Game Warp

Kim and Elwood run down their highlights from this years Summer Games Fest conferences from the indie gems to mainstream hits

Kim and Elwood look at the breakout hit from Beethoven & Dinosaur Mixtape aswell as looking at the fallout which has equally made it one of the more divisive titles of the year. Set in the fictional Northern California town of Blue Moon Lagoon were recent high school graduate Stacey is set to conquer the world as she pursues her dream of becoming a music supervisor. Now the night before she’s set to fly out to New York she plans to enjoy one last crazy night with best friends Slater and Cassandra.We

Kim and Elwood look at the Indie platformer The Artful Escape in which you play Francis Vendetti a teenage guitar prodigy who sets out on a psychedelic and interstellar journey to inspire his stage persona and confront the legacy of his uncle and folk music legend Johnson Vendetti .

Kim and Elwood look at Lost Records: Bloom & Rage a two part narrative adventure from Life Is Strange developer Don't Nod.Switching between the present and the summer of 1995 as reunion between friends leads them to look back at the summer they met, the bonds they formed and what they found in the woods.

Elwood and Kim look at the independent adventure game Sea of Solitude were you play as Kay a young woman whose inner turmoil has turned her into a monster, while she explores a flooded world trying to discover the reasons she turned into a monster while being forced to face feeling which have now manifested themselves as giant monsters she will have to face along her journey. 

Kim and Elwood take on the time manipulation puzzles of The Garden Between developed by the Australian studio The Voxel Agents as a sleepover in their treehouse sees Arina and Frendt transported to a fantastical world based around the memories they've made together.

Elwood and Kim check out the 2019 indie platformer Katana Zero in which you play a the katana welding assassin Zero who can both slow down time and predict the future while at the same time suffering from amnesia as he attempts to unravel the mystery of his past while carrying out assassination contracts.

Elwood and Kim check out the indie game "Orwell" were you get to play Big Brother...no not the kind who gets to task Z list celebs with pointless challanges for toilet roll, but a state operative monitoring a series of subjects as you attempt to uncover a terror plot by digging through thier internet activity looking for clues.

Elwood and Kim share thier favourite video game costumes while looking at who makes a costume, the character wearing them or does the design help make a character iconic. 

Kim and Elwood check out the quirky indie title Doughnut County by Ben Esposito in which you play a hole which grows bigger the more it consumes while you attempt to consume everything on the map. We also share some of our favourite quirky titles

"The Professor" Stephen Palmer (Asian Cinema Film Club) joins Elwood to explain his love for the the Yakuza series. But can he convince Elwood there is more to the game than mini games and quirky humour?

Kim and Elwood look at The Gunk an action-adventure game from Image and Form as you play the mechanical handed scavenger Rani and who along with her partner Becks must clean up the slime like substance known as The Gunk which is corrupting the planet surface.

Elwood and Kim return from thier recent break with a brand new episode in which they reveal thier favourite horror games from classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill through to Indie gems like Oxenfree and Little Nightmare even uncovering a few forgotten gems aswell.

Kim and Elwood look at the plant identification puzzler Strange Horticulture in which you inherit your uncle's plant shop in the town of Undermere. A town were it constantly rains and a dark mystery awaits for you to unravel as you help the residents locate the plants they require while hunting down new specimens to add to your collection

Kim and Elwood review the second season of Twisted Metal as the show shifts gears and finally gives us the tournament we've been waiting to see.We look at the new introductions to the cast, the joy of practical car stunts and try and spot all the references to the games.*Audio corrected - 25/9

We venture to the pale city were a mysterious signal has enslaved it's inhabitants in this return to the twisted world of Little Nightmares, as this time you play Mono who along with or our original heroine Six must venture to the city working together to uncover the secret of the signal while avoiding the twisted inhabitants of this world. On this episode we review the game, highlighting many of the exciting new additions to the gameplay aswell as the new world you get to explore, aswell as sharing our theories on what it all means. 

Kim and Elwood set sail to the spirit world with Spiritfarer an indie management sim and sandbox action game developed and published by Canadian studio Thunder Lotus Games in which you play Stella, a Spiritfarer, charged with ferrying the deceased to the Everdoor aboard your ever changing ship. 

Kim and Elwood look at their favourite video game soundtracks as they discuss the importance of music in gaming aswell as  how soundtracks have created some of gamings most iconic moments and more!!

Elwood and Kim check out the adventure game "Concrete Genie" as the bullied teen Ash attempts to bring colour back to his seaside town with the help of his magic paintbrush and the creatures he paints.A unique concept which made a big splash when it was shown at E3 but does it live up to the hype?Opening Theme - Dream a Dream provided by mobygratis.

Having already given us a game of the year with "Oxenfree" we were understandably excited to see what Night School Studios brought to the table with thier follow up "Afterparty" which sees you playing as two college students attempting to escape from hell by winning a drinking contest with the devil. Does it match up to the high standard set by thier first game? We find out as we check out the game for ourselves and share our thoughts. Dream a Dream provided by mobygratis.

Kim and Elwood look at two chilled games revolving around organisation and sorting as they look at "A Little To The Left" were players must attempt to bring order to their lives as they sort everything from books and a planner through to pasta shapes while battling interference from the cat. Unpacking meanwhile has you unpacking boxes and setting up rooms as the player works through key moments from the college dorm to a family home.

Kim and Elwood look at the Puzzle platformer Shady Part of Me the debut game from Douze Dixiemes as a young girl called Alice must team up with her shadow to escape a world of surreal dreamscapes.

Kim and Elwood look at Road 96 a first person adventure game set in mid-to-late 1996 within the fictional nation of Petria, an authoritarian country ruled by a dictatorship undergoing a potentially transformative election season. As the player you control several teenagers as they attempt to flee the country through Petria's northern border via Road 96 but getting to the border is anything but easy.

Kim and Elwood put down their controllers to check out season one of Twisted Metal to see how the vehicular carnage of the games translates to the screen. Set in a dystopian future were the population live in walled cities while gangs, psychos and warlords roam the wasteland with it falling to the Milkmen to run supplies between the cities. But when John Doe (Anthony Mackie) a milkman with amnesia agrees to deliver a package he finds himself gaining a partner in car thief Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz) and a whole heap of trouble between him and his destination.

Kim and Elwood look at the Indie adventure puzzler Figment by Bedtime Digital Games and set in the recesses of the human mind as Dusty and Piper set out to battle the Nightmares which have started to appear and to restore order to the mind in a wonderfully surreal and visually arresting adventure.

Kim and Elwood look at the third person adventure game Spirit of the North as you play as an ordinary red fox whose story becomes entwined with the guardian of the Northern Lights as you attempt to discover the reason behind the fractured sky as you venture across the icy wilderness of Iceland.

Kim and Elwood look at the mystery thriller Open Roads in which Tess (Kaitlyn Dever) and her mother Opal (Keri Russell) clear out their family home after Opal's mother passes away only for Tess to start to uncover family secrets previously hidden. Developed by the same team as indie favourite Gone Home who once more craft another engaging mystery to unravel.

Kim and Elwood pay another visit to the Dark Pictures Anthology with House of Ashes. Set during the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a military unit in search of WMD's instead find a hidden subterranean temple and the monsters which lurk within.

Kim and Elwood look at the Indie sci-fi adventure thriller Somerville The debut game from independent studio Jumpship the studio co-founded by Playdead co-founder Dino Patti who was also the executive producer of both Limbo and InsideHere you play an average family man finds himself possibly the best chance of defeating an alien invasion while he attempting to find his family.

Kim and Elwood look at the second game in The Dark Pictures Anthology as four college students and their professor find themselves trapped in the town of Little Hope. Now surrounded by impenetrable fog they soon begin to uncover the dark secrets of this seemingly abandoned town.

Is Mad Max one of the great overlooked games? This is the question being posed by Elwood as he is joined by Gregory Sahadachny (The Debatable Podcast) joins Elwood to take another look at the game. We look at the development history, question why vehicular combat games is such a neglected market and Greg reveals the film he most wants to see turned into a game plus more! Notes - Audio Issues now corrected and resynched

Kim and Elwood look at the Puzzle Adventure game Cocoon developed by Geometric Interactive the new company founded by Limbo / Inside designer Jeppe Carlsen after leaving Playdead Here playing as a small insectoid character you awaken in a wasteland and soon tasked with collecting the world orbs which will bring balance to the world as you hop between worlds and solve puzzles to overcome the obstacles in your way.

While E3 is a thing of the past for the last few years, the summer game showcases have not stopped. In fact, its lined up a lot of smaller conferences aside from the main players to bring attention to certain groups as well. This year certainly was no different with an incredible amount of games being showcased from AAA titles through to the Indie developers Of course for ourselves it was these indie titles which had us most excited so here’s our list of games that have us most excited for their future releases 

Kim and Elwood revisit the PS2 cult platformer Psychonauts as you play as the young psychic Rasputin (Raz) who runs away from the circus to a summer camp for psychic kids only to soon uncover a sinister plot Created by Tim Schafer and widely regarded as one of the best video games ever made, we find out if that reputation still stands up as we journey through the random worlds created by the minds its colourful characters in this truly unique platformer.

Kim and Elwood look at the first game in the long running Ace Attorney franchise which helped introduce visual novel games to the west. Playing Phoenix "Nick" Wright a rookie defence attorney who the player has to guide through a series of ever more unique cases while finding the right evidence and faults in the witness testimonies to help his clients be declared "Not Guilty" We also look at the history of the franchise including the spin offs and adaptation, question Nintendo's pricing strategy and question what console to upgrade to next.

Kim and Elwood countdown their favourite chill out games and sharing the titles which help them find their escape when the world gets crazy.

What can you do in Twelve Minutes? Kim and Elwood find out as they take on the reoccurring time loop which a man finds himself trapped in when a mysterious police officer breaks into his apartment and murders his wife. Now with only Twelve Minutes before the cycle resets he must figure out the mystery or be forced to relive the same events again and again.

Elwood and Kim look at Jusant an action puzzle climbing game From Don't Nod as you plane a lone wanderer attempting to climb a desolate tower while piecing together what happened to the civilisation who have long since departed.

Kim and Elwood look at the Far games from the Swedish indie game developer Okomotive as you take control of nameless pilots navigating across a post apocalyptic landscape and ocean.

Kim and Elwood look at the interactive horror game Man of Medan the first entry in the Dark Pictures Anthology following four students and their boat captain whose diving expedition soon leading them to discover instead what appears to be an abandoned ship only to find it's former residents still very much present. 

Kim and Elwood look at the 2017 Indie Adventure game Night In The Woods in which you play the college drop out Mae who returns to her hometown of Possum Springs to reconnect with the friends she left behind as well as finding herself drawn into investigating the disappearance of her friend Casey and the dark secrets the town hides. 

Kim and Elwood follow up their first episode review of Don't Nod Entertainment's "Tell Me Why" to find out if the rest of the game matches up aswell as find out how the investigation by twins Tyler and Alyson into their mother's death plays out. Is this the game to finally beat out "Life Is Strange"? Find out now!

Elwood and Kim share their gaming recommendations for the spooky season from classics and games to play with friends aswell as revealing the games which scared them the most. 

Kim and Elwood look at the first episode of "Tell Me Why" from Dontnod Entertainment as they figure out whether to game on or switch off. Set in a rural Alaskan town twins Tyler and Allison reunite after being apart for ten years to figure out the mystery of their mother's death, revisit their unique childhood and conflicting memories in another adventure game from the makers of Life is Strange

Elwood and Kim present their gaming guide to the festive season from the best game to entertain the family, to corrupting your younger siblings / cousins, while also revealing their most wanted games for Christmas

Little Nightmares 2 is just around the corner so what better time to revisit the original game, a dark 3D puzzle & stealth platformer developed by Tarsier Studios. Archive Recording - 2017 Check out our Blog Follow us on Youtube

Welcome to the first audio game review/discussion for Game Warp! This episode, we discuss and review 2015 interactive film video game Her Story which is a debut project developed by Sam Barlow. As their next game Telling Lies prepare to launch in a few days, we take a moment to look back at this starting point.  Her Story uses a database of video clips of an interrogation of a woman to search and solve an investigation of a missing man. Using live action film footage played primarily with British musician Viva Seifert as the missing man's wife, Her Story was originally known for its unconventional mechanics and strong narrative while being nominated and winning awards.  Both as first time players of this game, we discuss Her Story from its narrative to its actress down to its gameplay mechanics and more and whether its outstanding elements are shared by either of us. 

E3 2019 has come and gone! Over the many conferences that showed up, we share our thoughts one by one while sharing the games that stood out to each of us. We talk about which games may have misfired and which ones have us intrigued. There was a big shift in the E3 conferences this year and perhaps, its why some conferences shone more than others. Join us as we share our overall thoughts and look over this year's conferences!