Staff Article Lists

Welcome to something a bit different. Rather than a traditional Game of the Year style list where I choose my favorites, I’ve instead decided to just take a look back at the various games I played and reviewed on this site alongside a few highlights. My work for GF this year has mostly been these reviews with the occasional preview and news article. Speaking of news, one of the biggest things to happen was the Nintendo Switch 2 and while I probably won’t be getting one for a while, it’s already seen a ton of coverage and support. I’ve covered the news surrounding it a few times and what I’ve seen of it has looked pretty good. It does mean however, that support for Switch 1(at least from first-party developers) is nearing its end. But it's been great to do reviews on my Switch for as long as I have. Cheers Nintendo. I got a few more memories with you this year at least.

If you haven't played Squirrel with a Gun, you've been missing out! Our team at Uncivil Gamers very much enjoyed the time we spent with it during our Uncivil Weekly Release Party video recording. Squirrel with a Gun today received the Varmint Collection update, now playable on Steam, Epic, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with Nintendo Switch 2 to arrive soon, announced publisher Maximum Entertainment and developer Dee Dee Creations. The brand-new free DLC adds a slew of mischievous critters to the game’s squirrely action. Take a peek at the Varmint Collection’s wacky additions in today’s trailer: 

The world inside the indie hit BROK the InvestiGator has more to give, as solo developer COWCAT (Breton Fabrice) brings the new standalone title BROK: The Brawl Bar to consoles and PC. The Brawl Bar is a wild party beat ‘em up that features over 60 varied and surprising arcade-style “Event matches” (à la Smash Bros) that range from easy to difficult to complete. Throughout your pursuit of knocking out all of these challenges, you’ll get to know a few of the patrons and staff in this “brawl bar” you find yourself drawn to as you try and rekindle those fighting flames your gator-y self used to love sparking. Though I took my lickings in some of the harder stages, BROK: The Brawl Bar was an exciting game to punch, kick, and finesse my way through.

Let me start this review by saying that I’m really not the biggest fan of the Jurassic Park franchise. I’ve read the first book back in middle school and seen some of the first Jurassic Park at a young age but that’s about it. Truthfully, the first film kinda freaked me out at that young age and scared me to the point where I won’t even watch the series at all (Silly, I know). I also haven’t really kept up with the gaming side of the franchise, but occasionally one does enter my radar. Which is where Jurassic World Evolution 3 comes in: The third entry in the park building Evolution series. I do want to stress that I’ll be approaching this review as a casual park builder player so I won’t be going too in-depth with what’s on offer. With that being said, this is a fun game but it has some issues that I feel may hurt the enjoyment for many casual gamers.

There can never be enough cooking games, and Abra-Cooking-Dabra, the newest gaming foray by developer Door 407, helps prove that theory. You’re whisked away to a mysterious new restaurant in London, where you must help an eccentric suave cat serve any customer that strolls up to your establishment. What makes this game different is the methods and challenges you’ll face along the way, all whilst using a card-based cooking system to make and serve meals. It’s as wild and weird as it sounds, and yet feels neatly crafted and comfy in execution, requiring harvesting all of your forethought and planning to perfect it.

Everybody’s got work to do, so why not make those tasks more fun and connected? Feeling like you’re enjoying yourself (even just a little) while getting things done is a very recent trend, but one that I’m glad has grown so much. I wish I had the benefit of lo-fi tunes and little temporary visual treats like the demo of On-Together provided when I was in college. Developed by GigaPuff and Future Friends Games, On-Together is a Virtual Co-Working multiplayer productivity game that occupies a section of your screen, allowing you to keep up with whatever tasks you desire to work on while also enabling socialization, communal focus-keeping in-game locations, and little doses of dopamine with cute emotes, fishing, and engagement motivators. The demo is live now, and the full game was just announced for release on January 19th, 2026.

I really enjoyed my time padding around in the demo, and I’m actually using it right now whilst I write this preview article. You’re able to customize your character (up to 3 slots of pre-saved outfits), which includes plenty of adorable animal designs, including various tails, ears, and colorful “fur” choices. Some choices require earning and spending coins within the game itself before they can be equipped, which can be achieved by casual fishing, playing quick interactive activities, chatting and interacting with other people on your chosen server, or completing your own set up tasks within the game. Those coins can also be spent on little trinkets, drinks, and other fun items within the game. These can give your character fun visual effects, things to hold on to or wear, along with a nice discoverable set of interesting time-spenders during your breaks. Earning these little prizes made my next set of timed work sessions that much more enjoyable and focused. Of course, the included radio of calming, light background music was a huge plus, and one that will get heavy usage by yours truly. I’m looking forward to continuing to spend more time in On-Together, and believe it will be a cornerstone of quite a few people’s work process in the coming months, if it's popular demo population is any indication.

Steam has just debuted the "Steam Animal Fest" for 2025, and it features over 2100 games, either already released or upcoming, that have animals of some sort in them. Of course, there are way too many games for us to list all of them here, and luckily Steam gathered them all together conveniently already. We're sure to cover many of these games in the coming months here on GF!

New Steam Points Shop Items for Animal Fest 2025 are also available!

As the narrator of the Pokémon anime famously says: “The adventure continues!”

Right off the heels of our recently published Legends Z-A review, Nintendo and Pokémon Company released new information to the anticipated(and divisive) upcoming Mega Dimension DLC along with a confirmed release date. And this DLC certainly promises to take things to a whole new dimension. Storywise, this DLC is intended to begin after the events of the Legends Z-A’s main story. The premise is that distortions have begun appearing around the city that lead to a strange place known as Hyperspace Luminose. Team MZ will have to team up with new allies including mysterious donut chef Ansha and her partner Hoopa as well as a returning character in the form of Korrina, Mega Evolution Successor and Gym Leader of Shalour City(also in Kalos).

Hyperspace is no joke. Not only does it look trippy, but there are also Pokémon there that can’t be found in normal Lumiose, such as Galarian Mr Mime, Corviknight, Alolan Marowak and more! Even stranger, these Pokémon have been hyper powered up to become over the normal cap of level 100 for the first time ever! It wouldn’t be a Mega Dimension without new Mega Evolutions, and those are a major point of Z-A. In addition to the versions of Mega Raichu that were recently announced, two new Megas have been revealed: Mega Chimecho and Mega Baxcalibur. Chimecho was the last Pokémon I ever thought to see get a Mega but I kinda like it. And I’m excited for Baxcalibur since I used one in my Scarlet playthrough a long time ago.

What secrets await in Hyperspace? We’ll have to find out when the DLC story drops on Dec 10, a month away. In the meantime, the DLC is available for purchase now if you so desire. You’ll get the new Holo-X and Holo-Y outfits as soon as you do and a gift of special Pokeballs(3 Level Balls, 3 Lure Balls, 3 Heavy Balls and 3 Fast Balls) is currently available as an early purchase bonus. 

Outside of the DLC, trainers can also get Diancite from Mystery Gift. Doing so unlocks a special side mission which can let players catch the mythical Diancie in-game. Additionally, as of November 6th, a new season of Ranked Battles is available in which trainers can obtain a Delphoxite as well as another opportunity to get the Greninjite for Mega Delphox and Mega Greninja respectively. Later seasons will add the mega stones for Chesnaught and the previously mentioned Baxcalibur. There’s still plenty to see and do in Lumiose city, DLC or no. Happy catching trainers! Don’t forget to check out the Mega Dimension trailer as well as our review of Legends Z-A!

We have the very exciting opportunity today to talk with Isak Wahl, the CEO of Snow Leaf Studios, developers of the newly released roguelite title, Brew! I spent time playing the demo of Brew over the Summer and absolutely adored the characters, gameplay loop, and unique story that their team is putting together. It’s clear that the direction and mission of the team is full of unique experiences and drive, as evidenced by the well-developed demo and intriguing taste of the world we now get to blast, brew, and dodge our way through. With that said, we couldn’t wait to get some additional insight into the development of this furry character-filled world.

The year is 2013. Pokémon X and Y released on Nintendo’s highly successful 3DS console and marks the first time a main series Pokémon game has been fully rendered in 3D. This is the best Pokémon has looked up to this point and it’s the start of an exciting new era. Beyond the pretty visuals however, X and Y also left a legacy of unfulfilled ideas and wasted potential. The rumored Pokémon Z never materialized and we inevitably left Kalos and Mega Evolution behind…that is, until recently. 

The time has finally come to talk about Pokémon Legends Z-A, the second entry under the Legends moniker following the success of Arceus back in 2022.  Unlike Arceus, which took place in the distant past, Z-A takes place in the future, at least as far as X and Y are concerned. This time the setting is the massive Lumiose City, crown jewel of the Kalos region.