Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II is a turn-based tactical RPG that tries to be a number of things, and manages to succeed at a few of them. While I was able to derive some early 2000s real-time strategy game nostalgia from Mechanicus II, much like the Necrons slumbering under Qivroth, Mechanicus II has to wrestle with […]

Video games have long been treading down the path of the cinematic for decades. For a long time, it was an endeavor only available to those with a good deal of money. The modern reality is that the pursuit has never ended but has taken different forms. This is where games like Replaced fit in. […]

The moon has fallen. In the instant before the world is destroyed, those with regrets linger, wishing they could resolve their unfinished phone calls from those final moments, while the “world’s last Confidant” listens to them and helps them find peace. Right away, the first thing that stands out about Schrodinger’s Call is its art […]

Having spent my teenage years glued to a Nintendo DS, it might not come as a complete shock that I’m a huge fan of adventure games and visual novels. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy all types of games, but where others were clamoring for the latest AAA shooter or open-world adventure, I was waiting […]

Battlestar Galactica feels like an odd choice for a licensed tie-in game when the original series ended in 1980 and the rebooted series ended in 2010, but it also kinda…hangs around. The web series ran on SciFi’s website and then reappeared on Machinima (remember Machinima?) in 2012. There was a feature film kicking around in […]

As two fists collide, the sheer force of their impact causes debris and millions of dollars to fly about in Titan’s penthouse. Conquest, the mad Viltrumite, relishes in this carnage, stating that he’ll turn his opponent, Robot, into a helmet. Conquest starts his barrage on the armored hero as he launches Robot up into the […]

As the Absolute Barista, you find yourself trapped in a strange school alongside 15 other Absolutes and forced to play a killing game. If that premise sounds similar to a certain other murder mystery series, expect many other aspects to also feel eerily familiar as you bond with your fellow classmates and participate in a […]

Step into the shoes of an occult investigator up against the growing corruption of Cthulhu, gather clues for careful analysis, and choose how to solve puzzles to either stave off the corruption or let it spread. As a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories and anything based on them, I was intrigued by Cthulhu: The […]

Town of Zoz has a lot of great ideas and incredible presentation, but the overall stilted flow of combat stymies what could be a top-notch indie gem. Regardless, the positives are numerous here and worth experiencing, so long as you’re open to a somewhat challenging combat system. Action-RPGs and 2D The Legend of Zelda games […]

Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a game I’ve been eagerly anticipating since its initial reveal, and can you blame me? You show me a noir shooter with a rubber hose style, and you’ve got my attention. Now was the wait worth it, or is the game too cheesy for its own good? Well, to put […]

People of Note is about a land of music called Note, and the protagonist, Cadence, wants to be the top Pop songstress in Chordia through the competition Noteworthy. What begins as a simple dream becomes much more in this linear turn-based RPG. With a plot that barely gets there and an unlikeable main character, my […]

Saying the word ‘XCOM’ to people tends to summon images of the 2012 series. Those who are a little older are already muttering, ‘What about X-COM?!’ While the former has seemingly influenced a small but fairly mighty set of games, the latter has gone overlooked. Xenonauts 2 is not overlooking it; in fact, it’s staring […]

KuloNiku: Bowl Up! is a fast-paced, cozy cooking game that blends a sharp anime aesthetic with pleasant writing to create a rather unique title. I ran into a little stuttering here and there, but the game itself is probably the most fun you could have cooking bizarre noodle combinations for quirky customers. I first previewed […]

Thirty two years. That’s how long it’s been since the release of the original Marathon, a series that, after two additional games, went into hibernation while Bungie developed the Halo series. Well, it’s finally time to return to Tau Ceti IV, and it’s no less dangerous than it was last time you were there. Marathon […]

Sometimes you get caught out on your big talkin’ and your bluff gets called. I said I wanted to play the Thomas the Tank Engine game. Diego asked me if I actually wanted to play it. Now, there is a lot you can say about me, but one thing is very true: I will commit […]

It was, and still is, really common for people to think of a film and say, ‘That would make a great video game.’ It was the bedrock of the video game industry for most of its existence, for better or (mostly) worse. It became something of an assumption, maybe even a joke, that video games […]

Crabmeat is a short first-person thriller game that takes a simple premise and makes it representative of something much greater. Your character overdrew their MelbBank account by $656. They spent it on rent. The punishment: revoked citizenship and one week to harvest 500kg of king crab. Even if you wanted to refuse, there are quite […]

Mr. Sleepy Man is one of the strangest and most charming games I’ve ever played. Though at its core, it’s primarily a quirky 3D platformer, the variety of crazy twists and goofy characters makes this unlike anything else. The tone won’t be for everyone, but it’ll absolutely be a bullseye for people as weird as […]

I am known for my position that Disco Elysium is the best game ever, and I’m not sure if Esoteric Ebb is going to dethrone it, but it’s definitely going on the medal podium. This is Disco Elysium by way of Planescape: Torment, but with the humor of Discworld, a detective roleplaying game that’s less […]

Scott Pilgrim EX takes a different approach than the previous Scott Pilgrim beat-em-up, which works in some ways and feels a bit stiff in others. Despite the slightly wonky format, the aesthetic and gameplay are excellent, and there are lots of fun nods for fans of the source material to eat up in this tight […]

It is a pleasure to encounter games that make me remember my youth, and Crisol: Theater of Idols is the kind of game that makes me fondly remember the 90s. In a world of constantly-launching and failing live service games, forced multiplayer, battle passes, and other ways to milk the player dry, this is a […]