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...
Time Loader builds itself upon a premise that's hard not to empathize with, utilizing the concept of time travel and environmental puzzles as both narrative hurdle and thematic weight. Everything about its construction rings with a certain profound sadness, a longing rarely put to words yet always there, like background radiation. It is a game about being tied to the past and being unable to escape on every level. That inherent quality, though, begs the question: is Time Loader rooted so deeply to formula and familiar trappings that it cannot also be compelling or profound on its own merits? Do its preoccupations and occasional flaws stop it from going as far with its premise as it intends to? Title: Time Loader Developer: Flazm Publisher: META Publishing Version Played: Xbox One Release Date: March 10th, 2022 Note: Review code provided by HomeRun PR, on behalf of publisher When weighing the worth of this game, one needs to take into account that much to its cred...