Kevin, Author at Thumb Culture

25Apr

By KevinNo Comments

Xbox Reviews

Defend The Rook – Xbox Series X Review

Chess. A traditional game as old as time (well 9th century Russia). Some traditions are made to last, King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook and Pawn. But wait! What if the rule book was thrown out of the window and suddenly the rook was the most important character? So what if the others were now a Rogue, a Fighter and a Sorceress? What if the enemy were goblins, orcs, wolves, or giant mushrooms? Is this even chess any more? Well, One Up Plus has stomped all over tradition to make this happen in the form of Defend the Rook. Time to pack a bag full of tactics, skill, logic and mortar and see where this adventure takes me. Defend the Rook - It's a Castle, not a Bird! Can the few outwit, outgun and outplay the many? Time to bring it on and see what I am up against. My hopes are quite high as I ...

Alterity Experience – Xbox Series X Review

3Apr

By KevinNo Comments

Xbox Reviews

Alterity Experience – Xbox Series X Review

In a world where the truth is out there, Onitron Studios brings us Alterity Experience. This is a chance to experience what it will be like in the middle of an alien invasion. Time to find those crop circles and take this title for a spin. Best move the laptop to the basement and fashion myself a tinfoil hat. Alterity Experience - Purple Haze, or Purple Ama(i)ze? Gameplay I start my adventure in Alterity Experience in an office looking at computer screen and a purple corn on the cob. I must admit that it is a pretty strange beginning, but I get the feeling that nothing about my experience is going to be not strange. It turns out that the missus and the kids have gone to watch a film leaving me on my own to investigate the purple glow. After a brief tutorial about how the buttons and ...

13Mar

By KevinNo Comments

VR Reviews

Maskmaker – Meta Quest 2 Review

A couple of years ago InnerspaceVR released Maskmaker on Steam for the VR audience. Well, last December they made it available to the Oculus community. Do I have what it takes to carve and paint my own masks to complete this intriguing puzzle based adventure? Best raid the man drawer for the necessary tools for the task and I'll see you on the other side. Maskmaker - Stanley Ipkiss vs Rocky Dennis, seconds away, round 1. Gameplay Maskmaker sticks to the tried and tested formula for controls. I chose to mainly teleport as it's quicker, but I found myself using normal movement for the more close environments. Every time an object was highlighted I would pick it up and look all around it for clues. This is a puzzle game after all. There is a tutorial to make sure that I know how to do ever...

27Jan

By KevinNo Comments

PC Reviews

Necroboy: Path to Evilship – PC Review

Chillin' Wolf bring us the slightly odd adventure of a certain NecroBoy on his Path to Evilship in the cunningly titled NecroBoy: Path to Evilship. Whilst newly arrived on my desk, it has indeed been out since October 2022, in fact it was released rather aptly for Halloween. Kudos to Gravity Game Arise Co for a little creative marketing. Not entirely sure how to prepare for my upcoming journey, but I do have my pentagram and Mary Shelley reference book. Time to raise the dead and a little bit of hell as well. NecroBoy: Path to Evilship - Hellishly Good, or just plain Hellish? Gameplay NecroBoy: Path to Evilship is a brain game, thinking is the way forward. You get to control NecroBoy throughout the many crypts as he delves deeper into the journey to take the title of NecroMan. Movemen...

12Jan

By KevinNo Comments

PC Reviews

Lone Ruin – PC Review

Super Rare Originals have teamed up with developers Cuddle Monster Games to release Lone Ruin. Released in January 2023 it comes three and a half years after their initial release, Hell is Other Demons. Astute gamers will notice a consistency in style, but Lone Ruin has a whole new gameplay. Lone Ruin, Could it be Magic, or Should it go into the Bermuda Triangle There's only one thing to do when a game lands on your desk that is developed by a company called Cuddle Monster Games. Have a play! Lone ruin is an adventure through a ruin that isn't surrounded by anything. What excitement awaits? So putting the paradoxical joy of cuddle monsters and the depression of loneliness to one side it's time to get prepared to fight for my life against some less-than-cuddly monsters. Best practice my s...

8Dec

By Kevin1 Comment

VR Reviews

ForeVR Pool – Meta Quest 2 Review

There was nothing more that I liked in my youth than hustling drunken students out of their grant money in dark and smoky student unions. You can imagine my delight when ForeVR Pool landed on my doorstep to review. Thank you ForeVR for giving me a chance to relive my youth. Time to polish my stick and play with some balls. ForeVR Pool, is it forever, or is it balls? Gameplay Everyone knows how to play pool right? Get the stick and swing it at the table and see what happens? OK, it's not quite like that, but remember I used to hustle. The aim of the game is to sink your coloured balls and then the black 8 ball. You are only allowed to hit the white cue ball with the cue, or the game would be no challenge at all. ForeVR Pool starts the way all games should, with a simple tutorial t...

18Nov

By Kevin2 Comments

Previews & Early Access

Flat Eye – PC Preview

Monkey Moon and Raw Fury combine to bring us Flat Eye, an innovative take on resource management in the future with a critical look at the past. How hard can running a store really be? Time to polish my name badge, don a dodgy uniform and find out. Flat Eye, Eye Opening or Falling Flat Gameplay Flat Eye follows the traditional methodology of control. Being a PC game, it's simply point and click, or click and drag to select and move around respectively. For those that have never played a resource management game it's a case of simply using the information and functions available to you to keep customers happy. Information is provided on where the most money is made, which modules need maintenance or refilling and how long the queue times are. Keep these elements under control and th...

2Nov

By KevinNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Live By The Sword: Tactics – PC Preview

Sometimes I miss the good old days of computing. Flying a line drawn Cobra from Diso to Lave rather than dropping from a bus and staying inside an ever-decreasing storm. Imagine my delight when Live By The Sword: Tactics from Labrador Studios arrived for me to review. It looked like a refreshing reminiscence of when days were simpler and swords were sharper. All this was wrapped up in an 8bit feel, the 80s, here I come. Time to polish my helmet and grip my weapon in both hands, I'm going in. Live By The Sword: Tactics - May Lady Luck Guide You Well Gameplay First Impressions of Live By The Sword: Tactics are good, it's a simple mouse driven game. There are various modes that are available, some need to be unlocked by playing the story mode though, but that's always a good place to sta...

14Oct

By KevinNo Comments

VR Reviews

Ruins Magus – Meta Quest 2 Review

CharacterBank inc bring us the world of Ruins Magus, a JRPG consisting of magic amongst the ruins. We have established that it is a clever title, but the question remains, is it a good game? Time to find the biggest hat I own and dive in. Ruins Magus - Magic or Ruins? Gameplay Ruins Magus starts like most games, an introduction to who you are, a setting of the scene and a gentle tutorial to get used to the controls. The movement system is stick driven, so no teleportation, it is slick and whilst I admit to sometimes submitting to nausea, I had no such experience. I always prefer to physically turn rather than use the rotate feature, but it is always good to have the choice. The premise of Ruins Magus is very simple, enter the ruins, kill the enemies and return with treasure or info...

9Aug

By KevinNo Comments

PC Reviews

Terraformers – PC Early Access Review

When it comes to transforming planets to make them habitable I always assumed that Elon Musk would be leading the way. I would be wrong, as Asteroid Lab brings us Terraformers, a game that allows you to do just that. Was Bowie Right? Time to pack up my dried space rations (not recommended) and don my space suit for a trip to the red planet and see if I can make it green. Gameplay Terraformers start like so many other civilisation development games, you have a base of operations to get started. First of all, you chose some starting resources and a leader. All leaders have different bonuses, so choose carefully to make your strategy a success. So, what's to do to complete successful terraforming? Well, you need to gather resources, expand your population, explore regions of the planet an...