Spirit of the North may look as nice as it sounds, but it’s largely disappointing and unforgivably boring, offering only a superficial story and sorely lacking interesting exploration.

It’s a murder mystery with a twist everyone will see coming from a mile away, and the puzzles and slowness don’t do it any service. This could have been a classic.

Jupiter & Mars is the kind of game you need to go into completely aware of what to expect. Its gameplay and narrative are likely a bit too shallow for newcomers to take the plunge, but those in the mood for a chill ocean exploration experience will definitely find some enjoyment here.

This contributes to the overall feeling that A Stroke of Fate: Operation Valkyrie is exactly what it is: about half of a game. It's got pretty good writing, a decent aptitude for historical authenticity, and entirely okay art design, but it's wrapped up in a very bland package that lacks ambition, depth, length, and a single moment of tolerable voice acting.

A long-winded Myst-like puzzle game that will likely appeal to the hardcore gamer only.

Despite embarking with a sound plan for another beautiful globe-trotting adventure, Lost Horizon 2 suffers from weary execution and assorted technical limitations, eventually losing the way to greatness and ending up in the land of the average.

A pleasant surprise that is both chilling and moving, Dream Revenant is an immersive, surreal narrative experience, although it’s currently marred by its many technical issues.

Memoranda is visually stunning with an inviting atmosphere, but the lack of both plot and puzzle logic is too great to overcome.

Dripping with atmosphere, the sights and sounds of a lost end-of-the-world Nazi installation make up for a lack of interaction in Paradise Lost.

Generally a frustrating and unrewarding game, with the ultimate anti-payoff. I can't even sincerely recommend it to even the most ardent Ripper historian.

The unique and beautifully designed Haimrik is a fast-paced, text-driven action-puzzler with a fair amount of challenge throughout its fantastical and frequently brutal journey.

Overall, Undercover: Operation Wintersun is well worth playing for fans of traditional adventures.

While not supplying any complex game play design or innovation, one thing I appreciated about PC is its polish.

Don’t be fooled by the glitter and sparkles: Little Misfortune is a surprisingly dark but very engaging grown-up tale about a little girl trying to find beauty in life’s ugliness.

It's a promising start that offers a few hours of decent entertainment, just one that never unearths much imagination along the way.

As it is, unfortunately the game can't maintain a proper serious tone long enough to really be engrossing, and ultimately comes off as another substandard adventure with—ironically enough, considering the country of origin—a lack of polish.

Like most Mondays, Randal’s Monday is too long and tedious; it has its moments but falls way short of being a cheeky entertainer with engaging gameplay.

Those who appreciate outrageous locales will be thrilled with Armikrog’s out-of-this-world visuals, and puzzle lovers will find plenty to entertain, but anyone looking for a smooth gameplay experience will find themselves sometimes stuck in the mud.

The highly erratic Soul Axiom is a love-hate kind of game – you’ll love it until you hate it, and vice versa. If only it knew when enough was enough.

Bloodshore delivers what it advertises: as a true interactive movie, it provides some decent schlock here and there, but ultimately its narrative and characters come up lacking.

A difficult game, like a classic can be a "difficult book". Its lack of polish and some appalling design choices definitely reduce the enjoyment. Its decision to keep the best of both plot and gameplay for the latter stages demands that the player have some faith in the developers to keep going on.

For Sherlock fans, I’d rank this as more of a Basil Rathbone than a Jeremy Brett on the Holmes-o-meter; somewhat enjoyable but wildly inaccurate. And for DS fans simply looking for a good adventure, I’d largely recommend holding out for better mysteries than this.

For better and worse, Hunt for the Puppeteer is a simple adventure without any pretensions. It can be relaxing filler easily played with your brain off, but lacks both the quality and character to bother with otherwise.

Fort Solis is a bland sci-fi adventure that sacrifices interesting gameplay in its attempt to provide a cinematic experience.

A lightweight fun distraction that aims high with interesting puzzle variety, Da New Guys is somewhat pinned down by its poor visuals, irritating lead characters and underused plot devices.

The first three-part “season” of Supreme League of Patriots wants to be super-funny but ends up leaving too many opportunities unexplored to maintain interest.

The X-Files Game will delight fans of the series by placing them wholly inside a world of lies and conspiracy, complete with a torrent of in-jokes and interaction with their favourite series regulars. Even non-fans will enjoy this spooky sci-fi romp, due to its slick interface, gripping plot-line and highly immersive quality.

If the numerous technical problems are fixed, this is definitely a game that would-be detectives will want to pick up. Until then, most players will want to take a pass.