Brian, Author at Thumb Culture

Sword and Fairy: Together Forever – PS5 Review

7Dec

By BrianNo Comments

Sword and Fairy: Together Forever – PS5 Review

You can be forgiven for having never heard of this franchise, but Sword and Fairy: Together Forever is actually the seventh entry in a series that has been around since 1995. Prior to its predecessor being released in 2015, this series of Chinese RPGs had not been released outside of China or Taiwan. Sword and Fairy: Together Forever - Symbiotic and Scrumptious Although Sword and Fairy: Together Forever follows from the previous game, it does well to stand on its own in a world awash with western and Japanese RPGs. The game was developed by Softstar and brought to the western world by EastAsiaSoft and hit the PlayStation 4 and 5 on August 4th, 2022 via digital download. However, for those more of the physical nature, a Premium Collector's Edition is slated to release early next year. Thi...

Edifier W820NB Wireless Headphones Review

6Nov

By BrianNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Edifier W820NB Wireless Headphones Review

Do not let the simplistic and subtle design fool you. In a world where earbuds are more commonplace, do these very affordable Edifier W820NB Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Stereo Headphones offer a lot of bang for the buck? Now, Edifier claims that these headphones last up to 49 hours on a single charge. So, we extensively put them through their paces. Take a look at what we thought below. Design and Control Let's get straight to the point on design. The Edifier W820NB doesn't do anything fancy with its design, and it doesn't need to. They are available in 4 colours; black, grey, white, and icy blue. The Headset is simple, clean, and weighs in at about 215 grams making them fairly lightweight and very comfortable. The cups swivel at 90 degrees making them flat, ideal ...

26Sep

By BrianNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Oxide Room 104 – PS5 Review

Horror comes in all shapes and sizes, and WildSphere's Oxide Room 104 thinks bigger is not always better. This self-published title takes cues from body horror and escape rooms to combine them into this neat, but short, horror-puzzler package. Oxide Room 104 - It's an Evil F***ing Room Oxide Room 104 was released on June 16th, 2022 on all current consoles and PC. I love a good horror game as nothing has chilled me since Outlast. When I saw the trailer, it really gave me Saw (the movie) vibes and I immediately wanted to play it. So, let's open the door to Oxide Room 104 and see what's inside. Gameplay So after the intro where you, Matt, get knocked out at the gas station, you wake up in the bathtub of some dingy motel. You're naked, injured, confused and have absolutely no idea how ...

13Aug

By BrianNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Wonder Boy Collection – PS4 Review

When we think of iconic Sega characters, it's easy to ignore all the ones overshadowed by Sonic the Hedgehog. We may also think of Alex Kidd, Kiryu from Yakuza, or Ryu Hazuki from Shenmue, but rarely do with ever think of Wonder Boy. That's a sad fact because the series has seven main games. That doesn't include the three recent remakes. Six of these games were released on various systems between 1986 and 1994. The last released in 2018, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. So, what do we have in the Wonder Boy Collection? Wonder Boy Collection - A Wonderful Journey Back To The Past The Wonder Boy Collection has been carefully curated to include four of the best arcade and Mega Drive ports from the olden days. These are; Wonder Boy (Arcade - 1986), Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Arcade - 198...

17Jun

By BrianNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews, Retrogaming Corner

Final Vendetta PS5 Review

Today we take a look at a game that 90s beat-em-up fans have been foaming at their 40-year-old mouths for. We are checking out Final Vendetta. This is Bitmap Bureau's love letter to games like Streets of Rage and Final Fight that promises to pack a pixely punch. Final Vendetta - The Ultimate Love Letter to 90s Beat-Em-Ups Final Vendetta releases on June 17th, 2022 on Switch, PS4, PS5 & Xbox, and Steam. The game will be released digitally but fear not physical collectors! If you like me, were born in the 80s and will always want a physical copy over digital, some Limited edition versions have you covered. The standard, collector's, and the Super Limited Editions will be available in limited numbers. So let's see what has the retro gaming community chomping at the bit in Final V...

11Jun

By BrianNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Dolmen PS5 Review

Almost a year after Dolmen was announced at a Koch Media preview event, it is finally here. I've been anticipating this since I saw it and now I finally get to play it. My initial impression last year was that looked like a mixture of Dark Souls and Dead Space - Dark Souls in Space! If executing correctly, that sounds like an amazing idea. Dolmen - Less Like Souls, More Soulless Dolmen is the first major game developed by Brazilian studio Massive Work Studio and published under the newly formed Prime Matter. The game was released on May 20th, 2020 on both generations of PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. A dolmen by definition is a single chamber tomb. Will this game live up to its namesake? Will the game be filled with wonder and treasures, or will it be empty and nothing but bare bones? Rea...

3May

By BrianNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Metal Tales: Overkill Review

Metal and video games are two of my foremost passions in life. So on the rare occasion that they do come together, I always jump at the chance to give it a go. It is a shame that this seldom happens as a lot of gamers, like myself are metalheads. My earliest recollection of metal-style riffage in games is the tune that is E1M1 - At Doom's Gate, from the 1993 classic DOOM! A style that is still consistent with the franchise today. More recent fantastic entries include Guitar Hero: Metallica and Brutal Legend. Well, I say recent, that was over 10 years ago. So, does Metal Tales: Overkill fill that metal/gaming void? Metal Tales: Overkill - Needs More Metal Metal Tales: Overkill is a roguelike twin-stick shooter developed and published by Zerouno Games. The game is out now digitally on all ...

6Apr

By Brian1 Comment

PlayStation Reviews

Slipstream Review

Fans of OutRun and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 unite, for Slipstream is finally here on consoles. The game started out as a Kickstarter project way back in 2016. After reaching nearly $7,000 in backing, it finally came to fruition on PC in 2018. Slipstream was developed by a single developer, Brazilian Sandro Luiz de Paula of Ansdor Games. Slipstream - More Drift Than A Switch Joycon If you're into your retro-styled arcade racers, then you are in for a fun, yet frustrating time. For what it lacks in complexity, it more than makes up for it in its mastery. Slipstream is available from April 7th, 2022 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch and it's also playable on current generation consoles through backward compatibility. So, let's put the pedal to the metal and check out this love lette...

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review

4Apr

By BrianNo Comments

LEGO, PlayStation Reviews

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review

Star Wars and LEGO games feel like they have been around forever right? The first Star Wars game was The Empire Strikes Back, released in 1982 for the Intellivision and Atari 2600. LEGO Fun to Build was officially the first LEGO game released way back in 1995 on the Sega Pico. It wasn't until 2001 that LEGO started getting into the licensing game with LEGO Creator: Harry Potter released on PC. Then it all changed in the year 2005. LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game was released on April 2nd of that year, followed by Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy a year later. With that said, almost 17 years to the day of the first LEGO Star Wars game, we have the one that we have all been waiting for; LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - Consume You, It Will H...

14Mar

By BrianNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Review

Koei Tecmo is world-renowned for many reasons, Atelier, Dead or Alive, and Nioh are a few of the reasons. However, the other is for the Dynasty Warriors franchise. This year Koei Tecmo has released the latest in the DWE series with Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires. Failure To Plan, Is Planning To Fail I have played numerous games from the "Warriors" franchise, you can check out my Samurai Warriors 5 review here. Some of them have been fantastic and some have fallen weak against some of the previous releases to date. Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires was released in Japan in the December of 2021, and later to the rest of the world on February 15th, 2021, and is available on all current platforms. For the purposes of this review, I played it on the PlayStation 5. So join me as I check out Dyna...