In the Fridge

Hello, my name's Fridge and I have way too many games. Reviews appearing every Sunday (and occasionally on Wednesday). Current system spec; AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D, 32 gig ram, GeForce RTX 3070 Games owned - 2887 If you want to show support please consider donating to my Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/fridgereviews

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Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

Developer: Happy Broccoli Games Publisher: Happy Broccoli Games Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £8.50 (Gog and Steam) Released: 24th May 2024 Available on: Gog and Steam Played Using: Mouse

First I played Frog Detective, then Chicken Police and now Duck Detective… I’m beginning to see a pattern. Self-deprecating jokes aside, this game is actually pretty damned good and, despite the very silly premise, needed some real deduction to solve. Well, unless you choose to brute force it, but even then you have to do a certain amount of leg work to find the words to brute force it with. But before we get into the gameplay itself lets introduce the character you play as.

Eugene McQuaklin is the Duck Detective, he’s also a recent divorcee and a bread addict, because every detective needs some kind of vice (apart from Frog Detective who just loves doing the job). Duck Detective is down on his luck and struggling to make ends meet and at this point is willing to take on any job. 

So, back to the gameplay. As you explore the surroundings and speak to the various suspects you’ll be given words. These words allow you to fill in a madlibs style ‘deducktion’ to make sense of what is going on. However, just getting the words isn’t enough, to really solve the mystery you need to pay attention to how and where those words came from along with little details in the environment. Perhaps someone made an offhand comment about someone else or a note mentioning an important detail that you would need to find elsewhere. The context matters just as much as the word and the deduction itself.

It’s a short game, I finished it in just a bit under three hours, but I fully intend on getting the sequel as I enjoyed every moment. Not every game needs to be an epic after all.

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Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping

Developer: Happy Broccoli Games Publisher: Happy Broccoli Games Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £8.50 (Gog and Steam) Released: 22nd May 2025 Available on: Gog and Steam Played Using: Mouse

I have to say it’s quite impressive how quickly the developers have managed to create this game, just shy of a year by two days.

The game itself takes place a few months after the events of the first game. The Duck Detective finds himself in a new living situation having been evicted from his apartment. He’s still down on his luck but fortune smiles upon him and hands him another case to distract him from his worries, at least temporarily.

This might seem like a bit of a cop-out but there is very little to mention here that I didn’t already speak of in the last game, it maintains the same style, the humour and general vibe is the same too. Hell it’s even a similar length to the first game. Perhaps that’s why the turn around in development was so quick, and I don’t say that as a criticism I think the art style they have is perfect for what they’re going for so there's no need to change it and nothing needs to change with the gameplay as the control scheme works perfectly.  That being said, there are two small changes that I think make the game better. The first being the inclusion of a map within your notebook which shows you where characters are and also if there are still clues in the area. The second being the ability to look back at previous pieces of evidence within your notebook, this can be very handy with later parts of the case as there are hidden clues that don’t just immediately pop out.

Just like with the first game it's a fairly short affair, taking about two to three hours. If they make a third I’ll certainly be getting it.

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Vampire Crawlers

Developer: Poncle, Nosebleed Interactive Publisher: Poncle Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £8.99 (Steam) and £9.99 (Epic) Released: 21st April 2026 Available on: Steam and Epic Played Using: An Xbox One Control Pad Approximate game length: 30+

Having played the demo of this game (as seen in Steam Next Fest 2026 Part 1) I knew without a doubt that I was going to enjoy this game once it was out. It combines two things that I can’t seem to get enough of which is deck building and dungeon crawling. However, this game doesn’t simply do that and call it a day. Instead they’ve added all several types of meta progression that you unlock as you go. 

I decided to leave it a few weeks before playing the full game. Since I arrive to most games late, I felt it best to allow time for the developers to be able to apply at least one patch before I jump in. This is because many developers will use that first week or so to apply hotfixes to issues they didn’t encounter in playtesting.

Each run starts in the Village where you pick the Crawler (the Survivors from Vampire Survivors) you’ll be taking with you, in the beginning you’ll only have a few to pick from but you’ll quickly unlock more. Each Crawler has their special ability that will activate when they are first cast as well as another passive ability that triggers when a certain card type is played.  The cards have a casting cost, which is deducted from the mana you have which replenishes at the start of each of your turns. You can increase your store of mana by playing cards that generate it such as spell books.  

So far so standard for a game in the deck building genre. However, Vampire Crawlers does something interesting with the casting cost of cards. You see, if you can cast your cards in ascending order they grow more potent and build up a larger combo. The limiting factor being how much mana you have available, but there are ways around that, such as mana generating cards or cards that cost a negative amount.

New cards and gems (which I will cover in a moment) are unlocked as you level up which is done through defeating the enemies in the dungeon. With each level up you’re given a choice of three cards or gems of which you can only pick one. That card is then added to your hand and can be played immediately for no cost. You may notice that some cards are depicted having a little hole(s) in the top left, this is where gems come in. Gems can be applied to a card that will cause it to have a passive effect when it's played such as increasing your luck stat, drawing a card etc. This can really change the game for you and allow for repeated loops if you plan it right, though doing this comes at a cost… you’ll see. Something to keep in mind though is that if you evolve an item with a gem in it that gem is lost.

So, for those that didn’t play Vampire Survivors the weapons you collect can evolve into more powerful versions. This is done by finding another card that's required for the evolution and then defeating a boss or mini-boss. A good example of this being the Bloody Tear that requires the Whip and a heart card. Once you’ve done that you get the normal reward options but one of them will be the weapon evolution, which, when selected will consume all the cards required. Unlike Vampire Survivors, there isn’t a limit on how many evolved weapons you can have, your only limits are how much mana you have and how many floors are left before your run ends.

As you explore the dungeons and defeat enemies you gain money. If you manage to successfully complete the run by defeating the dungeon, that money will be taken to the Village where you can spend it on meta upgrades or potentially other Crawlers you have unlocked.

While in the dungeon you will see two sets of stats, one on the left side of the screen and another on the right. The stats on the left are your combat stats. These can be increased during combat by cards that you play and will reset once the fight is over. The stats on the right don’t relate to combat directly, these are more general and include things like experience gain,  money gain, luck and revives. Any improvement you make to these stats are permanent for the run that you are on. 

I highly recommend this game, there are a ton of features I’ve not mentioned because discovering them is half the fun. If you’re on the fence about it there is a demo available to play which, if you decide to buy the full game, will transfer your progress over (including achievements if that’s what you are into).

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Next Fest Demos 2026 - Part 2

I love Next Fest, it's a great time to find out what interesting new games are on the horizon. Next Fest is also an interesting one to cover as it occurs three times a year. 

Disclaimer: As far as I am able to tell these demo’s don’t use AI. However, the full release may, please stay vigilant and check before purchasing (assuming you care about AI being in your games).

Cozy Game Restoration

Developer: Parasol Corp Publisher: Parasol Corp Release When?: 26th September 2026

This is absolutely what I would call a dad game. It’s a simple concept, you buy old video game cartridges and CD’s and restore them as best you can. This means removing stickers and the residue they leave behind, clean all the dirt and marks off as well as repairing any scratches. After all of that the game you bought should be worth more than what you purchased it at. From there you can decide whether you want to keep it in your collection or sell it on.

This is a very chilled game, while I was playing the demo I just had a podcast on. I’m not sure if this is one I’d bother actually reviewing but I probably will get it for when I want to zone out.

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Cold Case: The Red Dress Murder

Developer: Nessie Games Publisher: Nessie Games Release When?: Coming Soon

Did covering all those FakeOS games make me more aware of the genre or is it that there are more of them being developed. Either way, this game is pretty damned good. Essentially you go through evidence to find keywords that allow you to complete a madlibs, except this madlibs requires a very specific set of words to be in the right place. As you play through a plot is revealed, the cases link and certain facts become apparent based on what you’ve experienced from the previous cases you solved.

This game is really interesting and sometimes required a bit more lateral thinking than I was used to. I may not buy this on day one but it's absolutely going on my wishlist (which means I’ll get it… eventually).

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Object Impermanence

Developer: Slugware Publisher: Slugware Release When?: Q4 2026

There are a lot of first person puzzle games around, many simply attempt to copy what Portal did. To stand out from the pack you have to do something different, such as how Superliminal forced you to rethink perspective. This game plays with the idea of object permanence (clues in the name after all). In this demo objects either stop existing or cease to move (depending on the colour which determines its properties) when you stop looking at them.

I’m absolutely getting this game! I love a game that makes me think especially if it’s got a unique mechanic to play with.

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Silver Pines

Developer: Wych Elm Publisher: Team17 Release When?: 8th October 2026

Silver Pines is a game that feels like someone decided to combine Alan Wake, Silent Hill and Twin Peaks and then threw in a little Resident Evil for good measure. It’s a horror themed 2D metroidvania with an artstyle I find quite striking. The premise of this game is that you are a Private Detective tasked with finding someone who has fled to the sleepy town of Silver Pines.

This game has its hooks on me the instant I jumped into the game proper. I’m really interested to see where the mystery of this game goes.

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RetroSpace

Developer: The Wild Gentlemen Publisher: Kwalee Release When?: TBA

I would be very surprised if the developers of this game weren’t heavily inspired by the work of Looking Glass Studios (known for the Thief and System Shock series). They really honed in on what makes a good immersive sim especially one from the late 90’s/early 2000’s, such as having an inventory system that you have to manage and clever ways to distract your enemies.

It’s listed as a roguelite but those elements are very light, in fact from what I can tell the roguelite element is only related to the mutations you get when you die and are respawned. This is another that's getting added to the wishlist and then bumped up high.

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Megabonk

Developer: Vedinad Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £8.50 (Steam)

It was only a matter of time before the bullet heaven genre evolved, and much like the platformers of yore that evolution was 3D. Now I’m not saying other bullet heavens didn’t do other interesting things, many truly did. However, those changes didn’t change the very way the game was played. Just like with platformers including the third dimension increases the complexity of the game, on a very basic level you now have to consider enemies being above you something that just wasn’t a thing in 2D.

I could be really reductive about the game and simply say “it's Vampire Survivors but in 3D” but I think that's something of a disservice. For example, certain levels have bosses that will only appear if you play as a specific character on that level and then perform the required action. 

There is absolutely no semblance of a story in this game, no bestiary either (at least not at the time of writing) which feels like a missed opportunity. This game is filled with so many little jokes and goofs that having a silly bestiary would fit in well, besides I want to know the lore of ‘Scorpionussy’.

So yeah, this is a fun and silly little roguelite. It's great for just picking up playing a quick session and putting down but also can be replayed over and over. This is joining the many games that I keep on my Steamdeck for long trips and appointments.

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Atomic Heart DLC 04: Blood on the Crystal

Developer: Mundfish Publisher: Focus Entertainment Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £8.99 (Humble and Steam) or £34.99 (Humble and Steam) as part of the Atomic Pass  Released: 16th April 2026 Available on: Humble and Steam Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard Approximate game length: 8 Hours

This is the final DLC for Atomic Heart and is the conclusion of the plot that has spanned throughout the main game and DLC’s.  My thoughts when it comes to this DLC are mixed, there are quite a lot of things I like about it but several things I feel let it down. The problem is that those things I like about the DLC are actually the same things I liked about the game as a whole. The combat continues to remain interesting and engaging, especially the boss fights. I like the optional puzzles you can find as well, but again that was in the base game.  Most of my more negative thoughts actually are regarding the story and how rushed it felt. I understand that this is the conclusion so it’s going to feel like everything is rushing headlong into the ending. My biggest bugbear though is that (at the time of writing) there’s a strange delay when interacting with NPC’s. To explain, when you speak to them you get some dialogue from them and then a choice of responses. However, there’s a few seconds delay from when they stop speaking to when the responses you can pick from appear. This gives the NPC’s a more uncanny and creepy feeling as they stare at you.

The thing is despite all the negative things I’ve just said, I did enjoy this DLC. As I mentioned the combat continues to be interesting and with the introduction of the new ‘polymeric’ enemies it becomes something of a rock, paper, scissors style puzzle. If they turn into flames hit them with your new cold powers if they become ice, use your new fire powers. Or alternatively you can just shoot them until they stop moving, that also works, it just takes a lot longer.  I also wonder if the developers played Titanfall 2, because there’s a section you play through that feels not too dissimilar to one in that game, in a good way.

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InterfaceX26 Showcase Demos

I recently watched the InterfaceX26 Showcase which was highlighting upcoming and recently released FakeOS games. What’s a FakeOS game? These are games that provide a facsimile of an operating system as a main part of the game, some may involve using the file system as a dungeon or searching through a strangers PC. Many games within this genre trend toward horror, however there are plenty that don’t. Anyway, here is a brief look at the FakeOS games that caught my attention.

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Directory Dungeon

Developer: JuhrJuhr Publisher: JuhrJuhr Release When?: 9th March 2026

In this game you play as a character that you name and explore files within your computer system. I should note that the game specifically gives you a whole directory to explore and if you try to explore beyond the bounds of it nothing happens apart from some unusable files being left wherever you put them.

When you start the game two screens open at the same time, a system console screen and an explorer window. The system console screen acts as a sort of dungeon master, explaining what’s going on, giving descriptions and showing a log of it all.  The explorer window is how you move your character and the objects they find. You simply drag your character like you would any file and drop him through a door etc. The combat is completely automatic (at least in the demo) and will resolve after a while, hopefully with you being alive. 

I have to say, I’m really liking this one. It’s simple and a really creative way to use a very familiar system. I’ll absolutely be getting this quite soon.

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I.T Never Ends

Developer: Dadbod Games Publisher: Dadbod Games Release When?: August 2026

If you’ve played Reigns (or used Tinder) you’ll likely recognise the main mechanic behind this game, swiping left and right. Similar to Reigns you’re trying to keep four meters in balance and your choices impact them. However, there is a bit more to this, mini-games for example and many strange events that can sometimes mean an early end to your run. 

It’s definitely an interesting game and from what I can tell it seems to have a lot of different endings available, most of them not being good. I also think that the full release will have more going on as there were many features that seemed to be off limits. 

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Shutter Story

Developer: Frostwood Interactive Publisher: Frostwood Interactive Release When?: Q3 2026

As much as I like anomaly hunting there are only so many times I can wander through a repeated location and play spot the difference. That’s where this game is a bit different, in this game you look through various photographs and videos with the aim of trying to find what’s anomalous with them. Do they show a face that shouldn’t be there or is it a reflection? That’s up to you to determine. As you examine the photographs and videos you can increase or decrease the contrast and expose, or apply a negative filter (plus more). Once you’ve found something you believe to be anomalous you submit it, but you also need to choose the correct category.

What makes this game look to be quite interesting to me is that there’s a storyline happening as you do it. From what the games store page says it seems that you can influence what happens, though that remains to be seen as the demo doesn’t show that.

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Omi Oh My AI

Developer: EverySecond Studio Publisher: EverySecond Studio Release When?: 28th January 2026

This game is a bit of a weird one, as it has taken inspiration from old ARG’s such as I Love Bee’s. In some ways it reminds me of an old game called In Memoriam that used the ARG format to great effect. 

I love that it’s taking on the subject of AI, though until I play the full game I don’t know how indepth it goes since all I had was a demo. This is definitely a game I’ll be getting soon.

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My Helpers

Developer: PauloH* Publisher: PauloH* Release When?: Q4 2026

This one is really interesting, you have to search for ‘helpers’ that have hidden themselves on your PC, think Clippy from Microsoft Word. Finding them can be tricky though, you’ll need to use the clues they give to think outside the box. There’s definitely something much darker going on though.

What I find really interesting about this game is that it seems to create a clone of your desktop or maybe a clear overlay. That’s why the screenshot has a black background, because the what would be shown was my desktop (I didn’t censor it, this is just how the screenshot comes).

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Desktop Explorer

Developer: Recurring Dream Publisher: Recurring Dream, Outersloth Release When?: Q3 2026

These games keep making me hark back to old ones I played over twenty years ago, in this case this game reminds me (slightly) of notpron. To explain, notpron is a website that is a puzzle game that forces you to think differently in order to progress. Like looking at source code, changing the url of the website and using specific tools to analyse pictures to get passwords. This game does that, except there’s no need to look outside of the fake Windows 3.1 style desktop this game provides.

This demo had me taking extensive notes, which says to me that it’s right up my alley. I love when a game has me doing that and the fact that I felt invested enough to do that for a demo… I think this might be something special.

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Cocoboy

Developer: Cocoteam Publisher: Cocoteam Release When?: 2026

Funnily enough I played something recently that was slightly similar to this but was a horror game rather than a puzzle platformer. You can use mod cartridges to your ‘totally not an N64’ to apply different effects to the game, such as making things go much slower or becoming tiny. There are coins scattered in the levels that if collected can be used to buy further mod cartridges as well as little cosmetics to go in your room.

I have to say I really like this and wonder what else the devs have in store down the line. Consider this on my wishlist.

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MyDear.Exe

Developer: Falling Leaves Studio, ClemiSoft Publisher: Falling Leaves Studio Release When?: Coming Soon

Once again we’re given a false desktop to work with however on this occasion the genre (or perhaps sub-genre) of this game has changed. This isn’t a horror game or a detective game. No, this is a game that is a celebration of love and life.

The game follows the life of Eli and Lucien from the moment they met. With each step of their life story you’ll play a small mini game and sometimes will need to do some digging to find the way to the next part. 

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Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division

Developer: Thomas Hsu Publisher: Thomas Hsu Release When?: July 2026

This game was silly in a way I very much liked. You play as a Detective, specifically a Database Detective. What this basically means is that you look through databases searching for evidence. A version of this in the real world would be something like Forensic Accountancy (though Forensic Accountants do much more important work). In this case you work on minor crimes, like littering, loitering and vandalism. Because if you let the small stuff go, who knows what they’ll be emboldened to do next.

While playing this demo I began to realise something. This game was attempting to teach me SQL (Search Query Language) which was not something I expected. 

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Chants of Sennaar

Developer: Rundisc Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £17.99 (Humble, Gog, Steam and Epic)

I’ve always been fascinated by how language changes and evolves over time, but also how there are several languages that all share a single root. Like Italian and French or German and English. This is a game that explores that concept and I’m sure it's no accident that throughout the game you are ascending a tower that looks an awful lot like the depictions of the Tower of Babel.

Not to worry though, you aren’t trying to decipher an entire language, merely a set of context sensitive glyphs. However, you will need to restart that process with each floor you ascend as every floor has their own set of glyphs and grammatical rules.

As I mentioned earlier each language has its own set of grammatical rules that you’ll need to learn, but what I found quite clever is that once you’ve collected enough glyphs in a language you can start to make certain… assumptions based solely on characteristics that some glyphs share. I won’t say what those are because that would ruin the fun, assuming you get this game.

I love when a game really gives me the ability to exercise the old grey matter and this one really did that. If you want a brain teaser that doesn’t outstay its welcome I highly recommend this game.

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Fingered

Developer: Edmund Mcmillen and James Id Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £1.47 (Humble) and £1.59 (Steam)

Ordinarily I’d put this game into one of the mini-games collections, however I have so many of those now that I can publish one a year for the next three years. So I thought it better to put the review out this way.

So what is this game? Fingered is a game about deductive reasoning where you eliminate suspects in a line up based on the four hints the witness gives you. If a witness says ‘definitely’ then there is no doubt about the features they are speaking on. However if they say ‘I think’ it’s a fifty/fifty gamble. Just to throw extra spanners in the works the witnesses sometimes use double negatives or unusual language to describe the person.

It’s not a long game, only lasting an hour or two. But it’s fun while it lasts.

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The Shapeshifting Detective

Developer: Wales Interactive, D’Avekki Studios Ltd Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £9.99 (Humble) £10.29 (Epic), £12.79 (Steam)

For a long time I thought FMV games were a thing of the past, being too expensive to make and frankly weren’t all that good (I refuse to believe the bad acting was intentional). However, it seems that several companies have been bringing back this strange niche of gaming. Wales Interactive is one such company and they have been rather busy. It seems there hasn’t been a single year since 2013 where they haven’t either developed or published a video game that features FMV.

In this game you play, as the title suggests, a detective who can shapeshift. With this ability you’ll be able to question your various suspects in various guises that they are familiar with so that they will perhaps drop some clues. Interestingly, the villain changes for each playthrough so you can’t rely on previous knowledge to assist you all the time. There aren’t many games that change who the villain of the piece is with each playthrough. Off of the top of my head I can only think of Shadows of Doubt (which I will eventually play) and now this game that does that.

I have to say I love the acting in this, while the performers won’t be winning any Oscars they still pull it off convincingly enough. If I have a issue with the game it's the fact that sometimes you’ll get a choice of two things to say in a conversation when I could think of plenty of other things that could be said that would be more… noncommittal and realistic. That being said I’m talking about a game where the detective can change shape, so perhaps I should reconsider my stance on that.

Whether this game is worth your time or not really depends on how much you enjoy playing as a detective. On the whole the game is actually quite short, perhaps lasting three or four hours each playthrough, I know many people that wouldn’t find that acceptable for the Rrp. Speaking for myself though, I found I enjoyed this immensely. It won’t be a game of the year that's for sure, but not every game needs to be.

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Thief of Thieves

Developer: Rival Games Steam Deck Compatibility?: Playable Rrp: £15.49 (Humble) £16.75 (Steam)

There aren’t enough games where you get to play as a thief, and I mean strictly as a thief. As much as I love Dishonored you can all too easily become a near unstoppable assassin (yes, I know you can choose not to but the option is still there). In this game you play as a ‘master thief’ in training, who after a job gone wrong ends up in Europe working with a team. 

The game is based off of the comic book of the same name which was created by Robert Kirkman (one of the creators of the Walking Dead). I’m rather glad the developers decided to stick to the style of the comic book as it gives the game a more striking aesthetic than if they’d tried to make it more realistic.

Stealth and infiltration is the aim of the game here. In many ways this shares some similarities to the Hitman series (which I really need to review), needing you to pickpocket, swap clothes and infiltrate while avoiding detection. 

It looks like the developers put the cart before the horse when they decided to announce this as the first season as it seems there won’t be a second. A shame really as I rather enjoyed this game and was keen to see the narrative develop. I suppose I’ll just have to read the comics they're based on.

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Wild Bastards

Developer: Blue Manchu Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £27.79 (Epic), £27.99 (Humble and Steam)

Wild Bastards is a roguelite FPS set in a space western. You play as a gang known as the Wild Bastards, or rather you play as what remains of the gang. Over the course of the game you gather together the other members of your gang. By ‘gather together’, I mean collect and resurrect their corpses. While you do this you’re being pursued by the Chaste Family, who seem to have a real distaste for your motley crew of mutants, robots and aliens. 

You collect one member of your crew in every system, once they’ve been brought back you can use them in your attempts to gather the rest. Each time you stop at a planetoid you send down between two to four outlaws (depending on what that planetoid demands). On the planetoid the outlaws you picked will form up into groups of two. Each time you enter into a combat, either by attacking a roadblock or finding a patrolling guard, you get to swap between your two outlaws at will. Each of the outlaws requires you to adapt your playstyle as they will only ever use the weapon they start with. Sometimes that will mean playing as a sniper then swapping to a much more close ranged outlaw like one that only uses a laser lasso.

There is so much about this game I could go into that I could easily fill up a full review. However, to do that would spoil what each of the outlaws can do. A good example here being that early in the notes I have for this game I wrote that the outlaws can’t run and shoot. Except that’s only true for most of the outlaws, a few can and that's part of what makes their character work. I found that to be the case with most of the early notes and I quickly worked out that these little realisations are a core part of the enjoyment of this game. 

Do I recommend this game? It depends on whether you enjoy roguelites really, I find them engaging and mixing them with FPS gameplay seems to be a real winner for me. I found the mechanics of this game to be deeply satisfying and I was actually a little saddened when I rolled credits. Since then I’ve replayed it several times on harder difficulties (I started on normal) which I suppose is a recommendation in itself.

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Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition

Developer: CD Projekt Red Publisher: CD Projekt Red Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £64.99 (Gog, Humble and Epic) £68.98 (Steam) Released: 25th September 2023 Available on: Gog, Humble, Epic and Steam Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard Approximate game length: 50+ Hours

Night City, the city of dreams, a place of wonder and nightmare. It’s a city of extremes where the highest highs and the lowest lows are separated by just a hair's breadth. In Night City legends are born, just remember for every legend that rises to fame thousands fall into obscurity trying to achieve that same goal. Think you have what it takes? 

I think it’s fair to say that this game had a rough launch, from all the reports it was a buggy mess to the point of being near unplayable. Sony even pulled it from the Playstations marketplace for a while and they keep some absolute trash on there. However, CD Projekt Red kept patching the game making it better in increments and then eventually released the Phantom Liberty DLC that, from what I’ve read, absolutely changed the game. That DLC alongside the award winning Cyberpunk: Edgerunner TV series that was released on Netflix (I believe Edgerunner was released before the Phantom Liberty DLC) injected new life and interest in the game. At the time of writing the latest update was Patch 2.3 released in July of 2025.

Alright, so now that I’ve covered the initial drama (in a brief manner) lets get on with what this game actually is. Cyberpunk 2077 is an Immersive Sim with a cyberpunk setting (in case the name didn’t get that away) that takes place in Night City and its surrounding areas. You play as V, a mercenary who wants to become a legend in Night City, a feat you will achieve as you play through the game, of course the question is what kind of legend will you become? That’ll be down to you.

Before I started playing I decided to spend time in the options menu so that I could try and optimise the game. There are a wealth of options that allow you to customise how the game will look and I spent quite a while testing setups with the builtin benchmark system. This allowed me to get a good balance of performance and graphical fidelity (I managed to make the game run at a fairly steady eighty frames per second for those curious). I wish more games had that kind of system included.

Once you start the game you are required to choose what lifepath your character has. This essentially determines what kind of background V had before becoming a mercenary and can change some events and dialogue options. One such event that is different based on your lifepath choice is what the prologue for V will be. Just to stress this, this isn’t some small cutscene at the beginning of the game but a whole mission complete with different characters to interact with and locations to go to. The lifepaths presented to you are; Nomad, Streetkid and Corpo. I chose nomad for my playthrough but I did quickly look at the other lifepaths just to see how different they were.

Character customisation is pretty extensive. You can even choose whether to have a penis or breasts or both regardless of your chosen gender and how big they can be (between three size options anyway, but hey mods exist if you want to go crazy). I do find it odd that your pronouns are determined by whether you pick the masculine or feminine voice though.

Once you’ve finished with your appearance you get to add points to your core attributes. These being; Body, Intelligence, Reflexes, Technical Ability and Cool. Thankfully, there’s a tooltip that explains what each attribute does. 

Each attribute has a perk tree attached to it. At first you can only invest in a few basic perks in each tree, however once that attribute has breached a certain threshold of attribute points more perks become available. Some of the perks can be invested in more than once and must be maxed out in order to unlock the next perk along the chain.

So, how does one increase an attribute or gain a perk point? In the usual way you do in an RPG, by leveling up through the experience gained from completing quests and killing enemies etc. With each level you gain an attribute point and a perk point. There is a level cap in this game of sixty (which was fifty but the Phantom Liberty DLC increases it) so you won’t be able to max out all of your attributes or gain every perk. Thankfully, you can respec both your attributes and perks whenever you please. Something else that you’ll level up as you play is your ‘Street Cred’, this increases through performing missions and impacts what side gigs and equipment are available to you as well as giving a small discount at vendors.

Along with your attributes are five skills that will improve as you use them. These skills are Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo and Engineer. Headhunter for example, improves when you ‘neutralise’ an enemy with a pistol, sniper rifle or throwable weapon, if you attack an enemy while undetected or perform a takedown and finally each time you put a body in a hiding spot. As these skills rank up you become more proficient with the weapons related to them, dealing more damage or reloading quicker.

As you play the game you’ll end up collecting quite a lot of weapons, armour, clothing and other items. You can break items down for components, sell them for Eurodollars (the currency of this game) or drop them, though why you’d do that when they could be useful I don’t know. If you break an item down you receive crafting components at a tier that matches the item's rarity. The tiers range from one to five and are also indicated by a colour. Tier one is grey, tier two is green, three is blue, four is purple and five is orange. The higher the tier the higher the quality. There are actually two tiers above five but those are simply indicated by one or two plus marks and are marked as orange. Some items also have the tag ‘Iconic’ which means it's a special item that can’t be broken down for components. These iconic items tend to be more potent than their non-iconic variants.

Most weapons can be modified in some way, be it by adding one of the many types of sight or barrels to a gun or circuitry that can add special effects.

Your weapons aren’t the only thing that can be modified. By visiting a Ripperdoc you can also extensively modify your body with cyberware (cybernetic implants). Your body can only handle a certain amount of cyberware, however, the threshold increases as you level up and can take perks that increase it greatly.

Since weapons have been mentioned it’s about time to bring up what those weapons are for. Combat in this game is very responsive, though it does depend largely on the weapon you’re using and the way you’ve spent your attribute and perk points. For example, if you’ve barely increased the body attribute you aren’t going to be very effective in melee.

In a style mirroring many other open world games, once you get beyond the prologue you find yourself confined to a single area of Night City. It’s a fairly large area but still a good space to learn the ropes.

Side missions come in quite a few forms, but one of the most common ones is known as a ‘gig’. These gigs are short missions that a specific fixer has for you. Each fixer will only give a set amount of gigs for the area they run and if you do them all they’ll give you a special reward such as a weapon or a vehicle. Not all the side quests are marked on your map. Quite a few have to be stumbled upon and can easily be missed or dismissed as the NPC’s chattering to each other. There are also a few that are found by following clues in documents or finding a location in a picture.

I loved driving around Night City, in fact I made a point of purchasing a motorbike specifically so I could explore small alleys and areas a car simply couldn’t get to. The feel of the driving varies wildly on what vehicle you’re in control of. Some felt heavy and cumbersome while others felt like the rear of the car was on ice and then there were some that just felt wonderful to drive.  Most of the vehicles you can purchase have an autodrive feature that will take you to locations near to a waypoint, be that a mission related one or one you have set. Be aware though that it isn’t the best driver and will sometimes get confused. You can call your vehicle to you whenever you’re on or near a road. This works almost perfectly, sometimes it doesn’t quite get to you and you’ll have to walk over to it, other, much rarer, times it’ll run you over.

Of course, if you don’t feel like driving around Night City you can also use the fast travel system or even the metro. I have to say I think that the metro system was included for those who wanted to really roleplay because when you use it you actually sit on a train and move through the world. I was very surprised to find that that was a thing you could do.

Nudity, mostly of a sexual nature is a regular occurrence in this game, on that subject sex can occur pretty often too. That is, if you choose to engage with it, there’s always an option to bow out. However, sexual imagery is a very common thing to see while walking the streets of Night City. It’s part of the setting where it's yet another commodity to sell to you. 

Actually on that subject, this game can be a sensory overload for those who are sensitive to that sort of thing. You’re constantly bombarded by adverts on screens, the noise of music etc or at least you are in some parts of the city (it’s especially bad in the megabuildings and markets). Once you get a bit outside of those areas it calms down and is nearly absent in the outskirts of the city. I don’t particularly have any sensitivity with lights and sound and even I found it a bit overwhelming sometimes.

When you get to a certain point in the main story the Phantom Liberty DLC will begin, you’ll know this because a new skill tree will become unlocked called Relic. You can’t level up the Relic attribute like the others. Instead you need to find Relic boxes inside Dogtown or receive them as you complete the DLC’s story.  The DLC takes place in an area called Dogtown that's within the bounds of Night City but independent of it. However, some missions in the DLC will take place outside of Dogtown so it’s not entirely enclosed. Now to clear up some confusion that I’ve seen online about this, completing the DLC can unlock a new ending for the base game. But whether you get the chance to choose that ending depends on the choices you’ve made.

Something that really surprised me was that Keanu Reeves has way more of a role in this game than I thought he would. I thought he’d only appear in missions that relate directly to the main storyline. But he sometimes would just appear during a random side mission to comment on the state of someone's living conditions or in one case to narrate what I was doing in the style of a pulpy detective novel.

I won’t pretend that this game is completely stable. While playing, the game crashed frequently. Including as the credits rolled when I finished the game. It’s not like it crashes constantly but often enough that I learned to use the quick save function liberally. The crash usually occurred while I was in the inventory or crafting screen, I tried many times to solve the issue but none worked. I also ended up installing a mod that cut out the intro sequence and splash screens because I grew tired of seeing them after every crash.

This game has a lot of moments where I really felt like I got to know some of the characters. From the faded rocker to a drink serving racer girl. You watch them change and grow because of the missions you’ve done for (or with) them and the choices made within.

There are also a lot of truly unexpected moments of peace in the game, I didn’t expect to find myself having a short break with guided meditation or to get a quiet moment to watch the city from above.

The fact that I continued to play this game even with all of its crashes is something of a testament to how much I enjoyed it. I even debated modding it further to increase the level cap. I didn’t do it in the end because that would change the balance of the game and it wouldn’t be representative of the game ‘as is’, which is vital for reviewing.

Do I recommend this game? Y’know what, yes I do. Even with all its crashes this game is a wonder to behold. I have 150 hours in this game (the approximate time is how long it would take to rush straight to the end) and want to go back and try the other lifepaths, make different choices and see what would happen. 

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Outer Worlds The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[fridge-reviews]

Atomic Heart DLC’s 1 – 3

Developer: Mundfish Publisher: Focus Entertainment Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Available on: Humble and Steam Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard

Atomic Heart DLC 1: Annihiliation Instinct

Rrp: £8.99 (Humble and Steam) or £34.99 (Humble and Steam) as part of the Atomic Pass  Released: 2nd August 2023 Approximate game length: Approx 5 hours

This is the first DLC for Atomic Heart. Apparently it’s one of four but the fourth has yet to be released as of my playing and writing. This DLC is set after the game's story has completed, but more specifically it follows one of the two endings that you can take. Specifically, this builds from the ‘walk away’ ending, which explains why certain characters suddenly have a very negative attitude toward you.

The DLC starts with P-3 waking up after having been operated on by NORA, she’s still obsessed with you and seemingly secreted you away to a part of Facility 3826 you didn’t visit in the base game. The DLC actually revolves around NORA, how she came to exist, how she became the way she is now and of course, her relationship with you.

Like any good DLC this one gives you a couple of new weapons and a new special ability, one that allows you to slow down time temporarily. Along with these new weapons come a couple of new enemies and a challenging boss fight (or two). 

If you enjoyed the base game this gives you more of it but on a smaller scale. I’d say it's definitely a worthwhile DLC to get as I had a lot of fun with it.

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Atomic Heart DLC 2: Trapped in Limbo

Rrp: £8.99 (Humble and Steam) or £34.99 (Humble and Steam) as part of the Atomic Pass Released: 20th February 2023 Approximate game length: 3 hours +

This is the second DLC for Atomic Heart and I’m afraid this is going to be a bit of a short review. You see this DLC is not one I recommend playing. Which is a real shame because I can see the care and attention that was given to this DLC. The developers went to some lengths to do more than add a couple of enemies and weapons, they created new mechanics, changed the UI, even changed the way that combat functions and so much more. But that's the problem, they changed it too much it's no longer the alternative history themed  immersive sim I enjoy. Instead we’ve got some strange candy themed game involving sliding on slopes and gambling for weapons (not real gambling of course).

What makes this frustrating is that this continues the story of the game from the choice to fight your boss. Which means by skipping this DLC you miss out on some important aspects of the story, I personally recommend just reading a wiki about what the DLC reveals and stop before it goes into the next DLC. Hopefully the next DLC can salvage this because sadly this DLC was a swing and a miss. 

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Atomic Heart DLC 3: Enchantment Under the Sea

Rrp: £8.99 (Humble and Steam) or £34.99 (Humble and Steam) as part of the Atomic Pass Released: 28th January 2025 Approximate game length: 4 Hours +

This is the third DLC and continues the story that was left off from Trapped in Limbo (the second DLC). After how much I didn’t like the last DLC I was worried that it would continue into this one, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. 

I won’t go into specifics too much due but what I can say (as the title of the DLC will likely have clued you in on) is that in this DLC you go under the sea. This new area provides a couple of new weapons and two new abilities (while actually removing almost all of the ones in the base game). One such new ability that you will use a lot is a whip that is useful both in combat and in traversal. 

Along with the new weapons and ability come some new enemies and not just one or two but if I remember rightly eight. They aren’t simply recolours or slight tweaks to existing enemies either (well two are but even they come with new attack types) these are completely new and require you to switch things up to deal with them.

I’m really looking forward to what the next DLC will bring. Sadly there isn’t a release date for it yet beyond sometime in 2025, given that this DLC came out in 2025 I suspect it’s more likely it’ll appear in 2026. All I can do is wait and hope that all the narrative build up these DLC’s have done pays off.

[fridge-reviews]

Slots & Daggers

Developer: Friedemann Publisher: Future Friends Games Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £6.69 (Steam) Released: 24th October 2025 Available on: Steam Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard Approximate game length: 6 Hours

I have mixed feelings about gambling of any kind in video games, not because of how it affects children (though yes that too) but specifically how it targets vulnerable adults, especially those who are neurodivergent. But as long as the gambling aspect doesn’t involve actual money (or premium currencies) then I don’t mind it. Why do I say any of this? Because this game's main mechanic is a slot machine and in playing this game I found myself returning to it over and over even when I’d completed the story, unlocked everything and got all the achievements. I tell myself it’s because the game is good, and I do believe it is, but I can’t help to question myself about it.

Slots & Daggers is a roguelite game where you fight bosses using a slot machine mechanic as a way to determine what you do. Thankfully, unlike a slot machine, each symbol actually matters even when not next to others of the same kind. What I mean by this is that if a shield symbol appears in the row you still get armour added.

When you start a run you have to select three starting symbols. The symbols can roughly be categorised into these groups; weapons, offensive magic, shields, healing, money and buffs. Some of the symbols require a ‘skill check’ to resolve, simply put this is one of those quick time events where you’re trying to stop a moving bar at the right point. It’s just that sometimes it shows as a book pulsing with magic power or a targeting reticule that you’re trying to hit the center of. In your first few runs you’ll have only three slots to work with, but eventually you can upgrade to having five.

If you get three of any symbol it’s a ‘Critical Hit’, if you get five then it’s a ‘Mega-Crit’ (this can only occur once you have unlocked all of the slots). This can mean a few things depending on what the symbol is. If the symbol is a weapon then it does a lot of damage to the enemy, a money symbol will give a lot of coins etc.

After you defeat an enemy your health is returned to full and any remaining armour is drained. Then you’ll be taken to a market screen where you can use the coins you’ve earned to buy new symbols, upgrade existing ones or purchase power ups. If you choose to buy a new symbol, beyond the initial three you selected, the option to remove symbols appears. This can allow you to customise what symbols will appear in your run, though you can’t reduce down to less than three.

Now that I’ve mentioned them I should go into a little detail. As mentioned earlier, power ups can be bought at the same time as new symbols. Power ups fall into two categories, passive and active. Passive power ups provide passive benefits to you as you play, such as increased healing or damage. Active power ups are ones that you actively choose to activate. Some active power ups require you to spend coins to use them and some will require you to perform a skill check.

At the end of a run regardless of whether you win or lose you’re rewarded in chips (as in casino chips) and will unlock new symbols that will either appear in future runs or be available at the start of a new run. These chips are the only thing that persists between runs and allow you to purchase permanent upgrades called modifiers to the slot machine. These modifiers range from increasing your damage resistance through to unlocking new slots. The cost of a modifier increases with each purchase until you completely max it out.

I love the theming of this game, you see, the game seems to be set inside some kind of tavern or pub. The games screen is focused down at a monitor and slot machine set into the table itself. Around the edges of the slot machine you can see a drink and some dice, you can also hear the drone of people talking in the background. The whole thing feels a bit like a Ludum Dare game that was given a chance to be fleshed out. Interestingly, as you play your actions will cause a set of three dice, that you can see on the table in the bottom right of the screen, to be rolled. You aren’t able to interact with those dice in any other way other than through your actions in the game. Sometimes these dice will land in such a way that their score gets added to what you’re doing. It’s a mechanic that's entirely out of your control and if I’m honest, I’m not sure how much impact it actually has, but I still like that it's there.

If it wasn’t obvious I really enjoyed my time with this game. It’s now joined the ranks of games that I play on my Steam Deck when I’m watching or listening to something.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Luck be a Landlord Clover Pit

[fridge-reviews]

Mini Games 10

The criteria for this is very simple, all of these games can be completed in three hours or under (without using exploits etc).  The reason for this? Well I find that sometimes, often in fact, that people just don't have time to play a longer game. So I thought I'd show some of the shorter ones some love!

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Developer: Smallbu, Pillow Fight Publisher: Smallbu, Pillow Fight Rrp: £13.99 (Steam) Released: 18 Sept 2019

Alligator City, a city that unsurprisingly is full of anthropomorphic alligators. You play as a private detective hired by a young alligator who believes he’s going to be killed on his birthday. Not to spoil it but he isn’t (it’s very obvious, that’s part of the joke), he’s just paranoid that his family are going to ‘off him’ because they keep talking about their ‘plans’ for him when they think he can’t here.

There are 30 different mini-games to play as you speak to the different family members. This game is wonderfully animated and has some very silly humour (which I appreciate).

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Developer: Ustwo Games Publisher: Ustwo Games Rrp: £5.79 (Humble and Steam) Released: 26th March 2020

This is a very cosy and quick game that's all about helping people by fixing their day to day items, from watches to espresso machines. The whole game is very short lasting maybe an hour and a half assuming you listen to all the dialogue, which I recommend you do as it's well written, acted and of course gives context.

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Developer: Amanita Design Publisher: Amanita Design Rrp: £11.79 (Itch.io), £12.30 (Humble), £12.99 (Gog.com, Steam and Epic) Released: 7th May 2012

Amanita Design seem to specialise in creating strange point and click games with a strong art style and Botanicula is no different in that regard.  You play as a group of sentient seeds (I told you they made strange games) who are trying to rescue the seed of a tree from evil spiders and plant it. Like with all of their games Botanicula doesn’t use dialogue to explain what to do but instead prefers to use pictograms or show you what they puzzle needs. Often the puzzles consist of ‘find x amount of y to progress’ but it’s not the puzzle itself that’s the draw but the strange things that happen in trying to solve them that’s the draw to these games.

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Developer: Storybird Publisher: LookAtMyGame, Plug In Digital Rrp: £5.44 Itch.io, £5.99 (Humble and Steam) Released: 3rd December 2013

Finding Teddy is a short point and click adventure game where you play as a little girl trying to get her Teddy bear back. It was originally released on iOS but was quickly ported to PC and that fact shows. That isn’t to say it’s a bad port, it’s actually an excellent one but the tell tale signs of touch screen control remains as much of the control is done through either clicking on the edge of a screen or swiping at it.

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Developer: Ian Campbell Publisher: Ian Campbell Rrp: £3.99 (Humble and Steam), £4.16 (Itch.io) Released: 3rd July 2013

When I first booted this game up I honestly wasn’t expecting a lot, I’d seen screenshots and it looked like any other cheap side scrolling shooter. I’m happy to report that I was wrong, not that it isn’t a side scrolling shooter or that it’s cheap (under £5 for a game is pretty damn cheap), but more that the cost of this game had anything to do with the quality.

While very short this game is quite difficult, or at least it was for me. The boss fights in this are a combination of bullet hell and side scrolling shooter and though they do work in fairly predictable patterns you don't get long to react.

I do have a bone to pick with this game and its to do with the control scheme, specifically on a control pad. Why make jump (and dash) the [Right Trigger] instead of [A]? The amount of times I died because I was tapping [A] to jump was frustrating. And you don't even allow the controls to be rebound! Very frustrating. However, despite that annoyance I did enjoy the game and found I kept going back even after completing it.

[fridge-reviews]

Atomic Heart

Developer: Mundfish Publisher: Focus Entertainment, 4Divinity Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £54.99 (Humble and Steam) Released: 20th February 2023 Available on: Humble and Steam Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard Approximate game length: 20 hours +

Alternative histories are an interesting subject, speculating on what might have been had some minor (or major) thing been different. Of course, the type of alternative history that makes it into games tends to be about when something major has changed. Like in the new Wolfenstein series where the Nazi’s had conquered the USA. In Atomic Heart’s case we’re in an alternative history of the 1950's Soviet Union. Thanks to the work coming out of a place called Facility 3826 the Soviet Union has become a powerhouse of technology leading the world in every field, especially robotics.  However, all is not well and the robots suddenly start attacking and killing anyone they can get their hands/claws/manipulators on.

You play as Major Sergey Nechayev, though he’s generally referred to as Agent P-3 or just P-3, as he tries to track down and stop the person responsible for the slaughter. It should be noted that P-3 is decidedly not a silent protagonist, in fact I’ve heard quite a few people complain about P-3. Specifically, that he talks far too much and seems to have a real attitude problem. I actually have to agree, though I will add that his glove, Charles (more on that in a moment), is also a bit of an arse.

I think it’s undeniable that this game was extremely influenced by Bioshock as well as other immersive sims. The problem is that I think it may have taken too many notes from Bioshock in particular. The game literally name drops Rapture at one point. Oh, and don’t think I didn’t notice the sneaky 0451 gag, you aren’t subtle, game. Unfortunately this means that those familiar with Bioshock will likely see the game's twist coming from a mile away.

P-3 has a sentient glove named Charles, with this glove P-3 can utilise some special abilities (that are very reminiscent of Bioshock’s plasmid powers). Charles also has a lot of interaction with P-3 acting as a narrative foil for him.

As you traverse the area known as Facility 3826 you’ll end up fighting often and this game doesn’t hold back on swarming you with enemies. Not to the levels of Space Marine 2 but if you aren’t careful you can easily be faced with six or seven enemies at once. I do quite like that many of the enemies aren’t human shaped, for example there are some that are essentially sawblades on legs or there’s my personal favourite the ‘Vatrushka’ which is a turret that rolls around like a wheel. I usually fought using a melee weapon which was very satisfying, the gunplay was perfectly serviceable once I had upgraded my weaponry (covered later), before then most of the weapons felt underpowered. I’m not sure if that was the developers intent though.  The boss fights are quite unique, especially for an FPS. One of the bosses called a ‘Hedgie’ was a sphere that quickly rolled around the arena almost too fast for me to keep track of. I found it particularly challenging and it forced me to change the tactics I had been using previously.

When you kill an enemy (or destroy in the case of the robots) you can loot their bodies. Doing so will give you a resource called neuropolymer which you can use to upgrade your character and special abilities.

Scattered around Facility 3826 are Break Rooms, where you can save your game and upgrade your weapons and special abilities. The upgrading and crafting machine is called a NORA. Most of the time these machines are just simply places to craft and upgrade weapons or purchase new abilities. However, the first time you meet it (and several other times in the game) the NORA is… well, she’s slutty in the weirdest way, which is really odd to say considering it looks like a red fridge.

Crafting and upgrading weapons requires you to find resources, thankfully most of them are easily found by searching the environment or raiding the bodies of your enemies. You can also choose to disassemble items you find that will give you some resources too. I like that if you choose to dismantle a weapon you’re given a full refund of all the resources you spent on them. Something to note about upgrading your weapons is that not all of the upgrades will be available to you immediately. As you explore Facility 3826 you’ll discover that there are optional testing facilities that you can find. Within those facilities you can collect some special upgrades that you can apply to your weapons.

Sadly, this game has some issues that I have to mention as they could be deal breakers for some people. The biggest issue is that there is some slight jank to this game, the worst of which was that occasionally I’d gotten stuck on an object while climbing or dodged into an object in combat and become stuck. Thankfully, I saved often so this only set me back a few minutes at most.

The next issue is more of a pet peeve for me… why did the developers include QTE’s (Quick Time Events) in some of the boss fights? It’s so frustrating and if you fail them you’re just immediately killed. The good news is that there is an option to auto-complete them in the accessibility menu, but that highlights to me that the developers knew they were an issue. 

This last one isn’t a bug or even a pet peeve and more of an observation. It's a bit strange hearing all these Russians speaking in distinctly non-Russian, not even an accent, and yet the one German character sounds distinctly (and stereotypically) German. Everyone else, however, speaks either in some variant of a British accent or an American one.

All of that aside, I really enjoyed my time playing this game. It scratches that very specific itch that immersive sims leave for me. Sure, it suffers from a little jank and cribs a bit too heavily from Bioshock but it’s still a great game in its own right. I’ll definitely be getting the various DLC’s to see what goodies they bring.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

The Bioshock Series The System Shock Series The Dishonored Series

[fridge-reviews]

The Forgotten City

Developer: Modern Storyteller Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified Rrp: £19.49 (Gog.com, Humble and Epic) and £20.99 (Steam)

Sometimes a mod is so good that it eventually is able to become a game in its own right. It’s not common but it’s happened often enough that I can make a small list of the more famous examples like The Stanley Parable (which is now technically has a sequel), Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) was originally a Warcraft 3 mod, Counterstrike and Team Fortress were both mods for Half-life. I could go on. In the case of this game, it was originally a mod for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

The concept of this game is to try and escape the time loop that you are in and you can only do this by solving the mystery of who is going to commit a ‘sin’. Why am I being vague about the sin? Partially because of spoilers but also because there are several sins that the citizens can and will do. You see, this city operates under the ‘Golden Rule’, if anyone in the city commits a sin of any kind everyone in the city will die. Something to bear in mind is that most of the people in this city are from the ancient Roman Empire, their values won’t always align with your own, meaning what they consider a sin will likely be quite different in some cases.

You’ll go through multiple loops trying to work out the best way to stop some events, cause others and change the way things play out. All with the aim of creating a paradox so you can return home. Thankfully, anything you happen to be holding on to when you loop comes with you allowing you to complete some tasks extremely quickly after you’ve done it once. 

I loved my time with this game and completed it in a couple of days, it just kept me hooked completely, trying to solve the main mystery along with several others that appear as you play. If you like a good puzzle this game is not one to skip out on!