During PAX East in Boston, I had the opportunity to play Grim Trials for about half an hour, but that wasn’t nearly enough time to really sink my teeth in. Not only because that isn’t really enough time to get a full impression, but also because what I played was genuinely fun, and I’m excited to eventually dive back in.
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A dark, Slavic myth-themed dungeon-crawling action RPG sounds amazing on paper, and that’s what Bylina from developer Far Far Games sets out to be. This year at PAX East in Boston, I got to play roughly 20 minutes of what I can only assume is an early build of the game. Unfortunately, it was quite a buggy mess and largely unenjoyable, but the bones of a great game are here, especially if you’re a fan of other ARPGs of its ilk. I just think it needs a bit more time in the oven.
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It was a few days before I was set to hop on a plane to travel across the country to Boston to attend my first PAX East. My schedule was set, and I was ecstatic to check out all the…
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I was able to get about half an hour with Fractured Blooms, and came away quite impressed. I’m not typically the biggest farming sim gamer, but I am SmashPad’s resident horror guy, and the spooky vibes here were immaculate. From what I’ve played, the farming sim mechanics are as crucial to the game’s overall loop as the esoteric, psychological horror themes, and the blend of genres works well in a way I wasn’t expecting.
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It’s not every day a game has such a profound emotional effect on me, and even less so with pixel art platformers. But Love Eternal is one of the weirdest games I’ve ever played, and in all the most complimentary ways.
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Like previous years, my top 10 games of 2025 was pretty tough to nail down. There are some easy lock-ins, considering some of these were among my most anticipated titles in recent memory, and definitely a few surprises that affected…
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Little Nightmares broke the platforming mold with the original game’s release in 2017. It expertly blended 2D and 3D platforming with horror elements, with developer Tarsier Studios releasing some DLC, a mobile entry, and a full on sequel over the…
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At PAX West 2025, I got to get some hands-on time with Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, PopCap Studios’ and The Lost Pixels’ 4K upgrade of their original mobile game.
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As the resident horror sicko here on SmashPad, it fell upon me to check out Deadcam, a self-proclaimed analog indie horror game from developer Joure Visser. Currently in early access, Deadcam is an anthology horror game that will tackle multiple…
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Last year, if you told me that Prime Video’s Secret Lair episode “PAC-MAN: Circle” would actually as serve as the secret prequel to a dark, post apocalyptic Pac-Man Metroidvania from Bandai Namco, I would have said… Yeah, that makes sense.
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The Nintendo Switch is rounding the corner on its eighth birthday. We’ve seen countless ports and remasters of their first party catalog from the Wii and Wii U libraries of games. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD continues this trend in…
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After last year’s incredible release line-up and stacked Top 10, I was anticipating a slower, more easy-going 2024. But boy was I wrong – we saw the release of some of the best JRPGs this medium has to offer, countless…
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by Myles Obenza