Deathbound won’t be the next Soulslike sensation, but at a time when they’re around every corner, its courage helps it stand out. When there's a story to hear and monsters to fight, Deathbound’s rag-tag gang of alter-egos can hold their own, even as unfulfilled potential continues piling up. Its demo and low asking price should help prospective buyers decide if Deathbound is for them, and promised post-launch DLC could reward those who do stick with it. This is a solid title for Souls enthusiasts between major releases, and the emphasis on weaving disparate play styles together will make Deathbound an experience to remember, despite how hard its flaws are to forget.

It’s a solid driving game, but it’s non-essential. Anyone thirsting for a brisk trip around the block in some souped-up motors will likely come away satisfied, but for the unconvinced, there’s little here that contradicts waiting for a bigger, better installment next year.

The Crow’s Eye is at its best when remaining somewhat static, allowing the user to play out the conflict between the rational solution to puzzles and the irrational fears that the game so cleverly hints at with a breadcrumb trail. It’s full of great ideas, and more than does enough to separate itself out from the crowd. The game’s clunkier moments may put off some users, but those willing to persevere and put atmosphere and plot above pure gameplay could find themselves with an enjoyable game – albeit one that could cause a few sleepless nights.

Mother Machine has a lot of personality and some genuinely good ideas that just aren't implemented well. It would be great to see what Maschinen-Mensch can do with more time and resources, but as it stands, Mother Machine feels more like a demo or proof of concept than a fully fledged game.

When Steel Seed is at its best, it's a blast. Unfortunately, its best moments mostly end up emphasizing what could've been, making the weaker points that much more disappointing. It's not a bad game by any stretch; it's easy to get sucked into and, for the most part, is enjoyable to play. However, it doesn't do enough to stand out from the similar titles that came before it. As much fun as it can be at times, it falls short of being something truly memorable.

The end result is disappointing and frustrating.

Published by Private Division, Piccolo’s platformer set in a post-human world is a solid offering and another reminder that indie games can provide well-rounded, memorable experiences. After Us can be completed in about 10 hours, 20 for thorough explorers, and nearly every minute of it will be enjoyable. The visuals are impressive, the gameplay is fun, the levels are varied, and though the story is rather simplistic and a bit vague, it serves its purpose. After Us probably won’t rise to the top for many people, but it definitely won't sink to the bottom either.

Overall, the idea behind Cloudpunk has the potential to be a great cyberpunk game. Although the game's world is visually appealing and offers a limited opportunities for exploration, minor technical issues disrupt immersion, making it difficult to appreciate the few good elements that the game offers. Cloudpunk is a good game to pick up every once in a while for short sessions, but its lackluster story and monotonous dialogue may put off players from investing long hours into the game. In the end, Cloudpunk is able to capture the essence of a cyberpunk game despite its issues, but gameplay that mostly comprises of fetch quests may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Midnight Murder Club is the kind of game that is dependent entirely on who you play with for it to be fun. The core concept is great and lends itself well to funny moments with friends, but the matchmaking experience is dreadful, the PvE mode is a waste of time, and the bot restrictions are head-scratching. If you can scrounge up five friends to play with, Midnight Murder Club is good for some laughs, but everyone else will be better off playing a different multiplayer game.

Realistic to a fault, with a player’s determination tested throughout the game.

Atlas Fallen had promise, but nothing that this game strives to accomplish ever lands very well or feels fully realized. Between a lackluster story filled with generic and soulless voice acting and a combat system that loses its momentum well before the credits roll, there is rarely a moment where this game feels memorable or worth the time to finish. There is some good stuff on the surface of Deck13’s new IP, with its beautiful vistas and interesting world-building and aesthetic, but digging past the surface of Atlas Fallen shows that it is mostly hollow underneath.

God of War Sons of Sparta is an okay prequel—the problem is that it feels like it was released before the original 2005 game, not just taking place before it. Its safe approach feels like a game made generations ago, not one released in 2026, and makes it a chapter in Kratos' life that is forgettable.

BioMutant is teeming with potential, but a lot of that potential has been squandered. It's not a bad game, but it isn't going to be the standout project THQ Nordic fans were hoping for. Still, even with all of its issues, players may find themself booting up New Game Plus mode once their journey has been finished, despite breathing a sigh of relief when they finally see the credits roll.

Windbound is a pleasant oceanic indie. It does a very fine job of balancing itself between being a calming experience in a deserted island world and a title that is genuinely tense thanks to its survival and permadeath nature. The inventory management is extremely frustrating early on, but eventually, the crafting nature of the game clicks and it becomes enjoyable to create helpful tools and a resourceful boat to explore the world. The objective of the game, unfortunately, becomes repetitive just as the other aspects of the title come into their own. But simply traversing the islands, discovering new materials and recipes, and surviving in the charming world of Windbound is fun enough to outweigh some of the game's shortcomings.

Gotham Knights is a lot of fun, and for someone looking to mindlessly beat criminals as a superhero, it's an easy recommendation. Yet, anyone interested in anything more than that is going to face a lot of disappointment with its story beats, gameplay elements, individual features, and many other elements.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a bold experiment that really leans into putting players in situations where they have to be creative and resourceful without any hand-holding. Gamers who kick a kick out of the survival genre (like these 10 great survival titles) and love the pressure of finding that next source of food or safe place to sleep will likely get a lot of enjoyment out of Ancestors once they adjust to the controls, but it will likely feel a bit too challenging and aimless for the average gamer.

While the characters in The Sinking City may be more concerned with the murky waters flooding their homes, players will find themselves neck-deep in a flood of technical problems and puzzling game design choices. Anyone looking for a quality Lovecraftian horror game won’t find it here, which is disappointing as The Sinking City was one of the most exciting horror games showcased at E3 2019.

Firebreak may be a bit of a wait-and-see situation: it doesn't feel like it has enough meat on its bones to justify its $40 asking price, not to mention its paid battle passes. Firebreak has the bones of a truly exceptional co-op game, and hopefully, Remedy will get the chance to deliver it.

Nero stays true to its billing as an interactive novel, and while there are plenty of hiccups in nearly every facet of the game, none of them are particularly experience-ruining.

So much of the design of Forspoken takes a starting template and duplicates it ad nauseum to the point the biggest incentive to do anything is to flesh out the magic. By the time the credits rolled after 15 hours of story (and a decent amount of side activities), there weren’t any compelling reasons to keep going and cross items off the checklist. Instead, it felt better to appreciate the things that were enjoyable about Forspoken and leave it at that.

The game is a nightmare to play through, with an unlikable protagonist, a chugging frame rate, and a mountain of bugs. It’s completely and utterly broken, but even when it works (which is almost never), it amounts to nothing more than a below average hack-and-slash with some decent puzzles.

Overall, Murder on Eridanos is a solid addition to The Outer Worlds. Players are in charge of solving a murder and piecing together clues, making it an interesting and fun time. The real issue at this point is the well-documented technical difficulties that have plagued players since the DLC’s release. Hopefully, a patch will be released to fix them soon, along with the other errors that have been pointed out.

Hood: Outlaws and Legends offers players a fun and tense experience but it is oftentimes held back by technical problems, glitches, and other minor issues. When it functions as expected, Sumo Digital's game feels unique, especially when compared to most online experiences. Considering there's no narrative or single-player campaign to fall back on, the game will ultimately live and die based on its community. While many of the game's problems are not game-breaking, the server issues could be the Achilles heel if not addressed.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India makes some vast improvements over its predecessor in terms of style and gameplay while providing challenging 2D puzzles, but still lacks an engaging narrative.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a welcome addition to co-op looter-shooters, and while its live-service aspects may turn some away, it’s friendly enough, and promising enough, to newcomers to the genre. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League doesn’t have the triumphant flair of the Batman: Arkham series, but the game deserves a fair chance for those who enjoy the worlds of DC Comics and exhilarating gameplay loops because Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League shows what fun a co-op game should be.

Layers of Fear 2 has its flaws but stands out as an improvement over the original, which was still one of the scariest games on PS4 and Xbox One.

Despite its imperfections, this is far from a bad game. It’s not for everyone, but there are certainly players out there who will eat it up.

It's clear by its impressive visuals and polish that the developers truly put a lot of work into The Suicide of Rachel Foster. The game is mostly let down by plot, which robs the entire experience of any sense of tension, in turn making the game simply not effective as a horror experience.