Imagine having a seamless experience playing almost any retro game you could think of. That is Anstream Arcade, an online subscription service that allows you to play over 1300 classic games from the classic arcades, to the NES/SNES all the way to PS1. Universal control schemes, including using your mouse for the laser shooter in games like Operation Wolf make each game seamless to load and play. This is a strange one to review because it’s a subscription platform for retro games, but it does offer such an amazing value that it’s remiss to mention it. It’s only $39.99 a year for access to pretty much every single major arcade game I could think of, without the need to set anything up and the ability to play across multiple platforms. There isn’t anything to say about the games, outside of the previously mentioned seamless controls. Fantastic in that regard, I…
You may only have had 8 minutes of training or less, but this guide will get you up to date to Helldive in no time. This is a speedrun through the tactics you need to know to defeat Hard, Impossible and Helldive with ease, even in the earlier levels. If you’re past the early game and ready to dive deep into the mechanics, here are the unknown things the game doesn’t tell you regarding Helldivers 2. Movement and Stratagems Weapons and Gameplay Dealing with Objectives Quickly Multiplayer
Helldivers 2 can sometimes liberate itself from your control and send itself into orbit like a Helldiver diving into a Bile Titan’s walking path. It’s frustrating to have your samples, your team and your extraction but find that you’ve returned to the desktop, empty handed. While a lot of crashing can only be resolved by the developers, there are a lot of things you can try to shore up your defenses to bring liber-tea to one and all. Update Everything AMD and Nividia have released tons of fixes within their drivers to address issues with Helldivers 2, so get your graphics drivers up to date. While you’re at it, update Windows as well. If you’ve got frequent crashes, you might want to run a “Verify Integrity of Game Files (steampowered.com)” on the game as well. Make sure everything you can think of is updated. If you use a mouse or…
Pixel Cafe has a smooth lo-fi vibe with some of the best music I’ve heard this year. Released early October, we finally got a chance to sit down with what can be considered revolutionary in its own genre. You’ve got gorgeous pixel-art style beats, a soundtrack that kicks off from the start and doesn’t stop and a hypnotic gameplay loop that’s as mediative or brow-sweating as you want it to be. Quick note: The developers have been active in updating the game. A mid-December 2023 update introduced difficulty modes, giving the game more depth from the challenging kitchen manager that it was to a zen like rhythm game to the challenging kitchen manager that many loved as is. Let’s dig into what separates this game from others. Running the Pixel Cafe The game starts off with a cup and a coffee machine and simple instructions. The game’s complexities slowly unveil…
The Life of a Magical Circle is the first game from Solideo, a one-person indie game development studio looking to focus on more philosophical games. Their first title definitely doesn’t disappoint, taking the general aesthetics of Geometry Wars, with the frustrations of Getting Over It, dashing in a bit of roguelike and philosophy with dynamic music, narration and lots of intent. There is a lot to what is overall a rather simplistic game. There’s just a circle, it’s a bit hard to control and there are things that you don’t want to hit. There are some collectibles. There’s not a lot going on until things start to advance and the narrator starts to provide color to the world you’re playing within. Soon you’re trying to figure out what each collectable does and what you’re wanting to collect and not along with the true meaning behind the journey. Intentional Design Simple…
The Uhuru WM-07 is a strong contender in the sub $50 mouse bracket, clocking in at around $23 with a coupon this mouse has everything more expensive mice have in a slick package. We gave it a lot of use over a few gaming sessions and wanted to give some details on this nearly 5 star reviewed mouse from Uhuru. Low Price Big Features The elephant in the room is the price. At almost $20 with all of the features that it has, you can almost expect a major hit in quality. With that respect, it’s an apropos concern but one we found wasn’t an issue. For the price, at under $30, you’re getting a mouse, a wireless receiver (USB-A) and a USB-C cord. The mouse itself is USB-C so it has the latest charging plug and will charge with most modern phone chargers, meaning it’s a great grab and…
If you’re on PC and frustrated that Diablo Immortal won’t start then you’re not alone. I, the author of this article, spent nearly a month struggling and searching for an answer and I finally found out what is causing it and how to fix it. We’ll start with what the problem is and then follow-up with some sure fire fixes to get you into Diablo Immortal and playing. What’s Happening The game security system in Diablo Immortal seems to crash the game if it finds any interaction with a third-party app. This triggers right after the game loads on the “Starting Game” screen with the Repair Client on the bottom left. Various apps like Discord, GeForce and a myriad of other apps can interfere and trigger Diablo Immortal starting. USB and Bluetooth peripherals can also trigger a crash. The other issue, which I actually haven’t seen any of, is the…
Power Wash Simulator is the latest in the niche yet ever growing mainstream of “common job simulation” games except this one is a bit more satisfying than some other titles, for sure. You’re equipped with your trusty power washer and the ability to change nozzles with a flick of your mouse wheel as you clean grim and cut away at graffiti. There is some interesting tricks to speed up your power wash, but one quick disclaimer: Power Wash Simulator is more of a relaxing jaunt through cleaning than an objective based game. You’re under no pressure to clean faster and there really isn’t anything beyond the super obvious “spray it with water” to get the most out of this game. This is a rare title I’d say it’s more fun to be slow and methodical than it would be to power through it, but we want to take a look…
Murder by Numbers is a “nonogram,” “griddler” or “pixel puzzle” game mixed with a bit of visual novel style detective work. You can sum the entire game up by saying take a healthy dose of Picross and mix it with some Phoenix Wright and you now have an entirely new game. The comparison with Phoenix Wright starts and stops in the visual novel category, though. There is no in-depth investigation periods like in the Nonary Games or in Phoenix Wright. No courtroom trials like in Danganronpa or Phoenix Wright. There is pixel puzzles and a story and in a lot of ways, that’s fine. The gameplay loop is simple. There is a mystery to solve. You investigate by scanning a scene (you have a radar type mechanism to tell you where to go). When you’ve found something you’re thrown into a pixel puzzle which you solve and then obtain the…
In this guide we’re going to walk you through some spoiler free tips on how to deal with Lost Ember, a “walking simulator” that has you moving through an abandoned world uncovering the story of a soul who can’t move on and a wolf that can transfer itself into other critters. You’ll gain throughout the story to the freedom to fly through the skies and take into the water and other freedoms as you uncover the story bit by bit. To move forward past the barrier, you must find all of the flares. Once you’ve found a flare, if there are additional flares to uncover you can use your right mouse button to track them down. As you advance in the story you’ll have to combine different critters to get to different spots.Sometimes the flares are underwater. In Chapter 4 for instance, you’ll find one of them underwater.You can return…