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Started this tonight. It seems good, cleared the first world. The presentation is excellent, seems to have a good range of exercises and makes very clever use of the various ways the joy cons read data (like the ir sensor to measure pulse for example). The story is fluff, but clever in how it moves you through a full body workout. Basically, starts with a running section moving on to a monster fight where you do sets of exercises to lower the enemy's hp. I did fuck up a level which meant repeating a monster fight so ended up doing 4 sets of squats and by set four I didn't think I was going to finish. It gives you a warm up and cool down and enough stats to see what you've done without being overwhelmed. I don't know if it's cause I'm wearing pyjama trousers, but I kept needing to adjust the leg strap, apart from that everything else seemed smooth.

Continuing my Indie binge with Hollow Knight. Heard lots of good things about this game earlier this year and saw a Let's Play from Easy Allies of the first two-ish hours of it, has been on my Steam wishlist ever since. For those that don't know, it's an Indie Metroidvania game set in an eerie melancholic bug-world. I've enjoyed it quite a lot, being new to the Metroidvania genre I didn't really know what to expect, I've seen an awful lot of great indie Metroidvania games and kind of got turned off them in the past as there's just so many, I'm glad I gave this a go though because it's now a genre I'd like to explore more. For starters it doesn't hold your hand at all, you get a very brief control tutorial and are then left to explore the world. It doesn't explain anything at all, and if I hadn't of watched the EZA Let's Play I would've been a bit lost on where to go and what to do, luckily that gave me a brief idea. It was still a bit disconcerting exploring areas and not knowing where the fuck you are in the slightest, no map, no idea where the next Rest point is, no idea where the entrance to the next area is or anything though. Luckily you realise how the map system works pretty early on and then discover a vendor to add new areas to it, mark your location on the map etc. All incredibly useful. The gameplay loop is pretty similar to Souls I guess, if you die you loose all your 'Geo', you get Geo by killing enemies. The most innovative mechanic is that when you kill enemies you get souls that you then use to replenish your health, which adds to the whole risk/reward system of the game as it makes you want to attack more in combat in order to get more Souls to heal in the heat of a battle, it is a balance at times as your Soul supply can be used for other things too. You use a small sword for the combat (called a 'nail') which enabled you to hit enemies in any 360 degree direction, there's a lot of enemy variety on offer, when you go into a new area you have to learn their mannerisms all over again, there's a few areas with traps for you to fall into (similar to Souls) too, it always feels fresh and involving. It has that Souls feeling about it to about worrying where the next save point is, knowing you've got 1000+ Geo on you and whether to venture into the next area where a boss may be waiting or head back to a previous area and save. I won't give too much away but new mechanics are introduced as you go along that unlock new locales, one changes the platforming significantly and one changes the combat to a significant degree as well, the game never points you to these so presumably you could go the entire game without discovering them. There's also a system similar to the rings in Souls where you can get slightly more Souls when you defeat an enemy, a bit more health etc. but the slots are incredibly limited at this time meaning you have to choose very wisely which you want to equip. The game looks absolutely stunning, it has a really unique art-design about it, it's cartoonish but the backgrounds and levels managed to look realistic and give a very lived-in, ancient kind of vibe. By far and away the best thing about the game is the music though, it is just absolutely incredible and makes the each area feel special and meaningful, when you go to your first town and a certain song plays it's just so melancholic and haunting at the same time, it really is very special. The noises the characters you meet along the way make are fantastic too, they put so much personality in them just from gibberish and grunts. A few pics:

So, this has finally seen a multiformat release (it’s out on PS4 tomorrow but pre-orders get it a day early). The Ghosts series is something I’ve always enjoyed, but rarely managed to finish. I did complete Super Ghouls N Ghosts on the SNES back in the day, which certainly took some doing. In terms of difficulty, this is certainly the most player friendly yet. If you fancy a serious challenge, stick it on Legend. Squire, the lowest difficulty gives you several hits before you die, but apparently locks away some content, though I don’t know what yet. It’s still a tough game. I died several times against the first boss. And it still has the typical death traps that will almost certainly kill you the first time, due to how unpredictable they are. I do miss the double jump feature from Super GnG, as a lot of my deaths have come from falling into pits. Or getting overwhelmed by constantly respawning enemies. I’ve reached Level 3. The second boss was a bloody chore. We shall see how it goes…

So, I just started this up. I’m actually surprised Konami got off their arse to put this together. They’ve been absolute morons for years, and done literally nothing with their numerous IPs. All they did last year was Metal Gear Survive, which I don’t even need to comment on. So I genuinely wasn’t expecting them to bother with a collection like this. Contra is getting one later in the year, and I bloody love Contra, so will naturally check that out. Anyways. How does this hold up? Pretty good, really. The first game in the series i ever played was 4, due to never owning a NES back in the day. It remains one of my favourite games of all time, from the gameplay to the gorgeous soundtrack. I didn’t think we’d see this anywhere other than a Nintendo console. But I’m very glad to be replaying it. As it’s just as brilliant now, as it was then. I never played the Megadrive version, again due to not owning one at the time. So I’m looking forward to giving that a shot, as it’s generally held in high regard. As for the rest? You’ve got all 3 of the NES games, which I will get though after 4 and Bloodlines. Two gameboy games, which don’t look especially great, but I’ll play them for completions sake. And Kid Dracula, which I have no idea if it’s any good or not. As is par for the course in these kind of collections, you can quick save your game at any time. Though on the PS4 version, you access the save menu by pressing the Share button. Which of course either takes a screenshot, or video, depending on your setting. And there’s no way of changing that to say, the Options button, or touchpad. It’s weird. Maybe they’ll sort it out in a future update perhaps. There’s no way to change button configuration either. You also get access to various promotional material/ concept art of all the games, which is a nice touch.

There's kind of been 3 types of Ys games over the years. The first couple you just bashed in to enemies, then they became hyper, isometric, all about attacking. Then we got to the 3D versions and it was still a game about going on the attack, but now what type of attack was important. You'd eventually gather 3 characters, a sword character (red), a blunt attack character (blue), and a piercing character (green), different enemy types are weak to different attack types, and you can switch on the fly to suit And that's how it's been for a few games now. Ys IX follows the same formula, but brings in a more traditional RPG structure. Previously side quests would task you with just getting certain drops, you'd get them from your home base, which was a tiny area, and that would be it. 99.9% of the time you were out killing things Ys IX is a little different, structured like a traditional JRPG, it starts slow, with the plot set up, then some short easy combat to ease you in, then a chunk more story. The world is no longer 1 small safe area then a world of combat, instead you're in a city, with combat, shopping, side quests, and exploration taking place throughout, I've not seen this in an Ys game before, even if it's fairly typical for the genre. You're eased in to the world with quests to visit shops and buy gear, it's a little slow going. There's still "dungeons", sections where there's nothing but combat and exploration, but now there's also little dimension pockets where you can enter combat and fight a handful of enemies, then just carry on with whatever you were supposed to be doing The tower defence style sections are still here, now you're whisked away at certain points to fight as a team, protecting a crystal, against waves of enemies. Not especially interesting, and the camera annoyed me a little with this, it maybe could do with being pulled back a bit so you see more of the field, but then they've not been too demanding so far, so maybe it doesn't matter also it's all anime goth now

Who'd have thought this would be any good? Also, it's pretty much the game that swayed me to finally get a Switch, bizarrely. I've gone through the tutorial stages and the first 3 levels in the first world, I think. Unlocked some new abilities and picked up everything I can find in the over world, so far. Haven't bought any weapons yet. It is pretty much My First XCom, complete with the option to do "easy mode" before you start each battle so you can have more health to play with. I've not bothered with that just yet. It looks gorgeous and the opening cinematic is very Pixar. I'm sure it won't happen, but I'd love a competitive multiplayer to be added in, that could work really well.

I was just two and a half hours playing the Balan Wonderworld demo. It’s not half as bad as I’d heard on podcasts that had also clearly only played the first two levels of world one before turning it off and deciding to tell everyone it’s the worst game ever. The opening levels are a bit crap but the later sheep and the cog worlds are much better. I’m not talking Mario levels of quality but certainly gets better than the opening world. Plus the later costumes you find you can use when you go back to previous worlds to get to further trophies which in turn opens up more worlds. The music is also better later on. Not completely awful but an alright time waster and with so few games of its kind on xbox and PlayStation beggars can’t be choosers.

Finished this over the weekend, really enjoyed it, you basically beat the crap out of loads of bad dudes. it's fun. send your team to different parts of the map and switch between them to get stuff done faster. the dodge/flurry and countering baddies with bombs/ice and that stuff is good fun. and the characters play a bit differently, which is good, mixes it up a bit. there's a really cool move impa does where she there's a big world map with main missions, loads of side missions, and fetch quest style missions - and while i don't like fetch quest stuff this is at least reasonably well done here with an icon on the map tells you what you need, you can mark it to show what missions you need to do to collect the stuff, then just click on the icon to complete it - no messing around talking to people. there are absolutely loads of side missions, i'm making up numbers here but say there are 40 on the map, i maybe did 10, there's probably more i've not unlocked. the weapon merging/leveling up is a bit annoying and boring. was playing it pretty slow, mission or 2 a day, the game timer said it took 30 hours or so, it seemed like less though, not sure. there's still loads of stuff to do, including what looks like more story stuff after the credits possibly. the story was cool how it fits in with botw, although i forgot some of the plot of that which confused me First time i've played a dynasty warriors/musou game, i'd probably play another but bad timing as the persona one is out in a few weeks, doubt i'll want to play one again so soon. oh yeah it looks really nice too, although performance sometimes takes a hit - i didn't find it too bad.

bit surprised there isn't already a thread for this I played both of the demos, the first one really didn't do a lot for me, but I think it might have been the character I picked. Apparently they're all viable, but when you're fighting with just 1 character I suspect some are more fun to use than others. The 2nd demo, the 3 hour one, did a lot more for me and convinced me to buy the full game The team that made this made Bravely Default, and it shows in the combat system. Each turn you gain a BP, you can use this to double up, or if you save it treble, and quadruple up moves. For a standard attack this will mean hitting 2,3,4 times, for a spell it means it will be much more powerful. You can't go in to 'debt' like in Bravely default, you can only use what you have. The reason the BP is important is because enemies have shield points, you can only reduce their shield by hitting their weaknesses. They still take damage regardless, but if you remove their shield they'll be more vulnerable and will skip a turn. If you knock the shield down at the start of your turn you can effectively have 2 full turns of them in a weakened state. Characters are dealt with in kind of a unique way. You can start anywhere with anyone, play through their story (chapter 1), then set off in to the world. Chapter 2 would require you to be about level 24, so while you're grinding you might as well pick up a bunch of new recruits, the other 8 characters. You can play each of their chapter 1s, which helps level them up, and you unless you're miles ahead at that point. this is where my main issue with the game has started to creep in. I'm about to collect my 5th party member, which means I've got to sit through some fairly dull writing (I liked the merchant's story tbf) for the 4th time, babysit a low level character while I burn magic with my stronger ones, who don't level up as often so don't get a free refill as often, although I should say replenish items are fairly common. When you're picking off weaknesses it can make fights a little drawn out. Basically, it's good, but my initial rush of enjoyment from the first 4 hours or so has started to wain. It's a wearing game just because you're repeating the same gameplay loop over and over

I didn't entirely know what to expect from this but gave it a go, well you take pictures of pokemon, but i thought it'd be more like an arcade game where you're scored per run on how good your pictures are or something. it's not really like that, you're more scored on individual pictures. for each pokemon there's 4 star levels of picture - which is dependent on what the pokemon is doing, and for each star level you're rated on how good the picture is. the game doesn't really know how good a picture is, i've taken some great pics and the game just tells me they're crap. it's based on more simple stuff like is the pokemon looking at you, does it fill the picture, stuff like that, which does make sense most of the time. and you can do stuff to try and change what the pokemon is doing - such as throwing an apple at it, or playing a tune. it's pretty fun, nice and relaxing, been playing for maybe 10 hours or so, it's good for 30 to 60 min go, not sure i'd want to play it for hours at a time. sometimes i miss something and keep having to replay a level to get it but the levels are pretty short so it's not really a problem, you're supposed to replay them. you can only submit one photo per pokemon at the end of a level which does seem like it's just to make the game longer, but i guess it does add an element of risk in which one you should choose/will it be worth more points than one you already have, or do you pick a crap one from a star level you don't currently have etc. I'm not always sure how you unlock more levels, but probably from leveling up the levels by scoring points on them (which makes more stuff happen on them and new pokemon show up) and sometimes they ask you to photo something specific. not really sure what to say about it overall, i'm quite enjoying it, but it's not super exciting or anything. if you want a game about taking pictures of pokemon - it's great! i'll probably end up having to look at a guide for how to get some of the different star level pictures.

edit - realised i didn't really explain the game - you're the bosses son or something and he gives you a job in this huge office building, you do jobs to work your way up, like deliver parcels, fix projectors, assemble robots. but you're incompetent and generally destroy everything. and then you get promoted. Got this in a recent sale. it's a bit all over the place and i didn't really like it at first but quite like it now. think i'm on level 6 of 9 or so. It's one of those type of games i think looks fun in theory but not sure i'd have fun playing it, like surgeon simulator or that octopus dad game - but i don't really know how close it is to these as i haven't played them. there is definitely some game in good job anyway but the controls can be really annoying sometimes - mainly when trying to maneuver/drag stuff around. and it can be pretty funny destroying an office just to put a box in the right place or install wifi or whatever. the points for destroying stuff i don't really understand as you should get points for it because it's fun but you don't, it seems to mark you down for it but at the same time doesn't seem to matter - seems like the main thing is to do stuff fast to get a better rank - but i'm not totally sure about all the scoring stuff. quite a few of the missions, especially near the start, can be boring/repetitive, but there are some great missions too. i think it generally gets better but it might be just me getting used to it. not sure, but after a bad start am quite enjoying it now anyway. did anyone else play this?

Credit to Genesis Noir for having an unusual story. Before time and existence a good give physical form to his experiences to make sense of the world, falls for a beautiful jazz singer (also a god), her ex gets jealous (also a god), and kills her. The explosion from his gun is the big bang that starts the universe as we understand it, and you travel through time to find a way to make the bullet miss her, something you can do because you don't experience time as we do. All of this is jazz themed, but you'll bounce through various times, from cavemen to feudal japan and so on As a game, its not really anything special. I've played it on pc and did everything with the mouse, it's almost always a case of clicking on something or spinning something, it's rare the puzzle itself is especially difficult. What can be difficult is knowing what's expected of you. I got stuck really early on because I didn't realise I could click on something, and that was all I had to do to move on. I've had it be temperamental too with what you're clicking on which has again led me to being stuck on very simple puzzles. The only but I had was on a clock puzzle later in the game. I needed to set a particular time, but I couldn't back out from the clock view to see the time again. I think something similar may have happened earlier in the game too looking at the clue board. It's not great but there's some cool things to look at, it's original and I could see some people really clicking with it, it didn't really do it for me though

I've been holding off starting a thread about this because I'm not really sure what to make of it. I'm playing it through again for the same reason, and it's a different experience 2nd time through I was never the biggest fan of the first Panzer Dragoon, it's fine, but I think the sequel is the better game imo. I've never been able to place why I prefer the 2nd, but this remake does capture the feel of it well. The target reticle is kind of unique, rather than just being 1 square like Rez, it's made up of 3, different sizes to relate to how far away from you they are. As a consequence it feels like you're shooting down a cone, aiming with a cone, it's not as flowing as I'd like. It's also hard to place where your dragon is, it moves with the world a little, and it's quite a big target Or it was. Last week Panzer Dragoon Remake was patched, and amongst the changes were some slight tweaks to the dragon's movement, and it feels like it's now taking up a bit less room on the screen. There is a chance that might be because of the other big change is that they've doubled the framerate, and there's now a 60fps option The 60fps mode makes the game a lot better, it's a lot easier to aim and dodge, it's just a better game now, significantly so. The only downside, this is only on Switch currently, and doubling the framerate really hits the graphics. For the most part it's ok, a bit blurry, but in handheld in particular it looks fine. However, there's a forest area where the resolution drops so low it's hard to pick out bullets and distant enemies against the grain I'm definitely enjoying it a lot more since the patch, and I hope they do get to Zwei and then Saga. I suspect it might be better to wait for the other console versions (at least the upgraded ones) and PC, where the framerate won't be such a detriment to the resolution

I've done the first two worlds so far and it's pretty good, unsurprisingly. The things that happen seem to mostly be about nostalgia, or at least the bits that have stuck out. You have a SMB3 style map with little huts where you get stuff and there was a level where you make your way over a bunch of moving tanks. But there was a level that used shadows to some cool effect and I hope its expanded on. But listing the stuff doesn't do it justice. Everything just feels really tight and polished, more so than the older 3D games. I feel like I can maneuver Mario around really confidently. Like sprinting around narrow paths is doable and you're not having to do a balancing act all the time which 3D platformers have taught us to expect. It really does bring the best of either the constant sprinting and careful jumping of the 2D titles and exploring with the weird mechanics of the 3D games (like having to get places with a certain power-up). So surprise, surprise. It's brill.

Anyone else picked this up or are planning to give it a go? My girlfriend and I have cleared the first world with three stars on each and haven't broken up yet so I think we're good for marriage. So far it's a massive improvement over the first. Everything feels tighter, there are loads more recipes to make and more interesting level variations, and you can now throw stuff across the kitchen. It has online co-op and vs too this time around!

Don't think this ever migrated into the Games thread, but I started playing it today. It's pretty clunky, but already has a few interesting ideas in terms of making you work things out whilst investigating/researching and linking events together when using the psychic flashbacks. The Lovecraft vibe is quite obvious, and combat best avoided at times rather than head on. Promising few hours, so I'll be seeing this through.

I'm not expecting a lot of replies to this, but I played through this yesterday and it's really good. Joe & Mac Returns is an old arcade game, it came to my attention from a video about great games that stayed in the arcade. It's now had a port to Switch, where it was on sale, its possible it's on psn or Xbox too. Gameplay wise it plays like the original Bubble Bobble. Levels are a single screen, you jump between platforms hitting enemies with your club then putting them in a sack. Next time you attack you'll throw them at other enemies. If you managed to stun and collect multiple enemies at the same time you'll throw a larger sack that will bounce around. The level ends once you've beaten the enemies, and there's usually women to save. Every world has a boss, you beat these by bagging enemies and throwing them at the boss, you club does nothing to them directly There's 2 problems with what is otherwise a great little game. First the controls. A attacks and B jumbs. That's fine, except, as we all agree, Nintendo have their buttons the wrong way around, so what should be the attack button is jump. If you could reassign them this wouldn't be a problem but you can't and I never quite got the button layout drilled in to my head The other problem is it is a bit letchy. The rescuing girls is whatever, it's a product of its time, it's the cut scenes that are the problem. In between worlds you'll get little vignettes of Joe and Mac trying to sneak a peak at the pretty girls, they're cave men so it fits the theme. But there's a couple of times the women are bagged up and dragged away with there underwear being thrown back on screen. Best not to think about too much I guess, and ignore the laugh track that plays, but it really, really seems out of place now Aside from that I really enjoyed this, it was on sale so only a couple of quid

I've seen so much praise for this, review scores and whatnot, i was sort of sceptical but got it anyway. was sort of underwhelmed in the areas of graphics and emotion, it does look really nice and the story is alright i guess but too much hype. anyway onto the important bit - it plays flipping brilliantly, the enemies sometimes seem a bit pointless, especially at the start, then you unlock something really cool that makes them more interesting/not-pointless. it's a platform puzzler metroidvania sort of thing - with only a small amount of puzzling so far, more like complicated and satisfying platforming like super meat boy/guacamelee, it's tough but not super difficult yet anyway, and i'm not that good at platformers. some sections are so much fun i didn't mind dying and retrying if i messed them up. controls great too which is pretty important when things get tricky. so yeah double thumbs up so far. edit - oh yeah there's an interesting save system too, not many proper checkpoints but you can save/checkpoint pretty much anywhere you want, but it uses energy so you can't do it all the time, and that energy can unlock doors so do you save or keep the energy in case you need it? not sure what i think to this yet but it's not been a massive help/hindrance either way. and there's a sort of rgp lite levelling up thing where you unlock perks and stuff. edit 2 - mini bosses so far have been a bit disappointing. not sure if i've fought a proper boss yet.

So that little Zelda-like with the weird title and a soundtrack from Uematsu is shifting its viewpoint (and production values) for what is possibly the most ambitious sequel in the indie space I've ever seen. Oceanhorn 2 doesn't quite wear its inspirations on its sleeve as clearly as the first one did. In its essence it's a very classic action-adventure game, but there are also shades of JRPG in there. It's not quite as clear cut as the internet would make you believe and comparing it to one or the other feels rather unfair then. If I absolutely wanted to compare it to other games, I'd call it a mix between Sudeki and Venetica in how it's structured and as far as its noticeable flaws thankfully don't impact the enjoyment too much. So far my character can fight with a sword, throw bombs and shoot non-elemental, fire or electric pojectiles with his gun. All those actions are used for combat (more on that later) and puzzle-solving. You can burn certain wooden obstacles with the fire shot, charge generators with electricity, blow stuff up with your bombs - the usual stuff. Exploring the various locales (towns, cities, fields, dungeons) yields a couple of rewards, but they're not particularly impressive for the most part and usually consist of trinkets that will be immediately transmuted into a certain amount of money. Occasionally you'll find shards which are used to power up your equipment or heart pieces which bump your maximum amount of life after finding three. I really enjoy wandering around the areas and getting rewarded for it, but there could have been a bit more to keep you motivated (maybe scrolls that unlock special moves in combat or mixed-elemental shots would have been a cool idea). I've also travelled by boat on the world map a bit but so far it looks like this aspect will become more important later on. Right now everything that isn't part of the next story destination is blocked off. Speaking of combat, which unfortunately is the game's weakest link. It's not fundamentally bad: hitting an enemy with your sword feels good and does solid chunks of damage, aiming and shooting with the gun works better than I expected it to. But combining everything together feels clunky, secondary combo hits have to be inputted right at the tail end of a swing and enemy attack patterns feel random and oddly animated so you never really know if you have time for one or three attacks before they counter, as they never flinch -- unless hit with a critical attack, which you have no control over unless it was a surprise attack. With better readability and a more fluent moveset combat would have been solid. As it is now it's more of a hit-and-run affair. It's not game breaking and there aren't too many fights anyway, but still something to keep in mind. So that's basically it, you run around exploring the world, find secrets, solve puzzles and fight the occasional monster or two. It's a very classic game-y setup but I enjoy it quite a lot. It's a charming throwback to those colourful action adventures from the PS2 era. There's a bit of story there as well but it's not the main draw certainly. Still, to give them some credit, they at least try to build upon the lore they established in the first game, but it's nothing we haven't heard or read before. The player character is unfortunately silent, but he's accompanied by two likeable, if a bit tropey, party members who can also be used in puzzles (and are absolutely useless in combat). Visually it's one of the prettiest games on Switch which came a bit as a surprise considering it's an indie title. Very clean style, popping colours, a lot of detail, good animations for the most part, solid performance, great lighting and despite all of that the loading times are some of the shortest I've seen on the system so far (it takes 20 seconds after clicking on the icon on the Switch menu to being able to walk around). This is getting a lot of flack online for being "not as good as Zelda" which I think is both unfair and not even entirely true, since it doesn't even want to be a Zelda-like. It's flawed but enjoyable, maybe lacks some depth but makes up for it with its charm and beautiful world. The price tag might look a bit steep at first glance but I don't regret buying it. Spent the best part of my weekend playing it and am looking forward to more.

Got this through yesterday. It’s brilliant. Looks and feels great, always preferred this to Mario Kart and even from my short go last night I stand by this thought even more now. Loads better than Team Sonic Racing too. Transformed is a different matter though.. Anyone who enjoyed it back in the day get on it. Just as good as I remember it being. Negatives? It hitches every now and again surprisingly (playing on a X1X). & the load times are excruciating! I’m not one to normally complain too much about long loads as long as they’re infrequent but here they are frequent and seriously bad. To the point I could see it ruining the “quick go” and “just one more race” elements causing me to play it less. We’ll see.

Having played the opening scene of this game I'm going to cautiously give it a "highest recommendation". In fact the opening scene was pretty much perfect so I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. Two of the games planned five acts have been released so far. The official website gives a pretty good description: So far the game has a Cormac McCarthy feel to it which I really like.

Horace is a narrative platform adventure about a robot butler that's absolutely full of charm and wit. It's very British in character with tonnes of jokes and references to old computer games and 80's and 90's pop culture. The story is told through cutscenes in a pixel art style narrated in the robotic voice of Horace, and really goes places. Just when you think it's going to be a tale of robotic domestic bliss, everything changes. The game itself has some pretty fiendish platforming with metroidvania style uprgades and is really fun to play. The levels and and what you need to do in them show a lot of imagination and variation. Death comes regularly, but infinite lives and and instant respawns help alleviate frustrations. My only criticism is that it's maybe a little long, but I had a blast with it.

I think Murder By Numbers was pitched to me as Picross meets Phoenix Wright, and initially that seems to be a big grand, it's just picross with a murder mystery plot. A reasonably well told plot, it's got quite a sharp script, big characters, it's kind of funny at points, especially with how they use their still art assets to animate a scene, it's well done. The gameplay though is just scrolling around an area to find a hidden object, when your cursor glows red to say you're on it you trigger a Picross puzzle. If you don't know what picross is, it's like sudoku mixed with a crossword. You have numbers on the side and top of a grid, e.g. 3, 4. That means of that row a run of 3 blocks will be coloured, then a run of 4, its your job to completely fill in the grid. The solution here always ends up being a clue (near enough), something relevant to the mystery. where it does start to remind me of Phoenix wright more is that you can talk to the other characters. Mostly this is simple, you run down a list of questions. However, you can start to present them with the items you've found, which can trigger them to offer up more information, and move the plot on I'm enjoying it. I'm hoping it gets a bit more meaty. I was going to say gritty, but I don't think it needs to, it's tame really, but equally it hasn't really reached something like Danganronpa, which is silly, but compelling and adult

Picked this up as something bright and colourful to counteract how dark and oppressive Outer Wilds is. You play as Stella, accompanied by her pet dog Daffodil, who has taken over from Charon as the “spiritfarer” - in other words, it’s a death management sim, but it’s not gloomy at all. The game looks and sounds absolutely stunning. I’ve literally only played 30 minutes but I loved it. Seems like the game will be a mix of exploration with gentle management elements.

I've had a quick 10 minutes on this, so my thoughts will be brief. The game setting is quite unlike anything I've ever played. It's a 4 player co-op game where you are tasked in casing a job and carrying out a heist. However it doesn't play sneaky like you would expect it to. You basically set up covering as many angles as you can, and then when you are ready you pull your gun and begin being a nasty little shit. The game reminds me a lot of Left 4 Dead for some reason. Your team of people start out with 2 weapons but you can level up and rejig what you take with you. This includes ammo bags and medic stuff among other things. The events work similar to the events in Left 4 Dead but have more persistence. Instead of one event that you complete and pass, you are put into a play area where several events knock on to each other. While these events get deeper and deeper to the objective, the authorities will start to try and stop you from getting to them. Again, this reminds me of Left 4 Dead, security guards are hopeless and easily dealt with, police are harder and then swat and other stuff starts to show up, with each unit having a special niche similar to the Left 4 Dead special infected. A typical section will have you race to an objective, and then defend it against waves of swat before it being completed and moving onto the next part of the heist. It's not too hard to follow. The bad news for some is that I could find no controller support in game. I did a quick scan and found THIS, but I'm not sure how you configure it in. If you cannot get it to work it looks like you're stuck with KB+M controls. It's not so bad though, I'm no whiz and I did fine, there's a lot of leeway that should get you used to playing with those tools instead of a controller. I'm looking forward to playing it in a group, I bet it's a right laugh.