Call of the Elder Gods is a perfectly worthy sequel to Call of the Sea, in which the authors shifted the focus toward varied and moderately challenging puzzles. The story also turned out to be quite engaging, though for some reason the authors didn't quite polish a number of their ideas, which somewhat mars the overall impression.

Life is Strange: Reunion is fanfiction for the army of franchise fans who dreamed of Max and Chloe reuniting. The result is a sweet story with contrived events.

Bus Bound gets the job done, though the gameplay still lacks depth and refinement.

Rather than a spectacular journey across a ruined America, Replaced delivers an incredibly beautiful yet overly stretched story saddled with several poorly implemented gameplay mechanics.

Aphelion appears to have fallen victim to the financial difficulties DON'T NOD faced. Despite a solid foundation, the developers failed to polish either the story or the gameplay. What we've got is a run-of-the-mill adventure that pales in comparison to Banishers and Jusant, the primary sources for its ideas.

Kiln is a concept of a decent game that was, for some reason, released in a raw state, sent to its certain death. Despite its interesting aesthetics, the gameplay core needs extensive polishing, but Double Fine simply doesn't have the time for that.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is not the most successful experiment. The reimagining of the walking simulator's core principles did not go as planned.

Towerborne became a clear example of the fact that maintaining a live-service game after its support has been discontinued does more harm than good.

The Occultist is a rich adventure with a mystical story that has its own unique identity.

Screamer is an arcade racer with questionable handling and absurd difficulty spikes, while the AI uses some fairly unfair tricks. Still, the game turned out to be interesting thanks to its complex boost system, which turns monotonous races into a tactical battle of wits.

Heart of the Forest is an evening’s worth of cinema with the illusion of choice, where the ending is determined just a few minutes before the credits roll.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a stripped-down, artificially stretched product that serves as an example of how even a universally acclaimed classic can be ruined.

GreedFall: The Dying World is yet another budget RPG from Spiders, whose developers continue to struggle with self-improvement. Once again, interesting ideas are not fully realized, and the overall experience is marred by clunky gameplay and inconsistent visuals.

Neon Inferno looks absolutely gorgeous, and it’s definitely not something you should skip. It also scores extra points for its solid soundtrack — the music really sets the right tone. Another nice touch is the non-linear structure, with branching paths through level selection. Even though the game doesn’t bring anything fundamentally new to the somewhat stagnant genre, Zenovia Interactive has delivered a tightly packed dose of fun that fans of this style will really appreciate.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando feels like the ultimate fantasy for Black Ops fans who dream of Treyarch releasing the Zombies mode as a standalone game. However, Saber Interactive takes it a step further by offering vehicles with advanced physics.

1348: Ex Voto is a rough-around-the-edges project that still manages to be engaging. With a bigger budget and proper polish, it could have stood alongside Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice or A Plague Tale: Innocence, but that didn't happen.

Crisol: Theater of Idols has a number of shortcomings, I don't feel like criticizing it. It's clear that an inexperienced team was behind the project — one that did a great job with the story and atmosphere but failed at creating a horror game.

I’m not trying to judge an old game by modern standards, but it’s still worth remembering that the original is 22 years old, and it probably would’ve benefited more from a full remake than a remaster. So before jumping into a classic like this, it’s important to keep its age and quirks in mind. That said, on a purely personal level, I still enjoy the gameplay of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver much more than what Legacy of Kain: Defiance offers.

Styx: Blades of Greed is yet another budget title from the French developers at Cyanide Studio. Their games traditionally suffer from rough gameplay polish, a bunch of bugs, awkward animations, and odd design choices — yet they still carry a certain charm and that so‑called "soul".

Sleep Awake is more of a collection of music videos with beautiful visuals and pleasant sound, presented as a pretentious walking simulator about a dying world. The developers would have been better off stopping there.

If anything else, Romeo is a Dead Man is incredibly sincere, which definitely amounts to something and lets you sidestep some of the more meddling parts of the whole experience. Plus it's really hard to refuse the offer to kill the past once again.

Everything good in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is inherited from its illustrious predecessors, while everything bad stems from futile attempts to tamper with the familiar gameplay formula in pursuit of vague, ill-defined trends. Thanks to its finely tuned optimization, the fourth entry may appeal to a less demanding audience, but the obvious lack of fresh ideas and the absence of a clear creative vision lead to a sobering conclusion: the greatness of Metroid Prime seems to have been left far behind in the past.

I Hate This Place would have been perceived much more favorably if the developers had abandoned the survival elements and instead focused on exploring its deep lore and dynamic world.

Microids managed to update the cult classic quest in terms of visuals, but the developers of Syberia – Remastered treated the other elements carelessly, also simplifying the puzzles, which are one of the game's key components.

The Last Case of John Morley is a very short, but interesting noir detective story with outdated visuals and technical aspects. However, the developers chose not to create a hollow pretense of philosophical drama or a profound statement. What awaits you is a convoluted yet fairly simple detective story with a realistic ending.

Terminator 2D: No Fate doesn't offer any groundbreaking solutions, but it is a very well-crafted adaptation of the film. However, you can complete the entire game in just... 38 minutes.

Routine seems stuck in the past, and the long-awaited project has once again failed to meet expectations. The work of Lunar Software rather resembles a bizarre sequel to Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park: Trespasser, where the heroine would practically dislocate her arms trying to pick up a rock or a pistol.

Bye Sweet Carole is a game with frankly mediocre gameplay and a weak story. However, it is partially redeemed by its excellent visual style, which is reminiscent of a Disney cartoon.