2018 has seen a bit of a jump in the number of roguelike experiences hitting store shelves; the space has become quite crowded of late and developers really have to try and stand out amongst the crowd now. Enter Polygod then, a genuinely unique take on roguelike with a blend of fast paced FPS and a punishing difficulty curve. This one takes an iron will to overcome!
Back in 1998 I had been the proud owner of the original PlayStation, however I was beginning to tire of it slightly. Many of my friends had instead opted for the more expensive Nintendo 64 and were having all sorts of fun with it. I realised I had been missing out. During the holidays that year I arranged with a friend to swap my PlayStation for his N64 during the summer break. One of the games that I jumped on to first was Forsaken and I instantly loved it. Now in 2018 - some 20 years later - Nightdive Studios have released a remastered version of Forsaken. So have they done justice to the original or is it a game best viewed through rose tinted spectacles?
Back in 2015 Rusto games released Drunk Fu for Android and iOS - it quickly gained a cult following although struggled to hit the download numbers of other, more popular games. Despite this the game continued to be updated right up to 2017. Here we are a year on and Rusto games have rebuilt the game from the ground up for Xbox One. So is this still the fun little time waster that the mobile version manages to be, or is it a drunken stumble down the gutter?
Management simulators are having a bit of a renaissance of late with the likes of Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing all seeing solid sales and good critical reception. tinyBuild however have decided the genre needs something a little fresh (well, rotten depending on how you look at it) - the result is Graveyard Keeper.
It is fair to say that No Man’s Sky came under some serious fire when it originally launched for PC and PS4 back in 2016. It was, unfortunately, a case of over ambitious developers showing off a game too early. Two years and three major updates later, the game is in much better shape. Now, alongside the fourth major update (titled NEXT) Hello Games are finally ready to grace Xbox gamers with a game that could be the closest to their original vision.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is not far off from release now and Square Enix are today showing off some new gameplay of the third chapter in Lara's origin story - highlighting the captivating city of Paititi.
The Mega Man collections just keep on coming and this time around it’s the turn of the Mega Man X series. Boasting some of the best games in the series and some of the best platforming to ever graces consoles, The Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2 certainly hits the spot for fans eagerly awaiting this re-release.
In 1981 an unassuming little game named Tempest arrived and quickly cemented itself as an arcade classic. Over the years there have been many attempts to recapture the magic that many hold dear when speaking of the original - now some 37 years later (yes 37 whole years!) Tempest 4000 is knocking on the door asking to be let in to the classics party. But is it left high and dry or does it still hit the dizzying notes of addictiveness that were so prevalent in the 1981 classic?
As times have rolled on the technology has become more complicated and therefore much harder for a single person to code a whole game alone; it still happens but most of these games are a result for mobile or one of the frankly, pretty terrible games for the PC. The developer of Ghost 1.0 wants to buck that trend and has worked hard to achieve that with this game. From the off it’s a good effort and the game avoids almost all the pitfalls that are really prevalent with developing on your own.
Sonic Mania released last year and instantly became a hit, showing Sega that new "retro" Sonic does indeed work and that fans, or those with even a vague interest, will lap it up with vigour.
The goal of Nidhogg 2 remains the same as the original; you need to make your way to the end of each multiscreen level to be devoured by the frankly disgusting looking wurm, whilst your opponent is trying to do the same in the opposite direction. What ensues is a frantic, unpredictable tug-of-war style duel to see who has good enough wits, skill and reflexes to reach the final screen and meet the titular wurm.
Prop Hunt has been a game mode popularised in recent times by the likes of Counter Strike and Call of Duty, all bringing a slightly different take on the hide and seek formula. It’s no surprise then that someone sat up and decided that an entire game based around the concept might work. What the Box? is the result of this idea. But is this the king of prop hunt, or a missed opportunity?
Available in early access on other platforms since 2013, War Thunder finally makes its Xbox debut with a full release this year alongside naval battles, the final piece in Gaijin Entertainment's plan to bring together land, sea and air in epic free to play “total war” battles.
Over the years the game has slowly built itself up, culminating in a completely reworked graphics engine that allows the game to leverage the full power of the Xbox One X to deliver 4K visual quality alongside other enhancements. But is it a game still worthy of today’s standards, or has this war simulation already lost the battle?
When The Crew originally released it was met with some harsh comments from many sources. Ivory Tower listened to the criticism and spent the following two years improving the base game whilst adding significant new additions via expansions, and by the end of that run The Crew felt like a completely different game from its original release. Now The Crew 2 is here, but is it hitting the ground running or will it take yet another couple of years to get up to speed?
Not too long ago endless running games were all the rage, especially in the mobile space.
In 2018 however the genre appears to have mostly dried up. Deep Space is Bug Studios' latest attempt at recapturing the endless running magic. This is a procedurally generated affair, rather than the usual level based games you tend to find in the genre. Is this port of the mobile version worthy of your time and money?
The two games featured in the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection were big deals when first released. Playing them again now, it is clear to see why.
For those of you who have been living under a rock or deep in the jungle for the last ten years, the Devil May Cry games feature a protagonist called Dante. And this is Dante when he was just effortlessly cool...
It was only a few short weeks ago that we started calling it as a game, set, match, with confirmation of the release date for TopSpin 2K25. But today it's all about the player roster and brand equipment lists.