There are few games out there that manage to pay homage to classic retro titles without going out of their way to be too much like their inspiration. The Swords of Ditto is quite the opposite. It lovingly pays respect to Zelda, most especially A Link to the Past, but it manages to do so while…
Extinction is one of those games that should, on paper, work. All the elements are there, and, for a while, it’s great. A bit rough around the edges, but hey — nothing’s perfect, right? Extinction, unfortunately, is ultimately undone by those rough edges. What begins as a solid action game with a good premise soon…
My current high score in Swarmlake is 2,024 points, which amounts to almost 5 minutes of play. That might not seem like much, but for Swarmlake, an arena shooter from Dominique Greishofer (developer of the excellent Refunct), that’s a long time. Swarmlake pits you against an endless horde of foes, testing your ability to survive…
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a game that showed lots of promise right from the very first time I checked it out at E3 2016. Even at that point in time, where developer Warhorse Studios was only had a few concept renders to visually show it off, it was clear that Deliverance was a deeply ambitious…
You have only 60 seconds to live. What do you do? How do you spend that brief minute before you die? Perform various odd jobs? Go on a boat ride to a distant island? Wander around an endless desert? Save the world? How about all the above? That’s the idea behind Minit, a series of…
The year was 1993. It would be two years until Chrono Trigger would enthrall many gamers with its spell of time traveling adventure and discovery. But a more whimsical fare had just been released. A game that was light and bright and snappy, as were its graphics, gameplay, and soundtrack. Landing a coveted spot on…
… and no, there’s nothing wrong with the Earth’s gravitational pull. Nostalgia has been “in” for a long while now, and it’s no news that games, especially the indie kind, have been shamelessly dipping their toes into it. Be it old movies, books, or even games themselves, the subject of recalling the rose-colored memories of…
Pillars of Eternity was one of the first successful Kickstarter game projects I’ve ever got to play for myself. Headed by industry veterans that had a hand at some of my favorite games that I had played during my school days, such as Baldur’s Gate, the folks at Obsidian certain knew what they were doing…
Iconoclasts sure lives up to its name. As a Metroid/Castlevania Symphony of the Night-inspired game, it’s totally serviceable: you explore a large grid-based map and use new equipment to help unlock new paths that take you further into the world. But it’s the way that it approaches your development that really sets it apart from…
Stories are powerful things. We’re moved by them, draw strength from them. They help us understand the world and ourselves, allow us a chance to escape briefly and imagine a more idyllic world or inspire us to take action. Whether fact or fiction, they’re power is undeniable. The ways we connect with and cherish the…
