Paul, Author at Thumb Culture

28Jul

By PaulNo Comments

Occlude – PC Review

What if you could erase your past mistakes? All it would take is for you to play a simple card game and figure out the hidden rules. Yes, you'd be tearing apart reality itself, but isn't that worth it? This is the premise of Occlude, where a card game similar to Solitaire, including 4 mysterious self-moving coins, stands between regret and relief. Or does it? Occlude comes to us from the small UK/US indie team at Tributary Games, whose previous title, King of the Castle, was highly praised by our EIC, Stuart. I've been enjoying my puzzle games recently, so I'm looking forward to racking my brain again. Occult Cards & Concealed Rules Join me as I doubt my intelligence and fight with RNG while making my way through this occult puzzler. Gameplay Do you know the rules of Solitai...

AdHoc Studio Join Forces With Critical Role For Exandria Game

23Jul

By PaulNo Comments

News & Updates

AdHoc Studio Join Forces With Critical Role For Exandria Game

AdHoc Studio, developer of the upcoming superhero workplace comedy game Dispatch, have announced a partnership with the TTRPG hotshots over at Critical Role. This deal appears to be a lucrative, two-way street that brings new productions to both entities. Roll For Initiatives We first heard whispers of the possibility of a Critical Role video game back in 2021. Back then, a Variety article covering the success of the at-home table-top campaign turned worldwide phenomenon mentioned the group's forays into other media, including an 'in the works' video game. At the time, Critical Role cast member Liam O'Brien admitted that doing a video game successfully takes a lot of time, and nothing has materialised since. However, after an initial meeting in October 2024 between the AdHoc Studio and C...

Paul’s 10 Most Anticipated Late-2025 Games

11Jul

By PaulNo Comments

Features

Paul’s 10 Most Anticipated Late-2025 Games

The first half of 2025 gave us some huge contenders for Game of the Year; Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Split Fiction, to cherry-pick a few. Thankfully, the back end of the year also looks stacked with quality. Among them are a new Pokémon game, a follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima, a new Silent Hill entry, and the long awaited Metroid Prime 4. It's also alleged that a sequel to Hollow Knight is due to release before Christmas this year, but I wouldn't know anything about that. Ignoring all those games, though, here are 10 games set to release in the rest of 2025 that I can't wait to get my hands on. I've listed them alphabetically for fairness — I love all my children equally. Cairn | PlayStation, PC Genre: Simulation, Survival Developer: The Game Bakers | Publisher...

1Jul

By PaulNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Dispatch – PC Preview

As an avid enjoyer of choice-heavy, consequences-matter games, I was sad to see the death of the original Telltale Games in 2018. While the studio kind of reformed in 2019, they're yet to release a new game. Some of the staff who left Telltale in 2016/17 came together in 2018 to created AdHoc Studio. They wanted their own studio where they could take the narrative genre beyond what Telltale was doing and where risks could be taken that would otherwise be avoided at a large company. Finally, in 2025, AdHoc are nearing the release of their first game. Dispatch is a superhero, work-place comedy with a stellar voice cast and an authentic, comic-book visual style. Z-uper Heroes — From Z to A? Robert Robertson, also known as MechaMan, has broken his mechanical suit in a battle with his neme...

24Jun

By PaulNo Comments

PC Reviews

A Building Full Of Cats 2 – PC Review

This year, I've begun playing hidden-object games between other games as a way of relaxing and clearing my mind a bit. This was particularly needed recently after playing Blue Prince and Expedition 33 — two games that drain you mentally and emotionally respectively. It's purr-fect timing, then, that Devcats are back with a new title, A Building Full Of Cats 2. I've played a few of their games previously, on both PC and PS5, so was somewhat clued in as to what to expect from this new entry to the Full Of Cats series. Still, there were still some surprises to be found. Bursting With Purr-sonality A Building Full Of Cats 2 is Devcats biggest game yet, with over 2000+ cats to pet. While the residents of the building are away on holiday, it's up to you to check in on the cats and help with va...

10Jun

By PaulNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Cairn – PS5 Preview

Climbing a mountain is one of those activities that seems exciting and life changing, but one that I will never actually do because of the risks, much in the same way as skydiving, spelunking, and weekend trips to IKEA. Cairn aims to deliver at least one of those experiences to you without the risk of flat pack divorce. Following Sony PlayStation's State of Play showcase on 4th June, a PS5 demo was released, and I wasted no time clambering into it. I'm amazed by The Game Bakers' apparent ability to turn their craft to vastly different genres of video game. From the ultra-fast twin-stick shooter Furi, to laid back adventure narrative Haven, and now a surprisingly deep mountain climbing/survival simulation. They've even tackled a drag-and-fling, top-down RPG about squids. Is there nothing...

4Jun

By PaulNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

MIO: Memories In Orbit – PC Preview

Action, mystery, and wonder await in MIO: Memories In Orbit, a new Metroidvania from Shady Part Of Me developer Douze Dixièmes (Twelve Tenths). They are a small, French team who form part of PulluP Entertainment (formerly Focus Entertainment) since their acquisition in 2021. This should immediately give you a sense of the quality to expect, given the publisher's history backing titles such as Curse of the Dead Gods, Dordogne, and A Plague Tale: Innocence, among many others. You can play the demo and add MIO: Memories In Orbit to your Wishlist on Steam now, with a release due sometime this year. Remember MIO? MIO, an agile robot with flowing, tendril hair, is awoken on the Vessel; a decaying spaceship drifting through space. The ship's AI overseers have seemingly gone offline, leaving ...

Lost In Cult Launches Prestige Physical Games Label

20May

By PaulNo Comments

News & Updates

Lost In Cult Launches Prestige Physical Games Label

Anyone who knows me knows I live for physical video games. The ever advancing shift towards an all-digital future concerns me due to issues around access and preservation. Today (at the time of writing), however, brings news of a new venture that aims to fight back against the download-code-on-a-cartridge and digital-only landscape of the industry. Lost In Cult, who have a long, storied history of producing beautiful media-accompaniments to video games, including vinyl records, cassettes, and books, are now turning their hand to physical game publishing. Let's Get Physical The Lost In Cult publishing label launches today, 20th May, with 3 physical game announcements; Thank Goodness You're Here (PS5/Nintendo Switch), Immortality (PS5), and The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow (Nintendo Switch)....

8May

By PaulNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Wings of Endless – PS5 Review

Gamers are being spoilt in 2025. We're not even halfway through the year yet, and we have at least 3 credible shouts for GOTY. In between trying out these bigger budget titles, though, I want to make a more concerted effort to try games from smaller, up-and-coming developers. One such game that came across my metaphorical desk at Thumb Culture is Wings of Endless. A sophomore offering from Uruguayan team, Isoca Games, who have once again joined forces with JanduSoft to bring their game to market. While their first game was a top-down roguelike, Wings of Endless is a 2D platforming RPG in which you can freely switch between 3 main characters at any time. The premise was interesting enough to gain my attention, and so let's have a deeper look. The Best Bounty Hunter, or Just Winging It? ...

PlayStation Plus Monthly Games – May 2025

1May

By PaulNo Comments

Features

PlayStation Plus Monthly Games – May 2025

It's time to have a look at the 3 games bundled for free with PlayStation Plus Essential for May 2025. There is one stand-out for me this month, and it's a game that will take over your life if you let it. These games are available between May 6th and June 2nd. Remember that even if you don’t plan to play these games immediately, you should still add them to your library when they become available. That way, you can check them out at any time — as long as you have an active sub. Balatro | PS5, PS4 Genre: Rougelike, Card Game Longevity: 10hrs+ | Trophies: 32 (incl Platinum) Metacritic: 90 | OpenCritic: 92 Balatro is the poker-inspired, deck-manipulation roguelike that you never knew you needed. Take a deck of playing cards, manage ever-changing rules and enhancements, and play yo...