Tag: book-reviews

The Empty Desk is launching on consoles this April!

JanduSoft ispleased to announce that The Empty Desk, a psychological thriller developed by Cheesecake Games, will be released on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. In this narrative-driven adventure, players step into the shoes of Detective Thomas H. Bennett as he faces his final case before retirement, an investigation that quickly spirals into a disturbing journey where reality begins to fracture.

Set within the mysterious headquarters of Blackthorn & Co, The Empty Desk blends investigation, exploration, and psychological tension to deliver a gripping experience. As players uncover the secrets behind a high-profile death and a puzzling disappearance, they will navigate a haunting environment where every clue brings them closer to the truth… or further into the unknown.

The Empty Desk will launch on April 17 for €10.49 / $10.49, with a 20% launch discount for a limited time.

Immerse yourself in a psychological thriller with narrative adventure elements and unsettling details. Join Detective Bennett on his final case and uncover dark secrets in a world where reality bends and sanity wavers. The Empty Desk is the first chapter of the Detective Bennett: Solved Cases saga—a psychological thriller with narrative adventure elements and hints of horror. It immerses the player in a true crime story while exploring the effects of a mind trapped in a cycle of repetition and emotional burnout.

In this first installment, veteran homicide detective Thomas H. Bennett, just one week away from retirement, faces one final and unsettling case that could change him forever. As you delve deeper into the game, reality crumbles before your eyes.

Features:

  • A complete story you can finish: Between 2.5 and 3.5 hours of gameplay, designed to deliver the full experience from beginning to end.
  • Deep narrative: Follow Detective Bennett’s final mission as he confronts a homicide case that devolves into something far more unsettling and emotionally devastating.
  • Psychological exploration: The game tackles themes of mental health, emotional burnout, and workplace alienation through Bennett’s experiences and the dark mysteries of Blackthorn.
  • Tense atmosphere: Blackthorn offices are a changing, disorienting environment where reality distorts, and every step reveals new threats and secrets.

The Playground: Child of Divorce

I hope everyone had a fun, safe, happy New Year. I took another trip to The Playground for mine. Child of Divorce is the disturbing prequel to Aron Beauregard’s splatterpunk hit I didn’t know I want or needed.

The year is 1993 and Geraldine Borden’s macabre magnum opus is under construction. But after a heated swing with young Matthew Cookson went awry, Geraldine and her compatriot, Fuchs, see there’s a road ahead. In the meantime, she ordered Fuchs to build a separate structure, a prototype, ordering her broken adapted son Rock, and Fuchs to abduct a unlucky set of children. Confused, hunted by a nightmare with little explanation, who will survive the first Playground, and what will be be left of them?

Prequels are normally cursed to be inferior to the originals. Sometimes forced, sometimes bloated by needless explanations, sometimes they are decent stories twisted and mangled to fit a mold. Child of Divorce actually avoids all these pitfalls. The book improves immensely from the first. My biggest complaint from the first, the structuring, has been smoothed out, flowing much more naturally. The children themselves are flushed out a lot more and written more three dimensionally; I was much more invested in these kids and their story arcs, feeling truly saddened and impacted when they met a horrible fate. I loved the set up. Mildred, who hunts the children and keeps them moving, truly freaked me out and I tip my hat to Beauregard for making a stalker enemy that is truly nightmare fuel. The book stands really good as a standalone, only nodding to the first a few times. It is a quick read that fits perfectly, not being too short or long. The only downside I can think of was some of the games didn’t resonate with me as much and the dodgeball room utterly confused the hell out of me towards the end. In the end, I loved this book. Hell, it’s one of my favorite prequels. Can I recommend it? Yes, but do your research because there is a massive set of triggers in this book- if the cover upsets you, this book isn’t for you, and like last time, it is a scene from the book and there are disturbing pictures inside. Personally, I loved it, and I think it was captivating, grim, creepy as hell horror story I’d recommend, especially if you loved the first. May the gaming gods bring you glory.