Recent reviews by COLDRESTIA

Fantastic experience despite the age; it says a lot that I'm a gameplay-focused player, but I still watched the cutscenes and got invested in the story despite frequently speedrunning and skipping over everything in other story-focused games.


dripping in mystery and creative twists without the obnoxious bravado that modern games like to write their characters into. Appreciated the writing and pacing a lot here; continuing through trying to unravel the mystery really pays off. It's not like the gameplay is bad either; it's quite simple but feels fun enough. Variety in encounter approaches is low, but again, there's nothing wrong with a linear approach to game design, which devs/publishers are scared of nowadays.

Alan Wake, as a game, just has some sort of vibe about the whole thing, and it hit.

Very impressive work for one dev. I won't lie; I didn't much care for the story and skipped over most cutscenes, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is definitely worth a playthrough for. Clean Devil May Cry-inspired combat with some unique ideas and cohesive moveset designs ramps up where, toward the end of the game, you have a decently complex character kit at your disposal, and it's satisfying to make good use of all of it. I didn't really play enough to peak, but there's a lot of depth to be played around with there.

Bonus if you're into this aesthetic; I don't particularly care about it, but it's not ruining the game or anything. Great pickup and for so cheap too!

The most cinematic PvP game I've ever played, I got into this game very late despite playing a lot of Battlefield previously, and I'm so glad to have checked it out. This game has the special something that modern releases are missing.

There's a real harrowing beauty to the game; the design choice and attention to detail this game exudes leads to BF1 being the definitive experience for feeling like you're in the midst of a gruelling battle. The operation game mode is peak Battlefield, with your side fighting tooth and claw to gain ground on the enemy.

Guns feel so good to use; sound design is phenomenal, and proper squad gameplay is how it should be for true battlefield gameplay.

Particle Effects have gained sentience and formed a whole ass video game

Carrion nails the atmosphere and power fantasy of being an escaped experiment wreaking havoc on the facility that once housed it along with the hapless workers within. That's all fun, but for my taste, I wanted more action-packed destruction and less puzzle-based gameplay. Because under the guise of controlling a human-destroying monstrosity, really we're trying to figure out how to open doors, circumvent doors, and vents, etc.

You gain powers through the game that serve as a way to slaughter, but the main use is again, solving puzzles and finding solutions with your newfound abilities. It's a good game, and I'd recommend it, but a heads-up about how puzzle-focused it is. I'm glad it's a short game because there were moments I felt it starting to drag a bit.

I had only ever played the DS Castlevania games, and I always like to go back to the origins of a series to see where it all started, so this collection was perfect. There are plenty of games to sink your teeth into, albeit varying in enjoyment; some of them are admittedly hard to stomach, and I played them more for completion's sake, while others are still great games despite their age and offer slick retro platforming action. Soundtracks are phenomenal, especially for their time; it's not hard to see why plenty of Castlevania music has become so iconic. And whipping enemies will never get old either.

The collection features a save function that obviously didn't exist at the time of release. I will admit I'm not the sort of person to turn down a challenge, but some of these games are so tedious that rather than a rewarding challenge, I'd just use the feature for those. And for Simons Quest, unless you enjoy convoluted puzzles and progression paths, please follow a guide and save your sanity. Apart from that, the games obviously offer a challenge, but nothing is too egregiously hard; you can beat them with some perseverance.

I had a great time going back to see where this legendary series began and urge anyone interested in the series or retro games in general to at least play some of the games in this collection.

As a kid growing up reading the Warrior cat books, this was the game child me would have wanted to make.

Look, it is not groundbreaking; sometimes it's even annoying, but there's plenty of fun to be had if you ever read the book series or you're a cat lover wanting an RPG to grind away at for a while. There are some nice ideas, some executed well, some not so much; the overall experience is a bit of a mixed bag, but it was a mixed bag I was happy to have played, and I'll be trying the sequel sometime to see what was improved upon.

Overall nice, nostalgic, cosy cat RPG. ;)

Personally, I feel we need more games like this, small in scope but confident in what unique aspect it's going for and not padding out extra game time with busywork. Choo-choo Charles is very upfront about what you're getting: a survival game where you're being hunted down by a demonic train, with some extra side quests and objectives should you want to do them. And for me this was great: take a small idea and turn it into a short, fun experience.

I liked it as a kid and like it now; what can I say? If you've got an itch for some flash game nostalgia and you like launching a variety of objects at precariously built castles, then you're at the right place.

They got the main selling point for the game bang on: excellent, top-class gunplay and combat feel. For me, if a game nails the fundamental combat, everything else follows, and while Deadlink isn't reinventing the FPS roguelike genre, the gameplay loop is enough to keep me hooked.

I never found build variety a particularly strong part of the game, but saying that, I felt that the 4 different classes all played differently enough to feel like a fresh enough experience, so the main variety comes from doing a run on another class.

If you appreciate super crunchy, satisfying guns paired with slick but grounded movement and meaty headshots, Deadlinked will be your next FPS obsession; if you're here for in-depth build variety and every run feeling new, it's probably not going to click as much.