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REVIEW: Beetle Shock

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...
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The Post-E3 Games Showcase Era, Summer 2024 Highlights: Part II


In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate.

So it is that we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to note the games that stood out among the pack.

Today, we go over the high points of the Future Games Show, the Xbox Games Showcase, the PC Gaming Show and, yes, even the Ubisoft Forward. Heaven help us all...

Future Games Show

The High Point: Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

The premise of “riffing on the hardboiled detective story with talking cartoon animals” would be a fine selling point for a game in itself. The choice to also lean into a sticker book aesthetic, complete with characters hobbling around as barely moving objects in a scene? Now that's a fun time in the making.

Honorable Mention: Schim

Apparently, we’re commanding a sentient little shadow, hopping between dark spots and trying to reunite with the shadow’s person. Quite the charming pitch, matched by a striking art style and a splendid use of colour.

Xbox Games Showcase

The High Point: South of Midnight

Compulsion Games came in strong with this one. I adore the stop-motion feel to the animation, the way that the team appears to be using lighting and texture to depict its dark fantasy rendition of the Deep South, and the spectral nature of the heroine’s traversal powers. Plus, there’s a giant talking catfish. Put me down as “sincerely hopeful”.

Honorable Mention: Doom: The Dark Ages

It’s dumb that Doom now has intricate lore and world-building, doubly so given that none of it really makes the broadly drawn characters more interesting and all of it drags down the pace of the really good demon slaying at the series’ core. But the look of this reads as “metal album cover”, I dig the chainsaw shield and the skull-launching gun, and it looks like you get to ride a dragon this time. 

PC Gaming Show

The High Point: Unbeatable

Though the trailer doesn't strictly clarify the moment-to-moment feel of play, I do get the sense the folks behind Unbeatable know what they're aiming for with regards to aesthetic and story. The restrained anime intro, presented with a nice bit of VHS styling, gives way to a more desperate punk-rock feel that befits the apparent focus on resisting an oppressive regime through music-related civil disobedience. I'll be very curious to see how this one lands, especially if what looked like rhythm game segments and some rather absurd action set-pieces weren't just trailer fluff.

Honorable Mentions: All Systems Dance

Fighting an Apple-esque totalitarian regime and its robot hordes with the power of dance? Yeah, okay.

Ubisoft Forward

The High Point: Biomorph

It looks like they’re doing a side-scrolling action-platformer, with an upgrade system and what looked like a settlement customization element. I love the 2D animated style, and I'm intrigued by those transformation abilities.

Honorable Mention: The Rogue Prince of Persia

Some design cues skewing even more towards original flavour Prince of Persia than Lost Crown, an art style with a certain cartoon exaggeration to it - yes, there's promise there.

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