Little Kitty, Big City (Review)

Developer: Double Dagger Studio
Publisher: Double Dagger Studio
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

While there’s no denying the cozy/wholesome game genre has seen more than its fair share of cat games, developer and publisher Double Dagger Studio has arguably crafted the best one yet with Little Kitty, Big City. Similar to something like Untitled Goose Game, this short adventure-platformer presents you with a city where you’re free to get up to all sorts of mischief as you tackle an array of goals and missions, and due to its sandbox (litterbox?) design, you’re likely to spend a lot of time ignoring the objectives and just having fun as a little kitty. Thankfully, it’s not just this open-ended nature that makes it such a joy to play, but rather the way everything comes together to create one of the most purely fun and charming games of 2024.

Harold Halibut (Review)

Developer: Slow Bros.
Publisher: Slow Bros.
Available On: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

Developed over 10 years by a small German studio called Slow Bros., Harold Halibut is a passion project inspired by classic stop-motion animation. Every single asset in this video game was hand-made with materials like clay, metal, and wood before being fully 3D scanned at every possible angle and imported into the Unity game engine, allowing the team to create an incredibly detailed and textured world like none other. On a purely visual level, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game that quite looks like Harold Halibut. It’s a massive creative undertaking that pays off in spades, with its visual style maintaining a sense of awe and admiration from beginning to end. Unfortunately, while there is plenty to praise about the game, there are more than a few areas where it falls short of greatness, and a few of these areas are going to be major breaking points for many players.

Botany Manor (Review)

Developer: Balloon Studios
Publisher: Whitethorn Games
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

It’s hard to ignore the “cozy gaming” subgenre that’s blown up over the past few years. While players are still showing up for all of the biggest AAA titles with their big-budget action and spectacle, we’re also starting to see more and more players dig into smaller games that are void of violence, centered around relaxation and wholesome vibes, and made by small or even single-dev studios. Although you’ll never catch me complaining about having options, I don’t think it’s unfair to say that there are so many “cozy games” coming out that several of them are starting to blur together, especially if you’re someone who watches all of the big showcases and have seen literally hundreds of trailers for these types of games. Thankfully, that’s not the case with Botany Manor, the debut game from UK-based Balloon Studios. Though it may have some of the visual trappings that these games are becoming synonymous with, the core gameplay idea and its execution are so wonderfully fun and imaginative that it’s easy to point at this one as a new “must-play” of the genre.

Open Roads (Review)

Developer: Open Roads Team
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

Several video games try to touch on themes of rocky familial relationships, generational secrets, and awkward adolescence, but there are few I would say hit as hard as Open Roads. This short narrative adventure game follows a mother and daughter as they embark on a road trip in search of answers to a decades-long family secret, complete with shocking revelations and painful truths. Clocking in at around 3 hours, Open Roads is a bit on the shorter side, but this actually works in its favor, creating a heartfelt and emotional story that can be completed in a single session. As I get ready to dive into two massive games back-to-back (Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth/Elden Ring), I’ve been looking for a few shorter games to play through before dumping hundreds of hours into something bigger, and let me tell you, Open Roads was exactly was I looking for.

Return to Grace (Review)

Developer: Creative Bytes Studios
Publisher: Creative Byters Studios
Available On: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

While everyone seems to be busy with massive JRPGs such as Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3: Reloaded, and most recently Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, today I want to talk about a small sci-fi adventure game called Return to Grace. Originally released last year on PC, Return to Grace offers a complete and polished narrative experience that takes only 2-4 hours to see through to completion, and now with a console release that happened just two weeks ago (it’s also on Game Pass!), even more players can experience this delightful little adventure. In a year that’s already being dominated by one massive time sink after another, let me tell you why this much, much shorter game is just as worthy of your time.

A Little to the Left (Review)

Developer: Max Inferno
Publisher: Secret Mode
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

As someone who loves to clean and organize, I find video games that allow me to tap into my tidy nature to be extremely rewarding. I loved 2021’s indie darling Unpacking for nailing the feeling of satisfaction and creativity that comes with setting up your belongings in a new location, and 2022’s mega-hit Power Wash Simulator itched that part of my brain that craves incremental progress on a bigger task. Now, with A Little to the Left, the cozy cleaning genre gets a new game that zeroes in on small organizational chores, and it’s through this fixation on small bite-sized tasks that the game flourishes into something special.

Brotato (Review)

Developer: Thomas Gervraud/Blobfish
Publisher: Seaven Studios
Available On: PC, Mobile, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

If you had told me at the start of the year that I’d be dumping 30 hours into a game about murderous potatoes, I would probably have called you crazy before sighing and exclaiming “Yeah, that checks out.” Brotato launched with a staggered release last year with mobile, PC, and Nintendo Switch ports coming out months apart from each other, and as of just a few weeks ago, it’s finished its release cycle by landing on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. I let out a little chuckle at the name when I saw it show up as a new release on Game Pass, but after looking into it and discovering it was made by a single developer named Thomas Gervraud (going by the studio name Blobfish) and seeing its graphic style that calls to mind the flash games of the mid-00’s, I was sold.

Lord Winklebotom Investigates (Review)

Developer: Cave Monsters
Publisher: Cave Monsters
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
PS4 version reviewed on PS5

When I saw Lord Winklebottom Investigates on a list of upcoming games, I chuckled and immediately clicked on it to get more information. Yes, the silly title is what initially grabbed my attention, but then I saw the main character was a monocled giraffe wearing a top hat and chomping on a pipe and I was sold. While I don’t typically talk about my non-gaming life on this blog, it’s important to know that I’m obsessed with giraffes. They’ve been my favorite animals ever since I was a little kid, and over the past few years, my girlfriend and I have made multiple trips to a wildlife preserve where we can get up close with these majestic creatures to pet and feed them. It’s something I look forward to each summer, and if you’ve never been able to experience being next to a giraffe then I highly implore you to look up the closest wildlife preserve or zoo near you that offers giraffe feeding and consider going. Needless to say, since I love giraffes there was no way I was going to let a game where you play as one pass me by. And, as it turns out, there’s actually a very good video game to be found here.

Fort Solis (Review)

Developer: Fallen Leaf, Black Drakkar Games
Publisher: Dear Villagers
Available On: PC, macOS (Coming Soon), PlayStation 5
Reviewed on PlayStation 5

Pitched as a tight sci-fi thriller at Summer Game Fest last year, Fort Solis is the first project by co-developers Fallen Leaf and Black Drakkar Games. Designed with the power of Unreal Engine 5 and featuring the voice talent of industry legends Troy Baker and Roger Clark, Fort Solis instantly wowed with its high visual quality and megastar cast, an unusual combination for a first-release indie game. As the game crept ever closer to its release, it was clear that it was keeping its cards close to its chest. There were few trailers, interviews, and videos about the game, so much of what it was remained to be seen. Sadly, now that the game has been released and I’ve been able to uncover the mystery at its core, it’s also clear that the execution of the experience doesn’t match its ambition.

Sea of Stars (Review)

Developer: Sabotage Studio
Publisher: Sabotage Studio
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

While there has been no shortage of retro-inspired video games over the last console generation or two, none have captured my imagination and won me over as immediately as Sea of Stars. Ever since its debut in the E3/Summer Game Fest/Nintendo Direct cycle of the previous few years, it’s been impossible to deny just how perfect this game looks. With its gorgeous visual style inspired by the 16-bit RPGs of the ’90s, a timing-based combat system that draws from the likes of Super Mario RPG, and the promise of a grand story à la Final Fantasy, everything about this game looked like it was firing on all cylinders and made the leadup to its launch equal parts exciting and excruciating. Now that it’s been released and I’ve spent the past few weeks working my way through it, two things are clear. Sea of Stars was well worth the wait and its developer, Sabotage Studio, deserves to be a household name.