The controls and visuals are okay, the rest plainly isn’t.

If there is one aspect of modern stealth action it would be the pacing. Sometimes you feel like a hyperactive squirrel taking or killing everything that crosses your path. Styx is different: He demands thoughtful planning and that you take your time. And if you do that you’ll get a challenging and experience that is engrossingly different, albeit far from being perfect.

While it can’t shake off its mobile 3DS roots and is aged a bit, but this was and still is one of the better entries in the Resident Evil franchise.

Pacer is better than the previously released Formula Fusion – but disappoints nonetheless despite its nice flight model.

Razor’s Edge delivers more content and more gore compared to the original, but nonetheless the fearless Ryu Hayabusa is still miles away from his former self.

It doesn’t pull you in with the same force as Darkest Dungeon does, but this a more than decent alternative. If you like your turn-based tactics mixed with a hefty does of science fiction, this is definitely for you.

Even though the UI is clumsy the coordination of numerous planets is motivating while seeing your self-designed vessels blowing the enemy to smithereens gives you the extra kick. Too bad that a lot of weaknesses like rudimentary diplomacy options and restricted research makes this a very mediocre 4X experience.

Characters, puzzles, humor: The Cave bears the distinctive handwriting of its creator Ron Gilbert. But while this creative beauty was awakened after a 20-year-long slumber, it shows some facets that are not as pretty. The puzzles could be more elaborate, the level design more varied and the engine more fluent.

If you miss your daily dose of Advance Wars or need more in the likes of Wargroove, this is a definite recommendation. A charming and varied turn-based strategy.

Quotation forthcoming.

Bizarre Souls-like with an interesting anime-design, but flaws in terms of visuals and storytelling.

As a party game, this is a sure hit: If you like to challenge your friend in couch-competitive play this is a thoroughly entertaining alternative to Bomberman and the like.

Surreal and unforgivingly sinister Adventure in a post-apocalyptic world that stumbles over the generic puzzle design.

On Vita this is an almost heartless and technically questionable conversion of what once was a very interesting mix of tactical battles and a kingdom builder.

A solid Tower Defense with loads of possibilities but general lack of variety within the battle system.

Sorcery is a charming adventure. But in the end you'll remember too much hectic destruction and too little mysterious magic.

Leviathan combines real time strategy with turn based elements and confronts me with fleet combination and ship specialization. Unfortunately the campaign is too short and suffers from weak presentation. The multiplayer skirmishes are actually quite good though.

Quotation forthcoming.

If you have a lot of friends at your disposal, Zombie Army Trilogy offers decent entertainment on Switch thanks to a solid port.

Like never before Traveller’s Tales managed to capture the spirit of the source material, starting with the original score up to the almost perfect reenactment of iconic scenes by Lego characters. As for the rest: Well, it’s a Lego game.

A small game with a simple concept. Well executed though and with sufficient VR support you can get your daily speed fix. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

If World War Z proves one thing, then how exceptionally good Left 4 Dead was more than 10 years ago. It tries to emulate the formula but in the end fails to replicate the good times.

Offroad racing with good driving physics and appealing DualSense-utilization. In terms of modes, content and tutorials Milestone has taken quite a few steps back.

If you don’t own a New 3DS, stay away from this, since the old-gen 3DS-systems can’t cope with the technical requirements. If you are the owner of a new system though, you’ll get the same musou fun in Hyrule as on the Wii U.

Just like Sphere of Influence and Ascension the strategy focuses on development, diplomacy and warfare as core elements, with economic as well as political connections at its center. Overall it feels less refined than the predecessors, though.

Dustforce works well on a variety of levels. Unfortunately storytelling and accurate controls are not among them.

More of the same and unfortunately in every respect: The Treasure of Zone Zero brings more of the addictive gameplay loop and at the same time the well-known legacy that was rightly criticized with Pokémon Crimson & Crimson.

If you don’t need modern elements like a career mode, character development or golf lectures this is for you. Especially if you also don’t need licensed players or courses. Or up-to-date visuals.

The concept is clever, but the execution lacks finesse. While the turn based stealth action is a great idea, the controls as well as the game flow are sloppy and incoherent.

When it comes to the technical side, Sega did a good job with lifting the Dreamcast classic into the HD era. But the fascination is gone nowadays while the problems with the controls and the camera move more into focus.

Haunt is a surprisingly solid Kinect spook, which uses the hardware in a clever and accurate way to pilot the player through a haunted mansion. Fights, puzzles and story deliver, although more of everything would be desirable.

Tense and stylish adventure with entertaining, yet a little to easy solvable puzzles – but held back by a multitude of bugs and technical problems.

Even with all the progress compared to the predecessor it seems that the dev team bit off more than they can chew. While the dungeon building is rewarding albeit not challenging enough the overworld battles lack any strategic depth.

Verdun is a welcome change of pace in the almost always hectic multiplayer shooter arenas. The rules offer a successful mix of realism and the usual unlocking mechanism. But there are not enough modes nor maps to keep you busy for too long.

This might be something for fans of the legendary race track, but among ist weaknesses are the career, missing features and content in general.

It is in fact an interesting collection with a focus on NES and technically sound. Due to age the software quality is not everybody’s cup of tea, though.

My hope to witness the reincarnation of a "small" Bayonetta was shattered fast. But nonetheless I haven't had this much fun with a brawler since the appearance of the Platinum witch - albeit it is a rather short time overall you can spend with the sweets sucking and chainsaw wielding cheerleader.

While I still consider the campaign one of the best of its kind in an open world action game, the visual translation of an eight year old game to Nintendo’s leaves a lot to be desired, seemingly pushing the hardware to its limit - and way too many times beyond that point.

Atmospheric, fascinating-disgusting survival horror that ends too quickly and clouds its finale a bit too much.

Just Dance is Just Dance is Just Dance. Ubisoft didn’t change the formula, took a little bit off here, added a little there and focused more on community. The DLC-incompatibility is a needless nuisance.

The open world is more of a con than a pro for Code Vein 2, but the soulslike-game still has some unique strong points to its name.

Short, but beautifully designed touchscreen puzzles.

The initial grind can be annoying, but once you get past that phase and start carrying out the big money loads, the fun to be had with this platforming crime caper is surprising.

Portal versus Lovecraft? Sounds intriguing. Unfortuntaly subtle horror is not Magrunner’s strength. But the puzzle and leveldesign is solid enough to entertain.

The song selection is quite huge, but also very “special”, while the mechanics are merely solid and depending on the presence of the Taiko-Controller.

This old-school dungeon crawler will give you enough content to spend a long time in the depths hunting for loot. But you should bring patience and a high tolerance for stale, dowdy presentation.

Against my biggest fears, Kylotonn slowly moves in the right direction. They still have a lot of work to do, but in terms of driving physics, track design and challenge WRC 7 is a big step forward.

Aesthetically pleasing 3D puzzle game with smart mechanics, embedded in a love story. It doesn’t reach its full potential, though.

This challenging battle platformer feels like a three-dimensional Hollow Knight spiced up with Zelda and Souls. That may sound great, but the lackluster art-design, some frustrating deficits as well as bugs hold Blue Fire back.

It bites off a little more than it can chew. Starting out with the premise of being a full political simulator in the end it is little more than an turn-based interaction with a population. But on this level you’ll get the high complexity that you’ll miss in macro management.

It is an acceptable first step into the UFC octagon by EA. But considering their experience with MMA in the last generation and the quality that the late THQ delivered, you can’t help but be slightly disappointed. For every positive aspect they put into the game, you’ll discover a detail they didn’t touch, a road they didn’t follow through –starting from visuals way down to the core mechanics.

Jodie suffers, she fights, she cries and she loves – but over a long period of time you’re reduced to being a spectator. There is no emotional link like towards Clementine in Walking Dead or Ellie in The Last of Us. There are moving moments and the visuals are impressive, but David Cage sacrificed his trademark design with its fascinating emotional focus for the sake of lackluster action.

Sniper Elite Resistance is stagnating. On the one hand, there is still good stealth gameplay with a varied level design. On the other hand, the 6th installment offers no real improvements, and the formula is slowly wearing thin.

Despite showing off all the ingredients of a good Cyberpunk thriller in terms of content, storytelling and mechanics it is as satisfying as a blue screen.

A decent remaster. Despite some shortcomings it still is fun to join the destructive alien on his adventure, that not only appeals to a new audience, but to old Crypto-fans alike.

The fighting mechanics are easy to pick up and the all-female cast is varied. Nonetheless almost any fighter from ArcSystem gives you more in every aspect.

Leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to mechanics, but scores in terms of atmosphere, art style and characters. And a good time loop never fails.

This is an ugly duckling. And it won’t grow up to be a pretty swan. But on the inside you get a lot of sometimes crude, sometimes funny, but always entertaining political satire in a retro RPG coat.

While at the time this was the best outing of Neocore’s hack&slay series, just a little while later it was overshadowed by the “Final Cut”. And while on console you’ll find solid entertainment throughout, you still wish that the “Final Cut” would have been pushed forward.

Via licensed musou action (Hyrule Warriors, Dragon Quest Heroes), Omega Foprce finally managed to shake up their own franchises. Don’t expect a groundbreaking paradigm change and if you despise the mass battles you won’t find anything here. But fans will certainly embrace the little tweaks and best-of-attitude that not only shows in the roster but also in the mixture of gameplay elements.

Dejected criticism of capitalism that offers little in terms of narrative and makes gross blunders in pacing. In terms of gameplay, too, The Last Worker is unfortunately banal.

In terms of content you’ll get more Inazuma than ever before. But unfortunately it is also more of the same.

Welcome back... to Turrican. This collection is a wonderfully nostalgic flashback trip to a brilliant run-and-gun franchise, that still shows impressively, why it was so special back in the days.

Nintendo finds the right balance of arcade-fun, challenge, tradition and innovation. Technically it could achieve more, but especially the multiplayer fun makes up for the underwhelming presentation.

Solid JRPG with a motivating combat system, a strong soundtrack and an interesting, albeit bumpy, story. Dungeon and side mission designs, on the other hand, do not win a flower pot.

The first tactic game within the Musou-Universe since 2003 delivers decent fun. It is superficial at times and overall too easy, but with the character development and plenty of weapons console strategist get a fair amount of content.

It shows a lot of potential but at the latest when you get to the grinding stage (which is fairly early), you’ll find that the mechanics can’t back up all the potential there might be.

Colorful, minimalistic, creative. A very short, but entertaining skill test with very reduced retro visuals.

In its best moments Vampyr is an atmospheric action roleplaying game with great dialogue and motivating battles. But you also get your fair share of limited exploration as well as all-you-can-loot-mentality that is more constricting than helpful.

The audiovisual design is as unique as it is special, but the mechanics are unnerving, frustrating and suffer from repitition.

Solid but repetitive turn based tactics.

Short co-op puzzler with interesting controls. There’s not much fun to be found, though.

A no-frills, but technically sound reissue of a solid game, that still doesn’t live up to its potential.

Rainbow Moon bedazzles with its classic turn based tactics in front of scenic backdrops. Story and characters could be better, but exploring the huge world, fighting countless battles and nurturing your heroes will keep you busy for weeks and months.

Next to the beautiful art and sound design, Fe has some great moments - and one truly monumental. But unfortunately that moments is wasted to early in the game, followed my mechanical routine bar any surprises. It is entertaining throughout, but in the end it could have been much more. Nonetheless a good entry point for EA’s Originals indie label.

There is a lot of action and quite a bit of entertainment to be found in this twinstick shooter. Unfortunately it is quite short-lived as well and lacks content.

Was it the right decision to bring wrestling back to the PC? With the abundance of sports games on this platform you would definitely think so. But as a straight port from the HD console versions it shares the same problems when it comes to presentation or controls. But as with the console siblings there is hope that new edition (which will hopefully come to PC as well) will step up to the plate and improve. The foundation is solid.

New hardware, same old game. But that is not necessarily bad. Story and characters could be more elaborate, but classic turn based tactics drawn in appealing visuals is still as good as it always was.

Solid WWII strategy with pathfinding problems, lack of multiplayer content and brash presentation.

Good clean turn based RPG fun with a celebrity cast that transcends franchises and genres.

Even though the underlying emotion system leads to very entertaining results, EAs sitcom saga falls short of the expectations. Senseless omissions and Maxis’ no-risk-policy make this a game that will grow better with every expansion pack. But in this state it is not as good as its predecessor.

This is a solid shooter reliving in the tradition of Descent or Forsaken that lacks variety in the long run.

A rather typical arcade snack: In short bursts quite entertaining, but the longer you play the fascination fades away, even though the varying rule sets enhance the Snake- or Chu Chu Rocket-like mechanics.

If you enjoyed traveling around the universe with the Unreliable and its crew, you will find decent, yet short-lived additional entertainment with this detective story.

Even though the capabilities of the new system are underutilized, this is still a well executed physics puzzler that relies too often on trial & error.

There is no additional content, no added touch-controls but the magic of this charming role-playing game is still there.

For a short while Marooners presents neat party fun. But compared to games like Mario Party it lacks substance and content.

You might miss optimized configuration options, but otherwise you get the complete package of this soulful action-adventure.

A convincing motocross experience and improved visuals meet a dreary campaign and innovations not thought through – in the end it is a decent (yet typical) Milestone update.

A strong narrative clashes with superficial gameplay mechanics.

C’mon Sony, you could do better. This is a far cry from games like Buzz or You Don’t Know Jack. This is a rather lame quiz with an unnecessary focus on drawing. It shows though, that the mobile phone is a decent controller replacement.

The exotic atmosphere makes this a very special action adventure that suffers from technical and mechanical faults.

Interesting turn based tactics in a creative steampunk world that marks a successful premiere for a new franchise. Nonetheless Intelligent Systems is far away from the quality of Advance Wars.

The turn based movement is flanked by a trading card element, which makes the hunt for new cards quite motivating. But be aware that the campaign is rather short and the multiplayer mode restricted.

Solid turn based tactical ops with well-executed pixel visuals.

Quite some un-intense idling, frustrating script bugs and some plainly disruptive elements will leave you disillusioned and horrified for all the wrong reasons.

While the true fans can’t wait for the recently announced Pokemon Sun and Moon , Nintendo tries to get the most out of the 20th anniversary of Pikachu & Co as possible. But in this case this is not for the better. While the idea is as good as it always was, the random element brings a lot of redundance, while the story is targeted at a very young audience.

Ambitious and in coop quite tense thriller with technical faults as well as AI problems.