Deliverance II demands unwavering fealty from its players, and the punishment for being lax in your duties can be severe. But if you're willing to go along with its more peculiar quirks, it offers a rare amount of freedom for a modern roleplaying game. Indeed, it's arguably a truer RPG than Bethesda's recent efforts, certainly a closer companion to Oblivion than Starfield is. And while its writing or characterisation aren't up there with those of The Witcher 3 or Baldur's Gate 3, its quest design is every bit as ingenious. [Issue #408, p.100]

Like poking a dream-plagued bear, not everything here is a sensible idea, but at least there's always a chance something interesting will happen. [Issue#408, p.104]

No matter how well you think you know a language, there's always something new to learn. [Issue#407, p.107]

It's the trip that sticks with us, however - a personal passion project, made possible with public arts funding, that reaches, and sings, for the stars. [Issue#407, p.106]

Here is a game not only made over decades but one that feels made to be consumed over an equivalent timeframe. To play Caves of Qud is to be aware that you have just one life to give it - and that you might well come up wanting. [Issue#407, p.104]

Ultimately, this is a Metroidvania not in any loose sense but a direct descendent of both parents. [Issue#407, p.102]

Our so-called "Guardian of the Peace" concludes their journey with a body count nudging six figures. [Issue#407, p.100]

As the adrenaline fades, disappointment always creeps in, that meeting this creature more up-close than ever before might have actually, finally defanged it. [Issue#407, p.98]

In short, the system - mostly magically - works. [Issue#407, p.94]

This is a wonderful, expansive piece of sequel-craft that has already drawn us in for a second go-around at a higher difficulty, with no fear that we've scraped the ceilings of its systems and stories. For something like that, we'll take a bit of instability any time. [Issue#407, p.90]

Tying everything together is an engagement with creativity in all its forms, and a delight in messing with the various shapes videogames can come in. [Issue#406, p.123]

It's more an effective reminder of why these games have been so captivating, though than the evolution they'll need, sooner rather than later. [Issue#406, p.122]

The problem that remains, however, is its lack of anything profound to say, as it tees up complex topics before leaning towards comfortable answers. [Issue#406, p.120]

Peering through these layers of disguise, then, what we're left with is a hotchpotch of conflicting ideas, a rickety, if not entirely charmless, hack'n'slash that feels plucked from an alternate timeline. [Issue#406, p.118]

There's no denying the milestone that Infinity Nikki marks for the Nikki series, taking it from a modest mobile dress-up app exclusive to China to an expansive global release of a stature rare for femicentric games. Yet... [Issue#406, p.116]

Behemoth seems frozen in time, unable to leave nearly as strong an impression as its predecessor by dint of scale alone, resulting in what feels like a colossal waste of potential. [Issue#406, p.114]

Now, the optimal experience is restricted to the privileged few. [Issue#406, p.112]

By trying to do too much too soon elsewhere, however, Rivals reduces many of its heroes to sidekicks. [Issue#406, p.110]

When it works, it's intoxicating. [Issue#406, p.106]

Despite the criticisms, though, The Great Circle isn't so much defective as in tension with itself. [Issue#406, p.102]

With no real way to accelerate victory on repeat encounters, the result is a metal slog. [Issue#405, p.123]

Perhaps it's time to rebuild from scratch. [Issue#405, p.122]

The game is more about building theme parks than overseeing them, moment to moment. [Issue#405, p.120]

That there's nothing conventional about this beauty is firmly to its credit. [Issue#405, p.118]

The knowledge that there's always another unlock just around the corner - and the tanalising locked-off areas you pass en rouge - ensures Shadow retains the fourth, invisible thing that held the Arkham series' other pillars together: the sense of forward momentum. [Issue#405, p.116]

Slitterhead remains a curio worth examining - original and, yes, full-blooded in its approach. Lacking the subtleties of more psychological horror, Bokeh Game Studio justifies its flood of plasma and mountains body count both mechancially and thematically. In the end, though, it's the same anarchic roughness and lack of restraint that drags it down. [Issue#405, p.114]

All Activision's teams needed to deliver the best Call of Duty in half a decade was proper support. It's not V2 rocket science, after all. [Issue#405, p.112]

There's a great 20-hour romp to be had in Brothership, but you may have to give it a bit of a wiggle to find it. [Issue#405, p.110]