TC Staff Writer, Author at Thumb Culture

Persona 5 Royal Review – Takes Your Time, Takes Your Heart

9Apr

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Persona 5 Royal Review – Takes Your Time, Takes Your Heart

Atlus' Persona 5 released on Playstation 3 and 4 in 2016 to widespread acclaim. Fans of the J-RPG genre loved the lengthy story, in-depth character relationships and action-stealth exploration and critics were into it too. Persona 5 Royal is an upgraded, even more content-rich edition of the original title. There is a lot to explain, and I hope to make this review accessible for those like myself who do not have a degree in Shin Megami Tensei lore. Persona 5 Royal can be purchased digitally for £49.99. In Persona 5 Royal you play as *name of your choice* (we'll call him Phil from now on), a nerdy looking fellow who got chucked in the sin bin for using his fists to stop a powerful man from carrying out a rape. Phil is a good lad, but has been forced to transfer across the country to a ne...

Exit the Gungeon Review – Exit, Strategy

8Apr

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Exit the Gungeon Review – Exit, Strategy

Enter the Gungeon released on Nintendo Switch back in late 2017. For the uninitiated, Enter the Gungeon was a rogue-lite with more guns than you can shake a broomstick at, and it hooked me immediately with its fast-paced, bullet-hell action and wild boss design. The story, such as it was, revolved around four characters entering a towering structure called The Gungeon, which was populated by sentient, aggressive bullets. They had each heard the legend of a revolver which could kill the past and wipe out mistakes. Weapons ranged from bog-standard shotguns to screen-dominating lasers. And that's not all, we're talking egg-firing grenade launchers, a guitar which launched wild solos as you hold down the trigger... even a t-shirt cannon. Exit the Gungeon picks up after each character achiev...

Resident Evil 3 Review – Bloody Brilliant!

3Apr

By TC Staff Writer2 Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Resident Evil 3 Review – Bloody Brilliant!

News footage infests the television showing chaos from around the world. A disease. An infection. The brain dead roam the desolate streets hunting for food. Yes, the Coronavirus has really done a number on us. In order to escape this horrid reality, the majority of us turn to the virtual world. Here we can lose ourselves in a universe far different than our own. Lurching on to the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC on April 3rd is Resident Evil 3, a remake of the 1999 classic which shares more than a few similarities to our current predicament. Capcom reinvigorated the Resident Evil franchise with the horrifyingly terrific Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. In a landmark move for the franchise, Capcom transformed the game from a sub-par action-orientated horror game (Sorry Resi 6) to a dark, tw...

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Review – Now, That’s A Name I’ve Not Heard In A Long Time

1Apr

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Review – Now, That’s A Name I’ve Not Heard In A Long Time

It's a good time to be Star Wars fan. Despite a few rocky releases, it's as popular as ever and after the fantastic Stars Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (see Stu's thoughts here), there's a new hope for gamers. Whilst we wait for the next big release for the franchise, classic titles are hitting modern consoles. The latest port sees Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy hit the Nintendo Switch and PS4. Brought back to us by Aspyr, the online multiplayer classic comes to Nintendo Switch with modernized controls. Take on the role of a new student eager to learn the ways of the Force from Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. You can pick it up here, but first, read on to find out if you should. Gameplay Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is a hybrid 3rd person/FPS action game, and is actually the 3rd...

31Mar

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

The Complex Review – Intense Isolation

Wales Interactive is slowly becoming the ‘go-to’ company for narrative-driven games. They reignited the FMV, interactive film genre with fantastic games such as The Bunker and Late Shift. Does The Complex reach the heights of their previous outings or is just a bit too simple? After a bio-weapon attack in London, the city is on high alert. Dr Amy Tenant, the lead scientist at Nanocell Technology, is somehow connected to the blood-vomiting event that is being circulated in the media. Due to a string of events, she finds herself trapped inside a laboratory deep in the depths of London. With little time and air, will you be able to connect the dots and make the right decisions to uncover the secret that ties the events together? Gameplay Every choice you make matters and that it the ...

Shinsekai: Into the Depths Review – Going Deeper Underground

30Mar

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Shinsekai: Into the Depths Review – Going Deeper Underground

Shinsekai: Into the Depths is a deep dive into an expansive underwater world. Beginning life as an Apple Arcade exclusive, the Metroidvania, survival puzzler has tunnelled its way to the Nintendo Switch. Full disclosure. Whenever I hear the words ‘mobile game’, I shudder. All I think of is shovelware trash, littered with microtransactions. Games that are not for real gamers. Yes, when it comes to my views on mobile games, I’m narrow-minded. In steps Capcom, a company who I adore and have arguably been the best developer in recent years. Could they finally pull my head out of my arse? In short, the answer is yes. Gameplay In Shinsekai: Into the Depths, you take control of a silent, nameless protagonist who has been forced to take refuge in the ocean due to the land above being cov...

Animal Crossing Nintendo advenReview – Nookonomics

27Mar

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Animal Crossing Nintendo advenReview – Nookonomics

This is my first ever Animal Crossing game. Somehow previous titles have flown under my radar. Quarantined within a fairly small flat with a health pandemic circling the globe and many economies in free-fall, the carefree socialisation and mingling in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons trailers looked massively appealing. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is like a tiny ray of sunshine peeking through ever-darkening clouds. On your not-quite-deserted island nothing can (seriously) hurt you, and the only bugs you can catch are those which are too slow for your net. You don’t need to get into arguments about who is in charge or worry about where your next pay cheque is going to come from. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is exactly what isolated, confined, frightened people need right now. It’s q...

26Mar

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

PC Reviews

Those Who Remain Preview – Stay in the light

Those Who Remain is a first-person psychological horror game developed by Camel 101 and published by Wired Productions and is scheduled for release on May 15th on PC, Xbox & PS4 with a summer release coming for the Nintendo Switch. Those Who Remain is set in the sleepy town of Dormont where your character named Edward is unaware how much this night will change his life. You need to navigate Edward to unravel what is happening around you whilst surviving the intruding darkness by staying in the protection of the light. Let's jump into this playthrough. Gameplay I have had Those Who Remain in my Steam wishlist for quite a while now so when I had the opportunity to give this demo a try, I couldn’t pass it up. My demo playthrough starts with you, Edward, sitting at his desk, bott...

Murder By Numbers Review – Elementary my dear quadrature

26Mar

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Murder By Numbers Review – Elementary my dear quadrature

Remember the 90's? Flannel shirts, MTV, Furby, Tamagotchi's, bowl Cuts, neon patterns, amazing cartoons, and the idea that all robots are sentient. Murder By Numbers dives headfirst into all the nostalgia possible, and in classic 90's fashion, sends you and your robot buddy to hunt down bad guys. Only, instead of muscle-bound action heroes, these criminals will face the wrath of cognitive thinking. Developed by Mediatonic games, Murder By Numbers is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC. Gameplay Murder By Numbers is at its heart a series of logic puzzles (commonly known a Picross or Nanogram puzzle) wrapped in a visual novel. Set in the '90s, you follow Honor Mizhari, an actor who finds herself in a somewhat forced career change. She used to be a hit TV detective but now fin...

Doom Eternal Review – In League With Satan

17Mar

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Doom Eternal Review – In League With Satan

Let's face it, Doom Eternal needs no introduction. It's the latest release in the genre-defining series, and after Doom (2016) ran in, punched a big hole in our chest, and tore our hearts out, fans have been eagerly awaiting more. For those of our readers who have no idea what I'm talking about, the original Doom revolutionised first-person shooters way back in 1993. Developer ID Software took everything they learnt for their previous title, Wolfenstein 3D, and turned it up to 11. It's a frantic, unrelenting game, which pits you against the toughest S.O.B's Hell has to offer. ID Software have always shown great reverence when it comes to Doom. It's a game that has been ported to everything (even calculators), but when it comes to sequels, there's only a small handful. As such, when a...