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.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Review)

Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Available on PS5

After a month and a half of playing it nearly every day, I can now say that I have finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. This massive RPG took me a little over 130 hours to finish, and while that’s largely because I did a completionist run of the game, I also found myself wanting to stay in its world for as long as possible. With 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, the 1997 classic was reimagined with jaw-dropping visuals, a playful sense of humor and discovery, and a new interpretation of the story that both honored the original and delivered one of the greatest narrative twists of all time. In this sequel, Square Enix has expanded the entire scope of the game and taken everything they did with Remake and fine-tuned it into what I think may just be one of the finest gaming experiences in the past 20 years. I couldn’t stop playing this game, and even now that I’ve beaten it, I’ve already jumped back in for a second playthrough. That being said, this is the kind of game where you need to sit with your feelings upon completing it, which is why I’ve waited over a week since rolling credits before starting to put these words down. After processing everything and allowing those feelings to solidify, I think I’m ready to talk about this game in detail.

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.

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.

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.

The Last of Us Part II Remastered (Review)

Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Reviewed on PlayStation 5

There’s been a lot of talk over the past few months about whether or not The Last of Us Part II needed to be remastered. It was already one of the most visually stunning games available when it launched on the PlayStation 4 in 2020, and since that was just a few short years ago, it doesn’t feel like there was any real demand for a remaster. There was even a free 60 FPS patch while playing the game on a PlayStation 5, so upgraded performance was already a possibility. While this “Remastered” edition offers some new features, game modes, and a few more surprises, there’s been an undeniable sense of speculation and more than a little eye-rolling at the sheer existence of this version. After spending a considerable amount of time with it, I think The Last of Us Part II Remastered is a great way to experience one of PlayStation’s greatest titles, but there are a few caveats to consider.

Interaction Isn’t Explicit (Review)

Developer: Frank L. Silva
Publisher: Frank L. Silva
Reviewed on PS5

Interaction Isn’t Explicit is a new free-to-play “game” on the PlayStation 5 that offers a short (roughly 45-minute) playable experience that can most accurately be described as a blog post with gameplay. Normally, this is the kind of idea that I would get behind in a heartbeat. I love weird video games that take advantage of the interactivity of the medium to do strange and new things, so in theory, this should be right up my alley. Unfortunately, this short game left me feeling not just frustrated and disappointed with the execution of the premise, but uncomfortable with its lack of tact and how unprofessional it is in getting its message across.

Silent Hill: The Short Message (Review)

Developer: Konami/Hexadrive
Publisher: Konami
Reviewed on PlayStation 5

During yesterday’s State of Play event, Konami revealed a sneak peek at an upcoming Silent Hill game for the PlayStation 5 titled “The Short Message“. Returning to the first-person view introduced in Konami’s 2014 cult classic P.T., The Short Message looked like a terrifying and claustrophobic horror adventure with an intriguing narrative centered around social media, smartphones, and the pain and suffering modern technology adds to bullying. The trailer was quickly followed by the announcement that the game would be released for free shortly after the show, so naturally, I downloaded it as soon as it hit the PlayStation Store. I have now played through The Short Message in its entirety, and while I think some of the older fans of the franchise might have a few bones to pick with it, it’s also the most exciting thing to happen to Silent Hill in years.