Cass Barkman
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Writing For
Checkpoint GamingLatest Reviews
In the 2012 book ‘Rise of the Videogame Zinesters’, game designer Anna Anthropy advocates for games as “personal artifacts instead of impersonal creations by teams” – games not as huge commercial entities but private, unique stories that have more in common with zines (small self-publications) than blockbusters. I open the review with this quote because not only does Despelote neatly fit this description, but it’s also central to the game’s success.
While it’s almost 20 years since the world saw a brand new Advance Wars game (putting aside the seemingly great 2023 remake), a huge variety of indie game devs, likely spurred on by childhood nostalgia, have happily rushed to fill the spritely turn-based military void. Amidst the Wargroove’s, Tiny Metal’s and Into the Breach’s of the world comes Warside, a hardy but underbaked experience whose core gameplay engine may be revving well, but is let down by the rest of the chassis.
Video games are an ideal medium to hang out with virtual animal companions. You’ve got games entirely centered on beloved furry friends like Nintendogs and the Pokémon series, as well as recognisable characters like Dogmeat from Fallout (rest in peace, mo-cap dog River), bird dog Trico from The Last Guardian and, my personal recent favourite, the titular mystical wolf in last year’s Neva. Entering this pantheon of games that allow you to play alongside a beloved furry friend is Koira, a ...
The new title from Spanish developer The Game Kitchen, previously known for their ‘Blasphemous’ series, is simultaneously new and familiar terrain for the studio. The religious iconography of their previous titles is alive and well, but gone is their Metroidvania action to be replaced by the tactical stealth of trying to escape an 18th-century monastery. Besides some frustrations with its resource management and a few lacking stealth mechanics, The Stone of Madness does a compelling job r...