Culdcept the First (also attributed as Culdcept the First Saturn Tribute) is a very fun game, that does show its age. This is basically a re-issue of the 1997 Sega Saturn game that mashes together deckbuilding (think Magic: The Gathering) and boardgames (such as Monopoly).
With these annual seasonal renewals of the sports season comes the related video games as well, and the question reviewers such as myself always face is this: Is this year’s game worth purchasing one year after the last one? My answer? Yes, absolutely. NBA fans are going to almost certainly enjoy NBA 2K27.
Midnight Moments is a cozy cyberpunk diorama-building game that is stunning. Unlike games that require you to complete quests or take out assailants or even solve challenging puzzles, this one only requires one thing: imagination.
Isle of Reveries is a top down 2D action adventure game that made my nostalgia for old school Zelda games flare up really hard. A good blending of puzzle, exploration, and combat, Isle of Reveries is a wonderful title to experience inside and out.
Let me tell you about this cozy game my daughter and I are playing together called Outbound. Now, I've been following this game from the initial Kickstarter back in April 2025 to its full release in May 2026. The best Mother's Day gift for myself and my first ever collector's edition in a physical copy!
In OVER REQUIEMZ Yuhiru is thrown into the castle of Oz and is immediately accused of trying to assassinate the King and shoved into the dungeon. Not only is she treated like a criminal...
Today we’re looking at what has rapidly become an absolute favorite in the open-world RPG genre for me. An interesting story, memorable NPCs, stunning visuals, and a setting absolutely dripping with flavor, Dread Delusion sets its tone immediately and sticks with it.
...and I have been playing NHL games since. It didn't matter whether it was EA or another game like 2K in the 2000s; I loved hockey games and still do, but is NHL 27 a step in the right direction?
Asdivine Knot is the latest title in the Kemco JRPG library. Following protagonist Verselio, who's on the run from the church that they once served, he'll be accompanied by an odd selection of party members as they all find a reason to band together…
Our story begins in Akihabra, Tokyo Japan. The protagonist Okarin… Or rather Rintaro Okabe, (Voiced by Mamoru Minyano) is a recent high school graduate who rents an apartment with his best friend and resident computer hacker, Itaru ‘Daru’ Hashida (Voiced by Tomokazu Seki) during the summer of 2010.
This is a fun and colorful game that we are previewing here today. Our team consists of myself, Susan N. and Bryan. We so enjoyed playing Astroneer: Glitchwalkers that we just had to put our names in the ring for this one! So, with these words written by the dev team at System Era Softworks, we are previewing the game that is Astroneer, but not Astroneer as you will find out as you read along.
“Whatever we do next I really want it to feel massively connected.
Massively co-operative. Not an MMO, just… everyone on the same team. You
know?”
STARSEEKER: Astroneer Expeditions is just that! Massively co-operative and not an MMO! When you first run the game you are instantly into the tutorial that gives you all you need to proceed onto the station to craft your implements. You'll need to mine, defend yourself (yes, you heard that right!), scan the area, have some fun, go on expeditions, and just be an Astroneer! You also can dress up how you like from the new and fun outfits, color palettes, your body type, and more!
Every Astroneer that starts this game has to go through the tutorial individually where you'll find some things the same from Astroneer the game and other stuff used differently. One of our team, or 'squad' noticed during the tutorial that the compass gave no direction on how to find the resources in that part of the quest he was on. From the start of that tutorial to turning in the resources weren't explained enough either.
The major factor in our experience of the tutorial is the scanner. The quest 'Find something to open the door' offered no encompassing explanation about the scanner in relation to finding that item to open the door. When you hit the 'R' key to pull up the scanner, sure it gives a description of the objects that are scannable, but when you go to interact with the object, you can't open it, collect it, or anything. You have to turn the scanner off to be able to interact with the object. That creates frustration more than smooth integration into the 'training'. It also leaves you open to injury when you are on planet and have 'scanned' a hostile and another hostile (if there are more than one in the area) hits you from another direction. I am NOT fast on the keys, so this part was very frustrating for me as well. And don't get me started on 'Why not use a controller?' as I hear snickering from my two kids in the background! *laughs*
When you get the door open, the next quest is 'Assemble components for your EXO Multi-Tool'. The instructions weren't clear here as well. A little blurb about the EXO Multi-Tool as written in the Astropedia: "Your EXO Multi-Tool can be used to dig up the terrain of the planet. Use it to collect resources, dig tunnels, or carve new paths up mountains." The tutorial doesn't say directly how many pieces you need to collect, but it is listed in the task list in the top right corner of the screen.
However, it does point you to the printer after you have collected the parts, but from there what do we do? I stared at the screen for a full minute before clicking and as I was unsure of doing it right I thought I would see some form of popup that the tool is now in your inventory and ready to use! So many details left out in all instances during this tutorial. When you're in the printer menu, nowhere does it actually say to left-click on the EXO Multi-Tool in the list to print it.
STARSEEKER gives its players a lot of hammers.
After getting your EXO Multi-Tool you are sent to get resources. Now here we had the ultimate fun of the original Astroneer. Digging for resources! Even carving a path down the ledge to get to the floor of the area to hunt down those resources. However, that compass up top? How are we to use it? In the below screenshot I took during my tutorial I see the resource I'm
looking for with the scanner, but I didn't see any mention of the
compass at the top of the screen pointing out the resource and how far
it is to the quartz. And the map? Did you know you can't open the map when you're scanning? That was major frustrating to say the least! After you’ve collected those resources, again it isn’t pointed out where to drop them off. I, personally, would have loved a bouncing arrow above the machine that accepts those resources. Everything is so shiny that the machine seems to blend in with all the other objects on that platform.
On the topic of 'hammers' as stated above by the dev team, your last part of the tutorial before sliding to the launch area is to 'Throw a canister at the Redsuit nearby'. A little teaser here would have been nice with something like 'You'll thank me later', or 'Trust me, you're gonna need something to defend yourself out there!'
Now, on to the station! When you reach the ESS STARSEEKER station you appear in the landing bay player area. Here you find your Stash (which holds a LOT btw), the customize machine so you can fiddle with all your gear and color palettes, and the EXO store. Also note that these machines appear in other locations around the station making it easy to access after expeditions, running around doing tasks, or just for the sheer fun of having a new look for your next quest!
When you walk up to the main platform/floor area of the station you see the big billboards that announce community challenges and players who hit milestones. You're greeted with the first task of meeting up with Muriel who gives you tasks to acclimate you to the station and the things you'll need to use in other tasks given you by three officers: Captain Jupiter, Science Officer Jessandra, and JAM-BX. With these three you gain reputation for rewards, can sell and buy stuff, and complete missions/objectives.
There are two areas for printing and recycling stuff as well as a lot of open space to have that fun I was talking about. You get a lesson about your EXO Multi-Tool that gives you a nice boost, and I don't mean in points.
For your expeditions you access the Launch Terminal. If you've created a team, or squad in the social menu tab, then they will all show up so that when you hit the launch button they all get a notification to press V to ready for launch. It doesn't matter where they are on the station, that notification will show up for them each.
All in all we had great fun on our family night gaming and we are looking forward to more from System Era Softworks! You guys rock! And for all of you still sitting on the fence, go get this game. It's loads and loads of fun!
I am addicted to survival/crafting games and The Last Caretaker falls right into that category. You are a robot known as the last caretaker and you are tasked with 'saving the future of the human race.' Parts of this game remind me of Eden Crafters which I reviewed here, but instead of welcoming humans to the planet you are launching them from this planet.
I am amazed at the level of detail in everything from the junk around the station you start in to all parts of the station and the ship as you work toward getting it powered up for your exploration in the open world. The lighting in the station creates the urgency that is needed to get the power going so you can escape. Oh, and did I mention the wonderful environmental effects that plague or progress you through sections of your mission? And because you are a robot, you also have to keep yourself powered to do all those things needed to survive.
When I first started up the game I thoroughly enjoyed clunking around to equip myself, learn the basics of crafting, finding scrap and junk to make tools and parts needed. Plus the darkness that hid a lot of things you needed until you powered up the area you were in. I got a kick out of carrying a beam and it flopped around making me concentrate to get it placed the correct way to traverse an area. Needless to say it wasn't long enough for my proposed use of it, but awesome in the way of learning the keys to both navigate and rotate it. Oh! You are equipped with a torch that does a decent job of lighting your way.
The tentacles reminded me of the spiders in Empyrion Galactic Survival, but here I had to hit them several times with my repair tool whereas in EGS I had a weapon. In reference to a weapon though, you can craft one a little later in the game. The little robot creatures that spawned once I hit those tentacles attached to various power areas definitely damaged me. You can find the healing stations located in a room in the spawn area, the launch bay, and also the ship. There is also a station to make backups as you progress, and with The Last Caretaker still in early access I suggest you do so as often as you can!
Where you spawn in, your first quest pops up. When completed you can find tons of junk and scraps traversing the corridor to the next area. Upon further exploration, I lucked out in finding a fabricator and a recycler. Hooray! Now I can load up with stuff for my crafting and repairs that I will be doing as I explore the open world. Once I powered and fueled my ship, it was off to the next area to explore, repair, search, and defend myself.
In reference to collecting scrap and recycling it into stuff needed to build and repair items, you will find your power would deplete faster. Needless to say I did a bunch of supply drops on my ship and only went back to top up for the project I was currently repairing or building.
Once I left the launch bay it was open waters from there. Indeed I had some troubles in the game, and since it's still in early access I hope these get ironed out. When I was trying to fuel and power up the ship, my cursor didn't show the flow direction switch when I hovered over both the nozzle for the fuel and the connection for the electricity. It did show up when I had the extender on the electrical cable, but not on the ship connection itself. It kept saying, 'connect to self.' Another problem in the inventory, when I had ten of an item (the batteries where my cursor is in the image below) it only showed the number 1 instead of 10. My character also doesn't seem to have a key for 'crouch' which I found out when I crawled into an air duct and got stuck. Once I stood up at the end of the duct I couldn't get back out!
The Last Caretaker has a lot of things going for it with your own ship equipped with everything needed to help humankind. You'd think because you are a robot that you are too heavy and would sink to the bottom of the ocean. Not so, you have a pressure enhancement that allows you to swim on the surface, midway down, and full bottom dive. The amount of detail in everything down to smallest of monsters that attack you is amazing. I can almost smell the area I am in by the detailed graphics and lighting.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Chanel 37 Ltd. for allowing me early access. With my addiction to this game and others like it I spent a good deal of time doing a thorough test of the game while it's in these early stages, knowing that it's a period where changes often can and do happen. And for you readers and fellow gamers who love survival games, go get this one. Definitely well worth it!
Glitchwalkers is the first DLC to launch for the game Astroneer, an exploration, survival, crafting game set in space. It originally released in 2016 and has vastly improved gameplay from when we sadly rated the game at a six. Since then, there have been numerous additions to the game and many performance improvements that the base game rates much higher. Glitchwalkers is its own beast though.
My family and I embarked on our new journey from our previous game when we went through the base game story. Before finding our space shuttles and fully adjusting to our previous save, we looked at the mission log and found the starting quest for Glitchwalkers. In order to begin the DLC content, you will have to complete the mission called A Core Concept. Once you achieve that, you can go into the mission log and begin your new journey.
A guy named Frank has left you some messages to explain what has been going on. He needs your help and this is where the fun really begins. You have to be on another planet than Sylva (the starter planet) to use a device that Frank sent you. After you follow the instructions, you will be able to go to the new planet. This is the point where my brother and I disconnected in the middle of the cutscene. A point we’ll address a bit later.
The first thing to notice about the new planet is that you lose access to all the research you had unlocked, basically starting you back at the beginning. You will be able to access those after you collect research like you did at the beginning of the base game. Another thing I noticed is that you begin in the Boolean Fields. I was personally amused by this fact, along with some of the quest names.
Another thing to notice are the graphics on this new strange planet. It feels eerie, particularly when you approach the storms. Everything from the ‘normal’ vegetation to the vaults, and to the storms themselves, are beautiful - if not terrifying. Upon entering a storm, an indicator will appear above your head. If it fills up, your systems are hacked and you have no oxygen unless you get out of there. Each storm you collect data from will get you access to the next layer and you will have to pursue a stronger storm.
When you open your research terminal to unlock different tools, you can always tell the objects that have been hacked because the icons will be red in color and it will appear distorted. Should those be insufficient, directly above the research button is a section that normally displays the total bytes needed. If you cannot research it yet, the box will be highlighted in purple and it clearly says 'HACKED'. These are the details that I appreciate in games.
We've had a blast playing Glitchwalkers. Although, there are some things that we each noticed about the game which will hopefully be improved soon. So let's talk about some of the good points and some of the bad points about the DLC.
The Good
Now, when talking about the nitty gritty aspects of Glitchwalkers, there were plenty of things that we enjoyed. First, the idea of walking through a cool portal to start the DLC amused the heck out of me because Portal is a fantastic series of games (even the unofficial games are awesome. Not going to lie…)
Another thing that we enjoyed was the concept of a hacker being the big bad. I can’t recall having a villain in Astroneer before, so this is a great story concept.
Thirdly, the visuals and the hazards keep you on your toes. There were several points where we were innocently walking along and a hazard shot at us. Be careful with these things. Some of them have quite the range and the sound they make scared the heck out of me!
Fourthly, we love the vault mechanics. Having a simple puzzle to solve in order to unlock helpful tools, is fun for a family who enjoys elements like that. They are similar to a 'complete the picture' type of puzzle and when all four of the pieces are placed, it will open. Vaults give useful research and information to help you on your journey. I'd love to have more things like this, personally.
The Bad
There were a few issues that we had during our playthrough of the game. Firstly, the visibility is atrocious at times. The fog was a little too dense to see anything - even with a light on our backs. However, in a recent patch, System Era Networks did mention that the fog around the storm was prohibitively dense and they reduced it by 25%. Additionally, they increased the Alpha Storm Protection so that players can learn the mechanics of the new system more easily.
Again related to the graphics of the game, my brother fell through the world at least once, which was quite aggravating. This occurred on the new planet and while we were relatively close to a storm. While I didn’t fall through the world, the minor bit of lag that I experienced from the camera turning around while inside the storm, pointed my character in the wrong direction and I ended up running off a cliff.
A final issue with the graphics is related to the distance at which you can see. Even modifying the FOV slider, my brother and mother could not see nearly as far. I know that my brother has the same graphics card as I do, so I doubt that is the issue. There is a possibility that even though both of them are using Steam, this might be related to Linux. I’m no expert and not a developer, so I can’t say if that has any impact on their graphics, but I watched as certain areas rendered in a bit closer than expected. Adjusting the graphics to ‘high’ instead of ‘ultra’ seemed to have no real impact either.
Something that doesn't relate to the graphics which could have hindered progression is the fact that while in the multiplayer game, I could not scroll through the text in the mission log. This would have meant that I would miss a bunch of the story as it is told through the mission text. My mom had to read the text out loud so that we knew what was going on. In my single player game, the mission log seems to be working fine. Again, I'm unsure of the cause of this issue. Hopefully, no one else has to deal with that problem because it could set people back.
We'd also like to see an in-game chat for those times when one or a couple of us cannot use the voice chat of Discord while playing the game.
Before getting into my final thoughts on Glitchwalkers, Valerie has some comments of her own.
Valerie's Thoughts: I was the host of our multiplayer game and I still enjoy the puzzles, colorful world, all the buildings, just everything about this game is FUN! I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard over dying in a game than in this one. Some spectacular instances where the hostile plants have created periods of unnatural flight and disappearing acts did leave us scratching our heads until we discovered which plant got us. The graphics are unique to this open world survival game and I just absolutely love it. I am also sure that I sat through until I completed a mission, or many connected missions for over the two hour limit I should be giving myself of not moving to get the blood circulating.
We started Glitchwalkers from our family game save and had a blast with frustrations on doing the first mission of the DLC. When we got to the point where the story tied in, a big frustrating incident greeted us. I was very sad that my family members didn’t get to see the cinematic and were literally disconnected and had to reconnect to our game once the cinematic was finished. It wouldn’t let them back into the game until that was done. I know they’ll play their solo games and see it, but that would have been awesome to experience it all together.
On another note of the above, I didn't realize that a new save was made for the Glitchwalkers DLC. I discovered that when we exited the game for the night, and right there on the screen was a SAVE_2 with what looked like a snowflake icon next to it. So, when we went in on the second night of playing I automatically went to load the SAVE_1 and discovered that was the base game and not the DLC. Loading up the SAVE_2 and poof, there was all our stuff and the terrain of the Glitchwalkers DLC greeted me.
So, onto what I liked about the game besides the above. With all the skills, resources, and tools to build things from the base game, we came out on top for getting our home base set up to proceed through the Glitchwalkers universe. Of course that’s my specialty is setting up and getting things organized so we could produce the vehicles and items needed to complete each mission. I'm also good at setting out to hunt down resources needed and creating a tether trail so we don't die until we can get a portable oxygenator unlocked. All of the research, with the exception of the beginning stuff needed is locked in the research tab/menu. As we progressed, more and more items were available to be unlocked using our accumulation of research points.
Needless to say that we were grateful when the buggy was unlocked so we could go further than the tether lines I had laid down to get to the next mission area.
Another problem we all had was viewing distance. This was my view from our ramp going down into the ground to the open mantle layer. This is an image of my view as host of the game. My son's view is the image above.
Final Thoughts
Glitchwalkers is a fantastic DLC for Astroneer. The family and I had a blast learning new things and exploring different strange areas. Although there were some massive pain points with respect to the graphics and missing a crucial cutscene, it has been a great addition to the game. The story is interesting and rather poignant in real life. The audio is incredibly well done. As you move closer to the storm, you will hear the wind increase its speed and it will amplify in volume. Plus, getting to spend time with friends and family while playing Glitchwalkers is worth it. I missed my galactic purple spacesuit bonhomme, if I’m honest.
Aside from falling through the world and having reduced vision at points, Glitchwalkers is a knock out of the park in terms of the content you receive. If you enjoyed the base game of Astroneer, you’re sure to love Glitchwalkers. Overall, I give this DLC a solid 9 out of 10!
Score: 9 / 10
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Text-to-speech function is limited to 200 characters
Presses the ‘R’ key to land Mika, the main character, in this
wonderful 3D fantasy adventure game by ChiBig Studio. I had been
waiting since March 2023 for this game and Mika and The Witch’s
Mountain finally landed in my lap! Since this lovely relaxing game is
still in Early Access I’ll cover the tonne of fun I had as well as
the little grievances that popped up during gameplay. Yes, I did
finish this game that didn’t overstay its welcome clocking in at five and a bit hours. Yes, you caught me. I love doing achievements, so I wandered a
little to get them! *Laughs*
In this relaxing adventure you play as Mika and your goal is to get back up to the top of The Witch’s Mountain, where you were until recently, to Olagari’s home, the head witch, to apply for apprenticeship with her. Mika wants to be a witch just like her mother and she even has a letter of recommendation!
Unfortunately, Olagari doesn’t accept the letter and shoves Mika
off the mountain. Mika’s broom doesn’t survive the fall so the
first person Mika meets is Allegra who offers to fix her broken broom for an
amount of money. Mika doesn’t have any money and Allegra suggests
she take the open position as a delivery person.
Yay! I get to ride a
broom! Okay, that’s not the main draw of this game for me, but it’s
certainly an awesome plus! This game hits all the boxes for relaxing
in content: to collect items, money to earn, people to meet, places to
discover, and more! The 3D art style in its cartoon-y fashion is soothing and can sometimes feel like you’re
reliving your childhood over again but through a different lens.
On this island is the town of Orilla where the next person you meet is Greff, the owner of the Orilla Town Delivery Company. Abrupt and brusque, he meets all the requirements of an upstanding taskmaster with a few not so nice traits that keeps Mika on her toes to better herself through completing her deliveries with as few bumps and bruises as possible. Those 'bumps & bruises' are getting the package wet, hitting the package, and sometimes a timer which I'll address a little later.
The quest and information screens are like a notebook to keep tabs on Mika's progress. In here you can see your new broom's statistics, your goals, and the extras in your backpack. There are also screens of the delivery card, the map of Mont Gaun that you are given by Greff, and a detailed diagram of a controller with labelled buttons of their corresponding actions. I'm a keyboard and mouse gamer, so I was happy to discover that I can use the WSAD keys, a couple of other keys for turning pages, the Enter key, and mouse to navigate through the game.
There's also tracking of the outfits you can get, broom trails, and tarot cards which was also a plus for me. Oh yes, and chocolate! Well, in game chocolate, but yummy as that's a definite addiction in real life!
So I had mentioned collectibles and here you can see a treasure to collect and what you can purchase in the store. It is accessed here at this monument that you can see in the screenshot on the right. There are charms and outfits you can get too.
Remember I said I would get to my grievances later? Well, here they are. Because I also wear one of the editor hats, I found some text that didn't fit, or words that should be something else, and missing letters in words. There also isn't a save button in the game to do your own saves, so when I loaded up the game later on I found myself in a spot I hadn't gotten to yet.
When flying on the broom it very much felt like the mechanics in Spyro the dragon when I played that game. It took a bit of getting used to and finally evened out when I relaxed into the music of the game to get from place to place. Almost like the slalom on a ski slope (which I've never done, but have observed plenty watching on tv or that one trip with friends who all loved skiing), smooth and continuous left to right and right to left in a straight line to your destination.
I very much enjoyed everything about this game from the graphics and music down to the secrets and places to explore. Even after the twist at the very end you're still given the opportunity to go back into the game and catch up on things that you missed or to do more exploring! I am happily smiling and I am in a great mood with each time I started up the game to continue on.
Definitely a great game to relax with and lots to enjoy! Thank you ChiBig for making this part of your game world and I hope to see more of Mika in future games! Meanwhile, to all you folks out there reading this preview, if you enjoy a relaxing, colorful, whimsical adventure game go get this one or any of the others in ChiBig Universe on Steam.
Food Truck Simulator, a game from the makers of the best-selling Gas
Station Simulator, is making its debut on Nintendo Switch. The simulator
allows you to run a food service business on wheels. The release date on
Nintendo's console is set for July 2 this year. Food Truck Simulator was
previously released on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and
Xbox Series X|S.
Food Truck Simulator is a title developed by the Polish studio DRAGO entertainment,
the creators of, among others, Gas Station Simulator. Ultimate Games S.A.
is responsible for developing and releasing the game on consoles.
In Food Truck Simulator, players can test themselves in a world that combines
culinary and business. The main theme in the game is running your own
food truck. The player takes over the family business, thus gaining the
chance to rock the business, gain customers and become the king of food
trucks.
The title offers gameplay that comprehensively captures the mobile
food truck business. Thus, the player must try to prepare an optimal menu
and cook and then sell products. At the same time, however, you also need
to take care of the condition of the food truck and get to the chosen
location yourself.
In Food Truck Simulator, varied city locations, a large selection of
tools, as well as a wide base of recipes await players. The simulator
also has no shortage of random events that affect gameplay.
The release date for Food Truck Simulator on Nintendo Switch is set
for July 2, 2024.
From the developer team Studio Pixel Punk whose game Unsighted hit the Steam store in September of 2021 is creating a new metroidvania called ABYSS X ZERO!
ABYSS X ZERO is a stylish 3D Metroidvania, with expressive low poly visuals made by the two person indie team Studio Pixel Punk, that also brough you the award-winning indie hit UNSIGHTED.
Explore an expansive world with carefully-crafted dungeons and stylish combat. Take control of two different characters, fated to battle each other: Codename A and Codename Z, both legendary heroes with unique abilities that change how you fight and interact with the environment.
Over the years, city builders and colony simulators have tried to break out of the mold by adding some elements to keep things fresh. At first, it seems like Industries of Titan does that as it is unique in a couple of ways through shipbuilding, converting colonists into workers, and exploring a new map. Unlike other colony builders, this game doesn’t rely solely on building a massive city like Cities: Skylines. It feels more like a post-apocalyptic Civilization game with a beautiful score, impressive gritty graphics, and the threat of looming rebels that will come after you. While it has some interesting elements, it’s missing a few things to make the game fantastic because right now, it’s a plain jane entry in the genre with stellar add-ons. So let’s take some shots at the features and gameplay first.
Gameplay
Industries of Titan requires players to balance a couple of aspects in order to win the game. First, a successful colony has to be built in such a way that it has enough power to run, resources gathered and refined through processors, several monetization stations to gain credits, and adequate defenses to keep rebels away from your newly acquired land - which is on loan by The Council.
In order to explain the gameplay loop, this will be separated into two sections where the colony-building aspects are presented first. Then we’ll cover the defensive and combat aspects in order to paint a full picture of the game.
Colony Building
Industries of Titan begins when you land on a new planet that has been ravaged by the gritty and barely habitable environment. As the council has sent you on a mission to make the planet habitable - as best as possible - it seems like the entire purpose of the game is to reach that point.
One of the first challenges to face is adequate power generation which is done by using harmful Xethane gases. As you collect the planet’s natural gas, it has to be converted to energy that can be used by your equipment. The problem is that while power generation isn’t difficult, collecting this gas is harmful to colonists.
Another challenge that you face is that many machines need to be placed in factories. Those machines come in different sizes which come into play when you need to Tetris the power generators, habitation pods, and material refinement machines. The only good thing about this design is the ability to create blueprints for your builds. Otherwise, you will need to upgrade the factories to have an additional floor to give you space.
Finally, you need to balance power generation with colonist health. This in itself, isn’t an issue as other post-apocalyptic games have similar balancing acts, but increasing the number of colonists isn’t necessary. Assuming you have medic stations and air purifiers to keep the people alive, you can get by with a low number of colonists to suit your industry. Setting up residential buildings for more colonists isn’t required as the bulk of their importance to the game is credit generation. You will need to convert colonists into workers for specific jobs, but once those are fulfilled, you can get a new batch of colonists from the shipyard. This part of the gameplay could have been more interesting if we had to deal with worker bots instead of humans. It just felt a bit flat for me when all I had to do was request more colonists from the shipyard, instead of improving the air quality or living conditions. Additionally, there are achievements for losing a certain number of colonists. That’s not a meaningful achievement, just saying.
In essence, the game is a nice colony builder without a ton of consequences. Even when you gain the favor of the council, the game isn’t complete. Your task is to fulfill a ton of ridiculous objectives that aren’t necessary. The council will require a ludicrous number of parks or resources collected to ‘win’ the game. One would think that the looming threat of rebels would be required as a victory condition, but it isn’t. And on that note, let’s talk combat.
Combat Gameplay
Industries of Titan features a looming rebel threat where you need defenses to keep them at bay. This is a different take on the colony builder as most of them focus on milestones or solving some challenges. By adding tension to the game with the threat of rebels who will attack your newly formed colony, seems like a great idea. Unfortunately, it falls short.
You can spend resources to build defensive turrets to thwart any territorial race and these turrets will keep most of the rebels at bay. On its own, their addition to the game would be mediocre at best. However, the developers included the purchasing and customization of your own ships to defend the colony. And like the buildings where you have to Tetris the machines in, ship design requires you to do the same.
There are three or four ships to choose from, which range from low armor to high armor, that you can customize with life pods, weapons, and engines. Even with the option to customize your own ship layout, the addition of combat is unnecessary. You end up wasting resources to take on the rebel encampments only to find that none of it is necessary to complete the game objective. While it was a neat and refreshing change, not enough was done to make combat a meaningful inclusion. This is regrettable, in my opinion.
Tech Tree
Colony builders often have a tech tree that locks game progression behind it, but Industries of Titan doesn’t do that. Instead, the tech tree serves to make colony-building efforts easier by providing increases to production speed or less waste generated by colonists. But, in order to progress through it, you will need artifacts.
Unlike other games, all of the industrial, military, science, energy, and council nodes are scattered away from each other. This means that the tech tree isn’t organized by category which is often done in games like this. And as there is no set path to researching the nodes, you won’t need to pigeonhole your efforts into one style of gameplay to pursue victory.
Regarding colony-building games, this feature is a welcomed change. It allows Industries of Titan to feel fresh and different. Above all else, this is one of the features I really love about the game.
Graphics and UI
One aspect of the game that knocks the ball out of the park is the graphics. Unlike other colony builders that focus on the UI and not a lot on the graphics, Industries of Titan has a lot of details that the average player might miss. For example, the ruined buildings sell the idea that this planet has been previously inhabited. While many ruins have a similar look, the ones that are identical aren’t placed side-by-side. Moreover, there are ruins that contain a high concentration of resources that are graphically different from all of the other grayscale structures. Aesthetically, this creates a sense of variety through its assets without overdoing it.
Each building has a distinct aesthetic that looks and feels futuristic through the use of lighting and what looks to be decals. From the vantage point that you have, many of the buildings like the factories, the medical center, and residential buildings appear as though you’re in a tech-heavy district in a metropolis.
Even though each building, machine, and ruin has a specific design, your colony will not look like it is designed with cookie cutters. After all, it is a planet that has gone through a ton of strife. Other colonies have failed, there are large craters that disperse copious amounts of gases, and there are other rebel colonies that will pillage whatever they can get. In terms of graphics design, Industries of Titan sells you on the challenges you will face. I’m definitely here for that.
Final Thoughts and Summary
I wish that the developers of Industries of Titan put a little more time into the game. It would have been a stellar hit if the rebel threat added more of a challenge or if there was more variety with the combat system in general. Instead, the game falls short of something amazing by focusing on ridiculous milestones set by the Council.
Though it was a valiant effort to bring something different to the genre, I don’t feel as though it’s quite enough for avid colony-building fans. That certainly doesn’t make this game bad by any means, as it looks amazing and has cool features like blueprinting which isn’t present in any colony simulator that I can think of, but I found myself oddly bored with it. There wasn’t enough to keep me interested in playing the game for long periods of time, which is unfortunate.
“Industries of Titan is an alright colony-building game set in a post-apocalyptic world, that oozes with potential conflict and hazards aplenty. Sadly, the game just doesn’t hold the player's interest long enough as the win conditions are bloated, the threat of being attacked is paltry at best, and the need for colonists is not as important as one might think. It’s great to kill some time with because it has some features that are different from others in its genre, but it can get quite dull over prolonged sessions."
26
September 2022, Wroclaw, Poland + Dresden, Germany
|Untold Tales has teamed up with German
developer DreamWorlds to bring their retro, top-down shooter Splatter Zombiecalypse Now to the
Nintendo Switch.
Go on a zombie-culling rampage with an
absolute arsenal of upgradeable weapons and retrofitted vehicles as your tools
for slaughter. Enjoy a film noir-inspired single-player campaign along with
additional wave and survival modes that can be played alone or in local co-op
with up to 4 players.
Key
Features:
●Challenging fights against all
kinds of zombies and monsters
●Film-noir single-player campaign
complete with fully voiced dialogue and cutscenes
●Unique bosses, vehicles, and a
variety of side missions
●Light and shadow add tactical
layers to battles
●Destructible physics-based
environments and upgradeable weapons that gain new abilities and features with
each level
●Arcade game modes with online
leaderboards pit you against your friends' scores
●Local multiplayer for up to 4
players
●Last but certainly not least: lots
and lots of action
Splatter
Zombiecalypse Now comes to the Nintendo Switch as a
digital download on October 7, 2022 with a price tag of $7.99 / 7.99 € / £7.19
