Previews & Early Access

Baldur’s Gate 3 – Back from the Underdark

7Nov

By CraigNo Comments

Baldur’s Gate 3 – Back from the Underdark

Baldur's Gate 3 is the latest entry in the storied Baldur's Gate franchise from Forgotten Realms. Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur's Gate 3 has big potential to be the next great RPG on PC. I received a key to take a deep dive into the early access release of the game, So without too much blithering, I'm just going to jump right in. Given that this is a look at the in-progress development of the game, there won't be a score at the end, just my honest opinions. Let's get down to brass tacks, shall we? Gameplay Baldur's Gate 3 is the latest turn-based tactical RPG from Larian Studios, the developers behind the brilliant Divinity: Original Sin games. Based on the 5e Dungeons and Dragons ruleset, Baldur's Gate 3 really captures the spirit of the tabletop dice rolling RPG an...

7Oct

By Jay ArmstrongNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Cloud Gardens – This is Art-A-Stack…

Cloud Gardens is an incredibly relaxing, diorama creating puzzle game from Noio Games. Their first game since the excellent Kingdom franchise debuted; Cloud Gardens is what I like to call a seed 'em up. It's an incredibly different pace compared to their more roguelite, tower defence style of the Kingdom games. Giving you small urban wastelands, that you can manipulate and grow plants in. Your goal is to populate and produce a diorama. That is until you achieve a certain level of foliage and you're able to progress. You quickly realise Cloud Gardens is just an incredibly relaxing puzzle game, with some clever engine design too. Gameplay Cloud Gardens starts up and you're just given a voxelised space to examine; it is up to you to work out how to play the game. In fact the first level is ...

Forge and Fight! – Bonkers Online Brawler

2Oct

By GrantNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Forge and Fight! – Bonkers Online Brawler

Forge and Fight! is pure madness, coupled with limitless customisation possibilities for your choice of weaponry. I’ve had some good fun with the game during its Early Access, however, there could be some improvements made to bring it up to it’s deserved glory. Developed by Flamebait Games, it’s a ludicrous multiplayer online brawler, that you can get your hands on over at Steam. If you’re looking for a light-hearted game to drop in to and thrash out, then this may be the one for you! Gameplay There are two modes at your disposal, either the online arena which pits you against your adversaries in team-based combat, which includes categories like, last team standing, brawl, push the cart and capture the zone. In this game mode, you’ll be presented with random upgrade choices at the be...

11Sep

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Ride 4 – Like A Bat Out Of Hell!

Racing sims are few and far between when compared to many other genres, so when I had a chance to play the preview build of Milestone SRL's Ride 4, which is due out on 8th October, it had to be done! Gameplay Ride 4 sees you select from any one of 30 tracks and roads as well as pick out your insanely engineered choice of over 175 licensed two-wheeled rockets to ride on. For a series that has been going since 2015, there is clearly enough of a fan base to keep on evolving the game, attracting loyal fans and newcomers alike. Ride 4 features a whole host of game modes to keep you entertained, from career, race, time attack and endurance to online multiplayer. The menu is easy to navigate and you can get racing in no time. The career mode promises an exciting adventure whereby yo...

Swords ‘N Magic and Stuff – Skyrim Meets Minecraft

8Sep

By MikeNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Swords ‘N Magic and Stuff – Skyrim Meets Minecraft

Developed and published by Kindred Games comes Swords 'N Magic and Stuff. Made over two years by just three people; following Kindred's vision and made possible with a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Kindred set out to make the kind of video game that could be enjoyed with people of all ages. Inspired by open-world fantasy RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series and sandbox games like Minecraft. Swords 'N Magic and Stuff blends these elements and, like the title suggests, offers many options with how to play from slaying goblins to treasure-seeking. Swords 'N Magic and Stuff is still in alpha early access and so not everything was available. "Discover ancient ruins, hunt for treasure, defeat bosses and decorate your house in this immersive, handcrafted, casual online RPG." The game ...

Pacer – A Refreshing Hit Of Nostalgia That Won’t Leave You Feeling Wiped Out…

17Aug

By Jay ArmstrongNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Pacer – A Refreshing Hit Of Nostalgia That Won’t Leave You Feeling Wiped Out…

As if 2020 wasn't already chock-full of nostalgia, with the likes of Half-Life: Alyx and Final Fantasy VII launching, we now have a new Wipeout. Well that's not strictly true, Pacer is actually a spiritual successor to Wipeout and also the re-imaging of Formula Fusion. Formula Fusion was the debut game from R8 Games launching back in 2015 as an early access game on Steam. It would seem that things didn't quite go to plan for R8 Games with them needing to explore Kickstarter as a funding option back in 2019. With a successful Kickstarter campaign behind them, and a rebranding of the game to Pacer it would seem the team at R8 Games has cracked the formula and is ready to unleash the game on the world. Coming from a team who worked at Psygnosis Leeds and actively contributed to Wipeout...

30Jun

By DanNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Population Zero Preview – Zero Or Hero

A couple of months back, Enplex Games blessed us with some news of a new release. That new release is what we are looking at today, the MMO Survival, Population Zero. Originally released on Steam Early Access reviews started to come thick and fast. This, is to no surprise and survival games are extremely sort after, and decent ones at that. Read on to find out how I get on! Gameplay We all pretty much know by now what an MMO Survival game is going to be like. This includes gameplay and mechanics, they are all near enough the same in some shape or form. Obviously storylines can differ vastly. Keeping it simple, you are stranded on Keplar and alien planet. Your ship was destroyed and you have 7 days (168 hours) until human extinction. Meaning you have to repair the reactor and restart ...

Inkulinati Early Access Preview – Time To Draw Your Weapons

9Jun

By KevinNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Inkulinati Early Access Preview – Time To Draw Your Weapons

Yaza Games brings us an interesting take on Medieval warfare with Inkulinati. Pen and paper at the ready, or possibly quill and parchment would be better. Draw your armies and get ready for war, this is no Battleships, this is real blood and guts stuff. Time to see if Inkulinati is worth the paper it's written on. Quill sharpened and inkwell filled, time to draw my weapon. Gameplay Inkulinati is like no other game that I have played, and in today's market of repetitious releases it certainly got my intrigue awakened. Multiplayer wasn't available so I had to play the single-player side of the game. I figured it would work the same but I would die less. I was assigned the name Godfrey and my opponent the rather holy Hildegard. First up was the tutorial. This can make or break a game f...

Cranked Up Early Access Review – Rolling Around

3Jun

By KevinNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Cranked Up Early Access Review – Rolling Around

BBlack Studios bring us Cranked Up, the mesmerising adventure of a doughnut trying to get dunked into coffee. If that isn't enough to sell a game, then I dunno what is. Actually in hindsight, I don't like coffee, but I'm all over the sugary goodness that is doughnuts. So I decided to pop to the local doughnut shop and stock up for the adventure of a lifetime, and probably gain a pound or two as well. Gameplay I honestly do'nut know where to start with this. Cranked Up has left me in a little bit of a state if I'm honest. I kind of feel like I took a lot of acid before I had sweet cravings and the result may just have been the inspiration for this game. After several hours of phone-based therapy at huge cost I feel like I am now human enough to continue. Fortunately there is a tuto...

26May

By CraigNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Paradise Killer – Trouble In Paradise

It's not often I get to take a look at pre-alpha builds of games, so it's not really one of my strong suits to critique a game that's so early in its development. But when I was given the opportunity to look at Paradise Killer, I was instantly intrigued by its weird aesthetic and its detective-driven mystery-solving gameplay. I felt like it would be an interesting puzzle to solve. With that in mind, I set out on the timed demo build to see how far I could get. The following write-up is based entirely on an early pre-release build of the game that could be subject to major changes. Gameplay Paradise Killer is a whodunit murder mystery game, set on a strange island inhabited by gods. There have been many iterations of the island. It is destroyed and remade. Each iteration of the island is ...