Yotei is another breathtaking vision of Japan, then, which treads open-world paths familiar to Tsushima but explores a more captivating story, with characters you want to spend time with. [Issue#416, p.102]

We're not sure it's entirely wise to save a game's best material for its back half, when the climb to reach it is so steep. It's hard to judge, even, whether it was all worth it - from the top of the mountain, those struggles at its base tend to seem so small and far away. But as we approach that third act, a game that at times we were struggling to find the motivation to pick back up has become one we cannot put down. As a payoff to dozens of hours of struggle - not to mention eight years of waiting before that - it's undeniable. [Issue#416, p.98]

In trying to please us all, it leaves a deeper puzzle unsolved. [Issue#415, p.107]

As diverting as it can be, this is a slim offering, a paucity of customisation options, game modes and progress markers providing no higher-level hook. [Issue#415, p.106]

If a chance to see the RPS Roguelike done right appeals, though, Abyssus' synthesis of systems is an enjoyable enough choice. [Issue#415, p.104]

The games it apes work because they're easy to engage with and paced to banish boredom. Here, everything takes ages and is sprinkled with tiny irritations. Appropriately, given its title, the game can offer only a muted reverberation of its inspirations, with the exception of recreating their flaws quite capably. [Issue#415, p.102]

Suddenly, your herd is let off the leash. As you witness a train rattling along a nearby track, it's hard to resist the urge to race it. [Issue#415, p.100]

The real art of Shuten Order isn't in the puzzle pieces, then, but the finished picture. A shame constructing isn't a more well-rounded journey. [Issue#415, p.98]

This is Nava's finest hour (or two) since the work for which he's still best known - especially when it focuses on the means rather than the end. [Issue#415, p.96]

Perhaps the biggest compliment we can pay to Sega is that even if you stripped away the IP and our memories of Musashi's prior missions, we would still have an exquisite action-platform game on our hands. [Issue#415, p.94]

Delta is compelling because of the quality of its source material, but it does feel disposable - a curio more in the vein of a talented bootleg modification than the kind of reenvisioning that would truly justify its existence. [Issue#415, p.92]

If you can forgive those insecurities, perhaps the result of trying to balance a mainstream genre game with more experimental narrative ambitions, The Old Country has an enormous amount of heart. [Issue#415, p.88]

By juxtaposing a hero who retreats in denials against an antagonist who'll go to any lengths to change the past, The Drifter offers a poignant take on trauma, and the ways it keeps gnawing at the soul the longer we refuse to process it. [Issue#414, p.123]

But at least there's less of the narrative mush to wade through this time, and if we start to flag late on, much is forgiven when Unfinished Business grants us control of an ED-209. [Issue#414, p.122]

It rarely becomes more than a pleasant distraction, rather than something that feels warm and real. [Issue#414, p.120]

Right now, there's enough here to capture the imagination for a handful of playthroughs, but for The Wandering Village to go the distance, Onbu may have to shoulder additional burdens. [Issue#414, p.118]

Ultimately, there's a good Pac-Man game buried beneath the hours of Shadow Labyrinth's trend-chasing mediocrity. [Issue#414, p.116]

Ragebound sparkles when it doesn't over-egg the pudding, confusing additional layers for mechanical depth. And we remain convinced that, whichever clan they're from, the best ninjas work alone. [Issue#414, p.114]

While it's initially exciting to explore Wheel World with just a pair of wheels and an agenda of your own making, that summer-afternoon aimlessness soon begins to go flat. [Issue#414, p.112]

Yes, the ideas are simple and well-worn, but they're treated with care and elegance, with a shimmer of luxury sprinkled across the top. [Issue#414, p.110]

Throw in a few low-level technical glitches - occasional stuttering, the rare enemy frozen in a T-pose in a doorway - and it's hard not to feel underwhelmed. [Issue#414, p.108]

True, there is little here that should deter the Souls veteran in search of a new challenge to add to the ever-growing pile. And while we may never be quite as interested in uncovering the backstory of our mute amnesiac as in retailoring her skillset or wardrobe, Wuchang does a commendable job of draping the Soulslike in eastern garments - provided the red mist doesn't have you tearing them asunder. [Issue#414, p.104]

Nintendo has still made something uniquely enjoyable, while wantonly shredding the playbook in the process. Whatever plans might be in place for Mario's next adventure, Donkey Kong has changed the lay of the land. [Issue#414, p.100]

In short, Welcome Tour seems designed more to highlight USB ports and air intake vents than give us a game. The climax of our tour sees us trapped inside our new machine, running laps and poking into every corner, praying we'll find the last stamp to open the exit. At this point, one question about Switch 2 remains: Nintendo, how did it come to this? [Issue#413, p.123]

With all the colour and oddness Date Everything musters, it can't overcome the fact that it treats its characters like objects. [Issue#413, p.122]

True, Splitgate 2 does a decent job implementing the fundamentals of a firstperson shooter, and occasionally makes a deeper impression with flourishes that can't be found elsewhere. But in moving too far towards established tastes, it more closely resembles what its creators profess to fight against. [Issue#413, p.120]

Rematch, especially with friends, is an immediate, exhilarating caricature of football. Its pared-down mechanics inject joy back into a sport that's been hollowed out, both in real life through surrender to capital and geopolitics, and as simulation, in the gears of service-game profit-making machines. [Issue#413, p.118]

It helps, too, that the story is surprisingly engaging. [Issue#413, p.116]