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]