Catalyst is a triumph of form over substance. At first the city looks huge, shiny and perfect but soon turns out to be just a lifeless, empty mockup, where you distinguish the districts mainly by background colors. The character development system feels artificial and redundant. The story and characters are so shallow and badly presented that I quickly lost any interest in them and focused on what the game does quite well – on parkour. [08/2016, p.60]

By constantly comparing their game to “Twin Peaks” and “True Detective” the developers set the bar so high that they could not fulfill expectations. Nevertheless Virginia is an interesting experiment worth your time (especially that it only takes two hours to complete). [13/2016, p.58]

Multitude and diversity of interactions between characters are Dead in Vinland’s notable strengths but excessive impact of RNG on almost everything I did both disheartened me and robbed me of satisfaction. In addition random failures have negative effects on your characters, so you get caught in a spiral of hopelessness. The noose tightens. Despair knocks on your door. Death looks you in the eye. If you enjoy such pressure, give this Nordic tale a try. [06/2018, p.76]

In ‘horror’ category The Beast Inside is my biggest and most pleasant surprise of this year. Almost all of its cogs are in the right places and the occasional grain of sand doesn’t interrupt the the game’s steady rhythm. [13/2019, p.56]

Don’t expect a revolution. The PS5 version of the latest FIFA looks better, runs at 60 fps in 4K, and loads matches much faster, but the only feature truly worth focusing on is the creative use of haptic feedback (e.g. as your player gets tired, triggers gradually become harder to press). [02/2021, p.61]

BPM’s developers managed to bring together their love for classic first-person shooters and a fresh idea. The result of their ambitions is a hellishly fast FPS with procedurally generated environments and a twist. Good reflexes are not enough to complete even the very first level, because to survive, you need to sync your actions to the beat of the music (the soundtrack is fantastic, by the way). For instance, if you pull the trigger at the wrong moment, your gun will misfire. Once you get used to it, you’ll be rewarded with intense, satisfying gameplay. [12/2020, p.71]

Playstation's most hardcore fans will appreciate the number of familiar characters but I doubt anyone will be really thrilled with All-Stars Battle Royale. [CD-Action 1/2013, p.59]

Narita Boy’s art direction is spectacular, and the story is fun, but the adventure itself is disappointing – shallow, repetitive and stretched out. [06/2021, p.45]

A great revival of an old, crazy game and a very pleasant, fast FPS providing many hours of enthusiastic mouse torture. [12/2013, p.58]

To survive in Morkredd’s deadly darkness, you need light, and its only source is a huge glowing ball that you have to roll in front of you as you navigate environments full of obstacles. The game’s puzzles are simple yet clever, the journey is engaging, but the whole thing is very short (ca. two hours) and sometimes it is annoyingly easy to die. [02/2021, p.43]

My experience with Arma III contained equal doses of pleasant surprise, delight, feeling of emptiness after finishing single player missions, and longing for more. If you’re mainly interested in the single player campaign, I advise you to wait at least for the first DLC before buying this game. [CD-Action 11/2013, p.58]

I’ve had a weak spot for tactical games since 1988 (Laser Squad!) and during all this time I had my share of occasionally frustrating titles. Partisans 1941 is far beyond occasionally frustrating – it was infuriatingly hard even on lower difficulty setting, and additionally unfair due to chaotic combat and disheartening bugs (spotted by a sentry through a solid wall? Mission over!). [13/2020, p.34]

Generally it makes a pretty good impression but fails to thrill. Letting players create new adventures is a great feature (I already found some real gems), but the game lacks a proper open world, microtransactions are pricey and the animations look worse than in old World of Warcraft. [CD-Action 09/2013, p.60]

Maybe I was spoiled by Civilization, but Master of Orion struck me as scant in terms of bells and whistles. It also doesn’t look and doesn’t sound particularly good, but transparent rules, well-designed interface and variety of paths to victory make it a very reasonable proposal for the fans of classic 4X games. [11/2016, p.68]

I love PC gaming – despite all the inconveniences it’s the only platform that offers such genuinely unconventional games. [CD-Action 03/2013, p.74]

After having spent over 80 hours with Inquisition I was tired of it and Jaws of Hakkon did absolutely nothing to reignite the flame. [06/2015, p.57]

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but Wild Run introduced so many vital improvements that in my case it caused love at second sight. [01/2016, p.63]

The way the story branches out depending on your choices is really impressive, but experimenting with it becomes repetitive after a while due to scarcity of levels and too easy (but otherwise enjoyable) combat. [06/2016, p.47]

If you’re familiar with Torn Banner’s previous title, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, you’ll feel at home in Mirage, as both games are very similar (which of course is not an advantage if you expect something fresh). [08/2017, p.58]

Severed Steel left me conflicted. On the one hand, it’s a pity that a couple of truly brilliant ideas were implemented in a generally unpolished game. On the other hand, despite all its flaws it’s a fun, engaging shooter that kept me in front of the screen for hours. [12/2021, p.39]

An enjoyable parody of low budget sci-fi movies from the 50s. [03/2016, p.55]

It's been years since we were treated to such a thrilling detective story in a game. It's the best point'n'click title by Frogwares. [12/2012, p.58]

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]

Shadow Fall does a great job when you want to show your friends what the PS4 is capable of –it looks gorgeous, especially on a big screen. But the visuals are where the whole next-gen thing ends, as gameplay-wise it’s just an old, traditional shooter, solid but not breathtaking. The writing is poor, there’s absolutely no breakthrough in terms of the AI and there are no memorable moments in the campaign, which by the way drags on for longer than it should (it took me about 9 hours to finish the game and I spent the last 2-3 hours eagerly awaiting the credits). The multiplayer does not disappoint though. [01/2014, p.56]

The House of the Dead 4 is enjoyable but also a couple of years late. If you like light gun shooters I advise you to pick up The House of Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut (if you haven't done so yet). [July 2012, p.82]

There’s no way to get bored in Life Goes On. Partly because it frequently introduces new obstacles and other elements of environment, but also due to the fact that it only lasts for three hours. [06/2014, p.67]

Tides of Tomorrow transforms narrative adventure games with its asynchronous multiplayer mode, offering a fascinating world and gameplay, but at the same time it suffers from significant ludonarrative dissonance.

Far: Changing Tides might be too easy for an experienced gamer, and its sailing mechanics require too much attention and get tiringly repetitive, but this somewhat melancholic puzzle platformer undeniably has a unique atmosphere and charm to it. Overall, I enjoyed Far: Lone Sails (Okomotive’s previous game) more.