Author: Obsidian

A Modern War of Ideas: What Is Warside? Warside is a turn-based strategy game that wears its inspiration on its sleeve. It’s a spiritual successor to Advance Wars, borrowing its colorful, grid-based combat and adding modern systems and deeper tactical options. Developed by indie team Lava Bird Studios, Warside introduces new units, targeted commander powers, and sea-based infantry in an effort to revitalize the genre. At its best, Warside feels like a fresh take on a beloved formula. But right now, it’s also an incomplete one. Despite solid mechanics and strong ideas, the game launches with bugs, balance issues, and…

A Cursed World Worth Exploring — Even If It Fights You Back Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is the kind of game that grabs your attention the moment you step into its bleak, hand-painted world. It’s part Soulslike, part Metroidvania, part old-school action RPG—with deep systems and a moody visual style that begs to be explored. Developed by Primal Game Studio, it aims to fuse challenging combat with rewarding exploration, layered progression, and a haunting narrative set in a dying, magic-ridden realm. While the final build is still in progress ahead of its 2025 release, the current version offers…

Bigger, Bloodier, and Even More Ridiculous “GORN 2” is Free Lives’ triumphant return to VR’s blood-soaked gladiator arenas. Released for PC VR and Quest 2/3 (with a PSVR 2 release expected later in 2025), this sequel takes everything the original game did right and dials it up with hilarious, absurd energy. Having played it extensively on the Valve Index via SteamVR, it’s clear “GORN 2” embraces its legacy of cartoonish violence while attempting to push the formula forward — though not without a few stumbles. What Makes GORN 2 Different? If the first “GORN” felt like a tech demo stretched…

A Gritty Apocalypse Worth Surviving Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days isn’t your typical zombie game. Forget the over-the-top gunplay and headshot counters. This is survival at its rawest—grim, emotional, and punishing. Developed by PikPok and now in Early Access on Steam, Our Darkest Days trades action hero fantasy for desperate realism. It’s not about how many zombies you kill. It’s about who you’re willing to lose to keep going. Set in 1980s Texas, this side-scrolling survival sim blends base-building, stealth-focused scavenging, and character-driven management. The result? A game that feels somewhere between This War of Mine, Project Zomboid, and…

A Snowy Stroll Through Silence and Soul Some games aim to test your skill. Others try to blow you away with spectacle or scale. Koira, from Belgian indie team Studio Tolima and published by DON’T NOD, does neither. Instead, it offers something rarer: a peaceful, emotionally driven experience that unfolds without a single line of text or dialogue. Koira isn’t long, complex, or mechanically deep. It doesn’t want to be. It’s a soft-spoken, hand-drawn tale of companionship and quiet resistance—set in a world of snow, song, and silence. And for the right player, it delivers something quietly powerful. What Is…

Some games want to entertain. Others aim to challenge. Centum wants to make you think—about who you are, how you choose, and what it even means to “play” something. Developed by indie studio Hack the Publisher, this experimental narrative-puzzle game drops players into a digital purgatory where identity, memory, and control blur into one unnerving experience. It doesn’t follow traditional structures, and it doesn’t care if you’re comfortable. That’s the point. If you’re the kind of player who needs clear objectives and clean endings, Centum might drive you up the wall. But if you’re curious, patient, and open to narrative…