Jade has grown up on PlayStation, and spent far longer finding those pigeons, completing those jumps, and chasing those Trophies than she cares to admit. She's never happier than when she's in Junes, Hope's Peak, or collecting Wumpa Fruit.
Mini Review Moonglow Bay (PS5) - Fishing RPG Not Quite Catch of the Day
Hook, line, and stinker
Previously released on Steam and now ported to consoles, Moonglow Bay is a slice-of-life fishing game set in 1980s Canada. After a devastating loss, the protagonist must move on with their life and help revive the town they live in: a struggling fishing port. Obviously, as a fishing-based game, there's a large amount of...
Mini Review Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator (PS5) - Taxi Sim Stalls on Arrival
No es bueno
On paper, Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator seems like a great time. Leisurely picking up fares in one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, Barcelona. Exploring and finding points of cultural interest, forming and customising your own taxi company — it all sounds like a relaxing experience, right? Wrong. While there’s no denying...
Gallery Our Favourite Cosplay at MCM Birmingham
Bringing Your Fave Characters To Life
Convention season is always a fun time for cosplay, and last year we visited MCM Birmingham, where we were blown away with the calibre of cosplays at the convention. With so many amazing costumes to look at, we somehow managed to snap some pics of incredible cosplays from gaming properties that we're here to...
Mini Review PlateUp! (PS5) - Co-Op Restaurant Roguelite Serves Up a Treat
Cooking like a chef
Inevitably, a game like PlateUp! will be compared to Overcooked, purely because both are restaurant-based games. Where PlateUp! differs from any of its foodie stablemates is that it has roguelite progression, and encourages players to stray away from chaos rather than embrace it. You and up to three others (locally or online)...
Review Thirsty Suitors (PS5) - An Authentic, Entertaining Tale of Self Discovery
Time to battle some evil exes
In Thirsty Suitors, protagonist Jala has had a bad break-up and moved back to the hometown she left under the shadow of darkness, and back to the people she left high and dry. Realising her allies are few and far between, Jala sets about making amends with her family, while her previous exes show their faces to stir...
Mini Review Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express (PS5) - Murder Mystery Kills It
Fresh like a Daisy
A timeless classic, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is one of the best-loved and most famous murder mysteries of all time. Originally released in 1934, the story has been refreshed and updated for this 2023 release — think Poirot with Internet access. The acclaimed detective finds himself aboard the Orient Express...
Mini Review Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles (PS5) - Musical JRPG Hits a Bum Note
Doesn't quite strike a chord
Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles is the combination release of Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess and Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom. Originally released in 1999 and 2000 respectively, both games are now available for the first time in the west. Rhapsody II kicks into action by following the titular...
Mini Review LISA: Definitive Edition (PS5) - Joyful and Painful in Equal Measure
It’s the end of the world as we know it
LISA: Definitive Edition is the updated collection of LISA: The Painful, originally released in 2014 via RPG Maker, and its sequel, LISA: The Joyful. These new releases are extended with new quests, bosses, and secrets. There’s even a new difficulty mode alongside Normal and Painful; Painless, for those...
Mini Review Railway Empire 2 (PS5) - Locomotive Strategy Sim Has Signal Failure
All aboard the innovation train
Throwing us into the brink of a revolution, Railway Empire 2 starts in 1830 at the dawn of the age of railways. It’s an exciting time for the rail industry, with many competing companies wanting a piece of the pie and many discoveries changing the face of rail travel. There are various game modes, including a...
Not quite haute cuisine
Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook is a turn-based, strategy RPG roguelike that sees a group of adventurers in the wrong place at the wrong time, stuck in an increasingly difficult dungeon while on the brink of starvation. Picking your primary character, you’re instantly thrown into a whole host of customisation...
Mini Review Garden Simulator (PS5) - Grow Your Troubles Away
The grass is greener
Garden Simulator does what it says on the tin. Fed up with the rat race, and with a very pointed reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, the main character has had to work from home for the last few months and is struggling with worsening mental health. They move to their family’s old homestead to revive it and improve their own...
Review Live A Live (PS5) - 90s JRPG Is Still Amazingly Unique All These Years Later
Live life throughout time
Last year saw the remake of Live A Live launch on Nintendo Switch, some 27 years after its original 1994 launch on the Super Famicom. This marks the first time the title has been made available outside of Japan, and now that it's coming to PS5 and PS4, we're happy to report that Live A Live is still a unique and...
Review Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (PS5) - A Lovecraftian Mystery Recreated for a New Era
Sherlock, wake up
A total remake of its 2007 game of the same name, developer Frogwares has embarked on a complete overhaul of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. This Lovecraftian adventure sees Sherlock investigating a series of disappearances that ultimately end up linked into the Cthulhu Mythos. The Awakened opens with a pretty low stakes case to...
Review Tchia (PS5) - Unique Island Adventure Is a Joyful, Creative Playground
Totally tropical
Developer Awaceb created Tchia as a love letter to its native home of New Caledonia. Though the game itself is set on a fantastical archipelago, it draws deeply from its real-life counterpart in terms of environment and story. It feels really genuine as a snapshot of the culture; its story is heavily rooted in the territory's...
Review Octopath Traveler II (PS5) - An Immaculate RPG with Brilliantly Realised Characters
Eight times the fun
Square Enix’s 2018 hit Octopath Traveler sold over 3 million copies worldwide, but never made it to PlayStation. Now, the series heads to PS5 and PS4 for the first time with Octopath Traveler II. Still with the striking HD-2D graphics of the first game, the sequel takes what its predecessor did and builds on it, creating a...
Mini Review The Entropy Centre (PS5) - Portal-Esque Adventure Rewinds Time
If I could turn back time
Waking up in a strange facility, protagonist Aria Adams finds herself a Handheld Entropy Device (HED): a gun-like entity which can bend time, and houses a sassy virtual companion named Astra. If that sounds vaguely familiar, then you should already know what to expect. It’s hard to ignore the influence of Portal in The...
Mini Review Potion Permit (PS5) - Time to Play Doctor in a Charming But Buggy Town
Che-missed the mark
Potion Permit throws you in the deep end. The town of Moonbury needs a chemist, and as a fresh graduate from the capital you’re shipped in to cure the mayor’s daughter who has succumbed to a mysterious illness. Moonbury residents don’t have a great track record with chemists, however, and that will become apparent as the...
Review Mini-Review: Circus Electrique (PS5) - Not Quite The Greatest Show On Earth
Roll up, roll up
Young journalist Amelia has the circus in her blood; her uncle runs the titular Circus Electrique and her mother was a former circus performer who died in an accident ten years prior. Amelia has been given an assignment to report on the reopening of the circus, but disaster strikes as London is plagued with a mysterious incident...
Mini Review I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (PS5) - Choose Your Own Adolescence
Teenage kicks
Your teenage years are undoubtedly some of the hardest years of your life. Raging hormones, school, navigating romance for the first time, aliens threatening to destroy your home and family… Now, imagine all of that in a timeloop that you're destined to repeat over and over, and you have I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. Growing up on...
Mini Review South of the Circle (PS5) - Antarctic Disaster Meets Cold War
Not every cloud
South of the Circle is the story of Peter, a scientist at the University of Cambridge. Set in the early 1960s, the game heavily references the social and cultural movements of the time. There is a deep-rooted fear of Russian spies and multiple references to the Cold War, and also an underlying gender equality focus to the story...
Mini Review Best Month Ever! (PS4) - The World's Heaviest Road Trip
Okayest month ever
Created by the Warsaw Film School’s Video Game Directing department, Best Month Ever! is the story of Louise and her biracial son, Mitch, living in 1960s rural America. Having been diagnosed with a terminal illness and told she doesn’t have long to live, Louise takes Mitch on a road trip for summer, promising him the best...
Mini Review Soundfall (PS5) - Not Music To Our Ears
Failed to strike a chord
Discordians have infiltrated the world of Symphonia – the land where music is born. Protagonist Melody also happens to be there, though how is a mystery. Melody, or one of the unlockable characters, must defeat the Discordians and find her way home to the real world. Everything in Soundfall is done to the beat of its...
Mini Review This War of Mine: Final Cut (PS5) - Sombre Survival Hits Hard
War, what is it good for?
Originally released on PC in 2019 for the original game’s fifth anniversary, the acclaimed survival game This War Of Mine: Final Cut has been repackaged in a for new-gen consoles. Hitting PS5s with remastered versions of the original and DLC locations, This War of Mine gives a harrowing and to the point view of war from...
Mini Review Call of the Sea (PS5) - A Pretty But Predictable Puzzler
Lost at sea
Norah is ill, and her husband Harry is missing after having gone searching the world for a cure. After receiving a mysterious package, Norah decides to go to the place Harry was last known to be — an island off the coast of Tahiti. Call of the Sea bills itself as a Lovecraftian mystery game, and whilst the first person adventure...
