Set atop a colossal beast called an Onbu, The Wandering Village takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where poisonous spores have wiped out the world as we know it. Originally released on Steam in 2022, the popular city building simulation has now released on PS5.
Throwing us into the brink of a revolution, Railway Empire 2 starts in 1830 at the dawn of the age of railways. It’s an exciting time for the rail industry, with many competing companies wanting a piece of the pie and many discoveries changing the face of rail travel.
There are various game modes, including a campaign mode, scenario mode, free play mode, construction mode, and a co-op multiplayer mode. Each of these options offers a different experience entirely, which is appreciated and allows for a different pace of game depending on what mood you’re in or how you want to play.
Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook is a turn-based, strategy RPG roguelike that sees a group of adventurers in the wrong place at the wrong time, stuck in an increasingly difficult dungeon while on the brink of starvation.
Picking your primary character, you’re instantly thrown into a whole host of customisation options, from choosing which of the eight character designs you’ll use as your starting point, to which job class they’ll be. Along with the standard changes of hair, eye, and skin colour, you can even customise sprite illustrations and character traits. We spent far longer than we care to admit in the customisation screens, playing around with different combinations to create the perfect party.
Garden Simulator does what it says on the tin. Fed up with the rat race, and with a very pointed reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, the main character has had to work from home for the last few months and is struggling with worsening mental health. They move to their family’s old homestead to revive it and improve their own quality of life, and you’re thrown straight into some gardening.
A total remake of its 2007 game of the same name, developer Frogwares has embarked on a complete overhaul of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. This Lovecraftian adventure sees Sherlock investigating a series of disappearances that ultimately end up linked into the Cthulhu Mythos.
The Awakened opens with a pretty low stakes case to solve: where is Sherlock’s newspaper, and why has it gone missing? This acts as a tutorial for the mechanics of the game, many of which are expected for a detective game; presenting evidence, questioning suspects and witnesses, and investigating the crime scene. The game also adds some interesting, almost otherworldly, elements, meant to represent Sherlock’s aptitude for crime scene investigation and detective work. Pressing R1 activates ‘Concentration’, which allows Sherlock to see things that aren’t visible to the less initiated.
Developer Awaceb created Tchia as a love letter to its native home of New Caledonia. Though the game itself is set on a fantastical archipelago, it draws deeply from its real-life counterpart in terms of environment and story. It feels really genuine as a snapshot of the culture; its story is heavily rooted in the territory’s folklore, and some of the cast and crew are also New Caledonian natives. From members of the dev team, to the voice actors and the soundtrack composers, this game is as authentically New Caledonian as it’s possible to be.
Square Enix’s 2018 hit Octopath Traveler sold over 3 million copies worldwide, but never made it to PlayStation. Now, the series heads to PS5 and PS4 for the first time with Octopath Traveler II. Still with the striking HD-2D graphics of the first game, the sequel takes what its predecessor did and builds on it, creating a unique gaming experience which will leave you wanting more. It’s a completely standalone game as well, so there’s no need to power through the first title.
Your teenage years are undoubtedly some of the hardest years of your life. Raging hormones, school, navigating romance for the first time, aliens threatening to destroy your home and family… Now, imagine all of that in a timeloop that you’re destined to repeat over and over, and you have I Was A Teenage Exocolonist.
Landing itself somewhere between a twin-stick shooter and a rhythm game, Soundfall feels like it’s not really doing one or other of these particularly successfully. Saved by an incredible soundtrack, Soundfall has the potential to be a really incredible game with an exciting concept, but is let down by repetitive gameplay and a weak story.
Originally released on PC in 2019 for the original game’s fifth anniversary, the acclaimed survival game This War Of Mine: Final Cut has been repackaged in a for new-gen consoles. Hitting PS5s with remastered versions of the original and DLC locations, This War of Mine gives a harrowing and to the point view of war from the perspective of civilians trying to survive.
Set in the fictional city of Pogoren in the equally fictional Graznavia, This War of Mine has two cycles within which players must navigate a cast of characters. During the day, the characters will be at their shelter, and activities are based around daily survival: making improvements to the shelter, ensuring everyone is fed — you can even teach children basic survival skills. You can also craft items ready for trading with travelling tradesmen or people you may bump into while scavenging yourself. At night, the characters are split up – one person can go scavenging in local areas to find supplies, or you can have them stay home and guard the shelter from other scavengers or rest for the next day.
Read my full review at Push Square.
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