About a year ago on PC this was one of the most ambitious time management games of the time – and it still is on console. With lots of humour, a fairly deep and tactical turn based fight management, a whodunit for good measure and an inspired 16-bit-retro-fell to it, Punch Club will draw you in. But within all the movie quotes and references you’ll also find a great amount of grind.

Technically clean remaster of the pixel-brawler. Mechanically, on the other hand, time wasn’t kind and left Scott Pilgrim behind most of the competition.

Mysterious, poetical and full of atmosphere – Dear Esther is as magical as a short story from Ray Bradbury. The creative way of storytelling fascinated me from the very first moment.

With its serenity, the slow pace, the power of its pictures and Yarny as a heartwarmingly charming protagonist it is hard to escape the magic that you’ll experience in this puzzle platformer. Unfortunately the magic isn’t immune to trial and error.

It was and still is the pixelart-counterpart to a Jason Statham movie: brutal, excessive and slightly redundant – but fun nonetheless.

Rematch is a strong, almost addictive soccer game with an arcade feel. However, its fundamentally good foundation is severely hindered by technical issues that prevent it from reaching its full potential.

Darksiders 2 was one of the best action-adventures in the late cycle of last generation’s consoles – and the magic still is there. Driven by the timeless comic design and the tight mechanics, Death’s adventure is still worth the entrance fee.

Escaping traps and outsmarting monsters – Hellraid delivers solid entertainment but is too easy and too short.

Nice farming game that lacks variety over time.

Black Pants didn't only work on creative physics puzzles, but also implemented a well executed platformer. It's a little short though.

No-frills minigolf that is easily accessible and offers course exchange among all systems, while the challenge level could be higher.

Quotation forthcoming.

EA Sports FC 24 fits seamlessly into the quality of FIFA games. Visually it plays at a high level, but new game content is more noticeable in details than in the general gaming experience.

It is a nice stroll down memory lane through 30 years of WrestleMania history. Unfortunately the publisher change didn’t result in a change of direction yet.

Classic dungeon crawling with a bizarre twist and interesting features. Unfortunately the port to Switch is rather lackluster, but at least you get the prequel as well.

Despite its noticeable weaknesses and gaps in content, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is an overall good shooter package that is convincing in both campaign and multiplayer.

Railgrade is a nice small-scale logistics puzzle that is solidly entertaining despite its mechanical limitations and works well on the go.

Even though this is not the “real” continuation of the beloved shoot-and-loot-series and still shows some elements that might have been bugging you before, you’ll get plenty of hours of fun out of it.

This might not be the system seller that Oculus is hoping for, since music games still basically are a niche market. But nonetheless this is a perfect example how known concepts can be enhanced and become more immersive. This is Harmonix’ best rhythm extravaganza since Fantasia: Music Evolved.

It manages to entertain for short periods but if you want more than the occasional 8- or 9-ball the potential here remains mainly untapped.

In its best moments Outlast 2 is one of the most intensive horror experiences out there – mainly thanks to the excellent design. But mechanically it relies too much on trial and error and redundant elements that tame the terror.

A magical fantasy journey with clever puzzles. Touchscreen controls are missed dearly, though.

Technically solid port of a 23 year old shooter. The once N64 exclusive episode can’t keep up with modern retro shooters, but still delivers a lot of fun.

Motivating and visually appealing motion controlled climbing adventure with very little improvement compared to its predecessor.

The off-road simulation draws you in with its quite unique charme, but the visuals on Switch are suffering a bit.

Space Run Galaxy captured me in the very beginning. But too soon the missing depth in this interesting tower defense variation took its toll. It just doesn’t live up to its potential.

Sometimes the change of mood is too sudden, but nonetheless this is an entertaining glimpse into what Dontnod might have in store with Life is Strange 2.

I love Superhot VR on PC. But without proper room scaling and with evident technical problems this is nothing but a shell of one of the best VR games around. You can still sense the greatness of its brethren, but the execution feels too rushed and not catered to PSVR.

This a very good fight-focused action-adventure. It has some flaws in terms of storytelling as well as visually, but makes up for that with an excellent level design, exploration and motivating character development.

This is still a solid puzzle game, but 5th cell smoothed out too many edges that made the other Scribblenauts so special.

Quotation forthcoming.

Killing Floor 2 can be a neat but casual online gore-fest. But even with the interesting classes it lacks variety in terms of enemies, bosses and thrills, so you’re limited to hours of grind on the same maps against the same groups of enemies.

The colorful fight between the undead and the armored crops was and still is a nice take on the all too serious military multiplayer shooters out there.

I hope that EA prepares something big for next years’ ice hockey. Because otherwise I cannot really understand why the improvements and charges are just very marginal.

This icy region with its numerous legandary Pokémon, a neat story and the Dynamax adventure gives you a lot of fresh content to explore.

If you play locally this is a perfect party game, while the story-mode is short but sweet. Online on the other hand Nintendo is still playing catch-up.

The journey through Capcom's dragon infested world has left its mark on me. You'll encounter interesting situations, intense fights and motivating goals. On the other hand the scenery is fragile, a lot of quests are monotonous. Yes, it could have been better on a few levels. But even with its rough edges it is worth your time to dive into the world of Dragon's Dogma.

The presentation is cute beyond believe, the music is great, the fighting system is as simple as varied – it sure sounds like a winner. But at its core there are too many weaknesses on display, most notably the absence of RPG elements, which makes the fights too monotonous in the long run.

A stylish,engrossing game taking on just decisions as well as moral dilemma, while the player is put in a judges chair. It could be deeper. It could be more meaningful. But it is an interesting take on strategy.

Yes, taking care of your pokégotchis is superficial at best. And for ten years now Square is struggling with good camera positions in the fast-paced fights. But albeit all flaws this is a very entertaining action RPG with an engrossing and multilayered storyline. Oh yes: It looks great, too.

With its impressive ballistic action (albeit on a 2D plane) and the constant search for better equipment this mixture of games like Drox Operative, VoidExpanse, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and of course Elite: Dangerous is a pleasant surprise in the overgrowing indie market.

Colourful and entertaining minigames with retro feeling.

I don’t know if this is the road that EA should follow when it comes to Need for Speed. An interesting concept suffers from technical faults like bad AI or abysmal online features. And of course the fact that other games like Forza Horizon or NfS Most Wanted are plain and simple more fun to play.

Observer is a quirky cyperpunk thriller filled with mind games. Unfortunately they lose their impact too quickly.

This is a gripping tactical thriller. Some AI behavior destroys the illusion occasionally, while the mission design is not varied enough. But nonetheless I enjoyed the challenges presented by the unofficial sequel to Syndicate top to bottom.

Thousands of bugs against eight soldiers: The mix between real time tactics and tower defense has its moments, but the mechanics get stale too soon.

Hohokum is one of those games, where you can simply lean back to dive into beautifully designed worlds somewhere between “zen gaming” and a serious puzzler.

If you like games like Legend of Grimrock, you will fall in love with Vaporum - especially if you enjoy steampunk settings like BioShock.

The art design is noteworthy and the options to change nature are interesting, but the story remains boring from beginning to end.

A wild, intense ride perfectly suited for VR. It lacks detail in certain areas, but this nonetheless is something special.

Tense as well as emotional journey into the past with interesting characters and lively dialogue.

Downhill biking with relaxed drum’n’bass and the occasional stunt. A decent port with slight visual deficits compared to the PC original.

The perspective might be unsual, but in the 2D-arenas you'll witness intense online battles. Balancing is okay, controls are easy to pick up and the cartoon style is easy on the eyes.

More or a less a ramped up sequel to Crimsonland the fight of the master of electricity against the genius behind the Cthulhu myth is a very entertaining no-frills twin-stick shooter.

An overpriced demo? Metal Gear Solight? It is just a small glimpse into Kojima’s latest stealth vision. But it serves its purpose: I am curious what to expect in The Phantom Pain.

Quotation forthcoming.

Even with its flaws within the control schemes or the mission design, this is a very unique take on RTS.

This is the musou action you love (or hate) with the added bonuses of One Piece, giant enemies and destructible environments.

A very entertaining and charming fantasy adventure with nicely constructed puzzles. It lacks the punch of the predecessor, though.

Quotation forthcoming.

A surprisingly pleasant mystical puzzle adventure with room for improvement and need for fine tuning in terms of mechanics.

Rain Games has no problems transitioning from the 2D-Teslagrad to the three-dimensional areas of World to the West. Puzzle, exploration and fighting are mixed quite well, while there is even a hint of Lost Vikings infused with the four characters that need to work together to reach their respective goals.

This is an interesting twist on real time strategy that soon showcases its unique dynamics. But it is rather short and gets repetitive too soon.

Quotation forthcoming.

This is an atmospheric horror adventure that has just the right pace. The fear in the dark is presented convincingly, classic puzzles deliver solid entertainment and the well placed shock moments are followed by important moments of peace and quiet.

In its best moments The Long Dark makes you think of the tragic moments of lonesome wanderers best described by Jack London’s Stories of the North. But in its worst you curse at the incoherent direction. In free or challenge modes though, you’ll find a decent survival adventure.

This is like iRacing for PS4. I rarely had that much fun and tense position battles within competitive online racing on a console. The driving physics are great and the fairness system executed nicely. Unfortunately it falls a little short on the content side as well as for soloists.

Even with annoying design decisions like sacrificing atmosphere and deeper morale questions for the sake of arcade feeling this is a very interesting take on survival action. It manages to entertain you for about five hours and also serves as an appetizer for everybody looking forward to Naughty Dog's The Last of Us.

From all expansions to Fallout 4 this is the content richest. A cursed island with some well executed scary moments, an atmosphere that reminds me of Alan Wake and greatly constructed quests with big decisions. This is a very good addition to the Fallout 4 core.

Solid, yet clunkily presented wargame.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

At its' core this is a great simulation. But aside from the believable analogue swing it is also an uninspired sequel.

In theory I like this game better than Far Cry 5 and I enjoy it more than Metro Exodus. But why Ubisoft decided and went for micro transactions that can impact the balance (optionally of course) is beyond me.

This is a rather short trip into a strange alien mountain range – but an entertaining one nonetheless.

A good Lego adventure that finally takes a playful look at the creative clamping block values.

Good old Max shares his problems with the mobile version of GTA 3: It just doesn't suit the platform.

Akai Katana doesn't give you the creative absurdity of Deathsmiles, the overkill of Dodonpachi Resurrection or the sheer beauty of Sine Mora. If you're a bullet hell fan, you'll get solid, but short lived entertainment.

It always has another trick or another joke up its sleeve. This is a gem with the neglected rolling ball games.

This is not the spiritual sequel to MotorStorm that I hoped for. Instead you’ll get solid motorized arcade-action with too little content for soloists. It lacks in diversity depth and defining racing DNA.

Quality over quantity: These three blizzard classics aged remarkably well, haven been modernized competently and are enhanced by loads of bonus material.

Basebuilding in Evil Genius 2 is great fun and is one of the motivating cornerstones to to the virtual world domination. But it feels unbalanced, while your options to intervene are limited.

Fairytale adventure game in a beguiling open game world between Studio Ghibli, Star Wars and Zelda - despite technical stuttering a real action-adventure insider tip.

This is an emotional gaming experience circling around love and loss. It lacks variety but is a decent challenge.

Quotation forthcoming.

By listening to players and critics alike Capybara improved the game design on basically every level, with the result of Below finally being the good game it could have been the first time around.

You don’t always need “bullet hell” in a shoot-em-up. Raiden 5 is a solid old school arcade experience with an interesting rhythm to the action while delivering a decent challenge.

The battle system as well as the ability mechanics are interesting, but Dragon Star Varnir seriously suffers from a lackluster presentation.

The mission design as well as some mechanical weaknesses sometimes kill the mood. But presentation and the dogfights are top-notch – especially in VR.

This is one of the best trading-card games in the AppStore. But you're forced to buy new cards via microtransactions much too early – you can't even finish the campaign without some additional booster packs.

The minimalistic neon visuals didn’t lose anything in the last five years. But when it comes to the core mechanics, the subtle changes didn’t serve the purpose.

A solid dungeon crawler for anime fans - especially if you are not detered by nurturing dozens of characters.

Fract is an awesome audiovisual experience. If you like electronic music, you can dive into an ocean filled with impressive imagination.

Atmospheric, pretty ego trip through a Tokyo full of spooky creatures - with an open game world according to scheme and expandable shooter mechanics.

Simple but not boring in terms of gameplay, captivating but not overwhelming in terms of story: South of Midnight is an atmospheric game that harks back to the old days and transports you to an intriguing fairytale world that we're now eager to learn more about. The swamp awaits you.

Visually Mask of Truth is old-fashioned, but if you can look past that, the mixture of visual novel and strategic RPG has been enhanced or changed in just the right places.

This one-man-project is definitely worth a look. A lot of elements are far from perfect, but in terms of atmosphere and story-telling this is one of the best indie jump&runs out there.

The visuals are great, the idea of a mind reading tentacle is interesting – but don’t expect a challenge.