A co-op game that's alternatively tense and funny, and occasionally both. [Issue#360, p.122]

A superior bit of stuff and nonsense, it makes a bigger splash than you'd think. [Issue#360, p.121]

Offers the most blissful vision of rural Britain since "Everybody's Gone To The Rapture." [Issue#360, p.120]

In this game of strong beginnings and - at last - a comprehensive ending, the journey between the two needs more spring in its step. [Issue#360, p.118]

It encourages you to really TRY, even though no one else besides you will see the outcome and the game will happily continue on either way, because creation doesn't need to be about having something you can show to people, but about the process of DOING it. This is where the real joy lies. And even in its darker moments, Chicory is absolutely dripping with the stuff. [Issue#360, p.116]

Below Zero excels when it commits to its free-flowing open-world sensibilities. [Issue#360, p.114]

Most baffling of all is the way each match concludes. [Issue#360, p.112]

The moments that make Biomutant worth playing, intermittent as they can be, exist not in spite of the game's muddled identity but because of it, sitting right at the junction between its janky mechanics and outright bonkers fiction. [Issue#360, p.108]

The result is one of the sprightliest blockbusters since Insomniac's own Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and a lesson in pacing from which Sony's forthcoming PS5 big guns would do well to learn. Sure, you might find it starting to slip from memory even as the credits are rolling, but in the moment? For the most part, it's rather riveting. [Issue#360, p.104]

This month alone, we have far better alternatives. [Issue#359, p.123]

This once-forgotten game deserves its redemption arc. [Issue#359, p.121]

It's hard not to forgive such contrivances when the mask-making process itself is such a joy. [Issue#359, p.119]

Sometimes a lazy afternoon's worth of slow-release serotonin is all you need, and this soothing backrub of a game delivers on that promise. [Issue#359, p.117]

Dig beneath its cutesy surface and you'll find a small but tasty crop that's well worth harvesting. [Issue#359, p.117]

There's always a place for classic concepts executed well, and despite being somewhat rough around the edges,that's precisely what R-Type Final 2 delivers. [Issue#359, p.116]

Why take such efforts to unearth them in a remaster that goes above and beyond in so many ways, only to leave basic flaws intact? A puzzle for future generations of podcasters, perhaps. [Issue#359, p.114]

Why take such efforts to unearth them in a remaster that goes above and beyond in so many ways, only to leave basic flaws intact? A puzzle for future generations of podcasters, perhaps. [Issue#359, p.114]

While that means Soulstorm works - accidentally or otherwise - as a metaphor for the struggle of the working classes, all that toil rarely makes for a particularly engaging game. [Issue#359, p.112]

A remarkably sure-footed followup. [Issue#259, p.110]

Returnal is by turns a gloriously dynamic action game and a dark slice of psychological horror. [Issue#259, p.106]

It's a loud, mindless end to a game that features many stunningly crafted elements but rarely puts them to memorable use - a letdown after RE7 rescued the series from the convolutions of Resident Evil 6. [Issue#359, p.102]

If you're still wondering whether to give it a go, we politely refer you to the title. [Issue#358, p.120]

While it hits all the expected beats as a sci-fi horror, Gnosia is playful and warm, too, with a real compassion for its oddball cast. Despite all the death and deception, you'll keep jumping back in, looking for a way to break the cycle - and to save everyone else, for good measure. [Issue#358, p.119]

If we seem grumpy about the third act, that's largely because the first two promise so much. [Issue#358, p.118]

This is not a modern game, no. Nor is it a particularly good one. But nor is it quite the disaster it often threatens to turn into. So, yes, faint praise indeed. We'll ensure such mistakes aren't repeated when they appoint us CEO. [Issue#358, p.116]

A game with energy and personality in abundance, but it fizzles out too easily [Issue#358, p.114]

There's no development to be found in the details of Paradise Lost's development to be found in the details of Paradise Lost's carefully crafted props - that's all saved for cutscenes and diary entries. [Issue#358, p.112]

Even as playing boardgames in person becomes a reality once more, we suspect that Trials Of Fire's baggy charms will ensure it keeps us from the table on a fair few evenings to come. [Issue#358, p.110]

True, there's no single moment to touch the climax of his heartbreaking 2013 debut, Brother: A Tale of Two Sons, but Fares's third - and best - game as director suggests the Oscars' loss is very much videogames' gain. [Issue#358, p.108]

That it proves so rewarding as a solo venture in spite of these launch issues speaks to Outriders' finely honed mechanics, and the success of its central "cover shooter but not really" principle. [Issue#358, p.100]

It would be wrong to say there’s never a dull moment in Replicant then, even if at least some of that dullness is deliberate – a way to emphasize our heroes’ struggles. But at its best, you’ll come to understand why it deserves a second chance. [Issue#358, p.104]

If only there was substance to match the undeniable style. [Issue#357, p.123]

Once you let go (or are forced to), it all seems a little empty, like perhaps the only thing compelling you onward was the hypnotic effect of watching something go round and round. It doesn't take too many repeats before the theming rubs away, leaving only the exposed machine beneath. How much do we need to feel like we're on an adventure? A little more than this, it turns out. [Issue#357, p.120]

In a world where games such as Hades, Slay The Spire and Into The Breach have found ways to elevate the Roguelike to new heights, PixelJunk Raiders sadly fails to make a mark. [Issue#357, p.118]

Mundaun is both a densely imagined horror game and a story about a young man getting back in tune with the place of his birth. The mountain might be an object of terror, but it's also one of nostalgia. It's something you learn to live with. [Issue#357, p.116]

The arguments and the heartbreaks are worth it, it suggests, to have the chance to see things from another perspective - and in doing so, to have your horizons expanded. When it's all over, the world seems a little bigger. [Issue#357, p.114]

Yes, it really does get good after 20 hours, but even then it never lives up to its name - not-so-bravely defaulting to genre convention at almost every turn. [Issue#357, p.108]

Here's to more games that dare to shoot for the stars - and to those that, like Genesis Noir, set their sights even higher. [Issue#357, p.112]

With Capcom's technicians helping Nintendo's console punch well above its weight, Rise has made it a thrilling contest between two majestic beasts. [Issue#357, p.104]

We're not saying it'll make you understand the more virulent strains of Trumpism, but playing as a surrogate Rudy Giuliani for a couple of hours turns out to be a far better use of your time than you'd expect. [Issue#356, p.107]

Fascinating. [Issue#356, p.106]

Faraday's enthralling quest is up there with the best games Devolver has published to date. [Issue#356, p.105]

This is a cosy, likable affair. [Issue#356, p.104]

Combat is impressively muscular for a game that presents like a top-down dungeon crawler. [Issue#356, p.102]

The ingredients might sound tasty in isolation, but the recipe isn't quite right, leaving us with a dish best described as an attractive hotchpotch. [Issue#356, p.100]

Little Nightmares 2 is a slight dispersal of the original's concepts, adding some fabulous locations and grotesqes without cleaning up the platforming or developing a soul of its own, but it's in some ways a more complex horror story. [Issue#356, p.96]

This is more of an evolutionary vestige than a healthy new growth. Bloober might have done better to let it die. [Issue#356, p.92]

A monument to the entire trilogy, it allows IO to move on (the studio has another numerically monikered agent in its sights) in the confidence that these masterful feats of in-game architecture will last in the lone and level sand of a new console generation. [Issue#356, p.88]

What a rare delight this is: while other games concern themselves with the big moments this funny, sincere tale reminds us that it's the gaps in between where life really happens. [Issue#354, p.123]

There's a beauty and a strangeness to Tenderfoot Tactics fans of gardens or grid combat owe it to themselves to discover. [Issue#354, p.122]

Offbeat, occasionally twisted, frequently funny and never boring, Horace is the best kind of attention-seeker: it demands you sit up and take notice and never stops rewarding you for doing so. [Issue#354, p.120]

As simple as Alba may be, it's nonetheless a relaxing summer getaway for children and the young at heart. [Issue#354, p.118]

Haven doesn't lack for heart, but the spark sadly just isn't there. It's not us, it's Yu. [Issue#354, p.116]

In borrowing from stories that are so often about one kind of ambiguity, Empire of Sin creates another: the ambiguity of too many numbers and systems for any to feel significant. [Issue#354, p.114]

No, it doesn't make any damn sense. But consider us compelled. [Issue#354, p.112]

What a pity, then, that the story is the one element that doesn't have the courage to stay true to its narrative successor. [Issue#354, p.110]

It's just and old-fashioned videogame in contemporary trappings that wants you to enjoy yourself. Play it with a forgiving eye, and you probably will. [Issue#354, p.106]

So yes, there's definitely something strange about this place - and it's those peculiarities that, for all its flaws, make this Call worth heeding. [Issue#354, p.102]

V isn't the only one with two souls wrestling for one body. Cyberpunk 2077 ends up being a sometimes-unnecessary exercise in building a better merc, and a propulsive open-world tale about building a better life. If you can ignore the inconsistencies of the former and enjoy the latter, there's a lot to love in Night City. But if Johnny Silverhand teaches us anything, it's that two heads aren't always better than one. [Issue#354, p.98]

Undemanding kids will have a whale of a time, but from an innovator like Sackboy, we've come to expect a little more. [Issue#353, p.121]

The combat missions are where The Falconeer falters, the controls for quickturns and dives never as responsive as they need to be. [Issue#353, p.120]

A music game, like a DJ, is only as good as the contents of its record crate. Fuser hasn't done enough digging. [Issue#353, p.119]

Much has been sacrificed in service of making a brilliant central concept work, then - and yet it's the very thing robbing Legion of any star quality. [Issue#353, p.118]

And underlying it all, the one thing that didn't take us by surprise: the old catch-'em-all urge, as moreish as ever. Whether it's tickling your head or your heart, Bugsnax ensures they're never empty calories. [Issue#353, p.116]

The pace slows to exasperating levels as your nimble hunter trots around awkwardly solving a range of challenges. [Issue#353, p.114]

It all adds up to a mesmerisingly unpleasant atmosphere that somewhat offsets the gun-ho nihilism of the plot. [Issue#353, p.112]

For a freebie, this isn't just a generous welcome to PS5 (particularly with most launch titles costing 70 a pop) but a promising glimpse of things to come and a fine, if occasionally gimmicky, platformer in its own right. [Issue#353, p.110]

Scrape away all the new bits, though, and crucially the magic is still there, the imagination and ingenuity within level and boss design as potent as ever. If you're experiencing it now for the first time, we're rooting for you at every step. Umbasa, as they say. [Issue#353, p.108]

Yes, in places, it's a little too familiar, sometimes ungainly and unsure of itself. Yet it's also big-hearted and likeable, with a hero that, even at the peak of his powers, remains endearingly human. By the time the credits roll, you might be convinced that Parker should extend his vacation. [Issue#353, p.104]

Like a Dragon is a JRPG that's at least as interested in its hero's growth as a person as as the incremental increase of his statistics - and a Yakuza game that retains all the humour and heart that made us fall for the series in the first place. [Issue#353, p.100]

What could have been an elephants' graveyard of forgotten ideas instead feels like a series-wide victory lap. [Issue#353, p.96]

Solitaire is supposed to be an exercise in patience; we weren't expecting ours to be tested between levels, too. [Issue#352, p.121]

A bright colorful package that has managed to - happily - disrupt our time with the other big Roguelikes of the minute. Maybe all you really need is a few great ideas. [Issue#352, p.120]

We're filled with a sense of unease as our thumb slides upwards, but there's something else here, too: doomscrolling with a side of voyeurism. [Issue#352, p.119]

It's a game from which you'll find yourself needing to consciously unclench, its rhythm of tension and release proving borderline irresistible. [Issue#352, p.118]

In its modest, unassuming way, it's gently profound, too. [Issue#352, p.116]

Put simply, it regularly betrays the cyber-ninja fantasy it's peddling. The speedruns will doubtless be dazzling, and Ghostrunner certainly LOOKS every bit the blockbuster it isn't. How unfortunate, then, that a game about a deadly assassin should suffer from so many critical failures in execution. [Issue#352, p.114]

It captures the original's atmosphere of inescapable threat but struggles to engineer new possibilities within it, though its take on player death is worth a longer discussion. [Issue#352, p.110]

Yes, deaths you suffer might linger in the memory longer than the runs themselves, but pixel for pixel, this is as exciting in the moment as anything we've played all year. Light the fuse, stand back and prepare to gasp in wonder. [Issue#352, p.106]

That conviction gives it charm next to the bloat of certain other Star Wars games, but when you're skimming the hull of an exploding frigate, it's hard not to wish for more. [Issue#352, p.102]

If Massive Damage's kitchen-sink approach to combat systems threatens to become overwhelming, it is at least built upon solid foundations. [Issue#351, p.107]

The studio cannot seem to reconcile with itself, and in this sense, it's unwittingly proved the point its latest narrative fails to: with so many sides to consider, not all stories are so easily tied up. [Issue#351, p.106]

Assuming its most patience-testing proclivities don't put you off, there's a good chance it'll capture your heart. [Issue#351, p.104]

Despite the posthuman setting, these puzzling exhibitions are gently life-affirming, offering warmth and ingenuity in equal abundance. [Issue#351, p.104]

In the end, we're rather glad we stuck our beaks in. [Issue#351, p.102]

You'll want to see each and every one of Pendragon's journeys through, even knowing that its survivors are set to live miserably ever after. [Issue#351, p.100]

For all those little frustrations, it's clear Paradise Killer is going to stay with us for a while longer. It's a considerable achievement for this tiny studio. Kaizen Game Works: may you continue to reach for the moon. [Issue#351, p.98]

It still requires a deeper commitment than most games ask for, but the rewards positively tumble forth, year after year, generation after generation, treacherous vassal after treacherous vassal. [Issue#351, p.94]

Marvel's Avengers has a lot of good parts, a lot of indifferent ones, and an overall lack of direction. [Issue#351, p.90]

Fujio's empathetic tale could almost be a playable short from filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda; like Kore-eda's best work, this compassionate snapshot of Japanese working-class life finds pleasure and wonder in the routine. [Issue#350, p.107]

Cramming more surprises and ideas into five hours than many games manage in 50, There Is No Game is a brain-scrambling treat. [Issue#350, p.106]

There's still no one else making games quite like this, and whether you've got a headset or not, it's a joy to be transported once again so completely to the Minter dimension. [Issue#350, p.105]

Whatever its merits as a brawler, it's safe to say that in years to come no one will be ringing up game shops to preorder this one. [Issue#350, p.104]

This is a fine calling card for the Derbyshire developer: far from flawless, but clear proof that this new hybrid has a bright future ahead. [Issue#350, p.102]

It's a throwback rather than an advancement. [Issue#350, p.100]

It couches relatable stories in its highly individualistic setting, presenting it all with a mastery of varying tones so as to make its point without being reductive or mawkish. [Issue#350, p.98]

Spiritfarer loses itself in so much tiresome back-and-forth, ladling on delightful incidental details in the hope that you won't notice that each character's story has become little more than an extended shopping list. [Issue#350, p.96]

We may be in hell, but as far as the Roguelike genre goes, this is a glimpse of heaven. [Issue#350, p.92]