Games of the week – The Red Lantern, 9 Monkeys of Shaolin, Remothered: Broken Porcelain and The Collage Atlas
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The Red Lantern
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC
Genre: Survival adventure
Price: £19.99
Barking up the right tree
Anything involving dogs is an easy win, but when it involves five sled dogs and survival from the wilderness to safety, there is something quite unique that grabs your attention. Defined as a resource management narrative game, The Red Lantern sees you as The Musher, someone who commands the pack. You will be confronted by an array of obstacles and dangers, ranging from wild creatures to frostbite, all while trying to make sure everything from food and energy, to bullets and healing kits are adequately rationed. The narrative and graphics tie The Red Lantern beautifully, though some runs can go annoyingly wrong. Best of all? You can pet the dogs. If only it lasted a little longer.
Skip to the end: Survival and dogs make for a perfect combination in The Red Lantern, alongside a strong story and stunning visuals.
Score: 7/10
9 Monkeys of Shaolin
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Genre: Side-scrolling adventure
Price: £24.99
Slashing fun
9 Monkeys of Shaolin attempts to make a fresh stamp on the beat ‘em up genre, set in a medieval China. This side-scrolling brawler sees you as Chinese fisherman Wei Cheng turned master of Shaolin martial arts, as you set about avenging the death of your friends and family slaughtered in a pirate raid. Across more than 25 levels, the difficulty can be a bit all over the place. A good variety of attacks, ranging from slashing and thrusting strikes, to kicks, as well as a dodge ability and parry move provide plenty of action when in combat, if only the enemies were more varied. And while the artwork hits the right spot, we sometimes found it difficult to see targets due to the similar colouring.
Skip to the end: 9 Monkeys of Shaolin offers nothing new to the side-scrolling beat ‘em up genre but that doesn’t stop it from having entertaining moments.
Score: 6/10
Remothered: Broken Porcelain
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Genre: Horror
Price: From £24.99
Broken – and in need of repair?
Remothered: Broken Porcelain acts as a prequel and continuation of 2018’s Remothered: Tormented Fathers, but serves up a healthy recap of events for newcomers without boring fans. You play Rosemary Reed in her search for missing teenager Celeste Felton, with flashbacks to Celeste’s time as a maid at the Ashmann Inn. There are definitely plenty of jumpy moments as you get stealthy but the story losses steam. The challenges you are presented with also aren’t all that challenging in the end and you’re left thinking, was that it?
Skip to the end: One more skewed to fans of the series who may want to explore the story more, but not all that exciting for newcomers.
Score: 6/10
The Collage Atlas
Platform: iOS
Genre: Adventure
Price: £4.99 per month with Apple Arcade
An artful delight
There is something dreamy about The Collage Atlas, an adventure title completely hand drawn by pen and ink on paper, with its sleepy music. Briton John William Evelyn spent four-and-a-half years working on the project, and it has certainly paid off in the final result of this – what can be best described as – interactive sketchbook. Each drawing is so detailed in black and white, it’s a delightful escape from the usual high-intensity titles we are used to. The most taxing thing you can expect is collecting letters to form sentences or solve very simple puzzles, and it’s great just like that.
Skip to the end: A meditative take on gaming, which wonderfully takes a calm approach; something we could all use during such uncertain times.
Score: 7/10
