Latest Reviews of Focus Home Interactive Games
Mini Review Curse of the Dead Gods (PS4) - Dungeon Crawler Lights the Way with Unique Mechanics
A curse and a blessing
Republished on Wednesday 27th April 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. In Curse of the Dead Gods, you explore randomly generated maps in a cursed dungeon. Light is your best friend, as you take more damage in the dark...
Review Hood: Outlaws & Legends (PS5) - Competitive Stealth Title Is Real Refreshing
But it Sherwood help if it had more players
Republished on Wednesday 30th March 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April 2022's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. What if a classic Assassin’s Creed quest was the basis for a competitive multiplayer game? Hood: Outlaws &...
Mini Review A Plague Tale: Innocence (PS5) - Rats a Good Next-Gen Upgrade
French fancies
Would it be a push to call A Plague Tale: Innocence an overlooked gem? We don't think so; what Asobo Studio achieved on PlayStation 4 deserved a lot more recognition. The somewhat historical tale of Amicia and younger brother Hugo can hold its own amongst many of the greats, and while its stealth-based gameplay may prove formulaic for...
Review A Plague Tale: Innocence - The Rats of Us
Drat
Republished on Wednesday 30th June 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of July's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. A Plague Tale: Innocence is a Sony game without a Sony budget. Focus Home Interactive may not be a forum favourite, but with ambitious original properties like...
Review Necromunda: Hired Gun (PS5) - DOOM Rip-Off Broken Beyond Belief
Go to hell
You can hardly blame Streum On Studio for trying to make the next DOOM Eternal. With shooters very few and far between this early on in the PlayStation 5 generation, the developer had the opportunity to leave its mark with a fast-paced FPS that picks up right where id Software left off last year. It even had the Warhammer 40,000 license...
Review GreedFall - Spiders on the Cusp of RPG Greatness
Smooth sailing
Republished on Wednesday 30th December, 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of January 2021's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Spiders has been busy this generation. The French developer has released two role-playing titles up to this point: Bound by Flame in 2014, and The...
Review Vampyr - An Intriguing, Bloodthirsty RPG
Sucky combat
Republished on Wednesday 30th September 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of October's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. DONTNOD has so far released two games: 2013's often forgotten Remember Me and the breakout success Life Is Strange. Vampyr is the ambitious company's...
Review Othercide - Gothic Horror Tactical Thrills
Bring your daughter to the slaughter
The easiest way to describe Othercide to somebody who hasn't played it is that it's goth XCOM. While that description is broadly accurate, it should also be noted that the game does differentiate itself from other tactical turn-based games with some interesting ideas that mostly work. There are some issues here...
Review SnowRunner - Glacial Haulage Sim Is Snow Joke
Deck the hauls
With the PlayStation 4’s catalogue so radically diverse these days, a haulage simulation set in challenging terrain doesn’t sound all that abnormal. SnowRunner is the latest instalment in the strangely popular Spintires series, which you may recall making its PlayStation 4 debut with MudRunner a few years ago. As its name...
Review The Surge 2 - Great Combat, Genius Ideas, and One Too Many Issues
Walls of Jericho
Developer Deck 13 is so, so close to putting out a good video game. After failing to capitalize on the clear potential of The Surge, the studio is back with a sequel that is bigger and better in almost every way, but it continues to slightly miss the mark in one too many key areas. The Surge 2 will satisfy those looking for their...
Latest Focus Home Interactive Articles
News Focus Home Interactive Acquires Streets of Rage 4 Publisher Dotemu
Retro specialist has a new (Focus) home
Dotemu, especially recently, has been knocking it out of the park with its retro releases. The company is a publisher and development studio, and has helped bring about old-school titles such as Streets of Rage 4, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, and Windjammers, among many others. The awesome-looking Teenage...
Interview Sinking Our Fangs into the Soundtrack of Vampyr with Composer Olivier Derivière
Notes-feratu
Recently we got the chance to have a chat with the composer of DONTNOD's promising-looking Vampyr, Olivier Derivière. We got to discuss the manner in which he approaches his compositions, the intertwining of game development alongside the music, and how his passion for video games birthed a phenomenal composer for the industry...
E3 2016 Vampyr PS4 Gameplay Bleeds Atmosphere
Fangtastic
You'd be forgiven for thinking DONTNOD skipped E3 2016 altogether, with the developer making very little noise about its new game Vampyr at this year's show. However, new footage has been popping up on YouTube, including the clip from IGN we've embedded below. It comprises of pre-alpha gameplay, with Philippe Moreau and Greg Szucs of...
Gamescom 2015 PS4 RPG The Technomancer Looks Gritty and Promising
Mars attacks
Spiders, the studio behind the somewhat decent Bound by Flame, has released its first trailer for The Technomancer - a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic role-playing game - and it's looking reasonably promising. Clocking in at just under two minutes, there's not a whole lot to see, but we're liking the atmosphere and aspects of the art...
E3 2015 PS4 Horror RPG Vampyr Gets Its Very First Trailer
Biting back
Vampyr is currently in the works over at Dontnod Entertainment, but all we've seen regarding the game is some very vague concept art. Fortunately, the developer's released something slightly more tangible: the title's very first trailer. Again, it's more of a mood setter than anything, but it's still the most that we've seen of the...
News Remember Vampyr? The Horror RPG Will Be Feeding at E3 2015
Bite-sized trailer planned
We first wrote about Vampyr all the way back in January, when it was supposedly shown behind closed doors. Apparently a horror-themed role-playing game, it's being made by French developer Dontnod - the team behind the stylish Remember Me, which released on the PlayStation 3 in 2013. Vampyr certainly sounds intriguing, as...
News Want a Post-Apocalyptic RPG on PS4? The Technomancer May Be the Answer
Mars attacks
Spiders, the studio that created decent action role-playing game Bound by Flame, is currently working on a new title called The Technomancer, which is apparently a post-apocalyptic RPG set on Mars. It's supposedly releasing on PlayStation 4 at some point next year. All we know right now is that there'll be skill trees, and you, as a...
News Vampyr Is an RPG from the Studio That Brought You Remember Me
Fangs very much
French developer DONTNOD is pretty busy these days, isn't it? With episodic adventure Life is Strange still in the works, the studio has revealed another project in the form of Vampyr – a horror-themed RPG. Apparently set after World War I, you'll be playing as a doctor who's bitten by a vampiric patient. The premise certainly...
News Warhammer 40,000 Stomps onto PS4 with Space Hulk: Deathwing
Them's a lotta bullets
Full of imaginative characters, alien races, and crazy lore, the Warhammer 40,000 universe seems like a perfect backdrop for a gritty action game, and that's apparently what developer Streum On Studio thought, too. Captured from the game's engine — which happens to be Unreal 4 — the announcement trailer looks quite pretty...
News PS4 RPG Bound by Flame Features Some Impressive Player Customisation
Hot under the collar
We're daring to hope that upcoming action RPG Bound by Flame will be the PlayStation 4's first suitably epic fantasy adventure after the game's most recent trailer. With the title set to launch in under a month's time, developer Spiders Studio has released a handful of screenshots that showcase the game's deep player...
News Bound by Flame Bursts Out First PlayStation 4 Footage
Your hex is on fire
Not so long ago, very little was known about Bound by Flame. It came like a comet, showcased by a thrilling trailer and a subsequent smattering of equally impressive screenshots, but then appeared to retreat into the shadows like a beast of folklore, only spoken of in hushed tones around midnight campfires. That is, until last...
News Action-Packed RPG Bound by Flame is Blazing onto PS4 This Year
Watch the world burn
Over on the European PlayStation Blog, a bountiful amount of sizzling information regarding upcoming dark fantasy RPG Bound by Flame has been let loose, along with a tantalising new trailer for the game. Possessed by a demonic entity, it's down to your custom character – male of female – to save the world from its...
News Focus Home Interactive Acquires Streets of Rage 4 Publisher Dotemu
Retro specialist has a new (Focus) home
Dotemu, especially recently, has been knocking it out of the park with its retro releases. The company is a publisher and development studio, and has helped bring about old-school titles such as Streets of Rage 4, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, and Windjammers, among many others. The awesome-looking Teenage...
Interview Sinking Our Fangs into the Soundtrack of Vampyr with Composer Olivier Derivière
Notes-feratu
Recently we got the chance to have a chat with the composer of DONTNOD's promising-looking Vampyr, Olivier Derivière. We got to discuss the manner in which he approaches his compositions, the intertwining of game development alongside the music, and how his passion for video games birthed a phenomenal composer for the industry...
E3 2016 Vampyr PS4 Gameplay Bleeds Atmosphere
Fangtastic
You'd be forgiven for thinking DONTNOD skipped E3 2016 altogether, with the developer making very little noise about its new game Vampyr at this year's show. However, new footage has been popping up on YouTube, including the clip from IGN we've embedded below. It comprises of pre-alpha gameplay, with Philippe Moreau and Greg Szucs of...
Gamescom 2015 PS4 RPG The Technomancer Looks Gritty and Promising
Mars attacks
Spiders, the studio behind the somewhat decent Bound by Flame, has released its first trailer for The Technomancer - a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic role-playing game - and it's looking reasonably promising. Clocking in at just under two minutes, there's not a whole lot to see, but we're liking the atmosphere and aspects of the art...
E3 2015 PS4 Horror RPG Vampyr Gets Its Very First Trailer
Biting back
Vampyr is currently in the works over at Dontnod Entertainment, but all we've seen regarding the game is some very vague concept art. Fortunately, the developer's released something slightly more tangible: the title's very first trailer. Again, it's more of a mood setter than anything, but it's still the most that we've seen of the...
News Remember Vampyr? The Horror RPG Will Be Feeding at E3 2015
Bite-sized trailer planned
We first wrote about Vampyr all the way back in January, when it was supposedly shown behind closed doors. Apparently a horror-themed role-playing game, it's being made by French developer Dontnod - the team behind the stylish Remember Me, which released on the PlayStation 3 in 2013. Vampyr certainly sounds intriguing, as...
News Want a Post-Apocalyptic RPG on PS4? The Technomancer May Be the Answer
Mars attacks
Spiders, the studio that created decent action role-playing game Bound by Flame, is currently working on a new title called The Technomancer, which is apparently a post-apocalyptic RPG set on Mars. It's supposedly releasing on PlayStation 4 at some point next year. All we know right now is that there'll be skill trees, and you, as a...
News Vampyr Is an RPG from the Studio That Brought You Remember Me
Fangs very much
French developer DONTNOD is pretty busy these days, isn't it? With episodic adventure Life is Strange still in the works, the studio has revealed another project in the form of Vampyr – a horror-themed RPG. Apparently set after World War I, you'll be playing as a doctor who's bitten by a vampiric patient. The premise certainly...
News Warhammer 40,000 Stomps onto PS4 with Space Hulk: Deathwing
Them's a lotta bullets
Full of imaginative characters, alien races, and crazy lore, the Warhammer 40,000 universe seems like a perfect backdrop for a gritty action game, and that's apparently what developer Streum On Studio thought, too. Captured from the game's engine — which happens to be Unreal 4 — the announcement trailer looks quite pretty...
News PS4 RPG Bound by Flame Features Some Impressive Player Customisation
Hot under the collar
We're daring to hope that upcoming action RPG Bound by Flame will be the PlayStation 4's first suitably epic fantasy adventure after the game's most recent trailer. With the title set to launch in under a month's time, developer Spiders Studio has released a handful of screenshots that showcase the game's deep player...
News Bound by Flame Bursts Out First PlayStation 4 Footage
Your hex is on fire
Not so long ago, very little was known about Bound by Flame. It came like a comet, showcased by a thrilling trailer and a subsequent smattering of equally impressive screenshots, but then appeared to retreat into the shadows like a beast of folklore, only spoken of in hushed tones around midnight campfires. That is, until last...
News Action-Packed RPG Bound by Flame is Blazing onto PS4 This Year
Watch the world burn
Over on the European PlayStation Blog, a bountiful amount of sizzling information regarding upcoming dark fantasy RPG Bound by Flame has been let loose, along with a tantalising new trailer for the game. Possessed by a demonic entity, it's down to your custom character – male of female – to save the world from its...