This cute, well-designed and relaxing little gem takes playing with light and shadows to the next level. Its gameplay is based on the cooperation between a little girl that’s afraid of light, and her shadow twin who helps her in her journey through magical, a little surrealistic and beautifully drawn environments. [02/2021, p.42]

An interesting mix of a stealth game and a point’n’click adventure, set in the Wild West. As a six-year-old boy, you have to cleverly use the environment to escape from bandits and find out what happened to your mother. Enemy AI could be better and some minor technical issues spoiled the fun a bit, but every puzzle in the game can be solved in many ways, and that’s something I always welcome with open arms. El Hijo is a fairly easy but satisfying game that you can play with your kid, as there’s not a drop of blood here. [02/2021, p.40]

There is no denying that Pokémon was a strong inspiration, but Monster Sanctuary has its own identity, a vast, beautiful world, and many diverse creatures to catch. The game is unique, because the developers managed to combine turn-based combat with a traditional 2D metroidvania. Do not fear the platforming sections though, as they won’t break your fingers like Ori and the Blind Forest does. [02/2021, p.39]

I was surprised to discover that the reedition of the first, 8-bit Fire Emblem is not just a disappointing history lesson. Of course, this NES-era classic is ugly, outdated and rough in many aspects, but it’s still very engaging. It also shows that although the series grew significantly over the years, it managed to retain its overall feel. [02/2021, p.38]

Due to repetitive gameplay Airborne Kingdom might not be the best city builder of 2020, but it definitely is one of the most interesting. Its mechanics nicely reflect the fact that your city floats in the air, but even though you need to consider the weight distribution and be careful not to tilt the whole thing, the game is easy and relaxing. [02/2021, p.37]

Phogs! reminds me of many games based on physics, such as Human: Fall Flat, and I can’t deny that it is full of very funny moments. It is a shame that so many elements are botched (from poor responsiveness to flawed controls) and the whole thing is crawling with various bugs. [02/2021, p.36]

At first I reckoned this FMV game to be a sitcom similar to “Friends” or “How I Met Your Mother”. When I started playing it, I thought the only thing that was missing was the laugh track. Fortunately, Five Dates is much more than an interactive romantic comedy. The cast is very good, every girl you date is unique and building relationships with them turned out to be very refreshing and enjoyable even for an introvert like me. [02/2021, p.35]

It is truly impressive that you have the whole planet to explore and build over. What caught my attention in the first place, was the deep, realistic simulation of terraforming, but unfortunately the game turned out to be tedious and boring. I also wish I could manage my settlements better and plan their development in details, as the only decisions I got to make were where to place the structures and how to prioritize them. The rest is up to autonomous drones. [02/2021, p.34]

Those who played Life Is Strange will surely feel similar vibes in Dontnod’s latest release. However, this game has even more sluggish pace and although I enjoyed reconstructing events in the mind palace, I was annoyed with the fact that I had to find every single piece of a puzzle even if the solution was already obvious. The story is decent, but some of its potential was wasted and the characters are not as well-written as in Dontnod’s previous games. [02/2021, p.32]

I launched Cyberpunk 2077 on my PS4 Slim several weeks after the release and most of the bugs were fixed, so I was able to play the game from start to finish. However, the quality of textures was painfully low, I usually had only 20-22 frames per second while driving around the city (with dips below 20), and some objects tended to disappear. The technical state and graphics of the PS4 version are awful, which is a shame, because the game itself has one of the best stories I have ever encountered, its gunplay is really good, and Night City is very impressive. [02/2021, p.30]

The DLC features Yuffie Kirasagi, a 16 years old ninja, whose immature attempts to make people take her seriously are both cute and comical. In combat she offers a perfect combination of agility and power. I wish her adventure was longer than 4-6 hours, introduced a new hub, and expanded the main story somehow. [08/2021, p.81]

The world of Below Zero is much smaller than its predecessor’s, but it is still an absolutely brilliant survival game that tells an interesting story set in a fascinating environment. Additionally, it is more friendly towards less experienced players, and managed to get rid of some technical issues that affected the original Subnautica. [08/2021, p.78]

I enjoyed the atmosphere, assassination-based combat, enjoyable bow shooting mechanics, varied character classes, and cool maps. The whole concept is great, but Hood needed more work, because numerous minor flaws and a sole game mode make it look like an early access title. I also believe it was possible to squeeze much more out of this darker twist on the Robin Hood setting. It is not an excellent game right now, but it is enjoyable enough to be addictive, and I’m looking forward to future updates, hoping they will unlock Hood’s full potential. [08/2021, p.76]

A decent PC substitute for the Pikmin series. Its magical land filled with adorable creatures is a joy to explore, rich content will keep you occupied for as long as 20 hours, and a drop of survival mechanics spices up the adventure without making it stressful. The somewhat hazy story is okay at best and even though the game showers you with crafting materials, the crafting itself is pretty much needless, but the game’s biggest problem is the repetitiveness that made me slightly weary. [8/2021, p.74]

On the one hand we have beautiful visuals, distinct melancholic atmosphere, and an interesting backstory to uncover. On the other – mediocre combat, repetitive puzzles, slow pace, and various technical issues. It is definitely an enjoyable game though and I’m looking forward to Orbit Studio’s next title. [08/2021, p.72]

A girl the size of an insect searching for her father’s bug-like mech in a forest where nature meets sci-fi is a great concept that makes Stonefly worth checking out. Too bad the developers’ creativity ends pretty much right there. While the game is a clever mix of genres and offers an original twist on hack’n’slash combat, it does next to nothing to evolve the gameplay or the story, so sooner or later monotony will set in. [08/2021, p.70]

The enemy AI needs work and the game’s budget was too low for the developers to polish all the details, but with its spacious environments perfect for extremely long shots (headshots on moving targets from 1500 meters are awesome!) and interesting combat scenarios turning sometimes into puzzle-like situations, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is definitely worth recommending as a well-designed, really fun game. [08/2021,p.68]

While the base game attracted players with the vastness of space, this add-on narrows down the scale and has you complete missions on foot. Sadly, this pretty exciting idea was executed poorly. New tools (e.g. blowtorches and scanners), cool planetary facilities, and procedurally generated missions won’t prevent you from being swamp with repetitive tasks and samey visuals. Additionally, Odyssey is unstable and poorly optimized. [08/2021, p.67]

Compared to the original released on 3DS in 2017, the Switch version of Miitopia looks better and offers a couple of additions, but it is pretty much the same thing. I had a lot of fun with it once again and I can recommend it to anyone looking for a funny (but not necessarily hilarious) game with an extraordinarily enjoyable gameplay loop. [08/2021, p.66]

A love letter to Contra, Metal Slug and the likes, Mighty Goose does a really good job at recreating the look and feel of classic side-scrolling run-and-gun games. Of course, high difficulty level comes with the territory, but for me combat plunges into confusing chaos too often (“wait, is this an enemy bullet or just a harmless visual effect?”), somewhat spoiling the fun alongside the unfriendly autosave system. [08/2021, p.65]

The game is too long, too simple and not thrilling enough to be enjoyable for anyone except the fans of the children’s books and the Netflix animated series it is based on. [08/2021, p.64]

The strongest point of this fantasy/sci-fi jRPG is definitely its very good turn-based combat capable of surprising you with creative encounters. The narrative has some memorable moments, but be aware that it is entirely linear. However, I do not condemn that decision, because it does suit the road movie-like story. What Edge of Eternity lacks the most is its own identity and the developers’ courage to do things their way instead of copying Final Fantasy and other Square titles. It could also use a better engine, more suitable for such a complex game. [08/2021, p.62]

Loads of great new furniture (including modular sofas) and a new career (that you can combine with a different full-time job) make this expansion a dream come true for anyone who’s into interior design. This time EA and Maxis gave it 200% and there’s literally nothing I dislike about Dream Home Decorator. [08/2021, p.61]

If you’re a fan of the Leisure Suit Larry series (or at least its previous instalment), you will probably enjoy this game, but it’s hard to miss the fact that the quality of jokes and puzzles is a step back in comparison to Wet Dream’s Don’t Dry. [08/2021, p.61]

This crazy, controversial open-world mix of Postal and a geriatric GTA puts you in a role of a senior citizen who escapes from a care facility and starts wreaking havoc in a city that hates the elderly. It’s fun for a while, but over-the-top violence and exaggerated ragdoll get old pretty fast and what’s left are awful controls, outdated graphics, poor optimization and a bunch of various other flaws. [08/2021, p.59]

Capcom’s collection of 31 classic titles (dating back to 1984-2001) creates an enjoyable illusion of standing in front of a real arcade cabinet. There are a couple of problems though. The free version of Arcade Stadium offers just one game (1943: The Battle of Midway) and unlocking the rest means either paying for all of them at once or buying them in three smaller bundles. It means you can’t simply choose the games you want. What’s more, Capcom will charge you additionally for the god mode option (ridiculous!), and some of the titles are lagging. [08/2021, p.58]

This fresh take on the EDF franchise got almost everything right. Decimating alien invaders is as fun as you’d expect it to be, and the ability to instantly switch between 4 characters (there are over 100 of them to unlock, each with a unique weapon and a special attack!) makes the voxel-powered destruction even more thrilling. I only wish the Switch version ran smoother and the split screen mode wasn’t exclusive to PlayStation. [08/2021, p.57]

The latest instalment of the Guilty Gear series is one of the most beautiful fighting games I’ve ever encountered and it plays great, partly thanks to the new wall break mechanic that lets you avoid being beaten to a pulp while trapped in a corner. What’s disappointing is the fact that we will have to wait a couple of months for the game to show its full potential with the addition of new characters and arenas, because right now its content is rather scant. [08/2021, p.56]