Unfortunately, the game itself is too simplistic and hardly challenging, but the concept is incredibly fascinating from start to finish.

Cute, charming, flexible: Pikmin 4 skillfully combines the qualities of its predecessors into a varied, elegant package, and I'm quite taken with Ochin. It's a bit of a pity that it doesn't reveal its best tricks a tad earlier.

Exoprimal is a relaxed cooperative PvE action that generates a lot of momentum through indirect competition with an opposing team. Especially when you coordinate with up to four friends, it's surprisingly entertaining - much more entertaining than the pictures and videos with thousands of dinosaurs in front of rather functional backdrops would suggest.

One of the tactics greats finally found its way to people who understand what the series was all about. Despite the weak onboarding and the cliché laden narrative, an engaging, exciting strategy game that challenges on many levels. Good news, seems you can finally uninstall Jagged Alliance 2!

Suspenseful mystery thriller that's a bit too straightforward and doesn't quite live up to its narrative potential. However, it convinces with its lively dialogue.

On the outside, charming time travel with some nice ideas, but also a lot of boredom and some frustrating moments.

A great power fantasy that invites the creation of strong cinematic moments, but is also never quite pushed to its limits in terms of content and playfulness.

You'd be better off watching a TV test pattern from the Nineties for an hour.

The Ghost Trick Remaster is a neat fan package and, despite some outdated decisions, makes for a great puzzle adventure thanks to exciting ideas and a well-crafted (if somewhat unfinished) storyline.

Solid multiplayer fun for short and entertaining matches, but with only one game mode, the long-term appeal currently leaves something to be desired.

And the prize for the 'Most Game 2023' goes to South Korea: Dave the Diver tirelessly surprises with new ideas and keeps its catchy basic elements as fresh as good sushi. One of the year's most addictive games.

Crashing shooter strikingly reminiscent of F.E.A.R. - a fast-paced mix of quick sneaking, inventive melee combat and explosive bullet-time.

Final Fantasy has a habit of reinventing itself. That's why the series, with all its ups and its few downs, has remained relevant to this day. Final Fantasy 16 is no exception. Who knows how long the series will remain this straightforward a story and action-experience. For now and for this game, anyway, it works wonderfully. And not because its combat is particularly outstanding or the story changes the way we'll look at fantasy in the future, but because Final Fantasy has always been more than the sum of its parts. That has rarely been more true than for Part 16.

The undercooked strategy layer notwithstanding, nothing quite compares the Aliens: Dark Descent. With its open, persistent maps and tactics that oscillate nicely between quietly menacing exploration and gun-blazing battles, this one has a pull of its own that's hard to resist. It lacks polish, no question, but this game has heart, brains, and a takes great delight in making your heart go faster. An imperfect favorite of mine this year, and at just 40 bucks, fans of the series are going to have a blast with this one.

Actually, it's a damn good jump & run that awakens nostalgic feelings in a successful way. Unfortunately, the structure of many levels is frustrating for several reasons.

Park Beyond is a solid theme park simulation with little depth, but one where you can build in a relaxed and varied way. While it's fun to play, it doesn't offer very much that similar games haven't done before, or anything that will leave a lasting impression on the genre.

Nocturnal has got its problems. Locking you out of areas you feel you haven't completely cleared yet, being the main one. I still did enjoy myself playing this, however. To me, it was the right game at the right time, managing to simultaneously be a taster and a alternative draft for Ubisoft's upcoming Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. So, if you have 5 hours to kill, you'll find a (mostly refreshingly) bare-bones, tight and mostly well-made indie title that loves the old 2D Prince of Persias as much as you do. Worth a look.

F1 23 builds on its solid foundation and significantly improves both the controls and feedback of the cars, while the returning story-mode Braking Point continues to have its weak points.

Of course, it's not a grand adventure with an epic story and powerful character development. Shredding your way through the snazzy dioramas - always careful not to lose valuable experience points, and soon so nimble that you bravely duel bosses yourself - is much more engaging than it might look on pictures, though. No wonder, then, that it had to be Devolver, who snatched up this gem. You'd best do the same!

Not quite finished light-simulation with notable performance problems. For occasional sightseeing, this one's just about okay.

Etrian Odyssey will forever have a special place in my heart, and I'm happy with how the HD remaster for the Nintendo Switch turned out. Still, despite the thoroughly successful visual, technical and auditory performance, Etrian Odyssey doesn't play quite as smoothly as it does on the DS, though.

Successful conversion of the excellent strategy game for the consoles, only the quality mode doesn't quite run smoothly yet.

An exciting horror-game with strong borrowings from Alien: Isolation, where you explore a convincing setting in a physically believable way.

This balance and rock-solid confidence in the basic architecture of its Action-RPG existence is something the series has worked hard to achieve over decades, and so it's not only understandable, it's the only correct thing to do, for Diablo 4 to build on exactly that. The series brought innovation and upheaval when that was needed at the time. Since then, it is what it is. Diablo. The only true devil in Action-RPG hell.

Well, complete success. This is the return of classic Street Fighter in its entirety. Arcade, Vs, fun modes, online matches, team battles, it's all there, all against friends locally, online or against the CPU. The new style is chic - at least I like it - the stages look the part, and with the different control modes, maximum accessibility is practically guaranteed.

I don't want to minimize the issues any more than those few technical errors, because even as a big fan of the original, I do sometimes feel lost. On balance, however, I'm actually happy to put up with this. Because in its entirety, the great freedom, the striking setting, its remarkable antagonist are simply great and make for an immensely engaging experience, just like back then.

There's not much I could complain about. Building a railroad empire has rarely been so relaxing. A real time-eater that will always give you plenty to do.

But that doesn't mean that Bearded Ladies' latest doesn't deserve a look, if this kind of game is usually to your taste. Especially if - for you - percentages are simply part of the turn-based tactics experience, if you like to plan your turns meticulously, and you love to save and load your games a lot, while exploring every nook and cranny of a game world, Miasma Chronicles might be your Eldorado.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum unfortunately didn't turn out to be "my precious" and only rarely manages to captivate. Dramatic bugs and performance problems abound.

Competent and pretty-looking retro shooter with great splatter effects and decent length. Not all weapons are equally useful, though, and the pathing and encounter design is sometimes confusing. This is still an easy recommendation, though, if a 40K Boomer-Shooter sounds like something you would like.

Of course, this isn't really that sophisticated in terms of gameplay, but Resurgence's story and characters really shine, by skillfully continuing on from an early TNG episode. If you're like me and you're a fan of the TNG era, you'll probably really suck this one right up.

Is Lego 2K Drive something you can make your kids happy with? Yes, absolutely. And what about the adults? Well, if you look beneath the surface, you'll notice that not everything is perfect. In some situations, the controls could be a bit more sensitive, the power-ups could have more impact, and the rubberbanding is a bit too noticeable.

There's a lot to like about this pretty, wordless puzzle platformer, but you'll complete many of its repetition-prone puzzles on autopilot. It's heartfelt, but nowhere near as impactful as Limbo or Inside.

It doesn't quite deliver the punch of its predecessor, and right now I'm having a hard time imagining that there's anything more to come out of *this* Hyrule than we got with Tears of the Kingdom. With any luck, we'll find out later this decade. Until then - see those mountains over there? It's never been easier or more fun to try to reach them.

Mato Anomalies is a JRPG with a good battle system and interesting ideas. Unfortunately, their implementation remains mediocre due to the monotonous gameplay.

Showgunners is a fast-paced, often surprising mix of turn-based tactics and real-time exploration in a scenario reminiscent of The Running Man and other 90’s movies aesthetics. Smooth controls and well-crafted characters are cornerstones of the generally familiar XCOM-like.

Arkane’s expertise in crafting an immersive sim does shine through, but a lot of Redfall’s mechanics, including the four-player co-op experience, feel undercooked and even faulty, resulting in a surprisingly mediocre first-person shooter in a bland open world playing field.

Just leave me here, on these lush, gigantic worlds, and I'll be too well entertained to over-analyze Survivor's certain lack of precision or it not exactly inventing all these mechanics anew. I am docking a point for the technical state it is launching in, though.

Although Age of Wonders 4 may seem at first overwhelming, it's actually not. Many automatisms help beginners, and gradually you'll be able to abandon them if you want to. In the end, its great flexibility offers an enormous replay value and encourages you to try out all possible combinations.

All in all Stray Blade is a passable game that plays well. Unfortunately, it doesn't make it easy for you to master its battle system, asi t never quite strikes a perfect balance. Furthermore, more variance wouldn't have hurt the fights, the story is okay at best and the fact that I can only create new equipment myself isn't really satisfying either.

Its lacklustre looks notwithstanding, this is a wonderful turn-based tactics game that's just as much fun as back then on the Game Boy Advance.

Basically, a lot of it feels like a game from 10 years ago, when all of the many, many other games in the genre didn't yet exist in their modern form (...) Dead Island 2 exists, it looks nice and the zombies pop in a satisfying way. Maybe that's all the boxes this game ever needed to tick.

Not only have these JRPG-bedrock games never looked or sounded better, they also give you all the comforts you could ever want, to experience them again.

Constantly jumping between a number of simultaneously running programs feels shallow at times. The quick problem solving though cleverly translates the glorified idea of what live hacking might be like into a unique and engaging breed of puzzle game and resource management.

Rockfish put Everspace 2 together with insanely good intuition. They blended components that, in lesser hands, could have either seemed conveniently stolen together or difficult to reconcile and made them into a wonderfully coherent whole. The result is a game that repeatedly makes you forget about time, while you fly from one pulp sci-fi poster into the next, with your mouth wide open.

A good DLC tidbit for a small price, but with only one new campus and no gameplay effects in other levels it also doesn't offer too much content.

A nice re-release of the PS2 original with slightly improved graphics and PSVR2 support, but without new content it doesn't quite live up to its potential.

The rally aspect suffers from the openness of the tracks, the game world is not very exciting, but it includes a lot of new content and comes with the usual good gameplay.

Paranormasight features a multi-layered story with interesting insights into Japanese myths, even though it promises more than it delivers in terms of content and gameplay.

There aren't many games like this on consoles. It's all the nicer that the conversion of Transport Fever 2's PC version is largely successful, apart from a few performance problems. Once you get the hang of it, you can easily create transport lines and build your own logistics empire from the 19th century to the present day.

Dressed up for the present, old strengths preserved, a perfectly executed balance of trash and elegant horror shooter. Resident Evil 4 is still the most straight-up fun outing in the series.

So yes, ultimately you're left with a game that, despite all the considerable possibilities of the likeable main character, overall plays out the same way too often. However, that doesn't mean I didn't have fun with this. The scenario is fresh and the breadth of Tchia's abilities interesting enough to get you far enough in that'll want to see it through to the end.

A good conversion of the PC city builder for consoles, which also unfolds its addictive potential there. The controls work well, but unfortunately the season passes will not be released for consoles.

An entertaining, humorous and demanding first person shooter. Fashion Police Squad captures the classic Doom style shooting quite well and adds a good dose of colorful madness on top of it.

I’m glad to have finally played Mask of the Lunar Eclipse as it’s a fine sample of classic survival horror following the style and motifs made popular by the Ring movies. Game mechanics are clearly outdated though, both regarding exploration as well as combat, and fighting the apparitions is more of a matter of landing satisfying combo hits than it has to do with overcoming spine-chilling terror.

Wo Long is a good start into soulslikes. The first boss may seem too difficult at first, but will turn out to be a great teacher. Wo Long has lots of well balanced action and has an interesting tempo. The new moral system offers a clear structure that helps beginners get into the genre.

Technically, the remaster shows its age. In terms of content, it is a successful spin-off with a cool battle system and motivating mini-games.

Its stimulating forward-facing combat system, unusually sinister scenario and phenomenal soundtrack fight against stingy game economy and a constantly threatening spiral of frustration.

A small and inexpensive experience without goals, tasks and many other stressful things. During creative building you can relax nicely. Ideal for short rounds in between.

The game offers solid box management, which fans in particular can enjoy. In the long run, however, there is too little depth - everything gets repetitive quickly.

Fans of the series will be disappointed by the new game due to its lack of depth. If you're able to look beyond this shortcoming, this is a decently playable and visually appealing game that otherwise doesn't have any major problems.

Tortuga: A Pirate’s Tale is solidly entertaining and affordable pirate-fare. I do miss adventures on land and some of the longer trips lack excitement, though. Pirates this is not. But then again, what is?

Once you understand how it works, Akka Arrh is a clever experience that rewards good timing with cool combos. Above all, it's a surprisingly relaxed affair that often lets you enjoy the sparkling polygon spectacle at your leisure while keeping it going with a few well-aimed shots.

Pharaoh: A New Era is not the perfect remake it probably wanted to be. There are several smaller issues that should have been addressed before release, things that remind you of the era the game originally released in. It's still a fun way of revisiting this particular game, and I had a good time. But I'd love for the developers to keep at it and optimize this remake. Pharaoh certainly deserves it.

You can see the love for the topic in Swordsman VR. However, this does not make it a good game. The possibility to duel with human opponents would make a big difference, but that is not available here.

It's basically WarioWare in VR, and it's definitely a lot of fun, especially since you can have a blast goofing around away from the actual games. And an important note: The program will only start if you have set up a playable area of at least two by two meters.

The cool thing about the PlayStation VR2 implementation is that you can aim not only with the analog stick, but also with the Sense controllers themselves, as well as by turning your head and just looking at it with your eyes ... If you glide around in the vicinity of several enemies, the surround sound in particular comes into its own. Just be aware here that your head and stomach have to tolerate turns in all directions, which is not everyone's cup of tea in VR.

Tales from the Galaxy's Edge is staged so lively and gets many of its interactions just right ... The actual battles are repetitive shootouts in very straightforward arenas, where rarely anything else happens. You do meet familiar characters in entertaining sequences, but all in all the shooting action is a bit thin and uniform in the long run.

This one's a real highlight: Demeo is the VR version of a fictional and extremely stylish board game ... The nice thing is that you view the action like a gaming table from above, but you can rotate the view at any time, "lean" centrally over the playing field - and zoom so far into the action that you feel like you're in a classic computer role-playing game. This transition from being far away to almost being in the middle of it all is amazingly cool.

At 60 bucks, it's not exactly cheap and for people who already know this game from the Wii, the visual upgrade and new epilogue might not be worth the investment. If, like me, you haven't played it yet and you like Kirby, you can pick it up without much hesitation. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a magical game with typical Kirby charm, and the new content compared to the original is the icing on the cake.

No, of course and I'm not going to pretend that Thumper alone justifies spending 600 euros on new hardware. But it is without a doubt the game that most clearly demonstrates something that can only exist on PlayStation VR2. Most outstanding among them is the physical feedback on the head, which, combined with the exhilarating audiovisual experience, simply has to be felt to be comprehended.

The limited number of units available and the exciting battles once again keep me glued to the screen. You never know what awaits around the next corner, and whether another counterattack will suddenly roll in, for which I have to prepare at lightning speed ... As much as I like other strategy games, hardly any of them offer as intense and thrilling battles as Company of Heroes 3, with this level of spectacle and production value.

JRPG fans who subscribe to the school of thought that imagination can triumph over any of the logical inconsistencies this particular genre regularly brings with it, will welcome this as the new king of their genre. Everyone else will find this to be competent in the gameplay department, visually and acoustically arresting - and completely confused in terms of story.

A Bioshock-clone with a confusing, often unsatisfying story and many elements that seem unfinished. Beautiful visuals and good combat are captivating enough for one playthrough, though.

Technically impressive spin-off with stunning vistas, solid rock-climbing mechanics and entertaining fights using bow and arrow. It plays it a bit too safe and hardly showcases some of the capabilities specific to PlayStation VR2, but does make it easy getting to terms with VR for less experienced players.

A well-crafted tribute to Capcom's Monster Hunter series that adds a few new tricks to go beyond what the original has to offer. Omega Force delivers a strong debut that isn't without its weaknesses in terms of the weapon system and story, but overall a fun and entertaining hunting experience.

Wanted: Dead has an anachronistic flair that I am incredibly fond of… So, if you don’t exactly hate that Wanted: Dead seems like a game wholly out of time, I wholeheartedly recommend Hannah Stone’s B-Movie shenanigans.

It‘s a fan-feast for the ears, then, with a good sense of rhythm and lots of tracks. It‘s just a shame that its looks are somewhat disappointing and that it‘s comparably stingy in terms of extras commemorating the series‘ 35th anniversary.

Minor quibbles aside ... just like the ruins you sift through, Metroid Prime is a monument - it was just a bit overgrown and blended into the scenery of collective gaming conscience. Now it's back in the limelight. Pristine, demossed and its fissures glued, fresh and relevant again for a gaming world that was on the verge of forgetting about it.

If you're open to its striking retro looks, you're in for a competent turn-based tactics game that's fought mainly in the defensive. Which feels right, as these giant monsters crush everything in their path. The desperation is palpable until you fend off the beast in the nick of time. Well worth a look for fans of the genre.

A thought-provoking game that makes you think about Estelle's world, but also about our own, a meditation about what's important to us and worth saving. You'll learn a lot - about Estelle, but also about yourself and the decisions you make in the time that you have left.

Even though its world isn’t quite perfect, Hogwarts Legacy is compelling on many levels and surprises with inventiveness and loving details.

Age of Empires 2 hasn't lost any of its fascination, the Definitive Edition brings it in line with modern gameplay sensibilities and, as an upgrade, is as good as it gets. If you've ever wanted to play Age of Empires from the comfort of your couch, now's your time.

The breezy combat with lots of spells and the beautiful acrobatics are fun — it’s just a shame the same can‘t be said of the story or setting … Still, I find myself wishing that Luminous get the opportunity to build upon what they have, working towards a more modern, lively adventure.

The ways it tries to scare you are somewhat limited and there’s some technical issues, but this is a well-made, discreet and smart reboot for a series that deserves a second chance

For players who really got into Three House's story part, Engage will be met with some measure of disappointment. Its streamlined plot and structure are more accessible, but less intricate, and it doesn't help that the storyline never even threatens to leave well-trodden fantasy grounds. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but it does feel like a step back. As soon as the battles start, though, everything is forgotten and forgiven ... Here's where Intelligent System's decades of experience are showing.

The static setting, some logical inconsistencies and recurring combination puzzles make it hard to wholeheartedly recommend this one, but it has a striking look and a compelling narrative going for it.

Its mysterious and amusing story facilitates an entertaining campaign, and the art direction is more appealing than in many other games of this type. But that's about all there is to Atrio. It's just lacking in complexity ... If you're looking for a pleasing start into the world of automation games, Atrio: The Dark Wild is for you. Experienced builders are better off elsewhere, though.

A first-class Monster Hunter experience! Sure, its Switch roots are showing, and it's not the most sumptuous game to look at on these new platforms, but Monster Hunter Rise more than makes up for that in the gameplay department.

This simulation gets many things very right, from the convincing physics and helping mechanisms where you need them, to the believable depiction of these massive machines and a lot of their direct environment.

A celebration of the franchise, One Piece Odyssey is a well-made JRPG with an interesting cast and pretty and colorful worlds, ripe for cozy exploration.

Moonrider is a solid remix of its masters, a decent game that never particularly shines. It offers up a good challenge and nice level design that often has you thinking, 'hey, I know recognize that!' — when you're actually thinking of a superior title that you should be playing instead.

Telltale's nuanced characters are the reason that, as the Forresters mourn their lost lords, you feel right there, standing alongside them. I almost don't want to return to a TV Westeros, where these stalwart Stark bannermen don't exist.

It's a great package that doesn't push technical boundaries. It held up good enough, though, to still be a more than worthwhile buy if you have not experienced I yet. But it's not one of those remasters you want to play again because you "never experienced it like this".

Grim Fandango doesn't live off of nostalgia alone. It's a great game on its own right and not at all out of place today.

On to a familiar set of rules, Techland crafted a dynamic sandbox that's stupid in all the right places. I don't know if I need another one of these, frankly. But for now this sits right next to last years' Shadow of Mordor, as a mechanically sound and motivating experience I hadn't expected at all.

I definitely want to know what happens next and what consequences my actions will have. And if that's your assessment of a season opener, the developers must have done something quite right.

And even if the development team is not necessarily keen on the comparison with Command & Conquer, they do not shy away from it - Grey Goo can fill the large footsteps easily.