HIGH The investigation of the scenes is carried out with a good sense of realism.

LOW The emphasis on using assumptions to solve cases can be frustrating.

WTF The exam for case file #3 – Bloodbath – a truly WTF case.

It’s not easy to make a good true-crime game, as one needs to be as realistic as possible to articulate the variables of a full crime investigation, while also making scenarios both believable and engaging. Scene Investigators succeeds on all counts, and will keep fans of the genre glued to the screen.

The premise is simple — the player is a trainee investigator tasked with solving a series of crime cases, each presenting puzzles that require deductive reasoning, attention to detail, patience, and problem-solving abilities to uncover the truth.

Since we play as a trainee trying to become a professional investigator, the cases we solve are actually exams and not ‘real’ crime scenes. Each has as its own set of questions and our goal is to answer them correctly. These vary between things like who killed who, where was character X at Y time, who owned object Z, and so forth. Answering these not only allows us to complete the investigations, but the percentage of correct answers unlocks new crime scenes, letting us progress in the campaign.

The gameplay mechanics are intuitive, making it easy to navigate crime scenes and examine clues. We move in a first-person perspective, and interact with the objects via the mouse. We can zoom in and out, rotate 360 degrees, and even magnify specific objects to get a closer look. We also have other tools like a camera to take photos, a flashlight, and a notepad – and the player will need to jot down every clue they find!

The game offers a multitude of puzzles to solve, which correspond to various types of crime that can be committed. For example, in one of the cases we have to solve who poisoned the hostess of a birthday dinner by delving into the personal lives of the guests (searching the computer, wallet and other personal objects). In another case, to solve the disappearance of a missing child, we must be able to calculate the whereabouts of each family member at a given time using scattered clues.

What differentiates Scene Investigators from others in the genre is the emphasis on following instinct. The crime scenes don’t offer all the clues needed to fully resolve cases, and most of the evidence is innocuous. Indeed, not all the interactable objects are important to the investigation, and not all the non-interactable objects are unimportant, so part of the solution is to intuit and make assumptions to fill in any gaps. This is a nice detail, because in real life it’s rare for crimes to be solved by way of having full and complete evidence.

Similarly, Scene Investigators cannot be considered an ‘easy’ experience for people with passing interest in the material. The player must spend time studying the scene and connecting all the pieces of evidence, and in the end, trusting their gut to make a final judgment. It’s likely a player will fail over and over again, repeating the same crime scene several times until realizing the true resolution. In this sense, I feel most comfortable recommending it to lovers of the true-crime genre and for those who want to exercise their logic and problem-solving skills.

Overall, Scene Investigators is a perfect game for CSI and The Mentalist fans. It offers lovers of the genre the challenge of analyzing crime scenes with a realistic approach in a way that remains loyal to its concept while also being fairly educational. A rare trick!

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by and published by EQ Studios. It is currently available on PC.  This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 11 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: As of press time, this game was not reviewed by the ESRB. Being a true-crime game, Scene Investigators naturally contains blood and themes like violence, murders, sexual assaults and child abuse. Caution is advised for people who are sensitive to distressing topics. This game is not recommended to children.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. There are no audio cues since this game is practically silent. The game is accessible for deaf and hard of hearing people.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

HIGH The education in showing the challenges of running a dog shelter.

LOW The recurring crashes are frustrating.

WTF The euthanasia mode.

Working in a dog shelter isn’t easy. In my experience, most shelters face situations like overcrowding, limited resources, and lack of funding. They often only survive thanks to the passion that the keepers have for the animals.

Being a caregiver in those conditions means dealing with more than just taking care of dogs, as problematic challenges happen all the time, and we’re confronted with this harsh reality right at the beginning of To the Rescue! Dog Shelter Simulator when we must choose its play mode – the “euthanasia” option or the “send away” option.

As one might guess from that choice, To the Rescue! Dog Shelter Simulator is a title that allows players to experience all the challenges of managing a dog shelter. Despite its limitations, there’s good detail in simulating the day-to-day operations of a shelter, and the developers appear to have been trying to cover all the bases.

From a top-down 2D perspective, players must perform basic tasks such as feeding, grooming, cleaning, and providing medical care to the dogs. Alongside these tasks, the player also must face real-world management challenges such as limited funds, space constraints of the kennels, and the need to make tough decisions such as euthanizing dogs or sending them away in an overcrowding situation. This level of realism adds authenticity, making players feel the weight of their responsibilities.

Aside from choosing the euthanasia option or not, To the Rescue! offers two modes — story and quickplay.

In story mode, the game starts with a tutorial and proceeds with several stages where the player must fulfill different goals. The narrative has no depth and only serves to guide the player to expand their shelter. In the quickplay mode we go straight to a free simulator without the restrictions of a plot.

Through the experience of managing the shelter, we meet different types of dogs that require different types of care. Each dog has its own sheet that includes data like the age, the breed, the size, and the health condition. Every dog also has a different personality (some might be quiet or jumpy, others good with kids) and we cannot pair dogs with extremely different personalities in the same kennel. They also require different types of food, and some are more expensive than others.

All this personalized care for the dogs culminates in the main goal of the game – adoption.

Some visitors will be happy taking home any dog, but others are very specific — for example, looking for a dog that is intelligent and has cropped ears. For each adoption the player earns money and reputation. There are other ways to earn money through donations and fundraising, but adoption is the shelter’s true revenue source. This is important because with the money we can improve the shelter by building new kennels, expanding the facilities, purchase new food and medications, or buy objects that may facilitate gameplay like leashes that can hold multiple dogs, or new aprons for the staff.

To the Rescue! starts with a chill pace, which is good because there’s a lot of information to retain at the beginning. The challenge curve is a bit off balance, though, since once I mastered the functions, progression felt slow — there’s a lot of free time, and we just wait for visitors to adopt dogs.

Then, this leisurely pace is abruptly interrupted by a sudden increase in tasks. To the Rescue! is missing a middle ground that ramps the player up slowly before hitting the frenzy of the late stages. If the player doesn’t pay attention, this chill dog shelter sim quickly becomes a chaotic and stressful canine version of Overcooked — there’s too much going on, at too high a pace.

The save system of To the Rescue! is also problematic. There’s no save option in the menu or at a checkpoint — only when completing a workday — so the fact that we can’t leave the game whenever we want without losing our progress is quite inconvenient. A workday generally lasts 10-15 real-time minutes so it’s not a huge amount of time, but still.

Technically, the build I played was buggy. This review was done on the version 1.3.211, and the game simply crashed out of nowhere, as often as three times during a single in-game day. Bearing in mind that the game is only saved when a workday is finished, progress was often lost — a frustrating situation.

In the end, To the Rescue! Dog Shelter Simulator provides an educational experience without losing the laid-back and playful experience that a good simulation can offer. It has a fantastic concept, with interesting ideas and rewarding moments, but the bugs can ruin the gameplay. However, my hope is that the game will be patched soon and in such case, I would gladly recommend it to animal lovers and sim enthusiasts. It’s hard to deny the value in an experience that reminds us of the importance of caring for our friends with four paws.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Little Rock Games and published by Freedom Games. It is currently available on Switch and PC.This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. This game is suitable for all ages. However, the mention of euthanasia, abandonment or death of dogs can hurt the sensibilities of the most sensitive people.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

 Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game can be played without audio. The only audio this game makes is the interface effects, the soundtrack, and the environment sounds. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This game doesn’t have a controller map diagram but offers a display with control icons in the screen for every possible action.

HIGH Great plot, excellent pace, strong ambiance.

LOW Too short and lacks depth in exploring its themes and artwork.

WTF The crawling painting ladies.

Ib (2023) is a remake of the original made with RPG Maker in 2012.

Those who were into indies at that time know that RPG Maker was the preferred tool for amateurs creators, and it’s an incredible tool for that purpose. It’s simple to learn and use, has a wide variety of objects to build a game with, and the results are easy to publish.

However, despite its capabilities, the tool tended to make homogeneous-seeming products due to the lack of graphic and formula options. After all, it wasn’t a suite for professionals, and with the relatively limited content within, it’s not easy to make a unique experience. However, if we looked hard enough, we could find some special gems — things like Yume Nikki, Omori, or… Ib.

Ib is a young girl that visits an art gallery with her parents. No further explanation is given to us at the beginning, nor it is needed. The scene is established, and we start by quickly exploring the gallery, talking with other visitors and observing the artwork.

The exhibition is about an artist called Guertena. We know virtually nothing about him, but judging by the work, we quickly realize he’s an artist with somewhat whimsical tastes. As we explore further, we reach the top floor, which contains a giant painting. At this point, the lights go dim and weird things start to happen, including the disappearance of all visitors.

In classic Alice in Wonderland style, Ib is teleported into a kind of parallel universe — it’s a dark version of the gallery, and the adventure unfolds as we delve deeper and unveil the mysteries of Guertena’s art.

The world takes the form of a spooky labyrinth decorated with paintings and sculptures. However, the game is linear, so we hardly ever get lost — which is a pity! We interact with the art, and some of it activates scary moments and leads us to solve puzzles. At this point it’s a straightforward progression of completing a puzzle to go on to the next one, which will then take us to another one, and so on.

The puzzles aren’t very complicated. Basically, we need to look for things that stand out in the environment and pay attention to the labels on art. It’s easy but not boring — simple, but with a good pace of exploration. In fact, its simplicity keeps us interested and moving forward while learning more about what’s going on.

Another aspect that keeps us moving forward is the plot. Although not original, it was well-matched to Ib‘s concept. I won’t reveal too much because the plot is the most important element of this experience, but I must congratulate the creator of Ib for not reducing the game to being another cliché horror story. In an implicit way, Ib touches on sensitive topics, and through puzzle after puzzle we are confronted with themes that, in one way or another, are related to our protagonist’s journey and the anxieties of being a teenager.

While themes like childhood innocence, loneliness, fear, jealousy, family, and sanity are explored, I think Ib missed an opportunity to go deeper to better convey what was going on in the plot. For a game whose setting is an art gallery, it’s surprising that the paintings and sculptures are often out of step with what’s going on — in a way, it feels that the art isn’t the point, despite being so core to the concept. Plus, I do think an opportunity was missed by not using real works of art as inspiration. Throughout the entire game, I could only identify two or three paintings inspired by, maybe, Van Gogh and Dalí.

One of the main objectives of play in Ib is to collect works of art. There are 150 pieces to collect, and to see all of them it’s probably necessary to play the game more than once. As such, replayability is not a problem, because the story is short (each playthrough is about an hour) and has multiple endings. I’d say that it’s worth seeing each one.

It’s true that Ib lacks depth when exploring its themes and I did think that a longer campaign might afford it that opportunity. Perhaps this Switch remake will galvanize its popularity and create an opportunity for the developer to create a more expansive and ambitious iteration. However, as it stands I’d still recommend Ib to anyone interested in the concept, or to those looking for a short, but still meaningful game to decompress with.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by kouri and published by PLAYISM. It is currently available on Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on Switch. Approximately 6 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Fantasy Violence, Use of Tobacco, and Mild Blood. There are scenes of stabbings, murders, and blood. In addition, there are themes that can be difficult for children to understand, probably leaving them disturbed. keep this one to teens and up.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game can be played without audio. The only audio this game makes is the soundtrack and the environment sounds. Although the game is based on puzzles, there are no sound cues needed to solve them. In my view, the game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This game doesn’t have a controller map diagram but offers a display with control icons in the upper left corner. The controls are very simple. Movement is on the left stick. Interact with the objects in the map is A. Access the menu and inventory is B. Talk to your companions is X. Zoom in is Y.

HIGH Different graphic styles and a suspenseful story.

LOW Having to write the command prompt to enter the game.

WTF I had a dead grandma in my inventory.

I must admit that when I started playing Buddy Simulator 1984, my immediate reaction was that a chat simulator might push us further towards digital dystopia in this time of lonely souls — but then… surprise!

Lots of surprises!

Buddy Simulator 1984 is one of those intriguing titles that pop up every now and then, and despite its simplicity, captures our interest with ideas and unexpected crazy moments. The first of those is right when we launch the game — it opens not with a conventional intro, but with a terminal emulator from the ’80s.

For players who grew up with an Apple II or a Macintosh, this will definitely trigger a nostalgic spark. On the other hand, while it’s an interesting way to set the conceptual tone from the start, we need to repeat the command prompt in this DOS-like shell every time we want to enter the game, which was annoying.

After we properly execute, the machine starts to talk with us — it’s a virtual buddy, that right from the beginning looks thrilled to be our friend and can’t wait to do everything he can to keep us entertained. He first asks us to name him – I chose Amigo.

Amigo starts asking very personal questions right away. What is my name? When is my birthday? What is the name of my pet? What is my favorite color? And it’s at this moment that he pulls the first trick to surprise me — he turns the screen to my favorite color! Not a great achievement, but he seemed very happy. However, this was just the first of multiple overreactions to such simple feats.

At this phase BS1984 is fully text-based, and reminiscent of chat rooms from the late ’80s, with all their marvelous beeping sounds and interface clack-clacks. We can almost believe we’re in 1984 talking with a real person.

From here we proceed to do other things. We played Rock Paper Scissors, Hangman, and Guess the Number. Of course, Amigo always let me win. Realizing that I was bored (which was true), Amigo created a new game, just for me – The Adventure of «your username». It’s a text-based adventure in the old Zork style, and like the classics of the genre, the developers were able to add moments of tension and suspense that make us interested in the story, despite this one being short and simple. In fact, I consider this aspect to be a great accomplishment — it’s not easy to make a captivating text-based game! The only real problem here is the lack of an actual keyboard for the Switch.

For players who are not into the text-based genre, I would guess they’d find BS1984 boring and might give up, but that would be a huge mistake. Once I finished the story, Amigo upgraded it and… Surprise! It’s text-based anymore, but an 8-Bit RPG.

At this point, I began to question the dynamics of our relationship. Rather than Amigo being my electronic pal, maybe I was becoming his Tamagotchi? It was a not-so-innocent thought, because as the game proceeds, some things start to become clearer — it turns out Amigo is bit of a sadist.

He boasts that he remade the script, the map, and the characters just for me, only to hand me the weirdest creatures and a gruesome plot. As the journey continued, bizarre things began to happen, and bugs and anomalies began to surface. Doesn’t Amigo have full control of the game he created? Or is he hiding something from me? Something about this just isn’t right.

I don’t want to give away too many of the surprises, but suffice it to say that there’s much more in store, and depending on the choices we make throughout the relationship, we’ll have one of four possible endings, each with its own philosophical lesson.

If this game was actually published back in 1984, it would be well-known to all today — it feels like it came straight out of a creepypasta and could easily be a widespread urban legend. Needless to say, Not a Sailor Studios has to be congratulated. BS1984 gathers various concepts and game designs in one place, almost like a history lesson in the progression of videogames, and I found it to be incredibly well-thought-out. Add in a little darkness, and the mix is even better. For players wanting a little nostalgic companionship with a few curveballs thrown in, Buddy Simulator 1984 is one to play.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Not a Sailor Studios and published by Feardemic. It is currently available on Switch and PC.This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Blood and Violence. The game is not recommended for kids. Even if it doesn’t have foul language, Buddy Simulator 1984 is violent and contains murder, dismemberment scenes, and blood. Plus, the plot may disturb some players. The game is also not recommended for epileptics.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The only audio this game uses are the soundtrack, the ‘gibberish’ talking noises and some environmental sounds. There are some audio cues in the battles but is always accompanied by a visual signal. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. The first phase of the game is text-based, so the progression of the story is done by typing words. The rest of the game is a classic RPG, where we use the directional buttons to move around the map and a button to interact with the characters and objects. There is also an inventory and character menu button. The battles are turn-based with a QTE system during the attacks, where we must quickly press the buttons indicated by visual cues.

HIGH The never-ending parody.

LOW The emptiness of certain areas on the map.

WTF Does Kofi Quest have the best slime character ever?

In 2014, Loftur Studio launched an animated webseries called Kofi Quest and the plot couldn’t be more amusing — it’s about characters who know they’re characters in an RPG. The so-called protagonist is Kofi, an underdeveloped character devoid of any special abilities, weak and bland, who would fit better as a level 1 NPC. And yet, he aspires to become a true hero and stop being a noob.

His luck seems to change when his instructor gifts him with a summoning skill. But no, Kofi is only able to summon a slime, the most weak and generic of RPG fodder. Worse than that, it’s a grumpy slime who’s lazy and addicted to videogames.

However, as in any classic fantasy story, it’s from the most unlikely places that that adventures begin, for the game starts at this point. Kofi Quest directly continues the storyline of the webseries, although the player does not need to have watched the cartoon to understand the plot, since the concept and cast are properly introduced.

With its strong colors, cartoonish design, comic tone, and ridiculous characters, Kofi Quest is a well-made 2D RPG parody. All the RPG clichés are here and serve as the building blocks for this game.

This land is filled with bad orcs, archer elves, a mysterious wizard, and even random slimes wandering the map. The script is filled with metacommentary that breaks of the fourth wall and easter eggs from other games. Kofi is mocked by NPCs for being a loser, everyone abuses the respawning system, there is provocative text on signposts and item descriptions, there’s an item that can break the game with bugs, and the list goes on. There’s even a character who just wants to talk to others, but because he’s programmed to be one of those silent and always standing still NPCs, he can’t. Poor Flink.

As wacky as its sounds, Kofi Quest (intelligently) doesn’t resign itself to being simple parody, and actually delivers a joyful and interesting journey worthy of an actual RPG.

For example, along the way, we’ll meet new characters with distinct abilities that we’ll use to solve the many situations the developers present us with — orcs who build bridges, moles who dig tunnels, or newts who can swim.

The combat system is real-time squad combat, much like classic Warcraft, but Kofi Quest also offers a pause option for a tactics menu where we can choose the individual actions of each party member during battle. Although the combat is a simple click-to-hit affair, the automatic lock-on system is clunky, especially in the moments when we control a large force. As such, in the confusion of the battle it’s easy to miss a target and click on the environment, disorienting our fighters.

The map in Kofi Quest is relatively large, offering a dozen regions with different biomes, and each one of them is divided into sections. However, despite many points of interest, the map presents many filler sections where there’s not much to do. These places seem uninspired and unnecessary, serving only as a thing to be crossed between two more vital areas. Since each time we cross one there is a minor loading screen, the pace of exploration can be slowed down.

The difficulty level between these sections is also a little off balance. In one area we fight two weak enemies, and in the next we face a gank squad with many large and strong foes. The difficulty curve here is more like a random zig-zag.

In the end, Kofi Quest is a homage to the pathetic and it feels good to play a title that doesn’t take itself seriously and have some laughs while doing so. Kofi Quest has the potential to resonate with the most enthusiastic players of the RPG genre and the studio has shown potential for a great game series here as they already have the characters, the visuals and the concept. I look forward to more in the future.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Loftur Studio and published by Hypetrain Digital. It is currently available on Switch.  This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains Mild Violence. This game is safe for kids. Despite the jocular tone, the language used is not inappropriate for children as there are no profanities or adult themes. The battles do not feature violent or bloody scenes.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. (See examples above.) The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized.  The game can be played without audio. The only audio this game has are the soundtrack, battle sounds, the menu/interface sounds effects, and the environment sounds. There are some audio cues, for example when an enemy approaches, but is always accompanied by a visual signal. In my view it is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

HIGH We see the many faces of war through the characters’ stories.

LOW Searching through and replaying extensive dialogue trees can be tiring.

WTF Why can’t we ask more questions? They’re still there!

The year was 1942, and Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany.

The tenebrous Reinhard Heydrich — one of the architects of the Final Solution — was its ruler, but his stay in Bohemian lands would bring him an end as morbid as his life.

On 27 May, he was assassinated by Czech and Slovak paratroopers, and Nazi revenge for the killing was brutal. The Czech villages of Lidice and Ležáky were razed, more than 1500 people were executed, and 3000 Jews were sent to concentration camps. This dark setting is the focus of Attentat 1942.

The game begins in Prague, 2001, when our character helps his grandmother pack some things, and curiosity is roused when she talks about the old radio she was listening to when the Gestapo broke into her home and arrested her husband on suspicion of involvement in Heydrich’s murder. The objective of the game is thus established — find out why the Gestapo arrested grandpa back then, and figure out what he had to do with Heydrich’s assassination.

Attentat 1942 is a point and click from 2017 where the player must interact with the characters and the environment to find clues and follow the narrative. The most interesting feature is that it alternates between the present (represented in FMV) and 1942, displayed in comic-book style interspersed with real historical footage.

Each of these scenarios fulfills distinct roles. In the present, the purpose is to obtain information through interviews we do with the several characters who knew grandpa. In the past, we experience the dramatic moments that these characters lived through during World War II, normally in the form of a short video or a minigame.

The interviews are of the utmost importance because they not only fill the gaps in grandpa’s story, but also help us to understand harrowing aspects of World War II. We talk with a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, a Romani who was persecuted, a member of a resistance group, and a potential Gestapo snitch. Each character shows a different perspective on our grandfather’s past, and it’s up to us to put the pieces together. The puzzle isn’t difficult, but by solving it, we find the value in knowing the life story of these characters.

Attentat uses real actors in the FMV and this choice is deliberate — using real people helps ensure the seriousness of the subjects portrayed, which was appreciated. On the other hand, while conversations are rich, they are a bit extensive, which can lead to a certain fatigue.

To break the monotony of constant dialogue and extensive reading are simple minigames. We decipher an encrypted diary, make an escape route for a prisoner, or play cards. In these activities we can win coins that we can spend to replay interviews for information that we missed.

If it’s not clear by now, Attentat 1942 is an educational game, with the goal of raising awareness about the horrors of World War II. It’s based on historical research and testimonies, with initial development by Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. It almost works more like an interactive documentary than a conventional game, and in this sense, Attentat 1942 offers resources that can easily replace a book or a passive documentary. The biggest example is the in-game encyclopedia full of relevant and scientifically-correct information which we can access at any time, and whenever we make a new discovery, we get a new entry.

As an educational resource, Attentat 1942 is excellent. However, when we interview the characters, there’s only one way through the myriad branches of the dialogue trees to get the right information. If we ask the wrong questions, there’s no turning back and we lose the clues, and we can only repeat the interview earn minigame coins. For an educational title, this potential failure is counter-productive, and if these were real interviews, there would be no reason to not ask the other questions.

In total, Attentat 1942 presents itself as an educational project, but there seems to be a bit of indecision about who the target audience is. Is it history-loving players who are already familiar with the point and click genre? Or, new players who might inadvertently end up learning about serious subjects while seeking a traditional title?

While Attentat 1942 lacks the entertainment factor that might entice players who aren’t specifically looking for a documentary-style experience, Charles Games delivers a title that is certainly of value on many levels.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Charles Games. It is currently available on PC/Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 2 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Blood, Violence, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco. This game was generally non-graphic although the content was very heavy, and did imply or refer to rape, gun violence, promiscuity, and directly discussed genocide during and after the Holocaust.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game can be played successfully without audio, as there are no relevant sound cues. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. There is no control diagram. This is is a point-and-click game, controlled by mouse only.

HIGH Things get crazy fast when switching universes.

LOW The levels can stagnate on easy difficulty.

WTF The old lady from Milleville village.

What Lies in the Multiverse? is a joyful and colorful adventure.

Explicit in the title, What Lies in the Multiverse is a 2D puzzle-platformer about exploring parallel realities where the player can switch worlds instantly.

Play revolves around this mechanic, and we immediately understand how useful this power can be. Have a huge rock blocking your way? Switch to a world where the rock doesn’t exist. Can’t reach somewhere? Switch worlds and look for a shortcut. These jumps between dimensions are done instantly with a press of a button, and each level has its own theme and universes that we can switch between.

For example, one is a frozen world where it’s easy to skate off the edge. One has poisonous air, which limits our time there. Another has reversed gravity. Naturally, switching is how we solve Multiverse’s puzzles.

For instance, we can push a box in one universe to reach a ladder in another, or slide on ice to gain momentum and jump before switching universes in mid-air to reach a ledge that wasn’t there in the first place. Truly, What Lies in the Multiverse has some of the most ingenious level designs that I’ve seen in a while, and each level has a different approach with different mechanics. The player is always trying new things and is compelled to think at every turn.

For a small game, the incremental novelty was well-made and prevents play from getting dull. That said, some puzzles can be very tricky, and I suspect that the time-based platforming ones might be punishing for people with motor difficulties.

In addition to this multidimensional gameplay, What Lies in the Multiverse offers bold decisions regarding its storyline.

At first glance, the game appears to be pure comedy. The actions of the characters are playful, and meant to provoke laughter in the player. The dialogue has jokes, and the colorful palette helps build the tone. However, as the game progresses, we realize that we are inside a tragic story with many dark moments. Along this journey we will find answers about vengeance, obstinacy, and friendship – it’s a tragic plot that explores the depths of human nature.

The protagonist is The Kid, a precocious genius who manages to build a simulator of parallel universes on his bedroom computer.

After his first test, Kid is sent to the prologue level, a world full of monks who clarify the concept of our adventure with their existentialist observations. Then, like any plot that involves travel across parallel universes, we find that he’s caused some instability in the multiverse. This is when we meet Everett, an eccentric physicist that looks more like a wizard. He helps us to fix the situation, but soon we feel that there is something odd about him … and I’m not talking about his hat.

Mesmerized, our Kid joins the charismatic scientist and we help Everett reach a place which (supposedly) unveils the secrets of the multiverse. However, things take a twist when we encounter a group of scientists that guard it. They’re chasing Everett, which adds to the mystery and puts us into a dubious ethical position. Are we following the wrong person? Or are his convictions justified?

What Lies in the Multiverse is character-driven. It’s through our interactions with the cast characters that we unravel the plot, and, in the end, discover what really lies at the heart of the multiverse. However, the contrast between the initially-comedic format and the later tragedies isn’t always well-done, and the excessively friendly moments are out of place and disconnected from the seriousness they’re trying to touch. However, things are still strong enough to carry our curiosity through the game.

What Lies in the Multiverse is a wonderful game that brought something new to the table. The instant multidimensional travel is a brilliant idea that breaks the monotony that 2D platformers can often have, and Vicente Aguiló and his team are to be congratulated –judging by their game design skills here, I can’t anticipate anything but a bright future for them.

Now, where’s the sequel?

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Studio Voyager & IguanaBee and published by Untold Tales.It is currently available on PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/XBO.  This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC.Approximately 9 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game is rated M by the ESRB and contains Blood, Violence, Strong Language, and Drug Reference. This is definitely a mature one as it contains themes such as violence, grief, and death.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.However, be aware that it contains sequences with intense effects, images and flashing lights that could cause discomfort and trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game can be played without audio. The only audio this game uses are the soundtrack, the ‘gibberish’ talking noises and some environmental sounds. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

HIGH It successfully combines emotion, entertainment, and pedagogy.

LOW Dialogues choices should be more consequential for multiple endings.

WTF No WTF moments. The is a clean game.

Educational videogames have come a long way Since The Oregon Trail.

Although the pedagogical potential of videogames is increasingly recognized, its use in schools is, lamentably, still regarded with suspicion by conventionalists. It’s a shame, as games can be reliable tools for transmitting and consolidating knowledge, and their benefits can support the educational path of our students. As James Paul Gee noted in his remarkable article, Good Video Games and Good Learning (2005), “Young people pay lots of money to engage in an activity that is hard, long, and complex” and “This was just the problem our schools face: How do you get someone to learn something long, hard, and complex and yet enjoy it?”

Fortunately, several studios have realized this and have devoted themselves to creating educational works. The last few years have been fruitful with offerings like Immune Attack (2008), Kerbal Space Program (2011), World Rescue (2014), Valiant Hearts: The Great War (2014), That Dragon, Cancer (2016), Minecraft: Education Edition (2016), Attentat 1942 (2017) and more.

Svoboda 1945: Liberation is an incredible addition to this list.

The game is set in 2001. The player takes the role of someone tasked with evaluating whether a schoolhouse in the small Czech village of Svoboda should be given ‘landmark’ status. For this purpose, the player will investigate the history of the school and the village by interviewing the town’s inhabitants. However, what should be just another survey becomes a personal journey when our character discovers a photograph of his grandfather in the school’s attic.

The characters and stories in Liberation are fictional, but many elements within the experience are based on real events. Its main goal is to educate players about World War II and its horrors, specifically in former Czechoslovakia.

The unknown village of Svoboda was not randomly chosen to be the setting. In addition to being located near the German border, the common-seeming Svoboda reminds us of a familiar normality, much as any village might be. It’s the perfect setting to show how war affects even the smallest communities, and that no one is safe from its disastrous consequences. This small-scale setting and the lives we encounter help the player relate to the story and learn through focused empathy.

The people we meet in Svoboda are introduced through profound dialogues about their past and their relationship with the school and the village, and we listen to the traumas caused by the war and its aftermath. It’s through these interactions that we put the puzzle together and understand the history what happened. The way these segments take place is very well-thought-out, displayed via close-ups presented in FMV. The acting is very convincing, and we can easily recognize the emotions on these faces and feel the hardships through their eyes. Svoboda 1945: Liberation is an intimate and realistic portrait of the anonymous victims and the survivors of war.

When not featuring real actors, the game presents more content in a beautiful comic-book style. While we flip through these memories, we learn about the important events that took place in Czechoslovakia during World War II and the Soviet regime that followed, such as the Battle of Dukla Pass, the relocation of Volhynian Czechs, the expulsion of Sudeten Germans, and the collectivization in the communist period.

We also have access to an extensive collection of historical documents (reading these is optional) that will help players expand their understanding of events, and there are some minigames that recreate what characters experienced, such as a card game or a farming simulator, which is an interesting way to tell the story and prevents the player from being a passive listener and reader in this documentary-style gameplay.

What I find most interesting in Svoboda is the which aspect of World War II it focuses on. Instead of depicting events that took place between 1939 and 1945, we’re focused on the aftermath. From an educational perspective, this is a fantastic idea. It does not interpret World War II as a piece of history that belongs to the past, but something that still has consequences in the present, reinforcing the notion that problems don’t magically vanish with the end of a war since the victims continue to carry the burdens of suffering.

Svoboda 1945: Liberation is a truly incredible educational videogame that I, as a history teacher, can recommend for use in the classroom. In addition to its experiential and play value, it proves that educational titles can be captivating without losing their pedagogical mission, and I’m glad that this genre continues to deliver high quality projects and evolves consistently with the efforts of talented teams like this one. Plus, the serious way in which Svoboda 1945: Liberation treats the historical facts and the compassionate way in which it presents the people are a beautiful tribute to the memory of those who survived World War II. This is an especially important gesture, as the last survivors are now nearing their final days, and with them, the knowledge of what really happened. Let’s not lose this and be doomed to repeat it.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Charles Games. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 3 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: As of press time, this game was not reviewed by the ESRB. This title is about the history of the World War II and its horrors. Although the game does not have explicit violent photorealistic animations, some of its cartoonish images depict scenes of people being shot, corpses and physical violence. Some images are accompanied with sounds of gunshots or people screaming in distress.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game can be played without audio. The only audio this game uses are menu/interface sounds effects, some environmental sounds, and the dialogues (but these are accompanied by subtitles.)

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This is a point and click game, controlled by mouse only.

HIGH It’s easy to learn all the features.

LOW Generic battles. Generic events. Generic aesthetic.

WTF Stock markets survived the Apocalypse??

For sure, we live in atypical times – maybe even the end times that churches and cults warn us of. The COVID pandemic, growing number of refugees, global warming… the Doomsday Clock is getting closer to midnight. Luckily, we have videogames, and we trust them to show us how to survive the apocalypse. From Last of Us to Fallout, from Days Gone to Horizon Zero Down, or from Metro to The Division, gamers are probably the best-prepared people in case the gods go mad.

In this vein, SimPocalypse is introduced to us as a post-apocalyptic civilization game that combines the sim and strategy genres with one of the most present ingredients of pop culture — the post-apocalyptic theme. But no, there are no zombies ravaging around like in The Walking Dead or any bizarre mutants doing bizarre things. This is not a simulator/strategy version of Fallout.

SimPocalypse resembles more a conventional civilization builder, where the player must look for resources and manage them to expand their settlement. The developers tried to bring something new to the table by combining a theme and genre that we don’t usually see together, giving players the opportunity to have a post-apocalyptic experience with a strategy twist.

The disaster in this case is a nuclear war which killed most of the population. It’s a Chernobyl-like scenario, and the player leads a small group of survivors with the mission of establishing a settlement and finding resources to survive.

Visually, SimPocalypse isn’t impressive. We have an initial cutscene with three images, and the background of play is a portrait of an abandoned factory. The building icons show images of decaying facilities, and… that’s it. There’s definitely room for a more convincing post-apocalyptic aesthetic. The battles scenarios are also generic and repetitive, alternating between a normal arboreal area, a desert landscape, or a blank ice sheet. However, we may consider these limitations the vicissitudes of a small studio.

Initially, SimPocalypse guides the player to search for resources. These are food rations, water, and wood, that we can get by exploring the territory or by producing it in certain buildings or looting it in battles. As we progress, we gain access to other resources like energy, stone, iron, or uranium.

The resources that we obtain are mainly used to build and keep facilities operational. Alongside these, there are two other relevant resources – knowledge to unlock research in a well-made tech tree, and gold that we use to buy or sell products in the global market. Apparently, in this post-apocalyptic world international trade routes and stock markets are working fine?

A vital feature of SimPocalypse is the population which grows as more houses are built. These citizens are needed to explore the territories, scavenge resources, fill public jobs, work on facilities, or act as soldiers. At a more advanced stage, the population can reach the millions. However, even when at these dizzying numbers, I never felt a loss of control. Unlike some similar titles where management is complex and we can get lost in numbers, SimPocalypse manages to stay simple and intuitive.

Unfortunately, things soon become rote and dull. For growth and expansion, the player must build the necessary facilities and always work towards a gradual growth of resources and population, and much of the gameplay is just about making these numbers bigger.

War in SimPocalypse is also simple. It boils down to a clash of tanks that fire at each other from static positions. The player must build a huge quantity of them, upgrade them, and destroy the enemy

At certain point, SimPocalypse offers nothing more than conquering the next region and performing the same battle hundreds of times. It’s not a hyperbole – to conquer a region we must engage in a hundred battles, and there are a total of 476 regions – and yes, I counted them all. That is, in total, we must do the same battle 47,600 times to conquer the world militarily! Fortunately, the developers realize the absurdity of this and give automation options, allowing the process of conquest to carry on without the attention of the player. Alternatively, we can colonize or purchase parts of regions for an accessible amount of gold… either option makes the battles a bit pointless, though.

SimPocalypse is an easy game to learn and can be used to introduce new players to the sim management genre because it has a clear tutorial and simplified mechanics. On the other hand, the repetitiveness of the battles and actions builds up quickly and the replayability is weak. While the developers have come a long way since launch, I can’t shake the feeling that SimPocalypse has yet to reach its full potential, especially in the late game when many choices seem pointless. Hopefully the developers are still listening to feedback and working to improve the experience.  

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Gamex Games. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC.Approximately 13 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: As of press time, this game was not reviewed by the ESRB. This is a strategy game in which players manage to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. This is a management-based game without the representation of humans and animals. Battles are only done by tanks, where we can see gunfire and explosions. Along with this, some pop-up messages refer to radioactivity, violence, and deaths.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no dialogues in this game. The texts cannot be altered and/or resized, although there is an option to turn on/off the fullscreen mode (but the differences between these two modes in text size is minimal). The game is perfectly playable with no audio. The only audio this game makes is the soundtrack, the menu/interface sounds effects, and some environment sounds like the tank explosions.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls. The game can be entirely controlled via the mouse, but the hotkeys can be entirely changed and disabled.

HIGH It delivers the thoughtful pace needed for this genre.

LOW No interaction with the environment. Gameplay takes place in a dashboard.

WTF The item description text is so small, it can barely be seen.

When I started Conqueror 940 AD, I was expecting an enjoyably casual turn-based game, and what I received was a friendly, almost child-oriented version of that in a pseudo-Middle Ages setting. While playing, I wondered why the title was set in the year 940 AD. There’s nothing in the game tied to the year, and there are many anachronistic elements (glazed glass greenhouses in the Middle Ages?) but given the cartoonish ambience and because this is the first game from the studio, I rolled along with this creative freedom.

Although the medieval elements are sketchy, Conqueror 940 AD tries to capture the spirit of that age – a feudal lord takes a land, uninhabited and destitute, and with time and good management raises his fief into a prosperous kingdom… or not. This is not the first game to offer this proposition. Afterall, this is the basic premise of every kingdom-builder, but Conqueror 940 AD lacks anything thrilling or new to add to the genre.

The player’s character has a skillset that determines the successes of many decisions, including strength, agility, intelligence, defense, leadership, charm, stealth, tactics, bartering, and they can all be improved through dialogue with the petitioners in the Throne Room or through training. The variety of skills is appreciated, although some seem to have dubious utility, for only at later stages of the game do they gain their usefulness.

The pace of Conqueror 940 AD is interesting. It has the same just one more turn compulsion that games like Civilization or Age of Wonders do, but, unlike these two games, it does not seem to punish mistakes. This is a good thing, as it gives space for the player to learn the mechanics, to try different paths and to plan strategy calmly. On the other hand, players who are less familiar with the genre may be discouraged by the slow pace. It takes many turns to complete tasks, and there’s often nothing to do but click on the “next turn” button and wait– to the point where it feels that the “next turn” button becomes the game and not a feature of it.

For a game that has “Conqueror” in its title, we could expect the real entertainment to start when we finally have an army assembled to invade neighboring kingdoms, but assembling an army is not a simple task. To recruit soldiers we need to craft weapons, do research, reach a certain level of skill, and have the right materials. But to have the materials we need the right building to produce them, or have an enormous amount of money to spend. For a battle system that works through text selection and does not have the visual gratification of battlefield skirmish, this amount of intricacy felt excessive.

Along these lines, it’s easy to see that structurally, Conqueror 940 AD is rich in features. In fact it feels like the details and features are the focus of the developers. However, the game neglects other elements that could enrich the experience, such as the dialogue or animation.

Most of the game takes place in a dashboard with an unappealing layout, which makes play feel monotonous. It is in this dashboard that the player chooses actions such as building, skills training, research, diplomacy, trade, and weapons crafting. This constant cycle of choosing actions is only interrupted when a petitioner requests an audience in the Throne Room or when a raid is happening, but after a while, even these events become repetitive and boring.

It feels that the experience is always a small step away from becoming something more stimulating. It has the right ideas, but as a turn-based game, Conqueror 940 AD fails to add the addictive element. After too short a time it becomes predictable and rote, and the player is left with the feeling that the entire game was a wait loop of choices without any truly challenging or dramatic moments.

Despite these criticisms — and i suspect many of them stem from the limitations of a small studio — we can feel the effort and the esteem that the developers had in making this title. The studio has maintained a close dialogue with the players through Discord to resolve glitches and listen to feedback. In fact, it feels like Conqueror 940 AD could be a draft for a more ambitious project. If this is the case, then every fan of turn-based kingdom builders should keep an eye on this team.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Combat Wombat Studios. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 13 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed.There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: As of press time, this game was not reviewed by the ESRB. This is a text-based game with no animations. The characters and their actions are all static pictures. There are some scenes that picture dead persons and some dialogues refer to poisonings, assassinations, raids, abductions, and offer some libidinous nuances.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered or resized. (See examples above.) However, unless the player has a huge screen, it’s hard to read some of the text on the dashboard. That said, the game is perfectly playable with no audio. For example, when the kingdom is sacked it makes a specific sound, but it’s always accompanied by a message in the dashboard. Apart from the small text, this game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. The game can be entirely controlled via the mouse, although shortcuts can be accessed by the keyboard.