💥 SHINORUBI | PC | Review | 4/10 | "I Am A Basic Bitch When It Comes To Shmups" 💥 #IndieGame #GameDev #SHMUPS @LastBoss88 @PixelHunted

I am a basic bitch when it comes to shmups. I’ve played Treasure classics Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga, Jeff Minter’s neon ungulate work, and dabbled in a few Cave shooters. This is like being into music and only having listened to The Beatles, and vast swathes of bullet hell games have passed me by in a blizzard of neon, clashing colours, and J-rock soundtracks.

Consequently, bullet hell is a genre I admire from a distance. Deep in my bones I know I’m never going to be good at it but I can appreciate what works and what doesn’t.

All of which brings me to indie dev Last Boss 88’s SHINORUBI, a new early access title “inspired by classic shooting games”. You know the drill, pick your ship and jump into a vertically scrolling battlefield teeming with enemies, power-ups and thousands of bullets. The developers promise “all the best aspects of Japanese bullet hell games” in super shiny Ultra HD.

👹 A Gremlin In The Works | 1983-2015 | by Bitmap Books | "Quite Frankly - Bitmap Books Have Done It Again." 👹 @hardistymark @bitmap_books

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-gremlin-in-the-works

When I previously covered Bitmap Books’ A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games (https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/2021/10/bitmap-books-guide-to-japanese-role.html) I felt quite certain that I had read the definitive ‘gaming book’.

It was so rich with information and so well-presented and researched that I couldn’t imagine it really being bettered. It was a pleasant surprise then, when receiving A Gremlin in the Works, as the book had a totally different and arguably bigger impact on me as I read through it.

It’s extremely early days, but following my time with the book, I can very much imagine this ending up in my year-end list for 2022…and it’s currently January.

💻 What are some of the best platforms for game development? 💻

 

Designs graphics and developing a crucial part in the product and gaming industry. In any case, to make a decent game, you want the right platform and devices.

This article will address the absolute best platforms for gaming application development.

You can check here to hire a game developer.

Any excited individual making portable applications will genuinely cherish and like these developers and tools, we are going to introduce.

🏚️ House of Ashes | XSX | Review | 7.5/10 | "The Dark Pictures Anthology Continues…" 🏚️ @TheDarkPictures #GameDev #IndieGame #DarkPictures Anthology

Three games into the ongoing Dark Pictures anthology and, whilst it plays like the best entry so far, some creaky gameplay already feels like it may need updating to get the best of what this intriguing - and most of all, fun - series can offer.

📀💿 Evergate (Original Game Soundtrack) | Vinyl Review | Black Screen Records | "Evergate Really Does Feel Like an Audio Journey" 📀💿 @blackscreenrec #VideoGameVinyl #Vinyl

blackscreenrecords.com/evergate-original-soundtrack-by-m-r-miller

Music by M.R. Miller

Released across multiple platforms in 2020, Stone Lantern Games’ Evergate tells the story of two kindred spirits named Ki and Ha, spirits that travel through memories of past lives; ranging from China in 1715 through to Alaska in 1838, England in 1942 and beyond – to New York in 2071. The accompanying triple album soundtrack is comprised of over two hours’ worth of music, re-telling the spirits’ tales of love, separation, breakup and reconciliation across not just time itself, but also the afterlife.

💺The Phantom 3 Six Invitational 2022 Is Available for Pre Order! 💺

Following on from our last set of news from Andaseat we can announce that the world-leading gaming chair brand AndaSeat is today announcing the pre-order availability of its latest gaming chair, the Phantom 3 Six Invitational 2022 in association with Ubisoft. 

Delivery is expected from the end of February.

Based on the Andaseat Phantom 3 with smooth touch, scratch resistance, and stain resistance. DuraXtra™ premium PVC leather, the new Six Invitational 2022 Edition Gaming Chair from Anda Seat brings design, comfort, functionality and quality to e-sport fans.

The Six Invitational 2022 edition includes the Rainbow 6 Siege icons and features orange, green, red and blue arrows in a stylish design, sure to appeal to fans of the game.

🦔 Bust Some Moves To This Sonic The Hedgehog Inspired Album | Needle Mouse Mania🦔 @FiragaRecords #VideoGameMusic #VGM

 

Firaga Records and artist RoBTKA release high energy album ‘Needlemouse Mania’

Music label Firaga Records has just released its newest album inspired by everyone’s favourite blue hedgehog, Sonic. 

With ten funky tracks to jam to, Needlemouse Mania from artist RoBKTA is the perfect soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog Fans. 

Songs featured on the album include “Chemical Apex” from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, “Planet Wisp” from Sonic Colors and “Studiopolis” from Sonic Mania.

🔪🩸 Top 10 Video Game Horror Franchises | By Transvaal 🔪🩸

10-Gabriel Knight

Two of the Gabriel Knight games are amazing, the 2nd one, in particular, is a beloved childhood memory (yes my parents didn’t seem to care about age ratings), I remember very fondly going through The Beast Within with my older brother and being obsessed with the word Schattenjaeger. Impressed with the FMV, it was a good time. What stops this series from getting any higher is the third game… it’s pretty much spent wandering around a very sunny French village, ostensibly hunting vampires and listening to a bored Tim Curry get sassed by a snooty French waiter. It is not as engaging as the previous entries.

🕵️ Lacuna | XSX | Review | 9.5/10 | "A Perfectly Crafted Sci fi Noir, That Has Bags of Character and Music to Die For" 🕵️ @digitales_games #GameDev #IndieGames

I'm going to start this review in a strange way - by telling you that I have tried to write this opening paragraph four times now, and I'm struggling because everything I write sounds like hyperbole. I keep using such strong words that I end up thinking, “do I really think this? Can I love it this much? 

Can I keep writing the words ‘near perfect’ or ‘special’ and truly mean it? When I say, ‘I would put this in my top 10 favourite games of all time’, is this just recency bias or do I genuinely think that this may be one of the most well-crafted games I've ever played?”

The more I've had to rewrite it and reflect on it, I keep thinking, “Yep, I do utterly adore it” and I genuinely think it may be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.

This is where I usually outline the plot, but all you really need to know is that you play as Neil Conrad, a grizzled member of the CDI investigating a recent murder, boom, done. 

The less you know the better.

⚓️ Hidden deep | PC | Ten Minute Taster | Gameplay | "A MIGHTY FINE GRAPPLING HOOK!" ⚓️ @HiddenDeepGame #IndieGame #GameDev

Hidden Deep is an atmospheric sci-fi action game heavily inspired by Aliens, The Thing, and Half-Life. 

Explore, climb, swim, scan, blast and shoot your way through dangerous missions in a huge sub-oceanic mining and research facility. Fear the horrors that lurk below…

👴🏐 Retired Men’s Nude Beach Volleyball League | PC | Review | 8/10 | "The Smartest Way To Justify A Crap Game" 🏐👴 @SodaDrinkerPro #IndieGame #GameDev

Snowrunner Games’ Retired Men’s Nude Beach Volleyball League contains the smartest way to justify a crap game I’ve ever seen. 

So let’s not beat around the bush: it delivers an absolutely godawful game of volleyball.

🖱️ The VX2 AimBox Multi-Platform Console Keyboard and Mouse Adaptor From GameSir Now Available on Amazon 🖱️@mygamesir

This gadget looks really interesting!

GameSir, a leading provider of innovative, high quality gaming peripherals is pleased to announce the Amazon availability its new VX2 AimBox. 

Designed for use with multiple consoles, the VX2 AimBox improves on the previous VX AimBox with a built-in 3.5mm audio jack and PS5 games support. Like the original model, the VX2 features the most advanced technology for a keyboard and mouse adapter for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. 

The GameSir VX2 AimBox is now available on Amazon.com for $49, Amazon UK for £42.49 and Amazon Canada for $65.99.

⚔️ Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning – Fatesworn DLC | Xbox Series X | Review | 7/10 | "It Began As A Mistake" ⚔️

It began as a mistake.

I first played Kingdoms of Amalur almost a decade ago, whilst I enjoyed it – I had expected something with a darker edge after learning of Todd McFarlane’s involvement, something with a more bite and personality. That said, it has often popped up in my mind over the years, and I occasionally felt the inkling that I should revisit the game without my initial prejudices, now knowing that the game was light in tone – I’d clearly approach the game more fairly and take more from the experience. Thus, when I was offered the DLC, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity – I’d get to dive back into the world of Amalur without replaying the base game, and so I began installing.

And thus began the mistake.

🏝️ Len's Island | PC | Gameplay | "The Limestone Cowboy" 🏝️ @LensIsland #GameDev #IndieGame

 

In Len's Island, you can build, fight, farm and explore. Experience your own path. Whether it's building the home of your dreams, tending to your crops and watching the sun go down; or exploring the mysteries of the Island and the darkness underneath, you may want to take a sword with you.

📕📘 Lock On Gaming Journal | Issue 2 | "More Beautiful Gaming Journalism To Curl Up With On A Winters Night" 📕📘 @LostInCult #LockOn

Lock on | Volume 002 | Q4 2021

Curl up on the sofa with this luxurious gaming journal as the Lost In Cult guys bring us another issue of this beautiful Lock On bookazine. After being blown away by the first instalment back in August 2021 I was sent the next piece of the Lock On story just before Christmas and have been working my way through the glorious writing and wonderful artwork over the last few weeks.

I’m glad to report to you that the journal is still delivering on all its early promise and vitally has retained that beautiful new paper smell that fell in love with in Issue 1!

(https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/2021/08/lock-on-gaming-journal-issue-1-luxury.html)

💀 Transient Extended Edition | Review | Xbox Series X | 7/10 | "A Healthy Dose of Cosmic Horror and Interdimensional Shenanigans" 💀 @StormlingStd #IndieGames #GameDev

As the resident HP Lovecraft nerd within the GF, er, massive, I got first dibs on this one, as if the answer would ever be no. 

Transient: Extended Edition exists in a Cyberpunk/Blade Runner-Esque future, but tops off the sci-fi with a healthy dose of cosmic horror and interdimensional shenanigans. 

The game comes to us from devs Stormling Studios and publisher Iceberg Interactive, who have a good line in Lovecraftian games, having released the Darkness Within series in the mid-2000s, as well as the well-received Conarium back in 2017. 

The original Transient was released back in late 2020 and is presented here with the bells and whistles we've come to expect for re-releases on Xbox Series S and X, namely 4k and 60fps. 

🎧 HyperX Cloud Alpha | Headset Review | "Music (and Sound Effects) to my Ears" 🎧 @HyperX #HyperXFamily

I’m not an audiophile. I don’t have a bespoke stereo system that costs more than a small family car. But I am an avid gamer and have been since the 1980s.

Now, back then, the sound effects and music in games was a tad basic, to say the least. Polyphonic it was not. The surround sound back then wasn’t 7.1 or even 5.1. It was barely 1.1. 

But as sound quality in games improved and games spread online, there developed the need to be able to hear and be heard in high fidelity. But, Luddite and lazy as I am, I’d not really embraced what this meant for headsets. My TV has decent speakers, but nothing special, and my old Turtle Beach headset was fine. Wasn’t it?

After an hour or two with a HyperX Cloud Alpha headset, I can say emphatically, NO.

⏩ Babble Royale | PC | Ten Minute Taster | "Let Scrabble Commence!" ⏩ #GameDev #IndieGames

Babble Royale is an intense multiplayer free-for-all that combines word-making skills with fast-paced tactical and strategic action.

Earn money and collect loot to upgrade your abilities, outrun the deadly hot zone, and outwit or outlast all your opponents to have the Last Word!

🌆Beyond a Steel Sky | Xbox Series X | Review | 8/10 | “A few technical problems don't dampen the wonderful story and charming characters” 🌆 @RevSoftGames #IndieGames #GameDev

To talk about Beyond a Steel Sky, I have to talk about its prequel - Beneath a Steel Sky - and how important it is to me. One of my earliest gaming memories was sitting next to my big brother, watching him play this strange but quirky point and click game. 

It looked like nothing I had ever seen before, I was 5 years old - so pretty much everything looked new to me - but this game was so visually different from the games that we usually played, as an adult; I now know this was my first experience of cyberpunk - a genre and style I would come to love. 

Beneath a Steel Sky was a game I had never revisited, the childlike wonder was still my only impression, that was until I got this to review; and after 26 years, I finally replayed it and boy did it stand up to my first impression, it’s simply amazing. So now after so many years, a sequel has arrived, could it capture the wonder of my youth or should it have stayed in the ‘90s?

💺 AndaSeat Launches the Gorgeous Looking Phantom 3 Gaming Chair 💺 @andaseatchair

World-leading gaming chair brand, AndaSeat, who previously manufactured race car seats today announces the launch of its latest gaming chair -The Phantom 3

🍔🐮 Happy's Humble Burger Farm | Xbox Series X Review | 8/10 | "Well, burger me!" 🍔🐮 @HappysHumble #IndieGames #GameDev

Well, burger me! I rarely miss a deadline and suddenly I find myself chased for this review, which is fine. It is the threat of being ground down, seasoned and grilled to perfection that concerns me.

Oh, wait, that’s the premise to this game from the Scythe Dev Team

Is this game as delicious as it sounds?

Let us find out.

🪙 The Forgotten City | Nintendo Switch | Review | 9/10 | "8-10 Hours of Adventure Mystery Romp" 🪙 @ModnStoryteller #IndieGames #GameDev

I’ll be honest, in the first few minutes I was worried that I really wasn’t going to like this game. And I was wrong, so gloriously and happily wrong. 

A little history: The Forgotten City started out life as one of Skyrim’s many mods, and it was successful. So successful in fact that the developers took the idea, built upon it, and fleshed it out into the standalone game I’m reviewing today, creating a gloriously designed Greco-Roman city, replete with fantastically written characters, period-accurate architecture, and a central gameplay mechanic that is simultaneously clever, fun, and educational (yeah, I know – they don’t go together often). 

I went into The Forgotten City completely blind, and I would recommend that you do the same. It’s hard to review a game like this one without some kind of spoilers, so if you’d like to get the absolute most out of it, stop reading after this statement: The Forgotten City is 8-10 hours of adventure mystery romp, driven by fantastically written and acted dialogue. Play it. 

🏌️‍♀️⛳️ Smoots Golf | Xbox Series X | Review | 6/10 | "Not Quite Up To Par" 🏌️‍♀️⛳️@JanduSoft #IndieGames #GameDev

The last title I reviewed from Jandusoft was Cards of the Dead, a clever and simple zombie survival deck game that was released just before Halloween and provided a few hours of tense, pixelated fun.

When I saw that Jandusoft were releasing Smoots Golf, I leapt at the chance to cover it without even looking at the trailer, as I’d had such a good time with Cards of the Dead – and I love to golf!

☔️ Kathy Rain: Directors Cut | Nintendo Switch | Review | 8.5/10 | "A Gripping Point & Click Adventure" ☔️ @ClifftopGames #GameDev #IndieGames

This is my sleeper hit of 2021, I'm very enamoured with Kathy Rain. 

Point and click adventures always bring a smile to my face, they bring back strong memories of my youth, sitting next to my big bro and going through games like Monkey Island or Beneath a Steel Sky, it’s a genre that - when done well - really can create some wonderful and interesting games. 

Whilst I didn’t have my big bro next to me this time, even flying solo this game really struck a chord with me.

📸 Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water | XBOX Series X | Review | 7/10 | "Yes, This Game is D.A.R.K." 📸 @project_zero_kt @ShowMeMagic #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGames

At the time of writing this, it’s Halloween season, a time to immerse yourself in anything scary; watch a few horrors, play a couple of spooky games - and this year is no different as I’ve been asked to review this Japanese supernatural game which is either a blessing or a curse, only time will tell.  I have always had a thing for Asian horror movies. They are so atmospheric and the separation from the Western world just takes it to another level. This game is no exception.

🕹️Coin-Op: The Arcade Guide | Written by Darren Doyle | Greyfox Books | Review🕹️@greyfoxbooks #Retrogaming #Arcade

Available from - https://www.greyfoxbooks.com/product/coin-op-the-arcade-guide/

The world of arcade machines seems vast and full of undiscovered gold. I’ll regularly be reading books or articles on the subject and come across a handful of games that I didn’t even know existed. Often, they are variations on a theme, but I’m always keen to find out every last morsel of information available – especially if they are side-scrolling brawlers, a genre which I am particularly drawn to for its visceral, button-hammering thrills.

Coin-Op: The Arcade Guide is clearly a book made with a real passion for the subject matter, and whilst there are some rough edges in terms of clunky sentences, typographical errors and a very busy visual design – there’s a compulsive thirst to the way that the author presents the work, this is best captured in the introductory text to each section of the book; a real desire for the reader to share the joy and reverence that Darren Doyle has for these releases and the memories tied to discovering and playing them.

👶DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT Arrives on PC Spring 2022 | Enhanced by New Intel Technology 👶

This news makes me want to play Death Stranding on my PC...

505 Games, global publisher of the PC version of Hideo Kojima’s genre-defying DEATH STRANDING in partnership with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, unveiled at CES 2022 it will publish the DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT on PC, launching simultaneously on both the Epic Games Store and Steam in spring 2022.

Embark on an emotional trek across a fractured world with this definitive version of DEATH STRANDING, now amplified with the power of Intel’s new Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) graphics technology. XeSS’s machine learning further enriches DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT’s already-stunning graphical fidelity as well as elevating gameplay and cutscene performance. This improved edition also features higher frame rates, a new photo mode and ultra-wide monitor support to fully take in the sights of Sam Bridges’ journey. 

 

Kojima Productions’ debut title was one of the most-anticipated games of the last decade. Led by a star-studded cast including Norman Reedus as Sam Bridges, DEATH STRANDING takes Sam on a perilous journey across ravaged remains of America to reunite the country.

 

🕹️ Taito Arcade Selection | Egret II | mini 🕹️#Arcade #RetroGaming

United Games Entertainment has announced that they have exclusive rights for distribution and sales of Taito’s EGRET II mini in the West. 

Set for release in 2022, this cool looking piece of gaming hardware is creating great excitement in Japan.

🛹🐦 Skatebird | Nintendo Switch | Review | 4/10 | "Tony Squawks" 🐦🛹@glassbottommeg #GameDev #IndieGames

I'm a curmudgeonly old sod. I remember seasons living up to their descriptions, and turning up when they should. I remember having to memorise phone numbers if I wanted to call someone. I remember penny sweets being a penny. And I remember the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater coming out. 

And there lies the rub. In reviewing Skatebird, I find myself constantly wondering whether Tony ruined me for other men. Birds. Games. OK, it isn't a great analogy but, we are where we are.

🏰 6Souls | XBOX | Review | 8/10 | "She Sells 6Souls on the Seashore" 🏰 #GameDev #IndieGame

“My soul is prepared… How’s yours?”

A question put to Indiana Jones by a member of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword while facing a boat propeller-induced nose job, and a pertinent question to ask yourself before launching 6Souls, a new pixel art action platformer thrust onto the gaming scene in December 2021.