Author: AndresPlays
In less than 44 hours, Lupio Studios achieved its Kickstarter goal with their Open-World RPG The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls. Currently offering a demo on Steam with a charming anime art style that evokes Zelda, Pokémon, and Monster Hunter, it already had a head start in creating hype project before it started. With over four years of behind-the-scenes work by the Italian studio before launching the campaign, it is easy to see this first title has resonated with its intended audience. Taking on the role of Matwin, and his fiery pet sidekick Lupio, both unique characters can be swapped at…
Elevating auteurs of any kind is odd to me. Not because a director was able to manage to steer the ship and make the right call at the right time, delivering a product that catapulted it into worldwide recognition. That much I can agree with. But there’s also the countless developers on the back of their leadership, which while I’m sure some of them are happy to be away from the spotlight, also deserve to be recognized. Then again, in SWERY & SUDA51’s case, I do tend to agree with their mythical status as their games are particular indie gems…
High school. A time of extremes. Anxiety, unrealistic expectations, and sudden shifts in our bodies are running at a record high. Every one of us has a different relationship with it. As they say, some feel like they peaked there, while others feel like they were barely stepping out of their cocoon. There is no universal experience that can speak to all of us, but one thing is for certain: this period of change has made all of us who we are now. Consume Me portrays the perspective of a teenage girl living through this tumultuous era, warts and all,…
Gaming in virtual reality has an important advantage over its flatscreen counterparts from the get-go: it’s unique approach to gameplay. Moving your body around, swinging a golf club, for example, gives much more immersion than just looking at a bar fill up and pressing a button at the right moment for your player character to hit the ball. Fruit Golf, straight as its name says, is a riff on the usual mini-golf activity, hitting fruits instead of golf balls to try to get that arduous hole in one. With an even wackier commitment to unbridled fun than similar games in…
Catto’s Post Office is a game after my own heart. And yours. And everyone who loves cats. Our relationship with these fur babies is usually one of endless affection thanks to their quirky nature. Even more so if they are orange cats, which science still can’t determine why they are so silly. But I digress. This game, in which you are a cat delivering mail, is such a heartwarming experience that I couldn’t help but love it. And there are several reasons why other than the brilliant premise itself. As the title suggests, you play as the titular Catto on…
I have a paradoxical relationship with nostalgia. Sometimes, I long to embrace those iconic old games that saw my upbringing and remember The Good Old Days. Others, I feel like shedding my former self and disconnecting from what I once was. Quartet, a new JRPG-inspired turn-based adventure, does an excellent job at marrying both concepts. While more prominent in the former, with its perpetually charming 16-bit pixel art style and familiar turn-based combat, its creative narrative and the way the story is presented show a creative step forward. We all know the JRPG classics. They’re probably on the tip of…
I have played every conceivable video game genre out there. From verified old-school classics to the shiniest AAAA adventure with the most cutting-edge technology. I have seen it all. And yet I am still consistently astounded by independent games every single time I play them. It could be a unique twist on an age-old narrative, inventive puzzle mechanics that leave your head scratching, or satisfying gameplay that could leave you playing for hours. I have seen a game like The Knightling before. But not presented like this. This is one of those gems that punches above its weight and succeeds.…
Some people live and die by their engagement. Every day, they find the most enduring trends to try to break through the algorithm and be seen by a larger audience. In the world of content creation, it is quite difficult to be noticed otherwise. People fractured into different platforms, the incessant push for banal chatbots, and the increasing disillusionment with the internet itself make going viral the only way to be truly noticed. I would suggest that, arguably, this is not a healthy way to live, not just because of the self-inflicted psychological damage of “not being enough” if a…
Getting lost is, generally, not a pleasant experience. In video games, it is a waste of time at best and a frustrating feeling at worst. But Hell Is Us is taking big swings at all corners imbuing this premise into its DNA. Marketed as a hardcore soulslike in an industry notorious for handholding, one of its core principles is its “No map, no guide, just you” tagline. It is a risky bet, usually geared towards a certain type of player, but its recently released PlayStation 5 demo cleared up many doubts about how obtuse it is really going to be.…
Following the successful launch of a Kickstarter campaign earlier this year which garnered over 1,500 backers, Ludocene is now available. Created by renowned videogame journalist Andy Robertson and his team, Ludocene is a game finding tool where you can find new gaming recommendations. It originated as a direct response to the lack of effective game discovery on apps like Steam and the increasingly fractured social media landscape. Ludocene is intended to address these issues by offering personalized curations of games players know and love, hand-in-hand with recommendations of experts across the gaming industry, including developers, journalists, and content creators. Dubbed…