Sintopia Preview

Sintopia will be releasing into Early Access soon over on Steam, and Team 17 was nice enough to let me check out an early demo version of the game. There is also a demo you can check out over on Steam as well so definitely check that out.

The gameplay loop is very simple: you guide your people into living their lives so you can harvest sin and reap the profit and keep your hellish empire running. You then return those people to the surface to relive their sinful lives. Rinse and repeat. It is a nice combination of management and city builder.

The demo is far from complete, so obviously this isn’t a review in the classic sense, but the gameplay flows nicely and the humor is great. You quite literally get the job because nobody else wants it. The first-ever succubus guides you through your work and promises not to bite you, unless you ask nicely, with the entire reason for her helping you being that the person who was supposed to manage you was taking off to answer a phone call.

Building new ways to encourage sin and then make sure that people meet an untimely demise is more fun than I expected, and is definitely worth checking out the demo for. I, for one, can’t wait to play the full version. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Beyond

What do a rundown hotel, a blind woman, a bleak old painting, and a brainwave machine have in common? Eliza is in the midst of renovating the old, dilapidated 7 Gates Hotel in Louisiana when strange things begin to happen. Dangerous, deadly accidents and the appearance of a mysterious blind woman named Emily, who is seeking Eliza. Her message is clear: leave the hotel. Desperate, Eliza refuses only to discover the true horror of the hotel- it was built on one of the seven gates to Hell itself.

A long time ago I talked about House by the Cemetary , the third part of Fulci’s Gates of Hell trilogy. The Beyond is the middle entry, the most renowned of the trilogy, and for damn good reason. The Beyond is just short of a horror masterpiece. The cinematography is both breathtaking and uncanny, which makes you feel unsettled throughout. The music is haunting and even operatic, compounding the surrealness of the whole movie. The gore is absolutely disgusting without ever feeling comedically overboard. The english dub is pretty good, but I do give the actors a lot of credit; their expressions add to the terror. While I deeply love the movie, their’s some flaws that make you scratch you’re head and don’t make sense. Eliza knows someone, somehow you never see her interact with; the one dude might be possessed or something and randomly vanishes at the end; clearly fake spiders on string at one point. The movie isn’t perfect but it is pretty ambiguous with some reality-bending. The ending is bleak as hell and a perfect fit. The Beyond ain’t for everyone- the gore alone will deter a lot of people- but I seriously recommend this Italian horror classic. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Tron: Ares trailer

15 years ago I saw Tron: Legacy in theaters. It was fun, popcorn theater experience that I forgot about a week later. Ares looks to be about the same. It looks to be a movie that will look and sound cool but as to why it exists, I can’t really say except money. I can’t really see a reason otherwise why Tron has returned nor do I know anyone who asked for it. Maybe I’ll be wrong but given what I’ve seen, I think we’re getting another helping of disposable eye candy. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Fantastic 4: First Steps

The 1960’s have been defined by 4 heroes who have fought villains, shaped the world, and made it a better place not only for themselves and the people around them, but the newest bundle of joy joining their family. They are no strangers to danger…until a new threat emerges from the stars, announcing the imminent death of the planet- the coming of Galactus. When faced with an impossible threat, an impossible choice, can the Fantastic 4 pull off the impossible?

I’ve been through the ringer of Fantastic 4 (1994) , Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer , and the abomination known as Fant4stic so I was scared. I’m proud to say we actually got not only a great Fantastic 4 movie, but one of the best Marvel movies in years. There was a ton of love given to the comics as well as the visual aesthetic. The movie harkens back to classic 50’s/60’s sci fi and golden age comic books. I loved the actors all around. The 4 have great chemistry and true to the characters. The Silver Surfer was awesome. The true standout was Galactus which, my god, was absolutely terrifying. The movie is well-balanced between drama, comedy, sci-fi action; I’m so happy it stands on its own and doesn’t rely on the greater MCU for its characters and story. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of the MCU end credit scene, most of us knew it was coming. In the end, I was greatly surprised and I highly recommend the MCU debut of Marvel’s First Family. May the Galactus bring you…glory? Yanno.

The Wandering Village PS5 Review

The Wandering Village on PS5 was sent my way by Stray Fawn Studio, for which I am grateful. I had previously played this on Xbox, and I must say that there seem to be some substantial changes over that time. The opening, as an example, now includes a beautiful anime-style video that wasn’t there at first.

The game takes place on the back of Onbu

In a world being rampaged by a poisonous plant, your tribe finds itself on the back of a massive creature called an Onbu. This traveling giant is content to ferry you around and let you live on the resources that grow on it. In turn, you care for it and guide it, if you can get it to trust you.

The game is a classic city builder at its finest, and a solid story has been naturally built in. As the people living on the last known living Onbu and the only people traveling the world, it has fallen on you to collect ancient seeds that might be able to be planted to fight back against the poisons that are destroying the world.

The game looks magnificent, and the controls are great. My only gripe is that a few times when trying to click on certain objects, the camera angles get a bit weird, but this is a minor annoyance and never really ruined the gameplay for me. Just watching my characters build things and live their lives as my lumbering creature travels the world to different biomes is a nice experience.

Another nice experience is the characters you meet along the way, many feel desperate for your help without coming across as sad and pathetic. They are hopeful while still giving off a sense of urgency. It is a nice touch, you don’t often get. At a $30 price point, I have no complaints about this game, and with everything just being included by the in-depth tech tree that is still small enough to allow multiple play-throughs on various difficulties, there is a lot to love here, definitely a 9/10 experience for fans of the genre. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

RPG / sim crossover announced! Road Truckers: New Beginning

Just a quick announcement from my friends at Movie Games: the RPG/Sim game Road Truckers, featuring Truck Driver, has been announced and is now open for wishlist on Steam and PS5. Check out the trailer below. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ozzy Osbourne Death

As many of you may have already known, Ozzy was diagnosed with parkinsons disease and in recent years has suffered from numerous other health issues. In his life, he was known by many names: the Prince of Darkness, the Godfather of Heavy Metal. Most importantly to his family he was known as Dad and a loving husband.

He has touched many of our lives in many ways with his music, his TV show, and even just his interviews. Sadly, at the age of 76, he has passed away, leaving a hole in the hearts of his family and millions of fans. So I leave you with one of my favorite songs of his that got me through some hard times as a teenager. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring Ozzy and his family peace.

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.