VideoGamer Plays, May 9th 2015

Simon Miller, Head Of Video Production – Cry of Fear, PC

For the last few weeks I've been going through free game Cry of Fear for VideoGamer's ridiculous video series 'Two Cowards Play...'.

In case you don't know, I hate horror games, and the now deceased P.T. genuinely made me fear for my life. As sad as I am that Silent Hills will never see the light of day (at least in the guise we all thought), I'm confident it would have had an atmosphere like no other.

While Cry of Fear doesn't come close to that, it's a very impressive piece of work given it requires no financial offering and was originally a mod for Half-Life. Usually such projects would be dead on arrival, but Team Psykskallar's effort is commendable.

Yes, it relies on jump scares, but there is far more to it than just that. It builds intelligently, remains constantly intriguing and works combat in without overpowering you to the degree all fear is thrown out the window.

Pretty good…

Brett Phipps, Guides Editor – Project Cars, PS4

I’ve been racing around in Project Cars for much of the past week. I didn’t expect to enjoy the game as much as I did, with its difficulty serving as a welcome test more than an off-putting obstacle. With that in mind, I’m still pretty rubbish.

The biggest challenge, as noted in my review, is learning to drive the tyres. Starting on cold and ending on worn is a huge ask, with anything other than silky smooth steering leading to the car facing the opposite direction, even with all the assists on.

Hopefully it won’t be long before I’m a competent driver, with fewer assists to boot. But then the Tories did just get re-elected into government, so why even bother with anything?

Dave Scammell, News Editor – Toren, PC

This fascinating little adventure game is out on PS4 and PC next week and, while I haven't sunk enough time into it to tell you whether it's truly worth your cash, opening impressions point to a title that shares the same cold and eerie atmosphere as PS2 classic ICO.

Cast into stone at the beginning of the game before being reborn as an infant, Toren tasks the player with defeating a dragon which is terrorising the game's central tower. The live/die theme runs throughout the opening hour, with the player repeatedly turned into rock and reborn at the foot of the structure, but retaining access to the tools and pathways discovered by their frozen predecessor. One early scene, for example, sees the player climbing to the top of a tree to recover a sword used by their ancestor.

I'm still not sure how deep the rebirth mechanic goes, and the rough combat suggests Toren may have some problems outside of its intriguing setup. But after a captivating start, Swordtales has certainly made me curious to see more of what its dark fantasy adventure has to offer.

Steve Burns, Deputy Editor – Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, PC

Whisper it, but it seems VideoGamer has given a Wolfenstein game a so-called good score! Well, maybe that's because The Old Blood is, frankly, quite a lot better than The New Order: shorter, more cohesive, and less tonally jarring. It also features an interesting antagonist (for games, at least) and one of video gaming's best-ever one liners. Get on it.

Oh, and I'm now into nearly my 110th hour of PES. It's OK. I'm already dead.