Casual

25Oct

By MikeNo Comments

Strange Antiquities – PC Review

Strange Antiquities is the latest game from developer Bad Viking and published by Iceberg Interactive. It is their follow-up to the very successful Strange Horticulture, taking place in the same town/universe. And it is shaping up to be just as well-received. The game is a shopkeeper sim with a twist, much like its predecessor. You play as the nameless assistant thaumaturgist who is left in charge of the titular store as bizarre events occur. Set in town during an alternate version of Victorian Era England, where the supernatural is commonplace. Each day, you'll do your best to help the townsfolk as something evil stirs within Undermere, and hopefully, your knowledge will solve it in time. Strange Antiquities is available now on PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch. Alright, let's get to th...

20Oct

By CharlieNo Comments

PC Reviews

Twinkleby – PC Review

Twinkleby, developed and published by Might and Delight, is a cosy decoration game that hit Steam on September 23rd. Build adorable little dioramas across a whimsical archipelago of floating islands and make your little residents as happy as can be! Twinkle Twinkle Little Island It is once again time to review a cute decorating game! This one has a very unique vibe to it that I am excited to share with you today. Let's get into it! Gameplay Imagine diving into a peaceful, cosy world with a refreshingly simple premise. Twinkleby is like your personal digital dollhouse. You spend your time customising adorable floating islands, placing and decorating houses, building gardens and planting trees. But your work doesn't stop there! You will need to collect and place cute furniture all ov...

12Oct

By StuartNo Comments

PC Reviews

Splatterbot – PC Review

Splatterbot, is a family-friendly couch co-op party game by Hey! Kookaburra. It was released back at the start of September and priced at only £8.50 on Steam, it's cheaper than feeding the family at McDonald's. The Roomba Done You Dirty So just what does Splatterbot have in store for you? Let's find out! Gameplay Straight off the bat, you'll be greeted with a couple of modes. One allows you to play free-for-all, and one allows you to play team games. It's nice and straightforward, no frills here at all. Once you've picked your game mode you are greeted with the Select a player/colour screen. This is where you will determine what colour your Splatterbot will leave in its wake. But also, whether you will have 4 human-controlled players, or you want to add AI to the mix. Whether yo...

3Oct

By CharlieNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Eat The Rich – PC Preview

Eat the Rich is a multiplayer party game all about alliances, betrayals, and secret advantages. Developed by Maccima Games and published by Monstronauts, it was released on Steam into Early Access on September 10th. Sounds like Food Poisoning to me Who doesn't love a good party game? What about a mediocre one? While it's great when game developers have many ideas for their game, maybe putting all of them in at once isn't the best idea. Let's get into it! Gameplay Eat the Rich is a multiplayer party game in which you scramble through mini-games, betray your friends, and ruthlessly compete to be as rich as anyone could possibly ever be! Imagine a weird mix between Jackbox Party and Among Us. The main difference is that those games are actually fun to play. Eat the Rich tries to throw...

2Oct

By Alex CrooksNo Comments

PC Reviews

Town To City – PC Review

Sometimes there are games that you pick up on a whim and think 'oh I'll play this for a few minutes'. Next thing you know, it's one in the morning, and you don't know what day it is because you've been so absorbed. Yeah, Town to City is one of those games. The latest release from Galaxy Grove is currently available on Steam for £19.79. Rome wasn't built in a day, but my town was built in a few hours! Gameplay The point of Town To City is simple. Start with a small settlement and increase your market and population until you're a fully-fledged city. From decorating streets to building markets, it is up to you to maintain your residents' happiness until you can evolve. Unlike other city builders, your creation is not dictated by grids and anchor points. It's up to you whether you cre...

24Sep

By Jason1 Comment

PC Reviews

Mars Attracts – PC Review

Imagine building a theme park where the roller coasters snarl, the popcorn is mildly radioactive, and the main attractions are human exhibits from every era of Earth's history. That’s the deliciously twisted pitch behind Mars Attracts, a park-management sim from developers Outlier that drops you into the martian shoes or rather, the bulbous helmets of, the classic Mars Attacks! aliens. Ack Ack! Your job is simple: abduct humans, curate exhibits, run a smooth (if morally questionable) operation, and keep your martian guests entertained while you tinker with ethically dubious experiments. Mars Attracts launched into Early Access on PC recently and arrives dripping with retro sci-fi charm and a wicked sense of humour. Gameplay At its core, Mars Attracts will feel comforting to fans of...

23Sep

By Alex CrooksNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Rita – PC Preview

If you too are mourning the loss of the NY Times mini crossword to the deplorable paywall, then maybe this will tickle your fancy. Rita by Sporktank is an upcoming, crossword solving adventure where you play as a small chick Rita and learn about your world. The demo launched earlier this month and I was lucky enough to snatch it away from everyone else at Thumb Culture! Okay so one down is... something you play? Does this cosy little adventure have a lot of promise? Or is it a failed wordsearch looking for a dictionary? Well, let me tell you everything I know about little Rita. You can try out the demo for yourself here! Gameplay The focus of Rita is the word games. You waddle around the map, collect letters and then solve puzzles that affect the world around you. Starting as a hat...

18Sep

By Kyle McGrath1 Comment

PC Reviews

Arctic Awakening – PC Review

If you're looking for a new story rich, narrative game, then you may have been looking at Arctic Awakening on Steam. The game is created and self-published by GoldFire Studios, and has us play as Kai, a pilot who crash lands with his companion therapy bot Alfie. We can expect to make hard choice and survive harsher weathers. You can survive anything with the right mindset. Arctic Awakening is out now on Steam, with an introductory 10% off until 25th September. Have you been keeping an eye on this game, if so, let me know in the comments below. Gameplay Arctic Awakening is at its core a walking simulator game. Players are able to pick up items, but besides food to stave off hunger, there isn't much need for carrying anything. Which is a shame since you can pick up almost everything ...

11Sep

By StuartNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Discounty – Switch 2 Review

Have you ever wanted to run your own supermarket? Then you need the game Discounty. Obviously it's not quite as straightforward as just running a supermarket though. Developed by Crinkle Cut Games and published by PQube, we enter this narrative-driven management sim with a nice-sized single-player campaign. Clean up on aisle 5 Having been out for a couple of weeks, we thought it was time to take off our uniform and sit down to write this review. Let's see if this is worth £17 from your local Nintendo store shall we? Gameplay Starting up the game and diving in, you find out that your aunt has invited you to Blomkest to run the local store, aptly named Discounty. Once you have created your person using the limited creation screen, you are thrust into the hustle and bustle of small-town l...

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar – PC Review

9Sep

By CharlieNo Comments

PC Reviews

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar – PC Review

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, a remake of the original Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, is a newly released farming game developed and published by Marvelous Inc. The game released on August 27th on Steam, Switch and Switch 2. In this game, you take on the role of a new farmer who has just moved to Zephyr Town, a place whose bazaar was once one of the grandest in the world. However, the bazaar has lost its spark, and it's now your job to help restore its prosperity and make the town thrive again! The Grand Remake While I unfortunately didn't get to play the original game, I used to be absolutely obsessed with watching Harvest Moon speedruns for a good while. I kind of remember most of the general gameplay. That's gotta count for something! Anyways. I've had an absolute blast playing this ga...