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retro

What we’ve been playing – mud slides, 9-0 wins, retro difficulty anguish, and space hoppers

by admin October 4, 2025

4th October

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing. This week, Kelsey digs out the DS to play The Urbz, for some reason; Tom inadvisably asks Jim for some help in Baby Steps; Marie leaps over a wall on a space hopper; Ed is determined to learn Final Fantasy Tactics, which keeps kicking his ass; Connor buys Persona 5 Royal in a Steam Sale; Chris gives a potted review of EA Sports FC 26; and Bertie tries to work out if he likes Steam sensation Megabonk.

What have you been playing?

Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.

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The Urbz: Sims in the City, DS

I recently had the urge to revisit all of The Sims games on Nintendo DS and started with The Urbz, which is an absolute nightmare in terms of balancing your Sims’ needs and their relationships, but it’s all worthwhile to see the story of Daddy Bigbucks’ downfall unfold. Unapologetically goofy, they just don’t make Sims games like this anymore, though I’d sure as hell love to see more story-based console iterations of Sim adventures.

-Kelsey

Baby Steps, PS5 Pro

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20 minutes into Baby Steps and I’m texting Eurogamer video’s Jim Trinca with a screenshot asking if I’ve gone wrong. I felt the game was pointing me in one direction and I deliberately looked around to go off in another, and well, I regret it. I’m stood at the bottom of a large mudslide of a hill, seemingly only able to get about half way up. Jim replies, stubbornly: “The only right way is up.”

Thanks, Jim.

-Tom O

Wobbly Life, Xbox Series X

I did not expect to get sucked in by Wobbly Life, but after a week of wobbling around the various different islands, I dare to say I’m hooked. And I first realised this game had me in its clutches when I stole my neighbour’s space hopper and used it to hop over the raised bridge into the city.

Wobbly Life is fabulously unserious, which is why I’ve found it becoming my evening entertainment this week. There’s no real time investment needed for it either. You can spend a few moments to a few hours wobbling around doing various jobs, or simply causing chaos by parking your helicopter in the road – the choice is yours.

Is Wobbly Life silly? Yes. Was this something I didn’t realise I needed? Absolutely.

-Marie

Final Fantasy Tactics, Switch 2

Honestly, I’ve really struggled with Tactics. As a fan of the series who missed its previous releases, I am absolutely the target market for this and expectations are sky high. Yet the early hours have proven rough. It’s a notoriously tricky game, but even with the overall lower difficulty of this re-release and its tweaks, I’ve repeatedly lost battles. In large part that’s due to the game not really explaining itself very well: there are so many intricacies to its wonderful Job system, but it demands a huge amount of time spent tinkering away in menus, only to fail yet another battle partway through.

I’m determined to stick with it, though. I already adore the tone of the game (I see where Final Fantasy 16 stole from now), the hand-drawn intro is simply gorgeous, and now I’m a chapter in, its political storyline absolutely has its hooks in me. At the least, I’m happy to be finally ticking this classic off my list.

-Ed

Persona 5 Royal, PC

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The Steam sale has hit me like Gabriel Agbonlahor was hit by his thirties: hard. Typically a good saver, my bank account has been ravaged by a variety of games because I have no kids and therefore no one relying on my frugality. Persona 5 Royale will be my child for the foreseeable future.

It turns out that Metaphor Refantazio has acted as a bridge to the wider Atlus catalogue, and I will happily take my place as the 2,342,857th person to say online that I think the game is pretty good. People say it’s slow and I’m not feeling it yet, though I suppose one doesn’t grasp how tall Everest is when you’re lounging around Dingboche.

So far Morgana is okay. I initially thought Ryuji was a wasteman but he’s grown on me with his tale of physical injury, and I’ve just met a girl who’s a total narc and who wants to keep me and the gang off the school roof where we do crimes. Pharmacy punk girl best character.

-Connor

EA Sports FC 26, PS5

Been gallantly suffering through this one for our review this year (coming soon!) and, you know what, actually I’m being harsh there. This year it’s alright? Well, sort of. Ultimate Team is comically arcadey this year, with stamina removed entirely so you can run around holding R2 the entire time like a 12-year-old. Offline modes, by contrast, are stodgy as all hell, with an equally comical leap between difficulties (on Professional I win 9-0, on World Class, which is one tier up, it’s a load of agonising 0-0 draws where I hardly touch the ball). An upside though is how incredibly customisable FC is these days, which deserves genuine praise. Look forward to me saying exactly this but in about 2000 more words of waffle, some time in the coming week.

-Chris

Megabonk, PC

It’s taken me a while to work out whether I like Megabonk or not, and I think I’m probably on the side of “like”, but it took some convincing. Megabonk is like a 3D Vampire Survivors, and it looks a bit like it’s been made in Visual Basic (hey I did computer science for a few months before dropping out) so it’s quite scruffy, which is sort of its charm, sort of not. And herein lies my dilemma actually: is this a rip-off or is it something more? It takes a while to distinguish itself.

But actually there is something unique here. WASD platforming and running and jumping and sliding bring a lot, and as you get into the loop of unlocking things after each run, it starts to feel more like there’s a generous amount of content here, albeit metered in the way it gives it to you, rather than the game Scroogily withholding things from you, sort of like a mobile game would.

More to come!

-Bertie

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Threads Of Time screenshot shows off its pixel art.

Game Updates

This Retro Love Letter To Chrono Trigger And Other JRPGs Keeps Looking Perfect

by admin September 30, 2025

Will Threads of Time be the next Sea of Stars, or instead another tedious JRPG homage that emulates the classics without being able to capture what really made them tick? That was my question when it debuted during last year’s Xbox Tokyo Game Show livestream. But every time this indie game has resurfaced since, it’s looked better and better. It returned to TGS 2025 with yet another trailer perfectly calibrated to play on fans’ hopes and dreams for another great 16-bit homage to all-time greats like Chrono Trigger.

The turn-based RPG with beautiful pixel art and an amazing 2.5D depth of field is being made by Canada-based Riyo Games and published by Humble Games. There’s a team of over 30 people working on it. We still don’t have a release date but it’s looking in better shape than some flashy projects that dazzle with trailers but fail to actually ship. I hope the team isn’t biting off more than it can chew, especially amid a tough funding environment for smaller indie developers and publishers, because everything in this trailer is exactly what I want from a Chrono Trigger spiritual successor:

The time-travelling adventure spans millions of years, from a prehistoric past to a cyberpunk future. Turn-based combat takes place in a dynamic view with bespoke attack animations. There’s an overworld map, town hubs, and NPCs to chat up. You’ll recruit characters from different eras and unlock team combos for battle. Why are you doing all this, exactly? It sounds like you’re working for the Order of Time Knights to try and protect the integrity of the timeline or something. Also: cool boss fights.

Threads of Time is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 with hand-crafted 2D pixel art. I can’t stress enough how great the environments and characters look. If that can hold up over an entire 10-20 hour adventure it will be an impressive achievement, especially for the indie studio’s first project. 2023’s Sea of Stars was the last game to pull this trick off, selling like hotcakes and winning nods at The Game Awards that year (DLC released earlier this year). Before that, there was 2021’s incredible-looking Eastward. I hope Threads of Time can deliver something equally special in the next year or two. It’s currently only confirmed for PC and Xbox.

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September 30, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds leak reveals more iconic characters coming to its roster, which retro fans will love

by admin September 20, 2025

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds still has some DLC to come, as physical copies show yet-to-be-revealed characters on their way to the kart racer.

As the CrossWorlds name suggests, this latest Sonic Racing game includes crossovers with a bunch of other franchises, both from Sega and other studios. The likes of Hatsune Miku, Minecraft’s Steve, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Pac-Man have all been revealed, among others.

Yet physical copies are now out in the wild ahead of the game’s release on 25th September, revealing more characters on the way.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – Come Race on Our Level CommercialWatch on YouTube

As shared on reddit, a flyer inside the box features logos for crossover franchises. It includes Capcom’s Megaman, who has yet to be officially revealed, suggesting we’ll be able to race around as the iconic hero.

Guys… I think Mega Man may have an unexpected return…
byu/Wrong-Minute-1319 inSonicTheHedgehog

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Sonic fan pages Sonic Stadium and Tails’ Channel have both confirmed the flyer in social media posts.

What’s more, Sonic Stadium revealed the back of the box features a render of NiGHTS, the jester character from the iconic Sega Saturn game, suggesting another character inclusion yet to be officially announced. It’s unknown if a themed race track will also be added.

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Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will be out next week across PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC.

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

‘Night of the Reaper’ Is a Retro Babysitter Slasher With a Mystery Twist

by admin September 20, 2025

Night of the Reaper begins with a familiar slasher movie scenario: a babysitter being stalked by a killer. The masked menace puts on a big show of toying with her, leaving creepy notes that almost feel like a prank until the danger gets all too real.

It’s a freaky opening sequence that signals director and co-director Brandon Christensen (Still/Born, Z) is well familiar with the horror tropes his movie is leaning into—and you can tell he knows his audience will pick up on them too.

Night of the Reaper‘s main reference point is, obviously, Halloween, the mothership of all babysitter horror movies. It’s set in the early 1980s—the era of Pat Benatar bangers on MTV—a little later than 1978’s Halloween. But advancing a few years means access to slightly more advanced technology, especially camcorders, a key plot device as well as a stylistic influence. The opening credits crackle with static “tracking” lines, and VHS tapes are important throughout.

The main events of the film pick up some time after the babysitter’s demise. We meet main character Deena (Gen V‘s Jessica Clement) as she’s walking down a quiet street festooned with Halloween decorations; the electronic score further underlines the Laurie Strode comparisons. Deena’s home from college, dutifully having what’s clearly a strained visit with her parents. When her high-school bestie, who’s still living in their hometown, gets sick, Deena agrees to help her out by stepping in to watch the local sheriff’s young son for the night.

Here we go again, the viewer might assume—and indeed, Night of the Reaper does seem to be setting up a similar fate for Deena as the girl in the opening scene. But there’s also a parallel storyline to unwind, as Sheriff Arnold (Ryan Robbins) starts receiving packages that lead him on a macabre scavenger hunt.

It seems more than possible that whoever killed the girl in the opening is back for more sinister taunting. Arnold remarks at one point, “Someone’s trying to tell me something.” But exactly what that message is (and who’s sending it) forms Night of the Reaper‘s central mystery.

As Night of the Reaper progresses, the tension and dread build in both stories. Deena’s gig watching little Max (Max Christensen) devolves from a playful game of hide-and-seek to an escalation of terror as doors slowly creak open, objects get rearranged by unseen hands, and a shadowy figure lurks in the woods just beyond the yard.

Sheriff Arnold, meanwhile, freely engages in some jaw-droppingly unprofessional conduct as he puzzles together a string of clues, especially once he realizes the babysitter’s cold case isn’t the only crime on the table. There are also hints at another death in the recent past that’s far more personal to him.

To share more about the plot twists that follow would compromise much of what makes Night of the Reaper enjoyable, but it’s not a spoiler to say it’s more of a horror whodunit than, say, something that drags its babysitting heroine into wild House of the Devil territory.

Halloween is the main influence here, but found-footage horror also makes its mark, as do other slasher series, including Scream. If the final reveals get a little too talky as Christensen hurries to explain all that’s come before, you have to appreciate the effort to fill in as many blanks as possible.

Standout performances in the cast come from Clement as the resourceful Deena, as well as Summer H. Howell—soon to be seen as Carrie White in Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series—who makes the most of her brief screen time as the first victim.

Night of the Reaper streams on Shudder starting today, September 19.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Brilliant retro horror throwback Crow Country has landed on PlayStation Plus, and it’s well worth your time

by admin September 19, 2025

Even without the cloying darkness and lumbering monsters, you get the impression Crow Country would be a pretty awful day out, what with its cramped thoroughfares and tatty décor, its frazzled animatronics and the kind of browning water features you can practically smell through the screen. It’s certainly no Disneyland that’s for sure, but there’s no arguing this delightfully grim Atlanta theme park is a perfect horror setting.

Crow Country

The year is 1990, and you – Agent Mara Forest – are a young (conspicuously young, in fact) law enforcement officer sent to the titular tourist attraction to investigate the disappearance of its owner, one Edward Crow. Not that any of this pre-amble especially matters; the star here is that grotty setting, which makes this survival horror throwback feel refreshingly distinct, even as it leans firmly into nostalgia.

The most obvious affectation here comes with those deliciously chunky visuals; all awkwardly bulbous polygons and low-res filters intended to capture the spirit of yesteryear rather than replicate it fastidiously. It works, though, giving the whole thing the vibe of a long-lost survival horror classic, tumbled straight out of a wormhole for brand-new eyes. And vibes, really, is what Crow Country is all about. This certainly isn’t a scary game, but it still manages to elicit some deliciously spooky tension all the same, as its pudgy meat-creatures shamble awkwardly around corners and spindly legged oddities lurch menacingly into view.

Crow Country trailer.Watch on YouTube

Structurally, too, Crow Country borrows heavily from the earliest iterations of Resident Evil and its ilk. This is a world of locked doors and improbably elaborate security mechanisms, of save rooms and liberally scattered notes, where progress is one of puzzle-solving, backtracking, and the occasional jolts of combat. Combat, frankly, I don’t love; rather than modern-day run-and-gunning, it’s got the staccato rhythm of old, where unholstering your weapons roots you to the spot as you aim wildly and awkwardly in search of a headshot. And if an enemy gets too close, you’re forced to holster up, leg it somewhere out of reach, and try again.

It’s fussy in a way that’s just a bit too retro for my tastes (and I say this as someone who’s been playing games since 1983), but in most other aspects, thanks to its smartly selective design, Crow Country manages to tip a hat to a bygone era without tilting into frustration. The control scheme is mercifully modern away from combat – good riddance tank controls – clues are recorded and easily referenced in safe rooms, and there’s none of that limited save nonsense, where you’re forced to agonise over your last typewriter ribbon, here. Even the likes of ammo and health restoratives are relatively abundant. And puzzles, too, seem pitched just right.

Image credit: Eurogamer/SFB Games

Puzzles, in fact, might just be my favourite bit of Crow Country so far. Sure, its sense of cheerily macabre menace is a hoot, but developer SFB Games (of Snipperclips fame) has crafted a series of delightful conundrums – compass-point tomb stone swivelling, date-matching clock cranking, and hidden code piano tinkling – that manage to feel inventive despite invoking familiar forms. Better yet, they’re involved enough to feel satisfying without resorting to head-spinning abstraction. Yes, I still have battle scars from Silent Hill 3’s Hard puzzle mode.

Granted, I’m only a couple of hours in at this point, but Eurogamer contributor Vikki Blake liked Crow Country a lot when she reviewed it on PC last year, so it feels like we’re on pretty solid ground here. And of course, now that Crow Country has made its way to PlayStation Plus, it’s the perfect opportunity for even remotely curious subscribers to give it some time.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Forget Nintendo, My Arcade Atari Gamestation Go With 200+ Retro Video Games Including Pac-Man Is Now Up for Preorder on Amazon

by admin September 15, 2025

My Arcade has produced a number of miniature retro arcade cabinets supporting officially-licensed games from developers like Capcom and Sega. But now, they’ve just launched an Atari gaming handheld, the Gamestation Go, that just looks beautiful. Pre-orders have opened up earlier this week. You can head on over to Amazon to reserve yours at a price of $180.

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200+ Video Games

The library is impressively stacked. Over 200 video games from yester-year, spanning the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari 7800 along with Atari Arcade as well as Jaleco and PIKO platforms. Play titles like Breakout, PAC-MAN, Balls of Steel, Missile Command, Centipede, and Asteroids. They all come pre-loaded, no download necessary. It does state is has built-in Wi-Fi for easy updates, but it’s unclear if that could mean more games added at some point in the future.

Design-wise the Atari Gamestation Go looks similar to a Nintendo Switch at a glance, with controller inputs along the side of a big 7-inch display. Also, like a Nintendo Switch, you can play its games on your TV. No dock required. Just a simple HDMI cable will allow you to put these classic titles on the big screen. You’ll probably want one with some decent length though as you’ll still be using the Atari handheld as the controller. It’s battery life will grant you about four to five hours of playtime on a single charge.

The original Atari consoles were well before we established the quintessential layout and design of modern video game controllers. My Arcade’s Atari handheld looks backward to the weird oddities of these old controllers, implementing multiple options like a trak-ball and numeric keypad. You can play these Atari titles authentically to these quirky inputs you just don’t see any more.

There are also all the modern conveniences like an analog stick, D-pad, bumpers and classic A-B-X-Y gamepad buttons (Notably in Xbox’s layout with the A button at the bottom). The various buttons, sticks, and other inputs are all illuminated with SmartGlow technology to both see the inputs in the dark and, more importantly, look cool.

The price point or $180 is a little rough. That’s more than half the cost of a Nintendo Switch for a console that just plays games from the 80s that are pretty easy to get your hands on for next to nothing elsewhere. This seems like a collector novelty more than anything, but definitely a cool thing to pick up if you want to escape skill trees and battle passes for awhile.

The Atari Gamestation Go is available to pre-order at Amazon and is set to release October 31 of this year.

See at Amazon

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Lego Super Mario World Pixel Art Model Gets Rare Price Cut At Amazon And Walmart

Game Updates

Lego’s Retro Super Mario World Model Gets Huge Limited-Time Discount At Walmart

by admin September 2, 2025

Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi is on sale for 20% off at Walmart thanks to the retailer’s newly launched Bricktember Sale. The promotion is loaded with exclusive Lego bundles as well as deals on rarely discounted sets. Walmart’s deal drops the price of the 1,215-piece pixel art display model to only $104 (was $130). The Bricktember Sale also includes the largest Lego Super Mario expansion playset. The 1,392-piece Bowser Express Train is discounted to only $80 (was $120).

Last week, Walmart and Amazon both had the Super Mario World Lego set for $117. Only Walmart has the $104 deal at this time, but Amazon’s $117 deal is still active. Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi launched last October and is one of only a handful of Nintendo Lego sets geared toward adults that is actively being produced today.

$104 (was $130)

Lego Super Mario World: Mario and Yoshi is a 1,215-piece set that authentically captures the pixelated aesthetic from the Super Nintendo era. It’s a fun build to piece together and a fitting display piece for all Super Mario fans, but especially those with a fondness for the 16-bit character designs.

The completed model is 15.5 x 10 x 4 inches and features several interactive components. There’s a dial behind Yoshi’s head that extends his tongue. The crank on the side of the base creates a more elaborate animation. Yoshi’s legs move to make it appear as if he is running. Adding to the illusion is the figure’s quick bouncing motion. Yoshi’s head inches forward and back, and Mario’s cape sways gently, just as it does in the game.

It also has an Action Tag, so if you own one of the Adventures with Lego Super Mario starter courses, the Interactive figures (Mario, Luigi, or Peach) will react.

Lego did a wonderful job making the instructions easy to follow. I used a combination of the physical instruction booklet and the Lego Builder app on iPad. The square pieces used to create the “pixel art” are numbered in the booklet, which was extremely helpful for me as someone with colorblindness.

Though technically part of Lego’s 18-plus “for adults” line, kids who have assembled sets in the 1,000-piece probably won’t have any issues.

Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi is one of only eight Lego Nintendo display models designed for adults. Earlier this year, Lego launched a 1,972-piece Mario Kart display model for $170. The elaborate build features Mario’s iconic red kart and the first realistic Lego replica of the character’s modern 3D look.

On October 1, exactly one year after Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi’s launch, Lego’s highly anticipated Game Boy replica will be available at major retailers and the Lego Store. The 421-piece display set only costs $60 and includes two buildable cartridges, three lenticular screens, multiple display stands, and several interactive features. Check out our Lego Game Boy preorder guide for more details, and keep in mind multiple retailers have sold out of preorders numerous times. Preorders sold out at Amazon in late August, but Walmart restocked the Lego Game Boy around the same time.

Lego Nintendo Building Sets for Adults

The most affordable Lego Nintendo display model is the 540-piece Piranha Plant, which you can find on sale at Amazon and Walmart for just $48 (was $60).

Save on the largest Lego Super Mario Playset

Lego Super Mario: The Bowser Express Train

As mentioned, The Bowser Express Train is the largest Lego Super Mario playset by piece count. There are a few Lego Nintendo display models for adults with more pieces–The Mighty Bowser is the biggest overall with approximately twice as many pieces–but the 1,392-piece Bowser’s Express Train is considered a Lego Super Mario Expansion Set. Based on The Bowser Express level in Super Mario 3D World, this elaborate and well-designed build has four train cars, a makeshift station, and numerous interactive elements such as a spring-loaded shooter. It comes with six buildable Lego Super Mario figures.

Up until now, The Bowser Express Train hadn’t received any notable discounts–it almost always sold for full price–so now’s your chance to save $40 on this awesome Bowser-themed Lego set.

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September 2, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The Final ‘Toxic Avenger’ Trailer Is a Goofy, Retro Call to Arms

by admin August 24, 2025

After two years of uncertainty whether it’d come out, the next Toxic Avenger movie is hitting theaters this upcoming week. But in case you’re not aware, the folks at BloodyDisgusting—a subsidiary of Cineverse, the film’s distributor—commissioned a trailer that it hopes will make you, in its own words, “show the fuck up.”

This new “grindhouse” trailer comes courtesy of Wilson Cleveland, a producer and actor who’s previously made fan trailers for Weapons and other films. Cleveland’s approach for Toxic Avenger was to directly mimic the trailer for the original 1984 film from Lloyd Kaufman, right down to the narration and visual filters. What updates he gives the reboot play up its humor (poor Toxie gets called a “fucked up hot dog” in the same clip he gets something thrown at him) and the gnarly violence, including an electrifying new kill involving Toxie’s radioactive mop.

Suffice to say, Troma really wants this Toxic Avenger to be seen by as many people as possible and revitalize the brand: Kaufman, reboot director Macon Blair, and its cast have been doing a lot of promo lately, and the character’s even made a return to comics thanks to Ahoy’s just-started ongoing series. The movie hits theaters on Friday, August 29, and you can get tickets here—and if it gets you interested in the earlier movies, Kaufman seems to recommend starting with 2000’s Citizen Toxie, his personal favorite.

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August 24, 2025 0 comments