Author: Parker Faux

Parker is a writer and designer living in Utah. When he's not writing, he's playing video games, painting minatures, and thinking about how he should be writing.
The Third Shift Review
PC Reviews

The Third Shift Review

When I was a kid, my mom would take me to a big natural history museum close to our house. I remember feeling both enraptured and terrified by the taxidermy animals, with their frozen poses and glassy eyes. Sometimes I would wonder if they moved at night, or when I wasn't looking at them. It was a strange atmosphere; a place of learning, yet with a sense of quiet, creeping dread. It's a sense of horror that very few games have capitalized on, at least up until now. The Third Shift is a survival horror game developed and published by Teebowah Games. The initial demo released all the way back in 2020, and I distinctly remember watching it back in high school. Development has been on and off for the past few years, but the game finally released this April, and I was excited to finally ...
Hacked: The Streamer Review
PC Reviews

Hacked: The Streamer Review

As a resident zoomer, live streams hold a long shadow over my leisure time. I’ve spent days of my life in chatrooms, posting laughing emojis as white men twice my age play games meant for children. So when I saw a mystery game themed around the streams I love so much, I had to give it a click. Hacked: The Streamer is an FMV interactive film developed by Button Interactive and NAISU, and published by GameDev.ist and Gamersky Studios. After three years of development, it was released on Steam on April 6 of this year. Was it worth the wait? TCulture22 Donated $10: “dude show the review LULW” In Hacked: The Streamer, you play as internet streamer PinkyPie, whose routine stream is turned upside down when a hacker threatens to expose compromising photos of her unless she pays $50,000. T...
Angel Engine – PC Review
PC Reviews

Angel Engine – PC Review

"And the Lord Of All Games spake, 'Thou shalt not make a game in the image of a data entry overtime shift', and all saw and said it was good." -Polygonics 4:51 Angel Engine is a self-proclaimed "horror surgery simulator" developed by HMS Studios and Black Lantern Collective and published by NerveLabs and Aurakenn Games. It is currently only available for PC. Clocking In to the Martyr Factory The game is based on a highly-popular short-form analogue horror series of the same name, centered around humanity kidnapping an angel and performing horrific experiments on it it to try and stave off Armaggedon. Based on my research, the original Angel Engine series is controversial for heavy AI usage, to the point that the Steam page directly says that, unlike the original, this game doesn't...
The House of Hikmah – PC Review
PC Reviews

The House of Hikmah – PC Review

 Have you ever played a video game inspired by the golden age of Arabic scientific and cultural development? Would you like to? The House of Hikmah is a 3D puzzle-platformer developed and published by Lunacy Studios, in their grand debut. Lunacy is an interesting studio: an independent, fully-remote, junior-built team dedicated to making diverse, narrative-heavy stories. Will Lunacy's ethically-sourced games nudge out a healthy space in a crowded market that can't even support Fortnite? Well, based on the experience I, a pasty white boy who is most certainly not part of the target audience, had with it, I believe they can. The House of Hikmah is a short, comfortable, well-crafted experience, like drinking a bowl of homemade soup. But what makes it so satisfying? The Key To Success ...
The Coin Game – PC Review
PC Reviews

The Coin Game – PC Review

The Coin Game is a survival sandbox arcade simulator created by solo developer devotid and published by Kwalee. It released in early access in 2019 and has been steadily updated leading up to its 1.0 release. It's available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, and today I'll be reviewing the PC version. Life Is Cheap. Tickets Are Cheaper. As a young lad I spent many of my formative years at my local arcade, a joint called (and I'm not making this up) the "Fun Park". It had everything a child could ever want: a giant playplace that smelled like feet; comically cheesy pizza; a bizarre 1950s tiki-party aesthetic; and, of course, a dozen rigged arcade machines that spat out tickets, spent on penny sweets and cheap stuffed animals at an obscene markup. It was paradise. Some days, I wish I could g...