Sintopia is a fresh, spicy new title from PiraKnights that will tug at the nostalgia strings of fans of The Sims, Black & White, and Two Point Hospital. On the OVERWORLD, watch a silly civilization of chickpea people make their mark on the world and unfortunately for them, damn themselves by committing a host of sins. Punish those poor, dead, squishy souls, keep your receipts for expenses, and generate profit to help you build and sustain your Hellish empire.
The demo itself has been a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to try out the full game. The concept is quite original and is nice to see. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Inhuman Resources is a dark visual novel sent to me by Indie Asylum, and man, does it get dark fast. It starts out as just a woman being woken up by a phone call from her aunt. You can choose to ignore it or not. You can choose how to react. I ended up going on a job interview that my aunt set up for me, since she is also my landlady and I owe her money.
This is pretty much the most normal part of the game. The game also allows you to check out as much detail as you want, or as little. There are extra things you can look at and click on that will give you all sorts of information on the world around you. Some are as innocent as what the building looks like, but later on, much of it is less innocent.
Fast forward a bit to the actual job interview, and yes, I am skipping a bit to avoid spoilers, and it is heavily implied that the man you are speaking to has been around for a while. What is less implied and is outright stated, the company you are interviewing for has, for a very long time, been intervening with much of human history to decide how it will flow. For example, you are listening to the only record (I do literally mean record) that exists of what was supposed to be the most famous duo in the world. Instead, we got the Beatles. This man liked the music and saved this single record. It is worth pointing out that the game takes place in modern times.
After getting the job, the game takes an even darker turn, one that I can’t truly explain without giving away the plot. Suffice it to say, if you like something a bit more mature that is happy to explore deeper and darker tones, including corporate espionage, secret cabals that control the world, and insane medical practices, this is the game for you. With multiple endings, there is plenty of reason to replay this. 9/10 for lovers of visual novels. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
It isn’t often that I get excited for a space builder on consoles, but when Bulwark Studios sent me a copy of Ixion I won’t deny I couldn’t wait to check this bad boy out. The story alone had me interested. The Earth is on the brink of extinction due to ecological collapse. A company (DOLAS) steps up with new technology to possibly save humanity in the form of a new engine that can take humanity to new heights in space travel, finding a new home. The dreamer in me loves this.
My realistic part loves where it goes from here, and I won’t go into detail. But I will say I would watch an entire TV series based on it. All of this, however, means very little if the gameplay is lacking or the controls don’t function well.
Probes are your best friend here
I am happy to say the game controls fantastically on PS5. At no point was I left wishing I had a mouse or that things were more precise, with one small exception. Some of the larger buildings must be built in certain spots, such as anything that leads outside. For example, probe stations. This isn’t a control issue so much as a design issue. It bothers me, and it probably shouldn’t. Aside from that, the controls are great.
The gameplay is also top-notch. The game flows nicely, from the prologue through each chapter I never felt like I was being forced to do new things I hadn’t had the chance to prepare for, and while graphically the game isn’t steller it is one of the better-looking games of its type out there.
If you enjoy this type of game, you really need to pick this 9/10 game up. This game will be in my catalog for a long time to come. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
20 years after its original release, Oblivion has a full remaster, overhauled completely in Unreal Engine 5. The release date? It is already out. It contains too many quality of life updates for me to list, including fully updated graphics, all released add-ons, newly released voices for each race ( many original voices intentionally included because we love them) updated leveling system, and so much more. Available now on PC, Xbox Series S/X, and PS5 ( and yes, Gamepass both console and PC), Happy reliving one of the best Elder Scrolls games out there, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
School is almost in session! Red Art Games is happy to announce that Spellcaster University, the hit PC wizard school management simulator, will come to Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4 and Xbox One consoles on May 2. Created by French indie studio Sneaky Yak Studio, Spellcaster University has been ported to consoles by Red Art Studios and will be published both digitally and physically by Red Art Games.
In addition to its digital release, Spellcaster University is also getting two different physical versions on Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PS4 (the Switch physical version will come out on May 23). While the Spellcaster University Standard Edition will be available from most major retailers upon release, the Spellcaster University Deluxe Edition is a RedArtGames.com exclusive. Limited to 300 copies per platform, the Spellcaster University Deluxe Edition comes with a wraparound box sleeve with alternate cover art, a poster and a keychain.
In Spellcaster University, you take on the role of the headmaster of a wizard school set in a colorful heroic fantasy world. Build your school, manage your budget, recruit teachers. Will you turn your university into a black magic academy where the best professors of necromancy and demonology teach? Or will you create a place in complete harmony with nature whose goal is to train druids and shamans? The choice is up to you.
Be warned that all of this won’t be easy. You will need to survive the ruthless attacks of the orc tribes and work around the strict control of the education authorities.
Spellcaster University’s console versions will include all the content and updates added to the PC version until now. It has also been totally reworked to make it fully playable with a controller.
Features
Create your very own university using an original magic deck mechanic
Each type of magic has its own deck
Pick the type of students that you want to teach to
Manage the wellbeing of your student… and discipline them if need be
Upgrade your school’s rooms with powerful artifacts
Use your school as a shelter for mythical creatures (dragons, pegasus, janitors…)
Your choices have both short and long term consequences
Fight the dark forces and find new allies to help you
Fully playable with a controller for the first time ever
Native 4K graphics on PS5 and Xbox Series X
Languages supported: English, French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish
For Fans of 90’s movies She’s All That (1999) told the story the resident heart throb in high school whose popularity took a small hit when him and his girlfriend broke up. So he makes a bet that he could in fact turn anyone into the prom queen with the right outfit and right boyfriend.
Fast forward to He’s All That (2021) Which tells the story of the High School hotty whose popularity and social media standing took a hit when her boyfriend cheated on her during a surprise live stream.
Normally I am not a fan of these movies that are just gender swapped retellings of earlier movies because they always try to just be shot for shot remakes. That isn’t what happened here. While there are some similarities, both our Male and Female popular kids make bets with their friends involving an antisocial loser for example that both turn out to be attractive after a male over and both are artists,one a painter the other a photographer.
They are all vastly different characters in their own rights. now critically He’s all that wasn’t very well received and I can understand why. It isn’t a great movie,but it is a fun movie that gives you a feel good ending and that’s all I really ask for from movies like this. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Joel and Ellie have settled down after escaping the Fireflies but all is not well after Ellie learned the truth Joel hid from her. They have a home. Ellie is beginning to thrive, even finding love, until the unthinkable happens when Joel is viscously murdered in front of her. Traumatized and enraged, Ellie ventures off to find the young woman named Abby and her crew responsible, journeying deeper into terror and bloodshed for revenge. But why was Abby out to kill Joel in the first place? Who are the Wolves and the Scars at war? How far are the two willing to go to settle their disturbing blood feud?
So controversies aside, I can understand some of the hate for the game. The Last of Us was a storytelling masterpiece. Last of Us 2 is a sequel that takes a lot of risks and goes to some truly depraved places as a revenge story. Personally, I loved most of what the game had to offer but I can understand why someone wouldn’t. The story, while way darker than the first (which really says something) balances it out with some pretty heartfelt and beautiful moments as did its predecessors. I was incredibly captivated by Ellie and Abby’s journeys. The beginning is much slower so you do have to stick around but once Ellie starts her revenge quest, the game not only opens up but you’re treated to some really tense gameplay. The infected take a back seat this time, though the new types combined with the vastly smarter enemy AI make some good horror- the Rat King towards the end genuinely scared the shit out of me and was one of my favorite horror bosses in a while. I love that the game adds some disturbingly realistic touches to the enemies so you feel dirty killing them. I appreciate the differences between Ellie’s and Abby’s weapons and passive abilities that add a bit in clinches. I do have have to say the game overall is way harder than the first and much less forgiving. I’ve gotten more frustrated on certain sections of this game than I have on a lot of Souls games and Alien: Isolation o give you an idea, so patience is a must. Also the slower pace does make the game feel much longer, even without the humongous death count, than I’m sure it really is. In the end, I love the game just as much as the first as a truly horrific revenge tale bordering into the waters of depravity as Blood Meridan but this game is absolutely not for everyone but well worth your time. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
You know a movie’s WTF when you have a hard time finding an actual cover for it on Google. Savior and I really have to reevaluate how we pick our movie day watches anymore…
We begin with a familiar scene, a young woman being chased by a masked killer through the woods. She has visions that allow her to defeat the clown-masked psycho. After beheading and tossing his mask into the lake, all seems over…until the spirit of the killer finds a lonely sea bass, transforming it into a shark with a clown mask as it starts a new killing spree…
I might have made this sound better than it is. Going in I was hoping for another Graveyard Shark but alas, no. Not to say it ain’t still funny. The shark is stock footage with a clown mask superimposed over it. The computer effects make each kill with it look like something out of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which admittedly was my favorite part. Sadly there’s not much clown shark in Camp Blood Clown Shark, but instead, a killer who skips around like he needs to shit- which is funny in itself but not as funny as the shark. The downside of this movie is it feels way longer than it really is. Clocking in at 70 min, it feels almost full length and I got bored way too many times for a movie this short. In the end, it’s meh as far as C movies go- thankfully not as boring as Fraternity Demon (1992) but there are definitely better WTF C movies out there. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Monster Fridays continues with a very misunderstood one. Genies, Djinn, Jinn. They are all based on the same creature that most people assume takes one of two sides. The Disney, rub a lamp and get three wishes, or the Djinn evil screw you over type. If you want a vast overview, Britannica has a great article to get you going that goes into great depth about its Islamic and pre-Islamic history. I am just here to give a brief rundown of what it is.
Jinn Blocks
Djinn aren’t truly good or evil and are much similar to humans than people think. While humans were believed to be created from the Earth itself, Djinn were created from smokeless fire. They can live and die just the same as humans can and even have the same free will. Djinns, on the other hand, can’t normally be seen and take the shape of trees, animals, or other inanimate objects. This is probably where the myth of rubbing lamps comes from.
This also may be where the confusion of them granting wishes and screwing people over comes from. They do have a massive amount of power and could, in theory, grant wishes if they chose or cause great harm. They would also harm humans who hurt them. Trying to cut down a tree that was actually one of these creatures would probably get you punished; worse, killing one of their children, even by accident, could conceivably cause one to cast a plague on a village.
At the same time, helping one of these that was in trouble could see someone instantly become a king, recover their health, or any number of seemingly great wishes come true, and it is easy to see why they became known for granting wishes.
Djinns are very oddly misunderstood. Some of this is because of Western media and Disney, and some of it is because of time itself just passing. They are still a rather interesting thing. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
I was tossed an early preview version of Frozen Ship by the company. It is a pretty early build, so please don’t take this as a review; it’s more of a this is where the game is at currently.
There are some things I instantly noticed going into it. The translation into the English language isn’t finished. There are a few story elements that are still impossible to read if you don’t speak- well, honestly, I don’t know what language that is. I think it was Russian. All the items and options you can pick were in English, as were all the guides on what to do. I was never lost on what to do, just on why I was doing it. This will definitely be fixed before the Q3 expected launch date.
That being said, if you are familiar with games like The Long Dark, you know how this game is played. This time, you have help, though. You are in charge of a very large machine that is constantly moving. Don’t worry; it is pretty slow. As it moves, you assign jobs to your crew in the morning, and they will search for wood to keep the place warm, find materials to build, cook food, etc.
After this, you can leave the ship and search for things on your own. As you break down boxes, beds, or various other items, time will pass, and your vehicle will move. Don’t lose track of it, or you will eventually freeze to death. Anyone not in the ship by a certain time will be considered lost.
The game has a lot of potential, and the story is also great. The world is ever-changing from the moment you leave the safety of the dying volcano, the last safe haven for your 20 survivors, as you crawl across a frozen wasteland. This preview did nothing for me but make me wish I could play the full game even more. I fell in love with games like The Long Dark and Subnautica years ago, and this will probably be my next obsession. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Savior Gaming 