Indie games in the Metroid-vania genre have been increasingly common over the recent years. Most AAA developers have forgotten about the genre’s existence entirely. This lack of big budget support has been the direct cause of some gems that sprout out within the genre, and Rabi-Ribi could be considered part…

With the plethora of indie games that are out there, it’s hard for one to stand out and be unique.  Perfectly Paranormal’s Manual Samuel tries to break free from “original” convention with its quirky design and heavy comedic influence. Mixing a short-yet-fun narrative with distinctive mechanics makes this eccentric title feel polished,…

It’s quite difficult to actually call Dear Esther a video game. It possess the very core mechanics that make up a video game but lacks one thing entirely. In this case, it would be gameplay. With this being such a story-centric affair, I’ll keep the plot synopsis to a minimum. Taking…

Since the first unveiling at VGX 2013, No Man’s Sky instantly captured the hearts and minds of gamers across the world. Winning countless awards years prior to release, players were truly infatuated with the beautiful world that Sean Murray and the guys at Hello Games were proposing. The sceptics amongst…

The night is young. Below, the headlights on the highways look like tiny yellow ants. In front of you, a portable turret is connected to your laptop pointing through an open window of the skyrise apartment you’re attempting to infiltrate. Your fingers clack on the keyboard: “blink 2 fire; pitch…

Warning: This review may contain spoilers. With over $550,000 pledged on Kickstarter and a solid team comprised of industry veterans that worked on titles such as Metal Gear Solid IV and Halo 4, Republique had a lot of potential. Set in a dystopian city-state inspired by the events of George…

I’m mowing down hordes of cute, walking bullets with a gun that fires junk mail, while a turtle in a space helmet provides covering fire as I frantically roll from upturned table to stone pillar. I’ve only got a few seconds before the next torrent of bullets destroys my last…

Hell has become one of those go-to levels for game design, being as exciting as the snow or desert area. There’s always some fire, brimstone, lava and possibly a pointy-horned demon cackling at the damned, with artists and designers very rarely straying from the same design of Hell which has…

Layers of Fear takes the regular haunted house experience and cranks it up a notch, playing homage to the tech demo PT and Anna. Unlike real haunted houses video game equivalents can be a lot more meticulous in their scare tactics, setting up what they need to get the blood…

Gothic horror had quite the calendar year in 2015 with Bloodborne, Sunless Sea and the Order 1886 all taking elements from that particular genre of horror to make their game worlds seem that little bit more uncomfortable. Among the Gothic crowd was an Early Access title called Darkest Dungeon, a…

Pulse puts you in the shoes of a young girl named Eva, who has betrayed her parents' wishes and decided to take a pilgrimage through some dangerous land. The nice little twist in this story is that Eva is blind, meaning she doesn't see the world as it is but…

It’s rare to see woodland critters stabbing each other to death, trying to commit regicide or setting up a kingdom spanning spy network. So, if you are looking for a game where you can see Cottontail pick up a great maul and smash it over the head of the lion…

Guild of Dungeoneering attempts to fuse aspects of roguelikes, dungeon crawlers, CCGs and base building games to create one grand package, filled with monsters and loot. Does this fusion of genres create a game greater than the sum of its parts, or is it a Frankengame which excels at nothing…

With Titan Souls, the three man indie studio Acid Nerve have blended elements of the Souls series, Shadow of the Colossus and the Legend of Zelda to create its own take on the boss fight focused adventure game. Does their attempt create a titanic experience, or is it a colossal…

Have you ever wanted to know what it’d be like to be in prison? Well look no further than The Escapists, the perfect prison life simulator. Here you can experience the routine, the tedium, the boredom and the misery that is prison life. The Escapists is Team 17’s first foray…

Failbetter’s gothic sailing adventure has left the Steam Early Access drydock and is now headed for open water. We’ve taken a look at the preview version but is the complete vessel ready for the water, or is it doomed to end up in Davy Jones’ Locker? I’ve covered much of…

In Dungeon of the Endless, Amplitude Studios tries to combine tower defence, dungeon crawling, RPGs and real time strategy to create a new hybrid roguelike. Does this attempt to mesh these genres together create a compelling dungeon crawl, or should it stay in the depths? The game tasks you as…

If you smashed baseball, hip hop and Dragon Ball Z together, you’d probably get Lethal League, the new projectile fighting game by Team Reptile. Like Divekick before it, Lethal League strips away many of the complexities of fighting games to leave the satisfying core of reading your opponent, making split…

Tired of your regular Free-To-Play games? Want to play something that has guns, gore and glorious mayhem? Then Edge of Reality has made a gamefor you. Welcome to Loadout, a third person shooter that combines comedic and cartoony characters with incredible customisation. With many FTP games out there on the…

The sun shines bright in the ice blue sky, but it does not raise your spirits. The trail before you is long, the weather is bleak, and death is biting at your heels. You’ve been marching for days – weeks – trying to escape the mechanical beings that threaten your…

Tetrobot and Co. is a new indie release from Swing Swing Submarine which takes place inside the Tetrobots, an army of consumer-level household bots that have broken and require fixing. Enter the Psychobot, a tiny little robo-helper who must repair the Tetrobots by venturing inside them and finding the three…