From the moment Crisol: Theater of Idols opens its creaking gates on PlayStation 5, it announces itself as something different from the usual survival horror fare – a hybrid of methodical exploration and first-person action that wears its inspirations proudly but adds its own, sometimes blunt, identity. Developed by Vermila Studios and published by Blumhouse Games, this Spanish-rooted journey into the cursed isle of Tormentosa doesn’t just borrow from classics; it fuses familiar mechanics with a uniquely baroque aesthetic that makes it impossible to ignore. Continue reading “Crisol: Theater of Idols review (PS5)”
Category: Reviews
One Battle After Another review (BluRay)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another on Blu-ray is as audacious and kinetic a cinematic experience as the award season buzz around it suggests. The film charts its own course: ex-revolutionary Bob Ferguson, long removed from the fervor of his younger days, lives off-grid with his fiercely independent daughter, Willa. Their uneasy stability shatters when the obsessive military officer Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw re-emerges, seeking revenge for past humiliations and dragging the pair into a maelstrom of pursuit and conflict. What might have been a straightforward chase narrative becomes instead a sprawling, often surreal exploration of ideology, identity, and the inherited legacies of rebellion, with father and daughter each navigating their own battles in a world quick to resort to violence. Continue reading “One Battle After Another review (BluRay)”
High of Life 2 review (PS5)
From the moment High on Life 2 kicks off, Squanch Games’ sequel makes it abundantly clear that it wants to be bigger, weirder, and more audacious than its predecessor, doubling down on the franchise’s trademark absurdity while trying to knit its off-kilter humor into a more varied game structure. The narrative premise – returning you to the role of a celebrity bounty hunter dragged back into intergalactic chaos to save someone close to you – sets the stage for a road trip through some of the most bizarre backdrops in recent shooter memory. Story beats are punctuated by parodies of nerd culture and unexpected twists that keep the tone unpredictable, and while the script isn’t uniformly sharp – leaning at times on broader jokes rather than clever wit – it does an admirable job expanding the universe without merely rehashing its foundations. Continue reading “High of Life 2 review (PS5)”
MindsEye review (PS5)
MindsEye’s a great example of believing in something and going for a second chance. When it landed back in June, it became shorthand for how not to launch a AAA action-adventure. Ambition hung heavy over its dusty near-future desert city of Redrock – a place where rogue AI, corporate greed, and fractured memories promised a techno-thriller on par with the big cinematic adventures of the genre – but the reality that greeted players was far more prosaic and, frankly, broken. Build A Rocket Boy, a studio helmed by industry veterans, looked as if it had delivered a triple-A spectacle on paper, yet what slipped out the door was a product beset by stuttering performance, glitchy AI, and missions that felt lifted from a decade-old template. Critical and player sentiment was deeply negative in the weeks after release…
Indie roundup: Salmon Man, The Stairwell & Ship’s Cat
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”
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