Category: Indie

From its opening moments, Relooted doesn’t just ask you to play a heist game – it asks you to feel purpose. In place of high-tech mercenaries or slick cinematic cutscenes, Nyamakop’s Africanfuturist 2.5D puzzle platformer centers on Nomali and her eclectic crew of everyday Africans – a hacker, an acrobat, a thoughtful grandmother and others – united by a mission that feels bigger than any single score. Their goal isn’t cash or fame, but to reclaim more than seventy real-world artifacts taken from their homelands and locked away in Western institutions, turning the act of thievery into a kind of resistance and cultural restitution. Continue reading “Relooted review (Xbox)”

Indie games often find their strength not in scale, but in conviction – in taking a singular idea and committing to it without compromise. In this trio of recent releases, that philosophy is on full display. From the paddle-powered masochism of Salmon Man on Quest, to the quietly unnerving anomaly hunting of The Stairwell on PS5, and the offbeat feline cruise adventure of Ship’s Cat on PS5, each title carves out its own tightly focused identity. They may differ wildly in tone and mechanics, but all three demonstrate how smaller teams can leverage precision, atmosphere, and sharply defined loops to create experiences that linger. Continue reading “Indie roundup: Salmon Man, The Stairwell & Ship’s Cat”

Ports and late-cycle console arrivals often serve as quiet second chances – opportunities for games to find new audiences, smoother performance, or simply a more comfortable home on current hardware. In this roundup, we revisit three such titles now available on PlayStation 5, each bringing a distinct identity. From the choice-driven, tarot-laced intrigue of Sovereign Syndicate, to the genre-blending pastoral adventure of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, and the mischievous strategic inversion at the heart of Countless Army, these PS5 editions invite a fresh look at how well their core ideas translate. Continue reading “Port roundup: Sovereign Syndicate, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma & Countless Army”

There’s a hidden layer to Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass: Console Enhanced Edition that belies its apparent simplicity: on the surface, an 8-bit-nostalgia-steeped JRPG homage, yet at its core a deeply human story told through the perspective of an eight-year-old navigating a dream world infected by an alien “pulsating mass.” Rather than leaning on retro aesthetics alone, the game infuses those influences with a surprising emotional complexity that steadily reveals itself as players move past the first few hours and start to grasp Jimmy’s inner life and the symbolic weight of his nightmarish surroundings. The narrative’s blend of whimsy, horror, and poignancy evokes classic SNES titles but isn’t beholden to mere imitation; instead, it uses that familiar framework as a lens to explore fear, family, and a child’s subconscious. Continue reading “Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass review (PS5)”