Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witcherblends promising ideas with an inconsistent execution and numerous flaws. The tactical combat is engaging, and the bosses are challenging. However, the game suffers from repetitive objectives, a lackluster narrative, and abrupt difficulty spikes.

This new release of Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle is a welcome addition to SNK's remaster catalog, especially given the unconventional nature of the choice, as it's not one of the company's flagship titles. While it follows the example of its predecessors in being sparse on additional content, the core gameplay remains as fun as it is brutal, and that's what matters at the end of the day.

Extinction Rifts has a good idea in theory, but in practice it ends up lacking. The fast-paced action is good and the gameplay is just right, but it doesn't work well with dead-end corridors, forcing the player to repeat the same levels to memorize the path. It would also be great if the combo system were easier to maintain throughout the level, so that the rush doesn't turn into despair.

Chicken Run: The Mission may have some structural flaws, but it's still a good way to continue the adventures of the birds who just want to survive without becoming lunch. The mechanics aren't complicated, and the pace is light, making it suitable for younger players or those looking for a few laughs while hiding from malicious chefs.

Playing the metroidvania Plus Ultra: Legado, it's up to individual preferences whether the refined historical setting and great comic book aesthetics make up for the basic gameplay and imprecise controls. For me, the balance manages to be somewhat positive, but the unintuitive exploration and unbalanced boss fights remain the biggest drawbacks of this Spanish colonialist adventure.

Biped 2 is a solid and charming sequel that maintains the charisma of the first game and enhances its cooperative gameplay with new challenges and interactions. The experience becomes even more engaging when played in a group, as the need for coordination and communication between participants creates hilarious and challenging moments. However, the lack of progress sharing between game modes ultimately undermines the overall fluidity of the experience.

Fire Hero - Pixel Rescue is a good recommendation among retro-style platform games. Even with technical limitations and visual simplicity, the title manages to stand out for its engaging gameplay, creative level design, and well-balanced challenge progression. The combination of action, exploration, and small doses of narrative keeps the player interested until the end, especially for those who enjoy beating time limits and discovering hidden secrets.

Thrasher is undoubtedly a more classic arcade experience than it actually seems. The eel's control is impeccable (despite some bugs and other contextual influences, such as the backgrounds) but both the level and power-up design doesn't capitalize on this great triumph. It seems the title is so desperate to immerse the player in its sensorial pool of lights, colors, and sounds that it seems to have forgotten that one way to do this is through practical challenges designed in a more logical and less conceptual way.

Slime Rancher 2 is no great revolution — and it’s also not really trying to be one. The game fulfills its big ideas quite well in terms of gameplay, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing if it dared to dream a little bigger. It’s good entertainment that could’ve made more of an effort to become great.

Silly Polly Beast is a visually striking and emotionally heavy indie experience that blends punk aesthetics, brutal storytelling, and bold experimentation. Despite its clunky combat and uneven mechanics, its unique identity and strong atmosphere make it a project worth remembering.

EMOTIONLESS: The Last Ticket fails even to achieve the goal of being a meme game for streamers, since there are much better similar games on the market. It's a production incapable of succeeding at absolutely everything it attempts — and it attempts very little, it should be noted. The game only avoids making more mistakes because it didn't even try hard enough to leave room for more. Bland, tedious, and terribly optimized, it's an experience that truly lives up to its name.

At first glance, Gigasword might seem like just another retro-style Metroidvania, but the way it integrates the greatsword with exploration and puzzle mechanics makes the experience stand out on its own. The combat isn't thrilling, but the well-done audiovisuals and world-building efforts help make the adventure worthwhile.

Lone Fungus: Melody of Spores is a Metroidvania that packs a lot of content and secrets into a very well-planned adventure. The art direction and the brevity of the ten-hour campaign aren't impressive, but they don't detract from the elegance of this greatly designed world and the wealth of quality-of-life options it offers.

Shroomtopia does some small flaws, but its good set of challenges has everything to please both those in a hurry and those who like to take their time, enjoying each moment of the puzzle. The aspect of creating your own level is also very well done, increasing the game's replay value while creating audience engagement, who will dedicate themselves not only to completing everything, but also to showing off their own puzzles.

Onirism presents an interesting set of ideas and has enough personality to stand out, but its execution still falls short of the concept’s potential. The combination of unbalanced difficulty and poorly structured levels undermines the experience, even with the protagonist’s solid mobility and the world’s visual charm. On the other hand, the variety of weapons and game modes brings fresh energy to the adventure, adding new dynamics to the combat. Overall, Onirism is a fun experience, but one that still needs adjustments to become truly accessible to different types of players.

Shard Squad stands out as an engaging experience within the bullet heaven genre, especially for its charismatic world, well-integrated systems, and a concept that encourages interesting combinations of creatures and elements. While following the trend of other popular games in the style, it finds its own identity in how it builds its roster of Shards, its accessible progression, and the freedom to experiment with different builds.

After a year and a half of early access, Kill It With Fire 2 finally reached the state of a definitive release, it's a sequel that managed to understand all the flaws presented by its predecessor and twist them to deliver a much more robust, interesting, and fluid product in its own right. If the first Kill It With Fire felt like a demo, its sequel is a complete experience. And it's great to see such a clear evolution for a project like this.

Captain Wayne – Vacation Desperation delivers exactly what it promises: an over-the-top, fast-paced, and personality-filled boomer shooter. Its deliberately grotesque aesthetic, combined with absurd humor and fast-paced combat, creates an experience that doesn't try to reinvent the genre, but celebrates it enthusiastically.

Randomice does a good job of gradually deepening the chaos of randomness in this fast-paced and hilarious Metroidvania. Sooner or later, the loop-based campaign through a scrambled house can get tiring, but the great nonsense charisma of the characters, dialogues, and music, along with the mind-puzzling confusion, sustain all the fun we need from a game like this.

VIDEOVERSE doesn't just rely on nostalgia, but uses a well-structured narrative to elucidate serious issues that the popularization of the internet brought and that persist to this day. It's a game that will bring back interesting memories for older players and show a piece of history to younger ones, demonstrating that we can't always control situations that are thousands of kilometers away from us.

A safe and well-executed mode, which relies on the extremely strong foundation of Battlefield 6. For now, it may not define the future of the genre, but it fulfills its role by expanding the game's reach and offering immediate fun for those seeking something free and technically refined.

The puzzles in Secrets of Blackrock Manor: Escape Room really get your brain working. They're arbitrary and rely much more on our ability to associate symbols, colors, and numbers than on the environment or narrative context. The story is there to add a little extra flavor, but its role is secondary, as the true protagonists are the puzzles. In the end, it's a fun and unpretentious game that simply wants to give us a few hours of pleasure in unraveling the logic behind each room in an old mansion.

Although the expansion doesn't bring enough content to fully appreciate the marvel that was AlUla's representation in the game, Valley of Memory is a captivating revisit for enthusiasts of the original game, who will most likely feel at home once again as they follow Basim on a new, touching, and intimate adventure.

Two Point Museum: Zooseum fulfills its mission of further enriching the fun simulator from Two Point Studios. Thanks to its focus on living creatures, naturally more complex than static works, and the preservation of the franchise's characteristic sense of humor, this is an unmissable DLC for those who want even more adventures and responsibilities as a curator in Two Point County.

Schildmaid MX kept what matters in shoot 'em up games and made an interesting addition to the gameplay. Being able to absorb shots to increase your strength is a great idea for those who want to dive headfirst into a title that offers increasing challenge, despite the large loop of repetitions.

Trouble Witches FINAL! Episode 01 Daughters of Amalgam is a great cute 'em up, but it suffers from repetitiveness and clinging too closely to the formula of the original release. If more unlockables had been introduced, justifying a return to the various game modes, it could certainly have a more attractive replay factor than simply replicating the same paths with variations in difficulty.

The survival dynamic in a hostile ecosystem makes Bioframe Outpost a Metroidvania with its own personality and many challenges, but it doesn't help pacing a progression that is sometimes laborious and confusing, and that also lacks key moments and climaxes to break the monotony. Therefore, what we have is an approach that, in trying to execute its own idea, ends up being more geared towards niche players who are curious and patient.

I honestly feel like this game should have been released as a DLC or update, not as a standalone title. As a side mode attached to the main event, a lot of my complaints would evaporate. It’d be a nice way to add some replayability, aiming for a high score in a randomized dreamscape. However, it’s presented as an entirely separate game, and should be judged as such. For the newcomer, you have an experience devoid of context. For the veteran, you have mostly the same experience shuffled around. In either case, there is a definite lack of content. A full run takes maybe twenty minutes, and while your strengths may vary between runs, the way you fundamentally approach each one does not.