Tom Quirk
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Writing For
Checkpoint GamingLatest Reviews
Gungrave G.O.R.E is the newest mainline followup to the Gungrave arcade shooter franchise, developed by Korean studio Iggymob. The series has been dormant for some time, having not seen a mainline release since 2004 (Gungrave VR in 2019 notwithstanding). While the game is certainly competent as a shooter and contains...
Star Ocean: The Divine Force is the latest in Square Enix and Tri-Ace’s long-running RPG franchise which combines Star Trek-esque sci-fi and fantasy. After a bit of a stumble with the divisive last game, Integrity and Faithlessness, this most recent entry is mostly a promising return to form, bringing back...
Batora: Lost Haven is an isometric planet-hopping action RPG where you play as Avril, a teenager gifted with mysterious powers and tasked to save the Earth from catastrophe. With its ambitious narrative scope and innovative Nature-switching gameplay, it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on, but its underbaked cast and somewhat...
Moonscars
Moonscars is a visually striking 2D action game drawing inspiration from other high-difficulty, narratively minimalist games such as Dark Souls and Hollow Knight. Its painterly art style and brutal difficulty will be draws for fans of the Soulslike genre, even if its storytelling often falls on the side of confusingly...
The Blue Burrower returns in Shovel Knight Dig, bringing the franchise’s particular brand of pixelated platforming in a roguelike direction as you venture down in the mines to recover your treasure from the nefarious Hexcavators. Shovel Knight Dig is a short but highly enjoyable time, and is the most fun...
Soulstice is a new spectacle-filled action game by Reply Game Studios, filled with challenging encounters and intricate combat system. Drawing clear inspiration from the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta franchises, Soulstice stands up enough on the merits of its worldbuilding and combat to distinguish itself from those titles and is...
PAC-MAN WORLD Re-PAC brings the cult classic 1999 platformer to modern platforms, complete with a substantial graphical overhaul and fine-tuned mechanics. Although the experience holds up well enough today next to modern platformers, the somewhat barebones nature of the remake may not make it worth returning to for nostalgic fans.
Scathe
Scathe is a fast-paced co-op-focused bullet hell FPS, where you as the titular protagonist must explore a hellish maze and mow down demons by the hundreds. Although the concept of a co-op, bullet-hell take on DOOM is one that certainly has merit, Scathe’s execution of said concept leaves something to...
Lost Epic is a 2D Soulslike action-RPG wherein the player must travel across the land slaying 6 malevolent deities on behalf of a clan of witches. With its flashy combat and gorgeous art direction, there’s quite a lot to like in Lost Epic. However, it lacks the depth of the...
Eyes in the Dark: The Curious Case of One Victoria Bloom is a gothic twin-stick shooter roguelike platformer that mixes and matches a lot of features from previous exemplars in the roguelike genre to make something quite unique and special. While its monochrome art style and challenging degree of RNG...
Neon White
Neon White is a first-person action game where the goal is to get through each stage as fast as possible. With a stunning yet minimalist art direction and elegantly smooth gameplay, Neon White is hard to put down once you start, and an easy recommend for anyone looking for a...
Souldiers
Developed by first-time Spanish developer Retro Forge, Souldiers is a charming, if imperfect, pixel-art 2D metroidvania action-platformer. It draws influences from many other games, but ultimately ends up creating something greater than the sum of its parts. Souldiers has its flaws, but the charming art style and compelling exploration and...
