In its moment-to-moment play, Darktide is the closest any game of its ilk has come to replicating the original cooperative joys of Left 4 Dead. It's ferocious, frenetic and often very funny. But without Left 4 Dead's advantage of novelty, Fatshark must find other ways to hold your attention through its relatively few missions. [Issue#380, p.112]

The Callisto Protocol's biggest misfire as a story is in failing to establish a similar rapport between player-character and world. Whatever concluding themes the plot may reach for, Lee is ultimately just a tourist here, clubbing and blasting his way through an edifice that only ever exists as an escape route. [Issue#380, p.104]

Midnight Suns deviates from the XCOM format in many ways, the biggest of which is eschewing dice rolls in favour of a deck of cards. [Issue#380, p.100]

What should be a straightforward tale of coming to terms with loss introduces a few too many complexities and characters, muddling its attempts to explain what happens when we shuffle off this mortal travelator. [Issue#379, p.123]

It's an irresistible way to spend two minutes. [Issue#379, p.122]

The game simply folds in extra complications. [Issue#379, p.121]

Playful touches abound. [Issue#379, p.120]

A game that never feels comfortable giving you full command of its star. We're left feeling blue, but not in the way Sonic Team intended. [Issue#379, p.118]

As much as The Chant contains a solid action adventure, then, it could do with more suitable clothing. [Issue#379, p.116]

Between a legacy it can't quite shake and a jumble of borrowed mechanics that fit neither the format nor the fantasy, Gotham Knights simply isn't it. [Issue#379, p.114]

Modern Warfare II's problems are old ones, then, as are its strengths. But there are fewer of the latter than in 2019's reboot, and that should concern fans. [Issue#379, p.112]

A coup de theatre that leaves us bowled over. One for gaming's history books? That's something upon which Pentiment's players can surely agree. [Issue#379, p.108]

Outbursts of light and colour and shape, simple enough that they have the potential to become iconic. [Issue#379, p.104]

The combat is beefy enough to carry you through the slower stretches, but even when you're lopping heads off dragons it can feel like what you're really killing is time. [Issue#379, p.100]

Beneath this joyously aimless frolicking flows a gentle undercurrent of melancholy, which comes to the fore during the game's bittersweet finale. You're asked beforehand whether you're ready to go; it says much for this fuzzy, wistful daydream of a place that leaving it behind proves a surprising wrench. [Issue#378, p.123]

With a wealth of weapons, unlockable characters, hidden relics and buff-providing cards, Galante has adopted the kitchen-sink approach to fleshing out his game. [Issue#378, p.121]

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]