Video Games are Art. It’s an oft contested opinion and leads to the usual following: ‘How is Call of Duty art? ’Art? That means more Sony movie games!’ However on the flip side, Indie games have the freedom to be more expressionist and artistic than your multimillion dollar corporate title. Some do miss the mark slightly. Take Apartment Story – it would make a brilliant arthouse movie but I’m not sure how well it functions as a game.

Sometimes in a game you want a grand sprawling narrative with twists and turns, far off locales to visit and friends to make along the way. Sometimes however, you just want a crunchy arcade piece that let’s you feel like a God for a bit. Mixing Hotline Miami, Hitman, Superhot and Neon White, you’ve got a certified banger.

In this golden age of Indie, it makes me happy that people from different nations outside of the major western countries (or Japan) can get games from their hearts and culture – Tchia for example, celebrates New Caledonia, Tales of Kenzaru deals with grief through the lens of African mythology. Thank Goodness You’re Here is like that, but in a small village in Northern (More middle but whatever) England.

It’s no secret that I thought Breath of the Wild was just okay and Tears of the Kingdom was a game I barely got a quarter the way through. I just really wanted a more traditional title. Echoes of Wisdom might not be the most traditional Zelda but it’s still one of the best I’ve played in recent years.

Originally launching a year or so ago, now expanded and rereleased as the debut title of the Blumhouse Games publishing brand, Fear the Spotlight is the perfect entry level horror for those new to the genre while also offering a concise and charming tale.

If you had told me 15 ish years ago that I would end up a massive fan of games like Resident Evil, I’d have been very happy. I wouldn’t have been able to articulate it but it would have been knowing I was part of an ‘In Crowd’ who enjoyed less mainstream games than the Call of Duty and FIFA’s of teens. Now I know that’s ridiculous obviously but you know, dumb kid. Crow Country isn’t Resident Evil, but it’s the closest thing to it.

It’s been a while since I’ve been so conflicted on a game. I’ve been long forward to this since I played El Paso, Nightmare - a first person bitesize version of the main game. Playing this main game, I absolutely adored the story, presentation, atmosphere and all that - the gameplay drove me mental.

Much like it’s predecessor, Alan Wake II has seen the release of two DLC content. Unlike the first which followed on from the end of the games story, these are side tales adding to the wider Remedy Connected Universe. Second of the two is The Lake House.

Much like it’s predecessor, Alan Wake II has seen the release of two DLC content. Unlike the first which followed on from the end of the games story, these are side tales adding to the wider Remedy Connected Universe. First up is Night Springs.

I went back and forth on whether or not I was going to play the original before the remake. Time and tech issues became a problem before I eventually settled on just diving into the remake, and I’m glad I did. Silent Hill 2 is a tense, dread inducing masterclass of horror design and emotional story telling.

A safe home is a happy home, and if you notice any peculiar smells, items gone amiss or creatures that shouldn’t be there – you’ll need to get in touch with the Home Safety Hotline. That’s the premise behind this fun but ultimately simple horror adjacent experience.

It’s always pleasant when a game or series you have an interest in playing has a sudden resurgence of some sorts. A trailer dropped at the end of Summer Games Fest season and a release date shortly afterwards, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is my first experience playing the series and just so happens to be the one I know the least about. Coming out of the mall, I had an excellent time.

It’s a nice feeling when you play a game and get to sit there and think “Yeah, this is Game of the Year”. The feeling is especially sweet when you’ve been waiting on a game since it was rumoured, you’ve played the previous titles and 3D Platformers are your favourite genre. Long story short, Astro Bot is a Phenomenal game.

There’s quite a trite observation that goes around in the gaming sphere regarding the lack of money but plenty of time you have as a child for games but the inverse being true as an adult. If I had the money to back up the time, I might have come across Beyond Good and Evil. I think if I had played it at the time, it would have had a huge impact on my opinions on games.

With the growth and more accurately, bloat of the games industry, titles are taking longer to make. Series that were once plentiful may see a single entry per console generation. Take Ratchet and Clank for example – 6 on PS2, 6 on PS3 but only 1 on PS4 and PS5 respectively. Despite the success of 2021’s Rift Apart, the Insomniac leak has the next game at roughly 2029 – 8 years after the first. It’s no wonder that indie studios are taking the ideas they love and making them in new skins. Akimot then, is a Ratchet and Clank game, with a dash of Jak and Daxter. Despite it being a wee bit of a bumpy ride, my final thoughts were positive.

It’s one of those reviewer cliche’s at this point to mention FromSoftware’s pedigree with DLC and how that their best content is in the DLC. It wouldn’t be a cliche if it wasn’t true however, Shadow of the Erdtree continues the tradition and offers the best content FromSoftware have ever produced.

Releasing three years after the incredibly fun and stupid movie of the same name, here we have Willy’s Wonderland - The Game - a 2.5D brawler set during the events of the movie. I can’t mince words here, this game is pretty damn awful.

When it released 11 years ago, Gone Home changed the way that games could be presented. The industry took the idea and ran with it, leaving Fullbright behind somewhat. Tacoma in 2017 was a welcome evolution of the design principle. 7 years on, delays and studio controversy have led to the release of Open Roads. I'm not sure how I feel about it, too little too late perhaps? Both destination and journey, despite some glimmering moments, just don't hit their mark.

The PSVR2 launched in February 2023, it became more publicly available on May 12th 2023. I bought mine in July 2023 but it took me until April 2024 to actually play anything. Just the way it goes. To christen my VR2 journey, I didn’t go with Sony’sown Horizon: Call of the Mountain but instead with a new game from the developers of Superhot – Toy Trains. As far as good VR introductions go, you’d be hard pressed to beat this one.

Knowing what I do now, I wish I had played the game many moons ago, back when it first released and the likes of Stephanie Sterling and Total Biscuit were ranting and raving about it.