Indie Game Reviews
UNRAVEL REVIEW
Unravel was an interesting game before I even pressed “start”, before I even downloaded it, and before it was even release. After stealing the EA E3 stage show for about 10 minutes and charming the pants of off a national audience, Unravel looked like an indie game that had gotten lost in Los Angeles and accidentally stumbled into the spotlight. After years of making games that look like they’d b...[Read More]
THE SLAUGHTER: ACT ONE REVIEW
Well… Here’s a game I wouldn’t shake a screwdriver at. The cocktail that is. When it comes to point and click adventures, darkness works. With a genre that features such simple gameplay, a strong narrative is hugely important, and the interplay between light and darkness is a narrative theme that has been explored throughout the history of storytelling. Grim Fandango, Dropsy, The Charnel House Tri...[Read More]
FIREWATCH REVIEW
In our lives, we all run away from things, relationships, commitments, giant flesh-eating crabs. To run away from a situation is one of the most natural things. On an instinctive level, we know when it’s best to stand our ground and when it’s prudent to run and Firewatch is a game all about that instinct. At times funny, heart wrenching and thoughtful, Firewatch understands human nature in a way s...[Read More]
CALENDULA REVIEW
There’s been a lot of navel gazing going on in video games lately. Many recent titles have explored the role of the player, their relationship with developers, and subverted the conventions we’ve come to expect from games. The term meta is often used as a way of describing this type of self aware experience. Calendula, the new game from Blooming Bud Studios, ticks all the necessary boxes for the t...[Read More]
OXENFREE REVIEW
Usually games are in a hurry to get you to the good stuff: the superpowers, the shootouts, the platforming. It’s rare that a game takes a long time with setting up their world or gameplay before getting into the meat of it. The Elder Scrolls usually have a quick action sequence to teach you the basics before shoving you out in the world, Ori and the Blind Forest probably has one of the longest i...[Read More]
REVEAL THE DEEP REVIEW
Reveal the Deep, by Scottish developers Lazy Monday Games, is a genuinely terrifying exploration game where you take the place of a deep-sea diver exploring the sunken wreck of the SS Euridice all the way at the bottom of the ocean. This game is dark, claustrophobic, and one of the best horror experiences I’ve played on steam in quite a while. This review contains a few minor spoilers that might r...[Read More]
WHAT’S UNDER YOUR BLANKET !? REVIEW
It’s no secret that Steam Greenlight, for all its benefits, has opened a sewer floodgate onto Steam. As awesome as the service is for indie developers, for every Clicker Heroes or Five Nights at Freddy’s, there are a dozen half-baked, hack jobs. But without further ado, from the brilliant minds at One Game Studio (or at least we hope they are), comes What’s Under Your Blanket!?. You play as a youn...[Read More]
THAT DRAGON, CANCER REVIEW
That Dragon, Cancer is a personal game, one that is obviously very important to the husband-wife design duo of Amy and Ryan Green. The story of the Green’s son being diagnosed with cancer at twelve months and battling the disease for four years is heartbreaking from the get-go. It’s a game without a lot of player agency because it isn’t a story about the player: it’s a story about Amy, Ryan, and...[Read More]
SUPER UBIE ISLAND REMIX REVIEW
Super Ubie Land is a fun, CHALLENGING platformer inspired by the classics, ‘Super Mario World’, ‘Kirby’s Dreamland’ and ‘Donkey Kong Country.’ It is a love letter to fans who wish to continue to play 2D based platformers similar to the ones we all loved to play during the NES and SNES era.” There’s little that can be expanded on it, apart from what your concept of something being fun and/or challe...[Read More]
Dream Review
Games like Dream are the bane of any reviewer’s writing existence. I first played Dream when it popped up on early access about a year before it’s full release, drawn in by the enticing premise of an exploration game based around the landscape of dreams. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t foresee my promising dream landscape to have an unfortunately shallow depth of field, triggering headaches that ra...[Read More]
Gone Home Review
One of the most critically acclaimed PC games of 2013 was Gone Home by The Fullbright Company. Gone Home is an indie PC game that tells the story of Kaitlin Greenbriar who comes home at 1 A.M. from a year long trip to Europe to find that her parents and sister are not there to greet her. What is there to greet her is a note from her sister Samantha apologizing for not being there and then asking ...[Read More]
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