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Screenshot: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. Via Fatshark “From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh it disgusted me.” This line from the trailer for the game Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus is something I probably quote way too often. But it really captures the merciless brutality of the 40k universe as much as the famous “in the grim darkness of space, there is only war.” Despite how captivating the Warhammer 40,000 setting is, I admit most of the lore I know about any iteration of Warhammer is through video games – but I’ve played a lot of Warhammer games over the years. That’s why I feel qualified to say that not only is Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (Darktide) one of the best Warhammer games I’ve ever played, it’s also one of the best 4 player co-op Left 4 Dead style games I’ve ever played. And its new Skitarii class is a great addition to Darktide’s roster. Skitarii, as I hinted at above, are the military forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Functionally, that means you’re a cyborg death dealer in service of the God Emperor of Mankind. Screenshot: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. Via Fatshark As with other Darktide classes the Skitarii has, functionally, three different builds. However, the Skitarrii has a uniquely circular talent tree that helps facilitate builds that don’t necessarily go down only a single branch of the skill tree. That opens up some fun possible synergies with teammates, or some serious solo damage potential. It also means any “class” of Skitarii can branch into any grenade or keystone without sacrificing too much. The Skitarii enables some tricks that other classes don’t possess, like the ability to automate those pesky data interrogator sections. You can also have your servo skull help get up fallen comrades, or use it like a fire grenade to burn away the heretics. Then there’s my personal favorite grenade: the arc grenade. It not only clears away groups of enemies, it can also potentially disarm ranged enemies–all while making an effect that reminds me of a haunted house electric chair prop. It’s fantastic. With the new class comes class specific weapons, which are, predictably, also pretty powerful feeling (and are sure to get a tweak towards normal in an upcoming patch.) The Arc Rifle is not only deadly, but arcs its electricity to spread the “love” to nearby enemies. The Galvanic Rifle sounds like it’s more of the same, but it’s actually a powerful single shot rifle that reminds me of a spicier version of the M1 Garand. But my favorite of the Skitarii weapons is the Phosphor Pistol. Not only does it spread a fire damage over time effect, it penetrates and has great range. It’s also just satisfying as hell to shoot chunks of flaming bullets at enemies. Now if you read this entire article shouting “this isn’t right!” your experience may indeed differ, because I mostly used Skitarii on mid tier difficulty, as my group is getting its Darktide skills back in order. But that being said, Skitarii was enough to get my Darktide group back together, and with the Steam summer sale still on for another day it’s a great time to jump into Darktide.

Sonic The Hedgehog is one of the most iconic video game characters ever, and he’s been the star of numerous TV shows, video games, and movie adaptations. Today is the speedy little hedgehog’s 35th birthday, and while he’s gone through many redesigns, his core philosophy of “gotta go fast” has been consistent. Screenshot: Sonic the Hedgehog The first time I saw Sonic in action was probably the first or second time I saw a Sega Genesis in all its glory, with its graphics that were superior to Nintendo’s NES, marketing hype with terms like “blast processing” and slogans that promised to deliver a level of action that Nintendo wasn’t capable of: Sega does what Nintendon’t. I was there for all of it. Screenshot: Sonic the Hedgehog But why did Sonic leave such a lasting impression? Everyone knows the story: Sega President Hayao Nakayama knew that Sega needed a definitive mascot, since Alex Kidd wasn’t edgy enough, and Naoto Ohshima’s Mr. Hedgehog won out, and became the speedster we know as Sonic. But it takes more than an edgy mascot to sell copies, and a combination of technological prowess, clever design, and great music helped propel Sonic the Hedgehog into legendary status. While Sonic embodied the in-your-face attitude that was so sought after in the ‘90s, he persisted thanks in part to his strong visual identity that oozes out of that 16-bit world. Sonic doesn’t just stand idly by: he reacts to his environment. If he’s on a ledge he waves his arms for balance, and if you put the controller down eventually he loses patience and taps his foot at you, urging you to get him moving again. Screenshot: Sonic the Hedgehog If you’ve played Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog, you’ll notice that they feel incredibly different to play. That’s because Sonic has momentum. To get Sonic to pass successfully through the game’s iconic loop-de-loops, for instance, Sonic needs to be going fast enough. Sonic even loses momentum when running up hills, and takes longer to stop the faster he’s going. That’s not just “blast processing.” That’s all possible because developer Yuji Naka pulled off some absolute assembly-level wizardry to utilize the Genesis’ Motorola 68000 processor to the fullest extent. Naka wrote a groundbreaking collision algorithm that allowed Sonic to smoothly traverse curved surfaces and loops, combined with an incredibly efficient way to update the Video Display Processor. This meant the screen could scroll at faster speeds without flickering or dropping frames—a masterclass in rendering and physics that gives Sonic his signature weightiness and makes the speed feel incredibly tactile. Screenshot: Sonic the Hedgehog The music in Sonic the Hedgehog is also iconic, especially the Green Hill Zone theme. Composer Masato Nakamura didn’t just make video game music, he was a musician and even a member of a massively popular J-Pop group called Dreams Come True. Fun Fact: Sonic the Hedgehog was originally revealed by being painted on the side of the band’s tour bus during its “Wonder 3” tour. While the first game’s soundtrack isn’t considered the best, it is foundational. I played through Sonic the Hedgehog to see if it still holds up after 35 years, and I think it does. It doesn’t get as much love as the other entries in the series, but that’s mostly because Sonic continued to find out what was fun to do as Sonic in the 16-bit era. Screenshot: Sonic the Hedgehog That’s probably why there’s the strange and jarring change of pace between the fast and open Green Hill Zone and the much slower, precision platforming required immediately after in Marble Zone. Maybe the developers were still figuring out how to make a Sonic level. I can see the logical progression the developers were making by introducing trickier platforming and block pushing in a second level. Just imagine a Sonic franchise that stuck to this philosophy and how it might have affected the shift into 3D. Instead, the sequels leaned more into crowd pleasing speedy setups with loops and corkscrews–and honestly, I think that’s where Sonic is at his best. Screenshot: Sonic the Hedgehog But while speed might seem to be the goal for a character named Sonic, that’s not always true, especially in his first outing. There are plenty of alternate routes and even secrets to find if you decide to practice each level to maximize routes. And while Sonic the Hedgehog only takes about 2 hours for an average player to beat,if you’re playing on original hardware, losing all of your lives and continues means starting the game from the beginning. And while obtaining a Sega Genesis console and a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t too costly, most will likely choose to play the game through one of the many modern platforms on which it's available. Screenshot: Sonic the Hedgehog The bottom line? Sonic the Hedgehog holds up all these 35 years later. And with so many indie retro-like offerings, it’s not even too far off from what you might find as a modern game. While Sega hasn’t made hardware for a long time, Sonic has continued to be a pop culture icon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were still talking about him 35 years from now.

Steam Machine. Image: Valve There’s something to say about a company that looks at the current hardware market and says, “fuck it, we’ll do it anyways.” Which is exactly what Valve Software has done with the impending release of the Steam Machine. Reviews are out, and the consensus is: “it’s great, but it’s expensive.” That’s fine, really. The hardware hellscape is unprecedented, and in a world where it’s increasingly hostile for the casual PC gamer to get into PC games, having a Steam Machine is a nice way to get in without all the doubt–even if you’re paying a premium. But even as console prices are going up–something that is, before these AI driven times, unheard of–people want to play games. Even as I write this I have to wait in line and figure out how I’m going to afford any of the four offered Steam bundles. With an entry price of $1049, many will balk. For those people, there’s at least a more DIY approach. Alongside the sign-ups for the Steam machine today comes the news that you can install Steam OS on desktops. Which is a great way to finally get out of the Windows ecosystem (for those that are too afraid to fully commit to learning Linux all at once. ) Unfortunately, only AMD CPUs are currently supported – but Valve is working on expanding that support in the future. Meanwhile, I want the Steam Machine because I was sold on the original Steam Machine promised over 10 years ago. I’ve also been sold on Steam hardware after loving the Steam Deck, and using it far more than I thought I could. It turns out that having access to Steam’s vast library of games is a huge plus. Having a green check mark telling me that the game will run fine on my system helps, too. I’ve spent my entire life configuring computers and hardware for optimal frame to visual fidelity ratio, and it’s nice to leave some of the work out of it. Especially since my Steam Machine will be used as a living room fixture. Steam Machine. Image: Valve But for the tinkerers, you can mess with Steam Machine too. Unlike traditional consoles that lock everything up, SteamOs isn’t walled off–for instance, you can install the Epic Game Store Launcher. The Steam Deck created a whole new wave of interest in handheld PCs, and I have to wonder if the Steam Machine will start to bring in console players that want access to Steam’s library of games. If you want a Steam Machine you can sign up to reserve your slot now. Valve decided to keep scalpers and bots in check by allowing more days for reservations both for verification purposes, and so people have lots of time to get in and not feel left out. So anyone that signs up before the 25th will be on equal footing to secure a slot, or get stuck on the waitlist. Steam Machine registration: https://store.steampowered.com/hardware/steammachine Steam Machine. Image: Valve Steam Machine Specs: Core Hardware Specs CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 (6 cores / 12 threads) up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP. GPU: Semi-custom AMD RDNA 3 with 28 Compute Units, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, 110W TDP. Memory: 16 GB DDR5 RAM. Storage: Available in 512 GB or 2 TB NVMe SSD (internally upgradable/expandable via a high-speed microSD slot). Connectivity & Ports Networking: 2x2 Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Video Out: DisplayPort 1.4 (up to 4K @ 240 Hz or 8K @ 60 Hz) and HDMI 2.0 (up to 4K @ 120 Hz). USB Ports: Front includes two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1; back features two USB-A 2.0 and one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2. Accessories: Features a dedicated 2.4 GHz Steam Controller wireless adapter. Power & Design Dimensions: Roughly a 6-inch (~160mm) cube. Power Supply: Internal power supply (110-240 V) with an average power draw of ~175W under heavy load. Software: Pre-installed with Arch-based SteamOS

Pirate Borg and its inspiration, Mork Borg. Photo: Marielle Bokor Mork Borg was an absolute phenomenon in the TTRPG world that spawned countless third party expansions and characters, using the generous third party Mork Borg license. Bolstered by the art ofJohan Nohr with a design by Pelle Nilsson, it took TTRPGs back to the basics in an exciting way. Not exactly OSR, but very much in the vibe of OSR. If OSR was classic rock, Mork Borg was Swedish death metal. Back when I originally played Mork Borg, I really liked the rules light approach and its extreme take on tabletop tropes that made them as satirical as they were intriguing to engage in. So when the cyberpunk themed CY_Borg released I was there for it. Sadly, by then my TTRPG group had dissolved and I was back to playing through campaigns in my head. I almost completely missed the pirate themed Pirate Borg when it released back in 2023, so when there was a starter kit and the expansion, Down Among the Dead, released earlier this year, it was the perfect chance to get back into it. Pirate Borg Pirate Borg is written and illustrated by Luke Stratton through that third party license I mentioned earlier. But its soul is very Mork Borg, and it's compatible with Mork Borg if you ever want to take your tortured players on a high seas adventure. If you enjoyed the art in Mork Borg, Pirate Borg is very much inspired by Nohr’s work, and looks like it could sit right along Mork Borg on the shelf. In Mork Borg, the overall theme of the game is super dark, with the calendar of Nechrubel hanging over your head. The world can literally come to an end, potentially putting any long term campaign ideas to an end–though any clever GM could work around that. But instead of focusing on the nihilistic, Pirate Borg wants players to be more opportunistic–pillaging and plundering across the Dark Caribbean, which exists in a version of Earth that isn’t quite ours. That doesn’t mean it entirely ditches the dark nihilism and apocalypse tone that Mork Borg adopted, and its core book even lays out a comprehensive history that includes the end of days. Pirate Borg really nails the pirate atmosphere. There are rules and rolls about carousing and drinking, bar fights and even for holding your breath (cue Sonic drowning music.) Also, pirates don’t wear armor–since it doesn’t stop black powder guns anyways, and it can get you a quick trip down to Davy Jones’ locker if you try. The Pirate Borg Starter Set. Photo: Marielle Bokor You even get to roll to see what kind of hat you wear–anything from a bandana to a fancy tricorne or a morion. And just like Mork Borg, there are lots of tables to let RNG decide your players’ fortunes and/or fates. In Pirate Borg you’re also–ostensibly–part of a crew. This allows for ship combat, and even combat against massive sea creatures. Ship combat is also where Pirate Borg seems to get a little more complicated. Here the rules light mindset is ditched for ship actions, crew actions and other optional complications like wind direction. This is all underpinned by a magic system that revolves around the use of a psychedelic substance made from ground up undead called Ash. This is appropriately Mork Borg, and so are the potential outcomes for any such ventures into the use of Ash. Ill effects can have effects up to and including permanent stat loss or instant death, while on the other side you can see some stat gains. While all of that is technically old news, there was a handful of new Pirate Borg stuff released this year: an expansion book, a starter set, and a GM screen. The Pirate Borg Starter's Set and Down Among The Dead expansion. Photo: Marielle Bokor Starter Set The starter set is a great place to actually start if you’re just now planning on playing Pirate Borg, and it’ll probably be where I start with my group. Inside the starter set is a player’s guide, which is all of the player oriented stuff from the core rulebook separated into its own softcover pamphlet style variant. This is definitely appreciated, and contains plenty of information to get you and your players through the starter set stuff without needing the core rulebook, but of course that’s always good to have. There is also a 60-page intro adventure, 58 tokens, 12 resin dice, 22 handy reference cards, 10 poster sized maps, 25 character sheets, 6 laminated character creation sheets and even two dry erase markers. They give you everything you need to run the game, but even so I decided to add a few extra touches by printing out my own character sheets and making the treasure map more beat up and ancient looking than I was willing to do to the original. Of course, that’s a luxury I have by having both the digital and print versions–which is something I always try to do when buying TTRPG books and sets online. The adventure that comes with the starter set is meant to be more than a one-shot, consisting of several parts that will take a group about three or four hours each to complete. And with a total of four parts it’s a great start to a Pirate Borg campaign, with enough pirate adventures to whet your appetite for the immediate future. The starter set’s adventure is filled with everything a pirate would (or wouldn’t) want to encounter in an adventure through the Dark Carribean: zombies, drugs, treasure (with the requisite map), encounters on the high sea and more. Down Among the Dead and the GM Screen. Photo: Marielle Bokor Down Among the Dead If you’ve finished with the starter set, or already have a seasoned crew of salty dogs you want to take on new adventures, Down Among the Dead is an expansion that includes three new character classes, three new adventures, a parrot poker game, house rules, and lots of tables and generators. Is your crew having a hard time figuring out what your ship’s flag is going to look like? The flag generator will have you hoisting your very own Jolly Roger in no time. While I haven’t had a chance to run the three adventures that are included in Down Among the Dead, they remind me of old school D&D modules, which seems perfect for an OSR style game. They’re light on narrative with lots of traps, lots of loot, and only subtle nudges to guide the players–as opposed to putting them on rails. “Lost to the Locker” has you (or your players) escaping from Pirate Hell–and I always love a good “fight your way out of hell” scenario after a party suffers a TPK. “Into the Maelstrom” has the PCs hunting a vampire pirate on his castle-on-a-boat style ship. Finally, "Venom in the Veins” takes place in a snake temple run by the ghost of a malevolent druid. Down Among the Dead also comes with three new character classes, as well as bunch of new skills to bestow upon your established characters. The Antiquarian is an adventuring researcher type good at deciphering languages, and exploring trap-filled temples. The Deep One is a playable version of the NPC class from the Core Rulebook–an amphibious deep water dweller that can be ancient and giant, or small and wily. And then there’s the Unlocked Soul–an undead pirate that is cursed and bound by ghostly magic from the Locker. Pirate Borg's Down Among the Dead expansion and GM Screen. Photo: Marielle Bokor The books themselves are printed and bound beautifully. Down Among the Dead is hardcover and has two reading ribbons included to help mark pages for reference. Down Among the Dead also has a cool embossed cover (not to mention the limited edition that is bound in leather, which is still available as of this article’s publication). Unfortunately, unlike OG Mork Borg, there are no foil effects–but there are loads of pages of full color art in both Down Among the Dead and the Player’s Guide booklet. This extends to the GM screen, which is not only a great reference, but it’s also very cool looking–I just wish it was a bit taller. Pirate Borg's Starter Set and Down Among the Dead expansion. Photo: Marielle Bokor If you, like me, loved Mork Borg and wanted an excuse to jump back into it, Pirate Borg is fantastic. And with the Starter Kit there’s really no excuse not to try it out–and if you have a seasoned crew, Down Among the Dead is a great way to expand those pirate adventures.

Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip I’m a point and click adventure game expert, and I’ve been a huge fan of these puzzle-laced narrative adventures since I was a kid. Back then, gameplay storytelling was done differently, and if you wanted to play out a story you had to seek out specific experiences. My favorite of the point and click adventure game types were those done by Lucasfilm Games (also known as LucasArts back in the day. I’m mentioning this because Whirlight-No time to Trip is a modern recreation of a LucasArts era point and click adventure game. Exactly the type I adored as a kid.) There are even references to retro LucasArts/Lucasgames titles like The Secret of Monkey Island. Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert is famous for being both an outspoken critic and proponent of point and click adventure games. He argues that point and click adventure games need to be nostalgic and cater to a niche audience. While the latter is somewhat true, I feel like Whirlight actually succeeds because of its ability to make nods to its inspirations while being wholly its own thing–just with mechanics that were created and refined through decades of point and click game, which have always been around, even as the genre became increasingly niche. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip Being the expert that I was, I thought I could knock out Whirlight in an afternoon. I was wrong. While I know the ins and out of point and click adventure games both old and new, I wanted to take my time and savor a game as lovingly put together as Whirllight. The art style and characters, while not always as funny, instantly reminded me of some of the best games in the golden era of point and click adventure, which started with the release of Day of the Tentacle. In fact, I'd say that a lot of Whirlight is shamelessly inspired by Day of the Tentacle. And while Whirlight: No Time to Trip employs a mix of the outside the norm “moon logic” that a lot of games of its type employ, I found that Whirllight puzzles were based more on practical solutions. I.E. -stuff you’d actually think about doing. If you’re not familiar with the term “moon logic” – that’s essentially the opposite of it, as some point and click adventure game developers–for laughs, or general absurdity, I can only guess–would have puzzle solutions that often don’t make sense. A famous example is set up so that instead of using the only key you have in your inventory to open a locked door, you instead use the tail of a fish as an improvised lock pick. While Whirlight does use absurd solutions at times, even these often make sense in the game’s own logic. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip But it really wasn’t the puzzles that kept me from completing Whirlight faster than I did. Like I said, I know how to brute force even the craziest moon logic. Instead, it was the scale. With over 100 locations to explore, there was just too much to do or see. Whirlight-No Time to Trip isn’t a small adventure game meal to devour in an evening. Instead, it turned out to be an entire feast. Sometimes I wondered why, in the older games, inventory sizes were so large when most slots never get filled. Whirllight fills every slot, and most of the time every item ends up getting used. The old adage of “try every item on everything” starts to get a little harder when you’re juggling so many locations and so many possible places to use items. That’s not to say you play all 100 locations in one large open world. That would be silly. Instead, Whirlight is divided into distinct sections baked on story beats. That’s another issue that Gilbert had with point and clicks: pacing. Whirlight doesn’t fight slow story pacing, and instead embraces the chaos and what these multitude of inventory objects, exploration and character can give us. Luckily, the journal helps keep track of everything. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip In a very un-retro way, you can even see what objectives you’re chasing after, and what you have left. I can’t remember any LucasArts game with such a direct guide on how to proceed, often relying on your memory of the last essential conversation to steer you in the right direction. Instead, Whirlight directly tells you. Though, sometimes it would fail to update the next objective until I interacted with the right character–so not a perfectly implemented solution. Like I said, Whirllight doesn’t really worry about pacing ruining its story. But at the same time, the story is the weakest part. Most of my favorite point and clicks had a MacGuffin or other overarching impetus to keep hunting for what pixels work with what situation. There are story beats that move the plot along to new wacky time travel locations from the far past to the dystopian future, all while interacting with a host of wacky characters– and the game’s world is populated with dozens of interesting and amusing characters to help, hinder, or otherwise serve as flavor for your adventure.Both main protagonists, Hector May and Margaret are interesting and amusing in their own ways, though Hector’s chaotic nature and occasional buffoonery wore on me at times Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip While Whirlight, on paper, sounds fantastic, the execution sometimes made me feel like I was playing an offbrand LucasArts game. Sure, it was obviously heavily inspired by them–with in game references to back up that obvious assumption. (it’s also filled with other retro references) but there was just something slightly off about the whole thing. Like a Temu or Wish version of the games I played as a kid. But it’s harder for me to quantify, like it’s almost something lost in translation. And while I would definitely say Whirlight is a humorous game, I rarely found myself laughing out loud. Sometimes the achievements are funnier than the game. But humor is subjective, and there is always the danger of trying too hard, and Whirlight never really crosses that line even if it does flirt with it. I think some of the struggles come with the voice acting. Not that it's outright bad, but it seems like it suffers from bad direction, like the delivery is sometimes paired with the wrong emotion or not quite what I would expect. And since humor relies so much on delivery, the voice acting often kills any funny. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip Puzzles in Whirlight–No Time to Trip can also be a mixed bag. While a lot of solutions feel logical–which is a great thing–the sheer number of possibilities mean you’re having to find out which logical solution fits your puzzle. An early example is a puzzle where you’re trying to get a bird to knock a bowling ball off of a balcony. My logical brain says I could just throw something at it, but all of the expendable and easily throwable items in my inventory doesn’t do it. Instead, I have to use a rose I acquired to pop a promotional balloon I inflated from my inventory to pop the balloon and scare the bird. As soon as I figured out I could pop the balloon I rushed over to that bird, so it was an easy association. And much like humor, puzzle difficulty can be subjective from person to person. I found Whirlight’s puzzles to be the perfect difficulty to not feel so easy I could just breeze through. There aren’t many genuinely retro feeling point and click adventure games coming out anymore. Whirlight–No Time to Trip accomplishes feeling like a nostalgic experience with relying too heavily on it. It’s definitely not a perfect game, but it’s probably one of the highest quality point and click adventure titles we’ve gotten in a long time. Developer imaginarylab released Monkey Island love letter Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town way back in 2020, so it might be a while before we get another gem from imaginarylab. This post also appears on ThirdCoastReview.com

Screenshot: Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time I’ve always been a fan of when YouTubers and streamers find old memory cards from retro consoles, and pick up saved games where the previous owner left off. It’s a fun bit of nostalgia to see both the previous player’s mindset and what they prioritized. A sort of digital time capsule that makes the past feel more present. Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time is based around the concept of coming into someone else’s save file at the end of the game and adds a whole bunch of meta wrapping that makes it an extremely intriguing puzzle game that requires gathering clues to both progress and to understand the meta story that ties it all together. Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time–which I’ll refer to as Remake of the End for brevity–leans into a lot of concepts that can only exist inside of a video game. And that’s something I absolutely love. Not that I hate when games try to be movies with extensively long cinematics (I’m looking at you Kojima) but when video games embrace the whole, well, video game-ness of it all they tend to become something very special (again, I’m looking at you Kojima). But Remake of the End really swings for the fences in this regard. Not only do you play across multiple fake saves, but you also uncover developer commentary (a la Valve Software), video footage from a fake unreleased documentary, and even utilize intentional glitches. Screenshot: Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time While Remake of the End bills itself as a role-playing game right in the title, it’s more of a puzzle game than a proper RPG. While combat encounters look like the typical JRPG turn-based setup, each fight is actually a puzzle that requires a very specific combination of moves to solve. You can find clues in your manual on how to beat enemies, with pages full of information about enemies either supplied by in-universe developer Circle Games, or by handwritten notes as you might find in a real retro game manuals. Remake of the End is obviously inspired by retro games, and other retro-likes, especially Tunic–with one of the in-universe developers wearing a Tunic shirt in the faux documentary. Since you’re playing someone else's save file, you have to learn how to play Remake of the End differently than you would a normal game. A bit of backwards engineering is required as you figure out things you should already know for someone who is about to beat the game. You’re max level and have max gold, but that doesn’t matter because you already bought all of the items from every shop. But revisiting a shop might give you clues that the items in your inventory don’t–like that Lime Pies open Magic Red Chests, and you discover that you were walking past locked gates you had keys for all along. But your inventory is so crammed with items, unless you’re checking everything in your inventory like you’re playing an old school SCUMM point and click adventure, you wouldn’t know. It’s a clever extension of what Tunic introduced with its own meta manual collecting, but dialed up to 11. Screenshot: Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time There are a lot of heady ideas that make Remake of the End seem, at first, an impenetrable onion with layers and layers of secrets to uncover. I don’t want to spoil too much in this review, because that’s true–but it’s also not true. I think there was a potential that Remake of the End had that never quite gets realized in a satisfying way. While developer Coin Drop Games does technically stick the landing–and I’d love to see what they can come up with in the future–Remake of the End never quite lived up to the expectations I had for it after my first hour or so of gameplay. It fulfills its meta narrative promise, but the execution ends up feeling underbaked. If you’re into games that use meta puzzle elements with an intriguing mystery to uncover, Remake of the End scratches that itch. But it feels a bit unrefined, even as it accomplishes what it sets out to do. It feels like a 4-6 hour digital escape room with some good ideas that seem like they’re still in the chrysalis phase. But those ideas are so good I’m going to keep an eye on what Coin Drop Games does next.

One of the reasons I fear for the future is the same reason I have hope for it. There’s very little barrier to entry to create. As long as you have internet access and a smart phone (or cell service and a smartphone) you can be a streamer, a podcaster, a YouTuber or...make a documentary. As the old saying goes though, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The reason journalism follows a code of ethics and requires leaving as much bias out of it as possible is because with great readership/viewership comes great responsibility, and most people simply won’t do research outside of the two minute video they saw on Tiktok. Critical thinking is more critical than ever, but it’s so easy to keep scrolling and ingest things as fact that are, in fact, harmful. When I say that The Crash feels like a documentary that maybe should’ve been baked longer, it’s not because it’s missing flow, or has bad cinematography, or anything else like that. It’s because it seems irresponsible. There’s a difference between not getting in the way of the story and letting the story go in one direction, seemingly unfettered by facts. It’s one thing to present both sides feelings on the matter, but the facts still stand. POTS isn’t even the first medical condition that was proffered as a way to escape a murder charge, as many viewers pointed out that IN the documentary, in “gibberish” she asks her mother if she could just say she had a seizure. Not to mention the way POTS traditionally works, or the fact that Shirilla seems to have had no other instances of POTS while in prison, or ever, according to even friends that defend her. Facts indicate the gas pedal was pushed down at 100 percent, with no braking input. And while you can argue “facts” like the tumultousness of a teenage relationship it’s really hard to argue a very specific sudden onset of a very specific chronic disease never mentioned prior and not leaned on later in court that would have her successfully navigate the rest of the road going 100 mph an hour and then losing control BY accelerating at 100 percent (not even partial gas- FULL gas) into a brick wall. Yet it feels like Netflix gives Shirilla more than just plausible deniability - between her parents and friends defenses of her character and shrugging it off as “stuff kids do” while talking about the horrible impact it’s had on her, these same people are talking about terrible it is for them to think about going back to those “awful” houses. Which awful houses? The houses of the families of the victims, Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. While it’s uplifting to hear the judge didn’t buy it, it’s frustrating to see that Netflix did. Rather than presenting all the facts of the case, they sensationalized it as a sort of “What if?” scenario that’s totally disingenuous when considering all the facts not included in the documentary, and created a “great story” while feeding into the obvious narcissism of Mackenzie Shirilla herself, who’s literally preening for the camera in prison. Seeing this at the top of the charts and knowing I help put it there by watching doesn’t make me feel good. What does though? The absolute onslaught of people going down the “rabbit hole” of researching the case, and pointing out all the things that were left out of the documentary. Because that’s not just a vapid obsession with a show you watched - that’s research that leads to a full understanding - something Netflix failed to provide in The Crash. And while I doubt that Netflix nor the Shirilla family will ever feel remorse for The Crash or the crash as it happened in real life, nor apologize, I think that as the discourse continues and as more and more people fall down the research “rabbit hole” we can hope that they in turn turn to supporting the victims and their families as they try to find justice in an unjust world.

Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia I’m a sucker for metroidvanias, and I’ve been a fan since Super Metroid way back on the SNES, so it’s nice to see the genre still around and kicking. While Clockwork Ambrosia hasn’t been met with overwhelming hype, it’s been a game I’ve had my eye on for a while now. But little did I know that its release is the end of a 14 year journey for developer Realmsoft. Clockwork Ambrosia is a 2D sidescroller that takes place in a steampunk inspired world. While it has the usual hallmarks of a metroidvania, like exploration and ability unlocks, it has a little bit more emphasis on weaponry. The player character Iris isn’t your usual action hero. Instead, she’s an airship captain, so she’s more used to engineering than fighting. When she finds herself stranded on an island and trying to solve a mystery that involves fighting legions of automatons, she puts that expertise to work on making her weapons do most of the job for her. I mean, work smarter not harder, right? Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia While Clockwork Ambrosia is a pretty standard metroidvania, it does have an interesting weapon system. The four main weapons you get through your playthrough can be customized and upgraded as you find mods and purchase others from various NPC vendors. These mods do everything from up the damage to change the behavior of weapons in pretty significant ways. You can rig screen-filling shot splitters, devastating missile strikes, or program bullets to trigger secondary actions (e.g., firing extra projectiles whenever a round is disabled). Iris utilizes four primary weapons as the foundation for these builds: the versatile Pulse Breaker, the armor-shattering Missile Launcher, the rapid-fire Revolver, and the trick-shot Grenade Launcher. While I tend to lean pretty heavily on a certain weapon or two in similar games, I kept messing with different mods, making me swap between new favorites a half dozen times or so through my playthrough. Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia Clockwork Ambrosia is also a pretty game to look at. I dig its bright pixel art and smooth animations. Since pixel art is a valid art style, just because a game possesses it doesn’t necessarily make it “retro.” But something about Clockwork Ambrosia reminds me of playing Super Nintendo or Game Boy Advance era sidescrolling games. But retro is often synonymous with extremely difficult, and I would say that this game isn’t very difficult. In fact, I would put it near the easier scale when compared to other metroidvanias. This is partially because of the customizable weapon system. I never felt like I was without ample firepower to dispatch my foes. That’s not to say there aren’t difficult encounters–some boss fights gave me a hard time. But unlike other games of its sort, you don’t go back to the last save point when you die. Instead, you will start back in whatever area you were in when you died until you run out of lives. This makes Clockwork Ambrosia more forgiving than other similar games, and that makes it a good entry point for those who are curious about the genre but are scared away by the notoriously difficult genre. Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia While I had fun playing Clockwork Amrbosia, I couldn’t help but feel like it was missing that certain something. I realized it wasn’t lacking majorly in any one area, but it instead falls short in many small ways. For instance: it has an interesting world with a few NPCs that are compelling, but it never does enough to make me care about that world nor does it get fleshed out enough to be fully immersive. Similarly, the graphics are beautiful, and the animations are great–but the art still manages to feel a bit lifeless and flat. And the weapon customization ends up trivializing combat, and even some boss encounters. I don’t think Clockwork Ambrosia will be the next big thing, but it definitely deserves a fanbase. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a cult following. Developer Realmsoft deserves a payoff for the 14 years of work that went into this game. And I hope to see a sequel in the future. If you’re a fan of metroidvanias, you could play worse. If you’re curious about the genre and wanted a place to jump in: you found it.

Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes When the Battlestar Galactica reboot aired, it was a cultural phenomenon of a sort we don’t see as much these days. While (in my opinion) the show fell off a bit towards the end, its exciting first few episodes are some of the best sci-fi ever put on TV. The crew of the Galactica leads a ragtag group of civilian ships away from Cylon danger, forced to jump every 33 minutes as their enemies remain in hot pursuit. Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes takes that exact premise and makes it the foundation of its rogue-lite loop. Developed by Alt Shift, Scattered Hopes shares a lot of DNA with the studio's previous game, Crying Suns. Both feature iterative roguelite narratives, real-time combat with a tactical pause, officer management, and away missions to points of interest. There is even a constant pressure to keep moving forward, mirroring the relentless pace of that aforementioned first episode, "33." Scattered Hopes manages to expand the lore of Battlestar Galactica in a way that, while not strictly canon, is thematically and tonally spot-on. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes The developers are obviously massive fans of the franchise, and a lot of love and attention to detail has gone into the game. The visuals utilize a low-res, stylized aesthetic that remains faithful to the reboot series—complete with a recreation of the show’s iconic intro that perfectly sets the tone for the gameplay. If you’re a fan of Battlestar Galactica, this game was made with you in mind. In Scattered Hopes you play as the commander of an older-tech Gunstar, on the run after the destruction of the Twelve Colonies. Having received a vague but hopeful message from Commander Adama, your goal is to guide your own small fleet of ragtag ships to a rendezvous with the Galactica. You’ll have to make hard decisions to save your fleet. The Cylons are relentless, and you will be destroyed. But "all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again," as the oft-quoted phrase is aptly applied to the roguelite mechanics here. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes Every decision you make can lead to failure. And as such: most of the gameplay in Scattered Hopes revolves around resource management. The main currencies that keep your fleet flying and fighting are your main cast of officers (which changes every run), as well as fuel, supplies, scrap, and nukes. Nukes both serve as battlefield trump cards and currencies in certain situations. Keep your crew happy, your civilian ships running (and bomb free) and as long as you keep yourself from total destruction by the time the Cylons inevitably catch up, you will live to jump to another sector to do it all over again. Fail, and you get the chance for a few upgrades using a meta currency (called Fate) gained on runs that bestow permanent upgrades. You can also unlock more potential upgrades by completing trials, or meeting up with Galactica with each of the four different Gunstar archetypes. There are also multiple human factions to manage. Doing favors for one might earn their loyalty but anger another. Sometimes, you have to make choices with little context beyond knowing it will shift these progress bars. It’s best to keep everyone as content as possible; getting on a faction's bad side means dealing with stolen supplies, acts of sabotage, and other issues that can easily sink a run. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes In each sector you jump to, you’re often limited in what you can accomplish. Every action takes time and/or resources, both of which get harder to come by as a run progresses.There are various points of interest, each yielding needed resources or a chance at a new ship, weapon, or crew member. Just like in the TV show, your officers can take on whatever role you need, bestowing bonuses if you send them out to resolve a crisis—sometimes at their own peril. However, after playing for a dozen hours or so, I felt like I had seen every type of sector there was to see, and they started to feel a bit same-y. The absolute highlight of Scattered Hopes is the combat. It’s my favorite depiction of Battlestar Galactica ship-to-ship fighting we’ve ever gotten in a video game. Your Gunstar and two selected civilian ships sit on the opposite end of the field from the Cylon mothership, and your sole objective is to minimize the incoming damage the Cylon forces are trying to dish out. You’re not trying to destroy the enemy Basestar, however. Winning fights isn’t about fielding the best units to overwhelm the enemy; it’s entirely about survival. Your goal is simply to run away and live another day. But until your FTL drives finish spooling up, you’ll need to fight. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes You can return fire with your Gunstar's equipped weapons and launch a multitude of fighter types to intercept threats. Finding better ships, leveling up heroes, and upgrading civilian ships gives you powerful abilities that shift the odds in your favor, which is vital since every tactical mistake cascades into failure down the line. A single wrecked Viper squadron can mean essential resources are siphoned away from other crucial projects. Battles are explosive and incredibly busy. You will need to use the pause function frequently as you deal with multiple ship types and incoming nukes and other missles, all while directing flak fire and coordinating your attack squadrons. It can feel overwhelming, but the game encourages you to pause and take in the tactical battlefield—something Bill Adama surely wishes he could do. The civilian vessels in your convoy are just as important as your guns and fighters. Not only do they serve as a first line of defense (essentially meat shields), but they can also come equipped with defensive or offensive capabilities. You might get lucky and find a civilian ship that can shoot down missiles or fire back at their assailants, relieving a bit of pressure during high-stakes encounters. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes Scattered Hopes also does a good job touching on the paranoia of the show, particularly when it comes to surprise Cylon reveals. Yes, there will likely be a Cylon hiding among your key crew members, and you’ll have to weed them out. Even though your roster changes every run, you can still get attached to them—right up until they reveal themselves as the frakking toasters they are. And you even have the option to imprison and interrogate them, mirroring some of the darker moments from the show. While I appreciated how much of the world Alt Shift got right, the experience never felt quite as harrowing as its premise promised. So much of the pressure and drama in Scattered Hopes comes from management systems that feel very sterile, while the combat is the only part that feels tense and decisive in a satisfying way. There were a few times when I jumped out right as the missiles came screaming in, followed by waves of Cylons, though I’m fairly certain the game’s AI pushes those units out at the last second specifically to manufacture those close calls. Still, Scattered Hopes is at its best during only a fraction of its game time, and that’s a bummer. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes However, it’s the closest a game has come to capturing the feeling I got from FTL since, well, Crying Suns. Scattered Hopes can sometimes feel like a ten-pound game stuffed into a five-pound sack, but there is major love poured into it, easily making it the best Battlestar Galactica game out there.

Screenshot: '83 ‘83 is in trouble, and it’s a shame to see. Released in Early Access only a few days ago,the player numbers are suggesting a game that is mostly dead out of the gates. As I played on launch weekend, there were only a few hundred players distributed between a few servers. The included server browser was a bleak look at an empty game that needs entry-point hype to catapult it into stratospheric success–or even sustainability. The development cycle for ‘83 was turbulent. Originally developed by Antimatter Games–the veteran developers behind Rising Storm 2: Vietnam–the project was shelved in 2023 when parent company EG7 decided to shut down the UK-based studio entirely. Rather than letting their highly anticipated Cold War Gone Hot tactical shooter become a game that never was, former developers rallied to establish a new independent studio called Blue Dot Games. This newly minted team successfully negotiated back the IP rights for ‘83 from EG7, allowing them to continue their work on the game. Blue Dot Games has completely overhauled the game’s foundation, and finally released the game into Early Access. Screenshot: '83 Unfortunately, despite the hype and the feel-good story of developers taking back the reins to their lost IP, there doesn’t seem to be an audience showing up for it. But in a gaming space with players that are fickle and even revel in a game dying, a niche shooter like ‘83 can at least hope for a niche audience. But maybe it’s a tad too niche. That’s too bad, because ‘83 is a solid near mil-sim style shooter. Don’t go in expecting ARMA, and with instant bullet kills, don’t expect a Call of Duty or Battlefield experience. Being in Early Access, it’s a little rough around the edges and low on content, but the foundation is there: solid gunplay, and battles that are dynamic and fun for those who want their shooters to be less than hardcore. You can still get sniped from a couple hundreds of meters away from a concealed sniper you never saw, but Blue Dot Games made the maps dynamic and perfectly sized to ensure that the runs between getting unceremoniously sniped don’t feel as long as in other games. Screenshot: '83 Since ‘83 is in Early Access that means it’s not quite done. Right now it’s pretty barebones as far as content. There are two factions: the US flavored NATO and the Soviet style PACT. There are the normal classes you would expect: machine gunner, anti-tank, sniper, rifleman, grenadier with a special forces squad option for players who want to get behind the lines and make spawn points for their team. Right now there are only three maps available, but the roadmap plans three more maps coming, as well as new factions, vehicles, commander abilities, etc. According to the Steam Early Access info box developer Blue Dot Games plans on keeping the game in Early Access until mid to late 2027. A multiplayer game lives and dies by its population. I can jump into the server browser and see less than 100 players (right around 90) playing right now across the servers. It is Monday night, but even peak times on the weekend weren’t that populated–not to mention the wasteland of EU and Oceanic servers. I really hope this changes and Blue Point Games can make ‘83 the game it has the potential to be.

Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth There’s something nostalgic about Moomintroll, even if I don’t directly remember it before playing the demo for Winter’s Warmth at the Steam Next Fest. Created by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson in 1945, the Moomin franchise has steadily evolved from beloved children's literature into a multi-generational global empire. The eccentric trolls first gained massive international traction through a widely syndicated 1950s comic strip, but it was the 1990 Japanese-Finnish anime adaptation that truly catapulted the property into a pop-culture juggernaut, establishing its iconic visual identity and spawning highly lucrative theme parks and lifestyle merchandising. Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth Most recently, the IP successfully transitioned into the modern cozy gaming space with 2024's critically acclaimed Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, proving that Jansson's timeless, watercolor world can thrive in interactive media and perfectly setting the stage for the franchise's expanding digital future. Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is the next game in the Moomin series, and it happens to be my introduction to the entire phenomenon. Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is a cozy adventure game where you play as Moomintroll after he wakes up early from winter hibernation, and is tasked with helping create the bonfire needed to usher in spring. This sets adorable Moomintroll on an adventure through a winter that gets less scary and dangerous as Moomintroll learns to adapt to the frozen world, with a little help (and antagonism) from regular Moomin characters. Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth The intensely curious and sometimes naive Moomintroll means well, and is willing to put up with a lot of nonsense from those around him. After a surprisingly scary and then depressing opening, Moomintroll realizes that he’s alone in the world for the first time, and needs the help of others–like Too-Ticky, the crafty friend who helps Moomintroll accept the world for what it is, and even doles out a few upgrades to Moomintroll’s gear. Most of the gameplay in Winter’s Warmth involves exploring the sometimes surreal frozen world and completing tasks for the various characters you meet. As you progress, new areas will be unlocked through acquisition of new tools and abilities–like the mittens, that give you the ability to knock down icicles, or the shovel that clears away snow and opens new areas for Moomintroll to explore. You don't need fast reflexes or heavy puzzle solving skills to get through Winter's Warmth–save for a few snowball fights with the precocious (and slightly antagonistic) Little My. Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth The main gameplay mechanic in Winter’s Warmth is exploration, with the main antagonist being winter itself, and the limitations and hardships that bring. For those that want to take in every bit of Winter's Warmth's quiet beauty, there are lots of tasks and side quests that can keep you happy. Winter’s Warmth seems like a game that would be aimed at children, but I think there’s a lot here for everyone. Winter’s Warmth pulls no punches: it has no qualms with killing off a cute squirrel in the game’s dark opening moments, with Too-Ticky reminding Moomintroll that the Lady of Frost isn’t cruel, she just is. It’s a hard life lesson that all of us learn. Ultimately, Winter’s Warmth is about finding those warm spots in the cold and welcoming the new life of spring; it teaches us that even in the darkest, scariest places, there are ways to adapt and appreciate the world for what it is. I hope that developer Hyper Games keeps letting me explore the Moomintroll world. If you crave some cozy exploration, you don’t need to be a fan of the Moomin franchise to enjoy this. And if you’re a fan, I hope Winter’s Warmth is as delightful to you as it was for me.

Screenshot: Above the Snow I love management games, and a part of me always has. Since my early days playing games like SimCity and RollerCoaster Tycoon, I’ve had a taste for video game management. Games like Frostpunk turned resource management into life-and-death affairs—and I’m done with intense decisions that can lead to a cascade of death and failure. I’d rather have something a little more cozy. So I was excited when I heard about Above the Snow. It’s a resource management game that doesn’t make it feel like what you’re managing is going to fall apart at any moment. On top of that, it’s narrative-rich—something I haven’t really experienced in a game aimed towards resource management. It’s like a wish come true that I didn’t even know I had—but even so, the monkey’s paw curls a hairy finger, because Above the Snow is boring. You might say, “Of course it’s boring.” With Steam store tags like “cozy” and “story-rich,” you expect a more laid-back game that doesn’t punish you harshly for your mistakes. And that’s exactly true of Above the Snow. With three difficulty levels, you can choose to make the experience more or less punishing, but even so, Above the Snow isn’t about punishing failure. There’s even a tooltip that pops up explaining that most holes can be dug out of. Screenshot: Above the Snow Of course, with less pressure comes lower stakes. Lower stakes aren’t bad by themselves, but there should be something else that drives interest. What was left is its narrative-heavy approach and its game mechanics—neither of which held my interest. The story isn’t bad on the surface, but it felt too much like a never-ending tutorial. On one hand, that’s excellent: like most management games, Above the Snow has a complicated UI, a chunk of mechanics to learn, and different resources to, you know, manage. The story eases you through this, telling you what to do and when. That doesn’t mean you don’t have the option to pursue other tasks or goals, but it still makes the game feel like a more on-rails experience than I’m used to for a management sim. If you’re someone who doesn’t like resource management games because you get the feeling that there are too many levels and switches to learn to flip, Above the Snow is a great way to ease yourself into the genre. The story does have a whole range of interesting characters that show up as you accomplish tasks and complete chapters. Not only do these characters have their own personalities, but they also have their own stats that make them better suited for some tasks than others. But since there is little obligation to min/max with how forgiving Above the Snow can be, it often doesn’t hurt to use a less-than-optimal character for a specific task. Screenshot: Above the Snow As with most resource management games, your goal is to keep everything running smoothly and, ideally, make your guests happy. There are a few gauges you have to keep an eye on as you renovate your winter lodge. It has to be a video game trope at this point, but you get the chance to renovate a lodge that has fallen into disrepair, unlocking rooms and more of the surrounding grounds as you seek to expand amenities and services, all in support of alpinists hoping to explore the surrounding mountains. That means they have to have enough entertainment, food, and places to sleep—among other needs. They also need access to those mountains, meaning you need to set up trails and other access points like ski lifts. Sometimes Above the Snow can feel more like The Sims than a resource management game as you deal with guest problems that never feel too pressing, even when you have to mount the occasional rescue to save stranded mountaineers. Most resource management games live and die by their UI, and I had a serious love/hate relationship with Above the Snow’s UI. On one hand, it’s crisp, clean, and very attractive. It matches the game’s hand-drawn aesthetic and is organized in a logical way. On the other hand, it’s clunky and buggy. Even if the UI is logically organized, it’s still awfully complicated, requiring users to make multiple menu clicks just to assign characters to simple tasks. There are other UI quirks, too. For example, if you’re on a map and want to transition to another map view, you have to manually close whatever window you have open first, instead of it auto-closing. Screenshot: Above the Snow Perhaps I’d be complaining if you could change the view without closing the window, but it feels tedious here. There are also alert pop-ups, but you have to search for the problem yourself; clicking on the notification doesn’t bring you to the issue it's warning you about. I even ran into a few UI bugs that blocked me from being able to access options to progress the story, requiring me to figure out some workarounds. If you like the idea of a resource management game that isn’t too punishing but want to ditch the story, you can play Endless Mode. The whole idea behind this mode is to focus purely on building the best winter vacation resort you can. You start with three random characters with their own stats, and each time you have a reputation increase, you’re given a new crew member. While Endless Mode doesn’t fix the problems with the clunky UI, I actually preferred it over the story-driven campaign—but only just. I really wanted to like Above the Snow more, but it didn’t quite click with me, and I’m still torn. I did love the cozy aspect, but it feels like a lot of the resource management stuff is a bit silly when it’s hard to have true scarcity unless you’re making absolutely terrible decisions. Above the Snow has some great ideas going for it, but when you take away everything that makes it unique, you’re left with a resource management game that is a bit mediocre, and even a little boring.