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...
New year, new chance to hope against hope for good things before being crushed by the inevitable heartbreak of video games being a mess right now. In all seriousness, despite how easy it is to be cynical about the state of the industry, I still find value in examining the forthcoming slate of titles and offering my perspective on how much - or little - they have to offer. For today I have elected to pinpoint the five games whose marketing leaves much to be desired. Time will tell if I prove correct in my predictions here, but at this moment these are my feelings as to how entirely not enticing these games appear. The FIFTH LEAST PROMISING: Dead Space Releases January 27th The Basic Premise: It's the future, everyone's miserable and doing contract work like cracking planets for minerals. One such ship, the Ishimura, goes dark and eventually worries people enough to send a rescue crew to try to fix the situation. Enter the Necromorphs, space zombies of maybe supernatural origin...