REVIEW: The Uncertain: Light At The End on PC (Steam)

Review By Jon Donnis

The Uncertain: Light At The End is a 3rd person adventure game, but more in the mold of Life is Strange than say Tomb Raider.

Officially this game is the second of a 3-part series, but from what I understand this game has it's own story and as such you don't need to have played the previous game to know what's going on. So, what is going on? Well you find yourself in a post-apocalyptic world, (don't you always?), the world is seemingly over run with advanced robots who apparently don't like humans.

You play as a young woman called Emily, part of a group of survivors, and you take part in missions which range from fixing things around the safe house, to full on scavenger missions. As I mentioned earlier although this is 3rd person, you don't really have as much freedom as you perhaps would think you would, this is a linear game, so you can't just go where you want. Which is a shame as some of the backgrounds and areas look really pretty. Now there are some graphical issues, but keep in mind this is an Indie game with a limited budget, and the game makers are constantly pushing out updates and improving things.

You will probably complete the game in 5-6 hours, and as you play you will soon realise that the various environments you find yourself in are varied, and the tasks you need to do are also as varied, you will need to solve puzzles as you play, and these are no easy puzzles, so you will need to use your brains, however it does give you the option to just skip them.

You won't really need to worry about fighting the enemy, the only interactions you will have with the evil robots might be a quick time event, which may come from a choice you make in the game, one of the first is whether or not you go back for your partner, or flee. If you go back for him, you will have a quick-time event, press the right button and you will take out the robot. Other than that, most interactions will have you trying to avoid being seen, this comes in the way of timing your movements to avoid cameras, robots and so on. If you do get caught, you get to try again.

The game does feel short, and you are left wanting more, but I guess that is why you have chapters. So if you do like this, then you can go get the first chapter.

The Good

Easy to play, easy to get into, some nice tricky puzzles, and decent graphics for an Indie made game.

The Bad

As I said the game is short, and sometimes lacks a bit of a challenge outside of the puzzles.

Overall

I enjoyed the game, it won't set any records or change the world, but it did keep me entertained for a good while.

I score the game 7/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Available on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/925570/The_Uncertain_Light_At_The_End/

REVIEW: SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

In the world of Gaming, you will often hear the word "Timeless", probably an overused word, but today we are going to use the word Timeless once again.

Back in 1999 there was a hand held console called the Neo Geo Pocket Color, more famous in Japan than Europe or America, it was a very successful console, and one of its greatest games was SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium. Back in the 1990s SNK and Capcom were the kings of the beat em up game, fierce rivals too, but eventually they got together and started producing games that used characters from each other's games. SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium was the pinnacle of that.

26 fighters from games like The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Streetfighter 2, and Darkstalkers, all classic games, and finally the best characters from each get to face off.

Various gameplay options include tag teams, fighters queued up, and classic one on one action. Fight through the stages to reach your rival, defeat them and you get to see your characters ending, fail at the end and you see a bad ending. Throw in the usual Survival and Time attack modes as well as some mini games, and you have a pretty complete game.

So far everything sounds great right!? And it is, this is a classic, TIMELESS game, and it will be in another 20 years, but with that there does come an issue, show this game to any kid under 15 and they will say "I am not playing that, it looks crap", as my nephew said, it took me forever to get him to have a go and when he did, he really enjoyed it, but still that problem will persist, so who exactly is this game aimed at? It is clearly being sold to children, but children are spoilt in 2021 with insanely realistic graphics. And although gamers over 40 are a strong market, I have to wonder how many will actually pick this up.

The Good

This was a great game in 1999, and it is a great game now.

The Bad

The very people this game is aimed at won't play it. Simple as that.

Overall

A timeless classic that should be played and enjoyed by all, I just fear that it won't.

I score the game a strong 8/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos - Launch Trailer

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos takes players on a journey across the land of Tasos and into the depths of challenging, procedurally assembled dungeons located throughout the world. Gems earned during dungeon runs can be used to rebuild your home town of Intori, which in turn grants access to upgrades that can improve your warriors as well as unlocking other classes and equipment.

Players can help each other out in co-operative play, either locally or online, but those who take on the challenge will have their experiences tailored to them, with puzzles and challenges scaling depending on the number of players. Each hero can be customised, along with a selection of classes, all of which have their own abilities and benefits in gameplay, and players wanting a taste of the action can try a free demo on Steam and Nintendo Switch right now.

Key Features:

Four-player co-op adventuring: Up to four players can explore the lands of Tasos and tackle the dungeons, assisting and reviving each other to earn victory together

Roguelite dungeon-crawling: Take on procedurally-generated dungeons packed with a variety of monsters, earning gems to spend on upgrades to get further in the next run

Town and class upgrades: Each run in the dungeon earns heroes gems to spend on upgrades, including the facilities in the town, as well as player abilities and stats

Classic gameplay reinvented: This is top-down adventuring brought into the modern day with colourful visuals and a number of options for combat, puzzle-solving, and exploration.

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is available on all platforms for £15.99 / €19.99 / $19.99.

Thunderflash - Launch Trailer

Inspired by nostalgic retro games you know and love, Thunderflash will drop you into the combat zone top-down, and the intensity will never let up. Play a solo mission or with a partner, and choose from bad boy commandos Rock or Stan, and go up against an army of mercenaries, military weapons and more!

The Kashmir is being occupied by a criminal organization known as Bloody Wolf, and your job is to make your country proud by taking them all down. Fight your way through waves of soldiers, explosives, vehicles and drones, and bosses, and collect more powerful weapons.

Show that you have what it takes to be a hardcore warrior!

Release date: 26/02/2021 - 4.99 on All Formats

Features

* Intense top-down war zone action

* Collect powerful weapons

* Single player and two player mode

* Boss rush mode

REVIEW: Xuan-Yuan Sword VII on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis
Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is the latest Action role-playing game from Yooreka Studio, a game plot that is set firmly in Chinese history and mythology set in the Western Han Dynasty.

Your character is called Taishi Zhao. Let's take a look at the official synopsis

In the last of Western Han Dynasty, the powerful prime minister of China superseded his emperor and build a new dynasty called Xin. In this year, words appeared on the boulders, stone cattles appeared in fields, and ancient tombs cracked, tremendous signs appeared, told a time of peace and prosperity will come. A peculiar bamboo slip in the crypt of Marquis of Liu was delivered to Court Astrologer's hand.

Unexpectedly, Taishi Mansion was badly damaged by a bizarre fire that night, and all his family was killed in the fire and the bamboo slip disappeared.

Ten years later, the prosperity mentioned in the prophecy has never come. A decade of war and famine, the people were miserable, and the chaos had spread among the country.

Ok, so Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is an Action RPG, using my preferred third-person perspective to play, this game is story heavy, and that is good if you like to feel emersed in the history of the story that is being told.

Combat seems a bit basic, but for what it is, it is perfectly fine, but you will just find yourself using heavy attack over and over and will win every fight pretty easily. You can also cast some magic spells, but you only really get two spells, so it's pretty basic in that respect. But let us be honest, swinging a sword is always more satisfying. You are also accompanied by your little sister, who has her own powers which you can call upon in times of need, but mostly you will just leave her to do her own thing.

You will come across various puzzles in the game, some easier than others, although once you try for long enough you can just skip them if they are too hard, and it doesn't affect the game as far as I can see. You can upgrade your character as you would expect, better weapons, amulets, the usual stuff. You also have access to the Elysium, a magical plane of existence whereby you can craft things which will really help upgrade your character.

The graphics are stunning and the music is beautiful, and the voice acting, although not in English, just sounded right to me.

The Good

Easy to play, great graphics and music.

The Bad

The combat at times can be a bit unbalanced on a difficulty level, and some of the translation as I read the subtitles is a tad off, but nothing that will really cause more than an eye roll on your behalf.

Overall

A fun game that you will fly through, if you like ARPG and you like Chinese history and mythology, then give this game a look. I am enjoying it so far.

Review by Jon Donnis

REVIEW: GraviFire on Xbox One

Review By Jon Donnis

GraviFire is a logic puzzle game, whereby you have a mixture of gravity, mechanics and those old sliding picture puzzles, all come together to make a very good little game. You control "The Green Fire" who has been abducted by aliens, who force him to solve puzzles, you need to push blocks from one point to another, get all the blocks in the right place and you pass the level, sounds easy right? Wrong! You also have lasers you need to avoid, all the while you have to worry about and control gravity to help you along, suddenly what seemed like a really easy game, needs you to use every braincell you have to figure everything out.

With 50 levels to beat, lovely pixel graphics, and a decent learning curve, this is a very addictive game. Once you get into the flow of things, you will complete it pretty quickly, but that said you might find yourself seeking out help on the "Youtubes!". Check out my gameplay video below, this was recorded live, as I played levels 5 through 10. The rest you can figure out yourself!

The Good

Simple gameplay mechanics, easy to learn and master, logic-based puzzles, cute pixel graphics, and a catchy soundtrack.

The Bad

Nothing really, it's a great game, maybe more levels? Ok I have one complaint, I completed the game, but never got the achievement for level 50. This may be because I used the skip function on a couple of levels.

Overall

If you like simple logic-based puzzle games, then you can go wrong with GraviFire. Excellent game. I score it 9/10

Review by Jon Donnis

GraviFire will be released on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™ and Xbox One on March 3'rd! Price is 4.99 💵 everywhere!

 

REVIEW: Dungeons & Bombs on Xbox One

Review by Jon Donnis

Dungeons & Bombs is billed as a challenging puzzle game, where by you need to save what I can only describe as a princess with a beard. I will avoid any trans jokes here as I don't want to be "cancelled" by the humourless mob.

So, I guess this game tries to be a bit Bomberman and a bit Qbert.  You need to get front point A to point B, reach point B and you save the Princess. You find monsters and traps in your way, and you have a set amount of moves to finish the level. If you encounter a monster you lose a move, if you stand on an active trap, you lose a move. I can see what they are trying to do here, and it is a good idea, the problem is, it doesn't work, like some levels are literally impossible to beat if you follow the rules of the game. 

Now that might sound like a strange thing to say, and it is, because purely by accident, I found a huge bug in the game, a bug that upon quickly checking with others who have played the game have also spotted, and this bug basically lets you finish every level. When you drop a bomb, you have 3 moves until it explodes, as long as you don't walk on a trap or touch an enemy. If the bomb goes off as your move counter reaches zero, you then have a few seconds whereby you can quickly run to the Princess, touch them and you pass the level. You only get a few seconds, but clearly this is cheating, but because some of the levels are simply impossible, you will find yourself doing this just to get past them.

It is such a shame as this could have been a much better game, if they removed the set move amounts and just let it be more of a Bomberman clone.

The Good

There is a cool CRT mode, whereby the screen has an effect like you are playing on an old school TV. The Princess with a Beard also made me laugh.

The Bad

The flawed gameplay and "cheat" that literally everyone will find out, even if by accident.

Overall

I really wanted to like this game, and perhaps the first 7 levels out of a potential 50 did interest me, and I did enjoy them, but the huge bug in the game as well as impossible levels just spoil it.

I score this game 3/10. Hopefully they will release a fix as well as improve the levels.

By Jon Donnis

Dungeons & Bombs will be released on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™ and Xbox One on February 26'th! Price is 4.99 💵 everywhere!

 

REVIEW: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

I thought I was playing Left 4 Dead but no, this is Warhammer: Vermintide 2, a completely different game, with different characters, in a different world! Ok, it's basically Left 4 Dead, in a different world with different characters. So, for people who have no idea what I am on about, let us pretend that we have never played Left 4 Dead, Vermintide 2 is a 4 player, online co-op, FPS, whereby you fight your way through linear levels, fighting hordes of disgusting creatures. You see! Completely different! If first-person, multiplayer, melee combat is you thing, then you will love this.

As I mentioned this is an online game, I think there might be a way to play this single player with AI controlled friends, but I couldn't figure that out, so don't take my word on it.

You can choose between 5 characters, each character has various weapons to upgrade, abilities to masters and so on. As you win battles you win loot boxes with better weapons, and your character level goes up, it is all standard fare.

This is a bloody game, so not for the squeamish, you will swing an axe and destroy your enemies face, so be prepared for that. With that said, there isn't much skill to this game, it is simple, hack-n-slash gameplay, and if you are coordinating with your friends as you play, everything is very straight forward, that does not mean it isn't fun or satisfying, because it is, it is incredibly satisfying if slicing arms, and decapitating weird creatures is your thing. There are also ranged weapons you can use, which in many ways end up being much more effective, that may be a Blunderbuss gun, or a bow and arrow.

Each level will take roughly 25-35 minutes to complete, the enemies spawn in different locations, so if you replay a level it is never exactly the same. Different levels will need you to do different things, one level will have you escorting a cart through a darkened mine, another level might be more of a "get from point A to point B" type affair. There is simply a lot to do as well as a lot to upgrade on your characters.

The Good

This is a fun game, the characters are varied enough that there really is a difference depending which one you choose, the weapons are varied, and when you find one you like it really will make a difference. The graphics are awesome, and the audio, everything from the music to the banter is all top notch.

The Bad

The in-game menus are rubbish, waste of time. And there are huge issues with the multiplayer, players will get disconnected, if the person who created the party disconnects you lose all progress. All in all, it spoils the game. I think if there is a single player mode (which I can't find) then that is what I would prefer, just having AI controlled friends on mission would play better.

Overall

I enjoyed the game, but this really needs 4 people who all know each other, and who have great internet connections, then you can get the best out of the game, without that the game feels a let-down at time and frustrations will creep in.

With that said, I see that it is also available on Xbox Game Pass, so I might download it there and see if it plays better on console.

For the PC version however, I score this 7/10 - Fun game, but let down by poor menus and poor multiplayer.

Out now on PC (Steam) and Consoles. (Free as part of Xbox Game Pass)

Review By Jon Donnis

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... The Barren Temple Gameplay

 

Pre-Order at - https://amzn.to/3jIHevr​

After being hidden by a sandstorm, the entrance to the Barren Temple has finally been revealed. Follow the Young Protagonist, who must navigate ancient puzzles, defeat Shades, and confront mysterious, sentient cubes in this extended gameplay look. 

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, the highly anticipated prequel to the breakout hit, NieR:Automata, and upgrade of the legendary action-RPG, NieR Replicant​, will launch for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X, and PC (Steam) on April 23, 2021.

Active Neurons 3 - Wonders of the World

 
Active Neurons 3 - Wonders Of The World will be released on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™ and Xbox One on February 24’th! Price is 4.99 💵 everywhere!

Active Neurons - Wonders of the World is the third and final installment in the Active Neurons series.

In the game, you have to follow 3 simple steps:
1) Collect energy
2) Charge your brain
3) Explore Wonders of the World

But are these steps that easy? Try it yourself and you will find out everything!
Look for the right way to energy.
Avoid dangerous obstacles.
Teleport from one space to another to get closer to your goal.
Solve tasks on memory, logic and orientation in space to get to the blocked areas.
Destroy, move and combine objects on the levels to get to energy sources.

Main Features:
- A lot of levels;
- 20 types of unique mechanics;
- Ability to combine mechanics;
- Nice minimalistic style with beautiful graphic effects;
- Pleasant musical and audio accompaniment, improving immersion in the gameplay.

UltraGoodness 2 - Launch Trailer

UltraGoodness 2 is a bloody mess of dynamic and fun action, about the struggle between Good and Evil in the world. Dark Forces are ready to be torn to pieces in this bloody action game, but now it’s blended with the time manipulation, and availability of permanent companion cat.

Kill enemies and maneuver through a hurricane of fireballs! Can you take on gruesome enemy hordes, deadly traps and challenging bosses?

UltraGoodness is about having fun, so turn off your brain and show ‘em your rage!

Features:

Battle between Good and Evil

Fast-paced shooting action gameplay

Special time-motion mechanic

Fluffy white cat companion with powerful upgrades

Splatter blood all over the levels

UltraGoodness 2 will be priced for 4.99 $ / € for all platforms, and it will launch on:

SONY America: February 9th

SONY Europe: February 10th

XBOX: February 10th

Nintendo Switch (NA & EU): February 12th

* PS4 and PS5 version will be cross-buy.

REVIEW: Eternal Hope on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Eternal Hope is a 2D puzzle platform game, you play as a young lonely boy called Ti'bi, you have lost the love of your life, a girl called Hope, who seemingly dies during a storm after she is stuck under a fallen tree and then falls to her death, and you are about to undertake a journey that will hopefully bring back your girlfriend. 

While grieving for Hope, The Keeper of Souls appears and he tells you that his job is to collect souls, but he has become weak, and Hope's soul has shattered into fragments, you then make what I assume is a deal with the devil and agree to help him by collecting various souls and fragments, which in turn will give him his strength back, and in return he will bring Hope back into the land of the living.

The Keeper of Souls gives you some powers, and you now have the ability to briefly swap into the land of the shadow realm for 10 seconds at a time. You can do this to pass areas un-passable in the real world, to use harmless creatures to help you get to hard-to-reach places, or to solve a puzzles.

There are no enemies to fight as such, just running from boulders, or escaping from situations.

If you have played Limbo or Inside then this game will feel very familiar.

The Good

Beautiful graphics, enjoyable story-line, and great soundtrack.

The Bad

The controls are just not sharp enough, I played using a Xbox Controller, and really this game should be geared towards people using game-pads, but most of the mistakes i made while playing were due to the controls, and then if you do die because of a missed jump, you then have to wait what seems like forever for it to reload to try again. Now realistically this loading time is no more than 10 seconds, but in 2021 this feels like an eternity, especially when you have a feeling that your failure in the game was not really your fault. Of course as you play you will get used to the lack of sharpness and adjust, but it really is something that can and should be fixed. The game is also a little short, and you will finish it within a few hours.

Overall

Despite my gripes over the controls, I really did enjoy the game, it is beautiful to play, and the story is lovely.

I score Eternal Hope and strong 8/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Available on Steam now - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1162280/Eternal_Hope/

Interview with Charles Yu, CEO of VoxPop Games, Inc.

Pax East 2020

What can people expect from VoxPop Games? 

VoxPop is a profit-sharing game distribution model. When people help a sale happen, whether through seeding or recommendations, they get a percentage of that game’s price tag as credit (which can then be cashed out). This percentage is set by the developer, and specific percentages can even be assigned to specific users.

The core idea is that indie devs don’t have the money up-front to pay for advertising. So instead, they can use this revenue-split system to drive word-of-mouth marketing. Meanwhile influencers like YouTubers and Streamers will be able to plug games the way they would a Ko-Fi or Patreon and get the share they deserve.

How did VoxPop Games Start? 

I had always wanted to be an independent game designer. I had this image in my head of indie devs as auteurs with full creative control of their projects. Throughout High School and College I was putting games on Newgrounds, then the App Store, then Itch. I didn’t really sell much, but at the time, I’d never thought too much of it. I’d assumed that as soon as I had my degree I’d have a better idea how to make a living as an indie dev. Then, in my senior year as part of a lecture one of my professors told us that in the 5 years leading up to his professorship, he’d only made $15,000 as an independent developer. This didn’t bode well for my dreams.

I decided to pivot to starting a business, and I got a job at a VC Firm to help me better understand the fundraising process for entrepreneurs. The firm I was at happened to specialize in Blockchain investment, and for the first time I was seeing all these new Blockchain projects use user incentives to drive everything from processing to marketing. Working there gave me the idea to use the same tech to rescue the independent market.

This was over a year ago, and we’ve pivoted a lot since. Most importantly, we’ve totally dropped Blockchains from any and all aspects of the platform. But the broader idea of using profit-sharing to connect developers and influencers together remained. I believe this is the best way to stabilize the indie market. Naturally, we can’t promise everybody’s going to be rich, nor that every single game will be a success. But we DO want to give every developer out there the best chance possible to actually be able to make a living making games.

What kind of indie games does VoxPop Games have? 

All kinds! We don’t believe it's our job to gate-keep what is and isn’t an “indie game.”

That being said, the smaller and min-budget the team, the more they stand to benefit from the profit-share model over traditional advertising. On our platform, the revenue-split always offers a path to discoverability, and the more developers are able to leverage the profit sharing to approach influencers, the more they will ultimately stand to benefit from us. Therefore, our unofficial target demographic are what we call “garage devs,” teams that are typically less than 4 people, and who don’t have much in the way of marketing budget.

What is something VoxPop Games is looking to do in 2021 After our official launch on 1/21/21, and after we’ve finished patching the inevitable flood of bug reports that always comes with it, we plan to tackle crowdfunding and internal development. We have all sorts of ideas about how our profit-sharing, P2P model can tie into these verticals, but would prefer not to explain too in-depth in what’s supposed to be an overview.

www.voxpopgames.net

About VoxPop Games, Inc.

VoxPop Games, Inc. is an American based profit sharing, peer-to-peer, game distribution, and development platform. It has roots in its early inceptions in December of 2018 and was formally incorporated in March of 2020 as a new client gaming platform for small-scale independent game developers.

VoxPop Games was founded by Charles Yu and Marc Anthony Rodriguez and operates out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

The company's peer-to-peer distribution platform is designed to help independent developers to drive additional indie game sales by sharing a percentage of initial sales to those who recommended the games, namely, VoxPop Platform users, Streamers, Let’s Players and video content creators.

The client platform went ONLINE on May 5th, 2020, in Closed Beta form, and Open Beta on July 31st, 2020, and is now posed to host an amazing new roster of Exclusive and "Made For" VoxPop titles, in the Full Client 2.0 - January 21st, 2021

The client is also a hybrid crowdfunding platform designed to allow gamers to invest in upcoming games, via the Platform’s Micro-Investment Engine. A percentage of profit is shared based on the percentage owned by the upcoming game.

VoxPop is the first worldwide games distribution and development platform founded in Brooklyn, New York, and currently boasts a Library roster of over 125 Independent Games, 3 Platform Exclusive titles (that cannot be found on any other Game Distribution Platform), 10 “Made for VoxPop” titles, that are sku variants with exclusive content found only on VoxPop, and several games from prominent publishers, such as Rogue Games and Kwalee.

VoxPop Founders & Core Team

Charles Fang Yu is the founder and CEO. He completed his bachelor's in Computer Science and Game Design from Tisch School of the Arts in New York City, New York. 

Marc Anthony Rodriguez is the co-founder and COO. He received a Bachelor’s of Arts (Philosophy) from Stony Brook University.

In 2020, the company on-boarded two additional key foundational team members, Elisee Augustin, Platform Software Engineer and Holly Welch, Social Media Manager & Content Creator.

VoxPop also has help from Social Media interns as well as other community Mods and Streamer affiliates.

Key Title Listings

Game	Company	Platform Status
Pixel’s Hallow Eve	Salt & Pixel	Exclusive Game
Ultimate Reality	LinkUp Games	Exclusive Game
Miasma Caves	Windy Games	Partner
Guardians of Lodino Forest	Adrien Dittrick	"Made For" Partner
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan	SuperCombo	Publisher Partner
UNDER - Depths of Fear	Rogue Games	Publisher Partner

 

https://linktr.ee/voxpopgames