At first, the fights are exciting and fresh, only to grind you down in endless repetition in overlong and boring levels.

Ultimately, Velvet's emotional journey of revenge is what drives the experience: brilliant storytelling and characters clash with a lackluster remaster that still hasn't shaken off its old flaws.

For just about ten bucks you get a nice little multiplayer game, which could have done with a few more maps out of the box. It's enjoyable enough to slice, bash and shoot your way through hordes of other players, even though beginners see themselves in way out of their heads in the first hours of play. The tutorial doesn't really help and you have to get all your practice in real matches. As soon as you're over this steep hill, it is decent fun. For this to grow into a lasting success, though, the game would need much more content – and some fine-tuning regarding the player movement would be appreciated as well.

What it is missing to really deserve your full attention would mainly have been more content and secondly more freedom in the way you approach its missions. A Ghost Warrior 3 in Crysis-like environments would truly be just what the doctor ordered.

Laysara: Summit Kingdom is a light city builder in an unusual yet beautiful scenario that lacks in terms of content and some quality-of-life-features.

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

What remains is a passable action game over the course of all of its four character-arcs. It's a shame that the exploration just isn't where it needs to be, even if Mercury Steam manages to marry its new fiction with the history of the series. Had this come out between Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia, people would have forgotten about it by now. Still, Ecclesia is for years old by now, and the fans really long for a new Castlevania in the classic style. If you're one of them, have a look into this mirror. It's got some ugly cracks in it, but you might still like some of what you see.

The simulation might not be as deep as others, but working the heavy machinery is quite entertaining most of the time.

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.

If you’re like me and have to play every Metroidvania out there, then yes, God of War: Sons of Sparta is decent enough. But in a genre this strong, 'decent' just means it’s below average and ultimately not worth your while.

You don´t need From the Ashes if you think it'll add something relevant to the main plot. If you're looking for some background information, a new squad-member, a fresh weapon and a few war assets as well as outfits, it delivers exactly that.

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.

On almost every turn, The Cave stumbles over its own feet and its desire to be different from the rest - a wish that most certainly came true, only proving that you should sometimes be careful what you wish for. Ironically, that's exactly the lesson The Cave wants to teach you. In the end, this is a nice, but ultimately too ponderous, puzzle game with a whole lot of nothing in between its sometimes funny, sometimes clever stronger moments.

As an old pen and paper enthusiast, I got the feeling that this would have been a better fit as an expansive campaign for the 'real' Dark Eye. That's where it could have been something really special, something with more staying power than this okay, but ultimately forgettable RPG.

In the end, it's quite a shame, because whenever you think you've seen enough of One Piece: Pirate Warriors all of the sudden Ruffy and friends make your belly ache from laughing again or dazzle with superbly choreographed special moves that fit the Dynasty Warriors formula quite well. I'm not usually one to judge a game on basis of what it could have been. But this material just begs for a title in which you get to live the actual adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates, instead of just their battles in a solidly playable but ultimately mind-numbingly generic fashion.

In the end, this is a solid cover-based third-person shooter with co-op, a decent story, with some technical shortcomings and mediocre graphics root it firmly in the realms of licensed gaming. Still, Trek-fans will get about 10 hours of worthwhile entertainment out of this.

There are co-op games that strengthen friendships – and then there’s Biped 2. It sparks more hatred than any family Christmas dinner and is likely to destroy more friendships than Monopoly and Mario Kart combined.

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.

You wanted more of the same? Then Crossfire has got you covered. It's an add-on that doesn't bring much new to the table and does little to enhance the core strategic gameplay. That notwithstanding, it still is perfectly solidly playable and quite challenging.

Brilliant idea, solid framework—and yet an adventure that falls short of its potential: much of the detective work in Hell is Us is more tiresome than engaging.

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.

Maybe 15 heroes were too many, and the rest, from the scope to the quality of the levels and enemies, fell by the wayside? I have no idea. Either way, it's another pretty nice pixel brawler that you definitely have to play locally with one to three friends.

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.

What Twisted Metal needed was more development-time. More ways to interact with what the maps have to offer, better net code and more intuitive controls could have put this in a very different light.

Octopath Traveler 0 is a kind of cozy and solid pastime for curling up on the couch during the cold season. But it's certainly not the next big JRPG.

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

I love the visual style of the game, so as an Asterix fan I can forgive it for not having a huge amount of depth to offer. In this respect, Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All 2 should particularly appeal to fans, but it is also interesting for anyone who doesn't want to be overwhelmed by a wealth of game options or movesets.

If it wouldn’t be for the name “Ys”, this release wouldn’t exist, but since it’s here: it’s okay, you can play this. Or not. Lots of better action-RPGs out there. Many of them are also called Ys.