No one puts a dark twist on a classic tale like American McGee. Having already put Alice through her action-horror paces a couple of times, the designer and his team at Spicy Horse Games turn to Red Riding Hood for Akaneiro: Demon Hunters. This Red is no helpless girl, but a member of a team of demon hunters in the Edo period of feudal Japan. Those demons aren't going to kill themselves, so it's up to you in this free-to-play action-RPG.
I used to have this reoccurring dream that I was being chased around my house by a giant black dragon. I never understood why, but I always thought it was strange that he never managed to catch me, considering the dragon was about the same length as the upstairs hallway he always chased me through. Leave it to Dreamscapes: The Sandman, a nightmarishly brilliant and haunting adventure game, to dredge up these memories.
The Maestro series started off a little morbid with Maestro: Music of Death, then turned a brighter leaf with Maestro: Notes of Life. The third in the series, Maestro: Music from the Void, brings back the doom and gloom, sending you to Vienna to investigate the disappearance of two musical prodigies. Oh, also, there's a smoke-like specter with skull faces lurking around. Keep an eye out for that.
In the world of modern time management games, all offerings tend to start with the same basic premise, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side of things, fans of the genre have a near limitless amount of gameplay to explore across dozens or hundreds of titles, but the similarities between all of these games quickly get boring. In New Yankee in King Arthur's Court 2, we see Alawar updating a genre that can quickly become stale with magical spells and lovely graphics that make the game worth playing.
Some ideas never seem to get old. Zombies, for instance, seem to hold an endless fascination for us, and time management games seem to have a similarly evergreen appeal. In 2012, Anino Games bundled the two concepts into one ghoulishly frantic package in Grave Mania: Undead Fever, and this year they bring us the sequel to that game, Grave Mania: Pandemic Pandemonium. While this new offering's not significantly different from its predecessor, it does offer a more streamlined approach to time management.
Without getting too deep in a review of a free-to-play browser game, we're all looking for a purpose in life. FrogDice took this idea and put it into Coin 'n Carry, where there's a reason for everything. Mini-games, crafting and shopkeeping live together in perfect harmony, which is great. The only problem is that it isn't quite as fun as it sounds like it should be.
There are some really exciting outbursts of creativity happening in video games when it comes to the first person perspective at the moment. Most recently Perspective blew my mind, sowed it back together again with fuse wire, and then blew it all over again. Now Antichamber has come along and proceeded to deal with that stubborn bit of my mind that refused to enter the stratosphere.
Galactic Express is built around one premise: Gathering a bunch of Tetris blocks, loading them up on a bunch of cargo ships, and blasting them across the galaxy. This amusing idea is backed up by accessible gameplay, colorful graphics, and a pleasing soundtrack. It's not without a few issues, but Galactic Express provides great service and great fun.