House of Tesla lets down a promising premise with boring execution. The narrative is uninteresting with low-quality execution. While puzzles fare slightly better, the most memorable moments of my time with House of Tesla will be the frustration and confusion while I wait for the hint button to give me guidance on where to go next.

Dying Light: The Beast brings back Kyle Crane, the smartass we all know and love, but this time he’s different. Having gone through 13 years of trauma, he’s got anger coursing through his veins, as well as beast blood. The gameplay elements of The Beast, while very similar to Dying Light 2, still feel enjoyable. The combat brings back the visceral dismemberment from Dying Light 1, with unique executions and awesomely high levels of gore. Parkour feels more fluid than before, with sprinting through the city and rooftop traversal feeling super smooth (as long as you don’t get grabbed by an infected). Roger Craig Smith does a stellar job once again as Crane, and it was a blast getting to see his story continue. Unfortunately, a few performance issues and audio bugs lessened the experience, but overall, this is a great new entry to the franchise, and one Dying Light fans will be glad to have waited for.

I’ve played and reviewed a lot of remakes. Many somewhat fall flat on the basis of not saying or doing a damn thing important. Shining out through all that noise in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. It’s a hallmark in how it recaptures a JRPG classic, steadfast and headstrong in justifying its existence as it invites returning fans and even newcomers to what they’ve been missing out on all these years. Travelling the great unknown with Estelle and Joshua again has been an unbelievable privilege and delight, following their story and connection as a colourful cast joins in tow. There’s barely a bump on the road on the journey, allowing players to soak in the world of Liberl in all its monster-hunting, government-conspiracy-unravelling glory. Job well done, Nihon, you’ve stuck the landing.

It’s exciting to see such an iconic, loved horror series go in such a different direction with Silent Hill f. But while the combat has some tricks up its sleeve and the setting is distinct, it still inherently nails what makes a Silent Hill game so successful: the terror, the sense of dread, the enticing puzzles and the dark story with twists, turns and violence. Silent Hill f is a wonderful survival horror game that makes some compelling decisions about the future of the franchise, while managing to remember its past. It’s brutally bold and frighteningly great.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree brings a unique roguelike experience where you can experiment for hours. It’s not easy to learn the new concepts, and it is tough to adjust in the beginning. But give the game a chance and you will discover what it has to offer as a satisfying and solid adventure, as you spend hours figuring out how to make your characters shine.

Moros Protocol is a decent roguelike FPS with a cool visual aesthetic, but it could have been better, especially as a solo experience. The moment-to-moment combat is enjoyably fast-paced, with a good variety of weapons and upgrades to customise your loadout. However, the sluggish meta-progression and repetition of taking the experience from the top after each death wear down the experience over time. If you’re looking for a fun roguelike co-op shooter, you can certainly do worse than Moros Protocol, as long as you bring a friend.

LEGO Voyagers is a simple adventure co-op game that features a straightforward story that will tug at your emotions. It doesn’t hold your hand, and you and your friend are required to work together to complete this simple game. It executes the “show-don’t-tell” very well. While it does lack the opportunity for expansive exploration, it’s the type of game that makes you want to relax and see how far creativity and teamwork will take you.

Strange Antiquities sticks very close to the premise of the original, Strange Horticulture, while improving on almost every aspect. It offers a dark, atmospheric mystery with multiple endings, but the real entertainment comes in the form of examining the dozens of weird, creepy, and downright unsettling items stocked on your shelves and feeling like a genius when you decipher their hidden clues. Strange Antiquities is an easy recommendation to make for any fan of research-based puzzles.

Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots is a triumphant return for the long-running arcade golfing series. It strives to be the be-all and end-all for the genre and more than succeeds on that front, providing rewarding mechanics that challenge and excite, always in pursuit of a new little thing. Where it’s aggressively anime and chibi art-style (and the voice acting that comes with that) will no doubt irritate some, they’ll delight twice as many. I’m a simple girl; I see anime girls in anything, and I’m charmed. With so much to see and do, with many little moving parts to make this a deceptively deep experience, the Hot Shots series is back with a blast, and it’s about damn time, too.

Despite what is clearly an earnest effort, Lost Soul Aside fails to do justice to whatever director Yang Bing’s vision was. It never stops feeling hamstrung by its lofty aspirations, but is derivative in its execution and doesn’t do any one thing particularly well. If you’re the type of player who can forgive an average experience in return for genuinely great combat, then it might still be worth your while to grab it on sale.

Gloomy Eyes is a cute game about forbidden companions on a quest to find the sun. The visual aesthetic is clear from the jump, with creative character models and some smart accessibility options. However, a lack of camera controls, unskippable cutscenes, and an underdeveloped story leave quite a bit to be desired. With plenty of passion driving the game’s design and narration, you’ll no doubt have a decent time with Gloomy Eyes, but perhaps consider checking out the VR movie first.

Driven by nostalgia, historic reverence, and a caution to avoid repeating past mistakes, Borderlands 4 is born from many lessons learned. It comes in confidently, understanding what makes this series lovable and matching expectations. A huge and nearly seamless open world is certainly commendable, especially when it still feels densely packed with objectives. This isn’t without its shortcomings, though, as bloated content and performance issues can impact the engaging gameplay loop. However, with friends by your side, Borderlands 4 is a satisfying, if imperfect, lootin’ shootin’ good time.

Dead Reset is a confined, blood-stained, interactive movie with some appealing practical effects and a unique atmosphere. What’s there is a very solid FMV game carried by a story that greatly benefits from its leading characters, as well as its superb sound design. But it suffers from frequent freezes and crashes that drastically ruin its pacing, a lack of weight in player decisions and variations in the story responding to them, and an ensemble cast where half the characters are forgettable, and even worse, forgotten within their own narrative.

I’m an optimistic person. I try to view games as more than the sum of their parts, flaws and all. I’m struggling to maintain that train of thought as I reflect on my time with Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion. An odd release here or there from a studio is forgivable. They can be viewed as an off-game, one where they weren’t at their best. Two uneven titles down into the mech series, and it’s clear there are problems with this series down to the core. If this is an IP that is to be continued, something fundamentally needs to change. Fans who see that diamond in the rough here deserve better.

Cronos: The New Dawn is a strong new scary entry from Bloober Team, mixing well-worn tropes of the genre with some interesting sci-fi twists and a captivating, if somewhat confusing, narrative tying it all together. Balancing a restricted inventory while tackling waves of disgusting creatures makes for an intense time, and exploring the infected district in Poland is a memorable setting. Cronos: The New Dawn is confident in delivering what it set out to do; it’s a new survival horror IP that has legs – and lots of other limbs – carrying it to spooky success.

Metal Eden is short, sweet and fundamentally quite enjoyable. The plot isn’t much to write home about, and it’s mostly a grey experience as far as the visuals are concerned, but the fun mobility options, innovative Core-ripping gameplay and varied arsenal of weapons make Metal Eden worth checking out for sci-fi shooter fans.

Hirogami is a fantastic little platformer with surprising depth. Its origami world, from every folded tree and piece of wildlife, is a joy to behold, brought further to life with a vibrant soundscape inspired by traditional Japanese instruments. While the combat could perhaps have been a bit more enjoyable, Hirogami’s narrative, layered with subtext about the place of traditional art forms in the modern era and overall fun platforming kept me engaged for its 8-ish hour playtime. If you’re seeking a platforming adventure with a remarkable artistic vision, Hirogami is a great time and an adventure worth unfolding.

Hell is Us is an impressive milestone for a small team of developers, with the player-plattering design resulting in a strong vision. Whilst simple combat and mechanically shallow traversal hold the title back, there’s an undeniable clarity of vision that creates an overall cohesive package. Each of the game’s many elements feeds into one another to elevate the true star of Hell is Us, Hadea. The way themes are handled with such care should also be applauded. Few places in all of video games feel so present and fully realised, especially in a debut entry. So despite Hadea’s ongoing problems, I would highly recommend you consider crossing the border and staying a while.

With Quartet, Something Classic Games LLC has excellently captured what made the golden age of 16-bit turn-based JRPGs great and produced something that feels both authentic to that era but also comfortably modern. With its large, well-developed cast, captivating narrative and fun combat system, I found myself strongly invested in its world and its gameplay. Quartet does enough to establish its own identity and avoids being merely a simple homage to the likes of the old Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games. If you’re a turn-based RPG fan, Quartet shouldn’t be missed.

Overall, Shuten Order’s real selling point is its sense of style. Each screen of the game is a feast for the eyes full of colour and interesting designs. While its main story is solid, the individual routes vary in quality and their gameplay often feels a little lacklustre. Even still, there is a lot to love in this strange world and it’s hard not to enjoy the time spent there. Praised be the Shuten Order.

Gears of War: Reloaded is the definitive version of Gears 1, but only by default. A faithful remaster of a remaster that keeps the series alive and opens the door to PlayStation players, but doesn’t do enough to feel essential. It’s both dated and timeless, clunky and exhilarating, simple and unforgettable. A solid nostalgia trip, but a missed opportunity to make the original shine for modern audiences.

Overall, Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World brings a decent amount of new content to the table. The new Mouthful Mode abilities are great and work well in the new Starry Stages. While the lack of new Copy Abilities and a large number of reskinned familiar enemies might be a bit disappointing, the new content overall is certainly worth the cost of an upgrade pack for existing owners of the base game. For those who missed the original, the new content and performance improvements make it the best version of a fantastic platformer by far, and easily worth recommending to Switch 2 owners looking for a memorable experience.

Inventive, exciting, and addictive, Fresh Tracks delivers a unique take on the rhythm genre that will have you diving into its story-songs over and over. With fantastic music, thrilling boss battles, and tonnes of replayability, this is a must-play for fans of rhythm games.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition sits on the edge of what defines a remake. The audio, UI improvements, and inclusion of all its DLC make it an appealing entry point for newcomers and a nostalgic return for longtime fans. Yet, its dated animations, controls, and art style struggle to hold up against today’s standards. Still, with its sheer amount of content and strategic gameplay, it remains a worthy experience for anyone ready to dive into this gigantic universe.

Marvelous Inc.’s recent streak of Story of Seasons remakes has so far resulted in serviceable but not amazing experiences, but Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar manages to be a step in the right direction. It takes an already solid farming game with surprisingly complex layers and elevates it with more content and quality-of-life improvements. With its focus on stockpiling produce to sell directly to customers, it’s something different in an era where we are otherwise up to our ears in would-be Stardew Valleys. That said, a restrictive production method and a messy storage system still hold it back.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a thoroughly enjoyable and action-packed time that’ll satiate both series veterans who’ve long been awaiting a return and newcomers who’ve always wanted to check the franchise out. With Lizardcube utilising the best parts of their game design DNA while truly understanding what it means to be a Shinobi game, they have crafted this retro-infused adventure that celebrates the old and embraces the new. With kickass challenging platforming, combat, boss fights and setpieces that’ll take some mastering, meaningful progression that fits right into the series, and gorgeous, gorgeous sights that run the gamut on this shinobi-starring journey, Art of Vengeance is simply artful. It’s a pinpoint precision strike to the gut of those after some good old-fashioned ninja action chaos.

Being perhaps what you might expect, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a remake that is far from an out-there reinvigoration, instead opting to refine and fine-tune elements of its past rather than offering much new. That can take away from the grandeur and excitement of the experience a little, and it’s undoubtedly not helped by the choice to favour fidelity of environments and character models rather than the stylistic filtering and other artistic decisions we know and love the original for. With Delta, there’s now ironically a bit of an oroborous situation for Snake Eater, where the cycle continues, bringing a wonderful and memorable tale to audiences old and new, but also harming itself and its image in the process. Still, a bloody good game is a bloody good game. You’re in safe hands, wading through the dense forestry with Snake, and to many, the journey to a 1960s USSR setting will feel like coming home.

The Rogue Prince of Persia is both a fantastic Prince of Persia game and a brilliant roguelite. Evil Empire draws on the DNA of Dead Cells to make a game that offers a compelling combination of platforming and combat, robust roguelite systems, and an understanding of the underlying rhythms of action games. It’s as enthralling to watch and listen to as it is to play.