Yearly Archives: 2025

Lumines Arise is the last of the loose trilogy of Synaesthesia Engine games from Enhance & Monstars, following Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect, both being Tetsuya Mizuguchi jams. The concept might be familiar to you, first appearing as a PSP launch title and with a subsequent sequel on the same […]

Lumines Arise – PS5 Review

November 29, 2025 in PS5 / PSVR / Reviews tagged enhance / lumines arise / mizuguchi / monstars / synaesthesia by Ian

Schildmaid MX is the latest shoot ’em up from our prolific publishing pals Eastasiasoft and it comes to PSN a couple of years after its initial PC release. And this is quite an unusual take on the genre as while it does look like your standard low-budget horizontally-scrolling shooter, there are […]

Schildmaid MX – PS5 Review

November 26, 2025 in PS5 tagged eastasiasoft / horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up / schildmaiden mx by Richie

I can see the appeal of truck sims. There’s a meditative quality to long drives through a gorgeous landscape, all while keeping an eye on your precious cargo. Truck Driver: The Dutch Connection attempts to coalesce the mercenary jobs into a cohesive narrative. That largely succeeds but the act of […]

Truck Driver: The Dutch Connection – PS5 Review

November 25, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged delivery / dutch / kyodai / precious cargo / schipol / simulator / soedesco pilsen / trailer / trucking / tulips / windmills by Mike

Sektori is a twin-stick shoot ’em up which comes to us from solo developer Kimmo Lahtinen. That name might not be familiar to everyone but if we tell you that Kimmo was one of the original founders of Housemarque, best known for Returnal but also responsible for the PS4’s best game, Returnal, […]

Sektori – PS5 Review

November 24, 2025 in PS5 by Richie

This reviewer’s kid used to love this book by a writer called Julia Donaldson called What The Ladybird Heard, most of the fun of reading as a parent being really enthusiastic doing the animal noises. If you read a book to your kid in excess of twenty times, you make […]

Cat God Ranch – PS5 Review

November 22, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged bafflement / cat god / China / crazy potato by Ian

Of all the things I expected to review this year, an interactive musical was not on my bingo card. Coming from small Dutch studio, Bonte Avond this charming tale arrives on console almost two years after the PC release. Once Upon a Jester might not resonate with everyone, but I […]

Once Upon a Jester – PS5 Review

November 22, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged bonte avonde / diamond heist / dutch / friendship / improv / musical / once upon a jester / quick time events / songs / story-driven / Theatre by Mike

When it comes to shoot ’em series, there are few as legendary as R-Type. Sure, Space Invaders was the OG (but as a series, most of the games are pretty dull – although we’d kill for a PSN remake of Infinity Gene) and the Galaga, 194x and Gradius franchises took the genre to new heights but, if […]

R-Type Delta HD Boosted – PS5 Review

November 20, 2025 in PS5 tagged 1998 / horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up / port / r-type delta by Richie

Hidden Cats in Rio de Janeiro is the latest from Silesia Games and in this case, Nukearts, they of the last but one hidden cat game we reviewed, that being in Tokyo. You know the drill by now. Look at images, find the cats. It does away with the largely […]

Hidden Cats in Rio de Janeiro – PS5 Review

November 16, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged hidden cats / joinville sc / nukearts / rio / samba / silesia / wout van aert by Ian

Sometimes a small package can hold some interesting ideas. Twins of the Sun attempts to pack environmental variety in their simple brawler. Commando Panda have at least tried to keep a short adventure relatively fresh but I find the basic combat a little too loose and not especially satisfying. The […]

Twins of the Sun – PS5 Review

November 16, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged commando panda / jungle / local co-op / mines / twin-stick brawler / twins of the sun / village / wave-based survival by Mike

Instruments of Destruction is quite the nostalgia trip. Gamers of a similar vintage to us will surely recognise a little shared DNA with Rare’s 1997 N64 game Blast Corps. In that you drive various vehicles at buildings with the aim of affecting their integrity sufficiently that they fall down. Or […]

Instruments of Destruction – PS5 Review

November 16, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged blast corps / now you're trying to impress me / radian games / secret mode / time to get moving by Ian

We’ve been playing Halls of Torment pretty solidly since we reviewed it last month and those German devs, Chasing Carrots, certainly did deliver an enjoyment and addictive game but one that’s quite the time sink. We’ve put in countless hours already and so we’re not all that convinced there needs to be […]

Halls of Torment: Boglands DLC – PS5 Review

November 10, 2025 in PS5 tagged auto / auto-battler / boglands / chasing carrots / dlc / halls of torment / rogue-lite / survivors-like by Richie

Another day, another nautical game to sail the seas on. Republic of Pirates aims to give your strategic and city-building sea legs a stretch. Crazy Goat Games have done a serviceable job but it doesn’t quite reach great depths. There’s a degree of polish and some lovely touches that give […]

Republic of Pirates – PS5 Review

November 6, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged boat combat / city builder / crazy goat games / diplomacy / plunder / republic of pirates / revenge / strategy / trade by Mike