It’s just a shame that the execution of everything here leaves a lot to be desired. The performance of the game is significantly less than ideal, with there being far too many loading screens that go on for far too long. There’s also the occasional visual glitch and broken frame rate to help you feel like your TV might be broken. It’s a collection of cool concepts, but it’s not anywhere near as polished as it could be.

Ultimately, The Church in the Darkness rewards players with a fascinating and original cult setting, but the provided method for navigating and interacting with that setting is entirely uninteresting. For some, it may be worth trudging through an uninviting cult compound to understand their experiences and culture; for me, I wish I’d stayed far away.

I anticipated a touching, engrossing tale of a heartbreaking and folkloric haunt. What I got was a bog-standard, overly conservative horror game mired by mechanics more ancient than the game’s late 1800’s setting. Like the lifeless meatbags which stalk its murky hallways, Maid of Sker is best avoided.

Dark humour is used liberally throughout Little Misfortune’s exploration of bleak themes. Half of the time, you don’t know whether to laugh or recoil in horror. Either way, it’s easy to become absorbed in the plight of our little heroine. It’s pretty short for the price of admission and arguably a little too much of a cinch to play, but a loveably weird tale all the same.

There’s a lot to love when it comes to Griefhelm and whilst that initial difficulty will be off-putting to some, I recommend you persevere. Whilst combat doesn’t hold a huge amount of depth, the variety in gameplay modes was appreciated and it features some challenging 2D combat, nice aesthetics and enjoyable multiplayer. The inability to save campaign progress is frustrating, but overall, the game took me by surprise, and I very much recommend it.

I came to Orangeblood almost determined to like it. It had everything, seemingly. Gorgeous 90’s inspired art design, the promise of a funky soundtrack, JRPG style but in a more modern setting… I was so ready to fall in love. It’s only two weeks into 2020 and I’m going back to being jaded and miserable and its this game’s fault.

Decent production value and acting are all this has going for it. Even so, Bloodshore is one of many projects that don’t ever have to be interactive, and unfortunately, it won’t be the last of its kind.

Most of Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Earthblood feels like a game entering early access, and every element would benefit from more time and more polish. Too shallow for World of Darkness fans, too simple for ARPG aficionados, and too much tedious exploration filler for button mashers, it’s hard to recommend this one, especially for the asking price.

The game is cute, funny and genuinely satisfying once you start to put two and two together, combining items and solving puzzles to push the story forward. But the writing really suffers here. It would have been much more enjoyable if dialogue lines weren’t so annoying and expositional. Characters constantly say exactly what they’re doing, and they do it multiple times in a row. The game loses a lot of its comedic charm because it never trusts the player to understand what’s happening, even when it’s extremely straight-forward.

Old Gods Rising is unsettling. It does a wonderful job of making you uneasy, constantly convincing you you’re being watched by someone or something, which the story is happy to suggest. If you want a game with a story which has multiple twists, an ambiguous ending, a nice sense of creepiness (without playing a horror game) and a fun, small insight into ancient civilisations and the gods they worshipped, Old Gods Rising maybe for you. Although, I’d wait for it to be a bit more stable if I were you.

The stronger elements such as combat, art direction, and sound design are held back by the technical issues, odd design decisions and weak narrative, taking itself far too seriously when – if simplified – this could be a truly fun turn-based combat game.

Building off of the XCOM style of strategy, you get to decide how you move and act or react as you’re fighting it out. While the strategy can be fun, it’s all a bit sluggish, and that can make each fight feel as though it takes an eternity. On top of that, it’s visually just a bit early 2000s, with the colour brown seemingly being the inspiration for everything. It’s not a bad game, but it’s not a good one really either.

A historical video game prioritises and engages with contemporary agency and understanding of the past over the historical document. The Amazing American Circus is not even a historical document, but a media text taking the form of a video game.

Overall, Swag and Sorcery is a great game. There are a few kinks along the way, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously and offers some truly fun gameplay. It’s definitely worth your time and money.

Table Manners is a joyful if simplistic, parody of modern dating. To its credit, while I never fell in love with Table Manners, I can’t stop considering places it might go from where it is now. What if other dates like movie theatres or walks in the park were similarly simulated with outrageous physics? What if hookups were simulated in this way? Table Manners is a lovely romp. My main complaint is that I couldn’t leave a tip for the waitstaff who cleaned the tables left in my wake.

Generation Zero is more or less what I expected from a big game studio doing its own indie project – a rough-but-unique mix of open-world game features. I love that it asks players to actually pay attention to its world instead of keeping them distracted with constant waypoint markers. And the tactical combat system really works, hitting an interesting middle ground between mainstream and hardcore.

The lure of Rune II is largely in its atmosphere and Nordic themes. Norse mythology is a great setting for a game, packed with dense lore and fascinating stories and characters. Human Head clearly had a love for the subject matter and that does shine through here, making it worth a look for like-minded gamers. If you can find a small group of other players, it’s also a lot more fun to play cooperatively. Whether that’s enough to overcome the numerous flaws is up to you.

There are aspects of Brotherhood United which are promising, but at this point, it’s an experience which feels unpolished. I had the game crash on me as well as several sections where the background music just wasn’t there. Overall, it just feels like a game I could have stumbled upon on Miniclip back in 2003, and it wouldn’t have felt out of place, nor would it have stuck in my mind.

Vane simply doesn’t live up to those games it so achingly apes. It lacks the clearly defined objective and unique aesthetic of Journey; the emotional attachment of The Last Guardian; the intriguing ambiguity of Inside; the charm of Rime. Instead, Vane feels clunky and pretentious, any sense of wonderment outweighed by unnecessary frustration, sluggishness and a lack of clarity.

Riot: Civil Unrest is strange and unique, with a strong social conscience. The material covered here is important and highly relevant to our times, lending a decidedly edutainment feel to the game as a whole. So, while the game certainly won’t appeal to everyone, its original premise and gameplay make it worth checking out.

Element Space has the potential to offer a genuinely fun experience in the sci-fi genre, which is something that is wonderful to see, but not all that common. The issues presented by its poor performance and the less-than-stellar implementation of many of the mechanics result in something that is often far more frustrating than fun. It’s a huge shame because the world and the characters really did pull me in, but the bugs and crashes kept booting me back out again. Hopefully, the studio can keep these kinds of complaints in mind when developing a potential sequel. If they can improve the quality of life as well as iron out the technical issues, it’s sure to be a far more enticing game.

Board games are great because you can play through time and time again and experience something a little different each time. At least, that’s normally how it is. Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace is inspired by the Arkham Horror board game series, but it doesn’t match it in any real way. It’s a bit of a shame, but it’s all a bit too short and a bit too basic most of the time.

Devil’s Hunt is a game with obvious flaws, many of which players might excuse for a chance to tear the head off a hulking demon lord or throw unholy lances through the grotesque, glowing body of an angel. There are many more who will watch the trailer on Steam or YouTube and decide the ‘80s metal album aesthetic and combo-happy combat are worth stomaching a story with an infuriating number of dropped threads and unanswered questions. But none of it is worth a writing team that seems to believe rape can be used and excused on the altar of motivating their male protagonist.

The concept seemed safe enough, but by making the lore so vague, the dialogue and RPG elements so weak, and the combat too clumsy, Paranoia hasn’t lived up to expectations. With a name so blunt you’d be expecting to feel chills, to be looking over your shoulder, to thrive for triumph over an oppressive system that you fundamentally disagree with. Paranoia does none of this, and instead offers up a diluted, animated version of their table-top success. There’s a joke in there somewhere regarding board games/bored games, but so powerful is the ennui I’ll let you figure that one out for yourselves.

Away: Journey To The Unexpected is a game with charming moments, but they aren’t enough to save a dull experience. The highlights are the interactions with your family, but those are at the beginning, then the end of the game. Even the end boss is incredibly easy. It’s an interesting idea, but it feels like a massive letdown in a game that is full of them. The end boss of letdowns, I guess. The only thing I can say in favour of Away is that you should take its advice: stay away.

Warparty is decidedly hit and miss. If you want a quirky RTS game with plenty of classic overtones, while still having a quirky personality of its own, this is it (warts and all). Hopefully, the game can get patched to improve the rough spots and controls. As it stands at release, Warparty is frequently frustrating more often than it’s fun.

The mannequin-like orgies, hefty focus on vaginal doors, and character designs that look like questionable 50 Shades cosplayers, however, can’t cover up the fact that what the game is really about (or should have been) is finding all the intriguingly bizarre dildos spread throughout the game’s wonky world.

Narcos: Rise of the Cartels is not a broken game, nor is it ugly or offensive. But it is joyless. It feels cold, like a corporate cash grab, and suffers from a fundamental misunderstanding of its target audience. There are interesting elements and attractive qualities, but the game overall fails to deliver much of anything to anyone in particular.