Once the one that would show the industry how things should be done, Civilization VII is an unpolished, pale imitation of what a Civilization instalment should be. There are a myriad of problems with this, but the biggest one is that the wonderful feeling of freedom for which the series was always known for is now completely gone, as players are forced to go down very specific paths in every single match. Unless there’s a very, very big sale, it would be best to stay away from this bundle of disappointment.

Samurai Warriors 5 is a minimised musou that's been stripped back to its most fundamental parts. Perhaps this deconstruction was meant to revitalise interest in the genre, but it sadly leaves it feeling flat and mediocre. Omega Force hasn't forgotten how to make a musou, though; that much shines through in the combat which at times shows flickers of promise. There's just not enough to see and do here, and it becomes repetitive far too quickly. This, coupled with the fluctuating Nintendo Switch performance, makes it difficult to recommend.

If looking for a simple port, as well as a bundle of the Shenmue duology, you are in for a treat, despite the fact that the enhancements of this version are underwhelming. Those expecting an action-adventure that is as good as it is popular, though, get ready for a rude awakening, because, nostalgia, and pioneering innovations aside, this just isn't fun anymore.

Although Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk presents itself well enough, it ultimately falls short due to the incredible lack of pacing, a roller coaster of a difficulty curve, and generally not that engaging gameplay. Combat is mindlessly repetitive, exploration tedious, and progression is severely stunted. This is the culmination of too many moving parts that are for show, but don't achieve any real goal.

Lineage 2: Revolution is a reminder that there's a reason some things haven't really been done before. If it weren't for the weird way it approaches IAPs, this would have still only rated slightly higher. It's not particularly exciting, and setting it down almost has a lifting of weights from one's back feeling to it. Grinding gets old quickly, and the micro-managing of so many different things is so overwhelming that many might find themselves not even bothering with half of it. The game gives special rewards just for not playing it.

Another example of that latest trend of videogames with "high artistic quality," Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is not something brand new, unique, and meaningful, but something boring, boring, boring that uses big words to say things that aren't that interesting. Oh, and it has Sting in it…

Kamiko costs about $4.99 and can be beaten in under an hour. Visually, it is nothing impressive or interesting... There are far better looking pixel art games out there on the Switch, such as Blaster Master Zero. The core mechanics aren't broken or anything, it is completely serviceable, but it just lacks anything of interest to make Kamiko worth any time at all.

Even the most hardcore Swery fans will be put off by how sloppy and tedious The Missing is. Much of the appeal of past Swery games was interacting with interesting and colourful personalities. The Missing has none, unless reading text messages counts, and even then the writing is the same movie-referencing material from past games from this director, and its interrupting of the flow of action. The Nintendo Switch has so many better options for puzzle-platformer adventure games - Limbo, Inside, Flashback or Another World, to name a few. The mediocrity of The Missing might have been a bit more tolerable if it weren't such a janky and busted mess.

Those in love with the history of the era will love the detail within Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV: Diplomacy and Strategy Expansion Pack Bundle, but to those that the history is meaningless the absolute volume of names and relationships is a waste of time. Furthermore, while this has some interesting concepts, it is just too bogged down with minutia and lost in its own stats. The series could really need an overhaul on how to make things more streamlined.

Uninteresting and uninspired, Dauntless is certainly impressive in its own right, but as far as actual gameplay goes, what's present fails to engage beyond the surface level. Perhaps that'll be enough for most who download the free title, but between aesthetically resembling Fortnite and aping Monster Hunter's combat wholesale, Phoenix Games has failed to contribute anything truly novel to the experience. Dauntless is as derivative as they come, and while that lack of price tag may be appealing, there are much better games to spend one's time (and even money) on. Go play Monster Hunter instead.

Old Man's Journey is not as emotionally charged as its developer wants you to believe it is, but at least the landscapes that said old man will tread through are beautiful and fit like a glove with the vibe of each moment encountered. Unfortunately, what could be a nice and easy-going, if not a little forgettable, experience, turns into an hour and a half of boredom, due to the needless, and simplistic, puzzle-solving included.

Watch a video of someone playing The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED], and you'll love it. The faux-retro, 2-bit colour palette has been used to paint a dark, grungy, and deeply atmospheric post-apocalyptic Earth, whose style will surely be appreciated by - very - old-school PC gamers. A great art style can never replace great game design, however. The visuals make it hard to understand what's going on, leading to even more trial-and-error that's already needed, not to mentions that the controls are a bit of a mess. There are things to like here, but the ride isn't usually that exciting.

With a lack of difficulty, a dearth of originality, and a criminally short running time, fans are far better off sticking with the characters' original games.

The concept behind Late Shift is not necessarily a bad one, but if you're going to design a game around an interactive story, it is crucial the story is actually well done. This isn't the case here, sadly, and is a mess of continuity errors, laughably bad acting, and straight up nonsensical plot points. It doesn't matter which decisions you make, because you're always going to get a bad ending by virtue of having to play the game to get to it. This is a short, entirely forgettable experience that isn't even worth the low price of admission. There is some novelty here because of it being FMV, but with how bad things are, it certainly feels more like FML than anything else.

Altogether, Devil Engine is an intriguing STG that's held back by rough fundamentals. Given enough tuning, it could turn out to be welcome entry in any fan's library. There's plenty of content, and the two playable ships are impressively realized. However, the weak arsenal is a constant nuisance. Attempting to destroy massive bosses or even moderately-sized foes with a pea shooter isn't fun. There are options for quickly eliminating adversity, but getting past their constant waves of fire is also an ordeal. Simply put, it feels like this is trying too hard to break its players.

The most important thing in video games is the fun factor. Forget the visuals, forget the story, forget everything else; it's all about fun, fun, fun. The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos isn't aware of that, which makes you think whether its developer even had any people test it out. The storytelling bit that mocks D&D tropes tries too hard to be funny and fails while at it, with the playable characters being a bunch of completely unlikable "heroes." As for the actual, turn-based strategy affair, while definitely the better part, it has some severe issues of its own, with the most game-breaking one being the existence of an aggravating RNG that frequently ruins one's plans.

When it comes to Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package, the same question comes up over and over again: Who is this for? Here's a title that not only fails to win over fans of Dead Rising, but it also fails to win over fans of videogames. Slaying hundreds of thousands of zombies is not compelling entertainment, especially when the combat mechanics are so unsatisfying. The entire adventure just feels tired and cynical, sapping players of the necessary energy to carry on with their day. This critic racked up well over 25 hours of play and didn't laugh, not even once. What else needs to be said? Maybe this game is for people who no longer wish to experience joy.

Without the problems that stem from the, evidently, rushed production, The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a mediocre-to-good dungeon crawling RPG that's reminiscent of the genre's humble beginnings. With those problems added, however, this is downright annoying, and even unplayable.

The exploration aspect is interesting, but the title never really gives the player anything worth exploring. Wandering from island to island to look at things that aren't important appears to be the core feature of the gameplay here. Actually, trying not to fall asleep at the controller is most likely the true main feature of the gameplay, and this will serve you better as a sedative than it will as an actual game. It seems like it is right up on the cusp of some really good ideas, but it never quite gets there. It feels like it should almost be a great adventure, but, sadly, because of how it fails to execute on its basic premise, it isn't even a good one.

There is little to recommend about this game. The gameplay is not engaging, with mindless clicking in boring gameplay loops, and the story feels like an endless scolding for something no one alive today even did, accompanied by an undercurrent of shame for supposed parallels to modern politics. Some interesting art is overshadowed by how outright simple and stupid most of the characters look. The not-so-hidden political agenda and modern criticisms to the game are so ham-fisted, it is very tough to recommend this unless one is in the mood for a moralizing diatribe.

Resident Evil 0 was already widely considered one of the weakest traditional entries in the series, due to its meaningless story and tedious game design. There were so many possibilities that could have worked out so much better if some of its design got tweaked, and if Rebecca was a new and totally different character so the story wouldn't clash with the established canon. While it is an exceptional looking title, the ridiculously longer load times is a good way to ruin the mood to keep playing on top of the gameplay being inferior to older entries.

A distinct lack of game modes, no means of playing offline, and even the inability to make a private game with friends overshadows all of Rumble's innovations. Faster paced gameplay centred around a single worm is a breath of fresh air - and implemented quite well - but it's held back by a stripping away of Worms' most identifiable qualities: turn-based gameplay that emphasised strategy, destructible environments that continually redefined stages, and a never-ending stream of charm that kept matches as entertaining as they were engaging. Worms Rumble resembles its predecessors superficially, while failing to carve out a clear identity by recycling what little content there is in-game ad nauseum. Rumble will almost certainly be updated with new modes over time, but franchise veterans are bound to be disappointed and newcomers are better off waiting until then.

Ultimately, the final product is just dull, too simple to appeal to the hardcore, and too dense to appeal to the casual. It's hard to see who could enjoy this outside of hardcore J-History buffs and, even then, a textbook would be more entertaining.

Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure Deluxe is a title that is quirky, if nothing else, and seems to pride itself on being silly fun. For those who aren't looking for an authentic dodgeball experience, but would like to throw dodgeballs at friends and family, then this title has some merit and can be an enjoyable time. Those playing in a casual setting will find the most enjoyment out of Stikbold!, but the balance and design overall will leave a lot of people frustrated, bored, or both.

Schim isn't without its merits. For players looking for a more casual, low stakes experience, it can be a relaxing time to shut off the mind to, and the art style alone is worth admiring. It's built on a strong conceptual foundation, even if it struggles to make the most of its intriguing premise. Although it doesn't quite hit the mark fully, Schim should be applauded for trying to do something different and unique. There is a certain satisfaction to leaping from shadow to shadow, much like one might imagine as a child looking out from the window and also imagine during a long car journey. Much like those car-imagining journeys, though, the novelty can fade quickly, but at least it doesn't make one feel queasy, like reading a Beano would.

Disappointingly, The Fall Part 2: Unbound fixes none of its predecessor's issues while chipping away at its greatest strength: the narrative. It fails to follow up on the first part's themes and plot in a cohesive or gripping manner, instead meandering with new characters and concepts that accomplish far less than those introduced in the original. Taking into account that it's far longer with an inconsistent pace all around, The Fall Part 2: Unbound feels like an enormous misstep after a flawed, but worthwhile, first third of a trilogy.

Little Dragons Café is an extremely tedious exercise in repetition. There's kind of an initial thrill to the idea of managing a café and picking out the recipes that it'll use, but eventually you realize that you don't do much to help out other than providing the basic ingredients and occasionally bussing tables. The only real reward for slogging it out day-to-day is a handful of character focused cutscenes that don't really feel like a meaningful accomplishment. Add in some truly awful field controls and a constantly skipping framerate, and you've got a true recipe for disaster.

If there is one easy way to describe Foregone, it is disappointing. It is on the edge of actually being a very great game, but all of its parts are just completely average. Combat is too slow, gear is too boring, skill upgrades are nearly non-existent and there is just too little that is 'cool' about the game to keep a player going. The game needs far more of its purported story, combat needs to be far more fluid, and the RPG mechanics need heavy expansions before this game can be recommended.

If there was ever a bullet-hell shooter that was also a cure for insomnia, Earth Atlantis would be it. Ugly, droning, and tedious to play; it is hard to find anything worse than this on the Xbox Store. While it is a functioning game, it is another example of poor design and miscalculated art direction that undoes any technical know-how the programmers implemented.

A heartfelt confession, but an otherwise boring experience, Sea of Solitude fails both as a game, as well as an exploration of mental health. At times too symbolic and abstract to decode, and at other times very straightforward with its message, most will find it hard to feel the struggles of its cute, feathery protagonist and connect with her. This is basically like reading the diary of a high school kid. What is said within its pages is true and all, but that doesn't make it a good read. Even worse? The simplistic platforming/exploring/puzzle-solving that needs to be done here can even put an elephant to sleep.

This game is torture to play with the Wiimote, looks pathetic and lacks even stripped down versions of features that other platforms have.

Heartworm has a strong atmosphere, greatly enhanced by an excellent use of PS1-style graphics. And that’s it. That’s the only thing good about this indie survival horror experience. A survival horror experience where the only true horror is the boredom that will have to be endured while the protagonist runs around aimlessly (without anything posing any real threat). It's all topped off with occasional not-exactly-that-deep thoughts on life and death.

Remothered: Tormented Fathers is wasted potential. This is supposed to be the start of a trilogy, and hopefully the designers will learn from this mulligan and make something that has a bit more polish next time. Chris Darril's heart is in the right place, and he is proven to be a very capable game designer - the next effort just needs to be more carefully thought out and play-tested.

SYNTHETIK: Ultimate is a wonderful roguelike that's been utterly ruined by its Switch port. What should be one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch is instead emblematic of everything wrong with the eShop. Frame rate dips, technical hiccups, and game breaking glitches tear down all the goodwill this game establishes. When there's no such thing as quality assurance, amazing games release in unplayable states. SYNTHETIK: Ultimate should be played, just not on Nintendo Switch.

Somerville's greatest flaw is just how boring it is. It is more of a walking-sim than a platforming-adventure game. Reactive objects are also colour-coded yellow, so there is never any question about what to do. This robs any sense of discovery in a title that is already so tightly focused on pushing players forward. The terribly slow walking speed will pad out Somerville's length to around four to five hours, when there is maybe only two hours of actual substance. Traditionally, these kinds of games are short but make up for it with excellent pacing. Somerville feels like a flatline for most of the entire run.

Re:Turn - One Way Trip is pleasant to the eyes, works ok with no bugs or whatnot… and that's about it. Sadly, there's nothing good to say about it. Apart from just not being scary (like at all), and having an uninteresting story, the bulk of the experience revolves around running from A to B for about five hours, picking key items, and using them in the obvious spot. It's a fetch quest, plain and simple.

Not being content with being one of the most soulless products released under the Warner Bros. label, it is also extremely underwhelming from a technical point of view. Gotham Knights was originally developed as a multi-gen title, but PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions got cancelled. Despite this, the visuals underwhelm and fail to impress and manage to look worse than the last major Batman instalment released seven years prior. Capping at a mere 30fps might be excusable if this boasted the most cutting edge visuals on the market, but it manages to look cheap and dated. For a AAA production from Warner Bros., this should have been a visual tour de force, with top writing talent, and have evolved the gameplay to compete with its contemporaries. Maybe it can be salvaged over time with updates, but currently it's one of the most droll and sloppily designed triple-A products of 2022.

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows is an incredibly disappointing RPG, not because it's outright bad, but because it has everything it needs to excel. Gorgeous visuals, a well directed voice cast, and the tutorial's promise of a political drama set in a city that's clearly on the verge of a coup, all make for a compelling experience. Unfortunately, the visuals are let down thanks to a painfully bland dungeon design, the script isn't anywhere near the voice cast's direction, and the actual story opts for a bafflingly generic approach following the intro. It certainly doesn't help matters that load times are abundant, dragging an already slow title to a crawl, and that the core combat is somehow both chaotic and uninteresting. Despite a relatively strong start, this simply isn't worth the time or effort.

Outward isn't so much bad as it is outwardly bland. Bolstered by its genuinely endearing premise, and an emphasis on a more "human" approach to the RPG genre, the title is simultaneously held back by lacklustre presentation, an underwhelming combat system, and a main game that goes on far too long to justify the onslaught of hostility thrown at the player. The survival elements do help to keep the experience engaging, but, more often than not, they hold back what would otherwise be a rather atmospheric and pleasant action-RPG. The hostility on offer is a genuine strength on a conceptual level, but it perhaps goes too far, resulting in an RPG that can't quite overcome its flaws despite its qualities.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood has great level design that squanders its puzzles, beautiful artwork that wastes its characters, and gameplay that ranges from boring to being a bit broken. Truth be told, though, it does manage to pull you back in just as you were getting ready to leave. Sadly, it's unlikely anyone will have the patience to see it all the way through, as so much of the game is spent fighting the bad puzzle design and the atrocious platforming.

Transference is wasted on Xbox One, since it does not support VR. It is not only unbelievably short, it is lacking in content and substance. It is a perfect example of a one and done kind of game where you never look back after completing it, and then forget all about it. It might get brought up later in life, but even then, memories of playing it will be foggy at best. Half-remembered dreams are more memorable than Transference.

Giraffe and Annika doesn't quite excel when it comes to its adventuring side - a pity considering how much time it ends up taking - but a charming, comic-esque presentation, and rhythm game boss fights at least make it interesting. That said, it's worth keeping in mind that the rhythm-adventurer's best qualities are the ones it indulges in the least. There are only around half a dozen bosses in the entire thing, leaving the exploration to carry a majority of the experience. Still, light puzzle-solving and a short campaign make it easy to stomach its rougher edges. This is absolutely a case of a concept being better than the execution, but this might still resonate well with a younger audience.

Repetitive, dry, and inexplicably uninteresting, Travis Strikes Again is a massive misstep for a series with an otherwise solid track record. It's not so much the near complete abandonment of what made No More Heroes so appealing that plagues the hack n' slash, but the all-around drop in quality from the original duology.

Forget the utterly nonsensical story, the unbalanced combat mechanics, the aggravating insta-deaths, the glitches, bugs, translation errors, and so on. Bright Memories: Infinite's biggest issue is that it's not a complete package. It's a two-hour tech demo, and not even an impressive one. The general idea behind it is great (one-woman army who is both a gunfighter, a ninja, and a high-tech wizard), but the execution is subpar to say the least.

Besides a neat level editor to share stages with friends, there is nothing to be seen here that hasn't been seen countless times before - and more polished. While fun for half an hour, Urban Trial Freestyle 2 has no lasting appeal on its own, but is truly reliant on the level editor and user generated content. Other than that, there are better options out there if looking for a game like this.

Frozenheim doesn't do enough to stand out; furthermore, it suffers from some severe problems. The camera controls, unit controls, and just its overall feel makes it seem far more like an alpha build than something ready for release. While there are some small interesting things like finding free resources on the map, the game is not one to recommend.

The flaws of the free, mobile version have been carried over to the Nintendo Switch port, and as such, destroy what little fun could be had by this word-scramble title, the reason being that, rather than the ability to craft words, Spellspire is all about grinding.

There are three problems with Crysis Remastered: first, the game was never really that good, second, this isn't a remaster, and third, it's actually a heavily downgraded, flawed port. Sure, it's still an enjoyable FPS to kill some time (and other beings) with, and it's kind of impressive that you can now carry a photorealistic jungle with you, but it's still hard to stomach the audacity of calling this a remaster; in other words, an upgraded version of the original.

It's hard to believe that Aperion Cyberstorm has a story with characters and text to read. Most of the time players will likely be fighting the urge to skip every line of dialogue since the story is completely frivolous and separate to the gameplay. Why so many interruptions for dialogue in what is essentially a bullet-hell shoot 'em up? It is this kind of unintuitive and backwards decision-making that has led to Aperion Cyberstorm in the first place. This comes recommended to those with sleep disorders.

The story in this sci-fi crime drama is nice and all, but a combination of below average voice-acting, awkward-looking characters, and bad pacing ruins it all. What makes the pacing so bad? Boring puzzle after boring puzzle, with very few of them having any connection to the plot, and even less being fun to solve.

The story is horrendous, hugely convoluted, lacking any sort of pivotal moments, or interesting characters. The combat system is too manic and messy to master, leaving it as a real disappointment, overall.

Bleeding Edge has almost nothing to offer. What potential it has in it is woefully stuck in a product that is so meagre and void of content. It is like taking a single slice of cheese, and trying to cover an entire pizza pie; there just not enough here to make this work passed a few hours, and that's all. There are not enough modes, not enough interest in the community to keep it going, and the combat is way too simplistic for high level play.

Beneath the promising concept, Home Sweet Home is as generic and bare bones as it gets for horror titles on PlayStation 4. Playing it with PSVR might be a game-changer, but without it, expect a mediocre and pedestrian first-person adventure. With only a few cheap jump-scares and some clever space twisting, this is only for people who are desperate for some scares.

It is really depressing to play a game like Hyakki Castle. It has some things that could have made it a good game in a vastly underrepresented genre. It got the atmosphere just right, which is one of the most difficult things to nail perfectly. However, it is dragged down by many things that while independently does not ruin a game, it destroys the game when combined. Bad mouse and keyboard controls would not ruin a game, but the painful process of making gamepads work with the game does as it is almost mandatory to use a gamepad to enjoy the game at all, and do not even get started on the hunger system that makes exploring, which is one of the core pillars of enjoyment in the genre heavily, punishable. In the end, while it is easy to want to like Hyakki Castle and see how it could have been a great game, it is too hard to not see that it isn't a good game.

As a homage to a classic cult anime series, Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening sort of works. The animation has the right feel, and fans of the show and those nostalgic about it will absolutely have a blast with that part. Unfortunately, the gameplay completely disregards that nostalgia this title relies on to appeal to its audience. It doesn't help that the level design is at times a massive disaster. While impressive, the boss fights, anime cutscenes, and campy '80s feel do not save this.

Other than the amusing boss battles, Nefarious is barely competent. Controlling bosses from various genres is a novel spin on the concept of the boss battle and if this was just a series of battles, like Cuphead, there could have been something worth playing here. Everything else, which is about 90% of the game, is just soul-crushing. It is the kind of title that feels like work, and continuing is just exhausting because of how poor the playbility is.

The concept of taking care of a bird of prey during a rebellion is highly appealing for bird lovers. Unfortunately most expectations of bird care and the intriguing story of Falcon Age were not met. What could have been an immersive game ported smoothly from VR, was the exact opposite with poor game mechanics, a weak ending that made playing this feel pointless and a complete waste of time. What works in VR does not always translate into an ordinary non-VR title, and Falcon Age should have remained a VR exclusive and not be released on the Nintendo Switch.

Past all of the cringe dialogue and turgid gameplay, perhaps Dustborn’s biggest sin is feeling more like vacuous agitprop than an actual story. Whatever fight against fascism Pax – and by extension Red Thread Games – had in mind, it's an unintentionally hilarious one since her words feel as plastic as her bat.

Devoid of both style and substance, Poi is perhaps the least interesting 3D platformer currently available for the Nintendo Switch. Not only is it mechanically shallow with a relatively skill ceiling and floor, the level design rarely, if ever, gets creative enough to mask how lacklustre the platforming can be. To make matters worse, this is just charmless all around thanks to an incredibly safe aesthetic that renders a potentially fascinating world completely unmemorable. This neither reinvents platforming, nor serves as a suitable love letter to the genre, ensuring it is best left forgotten.

While it has all the makings of a long-lasting space adventure, Morphite lacks any real emotion in the story it tries to tell, while lacking the denizens to populate the various planets found within. Everything feels quite empty and lifeless, made further haunting by Myrah's need to scan everything on the planet while breaking into temples to steal the rare Morphites that turn out to be…not so rare. This feels more like a concept piece for a brand new title, and it's hard to justify this as a purchase for what it offers currently. The story is bland, the procedural worlds are even blander, and the side-quests are completely broken and poorly maintained.

Human: Fall Flat on Nintendo Switch is neither good if labelled as a purposely "bad" game, nor as a physics puzzler. Why? It is purely because the controls make things more aggravating than hilarious, and, secondly, due to how uninspiring the puzzles themselves are. That's why.

The Quiet Collection had the potential to be a great title, but a number of questionable design choices steer it away from being an essential purchase.

The roguelike procedural generation in Touhou: Genso Wanderer Reloaded often generates terrible flaws, horrible stages, and difficulty levels all over the shop - when the difficulty spikes, the challenging nature often just results in repetitive and frustrating grinding. There is far too much dialogue to read through, meaning huge gaps between actually being able to play… It's hard to find much to like here. It will certainly interest Touhou fans who get to enjoy some of their favourite characters, but for casual fans and those new to the series, all they are getting is a rather monotonous dungeon crawler.

The real shame about Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria is that it actually has some good ideas and is decently and competently made; it's just not the best written.

With gameplay best suited for a mouse and keyboard, a frankly unflattering aesthetic, and truly dreadful presentation, Unexplored: Unlocked Edition comes off mostly unengaging. To put it bluntly, the core gameplay loop simply isn't strong enough to carry a procedurally generated adventure. On top of that, the procedural generation, while fairly extensive and capable of leading to genuinely unique sessions with each playthrough, isn't enough to make up for how lacklustre Unexplored feels overall.

My Big Sister is the adventure genre at its simplest form. The solution to each "puzzle" is so evident that the only challenge here will be the struggle to stay awake. The horror-esque plot, and mature themes explored could help a lot, but they are handled in a manner that the average player will be left scratching his/her head about whether this is a dry comedy with some darkness thrown in, or a dark fantasy story coupled with some low-key humour.

"Seize forbidden treasures. Summon alien gods. Feed on your disciples. Play as a seeker after unholy mysteries, in a '20s-themed setting, of hidden gods, and secret histories," says Cultist Simulator to potential buyers, but, like in every Lovecraftian tale, the actual truth will drive you mad. What's the truth here? Well, it's that this is basically a tedious, resource management game, where nothing is explained, which will leave a great number of players scratching their heads, even after spending a significant time with it.

Rainbow Skies is not only uninspired, it feels almost like a cheap nostalgia cash-in for JRPG enthusiasts. The characters are generally annoying and mostly one-dimensional, and the writing is quite poor and riddled with syntax issues. The explorative nature of the game is something that players might be drawn to, but that's not enough to carry the significantly weaker portions of the game. The combat system is sort of cute in its simplicity, but it's not unique enough to keep players invested throughout all the annoying little quirks that fill up the majority of Rainbow Skies

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is hurting without B.J.. While he was sort of made out to be a tool in The New Colossus, his daughters are insufferable dude-bros who only want to kill - they just so happen to use Nazis as an excuse to justify their bloodlust. There are no more soulful internal monologues, instead these girls cause tons of collateral damage, and the game acts like its cute. The gameplay is so flawed on a fundamental level that it is beyond saving and all of it is for the sake of padding. What's the point making the side-quests "optional" if they are necessary? May as well have made this a traditionally linear, first-person shooter in the first place.

Tough game to rate overall, as there was some care and time that went into this; it just went to all the wrong places. Players looking for a strategy/tactical experience are going to be absolutely repulsed by the mix of "walking sim"/WRPG that leaves much of the core experience behind absolutely. The battles are simplistic, and the few redeeming features are buried beneath too many complaints and issues. There is simply very little strategy in this game that occurs, or is interesting to think about.

Trapped underneath the horrendous glitches and game-breaking bugs is a very intriguing and - for the most part - pleasing adventure, with a touch of comedy mixed in for good measure.

A super-calm mix of fishing, cooking, business management, and town-restoring RPG, Moonglow Bay is a decent idea that wasn't executed that well, and is thus very boring and repetitive. It also struggles with making you care about anything. Players do things just to do them, with the tiniest sense of progress possible. Take your fishing rod and fish somewhere else.

Every now and then, the stars will align and Chocobo GP will provide a fun, frantic, and genuinely fantastic race. A rare moment where the track layout isn't too obnoxious, the item RNG isn't too oppressive, and the monetization isn't too distracting; a brief snippet of a solid racer with tight controls and a colorful world. If the game was like this all of the time, there would be no issue, but the ways in which it fumbles before the finish line cannot be overstated. What could have been a solid, long-lasting Mario Kart alternative has already been tossed aside by the masses and forgotten. Maybe Square Enix can fix it, maybe they won't bother, but at this point, not much of value has been lost.

Having more small nations might seem good, but the reality is many of the nations are completely unplayable, short of some strict gambit or cheap AI tactic. The nations are too small, too irrelevant to matter and, as a result, the entire premise of this DLC is rendered negative. Sadly, Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory falls into the issues seen with other downloadable content from Paradox Interactive.

The Way Remastered is another janky indie game with faux-retro pixel art that misses the point of pixel art. It looks and plays like it was made by amateurs or possibly by some cynical designers who ticked all their checkboxes on what generic indie games are. This is not the worst indie game made - far from it - but it is so bland and plain... so middle of the road and inoffensive, that it is devoid of soul.

Battlefield 2042 is nothing short of a rip-off, and screams of EA trying to see what they can get away with this generation. Overpriced, yet devoid of the content to justify its next-gen premium, it will leave franchise fans feeling insulted. Make no mistake, anyone looking to get into Battlefield should look elsewhere, or risk letting a lacklustre first impression sour their perception of what is otherwise one of the most premiere first-person shooters in the genre - which frankly just makes 2042's lack of content, lack of a campaign, and lack of polish all the more frustrating. Battlefield's legacy deserves better than EA squandering DICE's potential by launching a major title in a clearly unfinished state. Battlefield 2042 is a beta masquerading as a AAA release.

For four times the price of the eShop game, this is definitely not worth the investment. Stick to the original or opt for something far better for creative minds, New Art Academy.

The highest compliment that can be said about Pop-Up Pilgrims is that it is not broken. At best, this is an extremely uninteresting and dull game. It plays like some kind of first-year student project that is only slightly elevated by some competent, yet generic art assets. VR is capable of so much more, yet here is a perfect example of a gross misuse of the platform.

While promising a cool twist on the platforming genre, Wavey the Rocket proved to be an absolutely miserable experience that is hard to recommend to just about anyone. Complex controls, ungratifying gameplay, and performance issues that significantly affect the gameplay, this simply isn't fun to play. For those looking for a genuinely fun and engaging platformer, this isn't one that's going to hold your attention for very long.

True to fashion, Senran Kagura Peach Ball takes a ridiculous concept, and revels in it. As a pinball game, it's not all that complex or rewarding. In order to get the most out of it, the player must also be a fan of the franchise and its penchant for perversion. There's some entertainment in learning the ins and outs of each table. However, with only two to choose from, boredom will set in long before the story is completed. It definitely doesn't help that there's not much of a point in chasing high scores. Online leaderboards and a reasonably challenging level of difficulty would have gone a long way towards improving this product.

Xenon Valkyrie+ is playable, but there is just so much left to be desired. Feeling more like an alpha version with tremendous potential, the longer you play, the more you realise everything you want the game to be, it sadly is not, and players will be left with a mediocre platformer/rogue title instead. If this was a demo of what was to come, it would be so easy to sing its praises but, as it is, it only serves as a source of aggravation for what it could have been.

If not a fan of the Macintosh/NES Shadowgate, this won't convince you otherwise, as it's the same, below average (yes, fellow nostalgic friend) game. Now, if a fan, or think that this is for you, and don't mind playing something with early '80s visuals, you are advised to play the original, which is somewhere out there on the web (and completely free), as the "improved" visuals of this remaster actually lack that special retro magic, and the few additions aren't worth the price of admission.

Despite all its exterior polish, TurtlePop: Journey to Freedom is a bit of a mess. It's trying to pull elements from multiple different genres, but it does it in a chaotic way that leaves the player little time to process what's happening on-screen. It's a constant battle with the controls to switch between the various turtles you need to control, and to also manage the genie, all while various on-screen hazards endanger the player's shot at a perfect score. The co-op mode slightly alleviates some of these issues, but it doesn't do enough to fix the fundamental issues with this quirky puzzle-platformer.

Giraffe and Annika is not a good game, which is a sad thing, as it feels like there is something missing. It's very rough, and is reminiscent it is one of those Unreal Engine 4 demos made by students. There are some redeeming qualities, like the charming character design, and a unique battle system for bosses, but it's so overshadowed by technical bizarreness and a lack of cohesive feeling that it's simply impossible to recommend to anyone but the biggest fans of Annika's design.

The most impressive thing about this is its pleasantly corny, '80s-esque name, because, besides the fact that Raging Justice is a brawler of below average quality, it makes the mistake of being way too much in love with its source material, and doesn't stray one bit from it.

The biggest mistake in game design is making a player feel totally disinterested on what's going on in front of their eyes - twice as big of a mistake in the actionless genre of city-builders, because unless given a strong incentive to do what needs to be done, it all feels like tedious, boring work. In Aquatico no one will feel as if they are helping a group of people survive the end of the world. You are basically a project manager of the slowest, least demanding project, where almost everything is done without much input on your behalf.

Georifters isn't the worst platformer, but an ugly aesthetic and repetitive level design make for a generally unpleasant playthrough. What's especially disappointing is how creative the core mechanics are. Players are encouraged to manipulate the world around them, but stages are so basically built that even the most engaging puzzles barely offer enough stimulation. Georifters does have a fairly decent multiplayer mode, but mainly due to circumstance rather than thought provoking game design.

Not only is Phantom Trigger agonising to play, but it is also really mind-numbingly boring. The game's cycle is just going through linear areas, being forced to fight, and then having to do a 'Simon Says' style memory game. There are some unremarkable boss battles, with no fun factor at all, all following a very similar formula. At about five hours, this kind of game doesn't seem long, but five hours for Phantom Trigger feels like real hard work. The only saving graces are some attempt at having some visual style and some interesting looking designs.

Take away the frustrating tutorial and newcomers stand a chance of liking Farm Manager 2022, that is if they can get to grips with the, at times, illogical menu system whose navigation is critical to gameplay and can put up with the occasional ridiculously long loads. It is a real shame that it took such little time to turn a beloved simulation into a highly unenjoyable experience, not letting the game's positive aspects of running a farm and managing all aspects shine as bright as they should have.

While the idea of Big Pharma is interesting, and could have the potential to engage some players in many hours of gameplay, the implementation causes this to be not enjoyable. Text that is so small that it is hard to read, alongside with information disappearing and reappearing, are somewhat annoying, so much so that some may decide to give up before even exploring the title's full potential. That along with confusing tutorial instructions, make for a disappointing gameplay overall.

The quest in RemiLore: Lost Girl in the Lands of Lore is inconsequential, and the only reason why anyone would play this is to have a cute hack'n slash with the utter bare minimum of rogue elements. Bringing a friend along will help keep things interesting, but there is just not enough substance to keep most hooked. It is too easy, and one has to play very carelessly in order to feel the rush of walking that razor's edge that comes with the better rogue-likes.

The Complex is a decent story that feels bigger than it could be. While some choices feel very weighty, they are few and far between, leaving a lot of inconsequential decisions in between. Honestly, it may have worked if the experience was a bit shorter - sure, a common complaint has been it is too short, but maybe it would actually benefit from being trimmed a bit. As it stands, it feels like whatever ending you got the first time through, everything else is just "what if" scenarios that don't really matter.

While Khaos Reigns extends the experience of the enjoyable Mortal Kombat 1, the story expansion itself is nothing to write home about. The six new fighters are the meat of the experience, with some fun returning characters from past games and three well-realised guest characters, some of which have shaken up the meta in a positive way. Regardless, this bundle is difficult to recommend as a package, so fans who are only interested in a select few Kombat Pack 2 fighters would be better off purchasing them individually.

The story is intriguing enough for what it's worth, and the lonely atmosphere does stand out as particularly strong, but The Bunker mostly meanders for two hours before rushing to a conclusion devoid of thematic or narrative substance.

There is as much substance to Skelattack as there is meat on Skully. This is the barest of effort to put into a platformer's design. The over reliance on frustrating-to-control wall-jumping, and terrible combat that takes forever is what kills the experience. What is tragic is that Skelattack runs very smoothly, and is devoid of bugs or glitches. The developer was clearly competent on the construction of its product, but the concept that holds everything together is such a weak foundation. Most of this can be cheesed thanks to the generous i-frames, and how every level's start has a checkpoint. This makes so much of Skelattack redundant and pointless.

Midnight feels like a quick and dirty port of Angry Birds, reminiscent of the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man. In fact, that is the best way to describe Midnight.

The Wii version of Rogue Trooper had much better controls, the graphics fit the animations and is still the best way to play out the Quartz Zone Massacre. Rogue Trooper Redux on Switch is an unpolished mess with technical issues and looks horrible docked and in portable mode. The new model's rigs cause extensive clipping and makes character anatomy do all sorts bizarre contortions and twists that are just painful to look at. The limits of old hardware made the developers be creative with their modelling and consider more carefully how they would be rigged. All of that is thrown out the window in favour of technical advancements... not artistic advancements. While it is playable, expect a very sloppy version of what was already a run of the mill third-person shooter.

Although the controls aren't exactly ideal, Golem Gates is a thoughtfully crafted title that blends RTS gameplay with some solid deck building. Forging new Glyphs, reorganising a deck to make it more optimal, or simply experimenting with deck types fit so naturally in the RTS genre that it's at times shocking how well realized all the core concepts are. Unfortunately, the title is also plagued by terrible performance issues that didn't seem to be present in its initial PC release back in 2018. Load times are often long, lag is a problem, and this is prone to downright crashing should players spend too much time customising their deck... in a title all about deck building! This is a legitimately good RTS. Just not on PS4 for now.