Nothing terrifies me like tight spaces, heights, and never-ending seeming dark holes. Also, there are few games I’ve been wanting more than a serious platformer capable of making older audiences feel the childlike wonder provided by the classics.

I read that Lorn's Lure could be that game. The first video I saw of it showed the main character getting ready to make a deliberate plunge into a hole in the ground; one I feared could be long enough to cross the entirety of the Earth.

Lorn's Lure seemed like a challenge I’d have to go through, to get the platformer I’d been hoping for.

Lorn's Lure (PC [Reviewed])
Developer: Rubeki Games
Publisher: Rubeki Games
Released: September 20, 2024
MSRP: $14.99

Upon first glance, Lorn’s Lure is very simple. You can jump, slide, and climb over platforms until you reach the place the game wants you to get to. From the outset, the only tool at your disposal is climbing gear you'll use to somewhat freely climb many walls in the game.

I say somewhat freely because, like where Portal only lets you portal on white walls, Lorn’s Lure only allows players to climb on vertical walls made of climbable rock. The pickaxes allow you to move up, down, left and right for a limited time while you put yourself in the right spot to safely drop down or jump onto the next platform.

This alone would’ve been good enough to keep me engaged till the end of the game, but I was pleasantly surprised to unlock more more mechanics that enhanced my climbing abilities and the fun I had climbing. There's wall running, wall jumping, and a grappling hook to traverse the areas like Pathfinder from Apex Legends.

The rest works just as you’d expect. Fall into a bottomless pit, or onto the ground from a high enough altitude, and you’ll get the option to restart from the last good position you were in, or from the start of the chapter.

On the graphical front, Lorn’s Lure cold trick you into thinking it’s a PS1 game with upscaled textures. Still, the humongous size of the play areas would likely melt Sony’s OG console in one second. Lorn’s retro look only adds charm and a welcome sense of eeriness, to a game that wants the player to feel like they’re trapped in an infinitely alien, indifferent, and sometimes surprisingly beautiful world.

Lorn’s Lure also takes a cool minimalistic approach to storytelling. The set-up is done by small cutscenes show the vastness of this world. Then, you can scan areas of interest to learn more about the haunting mega structure where your character – and many others before them – have found themselves trapped for hundreds of years.

The world of Lorn’s Lure will seem familiar to anyone who’s read BLAME. Just like Tsutomi Nihei’s manga, it puts the main character in a high-tech hell-scape vast enough to make any being, living or imaginary, feel tiny. I love that choice for a platformer. It conveys a grandeur never before seen in the likes of Tomb Raider or Uncharted. Those series have shown us a fair amount of large areas, but they have always been just as focused on showing us tiny details. In Lorn’s Lure, you never feel like you’re just exploring a level – you feel like you’re exploring a planet.

Like Chained Together, Lorn’s Lure could probably prove a hit among the speedrunning community. I don’t doubt it will, because this is a better looking and much more mechanically challenging title. Still, I was a bit surprised to learn Lorn's Lure actually feels like a puzzle game of sorts. It starts off as simple as any other platformer. Then, it has players clearing the way of obstacles, or finding ever-more intricate ways of completing the supposedly simple task of getting from point A to B.

Even with its awesome mechanics, what makes Lorn’s Lure truly shine is its level design. Its dauntingly vast spaces make the player feel helpless when thinking of a way to get to the next checkpoint. Then, once they clear their minds, the game makes players feel like a true post-apocalyptic sci-fi raiders once they've finally overcome yet another obstacle.

Lorn’s Lure will need you to be quick on your feet, to be precise in both the spacing and the timing of your jumps. Even if you’re just trying to escape the megastructure, Lorn’s Lure will provide quite the challenge. But, once you’ve already beaten its main challenge, the game is still filled with collectibles placed in even harder-to-access areas.

Fortunately, Lorn’s Lure doesn’t waste your time. The developer knew this would be a very intense trial-and-error affair. Players can, at any point, restart their run to the last time they had secure footing on the platform closest to the objective, with no loading screen involved. I’ve tested the restart option a lot — you guess whether I did so intentionally or not — and it works very well. Too many platformers struggle to record the player's last good position before a fateful misplaced jump, or record a platform where they'd been previously, wrongfully making it the restart position. Lorn's Lure is free from that sin.

As for what I didn’t like, the massive size of the play area makes it sometimes difficult to understand where to head next. The game’s plot conveniently introduces a guiding glitch in our character’s eyesight, but it isn’t visible at all times. Players can toggle a marker at all times to know exactly where they need to go, but I’d rather just have a diegetic cue like the one the game intended.

Still, that’s more of a nitpick than a huge problem. In terms of what I liked but many might not, well, Lorn’s Lure is very challenging. The trial-and-error nature of the entire game might put some off. I totally understand players might not want to die more times to one single jump than they would to a boss in Elden Ring. Even I felt deeply frustrated at some points, but the frustration would vanish as soon as I'd found myself past each of the most demonic jumps. Many players may not re-energize so easily, and I totally get that.

But, if you’re into challenging platformers like the remaster of the original Crash Bandicoot, then you’re very likely to enjoy this one. Alongside with the aforementioned Chained Together and Jusant, Lorn’s Lure proves that the world of platformers still has a lot of mechanics to be tried out. It’s also revealing just how inhospitable and utterly terrifying platformers can be — in the coolest of ways.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Have you ever played a game that delivers on its core concept so thoroughly that you don’t think it could possibly be improved? It doesn’t necessarily have to be the most compelling concept; it could be quite mundane, but it convinces you that no matter how much budget could get thrown at the idea, there’s no way to top it. That’s Parking Garage Rally Circuit.

I’m not trying to tell you that this is the best racing game of all time. I rarely speak in such enthusiastic hyperbole. However, I will say, with some confidence, that Parking Garage Rally Circuit is the absolute best Sega Saturn-style parking garage drift racing game ever released.

Parking Garage Rally Circuit (PC [Reviewed])
Developer: Walaber Entertainment LLC
Publisher: Walaber Entertainment LLC
Released: September 20, 2024
MSRP: TBA

Parking Garage Rally Circuit is what I’d describe if you asked me to guess the synopsis of The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift based on what I remember from the trailer I saw back in high school. The only image I have of that movie is cars drifting up a ramp in a parking garage. I’m not even sure if I’m remembering that correctly.

I love drifting. Or, at least, I love arcade-style drifting. I mostly judge racing games entirely by how well the drifting in them feels. But as much as I love drifting, I love retro hardware more. More specifically, I’m passionate about people’s passion for older hardware. I love to hear people talk enthusiastically about old consoles and computers, even the crappiest ones imaginable. I love it more when people try to represent it as authentically as possible.

One of the first things that greet you upon starting up Parking Garage Rally Circuit is a number of graphical preset options presented like different versions of the game, such as the original hardware or PC port. While this essentially just changes options like scanlines, aspect ratio, and draw distance, it puts those things in the context of the time period. If you don’t care for authenticity and want to be boring, you can individually tweak settings to your liking.

However, even if you widen your screen, you’re not going to fully lose the aesthetic of chunky polygons, fake transparency, pixelated textures, and a selection of ridiculous ska tunes. Parking Garage Rally Circuit is really committed to mid-‘90s racing games. It’s not Sega Rally Championship – it’s not trying to be – but it looks the part.

But looking the part is one thing. Racing games need to play well. It’s not really the sort of genre that can get by on artistic intent. Unless it’s Road Trip on PS2. Thankfully, Parking Garage Rally Circuit is like butter.

As I mentioned, I’m a bit of a drift queen. In video games, anyway. I don’t even have my license in reality. However, I was able to get a feel for Parking Garage Rally Circuit very quickly and was drifting up parking garage ramps like that Tokyo Drift trailer in no time at all.

As the name implies, each of its 8 tracks are set inside parking garages. Sort of. I think the last level is technically a ferry, but I digress. You might wonder how much variety you could possibly get from that theme. As it turns out, it’s a lot. Each parking garage is in a different city and range from simple two-story structures to sprawling complexes. Hazards like snowplows and falling boulders mix up the tight cornering, and hazardous jumps across towering structures keep you concentrated on your steering.

You don’t race against live competitors, just their ghosts. That is to say, it’s a time trial, with your goal being to reach the top time. As much as I like running people off the road, I’m not sure a grid would really work in such tight environments. The challenge of carefully drifting through extremely narrow turns is enough to keep you focused. If you’re feeling competitive, there is multiplayer, but, again, it’s all ghosts.

The only real downside I can point to in Parking Garage Rally Circuit is its brevity. There are eight tracks, and after you get a medal on each one of them in a class, you are provided with a new car with different performance and pushed through the tracks again with slight variations. It’s decent on paper, but it only took me a little under two hours to clear. I had a healthy pile of gold under my belt, but still more to clear. Your mileage will vary.

On the other hand, there are also secret cheat codes buried in the game. I’m told there are 10 of them, but I was only provided with two. I was not able to guess any others, but they’re supposed to be discovered and proliferated by the community. These unlock “secret cars, tracks, or gameplay modifiers.”

Despite its brevity, Parking Garage Rally Circuit packs a huge punch. It’s not just its perfectly emulated retro aesthetic or its near-flawless execution of its central concept, either. It’s just so damned happy to be here. You can feel the passion behind it, and that energy is felt in all its facets. It knows what it is, and it’s laser-focused on presenting it in the most finely-tuned way possible. I cannot fathom any game topping it in the niche of racing games contained entirely within parking garages. I’m not really sure what the best way to wrap up this review is, so let’s try this: Parking Garage Rally Circuit is miles more fun than parallel parking.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Parking Garage Rally Circuit appeared first on Destructoid.

Cruelty Squad’s aesthetic sure was a thing. It presents this tone evocative of a K-Mart bargain bin that has awoken with an appetite for human flesh. A lot of that was its insulting visuals, but it was backed by the most uncomfortably bizarre music. Well, you can just listen to that music if you want. If you want.

That’s because the Cruelty Squad soundtrack has penetrated streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. I’m listening to it right now and have been transported back to a particular pocket of Web 1.0 where teenagers attempted to recreate video game music while chewing on their grandmother’s prescription drugs. It haunts me. It’s both nostalgic and agonizing. I feel like I could end this article just by typing out the screams inside of me. But I won’t. Here’s what I said about it in my coronavirus-trapped 2021 review:

“It’s this mix of low-quality MIDI and uncomfortable sounds. Disturbing is probably the best way to describe it. Even at its most musical, it tends to clash with the murder on screen. Sounds just creep into the background, and it’s hard to be sure if they’re part of the music or something in the environment is about to jump you.”

Does that sound like something your kids would listen to? Is this what passes for music these days? It’s 27 tracks and 49 minutes long. What’s the opposite of meditation? That’s what this is. Listen to such hits as, uh, “Combat Cocktail” which begins with what sounds like someone chewing on a live eel; a sound that bleeds into the background to support the percussion. It's the perfect way to let your guests know that it's time to leave.

Gosh, this is great. This is music to work to. I’m so glad that Consumer Softproducts sold out to Big Streaming. Now I can feel uncomfortable while cooking or organizing my collection of toenail clippings. Listen to the Cruelty Squad OST on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and maybe other places where music is streamed.

The post You can sand off your ears with the Cruelty Squad OST on streaming services appeared first on Destructoid.

Tick Tock Interactive has announced that their shortform anthology, Miniatures, is releasing on November 14th. It’s coming to Switch, PC, and Mobile (iOS).

Miniatures defines itself as an “arthouse experience” which is maybe why I’m having so much trouble explaining it. You can watch the release date trailer. It presents an unsettling but serene tone as things happen. Here, I’ll tell you what the press release says:

“Explore, interact, and watch the world shift. In this peculiar, artist-led experience, reconnect with the wonder, magic, and loneliness of childhood through four handcrafted, visually captivating stories based on the strange objects found in an old wooden box. Open the box and open your mind - who knows what curious things you’ll discover in there?”

Discover where? In the box or my mind? Because I’ve seen what’s in my mind, and it’s no vacation home. The box seems to contain puzzles. The game part of Miniatures has you “build unusual objects, inspect curious items, and untangle the threads of lost memories.”

While it’s not necessary, the press release also mentions that playing on a touchscreen (Switch, Steam Deck, iOS) adds “an additional tactile dimension.” Touch screen and I have never been on good terms, but have at it. The game itself looks interesting, though. I like loneliness, and my childhood was a safely mundane experience that, in retrospect, that’s way preferable to adulthood.

Miniatures launches on Switch, PC, and iOS November 14th.

The post Miniatures is an award-winning serene anthology that’s out in November appeared first on Destructoid.

It’s hard to really figure out what Starstruck: Hands of Time is about based on trailers or screenshots. Half of it is a rhythm game. Half of it is an adventure. The other half is about smashing things as a giant hand. Actually having played through it, I still don’t really know what it’s about.

Starstruck: Hands of Time (PC [Reviewed])
Developer: Createdelic, LLC
Publisher: Createdelic, LLC
Released: September 16, 2024
MSRP: $19.99

Starstruck has you sent back from the future to try and prevent a somewhat-unexplained apocalypse. Your robot companion hones in on a pair of humans, both aspiring musicians. One is Edwin, who lives in the shadow of Dawn. The other is Dawn, who lives in the shadow of her brother.

Finally, there’s your hand, which you use to interfere with the flow of time. Do you remember that Simpsons Halloween special where Homer travels back in time and, while he initially tries not to affect the future, eventually gets frustrated and just starts smashing things? That’s what you’re doing with your hand. Initially, your computerized companion says something about not creating a paradox before realizing that, wait, you’re actually trying to create a paradox, so you might as well smash everything.

It’s fun. It’s barely necessary in terms of narrative, but just being able to lay waste to the environment is fun in a Katamari way. It even challenges you to destroy as much as possible and locate hidden things in the environment, which encourages you to just replay these segments. Messing with the timestream could have been depicted in a number of ways, and this is such a great way to do it.

The most immediately striking thing about Starstruck is its art style. Most things are presented as a diorama that mixes mundane objects, disparate toys, and plasticine figures. But it gets even better than that, as it also incorporates video elements, laying them behind the player-controlled models, which gives them a surreal effect.

There is some unevenness to the art style, but it makes good use of it. I think that, at least once, it uses the fact that you can’t really tell why something looks the way it does to later reveal what it represents.

When I played the demo of Starstruck: Hands of Time a couple months back, I was deep into packing for a move. Now that I have room to breathe without inhaling cardboard, I got out my Rock Band 4 Fender Jaguar. It made me want to play Rock Band 4 more than anything, but it also improved the feeling of the game. Sort of.

There’s no strumming. You just press the fret buttons in time with the prompts. I’m not sure how much you know about playing a guitar, but it’s very much not that. You lift and press the strum bar to move to the higher and lower pitches. It’s kind of awkward, especially at higher difficulties where you’re pressing chords, er, multiple buttons at once. It’s still fun to play, regardless of whether you’re on keyboard (that is, a computer keyboard, not the piano type) or a Rock Band/Guitar Hero guitar.

Speaking of which, it looks like the Guitar Hero 2 (360 version) Xplorer guitar gets recognized by the game and bound automatically. For my Fender Jaguar, I had to bind the buttons, but it wasn’t difficult and worked fine.

I was actually excited every chance I got to pull out the guitar, which, thankfully, comes up rather frequently. It’s a major part of gameplay. I said in my write-up of the demo that I hated the music, but thankfully, it turned out to only be that one song that I didn’t like. I mean, I still didn’t like the lyrics much whenever they came up, but the soundtrack, in general, is really enjoyable. You can play the songs separate from the story, and I would totally do that.

The adventure aspect of the Starstruck, on the other hand, is a smidge weak. I wasn’t looking for things to rub on other things, but there isn’t a tonne to really do in the world. There are guitars that you can find and equip for visual reasons, and there are optional songs to take part in (at least one, that I recall), but not a whole lot. And I think there’s a bit of a missed opportunity to get more intimate with the game world.

Which actually leads me to my main issue with Starstruck: its story isn’t entirely well told. I really want to temper my words, because I want to be clear that it isn’t bad. It has a lot of value and inventiveness. It’s just that it seems unfocused. So much so that, when all is said and done, I’m not sure what the core message is supposed to be. Was there just one? If not, then the other themes get diluted, and nothing gets full closure.

There’s symbolism like the heavy presence of ouroboros, the illusion of immortality through art, and being true to yourself. It brings up so much and explains so little. It spins its tires on plagiarism and by the end of it, I wasn’t sure if it was saying that it’s bad or unavoidable. Or maybe I’m not supposed to focus on that. Maybe it’s about the fact that you need to be yourself, because becoming famous by simply copying someone already successful will leave you feeling hollow. Or that all your heroes live in the shadow of someone else. Or maybe it’s both, as well as some sort of statement on the difference of fame and infamy.

The fact that it doesn’t really punctuate itself might have a lot to do with the fact that the narrative can’t tell if it’s more interested in the characters or the message. The characters themselves are all unique, and their problems are clearly stated, but you don’t live with them. You don’t really spend enough time with their issues to get a good understanding of their problems. I’m curious about Edwin’s TV-addicted parents. You see Lucy’s problem demonstrated, but the depths of her despair was a complete mystery to me. Likewise, I don’t understand the antagonist. I don’t get their motivations or their, er, status.

Not understanding or not being able to fully grok the point could just be me. I feel I’m typically receptive enough to recognize artistic intent, but I can’t possibly say how others will connect or interpret it. However, I still think that better attention to the characters would have paid off massively.

With that said, it’s told with enough visual and verbal flair that it doesn’t significantly matter. Starstruck knows how to set a scene effectively, so regardless of whether you fully understand the subtext, it’s easy enough to follow the grander plot and be entertained by its storytelling.

I’ve played and reviewed a lot of games this month, and there was a point where I felt breathless beneath a pile of them. However, the one I wanted to play most after starting it was Starstruck: Hands of Time, but it was also the one I needed to push down in priorities since I had more urgent deadlines. I think it says something that I had to restrain myself from playing it too soon.

It wound up being 4 hours for me, and that includes a bit of time I spent just playing the songs, searching for guitars, and repeating the smashy sections. There are multiple endings, but they are based mostly on decisions you make toward the end of the game, rather than any sort of branching narrative.

It wasn’t until the last act of the game that the fires of my enthusiasm met with a damp log. It wasn’t enough to put me out entirely, but it did take down the heat. Starstruck sets itself up for a homerun and winds up just making it to fourth base. It filled out the paperwork correctly, but forgot to sign and date the bottom. Uh, what I’m saying is that with a bit more time dedicated to its storytelling, it could have been the complete package. As it stands, you might be impressed by its personality, but you won’t necessarily be starstruck.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Starstruck: Hands of Time appeared first on Destructoid.

In Fields of Mistria, Saturday might be the best day of the week, because that’s when the Saturday Market comes to town and you have a chance to get your hands on items that you can’t usually get. 

The Saturday Market can also be incredibly helpful if you have request items to hand in, or simply want to get your daily conversation in with each villager, because everyone congregates in the middle of town to do some shopping. 

How to unlock the Saturday Market in Fields of Mistria

Before you can peruse the stalls of the Saturday Market and spend all of your Tesserae, you’ll need to repair the bridge. When you first begin a playthrough, the bridge that you hop over with Balor has been damaged in the recent earthquake, and without the bridge, the vendors for the Saturday Market can’t get into town. 

The quest to repair the bridge will arrive in the mail on Spring 3 of the first year, and you’ll need the following resources to complete it:

• 60 Wood
• 60 Stone

How many stalls are there at the Weekend Market?

Currently, there are four stalls at the Weekend Market in Fields of Mistria:

• Merri’s furniture stall
• Louis’ clothing stall
• Vera’s hair salon
• Darcy’s café

Items available at each stall will vary week on week and both Louis’ and Vera’s stalls will stop selling items once you’ve purchased everything that’s currently on offer. Darcy and Merri will continue selling their ready-made items, but they will stop selling recipes once all currently available ones have been purchased.

Everything sold at Merri’s furniture stall at the Saturday Market

Merri has, by far, the most items available for purchase of all the Saturday Market vendors. There’s a lot of furniture and decorative items to choose from, as well as a lot of crafting recipes available. 

Furniture and decor items

The following items will permanently be available from Merri’s stall, but exact stock for sale will vary week on week. Each item comes in a few different colors, with each option being sold separately:

Crafting recipes

Each item sold at Merri’s stall also has a corresponding crafting recipe, which she also sells for 300 Tesserae each. 

Unlike the ready-made items, purchasing and unlocking a crafting recipe will allow you to make all of the different color versions of each item, making the recipes much better value than buying the items outright even if the recipe is more expensive than the item.

Everything sold at Louis’ clothing stall at the Saturday Market

Louis is a legendary tailor who, if the villagers are to be believed, has filled their wardrobes with everything they wear. Once you’ve purchased anything from Louis, it will disappear from his rotation, until you eventually clear out his entire stock. At this point, his stall will remain empty each week until further items are added in future patches. 

When you’ve purchased an item from Louis’ stall, you’ll need to use it from within your inventory to learn it. After this, it will become available as an option in the character customization menu. 

The following items are available to purchase from Louis, each costing 500 Tesserae:

Full outfits and dresses:

• Maid Dress
• Overalls
• Overall Shorts
• Overall Skirt

Tops:

• Buttoned Tanktop
• Ringer Tee
• Striped Long Sleeve

Skirts:

• Scalloped Skirt
• Short Pleated Skirt

Socks and shoes:

• Dressy Stockings
• Sneakers

Hats and accessories:

• Cat Ears
• Devil Horns
• Hoop Earrings
• Lily Pad Hat
• Striped Bow
• Striped Bucket Hat
• Tangerine Hat

Everything sold at Vera’s hair salon at the Saturday Market

Vera sells additional hairstyles and accessories, each of which costs 500 Tesserae. As with Louis’ clothing stall, items will disappear from her rotation when they’ve been purchased, eventually leading to her selling nothing at all. 

Once you’ve purchased an item from the following list, you’ll need to use it from your inventory to learn it and unlock it in the character customization menu:

Hairstyles:

• Afro Puffs
• Short Parted Curls
• Straight Pompadour
• Straight Buns Fringed
• Rounded Afro
• Wavy Rugged
• Medium Half Bun Fringe

Accessories:

• Moon Hair Clips
• Bat Wing Hair Clips
• Strawberry Hair Clips
• Angel Wing Hair Clips
• Star Hair Clips

Everything sold at Darcy’s café at the Saturday Market

Darcy sells a range of sweet treats and drinks, as well as a selection of cooking recipes. The ready-made items that she sells will permanently be available, although stock will vary week on week. 

If you’re hoping to make the most of the fact that all of the villagers are in one place, buying liked or loved gifts at Darcy’s stall is a good way to get a boost of friendship points each Saturday. 

Food and drinks

Recipes

As soon as you purchase a cooking recipe from Darcy’s café, it will disappear from her rotation of stock, eventually leading her to selling no recipes at all.

Will we get more vendors at the Saturday Market?

According to the early access roadmap from NPC Studio, there will be more Saturday Market vendors coming to Mistria at some point in a future update, but it’s not been confirmed when this will happen. 

It’s not due to arrive as part of the first planned major update, which is expected before the end of 2024, but it is included in the future update plan. There is some knowledge of who these vendors will be, but more information will become available closer to the time they’re added. 

The post Fields of Mistria: Full Saturday Market guide, including all vendors and stock appeared first on Destructoid.

There seems to be something of a tidal wave of cozy farming sims hitting the market currently, and it can be hard to tell what makes one stand out against all the rest. Back in June, I played the demo for Garden Witch Life, and fell in love with it.

Garden Witch Life is out now on PC (via Steam and Epic Games), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. If you play on any of the mentioned platforms and have been looking for a new cozy game to dive into, you should give it a try. 

After losing your job to mass layoffs and realizing that you’re not quite ready to head home to your parents and admit defeat just yet, you bump into May, who is a rather lovely anthropomorphic cactus with a café on Moonflower Island. Not only does she give you cake (which makes anyone instantly likeable in my eyes) and good life advice, but she goes out of her way to let you stay with her overnight. This cactus lady is very trusting of strangers.

Then, in what is perhaps the most generous move anyone could possibly make, she gives you the keys to an entire (admittedly run down) treehouse, along with a bunch of land that you can do with as you please. Apparently nobody else wants it, for reasons which are left unsaid, and of course you bite her hand off because who wouldn’t? If only real life were more like a farming sim. This is the first step in a massive life change, and we've all needed one of those at some point.

You’re then left to pretty much fend for yourself. Of course you have regular interactions with the many anthropomorphized townsfolk, and you have to do quests for them as well, but it’s very easy to forget about that aspect of the game entirely. There are endless corners of the map to explore, items to be foraged, and even a few animals to be petted. You’ll keep going until you pass out. No, literally, but more on that later.

One of the best things about Garden Witch Life is the decoration aspect. In a move that makes me more happy than I could ever say, you’re not limited to right angles or a grid system when it comes to placing furniture. You can more or less freely rotate everything, and place it wherever you want. Items can slightly overlap to prevent irritating gaps, and squares are a thing of the past. It’s beautiful. 

I will say that Garden Witch Life is not my perfect cozy sim game. There are things not currently in the game which definitely should be, such as crafting from storage. In order to craft or cook anything, you have to have the necessary resources in your inventory. It’s not that much of a big deal, and you can easily work around it by placing chests close to the crafting bench, but it does add an unnecessary extra step.

Crafting or cooking anything, especially early on in a playthrough, will unlock more recipes. Turning logs into planks will provide the recipe for a wooden storage chest, for example. Gathering items works in very much the same way, with everything you pick up unlocking some form of recipe. It’s always exciting to see the pop-up telling you what you’ve learned, and I’ve found that I’m more driven to craft, knowing that I’ll get new recipes from doing so. 

The cooking mini-game is a joy in itself. It reminds me of my dearly beloved Cooking Mama. You use the chopping board to prepare ingredients and then you need to cook them in the cauldron. You control the temperature, add ingredients one at a time, stir the mix, and eventually end up with a fully cooked meal to increase your stamina. All that’s missing is an interactive blow feature.

One of the things I’m hoping is added in future updates is some kind of warning before the end of the day. It’s very easy to lose track of time in Garden Witch Life, and I’ve found myself passing out at the end of the day multiple times simply because I forgot to look at the clock. I pride myself on my ability to never pass out from exhaustion in cozy games, so this has been a humbling experience. 

I’ve only just started my play through of Garden Witch Life, and I know that I am very far from unlocking and understanding all of the features that await me, but I know that I could throw hours of my life into creating the perfect hideaway treehouse and exploring everything Moonflower Island has to offer. I think the things that make me love Garden Witch Life are the very issues that I've mentioned above.

Life isn't perfect, but sometimes it throws you curveballs taking you in a direction you never imagined you could go. That's the lingering thought when playing, and I happen to love it when games impart valuable wisdom without really even trying. While Garden Witch Life might not be perfect, it's beautiful, charming, and it feels... Free. You can be whoever you want to be on Moonflower Island, and we all need more of that kind of freedom.

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Few horror games are more influential than Silent Hill. P.T. maybe? But that was a demo for Silent Hills, so it sort of still counts. Okay, to be most specific, Silent Hill 2 is incredibly influential, which leads us to Hollowbody.

The PS2 was the best platform for horror. It was the last platform where a girl could feel safe to avoid monsters while dressed in her finest, shortest skirt. Dudes could search for their missing wives in the outfit she picked out for them. Combat barely functioned in most instances. Hollowbody longs for those days, as do I.

Hollowbody (PC [Reviewed])
Developer: Headware Games
Publisher: Headware Games
Released: September 12, 2024
MSRP: $19.99

The big difference that Hollowbody brings to the Silent Hill 2 formula is its semi-futuristic setting. You play as Mica, who is enjoying her future dystopian life when her very special friend Sasha goes missing. Sasha left to find some answers about what happened to the “Western Cities,” which suffered some strange biological event that forced the government to nuke it from orbit. It was the only way to be sure.

The whole event was covered up really well, leaving some people to wonder what had happened. You start out playing as Sasha as some creepy stuff happens, then you switch to Mica, who is piloting her awesome flying Ferrari over one of the Western Cities. She’s condescending to her AI cruise control for the last time, and it gives out on her, leaving her to crash in the battered remains of an English suburb. From there, the sci-fi thing kind of becomes marginal as you wander the ruins of a desolate town.

The setting is easily the best part of the entire game. Not that an empty town is anything new, but it makes good use of lighting and grey grime to sell the idea that this was once a lovely place to live, but is now decaying in isolation. The constant rain leads to a great atmosphere, even if it kind of disappears when you’re indoors. The camera will occasionally fix on a well-composed view. A lot of the horror is derived from the mystery and tragedy of what happened in this place, and that gets sold well, visually.

However, beyond that, I think Hollowbody really has trouble finding an identity. It really sometimes feel like PS2 Game: The Game, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it is a bit disappointing. As I mentioned, the whole future angle is actually rather subtle, and it tells its background in ways that you’d probably expect. There are written documents and what are essentially audio logs. 

Environmental storytelling is there, but there’s little commitment to it. A lot of places feel the same. There’s a part in the game where you enter one house, then need to cross the street to another, and they might as well have been the same house, given how the occupants both decorated and died. Even interactable objects in environments aren’t as prevalent as you might expect, despite the fact that Mica has a comment for every video phone she sees. Some areas, such as a number of apartments in one section of the game, don’t feel necessary at all. They don’t add to the atmosphere, they sometimes don’t hold any useful supplies, and they’re not narratively interesting.

The level design, in general, isn’t all that stellar. One section of the game has you trek through a large public park, find a locked door, and then have to backtrack through the park, back the way you came. It’s a long, boring hike, and nothing really changes to make it interesting again.

Then there’s a sewer section. I’d say this feels very PS2, but sewer levels never really went out of vogue. They were boring then, they’re boring now, and aside from some disorienting camera tricks, they’re boring in Hollowbody. Also, it does the thing where it asks, "Do you want to pick up this item?" but you have unlimited inventory space. Explain to me why I wouldn't want to pick up the key. What would possibly be the consequence?

There are only two really solid puzzles in the entire runtime. It took me a bit over four hours to complete the game, and while that may seem short, more could have been made from it. The section in the apartments is way longer than it needed to be.

The opening is a long stretch without monsters, which can be an effective way to build tension, but Hollowbody doesn’t capitalize on this. For a moment, I wondered if there were supposed to be monsters but I had hit a bug and they didn’t spawn. Eventually, they show up, but it wasn’t after a period of teasing that something dangerous was lurking. The enemies just show up. I think there’s a narrative reason for it, but the isolation isn’t used well.

Even when they do, they aren’t much of a threat. Not that I expected Hollowbody to turn into an action game, but I did think there’d be some hostility. Enemies shamble in small groups, and their only advantage is they can sometimes attack with little warning. I completed the game with over 100 pistol bullets remaining and a pocketful of shells. I began losing health more frequently at the end, but that’s largely because I was stubbornly using melee attacks.

Speaking of which, I found three melee weapons in the game, and I have no idea if one is better than another. I had this problem with Rule of Rose, so maybe it’s period accurate, but it feels strange that I couldn’t tell the difference between a guitar and a makeshift axe.

The story is fine, but that’s mostly all in the background. I love a good “everyone died, no one knows why” plot, and Hollowbody does it uniquely in some ways. However, what goes on in gameplay is less stellar. What irked me the most is that Mica gets phone calls from a mysterious voice throughout the game. They kind-of sort-of act as the antagonist, and having them call up the protagonist to taunt them really ruins their mystery. Not that you immediately know who’s on the other end of the line, but knowing that they’re a passive-aggressive dick is enough.

It feels like the setting was well established, as was the central premise, but actually getting the characters from point A to point B turned out to be a struggle. Not all that much really happens to Mica beyond a couple of plot points and a voice in her ear. We don’t really learn all that much about her relationship with Sasha, aside from a few warm and regrettable memories. The story doesn’t really feel like it’s about her or her friends.

I also feel like the ending was a foregone conclusion. However, I did get one ending out of a few. I’d be interested to know how things turn out in the others. Maybe there’s a better payoff in one of the others. As of right now, I’m not even sure what the criteria for them is.

Hollowbody isn’t bad. It’s a solid effort for a solo developer. There is a lot of skill on display, though I think it should have been planned in a more holistic way. The flow could be better, the narrative could be tighter, and the level design needs work. Nothing about it is disastrous, and if you’re a fan of PS2 horror, it can be worth a look at its abbreviated runtime.

It’s just not the most memorable experience, either. Hollowbody stakes its identity on being a PS2-inspired horror game and has trouble building on that and finding its own identity. The world it depicts is enticing, but it struggles to find a story there. On the other hand, it’s not uncomfortable to play. It’s enjoyable for what it is. It’s not completely hollow, but it’s far from solid.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Clever Trickster Productions has announced that their vampire bar simulator, Blood Bar Tycoon, will release on October 28th. That is a busy day. It’s coming to PC.

From the looks of things, you’re not merely running a bar that serves vampires. You’re also running one that serves humans, which you then use as food for your vampiric patrons. I’m going to point out (and did in the headline) that this is part of a growing number of games about running a restaurant where you murder the customers. It joins Godlike Burger and Ravenous Devils at a cursory glance. Delicious.

What I haven’t seen is a great cannibal business sim. Do vampires count as cannibals? They’re not, like, another species, right? Anyway, Blood Bar Tycoon looks pretty great. You have to lure and capture humans, and then you can squeeze out their juices and turn them into a variety of beverages. You have to keep up the appearance of a legitimate business, or hunters will arrive to burn your bar down. You also have to deal with Elder Vampires who seem to have their own demands based on their personality.

For that matter, I haven’t really seen a good restaurant simulator in yonks. The last one I remember really trying was Recipe for Disaster, which didn’t turn out well, supposedly because of developer-publisher dysfunction and difficulties in early access. I’ve thought about playing Pizza Connection 3, because it’s based on a great series, but people have told me it isn’t very good. I know I should form my own opinions on these things, as I have liked games that weren’t very popular, but I have so much to play these days that taking risks isn’t always desirable.

It might even be a while before I get to Blood Bar Tycoon. I absolutely understand why a horror-themed game would want to come out near Hallowe’en, but that’s when most of these types of games come out. I’d play everything if I could, but I’ll have to see where my priorities are when that time comes.

Blood Bar Tycoon releases on PC on October 28, 2024. There is a beta/demo available to try out right now.

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Gray2RGB recently unveiled their upcoming renovation sim, Low Budget Repairs. In the wake of House Flipper, renovation games are a dime a dozen, but Low Budget Repairs has a unique approach in its astoundingly low standards. It’s coming to PC eventually.

Do you like the satisfaction of a job well done? Too bad, because we’re on a strict budget and time limit here. Low Budget Repairs has you managing your own apartment block in 1990s Poland. You’re going to want to maximize your profits by cutting corners here and there. And everywhere. Dilute paint with water. Throw furniture out the window. Just slap those tiles anywhere. It’s good enough for government work.

This sort of behavior would explain some of the questionable repair work done in… nearly every apartment I’ve moved into. I just moved, and the bathroom door in my new apartment doesn’t shut. Out of all the doors in the apartment to not shut, that’s the one that most requires that functionality. I still need to submit a maintenance request.

Low Budget Repairs, on the other hand,  looks amazing. The trailer is incredible. Some of it seems staged for “vertical slice” effectiveness, but there are some very detailed concepts being shown off. At one point, a window that is too small for its frame is held in place using insulation foam. A leaking pipe gets duct taped with a pan added underneath to catch the water. Later, they cut the bottom of a door out to let a cat in. It all builds into a climax where they lock the switches on a breaker panel in the on position, which knocks out power to the entire neighborhood. That last part seems a little too detailed for something that a player might do, but if this sort of thing is completely commonplace, my mind will be blown. That’s not a phrase I use commonly.

For that matter, a few games that I had concerns that they wouldn’t live up to their concept recently seem to be doing so. I’m still staggered by the level of depth shown by Hollywood Animal's demo. Maybe my expectations are just too low, which isn’t a problem I could have predicted.

Add this to the list of games I need right now. But while Low Budget Repairs is coming to PC, no release date has been announced.

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Harebrained (formerly Harebrained Schemes) has revealed the first game they’ve been working on since splitting with Paradox last October. Graft is a horror action-RPG set in space. No release date has been announced, but it is planned for PC.

The trailer is a bit sparse. It opens with some animated art displaying the protagonist losing an arm, then receiving a new one. There are cyborg-ish zombies and dudes in military gear. The protagonist chooses to attack the zombies. There’s a bit of gameplay showing the rusty sci-fi interiors, smoke-machine fog, and lock-on combat. There’s not a whole lot, but what’s there looks like a game.

Graft was first teased some months ago when Harebrained spoke about their challenges getting a publisher. They say that, when showing off the preliminary idea, they were essentially told, “come see us after you’ve found the fun and then we’ll take a look.” Now, it looks like they’re going to be self-publishing it with the help of the Epic MegaGrant, if the trailer is any indication.

Personally, I still want more Shadowrun, which has been untouched since 2015’s Shadowrun: Hong Kong. However, Shadowrun creator Jordan Weisman left the company around 2018 when it was sold to Paradox, so I imagine the staff is excited to branch out. Unfortunately, that leaves me Shadowrun-less, but I’ll somehow press forward.

Graft is coming to PC. No release window has been announced.

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Trinity Team has released a trailer for its upcoming game Cinema, and I’m really not sure it explained much to me. Nothing wrong with a mystery, though. I can at least see the aesthetic they’re going for.

The trailer is set up like an old black-and-white silent film. There are short scenes like a dilating pupil and an elderly lady cranking a gramophone. She then says, “Did you hear? I trust him.” All of this is completely without context. There are shots of city streets, a train, and lots of the old lady, but nothing that really explains what the gameplay is going for.

Thankfully, I have a press release that goes along with the trailer, so let’s take a look:

• Interact with mysterious characters while gathering crucial clues and evidence to solve the case.
• Navigate through time by moving both forward and backward, and explore rich Art Deco environments across space and moments in time.
• Use information from the future to change events in the past, creating new timelines to solve complex crimes and uncover hidden truths.

Sounds cool. The Steam page is up and pegs it as Mystery, so while the trailer has an uncomfortable horror vibe to it, it’s maybe more detective work. It also uses the tag “time management,” which is way too literal. Time management is more about how you’ll fit different objectives into a game’s timeframe rather than the actual manipulation of time.

Anyway. We’ll find out more soon, no doubt. For now, Cinema is set to release for PC. No release date has been stated.

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In a world in which the AAA gaming sphere has the resources to muscle its way to the top of the conversation pile, we should always strive to give indie studios a look-in. Take Time Flies as an example. This rather twee-looking game from developer Playables feels like it has a certain amount of heart built into it, with lashings of irreverent existentialism.

I remember it being announced a few years ago, with a premise that feels equal parts unique and niche. Time Flies is a hand-drawn indie game in which you take on the role of a fly, and the developer has recently announced that it'll be dropping sometime in 2025.

The vibe of the game is that, while you get to buzz around as a flying insect, you'll also come face-to-face with your own mortality. You see, Time Flies is touting itself as more than just a way of taking control of a fly; it's a note about the shortness of our real lives.

Ticktock, everyone

A recent post on X from Michael Frei shows that, while a release window is now in-mind, they are still "pudding it together," with a short clip uploaded alongside the post that shows the titular fly planting face-first into some jello.

Actually, the best way for me to describe the game is to let the Steam page do it:

In Time Flies, you’re a fly - your life is short and your bucket list is long! Learn an instrument, read a book, become rich, get drunk, or make someone smile. And if you don’t feel like pursuing your goals, you can just relax, clean your wings, and listen to music. Make the best of the time you have left, because we’re all going to die.

You'll get to "explore a painstakingly hand-drawn, densely detailed world" that boasts many goals to complete. Additionally – because this is still gunning for an existentialist slant – there are an assortment of "intriguing ways to die," as well as a "grimly variable life expectancy based on player location."

It's hard to know whether it's going to be something that's making a lighthearted statement about the obvious fragility of life as a mortal being, or whether it'll be more of an unexpected gut-punch. I suspect the latter, but we won't know until sometime next year.

If you are interested in Time Flies, you can wishlist the game now. It's coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation (presumably PS5). No mention of an Xbox version yet, however.

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If you, too, can't wait for Project Zomboid's long anticipated Build 42 to launch, then now's the perfect time to explore some other niche takes on the zombie survival fantasy. That's where Terminus: Zombie Survivors comes in, a low-profile roguelike that had its full 1.0 release very recently.

Terminus: Zombie Survivors is, in truth, far more similar to Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead than it is to Zomboid proper, but there's just no mentioning one without also chiming in on the other, given the subject matter on show. To that end, Terminus is a dedicated turn-based roguelike (yes, like) that actually manages to boil down its incredibly deep survival gameplay systems into fairly straightforward verbiage. Graphics are, obviously, not Terminus' strong suit, but its strengths plainly lie in gameplay and simulation, and the fact that it's currently got over 2,000 reviews and an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating on Steam kind of speaks for itself.

Terminus: Zombie Survivors released as a full 1.0 experience with stellar reviews

Now, even though Terminus doesn't enjoy the sort of limelight that Zomboid and C:DDA usually get - which is, in itself, relatively minor - it's been trucking along for a fair bit of time. Having first released in Early Access in March 2021, the developer Longplay Studios had a good stint and proved itself with a genuinely compelling product. Its price, too, is similarly compelling at a meager $19,99 without any discounts applied.

Engaging with Terminus: Zombie Survivors in a meaningful way is going to take some getting used to for sure, but this is one of those games that are going to keep you busy for dozens of hours on end if you enjoy the core gameplay loop. And, really, if the reviews are anything to go by, this is a must-play for fans of the niche.

Keeping all of the above in mind, I'm sure that Terminus' turn-based nature is going to put off a significant number of Project Zomboid fans. That's perfectly fine, of course, as not every game is a good fit for every kind of player. It wasn't too long ago that I myself came to terms with the long, long wait between major builds of Project Zomboid, actually, and this helped me temporarily move on to what may or may not be greener pastures. Oh, I'll be back to playing Zomboid as soon as B42 hits, of course, but in the interim, Terminus: Zombie Survivors looks like just the sort of antidote I need to keep myself from turning.

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Remember Spore? That weird, yet delightfully zany Maxis title that oddly tapered off as you evolved your once glorious single-celled organism into something resembling an intergalactic empire? Well, if you find yourself yearning for its creature creator features, enter the aptly titled Creature Creator on Steam.

Creature Creator comes in as one of the only genuine attempts to replicate one of Spore's most beloved and acclaimed features: the creature creator. Look, Creature Creator makes absolutely no attempt to hide its inspiration. In fact, the game wears it on its proverbial sleeves, with a huge list of content and functionality having been built specifically to replicate Maxis' old feature set in a somewhat modernized format. The final product? A whole game built around the creature creator. Is it worth playing? If you, like me, are a fan of Spore, then absolutely.

The Creature Creator lets you remake your old Spore monstrosities and share them with the world

Though some of its reviews question whether Creature Creator is still undergoing active development, the fact of the matter is that the game just received a shiny new update very recently. Its biggest draw is the addition of some fancy new creature customization options (i.e. body part shine, asymmetry, metallic properties, etc.) and improved support for the Steam Workshop, where you can share and download other players' creatures to your heart's content.

Circling back to my earlier thoughts about Spore, the game definitely fell apart after it left behind its creature-focused progression and gameplay mechanics. Developing a whole civilization just didn't feel nearly as interesting and engaging as developing a single type of organism did, and Spore suffered for this mistake. Creature Creator thus attempts to focus just on that one particular lightning that Spore managed to capture back in the day, and it delivers precisely that.

Now, to be perfectly fair, I'd be hard-pressed to call Creature Creator an excellent game. It's not that, not really, and its 'Mixed' review status is generally about what you'd expect out of one such project. Thing is, though, that Creature Creator is the single game that's ever properly attempted to capitalize on the honestly ridiculous appeal that Spore's original Creature Creator feature had back in the day. Outside of this game, there's precious little to look for elsewhere. With that in mind, if you're about as nostalgic over Spore as I am, I do recommend Creature Creator. Not even for the gameplay, necessarily, but for the titular feature itself.

If you're not all that nostalgic about Spore, though, there's still merit in checking Creature Creator out. You do get to build and play as some seriously improbable genetic monstrosities, and - most importantly - the game is only $5 a pop, so it's a minor investment at most. Not bad, right?

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As part of Steam Next Fest back in June, I wrote about a lot of games, and all of them stood out for their own reason. Now, these games are starting to get their full releases and one of them stands out — Galaxy Burger. 

The concept of Galaxy Burger is simple: travel the universe opening a string of burger joints to serve aliens (and mecha-cats) their much needed junk food. As a concept, it’s pretty simple and actually oddly relaxing, but one of the features in the full game which wasn’t in the demo is Multiplayer. I truly was not ready for the chaos this presents. 

Imagine eight cursors on a screen, all trying to make the same burger. Of course this is fine if you all have impeccable communication skills, and even without that you can see what other people are doing. The true chaos erupts when one person finds the fun in sabotaging other peoples orders. 

Oh your Patty is almost cooked? I’m just going to turn off the grill without telling you. Do you need Ketchup on this order? Have some Mayonnaise instead. Perhaps I’m just hellbent on causing chaos, and honestly, I started out with the best of intentions. However, there’s clearly something to be said for games involving sabotaging your playmates - Among Us proves that. 

But anyway, Galaxy Burger starts out easily enough, with one grill and single orders coming in for basic burgers. However, the difficulty quickly ramps up when you have two fryers, a large grill, multiple orders and recipes which need memorizing in order to get them right. 

This latter difficulty is actually made easier with more players, because one person can call out the recipe while another fulfils the order. It all gets a little Hell’s Kitchen, and more than once I felt the need to call out “Yes Chef!”. 

All of this isn’t to say that Galaxy Burger isn’t a fun game to play on your own. Earning enough money to move on to the next planet and open your next fast food joint is just the right level of difficulty, and there are endless play modes if you just want to see how many people you can serve. 

There’s also reputation to worry about. Building your reputation not only allows you to further the business, but also entices new customers with new custom orders. Admittedly, it’s easier to build a good reputation when your friends aren’t causing you to lose out on points, especially when a Restaurant Critic pays you a visit, but it’s all in good fun and you can always just try again the next day.

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With potential to be a very promising indie horror game, Post Trauma intends to keep the classic tropes of the genre alive and well. With twisted visuals not unlike what we know from Silent Hill, this tasty looking title will be grossing out our consoles and PCs this October.

October 29, to be precise. As always when it comes to horror gaming, the Halloween period is typically a busy time for both AAA and more independent studios. This is definitely one to look out for when it releases via Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

Wearing its influences very much on its sleeves, Post Trauma sees you play as Roman, a "middle-aged train conductor trapped in a terrifying twisted reality." The trailer above is quite the nightmare fuel, combining combat with "unspeakable horrors that lurk in these threatening surroundings."

Pre-trauma

The game's been in development for a few years now. I actually got to play a very early demo a while back, and I was wholly impressed with what I saw. Even back then, it was quite the visual feast, which was unfortunately a burden for my poor laptop. That's my laptop's fault, though, not the game's.

It's great that indie horror is still thriving in this increasingly hostile and competitive industry. Of course, there's always going to be some overshadowing from the likes of Resident Evil, not to mention the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 (with recent previews suggesting the game may be worth the wait after all).

The smaller teams who are in it for the passion and are still making waves in the genre. I mean, you could say that about other genres as well. Independent studios are the ball bearings in the video game jar that's full to the brim with the golf balls of the mainstream industry. God, that was a weird thing to say.

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Feverdream Johnny has announced that they’re once again partnering with Drury Lane to bring us more Orbo, star of Orbo’s Odyssey. Orbo’s Exodus will continue the series in 2025 by, like, once again featuring the character. Now with hats.

When we last left Orbo, he had quit his job. He’s now headed home by way of biplane, and crashes near a resort. He now has to find a way to buy a ferry to take him and Peebs (star of Peeb Adventure) back to the mainland.

This would be easier if you read my review of Orbo’s Odyssey, but I’ll try my best to describe this. You play as a little meeple man who can rocket into the air at high velocity. This ability enables collectathon platformer gameplay. It’s fun. The first game was advertised at around 1-2 hours, which was accurate. Orbo’s Exodus is looking at 4-6 hours. I mentioned of the first game that it felt somewhat inconsequential, and part of that was that it was so small that it could get caught in your teeth, and while a longer runtime doesn’t specifically address this, it can help.

Also, I mentioned hats. There are drill, propeller, and bowler hats. The drill unscrews screws and sends you into the dirt. The propellor allows you to “manipulate your environment and kill pesky opponents with a controllable laser turret,” which isn’t how I understand the functions of a propellor. The bowler hat enables you to “hop into the driver's seat of special machines and perform amateur surgery on your friends.” I love amateur surgery!

I said in my review of Orbo’s Odyssey that I’d be down for whatever Feverdream Softworks got up to next, and I stand by that. I’m excited to see how the concept has grown. I’m also curious to see what kind of existential dread bleeds into the experience.

Orbo’s Exodus is set to launch next year (2025) on PC.

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Are you, too, sick and tired of having to wait for all the good immersive sim games to release from Early Access to play them? Well, good news then, because the physics-driven Corpus Edax - following the Thief and Dark Messiah schools of game design - is coming out very soon.

Corpus Edax describes itself as a lo-fi sci-fi immersive first-person melee RPG that's "set in a distant retro-futuristic city on the brink of a revolution and on a planet that hides its own secrets." It's a bit of a mouthful, to be frank, but there's really no easy way to describe a true immersive sim without resorting to tongue-tying exercises, honestly. Those who enjoyed Dark Messiah of Might and Magic back in the day will find much to enjoy in Corpus Edax' new release date trailer, I feel.

Indie immersive sim Corpus Edax releases on August 28

As per the trailer featured above, Corpus Edax is due to hit the stores on August 28, and the really good news is that there's a playable demo available on Steam right now. It's an excellent demo, too, and I highly recommend giving it a shot. While it doesn't necessarily speak to the quality of the game's full roster of 12 unique levels, it does offer a solid vertical slice of Corpus Edax gameplay mechanics. Spoiler: they're pretty darn great.

The bit that sets Corpus Edax apart from most other modern immersive sims is that it fully embraces melee combat. Players that end up stacking points into physical skills will, therefore, find themselves ragdolling enemies left and right, while those who invest in stealth will play something more like a Thief than anything else. It's an exciting mashup of gameplay options, honestly, and as long as Corpus Edax lives up to what's on show in the demo, this is bound to become a must-play for fans of the ImSim niche.

Corpus Edax will - if it ends up delivering on its promises - be just the thing to play while we wait for Raphael Colantonio and Wolfeye Studios' next big ImSim project. We still don't have a title for the mysterious first-person game, but we do know it's going to be roughly set around the Wild West era, which is neat. There really aren't many of these games coming out at the best of times, so the presence of smaller-scale titles such as Corpus Edax is worth celebrating. With the game coming out in just a few days' time, we won't have to wait long to see how good or bad it ends up being.

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We've known for some time now that Dead Cells' The End is Near update would be the last the game officially receives, but the information hasn't yet come home to roost proper. Dead Cells' 35th major content update is, regardless, now live, and we have to deal with that.

Setting the melodrama of a game wrapping up its post-launch support aside for a bit, Dead Cells is one of those ever-present indie sidescrollers that have been a mainstay for fans of the genre. Punchy and chunky in equal measure, this game has stood the test of time after its 2018 Early Access release ended up being a resounding success, and every big update has added something meaningful to the mix. The final The End is Near update is thus no different, outside of the context of it being the game's grand finale, that is.

Dead Cells: The End is Near is now live, wrapping up the indie classic's post-launch content coverage

It is a heck of a wrap-up though, I've got to admit. Totally free for all owners of the base Dead Cells game (unlike the delightful Return to Castlevania DLC), The End is Near aims to round off what few rough edges there still were in the game. To that end (ha-ha, I know), the crux of the new content are the Curse-based items, mutations, and enemies, as well as head customization, of all things. Here's the bottom line:

• 3 new Curse mobs: Sore Loser, Doom Bringer, Curser
• 3 new weapons: Anathema, Indulgence, Misericorde
• 3 new Colorless Mutations: Cursed Flask, Damned Vigor, Demonic Strength
• Cursed Biome level effect
• 20 new Legendary affixes
• 40+ new unlockable avatar heads
• Slight rebalancing of The Bank level
• New routing options (e.g. the ability to roll both Castlevania-themed levels in one run)
• More accessibility options

An excellent showing, then, by Evil Empire, the studio working on Dead Cells over the past couple of years. Though this basically concludes the story of Dead Cells at this time, the important bit to remember is that the game fully supports Steam Workshop mods, allowing the community to continue releasing third-party content for the game for the foreseeable future.

Further, the future's not grim at all for the people who worked on Dead Cells. The original developer, Motion Twin, is set and primed to release its next flagship project, Windblown, sometime in the near future. Evil Empire, on the other hand, recently pushed out the new roguelite Prince of Persia game which has loads of Dead Cells DNA if my experience with it is anything to go by. Oh, and let's not forget that Dead Cells is getting an animated series some time this year, too, which is a wholly different kind of exciting. Keeping all of that in mind, it's kind of hard to complain about Dead Cells winding down, I'd say.

The post Final Dead Cells content update, The End is Near, is now live appeared first on Destructoid.

Indie darling Cult of the Lamb just isn't slowing down anytime soon, from the look of things. Even though it received a huge hotseat multiplayer update very recently, developer Massive Monster is already looking to celebrate the game's second anniversary with - believe or not - Cthulhu itself. Slightly nerfed, mind.

More specifically, Massive Monster is looking to memorialize Cult of the Lamb's second birthday by re-releasing the Cthulhu follower form for free to everyone playing the game on August 16. I say 're-release' because some may recall that the Cthulhu form isn't actually new, but an old pre-order bonus that was left ignored up until now. We'll now be able to reclaim him, alongside a suite of appropriately festive anniversary goodies.

Unlock Cthulhu in Cult of the Lamb on August 16

If you felt that the Unholy Alliance update for Cult of the Lamb lacked a tentacle or two, make sure that you log into an updated version of the game on August 16 to resolve that particular concern. Anyone claiming the Cthulhu follower form will also get the snazzy Flower Cart, Prayer Box, and Stone Candle Lamp accessories for the Cult grounds, which is neat in its own right.

The bit that I'm uncertain about is whether Cthulhu will now be permanently available as a bonus for anyone playing the game, or if it's a one-off bonus for people specifically logging in on August 16. I recommend sticking to Massive Monster's specific instructions, if you'd like to unlock the big lad in your game: "Make sure your game is fully up to date, Cthulhu and décor will be available in-game as soon as your system clock hits August 16th," says the announcement.

For those who are chasing after a real-world Cult of the Lamb goodie or two, the announcement also highlights a few cute new plushies and shirts, and they seem genuinely well designed. Neat stuff, that, though I reckon I'll be sticking with the green tentacled meanie, myself.

The post Cult of the Lamb brings back its pre-order bonus: Cthulhu appeared first on Destructoid.

True stealth games are few and far between nowadays, and whether that's for good reason or not, it sure is a shame that this is the case. Happily, Intravenous 2 is here to help, featuring the sort of gameplay you'd expect out of Splinter Cell instead of a top-down shooter.

I'm really not joking here, either: Intravenous 2 is about as hardcore as one of these games could possibly get. Guns are loud, bodies are heavy, and the enemies are... well, generally perceptive. Featuring elements of Hotline Miami's gritty and grimey storytelling with a layer of remarkably complex stealth slathered on top, this is one of those games you generally need to see in action to believe.

The good news, then, is that Intravenous 2 is pretty darn cheap at just about $19 as its base asking price. On top of that, there's an awesome demo available that is, in truth, a full-featured prologue for the full game.

Play Intravenous 2 in full now, but grab Mercenarism if you're unsure about it

Intravenous 2 is available right now on Steam, and if you're intrigued by the prospect of a stealthy, sandboxy Hotline Miami you should absolutely check it out, obviously. The real winning move, though, is to go for Intravenous 2: Mercenarism first, which I discussed earlier this year.

Mercenarism is a free and standalone prologue to Intravenous 2 proper, and it's effectively a shorter, more contained vertical slice of the sort of combat and stealth gameplay you should expect from the full game. Both of these games are well worth playing as they come with their sets of levels and unlockables, but I'm particularly thrilled with how the developer's been handling the free testing options so far. To say nothing of the fact that the original Intravenous is often available at a steep discount.

Gameplay-wise, Intravenous 2 plays like a highly punishing combo of Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid. Its stellar weapon customization features and gadgetry allow you to sort of play Intravenous 2 like a hardcore tactical shooter if you really wish to do so, but this is no mean feat, and if we're being honest, it's kind of like playing Hitman as a straightforward shooter. The fact that almost every difficulty mode comes with a surprisingly punishing limited save system makes this approach highly unproductive, but that's a wholly different can of worms right there.

Regardless, Intravenous 2 is great, cheap, it has a stellar standalone demo on Steam, and it caters to a niche that's otherwise woefully underserved. What's not to like?

The post Intravenous 2, the stealthy top-down tactical shooter, is now out appeared first on Destructoid.

Pounce Light has announced that its free-form scene creator, Tiny Glade, now has a release date. It’s hitting PC on September 14, 2024.

Tiny Glade (I keep writing “Grove”) is a cozy game where you construct little buildings using an impressively intuitive editor. There’s no judgement (no “wrong answers” as the developer says), so the goal is to simply create scenes that please you. Maybe pet the sheep while you’re at it.

The unique hook here is its editor. It’s not grid-based, and features that you place adapt to being morphed. The structure adapts to objects placed, such as windows, so it’s all about plopping and dragging. It’s a game that really sells itself because even watching the trailer and the gifs on the store page is satisfying. 

I’m someone whose mind has been polluted enough by modernity that I feel the need to have some sort of progression, and it doesn’t look like Tiny Glade has that, but the creation kit alone has me wanting to play it. Considering the fact that poor life choices have practically ensured that I will never own a home of my own, the idea of being able to easily create one from my imagination is appealing.

Tiny Glade had an impressive demo this past May’s Steam Next Fest. Paula Vaynshteyn gave it a look and came away with a craving for more.

We won’t have to wait long, as Tiny Glade launches on PC September 14, 2024.

The post Cozy scene-building game Tiny Glade is out in September appeared first on Destructoid.

Headware Games has announced that their anticipated PS2-style horror game Hollowbody will release on PC September 12.

Hollowbody has you play as a woman who crashlands into an exclusion zone set around and abandoned British city. She’s looking for someone there, but finding them suddenly isn’t her biggest problem. There are both monsters and puzzles about, and safety is beyond the wall.

The aesthetic and framework are based on ‘00s horror games. The best horror games. While much of the indie horror scene has focused on PS1-style, ‘90s horror was a bit goofy. When we got to the ‘00s, we seemed to hit a sweet spot of hardware horsepower and team sizes. We got games like Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame, and Rule of Rose. The gameplay could sometimes be stiff, and the combat (especially in those games I just named) was often garbage, but they were invariably interesting.

What I’m saying is that there’s a diminished focus on combat and more on atmosphere and puzzle-solving. There’s also a mix of dynamic and fixed camera angles. It definitely looks the part.

I’ve had my eye on Hollowbody for a while. I had the demo installed since a Steam Next Fest and only uninstalled it in an ongoing struggle to manage the shrinking free territory on my hard drive. So, I didn’t actually play the demo since I thought I’d wait until the full release. That would have made this article easier to write since I’d have more intimate familiarity with the game. I try my best.

Hollowbody releases for PC on September 12, 2024.

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It’s late notice, but Strange Scaffold has announced that they need more time to deliver their micro-sandbox FPS, I Am Your Beast. It was originally slated for August 15, but has been pushed back to September 10.

It’s always a difficult decision to delay a game’s launch, but personally, I’m a bit relieved. There was no way I’d have time to play it for review this week. Next month? Possibly!

In a Twitter post, Strange Scaffold said, “We want to make sure it’s as breathtaking as you expect and we know it can be, while letting our team hit that goal in a healthy and sustainable way.” Healthy and sustainable? In this economy?

Furthermore, the information I got from their PR is that this is to ensure the game is stable. It happens. Sometimes bug squashing and polish doesn’t go as smoothly as hoped.

I Am Your Beast is a fast-paced “covert revenge thriller FPS” that has you sprinting through hordes of enemies, taking them out in fanciful ways. It focuses on player fantasy, making you feel powerful and hyper-powerful.

There was a demo during Steam Next Fest this past June, but I was recovering from a nervous breakdown and wasn’t able to fit it into my schedule. I figured I’d circle around to it anyway, since I’ve been keeping an eye on Strange Scaffold for a while. El Paso, Elsewhere was one of my favorite games of last year. This year, I wasn’t as keen on Life Eater or Clickolding, but I appreciate their vision. Playing a game that tries something interesting but misses the mark is much more meaningful than playing one that competently does nothing special. Hopefully, I Am Your Beast is both interesting and hits the mark.

I Am Your Beast will now release on PC September 10, 2024.

The post Strange Scaffold’s I Am Your Beast gets delayed until September appeared first on Destructoid.

Back in June, I wrote about the demo of Just Crow Things and called it ‘beautiful chaos’. Little did I know that the demo was just a small hint of what is to come when Crowy gets his anticipated full release on August 15. 

Of course that’s what demos are for. To metaphorically tickle the taste buds and leave you wanting more. Just Crow Things did a fantastic job at this, and I was over the moon when I was offered the chance to play through the game ahead of its official release. And boy let me tell you, ‘beautiful chaos’ is absolutely the best description you could use for Just Crow Things. 

We got off to a rocky start, with my four year old proving that she has a promising future in games testing by breaking the game before we even made it into the tutorial. Lesson learned. After a quick restart and some guidance through the tutorial, we were off on an adventure to help forest critters with their issues, both physical and mental. 

Some of the animals need more help than others. I’m not sure what the woodland critter equivalent of CPS is, but Mama Squirrel should probably be reported to them. In almost every level, she’s lost track of her four ‘bebes’ and needs Crowy to snatch them up with his beak and deliver them back to her. It doesn’t matter how many times you do this, she never seems to realize that keeping an eye on them in the first place is probably a better option.

My most joyous moment from Just Crow Things came in the third level past the tutorial, the name of which is simply ‘Camp’, which doesn’t do justice to what awaits you inside. Imagine Camp Crystal Lake, but all the characters are cartoon woodland critters and there are zombies who are attracted to your poop. Oh yes, poop is a huge feature in Just Crow Things, but we’ll gloss over that. 

Anyway, in Camp, you can pick up a quest from a Hedgehog which will send you into a direct reference to one of my favorite games of all time — Alan Wake. With a torch clutched precariously in your beak, your task is to take down Taken-esque shadow creatures (and shadow trash) and successfully locate the brother of the Hedgehog who gives you the quest. 

And then there’s Stephen, who is a Taken who has been out on an adventure, only to come home and find his house overtaken by shadows. Sadly, after clearing the shadow away from the house, I accidentally shone the torch on Stephen and killed him. Oops. 

Outside of my trip down memory lane, there’s a lot to love about Just Crow Things, and a lot to get you feeling nostalgic. Level selection is designed in a way which will undoubtedly takes inspiration from Mario, with a series of straight lines connecting each level and a new one unlocking only after you’ve completed a previous one. 

You can go back and revisit any favorite levels as many times as you like, which is great for the completionists out there. There’s so much to do in each level, from finding hidden unlockable hats for Crowy, to taking part in time trials, not to mention all of the quests and hidden references you’ll find along the way. 

Speaking of hats, there are a total of 45 to be found or unlocked throughout the levels of Just Crow Things. You’ve got the adorable options, such as the froggy hat, a flower crown, and a rather fetching pair of rabbit ears which don’t look out of place at all on a crow. Then you’ve got the more horror themed choices, like Jason’s mask or a pyramid which can be found in the Ancient Egypt level and will turn you into Pyramid Head. 

There’s even some secrets waiting to be found hidden in the Credits, such as the Cardboard skin and Unicorn hat, but I’ve not worked out how to remove the protective barrier from this particular one yet. Presumably this will unlock after I’ve completed the rest of the levels. 

I’m still working my way through all of the levels in Just Crow Things, and there’s still a lot for me to find in both unvisited levels and previous ones. Thankfully, previously completed levels retain their progress, allowing you to revisit without having to do everything all over again. Although, if you want to reset this progress and take on quests all over again, there’s an option for that built into each level's information screen. 

Going back to what I said about my four year old at the beginning of this, Just Crow Things is perfect for having some bonding time with your kids (provided that you don’t lose track of them like a certain Squirrel). Glossing over the fact that one of the main mechanics is to poop and fart your way around various locations, there is no other vulgarity involved, and playing together opened up discussion about the different animals, as well as helping others and overcoming adversity. 

Perhaps that’s looking a little too deep, because let’s face it, Just Crow Things is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and we definitely shouldn’t either. Sometimes it’s okay to just have fun and laugh, and Just Crow Things reminds me of past games such as Simpsons Hit and Run, which focus mostly on causing havoc and enjoying the ride. 

Or in this case, the flight. 

The post Crow Things is the chaos fueled whirlwind I didn’t know I needed appeared first on Destructoid.

ColePowered Games has announced (spotted by Gematsu) that its procedurally generated crime investigation simulator, Shadows of Doubt, is ready to end its journey through Early Access with a full release on September 26 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Shadows of Doubt was released into Early Access in April of last year. It attempts to simulate the noble profession of a private eye using a randomly generated city full of randomly generated crimes. You take cases (usually from bulletin boards in restaurants and bars), then are left on your own to talk to people, trespass on private property, and gather as much information as you can in order to crack the case.

There are different types of cases to tackle. You might try to prove that a spouse is cheating, find stolen property, or solve a murder. The city and its citizens are persistently tracked in the simulation and will have things like an apartment and a workplace, so you can typically find information in multiple ways. Sometimes a set of fingerprints will lead you to your culprit, while other times it’s an email stored on their computer.

It’s a very ambitious game, make no doubt. More importantly, it works. Mostly.

I previewed the game last year when it launched into early access. At that point, I found the concept to be intriguing, but the game was way too janky and buggy. There have been plenty of big updates since then. However, the last time I dove in (a few months ago), I found it to be in much the same way. I didn’t get deep enough into it to discover something that I’d point to as a clear bug, but there was some really weird stuff happening.

For instance, I saw someone get murdered directly in front of me on the street. I was actually able to have a calm conversation with the murderer right next to the body of the victim. I then quickly gathered evidence, then strolled off to solve the murder for a fat reward.

However, I get the feeling that, even with all the jank, if you put in the work to actually get good at the systems in Shadows of a Doubt, you could probably have a good time. There’s also a chance that all the roughness will be sorted out before release. Honestly, I’m looking forward to finding out. The concept is just too intriguing not to.

Shadows of Doubt leaves early access and fully releases for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 26, 2024.

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Roguelite deck builder is pretty far from my favorite genre. I’ve enjoyed some of them, but I wouldn’t actively seek out a new one. Rogue Light Deck Builder, on the other hand…

That’s because Rogue Light Deck Builder is about building a deck. Not a deck of cards, but more like something you’d put furniture on so you can stare at your neighbors. However, there are roguelite elements.

You’re given $1,000,000, a hammer, and a husband. You must construct a deck. The light isn’t very reliable. Your aim with a hammer is deplorable. But the deck must be built.

While Rogue Light Deck Builder is just coming to my attention now and is coming to Steam soon, it’s been out on itch.io for a decent while. It’s $2, and the blurb suggests it will last around 20-30 minutes. I could have probably played this in preparation for this article, but I didn’t. I’ll likely grab it soon, but I like to write like I live my life: uninformed and bewildered.

The grotesque Unreal 5 visual style really appeals to me for some reason. It reminds me of a similar FPS about Presidents fighting weird monsters that I can’t remember the name of. This is why I should write about everything I play, then I’d have a record of it. Instead, I can just clearly remember the game but can’t recall the name. GoblinAmerica! That was it.

Oh, wait. It’s the same guy. The visual style is so evocative because Gil Lawson is the developer behind Rogue Light Deck Builder and GoblinAmerica. I can either consider this a really dumb moment because I didn’t realize it or give myself credit for being able to recognize a shared aesthetic. My brain will probably lean toward the former.

Anyway, you can get Rogue Light Deck Builder on PC via itch.io right now, but it’s coming to Steam soon. Take a peek at the demo for GoblinAmerica, while you’re at it.

The post Rogue Light Deck Builder is not about the kind of deck you’re thinking of appeared first on Destructoid.

I had dreams and aspirations once. Good times. However, they’ve never included becoming a drift, err… dryft racer. That’s a long and daunting path. I’d probably need to get my driver’s license first.

Dryft City Kyngs doesn’t require those sorts of credentials. All you need is to sell your soul, buy whatever wreck is available, and use whatever skill you have in a desperate attempt to find meaning in life. Too real, guy. Too real.

Dryft City Kyngs (PC)
Developer: magicdweedoo, Nonsense Machine
Publisher: magicdweedoo, Nonsense Machine
Released: June 13, 2024
MSRP: $19.99

Dryft City Kyngs is the story of the offspring of a former Dryft Lord. Your mother really wants you to follow in your footsteps, but being the disappointment you are, you wait until adulthood to really make an attempt.

After a flashback to motherly drill training, you spend an indeterminable amount of time in suspended animation (I assume) before finally getting shunted out into reality (such as it is) to get a job and a car. I’m not sure why your character took this long to do those things, but that’s where you come in.

A great deal of setup in Dryft City Kyngs is hilariously randomized. Your avatar’s name is created by gluing together three random syllables, often resulting in bizarre monikers. the company you work for is selected from a mash of random, meaningless, market-friendly-ish words. Even your job interview is an automatic discussion made from random questions and answers.

It sets up a bizarre and forgivingly loose framework. “Loose” is one of the descriptors I’d apply to Dryft City Kyngs. Because of all its complicated randomization, nothing feels solid. Nothing feels important. And that feels amazing.

When you wake up in the morning, it’s time to go to work. You jog over to the building, check your workstation, and start chipping away at your pile, completing the small selection of tasks for the day. I don’t think you have to do your job. I’m not sure there’s a way to be fired, nor have I been reprimanded by the boss or co-workers. However, I also didn’t push very hard because I legitimately enjoyed going to work in Dryft City Kyngs.

The things you do at work are as bizarrely depicted as most everything in the game. Tasks include mashing buttons to write a program, creating a pointless logo, or performing the all-important coffee run. It’s a distressingly insightful look at the conformity of office culture. Doing your job gets you paid, which is only somewhat important early in the game. The best way to earn money is just to complete the races.

Your car starts off with low stats, but gradually, you earn chips that you can spend to upgrade its stats. These come hard and fast in the beginning. If you put your chips into speed and acceleration and learn how to time your nitro boosts, then the races are inconsequentially easy to win. You can complete three of them in a day, which pays substantially more than your job. You can also complete quests for your “friends,” which also doesn’t pay well, but I enjoy pretending to be popular and reliable.

The story has you attempting to defeat the Dryft Lords so you can confront the Dryft Kyng and take their crown. You may find this surprising, but you don’t actually need to beat the Lords in a race. They each have challenges, which usually involve driving, but not actually racing. Drifting, for that matter, is optional, though maybe “dryft” isn’t actually a stylization and isn’t related to the manipulation of traction and momentum.

You go from chapter to chapter, tracking down a Dryft Lord, then getting them to hand over the challenge. It’s a breezy game. By default, there’s an objective pointer that you can always follow, which makes the actual exploration aspect of the game somewhat pointless. On the other hand, the fact that the objectives are sometimes unclear, it’s almost necessary.

The problem there is that Dryft City Kyngs doesn’t really require much connection. There’s a lot there that you don’t need to do, and that means that, for the most part, you can just follow the objective marker to the end credits. You’d have to be a very boring person to do that, but I also feel that a certain amount of friction is necessary to create a compelling experience. Dryft City Kyngs has very little resistance. Having content is fine, but if it isn’t meaningful, then neither is the experience.

The lack of connection could be a massive problem, but because Dryft City Kyngs is laid back about most things, it never becomes a chore. The driving physics are so enjoyable that completing side challenges or repeating the same few tracks repeatedly is slow to feel mundane. Even bouncing around the city, deflecting off buildings, and running over pedestrians so hard they combust is a joy. Your pockets are endlessly deep, so visiting a store and buying a bunch of everything ensures you can complete sidequests easily.

It also makes up for many of its shortcomings with its boundless personality. Your job feels pointless, but it does so well in depicting the vapidity of office culture that it’s almost the best part of the game. If you don’t refill your health or energy meters, your character will lose consciousness and be taken to the hospital. You’re charged a fee, but you can continually ask to have it put on your “tab,” then just never pay it in a sly way that deliberately undermines what would be an annoying penalty for forgetting to eat.

This is complemented by an art style that looks like it was torn from a ‘90s teenager’s notebook. It’s like the whole game was drawn by the last remaining illustrator of POGs. It’s drawn with obnoxious colors and features characters that are as fascinating as they are ugly. It speaks to me.

As much as I enjoyed Dryft City Kyngs, I do wish certain elements got better attention, and everything fit together better. If everything was that well executed, it would be perfect. If the side-questing and life simulator facets were more meaningful, it would be divine. However, that’s ignoring the fact that it attempts so much already and has a lot of intricacies for a title developed by a small team.

So, what we got is the closest thing to the DS/GBA version of The Urbz since the DS/GBA version of The Urbz. I mean that as a very flattering compliment.

The intentionally lackadaisical attitude and random dialogue elements was more than enough to keep me glued. The off-kilter world and solid dialogue heightened the experience. And the fact that I want more from Dryft City Kyngs is proof enough that it’s worth playing. It’s unique and joyful, effortlessly combining the weird with the mundane.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Dryft City Kyngs appeared first on Destructoid.

If you’re a fan of the cozy side of gaming, August is set to be a very good month. August 15 in particular should be a date you mark off in the calendar, but there are other games coming this month as well to give you all the cozy vibes. 

On August 13, Tavern Manager Simulator finally gets its full release. This game sees you as, and I’m sure this will come as no surprise, the manager of a medieval tavern where you serve wanderers who come through the doors. You need to balance your stock levels, do the dishes, and gradually rebuild your tavern to what I’m sure was its former glory. 

Love, Ghostie is fully releasing on August 14. This game, which had a demo available during the latest Steam Next Fest, has you playing as a dead cupid. In a house full of animals, it’s up to you to decide who will make the best couples, and use your ghostly abilities to set them up using a variety of methods. It’s very cute, and the stories which emerge are heartwarming. 

Oddada is the first game releasing fully on August 15, and if you took part in Steam Next Fest then you likely already know what this is. There’s no real goals in Oddada, all you need to do is make music by playing with toys. At the end of the game, once you’ve constructed your melody, you have the option to download your own music as a .wav file. The visuals are simple yet oddly hypnotic, and I can’t wait to somehow lose hours to Oddada.

Next up on August 15 is the latest DLC for Sticky Business, Camp Zinnias. This is the only of these releases that I haven’t played a demo of, but I have spent far too many hours on Sticky Business so I can attest to the ease at which this game will steal away hours of your life. Camp Zinnias promises new interconnected stories and lots of new nature themed sticker elements. 

And last, but absolutely not least, Just Crow Things is coming on August 15 to cause chaos and steal all the shinies. This is one of my most anticipated games of the Summer, and there’s something so appealing about wreaking havoc on unsuspecting people from above. Poop and fart on random members of the public while helping your animal friends with bizarre quests - doesn’t that sound like fun?

These aren't the only cozy games launching in August, but they're a small selection of some solid-looking offerings. Got any you're keeping an eye on? Let us know down below.

The post Five cozy games are releasing this August, and you should play them all appeared first on Destructoid.