With IXION, Detective from the Crypt and The Black Within, we go from the darkness of space to the darkness of ghosts and horror in this port roundup.
IXION review (PS5)
Bringing its space-faring city-building experience to the PlayStation 5 after its initial PC release, IXION places players in charge of the Tiqqun, a massive space station tasked with securing humanity’s future. The game combines survival mechanics with strategic planning, demanding careful resource management and constant problem-solving. The game provides a strong sense of urgency, immersing players in the struggles of keeping a space station operational while dealing with external threats and internal dissent. Voice logs and storytelling elements enhance the experience, creating a gripping atmosphere as players uncover secrets and face tough moral dilemmas.
The core gameplay revolves around managing resources, exploring space for new opportunities, and expanding the station’s capabilities. Each of the six unlockable sectors introduces new challenges, requiring players to balance power distribution, food supplies, and workforce needs. The game excels in creating a sense of pressure, as failure in one area can quickly spiral into larger issues. This difficulty can be rewarding for those who enjoy a challenge, but it may also be overwhelming, as one wrong decision can have devastating consequences that are hard to recover from. Unlike traditional city-builders, IXION leans heavily into its survival mechanics, making every choice impactful.
Controls on the PS5 have been adapted for a gamepad, with menus and navigation streamlined to fit the console experience. While the transition from mouse and keyboard is handled well, some actions can still feel cumbersome, particularly when managing multiple sectors and juggling the many moving parts of the station. The UI is detailed but can be overwhelming at times, making it difficult to quickly find essential information in high-pressure moments.
Visually, IXION is stunning, with a sleek, futuristic aesthetic that brings the Tiqqun and the surrounding space to life. The game’s attention to detail is impressive, from the intricate station interiors to the vast, desolate beauty of space. The lighting and particle effects contribute to an almost cinematic presentation, drawing players deeper into its world. The audio design is equally strong, with an excellent soundtrack that shifts based on the game’s pacing, complementing the tension and isolation of deep space. Voice acting further enhances immersion, adding weight to the station’s struggles and decisions.
Despite its strengths, IXION is not without its drawbacks. The difficulty can feel punishing, especially for those unfamiliar with the genre, and minor interface frustrations can make management more tedious than necessary. Additionally, while the narrative is engaging, the gameplay loop can become repetitive, as many of the challenges revolve around managing similar crises repeatedly. However, for players who enjoy deep, strategic decision-making and atmospheric storytelling, IXION offers a compelling experience on PS5, capturing both the wonder and hardship of humanity’s survival in space in a way that few console games do.
Detective From The Crypt review (PS5)
Detective from the Crypt is a visually rich point-and-click adventure set in a Victorian estate where players guide the ghost of Jane Darkday as she unravels the mystery of her death. The game’s greatest strength lies in its hand-painted visuals and atmospheric soundtrack, which evoke a moody, gothic setting. Rooms within the manor and the surrounding cemetery are filled with detail, and visual effects like moonlight and candle glow enhance the ghostly ambiance.
The mystery’s structure initially seems promising, with Jane uncovering evidence related to various suspects, including family members and staff. However, the investigation often devolves into a series of fetch quests that regularly feel disconnected from the central story. While the game introduces a journal and hint system to guide players, the hints themselves – delivered via a talking ghost cat – are frequently vague or unreliable. The journal’s evidence-gathering system, although extensive, ultimately has little bearing on how the mystery unfolds until the very end, which makes much of the gameplay feel like busywork rather than deduction.
The game’s puzzles are also generally easy and sometimes lack relevance to the investigation. While a few puzzles in a hidden laboratory offer more engagement, most are straightforward inventory tasks. Character development is also minimal, with Jane herself having little personality beyond a fondness for gothic horror, and supporting ghosts offering only shallow side quests that do little to deepen the narrative.
There are several endings, but the “best” one relies a bit too much on a tired trope, which can leave players unsatisfied after a few hours of atmospheric buildup. Ultimately, Detective from the Crypt leans heavily on its haunting visuals and mood, but its lack of depth in storytelling, weak character work, and inconsistent puzzle design keep it from reaching the heights of more engaging mystery adventures.
The Black Within review (PS5)
Released for PlayStation 5 after its original PC debut, The Black Within delivers a compact but atmospheric horror experience that leans into jump scares and psychological tension. You play as Laila Rose, a struggling musician who strikes a Faustian deal for fame, which sets the stage for a short but surreal descent into darkness. While the narrative setup is intriguing, its execution is more ambiguous than constantly grabbing you by the throat – some players may even find Laila’s rapid descent into the supernatural a bit unconvincing or too loosely sketched to feel emotionally impactful. Still, the game manages to create a sense of momentum, making it easy to see through its short hour-long runtime in one sitting.
Mechanically, this is familiar ground for fans of indie horror titles: walk through eerie environments, collect keys and codes, and slowly piece together fragments of a story through notes and objects. There’s no real handholding, but with environments being relatively small, it’s hard to get completely lost. Some moments of puzzle-solving lean toward something a bit more creative, but for the most part, the gameplay sticks to a well-worn linear formula with little incentive for replay. Everything from item interactions to basic controls feels solid and responsive though, avoiding the clunkiness that plagues many games in this genre.
Visually, The Black Within is a mix of fittingly eerie ambiance and questionable asset choices. Some environments effectively establish a creepy atmosphere, while others clash stylistically and feel random, breaking immersion for a bit. Sound design, however, is a consistent strength across the board. From subtle ambient noises to well-placed audio cues during scare moments, the use of 3D sound adds a layer of immersion while voice acting is also well done.
With a runtime just about an hour and little replay value, you might want to wait for a sale unless you enjoy a short, atmospheric scare without overused chase mechanics or battery-hungry flashlights. This is a polished and very promising debut from developer Waleedzo, whose future work we’ll be keeping an eye on.
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