If there's one gaming trend that's been appreciated in the past few years it's the boom of big name publishers making small scale indie-inspired titles. Fronted by Ubisoft, the Assassin's Creed developer has embraced the decision to break the mould to create more niche and less mainstream games. Through the success of Child of Light and Valiant Hearts, Ubi has kick-started a trend that's quickly being adopted by many other triple A publishers, most recently by Microsoft themselves who released Ori and The Blind forest to great critical and commercial success earlier this year. Developed by Moon Studios, the gorgeous platformer makes for an exciting break away from the fast paced shooters Microsoft is mostly known for. By delivering a well-crafted and emotionally engaging 2D download-only title, the entire release of the game became indicative of the company's new-found willingness to take risks on more experimental and untested games, which from a consumer stand-point meant nothing other than more originality and variety in their exclusive releases.
Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.
