Review By Jon Donnis
I was sent a copy of Castle Pals by Ratalaika Games S.L. to review.
You play as either Kylee or Owen in this simple platform game. With Kylee you jump, punch and kick your way through the levels and with Owen you fly above your enemies. Set in "Castle Pookapick" which is an awesome name for a Castle! The game play is pretty simple. Get from point A in the level to point B. Do it within a certain set time and you earn a gold medal.
Of course it is never just that simple, there are traps to stop you, doors you have to figure out how to open. And of course enemies that want to kill you.
In total there are 40 levels, you will find yourself getting through the first half relatively quickly, but then slowly things get tougher and you suddenly realise that the game is not as easy as you first thought.
For Gamerpoint collectors you will very quickly collect these, which is always satisfying.
The game has a great old school feel, from the retro style graphics to the music.
This is a fun game, it really is as simple as that, a fun easy to enjoy platform game, that relies on game play first. And for a fraction under £5/$5/€5 on all formats you cant really go wrong.
Castle Pals is out now, and I highly recommend it. And I score it a strong 8/10
LONDON, UK (May 28th, 2020)
SQUARE ENIX® debuted new gameplay footage from OUTRIDERS™, the highly anticipated upcoming RPG-Shooter from People Can Fly, the developers of Gears of War: Judgment and BULLETSTORM, and Square Enix External Studios, the minds behind SLEEPING DOGS® and JUST CAUSE®.
Seen through the lens of drop-in co-op, the First City gameplay reveals never-before-seen Pyromancer powers, brand-new, hyper-evolved creatures, information on the OUTRIDERS World Tier system, a look at an immersive new environment and more.
Watch the OUTRIDERS First City Gameplay:
Set in an all-new, dark sci-fi world, OUTRIDERS is a true genre hybrid that combines the depth and story of an RPG and the intensity of third-person shooter combat with awe-inspiring powers. Deep character progression and itemization allow for a wide variety of creative class builds, and evolve People Can Fly’s trademark over-the-top, skill-based gameplay to create a brutal RPG-shooter experience.
“We are making the game we always wanted to play. The team at PCF are all gamers and we love shooters. Shooters are in our DNA and we have been making them for decades. At the same time, we also love RPG’s,” said Bartek Kmita, Creative Director of OUTRIDERS at People Can Fly. “We always wanted to play a deep RPG, with an epic story and the flexibility to create lots of interesting character builds, but we also wanted a skill-based, challenging and intense real-time combat system in our RPG. When the opportunity to create it ourselves came along, it was like a dream come true.”
The OUTRIDERS First City gameplay video is just one of the segments in the OUTRIDERS Broadcast, a new monthly show that will dive deep into the various features of the dark and desperate world of OUTRIDERS. Discover all-new gameplay, environments, character class deep dives, and updates from the team.
OUTRIDERS will release on PlayStation 5®, PlayStation 4®, Xbox Series X, the Xbox One family of devices, and PC in Holiday 2020.
Review by Jon Donnis
Wired Productions sent me a copy of Those Who Remain on Xbox, and I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. After all when a game is described as an Unnervingly-Tense Psychological Adventure-Thriller, I almost see that as a challenge to my manliness! Well not really, but it still intrigued me.
Set in a town called Dormont, the first thing you will realise is that this is a dark game, and by dark, I mean turn all the lights off in the house if you want to be able to see anything in the game. This is a story driven first person game, and it relies on that dark atmosphere to really draw you in, and keep you on the edge of your seat.
You play as Edward, and you will find out pretty quick that he has travelled to Dormont to break up with his girlfriend. The problem is that Dormont is seemingly surrounded by darkness and within the dark, monsters await. And that is the main thrust of the game, you need to stay in the light to survive, as the monsters tend to hate the light, and along the way you need to solve various problems to get you to the next part of the game.
You will switch between realities in some cases and the actions of one reality will affect the other. You will see a ghost or two, and depending on certain choices you make, you will travel down different narratives of the story and have multiple endings depending on your choices.
As I have already mentioned, the game is dark, frustratingly so at times. And there is no handy torch to light the way, at some points you might have a lighter, but most of the time you have to figure out how to turn on static lights to light the way.
The game is pretty straight forward, and as it is story-driven, you wont find yourself hacking and slashing at a monster, instead you need to avoid them. A few hours into the game and I found myself massively stuck, what can I say, a huge monster with a big light for a head was blocking my way, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get past it, I succumbed in the end and asked for some help, and I got past him. This is one thing you may find yourself doing, checking online for walk throughs to help. This may not necessarily be a bad thing for most people, but perhaps if there was an in game hint system, that would be a better option for players, than having to go hunt for help online, which then leaves the temptation of just using a walk through to get you through the entire game.
There is also a problem with the save feature, or lack of a manual one. The game will auto save at certain checkpoints, but if after a rather long bit of play, you die, you find yourself all the way back at the checkpoint, with that frustrated feeling of knowing that you just spent 20 minutes figuring something out, and partly with luck that you now have to repeat it all over. I think a manual save is always a better choice, especially in "safe" game play moments.
The game itself is quite unnerving at times, and although you will probably jump the first time you see a monster in the dark, you soon get used to them and pretty much ignore them.
With that said I did enjoy the game, and did find myself even when stuck, not wanting to give up, but instead trying to figure it out.
So let us summarise.
The Good
Very atmospheric game, really does drag you in to the narrative and keep you on the edge of your seat.
The Bad
Just so damn dark, I know it is the point of the game, but i'm a stickler for being able to see what I am doing. Even turning the brightness up didn't help much. And the game can be frustrating at times.
Overall
This is a decent game, if you like story driven horror games, then you should enjoy this. Obviously not for kids, or those of a weak disposition, but everyone else it will be fine. But be prepared to sit in the dark.
I score the game a solid 7/10 Review by Jon Donnis
Those Who Remain, OUT NOW! on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Hamburg, Germany, May 28, 2020
Attention adventure fans: Daedalic Entertainment has announced the release of Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Anniversary Edition for the current console generation.
From 17 June 2020, the award-winning adventure hit from Hamburg-based adventure game specialist can be played on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
Edna & Harvey: The Breakout - Anniversary Edition promises another crazy adventure, in which protagonist Edna plots her escape from a mental institution with the help of her sage advisor, a plush bunny called Harvey. The route out of incarceration is littered with devious puzzles, a liberal smattering of pop culture references and some truly fun times.
At the original launch in 2008 the adventure received wide acclaim and several awards. The quirkiest of cult adventures set new standards within the genre and is set to captivate a whole new generation of console gamers with its new edition. Existing fans and current adventure gamers will be able to enjoy a classic point-and-click adventure in an all-new guise.
For the anniversary edition, the iconic graphics have been redrawn from scratch and converted to HD without distorting the distinctive art style of the original and its successful sequel “Harvey’s New Eyes”. In addition, improvements to the interface and a control system adapted to consoles were implemented.
Features:
The award-winning story and puzzle design of the original for the first time for console players
20+ hours of adventurous gaming fun
Unique comic style, with beautiful cel-shaded visuals
Many funny characters and exciting dialogues
Switch between original and modern HD graphics at any time
Improved control mechanics and user interface for console
You can find further information at https://www.daedalic.com/edna-anniversary-10th
Leon, Spain - May 26th, 2020
If you discovered an old scary castle, would you try to uncover all of it’s secrets? Well, Kylee and Owen plan to!
One night, Kylee and Owen stumbled upon creepy Castle Pookapick and decide to uncover its secrets! Nothing could possibly go wrong, could it?
Play as two different characters! Punch your way through enemies with Kylee and fly above your enemies while avoiding traps as Owen!
Earn optional gold medals by completing levels from start to finish faster than the posted time for each level. Can you collect them all?
Features:
Guide the Pals through 40 action packed levels!
Smash bad guys with Kylee's powerful attacks!
Float around and explore using Owen's propeller hat!
Battle fearsome bosses!
Cute retro art and music!
Ratalaika Games & Brad Erkkilla are proud to announce that Castle Pals will be making its way onto Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 this week!
Castle Pals will be priced for 4.99$/€ for all platforms.
It will launch on:
PS4 America: May 26th
PS4 Europe: May 27th
Xbox One: May 27th
Nintendo Switch (NA & EU): May 29th
