Skate Story is two very different things simultaneously. On the one hand, it’s a visceral take on skateboarding, providing a tight, fast, ground-level view as you brute-force your way through tricks and combos. But it’s also a surrealist trip through the underworld where you control a skateboarding demon who faces off against the devil. Think […]
It may be hard to believe now, but the App Store was once a thriving place for inventive indie games. The ubiquity of the iPhone coupled with the relative ease of development for the platform meant that smaller studios were able to get their games in front of huge audiences, leading to a great time […]
Horses has become the current face of the fight against video game censorship and what gets to be art. After getting banned from Steam and the Epic Game Store, the narrative horror game has become a bestseller on GOG.com, and has brought gamers of all stripes together in support of it. But as a game, […]
When Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is good, it’s good. The latest in Nintendo’s sci-fi exploration franchise, and the first since Metroid Dread in 2021, Beyond captures the moody sense of isolation and discovery that has been so core to Metroid since it debuted in 1986. Those quiet moments truly make you feel all alone on […]
Have you ever looked at The Washington Post and thought, “Why is a billionaire allowed to use his massive wealth to influence and punish editorial decisions at one of the nation’s premier newspapers?” and / or “I wonder if I could do that?” Well, News Tower can help you answer at least one of those […]
It took me a long time to become even halfway decent at Forestrike. The martial arts action game, from Olija developer Skeleton Crew, has a unique twist in that it lets you see what will happen in most battles and then practice your strategy accordingly. It turns the act of combat into a type of […]
Hear me out: Kirby Air Riders isn’t a racing game, it’s an art tool with a racing game tacked on. The game, out now for the Nintendo Switch 2, is the follow-up to the quirky Kirby-flavored kart racer released in 2003 on the GameCube. It features Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai’s round, pink, utterly charming […]
In one particularly memorable sequence in Demonschool – the new tactical RPG from Necrosoft that, after a few hiccups, releases on November 19th – I throw a doll at a zombie’s head, dispatch it with a roundhouse kick to the jowls as I watch my friends sweep demons off the floor in vortices of blood, […]
I remember being blown away by the 2024 reveal trailer for Possessor(s), the new game from Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine. The trailer features a striking art design, where an animated 2D character explores and fights in side-scrolling environments with gorgeous 3D backgrounds, and it’s all set to moody, powerful music. The final game, […]
With Tetris Effect, designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi and his team at Enhance, Inc. managed to make something old feel new. There are few things as well defined in video games as the falling blocks of Tetris, and yet with the studio’s trademark immersive sound and visual design, the game was transformed into something else, with every […]