Liberte Xbox Review 5/10 "A promising premise that has issues throughout" 🫡🗼 @LiberteGame #IndieGame #GameDev

A Lovecraftian action-adventure game with horror elements set in 17th century France, Liberte was subtly on my radar for a little while leading up to its release, and I was quite intrigued as it had been a while since I’d played a game in the action-adventure genre.

Unfortunately, Liberte has quite a few technical issues that bear down on a game that ends up feeling feels unrewarding and unfortunately – a missed opportunity.

Looney Tunes Wacky World of Sports Xbox Review 6.5/10 "Looney Tunes return (the serve)" 🏀🎾⚽️ @BamtangGames #IndieGame #GameDev

The premise of an anarchic Looney Tunes sports collection felt oddly nostalgic, and I was quite keen to dive into the game in multiplayer at home, as we are all familiar with the characters, and as the game supports up to four players locally,  numbers wouldn’t be an issue. Whilst the visuals, characters and functionality is there, the games all feel a little too flat to be a recommendation, unfortunately.

Purpose 1951 Xbox Review 5/10 "These boots are made for walkin’ (and simulatin’)" 🥾 @TongucBodur #IndieGame #GameDev

Purpose 1951 is a brief little game that blends walking simulation with extremely light puzzle elements. Clocking in at around an hour in length as the character muses about the situations that have arisen to bring him to his current predicament.

Presented in a 1st-person POV style, Purpose 1951 is a very slender game in a lot of ways, you follow a mostly linear path – with the only branches areas leading to what are effectively ‘trophy points’ - as the narrator monologues as you trek.

Camp Sunshine Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 "If you go down to the woods today…" 🔪🩸 @Fossil_Games #GameDev #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

Originally released in 2016 on PC, Camp Sunshine if now available on consoles. Part of Fossil Games’ ‘Sunshine’ series, the game casts you in the role of a young boy arriving for his first night at camp, only to find that during the very first evening there, things have gone…awry.

A perfectly timed release for the spooky season, Camp Sunshine is a game made in RPG Maker that admirably captures the 16-bit era. Whilst however, it scores highly for mood, sound design and setting, issues with the core gameplay take the wind out of its sails a little.

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 "The Rugrats Ride Again" 👶 @WallrideGames

I must admit that I wasn’t expecting a Rugrats game in 2024. I remember the cartoon back in the early-mid ‘90s, but I was far more preoccupied with X-Men and Spider-Man at the time, a lot of the quirkier shows of that era kind of passed me by, although some of my peers remember them very fondly.

That said, the show must have been on a hell of a lot, as the moment I booted up the game and heard that theme, even I was surprised how much of the show I remembered, from the voices, character names and family members, it all came flooding back. Heck, maybe I did watch it more than I can recall! Or perhaps it was such a cornerstone of culture at the time that it just permeated my very being.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Remastered | Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “A blaster from the past” 🌠 @transvaalgf @AspyrMedia

Recently I reviewed Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, a remaster of two beloved games from the past, games I spent hours and hours playing and share a whole lot of love for. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter on the other hand, I have heard about but never played.

Going in without any nostalgia was going to be interesting as I felt the Battlefront remasters were held up entirely by nostalgia, and so having had no previous experience with it, would Bounty Hunter hold up in 2024 or should it have been left in 2002?

Shadows of Doubt XBOX Review 5.5/10 "A Fantastic Premise Sandbagged By Technical Issues" 🕵️ @colejefferies #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGameDev

Much like my review for Cloudpunk and more recently, Wartales, Shadows of Doubt is a game that is packed with great ideas, a cracking premise, eyecatching visuals and intriguing gameplay, but is hamstrung by technical issues that will hopefully be a distant memory after several months’ worth of updates and patches – but sadly can’t be ignored at the time of launch.

Shadows of Doubt is game that I’ve been following for a while, the premise of being a private detective in a dystopian future comprised of glorious voxels, spending your days solving cases and scouting for clues very much appealed to me. When it was announced for consoles, my trousers were neatly folded in a drawer, hopefully to never be needed again. 

Deathchron Nintendo Switch Review 6/10 "A great premise hindered by design" 🤖 @CM_Games @RatalaikaGames #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGameDev

The actual premise of Deathchron – in that you are a child in a mech that needs to occasionally leave the safety of the suit in order to get into small spaces or activate certain switches etc. leaving you vulnerable as you do so – very much appealed to me when I watched the trailer for Deathchron.

The vibrant music, tasty pixel art visuals, and platform-based side-scrolling action presented in super-smooth 8-bit fashion all had me twirling my moustache in anticipation, but upon actually playing the game – it became clear that there were too many factors working against my enjoyment to really make this a keeper.

Flutter Away Nintendo Switch | Mini Review 6.5/10 "A cosy game that may have fluttered by" @runawayplay #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGameDev

Flutter Away is a simple and short game set in and around a small forest clearing. Set over five days, each day your character will wake up, makes notes in her journal regarding the flora and fauna discovered, in turn unlocking more of the backstory behind why she has sought out this return to nature.

Running at 60fps on Switch, this is an extremely light and calming 1st-person adventure game about completing daily tasks such as photographing butterflies, befriending animals and re-hanging fallen lanterns etc.

With relaxing music, a slow pace and zen tone, Flutter Away is a decent enough escape for an hour or two, but is probably best enjoyed by younger players. Or hardcore butterfly enthusiasts!

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain Nintendo Switch PC Review 6.5/10 "A Delivery Service game lacking magic" 🧙‍♀️🧹📦 #MikaandTheWitchsMountain #IndieGame #GameDev @chibigstudio

A game that admirably smashed its Kickstarter target unfortunately feels a little light on its release, with a gameplay loop that feels like it needs more variety to keep players captivated.

Beginning with an amusing introduction whereby beginner-witch Mika arrives at the top of the titular Witch’s Mountain for tutelage before promptly getting booted off a cliff by her very teacher! 

Breaking her broomstick in the fall – and luckily, nothing else – she befriends some of the townsfolk whilst bagging a job as a courier for the colourful island community in order to raise money to get a cool enough broom to get back to the top of the mountain, and hopefully tell the Witch to not boot her off the cliff this time, and instead perhaps get the spell books out.

Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic XBOX Review 6/10 "Decent Mechanics Let Down By Flat Presentation" 📍 @RoxyRaccoon4 #IndieGame #GameDev

My household is one that does enjoy flipping the flippers, and there’s always a handful of pinball games installed on our various consoles, should the need for some high score settin’ arise.

Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic begins with a story involving a witch and her evil animal cohorts teleporting away, with Roxy following in pursuit – leading to a series of pinball challenges wherein a balled-up Roxy will need to bounce around myriad tables to collect all of the available gems in order to proceed. 

Dungeon Arsenal Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 "Quick blasts of card-based, dungeon-exploring fun" ⚔️👹 @deadpixstudios #IndieGame #GameDev

Originally released on Steam in 2021 and now ported to Nintendo’s little system that could, Dungeon Arsenal is a fun little time-shifter that could have really benefited from a touch more optimisation to be the funky little dip-in-n-out game that it could have been.

Bereft of a narrative beyond ‘get through the floors of the dungeon’, Dungeon Arsenal allows you to choose from a small group of adventurers – each of which feature slightly different boons - and tasks you with making your way as far through the dastardly dungeon as possible.

Skeler Boy Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 "a pop culture, pixel mystery" 🔦 @MANIACBOYSTUDIO #IndieGame #GameDev

Skeler Boy comes at us from Maniac Boy Studio, a Spanish studio that certainly know how to create a great-looking, atmospheric world, but lose some lustre due to a poor translation and some seemingly hurried concepts.

The titular Skeler is a young man searching for his missing girlfriend, Megan. Set purely at night, Skeler roams the city and surrounding locations in a bid to get to the bottom of what has happened to his girlfriend as he swirls further and further into a vortex of - possible – madness. It’s a simple and yet robust premise for some good old-fashioned creepiness in this top-down pixel adventure. 

The vast majority of the gameplay comes from discovering ways to move past certain obstacles, such as locating wire cutters for a fence, or working out how to get access to a boat to cross a river etc. the pacing is pretty solid, and the adventure will only take a couple of hours to see through to the end.

Hotel Renovator PS5 Review By Lowri 5.5/10 "If you're a fan of building and decorating games, then Hotel Renovator will probably be on your radar" 🪛🛠️ @2_Horizons #GameDev #IndieGame

If you're a fan of building and decorating games, then Hotel Renovator will probably be on your radar. In this game, you're tasked with remodelling a hotel, clearing away decades of junk and vermin to create a gleaming, stylish, and appealing space. With two modes - story mode and sandbox mode - you have the freedom to create the hotel of your dreams. 

GEOMETRY SURVIVOR Xbox Series X Review 6.5/10 "Geometry Wars + Vampire Survivors" 🕹️ @brainseal #IndieGame #GameDev

Most people of a certain age remember the first Geometry Wars and/or its sequels. Classic twin-stick shooters in a wireframe world, the original was an Easter egg in Project Gotham Racing, back when developers occasionally did that sort of thing (Galaga on the loading screen for Tekken springs to mind).

Flash forward to today, where devs happily mine old and new concepts for inspiration. Geometry Survivor, at its most basic, is a mash-up of Geometry Wars and modern single-stick auto shooters. If you’ve played the excellent Brotato, or the quirky-yet-great Vampire Survivors then you know what I’m talking about. In fact, Geometry Wars plus Vampire Survivors gets you, well…you can see where I’m going with this.

West Hunt Nintendo Switch Review 6/10 🤠 @SnailGamesUSA #IndieGame #GameDev

There are plenty of online games out there for you to have fun -both solo or with multiple people -and I think with some many porting to handheld devices, you might get a bit flustered about which ones to choose from. Hopefully, after you see this review of West Hunt on the Nintendo Switch, you might have a clearer mind in terms of what you may choose.

Unstoppable PC Review 5/10 "You play a bicycle courier, tasked with delivering a mysterious package to a skyscraper" 🩸🔨 @unstoppable_go #IndieGame #GameDev

When I saw the trailer for Unstoppable, I thought “smacking things with hammers and crowbars until they die – right up my alley!” and eagerly volunteered to review the game.

But we all make mistakes. 

Welcome to ParadiZe Xbox Series X Review 6/10 "More PontinZ than ParadiZe" 🐘 #IndieGame #GameDev #PvE #Zombies

Welcome to Paradize promised a lot of zany zombie shenanigans through its trailer, but unfortunately the released game feels a watered down version of what could have been, and as the core gameplay loop is so well-worn, there’s not enough to really suck players in and chew the meat from the bones of their expectations.

I first caught wind of Welcome to Paradize a couple of months ago, and having been on a bit of an isometric / action run recently I was quite keen to start smashing and blasting some zombie heads, whilst the survival and crafting elements seemed accessible enough to have fun with, without getting bogged down in menus etc.

Bio, Inc Review By Dr Congo Fighting "It’s Kill or Cure" 🦠 @DryGinStudios #IndieGame #GameDev

Let’s just address the elephant in the room. About a decade ago, a game called Plague, Inc came out. It was published by Ndemic Creations, and it was a smash hit. In it, you played the part of a disease, with your aim being to wipe out humanity by evolving various symptoms, and trying to beat to the punch a global effort to create a cure. 

Bio, Inc is not that game, and nor is it a sequel. Neither is it made by Ndemic Creations, instead coming out of software house DryGin Studios. However, it is (to me, at least) a spiritual successor to Plague, Inc and shares a lot of its mechanics (and both have shared origins as mobile games), but with a few significant differences. It’s hard not to make comparisons between the two games, but I’ll do my best. Because I love you. Anyway, elephant done. 

Devil Inside Us: Roots of Evil Review 6/10 👿 ✝️ @MrSkullGameStu @FernandoTittz @ElderDefensor #IndieGame #GameDev

Devil Inside Us: Roots of Evil is based around a 74-year-old priest trying to save a family in a cursed home, the curse is initially making the fathers of the family murder their children, a sinister story indeed.

To stop this, he uses his abilities as a medium to exercise the evil that lives inside, but after 30 years he is drawn back to the original house to find that the same curse still lives…