’s beaten though that’s pretty much it, and you can either return to the main menu (which also triggers a level up of your god and gives you some new cards for a replay) or carry on building endlessly with less of an aim. It’ll be interesting to see how the game progresses after this thirty minute gameplay section, because so far I’m loving These Doomed Isles.

Although there wasn’t a whole lot of content in this demo, it got me incredibly excited for the full release of These Doomed Isles. Combining card game mechanics with city building is a wonderful way to make both genres more accessible for newcomers, and expanding across to multiple islands is really satisfying. I’ll be back to continue my godly adventure when the full release comes around, so watch this space.

These Doomed Isles is due to release on PC in September 2023.

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There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes, and that at some point you’ll need to charge your devices. I imagine most of us try to make sure to charge our phones overnight, but alongside Switches, Steam Decks, and earphones, there’s a hell of a lot we need to keep juiced in our day to day lives. If you’re sick of running out of plug space and want fast charging then boy do I have the product for you: the Gravastar Alpha 65 Fast Wall Charger.

The Alpha 65 Fast Wall Charger is admittedly a pretty simple product, but it’s also a damn useful one. You plug it into an outlet and it provides three USB charging ports for all your tech. Specifically it has ports for a USB-A and two USB-C ports, which with your own selection of cables will likely charge pretty much anything you need. Most nights I’ve been plugging in my phone, Switch, and Steam Deck before going to sleep, and every morning they’re ready for a busy day of screen time.

The crucial benefit of using the Alpha 65 over the charger that came in the box with your phone, is the charging speed. This lovely little plug pumps out 65W without breaking a sweat. It never gets warm, it just sits there and charges your devices efficiently. My phone was able to go from 5 percent to 100 percent in less than an hour, which means if you’re a little low, then even a ten minute top up will keep you going on a trip to the shops.

There are plenty of charging options on the market, but the Alpha 65 Fast Wall Charger does one thing better than them all: it looks adorable. The little robot design of this plug is ridiculously eye-catching, and is sure to be a talking point when you whip it out when with friends or in a public place. What better to charge your devices than an adorable robot, with magnetic bunny ears and legs you can pull out when it’s not in a socket. There are even two designs to choose between, standard white or war-damaged yellow (which I think is particularly awesome looking).

For a novelty product like the Alpha 65 Fast Wall Charger, it’s the little things that matter. My personal favourite flourish of this charger are the little eye lights that turn on when it’s plugged in. For me as well as being just plain cool, they’re also a handy way of telling the power is still on if the meter is running low when I wake up. Other more functional aspects of the robot charger include it coming with UK and EU plug adapters, which is a lovely addition if you travel a lot.

Despite how great it looks and the handy additional features this charger has, the price tag might be too much for some to justify buying. At $59.95 as a baseline, you could easily buy ten cheap chargers instead. Obviously you’d miss out on some of the advantages of fast multi charging and the oh so important novelty factor, but if you’re a little strapped for cash any charger will probably do.

The Alpha 65 Fast Wall Charger is undeniably a bit pricey for a device charger, but having a little robot that charges your devices for you is just really bloody cool. The fast charging and multiple ports give it extra functionality too. Obviously only you can decide if it’s worth dropping a wedge of cash on an lovely novelty robot charger, but personally I love waking up to its adorable lit up face every morning.

The post Gravastar Alpha 65 Fast Wall Charger review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Visual novels and dating sims go together like peanut butter and chocolate, but sometimes dating doesn’t exactly suit the darker tone of a story. I’m all for love, romance and cuddles, but it’s hard to deny the appeal of the constant tension provided by a game like Danganronpa for example. As a general rule I’d say that when in mortal peril that love probably shouldn’t be the main thing on your mind, but nobody told Otomate that when they created their latest Otome game Charade Maniacs.

Our protagonist Hiyori Sena is your everyday 22nd century high schooler, living her best life in the Japan of the future. Alongside her childhood friend Tomose Banjo, she spends her days studying, worrying about grades, and chatting away about all the latest rumours. One of these rumours is based around “The Other World Stream”, a mysterious video in which the people who take part are granted anything their heart desires. Sena and Banjo get to find out about this first hand, when they blackout and find themselves in a strange world.

This world is controlled by The Director, and at first it seems great. You, Banjo, and seven other boys have all been transported to this shady location, and for the first couple of days are just told to hang out in a lovely house. Not only that, but anything in the world you all desire can be provided just by asking. Some things are just too good to be true though, and after this initial period the real fun begins.

The reason all these characters have been gathered together in this paradise is so they’ll act on the Other World Stream. At any time the futuristic bangles on their arms might activate, and when they do they’ll be mysteriously transported onto a set and given a script to follow. You might think this doesn’t sound too bad, but eventually what’s expected of the cast in the script becomes more and more sinister. Anyone who refuses to act out a scene will be forced to play The Punishment Game (which is horrendous as it sounds) and the only way for them to escape back to their normal life is to earn enough points by performing well or by discovering who The Producer is.

While the gloriously camp Director is the one who tells the cast what they need to do in this other world, The Producer is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes – and it’s one of you. Yes there’s a traitor among the characters you’re getting to know and love, which means Sena can’t trust anyone. There’s deception, death, and even unexpected romance packed into the story of Charade Maniacs, and I loved my time with the boys acting my little heart out.

As you’d probably expect from an Otome game, there’s a nice variety of hunky lads that you’ll be spending your time with here. Whether you’re into bad boy chefs, board game buffs, or hoping for a childhood friend to turn into something more, Charade Maniacs has you covered. The only issue with the setup of the game though is that because so much of the focus of the story is the fact you’re stuck in a horrific situation, you don’t really get to spend a whole lot of time one on one with your potential partners until very late in the game – and at that point it feels a bit rushed.

I was also a little disappointed by the lack of choice in the majority of Charade Maniacs. There are hour-long portions of the game that play out without a single narrative choice to be made, and it just makes everything feel a bit static. I’m all for a traditional visual novel that’s full of text to read and not a lot else, but without expecting me to make a few decisions along the way some of the fun is taken away.

Charade Maniacs is a great concept for a visual novel, but a lack of narrative choices prevents it from being a top notch Otome game. The setting and characters are really interesting, but you don’t really get to spend enough time with all the lovely boys to really get to know them. If you’re looking for some Otome action with a bit of an edge then you could definitely do much worse, but my personal preference would lie elsewhere.

The post Charade Maniacs review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

The idea of diving under the water and exploring the fishy world below the surface of the ocean has always fascinated me, but in video games I rarely enjoy this environment. For a long time the appearance of a water level in a video game has been met with groans, and although more recently some games with underwater settings have been more engaging I still associate them with slow paced, dull gameplay. It can’t be easy, but if you could find the right balance between the danger and beauty of this salty setting then surely you’d have a cracking video game on your hands. Here to prove this theory is Dave the Diver, with one of the most delightful surprises of this stacked year of gaming.

Our chunky hunk of a protagonist Dave is enjoying a relaxing afternoon, when his phone goes off. On the other end of the line is his friend Bancho, who tells him about a mysterious place called the Blue Hole. This bizarre patch of ocean changes every single day, and contains fish from all over the world. Bancho wants to open up a sushi restaurant here to capitalise on this wonderful resource, and hopes Dave could be the one who brings in the fish. Being the helpful guy that he is, Dave hops on the next plane over, and is greeted by an underwater adventure featuring sea people, deadly sharks, and some seriously varied characters.

Your time in Dave the Diver is split into two types of gameplay, diving into the sea in the daytime to get fresh produce and running the sushi restaurant at night. Diving easily takes up the most of your time, lasting as long as you want it to as long as you don’t run out of oxygen. Exploring the wet and wonderful world below the surface is an absolute delight, with a huge variety of sea creatures to hunt and plenty of danger lurking around every corner.

Most of the fishing in Dave the Diver is done with your harpoon gun. By holding down the A button you’ll slow down time, and a cone is placed in front of you indicating where you can aim and stab an unsuspecting sushi topping. Stabbing this into a tiny fish like a blue tang or a clownfish will usually catch it instantly, but bigger carp or puffer fish might take a few jabs and trigger a button bashing or stick twirling mini game. If that was all you found in the beautiful Blue Hole then Dave’s life would be pretty easy, but it won’t take you long to discover the darker side of the depths.

More aggressive sea creatures don’t take kindly to being turned into sushi, and will gladly attack our heroic diver to prevent this. Dodging and weaving isn’t easy when you’re underwater, but is essential if you want to keep your oxygen levels up (which doubles up as your health). Tougher threats like sharks probably won’t be beaten by your harpoon alone either, but fortunately the sea is home to guns like shotguns, snipers, and grenade launchers to help deal with Jaws and his pals. If you’d rather focus on getting higher quality meat that’s been slightly less exploded, there are also tranquiliser pistols and net guns to blast at the fish. The weapons are surprisingly diverse for a game about underwater fishing, but diversity is Dave’s middle name.

Once you’ve gone for a dive or two, time passes to the evening and you’ll be expected to help out at the sushi restaurant. Dave is assigned to the front of house, and is expected to serve up dishes, clean up plates, and even take drinks orders. It’s a mad dash to keep everyone happy, especially once the mini games start and you’re expected to pour out the correct amount of miso soup in a hurry. It won’t take you long to realise that when more customers arrive as the restaurant grows that Dave the Diver will be horrendously overworked, and you’ll need to hire some help.

Hiring a waiter to help serve up salmon rolls will help take the pressure off on a busy night, but obviously cuts into your profits. It’s essential though, and once you start catching higher quality fish, upgrading your dishes and getting more followers on social media the money will come rolling in. More money means more to spend training staff to cook faster or making them able to help serve drinks, and before you know it you’ll have an unstoppable team of elite waiters and chefs.

Just like in the real world, money can get you all the advantages you need in Dave the Diver. The most important of these are equipment upgrades, which will make your life so much easier in the Blue Hole. Wetsuit upgrades enable you to explore deeper into the ocean, oxygen tank upgrades ensure you can last longer without drowning even when battered by barracuda, and a bigger storage crate for storing your haul as you explore means you can get more stock before resurfacing. Every upgrade you purchase feels incredibly meaningful, and you’ll be ready to take on the toughest challenges once you’ve bought a few.

One of the aspects of Dave the Diver that impressed me the most in my playthrough is how well the game keeps you motivated with new missions. There was never a day of my sushi focused life where I was just grinding to get basic stock – instead you’re presented with all sorts of missions from your friends and patrons, ranging from preparing a specific dish to finding the remnants of a mysterious civilisation under the sea. Even alongside these more official missions you have checklists of specific invasive creatures to take down or shells to find, and you’re always rewarded handsomely for doing so.

Even more impressive than the steady stream of missions though, is the sheer variety of unlockable abilities and mechanics that just keep coming. From start to finish Dave the Diver throws new ideas at you, and whether it’s equipment to pick up sea urchins without hurting your hands or a whole new way to stock up on fish without even getting your feet wet – it always took me by surprise. I won’t spoil any of those surprises here, but the sheer density of ideas is almost unbelievable and ensures you never have the chance to get too comfortable with the gameplay loop.

For the entire 20+ hour runtime of Dave the Diver I never once got bored of going diving for scaly treasure, and part of that is because of how gorgeous the randomised world under the sea is. Upon first glance the fairly lo-fi pixel art graphics didn’t impress me too much, but once I got down into the deep blue and saw all the beautiful coral and tropical fish it really took my breath away.

The only thing more colourful than the visuals of Dave the Diver are the characters. The cast of weird and wonderful humans are always a joy to interact with, from the eccentric chef who trains like a samurai to make the perfect sushi to the idol obsessed gun expert who sleeps with an anime body pillow. I wasn’t expecting to get hooked on the humans in this fishing game, but here we are.

I have very few complaints when it comes to Dave the Diver, but I do have to admit that a section in the middle of the game was a little on the slow side. This particular large environment didn’t contain any fish to catch, and you’re expected to travel back and forth across it to complete the story missions in that chapter. Ultimately it’s a fairly short section of a phenomenal game, but it was a little on the dull side.

Dave the Diver is a sensational game that combines deep sea diving and restaurant management to create an experience that must be played to be believed. The amount of ideas packed into this adventure is ludicrous, and thanks to a whole lot of varied missions you’ll always have something to be working towards. If you play one game this week, play Dave the Diver – you won’t regret it.

The post Dave the Diver review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

The Puyo Puyo games have been delighting purveyors of puzzle games for over thirty years, but most people I know still associate the series’ gameplay with Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. This clever reskin of the game was created to capitalise on the popularity of the radical blue hedgehog back in the nineties (with a similar but lesser known Kirby equivalent released on the Super Nintendo). Who better to continue this tradition of matching coloured blobs than the big baddie from the Super Meat Boy Series, and Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine is ready to ruin your day with its blend of evil traps and puzzle gameplay.

Dr Fetus has been thwarted by Meat Boy more than enough times now, and he’s got a new plan to deal with this platforming problem once and for all. By cloning the square red hero he’s hoping he can abuse his power to do those dark deeds he’s so famous for, but this scientific endeavor isn’t exactly simple. The Meat Boys he’s producing just aren’t quite right, so to try and weed out the good ones Dr Fetus is throwing them all into deadly test chambers and hoping the best evolve into something resembling his rival. It’s a gloriously stupid concept, but it gives you a reason for the upcoming chaos.

Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine is at its core a Puyo Puyo game, but if you’re not familiar with this particular puzzle game then this is how it works. Sets of two coloured clones slowly descend from the top of a stage, and your job is to rotate and place them together so that at least four of the same colour stick together. When this happens they’ll disappear, let any clones on top of them drop down, and give you more room to place more blobs.

This probably sounds pretty easy, but the real trick is learning how to place the clones so you can set off combos of matching colours. The easiest way to do this is by placing colours on top of each other so that when a set of clones is cleared the ones above them fall into place and connect with matching Meat Boys, but it’s easier said than done. High level Puyo Puyo gameplay is particularly mind blowing when you see the chains and combos start popping off, but Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine is less about high scores and more about bloody carnage.

What makes this Meat Boy spinoff different to other puzzle games are the hazards that litter every single stage you’ll be presented with. Saw blades, swinging chainsaws and spooky ghosts litter every single level of this colour matching puzzle game, and are hell bent on ruining your carefully planned combos. If you happen to hit any of these hazards with your descending puzzle pieces you’ll immediately lose the level and have to start from the last checkpoint, but if they hit any of the clones you have placed on the ground they’ll just destroy them and leave you with less to match with. Navigating the hazards and making matches is hard work, and unfortunately not a whole lot of fun.

There’s definitely a reason why most puzzle games don’t have the constant threat of your coloured pieces being sliced into a pile of viscera, and that’s because it massively takes away from thoughtful gameplay. Even in the first world of Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine it’s rare you’ll find a moment to put together a clever combo of clones, because there’s either not enough room to set it up or there’s a saw blade waiting to clear it away after a few seconds. Even dodging the obstacles as your pieces fall is annoying, and the punishment of having to start over after one accident with an enemy is way too punishing. I ended up turning on invincibility on the accessibility menu so I could actually enjoy the game, but in doing so was basically just playing standard Puyo Puyo.

There are a couple of clever ideas in the game that are supposed to mitigate the difficulty somewhat. One of these is the temporary invincibility you get when you manage to pull off a combo. This would be really helpful if setting up combos was easier with all the hazards, but it’s a start. There are also checkpoints in the middle of stages that ensure you don’t end up losing too much progress when you die, and getting enough matches to trigger them is pretty manageable. Each level will still feel like a grindy war of attrition as you slowly manage to make your way closer to the next checkpoint, but it at least makes it plausible to make it through a level.

I’ve been hard on Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine, but it isn’t without its charm. One part of the game that’s undeniably great is the soundtrack, which is consistently banging. There are also some interesting elements that change as you progress in the story, like the designs of the clones as they evolve. It’s a cool visual twist that fits the narrative, and although not exactly important to the game as a whole I thought it was really neat.

Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine makes a great case for why you shouldn’t add dangerous platforming hazards to a perfectly good puzzle game. All the intricacy and combo planning that goes into a good round of Puyo Puyo is lost when dealing with Fetus’ saw blades, and I just ended up feeling frustrated. If you’re a real puzzle game whizzkid who’s looking for a challenge then maybe you’ll have more fun than me, but otherwise it’s worth keeping Puyo Puyo and Meat Boy as far apart as possible.

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I love playing the latest video game releases as much as the next guy, but sometimes those classics you grew up with are the comfy old pair of slippers you need to unwind after a long day. For me old Super Nintendo games like Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country are what cure me of the blues, but for those who owned a Mega Drive Sonic’s spiky face is likely who provides that comfort from their childhood. If that’s the case then you should probably own those Sega classics on your modern consoles – enter Sonic Origins Plus.

This bundle of retro games is predominantly made up of the four classic Sonic games that we all know and love. Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 and Knuckles and Sonic CD are where you’ll spend most of your time in this collection. These (mostly) fast paced platformers are as much fun as you remember, with corkscrews, loop the loops and springs aplenty littering the colourful stages and ensuring you have a fun time spinning about. If somehow you haven’t played a Sonic game before, the blend of satisfying momentum through a stage and hazards to deal with is truly 16-bit magic, and you should get to beating Robotnik as soon as possible.

Another great reason to have all these wonderful Sonic games in one place is because it means you can have fun with all the different bonus stages. I absolutely love the various levels housing Chaos Emeralds in these titles, from the spinning mazes of Sonic the Hedgehog to the tunnels of rings and mines from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. A fantastic feature of Sonic Origins Plus is the ability to retry these stages when you fail at the cost of a measly collectable coin, which means gathering all the gems and turning into Super Sonic is more manageable than ever.

There are a few other helpful features that make the games less punishing too when you’re playing the Anniversary versions of the main titles. One of these is the removal of lives entirely, meaning that death no longer has a consequence other than pushing you back to the nearest checkpoint. You can also restart stages at any time, which is great when you miss out on gathering enough rings to unlock a bonus stage. Finally you can save your game at any time and play something else, which doesn’t exactly sound like a feature but back in the good old days you had to beat Sonic in one sitting or start over.

The ability to play a few dusty old games probably doesn’t fill you with the urge to spend £35 on a new video game, but there are a few extras that add some value to the package. My favourite of these are the missions, which are specially designed mini stages with objectives to complete and a time limit. The variety of these missions is pretty fantastic, with some showcasing Knuckles flying to kill enemies, as well as pacifist missions and specially designed mazes that’ll really test your skills. You’ll be rewarded with those precious coins for getting a good rank too, which you can spend over at the museum.

The museum houses all sorts of artifacts from the history of Sonic, from concept art to videos of live concerts playing the themes we all know and love. It’s a cool thing to explore for hardcore fans of the series, but after unlocking some of the cooler animated story scenes and music I still had a whole lot of change that I wasn’t bothered about spending on pictures of crabs.

Pretty much all these features were available in the original Sonic Origins when it was released last year, so why buy the new Plus version of the game I hear you ask. Well the main reason for this is supposed to be the added Game Gear games. These twelve portable titles originally released on Sega’s ill fated handheld back in the day, and it won’t take you long to notice their limitations thanks to that. Honestly these additional games are barely worth playing, with massive framerate dips, subpar level design and horrendous sound quality. There are much better versions of some of the games included on other systems too (like Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine and Sonic Spinball) so including these piss poor versions feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth.

The other new feature of Sonic Origins Plus is the addition of Amy Rose as a playable character. Playing as the adorable pink hedgehog brings a couple of very minor changes to your moveset, but for the most part she’s pretty close to a palette swap of Sonic. I like the idea of adding a new character to the collection, but it’d be nice if her addition had shaken up these classics a little bit.

When playing Sonic Origins Plus, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d played loads of better collections of Sonic games in the past. When I bought Sonic Mega Collection on the GameCube in 2002 it included most of the games you’d want to play from this bundle alongside classics like Ristar, Sonic 3D Blast and Mean Bean Machine, so the selection here just feels a bit lackluster. The games are still great of course, but especially for a more complete version of Sonic Origins it feels way emptier than it should.

My final issue with Sonic Origins Plus is one that can’t really be helped, but is still very unfortunate. The music in Sonic 3 (which for those who don’t know was initially developed in part by Michael Jackson) can no longer be used for licencing reasons, and it just isn’t the same without the tunes from my childhood. Obviously there’s no easy fix for this, but it’s a shame nonetheless.

Sonic Origins Plus is a great way to play four fantastic games, but the overall package is a little bit weak. The new additions to the Plus version are weaker still, making it hard to recommend even the budget priced upgrade let alone the full package. Despite this though you simply can’t deny the quality of the fantastic games in this collection, and if you’re desperate for a way to play them on modern consoles then you’ll probably still be happy spinning your life away.

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For many, farming games are a soothing experience that help the player unwind after a tough dose of daily life. I’m generally a little harder on the genre though, and need that crop harvesting gameplay to do something a little different to get my juices flowing. With dozens of these cosy experiences releasing every year it takes something special to stand out from the crowd, so any developers jumping into the genre need to bring their A game. A remake of a farming game originally released on the GameCube probably isn’t going to cut it anymore, which is unfortunate for Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.

As is traditional in any farming game, you start your botanical adventure as a young whippersnapper who has inherited a farm. This time it’s because some relative has passed away, which means that the family dream of owning a successful farm falls to you. After getting a bit of help from the community you’re expected to get your hands dirty and sort out some produce to sell, so grab a hoe and some seeds and go hit the field.

If you’ve indulged in a bit of virtual farming before you know what to expect from the fruit and vegetable side of the game. First you’ll need to use your hoe on the soil to prepare it for planting, then pop a seed in and water it regularly until it starts producing food. It’s about as basic as farming gameplay gets, but when coupled with a need to manage your limited stamina every day it can become a little more strenuous.

It’ll take a while for you to really have to worry about getting too tired to finish your chores, but you should still prepare for this moment by learning to cook some stamina boosting snacks. You’ll find recipes for tasty meals dotted all over the village, but you can also experiment by cooking a couple of ingredients together and hoping for the best. Shoving a few vegetables together in a saucepan will probably produce some sort of tasty soup, but once you start finding scary mushrooms and dairy products it becomes a little trickier to freestyle your way to culinary greatness.

If you want regular milk and eggs for the kitchen (or just to sell for cold hard cash) you’ll need to get yourself some animals for the farm. At the start of the game you’re given a cow you can milk daily for a tasty sellable beverage, but with a bit of love, food and space to roam your livestock will become happier, produce higher quality goods and potentially even breed to give you even more furry or feathered friends. As long as you remember a few simple rules (like not letting your animals outside when It’s raining) you’ll have an endless supply of money and tasty food just waiting to be collected each morning.

An idyllic farm life is nice, but it’d be nicer with someone to share it with. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life has you covered in this department, with a whole host of potential spouses just waiting to be swept off their feet if you give them enough gifts. Each love interest has different present preferences, so you’ll need to learn what your bae likes if you want them to move in. I personally went for the aloof girl who liked my fish because it was easy to get these for her, but if you’d rather pick flowers or whip up a tasty treat to impress someone then that’s an option too.

The first few days at the farm will probably seem a little boring, but before you know it you’ll discover all the extra things you can get up to to fill the hours of the day. Fishing is an easy option with plenty of opportunity for making money, but you can also go to the archaeological dig site and find some precious artifacts or head to the notice board and solve some of the problems of the other village people. Whichever route you take, with a bit of hard work you’ll soon start turning a profit which means more seeds for the garden, more animals, and plenty of kitchen upgrades to invest in if you really want to live the high life.

As much as I’d like to pretend that this loop of farming and chores is engaging in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, it doesn’t take long for the whole experience to start feeling a little tedious. Everything just moves a little bit too slowly, and none of the side activities, festivals, or locals can distract from that. The lack of a hook to really pull you deep into this picturesque world just means it feels like a chore to play the game, and I think a lot of that is because of the outdated source material.

Not all aspects of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life feel old fashioned though. The character creation features the option for a non-binary character (which definitely wasn’t available on the GameCube!) and all the romance options are now available to you regardless of the gender you choose. It’s a relatively small change that doesn’t really affect how the game functions a whole lot, but it’s lovely to see a remake focusing on making the game more inclusive the second time around.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a perfectly adequate farming game, but compared to some of the fantastic modern options out there it’s really hard to recommend. There’s just not a whole lot of interesting progression hooks to keep you invested in this world of countryside industry, and although the updated gender and relationship options are fantastic everything else about this game just feels dated.

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As genres of video game come and go, there are always going to be types of game you’re less familiar with. I like to think my gaming diet is pretty darn varied, but there are still plenty of blind spots in my pixelated vision. One of these blindspots houses the auto battler. I love the idea of setting up a team of units with perfect synergy to beat up my opponent, but other than the auto battle mode in Hearthstone I’ve just never found the time to jump into this competitive genre. The perfect way for me to change that though is by transforming this typically multiplayer style of game into a Roguelike, and that’s exactly what Tales & Tactics has done.

If you aren’t familiar with autobattling, here’s the jist of it. The aim of the game is to buy units that work well together, place them on a grid and have them beat your opponent who’s doing the same thing as you. There’s some fairly straightforward strategy to consider when placing your Tales & Tactics monsters on the hexagon tiles of the board that you’ll need to think about too, like putting your archers at the back and your tanks at the front, but really the main way you’ll succeed is by collecting units of the same type so that they’re boosted with powerful effects.

For my first run I noticed that the shop started with a few orc type monsters available to purchase, and once I had three different orcs on my team they all gained the ability to Rage and deal extra damage once their health dropped below half. One of my Orcs was also a Dweller type, and once I’d gathered a couple more of these cave based creatures they grouped together to summon an additional muscly brute at the start of battle who decimated the enemy. Making sure you have the right lineup of units will help turn the tide of battle in your favour, so make sure you keep refreshing that shop.

Each round you can spend your hard earned currency on new units, or on refreshing the shop to look for the ones you need. You get one refresh for free between battles, but often that isn’t enough to find the perfect orc or skeleton for your crew. This is even more true when you factor in how important getting three identical units is. If you can manage to grab a full set of three creatures they’ll fuse together to create one super powerful unit, and because you can only have a limited number of them on the battlefield at a time it’s worth making them as tough as possible.

You can make your army more powerful in a few other ways too. One of these is by leveling up your overall level, and the other is by finding gear and equipping it to individual units. There are even more layers of complexity to this too, because you can also fuse items together to combine their effects. Figuring out what effects would help a specific unit the most isn’t always easy, but with a bit of thought and practice you’ll have the ultimate team in no time.

One aspect of Tales & Tactics I was really impressed by is the variety of unit types. Every single creature you buy has its own unique skill, from healing your weakest unit to stunning enemies so you can overwhelm them. Even the different ranged creatures all function differently, my prized orc threw its axe like a boomerang hitting multiple hexagons on its route, but I also had a more standard single target skeleton archer and a dragon that burned a cone of flame in front of it. Figuring out the best way to arrange all these very different units and which synergise well is really engaging, and is just another layer of strategy you’ll need to keep in mind if you want a run to last.

I haven’t really mentioned the Roguelike elements of Tales & Tactics yet, which are really important in ensuring the game isn’t just made up of back to back battles. In each run of Tales & Tactics you’ll start with a couple of hearts, and winning a fight will give you an extra heart up to a maximum of four. Losing a fight causes you to lose two hearts, and when they’re all gone that’s game over. The Roguelike randomness means the battles you face will be different each time too, and you also have branching paths to choose from with different shops, events and battles down each Slay the Spire esque fork in the road. You’ll only gain access to the best units, equipment and shop upgrades by choosing your route carefully, and with only a couple of losses standing between you and failure you’ll need all the advantages you can get.

In this demo version of the game I was limited to a single character to play as with no unlockable perks or progression available between runs. It’s clear that there’s plenty to unlock based on the menus (which I’m really looking forward to checking out) but at the time of writing I don’t know how this will work or how much each character and perk option will shake up the game.

Even in this very limited demo, Tales & Tactics has me really excited about getting stuck in to the world of auto battling. The Roguelike elements work really well with the strategic automatic battles, and the variety of units and unit types is really impressive. If you’ve always been a little intimidated by auto chess and its peers, then this might be the gateway drug you need to get hooked on the genre.

Tales & Tactics is coming to PC (via Steam) via early access on August 3rd.

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There are infinite possibilities for the setting of a video game, but for my money one of the most underutilised is prison. The idea of being trapped behind bars with no freedom is genuinely scary, and from a design perspective you’d think this very enclosed environment would be ideal. Despite this I could count the number of games I know set in the slammer on one hand, and even less of those are games I personally enjoyed. Thankfully Back to the Dawn is here to bring you all the jailhouse drama you could ever want, but with a colourful cast of animal characters.

Before you get started with prison life, you’ll be given a selection of characters and backstories to choose from. It’s here that Back to the Dawn reveals the RPG systems you’ll be working with, with attribute points and special skills all on offer based on your backstory. I opted to play as a fox reporter framed for drug smuggling while trying to uncover some of the mayor’s shady dealings, who had the charisma to make friends easily behind bars. After a brief bit of backstory, I was shoved into prison with a goal of proving my innocence before the mayor’s election.

Before you get any lofty ideas of sneaking around and finding information in out of bounds areas though, you need to get used to the prison schedule. After your initial headcount in the morning, you’re free to chat to your buddies or go and work in the laundry room for a pittance. Then it’s time for lunch (plain bread unless you bribe somebody) followed by time in the yard. Once you’ve found something to do outside and been suitably extorted by gangs, it’s time for your second meal of the day and a shower and TV time. Once you get the hang of all the things that happen in a day you’ll start to learn where is best place to spend your time to keep your mind and body happy, and might even figure out how to make any money you need.

Just like in day to day life, behind bars money makes the world go round. If you want to use the gym equipment to level up your stats, raise your spirits by watching a sitcom in the evening or buy some extra grub, you’ll need to give some cash to a guard or gang member for the privilege. The only legal way to do this is by working hard at prison jobs, but it’ll take an age to get enough to do anything fun. The gangs have plenty of use for a newcomer like you though, so it might be worth introducing yourself.

Getting in with the gangs might sound like an intimidating task, but each of the three running the prison were more than happy to get some help from a cunning fox like myself. For my first mission I had to take the rap for somebody and spend a day in solitary (which really did a number on my mental health) then my gang leader wanted help getting some loan money back. This involved intimidating a couple of weaker animals, and required some dice rolls on my part. After a couple of failed attempts and rerolls I had to leave it until another day, which made me wish I’d picked a more threatening character or pumped some iron beforehand. The way all the systems work together is really clever, and there seems to be plenty of ways you can use your best attributes to your advantage in this prison setting.

As well as spending time working for elephant mob bosses, you’ll also need to make time for some self care in Back to the Dawn. There are loads of little things you can do every day that give you a boost to your mind and a buff to a stat, as long as you have the required items to indulge. Brushing your teeth will give you six hours of boosted charisma, whereas showers are a great way to unwind and will keep you smelling fresh around anyone you need to impress. You even need to keep track of when you need to take a dump, because if you let that meter max out to 20 a stray fart could spell disaster for your jumpsuit and your reputation.

Once you’ve become suitably capable of handling basic hygiene and toilet needs, you’re probably ready to start finding your way to freedom. My first task in this endeavour was to raise the money to call my lawyer, then I needed to convince a guard to bump forward my visitation by stealing some evidence from a mob boss’s locked cabinet. On your desk you can craft items out of bits and bobs, and a couple of nails and paperclips later I had a lockpick at the ready. The story quests did a good job of teaching me how to play the game, and while doing them I also found a way to start taking my toilet apart in a bid for freedom.

There’s just so much to Back to the Dawn, with all sorts of routes through the game depending on how you want to play. For a demo build especially I was really interested in all the branching paths I could’ve taken, and there’s even a whole other character to play as. In my time with the game I never even started a fight with another prisoner (I figured my measly single point in strength made that a bad idea) and I’m sure there will be even more spicy situations waiting in the full game.

I can’t end this preview of Back to the Dawn without mentioning the visuals, which are breathtaking. It’s great to see the HD-2D aesthetic used outside of the usual fantasy setting, and the lighting bursting through the bars of the prison is truly a sight to behold.

Back to the Dawn is shaping up to be a fantastic prison life RPG, with a whole lot of deep systems to sink your teeth into and plenty of ways to spend your time in the slammer. I can’t wait to see what happens next to my unlucky fox protagonist, but I’m hopeful that with a few lockpicks and a bit of charisma he’ll have a happy ending later this year.

Back to the Dawn is planned for release in 2023.

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Saving the world is fine, but have you ever tried dating? There are loads of epic RPGs about saving the day by beating evil monsters, but sometimes we need a bit of balance in our gaming diet. For most people this is what makes the Persona series particularly special, a blend of battling otherworldly demons and teen drama all wrapped up in a delightful package of Japanese culture. Eternights has a similar combination of fighting and socialising at its core, but in a much more tumultuous setting.

The main character and his best friend Chani are just typical teenage boys. Their life consists of going to school and trying to romance girls, and because of the age we live in that means checking out a whole load of dating apps. This is how they’re spending the evening when the game starts, with idle banter about their favourite idols and a search for love or perhaps something seedier. After trying out a new app that asks users to take a personality test to match with love interests, our protagonist starts talking to a very forward girl who wants to meet up the next day. And so begins the drama.

The next day when on his way to his hot date, a huge wall bursts from below the earth’s crust and takes out a huge chunk of the city. This catastrophic event causes a whole lot of destruction, and also lines up with hordes of monsters appearing in the city and attacking people on site. You and Chani are immediately thrown into an underground bunker and told to hide until help arrives, but before that time comes things start to kick off again and you and some new allies need to escape to a new place of safety.

With monsters roaming the streets now, you’ll need a way to defend yourself. Fortunately that’s something you gain rather quickly, thanks to a girl in your dreams giving you the magic power to turn a recently amputated arm into a big old sword. You can use this to beat up any bad guys that stand in your way in the full on character action combat that Eternights has to offer.

Initially you’ll only have a single basic combo and a dodge roll to use against the monstrous hordes of Eternights, but honestly that’s all you really need. Much like in the Bayonetta games, if you time the roll just before getting hit you’ll activate a slow motion effect and be able to absolutely decimate the sluggish enemies for a decent chunk of time. Unlike Bayonetta though, the window of opportunity for activating this ability is massive, and means that you’ll spend almost all your time laughing at enemies moving at a snail’s pace while smashing their face in. On the one hand this is really satisfying, but it did ensure that the challenge of this ninety minute chunk of the game I played was fairly nonexistent.

After a few fights I was able to unlock a few more powers, like a big elemental attack that required nailing a quick time event to unleash its full potential. Using this attack on enemies of the appropriate type broke their defences and enabled me to take them down with ease, and once a few more of these are available I imagine the combat will really start to open up.

Alongside these power moves, I also unlocked some new attacks on a skill tree that were useful in certain situations. None of these were particularly ground-breaking, but having a lunge to close the gap on enemies, a ranged attack and a slow but massively damaging new weapon really did make the combat much more interesting. I also gained another magical teen who could provide me with some backup, with a cheeky heal as long as my assist meter was full. From this demo the combat was enjoyable if a little on the basic side, but if new abilities continue to unlock I don’t see myself getting bored with the full game.

Outside of combat you’ll spend your time chatting away to your allies, and depending on the conversation options you choose certain stats will go up. In the menus it looked like by focusing on certain types of responses you’d unlock new buffs to your character, but this didn’t happen for me in the demo. The dialogue is entertaining though, if a little on the blue side. In this opening section there were already two jokes made about masturbating into tissues, and one about hiding the weird porn that Chani and I stole from his grandad. You probably already know if this will grate on you, but from this early section I mainly just found it amusing.

Eternights combines engaging character action gameplay with Persona style socialising, and that’s a blend I can absolutely get behind. The combat in the early sections of the game is perfectly serviceable, and I’ll be interested to see how it progresses later on. If fighting demons and talking about porn sounds like something you’ll enjoy, then watch this space.

Eternights is coming to PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PS4, and PlayStation 5 on September 21st, 2023.

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I play hundreds of video games every year, but it’s still hard to imagine how each one I play came to be a final product. The creativity and skill set needed to make the games that bring me so much joy is practically unfathomable, and I salute all the teams that come together to create countless gaming masterpieces every year. Even harder to comprehend is how a solo developer puts out a product, but Tomas Sala is becoming somewhat of a master of it. The Falconeer brought back air combat in a game that looked like it was made by a huge team of experts, and Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is shaping up to be a really interesting take on the humble city builder.

Set in the same universe as The Falconeer, Bulwark sees you playing as one of the factions trying to thrive in this world of chaos. Building in this environment isn’t easy though, there are threats lurking in all directions and the landscape is made pretty much entirely of mountains and ocean. Fortunately the focus of the building is centred on the verticality you’ll need to make an impressive cliffside base, so get ready to gather some materials and build some towers.

Putting a base together in Bulwark is simple enough to learn. You start the game with an outpost, and as long as you have some wood you can expand in any direction by placing a tower within range of it. Your towers are instantly connected by walkways, and as long as there’s places to work nearby they’ll be automatically populated by your citizens. This is important because the more people who live around your factories the more efficiently they produce materials.

There are only three resources you have to worry about while building your settlement, wood, stone and metal. What’s interesting about how these materials work in Bulwark is that you don’t really gather these materials, and instead have a meter that determines how much of them you can use from a specific location. The tower next to the wood mill will always have enough wood to expand with towers in every direction, but as you get further away you’ll only have enough wood if your web of towers have provided enough workers to boost production. This sounds complicated, but really all you need to do is make a big mesh of towers across the cliffs to expand.

Sometimes there just aren’t enough spots of land to get to the resources you need though, and you’ll need a dock to transport your wood, stone and metal. Once you’ve placed two docks where you need them you can assign one of your boats to the route, and it’ll take a specific material back and forth. Setting up the perfect chain of resources is really satisfying, especially when more and more properties and people move into your little cliffside utopia.

If you’re still struggling to get enough people to stay in your town to boost your industry, you can start upgrading your towers. The easiest way to do this is by gathering better resources. When you upgrade a pathetic wood tower into a stone or metal one all the surrounding walkways are automatically upgraded too, so it’s worth remembering to do it. Another way you can upgrade a tower is by adding extra foundations and balconies to the sides of it. This is easy enough to do by just moving your cursor to the edge of a tower and placing these handy ledges wherever you fancy. When you combine this with the fact you can place towers and paths almost anywhere you want, it really ensures that every settlement you build feels uniquely yours.

The final upgrade to any tower turns it into a command tower, which you can place a commander in. This is important, because the world isn’t always (read ever) a peaceful place in Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles. Your commanders pretty much manage themselves, often with hordes of dragons they command flying circles around the tower they inhabit. There’s not a lot more badass than watching these mythical beasts swarming down at an enemy ship, so make sure you recruit as many commanders as you can.

Base building is definitely the focus of Bulwark, but you also won’t get far in this world without exploring. Your handy scout balloon can fly anywhere you want it to, and find new resources and events about the map. It’s always worth checking out the question marks dotted about the map, because it’s often a commander or ship’s captain that’d be willing to join you as long as you don’t mind shaking up the global affairs going on in the background.

There are five main factions in the world of Bulwark, and depending on who you take in they’ll either get stronger, weaker or become aggressive to you. Everyone is a bit testy in this wet and wild world, and it’s easy to upset the wrong people and find yourself facing some hostiles. In the preview build I played I found these negotiations pretty tricks, and often ended up with everyone hating me, but hopefully with a bit more time, and possibly some slightly adapted onboarding, this won’t happen further down the line.

One aspect of Bulwark that I should mention is how its demo is going to work. There will be a constantly evolving demo that can be played by absolutely everyone, that will update with new content and balancing as development continues. This demo will continue to showcase how development is going, but also takes away the ability to save the game entirely. It’s a really cool idea that’ll allow people to test out if Bulwark is for them, so there’s really no excuse to ignore this lovely city builder.

Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles has a lot of fantastic ideas, and it’ll be interesting to see how it develops going forward. The city building is really compelling, and every community you make feels uniquely yours. The solo Dev project is shaping up to be something special, and if you don’t believe me then get downloading the evolving demo.

Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is “coming soon” to PC via Steam.

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Many people are excited for Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the latest in the mainline series, because for almost sixteen years, the Assassin’s Creed series has been entertaining the masses with its blend of stealth gameplay and historical settings. The series has evolved significantly since those initial games though, with a whole host of RPG elements added to the huge environments to make games that almost feel too vast.

After a couple of years focused solely on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, fans of the series have been interested in where the series will go next. Well Ubisoft is ready to unleash new details on a whole host of games in the series that are coming soon, so let’s dive in shall we?

Nexus VR

The Assassin’s Creed games have always been very immersive experiences, featuring plenty of ancient locales to explore and historic monuments to climb. Well what better a fit for the series than VR, especially since most of the games essentially take place in a sort of fictional VR anyway. Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR will put you in the shoes of fan favourite assassins from the series, and allow you to feel even more hands on with the stealth takedowns than ever. The idea of playing as my boy Ezio and flicking my wrist to murder a corrupt despot is ridiculously cool, so get your Quests ready to join in the fun.

Jade: mobile Assassin’s Creed

Next up we got to find out more about Assassin’s Creed Jade, which is a fully fledged Assassin’s Creed game coming to iOS and Android soon. Ubisoft clearly wants this game to be essential for fans of the series, because it looks fantastic. Set in 3rd century China (between the Odyssey and Origins games) you’ll be surrounded by Great Walls and gorgeous flora and fauna. It’s also the first Assassin’s Creed game that will allow you to customise the appearance of your character, which is an interesting twist. There’s a closed beta starting this summer, so look forward to more mobile murder news very soon.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

These two games sound great, but really what we’re all eager to find out more about is the next mainline game in the series – Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Development on this year’s big Assassin’s Creed release is being handled by Ubisoft Bordeaux for the first time, with the support of eleven other studios with experience with the Creed.

The main message Ubisoft had to share about Assassin’s Creed Mirage is that this game is taking Assassin’s Creed back to its roots. Everything from the less RPG focused gameplay to the middle eastern setting really means this game feels like a modern update of the original Assassin’s Creed, with the main focus of the gameplay being assassinating targets and stealthing away.

Set in 9th century Baghdad, you’ll be thrust into an important moment in the history of the assassins. Our hero Basim starts out the game as a street thief, and while trying to figure out what’s going on with his nightmares ends up on a journey up the ranks of the assassins. It seems like a fairly tradition story for the series, but Ubisoft Bordeaux are promising plenty of historical figures to meet and some surprises along the way.

What really surprised me about the gameplay shown of Assassin’s Creed Mirage was how much it looked like the older games in the series. Initially it honestly felt like I was watching footage of a remote of one of the early entries in the series, and that seems to be the vibe they’re going for. Basim had a target to take out so parkoured along the roofs, dived into a bush and then wandered over to a group of people and blended in with them in classic AC style.

It wasn’t long before Basim was discovered though and everything kicked off, which meant we got to see the tools he has at his disposal. Again, none of these feel very revolutionary, it’s just classic stealth tools we all know and love. Smoke bombs will never go out of style, and hearing a guard shout “shit you little bastards” as his buddy fell to the floor with a blow dart in his neck was priceless.

Although very much an old school Assassin’s Creed experience, Mirage does have a few new tricks up its sleeve to shake up the gameplay. One of the coolest of these was his bird Enkidu, who you can control and use to tag enemies to make life easier. Basim also has some sort of time stopping ability that allows him to target multiple enemies within range of him and automatically teleport between them and slash them to death. This looked as awesome as it sounds, and will probably be really bloody useful.

There’s one final aspect of Assassin’s Creed Mirage that needs to be mentioned, and that’s the price. The aim of Mirage was to create a game with a more condensed scope, and because of that the price will be lower than you might expect. $50 will bag you Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and even the Ultimate edition will set you back less than most AAA games at $60. Ubisoft could have easily charged full price for this game, so it’s nice to know you’ll be spending a bit less on the 12th of October.

There’s a lot to unpack now for fans of the hidden blade, with three new Assassin’s Creed games coming soon. Whether you’re excited about playing a VR game, on mobile or the next big budget console release, there’s plenty of opportunities for stealth takedowns in your future.

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Getting the combat just right in an action game is so important, and I imagine incredibly difficult. So often when getting up close and personal the feel of that melee fighting just doesn’t feel right, whether it’s because the impact of hits not feeling weighty enough or the parry timing being a little off. When it feels right though, that’s just video game magic. Bleak Sword DX might not look like our typical action game, but damn does it nail that combat.

In this lo-fi fantasy world, everything has pretty much gone down the toilet. The king has been betrayed and murdered using the titular Bleak Sword, and darkness has descended across the realm. Now nowhere is safe, and the only one who can change that is our white pixelated hero and his sword fighting skills. As you can probably imagine the story isn’t supposed to be the star of the show here, but it certainly sets up your time stabbing in this desolate locale nicely.

There’s not a whole lot flashy about the combat in Bleak Sword DX, but everything it does, it does perfectly. Your character has a light attack for quick strikes, a heavy attack for extra damage, a dodge roll and a block – and that’s it. It’s how you use these abilities that matters though, and how you manage the stamina meter that drains once you do use them. You’ll need to master parrying and countering attacks, dodge rolling out of harm’s way and knowing when to time your strikes if you want to survive the simple square stages, and even then you’ll probably die a lot.

Although each level takes place on a single screen, there’s a nice variety throughout Bleak Sword DX. Some stages feature fog that obscures your foes, others have wind that’ll blow you about a bit and impact your ability to dodge, and the best of all are the horseback stages. You can’t block on these tricky scrolling levels, but instead can jump to dodge incoming logs or attacks. These variations in the environment might not sound like much, but it makes a huge difference to how you play.

If the different levels don’t excite you though, the enemy variety will. Every single foe (be it a basic bitch grunt or a big ole boss) in Bleak Sword DX requires a different strategy to deal with, from spiders that lunge at you at top speed to flying demons that throw spears at you from afar. Working out which attacks you can block and which require a well timed roll is just as important as your ability to time your attacks and blocks, so make sure you fight smarter not harder.

If you’re really struggling with a certain stage though, you can always go back and grind on some earlier easy battles. You earn experience for every level you complete, and every time you level up you can choose to upgrade your attack, defence or maximum HP. These stat upgrades make a huge difference, and going back to previous worlds after a few levels up will make you feel like a god.

Alongside getting experience, there’s also a chance you’ll find an item when you beat a level. You can hold two items at once, and they come in the form of equipment that boost your stats and consumables that health your hp or provide a more temporary boost. If at any point you die though these items will be taken away, and if you die a second time when you go back to beat the stage to retrieve them they’ll be gone forever, along with any experience you have towards your next level up. It can feel a bit harsh when you lose a load of XP and some particularly good items, but it worth remembering you don’t actually need any of the buffs they provide to progress.

If you’re able to beat the campaign of Bleak Sword DX, you’ll unlock a whole host of extra difficulty levels and modes to dive into for more slashing action. Boss Rush and The Arena are fairly self explanatory, but the mode I enjoyed the most was the randomiser. This mode shuffles the enemies you’ll encounter on your quest entirely, and is a whole lot of fun if you don’t mind the balance being thrown out the window.

One aspect of Bleak Sword DX I wasn’t sure I’d appreciate at first was the visuals, but after playing for a little while I realised just how much they add to the game. The simple three colour palette and chunky pixel aesthetic really suits the dark fantasy setting, and also ensures that you always know exactly what’s happening in the heat of battle. I’d advise that you don’t judge this book by its cover.

Bleak Sword DX takes simple action game mechanics and polishes them to near perfection. The combat is immensely satisfying, and the enemy and level variety keeps things interesting from start to finish. How much you get punished for dying can feel a little harsh, but as long as you become a master of the sword and board you’ll save the kingdom and feel great doing it.

The post Bleak Sword DX review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

One of the indie games that really got me excited for where gaming was heading back in 2013 was Papers, Please. The idea of a video game where you played as an immigration officer checking paperwork as fast as possible blew my mind, but it also stressed me the hell out. There aren’t a whole lot of games that have attempted to recapture the glory of Arstotzka, and as upsetting as that is, my blood pressure sure appreciates it. Thankfully Lil’ Guardsman is here to put that border patrol action back in our lives, but with a fantasy comedy twist.

Our hero Lil is just a child living her life in The Sprawl, whose father happens to be the head castle guardsman. One morning he asks Lil if she can take over his job for the day so he can go to the pub and bet on sports, and one tutorial later you’ll be sat at his desk and interrogating the fantasy races that want to enter the town. Not everyone is allowed through your gates, and you’ll need to use all your wits and guardsman tools to make sure you keep the riff raff out.

The only way to know who is welcome in The Sprawl is to look at The Writ and follow the rules it contains. In this demo (which featured one shift in the guard booth) I had to keep an eye out for anyone preparing to make a speech at the mages guild, people with funny names and grandma drug smugglers. It wasn’t too hard to spot the suspicious people, especially once I started using everything in my office to help out.

For each person who tries to get into the city you can perform three actions to try and suss them out. The most simple of these is asking them why they need to enter, and then either trusting their answer, doubting it or making fun of them to find out more. You can also call on your three advisors using the telephone, although admittedly the goofy jester is never particularly helpful. Once you’ve got a lead it’s then time to whip out one of your tools and find out more before making your decision.

Thanks to the less grounded setting of Lil’ Guardsman, you have a nice variety of outlandish contraptions to use when you’re in a pickle. If you think someone is lying you can spritz them with truth serum, if you want to check for any hidden items you can whip out the metal detector and if you think someone needs reprimanding immediately you can grab your whip and get to it. My favourite interaction involving the tools though was with a cyclops mother picking up her kids from her ex husband, who had a drawing made of incomprehensible squiggles to show me. With one flash of my decoder ring I was able to find a hidden message in the picture that revealed their opinion of their new stepmother, and then let their mama through the checkpoint to save her kids immediately. The different ways you can probe the charming folks of The Sprawl is just delightful, and I can’t wait to meet more of them.

For each person you interact with at the border you get rated on your performance, and if you want all four stars you’ll really have to read the situation perfectly. There’s some bonus gold on offer based on your score too, and although I don’t know what this money will be used for in the main game it’s probably worth hoarding.

I assumed that after my shift the demo would end, but life in the guard’s booth is only one aspect of Lil’ Guardsman. At closing time I was informed that the princess of The Sprawl had gone missing and that I was needed to help find her. Far be it from me to question why a child was needed to help with this matter of urgency, I arrived at my destination and found myself a contestant on a gameshow called “So you think you can save a Princess”.

This ridiculous section of the game functioned sort of like the TV show Blind Date, but instead of asking vaguely raunchy questions a lineup of hunks you’re asking a lineup of fantasy heroes about how they’d deal with a group of angry mages. It’s as silly as it sounds, and is only made sillier when you start asking about their favourite ice cream flavours. These hard ball questions can lead to some sticky situations though, and I actually ended up angering the warrior so much that I died.

The writing really pulls the game together, but I’d be doing Lil’ Guardsman a disservice if I didn’t mention the wonderful visuals too. The Saturday morning cartoon style is just perfect for this kind of adventure game, and really brings the eclectic characters you’ll meet on the job to life.

Although this demo of Lil’ Guardsman only lasted around forty minutes, it really got me excited for the full game. Thanks to the sections where you aren’t in the guard booth especially, I have no idea what weird and wonderful situations Lil will be thrust into later on in the game and can’t wait to find out. With other elements like money, gemstones that charge your tools and a time rewinding device all teased in the demo too, it looks like there’s going to be plenty to sink your teeth into when it releases later this year.

Lil’ Guardsman blends the border officer setup of Papers, Please with comedy stylings of a LucasArts adventure to create a truly wonderful experience. If the rest of the game is as good as this demo then it’s definitely going to be one to look out for in the next six months, and if you don’t believe that feel free to spray me with any leftover truth serum.

Lil’ Guardsman is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox, and Switch this year.

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Money doesn’t exactly grow on trees nowadays, and spending a whole lot on expensive new tech is a little hard to justify. There’s some tech that is just a little too essential to cut back on, though, and phones definitely fall into that category. It’s rare for me to go for more than a few minutes without using my phone for something, hell I’m using one to write this review right now. You don’t have to break the bank to get yourself a bloody good smartphone now either, as shown by the wonderful Xiaomi POCO F5 Pro.

Boasting all the high end android specs you could want at a fraction of the price (£559 at the time of writing) the POCO F5 Pro offers a hell of a lot of value and looks good while doing it. Like most phones, at a distance the POCO F5 Pro just looks like a black block, but once you get closer there’s some nice premium detailing. The textured stripes down the back of the phone are sleek and stylish, and the rectangular cameras in the top left corner protrude out with curved flourish. It’s not the most inspired and outlandish of designs, but it certainly looks like the premium product it is.

From the moment I started the POCO F5 Pro up I could see what the price tag was getting me. The default 1080p display coupled with the top tier brightness options and True Colour display just allows everything to pop, but if you’re really feeling fancy you can upgrade the visuals even more by turning on the WQHD+ setting. The improved sharpness of the visuals is immediately noticeable when you do this, but you’ll have to decide if the extra battery drainage is worth it.

I decided to keep this slicker visual mode on, because that battery really is able to keep its juice for a long time. There wasn’t a single day after being charged overnight where the POCO F5 Pro ran out of charge, no matter how many videos I streamed and games I played. There were even a few days where I didn’t charge it overnight and I still wasn’t caught short while out of the house, even with all the settings maxed out. It’s also the first POCO phone equipped with wireless fast charging, and for those of you using wires there’s even an option to use smart charge to avoid overcharging overnight.

Now for me, the most important aspect of any phone is the quality of the camera. With a small business to take product photos for and a ridiculous amount of animals to snap cute pics of, I’m always on the lookout for a camera that takes lovely crisp photos in all manner of situations. To say the camera on the POCO F5 Pro delighted and surprised me would be an understatement. The combination of 64MP main camera, 8MP ultra wide angle and 2 MP macro camera means you’ll be able to take photos, indoors, outdoors and up close with ease, and the results are always impressive.

The additional features of the camera are sensational too. The dual anti-shake feature meant that my partner, who is disabled and struggles with hand tremors, was able to take perfect photos every time. Photography used to be a passion of his before his physical health interfered with that, and getting to see how much he enjoyed using this phone for photos warmed my heart. The motion capture abilities of the camera are similarly breath-taking, and made taking photos of pets zooming about an absolute breeze.

It doesn’t really matter how nice the display on a phone is or how good the camera is if the overall performance isn’t up to snuff, and thankfully the POCO F5 Pro doesn’t disappoint in that department. With the top of the line Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 under the hood, you’ll be able to switch between apps and load them up in the blink of an eye. Perfect for everyday use or gaming on the go, I personally have never used a phone as snappy as the latest Xiaomi powerhouse. Despite this power the phone never really gets too hot either, thanks to the incredibly hi-tech sounding LiquidCool Technology 2.0.

It won’t come as much of a shock to you to find out how much I love this smartphone, but it does have a couple of issues worth mentioning. The biggest of these to me is no headphone jack. Maybe I’m just a little outdated, but as someone who doesn’t own any wireless headphones I pretty much missed out entirely on using the F5 Pro to listen to podcasts and if using it long term would have to invest in extra tech to get the most out of it. The other (again fairly small issue) is that of the standard bloatware that comes installed on the phone. It’s just something you’ll end up ignoring, but booting up the phone to see all the POCO branded apps did cause my eyes to roll a little.

If you’re looking to save a bit of money on a new phone, there’s the option of the slightly less snazzy POCO F5 that I also got to test out. For over a hundred pounds less (£449 at the time of writing) than its professional counterpart, you’ll have a smartphone that can handle most situations just as well with a few exceptions. The camera is the main downgrade, with less impressive photos overall and an anti-shake ability that didn’t work for my situation at the very least. The one bonus of grabbing the POCO F5 though is that it has a headphone jack, which I really appreciated. Even taking into account the extra cost I personally would still purchase the Pro model for the extra benefits, but both phones are fantastic – especially for the price tag.

The POCO F5 Pro is one of the best phones I’ve ever had the pleasure of using, at a price that is more than reasonable. With the power of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, a camera that takes beautiful photos in almost any situation, and great battery life, I’d recommend this phone to almost anyone. Forget the big brands and join me over here on team POCO, you won’t regret it.

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I’m all for a dense RPG with lots of systems to dive into, but sometimes the simplest games are the best. I’m sure we’ve all lost a few hours chasing high scores on Tetris or Pac-Man, and that doesn’t have to stop just because the days of spending any spare change on arcade machines is over. The Katamari series has been mixing simple gameplay with pure and unfiltered ridiculousness for almost twenty years now, and has brought a lot of joy into my life. It turns out there’s one of these colourful titles I missed though, and that’s fortunately now been rectified thanks to We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie.

If you haven’t played a Katamari game before, the concept might sound a little unusual. You play as a little green fella called The Prince, and the aim of each stage is to push a ball (the Katamari) around the environment and roll up as many objects as possible. As the Katamari grows due to the amount of cakes, bottles of super glue and small children stuck to it you’ll be able to assimilate bigger objects, usually to a fairly ridiculous degree. It’s an extremely satisfying process, only made more entertaining by the silliness of the environment, lovely (updated) visuals and wacky soundtrack.

Controlling The Prince and his big ball of bits is rather unusual too, but once you get used to it the control scheme really works. To move forwards you hold both sticks forward, and can steer by releasing a stick or turn sharper by pushing the sticks in opposite directions. There are a few fancier manoeuvres too, like a dash done by pushing the sticks in opposite directions repeatedly. I know it sounds a little odd, but in the end it gives you a great deal of control over your Katamari.

You might be wondering why The Prince is so dedicated to rolling up objects. Well once a Katamari reaches a certain size it can be sent into orbit to become a planet obviously. This time around though The King of All Cosmos isn’t sending you on missions with the purpose of making planets, in a very meta twist you’re actually just taking requests from fans of the series and the planets are more of an afterthought. It’s nonsense at its finest, and the King especially is a truly wonderful character to interact with.

Once you’ve found a fan to help, you’ll be sent to a level to roll up some bits and bobs. Your standard stage of We Love Katamari Reroll sees you dropped into a location like a school, bedroom or zoo, and given a time limit to reach a certain size. It almost always feels like there’s easily enough time to accomplish this task, but at the end of each level you’ll set high scores and be generally moaned at by the King of All Cosmos for your poor performance which might make you go for a replay.

As someone who hadn’t played this particular game in the series, I was surprised by how many stages of We Love Katamari Reroll strayed from this tried and true path though. There was one stage where I had to light a campfire with my Katamari which meant avoiding water and constantly moving to keep the fire burning, in another stage my Katamari was replaced by a slender sumo wrestler who needed to bulk up for a fight so had to be fed as many kilograms of food as possible. My favourite stage though is set on a racetrack, and although it seems like a regular “get big” challenge you move ridiculously fast and do laps of the course while absorbing all the other racers. The variety is fantastic, and no matter what you’re doing it’s always a whole lot of silly entertainment.

There’s one part of We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie that’s entirely new too, and that’s the Royal Reverie bit. This mode takes you into the memories of The King of All Cosmos, when he was just another small dude pushing a Katamari. These five brand new stages are all pretty challenging, with some wild conditions to fulfil if you want to beat them. Personally I thought the difficulty of these made them the least enjoyable part of the game, but if you’re a long time fan starved for ball rolling content then you might feel differently.

It’s the little things that make We Love Katamari Reroll special. Things like when you finish a stage and can find out how big your Katamari is by comparing it to everyday objects. I absolutely want to know that my big stupid ball is as big as 54,609 pencil sharpeners, and the fact you can keep spinning a slot machine to change the comparison object is genius. I also love dressing up my little prince in unlockable accessories, and taking selfies mid level for no reason whatsoever. We Love Katamari Reroll knows it’s completely daft, and embraces it with gusto.

There’s not a whole lot to complain about in We Love Katamari Reroll, but one aspect of the game did irritate me a little. The King of All Cosmos likes to pop up and talk while you’re in the middle of a mission, and when he does this he blocks the whole screen. Honestly it’s not a particularly big issue, but it was enough to interrupt my good times a little.

We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie is a lovely remaster of my new favourite game in the Katamari series. The nonsense the series is known for is here in full force, and the variety of missions is fantastic. The new content isn’t incredible, but if you missed out on this game on the PS2 then you’ve got a hell of an opportunity to rectify that.

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I’m not sure when I first realised how much I love weird video games. Was it after forcing as many of my friends as possible to play Mr Moskeeto? Was it after meeting the cast of Deadly Premonition for the first time? I suppose we’ll never truly know, but as I get older I’m much more interested in games that do something utterly bizarre than polished games with a big budget. Despite dedicating my life to all things weird and wonderful, though, I must admit the premise of Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer caught me off guard.

The X Slayers are a powerful group of radical people who have sworn to fight the Psyko Sindikate. Our awesome protagonist Zane is a member of this badass group, and has pledged to defend the people of earth “even though they’re bleep-holes to us and don’t even deserve it”. When the Psykos find the Slayers’ secret base all bets are off, and only Zane remains to get revenge on these punks.

So you’re probably thinking this sounds like an awful story, and not necessarily that weird. Well, bizarrely, what makes this game interesting is actually the “developer”. This boomer shooter was masterfully crafted by the fictional character Zane Lofton from Hypnospace Outlaw. In that game he was your typical 90s teenage internet troll, and this is the video game he was drawing pictures of when he wasn’t bullying people online. Now in modern times Zane has found these old design documents, and enlisted a friend to help him make the game reality.

The end result is finally here. Slayers X is your typical DOOM/Quake inspired FPS, with 2d pixel enemies, big guns and a whole lot of gore. The pace is fast, the secrets are hidden, and the bad guys are plentiful. If you’ve played any of these classic shooters you’ll feel right at home, but at the very least Zane controls really well and is packing plenty of heat to deal with the Psykos.

You’d think given the fact that this game was “created” from the mind of a dickhead teen that it’d have some fairly outrageous weapons to use, but honestly they’re pretty standard. You start with double pistols, then as you progress through the levels you’ll find a shotgun, machine gun and rocket launcher to fill out your armoury. It’s for the most part a decent selection, but not necessarily a daring one.

There’s one gun that’s an exception to this rule though, and that’s the Sludge Launcher. This crossbow-like contraption fires globs of sludge which explode on impact like grenades, and also attracts rats which gnaw on the baddies. Some of the more standard guns have some interesting elements too, like the shotgun that fires glass instead of shells which means you can gather extra ammo by smashing shit up.

The enemies you use these violent tools on are, however, a little disappointing. There’s not necessarily a shortage of enemy types (from walking turds to demonic heads) but they’re all fairly stationary which makes fighting them feel a bit dull after a while. Even when the levels got fairly hectic later on I rarely felt worried for my health, and knew that as long as I just kept firing my explosive ordnance into the crowds I’d be okay.

The main reason for this game’s existence wasn’t to create the greatest FPS of all time, though, but rather to demonstrate what would happen if you allowed an awful teenage boy to create a video game. This means constant references to turds, one liners that disrespect the enemy’s mother and a whole lot of bragging about how cool the protagonist Zane is. I expected to absolutely love this downright stupid idea, but it turns out that even though it’s done ironically it’s still incredibly cringe-inducing to walk past shelves full of turd cereal and diarrhea burgers. The same can be said for the cutscenes that feature a main villain who constantly brags about banging your recently deceased mum. I guess I just don’t have a lot of nostalgia for my days of being an intolerable little shit.

There is one sin that Slayers X commits though that is far worse than any of the attempts at comedy. This sin is the fact that the glass shotgun feels way too weak, and shotguns are pretty much all I ever use in boomer shooters. It isn’t the only weapon that feels a bit pathetic either, which is a real shame.

Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer is a ridiculous concept for a video game, and it turns out there’s a good reason for that. The teenage boy inspired comedy just didn’t land for me at all, and the boomer shooter gameplay is just okay. As a massive fan of Hypnospace Outlaw I was really expecting to love this bizarre spinoff, and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

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If I’m going to be exploring a world with countless secrets and routes in a MetroidVania, then I’m going to want getting from A to B to feel really good. Some games manage to do this simply by having tight controls and handy movement upgrades to unlock throughout, others shake things up by basing a whole game around a specific movement system like 2020’s Kunai with its grappling hook gameplay. Doomblade manages to make exploration a joy by giving you a sword that can fly through the air and slice shit up, and if that doesn’t get you excited I don’t know what will.

As the last of an oppressed species called the Gloomfolk, our protagonist Gloom Girl isn’t really in the best position in life. It seems to mainly involve hiding in dank caves from her oppressors, at least until a voice calls out to her from the depths. The voice is that of the Doomblade, a sentient red sword that’s been sealed away due to its destructive power. Destructive power is what it’ll take to overthrow the Dread Lords, so “Doom and Gloom’ team up and embark on a journey of slicing and dicing.

Before you make friends with your stabby new pal, moving Gloom Girl around feels slow and sad, but that all changes when you’ve got the Doomblade. By moving the right stick you can aim the blade at any enemy visible on the screen, and with a push of the right trigger you’ll dash straight towards them and ruin their day. Before long you’ll be bouncing from enemy to enemy to get around at breakneck speed, and it is glorious.

In earlier sections of the game most ledges will have handy respawning enemies on them so you can climb up them easily, but it won’t take long for you to realise that new powers will be needed if you want to overthrow the baddies. Gloom Girl’s jump isn’t particularly useful in most situations, but an added air dash will help you reach places without enemies and make bouncing across the screen even easier. You’ll then get the ability to fire out an electric ball that activates certain contraptions, and powers that help you cut through vines or smash through weird blocks made of eyeballs. All the new powers you unlock are extremely useful, and will make sure you have plenty of new (and old) areas worth exploring.

I want to mention one other upgrade specifically too, because when I unlocked it (fairly early in the game) I couldn’t believe how much it changed everything. The Shadow Form ability allows Gloom Girl to travel through walls to attack enemies, which means as long as there’s an enemy placed on the other side of a solid object then it’s no longer a problem for you. Suddenly every area that had you stumped will be totally accessible with your new power, and you’ll have a whole lot of new routes to explore. Designing this world with all these different powers to keep in mind must have been a hell of a task, but Muro Studios nailed it.

Outside of these main powers, there are plenty of handy collectibles to find in Doomblade. Heart pieces will (as you might expect) give you more health after collecting four of them, there are also artefacts that boost your power and different relics and artefacts that you’ll be paid in bones for destroying in a big furnace. These bones can be used at the shops throughout the world for more handy but less essential upgrades, like the ability to absorb health pickups from a distance. There’s a constant feeling of progression and power gain as you play Doomblade, and you’re really rewarded for checking every nook and cranny with new abilities.

You’ll need all the help you can get against the enemies of this miserable world too, because they are armed to the teeth and happy to send you packing back to your last save point. The majority of the bad guys in Doomblade have projectile attacks, and you’ll probably get sick of them pretty quickly because dodging them is a chore. Since Gloom Girl is pretty sluggish when she isn’t zipping around with a big demon blade dodging bullets with her isn’t ideal, but often sword dashing towards an enemy to move out of the way will just send you straight into the path of more bullets. It can get pretty frustrating, and you just don’t have enough health to be able to shrug off a few hits.

While the regular enemies didn’t do a whole lot for me, I found the bosses in Doomblade to be a lot of fun. These more structured fights against massive monstrosities always have a specific strategy you’ll need to beat them, but once you know what you’re doing then whittling down that health bar will be totally manageable. Using your slashing powers to dodge screen filling attacks always feels fantastic, and I can’t think of a single boss I didn’t enjoy fighting.

Although I really enjoyed my time with it, there are a couple of other issues with Doomblade worth mentioning. Some of the environmental hazards (I’m looking at you lightning barriers) are just plain annoying to deal with, and when combined with the bullet shooting baddies can lead to some really frustrating sections. The story is also a bit on the dull side, with loads of walls of text to read about the Dread Lords that get a little old. None of these issues are deal breakers, but they do distract from the sheer joy of slicing.

Doomblade is a wonderful MetroidVania with fantastic locomotion and a whole lot of new abilities to shake up the game throughout. Exploring the world is a joy thanks to the Doomblade, and there are plenty of collectables to make it worth your while too. Some of the enemies and hazards can be a bit of a chore to deal with, but not so much that they ruin the fun of slicing shit up as “Doom and Gloom”.

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After over thirty years of playing video games, it’s rare for me to admit that a game is too difficult for me. I’ve spent an unfathomable amount of hours honing my vaguely acceptable gaming skills, and haven’t quite hit the age yet where my reaction speed starts to dwindle. I’d never go as far as to say that I’m some sort of amazing gaming prodigy, but when it comes to 2D platforming especially it’s rare I struggle a whole lot to see the credits of a video game. Struggle is the word I’d use to describe my time with Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

In Japan of old, two siblings have been raised in a secret village to become the mightiest warriors since birth. This is because the Empress Himiko has plunged Japan into an age of chaos and misery, mainly because she’s possessed by a god who’s a real piece of work. After one last bit of training Ayame and Kensei are sent off on a quest to take back the country from evil and make all the civilians happy again, which might not be the most original of stories but it certainly gets the job done.

As you may have guessed from the name, you actually play as two characters in Chronicles of 2 Heroes, and this doesn’t just mean switching between characters when you fancy it. This is because they both have abilities that you absolutely must use to make it through even a single screen of the game. Ayame can jump and throw kunai, whereas Kensei can attack with his sword and do a horizontal dash across long distances. You read that right, one of the characters in this platformer can’t jump, so it’s a good job you can swap between the two with a cheeky press of the X button.

It’s a really fun mechanic, and means you’ll constantly be switching siblings to make it past tricky platforming puzzles. Maybe there’s a big line of flames that only Kensei can dash through, but on the other side there’s a punk with a bow whose arrows you’ll need to jump over. Swapping characters is instantaneous, so once you get used to how often you need to tag in your other hero it becomes second nature and feels amazing.

The basic abilities of the duo are fine, but it won’t take you long to start unlocking a shed load of other moves to play around with. Ayame gets a double jump pretty quickly which changes the game, whereas Kensei soon unlocks the ability to slice through enemies in his path when he dashes. The medallions that unlock these skills come thick and fast, and always lead to a new selection of tricky platforming challenges.

Honestly, tricky might be an understatement. Within the first hour of playing Chronicles of 2 Heroes I found an optional route leading to a health upgrade that was probably the toughest section of a game I’ve played this year. With constantly spawning flying enemies and vanishing platforms over a pit of flames I died over and over again until I finally made it to my reward, and it felt a little excessive for the opening area of a game. I suppose I could’ve skipped this area and proceeded down the main path, but I don’t really want to imagine how hard the rest of the game would’ve been with one less heart. The difficulty only gets worse later in the game too, especially when the checkpoints start to drift further and further apart.

Perhaps the mechanic that got me killed the most in Chronicles of 2 Heroes though was the parry. Both Ayame and Kensei can parry attacks, but in totally different ways. When Ayame uses a parry successfully she teleports behind the source of the attack, which means you can reach otherwise inaccessible places with ease. Kensei’s parry reflects projectiles, which although less flashy is very helpful against some tricky enemies. The idea of these different damage negating abilities is great, but in practice it’s another story. The window for parrying attacks is actually pretty long, but is way way before anything actually makes contact with your character. Trying to wrap your head around this timing is an absolute nightmare, and because of this the sections where you have to parry feel awful.

Chronicles of 2 Heroes describes itself as having MetroidVania elements, and that’s a very accurate description. Every so often you’ll see a path you can’t access with your current setup, and will need to come back later (using a handy teleporter) if you want the upgrade or hidden collectable cat that’s hiding at the other end of it. There’s not full on backtracking through areas, but it’s definitely worth remembering any suspicious bits of a level you go past.

It’d probably be easier to keep track of the places you want to return to if the map was a little more useful though. The whole thing is just a purple mess of squares, and has no points of interest marked on it whatsoever. You also can’t zoom it out far enough to see more than a small area, scrolling around on it is sluggish, and it takes a few seconds longer to load than is ideal. It might sound like a small aspect of the game to nitpick, but it’s really bloody annoying.

It might sound like I have a lot of complaints about Chronicles of 2 Heroes, but I actually really enjoyed playing it. It definitely helps that the 16-bit aesthetic is lovely to look at, and that the soundtrack is chiptune joy. It’s so close to being an absolutely great title for fans of tough as nails platformers, but a handful of issues hold it back from that.

Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu’s Wrath is full of fantastic platforming and clever ideas, but has a few dodgy elements that prevent it from being truly great. The map and parry are just plain bad, and the difficulty is a little excessive especially at the very start of the game. The two character system and amount of upgrades you get for each of them is really impressive, but it probably won’t be enough for most people to forgive its issues.

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It seems like nowadays every video game has RPG elements, but sometimes I just want to go back in time and play a good old fashioned, turn-based, pixel art RPG. For me this love of the genre started (as it did with so many people) with Final Fantasy, but as time goes on new entries in the series resemble the classics less and less. If you’re hankering for an RPG you’d have loved in the 90s, you could do a lot worse than Tales of Vogar – Lost Descendants.

Vogar was once a lovely place filled with happy citizens and magic powers, but that has all changed in a fight for power. The game opens with a castle under siege from enemy forces, and a king fighting a battle he cannot win. In a last ditch effort to continue his legacy, he orders his children to be escorted away from the bloodshed in secret and makes a heroic last stand as a distraction. As you may have guessed already the main character of this game is one of those children, and he’s the only one who can bring peace back to the land.

It doesn’t take long for it to become apparent that Tales of Vogar places a whole lot of emphasis on this story, and you’ll spend most of the time interacting with NPCs and plotting the best way to overpower the big bad who caused this chaos. The overarching story is actually rather engaging, but it’s let down a little by some very typical JRPG characters. The main character is suffering from amnesia after the escape, and his brother is a loudmouth who loves to chat up the ladies. It’s all stuff you’ve seen hundreds of times before, and made my eyes roll on more than one occasion.

Between story segments there’s a good chance you’ll be thrown into a battle or two against some enemies. Each character in your party gets to act once a turn, choosing from an attack or special ability that they’ll unleash when it’s their time for action. Ascan the main character is a mage with various types of elemental magic at his disposal, his brother is a warrior who can deal heavy damage or weaken foes alongside hurting them, and you meet a healer at the start of the game who’ll help you recover from damage and status effects. They’ll all learn new skills and get stronger by levelling up too, so you’ll have more to think about in battle as the game goes on.

Although this turn-based combat is enjoyable enough, it’s hard to get too excited about it. Sure there’s an element of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, but in a golden age of RPGs you have to do something to stand out from the crowd. Within the last six months we’ve had games like Chained Echoes and Octopath Traveler 2 do mind blowing things with turn-based combat, and it felt a little hard to go back to a battle system that would’ve fit right in on the NES.

There’s a lot that Tales of Vogar does right though. I love that grinding is absolutely never needed in the game, and as long as you don’t dodge enemies left and right then the difficulty feels just right from start to finish. The length of the game is great too, lasting around eight hours and hitting all the right story beats in that short space of time.

I don’t particularly like complaining about the graphics in an RPG Maker game developed by a single person, but I do have to mention how Tales of Vogar looks. The visuals have that cookie cutter fantasy RPG look about them, with the environments especially really suffering from a case of generic pixel art-itis. The character models are admittedly more impressive though, and you can tell a lot of effort went into making sure they had a distinct look about them.

The audio is nice too, with a banging battle theme and generally well fitting music throughout. It’s clear a lot of effort went into the sound design outside of the music too, with little details like dripping water in caves and chirping birds. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s pretty darn immersive for a pixel art RPG.

If you really love old school JRPGs then there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Tales of Vogar – Lost Descendants, but it’s hard not to be disappointed when comparing it to more modern titles. The story is engaging and the combat perfectly serviceable, but it just doesn’t do a whole lot beyond that. If you’re looking for a throwback then this well made RPG will be right up your alley, but don’t expect anything more than the bare essentials.

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Using a video game to get an important real world message across might seem like a noble goal, but it’s not one that’s easy to pull off. If a video game focuses too hard on getting its point across then it’s possible that the gameplay might suffer, and the people playing it will be too busy moaning about how badly a character controls to think about the horrors of war or animals in need. After Us looks to navigate this tricky situation though, by combining a message about the impact of humans on the planet with some good old fashioned platforming.

Our godly protagonist Gaia has a tough task on her hands, because the Earth is all but ruined. Guided by the voice of a big tree (obviously) it’s up to her to free the ghosts of all the now extinct animals on the planet, and fight back against the pollution. This isn’t an easy task though, because we really did a number on this poor world.

Now from that description of the story you’d probably assume that this was a narrative based game, maybe with a bit of wandering thrown in for good measure. Nope, After Us is a full blown 3d platformer set in this currently miserable location. You’ll spend the majority of your time in the game jumping between abandoned cars and climbing ruined buildings, all while looking for the best collectables in video game history.

Finding the ghosts of extinct animals is just delightful, because when you release them from their slumber they appear about the world. This means cute dogs, majestic oxen and playful pigeons will bring the linear levels to life once you free them, with plenty of them happy to provide some petting opportunities too. Dashing through caves full of furry friends is my idea of a good time, and watching the sky fill up with spectral fish in certain sections truly is a sight to behold.

In terms of actual gameplay, After Us is no slouch either. Gaia has plenty of movement abilities to play around with right from the start of the game, like running, double jumping and even an air dash. As time goes on you’ll unlock moves like the ability to climb certain surfaces and grind on vines, and before you know it you’ll be getting up onto all sorts of desolate structures on your quest.

The platforming in the game is perfectly serviceable, but could definitely be better. Gaia is very floaty to control, and getting her to land where you want her to can be a bit of a challenge. Alongside this she will also die when she falls from a high place (which happens way more often than you’d think) and there are patches of evil goo that kill you instantly if you get close to them. These platforming niggles and environmental hazards aren’t too much of an issue early on, but as the game progresses the added difficulty brings them to the forefront.

Despite these issues the platforming is for the most part enjoyable, which is more than can be said for the combat. The enemies in After Us are known as The Devourers, and they’re essentially greedy zombie humans who have sucked the planet dry. To take them out you have to fire your magic floating orb at them, while dodging their attacks. The main issue with this is that your projectile based offence rarely hits the target, and when it does it barely deals any damage. Inevitably this just means that a Devourer will manage to grab you mid-fight and you’ll have to mash X to escape. To call this combat loop tedious would be an understatement.

It isn’t all bad for After Us though, visually the game is absolutely stunning. The tragic environments of the decimated world are truly a sight to behold, from the highways of floating cars to the dusty wastelands packed with decaying buildings. Perhaps the best visual moments though come from you using your nature powers to cover nearby surfaces in grass. Standing under a pylon and covering it in lush green plants never stops being satisfying, and is occasionally even important to progress.

I should mention the technical issues I experienced playing After Us, because they are pretty noticeable. When loading in new areas the game often freezes for a few seconds before letting you continue, and this happens pretty regularly. It’s hardly going to ruin the experience for you, but it did take me out of the action during some fairly special moments.

After Us is a beautiful game with an important message about how we live our lives as consumers, that ultimately struggles to provide engaging enough gameplay to stick the landing. Setting ghost critters free and exploring the world is enjoyable, but the floaty platforming and dodgy combat really let it down.

The post After Us review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Although I often love the tension and challenge of a particularly tricky video game, I’m not against kicking back with a puzzle or two. After a tough day of writing I’d rather ponder a line puzzle in The Witness than fight my way through a Roguelike run, so when I saw a trailer for Skye Tales I jumped on the opportunity to review it. After all, how many games let you soar through the air as a dragon and help people solve shape puzzles? Not enough that’s for sure.

On the picturesque island of Brinn, a lovely community lives happily together. This is mainly due to the inventor Theo, who uses his big brain to help solve everyone’s problems and make life easy for them. It’s tiring work though, so he plans a three day break to rest and recuperate. The other dunces on the island apparently can’t last 72 hours without needing help with something, so Theo summons a dragon (you) to do their bidding while he’s gone. It’s not the most complex story in the world, but it’s told via lovely rhyming Irish voiceover which is as charming as it sounds.

When I think of dragons, I think of fire breathing monsters with big claws that ruin your day. Skye isn’t like that, and really looks more like a flying snake. Controlling Skye is pretty simple, you point the stick in a direction and magically glide where you’re pointing. It sort of feels like the Sega classic NiGHTS, but much slower and more laid back. Skye can also pull objects, sing (which is more of a shrill squeal than anything) and do a little dash. That’s all there is to it, but that’s all you’ll need to start solving puzzles.

Especially early on, the puzzles are very easy, and honestly are probably aimed at an audience significantly younger than myself. Maybe you’ll need to move Skye in a circle to turn a wheel, or sing at different shapes in the right order to unlock a door. It doesn’t take too long for things to pick up a little though, and I got stumped a couple of times trying to guide a bucket along rails to water flowers. All the tasks you’re assigned are similarly quaint, and generally require you to dash at some switches or pull some objects about.

What’s interesting about Skye Tales is how these puzzles are laid out. You don’t just go from one room to another and try to figure out how to progress, each level of the game is actually a sizable open world to explore. From the word go you’re let loose to go flying in any direction, and each floating island you arrive at will usually have some sort of puzzle to figure out that will help you progress or give you a shiny collectable to add to your collection.

You’ll want these collectible pine cones and acorns too, because you can trade them for snazzy new outfits at the clothes shop. Flying around as a dragon is fine, but flying around as a Scottish dragon with a tartan hat or a dragon covered in sprinkles and cakes is obviously even better.

Although most of the puzzles you’ll be presented with in Skye Tales are pretty much pressure free, there are some exceptions to this rule. One of these you’ll find immediately is a target blasting mini game, which tasks you with knocking over enough skittles within the time limit to beat the high score (which took me an embarrassing number of attempts to do). Don’t expect too many of these more hectic moments, but they’re a nice change of pace when they do come along.

For me though the best part of Skye Tales is the exploration. Although the puzzles are the main event here on the island of Brinn, there are plenty of other charming interactive elements to play with on each stage. Zooming along a massive piano to play music just never stops being fun, and swirling through the sky into bubbles to pop them as a machine pumps them out just feels very playful. The world feels like a massive toy box, and I could sit and play all day.

You’re rewarded for being playful too. Each of the game’s four levels has a big list of things to do if you want to see everything, ranging from the main objectives to playing with all the instruments or making sure flags are unfurled. If you rushed to complete the main puzzles the game would probably be over in a couple of hours, but there’s so much more to do outside of that in the big floating stages.

There are some great accessibility options in the game that should be highlighted as well. The lack of difficulty already helps with some of these potential hurdles, but there are also a selection of visual filters on offer and the option to add extra hints and prompts if needed. It’s really nice to see a smaller title (and one aimed at a younger audience no less) including as many people as possible.

I really enjoyed hanging out in the colourful world of Skye Tales, but if I had to find something to complain about it would be how simple a lot of the puzzles are. It’s hard to be too unimpressed by that given it’s definitely aimed more at children than salty old reviewers, but don’t expect to have your brain tested too much.

Skye Tales is a charming and playful puzzle game that I honestly couldn’t put down once I started. The pure joy of flying through the world and playing with all the interactive elements is infectious, and the puzzles, while simple, are a lot of fun to solve. Younger gamers might get a bit more mileage out of it than grumpy grownups, but even they might be quite taken by the adventures of the friendly dragon.

The post Skye Tales review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

The Disgaea series has been knocking around for twenty years now, and no other game has managed to combine hardcore stat maximisation and goofy anime nonsense quite like it. I’ve been beating up Prinnies and taking over Netherworlds since the very beginning, and I can’t imagine that’ll ever change.

The last game in the series (Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny) unfortunately didn’t quite hit all the right buttons for me though, thanks to a fairly small selection of classes and some terrible technical limitations on Switch.

Hopefully this October will be different, as Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless is releasing on Switch, PS4, PS5 and PC. I was lucky enough to interview Disgaea 7 producer Shunsuke Minowa to find out more about the upcoming game, and his answers got me very excited for some more Netherworld nonsense.

This new entry in the Disgaea series has a theme based on Japanese history, what made you decide on this slightly more grounded setting?

From the beginning of development, we wanted a “back to basics” approach for Disgaea 7 and have the story be set mainly on one Netherworld. The word “Bushido” actually came up during our initial planning, and we thought about what that meant and how it could be the base for an interesting setting.This gave way to the idea a storyline of “reclaiming Bushido” that would eventually become a “historical Japanese-inspired Netherworld without Bushido.”

For the first time ever, Disgaea 7 features two main characters. What makes Fuji and Pirilika different from past characters in the series?

In the beginning of Disgaea 7, for the first time in the series, the female character Prilika takes the lead in the story while the male character Fuji serves as a support role. However, Fuji also has his own purpose, and the story gradually unfolds with two main axes. Therefore, we created the scenario with the awareness that Fuji and Prilika are not the hero and heroine, but rather “partners” who support each other.

There are plenty of new mechanics coming to Disgaea 7, but the one that I’m most excited about is Jumbify. How does this massive transformation ability work in the game?

Jumbification causes a character to grow to gigantic proportions under certain conditions and places them outside the battlefield. This allows that character to attack anywhere on the field, and each character has a specific “Jumbility” that affects the entire field. Aside from increasing your combat power, Jumbification can also let you bypass clear conditions or challenges for certain stages. Keep in mind that enemies can also use Jumbification, so make sure you have your own Jumbification ready to fight back!

I’m also very interested in Item Reincarnation. Items have always been a huge part of Disgaea thanks to the Item Worlds, how does Reincarnation fit into this?

Item Reincarnation builds upon the staple Item World feature and lets players enhance items even further. With Item Reincarnation, players can reincarnate an item that has been strengthened to its limit in the Item World. You can also take an item’s unique characteristics, such as increasing the counterattack rate or increasing movement distance, and combine these characteristics and enhance items even further by inheriting rare and random traits.

I was really glad to see the Demonic Intelligence is returning again. Has it been changed at all for this installment?

In Disgaea 7, we added a cost to using auto-battle and gave players the option to skip auto-battle at any time. This allows players to enjoy the process of leveling and strengthening their characters while giving them the option of choosing auto-battle thoughtfully, rather than making auto-battle an unlimited use feature that diminished the gameplay experience.

Using the AI to battle people online is an interesting way to add online play to the series. What made you go in this direction?

The Demonic Intelligence feature received a lot of criticism for negatively impacting the fun of the original Disgaea gameplay. However, the idea of using AI to control character movements was seen as a potentially interesting element that could be made fun in some way. AI Ranked Battles are one such implementation of this concept, where characters, magic abilities, weapons, and armour are augmented with AI elements to create strategic and entertaining gameplay.

I was delighted to hear that Disgaea 7 will have the most character classes of any game in the series. What are some of your favourite new additions?

The Big Eye is my favourite among the new characters. They are a type of character that has never been seen before in the Disgaea series, and their design as an advanced monster-type character fits in seamlessly. As for existing characters, I like the Magic Swordsman (female). She is a beautiful woman with rune eyes who can wield both a sword and magic at the same time.

Perhaps the biggest change that Disgaea 6 made to the series were the 3d character models. What has it been like working with this new art style?

One of the challenges we faced when transitioning to 3D was that it became more difficult to hide imperfections. In the 2D era, even if a character was in a slightly strange pose or position, it wasn’t a big deal because it was 2D and didn’t look out of place. However, in 3D, even small imperfections can lead to big discrepancies and require a lot of fine-tuning, which can be costly.

On the other hand, the advantages of 3D are many. For example, we found that we could make characters larger without losing detail, and the freedom to move the camera opened up new possibilities for how we presented the game. Overall, I think the benefits of 3D outweigh the challenges, and it has allowed us to create a more immersive and visually stunning game.

I’ve heard that when you were younger you got really into Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days. What was it about Rozalin’s adventure you enjoyed so much?

I liked the battle system, especially the lifting and throwing mechanics and the area-of-effect skills. I’m the type who generally gets bored with slow-paced SRPG battles, but the Disgaea series has a satisfyingly simplistic approach that allows you to power up your main character and use them to charge into battle with lifting and throwing tactics and devastating AOE attacks. It was really enjoyable!

After being a fan of the series for so long, how does it feel having such a prominent role in creating a new instalment?

It’s an unbelievable experience for the version of me who was just a player, and the version of me from the day before I received an offer from the development team would probably not believe it. However, I’m truly grateful that they trusted me based on my love for the Disgaea series, and with the help of the staff who supported me, I’m happy to have been able to create the best Disgaea game possible according to my vision.

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When video games started transitioning into 3D worlds in the late 90s, there was no guarantee that your favourite titles would feel good with a whole extra dimension. While characters like Mario moved seamlessly into this new generation of gaming, others weren’t so lucky. One series that didn’t really stray from its 2D roots was Mega Man, and the blue bomber was (for the most part) happy to stick with the two dimensional side-scrolling action we all know and love. Now Protodroid DeLTA dares to ask the question “what if those classic Mega Man games were reimagined in 3D?”, and the answer might just surprise you.

In the near future of 20XX, a powerful AI with near human intelligence called Protodroid DeLTA lives with her inventor Dr Shelton. This genius scientist wants to show the world how robots can help humanity, but while in the process of teaching DeLTA all she needs to know her lab is attacked by some bad bots. DeLTA is the only one who can stop this metallic menace, and after realising her combat potential sets out to save the city from some troublemakers known as Vypers. It’s a fairly straightforward setup, but one that gets you into the action nice and quickly and squeezes in plenty of Mega Man references.

DeLTA is a joy to play as, with plenty of tricks up her sleeves. In the brief tutorial you’ll learn how to dash, jump and fire your gun, which covers all the basics pretty well. She has plenty of other combat abilities to go alongside a standard shot of the blaster too, like a sword that breaks shields and a devastating charge attack. The pesky robots littering the stages won’t stand a change once you master these moves.

Protodroid DeLTA is a game much more interested in precision platforming than blasting weapons though, so to ensure your focus is on weaving in and out of obstacles your gun will automatically lock on to the nearest target. It’s a clever system that makes sure that dodging and jumping is the star of the show, so prepare for some tricky manoeuvring.

Each of the stages of Protodroid DeLTA is a sort of deadly obstacle course, with spinning lasers, vanishing platforms and rotating cylinders to contend with on your way to the exit. Dash jumping your way through hundreds of hazards to make it to the goal just feels magical, and really captures that Mega Man flavour that I crave.

Getting from one end of a level to another is one thing, but you’ll probably want to try and find some collectables and upgrades on your adventure too. Each section of a stage has a secret warp gate that leads to a particularly tough area, which if you can survive will reward you with a boost to your maximum health or energy. There are also ten purple orbs to find in each stage that unlock some cool Mega Man inspired outfits if you find enough of them. I never really struggled to find any of these shiny orbs, but enjoyed the journey to get them so I could dress up as Zero and Axl.

It wouldn’t be a game inspired by Mega Man without some epic boss fights to beat, and Protodroid DeLTA doesn’t disappoint in that department. Each of the nasty Vyper bots has a whole host of screen filling attacks to weave your way through and a big ole health bar to whittle down, so you’ll need to get that blaster charged pronto. While I enjoyed all these boss fights I was able to beat them all without a single death, and I would’ve appreciated a little more of a challenge personally.

One aspect where Protodroid DeLTA really shines is in the visuals. The vibrant “Solarpunk” world is a joy to look at, and really feels like an old school 2d platformer brought to life in 3d. The soundtrack is sensational too, with intense tunes that really suit the action.

Protodroid DeLTA is a hell of a good time, but it does have a couple of issues hidden throughout. There are some enemy types that are just plain annoying to fight, specifically these floating bastards with a shield that you have to stand and wait to deactivate. The story also outstays its welcome, with fairly sizable cutscenes after each level that just aren’t that interesting. You can skip them if you’re so inclined though, and if I go for another playthrough down the line I’ll be doing exactly that.

It’s worth mentioning that Protodroid DeLTA isn’t a particularly long game. My playtime clocked in at a tight five hours, and I unlocked every single upgrade before I saw the credits. There aren’t any other difficulty modes or extras when the game ends either, so if you’re looking for a game to play for longer than a couple of sessions this might not be the one for you.

Protodroid DeLTA is a fast paced action platformer packed full of tricky obstacles to dash between and colourful stages to overcome. DeLTA herself controls like a dream, and fans of a certain blue blasting dude will feel right at home trashing robots alongside her.

The post Protodroid DeLTA review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

If you have hundreds of hours of free time you don’t know what to do with, you’ll surely be excited about the upcoming Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection. Back on the DS it was my very first foray into the world of dungeon crawlers, but it sure was a struggle to get started. If this new collection of Atlus JRPGs feels a touch intimidating then you’ll want to check out its new How-to video before jumping in next month.

“Explore the rich beginnings of this RPG franchise with remasters of three timeless adventures that inspire players to go on a journey of discovery, mapping deep dungeons, and building customized parties for exploring and engaging in tactical combat.

Play as the leader of a guild of adventurers, searching for rare treasures and secrets within the depths of a vast, sprawling labyrinth.

Traverse and draw a map of the environment while encountering enemies large and small in turn-based combat, then return to town to rest, sell materials for better equipment, and manage your party, selecting from a collection of heroes to build the right team for the job.”

With new features like Picnic difficulty and a map that draws itself, the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection is looking like the perfect place to start off your dungeon crawling adventures.

The post New Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection “How-to” video shows off some tricks and tips for new players appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

There are so many games that go down the Roguelike path nowadays, and honestly it can get a little overwhelming. So often I find myself building a deck of randomly generated cards to take on dangers, or taking a party of heroes into a dungeon full of random traps and treasure, only to die repeatedly. It’s a genre I absolutely love when done right, but when you play as many of them as I do they can start to get a bit tiresome. We don’t get a whole lot of Roguelike FPSs though, so I was delighted to jump into the randomised boomer shooter that is Nightmare Reaper.

After having a tutorial nightmare in a dingy demon world, our heroine protagonist wakes up in a hospital room. Once you’ve read a couple of notes stuck to the wall it becomes rather apparent that this is some sort of insane asylum, and that various psychiatrists have been investigating you specifically. Like most people locked up you’d rather be free, and the only way to figure out the root of why you’re here is by investigating your nightmares. I didn’t love the idea of the asylum from a mental health representation standpoint, complete with screaming in the corridors and scribbles on the walls, but it does provide a sort of safe house when you’re not in your nightmares.

The nightmares are essentially randomised stages of a DOOM or Quake style FPS, full of sinister demons and weapons to blast them with. There isn’t a whole lot to explain about how this works (you just point at baddies and shoot) but the controls and pacing just feels glorious. This is exactly the speed I want in an FPS, so you should expect to be doing a lot of twitchy shooting.

The weapons you’ll use in the nightmares aren’t just your standard guns though. The staples are all there (pistols, grenade launchers, the very best of shotguns) but there are also guns that shoot beehives, books that fire stones from between the pages, and even a sword and shield for some melee action. You never know what you’re going to get when you drop into a level, and can only keep a single murder tool with you at the end of a level so expect to try out a lot of different combinations.

Even when you find weapons of the same type, they’ll usually end up having different modifiers to vary things up even more too. Some weapons have a percent chance to stun, some might leech health, and others will send enemies flying away from you. It feels great when you find a rare weapon with all the best buffs to beat back the demon horde, at least until you lose it forever.

I know Roguelike elements can be a bit of a deal breaker for some people, but Nightmare Reaper doesn’t go overboard with them. Failing a level just kicks you back to the hospital instead of ending the run, and you’ll also gather currency to permanently power up your protagonist. The systems just aren’t overly punishing, and you feel like you’re always getting stronger as you go.

I need to talk more about the upgrade system though, because it is wild. When you load up the upgrade menu you’re greeted by something that looks suspiciously like the Super Mario Bros 3 world map, and if you have enough money you can play one of the 2d platforming levels that will upgrade a stat. The platforming is very basic (you can do a single jump and nothing else) but it’s a fun change of pace that I really wasn’t expecting in a retro FPS.

I wasn’t sure how much I’d appreciate the old school DOOM aesthetic of Nightmare Reaper, but they really captured those pixely monsters and sinister stylings. The best visual moment is when you die, because your character just stares at her bloody hands until they revert to normal and she wakes up in her room. It’s just a nice touch, and thematically it really works.

I’ve got a lot of good things to say about Nightmare Reaper, but it has a fair amount of issues too. Perhaps the biggest of these is how dark so many of the early environments are. Even with the brightness on the Switch turned up to full there were rooms where I couldn’t see where I was going, which obviously isn’t ideal.

There are some issues with the balance of the game too, especially when you spawn into a level. On an early stage I only had a knife to keep myself alive, and the first room had an enemy that was way too tough to take down with a flimsy butter knife and I died immediately. There are also some rooms with traps that just decimate you with hundreds of flaming orbs until you can deactivate them, and they aren’t fun to deal with and usually end in disaster.

Nightmare Reaper is a great FPS Roguelike, with fast paced gameplay and a whole host of weird and wonderful weapons. The environments can be a little dark and the balance is lacking, but it’s hard to get too upset about it when you’re throwing ninja stars at zombies.

The post Nightmare Reaper review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

If farming and spellcasting gets you excited, then you could do a lot worse than Homestead Arcana. This magical adventure is set in a world overrun by Miasma, and features a custom hero trying to push back the purple fumes with the power of gardening. Farming games don’t always click with me, so the idea of saving the day with spells and exploring a dark and desolate world definitely appealed to me.

Although it turned out that Homestead Arcana wasn’t entirely my jam, plenty of others have played the game at this point thanks to it being on Game Pass. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to talk to Zhenghua Yang (the founder and executive director of Serenity Forge) about working with Microsoft, getting voice actor Yuri Lowenthal to voice a character and a whole lot more recently, so take a look at his wonderful answers below in our exclusive interview.

There are a lot of farming games on the market currently. How did you aim to make Homestead Arcana different from the rest?

Homestead Arcana sets itself apart from other farming games by introducing a post-apocalyptic world filled with magic and mystery. The game combines the familiar elements of farming and survival with a unique narrative-driven experience. Players take on the role of a Witch who must restore the corrupted land by using spellcraft, tending to plants and homestead, and uncovering the secrets behind the Miasma. By blending farming mechanics with an atmospheric and emotionally impactful narrative, Homestead Arcana offers a distinct and captivating gameplay experience.

Were there any other farming Sims that inspired you to make Homestead Arcana?

We drew inspiration from a variety of games while creating Homestead Arcana. Games like My Time at Portia and Stardew Valley inspired us to create an immersive home-building experience. Shadow of the Colossus influenced the mysterious and isolated atmosphere of our game, while Don’t Starve helped us strike a balance between gameplay mechanics and a sense of danger and exploration. By taking cues from these games, we aimed to create a unique and engaging farming adventure in Homestead Arcana.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when developing the game?

Throughout the development of Homestead Arcana, we faced various challenges that pushed us to innovate and overcome obstacles. One of the biggest challenges was striking the right balance between the farming and survival mechanics, while also weaving a compelling narrative into the gameplay. We wanted to create an immersive world filled with emotional depth, and achieving that required meticulous attention to detail and careful design decisions. Additionally, crafting an atmospheric experience that truly captured the post-apocalyptic setting and integrating it seamlessly with the gameplay was a significant undertaking. Despite these challenges, we remained committed to creating a meaningful and emotionally impactful game, and we’re proud of the final result we’ve achieved in Homestead Arcana.

The visuals of Homestead Arcana are wonderful. What made the team decide on the colourful aesthetic for the game?

The decision to infuse Homestead Arcana with a colorful aesthetic stemmed from our vision of creating a visually captivating and immersive world. We drew inspiration from a diverse range of sources, including WPA posters, woodblock prints, and films such as Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. We aimed to capture the grandeur of landscapes in the classic imagination of Americana while also drawing inspiration from the contrast between lush, beautiful nature and the overgrown, enigmatic aspects found in works like Made in Abyss and Annihilation. By embracing a vibrant and colorful aesthetic, we sought to heighten the atmospheric experience, enveloping players in a visually stunning journey through the enchanting world of Homestead Arcana.

Huckleberry the Cat is a great character who’s always by your side in Homestead Arcana. When did you make the decision to have the main character’s familiar play such a big part in the game?

We made the decision early on in the development of Homestead Arcana to have the main character’s familiar, Huckleberry, play a significant role in the game. Huckleberry, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, serves as a constant companion, always by the player’s side throughout their journey. We wanted to create a deep connection between the player and their familiar, allowing them to form a bond and experience the adventure together. Huck’s presence not only adds a sense of companionship but also contributes to the game’s narrative and gameplay mechanics. As players delve deeper into the story, they discover that Huck holds secrets and that their bond goes beyond what initially meets the eye. This decision to incorporate a prominent familiar character was driven by our desire to enhance the emotional depth and create a unique dynamic within Homestead Arcana.

The voice acting of Huck by Yuri Lowenthal is fantastic too. What was it like working with such a high profile voice actor?

Working with Yuri Lowenthal was an absolute honour and a dream come true. Yuri’s exceptional voice acting brought the whole character to life, infusing Huckleberry with personality, charm, and depth. It was truly a remarkable experience to collaborate with someone who has such incredible talent and versatility.

Additionally, Yuri Lowenthal holds a special place in my heart, as his portrayal of Simon in the anime Gurren Lagann played a major role in my life. During my teenage years, I faced a near-fatal illness, and Gurren Lagann became a source of inspiration and strength for me during that challenging time. Having the opportunity to work with my hero was a tremendous honour, and Yuri’s presence became a huge inspiration for the entire team.

Yuri’s dedication and ability to breathe life into characters have been invaluable to the development of Homestead Arcana. Through his voice acting, he brought Huckleberry to life, capturing the essence of the character and enriching the emotional depth of the game. We are grateful for Yuri’s immense talent and the positive impact he has had on our project.

Homestead Arcana launched day one on Xbox Game Pass. What was your experience like working with Microsoft to make this happen?

We greatly appreciate the support from the Xbox Game Pass team in launching Homestead Arcana on day one. Microsoft has been an invaluable partner throughout the years to Serenity Forge, consistently demonstrating their commitment to promoting indie games and fostering a diverse gaming community. The collaboration with Xbox Game Pass has allowed us to reach a wider audience and share the unique world of Homestead Arcana. Their unwavering support and belief in our project throughout development have been instrumental, and we are honoured to continue working alongside Microsoft on future endeavours.

Finally, do you have any plans for the future of Homestead Arcana?

Homestead Arcana is a large game made by a small team, meaning that there still will need to be some patches to fix up some issues we didn’t find until the game launched. Looking ahead, we are dedicated to addressing any bugs, releasing updates, and enhancing the gaming experience based on player suggestions. Our goal is to create an even more enchanting and enjoyable world in Homestead Arcana, and we are thrilled to embark on this journey together with our dedicated community.

Homestead Arcana is available now for PC and Xbox consoles (via Game Pass).

The post Homestead Arcana interview: “Game Pass has allowed us to reach a wider audience” appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

We’ve had seven whole years of Dead by Daylight so far, and to celebrate Behaviour decided to tease us all with a big old showcase detailing what the next year of asymmetric horror looks like. There’s a whole lot to unpack from this anniversary stream, so let’s get at it shall we?

The first announcement of the day was to reveal the next chapter update coming to the game – Chapter 28: End Transmission. Sci-fi horror has made its way to Dead by Daylight, in the form of new original character The Singularity. This AI has been awakened to a new murderous cause thanks to a run in with alien technology, and now wants to assimilate all life. Using blobs of flesh and robot parts it can spy on survivors from afar, and even spawn on top of them for a nasty surprise attack.

There’s a new survivor as well, Gabriel Soma, who is the prototypical sole survivor in a sci-fi setting. After a few chapters without any new locations, we’ll also be getting a new map for this update. Set on a luscious yet claustrophobic alien planet, Toba Landing looks nothing like the other maps in the game. I’m really excited to see how this level feels compared to the current selection, and of course to kill everybody with my creepy flesh robot.

“We’re thrilled to push the fear of the unknown to new heights with END TRANSMISSION,” explains Dave Richard, Creative Director for Dead by Daylight. “With this new Chapter we are expanding the bounds of The Entity’s reach and exploring dark themes of advanced technology and I think this will be a very frightening experience for all players.”

Planned for after this update are two chapters based on other horror properties, which is always something to look forward to. We won’t find out more about these for a while, but it’s exciting to try and guess what could be just around the corner.

Speaking of just around the corner, Survivors are about to get a new character they’ll be desperate to play as. Acting icon Nicolas Cage is coming to Dead by Daylight. Not one of the characters he plays in a movie, but the man himself. The horror legend has voiced every single line of dialogue and grunt of pain that his in-game counterpart makes, and will have perks that relate to his acting abilities. I don’t think any fans of the series saw this coming, but damn it’s a cool addition.

Other interesting crossovers coming soon include a whole load of new cosmetics. Both Metallica and Slipknot are bringing new outfits to your favourite characters, which I reckon will fit right into the horror universe of Dead by Daylight. There are also some new cosmetics coming that were designed by fans of the game in the upcoming Artists of the Fog collection. If you like to look cool while murdering or fixing generators then Behaviour have you covered in year eight of the game.

Outside of the asymmetric video game that we all know and love, there’s also plenty of other content coming to the world of Dead by Daylight. The movie is still in the works from the folks at Blumhouse, and issue one of the Dead by Daylight comic is on its way in June.

Perhaps the biggest announcement of the whole showcase though was that of two new Dead by Daylight spinoff games. Both of these are very early in development, but massively exciting.

The first of these is a multiplayer PvE game featuring four players taking on the horrors in a “strange new corner of The Entity’s lair”. We don’t know much else, but it’s being developed by Midwinter Entertainment who are one of Behaviour’s studios.

The second game will be exciting for fans of Until Dawn and The Quarry, because a narrative based Dead by Daylight game from Supermassive Games is currently in development. Even without knowing any additional details this is really blooming exciting, and it’ll be interesting to see which characters are featured.

There aren’t a whole lot of games that manage to stay relevant for seven whole years, but Behaviour clearly isn’t planning on stopping with Dead by Daylight anytime soon. If the next year of the game (and upcoming spinoffs) is anywhere near as good as the last 12 months then I’ll be one happy fan.

The post The Dead by Daylight 7th anniversary stream featured a whole lot of exciting announcements appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Whether it’s full blown cooking mini games in the Cooking Mama series or a way to heal and boost your stats in Tears of the Kingdom, you cannot escape the art of cooking in video games. Especially because so many games have crafting mechanics nowadays, putting together different dishes with different effects is something I do more in games than I do in real life. Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook takes this one step further, and frames an entire tactics RPG around food.

At the start of the game your custom character wakes up in the ruins of some sort of forgotten civilisation, with no memory of how they got there. As you can imagine they would rather be back home, and get to work trying to find their way out of this labyrinth of monsters. Before long they meet up with a selection of other lost custom characters, and you’ll have a party of four trying to escape this place. There’s not a whole lot more to it, so get ready to wander through some ruins and fight some bats, birds, and demons.

The combat in Monster Menu will feel more than a little familiar if you’ve ever played a tactics game before. When it’s a character’s turn they can move a set amount of squares towards an enemy, and then attack with their weapon or one of their skills. All the usual tactics rules apply, spears can hit enemies two squares away, bows can be fired from afar but are a little less damaging, and if you can’t get close enough to a baddie then you can just defend for a turn instead. I guess if it isn’t broke there’s no reason to fix it, but don’t come into this game expecting anything revolutionary.

As well as being able to use their equipped weapon, each character also has a selection of abilities they can use in a fight. The chef has the incredibly important ability to heal, the mage has a variety of elemental attacks to use, and the warrior type classes have weapon skills to unleash. By using these skills enough you’ll slowly level up your skill in these specialisations, and unlock even better and more powerful abilities. Again nothing revolutionary, but a tried and tested system that is satisfying enough.

The real thing that sets Monster Menu apart from other games though is everything food related. You see food doesn’t just heal you in this game, it provides semi-permanent stat boosts and more importantly is needed to keep your calorie and thirst meters topped up. Every action you take in this game will slightly drain these important meters which are crucial for survival, and certain special abilities (like healing) will use up a hefty chunk of them.

You’ll need to loot every shiny patch of grass and defeated enemy for ingredients if you want to survive for more than a couple of days, then between floors you can do some cooking. Everything you cook has four things it can affect: HP, calories, hydration and happiness. A salad is great for a character who is more thirsty than hungry, whereas a big ole kebab is packed with calories and will make anyone smile. In a pinch though you can also make much sadder meals, like a bowl of hay and rocks that’ll boost your calories a little but make you miserable and actually lower your stats. Sometimes though this is the only way to survive, especially when all of your other ingredients have started to rot in your rucksack.

Eventually the hunger, thirst and scary monsters will overwhelm the party, and they’ll collapse and wake up at the beginning of the game. That’s right, Monster Menu is sort of a Roguelike, but not a whole lot actually resets when you die. Any equipment you find stays equipped to your characters, any abilities your character has learned can still be used, and any recipes or crafting instructions you find also stick around. The only thing that resets are your character’s levels, but in every other way they’ll be stronger.

The Roguelike element that doesn’t really feel very present in Monster Menu though is the randomness. I guess the chests, enemies, and layout of each floor you explore is random, but they all feel so similar that it never really feels like you’re exploring a whole new world. The real focus here is surviving combat and keeping all your meters topped up, but environments that are worth a second glance would certainly have been welcome.

I have one other gripe with Monster Menu, which is just plain annoying. As you explore the different floors of the dungeon your team of colourful characters will blurt out one liners about what’s going on. Anytime a chest, enemy or gathering spot gets near the party they’ll remark “there’s something near”, and this repeats constantly. It’s utterly infuriating, and meant I played most of the game with the volume turned entirely off.

Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook blends tactics and calories to create a very thoughtful RPG. Having to manage your meters is difficult, but very satisfying when you pull it off. It has a couple of issues like repetitive voice lines and slightly bland environments, but that core tactics gameplay is still a hell of a lot of fun.

The post Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

As part of the Humble Games showcase today, we had a surprise video game drop. Supraland: Six Inches Under is now available on consoles, so if you can tear yourself away from Tears of the Kingdom for long enough to try something else then this could be the game.

This 3D Metroidvania is set (you guessed it) six inches under the original game, in an underground world. Packed with puzzles and a unique charm, Supraland: Six Inches Under is a standalone title that works for newcomers to the series too.

“Unearth what’s beneath the surface in Six Inches Under, a new first-person Supraland adventure full of puzzles, exploration, fun secrets to discover, hundreds of gags, and two funny ones!

In the miniature world, the dreaded Rakening has scattered the townspeople of Superland six whole inches below the surface of the sandbox! Fulfill your toybox fantasies as a brave Blue Plumber and use your skill and ingenuity to survive and rescue your fellows. You may be small—but this is bound to be one big adventure.”

Friend of the site and all around badass Nicola Ardron called the original Supraland “a delight” and said that “Supraland is a delight. I will admit to having misgivings before I went in, but the amount of secrets and things packed into this little adventure is astonishing. It is, perhaps slightly too long, approaching twenty hours, so there is a danger of over-staying its welcome a little. The puzzles, however are consistently fun to solve, requiring a bit of lateral thinking at times, and there’s an enormous amount of pleasure in solving them. The best puzzle games are the ones that have you stumped for a little while, and then when the solution becomes apparent elicits a little “aha” moment. Supraland has that in abundance”, so I reckon this one will be something special too.

The post Supraland: Six Inches Under is out on consoles right now appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

It wouldn’t be a showcase without some new games, and Humble delivered in the form of Wizard of Legend 2 and Lost Skies.

Wizard of Legend was packed full of dungeons, magic and Roguelike randomness the first time around, and it seems like that won’t be changing. What is changing though is the development team behind the game. Dead Mage (the team who made Children of Morta) are behind the scenes this time around, and are looking to push this action packed co-op game even further this time around. From the short trailer we got to see the biggest change for the sequel has to be the art style, which is now fully 3d and has that magical storybook vibe that Bayonetta Origins did so well.

Lost Skies is a game that we saw a lot less of in the showcase, but still has a lot of promise. This open world co-op adventure from Bossa Games is set on islands floating in the sky, and will feature skyships that you can build and a whole lot of grappling. We didn’t see any gameplay in this early look at the game, but I certainly like the sound of it.

Alongside these two announcements, Humble Games also showed off four games that have been recently given publishing partnerships with the flagship indie publisher. #BLUD is the first game from 2d animation studio Exit 73, and it shows in the visuals. Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus might just be my new most anticipated game, with hand drawn art and majestic Metroidvania action. Breeze in the Clouds is about a corgi with weather powers, with combo based combat inspired by fighting games. And finally there was Cataclismo, which is all about building your own castle to defend from waves of evil.

The final game talked about in the showcase was Stray Gods: The Role Playing Musical. Members of the cast (including Felicia Day) spoke about what makes the game special, and we got to see a little more of how the narrative choices work in a musical setting. This game cannot come soon enough, and I know I’ll be singing along at launch.

The Humble Games showcase was overall pretty fantastic, and full of games I cannot wait to get my hands on. It was a bit of a shame that we didn’t get a whole lot of dates for these upcoming releases, but really that’s just because I want to play them already.

The post Wizard of Legend 2 and Lost Skies announced at the Humble Games showcase appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

As a youngster I absolutely loved my mascot platformers. It started (as it did for so many people) with my boy Mario, but it didn’t take me long to fall in love with the likes of Sonic, Donkey Kong and Kirby. Not all platforming heroes went on to super stardom though, and for every Nintendo and Sega icon there was also an Aero the Acro-Bat or a Jelly Boy. One of these long forgotten protagonists was Zool, a ninja from the Nth dimension who is best known for advertising Chupa Chups lollipops to children, who’s back for another go in 2023 with Zool Redimensioned.

I actually played quite a lot of Zool as a child. My family first got a PC when I was about 6 years old, and for some reason one of the only games we had on the crusty old desktop was this colourful platformer. This version of the game is probably most well known for the physical code disk it came with, which was an anti piracy measure that involved you matching up different pictures of the titular ninja to get a code before the game let you start your adventure. There’s no code disks to worry about this time around though, just a whole lot of platforming.

Zool Redimensioned doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to 2D platforming, but innovation isn’t everything. The aim of each of the games’ levels is to reach the golden Zool coin at the end, while taking down daft enemies and collecting items based on the world you’re in. Each stage is short and sweet, with enough challenge to keep you engaged throughout.

Zool controls like an absolute dream (which definitely wasn’t the case on my old PC) with the ability to double jump, climb walls and bounce off them with ease. You also have plenty of offensive abilities at your disposal, like firing shiny projectiles and a spin attack that destroys the enemies it touches. Again, not particularly revolutionary, but a whole lot of fun to unleash on walking candy or evil violins.

What I love most about Zool are the different themed worlds you find yourself in. The world made of sweets is the one everybody remembers, but after that there’s a music world, a fruit world, and a world made entirely of tools. The collectables change with each world too, so all of a sudden you’ll go from picking up chocolate bars to records. Nothing about this is explained of course, but who needs an explanation when you’re gathering pineapple rings with incredible chiptune music pounding in the background.

With only seven worlds each containing four levels, Zool Redimensioned won’t really last long on an initial playthrough. There are a few medals to earn in each stage to aim for that add some relatability though. There’s a target time, a number of collectables to gather and a medal for not dying up for grabs, and getting them all will more than likely take you a few tries. This probably won’t be exciting enough to make everybody replay the stages multiple times, but it’s a nice inclusion nonetheless.

If you’re feeling really brave, there’s also the option of playing the game in Ultimate Ninja mode. This difficulty level completely changes the experience, reverting all the shiny new mechanics to the classic Zool experience. Losing the double jump hurts, but not as much as the zoomed in camera does. I honestly found this mode painful to play after bouncing around happily with my remastered abilities, but it does show quite how much the developers improved this outdated game.

The final addition in Zool Redimensioned is the multiplayer mode, which features three different party games to play with a friend. These can only be played locally, but are a fun distraction if you’ve got a buddy handy. One of the games is a race to collect the most items, another involves holding a crown for as long as possible, and the aim of the last is to score points by hitting balls at targets. It’s probably not going to hold your attention for too long, but it’s a nice enough inclusion.

Zool Redimensioned is an old fashioned good time, with colourful worlds, tight platforming and a banging soundtrack. It’s not a game that’ll keep you busy for very long, but the improvement over the original game is simply astounding.

The post Zool Redimensioned review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

I must admit that for a long time I found farming in video games a little on the boring side. As someone who was brought up on tricky platformers and twitchy shmups, the idea of waiting around for a turnip to grow just wasn’t what I looked for in video games. After a lot of growing up and finding the right titles, I was hooked on cultivating for cash. Games like Ooblets with its adorable creature gathering and Rune Factory with its RPG elements tempted me over to the dark side, but can the magical adventure of Homestead Arcana keep me there?

As a custom made witch you’re tasked with finding a way to get rid of the pesky miasma that’s destroying all the farmland. Armed with magical powers and your charming familiar Huckleberry the cat, you set off to the edge of the miasma to set up a farm and do a bit of dangerous exploring into the sinister infected land.

Before you get to do any of the saving the day, you’ll need to set up a base camp and have your kitty companion teach you how to farm. It’s not particularly tricky to grow and harvest those veggies, you plant a sapling into some fertile soil, give it a little water and then after a couple of days you can manually pluck off any fruit or veg from the plant. At least that’s how the suckers do it, the rest of us use magic.

You see you can channel your magic through a crop to make it grow instantly, which as you can imagine is a pretty handy skill for a farmer to have. If you overdo it with the magic though the plant will blither and stop producing delicious goodies. It’s an interesting system in theory with some risk and reward to dabble in, but once you realize that the sweet spot of channelling twice works in almost all situations then some of the excitement is lost.

There are a couple of aspects of farming that just take too long as well. Moving your cursor around the plant to harvest any crops is unnecessarily cumbersome, and channelling is a chore too. To channel your magic into some corn or an apple tree you have to move your cursor slowly over orbs that surround the plant, and it just feels needlessly sluggish.

You’ll need the food from the plants to fill your belly, health and mana though, so it’s certainly a worthy cause. Hunger goes down pretty damn quickly and once it’s fully drained your health is next, so keeping that belly topped up is key. Once you’ve got a grill though the meals keep hunger locked up till lunch, and it’s not too big of an issue.

Another important cause in Homestead Arcana is upgrading your camp, which you’ll need some materials to do. You’d think this would involve some sort of chopping or mining, but all the parts you need grow on plants too so you’ll just be doing more plucking. I’ll admit when I first saw a plant growing metal ore I thought it was a novel idea, but eventually you realise that it just means there are less things to keep you interested in the game.

There are only so many materials that you can find in the area around your farm, and eventually you’ll have to take that first trip into the miasma. Aided by a plague doctor mask, you’re able to survive for a few minutes (which can be upgraded later on) in this dangerous environment. The miasma has a whole host of materials and recipes to find at the farms that were abandoned within, as well as monsters you’ll need to avoid if you want to keep your goodies. Eventually it becomes clear that with the right sort of fertilizer you’ll be able to push back this dangerous toxin and restore the world to its former glory, so that’s exactly what you start doing.

Alongside the main quest, you also get side objectives in the mail which can provide you with items and cash to spend at the merchant. Some of the handiest upgrades come at the cost of a good chunk of silver, so making the best items to sell for a tidy profit and completing the tasks you’re given is key if you want to move on up in the world.

It’s worth mentioning the performance issues I experienced when playing Homestead Arcana. On the Xbox Series S this colourful farming game has some pretty significant issues with the framerate (particularly when in the miasma). I also struggled to get the game to run without crashing and generally running poorly on Steam Deck (which admittedly can’t really be held against the game, but is worth keeping in mind if you want to do some farming on the go).

Homestead Arcana looks lovely and has some good ideas, but is ultimately just a bit of a slog to play. The farming takes so much longer than it needs to (whether you use magic or not), there’s a lack of interesting things to do, and it has some technical issues on Series S. In a marketplace that’s currently packed full of farming games, it’s just not one I could comfortably recommend right now.

The post Homestead Arcana review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

I’ve been playing and enjoying the games in the Atelier series since I was a spotty teenager, but despite that there are still portions of the timeline of these crafting JRPGs that I’m not particularly familiar with. Although I played the first game localised for western audiences (Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana back in 2006) there were 5 whole games before that. The folks at Gust have realised that there are some people who might want to check out the origins of Atelier, and so this July Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is coming to a console or PC near you.

The first ever Atelier protagonist Marie isn’t the most powerful alchemist in the world, in fact she’s the bottom of her class at the academy. Professor Ingrid won’t let the name of this prestigious establishment be dragged through the mud by this dunce, and decides it’s sink or swim time. Marie is given a test of her skills, to create an item of exceptional quality. The professor will judge your best item in five years time, so until then it’s time to hone your craft.

For this preview I was able to play the first year of the game, which gave me plenty of time to hone my alchemy and get to know Marie. Despite being the first game in the series, Atelier Marie still has a fairly familiar gameplay loop for long term fans. You’ll go out and look for alchemy materials, beat up any enemy enemies you see, and use the bits and bobs you’ve gathered to make new items and power yourself up. A lot of the systems are a little more basic in this remake than in more modern Atelier titles, but that doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable.

The biggest thing that sets Atelier Marie apart from the games we know and love is the time pressure it puts on you. Five years might sound like a long time, but days pass incredibly quickly. Traveling to an area you want to gather materials from can take anywhere from a couple of days to over ten, and every time you collect materials at a gathering spot, go to bed or fight a battle a day passes. You’ll get quests and mid term objectives with shorter time limits too, so effective time management is key.

Once you’re done with your and excursion and grabbed all various plants and rocks you need, you’ll want to head back to the atelier and start the alchemy. Creating items in your cauldron is incredibly easy, you just plop the right materials in and as long as you’re a high enough level (and have bought any required equipment to help the process along) you’ll have a handy new item to use. There’s a little less stat maximisation and thought that goes into the process than I’m used to, but it certainly gets the job done.

Similarly functional is the combat, which is turn-based and incredibly simple. Marie and her friends can choose to attack, defend, use an item or unleash a special attack on their turn, and that’s about all there is to worry about. There’s something to be said for a straightforward combat system, but JRPG veterans are unlikely to be blown away by this particular aspect of the game in the early hours.

You’ll be spending a lot of your time in Atelier Marie in the titular town of Salburg. There’s plenty to check out around in this idyllic little settlement. The weapon shop has gear, the academy has alchemy equipment and recipes, and the tavern is a great place to hear rumours and get quests. All these places also feature locals who you can hire to join you on your trips out of town as extra party members, but for every day you’re on an expedition you’ll need to pay them a wage. Managing this alongside the time limits you already have can be tricky, but nobody said becoming a successful alchemist would be easy.

If having to worry about time limits and deadlines sounds a little much for you, there’s an option at the start of the game to play in Unlimited Mode. This removes the five year time limit entirely, and allows you to go about your business stress free. It probably won’t be the way I play the full game, but I really appreciate that it’s there for those who want to use it.

I should also give a mention to the updated visuals and audio of Atelier Marie, which are just delightful. The isometric view is just perfect for the chibi style character models, and the audio has the option to play the original soundtrack or a new remixed one. Gust have absolutely gone out of their way to update this game for those playing for the first time, and I couldn’t be happier.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg provides an interesting look back at how this great series began, and has been spruced up nicely for the modern age. It’ll be interesting to see if some of the more basic systems can hold my attention in the full game, but I’m excited to find out in a couple of months.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is coming to PS5, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC on July 12th, 2023.

The post Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg has been spruced up nicely for a modern age | Hands-on preview appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

As somebody who loves the challenge of a tough game, it’s fair to say that slower atmospheric games aren’t generally aimed at people like me. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy something more laid back occasionally though, especially if it appeals to me in other ways. After Us manages to do just that, due to the fact that it’s a 3D platformer full of adorable animals.

The world isn’t doing so good in After Us. The impact of humans has decimated the planet, and all that’s left is a wasteland of abandoned cars and pylons. As Gaia, it’s your task to restore the light to this place, bring back the extinct life, and deal with the devourers who roam this desolate land. It’s a simple story to tell, but a hell of an important one.

To help restore this world you’ll need to find the spirits of the last animals and set them free, be it the last whale harpooned or the last eagle put into a cage. Getting around is difficult though, thanks to all those destroyed landscapes and surfaces coated in oil. Thankfully Gaia has some tricks up her sleeve to navigate this apocalyptic environment, and might just be able to save it from total disaster.

It doesn’t take too long for Gaia to gain all the movement abilities you’ll need to start saving the day. With a double jump, a glide and an air dash, hopping from floating car to floating car is a breeze. Controlling Gaia feels pretty great, and she’s just floaty enough to ensure that there aren’t a whole lot of platforming problems that’ll test you unless you start looking for secrets.

After Us has possibly the best collectables in any 3d platformer I’ve ever played. There ain’t no pointless shiny doodads here, instead you’ll be locating the spirits of animals and releasing them to wander the world in a spectral form. What makes this so special, is that for every species of animal you save you’ll get to see them pottering around the world. Seeing an adorable family of boar marching along and knowing that they wouldn’t be there without you is incredibly satisfying, and brings this tragic place to life as you play.

The animal spirits are usually squirreled away in hard to reach corners, but you can find them easily thanks to your singing abilities. Any time you sing blue sparks with appear around Gaia, and float in the direction of the nearest spirit. It’s a great way to ensure you don’t miss a thing, but knowing where a spirit is located doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll have an easy time getting to it.

In the ninety minutes of After Us I was able to play for this preview, I was able to unlock a couple of extra movement abilities that made exploring even more enjoyable. Wall running on certain walls makes climbing cliffs a breeze, and grinding on rails that you grow vines on is particularly satisfying. I imagine as you progress further there will be plenty more upgrades to improve Gaia too, because they came thick and fast in the portion I played.

Once you can get to more places with your handy new powers the only thing stopping you from exploring is the oil. This coats all sorts of surfaces thanks to those pesky humans, and prevents you from getting around easily. Thankfully the mysterious god voice guiding you provides a solution for that too, granting you the power to send out a pulse that paints all surfaces nearby with lush grass. Not only does this look cool when applied to cars and pylons, but it makes them easy to walk on too.

There is one more threat left on Earth that needs to be dealt with, and that’s the Devourers. These monsters were once humans, but after greedily taking all the resources from the planet they’ve become violent husks. Combat with them was pretty simple in the early game, and just involved stunning, dodging and attacking. It was enjoyable enough dealing with these sinister creatures though, and I’d happily dispatch a few more going forward.

It’s worth mentioning that although After Us looks fairly open in screenshots, you actually follow a fairly linear path to progress in the game. I personally much prefer this to a big empty environment, and there’s still a little freedom there too when you get to choose which branching path to take next. The level design has been really good so far, both visually and from a gameplay perspective.

After Us isn’t your typical 3D platformer, with a beautiful atmosphere and an important message to share. It may not be as twitchy and challenging as a lot of its peers, but I’m really looking forward to saving all the animals when it releases later this month.

After Us is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S|X on May 23rd.

The post After Us isn’t your typical 3D platformer | Hands-on preview appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

I’m always happy to play the latest FMV game from the genre experts at Wales Interactive, but generally they fall into one of a few categories. There are the mystery games with puzzles to solve and often a paranormal twist, dating games with wacky characters to fall in love with, and no matter what plenty of campy over the top acting to check out. I haven’t played a whole lot of action FMV games though, so I was delighted with the buddy action adventure of Mia and the Dragon Princess.

After being thawed out of a block of ice found on an old ship, an Indonesian pirate finds herself in modern day London with no idea why she’s here and no way to communicate with the locals. What she does know is that there are some real bad dudes after her, and after causing a ruckus at a buffet trying to fill her belly the police aren’t her biggest fans either. Fortunately for this pirate of the past she has a run in with a kind young barmaid called Mia, who soon gets to work trying to help her out.

Mia works at a pirate themed bar known as The Smuggler’s Den, which isn’t exactly the classiest establishment. After being coerced into unclogging the massive turd in the toilet, she finds a certain pirate hidden among the bins out back. Because she’s a caring individual (and because I refuse to help the police even in a video game) Mia hides her in the bar, feeds her, and eventually tries to learn more about her despite the language issues. It doesn’t take long for the duo to become close, and as long as you make the right decisions they may even end up changing each other’s lives for the better.

There’s only one aspect of the game you have any control over, and that’s when you’re choosing between two options of what Mia will do next. Mia and the Dragon Princess has plenty of branching narrative paths to explore, with all sorts of antics to uncover. Whether you’re deciding whether to be polite or snarky to a co-worker or figuring out how to confront a thug with a weapon, your actions will have serious consequences.

More often than not the situation at The Smuggler’s Den means that violence is just around the corner, which means you’ll be treated to one of the fantastic fight scenes that this FMV treat has to offer. I was blown away by how well put together these action packed sequences were, with a mix of impressive combat feats and silly moments that reminded me of some of my favourite Jackie Chan family comedies. It’s just not something you see very often in the FMV genre, and is a serious breath of fresh air.

One of my favourite aspects of Mia and the Dragon Princess is how willing it is to kill off characters. I was fairly successful in my first playthrough and didn’t realise quite how brutal the game is willing to be with all your favourite characters, but my second run was an absolute bloodbath.

These characters are a joyous mix of campy humans, from the barman who mixes cocktails with semen based names to the tour guide who is paid by the owner of The Smuggler’s Den to exaggerate the historical significance of the establishment. The performances are as ridiculous as you’d expect from an FMV game like this, and with a script that includes phrases like “bruised banana ballsack” and “fire escapes are for fannies” it’s a perfect fit.

By checking out certain scenes, you’ll unlock parts of an audio tour that’s narrated by the tour guide from the game. This is accessed from the main menu; it’s a nice and thematic bonus, and means you can find out a little more about some of the mysteries you’ll uncover on your journey.

There’s not a whole lot of negative aspects to talk about in Mia and the Dragon Princess. The game is very short (with a single playthrough taking around 30-40 minutes) and the basic multiple choices mean it isn’t a particularly involving experience. Just don’t expect to be playing this game for long or to have to use your brain a whole lot.

Mia and the Dragon Princess is a wonderful FMV action adventure, with ridiculous characters, exciting fight scenes and genuinely funny writing. It isn’t the longest of games and doesn’t have particularly engaging gameplay, but for a fun frolic into the world of FMV games you could do a hell of a lot worse than spending an evening with Mia and her mysterious buddy.

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Back in 2012, we weren’t drowning in indie games like we are currently. There were usually a few massive indies each year that gamers and critics alike adored though, and one of these games was Hotline Miami. This sinister top down murderfest required the fastest of reactions and the patience of a saint, but those who persevered were rewarded with a fantastic experience from start to finish. Despite its success, there aren’t a whole lot of games that have tried to follow in the footsteps of Hotline Miami. Well, that was true until OTXO came along.

The protagonist of OTXO finds himself washed up on the beach in front of a mysterious mansion, and frustratingly has those classic memory issues we all know and love. There is one thing he remembers though, and that’s the fact that there’s a girl in the mansion that he needs to find. Armed with a gun and an objective, he decides to kick his way through some doors and find the one he’s looking for in a suitably brash and reckless fashion.

Making your way through each area of OTXO is fairly straightforward, and involves you murdering everyone located there and making sure you don’t die. One of the analogue sticks moves your murder boy around and the other aims the gun he’s holding, which once it’s lined up with an enemy you’ll start firing. You can also roll to move quickly out of danger, kick to destroy doors and deal with close up foes, and most importantly slow down time.

When you activate your Focus time slows to a crawl, and you’ll be able to line up shots without a care in the world and weave between machine gun bullets with ease. You obviously can’t use this ability forever, but it recharges quickly enough that you never feel the need to save it for a rainy day. There is simply nothing more satisfying than using Focus to take out a room of guards without losing a drop of health, it never ceases to make you feel like a badass.

All the Focus in the world won’t save you from dying eventually though, and when you do you’ll be plopped back on the beach and forced to start all over again. OTXO combines the frantic action of Hotline Miami with those Roguelike elements we all know and love, with randomised levels, Permadeath and a whole lot of purchasable upgrades that’ll change the way you play.

When you first enter the mansion you’ll start at the bar, where you can buy drinks that provide these power ups. The first drink is always free (which I wish was the case for all bars) but after that you’ll need to use the cash you get for all the murder. I was really impressed with the variety of these upgrades, and they’re so inventive too. One upgrade gives you an attack dog, another makes 25% of your bullets home in on enemies, and my absolute favourite summons a cool cowboy occasionally when you use your Focus to help blast those baddies.

To make sure you have enough booze in your system, you’ll want to maximise your money in the areas between bars. This is done by killing enemies as quickly as possible and making sure your combo meter doesn’t drain away, which is easier said than done. You’ll need to play in a much more risky manner to pull off a long combo, but when you manage to it feels like bloody magic.

There are plenty of other interesting elements that help keep OTXO fresh while you replay over and over again. The pool of guns can be made larger by using a gashapon machine, and you can choose to remove as many weapons as you want from the selection entirely if you don’t like them. There are also bosses you’ll have to worry about, which admittedly caused the majority of my deaths with their relentless screen filling attacks.

There wasn’t a whole lot I didn’t like during my time with OTXO, but it does have a couple of issues. The main one is the lack of enemy variety. Standard men with firearms makeup at least 90% of the foes you’ll end up killing, and although they’re fun to fight it can start to feel a bit samey. There’s also a weird camera movement issue that happens when you switch your aim to the opposite direction. This action causes the whole screen to move a touch in that direction, and it’s really jarring to have everything shift out of nowhere.

OTXO is a fast paced murderfest, with a whole lot of interesting power ups and guns for splatting your enemies. There’s not a great deal of enemy variety, but when you’re slowing down time and blasting baddies it’s hard to care too much. It took a long time for another game to capture the magic of Hotline Miami, but OTXO has managed it.

The post OTXO review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

The year has been stacked with fantastic games so far, but it feels like it’s fallen short on the multiplayer side of things. Most of my multiplayer gaming this year has been with those old staples like Dead by Daylight and Overwatch 2, and I’ve been craving something new to jump into with my pals. Well thankfully Omega Strikers is here to answer the call, with its unique blend of air hockey and MOBA gameplay.

Yes you read that right, Omega Strikers is a 3 on 3 game of air hockey, but with a vast selection of different heroes with abilities that change the game. Some just hit the core (which is essentially the puck) really hard or from a distance, others require a bit more planning to use. One character can throw down a blockade that the puck bounces off for the ultimate defence, another places her slime buddies on the field that automatically blast the core toward the enemy goal. It takes a while to learn the different character’s abilities, but once you do this game is magic.

To ensure the matches aren’t over before they start, each goal is blocked at the start each round. To open the enemy goal so you can score the big one, you’ll need to first hit a couple of targets near the goal. These targets differ depending on the pitch you’re playing on; one stage might just have two blocks you need to hit in front of the goal, another might want you to hit some triangles to either side which could lead to some wild bouncing you can use to your advantage.

After the short tutorial gets you used to your first and simplest character, you’ll probably jump into quickplay for a battle online. This basic three on three contest is perfect for beginners, with the first team that scores five goals winning the match. One especially nice aspect of quickplay is that if nobody scores for two minutes then the speed of the core is ramped up massively, making the games nice and quick (which is perfect for trying out new characters).

The range of heroes you can play as in Omega Strikers is just wonderful, with all sorts of unusual powers and strategies to use against the enemy team. Some characters fire projectiles to strike the core from a distance, some can cast buffs to boost the rest of the team, and one can even turn invisible and reappear to get a surprise shot off for a cheeky goal. Hell, if all this goal scoring isn’t for you, you can even play as a hero that can deal massive damage to the other team and eliminate them from the game for a while.

Once you’ve found the right hero for you, you need to decide if you’d rather play up front or as the goalie. I expected to be all about those goals, but with the right character defending against the enemy offense is a blast. Some characters are better in certain roles than others, but you’ll soon get the hang of that and be ready to start playing Competitive.

It’s only when playing this ranked mode that you’ll get to see all of what Omega Strikers has to offer. The MOBA elements become apparent rather quickly, when you get to vote to ban a character for the other team. Alongside this significant addition are the power ups you get to pick from between sets. A selection of eight are available to choose from for all players, but the order they’re chosen is based on who has been playing best. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and the other players will have left a power up you want, but choosing from the dregs can be pretty disappointing so you’d better play well.

The range of buffs on offer are often pretty game changing. You might get an extra use of one of your abilities without having to wait for a recharge, or perhaps you’ll move faster if you can avoid being hit. By the time you’ve selected a few of these power ups you’ll be unstoppable, and will often need to adjust your play style accordingly.

If all this sounds appealing then you’re in luck, because you don’t need to spend a penny to get started with Omega Strikers. The majority of my time playing the game was as an entirely new user who hadn’t dropped any cash on the game, and I thought the starting heroes and amount of time it takes to unlock the others was really fair. You’ll never have the coolest cosmetics if you don’t pay, but Omega Strikers is more than playable for free.

The only issue that the free to play nature of Omega Strikers brings is a currency one. Especially when starting out the menus full of different types of moolah are beyond confusing, and I never really knew what the different rewards I was getting for completing daily and weekly quests actually were. I still found the menus to be a mess even after hours of play too, and often gave up trying to find my rank or character affinity levels after a few minutes of flicking through nonsense.

This complexity does mean that there are plenty of hooks to keep you playing regularly though. The aforementioned daily and weekly quests are well worth completing (and mean you’ll keep coming back for more) and there’s also a Battle Pass to level up full of cool outfits, emotes and player titles to unlock.

If Odyssey Interactive continue to update Omega Strikers long term then competitive air hockey could keep me coming back for years. New heroes and maps would absolutely shake up the meta and freshen things up if done right, and I’m hopeful that this could be a multiplayer game with a long life and happy ending.

Omega Strikers is a fantastic and innovative multiplayer game, which is easy to jump into but has plenty to master. Learning how to best use different characters is seriously compelling, and those progression hooks kept me coming back for more every single day. With a bit of luck and regular updating, this could be the multiplayer success story we’ve needed in 2023.

The post Omega Strikers review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

When Super Mario Maker was first released, Nintendo showed the world exactly how creation tools should be made. With all the charm of a mainline Mario game and an infinite amount of content, a truly magical experience was born. For many, the next direction to take this concept was simple, it’s Super Zelda Maker of course. Well while Link hasn’t got the memo, Super Dungeon Maker is here to pick up the slack.

When you start up Super Dungeon Maker for the first time you’re flung immediately into an oddly familiar top down dungeon with nothing but a sword to keep you alive. By wandering around you’ll soon find block puzzles, locked doors and the keys that open them, and unless you find the golden egg that serves as an exit then you’ll be trapped in here forever.

Once you beat this first dungeon, you’re greeted with a bright colourful overworld full of characters to interact with. There’s not a whole lot to do here though really, just a few dungeons to jump into and two main buildings where you’ll spend most of your time with the game. One of these is for finding dungeons online to play, and the other is for making your own dungeons.

The creation tools for the game are actually really easy to use, and in no time you’ll get used to attaching rooms to each other and placing nasty enemies and devious puzzles inside them. There’s a handy tutorial dungeon that teaches you the ropes too, where you have to switch to the creation mode to spawn keys for locked doors and delete walls to make your way to the exit. Super Dungeon Maker very much takes cues from the Super Mario Maker games, by giving you a bunch of familiar and easy to use elements to play with and just letting you go wild.

There is a slight issue when comparing this to other games with creation tools though, and that’s the level of thought that has to go into a single Zelda style dungeon compared to making a platforming level. Anyone can place a few platforms and test out how they work by jumping between them, but creating puzzles and working out where to place keys and items so players can make it to the goal is an entirely different skill set. This level of creativity is absolutely lost on me, and I just struggled to make anything worthwhile.

If you too are entirely useless at making levels, there are at least plenty of dungeons to play that others have made. There are various menus to flip through when looking for dungeons, organising them by popular dungeons or top rated dungeons. There’s no option to just play random levels though, so expect to be browsing screens of levels and trying to pick one to play a lot.

As a way to create Zelda style dungeons and play other people’s creations, Super Dungeon Maker is undoubtedly a good package. It does have some significant issues holding it back though. Perhaps the most important of these issue is that your movement just feels a tad sluggish. The little chicken protagonist moves the tiniest bit slower than they need to, but it’s enough to make the game feel less satisfying to play.

Another problem Super Dungeon Maker has is a lack of its own identity. Pretty much every item, puzzle element and enemy has been directly lifted from the Zelda games, and it makes the game feel very cheap. Even games like Mario Maker added new elements that didn’t exist in the games that they’re based on. When I entered my first boss room and realised I was fighting the big worm from Link’s Awakening it was impossible to stop my eyes from rolling.

Although it functions well as a way to create your own dungeons, it’s a shame that the dungeons are the only things you can make using this creation. My love of Zelda dungeons is well documented at this point, but they aren’t the only enjoyable part of the games that Super Dungeon Maker is clearly paying homage to. Being able to make larger worlds to explore or characters to interact with would’ve admittedly been a huge undertaking, but their absence is felt in the game.

I should also mention that Super Dungeon Maker has some performance issues on Switch. If you enter a room with too many enemies or moving parts the framerate will take a noticeable hit, and anyone who’s played a Super Mario Maker game before knows that creators love to do this.

Super Dungeon Maker lets you make and play all the Zelda inspired dungeons you could ever dream of, but has a few issues that hold it back from greatness. The fact everything is lifted almost exactly from Zelda games just feels a little cheap, and the control issues and a framerate that struggles in busy rooms aren’t ideal either. If you’re really into creating levels in games though these issues probably won’t be a deal-breaker, and I look forward to jumping into your dungeons.

The post Super Dungeon Maker review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Before I wrote reviews about all the weird and wonderful games that my lovely editor throws my way, I wrote about the equally weird and equally wonderful world of wrestling. I’ve always been fascinated by this flamboyant blend of sport and entertainment, so when the muscles and steel chairs make their way into video games I’m always happy to get tagged in. Wrestling with Emotions combines big sweaty performers with dating sim romance, and I can’t wait to play the full game.

For now though fans of love and grappling will have to settle for the demo, titled Demo Dawg’s Treat. It lasts significantly less than an hour, but gives a really good taste of what Wrestling with Emotions has to offer. You’ll get to meet some of the beefy romance options, see how the MEAT system works, and begin your journey into superstardom.

One fateful night while watching your favourite wrestlers suplexing each other, our protagonist has a flash of inspiration. An advert calling for potential wrestlers to join the roster of Wrestling with Emotions (or WWE for short) tells anyone interested to go out and buy the latest wrestling magazine to apply for the job, and one trip to the shops later you’re filling the form in.

You’ll get your first taste of the silly comedy that Wrestling with Emotions has to offer in this scene, when presented with a bunch of daft options to put on the form. After writing down that I weighed just enough to crush a cake and that my best feature was my nipples, I sent off my application and was invited to train with my childhood stars. If you aren’t a fan of wacky comedy this probably isn’t the game for you, but I was in my element.

Once you get to the training centre you get to see a little more of the systems that make this visual novel tick. There are four key stats in the game that indicate the options you can choose when faced with a decision, and they handily spell out the word MEAT. Muscle is pretty self explanatory, but there’s also Elegance, Attitude, and Theatrics that you can use to solve problems and shine on the grandest stage.

By far the best part of the demo involved choosing locations to upgrade these base stats (although admittedly most of the choices were locked). The first of these powered up my Elegance with a makeover, which involved actually customising my character’s nails, arm tattoos and jewellery. Next up was an Attitude adjustment, which saw me rating the bands who wanted to play at the local hangout spot. It’s nice to play a dating sim that isn’t entirely made up of dialogue options, and I can’t wait to see what the other MEATy routes involve.

Depending on your MEAT stats, it seems like in the full game the potential lovers will be more impressed with your character. I only got to meet a handful of them in this demo, but the variety was pretty darn impressive. Whether you want to romance a badass luchador in a cat mask or a weird green melting man, there’s sure to be a muscular mate for you in Wrestling with Emotions.

One of the things that impressed me most in this Wrestling with Emotions demo is the art style. The unusual and colourful aesthetic is just a perfect fit for a game full of flamboyant wrestlers, and alongside the wonderful writing it just brings this charming world to life.

It’s also worth mentioning the inclusivity in the game. From pronouns to romanceable characters, this dating sim is for everyone regardless of sexual orientation or gender, and the developers are clearly very proud of that fact. This will mean a whole lot to a large group of people (myself included) and I just love that this is the direction this genre is going.

By combining dating sims and wrestling, Wrestling with Emotions has created something I can’t wait to experience every minute of. This silly and inclusive world definitely has my attention, and I’ll be back for more bodyslams and cuddles as soon as possible.

Wrestling with Emotions: New Kid on the Block is coming to PC “soon”.

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