From the moment you jettison into Star Ores Inc. aboard its quiet, abandoned space station, it’s clear that BlackBeak Games and publisher Three River Games are steering you toward a particular rhythm: slow, deliberate, and methodical. This isn’t the kind of high-octane sci-fi adventure that slams you out of hyperspace with flashing lights. Instead, it invites you to carve your own path by turning an interstellar derelict into a well-oiled mining empire – a premise that taps into that niche craving for simulation and resource management, where patience is as integral to the experience as any laser drill. Continue reading “Star Ores Inc. review (PS5)”
ROUTINE review (Xbox)
Stepping into ROUTINE feels less like launching a blockbuster survival horror, and more like unsealing a time capsule buried deep on the lunar surface – it’s a bit dusty, unsettling, and entirely bereft of comfort. From the opening moments, the game draws you into its retro-futuristic nightmare with such conviction that you almost hear the flick of a VHS tape. The decrepit lunar base, with its scratched metal bulkheads, bulky CRTs, and cold corridors bathed in sickly fluorescent light, isn’t just a backdrop – it’s almost like it’s the main character. Developers Lunar Software and publisher Raw Fury have embraced minimalism: no glowy objective markers, no intrusive HUD, no hand-holding. You navigate, you observe, you survive – and in that discipline and sense of immersion, ROUTINE finds its grim power. Continue reading “ROUTINE review (Xbox)”
DLC roundup: Elden Ring Nightreign, Dungeons 4, Frostpunk 2 & theHunter: Call of the Wild
Across genres and platforms, this latest wave of DLC releases shows developers stretching their existing worlds in markedly different directions – some chasing high-stakes challenge, others leaning into narrative experimentation, mechanical variety, or pure environmental immersion. From the shadow-drenched labyrinths of Elden Ring Nightreign’s first major expansion to the tongue-in-cheek chaos of Dungeons 4’s newest campaign, the ideological city-building of Frostpunk 2, and the windswept realism of a fresh hunting reserve in Call of the Wild, each add-on tries to carve out its own identity while extending the appeal of its parent game. Continue reading “DLC roundup: Elden Ring Nightreign, Dungeons 4, Frostpunk 2 & theHunter: Call of the Wild”
Weapons review (4K)
From the opening moments, Weapons positions itself as a disturbing, breathless descent into horror and uncertainty. The disappearance of an entire classroom of children at 2:17 a.m. sets off a chain reaction of fear, suspicion and grief across a small town, told through interlocking perspectives: parents, teachers, law enforcement, and the traumatized lone child left behind. The ensemble cast – including strong turns from Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, and Alden Ehrenreich – sells these fractured lives convincingly: Garner’s turmoil, Brolin’s anguish, Ehrenreich’s quiet desperation all carry weight. That said, while the multiple-POV, chapter-based structure builds mounting dread effectively, it sometimes diffuses emotional impact: certain characters and subplots feel underexplored, and when the story pivots into its more symbolic or supernatural elements, the narrative’s grounding in real human horror loosens – leaving the conclusion somewhat ambiguous and potentially unsatisfying for those wanting full closure. Continue reading “Weapons review (4K)”
Milano’s Odd Job Collection review
There’s something quietly delightful about revisiting a strange, long-forgotten gem – and Milano’s Odd Job Collection feels exactly like that: a little oddball secret finally emerging from obscurity. The game casts you as 11-year-old Milano, stranded alone for the summer in her uncle’s empty house, and tasks you with transforming her lonely 40-day stay into something meaningful: part-time jobs, chores, decorating the house, caring for a cat and even milking flying cows. That premise alone could’ve veered into melancholy or overly whimsical, but the new version we’ve been playing lands squarely in the former’s cozy, slice-of-life territory: innocent, absurd, silly, but always endearingly earnest. Continue reading “Milano’s Odd Job Collection review”
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