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You Have To Be prettysmart To Survive The Spirit Lift In A Haunted Hotel

A retro horror deckbuilder inspired by 90s games and haunted theme park rides, The Spirit Lift blends card-based strategy with paranormal investigation inside a cursed hotel where survival is never guaranteed.

The Spirit Lift Box Welcome back to the 90s. Drawing on the aesthetics of Atari’s Haunted House and Disney’s Tower of Terror ride, The Spirit Lift aims to deliver Ghostbusters-style thrills through a retro horror deckbuilder roguelike. Set in a haunted hotel, players investigate strange goings-on by choosing action cards that come to life on PC via Steam. prettysmart games invites players to control a trio of teenage paranormal investigators, uncover the truth behind the haunting, and hopefully survive the night.

From the Press Release:

Build a starting deck by selecting a plucky team of three teen paranormal investigators from a pool of eight characters, then venture forth into a spooky, abandoned hotel. Each character alters the starting deck, affecting battle strategies and offering distinct story revelations depending on who joins the fray. Scour rooms across 13 floors for secrets, new gear and upgrades, then head to the elevator to ascend to the next ghastly level.

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Lights, Pencil, The Fable Manga Build Roguelike… in Action! A Playful Mash-Up in Mixed Genres.

The Fable Manga Build Roguelike is a fresh sense of style, turning every encounter into a right-to-left comic page that springs to life. It’s ambitious, clever, and an intriguing experiment for fans of the long-running series.

Mono Entertainment & Kodansha
PC and Nintendo Switch

Instead of traditional turn-based combat or flashy real-time brawls, The Fable Manga Build Roguelike hands you a very different way to stage a fight. You’re not pressing attack buttons; you’re making a comic. Each action is defined by a randomized manga panel you must arrange, and the layout flows right to left like an authentic Japanese graphic novel. When the page goes live, the game animates those panels and decides the outcome.

It’s clever, and best appreciated on a big screen. My only regret during playtesting was requesting the Nintendo Switch code first. This isn’t a small-screen experience; after activation issues, shifting to the Steam version became necessary. Unless the handheld is attached to an adapter for a big screen, enjoying the art is like squinting to appreciate the details.

Continue reading “Lights, Pencil, The Fable Manga Build Roguelike… in Action! A Playful Mash-Up in Mixed Genres.”

Will RailGods of Hysterra Be Fired Up and Ready for Travel in April?

Hopefully, the developers corrected the issues I found in the demo release for RailGods of Hysterra’s Early Access.

Early Access Will Be Available on April 10, 2025

Troglobytes Games’ RailGods of Hysterra is a survival game which needs an accessibility option if I’m going to keep playing. That’s because the text was incredibly tiny! Even on a 45 inch screen, I had trouble reading and there were no in-game controls to adjust contrast. I spent a week with the demo before deciding to get my eyes checked. They’re good, but even when I revisited it, I struggled with reading.

When there’s a game inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s fantasy world known as the Dreamlands. I’m certainly excited. Although it doesn’t borrow from any of ths stories, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time to find tie-in material. For now, this game is about surviving this world. When this version mixes up resource management, item builds and land exploration, I better be careful about what’s ’round the corner.

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In Rewinding Games’ Wild Demo of Roots Devour, Playing a Hungry Monster is Easy!

And we know which entity the player’s avatar will become in the intro to Roots Devour! Read on for our spoiler regarding whom that Great Old One is.

Spoiler Alert

Roots Devour is a puzzle solving game by Rewinding Games set in some dark woodland area, where players can play the villain! It borrows from H.P. Lovecraft‘s writings and perhaps Evil Dead too. That’s because the creature I’m playing had to seek not-so-innocent vertebrates to drink their blood! They give form I’m in the required essence to survive and grow. As the name suggests, it’s about extending a living tree’s roots to as far as they can go!

What’s effectively creepy is the fog of war which envelops this game. I’m never within it, and unless I extend the roots to explore, what’s revealed are either difficult terrain or playing cards. They represent either various aspects of a dying forest or victims I can either drain or have to figure a way around! This maze took more than a few tries to reach any place meaningful. Continue reading “In Rewinding Games’ Wild Demo of Roots Devour, Playing a Hungry Monster is Easy!”

Just How Intense is It? Climbing Tokoyo: The Tower of Perpetuity

After a few hours of play, I’ve made it as far as the third boss fight, but who really knows how much further I’ll have to go to reach the top of The Tower of Perpetuity.

Now Available on Steam
Disclaimer: A review copy was supplied.

“Just one more run”

Surprisingly addictive, Tokoyo: The Tower of Perpetuity is a new action platformer from Playism, the publishers of Tasomachi: behind the Twilight (which I’ve reviewed previously), the La-Mulana series, and the recent Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth.

A simple-looking pixel-art platforming game, Tokoyo has you frantically collecting upgrades and managing your skills to climb floor-by-floor up a mysterious tower. The story is simple and doesn’t get in the way of the action. Each of the playable characters has a different reason for being trapped in a mysterious tower full of traps and monsters, but the only way to get out is to reach the top.

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EarthWorks Games’ Forts Takes to the High Seas in this latest DLC

Players have to deal with buoyancy physics. Like the original, you can’t stack haphazardly without causing the building to collapse. In this latest, you can’t weigh down your own ship.

Now available on Steam (PC)

EarthWork Games’ Forts is a video game that encourages players to build structures on the fly to not only protect the base but also prevent resources from being destroyed. It’s gained enough accolades since 2017 to discuss the finer points of strategy and construction on Discord. To refresh the game, this company’s downloadable content has taken the battle to NEARLY everywhere, including the moon!

The High Seas DLC is the latest, and it introduces an all new story and crazy dynamic to make combat tough. Max Capacitor is a captain in the United Navies in search of his father (a scientist) who made a mega-weapon. Whoever finds him first holds the fate of the entire world in his hands. This idea needs a graphic novel to fill in the character development, and until that happens, the cut scenes shouldn’t be skipped.

Players have to deal with buoyancy physics. Like the original, you can’t stack haphazardly without causing the building to collapse. In this latest, you can’t weigh down your own ship.

Continue reading “EarthWorks Games’ Forts Takes to the High Seas in this latest DLC”