XDefiant – Season 1 is here
Ok, XDefiant has been out a month or so, and now it’s into the first ...
Killing Conor McGregor – Hitman
There’s a title I never thought I’d write! I’m weirdly a bit of a fan ...
FiFine AmpliGame SC3 Audio Mixer Review
Fifine we kind enough to send me their Audio Mixer, the Apligame SC3, for review ...
Monster Hunter Wilds Unveils New Hunting Grounds and More in Latest Trailer
Get ready to explore a whole new world in Monster Hunter Wilds! Capcom just dropped ...
Getting started in Sea of Thieves in 2024
We’ve been back on a Sea of Thieves kick in quite a significant way, here ...
Gaming & eSport: 4 Tips for a Successful Debut
The world is undergoing a revolution on a number of levels, not least in how ...
Coffee Review: Kontrol Coffee
ninjarefinery.com is built around two pillars. Gaming and Coffee. The crossover of the two is ...
Hardware Review: Fifine K688
It’s been a little while since my first Fifine microphone review, and I’m really happy ...
The history of the Café Latte
We’ve been a little quiet on the coffee-front recently. Largely due to wanting to find ...
Review: Technically Stable Deskpad
How on earth do you review a Deskpad/Mousepad/Mouse Mat? It's a simple question, right? But ...
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is insane
I tried to play a couple of the original Yakuza games, but the combat was ...
Hardware Review: Fifine AM6 Microphone
One of my favourite things about running this site is that as it’s gradually grown, ...
Quick Look: Monster Train
I've been on a deck-builder and roguelite kick at the minute. Thanks largely to Balatro ...
Survival Hunt: Different Kinds of Online Monster-Themed Adventure Games
In the great online gaming world, monster adventures are meant to introduce an astonishing niche ...
Shooter Games as Therapy: Exploring the Therapeutic Potential
According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in eight people around the globe currently ...
Starting out in Helldivers 2
Oh my. Helldivers 2 kinda came out of nowhere for us here at ninjarefinery.com and ...
Getting ready for Shadow of the Erdtree in Elden Ring
Shadow of the Erdtree is finally announced! June 21st 2024 is the day that we ...
The Legacy of Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider's influence transcends pixels and polygons. From its ground breaking debut in 1996 to ...
Guest Post: Netflix Games in 2024
So, we've been hearing whispers in the dark corners of gaming forums and Twitter threads ...
How to upgrade your Steam Deck SSD
I adore my Steam Deck, it's become more favoured than my Nintendo Switch for the ...
Getting started in Palworld
Palworld has entered early access, and it's proving to be much more than the "Pokémon ...
Blog: Twitch Changes
It's been a while since I’ve streamed on Twitch. Something I actually really enjoy. Purely ...
Quick Look: Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Marvel's Midnight Suns stands out with an ambitious premise. Imagine a game that combines the ...
Monster Hunter World – Top tips
We're back on our Monster Hunter World bullshit, and I'll be honest, it feels great ...
Assassin’s Creed Origins: Best in class
I’m back at it with Assassin’s Creed Origins. And I have to be honest, whilst ...
Game of the Year 2023
I’ve written briefly about the contenders for this years’ Game of the Year and honestly, ...
Quick Look: Max Payne 3
I’m not massively familiar with the Max Payne series, truth be told. Although I did ...
Game of the Year 2023 – The Contenders
I’ve toyed with this for a good month now. Looking at how I can write ...
Review – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was like a breath of fresh air, ...
Horizon Forbidden West: Final thoughts
When reviewing a game, I try really hard to get it done efficiently. Enough time ...
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
I loved Cyberpunk 2077. The initial release left a lasting mark on the gaming world ...
The Finals – Open Beta
Until yesterday, my awareness of The Finals was minimal. I saw a lot of press ...
Halo Infinite Season 5: “Reckoning” is here
The wait is over, Halo fans! Season 5 of Halo Infinite has arrived, and it ...
Quick Look: Monster Hunter Now
Niantic's ongoing quest to replicate the monumental success of Pokémon Go has led to numerous ...
Giveaway: The Master Chief Collection
We had a slight mess-up buying a code, and now there's a code for the ...
Sniper Elite 5 – Further Thoughts
It’s been a little while since the “initial thoughts” piece on Sniper Elite 5, and ...
Warzone 2 – Armored Royale 2.0
In the fast-paced world of Call of Duty: Warzone, where survival is the name of ...
Sniper Elite 5 – Initial Thoughts
I’ve been aware of the Sniper Elite series since its inception, I think. It's always ...
The Evolution and Global Impact of the Nespresso Machine: A Revolution in Coffee Consumption
I’ll be honest, as a bit of a coffee snob, I’ve always looked-down on the ...
Modern Warfare – Shadow Siege Event!
Well, here's something I wasn't expecting......Call of Duty just dropped a new event called Shadow ...
Gaming News: OCPC Expanding into the UK
LONDON, 15/08/2023 - OCPC Gaming, the renowned American leader in high-performance PC components, proudly announces ...
We have a new sister site: neverplayed.co.uk
It’s been a little quiet here recently. Mostly due to just struggling for time to ...
Does The Outlast Trials New Multiplayer Format Work?
Hello, Ninja Refinery readers. It's Josh from FULLSYNC here. I've had the pleasure of thoroughly ...
Review: NBA 2K23
It’s not often we cover sports games here at ninjarefinery.com apart from some odd Fifa ...
Quick look: Rollerdrome
Rollerdrome came out in summer 2022, and whilst it was garnering positivity and doing seemingly ...
Cyberpunk 2077 – Phantom Liberty – Announcement
I bloody loved Cyberpunk 2077. Sure it landed with a thud and CD Projekt Red ...
Quick Look: Coffee Talk
I think we all know by this stage that here at ninjarefinery.com, we love gaming ...
Jedi Fallen Order – Final thoughts
I’ll just go ahead and say it, I’m really pleased Jedi Fallen Order is done ...
Warframe in 2023
I'm an idiot. I started playing Warframe again this week (alas, no cross-progress form my ...
Quick Look: Sunset Overdrive
Off the back of Hi-Fi Rush, I’ve been thinking about other games that match the ...
Jedi Fallen Order – Review: Part 1
I’m trying. Really trying to enjoy Jedi Fallen Order. I started my first time in ...
Blog: On Deck!
Here at ninjarefinery.com I’m always looking at other approaches to how I can get useful/helpful ...
Tears of the Kingdom – Final Trailer
Nintendo have released the final trailer for The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the ...
The coffee roasting process
When we buy coffee, we often read about flavours and roast profiles. Dark roasts, light ...
Titanfall 2 Review – Google Bard
Titanfall 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by ...
Titanfall 2 Review – ChatGPT
Titanfall 2 is a first-person shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic ...
Tears of the Kingdom – Preview
Finally! Nintendo gave us a sweet sweet glimpse at Tears of the Kingdom, the Breath ...
Quick Look: Dead Cells
Keeping at the forefront of modern gaming, we here at ninjarefinery.com are finally ready to ...
A history of coffee in the UK
Coffee has a long and interesting history in the UK, dating back to the 16th ...
How do they decaffeinate coffee?
Coffee is really popular around the world for its unique taste and stimulating effects, and ...
Monster Hunter Rise: Is it the best in the series?
That question is almost always, immediately and aggressively met with a resounding “No!”. But hear ...
Quick Look: Pokemon Scarlet
There’s only one mainline Pokemon game in the entire series that I’ve not finished. Pokemon ...
Quick Look: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle-R
Long title for a quick look! JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle-R certainly is a bit ...
Game of the Year 2022 – The Winner
2022 has been one heck of a year for games, big Triple-A titles, indie hits ...
Hardware Review: Roccat Kone XP
I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing the Roccat Kone XP over the past couple of ...
The Witcher 3 – Next-Gen update is here!
It's a big one! The next-gen update for The Witcher 3 is here, and it ...
Game of the Year 2022 – The Contenders
Game of the Year at ninjarefinery.com isn’t about the best game released this year. Although ...
Christmas Giveaway!!
Happy ho-ho-holidays everyone! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, it’s still a great time of ...
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Next-Gen Update
We don't often do news here at ninjarefinery.com but some games transcend even our rules ...
God of War Ragnarok – Initial thoughts
I really enjoyed 2018’s God of War, in a way that I hadn’t expected. Not ...
Quick look: Rumbleverse Season 2
On November 15th 2022 Iron Galaxy released Rumbleverse season 2! I played a good bit ...
Best Nintendo Switch Games You’ll Ever Play
Ever since its release in 2017, the console-handheld hybrid - Nintendo Switch has garnered tremendous ...
Hitman 3 Freelancer: Closed Alpha Test
I was fortunate enough to get my invite to the closed technical test for the ...
5 annoying things about Overwatch 2
Josh from over at fullsync.co.uk is back again! This time with some thoughts on Overwatch ...
Quick Look – Ni No Kuni 2
I’ve been in somewhat of a rut recently. Not motivated by any game to sink ...
No Man’s Sky on Nintendo Switch
No Man's Sky has had plenty written about it over here at ninjarefinery.com and let ...
Guest Post: Top 5 Horror Games
Anyone that knows me, knows horror games aren't my thing. Although for October 2022 I ...
Farewell to Overwatch
Overwatch isn’t going to be Overwatch as we know it after 2nd October. It’s being ...
Starting Marvel’s Avengers in 2022
I took part in the Avenger’s Beta a little while ago, and remember it fondly ...
Football games that are better than FIFA 23
We've had another guest post from our friend @MaddOx_FS over at fullsync.co.uk . This time ...
Spider-Man Remastered on PC
I’ve written plenty about 2018’s Spider-Man game, and then the DLC. Followed by the Miles ...
Giveaway – Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 has just seen patch 1.6 with some decent changes and some additions to ...
Best recipes in Breath of the Wild
I’ve been playing a lot of Breath of the Wild again recently, and it’s honestly ...
Blog: Ninja Refinery Update
It's been a little while since anything has been posted up here. Not for lack ...
Deathloop: Final Thoughts
I've been playing a lot of Deathloop. Since it was voted for on Twitter, I've ...
Coming back to Deathloop
I started Deathloop not long after it was released in September 2021. An Arkane Studios ...
Quick Sip: Cold Brew Coffee Guinness
It's no secret that here at ninjarefinery.com we love coffee. And whilst it's likely not ...
PUBG – Deston is here!
Today, 13th July 2022, PUBG has seen the release of the 9th map, "Deston". I ...
Giveaway: Risk of Rain 2
Between starting to write a "Quick Look" piece on Risk of Rain 2. Starting to ...
Review: Shredder’s Revenge
Shredder's Revenge is here! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a staple of my growing up ...
Guest post – Apex Legends Ranked: Have the changes been a success?
Josh from FullSync.co.uk is back on Apex Legends again, and he's got a few things ...
A quick guide to Monster Hunter Rise
With the release of Sunbreak just around the corner, we’ve been hammering Monster Hunter Rise ...
Quick Look: Roller Champions
Ubisoft have released another free to play game that looks to be chasing something popular ...
Quick Look: Rogue Legacy 2
I love a run-based game. A roguelite (controversial topic calling things roguelikes!) is something that's ...
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Further Thoughts
I've whacked another 10 hours on top of my Final Fantasy VII Remake playthrough, and ...
Monster Hunter: Rise – Sunbreak
I've written plenty about Monster Hunter: Rise since before the initial release on Nintendo Switch ...
Mobile Games: Age of Origins
Mobile games aren't always my bag. It's nice to have something to help noodle the ...
Java Update: Coffee on the road
Sometimes, you're out on the road, possibly hitting service stations on the motorway or even ...
Final Fantasy VII Remake – Initial Thoughts
Final Fantasy VII is the only Final Fantasy game I've completed. I did a lot ...
XCOM 2 on Nintendo Switch
I love the XCOM series. The modern variant, anyway. I can't claim to have been ...
Elden Ring – I’ve been playing it wrong
Elden Ring is obviously a massive game, with a massive following. From a developer that ...
Quick Look: Vampire Survivors
Ever play a game that’s so simple that it seems absurd that it takes up ...
Java Update: Getting the best from your Aeropress
Man, do I love the Aeropress. A seemingly innocuous collaboration of two plastic tubes and ...
Review Ratings – Update
This is just a quick one but a worthwhile note on how ratings are changing ...
Horizon Forbidden West: Further Thoughts
Following on from my initial thoughts, I've added another 15 or so hours to my ...
Horizon Forbidden West: Initial Thoughts
I played about 20 hours of Horizon Zero Dawn and dropped-off. Not for any grand ...
Quick Look: Inscryption
How on earth does someone describe Inscryption? Let me tell you now, I'd heard a ...
Java Update: Coffee at home doesn’t have to cost a fortune – Hario V60
The hobby of home coffee-making can be a little bit snobbish, and people can get ...
Quick Look: Captain Tsubasa – Rise of New Champions
I'll be honest, I knew nothing of Captain Tsubasa until I saw a gameplay reveal ...
Stream Team Showdown!
Did you know that Ninja Refinery hit affiliate level on Twitch last year? Did you ...
Quick Look: Injustice 2
What do DC Comics and NetherRealm Studios have in common? One creates the worlds of ...
Ninja Refinery’s Best of 2021
I'll keep this relatively short, because all the work is done in the listing, reasoning ...
Death Stranding – Final Thoughts
I've written plenty about Death Stranding. It's equal parts weird as it is fascinating or ...
Running a Dungeons & Dragons Campaign
Over the past few months we’ve toyed with the idea of trying to play Dungeons ...
Guest Post: Splitgate – 5 of the most satisfying things when playing
Josh from over at FullSync has been hammering some serious time into Splitgate, and I've ...
My take on Death Stranding
How do you review or even describe a game like Death Stranding? I honestly don’t ...
Guest Post: New World – First Thoughts
Today Ninja Refinery gets the great pleasure of hosting a guest post from the one ...
Skyward Sword HD – Further Thoughts
I'm pretty pleased with myself. I haven't dropped off Skyward Sword HD and I'm well ...
Halo Infinite – Multiplayer Beta
I got to take part in the Halo Insider Flight test for Halo Infinite multiplayer ...
Quick Look: Mario Golf Super Rush
I'm a couple of tournaments in on Mario Golf Super Rush and I'm having a ...
Blog – Coffee changes
It's been a little while since any posts, but that's fine, it's in the name ...
Giveaway – Rainbow Six Siege
Ninja Refinery recently saw a massive uptick in Twitter followers, and to celebrate, we're giving ...
Skyward Sword HD – Initial Thoughts
I love the Legend of Zelda series. Ocarina of Time was an absolute turning point ...
Quick Look: Pokemon Unite
Pokemon Unite is a Pokemon MOBA on the Nintendo Switch, and honestly, I wasn't sure ...
Giveaway: Metal Gear Solid V
Ok, I'm working hard on a Cyberpunk 2077 review right now. But afterwards, I'm really ...
Quick Look: Into the Breach
After getting into FTL - Faster Than Light I remembered that Epic gave away "Into ...
Blog – Small Changes
Nothing drastic going on here, in fact, nothing much going on, hence the update. I've ...
FTL – Faster than light
I'm really late to the party on this one! FTL was released in 2012 originally, ...
Destiny 2 – Beyond Light
Here we are again, Destiny 2 - Beyond Light. Beyond light is the latest big ...
Dishonored Giveaway!
We love Dishonored here at ninjarefinery.com and we also love the great work done by ...
Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Quick Review
This is going to be a little more brief than my Spider-Man review, namely because ...
Monster Hunter: Rise – Early Doors
My gaming life has been consumed by Monster Hunter over the past few weeks. Between ...
The Best Casino Mini Games Within Video Games
Mini games have been a part of video games for a long time. Even one ...
Ghost of Tsushima – Final thoughts
It's been a few months since my "further thoughts" stage of the Ghost of Tsushima ...
News: Monster Hunter Rise – Update
I don't do news here at ninjarefinery.com. It's a lot of work, and I keep ...
Java Update – Crackd Coffee: G-Force
The third and final review of the Crackd coffee trilogy. G-Force, the dark roast. I ...
Java Update – Crackd Coffee: Gamr
Number two in my review of the Crackd Coffee roasts. Gamr is up, and damn, ...
Java Update – Crackd Coffee: Focusd
Crackd Coffee is a UK coffee roaster, that roasts and sells gaming themed coffee’s! When ...
Monster Hunter Rise – Quick Look
It’s no secret that I loved Monster Hunter World. I’ve written about it enough and ...
Persona 5 – Getting started
Persona 5 is a game that has been on my periphery for ages, but I've ...
Ninja Refinery 2021
I think it's fair to say that 2020 has been erm…..a substantial year. Global pandemic ...
Guest post – Animal Farm Review
Massive thanks to Nil from FullSync for this one! Another guest review. This time for ...
Java Update – Tiki Tonga 232
I'll be honest, until I got a follow from Tiki Tonga Coffee Roasters on Instagram, ...
Guest review: Session
Massive thanks to Josh from FullSync for covering this one for me. I've wanted to ...
Looking back – Tomb Raider
After finishing my Arkham Origins playthough, I found myself with a third-person adventure craving. So ...
Looking back – Batman: Arkham Origins
These days, I'm more inclined to play games I've either not finished, or had previously ...
Guest review – SHUT IN
Massive shout-out to Nil from Fullsync for coming through on this review for me. Covering ...
Quick look: Hades
I know nothing of rogue like games, I know a little about Supergiant Games, and ...
Ghost of Tsushima: Further Thoughts
I'm at the beginning of Act 3 in Ghost of Tsushima, and if I'm honest, ...
Quick Look: Spellbreak
By now, I think it's pretty well known that I love a battle royale. Better ...
Giveaway: Edifier S350DB Speakers
I recently did my first ever video review for fullsync.co.uk, and whilst the results leave ...
Heroes of the Storm – a MOBA Underdog
In today's multiplayer gaming climate, battle royale games are all the rage. Ever since PlayerUnknown's ...
Ghost of Tsushima – Initial Thoughts
From the outset, Ghost of Tsushima has appealed to me. Playing as a Samurai in ...
Quick Take: Avengers – Beta
I can't lie, there's nothing about the upcoming Avengers game that appeals to me. If ...
In-game casinos
In 1998, I bought the James Bond 007 game on Gameboy, and it inadvertently taught ...
The Witcher 3 – Cross-save playthrough
The Witcher 3 is one of my favourite all-time games. Compelling story, massive open-world, loads ...
The Cannonball Coffee Double
Cannonball Coffee are one of my favourite coffee companies, and recently I purchased a couple ...
In-game gambling
I’ve written a little bit in the past about loot boxes, keys, battle passes and ...
The Educational Potential of VR Gaming
As any avid gamer knows, video games can have educational qualities. That's not to say ...
Hyper Scape – Initial Impressions
Does the world need another Battle Royale? Probably not. But I do! I love the ...
Giveaway: Sandberg Xterminator Gaming Mouse
Thanks to our good friends over at Fullsync.co.uk. We have a Sandberg Xterminator gaming mouse, ...
Pokemon Sword and Shield: The Isle of Armor
The new Pokemon Sword and Shield DLC is finally out, and I'm so pleased to ...
Guest post: Apex Legends Season 5
Season 5 of Apex Legends is now entering its sixth week. It saw a whole ...
The Ninja Refinery PC Build
How do you cover a broader spectrum of games, and develop a deeper insight into ...
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
I've written plenty about Monster Hunter World over the past couple of years, and now ...
Role Queue in Overwatch
A while ago, Overwatch introduced "role queue" which has put me in a bit of ...
Animal Crossing: End Game
The last time I wrote about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I basically declared that I'd ...
The Coffee Mate – Santa Petrona
The Coffee Mate were good enough to reach out not so long ago, and send ...
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – I give up
Oh Odyssey, why did it come to this? It's not uncommon for me to fail ...
Guest post: Grizzland – Review
Today is a pretty big day. Ninja Refinery has it's first ever guest-written post. Here ...
Super Tennis (Nintendo Switch) – Giveaway!
Giveaway time! I recently had the pleasure of reviewing Super Tennis for the Nintendo Switch, ...
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Further thoughts
I've hit just over 20 hours in Assassin's Creed Odyssey now and I think I've ...
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing is a series that I've had very very little to do with over ...
Java Update: Cannonball Coffee
Cannonball time: It's easy to write coffee's-off as a gimmick when they focus on the ...
Embarking upon an Odyssey with Assassin’s Creed
I had a really good time in Assassin's Creed Origins and had always planned to ...
Visiting the past: Link’s Awakening
My first Zelda game was Link's Awakening on the Gameboy. I didn't really know what ...
Raid life – Ding dong Calus is gone
We did it! Raid night was a success. Released September 2017, the Leviathan raid was ...
Games and our approach to them
A mantra used in so many methodologies, from project management to development of software and ...
Pokemon Sword – Change is good
My love for Pokemon is years-long and runs deep. I've played everything from Blue, onwards ...
Overwatch on Switch
Overwatch isn't a new game to me. I've spent countless hours grinding my way through ...
Headset Review: HyperX Cloud Earbuds
Not content with two different sets of gaming earbuds, I decided it was worth checking ...
Forza Horizon 4 – Battle Royale
Forza Horizon 4, Battle Royale. What?! A series of games synonymous with realistic driving, licensed ...
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
On paper, the idea of a crossover between the iconic Mario series, and the Ubisoft ...
The impact of achievements and trophies
I'm no psychologist or even anyone with knowledge/interest in human behaviour, so this isn't some ...
Shadow of War: Here we go!
It's been out a couple of years, but I'm finally starting Shadow of War. When ...
Headset review: Turtle Beach Battle Buds
We all know Turtle Beach as one of the leading purveyors of gaming headsets, right? ...
Nescafe Azera – Nitro Coffee
I'll be honest, if you say Nescafe I just think of "Gold Blend" and horrible ...
Quick sip: Costa Coffee in a can
Over the weekend I saw that Costa Coffee have released a range of canned, cold ...
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Where on earth do you draw a line under Super Smash Bros. games, to be ...
The Division 2: End Game
Level 30, World Tier 1. What?! The Division 2 did the impossible, and kept me ...
Keeping up with coffee and games
The past month has seen quite a drop in me creating and publishing posts. Not ...
No Man’s Sky – Starting Again
Approximately a year and a half ago, I decided to give No Man's Sky a ...
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Final Fantasy is a massive franchise, and a franchise I have a lot of fondness ...
Saving San Francisco – Watch Dogs 2
Approximately 20 hours, and I've played through the main campaign of Watch Dogs 2. What ...
Diving into Washington DC – The Division 2
Apparently I can only play Ubisoft games at the moment. Not content with two Assassin's ...
Java Update: Percol – Protein Latte
Coffee drinks are always fun to try. The spin that people put them on generally ...
Destiny 2 is in really good shape right now
I've written a massive amount about Destiny 2 over the past couple of years. But ...
Watch Dogs 2 – Getting Started
Watch Dogs was a good game. Despite what people have to say about Aiden Pierce ...
What the hell is Auto Chess?
Coming off two Assassin's Creed games in a row, and bracing myself for Watch Dogs ...
Assassin’s Creed Origins – Final Thoughts
Just shy of 40 hours in Origins, and my time with Bayek has come to ...
Music Blog: The 5 albums that changed my life
It sounds dramatic, doesn't it? Albums that change your life? But, honestly, I think it's ...
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Straight out of Assassin's Creed Syndicate, and into Origins. The re-imagining of the franchise, kind ...
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – Final Thoughts
It's been about two weeks since I finished Assassin's Creed Syndicate, but I decided to ...
Blog: Gaming on a budget
Gaming is a great hobby, with so much variety and breadth. Niche titles, global communities ...
What happened to Anthem?
Releasing a new "live service" game never goes well, does it? Especially when it's a ...
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – Almost finished
I've spent quite a substantial amount of time in Assassin's Creed Syndicate since I last ...
Breath of the Wild – A Masterpiece
I've written multiple times of my love for the Legend of Zelda series. Beyond that, ...
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – Getting Started
I've toyed with the idea of getting one of the newer Assassin's Creed games recently ...
Monster Energy – Monster Espresso Drinks
In my lifelong quest to try the biggest variety of coffees and coffee-based drink, I ...
Sea of Thieves – Anniversary Update
It's no lie to say that I've gotten back into Sea of Thieves recently. With ...
Twilight Princess – Starting Again
After my Breath of the Wild binge recently, and my commitment to finishing all my ...
GWENT – So much change
GWENT, the in-game card game from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released in beta, ...
Sea of Thieves – Anchors aweigh
Sea of Thieves came out on March 20th 2018. I was very keen to give ...
Breath of the Wild is just superb
Obvious statement of 2019? Probably, but I'm back into Breath of the Wild in a ...
Battlefield V – Battle Royale
Firestorm. Strong name isn't it? Well, yeah, and it makes literal sense because the classic ...
Java update: Rave Coffee “The Italian Job”
Rave coffee is a name I've heard several times over the past couple of years, ...
Star Wars Battlefront II – Initial Impressions
Battlefront 2 isn't exactly a well-loved EA game, is it? With a massive (justified) furore ...
Java Update: Cornish Coffee “The Original”
When you think of coffee, you think perhaps of Italy or France? With the rise ...
Anthem – The reviews
It's almost cool to hate on Anthem at the minute. Not without good cause, for ...
Trust in YouTube
Being any kind of gamer can often mean looking for guides or reviews, or perhaps ...
Monster Hunter World x The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt
In the past 10 years, I'd suggest that there are only 2 or 3 game ...
Apex Legends
Anyone that knows me, knows that they could utter either "Titanfall" or "Battle Royale" and ...
Anthem: VIP Demo
Anthem isn't a game I've been particularly fussed about if I'm honest. Another online loot ...
The Wii U Tri-Fecta – Zelda time!
The Legend of Zelda has been at the centre of my gaming life for as ...
Spider Man: Back into the swing of things
Finishing Spider Man last year was great. I had a great time, and wrote plenty ...
Monster Hunter World
Thinking of a title for this post left me a little dumbstruck......What is it that ...
Coffee: Mastering the Moka Pot
Until a little while ago, a Moka Pot wasn't something on my radar. That little ...
The Gold Standard – 2018
2018 has been a pretty great year for Ninja Refinery, but better still for gaming ...
Halo – Still got it after all these years
It's no secret that I'm a Halo fan. Hell, my wedding ring is a Halo! ...
1 year on – PUBG is still the king
It's been 12 months as of December 12th since Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) was released on ...
God of War – Several hours deep
I expected to blitz through the story of God of War. Envisioning a linear, fast-paced, ...
The most satisfying “touches” in gaming over the past few years
We mostly play games for fun, right? To attain a certain level of satisfaction. Whether ...
Red Dead Redemption 2: The light at the end of the tunnel
I've done it! In just over 40 hours of play I've completed the main story ...
Fighting that “new game” compulsion
Gaming is without a doubt my favourite hobby, alongside writing on here, playing guitar, drinking ...
Red Dead Redemption 2: The long road through hell
I've just about hit the 30 hour mark in Red Dead Redemption 2, which is ...
Red Dead Redemption 2 – Oh my….
True story: I had low expectations for Red Dead Redemption 2. I don't know why, ...
Horizon Zero Dawn – Getting started
Horizon Zero Dawn seems like a game that requires no introduction. A runaway success almost ...
Java update: Coffee Cola
Let's be fair, when you see the words "Coffee" and "Cola" bunched together, you'd perhaps ...
Quick look: Battlefield 1
The Battlefield series is one that I've loved for several years now. From Battlefield 1943 ...
Finished business
Sometimes we have an experience with something that ends up either being so profound, or ...
Spider-Man – Review
Spider-man games have been published for years and years, in fact, one of my first ...
PUBG 1.0 – Review
It's here! It's finally here. PUBG is now out of beta and officially "full release" on ...
Shenmue – Remastered – Review
To be clear, Shenmue is one of my all-time favourite games. A title that it's ...
Unfinished Business
Sometimes you just can't find the time, nor the will to see something through. Never ...
Why is Warframe so good?
It's very easy to write Warframe off as a free-to-play game and ignore it (like ...
Overwatch – New Hero: Wrecking Ball
Hammond (Wrecking Ball) is live in Overwatch on consoles! Straight off the bat, we've got ...
Mass Effect Andromeda – Initial thoughts
About 10 hours in, a few planets scanned, a full team and a cool ship ...
Fortnite – Save the World
Fortnite has been on the lips of the public for quite a while now. With ...
Mass Effect Andromeda
Infamous barely begins to scratch the surface when describing Mass Effect Andromeda. A release that ...
Java Update: Alpro Caffe – Coffee and Hazelnut
It's personal taste, but I think it's fair to say that the combination of coffee ...
Metal Gear Solid V – The Phantom Pain – Chapter One is done!
It's been hours, pushing 40 hours at the time of writing. Hours of non-stop stealth-action, ...
Carving out a living in GTA Online
Let's be fair, one of the core elements to the success of GTA online, is ...
Fortnite Battle Royale – 50 v 50 Mode
It's fair to say that I've not given Fortnite Battle Royale as much attention as ...
Blog: Nice problems to have
I have a problem......I've found myself in a strange place recently, but a great one ...
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – Diving back in
One of the games on my pile of shame is Metal Gear Solid V: The ...
Re-play: Sleeping Dogs – final thoughts
I finished my playthrough of Sleeping Dogs. Re-living some fond memories, seeing how times have ...
Java Update: Cold Brew at Costa
Cold Brew has been a pretty big deal in the past couple of years, with ...
Monster Hunter World – What have I begun?
I played a Monster Hunter game a few years ago, it was Monster Hunter 4 ...
Destiny 2 Raid Lair: Eater of Worlds
Having practically given up on Destiny 2 around the release of the Curse of Osiris ...
Re-Play: Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is one of those games that took me by surprise, saw me love ...
Java Update: Bay Bank – The Baytown Coffee Company
Frankly, it's embarrassing how long it's taken me to get this review together. Not only ...
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
I'll be honest, I never had any intention of playing, let alone writing about a ...
Destiny 2 – 2 DLCs in
Having played through the Warmind missions, I find myself in a really strange spot with ...
Overwatch – New hero! Brigitte
I know this is well past the release of Brigitte into Overwatch, but I like ...
Destiny 2: Warmind DLC – Time to bounce back?
Destiny 2 is due to have DLC number 2 (Warmind) released and it's genuinely the ...
PUBG – Miramar Map on Xbox One – Thoughts
Bluehole only went and gave us a PTS (public test server)! So, those of us ...
Warframe: I think this is my new Destiny
I've now logged into Warframe for 16 consecutive days. I know this because you get ...
Blog: Looking backwards to move forwards
Here's the thing. I'm trying to calm the hell down on my almost ADHD levels ...
Blog: Sometimes you need the grind
The past month has been pretty hectic, trying to maintain a level of frequent/readable content, ...
Warframe: Free to play done right?
Over the past couple of years Warframe has randomly popped in and out of my ...
PUBG: So much change!
PlayerUnknown's BattleGrounds (PUBG) isn't new anymore. It's in "full release" on PC, and it's still ...
The Last of Us: Remastered – Initial Thoughts
When it comes to games that are deemed as "must play", I think it's fair ...
Java Update: “Albion Street” by Baytown Coffee Co
I'm not exactly qualified or even particularly experienced at writing, or reviewing coffee, so it's ...
Sea of Thieves – Fun with friends!
It's here! Sea of Thieves has been released and after a technical alpha and two ...
Mobile Gaming: Marvel Puzzle Quest
Playing games on mobile is something I love the idea of, but rarely does it ...
XCOM 2 – Trying to control chaos
XCOM 2 is an excellent game. Honestly, I love it. But seriously, I hate it ...
Finishing Dishonored 2
When I started getting back into Dishonored 2, I'd say that I was simply going ...
Java Update: Baytown Coffee Company – Christmas Blend
One of the best coffee findings in recent years is that there is a relatively ...
Blog: These days every game wants my attention forever, and my money…..
In the past couple of years, the rise in "games as a service" as seen ...
Dishonored 2 – Diving back in
As I promised last week, I've gotten back into Dishonored 2 (man, it really pains ...
Java Update: Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso (in a can….)
My coffee coverage is going to improve, I've got bags of beans to get through, ...
The dreaded pile of shame
I'd hazard that most gamers have one, I'd suggest that it sits in the back ...
Review: Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus is a game that I've been told to play by so ...
Fortnite and PUBG – Enjoying both is easy
The Battle Royale genre has seen some massive growth in the past year. I'm not ...
No Man’s Sky – Final Thoughts
It isn't possible to ever really "finish" No Man's Sky. Sure, there's a couple of ...
Using your PlayStation 4 Screenshots
When I started taking screenshots on the PlayStation 4, it never occurred to me that ...
InFamous: Second Son – Final Thoughts
I finished it! I had a great time, and I'd recommend it to anyone that ...
Burgershot: 50 Years of the Big Mac
This month marks 50 years of service to the iconic "Big Mac" from one of ...
InFamous Second Son – Further Thoughts
I've had a good chunk of time with InFamous: Second Son now. I've unlocked new ...
Overwatch – Getting to grips with Moira
This is really late, Moira was released on November 16th last year, so I'm not ...
Getting started in InFamous – Second Son
InFamous is one of those series that I've never really heard anything bad about, and ...
PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds – Still going…..
This is madness, I can't remember the last time I was so hooked on a ...
No Man’s Sky – Further thoughts
I'll be honest, up until this morning, I was ready to just give up on ...
Sea of Thieves: Closed Beta
I was fortunate enough to get in on the final technical alpha for Sea of ...
Uncharted 4 – Review
I set myself up for this review, in my previous Uncharted 4 post. Basically ruining ...
No Man’s Sky – Initial Thoughts
No Man's Sky is a game you can ask people about, and likely hear some ...
Uncharted 4 – Review incoming
I'm about 20 hours deep in Uncharted 4 and I'm moments away from finishing it ...
Getting back into the swing of things
2018 has seen a pretty slow content-feed so far. With the Christmas break, work, a ...
PUBG – what makes it so enjoyable?
It's hard to not keep writing about PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, even though I have so much ...
Expanding coverage at Ninja Refinery
I have a pretty incredible wife, and because of that, Ninja Refinery can now start ...
Inspired by – NoClip
My second "Inspired by" piece is a little broader than just the "NoClip" name, it's ...
Headset Review: HyperX Cloud Stinger
I've only ever heard of HyperX in the context of computing, so I was very ...
Playing Battle Royale games the “right” way
Playing "Battle Royale" games is becoming something of a big deal in gaming as of ...
Inspired by: Insert Coin Clothing
Gaming is big business, and it goes well beyond just playing games. We become engrossed ...
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds – It’s here!
A few hours early, and my code for Playerunknown's Battlegrounds was sent through to get ...
Getting back to grips with The Division
The Division is an open-world, online-only, third-person cover shooter, set in Manhattan. Released in March ...
Trying something new
Now I've gone past 100 posts published, I've started to see some patterns in what ...
Mobile gaming: Lineage 2 Revolution
Here's a sentence I never expected to say or write: I'm currently playing an MMORPG ...
Coming back to Titanfall 2
The best thing about playing Mirror's Edge Catalyst, was the fact that it reminded me ...
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst – Final Thoughts
Clocking in at just under seven and a half hours, I've finished the campaign of ...
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst – Initial thoughts
The original Mirror's Edge was a bit of a surprise to me. I'd read a ...
100 published posts!
It's perhaps no major event to most, but here at Ninja Refinery, it's a big ...
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – Final thoughts
My journey with the main campaign of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has come to an ...
Star Fox Zero – Co-op Chaos
After falling back in love with Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64) on my 3DS, it ...
Review: Star Fox 64 (3DS)
My first proper console was the Nintendo 64, and one of the many fond memories ...
Incoming! PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Due in a few weeks, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is heading to Xbox One. I've spent a ...
Let’s Play – Animal Crossing Pocket Camp
Yesterday, I decided I'd had enough of the mobile games I've been playing (Pokemon Go, ...
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – Further Thoughts
I'm over halfway through Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, now, and I'm suckered in until the ...
Headset Review: Turtle Beach XO Three
One of the most recognisable names in the gaming headset arena, Turtle Beach sent me ...
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – Getting Started
Played a lot of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I didn't finish it, but that's for ...
Just Cause 3 – Final Thoughts
Just Cause 3 has taken me a little while to get finished (it's been sat ...
Headset Review: Steelseries Siberia 200
Since my recent epiphany I've been on a one-man mission to delve into the audio of ...
Just Cause 3 – Further Thoughts
Since diving back into Just Cause 3, I've found myself having a great time. I've ...
Album Review: Mean Everything to Nothing (Manchester Orchestra)
I knew I should have written this as my first album review, from the moment ...
Coffee Review – Loading Coffee
I've waited for the right coffee to hit me for the first review on here ...
Just Cause 3 – Initial thoughts
As much as I love realisim, a great narrative, next-level game design and genre-bending mechanics. ...
Overwatch – Halloween Terror 2017
I'm late to the party, in fact, I'm really late because I missed the event ...
Fortnite: Battle Royale – Getting more time in.
I've been getting more time in, on Fortnite: Battle Royale. It's proving to be the ...
The difference a headset makes.
Most people know this already, and honestly, I have no idea why it's taken me ...
Show review – New Found Glory – Leeds 2nd October 2017
Some of the best times I've had have involved New Found Glory, whether it's their ...
Fortnite Battle Royale – Getting started
The drama around Fortnite - Battle Royale has, as far as I can tell, only ...
Keeping up……
It's September, a few weeks after the Destiny 2 release, and I'm knee-deep in glimmer, ...
Burger Review – The Elvis Burger (Hungry Horse)
Cheap eateries don't always mean terrible food Pub chains like "Hungry Horse", "Beefeater" and "Fayre ...
Music Blog: Reviewing albums is tough
I’m more than happy to share my opinion, hell, I’ve built a site dedicated to ...
Destiny 2 – Initial Thoughts
It would be completely remiss of me to not make any kind of post about ...
Ninja Refinery Reviews
Further to my post about review scoring, I feel that it's important to at least ...
Destiny – Thank you, and goodnight.
It’s the eve of Destiny 2, and it seems like the perfect time to reflect ...
Review scores are dead
I've read a massive amount of reviews in my time. So many gaming sites provide ...
Review: Hyrule Warriors
Who knew that a hack-and-slash style "Warriors" game could be so much fun?! Honestly, I ...
Taking Screenshots on the Wii U
Who knew that working out how to get a screenshot on a Wii U would ...
Brand New – Science Fiction – It’s here!!
After years of waiting, and scraps of demos and live versions of new songs, Brand ...
Overwatch – More thoughts on Doomfist
Apart from playing Lucio Ball, I've been hitting QuickPay as often as possible, and where ...
Ninja Refinery – Wii U Streaming
Thanks to a great session of Mario Kart 8 last night, I was able to ...
Mario Kart 8 – Wii U – I love this series
Who doesn't enjoy a game of Mario Kart? Is it possible to dislike it? Here ...
Overwatch – Doomfist
What's a Doomfist? Doomfist is the latest hero released in Overwatch. After much speculation about ...
Fallout 4 – The loyalty dilemma
I thought that I had just about written as much as I could about Fallout ...
Killed the Kage – All change
Change is inevitable, like it or not, things have to change. Change? In a very ...
Gaming Habits – How they’re changing
There was a time where I would exclusively play one game for months at a ...
Destiny 2 Beta – How was it?
It was more Destiny. Simple as that really. Now that's not a bad thing, not ...
Destiny 2 beta – The Farm
The new social space "The Farm" was made available for one hour this Sunday (6pm ...
Destiny 2 Beta – Here we go!
The Destiny 2 beta went live on Xbox One yesterday, and so I dived right ...
Destiny 2 – Beta incoming!
This is the week, the Destiny 2 beta is taking place from Wednesday, and I'll ...
Fallout 4 – Let’s get started
Fallout 4 has been on my "need to play at some point" list for quite ...
Batman Arkham Knight – Final Thoughts
This game is/was wonderful. Rocksteady should be proud. It is the perfect end to a ...
Batman – Arkham Knight – Further Thoughts
I've been putting some decent hours in on this game now, not through attrition and ...
Breath of the Wild – 3 Divine Beasts down, 1 to go!
Yeah, I'm taking my sweet time with this game, but I'm loving every second of ...
Star Wars Battlefront – Initial Impressions
Star Wars Battlefront is a game that's been out a while, got some good press, ...
I don’t think I’ll ever finish Breath of the Wild – But that’s ok
Finishing a game is subjective. Do you mean 100%? Do you mean complete the main ...
Batman – Arkham Knight – Initial Thoughts
I started Arkham Knight yesterday, after having it sat on the shelf for months, making ...
Some games aren’t meant to be streamed
I've done a few posts on streaming platforms, and I've done a post on streaming ...
Overwatch – New Map – Horizon
The newest map on Overwatch was released to consoles this week, and I've been getting ...
Magikarp Jump! What the?!
I started to see reports of a new Pokemon app on the Google Play store, ...
Almost famous – for a couple of hours
Reddit is a site I visit frequently, and I post occasionally. I've had one very ...
Super Smash Bros. Wii U and Amiibos
I managed to sit and play through a bit of Smash Bros. a bit the ...
Streaming from a Wii U – Via an Xbox One (no capture card)
I recently got a Wii U, and in doing so, realised that I have no ...
The Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild (Wii U) – A few hours in
I'm roughly 10-12 hours into Breath of the Wild now, and I've barely scratched the ...
The Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild (Wii U)
I was fortunate enough to get a really good deal on a Wii U and ...
Beam vs Twitch – Streaming from an Xbox One
I stream from my Xbox One. Few watch it, but that's by the by. The ...
Overwatch – Orisa
Orisa has been released into the wild for a few weeks now, and more importantly, ...
Destiny – The Age of Triumph & Destiny 2 news
Preface Destiny has been going on since 2014, and has seen some highs and lows ...
VasDown Raids Again!
Preface We finally all got back together, ready to take on the Wrath of the ...
Rainbow Six: Siege – Playing online
Nothing too exciting here, just the uploaded video of a stream, whilst playing online earlier ...
Ghost Recon: Wildlands – GRWHQ App
Preface I've used a few companion apps in my time. Something that Ubisoft seem to ...
Hearthstone – Level 20 and beyond!
Preface I mentioned before that Hearthstone was proving to be a grind, and level 20 ...
Rainbow Six Siege – Bleeding out
A dude just watched me bleed out for a few seconds, got right up in ...
Hearthstone – Grinding it out……
Preface I've been playing Hearthstone casually now for a couple of weeks, and felt like ...
Ghost Recon: Wildlands – Further Impressions
Preface I've still not played a massive amount of this game, and I'm still in ...
Assassin’s Creed Unity – Final thoughts
Preface It's done! I finished the main story missions, a fair few side missions and ...
Ghost Recon: Wildlands – Getting into the game
Preface As I wrote previously, I played the open beta of Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and ...
Game soundtracks – Do you listen to them?
Preface I've recently been given a download to the Hitman soundtrack (looks like anyone who ...
Assassin’s Creed Unity – Further thoughts
Preface I laid out some initial thoughts a few days ago, and then I've given ...
I love Rocket League – I’m not great at Rocket League
Preface I've been playing Rocket League on and off since the day it was released ...
Assassin’s Creed: Unity – Co-op first experiences
Preface In a well-timed accidental meeting of each other online, myself, Frostos and Tommygunlovers were ...
Hearthstone – Learning the ways
Preface Ok, so my last Hearthstone post was about getting into it and giving it ...
Assassin’s Creed Unity – Thoughts
Preface Ok, so I'm a fan of the Assassin's Creed series, I've played and finished ...
Let’s Play – Ghost Recon Wildlands – Beta
Preface The open technical beta was opened up last week for a few days. I ...
Hearthstone – Giving it a go
Preface I'm not particularly familiar with the Warcraft franchise or the lore, so this, to ...
Halo Wars 2 – Initial thoughts
Preface Ok, so I love the halo universe, have done since Combat Evolved, and I've ...
Update – Spam spam spam
Ok, so building the site is an ongoing project, and something that never seems to ...
Let’s Play! – Hitman
I love the Hitman franchise, always have, and I've played most of the series, start-to-finish ...
How do game reviews and sites like reddit impact how you purchase or play a game?
Preface I read a massive amount of content around games and gaming. It used to ...
My top 10 games from the past year.
These weren't all necessarily released this year, but they have taken my time in 2016 ...
The Division – VasDown style
So, we got a bit bored of Destiny, and all found The Division for a ...
Let’s Play! – GTA V Campaign from the 1st person perspective.
When GTA V first came out, I played through it on the Xbox 360. I ...
Silver…..just. Overwatch ranking.
So, I did it. I got my rank, and crept into silver tier, by 30 ...
Overwatch – Ranking is hard
Just a couple of the games, I'm clearly doomed to end up in the lower ...
I got there in the end – Overwatch Ranked
So, I finally hit rank 25 in Overwatch, and now I'm apparently ready for competitive ...
Let’s Play! – #VasDown takes on The Wrath of the Machine, again.
One step further! We got to the siege engine, and this time we had all ...
Too much to play, too much to do.
What happened to the days where we would sit and play the same few games ...
Review – Zombies, Run! Autumn Virtual Race
Preface: I love the Zombies, Run! app, the story, the characters, the zombies. You name ...
Flashback – The VasDown clan completing the Vault of Glass raid for the first time
This is the first raid we did as a full 6-man clan. We tried to ...
Destiny – 2016 Halloween Event – Thoughts
So, the Festival of the Lost has returned this year, sans paper and glue to ...
Pokemon GO Halloween Event is live!
The Pokemon GO Halloween event is......Go! Seeing more ghost-types? You should be! Niantic have started ...
VasDown – Latest Raid Attempt Video
So, we attempted Wrath of the Machine -1 clan member on Friday. Didn't get as ...
Welcome to KilltheKage.com
This is the new hub for all things KilltheKage. All YouTube videos from my channel ...