Destructoid's Scores

  • Games
For 4,835 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 47% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 47% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
Lowest review score: 10 Troll and I
Score distribution:
4909 game reviews
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Outbound is a cozy, visually striking van-life adventure game that nails atmosphere and customization, but struggles to keep its open world engaging. While building a home on wheels is a standout highlight and the picturesque scenery is consistently beautiful, the core exploration loop quickly becomes repetitive, with a world that often feels too empty to sustain long-term interest. It’s a relaxing ride, but one that doesn’t give you enough of a reason to keep driving.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Duck Side of the Moon is a cozy, bite-sized space adventure that leans on charm and variety more than depth. As Doug the duck, you’ll bounce between floating asteroids, help quirky rock-dwelling locals, and dip into a steady rotation of mini-games that give the small world plenty of personality. A flexible movement system keeps traversal smooth and exploration rewarding, but its shallow progression, occasional navigation frustrations, and a handful of bugs hold it back from reaching its full potential. It’s an easygoing throwback to classic family-friendly adventure games—pleasant and full of ideas, but ultimately light on impact.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Invincible VS is a decent spin-off of the Prime Video series based on comics and a solid-enough fighting game, but it's barebones in enough areas to make it feel like a big missed chance for meaningful expansion of the IP.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    With a charming aesthetic, innovative mechanics, and action-packed gameplay, Darwin's Paradox is an ambitious little game with quite a lot of heart, much like its eight-armed hero. Unfortunately, that ambition sometimes outpaces its technical performance. But if you can look past occasional frame drops and stutters, you'll find a clever platformer swimming beneath the surface.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fans of Bryan Lee O'Malley's comics or the star-studded 2010 Edgar Wright film will find all of their favorites and more in Scott Pilgrim EX, the latest licensed collab from Tribute Games. The beat-em-up is enjoyable to play, but difficulty and connection issues can hamper the short-lived experience.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    As a cute little taster of the RAGE experience, Mutant Bash TV is certainly a good idea. The price point is perfect, and even tough the controls are annoying, it's worth picking up just to experience a terrific looking shooter set in a promisingly gruesome world.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ultimately, The Fancy Pants Adventures is a chill, stylish platformer that is both fulfilling and satisfying... when its touch controls aren't giving you the business. If you can get over that really, really, really obstinate roadblock, you'll be just dandy.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    If you wanted a terrifying experience, you won’t find it here. However, if you’re not desensitized by horror as I am, then A.I.L.A should offer entertainment, tension, and intrigue with its narrative. Those who are fans of P.T. and Resident Evil should enjoy this title, so long as you’re not looking for the next influential psychological or survival horror.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Keeper is less a game than it is a playable art exhibit with light puzzle elements. But it's short and digestible, very pretty to look at, and satisfying enough to justify playing it if you have an active Game Pass subscription.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    As weird as it is unique, Escape from Duckov offers a new take on the extraction shooter formula. However, the grind and tedium can quickly kill the fun, severely diminishing an otherwise cool experience.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Packed with intricate little details that bring the Nowhere to life and expand upon its gameplay for the better, Little Nightmares III surprisingly suffers in its repetitive formula of platforming and running from monsters. The visuals are amazing, yet the monsters don't fit and the narrative leaves little to be desired. The potential for Little Nightmares III lies in its multiplayer, which is sadly restricted to online play. With the four chapters all concluding the same way, leading to a rather abrupt finale, Little Nightmares III left me feeling underwhelmed for what could have been an incredible trilogy. The urge to keep Low and Alone alive is strong throughout this short adventure, but the mystery of Nowhere stayed behind with Six.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A merging of ideas offers little room for Cronos' identity to manifest and grow which is fitting for this survival horror. Cronos: The New Dawn is immersive for its atmosphere and mysterious narrative paired with excellent level and sound design that takes ahold of your curiosity and fuels your drive to press forward for humanity's sake. Has the makings of a true survival horror, but sadly doesn't offer much of a challenge. This title loses itself when answering its biggest questions and raises more by the time the credits roll because of its lacklustre conclusion.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Drag x Drive is a decent showcase for the unique capabilities of the Nintendo Switch 2's JoyCon mouse, but frustrating controls and shallow gameplay leave a lot to be desired outside of its cheap-ish price tag.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Tales of the Shire is a charming life sim that leans heavily on cozy game comfort but rarely ventures beyond it. The gorgeous world and a few unique mechanics offer fleeting moments of greatness—especially for fans of the genre or Middle-earth—but the experience feels safe, familiar, and ultimately too shallow to truly stand out.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ruffy and the Riverside is an enjoyable experience that, despite featuring fascinating copy-paste mechanics and puzzles that gets your brain going, has a forgettable storyline. Nonetheless, it's a great choice if you're looking for a quick and cute adventure that feels like a blast to the past.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Underwhelming in horror and gameplay departments, but fantastic in its level design and core mechanics; Secret of the Mimic is an average entry in the series. Having equal strengths to weaknesses, FNAF retains its mystery, but at the risk of losing its identity. Replayability is ruined by the repetitive hunt of the Mimic and inability to skip dialogue. The environment is memorable, pacing is good, but the threat in Secret of the Mimic grows tiresome fast because of its never-ending formula of stealth gameplay finished off by chase sequences. FNAF fans should enjoy the lore and conclusion to Edwin Murray's story, but Secret of the Mimic may be one of those horrors best enjoyed as a viewer—not as the player.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    The Gex Trilogy masterfully maintains the charm, '90s humor, and fun gameplay from the original games. This remaster feels polished with minimal to no bugs, and the added features only benefit the original gameplay. However, some of the original trilogy’s woes make this a niche title that will likely only appeal to retro gamers or those who’ve fallen into a pit of nostalgia.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    There's a lot to do in Kaiserpunk, but dealing with it won't always be pleasant.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Solid and definitely has an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun. Omega 6 Traingle Stars is a retro RPG that feels very much indebted to the early 90s that will please a specific niche of players, but will be hard to engage most RPG players.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    And that’s kind of the bottom line: RoboDunk works quite well on a functional level. Its dunk-centric basketball is a quick, enjoyable snack. Its toy-like aesthetic and minimalistic stop-motion animation is effective. However, the framework just doesn’t support it quite right. Barring my (possible superficial) thoughts about robo-dunkers, the roguelite setup doesn’t provide a compelling experience. It’s a decent game to pick up and play, but it’s not the slam dunk it should be.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Part of me wishes their effort was spent on a better game, but the other part is happy that I got to experience the absolute mess that is The Thing. I know it sounds weird to hear, “This is a mess; you should totally check it out,” but that’s what I’m saying. The Thing is a fascinating cluster of missteps, and a completely unconvincing facsimile of its source material. But it’s hard to look away when it turns itself inside out.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    This makes it kind of hard to review a game like this because its effectiveness will vary from person to person, and I can’t speak to what you’ll feel. Maybe you’ll see yourself reflected in one or all of the games here. What I can say is that from an interactive standpoint, as well as a narrative one, I find Miniatures lacking. In comparison to other games that I would applaud for their contributions and approach to the art form, this wouldn’t be high on the list, but I wouldn’t throw it away wholesale, either.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    If you’re a big fan of the Lego game formula and either love Horizon Zero Dawn or have no interest in ever playing through it, there’s some fun to be had blasting through the game, especially if you have someone to co-op it with. But for me, I quickly found the entire experience very repetitive and not a true representation of what makes Horizon special. Look, I’m a Lego fan. But this time around, I feel it really doesn’t do the source material justice.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Irem Collection Volume 2 is less than spectacular. If the games really appeal to you, then the collection doesn’t diminish them, but it also doesn’t elevate them. In terms of value, you could do worse, but it’s not an immediate recommendation. They’re your quarters, do what you want with them.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Eventually, all of its problems start to overshadow its successes and they begin to fester. What would be a joyful experience gets washed away in a sea of grey leaving nothing to connect with.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    My gripes aside, I’m pleasantly surprised by just how far Wayfinder has come since I first played that beta. From its lukewarm early access launch, the game has transformed into an experience that’s well worth your time if you’re a fan of the ARPG/MMO genres. It’s the sort of game that brings me hope that, even if this isn’t the spark, many more developers will see the value in pivoting their live-service ambitions into something more manageable for a small team. As Wayfinder shows, doing so can result in an experience that’s not only better for the developers, but better for players too. I also pray for more single-player/co-op games with MMO elements, but I imagine those prayers will be answered rarely if ever. One can dream.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    I gave Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered a fair chance to win me over, but I feel the same way I did when I played it back in 2011: underwhelmed. It’s just now, all these years later, I’m a lot better at analyzing its problems and communicating them. It doesn’t help that the remaster is barely a remaster at all. The buddy relationship between Johnson and Garcia as well as Garcia’s devotion to Paula have their charm, and the dick jokes do a lot of heavy lifting. However, it’s difficult to get over just how grey and humdrum the underworld is.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The frustrating part about Sniper Killer is that it is so close to catching onto something truly inspired. The character changes allow for a full view of the human side to all the creepy horror while it casually avoids walking into clichés. It’s surprising at times, surreal in some moments, and grounded in others, which is the perfect mix for a good horror experience. But it doesn’t quite capitalize on its brilliant parts, which is a shame. The shot is on target, but it should maybe adjust its sights if it wants to hit center mass.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It’s the house that was built for the actual racing that is the problem. Beneath the vibrant colors and retro sensibilities, it’s disappointingly unpolished and monotone. Getting through the championship took me short of 6 hours, but it feels like it would be better off being half that with better attention to detail. As it stands, Victory Heat Rally isn’t the bumpiest ride I’ve been on, but it would benefit from a tune-up.

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