Kyle McGrath, Author at Thumb Culture

6Apr

By Kyle McGrath3 Comments

Road to Devadatta – PC Review

The development team at Open & Close and with help from publishers Comuesp. Here comes the 3-D puzzle adventure called Road to Devadatta which will be released on the Steam Store on April 12 of this year. This game will test your faith If you like platforming and uncovering ancient history while looking for a missing family member. Then come check out Road to Devadatta. Gameplay The player begins the game as Alo, the nephew of a man named Robert. Alo is looking for his missing uncle Robert, who has been missing for several years. Starting his investigation at his uncle's house, he is knocked out and forced to take a dangerous journey to prove he can join a cult. The gameplay in Road to Devadatta consists of puzzle segments, platforming and a few chase scenes. Players can...

30Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Blood Bowl III – PC Review

From Nacon publishing comes the next entry, Blood Bowl III, created by Cyanide Studios. Released on February 23rd this year, players get another shot at taking their teams to the top. You can pick up this strategy-RPG game on Xbox and PlayStation for £34.99 with the Brutal Edition for £49.99 or grab it on Steam for £24.99. A Switch port is currently in development, with a release planned sometime this year. All's fair in blood and Waaaagh! I was never good at sports games like Madden, Fifa or PGA tour. But I am good at a few strategy games, so Blood Bowl looked like my shot at being good at some sports without actually being good at them. A mixture of the NFL and Warhammer franchise, I look forward to bashing some skulls in with Da Boiz. Gameplay Players can choose to play either o...

30Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Arena Renovation – PC Review

Now out in early access, let's look again at Arena Renovation, created by Nesalis Games and published by PlayWays S.A. and FreeMind S.A. This immersive renovation sim is available to pick up on steam for £11.39. Let's get to work! After playing the preview Arena Renovation - First Job, I'm looking forward to the full game release and to see what additional features the team at Nesalis Games have in store. Here's hoping to see more areas and furniture for the players to use. Gameplay The main goal of the players in Arena Renovation is to remove all rubbish, fix electricals, clean up the various sports centres and turn a profit. There are four levels to help the player learn the fundamentals starting with the Table Tennis Hall that was available to the players in the preview. Levels ar...

Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix – PS5 Review

30Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix – PS5 Review

Welcome to the long-named anime-styled arena fighting game Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix. Created by Pyramid and published by PQube. Released on March 16th of this year and currently available to play on PlayStation and Switch for £24.99 with an additional costume pack for £7.99. Let the show begin! I thought I would take another go with a visual novel-styled game, and Alice Gear was what I picked. The synopsis looked good and said, "Vice has taken your world and only you can take it back! As an actress with an aptitude for wielding this special gear, you train under AEGiS". Wielding highly advanced weaponry seemed interesting, and this game's selection looked good. I'm hoping that you build bonds with your team to fight the oncoming Vice enemies. Gameplay In the beginnin...

River Tails: Stronger Together – PC Preview

24Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

River Tails: Stronger Together – PC Preview

River Tails: Stronger Together is a 3-D cooperative adventure platformer created by Kid Onion Studios and published by Gravity Game Arise Co., Ltd. It originally started as a Kickstarter project back in November 2021 but has since launched for early access on Steam as of March 16th this year. You can grab it for £16.75 on the Steam Store. Cat out of the bag, fish out of water. It's not every day you get to have a great couch co-op experience, and this was one I was hoping would scratch that it. What caught my eye was how on earth they'll make a fish platform in this game. The art style is eye-catching, and I'm always looking to expand my game variety with more platformers. My brother and I will either have a lot of fun or end up not speaking after playing River Tails. Gameplay Play...

22Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Titanium Hound – PC Review

I got to look at the self-published indie title Titanium Hound created by Red Spot Sylphina. A 2D action platformer with cyberpunk style pixel art released back in October 2022 for; Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and the platform I played on Steam. You can grab this for £11.39 or on sale for £5.69 from the Steam store. A different take on Robocop I was surprised to see this game go under everyone's radar as I couldn't find many gameplay videos on the whole game. The visuals look great, and the story seemed promising. I don't play a lot of 2D platformers, but I love the idea of being able to be a Police Officer and taking down criminals in a giant mech. Gameplay Players will play as Grace Alarie, a Special Police Force Officer who's pulled into a conspiracy involving the government and ...

20Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Mato Anomalies – PC Review

Arrowiz, the studio that brought you Cairo's Tale and Beat Fever, and with help from Prime Matter publishing comes Mato Anomalies. A visual novel, JRPG, is based in a futuristic city. Mato Anomalies was released on March 10th of this year. You can play it on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and Steam for £31.99. It's only a "Mato" of time. The trailer for Mato Anomalies looks to me like a cross between Persona and Slay The Spire. Being someone who doesn't usually go for the visual novel genre, I thought I would give this one a go. Playing two protagonists caught my interest, and the story of uncovering the strange world of Mato made me even more curious. Explore the neo-futuristic world of Mato as Doe, a private detective dragged into a job to discover the whereabouts of the product HANDOUT. D...

20Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Ultimate Zombie Defense – PC Review

Ultimate Zombie Defense is a nice casual action twin-stick shooter made and published by the small team at Terror Dog Studios. Some team members have even worked on well-known games, like Warhammer 40K and Total War titles. It is available to purchase now for £3.99, alongside a carnival map DLC for £1.99 on Steam. Defend against the oncoming hordes! I remember playing an old flash computer game called Boxhead with my friend, and Ultimate Zombie Defense reminds me of that. I enjoy getting to higher rounds and trying different guns and strategies. Who doesn't love causally fighting waves of zombies and trying to beat their own high score? Gameplay Players will get to select from four classes (Heavy, Medic, Specialist, and Engineer), each with their own skill tree. Classes are levelle...

Arena Renovation: First Job – PC Preview

17Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Arena Renovation: First Job – PC Preview

The Polish development team at Nesalis Games, who created Safari Park Ranger, has been working on their new game Arena Renovation: First Job. A simulation game that will have you give stadiums and sports centres new life. Publishers PlayWay S.A. and FreeMind S.A. helped them make this possible. Pick this up when it releases for early access on March 27th this year. Go team Renovation! I jumped at the chance to check out the Arena Renovation: First Job prologue. What caught my eye with this game, is fixing up old stadiums and being a caretaker to them. The pressure washer looked fun to use and levelling up your character to improve your stats made it more eye catching. Gameplay The areas I got to fix and decorate were; the locker room, utility room, and sports area. Each room requir...

8Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Dust & Neon – PC Review

Dust & Neon is a twin-stick, action shooter with rogue-lite mechanics. It's David Marquardt Studios' first title and published by Rogue Games, Inc. The main themes are wild west mixed with a futuristic style setting, where you take the role of a reanimated corpse only known as Gunslinger, whose main task is to hunt down evil robots. You can pick this up on Steam and Switch for £24.99 It’s a Robo Round-up I am a sucker for playing a character with cybernetic enhancements, which drew my attention to Dust & Neon. Levelling up your Gun slinger with various upgrades, weapons, and killing robots; mix that all together and sprinkle in a bit of rogue-lite and that gave me more than enough reason to check this game out. Gameplay You start in Exile Keep which serves as your HQ and is own...