Full disclosure: I have no semblance of a green thumb. Sometimes it feels like I can just look at plants and kill them. I think that’s why I have come to appreciate games with/about gardening in any capacity: I use video games as an escape, and escaping to something you can’t actually do in real life is the entire point.…
Terra Nil is a story of hope that we sorely need right now. Despite an almost endless stream of warnings over the last few decades, humanity continues to treat climate change’s real and growing threat with blase indifference. The Paris Accord in 2015 was meant to be a turning point,…
SteamWorld has been kicking around for 13 years now, when the humble…
My Time at Sandrock is a very entertaining game that should never…
I’ve played all kinds of sim games in my time. Through them I’ve built cities and skyscrapers, zoos and theme parks. I’ve even built idol empires and porn businesses. Right now I’m happily building universities courtesy of Two Point Hospital. But I’ve never built a casino. And I never wanted…
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“Princess Maker-likes,” like Lair Land Story, are a niche within a niche, but it’s a genre that can be oddly compelling. They’re spreadsheet simulators, in which 90 per cent of the game involves carefully managing a girl’s development by carefully selecting her daily activities. But while that might sound dull,…
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Take Game Of Thrones. Take Princess Maker. Mash them together (after taking the sex out of both), turn the result into a spreadsheet simulation, and you’ve got Long Live The Queen. This ultra indie game is not without its delights and offers players a decent challenge on their way to…
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Mr. Prepper is so disappointing. It could have been something spectacular, given that it weaves a story that is so steadfastly critical of America, but instead it collapses in a whimper that never realises its mechanical ambitions nor delivers on its thematic premise. Combined, those two failings make it frustrating…
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The Future You’ve Been Dreaming Of is a voyeurism simulation, and coming from developer qureate, we all knew what that would involve upfront. As the developer has so brazenly shown with Duel Princess and Livestream Escape From Hotel Izanami, qureate’s teams likes the fan service to be heavy and unabashed.…
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Idol Manager sounds like a pervy fan service-focused thing, but it’s actually quite a genuine simulation, dealing with the incredibly complex world of Japan’s idol industry. From dealing with the dynamics and personal relationships between group members, to managing the girls so that none of them gets burned out, organising…
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Before the film that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp had way too much fun with, and before even the Stephen Sondheim musical that more people should see a production of, Sweeny Todd was a Penny Dreadful. People don’t really know what these are anymore, but they were once wildly popular…
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I’ve played loads of farming sims (Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, Stardew Valley) so when I learned I was going to review Farm Manager 2022 I was pretty excited. I figured it would be like those games but seriously amped up, and I wasn’t wrong there. It’s an incredibly in-depth…
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What can I say about cats that hasn’t been said before? Cats are great. They do silly things, like chasing small plastic springs. They do cute things, like lick your nose to say hello. They do impressive yet annoying things, like beg for food (but at exactly the right time).…
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German publisher, Toplitz, and developer, Superkami Games, has shared the first “CGI trailer” of the upcoming city-building simulation, Sengoku Dynasty, and it looks like it could be something truly special. What is most comforting to me, however, is the great pains that Superkami Games seem to have gone to so…
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