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.

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.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (Review)

Developer: Auroch Digital
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

Rahul Kohli (iZombie, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, etc.) is one of my favorite actors, so when he announces he’s in a new project I show up. Despite having zero knowledge of the massive Warhammer universe, his role as the protagonist for this retro-inspired shooter meant it was finally time to dip my toes into a new sci-fi/fantasy world that has, admittedly, seemed quite daunting with its sheer scope. There are hundreds of Warhammer novels, comics, video games, and even a long-running tabletop game complete with a massive culture obsessed with painting the figures used to play it. As if trying to figure out where to jump in wasn’t challenging enough, there are also multiple sub-series set under the Warhammer banner, with some featuring more of a sci-fi aesthetic while others utilize more of a fantasy style. Unfortunately, despite playing through the entirety of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, I feel no more knowledgeable about the series than when I started.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Review)

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

Much like the sands of time flow from past to future, playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was like traveling backward and forward through time. While the earliest installments on the likes of Apple II, DOS, and Windows eluded me as a child, the 2003 reboot titled “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” is a game I’ve held near and dear to my heart ever since I unwrapped it alongside an original Xbox that same year. The daring and precise platforming, time manipulation powers, and mindboggling story captured my imagination at a young age, and although I didn’t play many of the following games (except for 2010’s The Forgotten Sands), Prince of Persia is a franchise I’ve always cheered for over the years. Hell, I even went and saw the movie adaptation (also 2010) which was… less than stellar. However, after playing through my first Prince of Persia game in over a decade, my love has been rekindled as I experienced a new game that’s unafraid to show its nostalgic roots while also taking the series in a bold new direction.

The Walking Dead: Michonne (Review)

Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Available On: Android, iOS, macOS, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One
Xbox One version reviewed on Xbox Series S

When Telltale Games launched The Walking Dead: Season 1 in 2012, it was like lightning in a bottle. Featuring a landmark gameplay style that combined the thrill of the “choose your own adventure” books from the 1980s-1990s with all of the moral ambiguity of The Walking Dead comics and television show, Telltale’s first foray into the world of the undead was considered a narrative masterpiece and won “Game of the Year” awards from multiple outlets. As a longtime fan of both Telltale Games and The Walking Dead, I’ve loved playing each “season” of this series over the years, but until now I’ve never played The Walking Dead: Michonne, a spin-off featuring one of the most beloved characters from the franchise. While it still contains several of the elements that have made this series of games so memorable, it’s also the hardest one to recommend to anyone besides the most hardcore of fans.

Bluey: The Videogame (Review)

Developer: Artax Games
Publisher: Outright Games Ltd
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

My 1½-year-old nephew is still too young to really watch television, but one of the few shows he’s shown an interest in is Bluey, an Australian animated series about a playful family of dogs. He doesn’t get a lot of screen time (which I think is a good thing), but being the good uncle I am, I’ve watched a few episodes with him here and there to see what all the fuss is about, and I’ve quickly become a fan. The emphasis Bluey places on play, family, and silliness while also teaching important values and occasionally tackling tricky subject matter in a child-appropriate way (infertility, aging grandparents, etc.) is something I greatly respect and have been impressed by, and as someone who grew up with classic 2D hand-drawn animation, I find the art style nostalgic. That being said, as both a game critic and a new Bluey fan, I was intrigued when I saw that a Bluey video game existed, and when I saw it was available on Game Pass, I immediately installed it. Unfortunately, while several of the things that make the show great are present in this video game, it’s not one I can easily recommend.

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.