Retrospectives archive

The full history of SpawningPoint, from our first benchmark to our latest deep dive. Filter by type, category, topic, score, or date.

Articles

Lies of P Review 2026: One Year On, The Contract Still Holds

Lies of P is not valuable because it is difficult. It is valuable because its difficulty is taught through readable attack patterns, escalating boss phases, and a parry economy…

Daniel Calder·11 July 2026·8 min read

Gaming

Story of Seasons a Wonderful Life Retrospective

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life remains strange in a way that time has not smoothed away. It is slower, plainer, and more committed to consequence than many games that arrived…

Hannah Arden·8 July 2026·8 min read

Gaming

Strange Horticulture Retrospective the Gentle Macabre

This Strange Horticulture retrospective finds a game whose softness and threat still belong together. The shop counter remains a complete dramatic space, the map still turns…

Hannah Arden·6 July 2026·8 min read

Gaming

Hokko Life Retrospective: The Cosy Game That Nearly Worked

Hokko Life review 2026: a calm retrospective on crafting, village rhythm, value and why this cosy life-sim nearly earns its warmth for patient town builders.

Hannah Arden·2 July 2026·8 min read

Gaming

La-Mulana 2 Review 2026: The Costly Metroidvania

La-Mulana 2 treats archaeology as an encounter system. Its difficulty earns less when the clue chain stops teaching. That is the central tension for this La-Mulana 2 review: the…

Daniel Calder·30 June 2026·8 min read

Gaming

Witcher 3 on Steam Deck Oled Five Years Later

Witcher 3 on Steam Deck OLED five years on: we test TDP profiles from 8W to 12W to find the setting that bridges the commute window with battery to spare at the destination…

Rebecca Naylor·29 June 2026·8 min read

Gaming

Garden Story Retrospective: An Overlooked Action-cosy Hybrid

A careful Garden Story review for 2026, revisiting its action-cosy loop, village rituals, soft combat, and whether Concord’s guarded world still earns its pace.

Hannah Arden·29 June 2026·8 min read

Gaming

Crimson Desert: What the Launch Argued, Two Months On

Pearl Abyss shipped Crimson Desert on 2026-03-19. Two months on, what the launch actually argued is easier to read than the pre-release signal ever was: a studio that changed what…

Daniel Calder·30 May 2026·8 min read

Gaming

Bully Retrospective: Why Rockstar’s Schoolyard Sandbox Still Matters

Bully arrived under controversy but proved to be one of Rockstar’s most intriguing side projects: a warm-hearted take on adolescence and institutional failure. Its tighter scope…

Ryan Lipton·14 May 2026·6 min read

8.0· Great

Gaming

Dragon Age the Veilguard Retrospective 2026, Eighteen Months On the Combat Argument

The Dragon Age Veilguard review that launch reception could not write was always about encounter design. BioWare released a direct-control action-RPG in October 2024 into a…

Daniel Calder·10 April 2026·13 min read

8.2· Great

Gaming

The First Berserker: Khazan Retrospective 2026, One Year On Where the Contract Held

The stagger system is Khazan's argument: every other mechanic exists to make it legible. A year on, the question isn't whether Neople built something competent; the question is…

Daniel Calder·12 March 2026·10 min read

7.3· Great

Gaming

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Retrospective 2026: Patches and the Contract Held

Wuchang's first boss teaches a multi-phase contract: the player learns the spatial vocabulary by failing the second phase before they have learned to read the first.

Daniel Calder·5 March 2026·14 min read

9.0· Outstanding

Gaming

Animal Well Retrospective 2026: Eighteen Months On, the Route Is the Puzzle

The route through Animal Well is the work. Billy Basso's solo-developed puzzle-metroidvania arrived on 9 May 2024 with a deceptively simple premise: explore a luminous,…

Daniel Calder·18 February 2026·10 min read

8.7· Great

Gaming

Black Myth: Wukong Retrospective 2026: A Year On, the Transformations Are the Argument

The transformations are not a feature. They are the argument.

Daniel Calder·4 February 2026·13 min read

9.0· Outstanding

Gaming

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown Retrospective 2026: Two Years On, the AAA Metroidvania That Held

The AAA metroidvania should not work. The form's economy is indie-shaped: small studios with strong design discipline, tight scope, and the freedom to refuse padding.

Daniel Calder·22 January 2026·15 min read

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