Taking these works in hand isn't merely entertaining, it really does bring us closer to them - a clever touch. [Issue#369, p.123]

Playing Not For Broadcast for the first time is akin to having a waking nightmare. [Issue#369, p.121]

The result is like the game's own inventory puzzles: disparate notions combining to create ingenious and often surprising new forms. [Issue#369, p.119]

This isn't just the most satisfying detective game since Obra Dinn, but one that has a similar transportive quality, the world unfolding like a flower's petals as you steadily cultivate your knowledge of it through the wonderfully weird plants that flourish within. [Issue#369, p.118]

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, but OlliOlli World pulls off that rarest of tricks: it's a sequel that loses none of its capacity for challenge, while lowering the barrier to entry sufficiently to welcome in a new audience. [Issue#369, p.116]

If you've found yourself thinking Pokemon has been showing its age of late, Pokemon Legends: Arceus proves, like members of its playbase, it's more than capable of maturing, too. [Issue#369, p.114]

In a game that succumbs a little too often to 'numbers go up' design, it's much more of a thrill to see them go DOWN occasionally, then have to strive just to get back on an even keel. [Issue#369, p.112]

It's never easy. But somehow, when we fall, it only makes us all the more keen to dust ourselves off and get up again. Once we've taken that calming breath, at least. [Issue#369, p.108]

It isn't more than the sum of its parts, but those parts are at least expertly arranged to foreground the very best in firstperson athletics. [Issue#369, p.104]

It's in the great outdoors where Forbidden West comes to life - which is ironic given how often we're told it's dying. When the story's leash is off and we're free to luxuriate in its world and the wider cast's personal tales (one sidequest, involving a missing friend and an unrequited romance, is an exemplar of the form), it's not hard to understand why the first game was so popular. This is, then, more of the same in every sense, and your feelings towards the first will determine whether you see that as a recommendation. [Issue#369, p.100]

An undercooked dish. [Issue#368, p.123]

Aeterna Noctis retains enough of the best parts of its inspiration that it should satisfy undemanding players with time on their hands. [Issue#368, p.122]

From the pixellated sweat-drops of exertion as Red nudges a weighty block along to the arpeggiated chime that celebrates a stage's completion, its simple pleasures add up to a quietly transtemporal experience. [Issue#368, p.7]

Rodriguez's bright, resourceful debut is a compact little treasure that's well worth dredging up. [Issue#368, p.120]

Windjammers 2 also cements Dotemu's position as the premier upholder of exquisite and sympathetic sequels to discarded classics. A triumph. [Issue#368, p.118]

While by the time the credits roll we've pretty much had our fill, it must be doing something right for 20 hours' worth of moreish, lizard-brain fun to have flown by. [Issue#368, p.116]

With all the weaknesses of its beloved inspiration and precious few of its strengths, Praey For The Gods- much like its protagonist - consistently struggles to retain its grip. [Issue#368, p.114]

This may not be the best choice for a player without an existing co-op team, but if you do have three friends who are willing to learn, and die, together, it's a work of unmissable claustrophobia. GTFO indeed. [Issue#368, p.110]

This is as satisfying a finale as any devoted FFXIV player could reasonably have hoped for. [Issue#368, p.106]

Like playing with a good camera, though, this is really its own reward - something that's a joy to fiddle with for hours at a time, even if no one but you is interested in the results. [Issue#367, p.123]

Dap runs out of steam some way before it wraps up, but this abrasive, distinctive game lingers in the mind, haunting you like the ghosts of so many fallen Pikmin. [Issue#367, p.122]

As with any rollercoaster, you can never quite recapture the giddy pleasure of that first ride. [Issue#367, p.121]

Credit, then, to Tiani Pixel and Fernanda Dias for a journey that feels deserving of your precious time. [Issue#367, p.120]

Watson, the game is a muddle. [Issue#367, p.119]

Like the Trebhum, The Eternal Cylinder thrives despite its deficiencies, relying on a unique ensemble of qualities to find a way. [Issue#367, p.118]

There is an abundance of delicious meat on these old bones. [Issue#367, p.117]

Within 20 or so minutes, it's all over. [Issue#367, p.116]

You could never accuse Strange Scaffold of resting on its laurels. [Issue#367, p.115]

The resulting sense of forward momentum helps keep the frustrations from growing tiresome. [Issue#367, p.114]

Think of it like fast-forwarding through an action movie past all the poorly written dialogue to get to the good bits. [Issue#367, p.112]

In just a fraction of the time it would take another game, The Gunk manages to instil the full sense of exploring an unknown planet to its core. [Issue#367, p.110]

As nostalgic joys go, though, it's a damning one. [Issue#367, p.106]

This beautiful, high-velocity leap into the unknown deserves points for style AND daring. [Issue#367, p.102]

Often we're reminded of one of the oldest, simplest examples of Halo's sandbox: what happens when one grenade is applied to an unexploded stack of its peers. A cascade of possibilities, all these tiny moments of pleasure bouncing off of one another in a way that could never be fully scripted in advance. [Issue#367, p.98]

This is the kind of ornamental contraption that elicits oohs and aahs when examined from afar, but was never REALLY designed to be played with. [Issue#366, p.123]

Pleasantly meditative as it can be, it feels worn and ragged in places, that uncomfortable woolly itch coming just too often to ignore. [Issue#366, p.121]

This absorbing, flawed, daringly singular adventure firmly places Weston and team among the kind of risk-taking explorers to which his game pays tribute. [Issue#366, p.120]

The promise of the Dark Pictures series remains fresh, then, but the systems supporting it are staring to creak with age. [Issue#366, p.119]

As a detective story, Conway holds together well enough; as a nosy neighbour simulator, it excels. Just don't be surprised if you feel grubby afterwards. [Issue#366, p.118]

Your trip through this powerful, horrible - and, yes, darkly comic - nightmare is the opposite of a drag. [Issue#366, p.116]

It's a quality RTS, then - though a few irritations sour the experience. [Issue#366, p.114]

The Atlus faithful who remember the anguish of Matador in Nocturne the first time will probably swallow their pride and press on, but newcomers who may confuse godhood with god mode are in for a rude awakening. [Issue#366, p.112]

While a game that tries to be something for everyone will always fail to be everything to someone, Riders Republic has that certain something that makes it hard to stop. [Issue#366, p.110]

Guardians keeps you strapped in for the ride, and while it does dip once too often, the emotional highs outweigh the patience-testing lows. [Issue#366, p.108]

This is a treacly origin story for a crew we wouldn't be on seeing again. [Issue#366, p.104]

This one's for the fast and the curious. Whiplash or no, brace yourself. [Issue#366, p.100]

That all-important momentum is absent: the physics of movement just feels wrong, and as such you cannot rely on it. [Issue#365, p.123]

A simple idea, near perfectly realised. [Issue#365, p.121]

Short but memorable, this is a low-key triumph: if Japanese indie developer NamaTakahashi doesn't go on to even greater things, well, we'll be shocked. [Issue#365, p.119]

A small diversion, in other words, that lives up to both parts of the equation. [Issue#365, p.118]

The Good Life makes for a charmingly eccentric getaway for the 12 hours its story lasts, though you'd hardly want to spend weeks, let along months, there. [Issue#365, p.116]

Were Inscription half as long, it would probably be twice the game. [Issue#365, p.114]

If nothing else, Lost Judgment proves it would be a great shame if he didn't get another opportunity to find his niche. [Issue#365, p.112]

The effect is like trying to play chess after a double espresso, and if we fumble as often as we triumph, that's just more reason to keep coming back. [Issue#365, p.110]

As homages go, it's reverential yet poisoned by doubt. It doesn't trust Left 4 Dead's genius enough to let it stand alone. [Issue#365, p.106]

An exercise in banality, despite its vibrant landscapes and characters. But then perhaps, given their parallels with Cuban History, even they ultimately make it worse. [Issue#365, p.102]

A perfect organism? Not quite, but in its finest stretches Dread has a momentum that can mesmerise for hours at a time. It's hard to look away from the screen - even when, in moments that reach towards full horror, you might want to. [Issue#365, p.98]

It's worth rolling on to the end, but you might find yourself wishing it had more of the concision of its cinematic inspirations, rather than the drag of a family game of monopoly. [Issue#364, p.123]

A squad-based WarioWare? It's better than could have anticipated. [Issue#364, p.122]

We're very happy with the ending we land on, but it's hard to imagine anyone choosing to stick around. [Issue#364, p.121]

The feeling of achievement and closure as the credits roll on this wonderful, soulful game is every bit as keen as the time we looked out from the summit of Celeste Mountain. [Issue#364, p.120]

Even for those players who are too young to perceive the winds of nostalgia blowing through Eastward, this is a game that shows the endurance of the Super Nintendo-era RPG template as a vessel for storytelling across decades - and that is a magic of its own, too. [Issue#364, p.118]

For players who find themselves similarly unsure of their own identities, it could well resonate long after the amps and stage lights have been switched off. [Issue#364, p.116]

One of the most memorable JRPGs in recent years. [Issue#364, p.114]

In its best moments (of which there are plenty), this is about as good as Life is Strange has ever been. [Issue#364, p.112]

It is pleasantly diverting, the kind of game it's easy to gobble up in a couple of long sittings - but equally there's little to really stir the blood. It may have gorgeous particle effects in abundance, but what it's really missing is a spark. [Issue#364, p.110]

If at times Sable has a certain adolescent clumsiness about it, elsewhere it feels mature beyond its years. [Issue#364, p.106]

All that may dent its mass-market appeal, but for open-minded players The Far Shore could well be 2021's most captivating videogame destination. [Issue#364, p.102]

At the beginning of the game, and every morning since, Colt wakes up with a single objective: break the loop. But we're increasingly starting to sympathize with Juliana. Why would you want to do that, when there's still so much to play around with? [Issue#364, p.98]

The mix of leaping and pushing blocks forces you to exercise thumbs and prefrontal cortex alike, but jumping between the two can jar. [Issue#363, p.123]

In exploring the past so thoughtfully, it has established itself as a name to watch in the future. [Issue#363, p.121]

The game occasionally gets lost in the cleverness of its own layouts. [Issue#363, p.120]

Alas, a little too often, Recompile only seems to prove we should be careful what we wish for. [Issue#363, p.118]

For all its appealing idiosyncrasies, No More Heroes has lost some of its urgency and, with that, its potency. [Issue#363, p.116]

Even when it's going wrong, Twelve Minutes exerts an uncommonly firm grip. [Issue#363, p.114]

Humankind isn't lacking in competence. This is a decent historical strategy with some of the best city building outside of dedicated games such as Cities: Skylines. But it would benefit from greater confidence in its central ideas; rather than seeking to ape Civilization, it could be more inventive. [Issue#363, p.110]

Combat can be over in a flash - a Great Sword's focus attack is almost guaranteed to one-shot anyone with no armour. [Issue#363, p.106]

Long before this smart, sweet story has come to a satisfying close, it has taught us to treasure others for their flaws as well as their strengths. "We all deserve a second chance," one character says. Schafer and company have grasped theirs. [Issue#363, p.102]

While the details and relationships are sharply observed, everything around them is a little fuzzy. But then so is the moment it's trying to reflect. [Issue#362, p.122]

Developer Dang smartly refuses to complicate things, instead relying on its diverse menagerie and devious level designs to keep you on your toes. [Issue#362, p.121]

Gratifying though it is to see your decisions produce such tangible results, Where The Heart Leads is consistently let down by its storytelling. [Issue#362, p.120]

It's not so much that less could have been more here, but rather that it fails to replicate what made those classic JRPGs so beloved. [Issue#362, p.118]

It may not be able to compete with the best of prestige TV but, if you're willing to meet it on its own terms, Last Stop is a pleasant groove to slip into for a week or so. [Issue#362, p.116]

Best of all is how the storytelling bleeds into the battles. [Issue#362, p.114]

A distinctive twist on an established formula, and a remarkable accomplishment for such a small team. Its subject matter might seem like serious business, but this game about death feels thrillingly alive. [Issue#362, p.112]

That becomes a bigger problem late in the game, where it resorts to the cheapest method of raising the difficulty by simply throwing high-level enemies at you in increasing numbers. In one battle, you're tasked with holding a position for a given amount of time, before being told that isn't enough; you must now finish off all the remaining enemies. At which point it has become clear that no matter how effective the synergy of our augs, mods and weapons may be, our survival hinges upon us grinding side-quests to raise our level. What a shame The Ascent should make the final steps of its climb so arduous - even if there is evidence here that its maker could yet go all the way to the top. [Issue#362, p.110]

This is a game with great characters, and of great character. [Issue#362, p.106]

The execution can be uneven, but in all of Road 96's wild ambition there is a touch of genius. This doesn't feel like the endpoint of all these ideas, but the marking out of a route forward. It's one we'd love to see explored further. [Issue#362, p.102]

Neo may not have the game-changing novelty of the original, but what a thrill it is to discover that, 14 years on, TWEWY continues to march to its own beat. [Issue#362, p.98]

Beyond its meticulously refined controls and the delightful tactility of it all (every action is accompanied by an algorithmic electronic score, and sudden, thrilling flourishes of colour), these diegetic checkpoints are Ynglet's real stroke of design genius. [Issue#361, p.123]

Among this "grab-bag of myths and masks" are moments of genuine intrigue, but its vague storytelling lacks the specificities that would make it universal. [Issue#361, p.121]

It's an all-too timely (big) mood piece. [Issue#361, p.120]

Umurangi Generation is a game of jagged edged, in many more ways than one. We just with that didn't apply to how it so often feels in the hands. [Issue#361, p.119]

It's rare to play a Nintendo game that feels so fundamentally misguided. [Issue#361, p.118]

This is a fine debut. Backbone uses its seductive looks to enrich a conceptually thoughtful and carefully plotted-out world, and delivers real surprises within a genre that is all about adhering to time-honoured conventions. [Issue#361, p.116]

Scarlet Nexus' overstuffed story might be fixated on the human brain - and when you skittle a line of Others with a train, you'll be glad of that - but in these moments it recalls where its heart is, too. [Issue#361, p.114]

Absorbing. [Issue#361, p.112]

Once you get past the surface, the environments are lacking in engaging activities, largely consisting of requests to hunt a certain amount of monsters with gradually diminishing returns. [Issue#361, p.108]