Latest Reviews
Review My Time At Portia - A Delightful Post-Apocalyptic Life Sim
Workshop till you drop
My Time At Portia is a charming life simulation game, revolving around your new life running a workshop in the post-apocalyptic town of Portia. Unlike most such settings, Portia is brimming with vibrant colours and cheerful residents. However, the town still bears the scars of the apocalyptic event which ravished the world...
Review Heaven's Vault - Impressive Linguistics Can't Combat Mediocrity
Speech level 100
One of the finest things about the independent scene is that it gives more unique ideas, mechanics, and features the opportunity to thrive. Heaven’s Vault, from developer inkle Studios, takes advantage of that freedom with an experience that turns back the clocks and places the emphasis on language and archaeology. It’s a far...
Review FAR: Lone Sails - A Melancholy Drive Through a Harsh World
Come sail away
Have you ever watched a trailer for an indie title and thought to yourself, “Yeah, I get it. It’s one of those artsy titles more hell-bent on just looking pretty.” At a quick glance, that impression looks like it could apply to a title like Swiss developer Okomotive’s FAR: Lone Sails. Well, we've got some news for you; it's...
Review Ghost Giant - A PSVR Masterpiece
Thank you for the music
If we were to hand out awards for adorability at the end of this year, Zoink! Games’ latest would already have the entire competition beat four months in. Ghost Giant has to be one of the most charming and lovable experiences we’ve had this generation, and to witness its beauty through PlayStation VR is quite a sight to...
Review Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain - EDF Is Back to Its Best
EDF! EDF! EDF!
Giving another studio the opportunity to work on a well-documented franchise, especially one whose most notable creations are its WWE 2K titles for the past six years, is always going to come with risks. When developer Yuke’s was given the keys to the Earth Defense Force series, it promised a more western take on things - one that...
Review Falcon Age - PSVR Classic Combines Meaningful Storytelling with Adorable Birds
Bird play
It’s kind of crazy to think that Falcon Age is Outer Loop Games’ very first project as a developer. Designed and produced in its Seattle-based studio, the experience demonstrates a level of maturity, understanding, and respect that games even in the AAA space could only hope to achieve. The headline-grabbing falcon is most definitely...
Review Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy - Three Classic Adventures That Stand the Test of Time
I hereby sentence you to play these games
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a bundle of the first three Phoenix Wright games, originally released on Game Boy Advance and then later revamped for Nintendo DS, making their way to a PlayStation console for the very first time. These classic adventure/visual novel titles follow a rookie defence...
Review Zanki Zero: Last Beginning - A Survival RPG from the Makers of Danganronpa
Eat, sleep, die, repeat
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning comes from the creators of the Danganronpa series, and if this game isn’t further proof that Spike Chunsoft loves to torture and torment its poor characters then we don’t know what is. While Zanki Zero doesn’t force a group of school students to kill each other, it still has an equally grim...
Review Dangerous Driving - As Close as You'll Get to Classic Burnout on PS4
Bumpy ride
As enormous fans of Criterion's classic arcade racing series Burnout, we've been patiently waiting for either a revival from EA (a pipe dream, let's be honest) or for someone else to crash into the scene with a fast and brazen alternative. That's exactly what Three Fields Entertainment has created with Dangerous Driving, although you'd...
Review Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition - Back with a Bang
Boom Claptrap
Ten years ago, Borderlands felt like a breath of fresh air. It stood apart from the games that were chasing Call of Duty’s shadow by channelling Diablo more than Desert Storm. Its signature loot mechanic became a selling point, but Borderlands always offered more than that. It was funny, charming, and wholly unique. And in a world...
Review Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs - A Short But Competent Adaptation to PSVR
Two pigs with one bird
Angry Birds was a massive hit when it launched on mobile devices several years ago, and since then it has spawned many different spinoff titles, such as Star Wars, Transformers, Rio, etc. The latest of which, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, is a virtual reality experience available on PlayStation VR. The game plays exactly as...
Review Outward - An Unremarkable Yet Charming Nod to Old School RPGs
Onward and outwards
Devoid of any innate ability to absorb dragon souls or lacking the experience and training of a ruthless Witcher, Outward instead sends you packing into a hostile world as a feeble adventurer with little but the clothes on your back for protection. Even set in the fantasy realm of Aurai, this open world RPG prides itself on...
Review Xenon Racer - Look Ma, No Handling
Race to the bottom
Xenon Racer is a racing game. That’s really the only way to kick off this review because there’s nothing memorable about it. Despite its 2030 setting it doesn’t try anything new – not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but something that becomes worse when you realise developer 3D Clouds hasn’t even got all the basics...
Review Space Junkies - Arena Shooters Have Met Their VR Match
Now it's time to get junky
You don’t need us to tell you that maintaining a consistent player base in multiplayer-only PlayStation VR games continues to be a struggle for any studio that claims to be up to the task. Some have lowered the barriers to entry by adopting free-to-play models or by opening the doors to non-VR players too, but the fact...
Melting pot
It really is crazy to think that the Atelier series has been going for over twenty years now. The series is well known for being far more about enchanting coming of age stories than trying to defeat the bad guys and save the world. Nelke & the Legendary Alchemist: Ateliers of the New World is a spin-off game that celebrates this...
Be seein' you, Sweetpea
Telltale’s horrific and very public implosion spelled disaster for the end of Clementine’s story. Halfway through the Final Season of The Walking Dead, we all got to witness the plug be unceremoniously pulled, only to have publisher Skybound swoop in and essentially rehire the entire Telltale team working on the final...
The revolution begins again
From gliding through the sandy deserts of Origins to basking in the ostentatious ancient Greek environments of Odyssey, the last few Assassin’s Creed instalments have not failed to astound players with their mind-blowing finesse. That said, regardless of how far the series has progressed (undoubtedly for the better),...
Review Generation Zero - A Woeful Open World Ordeal Stuck in the Past
Last gen design
Despite flying under most people’s radars, Generation Zero is actually a fairly major fall from grace. From developer Avalanche Studios, its latest open world foray is in stark contrast to the explosive, experimental, and action-packed nature of Just Cause 4's Solís. Instead, the studio’s take on a 1980s Sweden ravaged by an...
Review Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - From Software Doesn't Sacrifice Difficulty for Accessibility
If at first you don't succeed, die and die again
It's a bit of a tired point at this stage, but it's definitely true -- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a far cry from Dark Souls and Bloodborne, and anyone who ignores this will be summarily slashed to pieces. From Software's latest shares some similarities with its predecessors, but with combat,...
Review The Surge - Dark Souls with No Soul
Bloodbored
Republished on Wednesday 27th March 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The Surge makes a great first impression. Its opening hour introduces you to a combat system that takes clear inspiration from the likes of Dark Souls and...
Review Conan Exiles - A Barbaric But Addictive Survival Experience
Grindr
Republished on Wednesday 27th March 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Conan Exiles is surprisingly good. When we first learned about an open world survival game themed on the Conan universe, we were tempted to write it off as a...
A class of its own
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, or just Trails of Cold Steel as it's more often referred to, is a turn based, character-driven role-playing title from Japanese developer Nihon Falcom. It's a story of friendship and war, all told from the perspective of Rean Schwarzer, a newly enrolled student at the prestigious Thors...
Review Skyworld - Baffling Design Choices Overshadow Political Charm
Reach for the stars
It’s an all too familiar story when it comes to VR. An interesting concept on paper fails to translate into an enjoyable experience within the virtual playing space, and that’s the exact issue at the heart of Vertigo Games’ Skyworld. The studio’s latest PlayStation VR title may be slightly more original than its previous...
Review SNK 40th Anniversary Collection - Four Decades Young
A delicious selection box of ancient gems and curios
Have you ever played a game from your youth, ready to relive those glory days with rose-tinted glasses firmly in place? Ever rip those rosy specs off and throw them against the wall in a fit of rage shortly after? Some retro "classics" just don’t stand the test of time and others are designed...
Review The Division 2 - With a Few Tweaks, This Could Be Something Special
Land of the free hit
The Division 2 is a good, solid looter shooter. At points, it's a fantastic looter shooter, but at the time of writing, it has just a handful of notable issues holding it back. Ideally, a game releases with no problems whatsoever, but in this age of live services, regular content updates, and feedback-based patches, expectations...
Review Fate/Extella Link - Weary Warriors Fans, Don't Sleep on This Refined Anime Action
Tempting fate
Although it wasn't perfect, we've always been quick to express our fondness for Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star. The 2017 release was a fine hack and slasher, complete with a fleshed out story and a whole roster of interesting characters. It was a rock solid game, and its sequel, Fate/Extella Link, is pretty much the follow-up that we...
Review The Messenger - Pixel Perfect Platforming Action
Ninja star
Say what you want about the ubiquity of pixel art, side-scrolling indie games, but the truth is that when done well, they're brilliant. There are a handful of good examples, like Shovel Knight, Celeste, and Freedom Planet, but The Messenger might be the easiest to recommend. This Ninja Gaiden inspired action platformer is the full package...
Get in the sea
What the heck happened to One Piece: World Seeker? Was the developer short on time? Short on budget? Or was it just an awful idea to make an open world setting your one and only gimmick in 2019? We would genuinely love to know, because the game feels completely unfinished in almost every possible way. Even for the relatively low...
Review Beat Cop - An 80s Police Adventure That Gets Away with Murder
Brooklyn rage
The best thing about Papers, Please is the way in which its work-like gameplay combines with narrative elements to create a stressful, oppressive atmosphere. You're checking documents for discrepancies against the clock, while travellers plead and bargain with you to let them pass, putting your job on the line when your family is...
Review Move or Die - Quick Fire Multiplayer Madness
Frenemies
As with many successful indie titles that come to PlayStation 4, Move or Die started life as a popular PC game when it launched a few years back. It's very much in the same wheelhouse as other chaotic multiplayer titles like Speedrunners, Gang Beasts, and Nidhogg, though it manages to set itself apart with an interesting spin on 2D...
