Outer Wilds in 2026 - Is It Still Worth Playing? (7-Year Retrospective)
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Twenty-two minutes. That's exactly how long you have before the sun goes supernova, everyone you know and love is turned into dust, and you wake up back at your campfire roasting the world's crispiest marshmallows.
In most games, falling head-first into a black hole or trying to tap-dance on a cactus would be an obvious mistake. But Outer Wilds encourages you to be curious. This is a game with no loot to find, no XP to grind, and no gear to upgrade. Your only currency is information - and your only objective is to figure out why the universe is ending before the clock hits zero again.
This focus on curiosity over stats creates a very unique form of progression. If you know exactly what to do and where, you could finish the entire game in under 10 minutes. But you don't. So instead, you're forced to step into your rickety, wooden spaceship and fly into the unknown - trying one insane idea after another just to see which ones kill you the slowest, all the while piecing together a cosmic puzzle that spans an entire solar system!
Does Project Zomboid's Build 42 Live Up to the Hype?
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Project Zomboid's Build 41 didn't so much launch in December 2021, as it did explode onto the scene. New animations, vastly better immersion, and actually functional multiplayer - it was the update that turned Zomboid from a cult classic into a full-blown juggernaut. In that single month, the playerbase skyrocketed to seven times its previous size!
So naturally, expectations for Build 42 were sky-high. What's going to happen next? How could they possibly top this? The community was beyond excited, and then... nothing.
Is Total War: Warhammer 3 Finally Worth Playing?
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Total War: Warhammer 3 had a rough launch. Rough enough that the tutorial was the best part of the game - and no, that's not a joke. The tutorial mini-campaign genuinely felt more polished and more coherent than whatever the February 2022 version of the Realms of Chaos was trying to be. It's honestly kind of wild looking at the game we have today and remembering just how poorly it all started.
Now normally this is where the music swells and I tell you how the game's redemption arc got started, but Warhammer 3 didn't get a redemption arc. At least not yet.
Hive Scum Beginner’s Guide - Fun & Powerful Builds For the Endgame [Warhammer 40,000: Darktide]
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Unlike the Arbiter who could probably face-tank a Greater Deamon, the Hive Scum is a true glass cannon. It can shred through heretics by the hundreds, but it's about as durable as that awful one-ply toilet paper you bought once, used once, and then swore never to touch again.
Or as normal people would say, Hive Scum has a pretty steep learning curve. So to make your life easier, let me walk you through a couple of fun, powerful builds that can handle anything the game throws at you - short of the most grueling Havoc missions.
Moonlighter 2 Beginner's Guide - 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Moonlighter 2 has a lot of different interlocking systems, and while none of them are particularly complicated, the game can still feel overwhelming, especially in the first few hours. So instead of telling you exactly how to play, I want to teach you ten core concepts that'll help you learn (and enjoy) the game at your own pace.
1) You're expected to fail
First of all, Moonlighter 2 is a roguelite with a staggering amount of permanent upgrades. And because you start with absolutely none of them, your early game power level is going to be somewhere between 'wet napkin' and 'oh god, this hurts'. But the person you are at the 1-hour mark is not even close to who you'll be 10-15 hours later.
So if you're struggling at the very start, don't worry - that's completely normal. Unless you're some kind of manic roguelite prodigy, you're not meant to crush every run right from the get-go. Instead just focus on pushing as far as you can, grab as much loot as you can carry, and then when things start going sideways, hit the handy "get me the hell out of here" button to bail out and cash in your loot.
Moonlighter 2 Review - Is The Shopkeeping Roguelite Worth Playing?
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Moonlighter 2 is an indie roguelite that lets you wield the most dangerous magic known to mankind: capitalism. You dive into monster-infested ruins not to save the world, but to grab every shiny object that isn’t nailed down so you can resell it at your cozy little shop.
The big twist is that Moonlighter 2 is actually three games stapled together. It's a fast-paced action-roguelite, an inventory management puzzle game, and a shop sim where you have to convince people to buy burnt sticks and old wires for absurd prices.
It’s a ridiculous setup, but as I've found out over the past week, it’s also one that's a lot of fun. So let me show you how Moonlighter 2 juggles all of this at once... and what happens when a ball inevitably hits the floor.
Dispatch Review - A Telltale-Style Superhero Game That’s Absolutely Worth Playing
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Dispatch is the only game that can go from dick-punching supervillains to genuinely heartwrenching character drama in the same scene - and somehow land both perfectly. It's gorgeously animated, effortlessly funny, and mature in a way that doesn't feel like it was written by edgy teenagers who just discovered swear words.
Dispatch is the kind of game you finish and then sit there going "okay, WHO do I throw money at to get more of this?" And that's not hyperbole either - I genuinely want a sequel, prequel, and maybe even a breakfast cereal. So let me show you why this Telltale-style superhero comedy hooked me so hard - and don't worry, I won't spoil anything. That would be criminal, and I've seen what the heroes do to those!