Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley Review

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is coming to Android. It’s a relaxing adventure like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. An exact release date hasn’t been announced yet, but developer Hyper Games says the Android version is coming “later.”

There’s something in the gaming waters right now in terms of remaking classic games. While 2024’s Alone in the Dark isn’t the first remake of the seminal 1992 game that inspired the survival horror genre, it’s by far the most high profile. The protagonists Detective Edward Carnby and Emily Hartwood bear the likenesses and voices of actors David Harbour and Jodie Comer respectively, adding a distinct Hollywood flavor to this game that feels like it should be an HBO series.

It’s been more than 30 years since the original Alone in the Dark made its debut, and now we’re coming full circle with the game that helped define the survival horror genre. Clearly having an influence on  Resident Evil with its puzzles, weight management system and overall creepy theme, the remake of Alone in the Dark has definitely borrowed a few things from more recent games in Capcom’s series. Unfortunately, Alone in the Dark can’t decide what it truly wants to be and falls a little flat by the time it wraps everything up.

Given how often I’ve used the weather as an excuse for staying indoors and playing games, it’s fitting that I could take the opportunity with the sun showing itself to spend a little time on outdoorsy tasks. But when darkness falls, it was back to Helldiving into the morass of robot and bug enemies on alien worlds (often with terrible weather), and then enduring the horrors of The Outlast Trials with Tuffcub and Steve.

This past week, Blizzard revealed 8 new Hero Talent Trees in a sneak peek at the new system coming with the The War Within expansion. Our Guardian Druid guide writer, Pumps, offers an early review of the Elune's Chosen Druid Hero Talents for Guardian detailing the strong lunar fantasy that builds well into the Guardian kit but also contains a fair amount of filler talents which don't feel incredibly heroic.

If you’re looking for a new Switch game to play with your kids following titles like Bluey: The Videogame and Disney Illusion Island, get ready to meet the Moonmins. Snufkin: Melody of Moonminvalley comes to Switch and PC this week, giving the cartoon vagabond his own game. Developed by Hyper Games, the adventure title aims to capture the cartoon joy of Moomin, a Swedish children’s series, with some musical twists.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin was a blockbuster series with a gloriously simple premise. Years into the future - and in a continuity separate from the original TMNT - three of the original Turtles have been killed in battle leaving only one survivor, Michelangelo, to avenge his fallen family. It was tougher and darker than most Turtles comics and fans lapped it up.

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, the lovely looking musical adventure based on Tove Jansson's classic series of children's stories, finally has a released date and will be launching for Switch and PC via Steam on Tuesday, 7th March.

The release of Tekken 8 is a nostalgic hit. I recall spending hours of gameplay as a kid after being absolutely blown away by the game when it first launched on PlayStation all those years ago. It delivered insane excitement and was the envy of my brother, and even now, we often reminisce about how he cheated when he could never beat me. As the reigning champ in the family, I naturally had to test my skills with the new Tekken 8.

Games that pitch themselves as challenging experiences are a common occurrence these days, and Slave Zero X is one of them. Within that challenge, though, there has to be balance and a way for players to overcome them, combining growing player skill with levelling up, better equipment and more. At times Slave Zero X walks that tightrope, but at other time it feels so grossly imbalanced that all sense of any fun trying to beat the challenge is taken out of it.

We review Footprints, a hand management and racing game published by Chilifox Games. In Footprints, you play as a prehistoric tribe tying to survive and make your way.

We review Silicon Valley, an economic board game published by Grail Games. In Silicon Valley, players are trying to run the most successful startup in the valley.