With so many games on the market and more coming every day, it’s hard to decide which titles to zero in on. In an effort to get eyes on promising new projects, GameCritics.com is now featuring First Look pieces like this one, which show the opening chunk of a game and share thoughts and impressions on gameplay, narrative, lore, and more.
Want to suggest something for us to check out? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know!
The subject of today’s First Look? T.W.I.R.L.
From the Latin American Games Showcase, T.W.I.R.L. from Genie Boy Games really stood out. From the retro PS1 aesthetic blended with a hand-drawn sketch style and couched in the horror genre, I wanted to take a closer look. This one does have some sensitive topics (childhood trauma, fear, and gender dysphoria) so please view with caution. What we get here feels like a slow burn, as the demo does a lot of setup for the full experience without revealing too much.
Steam: T.W.I.R.L.
Eugene grew up playing other people’s videogames. He didn’t have his own console for some time, and has many memories of playing games his friends owned and beating them. Once he saved up enough money, he finally bought a Sega Genesis secondhand and started a gaming library of his own.
While Sonic and Street Fighter were great places to start, his first love was Final Fantasy X when his dad bought a PS2. Ever since, that love for gaming has evolved — there are a number of game worlds out there, and he intends to explore them all. RPG to horror, platformers to casual and everything in between — if it’s available, he’ll play it.
While his time is short between writing reviews, tabletop gaming, and attempting to start a cheesecake business, he has caught all 806 1025 Pokemon and can speedrun Star Fox 64 in less than 40 minutes. He’s always looking for new things to try and new challenges to conquer. You can find him on X by searching @eugene_sax, or on Bluesky at eugenesax.bsky.social.
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