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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Augmented Empire for Steam was sent to me by Coatsink and is a turn-based strategy RPG. The story is pretty straightforward: you live in Savannah in the year 2058. The world is a corrupt place, divided by class and who you know, more than by ability and what people deserve or have earned. Your choices will change all that, maybe.
The game plays great, as no time during my time did I experience any sort of stutters, slowdowns, or crashing. The hand-drawn maps and backgrounds are gorgeous as well.
The game is rather short, and the battles are pretty simplistic compared to other games in the genre. Only 26 battles, which can be beaten in about 10 hours. This isn’t bad, though the game only has a price tag of about $8.
Now you all know by now when I review games, I review them based on games around a similar price point. The problem I have here is that I really don’t have anything to compare this with. The story is good, but not great. It doesn’t do anything new, but what it does is solid and worth a playthrough. The graphics aren’t great but for the price they are damned good. The voice acting is comparable to games at twice the price, easily.
I find myself wanting to give this game a 9/10. The game isn’t the best, but it is one of the best games out there at this price point. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Publisher Graffiti Games and developer Fervir Games are excited to announce that Creature Keeper, the monster-taming, action-adventure RPG where you tame, train and fight alongside wild Creatures in real-time combat, is available now on PC via Steam for $14.99! Build your party of charming companions to take on any challenge, then coordinate powerful attacks and combos on an action-packed, retro-inspired journey across a vast world full of dangers and secrets to discover.
Welcome to Thera, a magical and mysterious land filled with fifty fantastical Creatures to raise and fight alongside in epic combat. Embark on a great adventure to restore balance and stop a strange sickness from bringing calamity to the world.
Build and customize your party, level up and unlock new buffs and powers, and learn all about Creatures through your battles and experiences. Befriend a wide variety of Creatures like the adorable Amphibiole, the powerful Molectus, the gigantic Lutras, the jacked Swolfe, and the almighty Bep. Power up your team, fill out your Bestiary, grow a garden on the go, and embark on a fantastic journey to fulfill your destiny!
Key Features
Build Your Team & Fight: Assemble your dream team by befriending a variety of unique Creatures to battle alongside you in real time. Choose your Creatures wisely to handle any challenge that stands in your way!
Customize Your Creatures: Create powerful, diverse, and stylish playstyles through gameplay-altering skill gems, perks, weapons and more while looking fashionable with tons of hats to dress your Creatures up in.
Potent Plant Power: Use your Pocket Garden to grow food and create helpful Connection Bonuses for your Creatures in an engaging organization mini-game.
Knowledge Is Strength: Fill out your Bestiary of fifty unique Creatures to unlock powerful buffs and items for your party.
An Epic Journey Awaits: Explore the vast world of Thera and all its secrets as you take on your quest of destiny.
Creature Keeper is available today on Steam for $14.99 and is coming soon to the Epic Games Store and Microsoft Store. The game is also in development for Nintendo Switch. It will be featured in Steam’s Creature Collector Fest May 12-19 and will be debuting a developer diary at the OTK Games Expo on May 25 (where it previously won the expo’s $25,000 grant in 2023).
Fervir Games is a one-man studio founded in 2021 with a focus on pixel art and animation, currently working on the monster-taming RPG Creature Keeper.
About Graffiti Games
Graffiti Games is a video game publisher comprised of a strong team of games industry veterans. With a powerful, global distribution network encompassing both digital and physical retail partners, Graffiti achieves worldwide reach and maximizes sales potential for its games. Graffiti is known for a portfolio of high-quality games, including the recent best sellers Blue Fire and Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. To find out more about Graffiti and our portfolio, please visit www.graffitigames.com.
Polterguys Possession Party is a party game sent to me by Amplified Games,which is always appreciated. The game itself is pretty simple to get into. You play as a ghost that possesses random items, and you must avoid a larger ghost. Last one standing wins.
This sounds like it would be easy, but there will, however, be other people trying to sabotage you. Fences that can be moved on you as you try to escape, power-ups that can be used against you (or by you), or even levers that can launch you out of hiding places just as the ghost shows up. These are all possibilities of what can be done to you. They can also be done by you.
There honestly isn’t a ton to be said about this game. For a game with a $10 price tag, it has a lot to it. You can practice with bots before going online with real people. The game also has plenty of things for you to unlock when it comes to toys and food to possess for your little ghost guy. Some in levels, some are hidden in your room, which acts as a sort of in-game hub for you and your friends. The game is also 2-4 players couch co-op, so if you want to play with your real-life friends as opposed to online with strangers, that is an option. Don’t get drunk and play with your girlfriend, tho, they don’t appreciate being tossed to the ghost. The game is a solid 8/10, even though it did have me on the couch for a night. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Hot Rod Mayhem is a kart racer sent to me by Casual Brothers, and of course, I always like to disclose that and thank them up front. There are probably a million kart racers out there, so it is always a dicey genre to enter. This one is available basically anywhere you play games.
The biggest selling point of this game for me is that they chose a very old-school feel for this one. There is no online mode; this is a couch co-op adventure. Each person (up to 4) just creates a character before the race, with plenty of options from perfectly normal to pretty outrageous. Then you pick a car to race with, each with its own good and bad points.
There are only two real options when it comes to racing: a single race or a full-blown championship series. I like this choice as well because they do a lot with a little. You can unlock 10 tracks, but each one of these tracks can be reversed, and there are multiple difficulty options. When you add in the power-ups, races can get kind of wild and hectic.
The game is far from perfect. It relies heavily on boosting as opposed to skill to win races at times, it seems, and bumping other racers can end your race faster than anything else. As far as I can tell, the computer racers don’t suffer from this issue the same way human players do.
The game cost $20, and for kart games I’ve played at that price, it is definitely solid. There are certainly better out there, especially if you are playing on the Switch. But for Xbox on PlayStation, the game is solid enough. It is a 7/10 game in a genre piled with quickly tossed-together junk. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
Live War is a real-time strategy game that Mirage sent to me, and I have always appreciated it. I should also point out it is a preview version of the game, which means it is still being worked on, so I won’t be giving it a score as it seems unfair to grade unfinished work.
The game itself is easy to learn. You command your troops; each troop type has strengths and weaknesses. Don’t try sending a couple of foot soldiers after a tank, obviously. Also, maybe don’t send that tank after air support. This seems like common sense, but I tested it anyway. Do not do that.
It is also nice to see how easy it is to learn, but hard to master the game actually is. In the first couple of battles, you can kind of get away with just sending a ton of troops straight into the action. This is a quick way to lose the war, though. Also, the old school rope a dope doesn’t work. Sending a couple of troops forward to entice the enemy to chase you into an ambush rarely works.
Now, how does the game function? Well, I can play on my laptop just fine. I can’t imagine his will cause any real issues for anyone with a half-decent setup. I did have some mild slowdowns when there were a lot of explosions on screen, but this was very mild and very few and far between.
Real-time tactics fans are definitely going to want to keep an eye on this one, even the preview version I was sent is a ton of fun to play. Hell, I don’t even know what was missing from it.