For a quick game this “Blockbattle Royale” is good choice, but after that it becomes too tedious too soon.

I wish I could love Kid Icarus more. Because in theory it has everything: A top-notch presentation, loads of minigames and stuff on the side that is almost more interesting than the campaign, a brilliant soundtrack. But there is one thing that overshadows everything: The frustrating controls!

Sneaking, hacking and puzzles: Gunpoint is rather short but very entertaining with its wild and unique mix of funny dialogue, challenging jump sequences and stealth elements.

Strong campaign, solid zombie mode and a multiplayer mode with potential: Black Ops 6 is a strong package overall, although more could have been done.

Meticulously catered to PS4 the remastered versions deliver – with increased playability and additional content.

Astro’s Playroom is a creative surprise. For the PS5 launch Asobi Team serves up a jump-and-run highlight – preinstalled!

Feral Interactive delivers a technically excellent Switch-port. But like in the original the artificially stretched campaign is filled not only with tension and panic moments but sometimes with outright frustration.

With what could you call Donkey Souls one of the best and hardest Jump’n’runs in recent years has finally come to 3DS. It it not pitch perfect though. But who cares about occasional framerate issues against the pure joy you can experience with this gem.

The art design and atmosphere of this puzzle adventure remind me Monument Valley. There is no story though, no alternative paths and too many collectibles.

Juan's first adventure was a vital part of the Metroidvania revival. And Guacamelee 2 is an almost pitch perfect continuation. A great action platformer with high difficulty, a brilliant art design and co-op play for up to four Luchadors.

A very tasty Persona experience with a hint of Koei’s Warriors for good measure.

The dynamic fights could have been more challenging but the bosses deliver and in the grand scheme the fighting is just a small part of the complex Darksiders mosaic. If you like exploration, puzzles, secrets, the hunt for the bigger better loot plus the occasional scythe wielding, this year it will probably not get much better than this.

It still is a decent collection of one of the most difficult game franchises of the NES era.

Visually mostly breathtaking, the journey of Sora and his fight against the heartless ends after almost 20 years in a thoroughly entertaining way. Kudos to Nomura-San for actually finishing up all loose ends collected through the franchise history.

This is a lot of fun! Like Words With Friends the back and forth of challenges is quite entertaining.

This is a very good expansion pack. Arkane shows off a creative variation of the main campaign - diverse and challenging.

The basic concept might be a bit outdated by now but it still is as addictive as it is simple. And with the addition of gravity and indirect hits it gains a lot of creativity, although luck plays a bigger part than ever before.

A gorgeous presentation, motivating gameplay and amazing depth – the gathering of these beat-em-up-heavyweights is a sure hit regardless of your experience.

Compared to the PC version the controls are not as intuitive and sometimes even finicky. But once you get the hang of it you just can’t get away from this dark heavy metal ballad that combines dark fantasy with horror à la Lovecraft and a gorgeous art design.

The Californian devteam Playdek digitized the tabletop appropriately in terms of visuals and mechanics. Newcomer and veterans alike will enjoy this almost perfect board game conversion.

Hardly any major innovations, but many small improvements: The thrillingly fast color shooter Splatoon 3 offers a more rounded overall package than its predecessors.

With all its little problems like logic holes, AI mistakes etc. it would be all too easy to dismiss Mankind Divided as a good, yet unpolished project. But that wouldn’t do justice to the core. Dugas and DeMarle created an interactive novel, in which game and storytelling are combined in a mature way. A captivating cyberpunk thriller.

Right now military shooters share the problem of the WWII action games from about five years ago: Eventually you have seen everything and played everything, over and over, again and again. Sure, the campaign has its moments, but nonetheless Black Ops 2 would love to be Modern Warfare – and that is a five-year-old game. And so it is once again the established multiplayer with its plethora of modes and personalization option (all of which are basically known) that comes to the rescue of this run-of-the-mill shooter.

On PS5 (and Xbox Series) you’ll get the best version of Judgment. Framerates of the spiritual Yakuza successor are doubled and microtransaction are omitted.

I like Resident Evil. Still. And as a fan of the GameCube remake I enjoy the up-to-date presentation with 16:9 ratio and 5.1 surround sound. Nonetheless, one of the godfathers of survival horrors lost a little of its fascination over the years. It still is better and scarier entertainment than Resident Evil 6.

There is no hero in shining armor, you don’t even know what the soldiers are fighting for. What matters are you and your bitter fight for survival. Every day is a struggle against hunger, disease loneliness and loss of hope. Relentlessly and without judging 11Bit Studios show the dark side of armed conflicts, the suffering, the scars. It is a software monument against war – brilliant.

Once you get into the concept it hard to get away from this fast paced fight for survival. This is Geometry Wars in the form of a first person shooter – nice!

Very good entertainment with a faceted battle system. It looks and feels great on PlayStation 5.