Author: Yuna Briggs

Admittedly, when I first started playing Monowave for this preview, I expected to have a relatively easy time with it. I think something about its endearing, adorable art style led me to believe this game wouldn’t offer much in the way of challenge. Ultimately, my expectations were thoroughly upended during my session with this preview, and I honestly couldn’t have been happier to be wrong. Studio BBB Inc.’s upcoming puzzle platformer title offers quite a lot in terms of creative challenge to the point that I think if you attempted to play it on Hard mode, it would give you…

Let me start this by putting all my cards on the table for once; I think perhaps the biggest compliment I can give The Mermaid Mask right off the bat is that after finishing it, I immediately bought Tangle Tower, developer SFB Games’ previous game. I enjoyed my time with The Mermaid Mask just that much; I knew I had to have more of it in some shape or form. Admittedly, Tangle Tower had always been on my radar, given my love for the mystery genre, but it had just always slipped through the cracks whenever I found myself on…

There is a natural appeal to life-sim games like Stardew Valley and Fields of Mistria; escapism, to a place where we can experience mundane but alluring fantasies, such as an idyllic rural lifestyle or uncomplicated home and land ownership. These sorts of games are often given the apt moniker ‘Cozy Game’, although the title is somewhat broad and all-encompassing when you think too much about it. Neverway, from developers Coldblood Inc., glances at this now well-trodden, renowned formula and seeks to twist it into an eldritch, psychological, enigmatic form akin to the finest in the horror genre. I had taken…

The Playdate from Panic Inc. is a device I’ve been curious about for some time, especially as a lover of handheld gaming. It has a pretty adorable little form factor, for one, and, of course, the inclusion of a mechanical crank in its design and control scheme makes for a rather unique little system. But as is often the way, it’s simply one expense too far for me to justify completely. A few Playdate games have found their way to other systems, though, and the bite-sized adventure game Ratcheteer DX from developer Shaun Inman is the most recent of them to make the…

Passion project is a term that gets thrown around a lot, and I often find myself wondering how it could apply to almost anything in the indie space. It takes real passion and drive to make these smaller, independent projects come alive, and quite often you’ll have to fight against the current, especially in today’s gaming climate. Like most things, the label really is left to the individual; what marks something as a project fuelled purely by creative enthusiasm? The Witch’s Bakery, from developer Sunny Lab, had me pondering this very quickly as I played its recently released demo version. Gameplay and Mechanics…

Last year I had the pleasure of reviewing Scarlet Hollow, an indie horror visual novel from Slay The Princess developer Black Tabby Games. Despite lacking the final three of its planned seven chapters, I still found Scarlet Hollow to be immensely gripping and I was left eager to know just where the story would lead in the next chapter and beyond. Not only that but I was incredibly impressed with just how well the game handled player choice and branching narratives. Player chosen traits allowed for an impressive degree of roleplay and leads to a game with an incredibly elaborate…

Back in February, I reviewed episodes 0 and 1 of nth Circle Studios’ crime thriller of the Devil, and since then, the experience of playing it has stuck with me throughout the entire year. Despite playing many other fantastic games in 2025, of The Devil just hit in all the right places, from its frighteningly topical approach to a cyberpunk future to the absolutely stellar character writing and, of course, the distinctive presentation and art style, giving it a look unlike almost anything else out there.  It firmly wedged its way into my favorite games of 2025 and hasn’t budged since, with only one other game…

For once, I felt a little more prepared to write this end-of-year list. Thanks to a little side project I did earlier in December, the games in my top five were pretty much set in stone, and despite one last-minute switch, they held their positions. Despite that, as ever, my year was filled mostly with older, pre-2025 games. I cleared some retro titles from my backlog, like Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Burning Ranger, as well as some indie hits like Iconoclasts and Dredge. A girl cannot live on just contemporary releases alone. I will always have a craving for…

Milano’s Odd Job Collection stands out as a rather interesting example of a retro re-release. Retro re-releases are exceptionally common these days, as classic games are not always made readily available by their publishers or developers for a variety of reasons. You’ll often see old favorites getting a new chance at life on newer hardware, and perhaps sometimes cult classics slip through as well, to find a new devoted audience. But what about a game that never left Japan? The time and effort needed to localise a lesser known title is often too great of a risk for companies to…

Since its initial announcement back in 2022, I’ve been keeping an eye on Necrosoft Games’ Demonschool; its bold pixel art style and movement-focused approach to the tactical RPG genre seemed like it would be right in my wheelhouse. Plus, an RPG like this is bound to have a killer story to match, right?  With 15 colourful characters to interact with, its light horror narrative seemed like a slam dunk for me. My initial impressions of the game were set fairly high, and I was excited to get the opportunity to review it after following its lengthy development over the years. So let’s…

The Halloween season is upon us, so it’s the perfect time for games of a spookier flavor to get their time in the spotlight. While it isn’t receiving a full release just yet, Gumball in Trick-Or-Treat Land has a new demo available in time for the start of October, and it will also be showcased at Steam Next Fest. A tribute to the days of Game Boy Colour RPGs, Gumball in Trick-Or-Treat Land from Exquisite Laundry Pet LLC is a family-friendly romp through the titular holiday-themed land, where you play as a humble gumball! Having mysteriously fallen from the sky one day, you must set out to find the…

Sometimes all a game needs is a simple idea; an idea so efficient, so malleable, but so wonderfully creative that it immediately draws you in and captures your interest. Such was the case with Candy Rangers from Spanish developer Mechano; its colorful, inventive approach immediately took me to an on-rails shooter, and I knew I had to give it a try. The adorable, sweet-as-hell art style certainly helped persuade me, too; I can’t deny that. However, it was its concept of color-coordinated blasting that was just too inspiring to ignore. It seemed like such a great little idea if Mechano managed to pull it…

Mortis Ghost’s OFF has become something of a cult classic since its release in 2008, and you might not know it, but its influence can be seen in many of the biggest indie RPGs of the past few decades, such as Undertale and Deltarune. I remember its boom in popularity around 2013, when it turned into one of the biggest trends on Tumblr and built a sizable fandom for the French-developed title. My memories of playing OFF back then are hazy, but I walked away with a positive outlook. I was mostly impressed by its style, soundtrack, and compelling narrative…

April Grove caught my interest the moment I first saw it, for one key reason: its visual style. With a colourful pixel art aesthetic that evokes the Game Boy Color era, it certainly struck something within me, given my penchant for retro handheld gaming. Then, when I learned it was from developer Colorgrave as well, I figured I would be in great hands, given I had previously played and enjoyed an earlier release of theirs, Curse Crackers. The quality of their titles is known to be pretty high overall, so I began my playthrough of April Grove with equally high expectations. By the end of…

You can learn a lot about a person by how they play games. We all have our little habits, and we often make small, heat-of-the-moment choices, both consciously and unconsciously. Do you hoard items, hoping you’ll need them all later for some purpose you cannot yet predict? Do you stop and talk to absolutely everyone you meet, hoping to learn as much about the world as possible? Are your eyes constantly on the objective ahead of you, or do you often find yourself backtracking to ensure you’ve found everything you can? Of course, even the way we treat NPCs can…

So, an ex-yakuza and a giant, baby-faced severed finger walk into a bar. The bartender is an amicable fetishist dressed to the nines in a latex bodysuit. The conversation is understandably humorous and jovial at times but also touches on how the rundown, dilapidated state of the town surrounding the bar poisons the dreams of its inhabitants. Later, the ex-yakuza and giant finger hunt down a wolf spirit who has stolen an upgrade for your truck. The upgrade turns your truck into a glider, allowing you to soar over the town, taking in the gritty but earnest sights of the…

I’ve had my eye on Scarlet Hollow for a while now, ever since the release of Black Tabby Games’ other project, Slay The Princess. Not only was Slay The Princess a marvelous experience, with a narrative that was both esoteric and poignant, but it also gave players an exceptional level of freedom for a visual novel, even breaking many narrative conventions we’re familiar with in the West. It topped my 2023 end-of-year list for a good reason, so it was only a matter of time until I delved into Scarlet Hollow. Given that it also sees Black Tabby Games tackle…

I’ve always been drawn to nonogram puzzles, mostly through the many nonogram video games that exist these days. You’re perhaps not quite spoiled for choice, but in recent years, the style seems to have really taken off, thanks in part to the great Picross titles, developed by Jupiter Corporation, found on Nintendo consoles. But even beyond those efforts, you can find many developers who are taking a stab at the formula for themselves. This is where Piczle Cross: Rune Factory comes in. Developed by Score Studios, who have previously released Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons and Piczle Cross Adventure, they’ve…

I don’t think there’s ever been a game quite as tailor-made to my tastes as Nth Circle’s new mystery thriller, of the Devil. From just an outside glance, it’s clear that it has been influenced by a number of my favorite series and creators, which alone is enough to pique my curiosity. But of course, that alone wouldn’t be enough to completely earn my favor; of the Devil not only needed to understand what made its predecessors work in the first place, but it also needed to forge its own identity, carving out a place of its own within the genre. It’s tough, but sometimes you need to take a gamble when trying…

I always end up feeling a little underprepared for these end-of-year lists; so much of my playtime during the year is dedicated to retro titles, exploring what I can of those libraries and ticking games off my retro bucket list. In particular, I’ve been on a considerable RetroAchievements binge, leading to a veritable growth in the number of games I’ve actually beaten. This year, I finally got around to playing Parasite Eve, which, if I could put it in my Top 5, I would. Play Parasite Eve everyone; it is absolutely as good as everyone says it is! Despite that,…