Curiosmos Steam Demo Preview

Curiosmos is a cute demo sent to me by Céline Veltman & The Silly Stars and is essentially a space sim that lets you build your own little star system. You will start out by slamming dust and rocks together to form a planet, and once it is big enough, you can start messing around on the surface.

On the surface, you can do all sorts of things, like hit the planet with more asteroids to see what happens to the surface, form clouds and rain, or even just anger the planet and watch it spit lava everywhere. The planet does have feelings after all.

The demo is sadly rather short and cuts off when a black hole appears, leaving you at a sort of cliffhanger as the sun explains that there is a way to make the black hole happy and leave your newly forming solar system in peace. The demo does, however, do a great job of showing you how you and your new robot friend can collect materials to form new planets and how you can play with them. It is a fun little demo, and the game itself shows some real promise. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition PS5 Review

Reviewing Neverwinter Nights 2 on PS5 is a bit odd for me. No, it isn’t because it is based on the 3.5 system, and I played Dungeons and Dragons 5.0. Also, before I go further, shout out to Aspyr Media for hooking me up with a copy of this one.

The story of Neverwinter Nights 2 is pretty standard fare in 2025. You are an adopted child whose parents died and are thrust by your uncle into an adventure you seemingly were born to take. After what was a rather in-depth character creator for its time, which for today’s world is bare bones. You move on to participating in a summer festival of games, which serves as your tutorial. It will teach you everything you need to know about casting spells, how to steal, and avoid traps, and equipping weapons and combat.

You can skip the tutorial if you want, and move right on to the city being attacked, but you will miss some story elements and the chance at some early items, nothing fantastic, and that you will outgrow soon anyway.

But how does this enhanced edition play? Well, it is the definitive way to play it on console. It comes with all previously released DLC, and graphically, it has never looked better. So if you happen to own the original release, this is definitely an upgrade. If you have never played it and have Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition (PS4), this is definitely something you will want to pick up as well. The game isn’t without faults; however, a few times, my main character would get stuck on seemingly nothing. This is easily fixed by simply switching to a different person. The stuck character simply moves on his own, and you are free to swap back. Once or twice during the dialogue, people’s lower jaws decided to just overlap their front jaws, and their teeth just sort of appeared in front of their faces. I also once had to restart when, mid-fight, I got stuck in the pause menu while swapping characters.

All of these things were very rare, happening once, maybe twice, across an entire playthrough that could easily last 60 hours if you are a completionist. I wouldn’t at all advise against picking it up based on these minor and rare bugs that I haven’t seen anyone else really mention. It is still a 7/10 experience that I think fans of D&D and Neverwinter will enjoy. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

JET OFF ON A ‘STARSAND ISLAND’ ADVENTURE, YOUR WAY!

Chinese developer, Seed Lab, is today exploring the great outdoors of its upcoming life sim, Starsand Island, and has hinted at some of the game’s adventures and scenic journeys to be had when it launches on PC and consoles in late 2025.

Players will be able to skate, ride, drive, and fly a range of vehicles, including skateboards, rollerblades, cars, scooters with (and without) sidecars, and even a paraglider, across the island’s lush pastures, green- and amber-hued woodlands, glistening sandy beaches, and the surrounding azure seas. Amphibious craft will also be available, enabling seamless land and water traversal, further expanding players’ horizons.

Exploring the island won’t have to be done solo: a number of vehicles have passenger seats, allowing NPC pals and pets – and even real-life friends via the Starsand Island’s multiplayer gameplay – to go along for the ride, while the game’s photo mode will allow players to capture memories and moments from every part of their adventure.

Showcasing the game at this year’s BitSummit expo in Japan, Seed Lab is also unveiling more details on both the character and vehicle customization available in Starsand Island. The game’s vehicle modification system lets players fully customize their rides; for example, cars can be painted with new colors, and detailed with a range of decals, wheel rims, and interiors.

Starsand Island also features extensive customization for the player’s character, including the ability to finely tune them with a range of facial features, skin tones, makeup, and hairstyles, while choosing from a vast wardrobe of outfits and accessories to complete a fresh, edgy vibe ready for island life. Further customisable options will be expanded post-launch, along with additional social and collaborative gameplay, while more information on Starsand Island’s multiplayer functionality will be released in the coming months.

Mortal Kombat 2 trailer

Ok, no joke I lost when this trailer finally dropped. I enjoyed the first movie but it wasn’t perfect. Everything I see for the sequel looks like a MK fan’s wet dream. Karl Urban seems like a perfect fit for Johnny Cage. Shao Khan looks intimidating as hell. Of course the highlight is the showdown between Scorpion and Noob Saibot in hell. I’m insanely pumped for this movie and have seen the trailer a bunch of times. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Superman (2025)

Superman- we all know the man and his origin. We know what he stands for. We know that he is a symbol of hope in a troubled, complicated world. What if we didn’t, though? Superman can thwart kaijus, hang with the Justice Gang, and put a stop to political bloodshed, and we love him for it…until a secret raises a question: can humanity trust our lives to an unstoppable alien?

Superman is the first movie in James Gunn’s revamped DCU, and like many, I was really curious how it’d go. First, Gunn did a much better job of establishing a DC universe in this one film than the old DCEU did- no contest. Nothing feels overly forced. I don’t feel like this movie exists as an advert for other projects to come. Gunn clearly respects the material and it shows. The cast is great all around but Corenswet and Hoult are the highlights as Superman and Luthor. Corenswet brings a humble, gentle quality we haven’t seen to Supes since Christopher Reeves, while making him feel more human than I think we ever have. Hoult as Lex Luthor is a straight-up, ruthless, grimy, petulant bastard and perfectly captures Superman’s nemesis.

The movie, while excelling at a lot, does fumble hard in places. It does do too much. There are characters that feel shoved in. There’s jokes that either don’t land or break decently built dramatic scenes. Ultraman’s identity pissed me off a bit. The politics- they are a lot of real world politics in this movie- feel real heavy handed at times, bordering on preachy. There’s a bit with social media too I thought was eye rolling too if I’ll be honest. The effects range from great to questionable.

Overall, Superman was a good, solid foundation I want to see more of. Because of how much politics plays a role in the film, I can’t really recommend it as a clear yes or no. I will say this: I wanted a Superman movie that felt like a Superman movie. I got it. In many ways this movie is the polar opposite of Man of Steel and a refreshing palate cleanser to the host of evil Superman archetypes that have sprung up over the last few years. I enjoyed the movie and I think it deserves a chance. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Horror Night with Tung Tung Tung Sahur PS5 Review

Horror Night with Tung Tung Tung Sahur on PS5 was sent my way by Source Byte, which I am grateful for, but admittedly, they don’t always put out the best games. They help a lot of very small indie companies publish their work, and it can be a bit hit and miss for them. Horror Night honestly is one of their hits, and I did not expect that from a meme game.

For those that don’t know, and I imagine it is most of you without children, Tung Tung Sahur is considered an Italian brain to character that shows up a lot as one of the bad guys in Sprunki Logi videos.

The game itself follows typical horror movie and game logic: you crash your car outside, you knock on the closest building for help. The door creaks open, and you walk inside only to be trapped inside with some crazed or demented entity or person.

There is honestly absolutely nothing new or inventive about this game, and for $10, you shouldn’t expect there to be. What you should be asking for at that price is, was the game entertaining, and was it functional, and the answer is yes, it is, for about 2 hours if you take your time. The game has 11 ratings on PS5 and is sitting at 4 out of 5 stars, and this seems fair to me. I call it an 8/10 experience compared to other games at this price point. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Co-op Space Roguelite “Void Crew” Comes to PS5, XSX Sept. 4

After a successful launch on PC, Focus Entertainment and Hutlihut Games are thrilled to announce that Void Crew—the chaotic co-op space adventure where you explore, fight and scavenge loot across the galaxy with your crewmates—is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on Sept. 4, 2025. Console porting has been handled by Piktiv AB, ensuring a smooth and optimized experience wherever you play!

With more than 5,600 reviews and an 87% “Very Positive” rating on Steam, Void Crew continues to build momentum with its most recent 1.1 update. This version expands the chaos to support up to six players, introduces new ship modules, adds a “Survivor” game mode and ramps up the challenge with even more intense space battles.

Console players will also be able to enjoy full six-player crossplay encompassing PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. So get ready to rally your crew, command your vessel, and journey into deep space on thrilling missions. Just watch out for asteroid storms, solar flares, hostile aliens, desperate human scavengers, your buddies’ screw-ups, and the rest of the galaxy!

Void Crew is available now on Steam and will release for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on September 4 in its 1.1 version.

Silence of the Siren becomes Heroes of Science and Fiction! Also, Map Editor and Random Maps!

As many of you may know, I have been a long-time supporter and player of Silence of the Siren (PC), and Oxymoron Games has shared some news with me that we don’t often hear. They have quite literally changed the name. Due to confusion with other titles out there, Silence of the Siren is now Heroes of Science and Fiction. I have added some other news about the game below as well. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

What’s new?

  • The Map Editor we used to create all the maps in the game (there’s an official Steam Guide)!
  • BETA version of the Random Map Generator
  • A powerful Event/Scripting Editor battle-tested by creating different campaigns (there’s also a Steam Guide for this part of the editor)
  • A simple Steam Workshop integration so you can share your maps directly from the Editor
  • A new planet with a 6-phase day-night cycle, new maps. This includes the map from the Next Fest Demo 2024 and an even older demo map uploaded as an example to the Workshop!
  • 4 new units
  • Random commander selection for scenarios and skirmishes
  • Statistics for the victory screen with the army strength timeline
  • New commander list UI

What makes a JRPG,A JRPG?

There is always plenty of debate on the topic, is a Japanese role playing game a specific style of game or,it is it any role playing game made by a Japanese company? Let’s take a look at both sides of this for a moment.

One side thinks that since it is called a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) that any RPG game made by a Japanese company would qualify. This means that games made by From Software, such as Bloodborne or Elden Ring would be JRPGs. Now this definition doesn’t exclude games like Final Fantasy of course as they also fit the definition because of who makes them.

From here we move on to the other side of the argument, that who makes the game doesn’t matter so much as the style of it. Typically speaking these had an in depth story to them and a leveling system for the characters. The early ones had a turn based system or an active time battle system. Over time they moved to a full real time action system but the idea pretty much stayed the same of a strong story and leveling system. This still wouldn’t necessarily keep games like Bloodborne out as it does contain all of that.

Octopath Travler

The issue with this debate becomes when you try to argue they HAVE to be made in Japan or by a Japanese company. You end up with amazing games like the recent Claire Obscure. A great turned based RPG, that is made by a French company. It has every single criteria to be a JRPG. A fantastic story, great turn based combat combined with a counter system.

  To me,Pizza is an Italian food. It doesn’t matter if it is made by the two Mexican guys at my local mall in Pennsylvania. Nobody argues that when my Hamburger is made by Puerto Rican ex-wife it is now Spanish food. So why do we continue to debate that a JRPG is anything other than a style of game that can be made by anyone?

  This is of course just one man’s opinion. Best wishes,and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Holdfast: Nations At War PS5 Review

Holdfast: Nations At War is now a new game; it is simply new to consoles. Anvil Studios released it back in 2020 on Steam and finally put it on consoles, and were kind enough to send me this masterpiece of a game. I am not calling it a masterpiece because it is beyond reproach; it is actually quite flawed.

For example, the graphics are pretty dated, and the controls can be clunky. I am not a fan of the melee weapons at all, and it feels like swinging through pudding regardless of the weapon. If you know anything about the Napoleonic Wars or World War One, you can imagine what it is like playing a FPS where half the weapons are essentially black powder rifles with slow reload times.

I know I just said a lot of bad things about a game I just called a masterpiece. Truthfully, I have not had this much fun with a $20 game in a very long time. I even spent $5 on the American Forces pack because I wanted to support the company and use the 103rd Infantry Regiment stuff that comes with it, along with in-game shouts. and such. Admittedly, it is basically just character skins you can pick, but it is a small detail that the game gets right.

This is where the game shines. The player base is full of people just enjoying themselves. Proximity chat is full of people laughing, making harmless period jokes about doing it for queen and crumpets while charging over a wall only to get shot down and respawn and hop on a boat and play with a steam whistle. You will see guys chatting while launching shells of artillery shells, and as an artilleryman myself in the army, I appreciate this because that’s basically how it really goes. But it is real people just chatting away in these 150-person games. (75 on each team)

The gameplay is basically as average as it gets, but the community is as good as it comes, and the game itself is a blast to play, and for $20, it shouldn’t be missed. It is truly one of those hidden gems on the PS5. 8/10, best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.