January2024
Mini Review Lil' Guardsman (Switch) - A Disarming Fusion Of Classic LucasArts And 'Papers, Please'
Sale of the sentry
When a game cites as inspiration Papers, Please and classic Lucasarts point-and-clicks, it’s hard not to be curious, if a little cautious in your optimism. That’s exactly where Toronto-founded developer Hilltop Studios is coming from with Lil’ Guardsman – and it's come up with something pretty great. The game starts with...
June2022
Review The Hand Of Merlin (Switch) - Roguelite Strategy That Grabs Hold Of You
These hands are rated E for Everyone
A couple years ago, a small Croatian development team called Room-C set out to create a new game set in Arthurian mythology called The Hand of Merlin. Following a roguelite structure and based around high-difficulty, tactical gameplay, the release quickly gained a passionate fanbase that eagerly awaited each new...
October2021
Review UnMetal (Switch) - A Surprisingly Robust Metal Gear Parody Brimming With Ideas
UnFunny, but UnExpectedly good regardless
Comedy video games. This writer's blood runs cold just to think of them. In a medium that sees you define your own pace, how can comedy possibly work without fundamentally transforming the medium from interactive to inert? The comedy and the gameplay are necessarily completely separate and so few games have...
August2020
Review Faeria - A Superb Mix Of Board Game And Card-Battling Action
Faery good indeed
There are plenty of card games on the Switch, but Faeria may be the prettiest one of all in terms of sheer presentation. Everything just looks beautiful; the cards themselves are attractive, the UI is slick and very readable, and it all just runs very nice and smoothly, with visual effects enhancing the turn-based action rather...
November2019
Review Yaga - An Average Action Adventure Saved By Its Engaging Sense Of Humour
Ivan the (Not So) Terrible
Yaga is an action RPG steeped in Slavic folklore that tells the story of Ivan, an unlucky one-armed blacksmith who becomes accidentally embroiled in a supernatural beef and ends up on the adventure of his lifetime. You see the Baba Yaga, that mysterious old woman who dwells deep in the forest in a house built on chicken...
October2019
Review Into the Dead 2 - An Overpriced Zombie Shooter That Should Have Stayed Dead
World War $$$
Into the Dead 2 is an auto-run zombie survival game which originally launched back in 2017 on iOS and Android as a free-to-play title laden with the usual mobile microtransactions. The aim of proceedings here is to make your way through gauntlet after gauntlet of shambling, braindead zombie attackers as your player character moves...
August2019
Review Pillars Of Eternity: Complete Edition - The Game That Saved Obsidian Comes To Switch
To Infinity and Beyond
The game that saved Obsidian, Pillars of Eternity was originally released back in 2015. It quickly broke records for a crowdfunded title when it was first announced, with over 77,000 backers raising a cool $1 million in the first 24hrs of its Kickstarter campaign to put the studio – which had been limping along after a...
August2018
Review The Banner Saga 3 (Switch eShop)
Journey to the destination
The final chapter of the Norse-inspired journey comes to a close, with the decision-making - as always - up to you, the player. As told in the previous games, a series of events have built up to the current collapse of the world. The sun has stopped revolving, the gods are dead, the ancient stone-armored Dredge have...
Review The Banner Saga 2 (Switch eShop)
On the road again
There’s no secret behind what a sequel is meant to do - it’s there to continue and expand upon existing foundations laid by the first entry in a series. The Banner Saga 2 does exactly that. Apart from the tutorials reacquainting you with how the game operates, it doesn't take long for the proceedings to get underway. ...
May2018
Review The Banner Saga (Switch eShop)
Fate is in your hands
As hinted by the title, The Banner Saga is part one of an epic Viking story where every choice you make directly impacts how your journey unfolds. It combines strategic turn-based combat with gripping text-based decision-making to draw you into a fictional world inspired by Norse mythology and filled with rich lore, as well as...
August2016
In Space Nobody Can Hear You Point-and-Click
With the introduction of Telltale's The Walking Dead a few years back, the long dormant adventure genre came back with aplomb. Telltale took a curiosity of yesteryear and brought it back with the necessary accoutrements to make it more palatable for a broad range of modern day gamers. It worked out so...
