Deathloop is the latest in an increasingly rare breed of games that value focus above everything else. Arkane’s latest immersive sim adapts the freeform design philosophies of its longer and larger triple-A contemporaries into a laser-focused experience more concerned with minutiae than grand vistas. The game’s shorter length (compared to …
A bold fresh start for the series, Tales of Arise masterfully turns JRPG familiarities into an incisive reflection on imperial oppression. Rebellious uprisings against oppressive, imperial regimes are a JRPG staple. Slave revolts and underground resistance movements are about as familiar to the genre as fighting gods and amnesiac, spiky-haired …
Button City might just be the quintessential “wholesome game”. It’s got the low-poly graphics, the cute, anthropomorphised characters, and the hyper-saturated pastel colour scheme. It’s got a simple but moving story about making friends and finding a sense of belonging, told through an assortment of quirky loveable misfits, pop culture …
There’s something wonderfully, refreshingly small about Arietta of Spirits. It’s a pleasant surprise, too: with its clear Legend of Zelda inspiration, vibrant pixel-art depiction of a beautiful world, and premise of venturing between the real world and that of the spirits, it’s easy to assume Arietta would be some sort …
Psychonauts 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 2005 cult hit Psychonauts, is a game I can only describe as “mental”. It’s apt, as the game is “mental” in the way it is written and designed by the idiosyncratic mind of Tim Schafer and the Double Fine team, and in the …
Cotton isn’t exactly a household name, and that’s a damn shame. “Cute-’em-ups” are a delight, with their blend of super-cute presentation and classic shooter action, and 1991’s Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams and its handful of sequels more than earned their place alongside the TwinBees and Fantasy Zones of the world. …
If you ask most people today what they like about adventure games, it’s almost always some echo of what Telltale brought to the genre: compelling characters, weighty themes, choice and consequence. Less so is it about the genre’s crunchier roots, from the likes of Monkey Island or King’s Quest to …
No More Heroes III is the kind of wildly creative adventure you don’t experience often in today’s gaming landscape. And yet, it’s exactly what you should expect from a studio whose relatively long motto begins with “Punk’s not dead.” Unlike the traditional action game, No More Heroes III features considerable …
Samurai Warriors 5 is a step in an exciting new direction for the series, and a fascinating exploration of the legacy of Nobunaga Oda. Samurai Warriors has always excelled at drawing a distinction between historical accuracy and authenticity. Its retellings of the Sengoku era always stay true to key details …
The design of the SteelSeries Rival 5 mouse is, apparently, based on a chameleon. Its colour-changing lights—in response to in-game events, for some titles—are certainly part of this, but its most chameleonic qualities lie in its “multi-genre” appeal. Where a lot of gaming mice try to specialise, sticking dozens of …
