David McNamara
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Checkpoint GamingLatest Reviews
An adorable platformer that allows players to copy and paste the world around them, Ruffy and the Riverside wraps the magic of late-90s console adventures in a distinctly modern package. Featuring hand-drawn 2D artwork against vibrant 3D-rendered environments, Germany-based developers Zockrates Laboratories have taken the nostalgic bones of classic games of yore and elaborated, crafting a uniquely charming experience. It’s super cute, full of engaging puzzles, and tonnes of fun.
Imagine you looked like a T: what a crazy life you’d see! Your arms don’t bend, kids laugh at you, you’ll need some help to use the loo. But though your T-bod can be trying, twirl a bit and you’ll be flying – twisting, soaring through the air, wind billowing through your hair. When you float back to the ground, all the town will gather ’round and celebrate your T-shaped flight, and maybe things will be all right.
A journey through the memory-shaped landscape of a woman’s life awaits in Leila, a point-and-click adventure from Istanbul-based developers Ubik Studios. Featuring hand-drawn artwork, environmental puzzles, and a gentle aesthetic, this lo-fi narrative experience leans into a cosy vibe to tell an emotional, if brief, story.
Investigate cursed objects, haunted bedrooms, and underground nether realms in Urban Myth Dissolution Center, a mystery adventure game with some deliciously crunchy pixel art and a whole lot of spooky stories to tell.
3D action adventure games are notoriously difficult to develop in the modern indie scene – even though more accessible creation tools and more powerful game engines are available, the sheer cost and scale of game development in this genre doesn’t tend to favour a typically smaller independent budget. Despite this, 2025 has gifted us Eternal Strands, an ambitious, epic third-person action adventure title from a brand new indie studio.
Stunning vistas, free-form flight, and a touching story await in Europa, a short adventure with some of the most beautiful art you’ll see in gaming.
The princess kneels on the cold stone floor, colour slowly returning to her. The hooded man, sheathing his bow after shattering the last remains of her prison, wordlessly turns to her and holds out a kind hand. Before the princess can grasp it, a jagged chasm of shadow tears through the very fabric of the world and snatches up the hooded man. Scrambling to her feet, the princess springs back from the void and flees its encroaching grasp. She must warn the kingdom. She must save Hyrule.
Boo! Mario’s favourite brother returns to his spooky hijinks in Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. This visually enhanced remake of the 2013 game for Nintendo 3DS comes almost five years after Luigi’s Mansion 3, which was praised as a satisfying treasure-hunting romp through a spooky hotel.
A sequel to 2022’s action RPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising and a spiritual successor to the original titles in the Suikoden series, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes plunders the aesthetics and mechanics of the late nineties’ era of PlayStation JRPGs and polishes them up for the modern audience.
It’s a cold, grey dawn in a dank alley on the East End. Snoring among empty liquor bottles and barrels of rotten herring lies a sprawled, dishevelled minotaur, top hat askew and horns coated in week-old grime. He opens a bleary, bloodshot eye and feverishly winces at the morning sky, the sun’s rays momentarily shadowed by an extravagant airship floating past. Steam hisses as the city wakes, and the minotaur reluctantly rouses his groaning, gin-soaked bovine body to face another day in the...