The triumphs, however, will have you punching the air: accept that they are sometimes extremely hard-won and you might well consider this a keeper. [Issue#378, p.120]

It's the kind of scrappy contender you want to root for, but while its battle camera keeping you at a distance proves a smart move, the same can't be said for its story. [Issue#378, p.119]

The perspective might be different, but practically everything else from those games has its analogue here. [Issue#378, p.118]

It's worth pushing through a few early stumbles for the wry smile and inner warmth it leaves. [Issue#378, p.117]

Rusty Lake is smart enough to keep things brief. [Issue#378, p.114]

This disquieting, disorienting place leaves us as properly rattled as we've been by a videogame since Immortality. [Issue#378, p.114]

While it doesn't do enough to earn a place in the halls of Valhalla, there is still pleasure to be had in sprinting and fighting through these Elysian fields. [Issue#378, p.112]

This is one of the smartest and most substantial thirdperson action games you'll play. [Issue#378, p.100]

As a piece of world-building as assured as this feels like it deserves something more dynamic - something like a BioShock or a Deathloop, with you cast as an agent of chaos in an alien ecosystem. [Issue#378, p.110]

Given a new lease of life by those whip-smart changes, in the moment-to-moment Overwatch 2 sings. [Issue#378, p.108]

Where a little Innocence went a long way, this gloomy, protracted Requiem proves that a lot doesn't always stretch so far. [Issue#378, p.104]

It turns out that Mario+ Rabbids still has the capacity to surprise us after all. [Issue#378, p.96]

This sense of verite is the game's greatest strength. [Issue#377, p.123]

Accept those technical shortcomings and it's hard not to marvel at the way this feels like a complete, self-contained world. [Issue#377, p.122]

If the narrative wrapper hardly registers while you're playing, the incidental dialogue can be quite witty. [Issue#377, p.121]

This is a cautionary tale of what happens when our human need for answers overrides common sense - and its disturbing finale drives that home with commendably blunt force. [Issue#377, p.120]

There's enough vim and vinegar to Sunday Gold's central gimmick that we wouldn't mind playing a sequel. [Issue#377, p.118]

A truly great detective story needs a satisfying conclusion - and here the Klavins deliver, and then some. [Issue#377, p.116]

In both its puzzle design and its storytelling, Return to Monkey Island plays it safe. [Issue#377, p.114]

Hours after closing the game, we often find ourselves absent-mindedly drumming a table or walking in step to a song we'd never pick out normally. It's in our bones now. [Issue#377, p.112]

The result is not a bad game, but Steelrising's beautiful and imaginative shell is wrapped around a workmanlike interior. [Issue#377, p.110]

As vivid and memorable an evocation of a place as any hyper-detailed triple-A fantasy universe. [Issue#377, p.106]

For the most part it feels like we're chasing the giddy sugar high the original gave us, without ever quite getting there. [Issue#377, p.102]

Cursed to Golf fully commits to its purgatorial theme, and if that occasionally puts you in club-snapping mood, it's hard to deny the euphoric rush when you finally hole out. [Issue#376, p.122]

In confronting Peter's regrets, it leaves us with one of our own - that we didn't stop 15 minutes sooner. [Issue#376, p.121]

And while it's really more a snack than a buffet, it's one that will leave you full and contented, the acidic tang of competition cutting through all that sugar. [Issue#376, p.120]

As this game invites us to reconsider our relationships with loved ones while they're still around, the benefit of Hindsight couldn't be clearer. [Issue#376, p.118]

At times it taps into our lizard brain so successfully that hours pass by, our eyes glazing over as we mindlessly follow instructions. [Issue#376, p.116]

No hack job, then, but rather soulless. [Issue#376, p.114]

For a studio of this size, this is a game of impressive scale, but for all it offers in scope, it lacks in depth. [Issue#376, p.112]

Two Point remains a gifted student of the old school, and we're eager to see where its career takes it next. [Issue#376, p.110]

None of this matters too much when you're taking one gamble after another and they're all paying off. [Issue#376, p.108]

That speed and flow, ultimately, is a fantasy - one that's ever harder to appreciate when you're constantly being knocked off course by rockets. [Issue#376, p.104]

We could have coped with technical issues, curious UI choices and unsophisticated mission design had Saints Row given us even half as many memorable moments as previous entries "The Third" and "IV". We could even forgive a Portal joke that would have felt old hat a decade ago. But this whole enterprise feels misbegotten, even before the story goes wildly off the rails, belatedly introducing a new threat, before wrapping up with an ending that almost feels algorithmically generated. [Issue#376, p.100]

Every bit as transportative as "Hypnospace Outlaw", Last Call BBS combines the studio's puzzling expertise and the flair for storytelling it exhibited in "Eliza", serving as both a fine curtain call for Zachtronics and a fascinating portal back to a time long before its foundation. [Issue#375, p.123]

For an apparent passion project, this is a curiously listless affair. [Issue#375, p.122]

"Will leave you wanting more at every turn," says Witch Strandings' Steam blurb; that's accurate, but not quite in the way intended. [Issue#375, p.121]

There are only a few truly transcendent puzzles on offer. [Issue#375, p.120]

What a shame that a story whose opening promises to wade into deeper waters should resort to paddling in the shadows. [Issue#375, p.118]

Give OFK half a chance, and just as their tunes will burrow into your brain, their stylishly documented journey may yet see them sneak under your skin, too. [Issue#375, p.116]

While there may be plenty of JRPGs with greater mechanical depth, few are capable of such affectionate and playful subversion. [Issue#375, p.114]

Yet if it's messy at times, then these are traits that the game's story tells us are all part of the vivid tapestry that is being human. [Issue#375, p.110]

For all the delicious brain food it serves up, this astonishing game - a new high bar for creator and genre - never stops reminding you of the human beings at the heart of the moviemaking process, and the very real cost of their art. [Issue#375, p.106]

For all its high points - and they're well worth celebrating - Stray feels small but imperfectly formed. [Issue#375, p.102]

By its publisher's standards, this is lower-division fodder. [Issue#374, p.123]

It's a pity Poinpy's audience is limited to those who haven't been put off by Netflix's recent price hikes, because this is a game that helps to justify keeping that subscription rolling. [Issue#374, p.122]

After that initial sugar rush, Shredder's Revenge inevitably feels a little thin. [Issue#374, p.121]

If this were a physical card game, we suspect it's be the kind people buy booster packs for solely to admire the art within, and never to play with. [Issue#374, p.120]

To attempt to build a shooter as grand as Gradius V takes some courage; Team Ladybug has the talent as well as the guts. [Issue#374, p.119]

Despite its flaws, we're compelled to return. [Issue#374, p.118]

Despite these imperfections, The Quarry still delivers a deliciously hammy horror tale, filled with personality and humour. [Issue#374, p.116]

With superior spoils for S-rank performances, all that strategy nonsense is fully justified. [Issue#374, p.114]

To see it submit to mobile gaming's worst tendencies, rather than make any effort to be different, to be better, is galling. It may be flashy and efficient as both a Diablo game and a mobile game, but Immortal offers little that is bold, ambitious or innovative. Instead, its structure and pacing is designed with one goal in mind: to squeeze as much cash out of every player as it can. [Issue#374, p.110]

Neon White's story might revolve around a bunch of dead people in the afterlife, but when its magic is upon us it's hard to recall a game that has made us feel quite so alive. [Issue#374, p.106]

Captivatingly clever. [Issue#373, p.123]

Every now and then, there's a flash of ingenuity. [Issue#373, p.122]

Feels high-stakes even before the opening bet reaches three figures. [Issue#373, p.120]

Silt remains grimly unsettling, and there's a sprinkling of ingenuity in many of its puzzles, but it's not as powerful as it promises to be. [Issue#373, p.118]

Rebellion's not reinventing the wheel, then, but there's an admirable clarity of focus here from a studio clearly confident in its handiwork. [Issue#373, p.116]

Too often feels like a predetermined narrative that's indifferent to your involvement. [Issue#373, p.114]

We'd suggest it might be time to lay the "Dead by Daylight" formula to rest, but you know how these things go in horror movies: it'd only rise again as soon as our backs were turned. [Issue#373, p.112]

It's handsomely shot, produced and scored, solidly acted. [Issue#373, p.108]

It all adds up to a remarkable mixture of emotions, seldom encountered in a commercial videogame: kinetic thrill and the satisfaction of optimising your time, but also mounting claustrophobia, empathy for co-workers, and a sense that somewhere out among the stars there's a kinder society waiting to be riveted together. [Issue#373, p.104]

That past half-decade, then, was evidently time well spent. Barring one or two lingering frustrations, where certain randomised elements combine to produce inescapable hazards, this feels like Cuphead distilled: an amalgamation of the best bits of the base game, with few of its shortcomings. Naturally, it's an exhilarating showcase of the Moldenhauers' breathtaking art and animation... [Issue#373, p.100]

There's little, then, in the way of meaningful deduction; rather, you're rewarded more for being thorough. [Issue#372, p.123]

It doesn't always hang together perfectly, but its earnest affection for its subject proves an effective adhesive, and perhaps the best compliment we can pay Kaiju Wars is that it persuasively captures the thrilling, manic energy of the best monster movies. [Issue#372, p.121]

It may lack the elegant simplicity and playfulness of Engare, but Tandis succeeds as a meditative plaything that once again encourages us to see the beauty in geometry. [Issue#372, p.119]

Trek To Yomi's combat fails to match its visual swagger. [Issue#372, p.118]

That scale is emphasised in two expertly staged boss fights that provide a much stronger climax, and a conclusion to Quill's story that seems definitive. [Issue#372, p.117]

Most importantly, the old jokes are still funny. [Issue#372, p.116]

The solution to the game's own internal puzzle, then, is to slot something else into the gap, to connect those disparate edges. [Issue#372, p.114]

Citizen Sleeper doesn't shy away from weighty topics, and excels in managing to explore these while feeling intensely personal. [Issue#372, p.112]

It's telling that, as our getaway car peels away to safety with ten seconds remaining, our first instinct is to try again. [Issue#372, p.110]

Salt and Sacrifice shrewdly builds upon its forerunner's groundwork - offering enough depth to enthral the most ardent admirers of the Soulslike genre, while its robust 2D platformer fundamentals make it much more approachable than many of its peers. [Issue#372, p.108]

As you might expect, such breadth comes at the cost of a little finesse. [Issue#372, p.104]

Without seeking to damn a fine game with faint praise, another succinct design philosophy comes to mind: it just works. [Issue#372, p.100]

It's more sopping than soppy, then - despite and abundance of salt water, a game we had pegged as a surefire tearjerker never really comes close to making us well up. [Issue#371, p.122]

Those who like their puzzlers to have a supplementary hook will find it wanting on that front, then, but you will struggle to find more ingenious challenges than these in any other game this year. [Issue#371, p.121]

While Schneider may have moved onto 3D physics-based destruction in more recent years, there's something to be said for the enduring appeal of a 2D twin-stick shooter - and Devastator is a good one. [Issue#371, p.120]

Here's hoping we have bigger and deeper globe-trotting adventures with them in the future (provided we live to see it). [Issue#371, p.118]

Every one of its features you will find in better games elsewhere - with a strong emphasis on the plural, since Rune Factory 5 tries to cram in so many different genres. [Issue#371, p.116]

We struggle through, resisting the urge to trigger the final heist early. [Issue#371, p.114]

For all Tina's spirited efforts as dungeon master, every aspect of the Borderlands experience is showing its age. The next instalment needs more than dismal puns and wonky guns if it's to avoid being the butt of the joke. [Issue#371, p.112]

For all its minor shortcomings, if one of the main design goals of The Skywalker Saga was to make you fall in love with Star Wars again, on that particular front it is an unequivocal triumph. [Issue#371, p.110]

Regrets? Team Ninja may have a few. It's chartered course doesn't seem particularly well planned, nor its steps along the byway especially careful - and it certainly bites off more than it can chew. Yet while this curious, distinctive spin-off may not be close to the finest hour for its developer nor this storied series, its' makers can stand tall knowing that, to paraphrase Ol' Blue Eyes, they did it their way. [Issue#371, p.108]

For the duration of its story, it grips like a grasping, otherworldly arm. [Issue#371, p.104]

This means it's possible for a smaller team to craft a game of joyously intersecting rules. [Issue#371, p.100]

The process of mastering it? Let's just say it's not quite our tempo. [Issue#370, p.123]

A few dramatic sequences do land. [Issue#370, p.121]

Don't let the vibrant colours of this scene fool you: this is the world as seen in Combat Breaker, a brief period in which time slows down. As son as the meter runs out, it's back to the game's usual dusty dullness. [Issue#370, p.119]

No classic, then, but Smilegate has delivered a big, silly, characterful romp that's best experienced with friends. [Issue#370, p.118]

The sense of having travelled somewhere that games have never taken us before. [Issue#370, p.116]

We're ready to see what the future holds for The Creative Assembly after Total War. We're also, however, delighted by the studio's seemingly indefatigable ability to bend its own rules and brew up new playstyles, as it brings one of gaming's greatest licensed adaptations to a thunderous conclusion. [Issue#370, p.114]

This miserable wallow in the psyche of a traumatised young woman isn't so much horrifying, then, as simply unpleasant. [Issue#370, p.112]

Those who've never understood the appeal of Kirby are unlikely to be convinced by his move into 3D. But otherwise this compact, imaginative adventure is a low-key triumph, a work of great craft and wit that, unlike its lead, doesn't bite off more than it can chew. And it only leaves you hungry for more. [Issue#370, p.110]

This is a good expansion, a solid foundation for the next year of updates, and a lousy place for newcomers to start. [Issue#370, p.108]

The characters, however, are what make it sing. [Issue#370, p.106]

When Tunic gestures towards Zelda games of old, something it does with all the subtlety of an air traffic controller, it's indicating an attempt to chip away the intervening decades and get back to the feeling of playing those games for the first time, when they still held what seemed like bottomless mystery. [Issue#370, p.104]