The Swindle; Prune; Trials Fusion: Awesome Level MAX, gaming reviews

Like Spelunky and Rogue Legacy, The Swindle is brutally hard, yet ultimately rewarding

The Swindle demands patience and planning, aided by an arsenal of upgradeable skills and gadgets

The Swindle

***

PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, PC (£11.99)

A 2D stealth game with randomly-generated levels, The Swindle is inspired by recent titles Spelunky and Rogue Legacy. Like them, it's brutally hard, yet ultimately rewarding. It's your job to carry out heists in a steampunk Victorian London, on a series of properties with ever-increasing security measures. The bigger the risk, the larger the swag bag. It demands patience and planning, aided by an arsenal of upgradeable skills and gadgets. Those with time and tolerance will find it deeply satisfying, but casual players will be left frustrated by a steep learning curve.

Jack Turner

Prune

****

iOS (£2.99)

One of the hardest things to do on iOS is make a beautiful game. Making one with serenity seems antithetical to the prevalent challenge/reward mechanics. Prune has managed the meditative coolness some find difficult but falls at the same hurdles. It's hard to bring up Monument Valley – Roman numerals on the chapter screen, turnstile stage-changes. Where the latter is about mazes, Prune has you growing trees away from obstacles and into the light. It's gorgeously minimalist but slightly too minimal. You can complete in it under two hours – but beauty is fleeting.

James Tennent

Trials Fusion: Awesome Level MAX

***

PS4, Xbox One, PC (£24.99 for edition bundle, £7.99 for DLC)

When a cult hit is taken over by a large corporation, it often loses some of the magic that drew people to it originally. This is the case with Trials and the latest DLC sees the developers add levels based around a cat riding a unicorn to combat that. The game is undeniably fun and this DLC adds enough content to feel like good value, but there just seems something cold and calculating about it, this is zaniness by comm- ittee, lacking soul.

Jack Fleming