Break The Game’s simplistic platforming and shooting mechanics are unremarkable and a little half-baked in isolation. But entertaining writing and a hare-brained sense of humour make it worth booting up and breaking out of again. Channelling ideas from some of the indie greats and adding a dash of its own creativity and playfulness, Break The Game is an enjoyable adventure through the googly eyes of an AI.

While it remains to be seen if it will survive a player lull, and whether new players from all walks of life will be comfortable diving into a level editor that, while packed with features, doesn’t know how to explain those possibilities, as it stands today, Million To One Hero is a solid time sink to get those creative juices flowing.

Fate Hunters definitely has a more refined presentation than Spire, with beautifully-drawn cards and excellent 3D animation. So, clone-like it might be, but it’s still a fine entry to the genre.

Subdivision Infinity DX is single-player only and the levels are mostly bite-sized chunks that can be completed in about 15 minutes or less. So, it’s not likely to be a lasting or epic experience like an open universe starship game might be. Sometimes, you just want to go out into the stars and shoot stuff, though, and Subdivision is an excellent game for doing exactly that.

A self-titled RPG roguelike, Sin Slayers takes a JRPG battle system and procedurally generated levels, mixes them together with a Darkest Dungeon-esque layer of grime and calls it a day. What results is a game lacking in fun and direction, but definitely full of sins.

Flotsam is ultimately a strong, engaging skeleton of a city builder with little meat to chew on once you understand the interactions between its major systems. That’s not to say the grind becomes easier — quite the opposite — but those not already interested in the genre may want to wait until Pajama Llama fills its seas with more interesting sights.

It’s difficult to review a game of this nature, particularly to put a score on it. But if the opportunity to empathise with and show solidarity to fellow humans appeals, Kind Words is a must-play experience.

Killer Queen Black is a game bursting with possibilities, from strategic to community. Judging its merit based on possibility is tricky but I gladly err on the side of hope for the beacon this game can be for indie multiplayer games going forward.

Overall, Stranded Sails – Explorers of the Cursed Islands delivered everything I wanted from a farming simulator while also nailing the “open world adventure” section of their description salad. The main narrative isn’t complex, but its characters provide enough verve and earnest emotion to make up the difference. If you want a relaxing game that takes a clever approach to delivering a gradually unfurling world of beautiful polygons, it is well worth looking past the few rough edges.

I have a couple of minor gripes, including iffy collision detection with pickups and irritating vocal sound effects. But otherwise, despite it not exactly breaking any new ground, Yuri is a chilled, atmospheric platformer worth a look.

On the Switch, both docked and handheld play sees frequent dips in framerate and a noticeable number of low-resolution textures. Loading times are also an issue between stages and after deaths. At £34.99, it’s exorbitantly overpriced compared to other, better performing, platformers. I’ve barely managed to talk about every feature Ghost Parade offers yet fails to deliver on. Sadly, a host of ideas have been thrown into the pot, none of which have come out cooked.

With an ecological message that cannot be ignored, some gorgeous interwoven narratives, innovative story design, and charming graphics, Some Distant Memory is a pleasure to play. It frames humanity as capable of integrity, love, compassion, and a thirst for knowledge – even in the darkest of times. I think we could all do with a heavy dose of that sentiment.

Spin Rhythm XD is up there with the more interesting accessory-less rhythm games of recent years, earning a spot next to the likes of Thumper and the Amplitude reboot. If you’re eager to jump in, it’s very playable now despite only just releasing into Early Access.

The Endless Mission gives older gamers the chance to feel like unbridled, unrestricted kids in an imaginary world full of possibilities. There are no adults to tell you what to do, and you can decide what kind of environment you want to create or destroy. It is anarchic and irreverent, crammed with quirky characters and flashes of brilliance. This game is the perfect teaching tool for younger generations also, doing away with stuffy “edutainment” game culture and creating something that truly rewards creativity in C#.

Ritual: Crown of Horns is pretty metal, surprisingly precise and entertaining, but it probably won’t knock your socks off.

Widget Satchel is such a nice game that it feels a little mean to criticise it, but alas, the platforming in each of its levels did leave a little to be desired. With robot encounters making me lose more widgets than I gained, I was left feeling mostly frustrated, which is a shame when there is such good writing and environment styling on offer.

I just can’t get over how gorgeous the maps, characters, and animations are in this DLC. Wargroove has truly cemented its own style with this addition, and they deserve to see some real love for that over the coming months. The movements are smooth; the gameplay is layered yet simple – I sure wish I remembered whatever the hell it is that Wargroove makes me nostalgic for, but in the meantime, I’m recruiting some friends for a lengthy campaign.

Self is a very simple concept executed with finesse – enough flare to keep you guessing but easy enough to play in one sitting. It’s unnerving, chilling, and a lot of fun.

If Deadtime Defenders adapts itself while focusing on that looter shooter goal then it’s something I’ll eagerly return to – for now, it’s simply an okay game which does nothing new.

It’s a little janky in places, but the overall tone of Dwarrows is so wonderfully whimsical that you’ll struggle not to fall in love with it. It’s also a good option for those who like the idea of Animal Crossing but are either impatient or don’t own a Nintendo Switch. It scratches a similar itch, and it does so in a very satisfying manner. The third-person perspective and little puzzles and mini-games make for an intimate and warm game, and I can honestly see myself playing it every Sunday night for the rest of the year, it’s just so damn cosy.

I ended up quite liking This Strange Realm of Mine, perhaps because of the blemishes rather than in spite of them. The imperfections were reminders that this game could very well be an emotional treatise of someone who is still learning and growing. It felt like something I would have made as I was first encountering ideas that rocked the foundations of my understanding. Like The Beginner’s Guide, the narrative framework sometimes feels like an excuse to admit Big Thoughts to whoever will listen, and if we cannot use our art to do that, what’s the point of it all?

Over The Alps is a fantastic mobile game, and a still-pretty-great PC game. Whichever platform you pick it up on, its historical, divergent story shines through.

Nick Bounty And The Dame With The Chewed Blue Shoe is a stereotypical comedy video game where it often references itself and other games or breaks the fourth wall with a wink to the camera so emphatic, it could make Borderlands blush – which may be just your thing.

Everything in Circle Empires Rivals’ combat and circle-capture loop fits perfectly, it feels like a streamlined base-building RTS, although the absence of a campaign and staggered unit unlocks means that there is definitely some learning to be done before braving online play beyond co-op. While there’s only a finite amount of biomes and CPU enemy types, the procedural generation means that maps can feel fresh after dozens of matches.

Billion Road is chaos, it’s nonsense, and it shows that you can take a simple, perfect design, staplegun 100 tiny bells and whistles onto it and it’ll make a wonderful noise when it moves.

Galaxy Warfighter is a modern take on an arcade shoot em’ up, and it’s a good imitation, it just comes with a few caveats, particularly its repetitiveness and lack of evolution towards the later levels of the game.

Sometimes you come across a game that is so bad it’s good, maybe a little entertaining, The Room style. This honestly wasn’t one of them. The lifeless Blendr models, the janky controls and ugly misplacement of bad gothic tropes render this the kind of game that should just quietly be forgotten. Maybe moving on swiftly will spare the creators any further embarrassment.

It’s all a lot of fun, but it’s also rather short. That’s not an issue if you’re happy to keep trying and constantly become better at beating the foes you’ve already dunked on, but it might be an issue for some people. It’s not very expensive though, so it’s probably worth a look if you like the sound of scoring three-pointers against an embodiment of fire.

Hypothetically there could be a lot of fun to be had here, but that’s not the case at the moment and I’d recommend waiting a while to see if things improve as Early Access continues for it. Diving in now is likely to lead to more frustration than actual game playing and that’s no good at all.

I can think of no better descriptor for the game than candy floss. There is no substance, no depth, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good or isn’t pretty to look at. However, I can’t help but feel like this game would be too hard and frustrating for most young children. Conversely, it doesn’t have much of anything to appeal to anyone over the age of six. In the end, I can’t really recommend the game, and the fact that it depicts the genocide of an entire race with the gleeful candour of the Androids from Dragon Ball Z really doesn’t help.

I enjoyed my time with Nimbatus, even though it’s been made for people far more capable in design than I am. If you’re one of those elusive professional Minecraft architects or someone with a penchant for computing, Nimbatus as a tool is a real achievement you should invest in. Meanwhile, I’ll stick to watching The Malcontent Orb as it drifts slowly through the universe and slowly drifting, soulless and accursed, into the abyssal nothingness of pixelated space.

Cranked Up has the colourful charm of Overcooked, and enough platforming challenge to keep you engaged from start to finish. Frustration is core to the experience, and that may not be for everyone, but if snappy, repeated trial and error gameplay is your thing then Cranked Up is a good shout.

A Hand With Many Fingers illustrates the quiet fervour of trying to understand something much bigger than yourself – a web of obscure moving parts and shady characters who have, to this day, never been convicted of a crime. Even if you’re not as keen on the niche thrill of chasing a conspiracy, Colestia’s work is an important dissection of power, hegemonic greed, and corruption during the Cold War, as well as its ideological impact across the world – issues that unfortunately remain all too familiar in 2020.

Overall, Warborn is a colourful and fun tactics game. It takes a little bit from a few places and does good things with them. The gameplay is good, the tactical options are varied, and the soundtrack will drill its way into your brain and never leave. It feels a lot like this will do very well if there are a lot of people keeping the multiplayer alive, but it’s a great game regardless.

It possesses a certain melancholy and longing that I admire. That mood is captured beautifully by its illustrations which in rare moments collapse and collide in colourful fractal parallaxes. Despite the flaws I’ve identified, the direction of its narrative surprised me, and its twists kept me on my toes. Like Seers Isle before it, Across the Grooves’ worldbuilding is its strength. It crafts a deep beatnik, classic rock mythology surrounding the record at its centre, and while I often felt like I didn’t belong in that world, I remained intrigued by the secrets it offered. When I finished Across the Grooves, I replayed Seers Isle. Then I began Across the Grooves again. I look forward to Nova-box’s next project as their work continues to delight.

Space Scavenger makes for an interesting debut from Red Cabin Games. It never reaches the lofty heights of fellow SHMUP titles but carves a unique identity, bringing enjoyable combat and versatile customisation. It’s a shame there isn’t more of it and comes across as rather barebones. Replayability only goes so far, but considering the low price point, this is easier to forgive. For genre fans looking for a new fix, it comes recommended.

It’s reductive to suggest Little Witch Nobeta is just you running around, busying yourself between each boss battle, but they are undoubtedly the best part of the game. Its pacing is off, and the base game combat hasn’t got that much going for it, but it’s well worth picking up to test yourself against Little Witch Nobeta’s headline offerings.

A Day Without Me offers a very simplistic adventure-horror experience that has some interesting ideas. The game’s trailer definitely showed potential glimpses of dealing with a big demonic threat in your town. However, the final product falls short in capitalizing on its concept.

As it stands, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. While a lot of the puzzles can be fun, and it’s undoubtedly a very pretty game, it’s a little bare bones. Of course, it is in Early Access, and the devs seem very keen on continuing to build upon the entertaining foundations that are currently there. I think this game could be really good, but it’s hard to recommend at the moment.

It’s an undeniably well-made platforming game, and both the music and the visual style help to keep this standing out in a field of platformers that want to make you cry. It’s just a really solid game, and one that you’ll enjoy a lot if you don’t mind dying constantly.

It’s hard not to come away from The Otterman Empire feeling disappointed. It’s got a cute aesthetic, and the mere concept of space otters should sound appealing. Ultimately, however, Tri-Heart’s latest title gets let down by flawed gameplay. Whether its an experience redeemed with friends is hard to say, though missions provide some degree of fun. Parents looking for a new game will find some joy here, but for anyone else, Otterman is best avoided.

While the gameplay is solid and manages to pack a punch; there isn’t much that’s new apart from a small health upgrade system and a few moves you pick up along the story. It takes such large inspiration from older titles that it often fails to properly identify itself as anything more than a nostalgia-driven passion project. There are so many little details that feel like they’ve come right out of old titles, but this ends up feeling a little bit dull after the shine wears off. Seeing old school stun locks and intentionally annoying enemy design can only get by on so much goodwill. If you long for a time of cartridges and broken controllers, this one is definitely for you. If not, I probably wouldn’t bother.

We Should Talk simply offers players a chance to attack and dethrone their worst impulses. Even if you feel like sh*t, or can’t choose to say something closer and truer to how you feel, there’s always the gentle mental fallback that you’re simply selecting preset dialogue options. Whatever you want to tell yourself, really. Still, if you want to hit on everything around you, you can do that. If all you know how to do is drink, lie, and eat hot chip, you can do that too. If you managed to breeze through all of it without breaking a sweat, I salute you. You’re a better person than I.

It’s not much to look at, but it’s a huge amount of fun, and the satisfaction you’ll get when you can successfully predict the entire fight is euphoric. It’s a truly fascinating game, and it’s definitely worth your attention if you like chess, tactics, roguelikes, or dragons. It’s very different and it works very well because of that. The difficulty might put some people off, but there’s a very specific market for this game that’ll love it.

UnderMine is a great roguelike game. It takes an awful lot from the genre’s heaviest hitters, but it manages to make it all entertaining thanks to a hefty dose of generally good vibes, and some very powerful upgrades. The difficulty will put some people off, but if you’re willing to persevere, then there’s an awful lot of game here to be played.

Despite its faults, Swimsanity can still be great fun. Ultimately, this might come down to the power of friends, as cheesy as that sounds. While the progression is none existent, and the gameplay is occasionally frustrating, it knows just what makes these styles of games tick. Its visuals and music are a little lacking, but that ineffable, undefinable “fun factor” still exists. Swimsanity is a rather simple experience, but it manages to offer just enough content to stop it from being dead in the water.

Each little mini-game is a full-throated paean to the glory of being young and broke, and your biggest problem is getting a sweet new pair of booties. Chances are that if you’re reading this, the odds are low that you’re a teenager. If you are, you probably don’t need to get this game. Teenage Blob is for people like me – people who need to extract the essence of this game and chop it up into a fine powder and find a reasonable way to carefully ingest and ration its power. Maybe sprinkle it in a protein shake or a green juice. Millennials can have a little Teenage Blob, as a treat.

I think it’s important when looking at Underzone, to note it’s in early access and, for what it is, its a rather impressive release. There are some definite issues, but its base gameplay is rather fun, its ideas unique and story intriguing, if a little overdone. There is certainly enough here to be rather hopeful for its future. Like most roguelikes, if you enjoy that grind of slowly upgrading each run, there’s a lot to love here, but the promise of what it will be is perhaps a little greater than what it actually is.

Finishing what was available, I found myself immersed in a sort of aesthetic meditation, with each finished platform evoking a deeply tangible sense of satisfaction. Depending on your speed, Cloud Gardens is a great contemplative puzzle with little pressure to stay stuck if you don’t want to be. I’d like to think that much of its charm is a reflection of the way we’re conditioned to respond to processes of growth, decay, and rehabilitation. Perhaps the secret ingredient to its appeal is buried in the psychogeography between environmental guilt and our relationship to abandoned spaces. Perhaps it’s our lizard-brain drive to help things grow and flourish in unlikely surroundings. Or perhaps, Cloud Gardens is simply a very good deconstructed variation of Katamari, albeit one that refuses to hold your hand. [Early Access Score = 90]

While what’s there is a lot of fun, and all of it is incredibly stylish, I can’t really recommend you pick it up in its current form. That being said, if you’re in the market for an incredibly stylish game with some very fun power-ups and combat, then maybe HAAK will keep you entertained for a few hours. [Early Access Provisional Score = 70]

However, Cyber Hook revolves around, and brace yourself, a grappling hook. You race through neon worlds at breakneck speeds and attempt to swing from tiny points up as high as you can to see if you can beat your previous score. It’s just a lot of fun, and I can see this being massive with speedrunners.

Against the Moon should be exactly what I’m looking for in a game. It’s got some deckbuilding, some tactical combat, and a cool setting. It is, on paper at least, an interesting game with some really cool mechanics. Unfortunately, none of it fits together as well as it could, and it feels incredibly short. This style of game is at its best when you can keep going back to it time and time again, and that’s not the case here. Some of the battles feel terribly balanced, and the whole thing just feels a bit off. It’s still getting regular updates though, so I’m quietly hopeful for the game it could become despite this being the full release.

Breakpoint is a simple and incredibly honest game. It’s a new arcade game, and there’s nothing more to it. However, in a field of endless games and services, this approach is rather refreshing.

These criticisms may be a personal taste thing (tough, I’m the reviewer), but genuinely, if you’re looking for a small puzzle-box game like The Room or GNOG, this might tick a few boxes. It will satisfy in much the same way as a Rubik’s cube or a wooden puzzle does but somehow manages to be a bit more obnoxious. Younger players especially may see the value in this, and it certainly has a place, just don’t expect to find yourself moved and bereft afterwards – you’ll probably just want to make a cup of tea and get on with your day.

It’s fun and incredibly frantic and each game presents its own challenge. It’s also cute as a cupcake and sure to be a hit with those who have children who game or just anybody that likes cute things in general. While you might be disappointed if you go in hoping for a deep and meaningful experience, those who just want to have a good time will be more than satisfied.

It can feel a little simplistic at times, but overall it’s quite good fun. The graphics are nice and you’ll find yourself settling into a favourite role in no time at all. It’s still got a few bugs, but it’s Early Access, so we’re expecting those to get stomped on at some point.

Floor 13: Deep State makes for an interesting espionage premise. By making you Director-General, it becomes the Football Manager of spy games, putting you in M’s shoes rather than James Bond. Though it raises some reflections on modern politics, a lot of scandals are based on dated incidents and whilst there’s strategic depth to the gameplay, that’s ultimately hampered by poor mission structure. If you enjoyed the original Floor 13, then Deep State is worth looking into, but otherwise, it’s a cautious recommendation.

In all, I’d say this game is a fantastic showing for what is essentially a solo project. I think after the Herculean effort that was Stardew Valley, we tend to expect a lot from solo games. This isn’t as full-featured as some games; it’s also not as long. It occasionally doesn’t go far enough in some of its endeavours, which is perfectly understandable given the scope. The criticisms feel more like missed opportunities than outright bad choices, but that is to be expected with a game of this magnitude. It shines in some areas; it’s RPG elements are a particular highlight. Where it doesn’t shine, it’s not bad per se, more just a little lacklustre. It’s a perfectly fine game to sink some hours into, easy to get into, easy to stay attached to.

Simply playing through all four of Macro’s new levels probably takes just a single brief sitting, but doing everything in them took me around four hours. The middle two levels are probably more complex and multi-layered than anything in the base game. This DLC’s additions successfully round out and elevate the core gameplay and themes.

I love a good pun, and Flailure is definitely a good pun. It’s also a pretty good game. It’s got some silly mechanics, ragdoll physics, and cute animals all fighting it out to try and come out on top. There’s a wonderful level of chaos to the way each match plays out, and while it’s not always complex, there’s no denying how much fun beating your friends is. It’s definitely more a game for younger gamers, but there’s fun to be had here no matter what age you are.

Tesla Force is a solid twin-stick shooter that has you fighting through a deeply messed-up world paying as historical characters. Gameplay-wise it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect. There are lots of enemies, absurd weapons, and a lot of fun to be had. There’s fun to be had here for fans of the genre, but it doesn’t do enough to entice anybody who wouldn’t already be interested.

There are many cool moments and secrets throughout Bezier that make it more special than just an ordinary shooter, not to mention the fantastic soundtrack. As addictive as it is, though, I’m not sure it’s worth £20 for what is still quite a short game, especially as the original’s on Steam for just £7. There are more difficulty modes, an Endurance mode, a Daily Challenge that’s tied into a fun fact about the date, and plenty of secrets to find, but Bezier’s not a game you’re going to play for hours upon hours. A short, memorable, replayable experience isn’t a bad thing, though, and the game’s as fun as it is weird, which is a lot.

Gloom and Doom is a visual novel about Heaven, Hell, and absolution. It comes with a nice cast of characters all trying to figure out what on Earth is going on, while all fighting their own demons, literally and figuratively. The art style and general setting will feel very nostalgic for any fans of 90s-era comic books, or just anyone alive during the 90s. It’s not a particularly long game, but it’s a good time while it’s around.

Rogue Star Rescue is undeniably fun. It’s quirky and self-aware, has great control, clever weapons, and adorable retro graphics. The focus on character progression and general friendly coop multiplayer give it a lovely classic coin-op air, and there’s plenty here to keep players coming back again and again.

Parallels will be made between AnShi and Journey, which is a bit unfair. For a start, AnShi is the brainchild of a single developer. Second, the protagonist of Journey never had a hoverboard, which for AnShi, is a literal game-changer. I would caution anyone looking to recapture their experience with Journey to consider AnShi on its own uniquely alien merit, or otherwise brace for disappointment. Ultimately, AnShi wowed me with its otherworldly vistas and sweeping soundtrack, but its meandering plot left me wanting more.

The truth is, it plays like a tabletop game or something you’d dig out of the cupboard for boardgame night. It’s quick; once you familiarise yourself with the rules, and every time you lose, there’s a sense of “God, I was so close… maybe one more try”. I would like to see more attractive landscapes and backgrounds. I would like a bit more variation. But the potential is great, and there’s a lot to be said for a game you can pop open in the background of a dull Zoom meeting these days.

Bravery Network Online is absolutely great. It’s full of larger-than-life characters, stunning artwork, and a very satisfying turn-based combat system. If you’re even slightly interested in this game then implore you to check it out, you won’t regret it.

Overall, I’d rather wait and play the PlayStation 4 version. I’d mention the PlayStation 5 but trying to get one is like finding a needle in a haystack. Either the game isn’t optimised well, or my laptop isn’t compatible with it. If you’ve got an option to play this on something that isn’t a PC, I definitely recommend you check it out elsewhere.

Whether you go guns blazing or take a more indirect strategy, no matter the approach you take, Warshmallows will ensure you hours of fun, with the silliest marshmallow clothing, a soundtrack born in heaven mixing funk, hip hop, and 80’s rock, and, why not, victorious marshmallows, dabbing in delight after winning a match round.

All told, Sizeable is an endearing little gem that offers the same light brain-teasing that your nan’s looking for when she sits down to do the crossword in the paper. It’s easy to pick up and put down, and treating it as such meant that the game never wore out its welcome. Charging through every level in one sitting is easily doable, but some things are meant to be savoured. As far as Sizeable is concerned, I’ll be coming back for seconds.

Roundtable Games Studio have certainly put their best foot forward with Dying Flame. Fans of layered psychological storytelling and atmosphere will be intrigued, and fans looking for a dialled-up-to-11 spoopy adrenaline rush will be more than satisfied. The RPGMaker genre has another great title in its library, and indie gaming has another promising studio to look out for.

Here’s a disclaimer, if you’ve already got the first two Overcooked! games, do not get this. However, if you’re new to the series, then Overcooked! All You Can Eat is an absolute joy. The feeling of panicking your way around a kitchen with friends is incredible, and the chaos it brings is unrivalled. There are a few online issues at the moment though, but I’m scoring this assuming they’ll be fixed.

Inkslinger is a promising debut from the three man outfit at Gateway, showcasing their ability to weave in potent themes in a brief, intimate plot, making this a text-adventure that’s moody and evocative. There’s so much packed here, its short time serving as a brief, albeit tantalising glimpse into what this team is capable of.

This game presents a very normative, happy retrospective for what was the basis of our interactions becoming commodified by surveillance. It’s impossible to untangle the complex mess of pop culture and corporate harm from one another. Yet, Emily is Away <3 seems to only remember the sugary sweet poke wars. That doesn’t make it a bad game, but it does make it a naïve one.

Voxel Battle Simulator wants you to pit tiny little voxel pixel armies against one another in an all-out competitive battle. You are given an amount of money to defend your base with, from the most basic of infantry that battle on foot, to artileries that can fling munitions across a vast distance. Once you’ve deployed them, you can watch them clash with the opposing team, both armies yelling with all the excitement and confusion of overly energetic puppies as they do so, and unlock more defenses with the spoils of war. However, while the game functions on a fundamental level, it’s barely compelling or innovative enough to keep me playing.

Mad Devils has good ideas, but it feels like a botched mission, as if the original order got lost in transmission on the way. The action is good when it works, but the contrasting tone and narrative bog down the broader experience. Still, conflicting story and visual design aside, if Mad Devils’ frenetic twin-stick shooting and setting are too good to pass up, make sure to take a friend. It’s dangerous in hell.

It may be punishing at times, but Jetboard Joust is truly at its most exhilarating when it’s firing on all cylinders.

Repetitive as My Child Lebensborn is, as a video game it falls short of what most players might consider “fun.” But as an education about Lebensborn and the poignant struggles of war children to this day, it leaves an enduring impression. Way more than any history class ever did.

As distasteful as the title is, it doesn’t seem particularly triggering for most people. The game’s comical tone and frivolous approach stave off any potential triggers its gruesome title might suggest. When you approach the game as a virtual escape room, wherein every time your character dies, you get one step closer to the real world, the whole affair becomes more palatable. But without a potent narrative and puzzles that increase in complexity, Suicide Guy ultimately doesn’t offer anything new to the genre.

Moving through Summertime Madness, the art gallery comparison reminded me more and more of an art pop up in Manhattan called Color Factory. In Color Factory, guests move through spaces of bright, saturated, colorful designs of atmospheric spaces, playful ball pits and selfie-perfect sets with slogan-plastered objects ready for instagram. The more I walked through the colorful playspaces of Summertime Madness, the more fitting the connection seemed. Rather than thinking of some video games through a cinematic lens or painting frame, Summertime Madness is a reminder of real world spaces like Color Factory. While that isn’t too lofty an aspiration, maybe just walking through a world and feeling something is enough.

Ultreia, too, leans heavily on religious themes, with forgiveness being a saving grace that unlocks a secret true ending, reducing the story into an uncomplicated, religious tale with robots rather than a more nuanced story about adversities. It’s a pity that it ultimately misses the opportunities to delve deeper into the rich world it’s built for itself.

The blindingly abrasive strobe effect that will make this an utterly miserable experience for some, no matter how much you want to see the pretty pictures and explore every corner of the Critters world. But if you’re willing to just ruin your vision for an afternoon and commit to the developer’s description of their own work “to make your eyes bleed” (for their other game, a shooter called Rym 9000), Critters for Sale is an oddball dip into a very particular vision of hell.

On the surface, Garbage is a homeless fighting simulator that carries parallels to Punch Club: train hard, win fights, and take showers–the only twist being that you’re a homeless man who now has to live next to the dumpster. But take a closer look beyond its hood, and you’ll find that Garbage is a game that is barely serviceable.

Rather than a full-bodied explosion, every gunshot is instead akin to the gentle patter of raindrops on concrete pavements–an almost maudlin description that’s probably the furthest thing RAZE 2070 wants to be known for. Much less can be said about its android enemies, which more closely resemble crash test dummies than the high tech cyborgs of sci-fi shooters. Then there is its introduction video–a snapshot into RAZE 2070’s intergalactic setting–which is made up of mostly stock footage of space from sites like Getty Images. Probably.

It’s a base defense strategy game that dabbles in realism rather than pointless commotion, and it’s a very captivating one. There are minor issues, such as the need for more precise controls (you can’t choose which worker you wish to station at every barricade), but aside from a few frustrating moments, these mostly don’t detract from its strengths.

Promesa attempts to convey a moving, intergenerational tale through its spaces, as it shuttles the player to various locales, interspersing these journeys with quotes shared by a grandfather to his grandchild. You don’t really need to do much; you just walk until you can’t anymore, and then you’ll be transported to the next place. But these spaces are also mostly devoid of meaningful context; I wasn’t even aware I was reading a familial conversation until I read the synopsis on a website. Then there are the purportedly haunting and surreal spaces, which are as sparse and lifeless as the memories you’re supposedly traversing through, having been mostly constructed with far too little subtleties to pique my curiosity. Compounded by the absolutely glacial speed I was travelling at, and I found myself making an early exit.

There is a reasonable game lurking somewhere inside Radio Viscera. The early knockings were enough to show me that there is a lot of fun to be had with this concept. However, the attempts at including variety often miss the mark, and a string of technical problems exacerbate the game’s shortcomings. It is certainly a novel attempt to subvert the genre, but, ultimately, it falls incredibly short. Instead, it makes me yearn for a more traditional twin-stick shooter, even if that would offer no surprises.

Outsider: After Life shows in its opening section that it knows what it’s doing. The process of repairing HUD-ini is finely tuned, and sets up intrigue for what comes next. It’s a shame that it only gives way to increasingly repetitive, sometimes painful gameplay, and mismatched pieces of story that don’t quite fit into the full picture.

Ultimately The Protagonist: EX-1 is another addition to the turn-based strategy game that requires no strategy, with a squad that provides no interest. I cannot begin to care enough about this game to continue playing it, and cannot find a reason to recommend it.

Devoid of music and the ups and downs of an engaging narrative arc, the happenings in Horror Tales: The Wine becomes stale quickly. Coupled with some arcane puzzles that can only be resolved by loading a previous save, Horror Tales: The Wine leaves a sour taste in the mouth after a few chapters.

The story, while occasionally perplexing, is full of heady material to chew through. It’s the kind of narrative that would require an additional playthrough, totally possible thanks to its roughly 2-4 hour campaign with selectable chapters. The gunplay may be a tiring affair of shooting lemmings in body armor, and the other elements are both underwhelming and frustrating, but Foreclosed is a gorgeous game with a big-ass brain. It just hasn’t quite figured out how to apply that yet.

As an Early Access title, Death Trash is still incomplete, with a few more chapters still in development and waiting to be unveiled. But even then, it’s a game that’s incredibly easy to sink your teeth into. Its backdrop of debauchery, monster flesh and body horror, while not altogether foreign, conjures a compelling image of humankind in a parasitic relationship with our post-apocalyptic host. We often hear of hostile worlds that want to kill us, but not so much of civilisations that are slowly and literally devouring the planet, as they rip apart the still-breathing planet muscle by muscle. Death Trash shows us that our insatiable hunger makes us the biggest threat, even as the world is in the throes of death. [Early Access Review = 85]

Escape from Naraka takes the best–and unfortunately, some flaws–of classic platformers; making precise leaps can be challenging when you can’t see your feet. At the same time, it also injects some of the studio’s own culture and twists into the environments, letting you immerse in a Southeast Asian-inspired universe that’s as mystical as it’s alluring.

In an attempt to elevate itself beyond just an action-based shooter, Green Phoenix has unfortunately become more humdrum than invigorating.

Can Androids Survive is a game that is working to be a simulator (an unruly hybrid in the best of cases) that positions itself as a sequel to a story. If it doesn’t really quite pull any of these things off successfully, there is at least some consolation in the fact that in the end, as promised, the player gets to blow up the moon. I’m not sure that it works as a message, but it’s nice to get some consideration for not having hit the escape key an hour or so earlier.

Even while the gorgeous alien botany is alluring and forms the artistic backbone of this curious little game, I found myself wanting more options—perhaps a narrative mode for players focused on the world and its strange inhabitants—and a change of pace.

Ultimately. I can’t say I expected much from AAA Clock. It ticks off the necessary features, bringing a functional clock to the Switch with some nice cosmetic touches, but after a tedious run of the Retro Game, I’m ready to clock out.