Paul Wright, Author at Thumb Culture

6Nov

By Paul WrightNo Comments

Laika: Aged Through Blood – PC Review

Forget about your Spider-People, Italian plumbers, and various camouflage-clad soldiers because there's a game that may have slipped under your radar this month. Laika: Aged Through Blood, developed by Brainwash Gang and published on PC by Headup Games, was released via Steam on October 19th. Billed as the very first motorvania, an alternative to the Metroidvania genre alluding to the transportation method of main character Laika, it certainly warrants a closer look. Hunting Birds Laika Boss I'm not sure how I didn't have Laika on my list of games to keep an eye on this year, but the trailer sold me on giving it a go when it landed in the TC inbox. The hand-painted art style depicting a bleak, post-apocalyptic old-western-inspired world, being traversed by motorcycle, paired with a beaut...

31Oct

By Paul WrightNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Jusant – PS5 Review

Jusant, from Life is Strange creators Don't Nod, answers the question "What if the climbing from games like Uncharted, Breath of the Wild, and Horizon: Forbidden West, was the central mechanic a full game?" It's due to release on October 31st on PS5, Xbox Series and Steam. Roughly pronounced joos-zon in French, Jusant is a maritime word referring to a receding tide. As we'll see as we explore the game more, this is a very central theme to the story and history of this world. Ooh, Aah, Jusant A Little Bit Our story begins as the nameless protagonist is walking across an arid desert. The landscape is littered with the decaying carcasses of dozens of sea vessels. We understand immediately that at some point, this was a vast ocean, now somehow reduced to bone-dry seabed. After a title ...

24Oct

By Paul WrightNo Comments

News & Updates

LOFREE Unveil New Low Profile Keyboard

Lofree have recently announce their new keyboard, the Lofree Flow. The worlds first low-profile keyboard to incorporate Lofree and Kalih's full POM switches, delivering a super smooth performance. Let's take a quick look at the details below. Smooth With The Flow This aluminium-framed, low-profile keyboard from the folks at Lofree is aiming to redefine the peak standards for typing experiences. Fitted with the world's first low-profile switches that use POM for all their plastic components, this could be the smoothest keyboard ever. POM is a highly resilient, low friction material that essentially self-lubricates; the more they are used, the smoother the experience will be. The Lofree Flow is available in 2 versions - light and dark. Each version comes pre-built with a pre-determined ...

3Oct

By Paul WrightNo Comments

PC Reviews

Station To Station – PC Review

Have your tickets ready as we take a look at the railway simulation puzzle game, Station to Station. The debut game from Dutch developer Galaxy Grove aims to deliver cosy vibes through its wonderful voxel art, relaxing soundtrack, and chilled gameplay. Keep Calm And Carriage On I'm fairly partial to a relaxing simulation game and took a keen interest in Station to Station due to previously playing Train Valley. What are your favourite games in the genre? Let me know in the comments. Gameplay It's a vast, unconnected world out there in Station to Station. It's up to you to connect everything. Each level offers a new configuration of mountains and valleys, grass and water, and producers and consumers. To complete a level, all resources must be distributed where they need to go via fr...

28Sep

By Paul WrightNo Comments

News & Updates

Ghosts of New Eden Banished Into 2024

With so many games vying for attention in the latter stages of 2023, Don't Nod and Focus Entertainment have opted to push the release of their new game, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, out of its November 7th slot. To avoid launching in a busy gaming period in Q4 2023, the developer and publisher duo have shifted the release date of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden to February 13 2024. In their announcement JPEG on Twitter they say that although the game is finished and ready to release they want the game to get the spotlight it deserves. They also state the new date is perfect for an epic love story; the day before Valentine's Day. You can see the original announcement below. Banished Into 2024 Since the pandemic, we've gotten used to developers dropping an image full of text on thei...

20Sep

By Paul WrightNo Comments

News & Updates

Persona 3 Reload Trailer 3

With Tokyo Game Show set to begin tomorrow, Atlus continue their extended build-up to the Persona 3 Reload release by revealing a new trailer. As the game that saved Atlus from bankruptcy there's perhaps no title in their catalogue more deserving of further love than Persona 3. As we'll discuss below, this new glimpse of P3R shows improvements to both the visuals and game content. Persona 3 Reload Shows It's More Than A Koromaru In Sheep's Clothing This trailer has a strong focus on Strega, the antagonistic group of Persona users that are out to stop the protagonist group, S.E.E.S. Whilst in the original version of Persona 3 the backstory for this group was omitted, it seems that Reload will feature more scenes and details. Aside from the Strega sections, there are lots of other details ...

19Sep

By Paul WrightNo Comments

PC Reviews

Par For The Dungeon – PC Review

In the lead-up to the Steam Next Fest, we've been taking a closer look at one of the games taking part. Par For The Dungeon is a golf puzzle game from Canadian developer Sleeping Giant Games. Good Times As Par As The Eye Can See Interested in golfing games? After this review, why not check out our reviews for rogue-like Cursed To Golf or post-apocalyptic Golf Club: Wasteland? Gameplay We meet our golf ball hero, Cal, as they are enjoying an afternoon with their pet dog when disaster strikes. Bogeys - spikey, dark-grey blobs with surprisingly advanced engineering skills - appear and dog-nap Cal's best friend. It's time to go John Wick on these pests! Throughout Par For The Dungeon's multiple worlds your goal is clear; get Cal to the hole and kill all the Bogeys in as few moves as...

14Sep

By Paul WrightNo Comments

News & Updates

Hades II Early Access Update

It's been almost a year since Hades II, the sequel to Supergiant's critically-acclaimed rogue-like Hades, was announced at The Game Awards 2022. At that time it was confirmed that the game would first release into Early Access in 2023. Today, Supergiant have announced further information about that plan. If you somehow missed the awesome Hades, you can read Jason's review right here. Then go buy it and play it, it's a masterpiece. Hades - A Game So Good They Made It Twice When it releases, Hades II will be Supergiant's first ever sequel to a game. This time the story will focus on Melinoë, immortal princess of the Underworld. Chronos, Titan of Time and father of Hades and Zeus, has escaped from the Underworld and is on a mission to destroy Olympus. Melinoë will need to rely on her pow...

11Sep

By Paul WrightNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Goodbye Volcano High – PS5 Review

Cast your minds back, all the way to mid-2020. Sony unveiled the PlayStation 5 with a showcase featuring 25 games. Since then, 22 games have come and gone leaving just 3 remaining, until now. Goodbye Volcano High finally reached us on 29th August 2023. Was it worth the wait? Developed and published by Canadian team KO_OP, who've previously worked on GNOG (2017) and Winding Worlds (2020), this represents a foray into heavily story based content. I've been waiting on this for a while with the hopes it will fill the current Life is Strange shaped hole in my heart. Dilemmas & Dinosaurs I can't believe it's already been a year since Love. Pop. Panic! (formerly We Are OFK) released, and I'm glad to have another mix of narrative and musical elements to sink into. Gameplay Goodbye Volca...

Back To School? Save Up To 30% With Trust

25Aug

By Paul WrightNo Comments

News & Updates

Back To School? Save Up To 30% With Trust

Digital lifestyle company Trust has kicked off its 2023 back-to-school sale with savings available on a wide range of peripherals. Keyboards, mice, webcams and more have had their price cut by up to 30% so if you're in the market for a new piece of kit or an upgrade, read on to see what's on offer. Back to Savings with Back to School The Back To School Sale runs from 16th August to 5th September 2023. See below for details of the products included. What're Ya Sellin'? Keyboards and Mice We're starting off by looking at some desk peripherals. There are 2 keyboard and mice bundles included in the sale. The ODY Deskset is a wireless set on sale at £16.49 and the Comfort Trezo, also wireless, is available for £24.99. These 2 sets are relatively similar, with the Comfort Trezo edging out i...