Reviews

Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is a fun Souls-like, but it suffers from some odd world design decisions.

Telestrations: Upside Drawn puts a brand new spin on a classic party game formula.

Twin Mirror's concise narrative and innovative detective gameplay is heartfelt and earnest, though the small-scale, personal story is left open-ended.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Project Wingman is the most blatent flattery I've ever seen. It's good, but never really manages to be better than "A good Ace Combat fan game."

Immortals: Fenyx Rising is a vast and entertaining adventure with excellent gameplay. Unfortunately, the storyline and quest system are weak and the game feels rushed. It's a fun game but one that lives in Breath of the Wild's shadow.

Chronos: Before the Ashes is an interesting game, but not a consistent one. Its world is occasionally fascinating, some mechanics are quite interesting and its general theming adds a lot to the universe — that being said, it offers plenty of ideas it fails to deliver on and could do with a little more to make it really stand out

A refreshingly deep and customizable turn-based tactics game lets you reign supreme in a 1920s criminal empire.

Stargaze is a fantastically unique approach to space exploration, featuring inventive puzzles, unique worlds, and a charming personality.

Blood and Plunder is quite simply an incredible system. It captures historical detail while blending land and sea combat in a simple ruleset with no-nonsense stats and abilities. The rulebook is well laid out and the flow of learning is logical and straight-forward. The realism and historical accuracy mean that there's not a huge difference between troops types that players of fantasy or sci-fi wargames might expect, but this puts the emphasis on commander control of troops and maximizing any advantage you can get. The use of cards for initiative and activations works extremely well and creates a balanced turn. The buy-in for everything with ships can be pricey, but the upcoming 2-player starter set including 2 plastic ships for Raise the Black will change everything.

Maid of Sker is an adaptation of influential Welsh folklore and brings its own voice to the survival horror genre. That is once it gets over stage fright.

Splendor: Marvel takes a timeless classic and gives it an approachable facelift.

Merchants and Marauders: Broadsides won’t be for everyone, it’s direct PvP, it's very draw dependent, and anyone coming from Merchants and Marauders hoping to find the same open-world won’t find much similar except the setting. Broadsides is fun, it’s incredibly thematic and has some fantastic tense and epic moments if you can stick through the bad draws.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a pleasant, nostalgia-packed experience providing a plot recap which fans of the series probably need right about now

In Celebration of Violence provides a deeply rewarding but incredibly difficult and obtuse roguelike experience.

Oak & Iron is a very easy to learn and teach game, with straight-forward mechanics for movement and combat. This, combined with the ability to play straight out of the box with the miniatures make it a fantastic entry-level wargame or gateway game. The deeper level of tactics and strategy then make it an incredibly rewarding experience for veteran gamers. The 6 different ships and 5 factions playable out of the Core Box give it a huge amount of replayability, but also make it an incredible experience to expand from.

A disappointment in almost all areas besides combat and graphics, Godfall feels more like a next-generation showcase than anything else. A boatload of stats and unsubstantial loot are just some of Godfall's major problems.

The Pathless offers players a beautifully heartbreaking way to revive a dead world by forging a bond between you and an eagle alone. Every so often, you come across the corpses of the fallen and you can see their final thoughts moments before death, which elevates the tragedy and sadness of the world around you. Even then, you never really feel lost, both literally and figuratively, mainly because you’ll feel like as long as you have your eagle by your side, you’re going to be just fine. 

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s still a fun romp through New York City, with likeable characters and electrifying Venom powers.

Merchants and Marauders is an incredible open-world adventure. Every game feels unique. The core rules are straight-forward, but there are some intricacies that might put off anyone looking for a simple game. The multiple ways to win are all great, and all have their own difficulties. The game has a large element of PvP, that rewards the bold and can be an issue for any players who don’t want that element to the game, but those who don’t mind will have an incredible experience and plenty of stories to tell.

Victory at Sea Battle for the Pacific is a great starter-set. The ships are very easy to build and if offers a great insight into Victory at Sea, with expansion beyond the set without buying the core rules. The fleets contained aren't points balanced, and some work is required on the side of the players to build out the scenarios and fleets for use. It feels like it's missing some scenarios with fixed starter-set ships, or a linked campaign, but it's easy to get into and very enjoyable. You will find a lot of the time that 6s are required to hit, and a lot of shots will miss, but games feel very thematic, and each ship feels like a grand warrior, with its own traits, rather than faceless stats.

Cyberpunk Red has been worth the wait. For veteran Cyberpunk players, it’s the system you know and love, ramped up with added detail for the time of the Red. For experienced roleplayers, it’s a simple system that encourages you to build the characters you want and create the stories you enjoy. For video gamers looking for anything to do with Cyberpunk 2077, there’s a lot here, and it’s a great read cover to cover to get you ready for 2077. For brand new roleplayers, welcome, get the Jumpstart Kit, play the adventure, and then come back, and join us in the Red.

U-Boot requires preparation, dedication, and time, but it rewards it. All players need to know the rules and their roles and be in for the duration, but what you'll get in return is one of the most immersive and thematic experiences ever. Submarine and nautical enthusiasts will get the most out of this, but anyone wanting realism and teamwork will find it extremely enjoyable. All of the components are thematically great and work very well for the product as a whole. Not all the roles are equal in terms of excitement, but some players will naturally gravitate towards the support roles and others the command tasks. If you don't want a huge in-depth game or have to use an app, then this is not for you. But if you want a truly unique nautical experience and favor realism then prepare to deep dive, because U-Boot is incredible.

Sails of Glory is a straight-forward and very accessible miniatures wargame. The pre-painted miniatures, basic movement, and combat rules make learning the game and introducing new players simple, and the scaling rules make it great for finding the balance of rules and complexity that you want. The starter set is an awesome experience for 2 to 4 players. There is a solo scenario in the game, along with some great community-produced solo rules. Sails of Glory is perfect for new wargamers, or if you're looking to introduce someone to wargames, and scales well beyond the beginner game to keep their interest, which also makes it a great game for veteran wargamers.

Xuan-Yuan Sword VII suffers from a weak story, and a poor translation. Despite this, there is a lot to love for ARPG enthusiasts.