John Walker
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Writing For
Rock Paper Shotgun
Eurogamer
KotakuLatest Reviews
Beacon Pines
Explore concurrent realities in this extraordinarily beautiful mystery adventure
MO:Astray
I’ve absolutely loved this. It’s so refined, so well crafted, so supremely gory for something with such deceptively simple presentation, and has a difficulty pitch that feels always challenging, but remarkably fair. At a measly £11, you’d be silly not to give it a go.
Whispers of a Machine
I'm also now intrigued to play the game again, and make different choices, look for different solutions to earlier puzzles, to see how differently it plays when I don't have, say, the ability to zoom in on distant details with my super-eyes. It's not a long game - it won't...
Supraland
It's those sorts of smarts that makes this such an absolute joy of a game. It really does stand comparisons with Portal, Zelda and Metroid, which is no mean feat, and not words I'd offer lightly. That it's a combination of the three approaches means that, no, it never matches...
Baba is You
I'm not going to pretend to have finished it. I'm hoping this is a game I'll keep playing for a long time, picking away at puzzles, and then desperately hoping for extra levels to be added later. But this is wonderful. Completely wonderful. Original, inspired, challenging, and most importantly of...
Hypnospace Outlaw
I've had such a time with this. I've been bemused, entranced, confused and delighted. I've laughed a lot, been slightly creeped out, and constantly astonished at the level of detail in every element of this. There is just SO much to do, to explore, so many secrets I know I've...
Otherwise, this is really hard to recommend. The music, which really should have been the focus, is tinny ultra-basic beats, sounding like midi files in their simplicity. There’s no attempt at livening it up with real instruments, and the game’s Guitar Hero-style button-along sequences are insultingly rudimentary. Crikey, I just...
Crackdown 3
There's obviously a long and sad story to be told here. The tales of how it swapped development studios, of how it was supposed to be an Xbone launch title, why it never became the promised technical masterwork that made cloud-based processing a part of gaming. It reeks of development...
Eastshade
It's definitely a shame that painting isn't more of a thing. But this really comes together. A slow, gentle, personal RPG, with neat little stories, characters I remember, and a real sense of having spent time in a special place. Oh, and last of all, in Eastshade if you want...
Pikuniku
This is a joyful, happy-faced good time. There are "boss fights", but they're deliberately not an impediment to progress. (One especially in a way that I shan't spoil, but gosh it made me laugh.) The chatter is plentiful, but always fun to read (or enact). And it's extremely funny.
The First Tree
And sure, yes, no matter how blandly ordinary our childhoods might have been (and goodness knows mine was) we all come away from the loss of a parent with regrets, of unspoken words, of unresolved histories. I'd love to have played a game that tried to explore that rocky landscape,...
Dusk
I've adored this. It's so damned smart, the level layouts as good as anything from the '90s heyday of the genre (perhaps with the exception of Dark Forces? I'm not sure if I'm willing to let that game's meticulous architecture slip from the top spot), the secrets rewarding to hunt...