Developer: Afil Games Publisher: Afil Games Release Date: January 13, 2026 Available for: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch (version reviewed) Beetle Shock could be described in a sentence written in crayon on a napkin, and you’d lose nothing in terms of detail or value prospect. That’s not entirely a criticism, either – it is exactly what it looks like on the tin, short and slight yet adequate enough as a game to make the question of whether it’s worth your time more subjective an inquiry than normal. What we have here is a mascot platformer that owes part of its design to A Boy and His Blob , minus the jellybean-infused powers of a shapeshifting companion. Like the Boy of that game, Beetle Shock’s titular protagonist is limited in their mobility options; they can only run forward and back, jump, and perform a mid-air ground pound that smashes through breakable bricks and increases the height of jumps when hopping on mushrooms (this game's version of bounce pads). The Beetle...
2018 proved a fascinating year for games that I largely appreciated from the sidelines, as someone whose purchasing habits tend to be on the supremely budgeted side. Smash Bros got a sequel, Red Dead Redemption got a sequel, Far Cry 5 happened, a whole lot of studios collapsed in on themselves due to mismanagement and the deeply ingrained toxicity of the games industry… to reiterate, I said “fascinating”, not “uniformly good and respectful of all involved”. But now it’s 2019 and, despite it being three months into the new year, I’ve got things to say regarding the upcoming game slate. There’s still a substantive number of games whose release dates are nebulous and undefined, so I figure it’s a good a time as any to spotlight the ones I feel are most promising. Please note that this is not a confirmation that these games will, in point of fact, turn out well - just that, at present, these are the ones which based on pre-release material seem to have their affair...