Top-down shooters are hardly a new genre (I still remember how much fun I had with Crimsonland back in the day), but they’re usually filled with plenty of action to satisfy those looking for some mindless shooting. It’s just you, your guns, and an endless horde of monsters eager to encircle and overwhelm you, making it all the more satisfying when you unleash absolute hell on them and survive a particularly hairy situation.
When I first started up PRIM, I was intrigued by its art style, but soon found myself sort of... not feeling the game. I didn’t really gel with the setup of the storyline, the jokes didn’t land for me, and most important of all, the main character’s voice acting was, uh... well, let’s just say I really wasn’t a fan of the character’s delivery.
Death of the Reprobate is a point & click adventure game whose demo I had already sampled during one of Steam’s many Next Fest events, so I more or less knew what I was getting myself into: a Monty Python-esque atmosphere, shockingly absurd humor reminiscent of beloved genre classics, and a touch of healthy vulgarity.
Ender Lilies was one of my favorite games of 2021 – its melancholy visuals and somber mood, along with an excellent mixture of soulslike and metroidvania elements made it very difficult to put down. Ender Magnolia is the much-anticipated follow-up to that success story, offering yet another trip into a haunted world that needs saving.
When I say the word Contra, many of you who grew up with older games will likely remember it as an intensely challenging series of side-scrolling shoot ‘em ups that required quite a bit of dedication to complete.
Time Treker wasn’t an easy game for me to judge. In fact, after my first hour with the title, I felt certain that it simply wasn’t for me... until it was. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s actually talk about what it even is.
Soulslikes have become an immensely popular genre, with many a developer trying their hand at crafting their version of what From Software began more than a decade ago. We’ve seen creators put their own spin on the genre in various ways, but what if I told you there was a game that sort of just... paid homage to the original Dark Souls in a very obvious way?
I love games that let you unwind in a Zen kind of way. Whether it’s arranging your personal belongings in a title like Unpacking, or driving across a lonely highway in the calming silence of the night in Euro Truck Simulator 2, I can always appreciate it when a game lets you completely tune out the outside world to the point it becomes almost therapeutic.
Man, how do I even begin? Dark and Deep is a game that kept me in a cautiously optimistic mood at first, because clearly a good deal of work had gone into it. It’s a first-person, narrative-driven adventure game with puzzle-solving and mild exploration as its main focus, featuring a storyline that’s hoping to blur the lines between the real and the nightmarish.
The game wastes no time when it comes to grabbing you by the collar and pulling you right into its creepy, Lovecraftian bog of otherworldly secrets, utilizing narrated quotes from the original story to set its eerie mood.
