On iOS, HoN may enjoy some popularity, but it has no business appearing on PC. [Nov 2015, p.80]

Cradle’s small, but rather open game world includes only our yurt, a spooky abandoned amusement park, an air tram line and endless Mongolian steppe. You’d think it would make a perfect stage for a very personal story, but developers decided otherwise: through newspaper clips, letters and dialogue they chronicle a global epidemic. [Sept 2015, p.85]

That doesn’t mean that combat is awful and Ash of Gods isn’t worth playing – but you’ll definitely need to adapt to its rules. Or simply switch to the story mode that lets you plow right through the fights and focus on the story. It’s worth it: there’s a novel-sized interactive story here with loads of characters, unexpected turns and seven different endings to top it off. [Issue#228, p.46]

In all aspects it’s a run-of-the-mill adventure game, but there’s one thing to be said for it: it’s not a pamphlet. For once, Dontnod stopped talking about politics and focused on making a detective game. [Issue#251, p.58]

Still, an enthusiast of survival horrors might want to pay a visit to undead London – Zombi is one of the few contemporary games that place emphasis on survival rather than slaughtering of zombies. [Issue#201, p.62]

Pendulo carefully handled Blacksad’s transition from comics to game format, so fans of the original series will feel right at home, and those who haven’t read the comics yet – well, they should, to get a better appreciation for Pendulo’s work. [Issue#242, p.58]

Risen 3 is not just a game for the RPG fans, but for the inexperienced ones. You can enjoy a long and happy run over the mountains and forest trails, killing monsters by hundreds, solving the unpretentious quests. But if you look closer at all of these actions the guileless magic will suddenly dissipate and you’ll discover rather primitive gameplay. [Oct 2014, p.72]

Boring sandbox mode is partly compensated by the campaign: in each mission developers came up with new ways to complicate the life of the colonists, while at the same time unraveling a story about the imminent end of the world and the search for alien artifacts. [Issue#223, p.60]

Just like the real car, Jalopy teaches you to always be collected. If you leave your engine running while you’re rummaging through the roadside junk for stuff to sell – it can easily burn through half of your gas. And if you run out of fuel and have to walk to the nearest gas station – don’t forget to take your wallet with you, or your day will get much, much worse. [Issue#230, p.58]

To uncover the truth, you’ll have to possess not only deductive skills, but a considerable patience as well: puzzles “pull a lever, push a button, try to figure out what happened” and chase sequences are unreasonably long. Even though you’d think that a game about Sherlock would have you play as Sherlock, not as Indiana Jones wannabe. [Issue#211, p.73]

From the very beginning Subterranean Games was in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. They couldn’t copy Dungeon Keeper without invoking wrath of EA and they couldn’t innovate without angering their backers. But their turn to RTS with distinct multiplayer inclination will hardly please anyone. [June 2015, p.70]

From the first announcement we’ve been asking ourselves: do they have guts to roll with the “hardcore Imperial operative” theme to the end, without the usual twist of having her defect to rebels? Of course not, but what’s worse is that her desertion feels incredibly forced. [Issue#225, p.72]

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]

Mission objectives are rarely limited to simple elimination of opposition: from the very beginning game presents tasks like luring animals into cages or infiltrating enemy base. Not to mention that there are tons of levers or buttons to be pushed and secret passages to be found, which brings back fond memories of FPS from the 90-s, as well as classic Metroid games. [Issue#213, p.56]

The Shadow of the Beast remake came out spectacular but dull platformer which would be better as a screensaver or a dynamic theme for the PS4. [Issue#210, p.91]

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]

Whether intentional or not, Tank Troopers looks like a wannabe World of Tanks clone; too bad that it missed its mark by about the distance between Tokyo and Minsk. Good tank action needs good balance as well as nice variety of vehicles, maps and modes. Tank Troopers is lacking in each and every category. [Issue#218, p.56]

Serial Cleaner has enough tricks up its sleeve to keep you engaged for about two thirds of the way – which is about two and a half hours in gameplay time. Afterwards, it becomes simply tedious: difficulty keeps rising while problems and solutions stay the same. [Issue#222, p.74]

Brain Training doesn’t impress as strongly as before, however, its several hundred puzzles are still interesting. It’s both a game and an exercise machine, the best one it its niche. [Issue#243, p.49]

Poor climbing and fighting aside, the gameplay loop is mind-numbingly tedious: eat, drink, make babies, sleep. Keep doing that for hours, and you’ll unlock one semi-useful perk or another, so you can eat, sleep and drink some more. [Issue#240, p.40]

Slavic pagan mythology is a welcome addition to otherwise stale fantasy scene, but weird campaign structure and emphasis on grind keep messing with immersion. [Issue#240, p.35]

Corruption 2029 is basically Road to Eden sans cute anthropomorphic animals, interesting lore or meaningful upgrades. [Issue#244, p.53]

You can’t just walk away from a hard fight to grind a little and bruteforce your way to victory, because Masquerada is totally linear. It’s for the best, however: Witching Hour Studios is a small team that had to secure funding through Kickstarter, so adding stuff like open world would definitely become an example of spreading resources too thin. But developers didn’t go that way, and as a linear game Masquerada truly shines, as it manages to successfully blend aesthetics of Italian feuds with a touch of fantasy. [Issue#215, p.73]

Starships is, first and foremost, a mobile game. It’s way too simple and flat (in every sense of the word) for PC, but is OK for a tablet. [May 2015, p.72]

No matter what Vasily uses – an ax, a hammer or even bare fists – he does it with that special oomph. Fights are brief and often end with a bone-crunching fatality; and if there is something like a stake or a saw table nearby, the enemy will meet an especially gruesome death. Firearms are also impressive: even a pistol is a weapon to be reckoned with, while shotgun’s effect is outright terrifying. [Issue#222, p.64]

Open spaces of ADR1FT are a source of both amazement and distress at the same time. There are no explosions, no action and no games of hide-and-seek with aliens; just a dilatory gameplay pace that has to have your total attention to become enjoyable. VR headset is definitely recommended. [VR Tested; Issue#209, p.69]

The final part of the trilogy should be called a DLC at best, and a rather short one at that. [Sept 2015, p.82]

Graphics aren’t up to modern standards, and you’ll visit the same locations over and over again – but it’s not all that bad. What really stays with you are finely written characters of this game and well-paced anxiety buildup. [Issue#243, p.56]