Liam Freeman
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Articles by Liam Freeman
TOZO VIZO Z1 Pro Brings Your Screen To Life
Share The TOZO VIZO Z1 Pro is a pair of AR glasses that allow you to view your devices from a much closer perspective: Turning your phone into a miniature desktop, watch films, play games and enjoy your content while sat comfortably, or even laid back.
Lots of Bugs’ beautiful adventure-filled world will make a scout out of you
Share Lots of Bugs has you don the sash of a Pickle Scout bug on the adventure of a lifetime, challenging you to explore, fill out the Pickle Scout journal and hopefully following in the footsteps of the legendary Pickle who once saved the world. Cutesy, chaotic and cosy were some of the words a developer used to describe it when I spoke to them, and boy were they right. It’s all of that and a fun art-style coupled with simplistic, yet enjoyable, gameplay.
Dandy Rat Cricket Club Brings Sophistication to The Sewer
Share Dandy Rat Cricket Club is one of those games where everything you need to know is in the name, it’s a couple of dandy rats (complete with fancy names) playing cricket. What more could you ask for? As I wandered around the recent Brilliant Indie Treasures on the Golden Hinde, Dandy Rat Cricket Club immediately drew my attention because of both its clever design and its absurd concept.
The Look Book Goes to Art Basel Paris
Rodrigue Fondeviolle (pictured above) Writer, 19th Arrondissement Is it strange to be at an art fair while Paris is out protesting? It makes you question how self-sufficient the art world really is with all these white cubes that shut out the noise. A lot of artists are socially engaged, and their work carries a political message. But the commercial ecosystem around them, the dealers and collectors, tends to sanitize it. Right now, though, you can’t escape reality.
Ready Set Metro Makes Planning The Trip Fun
Share Have you ever been the person that needs to plan every step of a trip before you go on it? Where are you going? What’s the most efficient way to get there? How can you do it while spending the least money? If this person is you then Ready Set Metro will let you live out that pre-planning fantasy.
Rogue Eclipse Straps You Into The Cockpit For Space Dogfights
Share Rogue Eclipse, an arcade space-roguelike, was showcased at Brilliant Indie Treasures showing off its fast-paced space combat in the hull of a pirate ship no-less although there was significantly less laser cannons aboard the Golden Hinde. Shields, weapons and everything down to your engine can be customised into your own unique ship in Rogue Eclipse, with chances to build and modify spinning up from your first early victory.
Wilderdark Makes You Part of the Ecosystem
Share Wilderdark drops you into the middle of an infected, dinosaur infested jungle, in search of the cure for the infection. However, to find that cure you’ll need to have your wits about you as the infection has twisted and contorted both the environment and its inhabitants into a much more vicious set of flora and fauna.
Asmodee has loads to offer in its TCG lineup this Winter
Share I recently tried out a number of different TCG’s at Asmodee’s Comic Con stalls and there was most certainly a lot on offer for players looking to try out a new TCG or stick with their gut and expand on what they already know and love. Here’s my experience with some of the games that the publisher-distributor had on display.
Fangtopia’s puzzles gives ghouls and ghosts a home
Share Fangtopia, from developer Absolutely Games and publisher Secret Mode, is a spooktacular puzzle game recently showcased at Brilliant Indie Treasures on the Golden Hinde. Fangtopia challenges you to build your ideal tile-based, spooky landscape for ghouls, goblins and ghasts (oh my!) with the intention of either going your own way and crafting a monstrous world or instead going for a higher score in one of several game modes.
The OneOdio Studio Max 2 are High-Performing Headphones
Share The OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ headphones have been my go to for the last month or so. On the train, chilling out at home, anywhere… you name it and I’ve been using these while doing it and it has been a pleasant and comfortable experience throughout.
Star Wars Unlimited – Homeworlds’ PreCon Decks are Lethal In Their Own Ways
Share Every major set for Star Wars Unlimited comes with two pre-constructed decks and Homeworlds continues this trend with the Grand Moff Tarkin and Chewbacca decks, with each featuring wildly different ways to achieve victory.
Fatekeeper delivers Visceral, Beautiful Combat
Share They say the devil is in the details, so, in the case of Fatekeeper, he’s got plenty of places to hide. It’s absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. For a more-than-affordable, single-player narrative RPG experience Fatekeeper offers brutal melee and magic combat, a linear story with a breathtaking world to explore as you carve your way through monsters and beasts.
New Expansion ‘Homeworlds’ Shakes Up the Star Wars Unlimited Meta With New Mechanics
Share Star Wars Unlimited releases its 9th mainline set, Homeworlds, today, on the 9th of October. It features 260 new cards, the new fortify keyword, two new token cards, a new style for prestiges and much much more as well as marking the games’ third year.
Star Wars Unlimited – Getting hands on early with Homeworlds
Share Star Wars Unlimited has been going strong for a few years now and its most recent set release, Homeworlds, shows that it isn’t going to slow down any time soon. Homeworlds is absolutely brimming with new keywords, tokens, and the new fortify upgrades that let you upgrade your base as well as your units. Homeworlds introduces a number of new tokens including Weakness and Beast tokens.
The 8BitDo Retro Cube 2 Speaker N Edition gives Powerful Performance before all else
Share The 8BitDo Retro Cube 2 N Edition speaker is inspired by the NES and features its influences design in the shape of the classic directional pad. It offers a four way output for clear coverage in any direction, making sure everyone in the room hears everything crystal clear. Everything from the colour scheme to the overall shape and design just screams that 90s’ design, from the shade of grey to the red on the speaker covers.
Ultra Pro Apex Pokemon Sleeves, Keep your Cards Covered in style
Share If you’re an avid card collector you’ll know that half the battle is how to store your collection safely while still leaving them accessible and usable (if you play the game that is) but with the Ultra Pro Apex Pokemon sleeves your cards can be stylish, usable and protected for decks of up to 105 cards. The Ultra Pro Apex sleeves are themed after some of the biggest Pokemon in the series, mostly the three evolutions of the original starters, Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur.
Gunnar Tindra Rose – Stylish and Functional
Share Gunnar has a large selection of different glasses available but the Tindra Rose reading glasses are some of the most affordable and functional of the wide selection on offer. Sporting pink frames with gold accents the Tindra’s are a more colourful offering than Gunnar’s usual darker frames, with tinted and magnified lenses to help not only with blue light protection but reading as well, it’s the whole package.
Star Wars Unlimited – Ashes of The Empire marks a big shift in the galactic TCG
Share Star Wars Unlimited has been thriving recently, and now the latest set, Ashes of The Empire, has been released. I got to get my hands on a pre-release box and duke it out at my local venue with some play-from-sealed gameplay. Pre-release events work slightly differently from your standard version of gameplay.
Gunnar Barton Glasses – Comfortable Blue Light Protection
Share Gunnar offers a plethora of glasses but the Bartons stand out as one of the widest and most comfortable pairs I’ve reviewed so far. Featuring wide frames and lenses, the Bartons give good screen coverage for your eyes, to keep you covered while you work. This pair of Bartons is the prescription pair which is important to point out as the price point is different from the non-prescription version and comes in two distinct colours.
Hunt Showdown 1896 – Blood Testament Event Revealed, introducing The Roaming Sage
Share Hunt Showdown: 1896 is absolutely filled to the brim with grit, hardcore mechanics and monumental horrors, and with the new event, Blood Testament releasing on September 8th there will be a lot more battles down in the bayou. Hunt Showdown: 1896 has been no stranger to events and we’ve been playing it since it was on the Microsoft Game Preview Program, reporting back then that it “might be the most promising online shooter of the past three or four years“.
Gritty FPS Gray Zone Warfare Enters Alpha
Share Gray Zone Warfare has been in Early Access since April of 2024 and is finally entering alpha with the 0.5 update being released in the fall of 2026. With Lamang having a recent resurgence in players and Madfinger Games keeping the momentum the 0.5 alpha release is sure to lull players back into its chaotic warzone.
Star Wars Unlimited – Store Showdowns Explained
Share Star Wars Unlimited is a fast growing and widely popular TCG featuring some of the worlds most recognised characters. It’s simple to play but hard to master and today I’m going to go through one of the events that are on offer that’s available in most local areas: Store Showdowns.
Cyberpunk 2077 Dexter DeShawn Gunnar Glasses Review
Share Cyberpunk is absolutely filled to the brim with fashion, style and, well, exquisite Night City vibes and now, with the new Gunnar Cyberpunk 2077 Dex glasses, you can step into that world and experience it through the eyes of one of its most notorious fixers, Dexter DeShawn. Featuring a brushed nickel finish on the frames as well as an oversized angular shield-lens, the Cyberpunk 2077 Dex glasses really do let you make a statement with just one look.
Gunnar Hayward – Comfortable Blue Light Protection
Share Gunnar’s glasses offer solid eye protection and remain stylish for office use or out and about That’s no different when it comes to the Gunnar Haywards, which continue to deliver, sporting a grey frame, solid construction and subtle yellow lenses. The Gunnar Hayward’s are part of Gunnar’s Trace collection, inspired and designed with California’s tech hubs in mind.
Dark Heresy Brings Voice To The Inquisition
Share Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy developers Owlcat Games have been working away on it for quite some time now, and has been drip feeding information and playtests out over the last year. Now they’ve announced the first voice actors to be bringing some of your newfound companions to life, one grunt at a time.
Rayquaza Ex takes centre stage in the next Pokémon TCG pack: Delta Reign
Share The brand new expansion for the Pokémon TCG, Delta Reign, has just been announced for November and features the return of Mega Rayquaza ex. It’ll be available for purchase from the 6th of November worldwide. Rayquaza hasn’t been featured in the Pokémon TCG format since Ancient Origins and will be among the strongest offerings available among the new ex Pokémon in Delta Reign.
Reyquaza Ex takes centre stage in the next Pokémon TCG pack: Delta Reign
Share The brand new expansion for the Pokémon TCG, Delta Reign, has just been announced for November and features the return of Mega Rayquaza ex. It’ll be available for purchase from the 6th of November worldwide. Rayquaza hasn’t been featured in the Pokémon TCG format since Ancient Origins and will be among the strongest offerings available among the new ex Pokémon in Delta Reign.
Team Rocket Blasts Off Again With Team Rockets Ambition for Pokemon TCG Pocket
Share The Pokémon TCG community have been treated this week with the announcement of both Delta Reign for the TCG and now Team Rocket’s Ambition for TCG Pocket to be released on the 27th of August, featuring new events with new rewards to help you prepare and open the new packs. The new Pokémon Team Rocket’s Ambition booster pack will be themed around the iconic Team Rocket and will have cards that feature the various antics and scheming you would expect of the villainous group.
Misery’s Megafactory Update Is Here, with new enemies, equipment and dangers
Share For anyone that has experienced the sirens and ever-present world-ending, bunker-based fun of Misery you’ll be pleased to hear that the new Megafactory update has just been released, and that it includes a whole new industrial biome to be explored. The ruins of the new Factory biome were once the heart of industry for the land of Misery but now lays infested with mutants, raiders and radiation galore.
Darktide Skitarii DLC – For The Omnissiah!
Share Warhammer 40,000 Darktide has been one of my favourite games over the last few years, with both fun gameplay and gritty combat it keeps bringing me back and now, with the new Skitarii class added, the fun continues with all new abilities, weapons and character creation options and personalities. The first thing you’ll be doing, as with all classes, is creating your new character although with the Skitarii being more machine than human this is much more literal than previous iterations.
BALL x PIT’s Final Update “The Naturalist” Is Out Now
Share BALL x PIT, Devolver’s hit ball-shooting extravaganza has reached the end of the road with the final free update, The Naturalist, being added to the main game for all to play. It adds characters, new passive abilities and of course, more balls! With The Naturalist update two new characters will be introduced to BALL x PIT and will be available to unlock. The Bola Shooter lets you stack up on slots for the bola but has you forego passive item upgrades leading for raw damage over abilities.
Escape From Tarkov Kord Breach Season 1 Is Out Now
Share Escape From Tarkov, the long standing extraction shooter from Battlestate Games, has just released its new seasonal content starting with Season 1, Kord Breach featuring some unique modifiers, changes to quests and traders as well as new content to explore and rewards to earn.
Mimesis adds Mimicry to the co-op survival genre
Share Mimesis pits you and your friends… and your friends friends… and the imitations of your friends and the hollow empty voices of your friends… against each other in an incremental survival and retrieval scenario where you must venture into various locations, recover items and sell them for profit while keeping your sanity and avoiding deadly enemies, traps and figuring out who’s who at the same time.
Gunnar Novato – Seeing The World Through New Lenses
Share Gunnar glasses are as popular as ever and the Novatos, from the Titanium collection, are no different. Featuring optimum blue light protection, wide lenses and a solid frame; these stylish glasses don’t just ooze quality but also meet a high standard for protection. The new Gunnar Novato glasses feature flexible spring hinges and a geometric lens shape which looks great especially on the larger lenses.
Cable Guys Grogu – Wherever You Go, He Goes
Share Grogu most certainly melted the hearts of millions when people first spotted him in The Mandalorian season one, and now you can have your very own Grogu at home thanks to the new Mandalorian and Grogu Cable Guys controller and phone holder. Now this Grogu, in particular, is the Apprentice version, it means that it features him stretching out his little hand and using the force while all wrapped up in his tiny winter coat.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV’s major factions explained
Share Longstanding RTS series Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War has been around for over twenty years now, and with the next edition, Dawn of War IV, coming soon we’re really excited to see how it keeps evolving and moving forward. It’s a series known for featuring much loved and battle hardened characters from the various factions of the 40k world – however details on which factions would be included in Dawn of War IV were really light on the ground until lately.
Slot or Not – Make Your Own Luck
Share Slot or Not is a roguelite luck based game that has you choose your items and throw them into a classic slot machine to see if you’ll be hitting big or striking out and having to restart your run. In the current build of Slot or Not you can choose from up to three characters (with two that are coming later already teased) who each have their own unique trinkets and equipment.
The Majority Pulse Speaker is Ridiculously Good
Share The Majority Pulse 1 Bluetooth speaker is a highly portable, easily chargeable speaker that’s lightweight, easy to carry and absolutely perfect for both BBQ’s and family get-togethers — which is exactly what I used it for.
In Tempest Rising The War For Resources Rages On
Share Tempest Rising has you step into the boots of one of two factions locked in a never ending war that’s revolving around one resource; Tempest. Deploy troops, fight your enemies, gather resources and build bases all to try and come out on top. Tempest Rising has you either take on the mantle of the Global Defence Force (GDF) or the Tempest Dynasty in either of the single player campaigns.
Industria II is a Linear Journey To The Core of Everything
Share Industria II, from Bleakmill is a direct continuation from the first title, putting you into the shoes of scientist and explorer, Nora. With some heavy Half Life inspirations and a surprisingly linear path, Industria II lets you discover the truth behind the ATLAS project as you try to free yourself and return to Berlin. One of the first things you’ll come across and that features heavily throughout Industria II is physics based objects and (I use this in a very loose way) puzzles.
The Alters: Last Variable takes place years after the original, Launching on the 13th of July
Share Set years after the core game, The Alters’ new DLC, The Alters: Last Variable has had its release date confirmed as July 13th. For those unaware, The Alters is a large-scale sci-fi survival game which has you playing as Jan Dolski as he ventures across a hostile planet and uses copies of himself, “the Altars”, made from Rapidium to create alternative versions of himself.
Raccoin is delightful, Coin Pushing Chaos
Share Raccoin is a deceptively simple looking coin-pushing Roguelite that has you play as a number of characters trying to meet the high score on coin pushing machines. You’ll be combining special coins, prizes and modifiers to make the optimum ticket winning experience and unlock everything you can on your way to the top. Now I mentioned before that Raccoin is deceptively simple, and that’s because there is so much on offer behind the curtain, so to speak.
Tactical Survival game Urban Strife To Release From Early Access with major update
Share Urban Strife, the turn-based tactical RPG from MicroProse and White Pond Games will finally be hitting it’s 1.0 release on July the 14th after a year and a half of community driven updates and progress. Urban Strife has come a long way since 2024 with a focus on new episodes, gameplay systems, tactical systems and community feedback to drive the initiative into the full release.
Tozo HT3 – Headphones With some Oomph
Share Tozo is a highly affordable brand, offering great headphones and other audio products at a very reasonable price. The new TOZO HT3 headphones are no different. Featuring active noise cancelling, a massive battery life and a comfortable fit, these are definitely a pair of headphones to keep an eye on.
Here Comes The Swarm’s new update brings a deity with an economy focus
Share CableHook Games’ Here Comes The Swarm has players building and managing the final settlements of humanity as they attempt to hold out against relentless alien hordes. And, now, it’s had a new major content update for the early access version, featuring a brand new deity, fresh progression options gameplay improvements, quality of life enhancements and a wide range of community driven fixes.
Roadside Research – A Totally Human Experience
Share Roadside Research has you and up to 3 other friends take on a very normal human job of running a gas station out in America while also researching your customers and avoiding the all seeing eye of the government forces that might try and stop you as you blend into society. (Because you’re actually aliens).
New Hearts of Iron IV DLC: Thunder At Our Gates is Out Now
Share Paradox Interactive are no strangers to the world of busy map games with their mainline titles like Crusader Kings III and Hearts of Iron IV already brimming with things to do. With HOI IV’s latest expansion, Thunder At Our Gates, you can now get to grips with some new theatres of war through it’s included three new factions worth of content and support for ship captains and generals.
Inside Byron Bay’s first five-star hotel
A countercultural capital since the 1960s, Byron Bay — the beachside town perched on the far northeastern edge of New South Wales, Australia — might seem an unlikely setting for a five-star hotel. Yet with verdant foliage cascading from its terracotta-tiled façade, sun-bleached interiors and a panoramic rooftop terrace, Hotel Marvell feels entirely at home, weaving barefoot luxury into the town's free-spirited ethos.
Culdcept The First Remake’s Demo is now live, and your cards carry over to the full release
Share Culdcept The First, originally released back on the Sega Saturn in 1997, has an upcoming remaster, and that remaster — from Clear River Games and City Connection — now has a demo available through Steam right now, allowing you to get started (and familiar with) building, battling and playing. Audiences will have the opportunity to try Culdcept The First through the demo in the run up to the PC release which is scheduled for the 30th of July.
Windrose – Boarding Party Ready!
Share In early April, Windrose released and was an absolute success with over 1.5 million copies sold quickly, within less than a month. The pirate themed RPG has you explore islands, calm waters and much more treacherous locales, to finish dangerous quests and gather loot. Your first steps as a pirate are in Windroses‘ tutorial; learn to fight, get sunk, wake up and then you’re off to the races.
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