Before I Forget is a narrative game exploring the life of Sunita, who has dementia. By moving through her house, players will unlock memories that she had previously forgotten. These are visualised with the spread of colour through the previously monochrome rooms, an effective way…
Jay Castello
45 Articles
Jay is a freelance games writer specialising in intersectional feminist critique, how to improve games and use them to improve the world, and cute dogs. She loves inhabiting digital spaces in all their forms, and being constantly surprised by just how weird and wonderful games can be.
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Windlands 2 is easily the strangest feeling I’ve ever had in VR. A virtual reality platformer, the game asks the player to swing from branch to branch using their twin grappling hooks. The movement that this system creates is incredibly engaging, but intense enough that…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Smoke and Sacrifice first hooked me in with its protagonist: a mother. Strangely rare in games, given how many fathers there are, this game’s is called Sachi. Sachi’s tale begins when she is forced to sacrifice her son to the mysterious priesthood, spurring her on…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Raji: An Ancient Epic might have been the most gorgeous game at EGX Rezzed. Influenced by Hindu and Balinese legends, the titular Raji must go on a journey to rescue her brother and defeat a demon lord. Other than exploring the beautiful environments, the player…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Morkredd is interesting because its monochrome aesthetic and the menacing dark that players must avoid contrasts cleanly with how much I laughed playing it. You’d expect a game with this kind of aesthetic to be tense, and it is, to an extent. But with two…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Lost Ember has some of the most adorable animals in games I’ve ever seen – especially the wombats. And to make it better, you get to play as these cute critters. Beginning as a wolf, you meet a strange spirit who seems to be seeking…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Knights and Bikes is nostalgic for the 80s – but not in the sense that it’s riddled with cheap pop culture references. Instead, it focuses on childhood, friendship, and how it felt to get the freedom of your first bicycle. The game follows Nessa and…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
I usually try to avoid comparing games to other games, but when Inkle Studios’ Art and Code Director Joseph Humfrey called Heaven’s Vault “Guitar Hero but for linguistics,” it made a lot of sense. Blending sci-fi and history, the game follows archaeologist Aliya Elasra and…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
I’m not going to lie, Ooblets was by far and away my most anticipated game of EGX Rezzed – and it did not disappoint. The critter collecting, battle training, and farming simulator combo has consistently looked beautiful, charming, and funny, and its demo was no…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Lake Ridden is an upcoming narrative game centred on 13 year old Marie, who is searching for her missing sister in the Maine wilderness. Their recent press demo had me exploring an attic, solving puzzles to move forward. They were smartly balanced – not too…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Homo Machina is the upcoming game from the developers at Darjeeling, based on the works of the pioneering science writer Dr. Fritz Kahn. In the 1920s, Dr. Kahn released five volumes of anatomical illustration that imagined the human body as a vast, interlocking series of…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Elizabethan astronomer and doctor Simon Forman operated in the late 1500s, healing patients and giving them advice based on the position of the stars. Now, developers at Nyamyam are turning his real case books into a game with Astrologaster. Equally real characters, from barmaids to…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
Another Sight centres on Kit, a teenage girl who loses her sight in an accident while exploring the unfinished London Underground tunnels of 1899. But her blindness doesn’t stop her from continuing to adventure, with the help of a fluffy feline friend called Hodge. The…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
When I first got an email asking if I’d like to book a demo with Epyka, I thought the game must be made specifically for me. Not just because it stars Jack, a helpful canine companion, though that is a major draw, but also because…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
When you first open Bloom, it seems very drab. A blank grid stretches out into the darkness, inviting you to bring it to life with the undulating, neon plants that you can create and the music that they bring in turn. Though this prototype version…
Jay Castello
1 Min Read
The Librarian starts with a cozy scene; the titular librarian (who is unnamed in the game but identified as Liz on the game’s itch.io page) curled up in bed with a book. This peace is shattered quickly by a sudden gust of wind blowing open…
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