Game Reviews

Game Title: Luma Island Released: November 20, 2024 Game Length: N/A Grade: A Gameplay Progress: Let me preface this by saying that the vast majority of the game is optional . You do not need to take on professions. You don't need to repair everything in town. If you aren't concerned about the good ending, you don't even need to hatch any pets. You'll need to at the bare minimum build the main bridge to reach the forest, repair the gondola to head up into the mountains, and repair the lighthouse to learn the secret location of the jungle. You don't have to open every chest you see. However, that would make the game pretty boring. In each region, there are a number of books you can collect through hidden areas and at the end of each temple. These books simply provide you a way to craft more decorations for your farm. Items like moss, clay, nails, and glue are all designed to help build houses and expand things for your farm. While not specifically mentioned, the i...

Game Title: I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival Released: November 13, 2024 Game Length: 20 Hours Grade: A   Setting Story: You wake up from cryogenic sleep to find yourself on the top of a giant skyscraper without any of your memories. Water has covered the ground and most of the buildings around you. There's quite a number of rafts still floating around but not a living soul in sight. Nearby you find a fridge that begins talking to you the moment power is restored. He tells you that there are individuals who have survived this long on the planet by having their consciousness uploaded into a machine. What appears to be mutated vegetation has engulfed the inside of the building and through the cracks. Toxic plants shoot out worms during the night that seek out food before morphing into some form of weed. Nearby is a tower that controls a little drone that can be sent out to explore the landscape.  Gameplay: As this is a cozy game, you need not panic. There are safeguard...

Game Title: Everholm Released: November 11, 2024 Game Length: N/A Grade: C Development Early Access: For a lot of these games, there doesn't seem to be a point when a game is considered completely done when it officially releases. Waiting at least a year for all the bugs, optimizations, and controller support is usually the smart move. However, more and more games are pushing the envelope when they announce Version 1.0 with a lot of missing features. Even big games such as Disney Dreamlight Valley and Palia seem to offer exclusive content for playing the game from the beginning when it releases to the public. Release: Everholm is no different in this situation. The opening sequence of the game holds strong with a nice introduction to the story, a few tutorials that encourage you to explore, and a few time-gates so not to overwhelm you from the start. You are chasing after a lady, coincidentally receive amnesia, and have gone missing for a couple weeks. Your tools are returne...

Game Title: My Time At Sandrock Released: November 2, 2023 Game Length: 160 Hours (seriously) Grade: A Updates Problems and Patches: Scattered about between the updates are a list of patches that fix a number of bugs and crashes. The developers were generally  on top of letting people know the known issues . Most of the focus was put on the finishing touches for the multiplayer after their announcement that it will have a completely different experience than the main campaign . To avoid spoilers, there were some additions and features made to the endgame as well. With a game this size, there is a chance you are going to run across a few of them. One obvious bug that took them awhile is removing the sand in the machine checks . The only blatant problem that prevented me from making any progress was when Cheery Conspiracy Quest didn't quite have all the objects move to their positions to complete the quest. What you are supposed to do isn't quite clear during Whisper of th...