It’s six hours of a diversified gameplay with loads of secrets and good music in the background. And the finale is so delightful I wanted to clap during the credits. [13/2018, p.72]

New Larry stands in the eighties and nineties with one leg and in 2018 with the other – and between those legs he feels just fine. [13/2018, p.71]

A very well done fighting game – nuanced and demanding, but also fun in simple instances of waving some big swords around. [13/2018, p.70]

While not being an indie games enthusiast myself, I do wholeheartedly recommend this game – both to fans of pixel art aesthetics, and to those who just want to shoot a lot of stuff in an old school FPS. [13/2018, p.68]

Lamplight City is neither as good, nor as bold as Unavowed’s mix of adventure and RPG but certain ways it reforms the genre do pleasantly surprise. Gonzalez’s marriage of a crime story with a period drama piece came out better than ever before. [13/2018, p.66]

It’s a shame that a game with such distinct visuals and narration voiced by Patrick Stewart ended up as just a bland, short adventure. [13/2018, p.64]

Doesn’t tire with repetitiveness and doesn’t irritate with illogical consequences of our choices. It’s fun in small doses, but on a PC monitor – if we give it our full attention – it gets wearisome after fifteen minutes. [13/2018, p.63]

Gwent’s greatest asset are its basic mechanics – simple, easy to grasp and engaging mentally. Gives the players a lot of agency and even more tactics to discover and choose from. [13/2018, p.60]

It’s far from being ideal but all the glitches and shortcomings don’t ruin the overall fun of Battlefield V’s multiplayer experience. Although the single player portion of the game is not bad at all, I would have been disappointed if I bought the game just for it. [13/2018, p.56]

In terms of pure gameplay it’s a complete experience that takes everything that’s best in the genre. A hellishly good stealth game. [13/2018, p.55]

In regards to the story and atmosphere, Call of Cthulhu stands tall against any other game in the genre. It’s the rest of the features that’s bringing it down to a level of a quite typical mid-budget game. [13/2018, p.52]

Lucas Pope is a genius and Return of the Obra Dinn is something truly exceptional. It’s a bit like sudoku – the only thing it needs from a player is logical thinking, therefore it can be recommended to anyone. [13/2018, p.50]

While Undertale is great both as a comedy and a tragedy, Deltarune is good for some laughs but – so far – doesn’t move players otherwise. [13/2018, p.48]

It is not an indispensable addition to any wresting fan’s library, but it does give hope that next year we will get not just an adequate game, not even a good one, but one truly great. [13/2018, p.47]

It’s an huge, outstanding piece of art – worth the hard-earned cash as well as countless hours that are needed to get to know at least some of the attractions of Rockstar’s rendition of Wild West. For those who put story first – the biggest virtue of Red Dead Redemption 2 is that it sets the stage for RDR 1 and does it wonderfully. [13/2018, p.40]

While listening to panicked screams of our soldiers, profanities, demands for support and evacuation or reports about casualties, we can really get the feeling of sitting right in the middle of the war chaos. And also – the crushing feeling of being unable to help. [12/2019, p.82]

There is a lot of fun in slashing the Behemoths, especially with others; the crafting is very well designed; and the game induces the familiar feeling of ‘just one more session’. [12/2019, p.81]

The story made me uneasy not because I thought: ‘those are the kind of things that shouldn’t be said out loud’ but because I thought: ‘it’s unsettling how poorly it is written, how badly they depicted a child’s naivety and how everything is just too over the top’. [12/2019, p.78]

It’s an easier, modest cousin (or clone) of Darkest Dungeon which doesn’t add much to the genre and uses the unique setting as it’s greatest strength. [12/2019, p.72]

Deck13 has built their success on imitating FromSoftware’s games but each of their entries to the genre shows that there still is room for gameplay innovations. It’s a pity though that the Germans lack the narrative prowess of Miyazaki’s team. [12/2019, p.70]

In terms of technical achievements, the game is almost flawless. Animations are fluid and natural, without the small stutters from the NHL 19 edition. Nevertheless all the new modes and details are not a revolution or even major changes. [12/2019, p.69]

The game works great not only during parties but also on lazy family saturdays. To hook me to the screen for longer though, Heave Ho’s levels would have to feature more changing and unpredictable environments because occasional minigames are just not enough. [12/2019, p.68]

FIFA Ultimate Team is once again the best feature of EA Sports’ game, and the main reason why PES – even while offering the best gameplay in history – will never be able to compete with FIFA. [12/2019, p.67]

The 2020 edition is the most realistic virtual football I have ever encountered. After learning the gameplay’s basics you get a lot of fun and each passing hour makes it even better. Shame that after finishing the career, checking out the multiplayer and playing a few exhibition matches there is nothing left to do here. [12/2019, p.64]

Everything here is fake and stilted which results in story being not engaging – though it keeps trying to get our attention by serving a never-ending sequence of cutscenes. It gets to a point where for every fifteen minutes of watching lacklustre animations we get five minutes of walking and one uninteresting fight. [12/2019, p.62]

Concrete Genie’s huge potential wasn’t fulfilled the way I would have wished. It’s wonderful to look at but visual prowess doesn’t go toe to toe with providing lots of fun gameplay-wise. The good fun lasts for two hours after which it starts getting tedious. [12/2019, p.60]

It is fascinating how the gameplay intensifies in response to players interactions with the environment. Just a few moving balls and once dead and abandoned room changes into a deadly arena. Though it shines at the beginning, with time the game loses some of its initial charm. [12/2019, p.59]

Supermassive’s newest work is a step back from Until Dawn on every level – including visual design which, though solid, ends up monotonous in comparison. [12/2019, p.58]

The console version lacks a well-made tutorial and visibly downscales resolution to preserve framerate but other than that I once again found myself fascinated by the game – from now on: one of the rare breed of well-made console RTS. [12/2019, p.57]

It definitely starts better than it ends. While I was truly dazzled by the beginning, the finale – a bit different than previous missions – for me was rather a case of reviewer’s obligation. [12/2019, p.56]

The Game Kitchen’s latest work is ideal not only for fans of metroidvania genre. For me its accessibility and sheer fun of gameplay compares to a “souls” version of last year’s Spider-Man, which is the best recommendation I can give. [12/2019, p.55]

In its best moments Stygian really reminded me of the two original Fallout games but heavily spiced up with Lovecraftian horror. [12/2019, p.53]

Guarantees at least a few hours of intensive intellectual training and a substantial exam for special awareness and imagination. If you miss the likes of The Witness and The Talos Principle, definitely put it on your wishlist. [12/2019, p.52]

If you like the classic Zelda formula, you will be amazed with Link’s Awakening. If you don’t – the times the game strays away from said formula won’t make you a sudden believer. If you are not sure, just try it. Not many games are as cute and charming as this one. [12/2019, p.51]

Grid will be an ideal game for subscription based services – stunning at first and tasty in small bites but unfortunately easy to forget after one week. [12/2019, p.50]

For a turn-based strategy battler the scenarios have a quite dramatic flow to them. And the game only gains from it. Even escort missions cease to be just battles and it pays to devise interesting ways to break through the enemy lines [12/2019, p.48]

GreedFall won’t win over those who can’t stand certain gameplay half-measures and lack of polish but those who are not opposed to playing budget games should enjoy it just fine. [12/2019, p.44]

The problem is not that Breakpoint is boring, has uninteresting story, lots of irritating bugs and the least intelligent enemies in video game history. It is the fact that the newest Ubisoft shooter lacks its own identity. [12/2019, p.38]

Lucius III is outrageously buggy, it’s like a museum where you can experience every notable fail and mistake a developer can make. The saddest part is that the fundamental idea for the game was actually pretty good. [02/2019, p.65]

The beginnings were extremely promising but 8 hours later (around the middle of the campaign) I was seriously tired and annoyed by a myriad of small nuisances which successfully strip the whole experience of joy. [02/2019, p.64]

It’s been 15 years since one of the most intriguing games of the sixth generation of consoles rolled in, and this remaster proves that the concept behind Katamari hasn’t aged a bit, same as the soundtrack and art direction. [02/2019, p.63]

It’s not just a great fighting game and a perfect party title, uncommonly enjoyable and absurdly rich in content that should suffice for literally years of fun. It’s also an amazing homage to the history of video games. [02/2019, p.60]

An outstanding debut and one of the weirdest games I laid my hands on. [02/2019, p.59]

It’s a pity that this magical, beautiful journey inspired by Contrast comes to an end after merely two, three hours tops, and gives no incentive to relive it. [02/2019, p.58]

Almost universal admiration for Gris says a lot about the condition of video games industry. It’s just a 2D platformer devoid of any challenge, and instead of evoking true feeling it makes a good first impression (“wow, it’s beautiful!”) and then just glides for a couple of hours using that momentum. It doesn’t actually have anything important to say, it’s just pretty. [02/2019, p.56]

It might be merely a return of a game that did not advance the series, but it was – and still is – the genre’s peak achievement. Sure, I could argue that boss encounters could’ve been more polished and the game could’ve looked better since Switch is more powerful than Wii U. A new world would have been a nice touch too. But what can I do when the game’s core is so good and it is complemented by content so great that such complaints become irrelevant? [02/2019, p.54]

The vision behind Bendy and the Ink Machine is so absurdly coherent that soaking in the game’s atmosphere is pure pleasure. It’s a shame that the overall impression suffers from repetitive gameplay and – from time to time – boredom. [02/2019, p.52]

If Battlefield is too arcadey for your taste and you’ve already heard everything about every player’s mum’s morals in CS:GO, Insurgency is an interesting alternative. It does have some minor technical problems, but once the developers sort them out, every tactical combat fan needs to check it out. [02/2019, p.51]

Holy Fury is not only a perfect DLC, which improves the game’s balance greatly, but also the best expansion Paradox has ever created. [02/2019, p.50]

It’s a shame that Get Famous doesn’t introduce anything that would definitely set it apart from Get to Work, but it still is an expansion worth playing, and not just purely out of sentiment for The Sims. [02/2019, p.48]

It took Chris Hunt and his small team 12 years to develop Kenshi and that unfortunately shows. The game utilizes an archaic engine, is poorly optimised and hideous most of the time. It also does next to nothing to help the player get a grasp of its mechanics, and, as it happens, their complexity are Kenshi’s most important aspect. I would be happy to love this game, because I understand and applaud Hunt’s idea of completely open gameplay, but loving Kenshi is extremely hard. [02/2019, p.47]

This relaxing arcade game with some light micromanagement gave me the joy of figuring out its mechanics by myself and kept me blissfully stuck in the “one more race syndrome”. [02/2019, p.46]

With its simple but very stylish visuals and enjoyable combat mechanics Bladed Fury is a surprisingly enjoyable indie game you will finish in one evening. [02/2019, p.45]

In terms of new content this is arguably the most impressive ETS2 expansion to date, richer than Italia we enjoyed a year ago. It might just be a game about delivering cargo from point A to point B, but along the way it shows how stunningly diverse The Old Continent is in terms of both landscapes and architecture – and over 30 completely new cities introduced in Beyond the Baltic Sea are delightfully Eastern European. [02/2019, p.44]

Dusk does a decent job at recreating elements that were fun in Doom, Quake or Wolfenstein 3D, but as a whole it lacks a direction other than being a love letter to classic FPS games, a homage assembled out of components that do not always fit together well. [02/2019, p.42]

Beautiful pixel art. Infectious, atmospheric soundtrack. Two-player co-op both online and locally, on split-screen. However if you need a strategy game to be first and foremost a good strategy game, you should look elsewhere. [02/2019, p.38]

A highly addictive hack’n’slash with great art direction and many small but really good gameplay ideas. The developers wear their inspirations on their sleeve, so you can almost hear the game shout “Yes, this is Diablo! Yup, it’s Tristram! Don’t pretend you don’t remember!”. [02/2019, p.36]

The PS4 edition of the brilliant survival game has some performance problems (framerate dropping, environment popping up really badly if you travel fast) and navigating in three dimensions is much less intuitive with a controller than with a mouse, which did cost me my life sometimes. These flaws do not disqualify the console port though, so if you can’t enjoy Subnautica on PC, consider giving it a shot on PS4, as there are very few such games nowadays. [02/2019, p.35]

The game’s most notable problem is that its gameplay lacks narrative context. Over the course of the two-hour-long campaign you just complete some enjoyable minigames at the gym, fight nine times in the ring, listen to Stallone impersonator mumble some nonsense and wonder what was the only retrospection about. [02/2019, p.34]

Regardless of the platform (PC or PS4) Beat Saber is one of the best VR games ever created. I know that slashing flying cubes with lightsabers might not sound like much fun, but believe me that it is, in no small part thanks to the fact that your movements are recreated in the virtual world perfectly. [02/2019, p.33]

The only link between this and previous FromSoftware’s games is pain. Deracine is not painfully hard though – it’s painfully boring. It does tell a good enough story, looks fine and does VR well, but interactions it offers are very limited and it is simply not much of a game. [02/2019, p.32]

There’s a new Tetris in town and this one you need to see, even if you don’t own a PS VR headset. It does not try to revolutionize the gameplay foundations, but the idea to marry timeless mechanics with breathtaking visuals reminiscent of Rez was brilliant and makes Effect the best thing that happened to Tetris in a long, long time. [02/2019, p.31]

First I struggled to even launch the game, as it did a lot to discourage me (Blue Screens of Death included). Later I wished I had taken a hint and just walked away, because Tyler: Model 005 was not worth the effort. It’s not worth any effort, actually, as it does pretty much everything wrong – it is ugly, platforming mechanics are botched, combat is primitive, there’s hardly any narrative but bugs are aplenty. [12/2018, p.91]

My evening with My Brother Rabbit was enjoyable, even though the game fails at being a touching fable it wants to be and backtracking was too annoying for my taste. [12/2018, p.90]

It’s a pity that this bundle does not include more prominent games, because the ones we get are probably completely obscure to many players. On the other hand though it’s a chance to travel to possibly unknown regions of the past and see how the genre evolved. Oh, and Armored Warriors is really cool. [12/2018, p.89]

No crucial changes, no revolution – that’s new Mega Man’s primary problem. It’s a really good platformer, but it lacks a spark, so I won’t try to make everyone I meet play it, like I did with Mega Man X. If you’re not passionate about the little blue robot, you can sit this one out. [12/2018, p.88]

Pathfinder: Kingmaker offers an interesting world to explore along with satisfying combat, and the first half of the adventure is top-notch old school fun. Unfortunately later the game loses its momentum and becomes boring. Anyhow, it’s a solid RPG that should keep Baldur’s Gate’s fans happy for many hours. [12/2018, p.86]

It might be a good enough VR tech demo, but as far as interactive thrillers go (including those low budget), Transference is merely an exercise which falls short of what Observer or excellent Soma achieved artistically, technically and story-wise. [12/2018, p.85]

The developers did an outstanding job at fostering player’s perpetual appetite for mysteries. It makes you ask a ton of questions and from time to time offers you some hints and answers to sustain your curiosity. When I launched it for the last time, I was sure that I had all upcoming twists worked out. Two hours later I knew how mistaken I was. 428 is a game that doesn’t cease to surprise until the very last moment, so if you love chasing mysteries, don’t wait any longer. [12/2018, p.84]

The developers built on the concept of their previous, 60 Seconds!, to deliver a more engaging experience. [12/2018, p.82]

Sometimes you need to take a step back to move forward – yes, it’s a platitude, but that’s exactly what happened with Valkyria Chronicles 4. Forget about Valkyria Revolution. The latest entry in the series goes back to the roots and reminds us why the first Valkyria Chronicles stole our hearts a decade ago. The developers restrained themselves from making unwelcome changes and if they decided to alter something, they did it wisely. [12/2018, p.80]

It was a risky decision to drop the single player campaign and focus on multiplayer, including battle royale, which seemed like a cynical attempt to jump on the bandwagon. I’m a bit surprised to say that Treyarch did truly great. Black Ops 4 is one of the best online games of 2018 – its shooting mechanics are wonderful, Blackout (the aforementioned take on battle royale) is top-notch and the Zombies mode drifts towards... action RPG. [12/2018, p.78]

An experiment developed with virtually non-existent budget and a very specific intention: to expose players to an unpredictable, disturbing nightmare born in a mind consumed by fever. [12/2018, p.77]

I was gravely disappointed with the first expansion (Curse of Osiris), so at first I wasn’t even interested in reviewing Forsaken. Now I don’t want to part with it. It does what Reaper of Souls did for Diablo III – not only it improves the original game, but it also noticeably changes the nature of experience, transforming Destiny 2 into a new, better game! What doesn’t change is the fact that in terms of gameplay mechanics and technical execution Bungie’s game is one of the best modern first-person shooters. [12/2018, p.74]

Delicious art style, excellent music, varied tactical combat – Snowhound’s tactical RPG got some things right, but there’s a strange dissonance between the game’s atmosphere of dark sci-fi and its absurd humor. Had the game offered a deeper strategic layer and something besides exploring wreck after wreck, I probably would have spent more time with it than those 14 hours after which it simply became boring. [12/2018, p.73]

Kaleidoscope of available modes guarantees that everyone interested in hockey will easily find a way to enjoy NHL 19, whether they crave 15 minutes of accessible fun or prefer to dig into statistics and play whole seasons. Learning basics is easy, but if you want more (e.g. success in online modes) you will need patience and a lot of practice, as controls are deep and some tricks require uncommon skill. [12/2018, p.72]

A first-rate idea butchered with a third-rate execution. [12/2018, p.71]

Distance’s biggest strength is its editor which let fans create tracks much more thrilling than those designed by the developers. Chaining showy stunts can be exciting but that does not matter much if the game itself gets boring after two, maybe three hours. [12/2018, p.70]

After a bit too conservative Forza Horizon 3, which was just an improved second Horizon, the latest game in the series easily exceeded my expectations. Its world is enormous and full of various activities (including seasonal events), the driving model is exceptional both on and off road, there are over 450 varied cars and the PC version is spectacular. All that makes Forza Horizon 4 the best open world racing game I have ever played. [12/2018, p.66]

Telltale plucks the same emotional string it always does. The “humans are the real monsters” melody played for the 20th time sounds weak and distant, but Episode 2 does just enough to resonate with the audience, in no small part thanks to Melissa Hutchinson and other actors who managed to give this banal story a semblance of plausibility. [12/2018, p.64]

Great new modes, some minor changes making the game even more enjoyable, tons of licenses (Champions League!), spectacular presentation and the richest, most varied story mode yet make FIFA 19 an excellent entry in the series. [12/2018, p.62]

The Bard’s Tale IV is like a beautifully composed song performed on out of tunes instruments. There are moments when it borders on genius, other times it actively encouraged me to uninstall and forget it. For every strength it has a weakness. Good writing, superb puzzles, great music, outstanding voice-overs and solid mechanics are counterbalanced by quite awful visuals (how can Unreal Engine 4 look so bad?), some examples of bad design, a truckload of bugs (how about skills that don’t work or the ability to loot a chest through a ceiling?) and frequent crashes. For me the advantages were what mattered more, but I completely understand scores in the region of 4/10. [12/2018, p.58]

Thronebreaker is a feast for those collectible card games fans who don’t care for online play or tournaments and instead would like to follow a well-written story that introduces an array of vivid characters and presents you with tough choices. [12/2018, p.56]

Although I’m a huge fan of shooters, I had to force myself to play Immortal: Unchained. The game clumsily tries to marry two formulas: an action game built around firearms and a soulslike. It does some things right – the atmosphere is intriguing, the dismemberment system works fine, boss encounters are done well and the character development system is solid – but it failed in the most important aspect. Immortal’s cardinal sin is its mediocre gunplay, which makes shooting boring and therefore turns firefights into drudgery. [12/2018, p.54]

At last, a game that has something to say about the world we live in, and is not afraid to do so loudly. The first episode includes a few powerful scenes and touches some heavy subjects, like police brutality, social inequality or toxic relationships. In addition writing and performances from the actors represent the quality level that overwhelming majority of video games can only aspire to. I genuinely can’t wait to see what happens next. [12/2018, p.52]

Both players and critics agreed that in the last couple of years Mario Party’s quality has been dropping. Nintendo decided to go for broke this time and I hope slapping “Super” in front of the title heralds the restart of the franchise, because SMP finally delivers what we expected. [12/2018, p.51]

If someone had told me couple of years ago that Assassin’s Creed would become a full-fledged action RPG that would not look out of place on a shelf next to The Witcher 3, I would have snickered. But here I am, over 80 hours into Odyssey and still unable to believe that really happened. [12/2018, p.44]

Underworld Ascendant is a disgraceful mess in terms of both design and execution. [01/2019, p.85]

Darksiders III feels like a trip to a museum, which of course doesn’t have to be a drawback. Its antiquated design has a certain charm and made me realize that I miss simplicity and compactness in bloated modern open-world games. Unfortunately Gunfire’s effort is messy – it’s rough around the edges, it made a step backwards in terms of RPG elements and environmental puzzles, some design choices are dubious, the combat system is imprecise, and there are a lot of bugs and glitches on top of all that. As a result Darksiders III can compete neither with modern action titles, nor with previous games in the series. [01/2019, p.82]

Due to quick levelling up and relatively small map Mutant Year Zero feels smaller than it actually is, but still don’t expect more than 12-15 hours of moderately engaging gameplay that unfortunately slows down towards the end. [01/2019, p.80]

Infernally fast vehicles racing and blowing each other up on numerous, well-designed tracks where distinction between floor and ceiling is often purely formal. If you still remember Rollcage fondly, you will probably turn a blind eye to average visuals, annoying music and some AI problems to simply enjoy the sensation of speed. [01/2019, p.79]

A minimalistic, good-looking RTS built around a heavily emphasised risk/reward system. It might not be remarkable, but it was still able to make me lose track of time. [01/2019, p.78]

I played the hell out of Warcraft II back in the day, so 20 hours I spent with this tribute to Blizzard’s masterpiece were a pleasant journey to the past. If you enjoy traditional real-time strategies and don’t mind cover versions sounding almost the same as the originals, give Loria a try. [01/2019, p.77]

A highly praiseworthy (although a tad too easy) variation of XCOM 2 with an interesting turn-based combat system. There are two reasons why Mechanicus engraved itself in my memory. The first one is great writing done by Ben Counter, British author of novels and short stories set in the Warhammer 40,00 universe. The second one is amazing audio, including outstanding soundtrack by Guillaume David. [01/2019, p.76]

11-11 is neither an example of good impressionist art, nor a good war movie or a good video game. It’s unbearably pretentious and so shallow it does not reach beyond simple platitudes (“not all Germans were evil”, “global conflicts affect ordinary people too”). It’s sad that brushing against a mature subject and going for an artsy feel is enough to make many people overlook obvious flaws of a game (in this case poor gameplay, among other things) and the fact that games as a medium are light years behind movies in terms of storytelling. [01/2019, p.74]

There’s absolutely nothing interesting for an adult in this adaptation of a popular TV series, so I gave it to a seven-years-old and he enjoyed it, even though he already outgrew PAW Patrol and the game was too easy for him. If you’re looking for something a younger kid can play, you’ll hit a bullseye with On a Roll. [01/2019, p.73]

I value games about thieves and regret the fact that there are so few of them, so despite some obvious faults I devoted two intense days to Thief Simulator. Thanks to some simple but solid and addictive mechanics I enjoyed it, even though the game’s flaws are obvious. And now I’m waiting for a sequel. [01/2019, p.72]