DeVuego

Wax Heads checks all the boxes with gusto. It takes the simple concept of recommending songs to people and transforms it into a clever puzzle game that not only revolves around knowing a bit about music, but also tests your logic and attention skills. Then, when the gameplay loop starts getting a bit samey, the game stops it for a while, transforms into a visual novel, and captivates you with a surprisingly well-written story until the next chapter starts.

Where The Occultist really pulls you in is its engaging story. Sure, the “dark cult” angle is a familiar territory, but the title still manages to feel fresh – largely thanks to intriguing NPCs. Gameplay-wise, it’s not trailblazing, but thankfully it avoids turning into just another walking simulator. The title features some simple yet interesting puzzles and mechanics. On the downside, clear budget limitations and performance hiccups show through. Still, all things considered, the game turns out to be captivating and enjoyable enough.

Crisol: Theater of Idols is an immense collection of great ideas, good intentions, tons of sources of inspiration, and an interesting setting, but hampered by trying to bite way more than it could chew. I loved its setting and atmosphere, but it’s not scary enough to be called a fully-fledged horror game, it’s not action-packed enough to be considered a first-person shooter, nor is it explorable or full of gameplay elements like an immersive sim. The game sits right in the middle of all these elements, clearly showcasing its sources of inspiration, and having enough ideas to make it stand out as something unique, but never being more than just that: a good, well-intentioned, creepy, but flawed game.

My main question here is, who is Terrifier: The ARTcade Game for? Beat ’em up fans won’t find any redeeming qualities in one of the genre’s clunkiest outings in years. Fans of the horror franchise will struggle a lot to find any semblance of enjoyment from this edgelordish and overpriced mess that features cheap visuals, poor controls and little to no replay value, as well as a tone that just doesn’t blend in at all with the movies.

Is This Seat Taken? is a pretty neat little puzzle game that takes a bit of time to finish, but doesn’t overstay its welcome. There is a story if you’re into that, but it is a fairly shallow one just to fill out space while you’re in between sections of puzzles. It’s a great game to pick up and play between doing other things or when you only have a few minutes to spare, and a fairly short game all together.

There are quite a few anomaly-finding games out there, but The Cabin Factory has a few unique twists that help to set it apart from the rest. The story is nothing to write home about, but let’s be honest, that’s not what most people are going to care about. What’s important is that the game is fun, easy to play, and delivers on some satisfying scares. It’s a short game, taking about an hour or so to see everything it has to offer, but for its low three dollar price tag, it’s well worth checking out.

What you have here is a very stripped down basketball game. It’s not detailed, doesn’t look amazing (though it runs at a phenomenal framerate), but for the intended audience, I think NBA Bounce is a pretty good entry port for newcomers and kids. What really matters is that it’s easygoing, responsive, completely devoid of microtransactions, and great to pick up and play.

Candy Rangers falls solidly in the middle when it comes to on rails shooters. It’s got plenty to do and it’s inventive in the execution, which kept me locked in for exciting fights and the arcade mode. But needing to repeat myself simply to justify the lack of margins of error was exhausting and, frankly, unfun. I’d much rather do a level again because it was thrilling or because I want to challenge myself, not because the game won’t let me go out to play until I clean my plate.

I don’t think it’s even a hyperbole or a controversy to state that Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is the best 2D Ninja Gaiden ever made. With the exception of the occasionally tough roadblock in the shape of a challenging boss battle, as well as very occasionally cheap custscenes, this is just fantastic. It’s a lot more balanced, more polished, more enjoyable than any of its side-scrolling predecessors. And the best part about it all, it’s not even the last Ninja Gaiden we’re getting this year.

At first, I wasn’t expecting a lot from Luto. I had (wrongfully) assumed it would have been just yet another P.T. clone doing nothing more than satiating our thirst for anything vaguely resembling what Silent Hills “could have been”. Thankfully, my expectations were subverted. This is a wholly unique experience that managed to pull me intro its (very weird) world. It’s not the most terrifying or challenging of horror games, but it was a great slow burn, one I can easily recommend to horror gans out there.

Blades of Fire is a much better game than I initially anticipated. Granted, don’t expect grand innovations to the soulslike genre, but we’ve got some really novel ideas, such as directional-based combat and a weapon crafting system that add a unique flavour to the game. Even if not all of them work, I still have to admit I respect the efforts. I highly recommend fans of the classic Souls games to check this one out.

Not all indie darlings live up to the hype, apparently. Haneda Girl might even have a decent gameplay loop, but it’s uninteresting in terms of its story, visuals, controls (its button placement is odd at best) and overly demanding medal system. I can think of a handful of arcade action platformers I’d recommend over it, but if you’ve already beaten them all and are salivating for something akin to Hotline Miami or Katana Zero, I guess Haneda Girl still gets the job done. Great soundtrack, though.

This is a pretty small and underwhelming indie racer. I guess I should say it’s a competent game devoid of glitches and issues, but I was also not having a lot of fun playing it. I played Super Engine GT Turbo SPEC for about an hour and half, whilst thinking I could have stopped after just 45 minutes, considering how repetitive and devoid of content it is.

I wanted to like Post Trauma more than I did. A survival horror game that emphasises exploration and puzzle solving in a desolate world sounds like it should have been a good time. However, a weak plot and lacklustre combat make Post Trauma an uneven game that would be tough to recommend if it weren’t for its incredibly reasonable asking price. Though you could also always wait for a midyear sale if you want to…

I have to commend the development team at Foreign Gnomes for coming up with a sequel to such a unique game like Everhood, without making it feel like more of the same. In some regards, sure, Everhood 2 retains what made the original so fun and weird, whilst trying to be a bit more action-focused and a bit more combat-oriented.

Rally Arcade Classics features a neat premise that’s a perfect fit for portable gaming PCs and, hopefully at a later date, the Nintendo Switch, but bear in mind that, despite its name, I don’t think it’s particularly “arcadey”. Sure, the physics and controls are more easygoing than any WRC game out there, but the reality is that its campaign is really long and repetitive, demanding way too much dedication from people who were just expecting to grab a little racing game to play a few arcadey rounds. It’s more of an entry-level racing simulator.

Neva is a fantastic and emotional journey the whole way through. The bond between Alba and Neva feels real and earned, so the stakes feel even higher when danger befalls them. It’s a game that makes us think about the hardships of life and survival, but at its core drives home one main theme: hope. Neva will have you running through a whole gambit of emotions in its four hour run time, so have some tissues handy, but it’s an experience well-worth your time.

Still, it’s an engaging and interesting play. One Last Breath will test your reflexes and your fortitude, and potentially your own constitution for bearing the weight of guilt. This unapologetic and direct accusation of the pollution that plagues this world may not have a solution, but it certainly has a memorable presentation, and it compels me to keep playing all the way to the bittersweet end. Give an indie title a chance to hit you in the heart instead of your mind. While the horror titles of the year slowly roll out, why not take a moment to pick up something that may scare you in a different way?

Byte The Bullet is a game with a neat premise but shoddy-at-best execution. For every interesting idea, such as the premise, retro levels, or level completion fanfare, there was something else either hindering it or just making me feel fed up with the game as a whole, such as the wonky platforming, unfunny references, or unfair level of difficulty. I won’t deny that the game gets a lot more manageable and interesting the more you play it, but in order to fully enjoy it, you need to deal with a ton of jank at first. Whether you’ll have the patience to muster through it is up to you.

Despite some issues, Ereban Shadow Legacy is an entertaining stealth experience that takes a novel concept and pushes it throughout the entire game. Sneaking around in the shadows is always a good time for stealth fans, and this one will certainly satisfy that itch. 

If it wasn’t clear already, Shines Over: The Damned is a really bad game, which isn’t worth your money or your time, even if it lasts just half an hour. It’s a short, but definitely not sweet experience, completely lacking in scares, story, atmosphere, or inventive ideas. To make matters worse, it costs way too much for something so short. The easy platinum trophy you can get from it is not worth the price tag. At its worst, it was a frustrating gameplay experience. At its best, it is an experimental snorefest.

When I reflect on my initial engagement with Lords of Exile, I was so excited and genuinely thrilled to be playing a retro metroidvania that both captured the feel and the thrill of being in that classic headspace, and that’s the position I want to remember. While I can’t recommend stopping and starting this game, it’s best to approach it as you would any NES game. Get fully immersed in the darkness and the frustration and just enjoy that momentum that comes from singularly reliving a time where gaming was simpler. Just rock out to the violence and know that not every game has to be a sixty hour long campaign. For just a handful of hours, be Vengeance, and then go back to your spreadsheets. It’s worth it.

Yet it all coalesces into something truly magnificent, and that cannot be understated about Worldless. I was drawn in by the visuals and utterly hooked by the musical scoring, the expansive areas and the implied lore that was further cemented by my own character’s evolution. The combat, when it was good, was SO GOOD and the reason I kept coming back is because I wanted to be as precise and murderous as the game thought I could be. There is no death, no save points, no turning back and no way out but through. You find more, you see more, you fight more and all you want is more. It is a hunger that spawns from the epoch of creation. Worldless transforms your notion of what a metroidvania could be into something new, exciting and tense beyond comparison. In short, it truly is the birth of a new world.

I enjoyed AK-Xolotl and think it deserves most the same love other games in the genre get. Sure it might be easy to glance over because of how many roguelike/roguelites there are, but at this point surely you’ve done everything there is to do in Enter the Gungeon and want to play something similar, so here’s your chance. The idea of being able to build various characters that have different stats, like The Binding of Isaac has for its characters, is a great implementation. I hope if this game does well there’s more to add in the future, but if not then it’s still a fun experience and a great game to play “casually” (as casually as you can play a bullet-hell) for a run or two at a time.

Blasphemous 2 is a brilliant follow-up to its iconic predecessor. The combat has been improved from the original, and features new weapons and skills to better customize the gameplay to different playstyles. The world of Cvstodia is visually striking, with its highly detailed, gothic pixel art. With multiple endings and tons of secrets to find, there’s plenty of incentive play it more than once. Regardless of whether or not you’ve played the first one, Blasphemous 2 is worth experiencing.

It pains me to say that I found Verne: The Shape of Fantasy to be a somewhat bland experience. This is especially disheartening because the premise was so creative. To me, it just didn’t live up to its potential. The story was too slow and predictable, and the gameplay was either too easy or too frustrating. To give credit where credit is due, it is a beautiful game, and I enjoyed learning more about Jules Verne, even if it didn’t necessarily add to the story. It’s a short experience, only taking about three to four hours to complete, so if you’re a diehard Jules Verne fan, then it might be worth your time. Just don’t expect Verne: The Shape of Fantasy to be overly imaginative.

Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is, sadly, just another bog standard 3D platformer that does very little to stand out from the deluge of platformers available on the Switch. Not featuring the same gameplay loop as its predecessor makes it a hard sell for fans of Summer in Mara, and being so canonically tied to a farming simulator also makes it a hard sell for platformer enthusiasts looking for another hidden gem on the Nintendo Switch. Add in average-at-best visuals, music and level design, and what you get as a result is just a very middle-of-the-road game that fails to appeal to anyone.

Bleak Sword DX wants you to hate it and hate yourself, and it’s gotten an online degree in loathing from the University of Phoenix. It’s the embittered spirit of a Dickensian orphan crammed into a child’s puzzle manufactured in a Soviet-era toy factory. It’s a Soulslike without soul, just pain and the word “progress” spray painted and misspelled on a truck coming to run you over. It’s an Apple Arcade game that lets iPhone users find even more reasons to be angry, and it came to the world to inspire everyone to just give up. It’s tight in execution, just like a noose, but without the satisfying release after you say the safe word. It’s as grim as it should be and unapologetic, and that’s admirable. Just walk into Bleak Sword DX and accept your punishment.

There have been several VR ports for games originally released on PC or consoles, but the ones that are successful are few and far between. Thankfully, Call of the Sea VR falls into the successful category. Despite some flaws, mainly with its visuals due to the limited hardware, Call of the Sea VR is an incredible addition to the VR gaming library. It’s an amazingly immersive experience that’s a must play for fans of VR and adventure/puzzles games in general. When it beckons, will you answer the call?

After Us is a game of contrasts. A game where the harsh grays and pollution of its desolate landscapes contrast with the gorgeous rays of light and greeneries summoned by its protagonist. Where its unwelcome setting contrasts with its easy-going gameplay loop. It’s also a game where the decent gameplay loop contrasts with its excessively on-the-nose story. I appreciate its well-natured intentions, but it tried way too hard to deliver that same old message that we are destroying the environment, and we are to blame for it all, but mother nature is much more powerful than us, feeble humans. We get it, we suck. Thankfully, there’s a decent platformer behind the preachy premise. One that’s fairly enjoyable if you can put up with some technical issues.

At the end of it, I couldn’t help but just constantly ask myself, “what’s the point of all this?” I will never not appreciate a developer for coming up with a unique premise for a game, but make it fun, or at least moderately coherent for it to justify its existence as a piece of entertainment. Minabo: A Walk Through Life isn’t broken, nor is it poorly made. It’s a well-put game in the technical sense. On the design side of things, this is pointless. I wasn’t having fun with it, I was constantly bored and wondering if could just replay The Sims 2 instead.

Yet it’s the quality of the product overall that kept me coming back to Hunt the Night time after time, even in moments of absolute rage. The world-building is excellent. It somehow takes a well trodden path – the supernatural outsider fighting against evil – and makes it fresh with weapon customization, powerful special attacks, and a very unique relationship between Vesper and Umbra. The moments of irritation or lesser excitement are fully counterbalanced by liquid combat and impressive artwork. While it’s only on PC for now, console players should fully prepare for a dive into Hunt the Night later this year as a serious contender for a 2D soulslike that brings the ambience, the horror, and the satisfaction that can only come from an excellent experience.

Yet it’s the quality of the product overall that kept me coming back to Hunt the Night time after time, even in moments of absolute rage. 

Despite these gameplay issues, I liked Frogun. Sure, its nostalgic aesthetic was a cheap shot for someone like me, but the game isn’t without its qualities. This is an adorable platformer that set out to look, feel and play like a classic 3D platformer from the Nintendo 64 era, and it succeeded with honors. I hope the game receives a patch or two to fix some of its janky physics and jumping mechanics, but you can still have a great time with it right now. If you, like me, grew up playing titles like Glover, Chameleon Twist and Croc, look no further: Frogun is an adorable nostalgia bomb you’re going to appreciate.

Souldiers is an all-around joyful experience; its three classes being unique enough from each other, warranting different playthroughs. The use of different elemental types to fight enemies and gain an advantage, plus using them to traverse the world, is a great implementation. Characters feel unique, enemies are distinguished and not just reskins throughout, and the ambient sounds are all great. A genuinely memorable game all metroidvania fans should check out.

Ikai was a horror title I was actually really looking forward to. A game steeped in Japanese folklore in a self contained location could (and to be fair, should) have made for an absolutely terrifying and unique experience. However, it just didn’t manage to make the cut: its short runtime, generic gameplay loop and complete lack of scares resulted in a really underwhelming and, more often than not, frustrating, horror title you should avoid. 

It’s hard to recommend Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo. On one hand, the story is interesting, at least interesting enough to have made me want to see it through to its conclusion. But on the other hand, it’s incredibly padded with unnecessary sections, rife with bugs and glitches, and has some distractingly bad lip syncing issues. At least it’s playable, unlike the developer’s last game, Blacksad: Under the Skin. If you’re not really into gaming, but like a compelling story, then maybe give Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo a chance. I’d highly recommend waiting for it to go on sale though, as the price tag is a bit steep for a messy one-time playthrough experience.

Scarf is a good game, but not one that left an impression. I played it, enjoyed it while it lasted, but once I was done with it, all I could think about is that I would have enjoyed it a lot more three years ago, back when it was first announced, and back when 3D indie plaftormers were still a niche, a breath of fresh air in the market. This game was released a few years after the hype had died out, sadly enough. It’s still worth picking up if you’re a fan of titles like RiME, Journey, and Super Lucky’s Tale, but don’t expect to be wowed by it. 

Start to finish, Super Magbot is a ton of fun, and for anyone who didn’t quite like the disappointing gameplay proposal of Super Meat Boy Forever, this is much closer to the style you may be looking for. Filled with a ton of levels and a pretty fair learning curve, Super Magbot is a perfect pick-up-and-play experience. Hopefully this is a game that sees success and can be brought to other consoles as well, as I’m sure a ton of Meat Boy fans out there who would kill for an interesting clone like this one.

If you are okay with playing what is essentially a game from the 80’s with a 2021 coat of paint, then you’ll have a great time with Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. This is a perfect way to introduce a brand new generation of gamers to a criminally underrated franchise that deserves way more respect than what little it got over the years. It’s colorful, adorable, not entirely hard to play, and most importantly, it’s one hell of a nostalgia bomb for those who grew up with it back in the day. I’m beyond delighted that Jankenteam and Merge Games took their time to bring this 80’s hero back to the spotlight and I hope they come with even more Alex Kidd games in the near future.

The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom is flawed beyond belief when it comes to its presentation, but I definitely wasn’t expecting for its gameplay and controls to be so solid. Nor was I expecting for it to feature some engaging bouts of vehicular combat and 4-player local co-op. It follows the same trend as most mid-range licensed titles out there: if you (or your kids) are a fan of the show, go for it. It respects its source material and offers a sizeable amount of bang for your buck. If you have never heard of this show before, you might still get some enjoyment out of it if you’re a fan of Diablo clones.

Essays on Empathy feels like a collection of elevator pitches, of small technical showcases of what Deconstructeam will develop from now on. Some of the games in the collection are too vague and occasionally way too pretentious to be fully enjoyed, but other titles in here, while short, ooze potential. I would love to play a full game based on De Tres Al Cuarto or a full-fledged version of Dear Substance of Kin, for example. All in all, it’s a fun diversion full of unique ideas, even if not all of them pay off in the end.

Godstrike is a passable attempt at a boss rush game. It is certainly a brutal challenge that will take dozens of attempts to get through, but it’s just not a very fun experience. There’s some potential here with the time mechanic not only being your health but also a resource that you need to manage. The problem lies on the lacklustre boss battles, which comprise the entirety of the game’s runtime, however.

Evil Inside is yet another failed attempt to recapture the brilliance of PT in a “full game” format, but it ends up missing the mark in every single way you could possibly imagine. This isn’t scary at all; it’s just boring, uninteresting, and most importantly, annoying, mostly due to the overabundance of loud noises and jump scares. There are much better PT-inspired horror games out there, so don’t waste your time with this one.

As a project developed by a group of recently graduated game developers, Mail Mole is worthy of praise. It runs well on the Switch, it’s mostly devoid of bugs, and its character design is quite cute. Sadly, it’s a generic platformer with a very simple premise and forgettable level design. It’s fun for a few minutes at a time, but you’ll mostly forget about your experience with it after an hour or two. There is potential in this team, and I’m looking forward to seeing their next projects in the future. As for now, kudos for the effort, but this game is just passable.

Call of the Sea wasn’t quite what I expected, but that’s not a bad thing. It surprised me in a lot of ways. While the ending was easy to guess early on, the writing for the rest of the story was so strong that I still found it compelling.

As a cynical adult, I obviously find Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay to be one of the most basic gaming experiences I’ve had in years. But I am not its core audience. When you assess it through the eyes of a toddler, this is actually a pretty decent game. The visuals emulate the show with perfection, the controls are polished, and the music is catchy. It’s very easy, to the point a five year old can probably platinum it, all while feeling accomplished as a result. As far as educational and preschool-oriented games go, Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay is easily one of the best out there.

Relicta is a good game with some really clever and thought-provoking puzzles, but it overstays its welcome with its extended length. Not to mention the absence of additions of new features throughout its campaign and an overall uninteresting story filled with uninteresting characters and unskippable cutscenes. There is no shortage of higher quality puzzlers out there, but if you’re a big fan of the genre, maybe give this one a shot. You’ll probably have enough fun with it to warrant a single playthrough, but that’s basically it.

Perhaps the beautiful art and music will be enough for Summer in Mara to be a great game for you. The gameplay may become a tad bit monotonous, but it is satisfying to travel the tropical ocean from island to island on an adventure. The high number of quests might quickly overwhelm you, however, if you find the idea of searching through islands across a vast ocean for items to gather and craft is exhilarating, then this game might be for you.

Kemono Heroes doesn’t innovate, stand out, or provide a memorable experience, but at the same time, it had no single serious flaw I could think of. Its visuals are decent, its soundtrack is great, its controls are very responsive, and I really enjoyed its difficulty curve and progression system. It’s a very safe game that does everything it aimed to do pretty well. When I stop to think about it, I see no reason why I shouldn’t recommend this title to Switch owners. A cute, side-scrolling indie platformer with local co-op is basically what the console was made for.

Ghosts’n DJs doesn’t feature good controls, and its message against plastic DJs can be infantile at times, but it can be very entertaining in short bursts, especially since it’s nowhere near as broken or infuriating as Ghosts ‘n Goblins, its main source of inspiration. It would have been a perfect fit for the Switch, but it’s still an easy recommendation if you’re into electronic music. And if you haven’t played AVICII Invector yet, of course.

Mario Kart is still safe and has nothing to worry about losing its throne, but unless you are willing to invest in a racing rig, Touring Karts does an excellent job of bringing an arcade kart racer into your home. The attention they paid to making sure it is accessible across a wide range of platforms is impressive. With that being said, it is meant to be played, and deserves to be played, in VR.

Etherborn is an ambitious game that tries to give players a truly unique adventure. While it misses the mark in certain areas, like the story, it nails it in plenty of others. Its clever use of manipulating gravitational pull and changing set pieces at times provide a really tough challenge. Thinking outside the box is a must in order to complete the game and solving the levels offers a truly gratifying experience. My biggest complaint is that it is a really short game, only taking about five hours or so to complete. I guess that’s the mark of a good game though; leaving the player wanting more. For fans of puzzle platformers, Etherborn is a game that they shouldn’t let disappear into the ether.

Melbits World isn’t entirely bad, but it does poorly target its demographic and there was little to no need for it to be a PlayLink title. I honestly haven’t thought about PlayLink since Hidden Agenda dropped at the end of 2017. And after playing Melbits World, ignorance may have been bliss.

Asphalt 9 is a good racing game without a doubt, but it’s obviously catered towards a mobile market. It might be available on PC, it might accept actual controllers, it does look a lot better than your average Google Play Store asset flip garbage, but this was tailor made for a much more casual audience, people who want to enjoy this game in short bursts and aren’t completely against buying a bit of loot every now and then. This game would have been a perfect fit for the Switch if they ever bother to develop an actually paid version with no microtransactions to the system. We can’t live off Gear.Club Unlimited forever.

Far from an offensively bad title, but also far from a passable game, Super Toy Cars is just a little mediocre title. It’s a game that can be mildly entertaining for a few minutes, but not engaging enough to grab your attention for a long time. It’s pretty hard to recommend Super Toy Cars to Switch owners when Mario Kart is already available for it.

There is plenty to enjoy about Immortal Redneck, but none of it is for me. Thankfully, the most prominent technical issues should be easily correctable through future patches and updates. Immortal Redneck comes at the steep price point of $19.99, which I find difficult to defend. Unless you’re riveted by these kinds of games, my recommendation is to wait a bit as a title like this is sure to hit Games with Gold and Playstation Plus within the year.

The Count Lucanor is a fun and extremely provocative game. The story and themes are deep, dark, and full of fantasy. The visuals and most of the music and audio is well done and fit the overall style besides a few harsh sound effects. Unfortunately, the performance problems, multiple crashes, and the short run time hamper this enjoyable game. I’m not sure I would recommend this as of now with the issues and the short duration especially for the high price the Switch version is asking. Fortunately, you can find it cheap on Steam, which I would recommend.

Vaccine is proof that you’re not able to make a good game just by having a good idea, and that knowing how to execute said idea is as important, if not more important. It plays terribly, it’s a complete eyesore, and its randomly generated maps and item placements make it completely impossible for a player to beat a round by counting on his/her skill, making them entirely reliant on a generous allocation of items and enemies in order to proceed. You probably own more than just a Nintendo Switch, so buy the Resident Evil remake’s remaster on PSN/XBL/Steam instead, and relive the actual great memories of the genre.