REVIEW: The Karters 2: Turbo Charged (2025 Video Game) - A Kart Racer Built for Speed and Skill

Review by Jon Donnis

The Karters 2: Turbo Charged has arrived on Steam early access, and even in this stage, it's already making a strong case for being one of the most exciting kart racers on PC. Developed by Pixel Edge Games, it leans into skill-based racing in a way that sets it apart from much of the competition. The drift mechanics, inspired by Crash Team Racing, are tight and responsive, but there's an extra hook with the reserve system. The more reserves you bank, the faster you go, with no speed cap to hold you back. It means races can flip in an instant, and those last-lap comebacks feel earned rather than lucky.

Right now, there's a generous amount of content to dive into. Sixteen tracks, six battle arenas, and modes that go beyond the usual. Road Breaker plays like a kart-racing take on Fall Guys' survival chaos, while Quick Cut throws procedurally generated tracks at you, keeping things fresh every time. Then there's the 1,500-plus mods already live via Steam Workshop, ranging from new tracks to completely different characters. The fact you can browse and install them directly in-game is a welcome touch that makes modding painless.

The game's multiplayer is just as ambitious. You can go split-screen with up to six players locally, jump into online matches, or combine the two with split-screen online support. Ranked matchmaking, tournaments, ELO leaderboards, and ghost races with downloadable data from the top players give it the kind of competitive backbone you don't often see in the genre. Dedicated servers keep things smooth, and there's even a Next Best Ghost feature to constantly push you against a close rival.

Even in early access, the polish is impressive. The karts handle beautifully, the visuals pop, and the performance feels solid. There's a single-player challenge campaign to tackle if you want to sharpen your skills, along with cups of up to 24 rounds for longer sessions. Replay and photo modes are already in place, which is great for sharing those over-the-top moments.

Looking ahead, Pixel Edge Games has more planned. A Story Mode is on the way, adding characters and a narrative layer, while an in-game track editor will let players create and share their own courses without leaving the game. Given what's already here, those updates could make an already robust package even stronger.

The kart racing genre is crowded, but The Karters 2 is carving out space with depth, variety, and sheer speed. If this is the early access build, the full release could be something special. Right now, it's already a blast to play, and the ceiling for where it can go is very high.

Out Now on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2269950/The_Karters_2_Turbo_Charged/

Special Thanks to Pixel Edge Games for providing the game key.

REVIEW: In My Shadow - PC (Steam)

Review By Jon Donnis

In My Shadow is a unique game, you play as a girl (Bella) who is trying to find answers to questions she has about her past, and to find these answers, you collect memories by way of solving single level platform-based puzzles.

There are 4 different rooms that you will play in, and about 50 levels in total. A level consists of the use of shadows. The shadow of a little girl, trying to collect memories that are represented as collectable shadows. You switch between two parts of the puzzle, the first of controlling the little girl, trying to get from point A to point B, while collecting hard to reach memories, and the second switch is to a more external view of the room whereby you can control the furniture which in turn creates shadows on the wall. Move a chair closer to the wall to make the shadow smaller, or move it away to make it bigger, then when you switch back to the girl she can then jump on the chair's shadow to reach her goals.

It a rather unique idea for a game, and one I was excited about when I first read about the game.

As your complete each level, a story plays out through cut scenes, as you learn more about the young girl, and get the answers she seeks.

The puzzles themselves can be tricky, there can be more than one solution to the puzzle, and the trial-and-error method here really is your friend.

The Good

This is a really unique game, a great idea, and along with the melodic music, when you are in a level, everything looks and sounds great.

The Bad

There are some graphical inconsistences between the main scenes, the cut scenes and the game itself, which seems strange to me.

The biggest problem to the game however is the controls. I hate them, simple as that, now I have spoken to the game maker, and he released an update which did improve some of the lag between pressing a button and then the character moving. But there is still a problem there. Now the more you play the game, the less you will notice it, as you will subconsciously adjust how you play to make up for it, but even then you will find yourself in a position whereby you will have all the shadows in the perfect positions, you know exactly what you need to do, and how to do it, but instead of then being able to do it, it may take you numerous attempts, whether that being because you walk off a surface because you didn't jump in time, or you landed one pixel too far and hit a trap. All in all, instead of you feeling that you need to beat the challenge, you feel frustrated because it is like the game is letting you down, as opposed to your own abilities.

When a game relies on pinpoint accuracy when it comes to jumps etc, any little issue is amplified massively, and this is where this game does have a problem, and even after improving the delay times, I still find it an issue. There simply is no margin of error. You need to be perfect. And when the controls are off by a nanosecond, that perfection becomes frustratingly hard to achieve.

You can skip levels however, which I found myself doing, not because I didn't know how to finish the level, but because after failing 20 times in a row at a simple jump, I just lost patience.

Overall

I like this game, I like the idea, the concept, everything about it is original, but the controls just let it down, it is not fun to play. Can this be fixed? I don't know, I am not a game maker. I would like to think that a redesign of the character and the mechanics of movement could make this a great game. But as it is, it is just not quite there.

Maybe it is just me and I am too fussy.

If there is a demo available, try the demo, if you don't see the problems I mention, then buy the game, but you really need to play it first.

I score the game 6/10.
If the game receives some updates in the future, I may revisit this review. In the meantime please check out my game play video below, hopefully this will better explain the game than words ever could!

Review by Jon Donnis

Out on Steam Today!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1406200/In_My_Shadow/

REVIEW: Concept Destruction - On Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam

Review By Jon Donnis:
I was sent a review copy of Concept Destruction by Ratalaika Games S.L.
And I was rather excited to receive it after I had seen the trailer. The first thing I thought was that we finally had a successor to a game I loved over 25 years ago on PS1 called Destruction Derby.

First thing you can do is check out this short game play video, and make sure you subscribe to my YouTube Channel as well. Youtube / JonDonnisShow

If you are old enough to remember that classic, much like me you are probably baffled as to why we never got a remake. Well now you don't need one as we have Concept Destruction. The idea is basically the same, you drive around in a car, you have multiple opponents and the winner is the last car standing. But with this game made by Thinice Games, the cars are made out of cardboard, and you play on a table top. It's a nice twist on the genre which as far as I can recall is completely unique.

You have different modes, of course you have a championship mode, whereby you have to play on various tracks, accumulate a score, and try to position as high as you can. Pretty straight forward. You also have a simple School mode, which helps you learn the basic controls, a Survival mode, which is exactly what you think it is, and a tourism mode, whereby damage is off and you just drive around destroying other cars.

Overall it is a simple concept which works really well. The game is incredibly fun, highly addictive, and has enough in it that will keep you coming back. I am not sure if they will release updates with new tracks, cars etc, I really hope they do, but I guess that will very much depend on the popularity of the game. But for just a fraction under 5$/€ on all formats, this game is cheap enough that it should be a huge hit.

I really loved the game, and with the multiplayer options on there as well, which unfortunately I was unable to try, this is a game that can only grow over time.

So lets quickly go over the Good and the Bad.

The Good, Pretty much everything, the graphics are great for what they are, perhaps more background work could have been done just to make things prettier, but for the actual game play the graphics are as good as they would need to be, the sound effects, music and all of that are also of a high standard, and most important of all the game play is a lot of fun.

The Bad, the only thing I can really complain about is that I want more, I want more tracks, more cars, more modes of play. The fact I want more is a testament to how good this game is.

Just scroll down and watch the trailer.

Summary:
BUY THIS GAME! It is awesome - 10/10

Review by Jon Donnis

‘Concept Destruction’ will be priced for 4.99$/€ for all platforms and is out now!

Features:
Crash destructible cardboard cars, each with a unique driving style
Pick from 4 different modes to bring total destruction
Expeience unique 3D cardboard car designs
Customize how you play!
Listen to a heavy metal soundtrack while bashing cars

Valve Steam Machines Reveal Event - CES 2014

Peter and Justin take a look at the freshly unveiled Steam Machines and share their impressions of the lineup and Valve's new controller.