Stevo's Bargain Bin

It's been a good month for games in my house. As well as the amazing and mind-blowingly huge Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Switch, I've really enjoyed some titles by smaller studios too. These include Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight, Inside, Firewatch, Defunct and Fez. So which was my favourite? Zelda is fantastic, of course. Its sprawling world is absolutely teeming with things to see, do and discover and as well as being a joy to play it has an absolutely gorgeous art style. But that was to be expected - it's a main series Zelda game made by an enormous team. It was always going to be good. For that reason I'm giving it to Inside this month. That game genuinely surpassed my expectations in all kinds of ways. It unsettled me and had me on the edge of my seat. It went to some really dark, unforeseen places and left me scratching my head as to the meaning - I love it when a game does that. And on top of that its gameplay felt very smooth and hi...

Fez is a game I saw in a magazine some time before it released in 2013 and I was immediately interested. I also saw it in Indie Game The Movie a little while back (which is a fantastic documentary by the way - well worth a watch!) and knew I just had to play it for myself. Since then I have bought it on Steam, Xbox 360 and most recently PS4 because I like it a lot. Anyone who is familiar with the game will no doubt be aware of its creator, Phil Fish . Many people seem to have taken a dislike to him due to some of the things he has said online and in interviews. I've even seen some of these people posting that they won't play his games, which is a great shame - I think he came across rather well in the documentary and imagine a project of this scale must take a huge toll on a person, so he has my respect for that. If you've never played Fez I strongly recommend you put aside whether or not you like Mr Fish, try this wonderful game and judge it on its own merit...

I found Defunct on sale for £4 recently and having seen videos of its high speed gameplay, I just couldn't resist. The game, by studio Freshly Squeezed, is described as an "indie adventure game with a focus on flow, speed and an engaging world". You take control of a little wheeled robot who must catch up to the ship he falls out of at the start of the game. To do this, you have to utilize the many hills, boosts and slopes to pick up speed and really tear through a variety of areas. Defunct has a very nice momentum based system where our character can use a "gravitize" engine to maximize speed when going downhill. Applying this when travelling uphill will drain your speed however, so it's important to get your technique right if you don't want to be trundling through areas at a snail's pace. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it but once I did I was pretty much flying over entire sections as I launched off slopes and made use of ...

Firewatch has been on my radar for quite a while, but I've managed to avoid pretty much all information about its plot. To my delight I found it on the PS4 sales for £4 (down from about £15), so I immediately hit purchase. Developed by Campo Santo , Firewatch places you in the shoes of newly recruited fire lookout Henry. As the game opens we find out a little about Henry's background (I wont go into the details) and see him settle into his watchtower for his first day. The adventure unfolds in a first person perspective, so we see everything Henry sees. And it has to be said - Firewatch is gorgeous. The mountainous wooded area where the story takes place is stunning and vibrant, changing throughout the day as the sun changes position in the sky. There isn't a constant soundtrack playing  and I found the use of music to be just right - not taking away from the immersion by being too noticeable but just enough enhance the moments where it is used. Throughout t...

Inside is a game I'd heard of quite some time before getting round to playing it. And while I did see some bits of gameplay on channels like Game Grumps, I purpousely steered clear of watching lengthy videos because I wanted  to experience it for myself first. I'm glad I did, because just like with their previous game Limbo, independent game developer  Playdead has created a completely unique and shockingly memorable adventure with Inside. I'll try to avoid dropping any major spoilers regarding what the game has in store for you. Our adventure begins with a young boy alone in a dangerous environment and like Limbo, we must guide him safely through a series of deadly situations and traps. To me, the game has a sombre but somehow beautiful look. Many of the environments are dark and dreary, which only adds to the atmosphere and sense of foreboding. Animations are amazingly smooth, particularly those of the boy. His movements feel very lifelike and fluid - for e...

I'm always pleased when I pick up a new Metroidvania game - particularly if it's on sale. Despite the fact that most Metroidvanias conform to the same basic formula of side-scrolling action platformers where you gradually fill in the map, acquire items and abilities to reach more areas, take on plenty of enemies, usually do some grinding and tackle impressive bosses - it continues to appeal time after time. For me, this is because it seems developers - for the most part - keep striving to put their own fresh stamp or twist on the genre, whether that be with some clever new game mechanic like Dandara's gravity defying method of travel, or a breathtakingly charming and unique world like Hollow Knight (which was fantastic for so many other reasons too). Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight, developed by Bombservice and published by PLAYISM , does not exactly reinvent the wheel - but I'm very happy to report that it does stick very much with what makes a damn g...

I can't claim to have completed or even played all of the Zelda games. But I have played enough in the past to have a good grip on the formula the series typically uses. Take on a series of increasingly tough dungeons while discovering hidden heart pieces and collecting a gradually expanding arsenal of familiar items - sword, shield, boomerang, bow, hookshot, bombs etc etc - leading up to (usually) a final conflict with Ganon. There are exceptions but for the most part (to the best of my memory anyway) while most of the games over the years offer exploration, the core part of the adventure such as the dungeons are meant to be tackled in a set order. So when Breath of the Wild came along with its much talked about 'do it your way' open world design, I was very intrigued. I left it until April this year to actually get my hands on BOTW, and man - it is something else. I'm about 15-20 hours in (so I know I still have much to see and do) but so far it feels...

Hey all, it's been a busy few weeks, so apologies for the lack of posts!  I think my favorite game of April (retrospectively) has to be Final Fantasy VII on the Switch. It was a great game before being ported, it's still a great game after. Although I wasn't a big fan of some of the additional features (turning off random encounters etc) as I considered to be a bit much like cheating, they were optional and I expect they'll be of interest to some players. Being able to play this classic on the go was a massive bonus and the story was as gripping as ever. So what's next for the blog? Well, I've been playing The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild! (very gradually). Expect an interim piece on that soon, because I feel like it's going to take quite some time to actually complete but I wanted to share my thoughts to far (about 15 or so hours in). I've also recently replayed the excellent VVVVVV and I've just picked up a few PS4 titles I...