The number of references to H.P. Lovecraft’s works and the fact that they are subtly woven into the main narrative and side-quests makes Stygian the most faithful lovecraftian game of recent years. [Issue#241, p.60]

Mordhau is basically two games in one: on one hand, it has a complex fighting system with feints, ripostes and so on. On the other – you can forget about all that fancy dueling stuff and just charge in with your halberd, hoping to chop off a few heads before losing your own. [Issue#239, p.62]

Despite its certain “been there, done that”, Faeria is quite captivating, especially when your opponent pulls a trick out of the left field, like stealing your cards. So if you grew tired of Hearthstone and you can’t get into Gwent’s closed beta, Faeria might be just the thing for you. [Issue#218, p.67]

Most of the time Yarny will be traversing beautiful locales, but you’ll also have to visit a chemical waste dump and a house overflowing with cockroaches (which will tear Yarny apart like a school of piranhas). At moments like these, all charm of the game totally disappears. [Issue#207, p.76]

Puzzles should’ve been a nice break between intense slasher-parkour sequences. But they’re so drawn out that instead of giving you a breather, they choke the life out of the action. [Issue#250, page 54]

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]

There’s no cooking, castle-building, marriages and other stuff that nowadays became synonymous with Fire Emblem series, but that oldschool brevity is actually a plus. Personal dramas and love story don’t take the narrative spotlight at every opportunity, cutscenes rarely last more than two minutes, and you don’t spend more time preparing for a combat than actually fighting. In a world of epic RPGs with laundry list of features, it’s nice to have a niche game with a narrow focus. [Issue#221, p.82]

Mercilessly colorful futuristic city where virtually every element can be used for high-speed movement is likely to leave a newcomer more than a little confused. But once you become accustomed to it, mundane walking becomes almost physically painful: you’ll want to jump on the wires, bounce off the roof of some car, slide down the rails and never touch the sinful earth again. [Dec 2014, p.82]

In contrast with most “walking simulators”, Firewatch is very indigenous. The game doesn’t make you browse endless memoirs and local legends, or spend hours pondering what deep thought the writer tried to convey in each ambiguous sentence. Instead, events in Wyoming forest unfold very naturally, like something that really can happen to a ranger. [Issue#207, p.58]

Music and sounds of the Maw make an already atmospheric game even better. The cry of surprise and righteous indignation that Chef Twins let out once they find Six prowling around their kitchen will surely come to haunt you in your dreams. [Issue#221, p.93]

Despite change of scenery, at its core Spirit of Justice is the same as its predecessors. Phoenix Wright has to gather evidence, find contradictions and shout “Objection!” at every opportunity – only to watch case grow more and more complicated as each additional fact is brought to light. [Issue#213, p.60]

A great comedy adventure with a hair-trigger tempered, yet still charming protagonist. Chuchel is like a fun-charged battery that’s ready to boost your mood. [Issue#228, p.66]

Despite the initial skepticism, Borderlands 3 turned out to be great. It does have its faults, but for the entire 30-hour campaign it will keep you entertained not only with its main story, but also with sidequests, exploration and searching for the perfect build for your character. [Issue#240, p.24]

Sometimes, water turns a weird shade of pink, or disappears entirely, leaving fish to “fly” through the air (you can still catch them, by the way). Characters can get stuck. AI may glitch out, causing enemies to just stand around, waiting to be killed. Not to mention the camera, which may take a sudden liking to hero’s back and show nothing but it in the middle of the combat. But even with all these technical problems, there’s no doubt that Final Fantasy XV is a success. [Issue#215, p.48]

Three years ago, when Dragon’s Dogma first came out, we thought that its NPC AI, where your party members behave almost like real people in co-op would, will become a new RPG standard. Unfortunately, it didn’t come to pass. Well, all the better for the long-awaited PC port of the game. [Issue#206, p.76]

For the first few hours, Ni No Kuni 2 looks like an ordinary JRPG: it’s very linear, story-centric and rather naive. But as soon as our protagonist gets his new kingdom, it shows its true colors – those of an unholy crossbreed between an Asian grind fest MMORPG and a mobile “strategy” game that’s all about making players wait. [Issue#229, p.62]

The only Big Mistake that could plunge the Earth into chaos in three hundred years would be to never develop or publish Civilization: Beyond Earth. Thank God it had passed. Firaxis fully succeeded where only Gollop bros were successful before: it brought the role-playing element as influential as the strategic one into the turn-based strategy. [Oct, 2014, p.68]

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]

Don’t forget that it’s a remaster, not a remake, so models are rather low in polygons, and textures are a little blurry. It also can feel a little awkward if you play it with new control layout instead of classic motion controls. But the game itself is still a masterpiece. [Issue#254, p.38]

Little by little Wasteland 2 wastes away its charm. It wants to be good, and it tries to be. But sometimes the efforts to make a great game are obvious – and sometimes it’s obvious that someone in the team had really been slacking off. [Nov 2014, p.78]

Once, RTS were a challenge that required quick thinking and foreplanning, never afraid to humiliate inept player. Today, they’re exact opposite, eager to please paying client. Anno 1800 is a perfect example of such strategy: good-looking, predictable and forgiving. [Issue#238, p.48]

It’s hard to tell why there was so much ado about single-player campaign: controversial topics aside, it’s completely mediocre. On the other hand, the multiplayer mode is one of the best in latest instalments of Call of Duty series. [Issue#241, p.49]

Endless Legend showed that even basic concepts may be reinvented. I’m not saying Stardock should plagiarize them, but it’s a proof that it can be done. Still, is such reinvention necessary for Stardock? Nope. They have a steady fan base, so GC III’s success was guaranteed. Furthermore, despite how inconsequential the changes are, it’s not exactly a bad game. But it doesn’t reach for the new stars. [Issue#199, p.80]

In Age of Decadence every problem has solutions that fit your character and solutions that do not. Diplomat should talk, warrior shouldn’t, and thief must remain unseen if he wants to live. Only when you know that you’ll get through alive, you can let minor things like sympathy or morality have an influence on your actions. [Issue#203, p.82]

Basically, it’s an Age of Empires II remake. Why would Microsoft remake a game that was re-released as recently as 2019? That’s beyond us. [Issue#257, p.58]

There is no detail too small to pay attention to, and it’s these little details that help your team succeed – for a management game that’s probably the highest possible praise. [Issue#215, p.56]

Battlefield V still has the magic of its predecessors: you do feel like you’re taking part in a big battle in some Hollywood movie. But everything about it, from bugs to the amount of content, makes you feel that EA is trying to sell an Early Access game without labeling it so. [Issue#234, p.40]

The story about missing cats and drug dealers comes short in terms of both magnitude and humor when compared to The Stick of Truth. Even the jokes are very hit-and-miss, often suffering from short setups and predictable payoffs. [Issue#225, p.48]