Recent reviews by Metro

In Sink: A Co-op Escape Adventure (referred to as In Sink) challenges you and your partner to tackle escape room-like puzzles that often force you to part ways (hopefully just in game!) and rely on communication to solve them effectively. Will you succumb to the frustration of misheard descriptions of shapes just for your partner to yell “Just listen to me!”? Or will you flourish and grow stronger as a team? As for me… let’s just say the words “it’s obviously a Space Invader” may haunt me forever…

• Genuinely challenging puzzles that reward observation
• Intuitive, unique puzzle designs using shapes and numbers
• Encourages creative communication for solving puzzles
• Full of surprises and unpredictable puzzle twists
• Demands synchronisation and teamwork throughout
• Levels are well-paced, lasting 1–2 hours each (16~ hours total)
• Universal, language-free design allows for global play
• Dynamic hint system helps when stuck (though not always perfect)
• Stable pacing and a smooth difficulty curve
• Replayable for new puzzle perspectives
• Simple online setup, even for long-distance players

• Limited puzzles that involve environmental interaction; levels can feel static
• A few puzzles feel one-sided, with one player doing most of the work
• Few unintuitive and sluggish puzzles can feel tedious to solve

In Sink demands that you and your partner stay in-sync with one another at all times to solve the twists and turns that each puzzle throws at you. While not all, most puzzles will separate the two of you in different rooms, requiring clear, concise communication to relay information. There were times however, that one person would be figuring out the puzzle with the other simply inputting the solution. Most ‘stuck’ moments stem from unclear communication or missed details. The game provides a dynamic hint system that nudges you in the right direction without spoiling the solution, though some hints weren't as helpful as expected, and often reiterated things we already knew. We spent longer than I’m willing to admit on a specific section of the train level, simply because we couldn’t figure out what the puzzle was asking us to do.

In Sink genuinely took me by surprise with how brilliantly crafted each and every puzzle was built. Often challenging, with plenty of ”aha, what about this!" moments that reward players with a keen eye to detail. Although I assumed the repetitive shapes would grow tiresome, the creative use of them in puzzles quickly alleviated that concern. Puzzles never repeated themselves, and the familiarity of shapes encouraged us to assign codenames to them. Terms like ”Space Invader”, “Staircase”, “Weirder Staircase”, “2 Ls kissing” (yes, that was one of them) become great cornerstones to clear-cut communication.

The difficulty curve was smooth, with each level gradually increasing in challenge, giving us enough time to adjust to the types of puzzles we'd be facing in the future. The increasing complexity of each puzzle made the triumph of solving them all the more satisfying. Coupled with levels that struck the perfect balance in length and pace, typically lasting 1 to 2 hours, the entire experience felt triumphant. Starting from puzzle amateurs and turning into problem-solving masters by the end of the game.

However, despite the creative use of shapes and numbers used in different ways for several puzzles, I sometimes felt areas were lacking. The limited environmental interaction was a disappointment. Despite one of the earlier puzzles playing around with this mechanic, it doesn’t get used again. It felt odd to be able to interact with certain objects throughout the game, but never have them tied to the solution. There was also a specific puzzle that felt extremely sluggish and tedious to solve, so using Photoshop, I figured out the solution much faster and easier than in-game. Whilst this isn’t a dealbreaker as it’s only one puzzle in the entire game, it did cause more frustration than what was necessary.

It’s clear that the developers didn’t want to limit In Sink by driving a wedge between the language barriers. Using universal shapes, numbers, colours, and so on and avoiding any text was genius to compensate for global play. Even if it would be harder to describe shapes to a foreign to someone whose first language isn’t mine, I think it would still be possible since this game purposely accommodates for that. On top of that, the simple online setup makes it viable to play with another person from the other side of the globe as if they were in the same room as you. Only difference is, you won’t be able to tackle them if they misinterpret a ‘Space Invader’ for a ‘Staircase’… so that’s probably for the best.

Playing through the game is technically only half the game, switching the roles around and playing as your partner's character changes your perspective on specific puzzles. Seeing puzzles from a different perspective makes the game feel fresh, despite the familiarity of the puzzles, and will make you say ” ooooooooh, so that’s what you were seeing”. Secret codes are also hidden through each level to unlock an Easter egg at the end of the final level, so that’s also another incentive to play through the game a second time, which is a nice touch.

In Sink delivers an unforgettable experience of teamwork, clever challenges, and innovative puzzle-solving. The depth and gradual complexity of the game will put even the most experienced puzzle-masters to the test. The clever use of universal symbols makes the game accessible to players worldwide. Whether you are looking for a new co-op puzzle game, or want to connect with a friend, In Sink is a rewarding challenge that will test, strengthen (possibly weaken) your bonds. Highly recommended for puzzle-lovers and co-op enthusiasts alike!

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Cook, Serve, Delicious! (CSD) is a fast-paced, easy-to-learn, yet difficult-to-master cooking game that starts with you running a struggling café, and turning it into a 5-star Gordon Ramsay restaurant. What begins as a quiet grind soon escalates into a chaotic rush, with customers either loving your dishes—or chasing you for refunds. It's hard to say which.

• Game incentivises you to try different dish combinations
• Simplicity at its finest, but difficult to master
• An addictive gameplay loop
• Gives you some degree of control over the difficulty of each day, high risk, high reward

• Late game rewards don’t feel like they’re enough

At the start of each day you’ll be able to prepare for the following service which involves choosing dishes to put on the menu, purchase new equipment to unlock more dishes, upgrade previous dishes and so on. Some dishes are crowd-pleasers (Known as Boosters), but paired with other foods might put them off your restaurant entirely (Known as Deterrents). These factor into your Buzz, a rating that determines customer flow, for that day. The higher the Buzz, the more customers, the more (potential) income, the more likely you’ll find yourself overwhelmed with orders, or, how we say it in the industry, you’ll be in the sh*t.

There are many factors that determine your Buzz aside from the dishes themselves. Menu Rot is another mechanic that reduces your buzz if you have the same item on the menu for two consecutive days, and gets worse the longer you have it on the menu for. This practically forces the player to choose new combinations of dishes and not stick with what you’re used to. Events such as the health inspector visiting can affect your buzz rating, as well as sending out a lot of bad orders in a single day. It’s almost like a balancing act, but it also serves as a way to limit the difficulty. There’s nothing stopping you from purposely reducing the Buzz because the game is getting too overwhelming, just means you won’t have as much money coming in.

The meat and gravy of CSD is during service, and whilst the game holds your hand and keeps things slow for a while, it doesn’t take long for things to ramp up in difficulty. Rush hour happens twice every day which brings in more customers. What makes this game so immensely addictive is the simplicity of each dish only needing a few taps on your keyboard. At first, it will be a lot of looking to see what button is for what ingredient, but once you start getting into the whisk of things, every order feels like it flows so fluently and almost rhythmically. It doesn’t needlessly complicate each dish’s mechanics to add difficulty, there are other factors like additional prep stations, and customers being less patient to account for that. The customers also rate your food with either perfect, average, or bad. The game encourages you to perform perfect orders as much as possible by giving you additional buzz the next day, and giving you some extra money if you get a perfect day with no average or bad orders.

Besides the obvious orders you’ll have to cook during service, there are also chores that need to be done during the day. Washing the dishes, taking out the rubbish, cleaning the toilet (yes, you’re doing this during service, don’t question it, just let it happen) and so on. These are just as easy as the orders themselves, but are time-consuming, especially if you’re in rush hour with impatient customers who can’t clearly see you’re scrambling around the place like an overcooked egg.

As you progress through the game, you’ll gain stars for your run-down establishment that makes things harder. The difficulty curve only takes flight at around three stars, but before that point, you are almost led into a false sense of confidence. You’ll achieve perfect days a lot, know most of your dishes inside and out, and will accept nothing less than pure perfection every single day. However, just like the arthritis you feel in your wrist with every tap on your keyboard, you have to accept that you can’t win them all… Maybe it was just me trying to squeeze every last bit of buzz I could throughout the entire game, but things certainly did ramp up significantly when achieving three stars. More customers visit, more prep stations will be added, customers become less patient, and the more in the sh*t you will be on any given day. The difficulty curve does creep up on you, and you’ll find yourself thinking that you’re in rush hour for the entire day. But, as previously mentioned, you don’t have to go full on all the time, purposely reducing your buzz is a viable strategy if the sheer amount of customers ordering food is overwhelming you.

That being said, the rewards for achieving perfect days and winning Crazy Dave’s bets feel less compelling the more you progress through the game. The lack of scaling to the pitiful $250 makes it not only less encouraging to achieve perfect days, but almost meaningless when you can make that much money and more if you increase your buzz slightly with much less difficulty. The Crazy Dave’s bets suffer from a lack of scaling as well, but also loop once you’ve received all the bets. You’ll receive the same bet that you were offered when you were a zero-star nobody to the now five-star somebody. I just feel like there could’ve been more done with this mechanic.

CSD is a brilliantly crafted game, embracing the simplicity and addictive gameplay to serve you up a truly satisfying experience. Its adjustable difficulty caters to both hardcore fans and casual players, offering a joy that no other real-life kitchens could match. Whether you’re a seasoned chef or a cooking novice, this game will leave you hungry for more.

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Golfie is another game in the seemingly never ending list of roguelites that splices the aforementioned genre with another, in this case, golf. You’ll tee off in 18 randomly generated wacky courses whilst building a deck of cards that modify your swing, the ball’s properties, give you additional abilities for your ball and so on. But whilst Golfie tries to set itself up for a hole in one, it misses its swing with issues that hinder each shot the more that you play.

• An intriguing take on a mini-golf rogue-like
• If you’re creative enough, you can do some insane shortcuts and trick shots
• Lots of gimmicks and interesting obstacles for each different area
• Loads of different types of cards to unlock
• Unique cards give you a plenty of options on how you want to play

• Relies too heavily on cards to get a powerful enough shot to get up a ramp
• Deck building feels lacking at times, with barely any opportunities to refine or cycle through your deck
• Little incentive to continue playing after you’ve won a few runs
• Multiplayer is dead in the water

Just like standard golf, you’ll be given a set amount of strokes to finish each hole on par. Each additional swing over par depletes your health, and the run ends when you die or finish the 18 holes. At the start of each swing you’ll draw cards from your deck, these modify your swing in different ways, allows you to change the ball’s property and gives abilities to aid you. As you progress throughout the run, you’ll gain new cards and perks to scale with how long and wacky the holes will become over time. It’s of course, a unique twist on a classic golf game, and I was really drawn in by all the weird and intriguing cards you could acquire.

Golfie really drives the deck building aspect into you from the get go. You can’t get very far into a run without the use of some basic cards: power shots, lob shots and curveballs. But the more compelling cards really make you think about how you can use them fully to your advantage. Building a deck that allows you to break the rules of golf by jetpacking over most of the hole, or making insane shots, is thrilling. It makes you feel smart about how you’ve tailored your deck in such a way that you’re able to accomplish such a feat.

However, it does seem a lot of the time that the deck building is actively against you, for a number of reasons. Getting up ramps or hills can sometimes be a difficult situation to solve, even when the game gives you multiple ways to overcome it. You’ll need two power shots just to get up a steep incline, and whilst other cards can help with that, I don’t see why this should even be an obstacle. Even in the late game, it could take me two or three turns just to draw the right set of cards to overcome this ‘obstacle’. The only way to draw more cards is to have a card or perk that allows you to do so, there isn’t any other way, which feels silly really. It feels like you rely way too heavily on power shots, because your normal swing is about as powerful as a golfer with broken arms.

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It’s not just that though, I felt like for a game with its main attraction being a deck builder, that sometimes it felt lacking. There aren’t enough opportunities to refine your deck, occasionally you might come across a perk that removes a card from your deck, but that’s about it. There never felt like there were enough cards that allow you to cycle through your deck either, in case you needed a specific card. The cards themselves feel like they have been thought out, and the courses clearly tailor to that, but the deck management itself doesn’t do this game any justice, just more frustration.

The holes you’ll be teeing off to come with a lot of gimmicks to make each run interesting. From the classic windmill to moving platforms, there is a lot to uncover. There are several settings that you can find yourself in, dungeons, beaches, floating islands and so on. They all come with their unique gimmicks that you won’t find in the other areas, which adds some small amount of strategy as you can pick a path to go down after each hole. With each hole being procedurally generated, it can create a lot of variety from run to run.

However, there is only so much variety you can have when stitching together longer holes. You’ll get some déjà vu as you notice familiar segments in courses over and over again, and whilst the charm of each area is still intact, it does wear thin quicker than I anticipated. Within a few runs you’ll be rolling your eyes at the sight of your arch nemesis, of whatever segment you’ve been dreading since the start of your run. For a game that wants to make you play it over and over again, I feel like it needs more variety, especially when the runs can be relatively short.

There are some weird and annoying nooks and crannies in some segments that can’t have been intentional. Occasionally I’d find myself wedged in between some obstacles, which was clearly not intended, and then have to waste a shot to get myself out of it. There were little lips randomly that you just don’t notice until you hit them, the camera can be downright awful at times, and you have to readjust manually using a first person camera just to see where you’re shooting. On rare occasions, I even found some obstacles that didn’t have any collision, so you could just hit right through them. Some courses are an absolute joke with how easy it is to skip almost the entire hole. Granted, none of these are necessarily game breaking, they were still annoying to encounter.

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That being said, there is a boss at the end of the run, which felt very original and creative. Whilst still in the spirit of golf, you’d have to navigate around this space station, avoid areas where you would take damage after a swing, and take down Golfoe. Defeating the boss was the most satisfying part of the game, but once you’ve beaten it there isn’t much incentive to continue on. There’s no special currency or item you obtain for getting that far into a run, which brings up the question of meta progression, is there even any?

I feel inclined to point out how little incentive there was for me to continue playing once I had unlocked all the cards and defeated the final boss. You gain experience after every run and leveling up unlocks more cards, perks, and cosmetic items for future runs. Level 20 is needed to unlock all the cards and perks, after which it’s all cosmetics which, for someone not interested in cosmetics (especially with the multiplayer being dead already) doesn’t really incentivise me to continue leveling. It feels lacking in terms of progression, they could've added new starting decks or unique balls to mess around with, there just isn't much to work towards outside of defeating the final boss.

Whilst Golfie is nothing to write home about, it does splice together an interesting genre with rogue-like mechanics. However, the novelty wears off relatively quickly, it doesn’t feel fleshed out enough to be addictive, the holes often feel frustrating to play and the deck building feels lacking. Overall, it’s an intriguing take on a mini-golf roguelite, but falls short to be a hole in one, or even a birdie. There are better places to spend your money.

For more critically honest reviews of mine, check out Metro's Review Corner

At its core, Paper Planet is a lightweight rogue-lite that feels more arcadey than anything else. Whilst the first few runs set itself up to be an intriguing rogue-lite that you’ll want to add to your collection, it soon falls off. It turns into a repetitive, lackluster game that falls short due to poor balancing, an overly bloated item pool and repetitive runs that feel practically the same almost every time.

• Weird and wacky items that create interesting builds
• Items that reference other games
• The art style is pretty cool
• Different planets that provide different ways to play

• Feels more like an arcade game
• Meta progression is minimal
• Lack of variety makes the novelty of the game wear off quick
• Many runs feel almost the same
• Bloated item pool, the more items you unlock
• Cluttered screen with hundreds of your own bullets make it difficult to play

In Paper Planet you play as a tank moving around the planet, shooting at enemy ships that want to destroy your planet. Each run provides you with items that can boost your stats, alter your bullets, and create some intriguing builds.

In a similar light to The Binding of Isaac, items you collect synergise together to create weird and wacky builds as you progress through each run. Credit where credit's due, there are a lot of interesting and unique items that you can acquire, which sometimes are direct references to other games. There’s a risk reward system too for stronger items, whereby your planet is cursed (if you take any damage you lose) for a set number of waves. Whilst these items are fun and can be engaging at the start of a run, the item pool gets overly bloated when you get to unlocking more.

It doesn’t take much to feel like you have an overpowered run, to have hundreds of bullets firing off at once on your screen, destroying every enemy ship before you can even see them. Sounds good right-WRONG! It turns out that almost every run feels this way. What makes matters worse, is there are only a couple of different stats you should focus on to really drive your build for a win. The main one being fire rate, but this in itself comes with its own set of problems. Need I remind you of how busy the screen can look at times? So picture this: your fire rate is crazy, you have enough damage to sustain yourself, this’ll be an insane build, you think to yourself. For the next 10 minutes, all you're doing is holding down the fire button whilst looking through the cluttered mess of your bullets to avoid taking damage from enemy bullets. The main issue I’m trying to drive home here is that most runs feel the same. It doesn’t take many items for you to gain an insane fire rate and whilst your bullets will have different effects than previous runs, you’re still staring at a screen with hundreds of bullets holding down the fire button. The game doesn’t reward you for your accuracy, and not holding down the fire button just means longer waves and the more enemy bullets you have to dodge each wave, so why wouldn’t you fire continuously? If there were more defining features, different types of stats to play around with, more unique items that change the way each run turns out, then this might solve the variety issue. But for what it is, and for the genre it's trying to target, it's really missing the mark.

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For the most part, the bosses feel like one-trick ponies. They feel uninspiring, lack variety and not very mechanically fleshed out, which is blatantly obvious by how often they use the same couple of attacks over and over again whilst fighting them. They feel too basic, and whilst some of their attacks are cool concepts, they aren’t ever used again, or used differently to create a variety of attacks. The whole thing just feels a little underdeveloped for the current price.

However, the planets you unlock are so much more unique in comparison to bosses. They alter the run in the way that you play, plane planet literally allows you to fly around instead of being on the planet. The volcanic planet is straight up a better version of the basic planet, with 3 volcanos shooting your bullets, and the square planet has different buffs depending on what side you are on. Whilst they all feel very different from one another to play, they aren’t enough alone to make up for the lack of variety in every other department of this game. There is, however, no incentive or reason to win runs as different planets.

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Paper Planet feels more like an arcade game than a roguelite, mainly because of how little meta progression there is. It’s not like I was expecting a lot, but having the progression solely focused on unlocking new items with points you earn in each run feels lackluster at best. It only gets worse the more items you unlock, as the price increases after every purchase. Eventually, you get to a point where buying items costs over a thousand points. To put that into perspective, you gain just over a thousand points from winning a normal run without added difficulty modifiers (which can increase your score).

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The difficulty modifiers, known as sugar and spice, add some replayability to the game, but don’t contribute very well in the sense of variety this game offers. Adjusting simple factors like increasing enemy bullet speed, limiting the maximum amount of health you can have, increasing the amount of enemies per wave and so on. Things that only make the game harder, not really making the game any different or adding new things to keep things fresh. You can really ramp up the difficulty if you want to, but apart from gaining more points to unlock more items, doesn’t give much else incentive. Unless you’re a masochist.

Now before you jump down my throat, I know you can unlock all items in the settings at a flick of a switch, I get that. But, for a rogue-lite, if you just unlock everything from the get-go, then where’s the sense of progression? What’s driving you back in for another run? What’s motivating you to even turn the game back on? It's not like there's a high score to compete for besides your own, I just don't get that ‘one more run’ feeling I do with other roguelites.

I feel like this game needed more time in the oven, it feels underdeveloped for the price tag. I feel like it could’ve been another certified rogue-lite that I’d keep coming back to, but unfortunately, it fails to reach that goal. It’s an okay rogue-lite, but I know so many others that are cheaper, and pack way more content than what Paper Planet provides. Cannot recommend, unless it’s on sale, but even then, don’t expect much out of this one.

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Tinykin is a love letter to collect-a-thon games, very reminiscent of the classic Nintendo 64 games back in the day. Its 3D puzzle platformer also takes inspiration from Pikmin, whereby you acquire Tinykin to help you solve puzzles throughout the game. It definitely stands its own ground with being a completely different game from aforementioned Pikmin, spliced together with satisfying, but not overly challenging, platforming.

• Intricately designed levels
• Addictive collect-a-thon that doesn’t outstay its welcome
• Loads of secrets and hidden areas for thoroughly exploring
• Huge, sprawling, open levels that make you excited to explore
• Adorable and cute art style
• Attention to detail in the music and environment
• Be a small guy exploring a huge house

• Lacks challenge in platforming that you might expect

Throughout the game, you’ll be exploring a house as a shrunk person, with each room being a different level. Each is intricately crafted to complement the puzzle platforming you’ll be doing throughout the game. Unlocking shortcuts and destroying obstacles allow you to access previously hard to reach areas in case you need to come back later. The level design is very reminiscent of Nintendo 64 collect-a-thons, huge open sprawling maps that, at first, seem overwhelming, but offer more than just a linear path. You’ll find yourself stumbling across hidden paths, secret areas (oh boy do they love hiding stuff) and shiny collectibles that only side track you more and more away from your primary goal. Just like moths to a flame, as soon as you see something you haven’t collected, you’ll instantly be drawn to it, at least that’s what happens to me often.

The puzzle elements come in forms of using your Tinykin to solve and work around problems. Each level starts you out with no Tinykin to command, but by the end of it, you will have amassed an army big enough to go to war with anyone who might look at you funny… *ahem*… Tinykin can come in different forms and variations, using them to move objects around the map, stack and climb up to access new areas, throw at objects to destroy them (they die in this process and seem to enjoy it… I kinda had to question that…) and so on. These are your puzzle pieces, your pawns to do your bidding, throwing them at obstacles you want to move, using them as your own personal bombs to clear a path or to access different areas. Never once was I stumped by a puzzle throughout my playthrough. If I came across something I didn’t know how to overcome yet, I’d simply put it on the back burner, and keep exploring the level.

That being said, whilst each level was a joy in itself to explore, along with the constant supply of dopamine by collecting pollen (a collectible), solving puzzles to gain artifacts and accumulating an army of Tinykin to help you solve puzzles and explore previously inaccessible areas, the lack of challenge was apparent, especially in the later levels. Not to say that this took away from the enjoyment this game offers, but I did feel like more could’ve been done with the platforming elements.

Your main objective throughout the game is to build a machine from a blueprint found to get back to your home planet, Aegis. Conveniently, all the pieces you need are held in different parts of the house, which are guarded or owned by different insect species. They, obviously, want a favour in exchange for the part you require, which is what’ll keep you busy most of the time. Actually no, what will keep you busy most of the time is your inability to say no to collecting shiny collectibles whilst doing the primary objective. These favours range from resolving conflict between two different species, to solving hunger by baking a cake.

The idea of being small and puny whilst exploring a now huge house has always been a fun and interesting environment for me, putting so many things into a new perspective because of your size. The way each level is designed using common household objects as platforms or slopes for that particular room really does something for me, and I can’t explain why or how. The creativity used to build each level is second to none, the cartoonish art style that I couldn’t help but be in awe with for most of the game never ceased to impress me. Yes, the Tinykin were adorable to look at throughout this game, and I now wonder what it would be like to have them as pets… But I digress. Even though the cutscenes were far and few between, I was always pleasantly surprised when they did come up. Though short, they really captured the essence of this adorable game, both in and outside the cutscenes.

Whilst I didn't really expect much from this game going into it, I can’t help but praise it for how fun, compelling and adorable it was from start to finish. I couldn’t get enough of collecting things and whilst I didn’t get 100% completion, I can see myself getting back into it to clean up what I missed. This is a must-have for anyone who adores collect-a-thons, it's short, sweet and to the point that doesn’t outstay its welcome, highly recommended.

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Telepath Tactics Liberated (referred to as TTL from now) is a turn-based strategy RPG that is a ground up remake from the original game, Telepath Tactics. It’s influenced heavily from other games in the genre such as Fire Emblem, Disgea, and various other classics. However, despite being a decent SRPG, inspired by these titles, TTL seems to struggle in multiple departments that bring the game down significantly.

• Combat heavily reliant on strategy and planning
• Most characters have unique skills that others can’t learn
• Characters can be flexible with skills they learn
• Being able to push, pull and shove enemies adds more depth to the game
• Campaign editor is extremely flexible

• Linear skills to unlock that give the player no choice
• Levelling up the entire team equally isn’t feasible
• Some missions can feel overly drawn out and monotonous
• Some objectives don’t work as intended
• Optimisation is extremely poor on specific missions
• UI is unintuitive and clunky
• Odd writing that feels unnatural and awkward at times
• Character portraits look odd and out of place with the pixel graphics
• Niche mechanics that never get mentioned (Moral system and Physical Attributes)
• Bugs still present (Can’t save past save slot #100, music randomly stops, if your camp gets destroyed during battle nothing happens despite it being an objective to defend)

At it’s core, TTL is a heavily based strategy RPG that has you recruit a multitude of people on your team. The friendly characters you interact with throughout the story are automatically recruited to your team, which means you’ll never be short on who you choose to deploy on the battlefield. Each mission gives you a limited amount of space to deploy your team members, which you use to fight enemies with a set of objectives to complete in order to achieve victory.

There are a lot of characters that you are can recruit on your team throughout the course of the campaign. Some of them you’ll find in missions where you have to go and interact with them during battle before they die, whilst others you’ll meet during cutscenes. Each team member has their own class and a set of skills, as they level up during missions they’ll unlock new skills and masteries that allow them to equip different types of armour. You’ll find the generic magic (referred to as Psy in this game) and melee classes here, but they often hold unique skills that others can’t learn. It was enjoyable to mix and match the team at early stages of the game to change up the strategy here and there, and whilst there is a wide variety of characters, it brings up one major problem: levelling them up equally.

Since the game’s difficulty isn’t tied to what levels your heroes are, you’ll find yourself in a difficult situation. There will be a handful of members at a decent level to take on the mission, whilst the lower levelled ones are left in the dust, only to be used as cannon fodder and never given the chance to shine. This not only discourages trying to level everyone up equally, but heavily favours sticking with the same team throughout the course of the campaign. That’s not to say that your main group of heroes won’t be flexible enough to handle difficult situations, though, it hurts the tactical side of the game. Sticking with the same team usually results in using the same strategy repeatedly to win.

That being said, some characters have a lot of potential and can be very flexible in battle with new skills they acquire. Psy classes focusing on specific elemental attacks (Fire, light, frost etc.), and melee classes focusing on heavy strikes and invoking status effects on fellow team members. TTL however, highlights one major skill in particular that is interesting at first, but never gets developed beyond face value: pushing, shoving and throwing. These skills can be used to move environmental objects, as well as manipulate enemies on the battlefield to your advantage. Throwing enemies into a pit or a body of water can prove extremely useful at times, but you’ll find that those times are far and few between.

The downfall with the character progression however is how linear they are. When you learn new skills, you don’t get a choice between what they learn, you simply learn one new skill and that’s it. For a game that encourages strategy and tactical planning, I would’ve hoped that there was some choice between two skills to direct the classes in different ways to compliment your teams' strategy. The only time that you have a choice is when you reach level 20 and get promoted, however, I didn’t realise this even existed till the end of the game.

As previously mentioned, each mission has a set of objectives that you have to comply with in order to achieve victory. However, what starts out as a decent game which involves a lot of strategy and careful planning, slowly turns into a mundane and drawn out set of missions that is almost mentally draining. Some maps are overwhelmingly large, coupled with the fact that there can be several groups of enemies all charging at you at once. I’m all about a game being difficult, but if it drags on for too long, then I’m not going to enjoy the experience. The main problem here is how these missions are constructed, most of them are simply to kill all enemies, but when there are 30+ enemies on a very large map, I know that I’m in for a rough ride. This, along with the fact that the game seems to struggle with large maps accompanied by loads of enemies (constant frame drops, rarely a consistent 60fps) really does make you wonder if this game was tested thoroughly enough.

Visually, the game looks fine, but what baffles me the most is how out of place and odd the character portraits look. If you look back at the original Telepath Tactics you’ll realise the portraits are pixel graphics to compliment the battlefield and not make it look so out of place. It makes me wonder why this change in particular was made. The UI also feels very clunky and unintuitive at times, especially when you’re buying equipment from shops. There’s no way of comparing equipped weapons/armour with ones that you want to purchase. It’s a whole process of having to go from the shop menu to the team members and then looking at their equipment before deciding.

Despite enjoying strategy RPG titles, TTL just didn’t hit the mark for me. I found the later missions were overly long and mundane, there wasn’t as much choice as I was hoping for, the optimisation is practically non-existent and there are still irritating bugs present throughout. I understand that this is a solo developer working on this game, but honestly I just didn’t find this title that enjoyable. There are better games of this genre that you could get.

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It’s practically impossible to talk about Inscryption without spoiling at least something minor. If you're even thinking about buying this already, then I suggest playing the game and experiencing it yourself. Whilst this review won’t dabble heavily in spoiler territory, it’s best to experience this game with no prior knowledge.

Inscryption is kind of a rogue-lite deck builder that’s set in a mysteriously gloomy cabin. You’ll be playing a card game against some unknown creature opposing you. The game has a lot of polish and interesting mechanics that keep you captivated from start to finish of act 1. However, the same can’t be said about the later acts which turn the game on its head, still keeping the core elements, but completely abandons the creepy, dark tone. You’ll need to come into Inscryption with an open mind, and know that the trailer shows only a third of the game. You might enjoy act 1, but the following acts might be disappointing in comparison.

• Act 1 is fantastically atmospheric with its creepy and mysterious undertone
• Simple, satisfying card game with enough depth to keep you engrossed
• An endless rogue-like mode for act 1
• Doesn’t rely heavily on RNG, there’s skill involved.
• Escape room puzzles were simple yet rewarding
• Subsequent acts continue to build upon the original card game, altering the core mechanics
• Puzzles were intuitive and cleverly put together

• The theme and atmosphere falls off after act 1
• The trailer only shows you a third of the game, many might not enjoy the later acts
• Would've preferred if the game expanded on act 1 as the entire game
• Act 2 specifically relies too heavily on RNG

You start the game in a dark, ominous cabin, with a set of beady eyes illuminating from the darkness staring directly at you. “Another challenger… It has been ages.” At its core, Inscryption is a deck builder where you take it in turns to place cards on a grid to deal damage to your opponent or to opposing cards. You’ll sacrifice cards on the grid to play ones in your hand. Each point of damage you deal directly to your opponent is placed on a balance scale. If it tips fully to the opponent's side, you win, if it tips to your side, you lose. Every run you’ll build a deck with a variety of creatures, battle bosses, upgrade and enhance cards whilst trying to win a run.

Each card has their respective health and damage, however, some have sigils that further diversifies them. These sigils range from evolving the card after a turn, returning the card back in your hand when it perishes, flying and directly damaging your opponent etc. You only appreciate a certain sigil until you get around to playing with it. Some of them work gloriously with one another, but none of them feel unworthy or useless. There’s a surprising amount of strategy involved with what sigils and creatures you take, as well as every turn in battle. The board gives you all the information you need, such as what cards your opponent is going to play in the next round. Every battle is satisfying to figure out and win, almost like an intricate puzzle. It’s the thrill of excitement and anticipation during the battle that puts you on edge, until you land the killing blow.

Needless to say, building your deck is essential; you easily ruin a run if you mindlessly add cards to your deck. When you aren’t in battle, you’ll travel up the map and encounter different events that buff, enhance or offer new cards, similar to Slay The Spire. Powerful creatures might seem like the obvious choice at first, but they require more sacrifices to play. Whilst squirrels are your main form of sacrifice, it’s sometimes necessary, and even beneficial, to sacrifice other beasts in play. Knowing when to do this is vital and a huge part of your strategy.

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Despite there only being four bosses, they all make a lasting impression and are thematically accurate with their unique mechanics and cards. Even the atmosphere of each boss changes significantly to accommodate for the environment you’d find them in. Every boss has two stages that add new mechanics to take into consideration, they’re predictable enough to take advantage of if you’ve gone against them a couple of times before. But they aren’t so brutal that it’s practically impossible to beat them on your first attempt. That being said, you're not meant to win the game on your first few runs, as the game will actively tell you that you’re going too fast, too soon and make you lose.

Whilst you might be enthralled by the card game, remember that you’re in a cabin. Go stretch your legs and have a look around. The cabin might be small but it provides secrets with practically everything that you interact with. You’ll come across intuitive puzzles that are sometimes based around card mechanics and sigils, whilst others are escape room like. The later acts don’t have these escape room puzzles, but still offer different types that are both thematically pleasing and intriguing to figure out.

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The act's change of pace, so to speak, is a welcome change that, after some slight adjustment, I didn’t mind too much. Granted, these acts aren’t what are advertised in the trailer (as to be expected with Daniel Mullins’s games), however, it doesn’t stray too far away from the original concept that makes it feel foreign. I’m glad that the game wasn’t entirely based on the later acts, as the opening act was, without a doubt, the best of both worlds, atmospherically and mechanically. The praise act 1 received is reflected clearly from the special treatment that it got, adding an entire new mode.

After beating the game you’ll unlock Kaycee’s mod, an endless rogue-like mode. It’s practically identical to act 1 regarding mechanics, with a few alterations, and some modifiers to increase the difficulty. The modifiers are the meat of this mode. Each one offers points when you activate them before starting a run. The heavier they penalise you, the more points they’re worth. The points correlate with your current challenge level, when you reach the point threshold for your level and win the run, you’ll progress to the next level where the points needed are higher. This is your main form of progression, which unlocks more content such as new cards, starter decks, dev logs and modifiers. These unlocks give you an incentive to keep trying run after run, which adds significantly to the replay value. What was originally a 10ish hour game, turns into an endlessly playable mode of the best act.

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Inscryption is definitely a polished card game that’s satisfying to experience, at least in act 1. The different combinations of sigils, the atmosphere and card mechanics blend together so well that it’s difficult to fault any of it. That being said, the subsequent acts don’t feel on par with the first. Whilst they aren’t necessarily bad, there is a noticeable difference in atmosphere and altered mechanics that dip in quality. Maybe if Inscryption expanded on act 1 for the rest of the game then maybe it would’ve been better. I’d still recommend this game for act 1 alone, just go in with an open mind.

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Gloomhaven was originally a tabletop game that has now been developed into a digital version. This is a faithful representation of the board game with a few balancing differences, quality of life improvements, and a few tweaks. Whilst this version improves on some of the critiques that the original board game had, there are some newfound problems that can’t go overlooked.

• Heavily strategy focused
• Diverse range of Mercenaries that have their own strengths and weaknesses
• Numerous unique monsters
• Multiple levels of difficulty to suit newcomers and seasoned veterans
• High replay value
• Over 100 hours worth of content

• A big learning curve to overcome
• Scenario 1 is make or break for newcomers
• Playable tutorial doesn’t explain some of the more valuable rules#
• UI can be very crowded
• Bugs and performance issues here and there

Gloomhaven is not for the faint-hearted. Don’t come into this game expecting it to be another RPG you can haphazardly stumble through and win. Admittedly, it’s a steep learning curve to climb, one that may cause players to become frustrated and give up. There’s an intricate set of mechanics that requires a lot of strategic thinking, planning, and improvisation to triumph in Gloomhaven. Gathering knowledge about how this game works, and figuring out some nuance mechanics is what will give you the edge, which sometimes you need. Are you still here? Great, let's talk about the game.

At the start of the campaign, you’ll be greeted with six mercenaries that you can choose to form a team. Each of them has their own play styles that they specialise in, but also have downfalls that need to be considered. From a weak but powerful mage to a hard-hitting but slow Inox Warrior, there is a surprisingly diverse group to pick from. Every class has a set number of cards they pick to build their deck. The cards mostly have unique actions on them for each class, but at low levels, there isn’t much to be excited about. For such a small roster to select from, there are various different teams you can build. Part of the fun is finding new combinations and strategies between the original six and how their actions can complement each other. That being said, no Mercenary wants to be diving in dungeons forever, they want to move on with their retirement goal at some point.

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Once a Mercenary has achieved their retirement goal, they will leave the team. You’ll be awarded a new class for your efforts, and can recruit another Mercenary if you wish. Although it's difficult to let go of the characters that you’re used to playing, it's a core element of the game. The new classes are far more powerful than the original six. It takes some time to become accustomed to your new recruit before you realise their full potential. So, what do you say to a bit of good old-fashioned dungeon delving?

Every scenario you encounter has a goal to achieve in order to win. Most of the time it’s simply ‘kill all enemies’ or kill a specific enemy, which leaves a lot to be desired. However, mowing down enemies is still satisfying nonetheless, almost feeling like a delicate puzzle that could fall apart with a few wrong moves.

At the start of each round you’ll pick two cards from your deck of cards with each Mercenary you control. The actions of cards can vary widely depending on what class you play. Usually, the top action is an attack of some kind, and the bottom is movement. Once the enemy card has revealed itself and your turn rolls over depending on initiative order (number in the middle of the card, the lowest goes first). You then use the top action on one card, and the bottom action on the other. These are then placed in a discard pile and the cycle continues. Once you are unable to play a pair of cards on your turn, you’ll have to rest to get them back. However, upon resting you’ll be forced to burn a card, which makes it unavailable for the rest of the scenario. The number of cards you have represents your longevity in the scenario before you become exhausted.

You’ll find most cards have average damage or movement, but there are far more compelling actions that might catch your eye. Massively devastating singular attacks or huge AOE attacks that apply a status effect to all targeted enemies. Whilst these are extremely valuable, they do come at a cost. Burning them after use. This forces you into a balancing act, whereby burning powerful cards early on, though might prove useful in the short-term, will jeopardise your longevity in the scenario. Consequently, making you exhaust faster.

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Gloomhaven really does push you to get the most out of every action that you play. You need to be aggressive, but also mindful of how monsters will act. Every scenario is tight to win and only gives you a small amount of leeway (depending on the difficulty). It will punish you if you attempt to play it at your own pace. Whilst the first scenario is notoriously difficult for new players, it sets you up for how the game is going to play. It’s a steep learning curve that you can’t overcome with pure luck, it requires a lot of tactical movement and strategy.

For such an extensive campaign, you’ll encounter a multitude of different monsters, all with their own attack deck and unique actions. There are only about four to six cards in each deck, so it's possible to memorise each monster deck and attempt to predict what they do next. Some enemies such as cultists can summon the living dead, whilst others such as the demons have a shield value that soaks up damage before you can deplete their health.

Upon completing a scenario, you’re more than likely to be rewarded with experience. As each character levels up, you’ll gain stronger cards to add to your deck, which further diversifies each class. It does feel like a chore however when you have to choose a card to burn when your deck gets more streamlined with better cards. You’ll also gain perks that modify your attack deck (a deck that you draw every time you attack that modifies your attack) by removing negative cards (-1, -2), adding positive cards (+1, +2), or including new cards altogether. This allows you to streamline each modifier deck and, once again, adds even more variety to each class as they’ll have unique perks available to them.

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Whilst the digital version handles a lot of the automation that you would usually control in the tabletop version, there are new problems that need to be addressed. There are still bugs and performance issues throughout, the playable tutorial leaves valuable information out. Crowded areas make it difficult to figure out who you’re attacking, occasional soft locks, and so on. These don’t necessarily break the game by any means, but become annoying to deal with.

Gloomhaven isn’t a game for everyone. It takes a while to wrap your head around, but it seems some people are bashing their heads against a wall playing this game. Whilst the digital version makes it more accessible, it doesn't do itself any favours with annoying bugs, performance issues, and an average tutorial. Overall, I’d only recommend Gloomhaven if you're willing to put in the time and dedication to learn the game.

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Rogue Tower is a tower defence game, with a few rogue-lite elements implemented throughout. Whilst the game was enjoyable playing it as a standard tower defence, the rogue-lite mechanics drag the game through the mud. It’s surprising how little variety these mechanics actually add, and how frustrating it can be due to RNG that’s out of your control. Despite wanting to enjoy Rogue Tower, I found myself less willing to boot it up again after every run.

• Decent tower defence game with a roster of towers
• Random path revealing keeps each run interesting and different
• An extensive upgrade tree, only to be let down by the lack of variety

• Lack of unique upgrades for each tower
• Rogue-lite elements feel poorly implemented into the game
• Towers are locked behind cards you pick from, sometimes you’ll get the tower you want, and other times you won’t
• Forced to purchase loads of towers just to keep up with the DPS needed to survive, making areas fully packed and hard to tell what's going on
• Lack of information given, for example, what does plus five range mean? Five what exactly?
• Poorly optimised near the end of the run due to an abundance of enemies and towers on the map

Even though I might not be a fan of the rogue-lite mechanics Rogue Tower brings to the table, I can’t fault the game for the tower defence side of it. You’ll be fighting through waves of varied enemies with a sizable roster of towers to aid you, all whilst revealing new tiles after every wave that extends the path the enemies will take. The tile revealing keeps every run fresh and varied, as each one is randomly selected and creates a new path for you every time. Though sometimes, it has a tendency of screwing you over by revealing multiple branching paths, making it almost impossible to cover every angle. Now let's discuss what makes Rogue Tower not your standard tower defence game.

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With a decent tower defence game under Rogue Tower’s belt, it’s weird how out of place, annoying and lacklustre the rogue-lite elements felt. Almost like it was slapped on top of the base tower defence game after the fact, without much consideration on how it would affect the entire game's experience.

Whether you win or lose defending your main tower, you’ll be awarded with XP to spend depending on how far you get. This is used on, at first glance, a rather impressive skill tree that seems to have lots of upgrade cards and permanent upgrades to unlock. The upgrade cards show up during runs after defending for a few waves and give you the option to upgrade your towers. However, you’ll soon realise that none of the towers have any unique upgrades to them. The majority simply add one damage against health, armour, shield, or maybe increase the critical or elemental damage chance. Nothing feels impactful to unlock because they all have practically the same upgrade cards. There needs to be unique upgrades that only specific towers can utilise to make them more compelling to unlock. Otherwise there’s nothing that makes each tower special, besides their base fire rate and range.

Despite an overwhelming skill tree that you spend your XP on to unlock new cards and upgrades, Rogue Tower doesn’t offer much else in the sense of progression. There’s no sense of reward, or an incentive to keep playing the game once you’ve unlocked all the upgrades, other than beating the 3 modes, single, double, and triple defence. There needs to be more, a new tower unlocks after beating the different modes, perhaps an endless mode, just something to motivate the player to keep coming back.

After every few waves you survive, you’ll be given a choice to select a card from the ones available to you. These can range from upgrading a tower's damage, increasing its range, adding poison, fire or bleed to their attacks and unlocking towers to use on your current run. Yep, you read that right, unlocking towers to use on your current run. This, of all the things, is the one that gets to me the most. You start with a basic tower on every run, even if you’ve unlocked every tower to begin with, and have to hope that decent towers appear by random chance when the cards are drawn. You could argue that this forces players out of their comfort zone and forces them to think more strategically when placing towers, but realistically, it’s an annoyance. When specific towers deal elemental damage that are effective against shields or armour, it's practically essential to have these available. But sometimes, they just won’t appear till near the end of the run when practically every enemy has shielded, armour and sometimes, both!

Since you're severely limited to how many upgrades you can obtain in a single run (45 to be exact, excluding if you pick any towers to become available), it forces you to purchase an abundance of towers just to keep up with the DPS needed to survive. Not to mention that you’ll probably crowd the choke point of the map, since there can be multiple paths for enemies to appear from that you simply don’t generate enough money to cover every exit. This leads to areas getting overly crowded, with different effects happening at once on the same spot. In turn, this makes it difficult to figure out if you're actually killing enemies or if they are tanking through your defences with little effort.

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Rogue Tower leaves a lot to be desired, from the way it implements the rogue-lite elements to the lack of unique upgrades that should make towers interesting. The main problem I have is that it feels too generic, the only features that feel unique are the skill tree and the upgrade cards. But even these drag along their own string of issues and flaws. It felt almost unnecessary for the rogue-lite mechanics to be implemented, as this would’ve probably been fine if it went for a more traditional tower defence game. If anything, it hinders the game more than it should. Overall, a decent tower defence game, but is let down heavily by unnecessary mechanics.

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Everhood is one of those games where, the less you know about it, the better your experience will be. So if you're even the slightest bit interested in this game, then I’d recommend you buy it now and experience it yourself with little to no knowledge about it.

Despite clearly wearing its inspirations on its sleeves, Everhood proves to be a unique and captivating experience from start to finish. The storytelling, whilst very cryptic, hooks you in for a ride that can only be explained as weirdly trippy. Along with an exceptional take on combat that I’m surprised no one else has tried implementing before, with wildly quirky and wacky characters that only elevate the world-building and storytelling further.

• The story is cryptic, giving you just enough information to keep you engaged till it finally explains what's going on
• Nail-bitingly intense battles
• Characters all have their own sense of personality and differentiate from one another
• Battles are all unique, with their own attack patterns and beats
• Multiple endings, but one definitive ending that doesn’t allow you to continue exploring
• Several mini-games that offer different gameplay mechanics

• Wish there were more unique mechanics to bosses
• Notes that you dodge haven’t got many variations but instead, the variation is with specific boss patterns
• Some character development felt slightly lackluster and felt rushed to explain why some characters are the way that they are
• Some battles start abruptly, causing you to take damage immediately with little to no reaction time to avoid it without the prior knowledge
• Wish there was more replay value or things in the world that changed to encourage you to play the game again

You play as Red, a doll that has its arm stolen when they enter Everhood, and is now rendered useless. Your objective is simple, get your arm back, but like most things, it’s easier than it sounds. Throughout the game, you’ll come across multiple characters that attempt to stop you by attacking you on a Guitar Hero-like grid. Since there’s no way of fighting back, you simply survive by dodging their attacks until they tire out. The game throws many twists and turns throughout, which makes the story captivating from start to finish.

Everhood’s story is an engaging one, keeping everything very cryptic, whilst drip-feeding you hints as to what’s happening. The journey might be slow to begin with, but it’s worth the wait to uncover what it has in store for you. There is a lot of atmosphere to soak up wherever you find yourself, the graphics are simple enough to convey the feeling of the area, accompanied by immersive music that suits whatever situation you might find yourself in. This is only elevated more with the wacky cast of characters you meet along the way.

These characters were unusual, yet charming enough to hold my interest throughout the entire game, and whilst some got more spotlight than others, the cast was very diverse. It’s difficult not to make any parallels with Undertale when talking about characters in Everhood. However, this doesn’t mean that they are carbon copies of Undertale. As a matter of fact, most of them are distinctly different from one another which sets them apart, making them more memorable. There is some character development throughout the game, but even the more developed people seemed a bit lackluster and very straight to the point as to why they are the way they are.

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Everhood stands out significantly from the crowd with the way combat works. You’re placed on a Guitar Hero-like grid, with coloured music notes moving towards you from five different columns that sync to the beat. Your goal is to survive until you tire out your opponent by dodging their attacks. The beat is unique to each boss you encounter, giving you a rough indication of what to expect if you're paying attention. Whether it’s an intense section with lots of notes or a slower section with less to focus on. I thoroughly relished in each beat, even the simplistic ones were a joy to listen to whilst I leisurely dodged their attacks.

Each boss has their own personal style or flair when you battle them, offering interesting attack patterns and techniques to disorientate you and make things harder. Whilst there isn’t much variety in terms of the notes as I would’ve hoped, each boss has unique patterns that helped distinguish each fight apart. There were a few exceptions when they offered unique mechanics to their fight. It’s a pity that these were far and few between and didn’t extend to others.

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Once you're done faffing around dodging music notes like a lunatic and retrieve your arm, you can finally fight back. This is where the game turns into something almost completely different, but handles it in a clever way that, even if you expected it, is still impressive. You can now grab the coloured music notes and form balls of energy to fire back at your opponent, whilst also dodging their attacks. It goes from you dodging everything they fire at you to you attacking them whilst they try to survive against you. Whilst this isn’t ground-breaking by any means, I still found it impressive how they implemented these two mechanics together.

Whilst New Game+ only offers a new boss and a few additional lines of dialogue from some characters, there aren’t many reasons to return to it. Besides wanting to experience the game again, there are, technically, multiple endings you can uncover. There is, however, only one ending that truly signifies the ‘end’ of the game, whilst the others offer unique bosses but throw you back into the thick of it once you return. That being said, I found myself maybe a little too invested and attempted (more precisely, I failed) to collect all the achievements. It does offer a significant challenge, as the majority of them require you to defeat bosses hitless, but a specific incinerator section of the game offers the worst achievement of them all.

You can probably make countless comparisons with Everhood and Undertale if you dig deep enough, but Everhood clearly sets itself apart and manages to craft something truly unique. The Guitar Hero-like combat was a surprisingly enjoyable and sometimes intense experience but, accompanied by a carefully crafted world and insane characters built around that world, it's almost indistinguishable to compare the two. The game isn’t without its faults, but there’s nothing major that might put someone off giving it a shot. Definitely worth the full price, go and experience it yourself.

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