Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Xbox Series X Review 8.5/10 "New life to an old soul" ⚔️🔥 @AspyrMedia #IndieGame #GameDev

A quarter of a century on from the first release included here (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, 1999), Aspyr continue their mission of updating vintage classics for a modern audience. With this title, they have created such a celebration of the Legacy of Kain series that is so rich with a treasure trove of historic goodies that it’s almost sure to please fans of the franchise, and it will certainly be an important release for a lot of people that hold the games dear.

Monarchy Xbox Review 6.5/10 "Monarchy of the Glen" 👑🐎 @brainseal #IndieGame #GameDev

Brain Seal quickly became ones to watch for me ever since covering Dark Quest 3 last year, a game I really clicked with, and spent a lot of time diving in for ‘one more run’. And so, I was quick to check out Monarchy.

A 2D game that involves resource management, combat, and base-building – but all in a very brisk arcade style - the game tasks you with building up your little village until you gain enough gold in your coffers to finish the level (of which there are several available).

The game begins with a tutorial, which is somewhat abstract in how it’s entirely wordless – this is charming and fine…but this is game that could really have done with a little more depth here, and after showing your little horse-seated monarch how to complete the basic game mechanics, it ends with an emblem on the screen. I thought the game had crashed, as the tutorial had clearly finished, but none of the buttons on the controller did anything to move past this greyed-out screen. It turns out that I had to press ‘start’ then ‘new game’ and the main levels were now playable, it’s this slightly esoteric approach that makes the game seem a bit more involved and daunting than it actually is.

The visuals are bright and cartoony, the animation smooth, and the music lilting and gentle - before ramping up a touch in the night-time sections that is, where the combat happens in earnest. During the day, you move left or right, adding folks to your tiny army, searching for chests and coins to afford various builds and defences. Then, when the night comes, you have to fend off small waves of sword-wielding attackers. The game ends if your main tent is demolished, or you get struck by an enemy whilst not holding any coins (they act as a sort of health bar), as this causes you to fall of your horse, ending the game.

The premise and presentation is great, but I found the game limiting in a lot of aspects. You cannot directly control anyone aside from yourself – and you can only attack by turning away from the enemy and kicking them with your horse (an automatic action)– but they will pretty much always strike you at the same time, taking a coin away from your treasury.

This means that you have to rely on the archers that follow you around, and more often than not, they’ll get distracted by shooting at a passing rabbit or deer. The base building is also quite functional, and almost feels like a ‘lite’ version of itself, I found it hard to get engaged in the game, as I spent most of the evening standing still in my fort (the days / nights pass quickly, so it’s only a few minutes) then in the day, wandering around trying to find something to do, the lack of text in the game sort of hampers it, as sometimes the on-screen icons aren’t particularly clear.

Monarchy also has a two-player co-op screen where the other player can be another friendly monarch assisting you, and this adds some fun and extra tactics to the game, but even then it feels oddly slight, as if there’s something missing to really get me engaged. It almost feels like a mobile game in this aspect, as it’s such a breezy experience.

SUMMARY

Whilst I much preferred the depth in Dark Quest 3, I get the feeling that I didn’t quite ‘get’ Monarch, and I hope that other players will click with the game more.

As it stands, I’ll still play with my young son – as he quite liked the characters and simplicity – but Monarch does – to me- feel like a game that needs a little fleshing out in order to stand up above the crowd, and pull plyers in for the long haul.

6.5/10

💧MELTING💧

Mining Mechs Xbox Review 7.5/10 "A budget title that drills down deep into the well of fun" ⛏️ @DelayedVictory_ @eastasiasoft #IndieGame #GameDev

It’s always fun to cover smaller games that are under a fiver, as it’s always pleasant to be surprised by a game that may otherwise have passed me by. Mining Mechs is a game that was released on Steam in 2023 and has now been ported to consoles. I played Mining Mechs on the XSX, and was quite won over by the core gameplay loop, surprisingly catchy music, silly humour, and pixel visuals.

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.

EDGE OF SANITY Xbox Series X review 7/10 "Is that a horrible tentacled thing ahead?" 🐙 @Vixa_Games #GameDev #IndieGame

Edge of Sanity is a game that brings together those obvious bedfellows of Lovecraftian horror and inventory management.

I jest, slightly, given that this is a survival horror, which is very much in keeping with a lot of games inspired by HP himself. Set in the wilds of Alaska following a mysterious industrial accident, you play Carter, sent in by the company to find out what's happened and, possibly, save the day.

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.

Gori: Cuddly Carnage Xbox Review 8.5/10 "Gory, gruesome, and great fun!" 😼🛹 @GoriCarnage @AngryDemonGames @wiredp #IndieGame #GameDev

I’d been following the development of Gori: Cuddly Carnage for a while, and was hoping that the promised blend of cutesy innocence and uber-violence, combined with the neon, graphic-novel visuals would scratch my turbo-arcade itch...and yes, yes it has.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem Xbox Review 7/10 "Stunt fun for the young ‘uns" 🔥🛻 @GameMillEnt @3DClouds #Indie #GameDev

As the father of a three year old, I’m very familiar with Hot Wheels, and, whilst the Hot Wheels Unleashed games are a permanent fixture on my Xbox, the promise of a game more suited to the monster truck side of things – and with a simpler, more child-centric focus – was definitely tickling my gherkins.

Moving away from the primarily race-driven previous Hot Wheels games,  Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem instead leans towards – as the title suggests – stunts in various arenas.

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. 

Horror Tales: The Beggar | Xbox Review 8/10 “It’s Morvin Time” 👽 @CarlosGameDev #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGameDev

Horror tales: The Beggar begins with introducing the titular Beggar a human(ish) creature who has been locked away. Now freed by a helpful robot he claims he will guide you out and help you on your way.

You notice very quickly the world is broken and has been for a very long time, you will find little sign of life, unluckily for the Beggar there is one being that follows him Morvin a product of his own imagination who isn't particularly friendly and will happily attack you on sight, luckily you have powers which are introduced as the game goes on, so you aren't completely helpless when old Morvin turns up, you have the power of telekinesis so not only can you move objects that are in your way, you can also hurl objects at your stalker, which after you have hurled enough objects at him you will get some respite and can continue traversing the fractured world.

PowerA Xbox Series X/S & One Wired Controller – Core Blush Review By Britt 🎮 @PowerA

Purchase Link

PowerA – although founded in 2009 – hasn’t yet had any products covered here at GF, and whilst they have myriad items for sale, ranging from controllers and charging docks through to headsets – across most modern gaming platforms – today we will be taking a look at their wired controller for the Series X/S & Xbox One, in an exclusive Core Blush colour.

Kena: Bridge Of Spirits Xbox Series X Review 7/10 "Formulaic Fun" 🏹 @emberlab #IndieGame #IndieGameDev #GameDev

Hey you! Yeah, you! You like platforming games, yeah? And a bit of puzzling floats your boat? How about a bit of combat to keep things interesting? Yeah? You like that? Well then, step right this way, I’ve got something I think you might enjoy, even if you’ve probably played it before. 

CONSCRIPT Xbox Review 8/10 "It captures the grinding, stifling atmosphere of war really, really well" ☠️ @ConscriptGame #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGameDev

War is hell. Thus spoke US Civil War veteran General William T. Sherman, and, let's face it, he's not wrong. Conscript is a top-down pixel-art survival horror set during World War I, specifically the 1916 Battle of Verdun. 

You control young French soldier Andre, slogging through unending miles of trenches and bunkers ridden with sucking mud, enemy soldiers, rats and mustard gas, in search of your captured brother Pierre and a safe return home.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Xbox Review 8/10 "Satisfying Combat and more frowning men than you can shake a stick at" ⚔️ @Focus_entmt #SpaceMarine2

There are certain franchises that can feel quite overwhelming to jump into if you haven’t been involved with them since the start, the Warhammer 40k franchise has been on the periphery for me for decades; yes, I’ve dabbled with the board games and a handful of scattered video games along the way, but as for the lore and terminology? 

Mate, I don’t know my Ultramarine from my Burnt Umber.

Thief Simulator 2 Xbox Review 7/10 "Out on the nick, again!" 🦸 @ULTGames #IndieGames #IndieGameDev #GameDev

The Thief Simulator games have been on my radar for a few years now. I played the original on Switch, and - whilst it was a flawed game - there was a bizarre moreish-ness and sense of fun to just, well… going out on the nick, quite frankly. 

This is a game made by one individual which is very commendable, but – as with a lot of 3D open-world titles made by incredibly small teams - also falls into the usual issues of overreaching its grasp in some areas - much like the Autobahn Police Simulator series does. 

However, games such as these often stand out for me and become real pleasures to play.

Yes, they may not be smooth, tight or polished experiences - but there’s a vision, charm and idiosyncrasy that makes these sorts of games a very memorable experience that more often than not resonate with me as a player.

Bloodhound Xbox Review 4/10 "Bit of a dog’s dinner" 🐕 @knfproductions #IndieGame #IndieGameDev #GameDev

I fear the word ‘retro’ sometimes. It can mean a loving homage to a classic release, or a genre. It can mean taking a game back to basics and focusing on great gameplay over Triple A graphics and presentation.

Bloodhound is retro in that it harks back to a golden age (for old gits like me) of gaming. Graphically it reminded me of games like Doom II/Quake and Duke Nukem , and even more so to the similarly titled Blood, from 1997. The trailer certainly piqued my interest with it’s fast-paced gameplay and throbbing rock soundtrack. When I was sent the preview copy I was EXCITED.

Just Crow Things Xbox Review 8/10 "Welcome to the Poopy Party" 🐦‍⬛ @UnboundCreation #IndieGame #IndieGameDev #GameDev

I find real pleasure in diving into games that are suitable for all the family, especially those that have a humorous streak running through them. My three-year-old is a bit of a litmus test when it comes to the child-friendly titles I cover here at GF, and when Just Crow Things came on, he was intrigued, but when he found out there was a poop button? He was sold.

From Unbound Creations – the team behind Rain On Your Parade – Just Crow Things ostensibly casts you in the role of a young crow that is on a quest to get her sunglasses back from bullies, but the real meat of the game is just having fun and causing carnage throughout the game’s stages. 

Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand Xbox Review 7.5 / 10 "Atlas falls, and rises again!" ⚔️ @Deck13_de @Focus_entmt #IndieGame #GameDev

Atlas Fallen is the newest release from Deck13 - the team behind Lords of the Fallen and the Surge series – and, whilst it was initially released in 2023 to mixed reviews, this free update to the Reign of Sand edition aims to fix some key issues that affected the initial release, namely:

• An expanded world
• New enemies and challenges
• Revamped progression
• New quests
• Reworked voice acting
• Additional difficulty mode and a New Game+ mode

I didn’t cover the initial release and so can’t really do direct comparisons; and so I’ll review the Reign of Sand version of Atlas Fallen completely on its own merits.