I've always been drawn to games that push the envelope and introduce innovative concepts. Much like "Not For Broadcast," which had its share of merits despite some shortcomings, "Killer Frequency" arrives with a novel packaging yet struggles significantly in execution. Set against the backdrop of a pseudo-horror thriller set in the 80s, it places you in the role of a radio DJ, a premise brimming with potential…had it been done correctly.

The initial thrill of engaging with your producer and getting the hang of your space is captivating, but the game stumbles in maintaining its momentum: the pacing is unnecessarily laborious, ruining what should have been an exhilarating experience. Further dampening matters, moving within the studio and building feels cumbersome, and the puzzles, rather than encouraging creativity, confine you to a stringent, seemingly random narrative framework that feels punishing if you deviate from the exact path the writers had conceived.

Despite my enthusiasm and desire to embrace this game, these elements hold me back from recommending it, but I must commend Team 17 for trying something different and hope that more studios take such risks.

I'd be more entertained watching the paint dry.

I weighed the space bar down with my phone.

Mosaic is a janky game trying too hard to be an arthouse experience. Four of the five hours I spent playing was expended on an in-game button-pressing game while I listened to podcasts. Hard pass.

While I initially entertained the time-warping mechanic, and the simplicity of some of the puzzles did not deter me, the game quickly falls prey to finicky mechanics. Worse still, close to 10 hours in, the narrative is stubbornly lethargic, delivered by soulless voice acting. Play it if you must or if you are a puzzle-game completionist, but though it clearly holds its inspiration from the Portal games close at heart, The Entropy Centre is nowhere near that caliber of excellence.

The boomer in me really wants to shout out Kaizen Soze every opportunity I get. This game goes full blast on the atmosphere and must not be mistaken for a walking simulator or action/adventure game. It is a text adventure for the 21st century and is great at what it sets out to do, albeit it loses a few points for an otherwise loose narrative that almost goes nowhere. Then again, it started nowhere as well, so...yay?

Interesting setting. Otherwise, the game falls flat in just about every possible manner. The most maddening thing about this experience, however, is the voice acting: the protagonist reacts to the horrors around him as he would sitting behind the safety of a movie screen. Eating popcorn. Hard pass.

TL;DR Poppy Playtime is an enjoyable experience that will probably end up costing more than it deserves by the time all the chapters are released.

Having been fascinated by what the first chapter offered in ambience and lore, as well as the subsequent obsession with Huggy Wuggy and hip-hop remixes of the main theme (the J-Squad remix is top tier), I was looking forward to picking up where I had left off.

Sadly, the second chapter leaves much to be desired as it feels and plays like MOB Games was more interested in capitalizing on the meteoric fame of the first part and expanding their target audience to include children, given the PG-10 treatment of every character, represented best in the absence of any razor-sharp teeth.

Additionally, where the first chapter was rich with lore within a foreboding atmosphere, all the locations of the second part are cookie-cutter underground mashups that feel disjointed and difficult to envision as an extension of the toy factory.

There are more mechanics to play around with and an interesting antagonist in Mommy Long Legs that evokes nostalgic vibes of GLaDOS, but neither of these things was what made the first chapter the excellent horror experience it is.

Notwithstanding the horrendous mechanics that were clearly designed to be explicitly enjoyed on a tablet, go buy a friend a burrito instead. While charming at the outset, the game quickly falls victim to repetition whose gravity rips through its paper-thin plot and characters.

Go play GNOG.

One of these days, I'll figure out what they were on about when they conceived and play-tested this game.