Monster Friday- The Jabberwock

Welcome back to Monster Friday, and today I bring you an interesting Monster: The Jabberwock. This one is interesting because most people think it has some sort of amazing lore behind it or that it dates back to some ancient period. The fact is, it was just a poem written by Lewis Carroll. It first appeared in his 1987 book Through the Looking Glass, and the first part of the poem he written even before that. In the book, Alice basically calls it pretty and says the poem doesn’t really make any sense beyond that; something was killed.

Since then, people have of course expanded on the creature, for example, most agree it is the cousin of dragons, it can fly, lays eggs, you know, with typical dragon-like behavior.

In a strange twist, however, the Jabberwocky has become quite terrifying in its own right. Being the ancestor of dragons, people have given them all sorts of insane powers, from speed to strength. Some variations are said to be able to speak any known language, which includes the ability to talk to other dragons. Of course, they can supposedly also take human form. Not bad for a creature that didn’t exist until Alice went to Wonderland. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Preserve PS5 Review

Preserve on PlayStation 5 was sent to me by Grindstone Games, the same company that made Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel (Steam Early Access), and I always enjoy working with them.

Preserve is a small title with a modest price of about $15, and it is a relaxing puzzle game. You use cards to decide what each hexagon will be, be it a forest, some grassland, a river, or one of many other types of biomes. You do this to create your own ecosystem to score points. Do this well, and you get animal cards that can be used to move animals into your ecosystem. Wild boar will live in your forest, bees in your fields of flowers, or goats in your maintains.

As you score more points, you can extend the amount of land you have to work with, which gives you more cards and more types of biomes to make a more diverse ecosystem, score more points, and unlock new levels and challenges.

You can tell this game was crafted with love by people who cared, and despite some awkward camera angles on rare occasions, the controls and gameplay are beautiful. The music is relaxing, and I never felt frustrated with the game itself. Undoing a tile is simple enough with minimal punishment, and restarting doesn’t feel like a chore anyway. For puzzle fans, or just someone who wants to build nature a bit, the price of admission here is more than fair for this 9/10 puzzle game. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

I Am Your President (PS5 Review)

I Am Your President on PS5 from Ultimate Publishing is another game they sent to me that I always appreciate.

The concept of the game is quite simple. You are the president of the United States of America. Pick a party, or take a test to see where you fall on the spectrum, and try to keep your people happy. The decisions you make will move you around the political spectrum.

First thing you need to know, the game is satirical in nature. If you try to take it too seriously, you will probably feel like the game is taking a political stance when it really isn’t. Nobody really acts or talks this way. At one point, I was forced to make a decision on an oil spill that my son-in-law was taking the blame for, and none of the options were at all realistic. Half the fun of the game was doing outlandish stuff like trying to nuke Canada while entering a random trade agreement with Sri Lanka and watching China, for some inexplicable reason, decide it was best friends with, I think, it was Ireland. Also, Mexico and Mongolia, for some reason, hated each other.

Where this game falls apart is that the controls are horrible. Many times, I would hit a button to enter one menu and end up somewhere else entirely. Trying to do anything on the map was sort of like playing chess with a pigeon; even when I could do it sometimes, the game seemed to do whatever it wanted anyway.

Graphically, it was cute, though I enjoyed watching cardboard cutouts of people walk in and out of my office like they were on serious business. I still laugh when a random door opens that looks like a wall opens in the Oval Office, and some guy in a suit bounces into my office to tell me he has horrible news, and all that happened was some minor event like my wife is mad at me for working late.

Scoring the game kinda hurts too, because as much fun as I had with the game, I also felt endless frustration with it. The game is a 5/10 experience that, with some updates to the controls, would easily make it much better. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Utopia Must Fall (Steam Review)

Utopia Must Fall is an early access title from Pixeljam that they were kind enough to send me as their newest update hit, which is full of all sorts of good stuff. Full disclosure, I had never heard of or played the game until this update, and honestly, I wish I had.

One of my earliest memories as a kid was playing games on an old Intelevision with my dad, like Missile Command. One where you tried to protect this sort of city from destruction by shooting missiles at incoming objects. This is important because Utopia Must Fall will see you protecting the last city of humanity from aliens by shooting them with a giant machine gun and laser turrets, etc. It also uses what’s called a V99 Engine to make vector graphics that give it that very old school look and feel while letting it control in a very modern way.

Each day, you get new upgrades for your city that you can pick. Maybe you will give yourself more nukes, which can be used to kill large groups but are limited in supply, or maybe you will choose to get a higher firing rate. I always like to get a couple of laser auto cannons that will help kill aliens for me. There is no wrong answer. I have tried many combinations, and it truly comes down to your playstyle and how aggressive you choose to be. It is possible to build your city in such a way that your shields take care of much of the work. I don’t necessarily agree with trying this route because if you don’t do it right it will end your run very quickly, but it can be done.

Now, as always, I do rate these games based on how they function, their price point, and what they are attempting to do. That being said, I will give this game a 9/10 but with an *. The game costs about $7 and is worth every penny of it. I am having a blast with it and love the game; its Steam review reflects that as well. However, if you don’t like games like this, you aren’t going to enjoy it. This won’t be the game that brings you around. If you do, however, or if you look at it and think it might be fun. It is a must-buy. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Revenge of the Savage Planet Xbox Review

Revenge of the Savage Planet, which you can check out on Game Pass, was sent to me by the fine folks over at Racoon Logic Studios. It’s the type of game I can’t even begin to explain adequately. It’s a platformer, a shooter, and some building involved. It has a wild sense of humor. You are going to die, and you probably won’t even care.

The game starts off explaining how you are an employee being sent to a new planet to colonize it. You will have all the support of the company that you can possibly need, and when you arrive in Nue Florida, it will already be ready to go. You can hit the ground running. You are promptly fired when you arrive.

Don’t worry, you can keep the stuff that’s there; turns out shipping it all back is considered way too expensive. It is now you against the world. Well, multiple worlds. Search everywhere, as there is a lot for you to find. You can use your trusty scanner to discover facts about things, like how pieces of your destroyed ship would still be functional if they were attached to your ship.

I had a ton of fun with this game, although it can be a bit repetitive by yourself. That is where the co-op comes in, both online and split screen. This game is fun alone, but much more fun with a friend. Graphically, the game is beautiful, and it controls nicely. I don’t have any real complaints about t/his game, and with it being free on Game Pass, it is well worth checking out this 8/10 title. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Superman full trailer

I’m cautiously optimistic for this one. I’ve been a longtime fan of James Gunn, even before his time with the MCU. The last DC cinematic universe imploded so there’s literally an entire cinematic universe riding on this movie. Corenswet seems like a more human Clark and I do like the energy he seems to have as the Man of Steel. I like what I saw of Lois, Guy Gardner, Mr. Terrefic, and Lex Luthor. I’m not sure how I feel about the Engineer as the main baddie but I do love everything I’ve seen of Krypto. There have been some leaks that I pray aren’t true or at least seriously overplayed about the main plot of the movie because so far I like where it’s going. Time will tell. May the gaming gods bring you all glory.

Cattle Country Saddles Up For a July 11th Physical Release

Indie publisher Silver Lining Interactive is thrilled to announce that the physical edition of Cattle Country, the cosy Wild West life-sim, is riding into town on July 11, 2025, for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch! 

Developed by Castle Pixel and digitally published by Playtonic Friends, Cattle Country invites players to settle down on the pixel prairies as a budding pioneer. Build your ranch, raise cattle, befriend townsfolk, and soak in the slow, satisfying rhythm of frontier life, with a few surprises along the way. Whether you’re crafting, farming, or just watching the sunset after a hard day’s work, there’s no shortage of down-home charm.

The Cattle Country physical edition for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch is available to pre-order now from the Silver Lining Interactive store page here. Don’t miss your chance to grab a copy and start the coziest cowboy adventure of the summer!

About Cattle Country

Here is a taste of some of the wild adventures awaiting you as you become part of this small community of settlers, and part of a story that’s as old as these hills. Welcome to Cattle Country. 

Ranchin’ and Handcraftin’ – Work the land, raise cattle, and build your dream homestead from sunup to sundown under the wide-open skies.

Swappin’ Stories – Meet the townsfolk, lend a hand, and earn your place among these big-hearted neighbours.

Beware of Bandits – Not all folks are friendly in Cattle Country. Keep your guard up and protect what’s yours from bandits and cattle rustlers!

Rodeos to Romance – Forge deep bonds or fall in love with one of 18 romanceable characters. Life’s richer when shared.

Buried Treasure – Brave the mines in search of riches, rare metals, and secrets left behind by outlaws.

Trackin’ Game – Hunt, explore, or just take in the wild. Critters big and small roam the land, and are waiting to be discovered.

Don’t delay! Get ready to add Cattle Country to your cozy physical PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch collection today! Pre-order now from Silver Lining Direct. 

Console Wars The Card Game Hits Retail!

This is a weird one; we don’t normally cover tabletop games. Not because none of us play them, of course, I have been known to play some D&D myself. However, when I got an email about a tabletop card game about a console wars game, I knew I had to toss it out there in case anyone was interested in it. There is also a how-to-play video, and a link at the bottom where you can buy it. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Console Wars The Card Game

The Precinct Xbox Review

The Precinct is a game I’ve been watching for a while, and Kwalee was kind enough to send me a copy to check out a little bit ago. As you all know I like to get that out of the way up front and share my appreciation before we go any further.

The story itself is straight out of any cop movie or show from the 1980s and 90s. A new rookie joins the force; his father used to belong to the same precinct and was a hero to many. Cut down by the lawless criminals of the city for daring to fight the corruption. The son returns to finish what his father started and find the ones responsible for his death. That being said, I am a bit older than many of you, and you might not have seen a lot of those movies.

The game itself is straightforward: choose a beat for the day, collect evidence while hunting down graffiti artists, writing parking tickets, or chasing down stolen vehicles, trying to outrun the law. Beat up or shoot the occasion drug dealer. You know what, this is getting out of hand, the city of Averno is kind of a hellhole. Just go clean it up and collect evidence.

Also, don’t really worry about collateral damage. While shooting Random people isn’t a good idea, I’ve run over many people during police chases and flipped plenty of civilians’ cars. Nobody seems overly concerned about it. Stop and frisking random people also isn’t such a big deal. It even grants experience when you happen to be right.

The game controls very well, and I never felt like I couldn’t control my car or aim my weapon the way I wanted. The option to just turn down random call-outs is nice as well. Sometimes I just wanted to relax and focus on writing parking tickets to advance what I was doing, so I let the guy steal a car. It wasn’t my car after all. Progress never really felt stunted or not rewarded, either. Unlocking new weapons and cars felt natural, and my character always felt like he was improving.

My only real complaint comes from the fact that charging people with crimes felt like it was too predetermined. A few times, someone would flee in their car, and despite seeing a few crimes, charging them with those crimes was deemed wrong. How can a guy run from me and hit 7 other cars and me, but I can’t charge him with a hit and run?

That being said, for $30, this game is fantastic. Easily an 8/10 experience that I will probably continue to play like I do GTA games just because they are fun to screw around with. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Bastide (early access) Steam Review

Bastide was sent to me by Medieval Nexus, and honestly, I probably should take that as a threat. I do appreciate it, though. The game is probably just the worst city-building strategy game I have ever played. My PC has well beyond the recommended specs, but even on the lowest settings, it runs like my computer is struggling to survive a Diddy party.

Moving beyond this, multiple buildings would just stop producing stuff. Not because I ran out of stuff it needed or I didn’t have workers, if I built a new one, they would go back to producing just fine. It was like the game suddenly stopped recognizing my buildings.

The game is also missing some basic functions, it seems. You can’t really control your people directly when you get attacked, and there also isn’t a way to rally them to fight, either, so producing weapons sometimes feels pointless. I’ve lost plenty of people to small attacks, people rather than fight, they would just stand there and get slaughtered by a force much smaller than my town.

Normally, I’d say the game is in early access, and there is plenty of time to turn it around. This is a screenshot I took today as I write this review.

For 5 years, this game has been in Early Access alpha. Your $13 is better spent supporting someone else. This game is barely playable, 3/10. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.