Still Wakes the Deep (Review)

Developer: The Chinese Room
Publisher: Secret Mode
Available On: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

Rising to fame with “Dear Esther” in 2012, The Chinese Room is considered by many to be the studio that pioneered the “walking simulator” genre, introducing players to first-person narrative games where you primarily walk around environments as you piece together a story through narration and short scripted events. Following up with Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs in 2013, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture in 2015 (one of my favorite games of the last generation), The Chinese Room have made a dedicated fanbase with their particular style of games. However, shortly after their newfound success, The Chinese Room underwent a complete restructuring due to a whole string of complicated events that caused them to completely pivot toward VR and mobile games. Now, after nearly a decade, The Chinese Room have returned to their roots with Still Wakes the Deep, a new walking simulator that seeks to evolve the genre while still showcasing the strengths that made their studio famous in the first place. Unfortunately, Still Wakes the Deep misses the mark in nearly every category.

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.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Review)

Developer: Ninja Theory
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Available On: PC, Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Xbox Series S

To quote one of the greatest musical artists of this generation, Ren, when discussing his own struggle with psychosis, “It was never really a battle for me to win, it was an eternal dance.” In Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, the sequel to 2017’s critically acclaimed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, our heroine Senua has grown a little older and learned to accept the voices she hears as mere participants in her dance and not the guiding steps she once perceived them to be. Although her reality is still colored and informed by her inner “Furies” and the visual hallucinations that accompany them, she’s no longer at their mercy, learning to find her own voice and stand firm during their attempts to silence it. In Hellblade II, we get to see this next step of Senua’s journey unfold in a powerful and thought-provoking fashion, but more than any game in recent memory, this sequel has quickly earned a reputation as being extremely divisive and led to countless debates over what it is and what it’s trying to do. While this review isn’t the be-all and end-all of the discussion, I’m going to do my best to give you an idea of why I think it’s not only one of the best games of the year, but also a huge step forward for the medium.

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.

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.

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.