Katharine Castle
@karthupial.bsky.social
UX writer. Former games journalist. Views are my own. DFTBA.
Hold up, why has no one made a bigger thing about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment having both incredi musou action *AND* half a Star Fox game hidden inside it??? An insane mash-up that Koei Tecmo has absolutely nailed - all with a bangin' battle theme to boot!
November 25, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Hold up, why has no one made a bigger thing about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment having both incredi musou action *AND* half a Star Fox game hidden inside it??? An insane mash-up that Koei Tecmo has absolutely nailed - all with a bangin' battle theme to boot!
Playing Dishonored: Death of the Outsider for the first time and hot damn, what a great video game, amirite?
November 23, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Playing Dishonored: Death of the Outsider for the first time and hot damn, what a great video game, amirite?
Instant wishlist, heck yeah. January can't come soon enough.
We don't know. What we do know is the wiring diagram works. We built it, virtually, in @godotengine.org. We fed it scans of the books we found.
And the books are very, very strange. The "game" that resulted is also strange.
We're hoping people can make sense of it for us.
And the books are very, very strange. The "game" that resulted is also strange.
We're hoping people can make sense of it for us.
TR-49 on Steam
Narrative deduction meets audio drama, from the creators of Heaven’s Vault, Overboard! and A Highland Song.
store.steampowered.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Instant wishlist, heck yeah. January can't come soon enough.
Earning a C on easy in that brutal 10-minute-gauntlet final level is the best I'll ever achieve in life.
Letting me play Lumines Arise is like handing a Stradivarius to a chimp. Easily the biggest gulf between the quality of the game and the quality of what I achieve in it.
November 19, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Earning a C on easy in that brutal 10-minute-gauntlet final level is the best I'll ever achieve in life.
Reposted by Katharine Castle
On @eurogamer.bsky.social this morning: well, the picture says it all, really. (Oh, and some hints for our next game, too.)
How Inkle's Heaven's Vault started life as a Doctor Who game, before it was exterminated
Inkle's Jon Ingold on how Heaven's Vault started life as a Doctor Who game.
www.eurogamer.net
November 18, 2025 at 10:29 AM
On @eurogamer.bsky.social this morning: well, the picture says it all, really. (Oh, and some hints for our next game, too.)
Videoverse is so dang good. Heartfelt, funny, and a love letter to consoles, self-discovery and early online communities. If you missed it on PC, you have no excuse not to pick it up now. It's out everywhere!
November 14, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Videoverse is so dang good. Heartfelt, funny, and a love letter to consoles, self-discovery and early online communities. If you missed it on PC, you have no excuse not to pick it up now. It's out everywhere!
Been thinking about Flat Eye again recently after rediscovering its wonderfully ambient soundtrack, and cor, more people should have played that game! A speculative management sim from the devs behind Night Call, I mean, what's not to like?
store.steampowered.com/app/1358840/...
store.steampowered.com/app/1358840/...
Flat Eye on Steam
Flat Eye is a resource management sim with an emphasis on story and narrative choices. Oversee the world’s leading technological hub while you explore stories linked to discoverable technology and int...
store.steampowered.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Been thinking about Flat Eye again recently after rediscovering its wonderfully ambient soundtrack, and cor, more people should have played that game! A speculative management sim from the devs behind Night Call, I mean, what's not to like?
store.steampowered.com/app/1358840/...
store.steampowered.com/app/1358840/...
Reposted by Katharine Castle
How lucky we are to have Cas and the team throwing everything at every issue of APWOT. An honour to be asked to contribute - so many great writers I can't wait to dig into. Its annual arrival is a highlight of my gaming year. Treat yourself to a copy and you won't be disappointed.
🤖🌟 Issue 6 of APWOT is live on Kickstarter! 🌟🤖
Featuring a beautiful lenticular cover of Astro Bot marking both our feature interview with the game’s director, Nicolas Doucet, and the 30th anniversary of PlayStation.
Get in there!
💫 kck.st/4i1GAHT 💫
Featuring a beautiful lenticular cover of Astro Bot marking both our feature interview with the game’s director, Nicolas Doucet, and the 30th anniversary of PlayStation.
Get in there!
💫 kck.st/4i1GAHT 💫
November 4, 2025 at 9:10 PM
How lucky we are to have Cas and the team throwing everything at every issue of APWOT. An honour to be asked to contribute - so many great writers I can't wait to dig into. Its annual arrival is a highlight of my gaming year. Treat yourself to a copy and you won't be disappointed.
You're all sleeping on Drop Duchy, a Tetris-infused deck-building roguelike that's also sort of a city builder, and you don't even know it.
store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/...
Drop Duchy on Steam
Build your duchy piece by piece in this refreshing hybrid rogue-lite game. Use block-dropping mechanics to collect resources, recruit troops to fight against belligerent armies, and let every block sh...
store.steampowered.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:31 PM
You're all sleeping on Drop Duchy, a Tetris-infused deck-building roguelike that's also sort of a city builder, and you don't even know it.
store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2525310/...
Some great horror book picks in here. Would also add Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium and Hye-Young Pyun's The Hole if you're after some more sinister reads!
‘It’s insanely sinister’: horror writers on the scariest stories they’ve ever read
‘It’s insanely sinister’: horror writers on the scariest stories they’ve ever read
Bloodthirsty ghosts, sadistic supercomputers, creepy childhood games ... Mariana Enríquez, Paul Tremblay, Daisy Johnson and others on the tales that kept them up at night
www.theguardian.com
October 25, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Some great horror book picks in here. Would also add Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium and Hye-Young Pyun's The Hole if you're after some more sinister reads!
Incredible evening hearing Sayaka Murata talk about Vanishing World, the reality of modern relationships (with real and non-real people) and *checks notes*, yep, "caves of meat" tonight at the London Literature Festival.
October 22, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Incredible evening hearing Sayaka Murata talk about Vanishing World, the reality of modern relationships (with real and non-real people) and *checks notes*, yep, "caves of meat" tonight at the London Literature Festival.
I've been wondering whether Nintendo's London Pop-Up was going to offer anything different to what's already available online (which is surprisingly hidden on the UK store but has been live for over a year, FYI: store.nintendo.co.uk/en/nintendo-...). Lots of crossover, but some Japan-only stuff too.
I visited the Nintendo London pop-up store ahead of its official opening this week.
Here's every single item in the store you can buy:
www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintend...
Here's every single item in the store you can buy:
www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintend...
October 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I've been wondering whether Nintendo's London Pop-Up was going to offer anything different to what's already available online (which is surprisingly hidden on the UK store but has been live for over a year, FYI: store.nintendo.co.uk/en/nintendo-...). Lots of crossover, but some Japan-only stuff too.
Reposted by Katharine Castle
We need another boxout.
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
rm -rf ~/
rm -rf ~/
"The chancellor approved it"
October 12, 2025 at 11:33 AM
We need another boxout.
Absolum should be an instant addition to any best co-op games list. A fantasy beat 'em up is such a great fit for a roguelite. Its magic powers, trinkets & new moves offer so much depth + variety, and sidequests keep its map fresh on repeat runs. A steal at £20!
store.playstation.com/en-gb/produc...
store.playstation.com/en-gb/produc...
Absolum
An original roguelite beat ‘em up by Dotemu
store.playstation.com
October 11, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Absolum should be an instant addition to any best co-op games list. A fantasy beat 'em up is such a great fit for a roguelite. Its magic powers, trinkets & new moves offer so much depth + variety, and sidequests keep its map fresh on repeat runs. A steal at £20!
store.playstation.com/en-gb/produc...
store.playstation.com/en-gb/produc...
Reposted by Katharine Castle
One Battle After Another (1986)
Director: Yu Suzuki
Publisher: Sega
Director: Yu Suzuki
Publisher: Sega
October 8, 2025 at 7:04 PM
One Battle After Another (1986)
Director: Yu Suzuki
Publisher: Sega
Director: Yu Suzuki
Publisher: Sega
Would have killed for this kind of resource on RPS and Eurogamer. Staying on top of calendars like this takes so much work, but planning coverage was so much harder when you could see major crunch points forming in real time. Huge props to @indieformer.com for releasing this into the wild!
Waypoint is live 🚀
Nearly a year in the making — a custom-curated calendar for indie games, updated every few days with new gems.
Every game since June 2024 (and more) is already in there. We’re building in public, and your feedback will shape it.
👉 waypoint.indieformer.com
Nearly a year in the making — a custom-curated calendar for indie games, updated every few days with new gems.
Every game since June 2024 (and more) is already in there. We’re building in public, and your feedback will shape it.
👉 waypoint.indieformer.com
September 26, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Would have killed for this kind of resource on RPS and Eurogamer. Staying on top of calendars like this takes so much work, but planning coverage was so much harder when you could see major crunch points forming in real time. Huge props to @indieformer.com for releasing this into the wild!
Finally getting round to Öoo, the latest from Elechead genius NamaTakahashi, and cor, this puzzler really has the juice, the sauce AND the gravy. Lovely stuff.
store.steampowered.com/app/2721890/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2721890/...
Öoo on Steam
A Bomb Caterpillar's Big Adventure! "Öoo" is a charming yet mysterious exploration puzzle platformer where you discover creative ways to use bombs!
store.steampowered.com
September 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Finally getting round to Öoo, the latest from Elechead genius NamaTakahashi, and cor, this puzzler really has the juice, the sauce AND the gravy. Lovely stuff.
store.steampowered.com/app/2721890/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2721890/...
Now that's how you kick off a Friday.
September 19, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Now that's how you kick off a Friday.
Reposted by Katharine Castle
"Where's my Breakfast?" by Daniel Arthur
September 15, 2025 at 3:55 AM
"Where's my Breakfast?" by Daniel Arthur
The end of DK Bananza goes so hard and absolutely smashes it.
September 14, 2025 at 5:59 PM
The end of DK Bananza goes so hard and absolutely smashes it.
I've had to abandon the Indiana Jones DLC after a glitch has made any further progress impossible, and I'm absolutely gutted. A great game brought low by a goddamn pipe puzzle of all things.
September 13, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I've had to abandon the Indiana Jones DLC after a glitch has made any further progress impossible, and I'm absolutely gutted. A great game brought low by a goddamn pipe puzzle of all things.
Hot damn, new Fire Emblem looks rad as heck.
September 12, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Hot damn, new Fire Emblem looks rad as heck.
Oh man, clocking Phanto in Super Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition has awoken long hidden memories of his endless, It Follows-style pursuits in SMB 2. Looking forward to excavating some good childhood trauma there...
September 12, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Oh man, clocking Phanto in Super Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition has awoken long hidden memories of his endless, It Follows-style pursuits in SMB 2. Looking forward to excavating some good childhood trauma there...
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie better have a stonking rendition of Gusty Garden Galaxy or rampages will be had.
September 12, 2025 at 1:09 PM
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie better have a stonking rendition of Gusty Garden Galaxy or rampages will be had.
New Toukana game day is always a good day.
Our game Star Birds launches in Early Access TODAY! Take flight & explore the stars.
- Space Game x Wholesome Game
- Factory Building x Story Mission
- Toukana x kurzgesagt
👉 Get Star Birds now on Steam!
#indiegame #earlyaccess
- Space Game x Wholesome Game
- Factory Building x Story Mission
- Toukana x kurzgesagt
👉 Get Star Birds now on Steam!
#indiegame #earlyaccess
September 10, 2025 at 9:01 PM
New Toukana game day is always a good day.