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Onirism: A Dreamy, Chaotic Adventure Through Crearia (Game Review)

Onirism catapults you into the candy‑coated, surreal playground of Crearia as Carol, a ten‑year‑old firecracker on a one‑girl quest to reclaim her stolen plushie, Bunbun. The game fuses brisk platforming, chaotic shooter set pieces, and a parade of delightfully weird encounters; think bubble guns and rocket toys against sentient dolls and megalomaniac botanists; into a single, kaleidoscopic romp. It’s loud, gleefully absurd, and overflowing with imaginative touches that spark genuine wonder; when the systems align you get moments of pure, inspired joy, and when they don’t the rough edges are painfully obvious, reminding you this is a bold, ambitious title still finding its polish. What the Game Feels Like Carol’s journey feels like a child’s fever dream run through a neon arcade shooter: candy‑bright palettes, delightfully nonsensical set pieces, and a steady stream of goofy one‑liners that keep the tone buoyant. Levels are compact and labyrinthine rather than sprawling, favoring bran...

Alchemists: Banishment Brigade - Modern ritualists, cursed locations, and frantic teamwork against a hostile spirit. (Game Review)

Alchemists is a tense, cooperative ritual‑horror game for 1–4 players that turns elemental puzzles and monster encounters into frantic, teamwork‑driven play. Scavenging for Air, Fire, Water, and Earth components and coordinating the 4‑Element ritual creates high‑stakes moments where communication and quick thinking matter more than aim or reflexes. The game shines in group sessions; jump scares land harder, improvised strategies feel rewarding, and each map’s layout reshapes how you approach the ritual, but it’s held back by visual clarity and stability issues that sometimes undermine the tension. With clearer visuals, tighter equipment reliability, and a few targeted polish patches, Alchemists could become a go‑to co‑op horror hit; as it stands, it’s a wildly fun, if occasionally rough, experience best enjoyed with friends. About the Game Alchemists casts you as a modern ritualist: you and up to three allies comb cursed sites for the elemental components needed to perform the Air, ...

Captured: Hallway of Echoes - Explore a shifting corridor, document the strange, and escape. (Game Review)

Captured plunges you into a looping, late‑’90s nightmare where your only weapon is a camera and your only escape is perfect recall. The game refines analog horror into a razor‑sharp, replayable ritual: wander a procedurally generated hallway, zoom in on increasingly surreal anomalies, survive three uniquely hostile entities, and correctly catalogue thirteen disturbances to shatter the loop. It’s lean by design; eschewing longform story for mounting dread, tactile VHS‑tinged atmosphere, and a satisfying memory‑based puzzle that turns every run into a tense, focused test of observation and nerve. How it plays • Core loop : Move from room to room, scan for subtle changes, zoom in with your camera, and accurately classify anomalies; Object, Electronic, Lighting, Water, Missing Room, or Deformed Room. Missed or misidentified anomalies wipe your camera’s memory and reset your progress, turning each capture into a high‑stakes cognitive puzzle rather than a passive checklist. • Tension mechan...

Cookies with Santa & Mrs. Claus: A Free Family Holiday Event in Cullman! 🎄🍪🎅🤶

The magic of Christmas is coming to Cullman, and families are invited to a joyful afternoon of holiday fun at Cookies with Santa & Mrs. Claus —a free event created especially for children and the young at heart! 📅 Date: Sunday, December 14 ⏰ Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm 📍 Location: Lesley Hyde – State Farm Insurance 307 2nd Ave NW, Cullman, AL Hosted by Alabama’s own Lisa Jones Photography and their beloved “A Story with Santa” company, this festive gathering brings the magic to life with a professional Santa and Mrs. Claus ready to meet every child with a warm smile and holiday cheer. Kids can: 🎅 Visit with Santa & Mrs. Claus 🍪 Enjoy cookies and milk ✨ Fill out and share their Christmas wish lists 🧑‍🧑‍🧒 Take part in a heartwarming family-friendly holiday celebration for all ages! And in the spirit of giving, organizers will be collecting unwrapped toy donations for “Toys of Joy,” benefitting children throughout Cullman County—ensuring no child is left beh...

SH3 Releases The Blue Album: A Heart-Shattering, Healing Portrait of Love After Loss

Toronto artist, producer, and music therapist SH3 has released her most intimate and transcendent project yet: The Blue Album — a deeply personal body of work born in the aftermath of losing her partner. Available now across all major streaming platforms, the album serves not only as a tribute but as a roadmap for healing, crafted by an artist who has spent her life helping others navigate grief. Created in the months following her partner’s passing, The Blue Album is rooted in J. William Worden’s therapeutic framework, “The Tasks of Mourning.” Each track mirrors a different task, guiding listeners through acceptance, pain, adjustment, and connection. Rather than focusing on the well-known “5 Stages of Grief,” SH3 embraces this more active, compassionate model — turning her private sorrow into a communal act of healing. The album opens with “Love Again,” where SH3 immediately sets the emotional tone with the lyric, “I’ve lost a treasure that’s now underground.” The song represe...

Etrange Overlord Marches Into Battle on March 26, 2026

NIS America’s New Musical Action-Adventure Brings Chaos, Comedy, and a Revolving Battlefield to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and PC NIS America has officially announced that Etrange Overlord , the studio’s upcoming musical action-adventure RPG from Disgaea and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure creator Sohei Niikawa , will launch March 26, 2026 for Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 5 , PlayStation 4 (digital) , and PC via Steam . A brand-new release date trailer is now available, offering the first extended look at the game’s irreverent humor, musical flair, and fast-paced combat. Players can also dive deeper into the game’s development and themes tomorrow: Niikawa will host an AMA on Reddit’s r/JRPG on December 5 at 4:00 PM PT , with fan questions gathered an hour beforehand. A Hellish Fate… With Sweet Rewards At the heart of Etrange Overlord is the ill-fated but delightfully stubborn Étrange von Rosenburg , a duke’s daughter who is abruptly executed after being falsely accused of ass...

First-Ever Xbox Bowl Kicks Off December 18 at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas

College football is leveling up this postseason as Xbox teams with ESPN Events to launch the first-ever Xbox Bowl , set to take place Thursday, December 18 at 9 p.m. ET. The inaugural matchup, airing live on ESPN2, will feature Missouri State (CUSA) in its first bowl appearance squaring off against Arkansas State (Sun Belt), marking a major milestone for both programs and an electrifying new entry into bowl season. Hosted at the Ford Center at The Star —the world-class home of the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters in Frisco, Texas—the Xbox Bowl brings gaming culture and college football excitement together in a fresh, fan-focused experience. A New Era for Bowl Season “We’re proud to welcome Xbox as the title sponsor of this bowl game as their brand aligns perfectly with the excitement and energy of college football,” said Sean Johnson , Executive Director of the Xbox Bowl. “Plus, we couldn’t be more excited to host two great football teams for the first Xbox Bowl.” The game also marks...

Heistfest: Joyride of the Damned - Fast, furious, and gloriously chaotic, every run is a show. (Game Preview)

Heistfest catapults you into a relentless, high‑velocity noir where chaos is the currency and survival is the only score that matters. The demo plays like a hand‑drawn action comic come to life: you’re Public Enemy #1, a legendary getaway driver tearing through destructible, globe‑trotting cityscapes, and each run is a compact, escalating gauntlet of improvisation, stunts, and cinematic near‑misses. Tight, responsive driving meets explosive environmental interaction, while the stark black‑and‑white art keeps the screen readable even as helicopters, tanks, and airstrikes turn the map into glorious, combustible mayhem. What the game delivers • Arcade driving with teeth : Tight, responsive top‑down handling makes every high‑speed maneuver feel visceral; drifting, tactical ramming, and launching off destructible scenery all feed the same frantic loop, turning escapes into skillful, cinematic set pieces. • Relentless escalation : Police cruisers are just the opening salvo; spike traps, hel...

Turnbound: Haunted Inventory Arena - A tense, clever demo of asynchronous autobattles and inventory strategy. (Demo Preview)

Turnbound thrusts you into a cursed board game where your inventory is both weapon and strategy, every tile you place can mean survival or doom. The demo distills that premise into a tight, competitive inventory battler: draft tiles, arrange them like inventory‑Tetris, and watch your layout auto‑resolve against the ghosted builds of other players. What feels simple at first quickly reveals deep cause‑and‑effect synergies, tense resource decisions, and satisfying emergent combos; clever, tense, and far more strategic than a demo has any right to be. What the demo gets right • Core hook : Every tile placement carries weight; cause‑and‑effect loops trigger satisfying chain reactions that reward spatial foresight, planned merges, and multi‑turn setups rather than single‑move power plays. • Asynchronous PvP : Opponents leave behind persistent ghost builds you can challenge anytime; matches resolve quickly and unpredictably, turning each run into a fresh puzzle of counterplay and adaptation...

Sanatorium: The Impostor’s Diagnosis - Forge a diploma, hide the truth, and choose who lives. (Game Review)

Sanatorium - A Mental Asylum Simulator is a daring, morally fraught card‑driven workplace sim that masterfully evokes the Roaring Twenties and the oppressive atmosphere of institutional care; its narrative tension and ethical dilemmas are compelling, but the deliberately restrictive core loop; forcing blind preselection of tests and treatments; often feels punitive rather than illuminating, and the experience is occasionally undermined by technical and UI rough edges. About the Game Sanatorium - A Mental Asylum Simulator puts you in the shoes of a debt‑ridden journalist who forges a medical diploma to infiltrate Castle Woods in 1923, posing as a doctor to diagnose patients and win your aunt’s freedom while desperately concealing your impostor status. The game marries a card‑driven diagnosis system with daily planning and branching narrative across a four‑chapter campaign, forcing you to pick tests and treatments from layered decks before you meet each patient and live with the conseq...