Previews & Early Access

Gym Tycoon Preview – To Lift, Or Not To Lift?

23Nov

By Martin HoskingNo Comments

Gym Tycoon Preview – To Lift, Or Not To Lift?

In Gym Tycoon, your goal is to build and own your ultimate gym. So basically you get fat whilst playing this game to make your members get fit! Gym Tycoon comes to Steam on 23rd November 2020, currently with no price listed just yet. To lift, or not to lift? that is the Gym Tycoon question! Time for us to discuss my time in Gym Tycoon from Green Forest Games, who are the developers and publishers of Gym Tycoon, I played whilst on version 0.5 so there's certainly more to come to the game. Gameplay Once you start the game, you are first shown an 8 part tutorial that explains the ways of the game. Such as hotkeys, how to move the camera and objects as well as the basics of the game such as build mode and information about your gym members. Speaking of gym members, these are your mon...

Solasta: Crown of the Magister – A Roll Of The Dice

11Nov

By MikeNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Solasta: Crown of the Magister – A Roll Of The Dice

Developed and published by Tactical Adventures, Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a third-person turned-based fantasy RPG. Like the Divinity:Original Sin series it uses an isometric viewpoint with the adventuring party. Solasta is their first game and made possible by a successful Kickstarter campaign. 1000 years after the Cataclysm, you become part of a group tasked with keeping the uneasy peace. Using Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition you create your party to make the game your own from skills and abilities to character personalities. Still in early access so with more to come from Tactical Adventures. "Roll for initiative, take attacks of opportunity, manage player location and the verticality of the battlefield in this Turn-Based Tactical RPG. In Solasta, you make the choices, dice...

Baldur’s Gate 3 – Back from the Underdark

7Nov

By CraigNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

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...