What is the 'truth', these days? As we slip further into niche news outlets, right wing or liberal, the truth is becoming less about the facts and more about the emotional response. Opinions are being published and weaponised on a daily bas...
Orwell's first season was an unexpected nail-biter and a personal GOTY on release. It wasn't much to look at, but for all the data input and web browsing, it ended up being a fascinating conspiracy thriller, where the line between surveilla...
If science-fiction, good or bad, has taught me anything, it's that you should never work on an Arctic research base. It's too cold, you hate everybody, and there's usually an alien hanging outside with a penchant for human skin. Luckily for...
It's hot in the UK, right now. Damn hot! So even though this is the third wintery game I've played already, right after Kona and The Wild Eight, I'm actually okay with it as long as the illusion keeps me cool. Luckily, Distrust also happens...
Way back in '93 or '94, I saw a pirated version of Reservoir Dogs and fell in love. My mum, not knowing what it was about, bought me a legit copy for my birthday and I screened it for my friends at the party. Needless to say, they were unim...
Earlier this year, I binged my way through Psycho-Pass and quickly declared it the best anime I'd ever seen in over a decade. Granted, it was the only anime I'd watched in over a decade as Paranoia Agent had pushed the bar to unfeasibl...
A lot has changed since I first previewed Kona. Back then, it was called Kona: Day One, much of the play area was cordoned off, and the survival elements just hung there in the background. But even so, it had something special already in pl...
The Wild Eight sounds great on paper: an eight-player co-op survival game with narrative-based progression, set against a bleak yet entirely natural landscape. Even in a fairly oversaturated market, it has the potential to set itself apart ...
Two things I'm very weary of in life: kids and developers mostly remembered for big hits from 25+ years ago. Look, if you've ever played Amy, you'll understand where I'm coming from. Even so, someone thought I was the ideal person to play 2...
[Disclosure: I went to university with The Descendant's lead writer, Giles Armstrong - same film course, same graduating year - though I haven't spoken to him in over a decade. He did not request me to review this game (it was the Swedis...
“Well now everything dies, baby, that’s a fact,” sang Bruce Springsteen on “Atlantic City,” and while everything that dies likely won't come back, save for a zombie apocalypse, I hope you take solace in knowing...
Very little surprised me in 2016, at least not in the way Kathy Rain did. It was an exceptional adventure game, a genuine 9/10, accessible for both new players and veterans alike. Even now, it's my personal GOTY. Sadly, that doesn't transl...
When Cing closed its doors in 2010, it was pretty devastating. It was a great developer, using Nintendo's gimmicks without distracting the player from well-written, heartfelt stories. Its best work will always be the Kyle Hyde mysteries - H...
Growing up in the '80s, nothing scared me more than a nuclear holocaust. When the TV wasn’t creating distractions with a giant talking rat or Saturday morning cartoons, it was reminding us of our mutually assured destruction with Thre...
I used to work in a police station, two to be precise. Nothing special, just simple administrative stuff, but working for the law opened my eyes to one major revelation: police work is boring. Still, that hasn’t stopped me from loving...
The Final Station is a deceptive little game, for all the right reasons. If you're expecting a rogue-like or a fast paced shooter, you'll probably be disappointed by its rigid linearity and survivalist mentality. But fret not, because if yo...
“Lost the plot and for what?” sang Ed Harcourt on “Here Be Monsters,” one of Silent Hill: Downpour’s licensed tracks; a question easily applied to the acerbic state of the series in 2012. Looking back, Downpour...
I love co-op in my video games, especially when it comes to close-knit survival. There’s something exciting about a group of strangers instinctively realising that, despite their differences, they need each other to survive. Left 4 De...
Tactical shooters are, by and large, no-nonsense simulators. Where lives matter with a side order of Freedom Fries. There’s the odd colourful exception in the form of XCOM, but most tend to revel in the jingoistic paranoia of Tom Clan...
Back in 1995 is a bad game made with good intentions; a recreation of classic survival horror and analogue limitations through rose tinted glasses and the haziest of memories. Towards the end, there’s a message from the developer abou...
Every great modern detective has a vehicle that sums them up in a visual nutshell. Morse had the Jag, Columbo had that Peugeot deathtrap, Jack Irish had the Studebaker for a while, and to a lesser extent, the Scooby Gang had the Mystery Mac...
As some of you already know, I almost lost the fire inside. Video games didn’t excite me anymore, and while that was mostly down to their ever-decreasing circles of creativity, I’d also gotten lazy, stuck in my ways. The same th...
Shattered Memories opens with a perfect family moment captured on VHS. A young girl proclaims undying love for her father, before the tape stops, rewinds, and replays the scene again. The repetition continues until that warm feeling in your...
Carl Faubert’s Chevy truck rattles through a raging blizzard, his journey narrated by a Canadian Sam Elliott. I’m at the wheel, but barely in control. Out of the white, another vehicle speeds towards me. We're on a collision cou...
Homecoming was the Hollywood take on Silent Hill. All crisp and clean, with a Jensen Ackles-type in the lead, and a straightforward plot that paid more homage to Dean Koontz’s Phantoms than Koji Suzuki’s Dark Water. What was onc...
