PC / Mac Archives - Page 4 of 19

System Shock remake (reviewed on PC)

June 30, 2023 Gerard Campbell 877 Views Challenging, Hacking, Old School, Rogue AI, System Shock

In 1994, Looking Glass Technologies introduced rogue AI Shodan to the world in the original System Shock.

Set aboard a space station in 2072, the player assumed the role of a hacker who must thwart the evil plans of Shodan, a genuinely unsettling AI who was quite terrifying.

The game was universally praised for its gameplay by critics but was only a moderate commercial success.

Fast forward to 2023 and we’ve seen the release of a remade System Shock from retro game specialist studio Nightdive Studios (Only available on PC at the moment but is coming to consoles later this year).

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac

Stasis Bone Totem (reviewed on PC)

June 21, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1377 Views Adventure, horror themes, indie game, Isometric, point-and-click, Survival Horror

A sequel to 2015 game Stasis, which I never played.

Stasis Bone Totem sees husband and wife oceanic salvagers Mac and Charlie O’Bannon (and robotic bear Moses) stumble across a derelict oil rig run by the Cayne Corporation.

What follows is a Lovecraftian tale that takes the main characters all the way down to an undersea complex and melds themes of an ancient alien civilisation, unnatural human experimentation and Gieger-esque visuals.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS5

Miasma Chronicles, Review

June 16, 2023 Guy 868 Views Isometric, Mutant Year Zero, Post Apocalyptic, turn-based strategy games

Unfortunately, as a console gamer my platforms of choice don’t equate to a plethora of games in the tactical genre space. So, when I caught wind of the upcoming Miasma Chronicles, I was a happy little tactical camper.

As soon as I started playing, I fell in love with Miasma Chronicles’ unique spin on the post-apocalypse.

25 hours later…we’re still together.

Gaming Hardware Hardware Reviews PC / Mac

Intel NUC11 mini PC review

May 6, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1492 Views Beast Canyon, Benchmark, Gaming PC, Intel, NUC mini PC

I’ve dabbled in PC gaming since the days of the Sinclair ZX81 and Spectrum (I’m truly showing my age here).

While modern PC gamers are running graphics cards with 12 Gigabytes of VRAM (and more) and CPUs that are more powerful than anything you could imagine in 1990.

Which brings me to Intel’s Beast Canyon Intel NUC11 PC: A small but mighty gaming PC that is unobtrusive, packs a powerful punch in a small form factor – and there’s not a bit of beige to be seen!

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Dead Island 2 Review

April 25, 2023 Richard Armitt 1130 Views Blood, Dark Humour, FPS, Gore, Melee, Zombie

Dead Island 2 doesn’t mess about, a long awaited sequel to the fondly dismembered Dead Island.

This time round you get to choose from a bunch of keen zombie slayers and make your way through the cluttered alleyways and luxury houses of L.A.

Once you’ve picked your Slayer du jour, depending on their style and skill tree, it’s clobbering time!

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac

Everspace 2 (PC) review

April 16, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1095 Views Adventure, Everspace, Gorgeous, PC, Space Dogfight

At its heart, Everspace 2 is an arcade shooter – and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Originally funded by a crowd-funding campaign, Everspace 2 has just come out of a two year early access phase.

It describes itself as “a fast-paced single-player space shooter with deep exploration, tons of loot and classic RPG elements.” Well, it’s all of those things wrapped up in a space faring package that will scratch that space combat itch that’s been bugging you for so long.

Gaming PC / Mac PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Destiny: Lightfall, Review

April 9, 2023 Guy 691 Views Bungie, Destiny, FPS, MMO, Raid

Destiny Lightfall, what to say, what to say.

Those who know the Cottage, know I’m the resident Destiny fiend. But over the latter part of 2022, new content was a tad light and I had been jonesing for some new Bungie goodness.

The ‘new goodness’ finally arrived in a new expansion Lightfall and it is overall, excellent.

So lets dive into some details, Guardian.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS5 Switch Console Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Dredge review: Fishing the deep, dark depths

March 24, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1250 Views Adventure, Dredge, Fishing, indie game, mini-game, Sinister, Spooky

I usually find that when I think about a game at lot when I’m not playing it.

Trying to find solutions to mysteries, mulling over exactly what did that cryptic conversation with a character mean, then I’m usually smitten with that game.

For me at the moment, that game is Dredge, a “fishing” game from a game development studio in my home town in New Zealand, that has buried itself into my mind and I can’t stop thinking about it, I can’t stop playing it.

I’m smitten with this indie gem.

Gaming Game Reviews Hardware PC / Mac

Returnal PC (review)

March 12, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1132 Views alien planet, Hard, PC, Returnal, rogue-like

Returnal will run well on an ageing GPU like an RX580, which means it still has some life left in it. Sure, it won’t look as good as a card that can push the high frame rates and do ray tracing without breaking a sweat.

More importantly, it’s actually playable on our ageing RX580.

Gaming Feature Article Indie Game PC / Mac PS5 Switch Console Xbox Series X

Dredge developer interview: A fishing RPG with a sinister undercurrent

February 26, 2023 Gerard Campbell 3024 Views Drege, Fishing, indie game, Kiwi, Sinister RPG, Small Team

Gerard Campbell caught up with the team behind Black Salt Games.

A young development studio based in Christchurch, New Zealand, making waves with its debut game, Dredge.

Two years in the making, and coming from fledgling game development studio Black Salt Games, comprising the talents of Joel, Nadia, Mikey and Alex.

Gaming Byte Size Review Indie Game PC / Mac PS4 PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Startup Company, PS5

February 15, 2023 Richard Armitt 967 Views Business Simulation, Busy Work, Commerce, Sandbox, strategy

Startup Company Console Edition brings a successful business sim to consoles after a strong outing on Steam. Danish devlopers Hovgaard Games have obviously laboured over this title with love.

Starting from the ground level with minimal investment, the aim is to manage your business empire “to the moon”. Interestingly the simulation is heavily geared towards the Social Media / Online Sales platforms we are familiar with.

On paper this game should be right up my alley, should be.