Kyle McGrath, Author at Thumb Culture

Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix – PS5 Review

30Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

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...

7Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Hotel Renovator – PC Review

I am so happy to be talking about Hotel Renovator, one of the many games soon to be released by the development team at Two Horizon and published by Focus Entertainment. This game is to be released today (March 7th 2023) on Steam for £20.99 with other entries lined up such as Aqua Park Renovator and Camp Builder coming sometime in the future. Hotel Restoration, Lawsuits not included I have had this game on my wish list for a while now, being a simulator games lover. Mainly ones based on occupations like House Flipper, or Gas Station Simulator. When I saw that I could renovate and manage my very own hotel I was happy to see what I can create with the tools, furniture, and colour palettes I would be able to use in this game. Gameplay The premise of the story is you inherit an old run-dow...

2Mar

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Road 96: Mile 0 – PC Preview

I got to check out an exclusive preview of Road 96 Mile 0, a story-rich narrative-driven game, which serves as a prequel to the 2016 game Road 96 and is developed by Digixart, who also published the game with help from Ravenscourt. They are also known for their other title 11-11 Memories Retold which was also received well back in 2018. You can pick up Road 96 Mile 0 when it releases 4th April 2023 on Steam, Playstation, Switch, and Xbox. It’s not about the destination, but the journey I have never played Road 96, so when I saw that this was a prequel I was happy to check it out and see why my friends fell in love. Road 96: Mile 0 seemed like the best way and so here we are ready to see the highs and lows of our dual protagonists on their journey of self-discovery. Gameplay In Roa...

23Feb

By Kyle McGrathNo Comments

PC Reviews

Gunfire Reborn – PC Review

Gunfire Reborn is a roguelite first-person shooter game developed by a Chinese game studio Douyi Games and was released for early access in May 22nd 2022 on Steam, and later fully released in November 18th the following year. Since its launch Gunfire Reborn has released its first DLC called "Visitors of Spirit Realm". Both of these can be picked up as bundle for £20.68 or just the base game for £15.49. Gunfire Reborn: If animals had thumbs, they'd use guns! When I read the description I had to check it out, and what sold me personally was the fun characters and cool weapons as well as being able to play it multiplayer. Gameplay In Gunfire Reborn you will be fighting through three major stages, each consisting of 6 areas with their own themes, enemy types and bosses, with a fourth ...