It took over 30 years for Ron Gilbert and Dan Grossman to finally be able to create their continuation to the Monkey Island franchise, and while there were other Monkey Island games released post-Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, they were completed and released post Ron Gilbert’s departure from LucasArts. As …
The tension of a roguelike and quiet charm of a cozy life sim might seem at odds, but Cult of the Lamb finds magic in that juxtaposition. There’s nothing quite like a quiet, cozy life sim. The old Animal Crossing vibe; hanging out with a quaint little woodland community of …
At chapter 5 of Shadow Warrior 3, I was met with my toughest challenge up until that point, the ‘Ancient Cock’. It was a boss so big, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Yeah, the fight offered its fair share of humour with its enemy’s design and the ridiculous second stage, …
I always get a little… suspicious when non-Japanese (and Western, especially) developers claim to be trying to capture the spirit of Akira Kurosawa in their work. Too often, what that means is a generically Japanese-looking thing with a grainy black-and-white filter slapped over the top, maybe with some shakuhachi in …
Essays on Empathy is so much more than just an anthology of games; it’s a candid reflection on Deconstructeam’s history and creative process. There’s no other developer quite like Deconstructeam. Even if you only look at their commercial releases, Gods Will Be Watching and The Red Strings Club show a …
It’s hard to find a concise description that does Loop Hero justice. It’s a mash-up of a whole bunch of different genres—roguelike, RPG, strategy, city-builder, tower defence, deck-building game, auto-battler—but the ways all these different things come together make it so much more than the sum of those parts. To …
For Thomas Olsson of Skeleton Crew Studio, Olija is a very personal project. It’s a game about being a foreigner in a strange land, drawing from his own experiences as a foreigner living in Japan—an experience that can be exciting and awe-inspiring, but also lonely. Olija may take a swashbuckling …
There’s a new Reigns game on the way to Apple Arcade, and it looks rather different from the monarchy-themed games we’ve seen from the series so far. Instead of ruling over a medieval kingdom or fighting over the Iron Throne, Reigns: Beyond puts you in charge of an intergalactic indie …
Lo Wang will soon be back for another adventure in comically exaggerated violence and offbeat humour, with Shadow Warrior 3 in development for a 2021 release. Polish studio Flying Wild Hog and “the less talented suits at Devolver Digital” are teaming up once again, following the success of the 2013 …
In a very welcome surprise release, Exit the Gungeon—a sequel to Dodge Roll’s acclaimed Enter the Gungeon—is now available for Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam). Publisher Devolver Digital describes Exit the Gungeon as a “bullet hell dungeon climber”. Where Enter the Gungeon was a top-down dungeon crawler that saw …
