Jason, Author at Thumb Culture

Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD Review

14Nov

By JasonNo Comments

Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD Review

Samsung's 990 EVO Plus is the latest addition to Samsung's highly popular NVMe SSD lineup. Offering a combination of speed, reliability, and efficiency targeted at a wide range of users, from gamers to creative professionals. This SSD features upgraded NAND technology, an optimized controller, and firmware improvements, enabling it to deliver stellar read and write speeds. However, with the market’s shift toward PCIe 5.0, the question arises: how well does the 990 EVO Plus hold up on a PCIe 4.0 interface, and what should users consider as they prepare for the next-gen PCIe 5.0 platform? I was kindly sent a 1TB version to explore, however, it is also available in 2TB and 4TB variants. Design Samsung has kept the design of the 990 EVO Plus clean and practical. They have followed the...

1Nov

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

iFi GO Link Audio DAC Review

As the world moves onto all things wireless, sound quality can be sacrificed by doing so. Depending on how much of an audiophile you are, wired is still the best way to listen to music. It is strange to think that an analogue signal can carry more data than its wireless digital counterpart. This is due to the analogue data being uncompressed rather than being sent through Bluetooth codecs. These will compress the audio data before sending it to your wireless listening device and it has a big effect on sound quality for certain audio formats such as ALAC/FLAC & WAV. Cost-Effective Audio Enhancements Ok, so you want to listen to some high-quality lossless music via Tidal or Amazon Music. You don't want to use your wireless headset or buds. But your device doesn't have a 3.5mm stereo ja...

Hallows Hill: The Online Escape Room Experience – PC Review

31Oct

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Hallows Hill: The Online Escape Room Experience – PC Review

Recently, the TC gang received a strange email, inviting us to assemble and go to Hallows Hill. Intrigued, we rallied our toughest members and ventured across the digital world to this spooky abandoned house. Hallows Hill is no ordinary game. Requiring a mere web browser and the technical capability to be able to share your screen with your team of up to 6, you are good to go. Immersive Team-Based Horror Fun! The developers, Wolf Escape Games, have a couple of escape games under their belt. How would we find our foray into Hallows Hill? More importantly, would we all survive? Gameplay I must say, I haven't played a game like this yet. Yes, I have taken part in actual escape rooms and have been intrigued by the puzzles, both physical and mental. But how would they transfer into a...

30Oct

By Jason1 Comment

Hardware & Tech

EcoFlow River 3 Review

Landing on my desk at TC HQ recently was one of EcoFlow’s latest portable power stations to soon hit the market, the River 3. The technological successor to the River 2 series. Launching around November time, the River 3 series units are compact in size, especially when compared to the larger Delta series. Options There are 2 power units in the latest series; the River 3 and the River 3 Plus. The River 3 Plus can be expanded by a separate stackable battery to form the River 3 Max and the River 3 Plus Max. Through the available expansions, the River 3 series offers varying capacities and differing outputs. Choosing the right unit for you comes down to a couple of questions. How much power do you need? How long you need it for? For comparison: The River 3 has a capacity of 245Wh an...

24Oct

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Prim – PC Review

Prim by German-based devs Common Colors (formerly CMMN CLRS) is a fascinating 2D point-and-click adventure game coming to PC today (24th October)! The quirky but cute game has been led by founder Jonas Fisch, who, interestingly, is an English and philosophy teacher during the day. Having fallen in love with the amazing "Day of the Tentacle" game back in the day, Prim is his first full-length game. Made possible thanks to a team of talented freelancers. Prim started as a concept back in 2018 and was brought about thanks to a fully funded Kickstarter in 2021. Impressively reaching 100% funding in 22 hours. Prim - Visions Are Worth Fighting For With inspiration drawn from Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Terry Pratchett, LucasArts, and a dose of Greek mythology. Who is Prim and how does it play...

21Oct

By JasonNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Railroad Corporation 2 – PC Preview

Railroad Corporation 2 by Ukrainian-based devs Corbie Games and published by Iceberg Interactive is, as the title suggests, a train-based strategic simulator. Releasing on PC on 21st October, I was lucky enough to play the early access demo. Time To Electrify! Following on from the reasonably successful Railroad Corporation that was released in 2019, the golden age of steam is about to move into the electrified 20th-century era. The idea of the game is a simple one. Connect cities with a rail network and profit from the transport of their supply and demand requirements. Can it be carried out easily and in a fun way? Gameplay Railroad Corporation 2 allows you to play either single-player or up to 4 players online, either competitively or co-operatively. At the time of writing, th...

17Oct

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Edifier HECATE G5BT Headset Review

First released in 2022, the Edifier HECATE G5BT wireless gaming headset are still some of the best selling Edifier gaming headsets available. The Thumb Culture team are no strangers to reviewing Edifier products, just check out this list, and so when Edifier once again landed in our inbox offering another headset to check out, of course the answer was yes. With a price point of £120 I was most intrigued to find if this gaming headset stood the test of time. Edifier HECATE G5BT - Gotta Get Yourself Connected! And what better way to get connected than with a headset so you can chat to your friends and game? Design and Control Opening up the box the Edifier HECATE G5BT are made up of a matte black band connected to two leather-effect plush-padded ear cups. To break up the matte look a...

15Oct

By JasonNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Industry Giant 4.0 – PC Preview

Industry Giant 4.0 is a business simulator game by Munich-based devs Don Vs Dodo and published by Toplitz Productions. Launching on PC on 24th Oct, I had the chance to play the demo of what is a hopeful revival of the Industry Giant franchise. Ah, Breaker One-Nine, This Here's The Rubber Duck! The first Industry Giant game was released in 1997. Oasis had just released their 3rd album "Be Here Now", and Backstreet Boys were telling everyone that "Backstreet's Back" while the Spice Girls were getting us to "Spice Up Your Life". Meanwhile, gamers around the world were playing GoldenEye 007 on their Nintendo while others were venturing into a strange top-down game called Grand Theft Auto. Life was good. There were subsequent offerings of Industry Giant 2 in 2002 and then a spiritual 3rd e...

7Oct

By Jason1 Comment

Features

Dig VR Press Event Roundup

Recently I had the amazing opportunity with Thumb Culture to attend a Dig VR press event. Just Add Water and Wired Productions held the day-long event at the awesome DiggerLand theme park in Kent. Not only were we given the chance to experience the new Dig VR simulator game, but we also got to have a go on real-life diggers. Needless to say, mud was thrown around! We recently covered the news about the game releasing on 24th October. And so getting the chance to play Dig VR and chat to everyone involved made for a fantastic occasion. Enter Thumb Culture After having a meet and greet, and winding up Wired's Community Manager Steve with how close we lived to the venue, we were sorted into our groups and given a timetable of events. Our first item of the day was to go and play the Dig...

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged – PS5 Review

1Oct

By Jason2 Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged – PS5 Review

Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged, is a remastered point-and-click game by York-based devs Revolution. Originally released back in 1996 on PC, this game is the first in an amazing adventure series of 5 that follow the exploits of an American tourist named George Stobbart and French photojournalist Nico Collard. Back Once Again With The Point & Click Master Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged was digitally released this September on PC, PS5 & Xbox X|S. The Reforged release on Nintendo Switch has been delayed until October, with date TBA. The forthcoming collector's edition (physical) was fully funded on Kickstarter within 30 minutes of going live and appears to be shipping around the end of March 2025. I was lucky enough to play the PS5 version and was in...