Kell Andersen
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Writing For
Push SquareLatest Reviews
Games are often about how many people you can slaughter, and the efficiency with which you can do so. This makes death abstract – a means to an end. The more death you can cause, the more points you’ll get, and the more points you get, the more likely you are to win. Last Day of June isn't about death in the abstract. In fact, it's about just one death. And it’s not about causing that death – it’s about trying to stop it from happening in the first place.
In 2Dark you play as Smith, a man with a tortured past. On a camping trip many years ago his wife was murdered and his two children kidnapped. In response to these tragic events, he dedicates his life to not only finding his own children, but also saving other kidnapped youngsters.
Porting PC simulation games to consoles is fraught with danger, with systemic complexities and control issues abound. Thankfully, Prison Architect manages to avoid most of these pitfalls, and serves as an exemplar of how the genre should make the transition in future.
Grow Home is yet another small indie-esque release from Ubisoft, following closely in the footsteps of Child of Light and Valiant Hearts. It combines unique gameplay, a stunning graphical style, and a cute story about robots and plants in an attempt to recreate the sensation of rock-climbing. But does this plucky platformer climb to the top of the vine, or should you leaf it alone?
There are still bed sheets hanging on the clotheslines in the deserted streets of Shropshire. They sway lightly in the wind; the ethereal vestiges of a place that once was. In many ways, they're the perfect analogy for Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, an experience which is astoundingly gorgeous in a subtle, unassuming, and overwhelmingly sad way. This is a game which feels unlike anything else that you've ever played, one which will masterfully wrap you up in its gentle and heartbreaking world, and one that you won't be able to stop thinking about for days after its completion.
What if the combat-free opening hour of BioShock Infinite stretched on for much longer? Indeed, what if you could explore the beautiful ruins of a destroyed city without having to constantly fend for your life? Submerged – a game developed by ex-Bioshock staffers, incidentally – attempts to answer these very questions. But does this sailing sojourn live up to this potential, or does it sink to the bottom of the ocean?
Teslagrad’s opening scene is bold, beautiful, and utterly beguiling, cleverly drawing you into its world, without wasting a single second on needless exposition. Unfortunately – while certainly a lot of fun – the rest of the game fails to live up to the lofty precedent set by this prologue. It’s a shame, as hidden just below the puzzler’s finicky and frustrating surface is an absolutely sublime game.
You wake up in the middle of a field with no idea who you are, or what you’re doing. A totally foreign winged creature flitters about, its aggravatingly chipper voice flinging questions at you incessantly. The ornate sword at your feet can also talk, but thankfully its voice is mercifully sombre. It informs you that you need to go on a mission to save the world; the reasons for this mission aren’t important right now. Of course they aren’t.
CounterSpy is a strange beast. Developed by fledgling studio Dynamighty, it's an ambitious game that strives to bridge the gap between 2D and 3D stealth, while also attempting to juggle randomly generated levels. And while it plays host to some truly unique mechanics, and consistently brilliant presentation, it's unfortunately largely unsuccessful in this goal.