Total Extreme Wrestling 9 PC Review 9/10 “A Wrestledream” 🤼 @TransvaalGF @ArlesGreyDog #IndieGame #GameDev #TEW9

I've always been a huge fan of GM (General Manager) mode, a mode that for some unknown reason comes and goes from WWE games. Luckily, it is currently back in the last few games and I have spent many hours living out my dream of being a wrestling booker. The main criticism these games have is the lack of features, things that have been taken out, or should be have been in from the start. TEW9 doesn't have this problem, it was my first time playing this series and wow! Was my mind blown.

Drova: Forsaken Kin Nintendo Switch Review 9.5/10 "One of the RPGs of the Year" 🐻⚔️ @J2D_Interactive #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGameDev

I’ll open by saying that, whilst Drova: Forsaken Kin ended up being one of my games of the year, during the review period there was a shaky few days where V1.0 of the game had some issues that made me think that this was going to be another case of Wasteland 3, Wartales, or Shadows of Doubt, whereby a gripping and fantastic adventure seemingly genetically designed for my tastes would be scuppered by myriad technical issues, breaking my heart into a thousand pieces and casting them into the ocean.

Luckily, patch 1.1 was released and completely annihilated all the issues that I was having with the game, transforming it into a title that will be with me for a long time. In fact, I don’t even really need to cover this game as my handsome, suave editor Rich is already covering it on PC (I can feel a pay rise coming on – ed), but I want to talk about it so much that I’m writing this review anyway, purely to spread the word and share my love of it. So yes, I liked it a lot.

Super Woden GP II Review 9/10 "No Wooden Spoon for Woden 2" 🏎️ @maxharvey79 @ViJuDaGD #IndieGame #IndieGameDev #GameDev

As a man of a certain age, and one who cut his teeth on Commodores rather than Nintendo's, my nostalgic heart belongs to isometric racing games. Super Cars, Super Off Road and Skidmarks (*titter*) all get my pistons pumping and having tried a couple again recently (prompted by this review), they stand up fairly well as the gameplay is solid and simple.

Super Woden GP II has a silly name, but we’ll not dwell on that. We will dwell instead on what this game brings to the modern racing table. It brings us something delightfully retro, is what it does. What I will say before anything else is that if you enjoyed the games mentioned above, there’s a very good chance you’ll love this. 

Thank Goodness You’re Here! Nintendo Switch Review 9.99/10 "Thank Goodness This Game Was Made" 🥟🥧 @coalsupper #IndieGame #GOTY #IndieGameDev #GameDev

Shining, golden, consistent comedy is rarer in the gaming industry than photographic evidence of a bottle of Clausthaler in Oliver Reed’s hand. It is because of this, that when a game like Thank Goodness You’re Here! (TGYH!) comes along, I treasure it dearly and immediately write the developers into my will – so there’s a brass figurine of a clown that weeps oil winging its way to them when I shake off this mortal coil.

Still Wakes the Deep XSX Review 9/10 "Possibly the most naturalistic dialogue in a video game" 🛢️🗼 @SWTD_Game @ChineseRoom #IndieGame #GameDev

The Chinese Room were the company that introduced me to the walking simulator genre with their minimalistic and glorious 2012 title Dear Esther. This was followed by a firm favourite of our household in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. And so, learning that The Chinese Room were making a game set on a Scottish oil rig in the mid-’70s was enough to make my trousers fly off and fold themselves neatly in a drawer, before definitively slamming it shut.

Letters & Legends PC Review 9/10 "A Wonderful Twist on Classic Word Games" 🏹⚔️🅰️🅱️ @BowNArrowGames #IndieGame #GameDev

I live in a house of gamers. I’m lucky enough to have a partner and son that embrace video-gaming as much as I do, and through that love, I find myself playing a lot of very different genres of games, many different games – but never as many as I’d like, especially when it comes to word-based games.

The last time a word-based game really yanked my trousers down and gave me a fiver was probably Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey back in 2015, the blending of English-centric action and fantasy gaming has been an interest of mine ever since discovering CAPCOM’s Quiz & Dragons MAME over twenty years ago, and so when a word-based games gets sent to GF HQ, my eyes light up.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 PS5 Review "Now a New Generation Can Enjoy Getting Urinated on By a Guard" 📦❗️

Bonfire night, 1998. I’m at a friend’s house for fireworks and, afterward, I watch him playing a new import with a weird name. He’s stuck in a prison cell and his only available weapon appears to be a bottle of ketchup.

I joke: “Why not squirt ketchup on the floor and lie in it so the guard thinks you’re dead?”. It works. A single shard of moonlight pierced the window to illuminate me. Trumpets played, angelic choirs sang. I had discovered Metal Gear Solid.

Persona 3 Reload PS5 Review 9.5/10 “A Kind of Magic” 🏫🎒 @Atlus_West #Persona3

Persona 3 was my first experience with the Persona franchise, I remember picking it up on release day, I had no idea what to expect but it was a JRPG - so it didn’t matter, for I consumed anything in that genre. What followed after playing it was a deep love, I thought it was awesome, stylish, cool, and featured a story that to me - at sixteen - felt very adult, tackling some deep issues through the lens of youth, and it resonated with me.

Then, eleven years later Persona 5 was released and it became one of my favourite gaming experiences ever, it is a top 3 game for me and I will gush about it any time I can. So, when this remake was announced I was beyond excited, it was going to be Persona 3 with the Persona 5 coat of paint - how could it not be awesome?

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Xbox Review 9/10 "The most fun I’ve had in a single player game in 2024" ⚔️🐲🔥👹 @DragonsDogma #DragonsDogma2

As someone who is – and will be forever – drawn towards single player RPGs, The last few months have been very, very fun. I’ve played three games that stand out in my mind for different reasons, and between them cover a lot of the main points that appeal to me about the genre at its core.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden won me over with its understated characters, music, atmospherics and earthiness, whilst Outcast: A New Beginning featured incredible traversal mechanics and lore, and now Dragon’s Dogma 2 – and out of the three, this is the title that I, by far, have the strongest history with – comes blazing out of the gate with its main strengths being in how much it embraces and excels at being a video game, completely nailing combat mechanics and explosive, immediate gameplay.

It’s a game that is a pleasure to write about, and I feel like I could just list all of my in-game experiences to get my point across because there are so many personal stories to tell, all through a design sentiment that eschews seriousness to put fun and gameplay at the absolute fore.

Jagged Alliance 3 XSX Review 9/10 "A Modern Turn-Based Classic" 💥 @THQNordic

A series of turn-based games that have roots going way back to 1994, Jagged Alliance has always enjoyed critical success – and yet it’s a series of games I’ve only touched upon briefly since its inception in the mid-’90s. I recall having some friends who were hips deep, thinking very highly of the franchise, and so when the opportunity came up to cover the third major entry, I was keen to have a goosey.

Berserk Boy Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "It pretty much hits the bullseye." ⚡️ @BerserkBoyGame #indieGame #GameDev

Berserk Boy is the latest in a long line of Metroidvania platformers to try and capture the pure retro feel of Mega Man and its contemporaries. Happily, it pretty much hits the bullseye.

The backstory is your basic mad scientist fare, where the bad guy wants to use Dark Energy powers to take over the world. You play as Kei, young soldier who meets a talking owl called Fiore, who leads you to a strange orb which grants you powers and abilities and the adventure begins.

Gameplay-wise we're very much in Mega Man territory, with the classic Metroidvania tropes of defeating enemies while exploring the map, using new abilities to unlock areas and so on. But this isn't just exploration - as you unlock new abilities you find yourself able to chain multiple attacks together in order to build up your Berserk meter, which lets you really let rip with special attacks. 

The key focus here is melee combat - you're not hanging back and taking pot-shots but rather you're right in the thick of it. And that's one of the things that really makes this game fun; you'll find yourself moving around faster and faster to get the perfect sequence before hitting the big moves. The speed and smoothness give the game almost a Sonic the Hedgehog feel, where you're bouncing from enemy to enemy and seeking out more victims on every screen. 

The graphics are very much in keeping with the retro theme: bright and colourful with big chunky sprites that would fit perfectly on the SNES. And the excellent music comes from Tee Lopes, who wrote much of the music for Sonic Mania and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, so you're onto a winner here as well.

As you beat the various bosses, you can unlock different transformations for Kei. Each defeated boss gives you a new way to smash through levels, whether it's digging tunnels, flying or even locking on to multiple enemies at once. You also build up currency that lets you use new abilities for each transformation, so there's a sense of progression throughout too.

If I had to find a drawback, it's that the game isn't massively challenging, although you can select the Retro difficulty level at the start, which gives you the traditional limited lives, so when it's game over it really is game over, whereas the modern setting is unlimited lives and you just get kicked back to the last checkpoint. This is nowhere near a dealbreaker though, as the game is just so much fun. 

SUMMARY

If you're a retro platformer buff this is pretty much a must-buy, and it's accessible enough for all ages to have a blast. More of this please.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "A wonderfully spun tale of love and grief" ⚔️ @DONTNOD_Ent #IndieGame #GameDev

I’ve been hankering for an RPG to sink my teeth into, and when Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden arrived at GF HQ, I was keen to tuck in and get a few dozen hours of adventuring under my belt. What I didn’t expect was to get sucked into the world of Red and Antea so deeply, and so quickly.

Set during the settling of America in the 1600’s, the game begins with Banishers (effectively mercenaries that deal with hauntings) Red and Antea arriving on boat to New Eden - a small settlement near Boston - having received word from their friend Charles that their ghost handling skills are required in this fledging town.

Blasphemous 2 Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "Blasphemous 2, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways" ⚔️ @BlasphemousGame @TheGameKitchen @Team17 #IndieGame #GameDev

I’m going to start off by saying that the original Blasphemous is one of my favourite games of recent years. A difficult hack and slash platformer? Check. Monstrous religious cult storyline with Lovecraftian elements? Check. That’s one for me all day long.

I’m pleased to be able to say that the sequel has all of these elements in spades and may even be better than the first game. 

The 7th Guest VR Meta Quest 2 Review 9.5/10 "Feeling…looooonely?" 🏚️🩸 @the7thguestvr #IndieGame #GameDev #MetaQuest2 #VRhorror

This is probably one of only a handful of reviews that I’ll ever write with my current mindset, due to my personal history with the game in question. The 7th Guest was - and is - a constant presence in my life.

I initially played the game on the Philips CD-i back in the mid-90s (with a friend called Brett, nonetheless) and I was completely mesmerised by what was - to me at the time- absolutely the future of gaming, in that it felt like a movie that you could control yourself! Between this and Burn Cycle, my young mind was blown wide open, and although I didn’t complete the game at the time, when I managed to get hold of a PC version a while later and play it through - with headphones - The 7th Guest made me feel like no other game had before.

I was completely pulled into its atmosphere and world, full of wonder and terror at what it offered both visually and sonically.

Over the years - thanks to Games Freezer - I’ve been in the position to interview George Sanger (the esoteric and wonderful composer of the music featured in the original game) as well as cover fan versions of The 7th Guest. In fact, I’m currently waiting on the release of an industrial rock vinyl of the soundtrack, as well as (hopefully, eventually) a hinted-at vinyl release of the amazing 7/11 album by Team Fat.

The 7th Guest soundtrack still often haunts the halls of my home, and I firmly believe it to be one of the most evocative and singular soundtracks ever laid down - so, what I’m trying to get at here, is ‘I like The 7th Guest’.

Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 HD Remaster Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 “Two Under Rated Games, Brought Back To Life” ⚔️ @BandaiNamcoEU #Retrogames #HDRemaster

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and The Lost Ocean and Origins have been in my collection for a long time, they were both some of my favourite JRPGS growing up. It was a real shame they didn’t sell well as they had good reviews at the time and I think they were good games with interesting plots and a good battle mechanic, hopefully, these HD remasters will bring some new eyes to these underappreciated games and fingers crossed for Baten Kaitos 3.

Killer Frequency Nintendo Switch Review 9.5/10 "Who doesn’t like jumping into a horror game?" 🔪 @KillerFrequency #IndieGames #GameDev

Who doesn’t like jumping into a horror game? Changing it up from racing, shooting, sports games – or even the hundreds of Battle Royale titles that continuously seem to get released.

KILLER FREQUENCY. A puzzle-horror based in 1987, in which you play as the radio host Forrest Nash of KFAM 189.16 who, due to unforeseen circumstances, becomes the 911 hotline in a little town called Gallow Creek.

Astebros SEGA Mega Drive Review 9.5/10 "The Pinnacle of Mega Drive Gaming" ⚔️ @DAsteborg #IndieGames #GameDev

Back in 2021, I was lucky enough to cover Demons of Asteborg, Neofid Studios’ first release on the Mega Drive. At the time I hailed it as a modern Mega Drive classic, I was really taken by the almost perfect action-platformer, which was up until that point the best game that I had covered on the Mega Drive as it was not only a great game to play, but was also a marvel in terms of the technical design.

In the space of only two years since that release, Neofid Studios have returned to the world of Asteborg and doubled down on what made the preceding title so great, this time upping the ante with local co-op and rogue-lite aspects that exist to add longevity to the game, making it the absolute cream of the Mega Drive crop.

Terror of Hemasaurus XSX Review 9/10 "The Best Rampage Game Ever Made" 🏨🦖 @LorenLemcke @ShawnDaley #IndieGame #GameDev

I am very much a lover of monster movies and games, and to me, Midway’s Rampage series of games always looked more fun than they actually played. It was a great concept, but it always felt let down by lacklustre gameplay, stiff controls and repetition. Luckily, Loren Lemcke is here to smash down those issues, and breathe fireballs all over those lesser games, standing proudly above the ruins, heaving a throaty roar of triumph into the night sky.

Bravery and Greed XBOX Review 9/10 "On the surface, Bravery and Greed looks like a souped-up Wonderboy clone" ⚔️ @BraveryAndGreed #IndieGames #GameDev

On the surface, Bravery and Greed looks like a souped-up Wonderboy clone. And, excellently, that's pretty much what it is. Rekka Games, along with publishers Team 17, have brought us a retro-styled rogue-lite hack and slasher that's really easy to pick up but presents a proper challenge.

Shatter Remastered Deluxe Review 9/10 ⛔️ @PikPokGames #IndieGames #GameDev

Brick-breaking games have been around for ages. AGES. I mean, in gaming terms, they were probably what the dinosaurs were playing just before they got too busy for gaming on account of a massive asteroid wiping them out. Were joysticks invented to address the problems T-Rex’s had with reaching a mouse and keyboard? I suppose we’ll never know. 

For the unfamiliar, brick-breaking games kinda do what it says on the tin – you’re in control of a  paddle, which you use to bounce a ball against bricks until they break. A bit like one-player ping pong. But that’s where the similarity ends as they’re a lot more fun than Forrest Gump’s favourite Olympic sport.