So this bear walks into a bar…

No, not really. Sorry, it was there, I had to use it.

Kimmo Lahtinen knows his way around a twin-stick shooter – 13 years at studio Housemarque is ample evidence of that. Resogun was the first game to grace my PS4’s hard drive, not long after Sony’s shiny new box went on sale in 2013. Five years later, it’s still on my hard drive; it’s the perfect pick-up-and-play game to accompany a Summer beer and I can’t bring myself to delete it.

The Apocalypse Edition of Dead Nation is another great example of Housemarque at the top of its game, while Outland took the studio’s twin-stick know-how and applied it in fascinating ways to the 2D platform genre.

Since Lahtinen struck out on his own under the guise of Gimblll, he has released Drift’n’Drive, and Trigonarium (another twin-shooter also available for Apple TV), but as he himself admits on his site, Barbearian is easily his most ambitious solo project.

After posting some very positive early impressions, I’ve since spent a lot more quality time in the bear suit, and I can easily say that Barbearian is up there as one of the most enjoyable titles I’ve played this year, on any platform.
Continue reading “Review: Barbearian – Other Things Bears Do In The Woods” →