22 July 2024

Seraphim Slum is a quirky visual novel about ... fallen lesbian angels. Also love and lust and freedom and control. Visuals are all over the shop but it's well written and voiced. Weird & interesting.

21 July 2024

Virtual Presenter Room is easy to use; you just screenshare it to any conferencing client and away you go. Looks great, user friendly. Would also be a fantastic tool for roleplaying sessions.

20 July 2024

Read my First Impressions here!

19 July 2024

Kriegsfront offers scrappy tactical mech combat in which resource management is crucial- you might win the battle but you have to survive the war. Also features narrative adventures and a strong story

16 July 2024

SCHIM combined platforming with visual story telling. Love the shader art. Very simple start but puzzles become more challenging as more moving parts are introduced. Nice game for younger players.

Read the review here!

14 July 2024

Reminiscent of MW3 but in a delightful roguelike format involving resource management and upgrading your mech after every level. Solid variety in mech components and weapons for different playstyles.

10 July 2024

Block-ed is an exceptional puzzle game. The premise is simple but the mechanics (bombs, lasers, teleporters, splitters, moving platforms) combine well. Has community maps and a great level editor too!

07 July 2024

Metroplex Zero is a very solid card game involving resource and party management, deck building, and collection. Scenario-based combat. Actually requires strategy and synergy to win, it's great.

Read the in-depth review here!

06 July 2024

Read my First Impressions here!

01 July 2024

Grapplers is an exceptional party brawler. Great level design with heavy environment & trap focus. Grapple as both movement and attack makes for an interesting challenge. More players = more fun.

29 June 2024

Kurwa Sprint is a faithful Mario clone. The environment's a little more forgiving but the enemies are a little tougher. Coins to collect, secrets to find, and it's a tough game, 90s-style. Cute & fun.

28 June 2024

Giltsteader's a TD \with a stack of quirky features that set it apart from the others. Towers are random and must merge to upgrade, and there's farming. Very interactive, there's never a dull moment.

20 June 2024

Ad Fundum is a simple but addictive mining game. Dig for minerals, sell for $. Pressure is on managing fuel, temp, health & storage - oh, and earthquakes! Surprisingly large variety of upgrades.

19 June 2024

Swarmsign is simple but very fun topdown shooter. Farm defence mode is good but herd defence is even more fun. Offensive mode's pretty cool too. Good variety of enemies & weapons/abilities. Moreish!

16 June 2024

Quantum Conflict plays a lot like Asteroid or Gravitation. The graphics are much flashier and modern, and there's a good range of special pickups. Little clunky but still a fun multiplayer party game.

15 June 2024

ZpellCatz is a fun dungeon crawling looter-shooter. The graphics are cute and child-friendly although the game itself is surprisingly generic. But executed well - combat is fun, plenty of variety.

12 June 2024

Pre-release review: Has some promising aspects; looks good, and bullet hell-style boss fights seem promising. Right now, it's a little clunky and the level & enemy attack patterns need more work.

Read my First Impressions here!

08 June 2024

Echoes is a visual novel that starts as a detective murder mystery but unfolds into a dark supernatural government conspiracy. It's very well written and the art style perfectly fits the mood.

07 June 2024

Check and Slash is not what you'd think. It's essentially realtime hack-and-slash (except the baddies shoot) with some rogue elements. It's a bit grindy and repetitive but the boss fights are decent.

06 June 2024

What the Car? is a bonkers fun party-style racing game full of all manner of zany "driving" mechanisms. Levels are packed with shortcuts and alternative routs and the "bonus" levels are awesome.

Read the review here!

04 June 2024

Whispers in the Moss is a fairly traditional JRPG but with retro text-based UI. Interesting characters, decently writing, interesting locations to visit, and the ANSI/ASCII art is impressive.

31 May 2024

The Last WarMage could use a little more polish but it's a lot of fun. Essentially tapper but with weapon & enemy variety, ammo management and dynamic controls. Thoughtful and can get hectic

29 May 2024

Archaeogem looks good and plays smooth even if the whip mechanic is a little counter-intuitive. It's a challenging precision platformer with huge levels that require both thought and reflexes to beat

27 May 2024

Operation Guns is a massive DLC and totally worth the price even if you know nothing about Contra (and of course there's a huge nostalgia bonus if you are familiar).  It comes with two new maps; the main map is huge and I think one of the most interesting in the game with different regions separated by bridges, buildings, secret passages through forests, and of course it's populated by hordes of Contra baddies. The big mecha bosses are particularly cool.  Also, Operation Guns comes with a whopping 11 new characters (and of course I absolutely love Bill Rizer with his long gun), and 22 new weapons - machine guns, homing missiles, and some cool new passive upgrades that don't take slots. As if that wasn't enough, there's also a new adventure.  Oh! And the new music is bangin'!

Read the review here!

26 April 2024

Songs of Conquest is an impressive homage to HoMM while featuring enough subtle but key differences - lore, story, factions, mechanics - that it stands up on its own. Love the campaign & aesthetics

Read my First Impressions here!

25 May 2024

Citadel Stormer is an exceptional retro-style shooter. Never mind the cute kiddy graphics, this is a challenging game with ammo management and platforming. Very fun, reminds me of Commander Keen.

20 May 2024

Parkour Legends is an exceptional platformer that makes the most of the sport it mimics. Run, slide, crawl, jump, grab, flip - timing is crucial and the controls are well thought out. Fast-paced fun.

19 May 2024

Fay's Factory is a gem. An RPG at heart, packed full of meaningful choice & consequence. Features top shelf low poly art, unique setting pivotal to the story, and an unusual & innovative combat system

18 May 2024

Asta Pool is an exceptional pool game featuring a range of innovative cue game rules (I love freeze mode!), tables (no gravity rules!), balls & holes with special abilities. Very creative and fun.

10 May 2024

Let Bions Be Bygones is an adventure game with an engaging, unexpected story carried primarily through dialogue and visual storytelling. Absolutely love the artwork and cyberpunk/noir aesthetic

Read the review here!

05 May 2024

Dice Assassin is a chess-based tactical roguelike. Features a good range of enemies & special abilities but slow progression means it can get grindy. The boss fights are excellent.

Read the review here!

04 May 2024

Hexahedra is an interesting puzzle game that integrates (visual) coding. Requires critical thought, clever design, and the right sequencing with lots of complex moving parts. Fun and challenging.

01 May 2024

One of the best C&C titles and one of the best RTS games out, even today. It's aged surprisingly well - still holds up remarkably well even in 2024.

30 April 2024

Pilapila's a fun, challenging puzzle game. Concept's simple; lay blocks to get to the exit but new mechanics introduced every few levels adding complexity. 70 levels with challenges (and bonus levels)

27 April 2024

Footgun is a super fun shooter with a fresh soccer-based shooting gimmick. That makes aiming tricky and there's lots of bouncing and special weapons and attacks. Love the bosses and bonus levels.

Read the review here!

21 April 2024

Rauniot has a few imperfections but overall it is a very solid point and click with great artwork, an interesting setting that really comes to life, dark gritty characters, and an engaging story

Read my First Impressions here!

15 April 2024

Cakefoot could use more polish (esp. arcade mode) but it's actually really fun! Trying to move along a winding disconnected track while dodging a variety of moving obstacles and bullets is tricky!

14 April 2024

Laysara is an exceptional city builder with a unique Himalayan aesthetic that really concentrates on the environment. Challenges are fun & management mechanics are tightly interwoven, really well made.

Read the review here!

13 April 2024

Yellow Taxi is an exception retro platformer with a great sense of humour, really fun level design (which gets better as you play through), some tricky obstacles to beat and tons of secrets to find!

Read the review here!

11 April 2024

Nuke Them All is a promising new RTS that replaces base building with Capture the Flag and tick timers. It's an interesting concept held back at the moment by balance issues. But still in Early Access!

Read my First Impressions here!

10 April 2024

Cease to Breathe is a faithful rendition of the parser adventure games from the 90s. It's big for the genre; tons of screens & interactables. Nice art. Very challenging - not for the faint-hearted!

09 April 2024

A Living Room is an interesting foray into.. existentialism, maybe? Presented as a quirky point and click. It's surprisingly clever, often funny, but only around ~30 minutes playtime.

07 April 2024

Citizen Sleeper is an absolute top shelf text adventure with a deep, complex narrative, engaging world building, and full of very real characters with very real problems. Every decision matters.

05 April 2024

A bullet heaven with some promising new mechanics that's unfortunately a little too shallow to really deliver on. Keep going, devs! This could really be great!

Read the review here!

04 April 2024

Koala Kids Golf is fantastic, one of the best party/golf games I've played. Really fun (and huge) levels, love the special challenge levels & had a great time playing multiplayer with my young fella.

03 April 2024

EA: Azoove is a fun new card-based survival game with strong resource management elements. I love the way you build your story as you play through. Could benefit from more variety but still in EA.

Read the review here!

02 April 2024

Outpost Infinity Siege is a very ambitious shooter with base management, exploration/salvage elements, and a campaign story. Looks great but needs more TLC, particularly AI upgrade. Keep an eye on it.

Read my First Impressions here!

01 April 2024

StarsAway is a genuinely fun & challenging rail shooter reminiscent of maybe Star Goose (1988)? 3 difficulty modes which is good but could use a tad more variety in the track with each run

30 March 2024

Cosmic Express is a bloody big puzzle game. It's sokoban-based, but the addition of the rail system means you can't backtrack, adding another layer of complexity. Fun but gets challenging quickly!

29 March 2024

Starlight & the Silver Key has a grindy repetitive start that's a bit of a turn-off.. but once past that I was hooked for the next two hours. Decent puzzles, quirky story, great sense of humour

28 March 2024

A Good Snowman is fun puzzle game built on a simple premise. Cute graphics & kid friendly although puzzles do get more challenging as you progress. Clever level design makes for a fun game.

25 March 2024

Acolyte of the Altar is a strong entry to the card battler genre with a small range of exciting new mechanics for an engaging and challenging experience. Awesome card art & UI too.

Read the review here!

17 March 2024

Sokobond's fun. Could benefit from a touch more guidance as working out the winning bond can be trial & error but good range of chemistry-themed mechanics, clean ui, and 100 levels to play through.

16 March 2024

A Monster's Expedition is a super chill puzzle game where the world itself is the puzzle. Its best feature is its sense of humour as you explore the strange world of humans through a monster's eyes.

15 March 2024

Bonfire Peaks under-sells itself. It's actually a great little puzzle game. Sokoban-based but it makes great use of all three dimensions. Includes a good range of layered mechanics. Looks good, fun.

11 March 2024

EA Review: Astral Vangard has the bones of a good game. Full version should have ample variety of upgrades & enemies. Needs animations or SFX and greater variety in enemy attack patterns to shine.

10 March 2024

Cat & Onion is a delightful little platformer. Cute characters, charming story, good sense of humour, few secrets to find. Fun but very short (~30 mins). Would love if it was 10 levels longer!

09 March 2024

Bore Blasters is an addictive loot & shoot game. A story pushes you through the game with missions but you can play each level in a different world. Tons of upgrades. Good simple fun - addictive!

07 March 2024

Showdown Effect's a fun multiplayer brawler. Fast paced and can get intense. Best feature is the level design; sprawling but somehow never feels empty and plenty of environment interactions.

06 March 2024

Potions is a lovely child-friendly RPG with a nice story. A touch heavy on fetch quests but also includes exploration, puzzles, battles, and a solid crafting system that encourages trial & error.

05 March 2024

Floramancer is a chill top-down shooter with an impressive variety of spells, randomly generated areas for better replayability, exploration, and some challenging boss fights. Fun for all ages.

Read the review here!

04 March 2024

The Thaumaturge is fantastic. With its unique setting, engaging story, strong writing, and surprisingly nuanced combat, it's rapidly shaping up as one my favourite recent RPGs.

Read the in-depth review here!

29 February 2024

Sokobond Express features a range of chemical interactions turned into sokobond puzzle mechanics. It's very clever but can be challenging to engage with if your chemistry knowledge is not solid.

26 February 2024

Nemire's kind of like Dungeon Keeper if DK was a turn-based tactical game. Could use a touch more polish but I love the characters - weapon skills and perks actually make for interesting combat. Fun.

25 February 2024

Geometry Survivor is more retro arcade shooter than it is survivors-like, and I love the splash neon vector art. Tons of variety, very replayable (addictive!) - it's definitely worth the look.

Read the review here!

20 February 2024

Which Way Up is an awesome multiplayer arcade game that features a stack of different game modes to compete against. Fun with 2P, be even better with 3-4. Young fella and I love it!

Read my First Impressions here!

16 February 2024

Unusual mission-based shooter where you play a hitman. Features a great noir setting, jazz track, glorious pixels, delightfully challenging gameplay, and a sense of humour. Loving this one!

Read the review here!

14 February 2024

Solid puzzle game - doesn't break any new ground but it looks good, clean UI, it's very simple to jump into, the clues give just the right amount away, and there's plenty of randomisation & variety. Not super challenging but enough to get the brain ticking and a relaxing way to kill some time. 

11 February 2024

Panda Go is a clever turn-based puzzle game. Puzzles are all logic based but take patience and forethought. Some clunky moves but great range of guards and trap mechanics & well-designed levels.

8 February 2024

EA Review: Exiled Survivors is an exciting upcoming survivors-like that feature skill trees and more diverse enemies & bosses (some shoot back). Needs more polish (particularly UI) but v. promising.

7 February 2024

Magnus Positive Phototaxis is a short but neat puzzle game with some engaging visual storytelling elements. There's a decent range of puzzles packed into such a short game. Worth the jaunt!

6 February 2024

Lazarus is a v. short but decent visual novel with an interesting story and some surprisingly engaging puzzles. I like the art style - evocative - but it and the writing could use a touch more poilsh.

5 February 2024

EA Review: Ruiga Pirates is a well-made survivors-like with a sweet nautical theme. Still some kinks but constantly being improved. Love the different ships & weapons. Missions & deeds will be awesome

4 February 2024

I'm a sucker for any game with a jetpack but Jett Rider really is an exceptional modern platformer. Tons of variety, loads of secrets to find, smooth controls, super polished, really heaps of fun.

Read the review here!

2 February 2024

A delightful light-hearted point and click. Veterans may find the puzzles a little simplistic but the retro feel's authentic, the story's fun, the locations and inventory are interesting. V. enjoyable

31 January 2024

​Great puzzle game - very unusual and very hard. Graphics are minimalist but clean but you won't have time to worry about them anyway. Trying to match (or sometimes oppose) colours, symbols & sizes to get another series of different colours, symbols & sizes, while trying to ensure you get exactly the right amount for the final product after splitting and putting back together, creating layers of challenges while also competing against a time limit. Enjoyable but very tough!

26 January 2024

One of the best visual storytelling games I've played. Great art, surprisingly interactive for the genre, but the real standout is the martian radio element. Only a few hours long but memorable.

Read the review here!

23 January 2024

Wild Legion's a fun new Survivors-like. Needs a little more polish in some areas but looks & sounds great. Good range of weapon and I love the pet catching, day/night phases & turrets were interesting

26 January 2024

Hidden Through Time 2 is an exceptional "Where's Wally-like." Great graphics, user friendly, super interactive and I love the themes. A chill way to spend a lazy afternoon and kids will love it too.

Read the review here!

13 January 2024

I wrote an in-depth review of Vagrus: The Riven Realm last month.  I've now added additional review for all current DLC:  Vorax, Seekers of Knowledge, and Sunfire & Moonshadow

Read the in-depth review here!

11 January 2024

IREM have come out swinging with Volume 1, bringing us Raiden-like titles Image Fight 1 & 2 as well as X-Multiply, which plays similarly to R-Type

Read the review here!