I can't get Fish Sticks out of my head. Not the food, but the stray cat with a squished face and stubby legs that I wrangled into my shack in Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel’s new roguelite strategy game, Mewgenics. The shop, the pub, the dentist; no matter where I go, I…
I was, like so many of my 1990s-born peers, a huge Sims girlie. I spent hundreds of hours as a teen and young adult making people I knew, characters from shows I was obsessing over, or original characters I wanted to experiment with, and diligently following their life paths and…
Primarily, Lushfoil Photography Sim is – spoilers – a photography sim. Then it’s a walking sim. Then it’s a photography sim again. Then more walking. Then it’s a photography teacher, and a very calm and cool one at that; the kind that would lay down…
In the boss fights of South Of Midnight, you've got to find a pulsing wound on the body of the monster and strike it to cleanse the giant beast of its "stigma". In truth, these creatures are analogues for human characters, sometimes people who have literally transformed into…
There are at least hundreds, probably thousands, and possibly tens of thousands of potential houses in first-person labyrinth puzzler Blue Prince. I am genuinely tempted to review them all, but I am not a realtor and Graham's kneecaps inflate when a review strays above 2000…
I cannot review Psycho Patrol R in any way that matters. I could approach this mech-piloting, bullet-hungry immersive policing sim like any other first-person shooter with RPG elements, and tell you about its levels, storytelling, and gamey features. Or I could evaluate it on…
Rosewater is Francisco González’s latest adventure game set in the alternate history of Lamplight City. It swaps the murky Victorian gutters of its predecessor for cacti and lavender sunsets in a reimagined American West circa 1850. But as hard as I try to imagine…
I was, like so many of my 1990s-born peers, a huge Sims girlie. I spent hundreds of hours as a teen and young adult making people I knew, characters from shows I was obsessing over, or original characters I wanted to experiment with, and diligently following their life paths and…
"That's okay," I say as my car somersaults into the hot dirt and loses a wheel. "I still have three tyres left." My right fender hits another driver and dissolves into splinters, like rusty confetti at a wedding for metallurgists. "No big deal," I remark, and keep driving. I…
When Lords of the Fallen came out in 2014, it was interesting to see another developer daring to mimic From Software’s Souls formula. But now that it’s a whole genre, seeing another big-budget soulslike just doesn’t feel special anymore - even Star Wars has had…
The villagers of Wyndham are miserable. Stuck in a military cordon with little to do except look up at the exploded power plant that put them there, escape made even less feasible by the bandits and forest cultists on the other side, even the stiffest upper lips are starting to…
Assassin's Creed is for magpies. These stealth action adventures constantly dangle some glittering side hustle to distract you from the winding road of the main story. They are "while we're here" games. In town to kill a guy who dishonored your family? OK, but there's a…
Verity Amersham's pockets are overflowing. Her school uniform hides a paperclip, a safety pin, two school badges, two books, a bottle of wine, a bottle of chloroform, a handwritten note, and more. None of it will do any good, as I have failed once again. Verity will be expelled…
Alta used to be a champion fighter. Now, she can’t even lift her sword. After she collapses in the forest, a kindly teashop owner called Boro invites her to join him. Maybe a spell of cozy gardening, cleaning, and making tea for customers will help her feel better? But…
Brendan: Hello, Nic. Nic: Brendy! Why are you here, in my review? What is this, some kind of Split Fiction? Some kind of co-op adventure by Hazelight? Fine, since you're here: what's the best bit of Split Fiction, Brendy? Brendan: We were escaping sci-fi gunships on the back of…
Civilization is one of only two games I’ve had on every computer I’ve ever owned, in its multiple versions, since I first encountered it. (The other is NetHack.) It’s also important in my family. My wife plays it frequently (although she’s been on a…