REVIEW: Glyph on PC (Steam)

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

Back in the mid 1980s a game called Marble Madness was released, you controlled a marble through an isometric course. It was pretty unique. Fast forward nearly 40 years and you have Glyph, a beautiful 3D platform game whereby you control a ball, or to be more precise a mechanical scarab, as you make your way through a course and try not to die. Clearly this game pays homage to the great Marble Madness and similar games of that time. But it does so in a truly up to date manner, plus it throws in a load of unique new abilities.

"A mechanical monster has devastated the nation and poisoned the land.

In Glyph, you snatch a fractured civilization from the jaws of doom after runaway technology has destroyed everything.

But safe ground is rare in this dying world.

The desert sands are toxic and destruction has left few places to rest...

So the last shred of hope is for you to collect the resources that will restore life to your home."

That is your basic story.

With over 80 courses to complete, lots of collectables, and insane jumps and manoeuvres to make, Glyph is instantly going to appeal to speed runner gamers, as well as fans of precise 3D platform games. You can dive, climb, roll, twist, crash, edge, skid, glide, sneak, scale, and corkscrew your way to success.

With a beautiful soundtrack and glorious locations to play, the game does feel pretty special. And with any game whereby precision is needed, you will be shouting at the screen one moment, and then revelling in your greatness the next, as you finally complete the level you have been stuck on.

Starting out as a VR game, and then finding its feet as a Nintendo Switch game, the game is now on Steam, so the question remains, is the game any good?

The Good

Firstly the game looks great, the soundtrack is awesome, the levels are well thought out, and there are always multiple ways to complete a level, add in time trial events and boss fights and the game does have all the ingredients to keep you coming back, and since you can come back to a hard level any time you like, you may find yourself waiting until you have really grasped the game mechanics before going back and mastering that tough level you struggled on before.

The Bad

I used the mouse and keyboard to play, and I have to say I HATED playing it in this way, no matter how much I fiddled with the camera sensitivity, I just couldn't quite get it to a level whereby I felt comfortable playing like this. Don't get me wrong, I still played the game and enjoyed it, but this is a console game ported to a PC, and playing with a mouse and keyboard just feels awkward, I tried it with a controller and it played much better. But the camera system to me just doesn't quite work.

Overall

This is one of those games whereby the more you play it, the more you get used to its flaws and eventually stop noticing them. The game is beautiful but tough, not as tough as the Switch version I hear, and the learning curve has been improved for the PC release.

If you like precision, ball rolling platformers, then this is probably the best of its genre out there right now.

The game is tough but fair, and I score Glyph a fair 7/10

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

REVIEW: The Long Gate - Nintendo Switch

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

The Long Gate is an exploration game, whereby you solve puzzles to progress. Nice and simple right? Not quite, this is a challenging game.

The game itself lets you play how you want, there is no fixed order for the puzzles, for example you do not need to complete one to get to the next, so you really can choose which puzzles you want to take on and in which order, if one is too hard, come back to it later. And more than that the puzzles do not have a one solution outcome, many puzzles have multiples way to be solved.

There are three classes of puzzle, Digital, Analog and Quantum, there are helpful hints if you get stuck. All circuit board based. So basically, you need to solve a puzzle to get power from one part to another.

Apparently, the puzzles are based on real world technologies, and everything is very accurate, we know this as everything has been verified by D-Wave Systems, the world's first commercial quantum computer company.

Although the puzzles are tricky, you do not necessarily need a background in the STEM fields, but if you do, then you might find things even more enjoyable.

Along with an original soundtrack by Nick Newman, you will find yourself exploring beautiful ancient caverns, and glorious scenes of nature.

As you solve the puzzles you will solve the mystery of what happens to the people who created them.

With all that said, is the game any good?

The Good

The soundtrack is wonderful, the puzzles although very challenging are well thought out.

The Bad

Performance on the Switch is poor, it really should be better, but this game has been ported from the PC, and such it is a PC game, and you should probably go play it on a PC instead of the Switch. There is also a lot of assumption by the game makers, they assume too much of the player, and I fear that younger gamers, or people just trying this game out might be disappointed by the lack of help the game gives you at the start.

Overall

Good game, but not on the Nintendo Switch, such a shame as the concept is good, but needs tweaking, especially in the performance department. If you like hard, logic-based puzzle games, then this is for you, but go get it on PC instead.

I Score The Long Gate - Nintendo Switch as sad 5/10

 

Patron Release Trailer

Overseer Games have finally released a full trailer for their "survival city builder" game.

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Patron is a survival city builder with a unique social dynamics system. Gather and produce resources, build your fledgling village into a prosperous city and navigate the intricate social tensions before they reach boiling point.

Key features:

A survival city builder with a unique social dynamics system

Gather and produce resources

Establish sustainable production chains

Build your fledgling village into a prosperous city as you construct and upgrade buildings

Manage your people and steer your citizens towards needed professions

Balance social issues: Class strife, Immigration, Religion, Health, Safety, Loyalty...

Plan growth through an extensive Research Tree and unlock technology, policies and upgrades

Plan production and overseas trade to support your economy through difficult times

Genre: Survival city builder

Platform: PC Windows

Release data: 10th August

Developer: Overseer Games

For more information check out https://www.patronnewworld.com

and Wishlist the game on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1538570/Patron/

REVIEW: The Innsmouth Case on Nintendo Switch

Review by GamingCouchPotato Staff

In 2021 you don't really get many text-based adventure games, especially not on a console like the Nintendo Switch, but with The Innsmouth Case that is exactly what you are getting. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, The Innsmouth Case is a horror/comedy adventure.

The gameplay itself is literally reading and following a book on screen, there are 35 chapters, and 27 different endings, so for those of you old enough, this is basically the same as those old 'choose your own adventure' books, where you would skip back and forth to different pages to follow the story, dependent on the choices you make.

On a console though, there is no cheating.

Here is a brief breakdown of the story:

"A desperate mother, a missing girl and a mystical place - a case could hardly be more challenging. To solve the enigmatic disappearance of little Tabitha Marsh, however, the toughest and cleverest detective of all is wanted... but he does not have the time - and so the job goes to you. This mysterious assignment takes you to the remote fishing village of Innsmouth, where nothing is what it seems…

Save the girl, solve the case, survive Innsmouth!"

As you play you will be given options, so for example, on the top half of the page might be an image of something, you are then asked a question about the image, and you will select an option from beneath, each time you choose such an option the story branches, meaning that each play through will be different.

You can even see one of the endings of the game within the first few minutes of the game, if you choose to simply decline to take on the job.

You will find yourself heading down a few dead ends as you play, but it is easy enough to retrace your steps, or use the chapter selection option, to allow you to get back to where you need to be, so you can choose a different story path to take. Every decision you make, really does affect the story.

Although the game is horror based, it does have a lot of humour, and the writing is well done throughout, there are a few grammatical errors here and there, the odd typo, but nothing that is too distracting.

The Good

For what is essentially a book, the graphics are very nice, there are some good animations, and the game will have you coming back to try new paths to find out the different endings. It is a well written book.

The Bad

For a console that is predominantly aimed towards the younger gamer, I am unsure that anyone under 30 will really want to read a game like this, on the big screen there is no chance, on the hand held I am not so sure.

Overall

If you enjoy visual novels, choose your own adventure type books/games, then you will enjoy this.  If you are a newbie to this genre, then perhaps this is not the game for you.

I score The Innsmouth Case on Nintendo Switch a fair 7/10

REVIEW: King of Seas - Xbox One

Review by Jon Donnis

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a preview copy of King of Seas for PC last year, and I enjoyed what little I did get to play, so fast forward to now, and we have the full console release, so I was interested to see how the game had progressed, and if it fit well on consoles.

Let's remind ourselves of the story. In King of Seas, you find yourself in a time of pirates, sea battles, treasure, Islands and even sea monsters.

Your father has been killed, and you have decided to avenge that death by fighting your way from the bottom of the pirating world, trying to reach the very top and becoming The King of the Pirates! (I have not changed my opinion on this one point, The King of the Pirates is an infinitely better name for this game than King of Seas, which not only seems to be grammatically incorrect, but does little to explain what the game actually is.)

Once you get into the actual game you will find yourself with a basic ship, to start your adventure you will complete tasks, that might be to accompany another ship and to keep it safe, or perhaps to just got out and attack other ships and steal their resources. Of course, there are things that will get in your way, whether that is much bigger and more powerful ships, changing weather conditions, or a sea monster trying to sink you. 

As you progress you will find new places to trade, upgrade your ship, you might even stop by a seemingly empty island and find yourself some treasure. Basically, there is plenty to do whether you want to follow the missions strictly, or just sail about attacking people and looking for treasure. 

There are different ships to own, different weapons and upgrades, as well as skills to help you along the way.

The graphics are simple but detailed, the sounds are perfectly fine, and control of the ship is intuitive.

The Good

The game plays well on Xbox, no complaint there, you will soon get used to the controls, the graphics are detailed, the sound effects are decent. 

The Bad

Going from playing this game on a PC screen to a large TV one major issue I have noticed is that the writing on the screen, in menus etc, is rather small. In general people play consoles games while sat on a sofa, they are not 5 inches from the TV like you are when you play PC games, unfortunately this is a common problem when porting a game from PC to console, the game developers never consider the different way gamers will play games on different formats. 

Overall

This is a fun game, I enjoyed the PC preview I played a while back, and I am enjoying the Xbox release too. There is enough depth to the game that will keep you coming back. As I mentioned earlier, my only real complaint is the small writing, I really do hate getting up and moving closer to the TV to read something, I am not getting any younger.

Also worth noting that the Xbox release allows you to download a free trial before you decide whether to buy it or not, so you have nothing to lose. Get it now!

I score King of Seas on Xbox One a solid 7/10

Review By Jon Donnis

Out Now - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/king-of-seas/9pm0r43hpss7