The only thing Godfall has going for it is its great combat system. Everything else just came along for the ride. [01/2021, p.42]

At first, The Pathless seems like many other games due to its bland story. However, give it a chance and it will shine like a diamond in other aspects. The developers of Abzu created a truly compelling world, where exploration and satisfying boss battles are interlaced with ingenious puzzles. Even the simplest activities are engaging and fun. You need to play it. [01/2021, p.40]

A charming game that aged gracefully, really great in co-op and perfect for kids. Who would have thought that fighting ladybugs and digging out lost fruits can be so exciting! [01/2021, p.39]

Sackboy is not groundbreaking in any way, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a wonderful platformer that looks great, sounds excellent, and offers superb co-op. It is pure, varied fun and deserves much more recognition than it received overshadowed by Spider-Man: Miles Morales and some other big releases. [01/2021, p.38]

Everything Blacksad: Under the Skin did ineptly, Chicken Police does perfectly. This Hungarian visual novel offers much more than I expected: a feast for eyes, a great duo of detectives, polished and varied supporting characters, and a story that treats social issues (e.g. systemic racism) seriously. [01/2021, p.36]

The new version of Observer goes beyond a visual touch up and offers some gameplay improvements along with a splash of new story content (additional small investigations). And that’s fine, but did we really need a remaster of a game released three years ago? [01/2021, p.35]

Time travel elements could have been realized better and the levels are uninspired, but YesterMorrow’s biggest problem is that it lacks a feature that would allow it to stand out from a dozen other fantasy-themed platformers. [01/2021, p.34]

The best metaphor for Cyberpunk 2077 is Johnny Silverhand himself. A messiah, a mix of Kurt Cobain and Che Guevara, a talented singer who loves to shape his own legend and has a charming personality but loses the struggle with his own demons. The same goes for the game. It tells a great story and forced me to ask myself difficult questions, but many of its gameplay mechanics do not evolve and its technical state upon release was abysmal. Cyberpunk’s true hero is not a person, but Night City – a vibrant, living creature of great diversity. The beauty of the metropolis is striking. [01/2021, p.22]

It’s a pretty faithful adaptation of the Root board game about warring animal factions. Just like the original, some might find it too infantile for their taste, but it’s fun, looks good, and offers an additional challenge mode. It’s a shame though that it doesn’t include two new factions introduced in the original’s Riverfolk Expansion. [13/2020, p.37]

Tennis World Tour 2 is far from perfect, but if you compare it to Big Ant Studios’ previous tennis games, you will notice significant progress. A lot of improvements have been made and the game is not as awfully bland as its predecessor. It’ll take a lot more work to make this series truly good, but it seems the developer is capable of getting there after all. If you enjoy tennis and stumble upon TWT2 on a sale, you can seriously consider giving it a chance. [13/2020, p.76]

The easiest way to describe Ghostrunner is to call it an illegitimate child of Hotline Miami and Mirror’s Edge. It fails to match the latter in terms of body awareness, but it makes up for it with well-thought-out, satisfying level design and looks great regardless of whether you’re putting your parkour skills to the test, or slicing enemies with your katana. [13/2020, p.74]

Fallen God is a large stand-alone expansion that succeeds in differentiating itself from its predecessors. The developers managed to diversify the experience (not spectacularly though) and did a terrific job at depicting the specific nature of the new race – trolls. [13/2020, p.72]

Pumpkin Jack is a charmingly old-school game that would fit perfectly into the PS1 era. It’s colorful, full of humor, and offers huge, well-designed levels. It tries many different ways to mix up the gameplay, which is great, but all these efforts are too safe to bring any real surprises. [13/2020, p.71]

Commander ’85 is difficult and unfriendly, and therefore will discourage most people almost immediately. It is a great tribute to the games and movies of 1980s though, so if you’re into retro stuff, you might enjoy it. I know I did. [13/2020, p.70]

A great party game for anyone who’s familiar with Queen’s classics (there are 30 of them here) and enjoys belting out “We Are the Champions”. [13/2020, p.68]

The Signifier is pretty unique in terms of both the concept and its execution. I’m sure you won’t regret giving it a chance if you’re into adventure games and can appreciate a highly unsettling atmosphere bordering on horror. [13/2020, p.67]

Don’t let the title fool you. For something called The Survivalists, the game’s survival-related mechanics are shockingly lenient. The only aspect you need to pay constant attention to is hunger, but there’s plenty of food. Low overall difficulty level doesn’t have to be a flaw though. If Don’t Starve Together is too stressful for you and your friends, The Survivalists might be a great choice for co-op. [13/2020, p.66]

Legion is a return to the darker roots of Watch Dogs. It is also the best game in the series, regardless of whether you’re inclined to avoid violence and solve problems DedSec style (by hacking), or prefer to unleash a hail of bullets. The story improved big time and it is unsettling to realize how much the game’s dystopian reality resembles our own. [13/2020, p.62]

It’s not a game you need to play. Nevertheless, despite its obvious low budget, technical issues and terrible combat, I don’t feel my time with it was wasted. What rescued Falcon Age in my eyes, was a surprising, weird attachment I felt to my flying companion. I can’t explain it, but I felt really awful when I saw the bird return to me badly hurt and bloodied after I had sent it into battle too recklessly. [13/2020, p.61]

A solid remaster of Neighbours From Hell and its sequel, fun if you’re up for some corny humor. [13/2020, p.60]

In terms of gameplay, Space Crew is a huge step backwards compared to its predecessor, Bomber Crew. [13/2020, p.59]

I was delighted with Darksburg when I played it’s early build at Gamescom 2019. I don’t know what happened, but since then it has become a mere shadow of itself. Darksburg’s gameplay definitely has considerable potential, but the game is annoying more often than satisfying, and there’s not enough content to keep you playing longer than a couple hours. [13/2020, p.58]

Stretched between two generations of consoles, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is more of a teaser than a real showcase of PS5’s capabilities. It does not feel like a full-fledged sequel either, but the original’s gameplay mechanics still work great, while new gadgets and skills related to electricity are fun to use. [13/2020, p.54]

Rather than a typical online game, Genshin Impact resembles a traditional single-player jRPG with a real-time combat. For a free-to-play title it is very impressive, but turns out to be pretty derivative and quickly slumps into monotony. [13/2020, p.52]

Instead of employing trivial jump scare tactics, Visage expertly toys with your senses and messes with your head, first causing uneasiness, and then evoking authentic fear. There’s no reason to weep for the cancelled Silent Hills anymore. We’ve got Visage, the best horror game of the year, maybe even the best in years. [13/2020, p.51]

The developers did a great job at ironing out imperfections of the original game and expanding it without messing with its core. There are some visual shortcomings and performance issues, and the AI needs more work, but I longed for a good strategy game and Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition filled that void for me. [13/2020, p.50]

It’s the same Doom Eternal we know and love, but the DLC managed to make it even more frenetic. The onslaught of demons is actually so intense that it can easily get overwhelming, especially if you haven’t played Doom for a while or never mastered it. It’s a shame the developers were quite skimpy with new content, so we only got three new enemies (of which one is not even worth mentioning), three new runes, and three new maps (huge and well-designed though). [13/2020, p.49]

There’s nothing surprising or novel in 9 Monkeys of Shaolin, but when I defeated the last boss, I thought “that was exactly what I needed”. It’s a simple, old-school beat ‘em up that got pretty much everything right – the combat system, the enemies, the difficulty. It is quite short (ca. 5-6 hours), but I see it as an advantage – the game ends before its simplicity and mild repetitiveness become real downsides. [13/2020, p.48]