It’s easy to get overpowered to the point where you can enter a melee completely naked, and emerge victorious. But still, you’ll find yourself putting on your best armor just because it feels right. KCD2 isn’t about powergaming – it’s about immersion in a very unique setting that’s obviously a labor of love. [Issue#266]

What trailers failed to convey is that Machine Games managed to replicate the golden ratio of the classic Indiana Jones movies. Stealth, action, puzzles, dialogue and beautiful scenery are perfectly measured and mixed in a way that gives you a taste of a true Indiana adventure. [Issue#266]

In this “fantasy California” no one dares to hurt someone’s feelings – not even a necromancer or a hired killer. It’s a shame that dialogues are this bad, because the rest of the developer team was actually working hard: combat is fun (if a bit too simple), and some levels are outright gorgeous. [Issue#266]

Avowed kinda works. The story is bland, but at least dialogue doesn’t make you cringe every time someone opens their mouth. Combat... exists. And level design is actually good: it looks quite nice, and offers interesting exploration opportunities. But it’s definitely not worth the asking price of $70. [Issue#266]

Unlike the deadly hide-and-seek of Alien: Isolation, The Road Ahead leaves no room for improvisation nor gives a chance to rectify your mistake. Either you do everything exactly as the level designer wanted you to, or you die. [Issue#266]

A great entry point for people new to the Warhammer 40k franchise, as well as a nice throwback to the action games of old. No open world, no Souls-like mechanics, no “meaningful” story choices. Just you, your bolter and a whole lot of enemies to mow down. [Issue#265, p.72]

There’s a lot going on in the story, but it’s explained so haphazardly, you likely won’t understand the plot even after the credits roll. Same goes for gameplay: most of the combat options are unreliable to the point where you’ll never want to use them. [Issue#265, p.79]

Since the story is told in-game via a book, and its main character can pop out into the “real” world to interact with said book, designers got really creative with puzzles. For example, you can replace adjectives to change the properties of an item, or lift a page to make objects on an illustration fall where you want them to. [Issue#265, p.80]

There’s a killer on the loose, there’s a bunch of unlikable teenagers who are about to meet him, and our choices will quite arbitrarily decide who lives and who dies – you know the drill. The only remarkable thing about Frank Stone is the amount of Dead by Daylight references: fans of that game will definitely be pleased. [Issue#265, p.65]

Most horror stories focus on the monster, while this one is about people. There won’t be any insights about cosmology or biology of the impossible creature threatening the oil rig; neither is there an abundance of diaries with innermost thoughts of our colleagues. But that down-to-earth approach is exactly what makes this story so believable and relatable. [Issue#265, p.60]

Despite being a little inexperienced, Bloober Team delivered a remake as great as Resident Evil 2 (2019). Long-time fans of Silent Hill won’t be disappointed, while newcomers will get to experience one of the best horror games ever in all its terrifying glory. [Issue#265, p.56]

Art deco noir cyberpunk world has a lot of little details that really nail that “high tech, low life” feeling. But with the story so bland and by-the-numbers, it’s hard to recommend Nobody Wants to Die as anything but an interactive artbook. [Issue#265, p.54]

Nomada Studio is very open about Neva being inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s works. And I have to admit – they’ve really hit the mark: the game is very heartwarming and emotional. [Issue#265, p.82]

11 bit studios were trying to improve core mechanics and expand the scope of the game, but ended up with a completely different gameplay formula. The number 2 in the title probably hurts the game more than helps. [Issue#265, p.76]

What was the point of this game? If it’s a game about cats, why is there so few typical cat activities? And if it’s a game about humans – why do they act so unnatural? It feels as if the writer’s knowledge about human interaction was all book-learned. [Issue#265, p.61]

Fresh setting and vibrant locations belie some serious gameplay issues, like very uneven difficulty and sluggish movement of the main character. [Issue#265, p.66]

This rather short, but very eventful journey will send Astro up in the air, out to the deep waters, or even inside gargantuan monsters. [Issue#265, p.70]

There’s a lot to see here! [Issue#264,p.48]

A sequel to a story that didn’t need a sequel. A dull walking simulator with puzzles that require very little brainpower to solve. Still, it’s an extremely beautiful game with amazing fight choreography. [Issue#264,p.74]

Combat in Rise of the Ronin is far more nuanced than in Ghost of Tsushima, so even after many hours of gameplay you may discover a new aspect to it that will come as a pleasant surprise. [Issue#264,p.68]

Middle-aged Cutter just doesn’t cut it as a hero. Everything about him screams that he’s old, he’s tired, and instead of going on an adventure, he would’ve preferred to spend the day playing Farming Simulator. [Issue#264,p.54]

The genius of Civilization 3 was in its simplicity. Then Firaxis began piling on additional mechanics and interconnections, losing that spark in the process. Millennia tries to fix that. [Issue#264,p.62]

Music is extremely important for Heading Out: even races last only as long as the accompanying songs. So there’s no excuse for such a bland, boring soundtrack – especially for a game set in the 70s. [Issue#264,p.72]

The world is incredibly detailed, so instead of rushing to the next quest objective, make sure to take your time and let it all soak in. [Issue#264,p.58]

The heart of Alone in the Dark is not in its action sequences – it’s in the narrative. And believe me: you’ll want to see how this horror detective story plays out. [Issue#264, p.52]

Even if you’re not a fan of the online competitive scene, Tekken 8 has a lot of content to offer: assisted mode that is great for parties, a story campaign, and an absolutely fantastic Arcade mode that features its own story and unobtrusively helps you become a better player. [Issue#263, p.36]

Slavania offers a foray into Slavic mythology – a rare treat for metroidvania fans. Instead of skeletons and ghouls you’ll be fighting kikomoras and feral koloboks, while birdwoman Gamayun will serve as your guide. [Issue#263, p.45]

It’s a bit weird that a game called “Silent Hill” doesn’t feature the eponymous town. On the other hand, Silent Hill has long since grown into something bigger than just a place; it’s something that germinates within a person – and HexaDrive studio captured that feeing quite well. [Issue#263, p.56]

Rogue Trader has some serious bad luck coming out so soon after Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s a good story-driven game with meaningful choices, memorable characters, brutal battles and rich character-building system. But it’s hard to get into it after experiencing the colorful and user-friendly world of BG3. [Issue#263, p.72]

It’s a mass-market game: extremely well-polished, reasonably difficult and very safe. It doesn’t break any new ground and doesn’t take any risks, so once you’re done with The Lost Crown, you’ll hardly remember any of it. [Issue#263, p.40]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has made Roadside Picnic famous, but it harshly mangled the book: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s Zone was a zone of armed conflict between various factions and mutants, instead of being a place of mystery and supernatural. Pacific Drive, on the other hand, pays an unexpected tribute to the “feel” of the original book, despite nominally being “a car-driving game”. [Issue#263, p.62]

In this co-op stint, Outlast lost most of its story content, ramped up its difficulty and became repetitive. The game has only a few maps and very little variety in tasks. [Issue#263, p.70]

A quality remake of a 2004 game that will keep you entertained for many evenings. [Issue#263, p.53]

Infinite Wealth is a kaleidoscopic parade of everything that made original Like a Dragon great. Except there’s more of everything, and everything is more interesting than before. [Issue#263, p.66]

“Modest” is the first word that comes to mind. Modest graphics, modest story about EEEEVIL, Diablo-esque gameplay... Except it’s not – the amount of skill customization is staggering, and unlike Path of Exile, you can change your build on the fly. [Issue#263, p.48]

It perfectly captures the essence of “Starship Troopers” movie without quoting it directly. Good gunplay doesn’t hurt either, and a healthy dose of friendly fire chaos brings some spice into the mix. [Issue#263, p.42]

If you think that Expeditions is just Snowrunner without emphasis on trucks – you are correct, more or less. It also has pretty much the same problems, including collision physics. But considering the perpetual drought in the genre, we’re going to play it nevertheless. [Issue#263, p.58]

Even if you’re a Silent Hunter veteran, it will take a dozen attempts before you sink your first u-boat. And it may take another dozen to learn how to trap your opponent, how to use your bomb to deafen enemy acoustic, and other tricks of the trade. But then – then you’ll be having a one-of-a-kind type of fun. [Issue#263, p.54]

Level design is overly convoluted. No matter where you’re going, the road will take so long you’re likely to forget why you were going there in the first place. Not to mention that the path is so rugged, no ordinary person would ever get there. So how do normal people live here (and they do, ostensibly)?[Issue#263, p.46]

A true milestone not only for Legend of Zelda series, but for the industry as a whole. [Issue#262, p.61]

Daedalic knew how to make the adventure part work – and it does work, more or less – but everything else screams “amateur hour” so hard, it borders on naïve art. [Issue#262, p.64]

The world isn’t big, but it’s well lived-in, you can feel for its inhabitants, and it’s nice to see how Delta gives them a bit of hope and warmth. All in all, it’s another good Daedalic adventure game. [Issue#262, p.85]

Respawn Entertainment still looks up to Dark Souls, but at the same time they try to make a hardcore game with the most softcore experience. For example, there’s always plenty of shortcuts, so Cal never loses much progress after his inevitable demise. [Issue#262, p.58]

Let’s face it: Jagged Alliance had always been a game about superheroes with guns. New installment simply cranks that concept up to eleven. [Issue#262, p.54]

Type-O used to be the darkest and most mature game in the franchise, but now this title is usurped by Final Fantasy XVI. At times, the amount of blood, swearing and sex rivals even The Witcher’s. [Issue#262, p.48]

It’s definitely a step forward compared to basic 1-2-Switch!, but that step isn’t big enough to help the game come out of its (very narrow) niche.[Issue#262, p.76]

A paradise for gamers that leave no stone unturned. There’s no procedural generation involved, so every nook and cranny were hand-made, and there’s a generous amount of loot to be found. [Issue#262, p.68]

It’s almost like Diablo 4 developers are consciously fighting against everything that made classic Diablo fun. [Issue#262, p.80]

If you want to live out a larger than life sea story, Barotrauma is your game. Here, you’ll have your arrogant captains, jaded engineers, malpracticing doctors, epic adventures and a myriad dumb ways to die horribly. [Issue#262, p.66]

This installment is a lot closer to modern Civilization games than to classic Age of Wonders. The differences between factions are so few and far between, everyone might as well be humans under various banners. [Issue#262, p.72]

The name of the game is “parry”. Whatever the problem is, a well-timed parry will save the day. But if you can’t handle parrying mechanic, you’ll lose, no matter what tactics you use and what your equipment is. [page 52]

It’s easy to rip into Wanted: Dead. Basically, everything about this game is bad, except for the bloody finishing moves. Which, incidentally, were the main thing touted by the trailers. [page 58]

It’s hard to call Conquest of Eo a sequel, because it’s so different from its predecessors. But at the very least, it’s a great spiritual successor, and it knows how to keep player’s interest. [page 60]

As far as remakes go, Resident Evil 4 is very solid, but very safe, to the point of losing some of the original’s spark. Early RE games used to be unashamedly goofy, and RE4R seems to be afraid of that legacy. [page 64]

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is by no means a perfect game, but it’s refreshingly original. Some of its concepts deserve to be adopted even by renowned studios like Creative Assembly. [page 48]

Beautiful, cozy and incredibly detailed, Hogwarts Legacy suffers from overabundance of side activities that offer no story, substance or good gameplay. [page 42]

High on Life works better as a sitcom about weird aliens than it does as an FPS. [page 46]

If you want to replay first Dead Space – the remake will scratch that itch. But don’t expect any meaningful improvements over the original. [page 54]

Great level design, dangerous enemies, good gunplay and intriguing story come together to deliver an unforgettable game. [page 38]

Story battles take about 20 minutes, while dialogue, inventory management, practice fights and everything else that takes place in-between them can take up to two hours. Nevertheless, the quality of story battles makes up for the wait because they offer a lot of variety, and every problem can be solved in a multitude of ways. [Issue#260, p.44]

Borderlands had its share of bugs, broken abilities and boring levels, but it always made up for it with humor and charm. Not anymore: Gearbox lost its best writers, so in Wonderlands it struggles even with established characters, and new ones fall completely flat. [Issue#260, p.42]

On paper, there’s a lot of variety in The Guild 3. But most of the “alternative” gameplay options either require unreasonable amounts of busywork, or simply aren’t profitable. And if you just want to run a workshop, – The Guild 2 would work just as well. [Issue#260, p.46]

Shredder’s Revenge is one big nostalgia trip that doesn’t even try to do something more – like offering actually good and nuanced beat’em up experience, for example. [Issue#260, p.52]

Leisurely promenades and simple puzzles are interspersed with action moments where you have to flee from local aggressive fauna. There’s also some stealth involved. These segments aren’t stellar, but they do shake things up nicely. [Issue#260, p.58]

The quality of fan service is simply breathtaking, so it’s a must for any fan of the cult classic movie. Still, as a game, Terran Command offers nothing new. Even less, in fact: there’s no multiplayer, map editor or even a skirmish mode, so once you’re done – you’re done. [Issue#260, p.54]

A newcomer would be shocked by crude animations, wonky physics and bad gunplay. Fans of the franchise are kinda used to that, but they’ll be disappointed for another reason: while Saints Row 2022 does have a few fun moments, most of them are blatantly ripped from previous games of the series. [Issue#260, p.32]

GT7 doesn’t feel like a truly new game – more like an upgraded version of Sports. But it’s par for the course for the series: each generation, Polyphony Digital makes a solid foundation and then builds upon it. [Issue#260, p.38]

After the WWII ended, there was a rise of certain phenomena among indigenous population of the Pacific, called “cargo cult”. It feels like the very same cultists were in charge of Diablo Immortal: it has superficial resemblance to the real thing, but it lacks any real substance. [Issue#260, p.36]

The studio took a few liberties with the story, changing some things around and expanding certain segments, but thankfully, they didn’t neuter Crypto’s humor to cater to the easily-offended. [Issue#260, p.50]

While some of the wood-and-metal pinball tables are true mechanical marvels, video game environment allows for a far richer experience, with actual enemies, leveling up, items and even a nice storyline. [Issue#259, p.58]

Selling Ogres as a separate Day-1 DLC is definitely an anti-consumer practice, AI would be best described as “braindead", and some mechanics only work because of duct-tape solutions like “background income”. Yet, CA has managed to capture that certain “je ne sais quoi” of Warhammer: every faction plays differently, but they all feel awesome. [Issue#259, p.42]

High difficulty accentuates every problem, like wonky camera, weird timings and unpredictable invincibility frames of enemy attacks. But at its highs, Sifu is incredibly dynamic, picturesque and rewarding, a great companion for a nostalgia trip to the VHS era. [Issue#259, p.52]

Lo Wang is a child of another age, when shooters were lightning-paced and enemies had no qualms about hitting you from behind or covering the entire area with projectiles. So, it will be difficult for him to gain popularity among the crowd raised on slow-paced cover-based shooters, but hey – Wang never backs down from a challenge. [Issue#259, p.70]

Solo incursions are definitely the best experience Extraction can deliver – although this isn’t exactly a high bar, considering how mediocre the game is. [Issue#259, p.62]

Acreus came out just a few months after Diamond & Pearl remake. Isn’t that too soon? Actually, no. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the most innovative, revolutionary, and maybe simply the best Pokémon game of the last decade. [Issue#259, p.48]

This game is fast. So fast you don’t see levels, just splashes of color and sound cues, – like “ding” of an upcoming crystal, which means that you need to perform grab. There are no two ways about it – you either do the grab, or you faceplant. [Isssue#259, p.56]

There’s nothing wrong with learning from your competitors, but what’s the point of copying stuff that’s mocked even by Ubisoft fans? Hopefully, next time Guerrilla will focus more on Horizon’s own strengths: unique world and mechosaurs that are so fun to take apart. [Issue#259, p.72]

Two decades have passed since the first Gothic came out, but Piranha Bytes still sticks to the old formula in hopes that once again it will make a miracle. [Issue#259, p.66]

No matter how many studios try to replicate the formula, From Software is the only one that can deliver authentic Souls experience. [Issue#259, p.36]

It’s almost as if there was a lottery among indie developers, with the grand prize being the right to publish their game under Hiroyuki Ito’s name (but without his oversight). Otherwise, we can’t fathom how something like Dungeon Encounters could come to be. [Issue#259, p.61]

A full playthrough takes about two hours, which is weird, considering that Infinite is advertised as a full game. Still, these two hours are good, so hopefully, next time the developer will get a bigger budget and will finally deliver a full-length game. [Issue#259, p.55]

If you’re a fan of the Gaulish duo, you’ll love it. If not, – it’s a very basic beat ‘em up with typical problems like poor hit registration and no functional difference between playable characters. [Issue#259, p.51]

It’s just three new missions without new characters or gameplay mechanics (well, with one small exception). They’re interesting, they’re difficult, graphics, music and voice acting are top-notch, – but Aiko’s Choice is still too small to be sold as a standalone game. [Issue#258, p.54]

Fans of the DS originals will enjoy the remake, but for people who got into Pokémon franchise only recently, the game would probably feel empty and repetitive. There are considerably fewer Pokémon too. So unless you’re ready for a trip down vintage lane, you should opt for Pokemon Legend: Arceus. [Issue#258, p.50]

Fans of the DS originals will enjoy the remake, but for people who got into Pokémon franchise only recently, the game would probably feel empty and repetitive. There are considerably fewer Pokémon too. So unless you’re ready for a trip down vintage lane, you should opt for Pokemon Legend: Arceus. [Issue#258, p.50]

Medieval Dynasty delivers a nice blend of survival sim and economy game with a story layer behind it. The only thing that’s lacking is social aspect: Stardew Valley proved how important are neighbors for a farming game, but in Medieval Dynasty they’re just puppets with some basic needs and no actual character. [Issue#258, p.56]

There’s not much to do in the open world, but thankfully, it doesn’t play a big role either. Infinite mostly sticks to what makes Halo great: first-person action. Smart level design, great mobility mechanics like grappling hook, and good AI make for some really memorable moments. [Issue#258, p.42]

Farming Simulator 22 got a whole bunch of new stuff, which makes the learning curve even steeper, but the payoff is so much more rewarding. For example, the game now has proper seasons, with ever-changing weather to boot. So you need to plan your activities ahead and keep an eye on the forecasts – for example, it’s a very bad idea to harvest the crops while it’s raining. [Issue#258, p.52]

It’s hard to put a genre tag on Expeditions: Rome. It has small-unit skirmishes, clashes between armies, some strategy planning on the campaign map, camp management, crafting, role-playing, and so on and so forth. But the best part is that you don’t need to be Caesar to keep track of it all, because they are perfectly interwoven. [Issue#258, p.46]

Liberation severed all ties with Disciples’ strategic heritage. There’s only one playable faction, and our capital exists in a separate dimension so it never gets attacked. The resources are abundant, units and items are cheap, and fights are easy, so that nothing would distract the player from following the story. [Issue#258, p.58]

What would happen if you take a mobile game concept and scale it up to a PC release? Well, Fishlabs tried it with Chorus, and the results are rather mediocre. [Issue#258, p.62]

Big Brain Academy is sometimes advertised as a “gym for brains”, but with Brain vs. Brain, Nintendo tried to cut down on tediousness and steer it towards “party game” genre. [Issue#258, p.55]

Great parkour, gory combat, improved story and beautifully detailed open world make Dying Light 2 the best game of the last few months and a very strong contender in game of the year race. [Issue#258, p.38]

If you have a Switch and at least 50 hours of free time, if you can handle the stress of losing progress due to manual saves, if you like complex story, nuanced mechanics and turn-based combat – you definitely have to play Shin Megami Tensei V. [Issue#257, p.72]

Kudos to Ubisoft for being brave enough to release a full-scale game focused on extreme sports – we definitely need more of these. Now for the bad news: like most Ubisoft games, at least half of the content is either superfluous, or underdeveloped. Only skiing and snowboarding are actually good, bikes are tolerable at best, and skydiving is just meh. [Issue#257, p.68]

Peter’s flashbacks deserve a special mention. Eidos Montreal went all-out on them, so instead of a cutscene, we get to explore a lovingly detailed place from Star-Lord’s past. [Issue#257, p.48]

Superstars could be bigger and better than it is. But it’s still the ultimate version of Mario Party. Though I wonder how the next game could possibly surpass it – there’s basically no room for polish, and another volume of “Greatest hits” won’t have the same impact. [Issue#257, p.70]

A faithful remaster of a game two decades old, with all its ups and downs. Poor controls, bad UI and pixelated characters will definitely take some time getting used to, but in return you’ll get a true old-school experience with some very interesting puzzles. [Issue#257, p.62]