One thing I love about indie games is the sheer eagerness with which they address topics and scenarios AAA games would never touch. Take today’s topic, for example. A Short Hike is a game about a young bird-lady vacationing to a sleepy, idyllic national park. There’s no grand twist to that narrative, no threat or … Continue reading A Short Hike
Tag: Xbox One
Celeste
This one has been a difficult review to write. In fact, I don’t know whether I can even call this a review so much as a thinkpiece. As I write this, I don’t even know whether I think I can fairly score it as a game. But why, when this is a game so beloved … Continue reading Celeste
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
If you know me, you’ll know there’s five words you can say that will make me the happiest person in the world. Just five little words, ideally spoken in a thick, Nordic drawl, greeting me as I open weary eyes after a fitful sleep. Hey, you. You’re finally awake. Oh, Skyrim. It may be a … Continue reading The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Final Fantasy IX
Of all the Final Fantasy games I’ve beaten, IX remains the one I think about the most. It’s my pick for the most poignant, most touching, most unbelievably human of the franchise. If you want nothing more than a quick point towards what I think of this game, in short, it’s a phenomenal piece of … Continue reading Final Fantasy IX
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations
If the second Ace Attorney taught me anything, it was as a stark reminder of the perils of over-excitement. It was certainly a good reminder that visual novels live or die on their writing, and Justice for All definitely floundered. Still, there was of course a lingering hope that, on going into this third entry … Continue reading Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All
It’s safe to say I went into the second Ace Attorney with high expectations from the first game. However, I’m not entirely sure what I wanted from it though. The strengths of the first game were I suppose partly in the surprise of it being a visual novel I genuinely enjoyed, and partly because the … Continue reading Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
I feel like you can’t play the Professor Layton games and not also stop to take a look in at Ace Attorney. The two franchises feel so intrinsically linked now to me as the premier puzzle-solving visual novel-style games. I appreciate that’s quite a niche subgenre, but Ace Attorney and Professor Layton definitely made it … Continue reading Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Far Cry 4
Following on from a brilliantly-received predecessor has to be hard. There must be a nagging thought that follows you, constantly asking whether you need to be as inventive as your precursor, or whether you ought to simply copy what they did and hope that lightning strikes twice. That discussion must have taken place at Ubisoft … Continue reading Far Cry 4
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
This particular review feels a bit odd to write. I’ve already written extensively about the Mass Effect games; all four of them remain amongst my favourite games of all time, and each one totally scratches the sci-fi itch that I have nagging at me all day. I wonder, then, what can I really add to … Continue reading Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Donut County
Sometimes you can get a general sense of what a game might be like from its title, or the first few images you see of it. Other times, well, you get Donut County. I really didn’t know, and nor do I think I could have guessed, what Donut County was about. Donut County (Android, iOS, … Continue reading Donut County