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Based on true events. Who will survive and what will be left of them? That’s the question I got to answer this weekend when I had a chance to hang out with Gun Interactive and a few notable guests. We gathered in Austin, Texas heat to play Sumo Digital’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, have a few cocktails, and rub elbows with Jason fuckin’ Vorhees himself, Kane Hodder–among other cast members, new and old. I got a chance to play a few rounds of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , an asymmetrical horror game where “The Victims” are tasked to sneak around and survive while avoiding “The Family” full of unique murderous psychos hellbent on killing you, each with their own abilities and quirks. I had the chance to play on two different maps, each based on a location from the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Each map was full of hiding places for The Victims and traps for The Family to set–and of course, there was Grandpa. When grandpa is fed blood, his ability to let the other Family members “see” The Victims increases in frequency. Each member of The Family has their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, Leatherface (with motion capture by the legendary Kane Hodder, who we had the privilege to chat with at the party) has the ability to break objects, and hits the hardest out of any of the family members. However, he tends to be slow. Whereas Sissy is faster and can get through areas only the victims can access. Family attributes are measured in three categories: savagery, harvesting, and endurance. Savagery is essentially how much damage each family member does. Harvesting is how much blood you take from victims when you attack them, and endurance is a measure of stamina recharge rate and total stamina. The higher your endurance, the longer you can run or the more swings you can take on the hapless Victims. Unlike other asymmetrical horror games, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre gives the opportunity for The Family to work together to execute each of The Victims before they can escape. This does seem to give a slight advantage to The Family for those inexperienced Victims–but with patience, stealth and cunning, I saw plenty of Victims make their way to freedom. Surprisingly, playing as The Victims never felt too one-sided. As a Victim there is a constant sense of dread. In other asymmetrical horror games, if you had an idea where the bad guy was, you might have an easy time avoiding them. However, in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre there is always the threat of an unseen Family member finding you. And since The Family hunts in threes, you can’t be sure you’re safe just because one of The Victims is being executed in one of the game’s grisly death animations. I never felt safe playing as a Victim. The Victims aren’t completely helpless, though. They each have their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. For instance Sonny’s Heightened Sense ability will let him know if anything is nearby based on the sound they make. Or you can save yourself or even other Victims with Leland’s Life Saver ability which allows him to rush and stun a Family member–even if they’re about to execute a fellow Victim. While other asymmetrical horror games might incapacitate you–rendering you unable to play unless another player helps you–The Texas Chainsaw Massacre keeps you in the action until you escape–or you’re brutally murdered, with your blood being fed to Grandpa. Despite the sweltering Texas heat, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre pre-release party was an absolute blast–and we had a great time playing the game. Of course it was a thrill meeting some of the cast of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the motion capture performers and voiceover actors of the game. I think Gun Interactive might be onto something with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and while I’m not saying it’s guaranteed, it’s definitely time for a new asymmetrical horror title, and I can’t wait until its full release in August. Photos: Marielle Bokor

I never played the original Layers of Fear, though I did play its sequel—and I wasn’t a big fan. However, the first game was lauded for its use of psychological themes and accompanying imagery, so I was eager to finally get a chance to play it, built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5. Unfortunately, while Layers of Fear is a gorgeous game, its shiny new graphics can’t hide the fact that it really hasn’t aged well. Layers of Fear is a first person horror game that follows the story of three people, referred to as the Painter, the Actor, and the Writer. This latest installment in the series can be a bit confusing, so here’s an explanation:: This latest Layers of Fear release is actually Layers of Fear (2016) and its sequel Layers of Fear 2 rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, with both of their stories tied together by an overarching narrative and the introduction of a new character. It’s an interesting way to tie the two games together. However, the gameplay that was so effective when Layers of Fear (2016) released has been well-tread now by developer Bloober Team and others. Most of the gameplay in Layers of Fear involves walking while looking at items and suffering the occasional jump scare. There are some puzzles to solve, but these are sparse. When people derisively describe walking simulators, I don’t know how the Layers of Fear series isn’t mentioned more often. It doesn’t feel like a game so much as a haunted house. While it's effectively spooky, it never comes close to invoking true terror. Instead, it’s just trippy imagery and walking. Rinse and repeat for hours. While the developers were no doubt going for an unsettling depiction of characters descending into madness, there isn’t enough to ground the player to what’s real. And because of that, there aren’t any narrative stakes.Even failure (when it’s possible to fail) is just a temporary setback. If the majority of the game plays out like a nightmare, after a couple of hours it starts to lose its effectiveness. Despite the dominantly boring gameplay, there are actually some moments that got my heart racing. This is when Layers of Fear truly shines. However, these truly scary moments are too far between with long stretches of often nauseating psychological torture that ended up being torture on me. Even the story in Layers of Fear is lost in all of the howling and madness. Any pretense of subtlety flies out the window within the first few minutes of gameplay, and you’re forced to suffer through ham fisted portrayals of tragedy and angst. For instance, in The Artist segment of the game there is a moment where the character is remembering feeling alienated because of their status as an artist, so the next room has a fish flopping on a saucer with the words “out of water” written on the wall. Layers of Fear isn’t particularly effective in its gameplay or storytelling, but it sure is pretty to look at. Bloober Team has used every bell and whistle available to them in Unreal 5 to make these games look better than they ever have before. With Ray Tracing and HDR support, Layers of Fear is one of the best looking games I’ve played this year. However, that’s really just putting lipstick on a pig. I know there are people that absolutely love Layers of Fear (2016) and I wish I was one of them. I feel like I missed the boat, and was subjected to so many imitations that I can’t appreciate Layers of Fear (2016) for how groundbreaking it was. Sadly, that means my patience for Layers of Fear wore thin, and I could only play it in short bursts. Even then, I felt like I was twisting in the same never-ending corridors hoping to find an exit. Luckily, it really only takes pressing the Esc key and quitting to desktop to get out of that nightmare. Layers of Fear is available now on Steam and the Epic Games Store as well as for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X A Steam key was provided to us for this review

I’ve been playing a lot of retro games lately and there’s something especially haunted about old PlayStation games that high definition graphics can’t recreate. That’s why I’m always thrilled to see horror games in PS1 style, and The Tartarus Key does an incredible job of recreating the visual aesthetics from the fifth console generation–but it’s not a very scary game. The Tartarus Key is a first person puzzle game. While it pays heavy homage to Resident Evil visually and with some elements of the setting, it’s not a survival horror game at all. There are no enemies to fight in The Tartarus Key, just a series of puzzles to solve. That’s not to say that there aren’t any stakes, because the characters you meet will often live or die based on your ability to correctly solve whatever puzzle is threatening them. The Tartarus Key does a great job creating a retro horror atmosphere, but I’d say it’s more relaxing than it is horrifying. As with all puzzle games, your mileage may vary. You might be great at a particular type of puzzle while failing at another. The Tartarus Key has a range of puzzle types, so there are probably at least one or two puzzles here that you might find to be headscratchers, despite your puzzle prowess. However, each puzzle in The Tartarus Key is self contained, meaning you won’t have to carry one item from one room to be used in another. In fact, you can’t take inventory items out of a specific puzzle room, with your inventory changing based on what room you’re in. This actually reduces the potential difficulty for The Tartarus Key a ton as you don’t have to run back and forth between puzzles trying to find a solution. Despite its horror look, even the dialogue and interactions in The Tartarus Key aren’t geared towards horror. In fact, a lot of the dialogue between characters is full of quips and jokes. It’s the main character’s way of dealing with the stressful situation, but a lot of the humor didn’t land for me. The characters aren’t entirely unlikeable, but the stakes were so low that I found myself skipping through conversations so I could get to the next puzzle as quickly as possible. I really enjoyed the time I spent with The Tartarus Key, but I do have a heavy bias towards puzzle games already. Despite its horror themes, The Tartarus Key is an atmospheric, but non-scary puzzle game. The types of puzzles I found through The Tartarus Key were very similar to those I found in community rooms for Escape Simulator–which is a great thing, because I spent a long time going through Escape Simulator community rooms. Unlike Escape Simulator there isn’t a workshop and you can’t play online with friends in The Tartarus Key. However, I did enjoy The Tartarus Key for its absolutely fantastic retro aesthetic and atmosphere. The Tartarus Key is available now for PC via Steam and on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X and Nintendo Switch. A Steam Key was provided to us for this review.

A lot of us who grew up anywhere between the 70s and 90s remember a motley crew of strange cartoon characters associated with, well, basically everything we consumed. Tony the Tiger greets you every morning, the Snuggle bear's fragrance surrounds you, you've avoided the Noid, etc. The list goes on. McDonald's wasn't immune to the cartoon craze either, with its group of strange mascots that were animated favorites of ours as kids. Even if you were terrified of clowns and Ronald McDonald left you unsettled, there were plenty of other friendly ...things...that occupied his neighborhood. Larcenist the Hamburglar was obviously the most stylish, while McCheese was the choice of safety and security. Birdie was the bestest bestie and Grimace was....is....what now? When we decided to check out the newest limited edition meal at McDonald's we didn't expect to get a side of research, but as it turns out it's a little hard to pin down what the purple fellow actually is, or represents. Popular culture and much of what we read points back to a 2014 Twitter conversation where he's supposedly referred to as a taste bud, and despite the fact that he's over 6' tall, fuzzy and purple, that's somehow stuck as the winning answer. BUT, go back to that tweet and you'll find that he's EITHER a taste bud OR...the embodiment of a milkshake. Which means his shake should be pretty good, right? I mean, the limited edition meal isn't so much a revelation at all, because it's a Big Mac or 10 chicken nugget meal that features the shake (so much so that you get an "item" listed in the menu on the app that reminds you to "Enjoy Your Shake!" Word around the internet told us the purple shake with its healthy dose of whipped cream was going to be mixed berry. When we grabbed ours to try out, both of us who'd tried the meal independently thought the shake didn't taste terribly mixed at all - and mostly felt like a blueberry shake. While one of us thought it was a weak blueberry, the other said it reminded them of blueberry yogurt. And even though our opinions differed, we both agreed we'd try it again. True, it's not really groundbreaking, but in the end, team tastebud or team milkshake all come out winners in the end. Happy birthday, Grimace!

Here's a virtual tour from photographer Marielle Bokor of our trip to the Cleve Carney Museum in Glen Ellyn, IL to see the Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop exhibit. Enjoy!

The world is full of artists - thankfully, as we as a species so clearly need art to express ourselves and just to survive day to day. But revolutionaries are fewer and further between. They command attention with new ideas and thoughts that shake up what the world was before them, and change the future after them. They shine brightly but sadly, eventually must fade away into the firmament as inspiration for a new generation of artists. They change the world. Andy Warhol challenged the notion of art, experimented with it, criticized its failings and then reinvented it. He was a renegade and ultimately, the pop culture icon that would really define what pop culture was. Warhol, who studied at Carnegie, pursued a career and was successful as a commercial illustrator, netting big name companies like Tiffany and Co and Columbia Records, and his work appeared in renowned publications like Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times and Vogue throughout the 1950s. But Warhol wanted more, and decide to pursue a career in the fine arts. His work in advertising had frequently brought him in front of the mundanities of everyday life, and much of his commercial work was based on photos and other source images. After a trip around the world in the late 50s, he began painting. His fascination with Hollywood lead him to celebrity portraits, though his work also had a touch of the macabre with things like his acclaimed ‘death and disaster’ series. Not only a painter, Warhol experimented with art in all forms, including silkscreen, photography, sculpture, performance art and film-making, and has been credited with being the first to exhibit video as art. Simply put, Warhol was never satisfied with one vision of what art was, or how to make it. He was vastly influenced by the world around him, and pioneered new techniques. He didn’t just observe pop culture, he was a part of it, throwing legendary parties at his studio, making frequent appearances at Studio 54, and creating his own travelling art show “The Exploding Plastic Inevitable.” He may even have pioneered the selfie, as the artist was a frequent fan of self portraits across mediums. Warhol even owned a dance club called the Gymnasium in Manhattan that had gym equipment on the dance floor. No matter what happened to him or around him, Warhol could create art from it. He retired from painting in 1965, with his iconic flower paintings, but came back to the art world the very next year and began a foray into performance art, with exhibits like Cow Wallpaper and Silver Clouds. On June 3, 1968, the artist was near fatally shot after an altercation with writer Valerie Solanas, and would spend the rest of his life requiring a surgical corset. But Warhol persisted until his death in the ‘80s, eventually even adding two MTV shows to his credit - Andy Warhol’s TV and Andy Warhol’s 15 Minutes. Andy Warhol’s contributions to our ideas of art and culture are monumental. He challenged and changed the boundaries of art and remains relevant as not only a pioneer of his time, but a challenge to the future of art, constantly questioning what can and should be considered art. If you, like me, were inspired by the artist, consider checking out (virtually or in person) the new Warhol exhibition at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art in Glen Ellyn, IL. For more on the exhibit, click here.

Andy Warhol’s contributions to our ideas of art and culture are monumental. The commercial illustrator had a hugely successful career long before the Campbell’s soup cans but ended up not only transitioning into the world of fine arts, but also transforming it forever. Warhol was never satisfied with one definition of art, one medium, or one viewpoint. He didn’t accept the boundaries people placed on it and what it could and should be, and explored the mundane, boring and macabre as valuable, beautiful, and worthy of portrayal. Warhol was a renegade who embraced new media, new ideas, and pop culture in general in ways that transformed the world of art forever. Though many of us know something about him, and his impact on the world at large and the art world, we’d wager there’s much more to discover about the artist, through his work and the story of his life. Thankfully, if you’re living in Illinois right now, you’ve got the unique opportunity to see a deep dive into who Warhol was. Visitors can walk through his timeline, peruse his ad work for several industry giants, visit and experience the Silver Clouds exhibit, and of course, be able to see paintings, photographs, sculptures and other works on display at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, located in the Mac, or McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage. Our last visit here was for the fabulous Frida Kahlo exhibit, which was similarly expansive and immersive. Somehow, though, they’ve outdone themselves again. What you see when you first walk in the doors at the Cleve Carney is just a small piece of the giant exhibit, which goes so far as to have recreated Studio 54 and even Central Park with the NYC skyline Andy would have enjoyed while he was living there, complete with specially commissioned gas street lamps that match the ones in the real Central Park. Near every inch of the museum has something to contribute to the Warhol experience, whether it’s tributes to his work by other artists, the aforementioned Studio 54 experience or the beautiful children’s area, where there’s a special program for kids to learn about Warhol and make art. Whether you’re from Chicago or even out of state, the exhibit is worth the trip, even if you’re more interested in the 94 original works from the artist than the phenomenal surrounding exhibit. Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop is another can’t miss from the Cleve Carney. Whether you’d been a longtime fan of his life and work or didn’t know much about the revolutionary artist, you’ll leave inspired and challenged to look at and create art in new ways. Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop will run from June 3 to September 10, 2023, and tickets can be purchased on site at the MAC box office at 425 Fawell Blvd. in Glen Ellyn, IL or online.

I’m a sucker for a good soulslike game, but you have to wade through a lot of bad titles to find the gems. Despite having its origins as a mobile game, I have been having a good time playing through the stylish Bleak Sword DX. Bleak Sword DX is a stylish lo-fi soulslike. You play as a sword wielding hero who is on a quest to lift the curse of the Bleak Sword. To do this, you’ll have to fight enemies across twelve different zones, with each zone containing about twelve (sometimes fewer) diorama-like levels. Its music and melancholy mood invoke that Dark Souls feel, but Bleak Sword DX uses a lo-fi, almost retro style. Your character is little more than a stick figure, fighting against a whole array of lo-fi enemies. Each level in Bleak Sword DX is a single square, usually consisting of a number of obstacles. Sometimes there are hazards like blowing wind, fire, and traps or even enemies that fling projectiles from impossible to get to locations. There are some exceptions, but most of the time you’ll be fighting on a single tile with a fixed perspective. It’s a holdover from Bleak Sword’s mobile roots, but it’s not too restrictive to make Bleak Sword DX seem inferior. Combat is simple, but familiar to those who have ever played a soulslike. You can only swing your sword for as long as your stamina allows, and there’s a dodge button. You’ll also have to learn how to fight each of the enemy types you’ll encounter: Enemies broadcast moves. Block and riposte with a well-timed button press. Unblockable attacks are announced by a large red exclamation point above an enemy’s head. Most single enemies aren’t that difficult to fight -- so it’s not until you have to deal with a multitude of different enemies — most with their own attack behaviors and movesets—that things become really difficult. Dying in Bleak Sword DX is expected. When you die you leave any picked up items and your experience on whatever level you died at. If you can successfully conquer that level without dying again, you’ll get your items and experience back. Despite Bleak Sword DX’s pocket-sized nature, I found myself pressured to keep playing so I didn’t lose my good items or experience points I had building up, because quitting a level has the same effect as dying in one. Items you find in Bleak Sword DX only last as long as your current “life” and will be forfeited when you die twice at the same location. Most items I’ve encountered have been mundane, and give me a few extra stats in attack or the occasional health item to heal while in a level. There are different stats you can put points into if you accumulate enough to gain a level. They’re all pretty straight forward: defense, health, and damage output. If you’ve played Bleak Sword on mobile, you’ll be pleased to know that DX includes all of the DLC chapters, and adds new level layouts and enemy placement. There’s also a campaign randomizer that gives you a remixed version of Bleak Sword DX by changing item and enemy placement. There is a horde mode that allows you test your mettle against increasingly difficult enemies. There’s also a boss rush mode that has you face off against all 12 of the game’s bosses with a single health bar. I’m usually a bit skeptical when I hear about a phone game coming out on other platforms. However, Bleak Sword DX is a rare exception. Its gameplay transcends platform and it ends up being pretty solid. Despite Bleak Sword DX’s single screen gameplay, there were enough surprises to keep me interested. It’s a unique takes on the soulslike formula, and is definitely recommended for those who want a bite-sized challenge. Bleak Sword DX is out today for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

I’ve been a fan of developer Frictional Games since I played Penumbra: Overture. In fact, I heartily recommend their game Soma to anyone who might ask me for game recommendations. But Frictional Games is best known for their Amnesia series. While I thought their previous entry Amnesia: Rebirth might have pulled the curtain back a tad too far, Amnesia: The Bunker is a return to form for Frictional Games, with gameplay that calls back to the Penumbra series. It’s also damn scary. Amnesia: The Bunker is a first person survival horror game. In it, you play as a World War I soldier who has recently recovered from a wound only to wake up to a horror: trapped alone in an underground bunker with a bloodthirsty creature. The officers escaped, and collapsed the tunnel behind them, so you have to find a way out of the bunker while avoiding the creature. It won’t be easy, however, as you also have to find your way around obstacles, through locked doors, and around traps left by the soldiers who have died before you. You have to do all of this while trying to keep the lights on at all costs, because the creature prefers to hunt in the dark. But the generator loves to gulp down fuel, and you’re either forced to use your noisy wind-up flashlight, improvise a light source, or attempt to survive the bunker by groping around in the dark. When you first start up Amnesia: The Bunker ( or The Bunker) you’re forced to play through a clumsy beginning that establishes the setting, and works a bit like a tutorial. It’s an unfortunate first impression, but it’s quickly forgotten as the game immediately creates a tense atmosphere that only gets more intense as you continue to play. Once you’re on your own, there’s a message that informs you that “if you think it’s possible, it probably is” in regards to what The Bunker’s physics-driven interactions can be. While there is definitely some possibility for emergent gameplay, I found this mostly means finding creative ways to break down doors, and sometimes clever ways of warding off the creature. Doors are your main obstacle in The Bunker, and while some can be smashed open (or blown up, shot, etc.) others will require you to find keys or combinations to the locks that impede your way forward. Most of these keys and combinations can be found through careful exploration, but also by reading the various notes left around. This is how the story is told, and gives you an idea of what happened in the bunker leading up to its current state. There’s always a sense of dread in The Bunker. There’s the constant time pressure of the generator and its fuel consumption, and the pressure of item management: inventory space is limited, so you have to decide what’s important, or what gets left behind in your stash. There’s only one “safe” room in The Bunker, and one save point, meaning you’ll have to explore outward from there. The further out you go, the more intense the pressures can be. And of course, there’s the constant dread of knowing the monster is actively hunting you and may be lurking just around the corner. The creature itself never quite invoked the same childhood induced trauma levels of fear that the xenomorph in Alien: Isolation caused me—but it comes pretty damn close. While most games developed by Frictional Games have you helpless and unable to fight, you can actually fight back against the monster in The Bunker—but anything you do to it will just slow it down. While the creature is repelled by the light, you aren’t safe just because you’re in a bright room: once he sees you, unless you can fight back you’re dead. While the monster isn’t the only enemy you’ll face in The Bunker— it will be a constant threat through your entire playthrough. Even after you’ve played through The Bunker the first time, new playthroughs can have their own challenges. Certain elements in The Bunker are randomized. The codes you find in your playthrough are randomly generated, and even sometimes randomly placed. Resources are randomly generated and placed in different locations on each new playthrough. Even traps are randomized by placement and type. There is also Steam Workshop support, which opens up the possibility of being able to play user made content—and I can’t wait to see what the community comes up with. If you find that The Bunker is too difficult, there’s an “easy” mode that allows you to explore with a little less pressure from the monster. Conversely there’s a “hard” mode for those who want an increased challenge. Amnesia: The Bunker is a fantastic game. It’s easily the most terrifying game I’ve played since Alien: Isolation. It instills a sense of dread and its intensity ramps up until the very end. If you’re a fan of horror Amnesia: The Bunker is one of the best and scariest games out there.  Amnesia: The Bunker is available June 6 for PC via Steam and on the Epic Games Store.     A Steam key was given to us for this review

I’m a sucker for games that have the player character exploring abandoned sci-fi facilities and derelict spacecraft. I love to piece together a mystery, and Return to Grace promised a mystery wrapped in a 60’s sci-fi aesthetic. Return to Grace is a first person narrative heavy adventure game with a few minor puzzles. In it you play as Adie, an archeologist looking for an AI that ushered in a golden age for humanity, but disappeared, only to plunge humanity into a new dark age. As Adie you’ve found the spire—the facility that housed Grace. As you explore deeper into the spire you will find the answers to what was beyond Grace’s disappearance. Adie is accompanied by several AI voices that are piped in through Adie’s suit. These different personalities are probably the highlight of the game, and they drive the story and serve as a way to give context to the environments that Adie finds herself in. Each of these AIs are driven by different personalities. Return to Grace can probably be best described as a “walking simulator” but it does have a few—very simple—puzzles. Most of the game is about linear exploration and lots of dialogue. While this might sound boring to some, I was definitely intrigued until the very end—but there is no payoff whatsoever, and a bunch of questions that are left unanswered. I can’t really say that Return to Grace is a bad game—it has some contemplative moments and good voice acting—but I’m not sure it even accomplished what the developers were hoping for. When I got to the end and the answers to the mysteries of Grace’s disappearance, it all was so anticlimactic I almost couldn’t believe it when the credits started to roll. There is so much potential and built-up backstory that is never satisfactorily answered in Return to Grace. In fact, in retrospect, it’s hard to even fathom what the ultimate goal of this experience was. It doesn’t come to any philosophical epiphany, the main character doesn’t really grow—and as the player, I was left with just as many questions as answers. There are some snazzy visuals, and a great mid-century modern styled sci-fi aesthetic—but it fails to stick the landing, nor does it have many compelling gameplay moments. Return to Grace is available today A Steam key was provided to us for this review

GLaDOS is perhaps the most famous rogue AI in video games, but long before I played Portal I was facing off against an antagonist an AI that absolutely terrifies me in a way that GLaDOS doesn’t: Shodan. While there is some humor in GLaDOS’s horror, Shodan is a terrifying megalomaniaca AIl that revels in genetic experiments and creating cyborg monstrosities while demanding her subjects worship her as a god. System Shock is a first person adventure game that has been painstakingly recreated by brilliant retro resurrectors Night Dive Studios. In it, you play as a who is hacker forced to fight their way through Citadel station after the station’s AI went rogue. In fact, you’re the reason Shodan’s leash is unhooked. It’s your job to undo this damage as you find yourself trapped on a Citadel Station that is controlled by Shodan, with its cramped corridors filled with mutants, cyborgs, and robots bent on destroying or enslaving you. Body horror abounds in high definition. Before the denizens of Citadel Station were depicted in highly pixelated gore, you can see the fruit of Shodan’s carnage in a whole new way. Despite System Shock’s graphical overhaul, Night Dive Studios left a bit of pixelated retro feel in their art. If you get really close to an object the textures are pixelated in a way that feels like a deliberate art choice by the developers. It helps maintain that retro feel. But you also have all of the modern graphical bells and whistles you’d expect. While the graphics changed significantly, there has been obvious care put into System Shock’s gameplay. It feels like a modern game, but it’s surprisingly faithful to it’s the original’s design. And that means this is a true retro adventure. There is absolutely no hand-holding, so you have to pay attention to dialogue and the environment to find your next task. There are no waypoints. You can reference dialogue snippets that you find as you explore Citadel Station and discover audio logs left from the deceased crew. There are also little to no explanation on the game’s mechanics—if you’re not familiar with this type of game, the learning curve might be frustrating. Especially because there’s a real possibility you can play yourself into a corner. If you don’t save often enough, or lose track of an important game item, you can lose chunks of time. I found myself going back to my old habit of saving frequently, and creating a new save file each time I saved so I could go back and undo anything that might get me stuck. System Shock comes from an age of corridor shooters, and feels only one step removed from a grid-based role-playing game. What I mean by that is: most of the game takes placed in cramped environments. You could argue that this is appropriate for a space station, but it does make System Shock feel labyrthine and claustrophobic—but more in a hard to navigate way than in a scary way. In fact, despite the Shodan’s threats and the prodigious amounts of gore, System Shock isn’t a very scary game. It does achieve a cyberpunk sci-fi atmosphere, but the hacker you play as feels very capable of handling the threats that Shodan produces. Once I got a lightsaber (sorry, laser rapier) and boots that let me run super-fast and nearly fly, I felt like Shodan should be afraid of me. System Shock is definitely one of the most authentically cyberpunk games I’ve played in a long time. Even the original game’s infamous cyberspace hacking segments are created in bright neon colors that invoke the feeling of flying through the ‘net and compromising systems in a way that 90’s popular media promised us. While System Shock contains some frustrating elements for the uninitiated, fans of the original will absolutely love this remake. It’s even more accessible to modern audiences, if they possess a little patience to weather the 90’s video game design. This is my favorite game of its type since 2017’s Prey, and an absolutely worthy remake to a 90’s sci-fi video game classic. System Shock is available today on PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store. A Steam key was given to us for this review

Kill It With Fire is a first person comedy game that was released back in 2020 for all platforms. In it, you are part of the Kill It With Fire exterminators, tasked with killing an infestation in a house, only to find it worse than you can have ever possibly imagined. Using a plethora of silly and outlandish weapons, you can destroy hordes and hordes of spiders, but now in 2023 we get this experience in VR! Now you can be fully immersed in arachnophobic nightmare or revenge fantasy. Unfortunately for me, it’s the former. I am not deathly afraid of spiders, but on average am not a huge fan of their presence so hearing the skittering sounds in the background doesn't play well to me. Which speaks a lot to what VR can add to a game like this. As per the original version, you get access to a plethora of hilariously inappropriate weapons while exploring varied environments to assassinate multiple different types of spiders. The weapons can be as simple as a shoe, or a rocket launcher. They really do escalate in a hilarious way. Each level has multiple parts, gated off by spider kills, so you have to kill more and more to progress. To assist in that is your trusty spider detector, which has a radar and beeps when spiders are nearby. You aren't just limited to weapons either, as anything in the environment can also act as a certified spider smasher. There’s a level of freestyle to the killing mechanics and the levels provide enough varied spaces to compliment your full armory. From gas stations to office buildings, your adventure in spider murder takes you all over that small town. Each level feeds into the next, in a way that makes sense for the story. Did I say story? Yes, there is a throughline to Kill It With Fire’s levels that tells a cohesive and hilarious narrative and the nature of the spider infestation. While I wouldn’t want to ruin all the wacky places the story takes you, I will say, it’s consistent with the tone of the game overall and that’s all you can ask for. The gating feels fair and easily doable, so the levels flow easy. The art design is a simplified cell shading look that really limits the details to the need to know objects, which isn’t a negative but this game isn’t winning any awards for graphical texture detail. Upgrades and battery packs can be found throughout the environment, which provide perks for the level as well as modifiers later on. As far as VR is concerned, Kill It With Fire adapts so-so. On your right wrist is the spider tracker, and on your left is where you deposit items you find like ammo or upgrades. Grabbing and using items feels relatively seamless with a few hitches but nothing game breaking. Grip is with one trigger, while the second trigger can magnetize items to you directly. Dual wielding weapons feels like an amazing fever dream. Aiming your shots is gladly forgiving, though throwing grenades has a lot to be desired. The real pain point is in the movement. You move with your left stick, while the right stick is snap movement. Both work fluidly but do not work with the motion functions of your brain. Free movement also works but all movement induced a heavy seasickness in me. I could only play two levels at a time before stopping due to the overwhelming queasy feeling. While this is a single knock against the game, it fully hindered my ability to play. I eventually finished the game, but it took a lot of time and patience. Also make sure you have a wide area of play, as I was taking large swings of my arms, frantically trying to kill spiders that I definitely punched a few walls. Kill It With Fire VR is a fantastic idea for a VR mode… on paper. A first person shooter with a creepy crawler spider theme? Fantastic! A shooter that provides a ridiculously large inventory of weapons? Perfect! The problem lies in the movement. We haven’t gotten a firm grasp of full movement with VR games and Kill It With Fire VR is no different. It’s as nausea inducing as it is hilarious as the concept, which honestly runs short a few levels before the end. Kill It With Fire into VR well mechanically, but maybe pop a dramamine before plugging in that headset.