DeVuego

Wax Heads is one of my favorite narrative-driven puzzle games in years.

Is This Seat Taken? is a brilliant logic puzzler with a playful yet elegant aesthetic, incredible audio design, and I wish I could just play a new daily puzzle in it until the end of the year. A few interface quirks hold it back, but Is This Seat Taken? is an easy recommendation on Switch, iOS, or Steam Deck.

Strikey Sisters is a good fun game, just in a very classic way. There are no frills to speak of, nor does there need to be. It harks back to the olden days of gaming in a very satisfying way and the combination of visuals and the soundtrack make for a good time all around. The co-op gives it a bit more in terms of replayability too. It is definitely worth a look, and it isn’t as creepy as the name suggests.

So, as the closing moments began to tick away I felt that sadness akin to the fading of a memory; the running of a chalk drawing on a London street. It’s not just the comparison of water moving colours, but with the sense of something special happening. Something magical. GRIS captures imagination, the beauty of movement and the lustre of a sumptuous piece of art, all the while letting the player interact with it, making us feel both insignificant and yet ever more important.

When it comes down to it, Agatha Knife takes an interesting topic that is rarely explored within the gaming world. The short, sharp, and witty narrative do provide a certain unapologetic personality that fits very well in this day and age. It’s unfortunate that it all starts to become pretty stale quickly as the game’s repetitive loop of generic point-and-click fetch quests rides alongside a script that is spread far too thin to retain your interest. There are some good ideas to be found here, but it’s all spoilt by the lack of meat on the bone and not enough seasoning.

A Hole New World is decent enough to blast through for some nostalgic kicks. While there’s certainly a challenge to this title, the difficulty balance between the bosses and levels do seem worlds apart. It’s a brief experience on the whole, but the New Game+ and Challenge mode you unlock once you beat it do provide some longevity aside from collecting the 150 gems, at least. The upside down element does give the game an interesting spin. Although, the lack of platform puzzling that could have easily taken advantage of the mechanic can, unfortunately, leave it feeling a bit gimmicky overall.

Metroid: Samus Returns is a great remake of a game that quite frankly, needed an upgrade. MercurySteam has done a grand job at bringing a game that was made for a black and white 8-bit handheld, and completely recreate it from the ground up for a brand new generation to enjoy. If you are a fan of the 2D Metroid series then you know exactly what you’re getting. If you are new then it is a fantastic entry point to the series and it is more than worth a playthrough. It certainly isn’t the best Metroid game in my opinion, but it’s a fine one nonetheless. Samus has returned and it puts the series well and truly back on the map.