Score: 9.5 / 10
Price/Value: FULL
Time: 40 hours
Difficulties played: N/A


OMORI is an RPGMaker title in a colourful world with a deeply charming aesthetic/art style and soundtrack. You play as OMORI along with his friends AUBREY, KEL and HERO in an RPG that mechanically will remind you of both Earthbound/Undertale in all the right ways. Explore the world, complete quests and help out people around town each day between breaks in the narrative to really get the full dose of charm out of OMORI.

Combat is focused around emotions and the status changes that come with them; each character has Heart (health) and Juice (mana) which can be effected by the current emotion as well. Happiness increases your chance to critical, Anger will increase your attack damage while lowering defense, Sadness will decrease attack and some heart damage will be taken out of your juice instead; all while being in a triangle where each emotion has a strength/weakness to another. Snacks will be found in the world to be used as restorative items, while toys can be found to cause damage or inflict emotion changes in the party/enemies. An energy bar sits front and centre which charges every time a party member takes a strike in combat. This can be used to perform 'follow-up' attacks - similar to a dual technique - with another party member, or an ultimate attack with the entire party when maxed out at ten.

The real charm of OMORI is going to be its hand drawn art style, the aesthetic of the world, the soundtrack and the friends you have along the way. Atmosphere oozes from this game in a number of ways quite successfully that will end up leaving your heart both moved and shaken. As a slight note, I appreciated the Neon Genesis Evangelion references/nods that were tucked into the title through the art direction.

I genuinely can't recommend OMORI enough to those who enjoy RPGs or are just looking for something that is outstanding - there is a wonderful world, a moving experience and memorable friends inside.

Score: 9 / 10
Price/Value: FULL
Time: 6-7 hours (includes secret hunting)
Difficulties played: Legends Never Die

A fantastic medieval 2.5D melee combat retro FPS that can take a seat alongside the greats such as Duke Nukem 3D, Blood: One Whole Unit and Shadow Warrior. You play a son of Albion defending his homeland and taking the fight to some Saxons who picked the wrong guy to mess with. Melee combat, crossbows, traps and spells are all in your arsenal as you fight against knights, thieves, beasts, undead and wizards.

Aesthetically, the game is very pleasing in its 2.5D style - anyone familiar with this particular flavor of FPS will feel right at home. Combat is focused around a series of melee weapons - with a crossbow & poison throwing daggers for range - being used alongside a shield, dagger or mini-crossbow in your off-hand. Mechanically speaking, both combat and movement are incredibly smooth; each of the tools in my arsenal actually had a use and I found myself using them consistently instead of hanging onto every item. There are useable items such as healing/strength/antidote potions as well as items like bear traps, caltrops, explosive/fire grenades and a slew of spells for destructive power on individual targets or area of effect.

I personally played through on the games highest difficulty - Legends Never Die - and found it to be incredibly fair. I highly recommend cranking it up if you are a veteran FPS player as this feels like how the game should be played.

Additionally, there are four arena modes for players to complete and a horde mode.

Arthurian Legends is an incredibly polished experience and the demo was one of my favourites in the October edition of Steam Next Fest 2021. If you are into retro FPS titles then pick this up immediately!