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Articles by Lyle Carr
Moonstone Island Collector's Edition
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Minishoot' Adventures Reviews
Thanks to its excellent utilization of well-worn Zelda-inspired conventions and enough unique twists to differentiate it from the pack, Minishoot' Adventures delivers an outstanding bullet-hell experience with less frustration than most entries in the genre. I didn't set out to 100 percent Minishoot' Adventures, but by the time I reached the end of the the story, I had experienced everything the game has to offer, a testament to how enamored I am with this fun, twin-stick title.
Astral Ascent 60% off
Astral Ascent is a 2D platformer rogue-lite game set in a modern fantasy world. As one of 4 Heroes with very different personalities, you must escape from the Garden, an astral prison guarded by 12 powerful and vicious bosses, the Zodiacs. CREATE YOUR OWN PLAYSTYLE Unlock dozens of unique spells for your 4 distinct characters. Optimize your own build or try out new ones to take down 12 powerful bosses. Get stronger with time to match up with your foes.
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo interview: "He's totally a spoiled kid"
Following the release of the demo of self-professed “Yoyovania” Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo by Pocket Trap, we caught up with the studio’s co-founder and producer, Henrique Caprino for an interview. Henrique was generous enough to answer some of our burning questions following our time with the game, and you can read his answers in full below: Pipistrello is a pretty big departure from Dodgeball Academia, what made the team want to move from Dodgeball RPG to a Yoyovania?
The Crush House review
As a general rule I don’t like to classify any media I absorb as a “guilty pleasure”, but if I did it would likely be reality TV. I love all manner of reality shows, from competitions full of horrendous back stabbing to the trashiest of romantic reality shows full of raunchy moments. The two worlds of video games and reality television don’t really come together all that often, besides the occasional poorly designed mobile game.
Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers review
In this wonderful year of video games, the success of Balatro is what has warmed my heart the most. I didn’t think we’d get a deck building game in my lifetime that would appeal to so many people, and I had friends I barely knew played video games talking to me about their favourite strategies.
One Btn Bosses review
As gaming has moved forward, it’s only natural that most video games are somewhat more complex than they were thirty years ago. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve returned to a game after a few weeks and completely forgotten how to play it, leading to me just sitting pressing all the wrong buttons in an embarrassing manner.
Cat Quest 3 review
Pirates and video games go back a long way, and it’s easy to see why. Swashbuckling settings are almost always great, whether it’s for an adventure game like The Secret of Monkey Island and its many sequels or an online multiplayer treasure fest like Sea of Thieves. I must admit though I’ve never played a cat-themed pirate game before, or at least that was the case until Cat Quest 3 arrived. The Purribean is a dangerous place full of Pi-rats, but for those brave enough to face it treasure awaits.
Natsu-mon: 20th Century Summer Kid
With thousands of video games throwing peril, bullets and mayhem your way, sometimes you just need a break from that pressure. While many associate gaming as a hobby with competition or tests of skill, sometimes you just want to kick back with some laid back vibes and just relax in a lovely cosy bubble. That’s where games like Natsu-mon: 20th Century Summer Kid come in, with a nostalgic and vibrant childhood romp through the month of August.
Volgarr the Viking II review
It’s fair to say that video games were more difficult thirty years ago than they are now. Whether it was to steal more of your hard-earned cash at an arcade or to artificially pad out the length of a shorter game, in those earlier years of gaming it was rarely easy to complete a game. Nowadays thanks to lovely accessibility and difficulty options, as well as the general taste for difficulty changing overall, games can be beaten by anyone or might not even have a failure state at all.
Volgarr the Viking II review
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Once Upon a Jester
Best friends Sok & Jester devise a mischievous scheme to steal the Royal Diamond! To complete their master plan, they must start an improv theatre show and outperform every other act - including their rivals, Hofnar & Bok. Only becoming the best show in the kingdom will get them invited to the Royal Theatrical Spectacle in the Royal Palace, where the king keeps his precious gem.
World of Goo 2 review
Back in 2008 there were less indie game releases in a year than there are in a day here in 2024. Although gaming was very much on the cusp of an indie boom that would carry it forward to the present day, the majority of gamers were playing big budget titles over ones made by smaller teams with something to prove. There were still landmark indies that got a whole lot of love though, and alongside games like Braid and Castle Crashers was World of Goo.
World of Goo 2 review
MrBeast 10 hours ago MrBeast's Team Responds To Grim Allegations Against Beast Games svg.com - Gabran Gray • 10h MrBeast's team has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the YouTuber's upcoming Amazon Prime show "Beast Games." The show will feature 1,000 … Technology 23 hours ago I think I made a big mistake buying the new M4 iPad Pro — here’s why Tom's Guide - By Dave Meikleham • 23h The M4 iPad Pro is the absolute best.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is another must play game in the series | Hands-on preview
There aren’t many video game series I love as much as the Ace Attorney games. From the moment I first heard about these law themed adventure games as a teenager I was slightly obsessed with this outlandish idea for a video game, and against all odds these titles eventually came to the west and gathered a cult following.
Kitsune Tails review
2D platformers have been around for longer than most of us have been alive at this point, but for me they remain my favourite type of video game to play. Jumping between platforms and stomping on enemies is simply timeless, as can be proven by playing any 30+ year old Super Mario game and having an absolute blast.
Deadlink review | GodisaGeek.com
When the first person shooters arrive for review here at, it’s rarely me at the front of the queue. That’s not to say I’m not a fan of the action-packed fun they offer though, and especially when they combine elements of my favourite other genres I’m more than happy to get stuck into them. Roguelike FPS games have always intrigued me the most, ever since becoming a little too invested in randomised runs of Tower of Guns.
Magical Delicacy review
When a video game heavily features crafting as a core part of its gameplay, I’m generally a little sceptical of how much I’ll enjoy myself playing it. While there are plenty of games that make the creation of items an interesting part of the experience, if I have to spend too long gathering the same old materials and combining them is a chore then I’ll usually lose interest. Thankfully that’s not the case in Magical Delicacy, due to the engaging cooking and light Metroidvania elements.
Thank Goodness You're Here review
‘Ow do, if you’ve nowt goin on then ‘ave a luck at this review. Am reet chuffed to ‘ave you here, so get tha’ sen sorted, grab a brew and a butty, an’ tek an ‘oliday to Bamsworth wit me. Oh aye, this grand likkle Yorkshire town ‘as nowt but character, an’ is full of crackin’ lads and lasses. If you’ve understood even half of what I’ve said so far then you are ready to play Thank Goodness You’re Here, one of the most weird, wonderful, and Northern games ever created.
Ogu and the Secret Forest review
In the year 2024, pretty much every video game you play is inspired by a handful of different wonderful titles that are beloved by gamers everywhere. Anyone who loves card games has probably played a Deck Builder with a few similarities to Slay the Spire at this point, and whenever anyone dies and loses all their currency in a game we know that FromSoft are to blame.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure review
As I grow older and possibly even wiser, I find myself craving puzzle games more and more. Often these are endlessly playable tile games like Grindstone or Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, but I’m also more than happy to play a rare puzzle game with an ending. It also turns out that the more thoughtful pace of a puzzle game rather lends itself to a story based experience, and Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure proves that with style.
The Star Named EOS review
I often find that some of the toughest games to write about are those that try to tell an emotive story, especially if it isn’t one you particularly connect with. While one person might find the relationship of the two brothers in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, another night not really engage with their heart-warming adventures. I found myself in the latter camp while playing through A Star Named EOS, but I can’t deny the puzzles did a decent job of keeping me interested enough to see the end.
Yaoling: Mythical Journey is a unique take on the monster collecting genre | Early access impressions
In a world where hundreds of games are fighting for your time, I’ve always found it hard to spend my precious hours on early access games. That being said there are certain games that are far too tempting to ignore, and one of those for me was Yaoling: Mythical Journey. An open world monster collecting game with interesting combat and an eastern influence just wasn’t something I could pass up playing, and I’m really glad I didn’t.
Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus review
In the year of 2024, I think most would agree that the Metroidvania genre has been rather well represented. To start out this year we were greeted by the unusually high profile and delightful Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and after that rare treat the indies came along to pick up the remaining slack.
SCHiM review | GodisaGeek.com
Having all these different (and often slightly ridiculous sounding) genres in video games can be great for categorising new titles in a review setting, but sometimes a game just doesn’t fit neatly into one box. SCHiM is absolutely one of these games. The main thing you’ll be doing is jumping from one shadow to another, but there’s not really a challenge in doing so that makes the game feel like a platformer.
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is doing some interesting things in an overlooked genre | Hands-on preview
The video game veterans among us will likely have fond memories of shmups from arcades and early consoles alike, but younger generations of gamers are probably rather unfamiliar with the slightly dated genre. Well back in the eighties and nineties flying a spaceship around bullets and blasting baddies was all the rage, but only those with the twitchiest of reactions found much success with shmups.
Gori: Cuddly Carnage is shaping up to be a wonderful addition to the character action genre | Hands-on preview
Since the popularity of From Software’s Souls games and their more modern evolutions, the humble character action genre has been pretty much absent from video games. The people spoke, and clearly preferred the more deliberate pace of Soulslike combat, and fast, flashy combos became less prominent in the action genre.
Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece Steam review
I’m sure most long term gamers have a few series that emotionally resonate with them more than the rest, and have been there for them through the tough times. For me the series that this most applies to is Kingdom Hearts. I’ll never forget crying at the end of the first game as an emotional teenager, or how fast I completed its sequel in lieu of revising for an upcoming Maths exam.
The Exit 8 review
Long term fans of PC gaming will be more than familiar with shorter experimental games that pack a whole load of creativity into less than an hour. These games have been how many a YouTuber make their money for years, showing off something very cool that you just wouldn’t think to play otherwise.
#Blud review | GodisaGeek.com
As much as I love a beautiful and colourful game with lovely animations, it’s rare that visuals are able to sell me on a game entirely. I’m generally just more gameplay-focused to fall too hard for the pretty ones, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a gorgeous game. There’s not much of a better first impression that a shiny new purchase can give you than something beautiful to look at though, and I must admit that when I first booted up #BLUD I was a little bit blown away.
A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars review
In recent months when friends have been looking for a laid back puzzle game to play after a stressful day, my current recommendation is without fail A Little to the Left. I just love the intriguing little puzzles it presents you with, and the fact that most of them can be solved in multiple ways is really clever.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble review
Anyone who has been playing video games for long enough will have some core gaming memories that mark important moments in their life of pushing buttons. For me one of those is playing my first Nintendo GameCube game in a local game shop before the console was released. As a long term Mario fan I was most excited to try out Luigi’s Mansion, but the game running on the console available first was Super Monkey Ball.
The Smurfs - Dreams has interesting stages and a fun moveset | Hands-on preview
When thinking of children’s TV shows, there aren’t many with the continued cultural relevance of The Smurfs. Now I won’t pretend that I have ever been a mega fan of the small blue characters that live in mushroom houses in the woods, but I’ve been to Smurf based club nights, laughed at jokes about them in Family Guy, and apparently will never escape their adventures be it in parody or video game form.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance review
As far as I’m concerned, Atlus’ Persona series is the gold standard when it comes to turn-based RPGs. Everything from the combat to the life sim elements just work perfectly for me, and I’d struggle to think of any games I’d rather play when I’m looking for a chunky RPG to sink my teeth into.
Akimbot has the potential to be a great Ratchet and Clank style game | Hands-on preview
While there are plenty of games that other developers are inspired by when making their own, some successful and beloved games never really have that happen. I’ve played loads of games that were clearly inspired by everything from Dark Souls to Slay the Spire, but for some reason never the Insomniac classic Ratchet and Clank. As far as platforming with guns goes, very few games have ever tried to do what the Lombax and his robot buddy do so well, at least until Akimbot.
Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines is a blast so far | Hands-on preview
As a huge fan of 2D platformers I like to make sure I play as many colourful jumping adventures as possible, but there are always going to be a few games that slip through the cracks. One such game was Grapple Dog, which featured an adorable little pup swinging through stages and looked entirely like something I’d love. Well I’ve decided to make right on my past mistakes, and that starts by playing a preview build of its sequel Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines.
SCHiM is a seriously interesting concept for a game | Hands-on preview
There are a huge number of reasons why I so often end up more excited about upcoming indie games than big budget AAA titles. Smaller teams are often able to work together better to create a more cohesive product, and without publishers pushing for features and a swift release it’s rare for an indie game to feel incomplete or rushed. More than any other reason though, I love that indie games are often just incredibly weird.
Yaoling: Mythical Journey is a breath of fresh air in the genre | Hands-on preview
We are finally entering an era of monster collecting games where Pokémon isn’t the only option for fans of the genre. Now obviously it is still far and away the most popular and prominent game on the market when it comes to collecting colourful critters, but titles like Cassette Beasts, Monster Hunter Stories and Coromon have all provided viable alternatives for those burnt out on Nintendo’s offerings.
Metal Slug Tactics is an outstanding tactics Roguelike | Hands-on preview
As gamers we are used to occasionally having to wait a long time for exciting new games. There are few feelings better than when a game is worth the wait, and after years of anticipation something truly remarkable releases and you finally get to play it. That isn’t always how things turn out though, with countless more examples of games going through development hell and disappointing everyone.
Demon's Mirror is a clever fusion of deck building and puzzle game
With a lovely array of deck builders on the market currently, fans of digital cardboard are eating good. With so many of these wonderful video games to choose from though, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out in this bustling genre. Deck builders are doing all sorts of creative things to shake up the genre in this trying time, be it by replacing cards with dice, or using traditional poker hands instead of cards with monsters and swords on them.
Kitsune Tails is looking like a really promising 2D platformer | Hands-on preview
It gets harder every year to pick my favourite video game of all time, but for the longest time I’d always settle on Super Mario Bros 3. The first video game I ever played somehow managed to be the best of the bunch, and began my love of 2D platforming thanks to perfect controls, creative power ups and just the right level of challenge for an up and coming gamer.
Cat Quest III is a delightful action-RPG that I cannot wait to play more of | Hands-on preview
As somebody who is far too easily excited by new video games, I tend to end up starting most games with a tangible giddiness running through my body. This isn’t always the case though, and if anything I prefer this because it means I get a chance to be pleasantly surprised.
Tormenture is a creative way to present a horror game | Hands-on preview
Horror games are often some of the most creative video games out there, and as a fan of all things spooky I love playing them all. Everything from Resident Evil to Five Nights at Freddy’s started with something innovative and brilliant, and every year we get more indie horror games that surprise us with a bit of creepy magic. Tormenture might just be the next must play game for horror fans, and after playing an hour of it I don’t know if I can handle the wait for more.
Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip review
As someone who grew up playing colourful platformers and daft rhythm games, the idea of a video game being deadly serious has never sat well with me. That’s not to say the drama of The Last of Us Part II or the heart wrenching moments of Final Fantasy IX didn’t hit me right in the feels while playing, but for the most part when a game takes itself too seriously I find my attention drifting to something more fun, fanciful, or downright silly.
Paper Trail review
The theme of Paper is one that has bizarrely been present in gaming for some time now. Some of my favourite RPGs of all time are a part of the Paper Mario series, in part thanks to how cleverly they implement the world’s paper composition. Media Molecule’s Tearaway took the papercraft setting to another level by creating a world that was entirely made up of real world craftable elements.
Zet Zillions review
As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t a better way to spend between fifteen and thirty minutes than getting stuck into a run on a deck-building Roguelike. I must admit most of these games have rather dull themes though, and I’ve more than had my fill of drab fantasy settings in my card games at this point. Enter Zet Zillions, a deck builder that replaces orcs and thieves with an injection of Saturday morning cartoon sci-fi and is a hell of a lot of fun.
MultiVersus is back with all new modes, and is incredibly moreish | Hands-on preview
When Multiversus released in open beta back in 2022, I immediately fell in love with its take on the Super Smash Bros style of fighting game. With all my favourite Nintendo characters replaced with well known Warner Brothers properties and a distinct focus on online play, I thought Multiversus was an incredibly cool game with limitless potential.
Isles of Sea and Sky review
More than any other genre, puzzle games often stand the test of time the best. Regardless of whether a puzzle game has shiny new visuals or retro pixel art, that glorious feeling of solving a puzzle with nothing but your logic skills is always going to send all those happy chemicals flooding to your brain. Isles of Sea and Sky certainly looks like a game that could’ve been released twenty-five years ago, but its take on puzzle design and fully explorable open world feel anything but dated.
Cupid Parasite: Sweet and Spicy Darling review
When a series of video games is heavily story based, one of the worst things you can do is start playing a sequel before the earlier entries. I know this from experience, be it from skipping the 2018 God of War and jumping straight into Ragnarok or completing Persona 5 Strikers before putting a hundred hours into the RPG that spawned the spinoff.
Inkbound review | GodisaGeek.com
There aren’t many games I play where I feel concerned about how difficult it will be to write a review while I play them. Most games I play for review fit neatly into a couple boxes: for a narrative game you write about the story, for a platformer you talk about how the controls feel, and so on and so forth. But some games are just built different. They either don’t fit the mould, or they’re just so dense with content and mechanics that figuring out how to discuss them as a whole is exhausting.
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