May 18, 2022News
Mediatonic, the creators behind Fall Guys, an online multiplayer racing game with colourful beans, just announced that they’re going free-to-play! Starting June 21st, 2022, you can play Fall Guys for free on Epic Games, Xbox (all gens), PS5, and the Nintendo Switch! Furthermore, all players will have cross-platform, cross-play, and cross-save capabilities!
Existing players of the PS4 and Steam versions, will continue to receive all updates (new seasons, patches, and new features). However, new players will no longer be able to purchase the game for Steam. Rather, you will have to go to the Epic Games Store to play on PC. Moreover, if you already own the game, make sure to sign up for the Legacy Pack before the new release date. The Legacy Pack will contain a nickname, nameplate, the Regal costume, the Veggie Dog costume, the Feisty Dwarf costume. It also will have a Season Pass for Season 1 (Free For All) for, well…for free.
If you buy the Season Pass, via Show-Bucks (in-game currency), you’ll get new unlockables, and 100 new levels at launch. If you pre-register now through Epic Games right here, you can get lots of goodies! Awards will later be handed out on June 27th, 2022. For more information, check out the announcement trailer below!
Apr 18, 2022Indie Highlight
In Ooblets latest update (0.99), you can run your own shop, complete new Wildlands quests, and embark on missions from townspeople to find their missing Ooblets.
The Ooblets developers already gave us the ability to “put things on things”, which now seemed like the perfect precursor to being able to display things for your very own store! Remember that one door in town you just couldn’t open? Well, now you can! With tables and shelves, you can sell your extra accessories, food you cook, and any other items! No more deleting items out of existence and gaining nothing in return! Furthermore, you can customize your shop’s wallpaper and flooring, and use whatever else you already purchased for your home to decorate.
Another new major feature is to add things to do in the Wildlands. Before, you had to just leave your duplicate Ooblets alone and forget about them. Now, you can visit the Wildlands for seed requests, mystery can cleanup, watering plants, and retrieving Ooblets that have wandered out. It seems that even the townsfolk of Badgetown have runaway Ooblets in need of retrieval!
This adorable creature farming sim is created by indie team Glumberland. If you missed their last big update, check out what was added here. Ooblets is available in Early Access now on PC here and Xbox here. Although, note that there now has been a small price hike since the game’s humble beginnings.
Interested in customizing your own shop or restaurant? Check out Cat Cafe Manager here: Cat Cafe Manager is Out Today on Switch and Steam.
Dec 17, 2019Quick Bits
Overcooked 2 is still one of my favorite co-op games out there and every time Ghost Town Games and Team17 announce new content for it, I’m super excited! As of today, December 17th, 2019, you can play new DLC, Winter Wonderland, on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, for the total of $0! From the trailer below, you can see that these new kitchens are inspired by the most recent Season Pass that includes Campfire Cook Off, Night of the Hangry Horde and Carnival of Chaos!
Moreover, with these 5 new festive kitchens, you can cook s’mores by the campfire, feed the Horde which are now holiday cookies and candy canes, and use those awesome new cannons from the carnival levels! If you haven’t already purchased the Season Pass, this is a great free way to test the features! Furthermore, look forward to 5 new seasonal recipes, hot chocolate, pancakes, roast dinners, Christmas puddings and mince pies! You can also play as 2 new chefs; Reindeer Chef or Present Head Chef!
Nov 15, 2019Quick Bits
Following the phenomenal success of CAT QUEST, developers The Gentlebros return to the world of Felingard, a fantastical land under threat from a continuing war. Cat Quest II has already been available since October 24th, 2019. If you haven’t tried it out yet, now you can play the free demo of this cooperative action/adventure here on Steam. You can also watch some gameplay footage and learn more about Cat Quest II in my article here.
This game also released about a year ago for the PS4, and, for the first time for this series, on Xbox One. Square Enix has just recently announced that a demo is available to download on the PSN here and on Xbox Live here. The demo contains two stories: one from the game’s opening sequence to the introduction of Olympus, and one that covers the first half of the Toy Box adventure. The save data of the former can be transferred to the full version of the game.
For a limited time, you can also try out a free demo for Garden Story. You can find all the details in my article here!
Nov 14, 2019News
During Microsoft’s X019, I caught the live show of Inside Xbox which revealed world premieres and gameplay footage for titles coming next year (2020) for Xbox One and Xbox Game Pass. You can watch the full stream below and check out my highlights for the most ‘potatoey’ games that I can’t wait to get my hands on!
Microsoft also announced their Black Friday sales which include discounts of 20%-70% off such as: $150 off Xbox One consoles, three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $1 and up to 50% off Xbox Game Studios titles! Furthermore, Project xCloud is coming to PCs sometime in 2020 and more than 50+ Xbox game titles are available in the Preview library.
Stick around all weekend long for more news at X019 from London, England! Hopefully we can catch glimpses of games on the show floor! Also, I want to hear which game you are most excited about.
Nov 1, 2019Indie Highlight
It looks like I’ve strangely made it my mission to find multiplayer games where the premise is “chore-like” if it were a real-life scenario. Not only do I find these types of games hilarious, but I’m also certain that they’ll make for great fun with friends. Especially if they are anything like Overcooked. May I present to you, Tools Up, a cooperative game about renovating homes. Paint walls, lay some tiles, move a bit of the furniture around in some pretty weird places. Developed by The Knights of Unity and published by All in! Games, Tools Up is coming soon in late 2019 for Steam, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
Gather up to 4 players for this fun couch co-op experience for people of all skills! Renovate the apartments in the mysterious skyscraper while the tenants are away. Be sure to follow their wishes left behind on the blueprints. Tear off wallpapers, bring down walls, bust down doors, and cover the floor with vibrant carpets and panels – just be sure to do it in time and clean up after yourself!
For more information about this game, you can check out the official website here.
Oct 18, 2019Reviews
Megaquarium is a management tycoon game created by Twice Circled and Auroch Digital. Become an expert in aquatic life and run your very own theme park by managing tanks and staff all while keeping your fish and guests happy! Megaquarium was previously released on Steam in 2018 with very positive reviews. Now, Megaquarium is available on consoles starting today (October 18th, 2019)! I’d like to thank Auroch Digital for providing us with a Nintendo Switch copy of Megaquarium for the purpose of a review which you can read about below!
In Megaquarium you can choose to play in Sandbox mode where you can play around with settings and random challenges or Campaign mode with 10 levels of main goals and tutorials. You might be thinking it will be easy enough to learn everything on your own if you’re familiar with the genre, however, there’s a lot more to it than just placing fish in tanks! Fish will have very detailed needs and types that will have you taking extreme care with size, temperature and design of your tanks. In the beginning you are very limited with your choices of livestock, equipment and tools and I originally thought the game was slow-moving but the more I unlocked, the more I was thankful for taking smaller steps to make sure I fully understood everything.
Every fish has a number for their size which has to be taken into consideration when building the size of your tank as it will have a maximum amount it can hold. Not only that, the size will factor in when dealing with predators and the possibility of those bigger fish eating the smaller ones. Although, some of those smaller fish may have an extra size added due to their “armor”. Next, you’ll want to know if the fish requires a certain number of plant-life, rocks or shelters so as not to stress them out.
Read all of the information provided because some extra alerts will be important when you start placing different species together. For example, some fish are “wimps” and others are “bullies” and they obviously can’t be placed together. There are also warnings that will outright tell you if the fish are a danger to softer livestock such as starfish or corals. There are also some fussier fish that need to be the only one of their kind in a single tank or others that need to be with a school of fish with a base number to fulfill.
Different styles of tanks will be unlocked the further you play the main game which will mostly be for aesthetic purposes with the exception of the Kreisel tank which is the only one that can be used for jellyfish. All tanks are pre-built with where the window panes for viewing and the walls that are up for privacy will be. Some tanks will go deeper into the floor and others will be tall and need a platform with stairs so your staff can access them. You have control of where you want to place your tank and the size so have an idea of your aquarium layout and design when deciding on which tank to use.
Your fish will either be tropical or cold and need equipment for the tanks accordingly. All tanks will require filters to enhance your water quality. The amount of equipment needed depends on the size you’re using (small, medium, large), as well as which fish and how many you plan to put in that tank. You’ll soon discover that your guests dislike seeing your heaters, chillers, filters and the like, and therefore you’ll need to hide all of it behind walls! This becomes really fun to place when you have access to pumps which can reach tanks from a distance rather than needing to connect your equipment right next to them. Just attach your equipment to pumps, adding more as needed in order to reach all your tanks. Your individual fish will have a number of water quality and temperature minimum in order to survive.
Your prestige comes from happy guests and everything in your aquarium which is important to increase. This will unlock new facilities, tools, decorations, livestock, etc. After a specific amount, you’ll “rank up” which will either give you access to those items right away or allow you to research them. Research adds yet another layer to your choice of fish and decor because all of them will have points that go toward “ecology”, “science”, both or neither. Ecology research allows you to discover new livestock and science research allows you to unlock more or better equipment. Every single guest that views your individual tanks will contribute to adding up all of these points just once. Therefore, even if your fish don’t require plants and decor, fill up your tanks with them anyway to get the most out of them!
You can really go in-depth with the thoughts of your guests, or you can simply look over their heads for handy icons that display whether they need to eat, drink, rest or go to the bathroom. Vending machines (garbage cans to go with them), seating and toilets will do the trick and they don’t take up that much room either! Your decorations can be placed both in tanks and out but I like to keep my aisles clear for my staff to get to places faster and my guests to not wonder around aimlessly. I do wish I could put up paintings or something on the walls but you can at least change the colors as you unlock them. However, doing that is a bit of a pain because you can’t paint multiple walls at the same time.
You’ll need staff first and foremost to feed your fish and fix your equipment when it breaks down. When choosing from a list of a few people you can hire, there are set skills and traits that need your attention. I ignored all of the traits and it hasn’t affected me while playing on “Normal” although I’m sure they have their uses when trying to master the game. What you need to worry about is how many points they already have in the following: Feeding, Fixing, Cleaning, Gift Shop, Talking, etc.
You can adjust the priority of their tasks once you’ve hired them if they are more skilled in specific areas. Eventually you’ll be able to level up your staff and either upgrade their current skills or add new ones. You can also assign them to certain areas but I find that also unnecessary at this stage if you have planned out the layout of your aquarium properly (i.e. tools close by and unobstructed). Also, if you place your equipment behind walls as you should, make sure to create “staff doors” so they can access the rooms.
Everything in this game has been really helpful when indicating in red if something you are trying to do is not going to work out and why. Your staff need to be able to reach all of your equipment and therefore you cannot bunch up everything together. To fix these broken down machines you’ll need to place toolkit stands nearby which allow for only one staff member to use at one time. I find it beneficial to place one toolkit per cluster of pumps and equipment. Your staff will also need brooms for cleaning up trash, sinks for cleaning toilets, among other tools that become available later on. Make sure you have the right food containers out for your fish so your staff can feed them. Again, if your tank needs anything, make sure to pay attention to the icons above them.
At first it bothered me that the background outside of your aquarium is completely bare, however, once I noticed the level of attention to detail of the fish, I’m glad that that’s where the focus was placed. I love tycoon games that allow you to not only have an overhead view, but to zoom in as if you were a guest as well. You can really look inside of your tanks and see your different colored fish move around!
It seems like the developers took extra care in learning the different movements and behaviors of the hundreds of livestock provided. You can really feel like an aquatic-life expert yourself once you have several tanks and fish living in harmony! The guests can use a little more variety in appearance but I find it kind of hilarious when they purchase, say a drink, and there’s a large bottle that appears in front of them while they walk around until they are finished.
I’m pretty sure there is only one song that continually plays on a loop in the game but I found myself concentrating so hard on making sure none of my fish get eaten that I hardly paid attention. The sound effects are kind of loud and abrupt so I recommend turning that down a little. Since there is quite a lot of text that needs to be read on your screen in several different menus, it can be difficult to see if you’re a potato like me with poor eyesight. It’s a shame that you can’t zoom in on the text and that the menus aren’t color-coordinated to make things much easier.
The amount of intricate gameplay in Megaquarium makes it so that you do not miss taking care of other animals, and rather enjoy specializing in aquatic-life only. With so much to do for your tanks, it can be so much fun designing your entire aquarium! If you’re interested in trying out this game for yourselves, here’s the link for the Nintendo Switch version.
Sep 9, 2019News
So many packs, so little time! EA has done it again. They’ve made a beautiful looking game pass for the Sims 4 that we really want. The most recent addition to the roster was Island Living, back in June. On September 10th PC and Mac players will be getting another new pack that is less tropical and more…magical. The Realm of Magic game pack will also be available on consoles starting October 15th! (PS4 and Xbox One)
Once the update is applied, you’ll be able to find a portal in the woods in Glimmerbrook that will lead you to a new world. And there you will be able to learn magic! You can even get yourself a cauldron and start brewing potions. Including love potions! If you feel like it, you can test your new magical skills against fellow spellcasters, too. Magical duels, here we come!
If you don’t feel very magical in your t-shirt and jeans, there are no worries there. The Realm of Magic pack will include lots of new clothing to suit your new abilities. Enchanting dresses, mystical robes, amulets…the works. We’ll be keeping an eye out to see if they’ll also have new furniture and decorating items to make our mini-mansion mystical. Meanwhile, you can view the full video here:
You can view the Realm of Magic game pack on the official site. You can also see all of our coverage of Sims 4 right here.
For more magic fun, make sure to check out Witchbrook by Chucklefish, the Stardew Valley of Magic!