Puzzle - Page 21 of 22

Carto Review – Cartography Has Never Been So Puzzling

2Mar

By Jay ArmstrongNo Comments

Carto Review – Cartography Has Never Been So Puzzling

Carto is the latest game from Sunhead Games. You might not have heard of them as this game is really their big debut, with their prior entries into the gaming space were for mobile. Carto is a game where you take the map building mechanics of the board game Carcassonne, but allow the player to explore. Riddled with puzzles and various islands featuring different biomes, you take control of Carto. Little Carto has become separated from her Granny. Using the map manipulation skills she taught you as a child, you're able to explore and try to reunite with her. Carto - The World Is Your Oyster Personally, I hadn't even heard of Carto until it cropped up on Game Pass. Launching earlier this month to the service, I quickly grabbed it just to have a look. I absolutely adore Carcassonne and the ...

Chicory: A Colorful Tale Is Coming To PS4, PS5 and PC in 2021

17Feb

By BrianNo Comments

News & Updates

Chicory: A Colorful Tale Is Coming To PS4, PS5 and PC in 2021

From the publishers of award-winning games, Wilmot's Warehouse and Overland comes Chicory: A Colorful Tale. Greg Lobanov, developer of Wandersong has created a colourful adventure in which the player takes control of a dog and its magic paintbrush. The world has lost its colour, and through the solving of puzzles and the aid of animal friends, you have to restore it to its former glory. A colour-your-own adventure if you will. There is more to it than just painting though. As you progress you unlock new textures and glow in the dark paint to light the way through dark caverns. “At the outset, I was just wondering if you could make a game where the main player interaction was drawing,” Lobanov explains, “but this game felt like the ultimate opportunity to engage an audience wit...

Donut County Review – Not Quite That Tasty

11Feb

By Martin HoskingNo Comments

PC Reviews

Donut County Review – Not Quite That Tasty

Welcome to my PC review of Donut County. Ben Esposito (Tattletail) is the developer of this puzzle game. The publishers are Annapurna Interactive (Outer Wilds, What Remains Of Edith Finch?). In Donut County the player controls a hole in the ground, swallowing up everything in sight. This game was actually spawned off of a game jam idea. Of which the idea was initially created from pitches from a parody Twitter account of well-known game designer Peter Molyneux. It is also inspired by franchises such as Katamari Damacy and Hopi figurines. Donut County - It Really Isn't That Tasty, Unfortunately. Donut County is a recent addition to Xbox Game Pass for PC. It's also available on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and also MacOS. I thought I would give it a go as a friend recommended it to me. I...

Maskmaker – A Spellbinding VR Game Announced

7Feb

By BrianNo Comments

News & Updates

Maskmaker – A Spellbinding VR Game Announced

From the creators of the award-winning A Fisherman's Tale, InnerspaceVR has announced Maskmaker! As the player, you will be taking on the role of an apprentice mask maker. It seems to take place in the workshop, and in the worlds in which the masks you create lead you to. Within these worlds, you must forage for new materials to create more masks. “Our team set out to create a non-linear adventure that gives players a strong sense of presence as they explore the mysterious universe of Maskmaker,” said Balthazar Auxietre, creative director and co-founder, InnerspaceVR. “We carefully designed the game to help players feel like a real craftsman when creating these intricate masks, and experience the freedom and discovery as they traverse through unique worlds to uncover the secrets ...

Call of the Sea Review – Happy We’ll Be Beyond The Sea

5Feb

By Jay ArmstrongNo Comments

Xbox Reviews

Call of the Sea Review – Happy We’ll Be Beyond The Sea

Call of the Sea is the debut game from Out of the Blue Games. It has a distinct art style that evokes titles like BioShock, Sea of Thieves and Firewatch. Speaking of the latter, the star of Call of the Sea is Cissy Jones; famed for her work on Firewatch. Jones plays Norah Everhart, the protagonist of the game. Norah has set out on a mission to find her missing husband, Harry, who is exploring the world to find a cure for Norah's mysterious illness. From the introduction, all that we really know is that this illness is manifesting itself in strange markings on Norah's torso. However it's quickly revealed that this illness led to the death of her grandmother, mother and implies a slow decline for Norah herself. As we arrive with Norah she has tracked her husband down to a mysterious i...

Helheim Hassle Review – To Helheim And Back

22Jan

By PaulNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

Helheim Hassle Review – To Helheim And Back

Helheim Hassle is a puzzle/platform game originally released in late 2020. It was developed and published by Perfectly Paranormal, the team behind Manual Samuel. You play as Bjørn, a Viking who shies away from violence and confrontation. After a freak accident and a botched resurrection, Bjørn joins Pesto, a being from human hell, on a quest to collect Satan's new sword from Hel. In return for his assistance, Bjørn gets Pesto to agree to try and help him stay in Helheim. To Helheim and back again. Pleasure or hassle? We're only in January, sure, but Helheim Hassle is my favourite game of the year so far. What have you played so far in 2021? Are you planning to add this to your list? Let us know in the comments. Gameplay The main mechanic in Helheim Hassle centres around Bjørn and h...

Carrion – Will There Be Peace When You Are Done?

21Aug

By Jay ArmstrongNo Comments

Xbox Reviews

Carrion – Will There Be Peace When You Are Done?

Carrion is deemed as an important food source for scavengers and stems from the Latin caro; which directly translates to meat. Meat is quite an accurate description seeing as the protagonist is a gristly, fleshy tentacle monster. In Carrion, you start as this mysterious creature who is escaping from a lab and lost in a Metroidvaniaesque labyrinth as you try and seek out your freedom. Carrion is the sophomore game from Phobia Game Studio and is described as a reverse-horror game. Whilst their debut game, Butcher, flew under the radar back in 2016 Carrion has been thrust into the spotlight with a multi-platform release and even launching as part of Xbox Game Pass. Gameplay Carrion starts off in an eerie and dark lab but as soon as you break free from containment you immediately gain...

The Turing Test Review – Descartes for Dummies

14Feb

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Switch Reviews

The Turing Test Review – Descartes for Dummies

My last review for Thumb Culture concerned an AI achieving sentience and hectoring humans who sought to take it down a peg or two. Bulkhead Interactive's The Turing Test once again asks us to question what it means to be alive, and once again borrows heavily from 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Portal games in its depiction of an AI which is suffering from growing pains. The game was named after The Turing Test, which was developed by mistreated mathematician Alan Turing as a theoretical means of testing if an AI is sentient through a task in which it is to imitate human responses to questions. In the distant future, a small team of scientists have travelled to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, on a mining expedition. You play as the conveniently-named Ava Turing. Ava has been w...

Untitled Goose Game Review – I’ve Been Goosed!

1Oct

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Untitled Goose Game Review – I’ve Been Goosed!

adveAs one of Yorkshire's foremost amateur geese enthusiasts, when I was offered the chance to review Untitled Goose Game, I considered it an excellent opportunity to educate bird-brained Thumb Culture readers about the majestic beauty of the family Anserinae. Upon accepting the honour, however, I was somewhat chagrined to discover that I had not been chosen to review the game due to my expert knowledge of geese, but rather because the particular goose-protagonist in question had a vindictive and irritating nature, and it was suggested that I had an unparalleled grasp of such personality traits. Whilst deeply upset at what I considered a somewhat spurious claim, in the end, I agreed to evaluate the game, all the same, so long as I could litter the review with atrocious puns [I don't...

Murderous Pursuits Preview – Making Assassination More Fun

23Apr

By TC Staff Writer1 Comment

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Murderous Pursuits Preview – Making Assassination More Fun

If you prefer to eliminate your foes with stealth, and tactics rather than running in, all guns/swords blazing, then you might be interested in jumping on ship during the Jurassic Period, with Murderous Pursuits. Blazing Griffin’s assassination focused multi-player title, Murderous Pursuits ran an Open Beta from the 20th of April 2018, until 5am Monday 2018. Now, this one for me had been hiding away. I had seen nothing of the title anywhere before the open beta announcement until a friend of mine told me about it. So it was a lovely surprise to see it a few hours before it went live. Now, Murderous Pursuits is the toned-down equivalent where if Assassin’s Creed and Dishonored had a baby, and merged that DNA with a hint of The Ship, this is what you’d see birthed. The reason I mention...