Latest articles by Abbie Stone
The best part of this brilliant detective game is going back to a time when searching the internet was a huge pain... uh, for different reasons than it is now
PINING The Roottrees are Dead is a retro journey through a mysterious family tree.
Nine Sols review: A masterful metroidvania that builds on Sekiro-style combat and tells a great sci-fi story too
SOLS-LIKE I've got a feline Sekiro fans just met their new favorite game.
Even without Hollow Knight: Silksong, these 10 games prove that 2024 might just be the best Metroidvania year ever
SUPERB METROID Who needs Silksong anyways?
Ballionaire review: Pachinko chaos and deckbuilding strategy collide in this short but sweet roguelike
ON THE BALL What do you get when you combine a tree, a piggy bank, a trampoline, and a pachinko board?
Void Sols: A beautiful 2D soulslike with enough bright ideas of its own to stand out
SHAPE UP A soulslike made of shapes.
Slitterhead review: Probably the only game this year with a blood minigun
BLEEDING TIME There will be blood.
In this brilliantly clever RPG, you have to learn to play Tetris wrong to survive
TETR-ACE Flowstone Saga is an inspired spin on the iconic puzzle formula.
Now that Silent Hill 2 is out, it's time for Konami to remake Silent Hill 4 next
HOME ALONE It's a flawed gem that richly deserves a second chance.
The Plucky Squire review: A delightful storybook adventure that literally leaps off the page
PLUCKY CHARMS This cute puzzle-platformer that goes brilliantly off-book.
Black Myth: Wukong would feel a lot more epic if it didn't keep faking scale so poorly
WALL ABOARD The Monkey King's realm is plagued with invisible walls.
Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers review: A blackjack roguelike where you can shove any kind of card in your deck
RAW DEAL A clever new spin on deckbuilding, held back by some frustrating balance issues.
Finished Shadow of the Erdtree and looking for more punishment? Get Nine Sols, the soulslike metroidvania so good it made me stop pining for Hollow Knight: Silksong
Solslike The developer of iconic horror games Devotion and Detention has turned its hand to Sekiro-inspired combat.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn review: A serviceable but unmemorable action-RPG that probably shouldn't be launching less than a month after Shadow of the Erdtree
LACK OF SOUL This "Souls-lite" struggles to stand out among FromSoftware's many imitators.
Another Crab's Treasure review: An undersea soulslike that's cute and compelling, though weirdly crass
CLAW-SOME A seaworthy mashup of platform game and soulslike.
Inkbound review: A clever yet frustratingly muddled follow-up to Monster Train
MIXED VESTIGES Occasionally brilliant, often maddening, and just a bit too messy to be a new roguelike classic.
I never liked bullet hell shooters, until Xenotilt put one inside my new favourite pinball table
FLIP OUT This psychedelic pinball shmup is a journey into flipper-fueled chaos.
Pepper Grinder review: Five hours of fun, frantic platforming that’s unwieldy and all the better for it
Drill dazzler A challenging and thrilling burst of platformer action.
Tamarak Trail review: A clever but flawed and far too repetitive dice-based deckbuilder
ROLL AGAIN Collecting dice instead of cards is a fun twist on the genre, but it's undermined by a limp campaign.
Balatro review: The most essential addition to the roguelike deckbuilder genre in years
STRAIGHT FIRE This poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder revels in the thrill of cheating.
This Bed We Made review: A short but sweet amateur detective game about a sleuthy hotel maid
Tidy Don't sleep on this one.
Cobalt Core review: An intergalactic collision of Slay the Spire, FTL, and Into the Breach
CORE BLIMEY This spaceship roguelike deckbuilder swoops and soars to the top of its genre.
2023 has been an amazing year for roguelike deckbuilders—but the best one is this free demo about shamelessly cheating at poker
STACKED DECK Balatro turns the classic card game on its head, and it's so good it's my GOTY even though it's not even out yet.
From poison swamps to jump buttons: 5 things soulslikes shouldn't do, and 6 things they should
GOOD FOR THE SOUL The dos and don'ts of the growing genre.
