It's a shame that music from NieR, Octopath Traveler, Xenogears and other games is only available through DLC.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a perfect case of a confident and fun game that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of players, including younger audience. But even if you are a dark and gloomy adult there is still lots to find in this magical fairy tale.

The Xbox version of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition managed to surprise us with the controller controls. After such a fun experience there is no doubt that Age of Empires IV port will turn out great.

The act of swordplay is still quite fun in Wo Long, but as soon as you'll get to ending credits, the game will likely just evaporate from you brain entirely.

World exploration in Forspoken can bring you some real joy, and same could be said about the combat system. And yet the writing, weird visual presentation, and overall direction can really bring the whole experience down.

Clash: Artifacts of Chaos fails to combine its interesting new ideas with contemporary design choices. Which is a shame given how unique the game looks.

Hogwarts Legacy is far from a bad game. It's a great gift to everyone who adores Harry Potter series, and can enjoy Ubisoft-style gameplay structure. But at the same time it is hard to call new Avalanche Software project as some kind of masterpiece, because it's quite clear that the game suffered from development hell and is a bit on the nose with its chase of modern AAA trends.

If the trailers successfully convinced you that One Piece Odyssey is of a scale of something like Dragon Quest, then you've been fooled. What we have here is just another mid-budget title that is aimed at the fans of the original One Piece manga and anime. This time with a jRPG coat of paint.

Atomic Hearts is an interesting case of ambitious scientific experiment. Even if not everything went smoothly, the results are still fun, exciting, and a bit uneven. What matters here — is a brave attempt at something rather bold. And who knows what tomorrow will bring, as practice makes perfect.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake could offer you a couple of fun evenings, but don't expect something extraordinary. There is almost no incentive to replay levels other than unlocking new costumes and you can get more than enough of those during your regular playthrough.

If you can appreciate the setting of Victorian era London, and detective stories is something you often enjoy, then you can try Dance of Death, but be ready that your chances to enjoy this game are rather slim.

Thirteen years ago the original release Risen wasn't able to bring big crowd of players due to a different shortcomings, but if today you feel somewhat nostalgic to the original Gothic series, then this remaster is definitely worth a try.

Escaping the deep hell of early access Dread Templar manages to offer you a nostalgic and old-school gameplay style, which is more than enough to set it apart from other shooters in the market.

Dead Space has died once. But nothing stays dead on USG Ishimura. Some things will always come back, and scarier than ever.

Hi-Fi Rush is not only a great surprise for the whole Xbox audience, but also a strong contender for the Game of the Year. Tango Gameworks should definitely experiment more often.

As it turned out Season: A Letter to the Future was nothing more than just another forgettable indie title. Even if gorgeous trailers made you think otherwise.

If you love the first game then you should probably wait for updates and a price drop before picking up River City Girls 2. And if you never played the original game before - check it out first.

Blacktail is a rich and atmospheric piece that can be very enjoyable to any who can enjoy slavic folklore.

High on Life is a strong enough game with some fun gameplay segments and okay-ish plot, all of which can outweigh some of the obvious shortcomings. Basically this new release from Squanch Games is a competently made FPS with some szechuan sauce on the side.

Bendy and the Dark Revival is trying its best to seems impressive and broad, but boring enemies, annoying stalker-type monster and bad stealth segments really drag the whole experience down, turning this project into a game tailored more for the fans of the original rather than a new audience.

Kirby And The Forgotten Land is one of the most fun, polished and bright games this whole year, while also being a family-friendly title which is a big plus.

You should give Evil West a chance, just don't expect it to be a similar to other modern shooters that came out this year. What you should expect is a very dynamic gameplay that won't leave you bored even for one minute.

Burnhouse Lane is a small treasure by which Rem Michalski proves himself as true genius once again.

If you still really want to play The Callisto Protocol it would be wise to wait for any upcoming updates and significant price drop.

For several years rose-engine channeled their creative prowess to create it's own take on Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The results are weird, purposely uneven, while at the same time beautiful and ambiguous. Basically it's everything and more you could have hoped for by listening to this radio frequency.

Sonic Frontiers can't offer any outstanding visuals, but some of the levels give a strong nostalgic vibes, while open world segments are filled with some great boss fights and nice puzzles. Frontiers is definitely better than anything Sonic Team has done in the past 10 years time, so it is a step in the right direction at the very least.

Broken Pieces manages to be a fine start for the studio. Now we can hope that the future will bring more great games from this dev team.

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr severely lacks a much needed polish. The game can offer a tremendous amount of content, and yet almost everything feels repetitive and undercooked.

If you love northern mythology, while also can enjoy stories about fatherhood and can appreciate deep combat systems, then God of War Ragnarök is something you should not miss.

Somerville is an exceptional project with huge missed potential, reason being the overall weak technical state. The game is just raw and would greatly benefit from at least another six month of dev time.

Interesting plot, appropriate puzzles and vulnerable, yet brave protagonist can guarantee that you'll have at least a couple of fun evening while playing The Chant.

Give Scorn a chance if you feel like you can enjoy this game as an experience, rather than a strictly gameplay-focused project. Otherwise some questionable design choices and short length will most likely just bore you to death.

Third-person camera mode and new The Mercenaries content is something you would have expected to get from a big free update. Sadly both of those features are locked behind Winters' Expansion pack which also goes with Shadow of Rose - a new story-campaign that is shorter, modest and generally worse than everything else Resident Evil Village has to offer.

The campaign part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is a mixed bag. On one hand it's easy to see how the team behind the game tried to break new ground with gameplay scenarios, but on the other hand a lot of those ideas feels undercooked.

Tinykin is a minuscule and and relaxing experience with some fun Nintendo-vibes. The game is quite short, but for its five hours runtime you won't have the chance to ever feel bored.

Victoria 3 is a complex and deep global strategy game that can pull you in for hundreds of hours. But attempt to make it accessible to beginners isn't successful.

Saints Row had chance to be something much more, if only the team behind the game tried to take a more bold and careful approach.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is one of the most prominent games this year. Great plot, lots of characters, game systems and some unique ideas is what drives this whole apocalyptic experience.

Soulstice is a small, but fun and engaging project with some minor but noticeable shortcomings in later stages.

Circus Electrique is an unusual piece that is aimed at short play-sessions. The setting is unique, but the overall game balance can feel a bit uneven.

Return to Monkey Island is a competent nostalgia-filled ride for loyal fans.

Lost in Play is a beautiful game, and one that despite its shortcomings can give you lots of fun in just 15 levels and 4 hours of runtime.

From visual and audio standpoint, Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll is a significant step up from Everlasting Summer, but the writing itself is rather muddy and downright boring.

Steelrising can offer unique setting, worldbuilding and plot, but all of this co-exists with a rather simple souls-like gameplay style.

Thymesia is just another Bloodborne + Sekiro wannabe with small budget and big ambitions. On the other hand, it has something special inside it that keeps you playing on and on. And that's a great result for the small team.

Immortality is an unusual adventure game with strong David Lynch vibes, and a non-linear narrative style that leaves you clueless in the face of deep and mysterious thriller drama.

If you'll ignore all the little hiccups then Sunbreak can offer you tens if not hundreds of hours of engaging gameplay. But sadly the game as a whole feels a little bit stale, so it's possible you won't be coming for more after beating the story campaign missions.

If you the type of person who can enjoy a strategy game with fantasy setting and a heavy focus on the plot, then Spellforce 3: Reforced can bring you some really fun times.

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a massive FMV-game that tries to do way too much with its story, and in result loses its focus, especially compared to some smaller scale titles.

If you are the type of person who enjoys fighting genre and old games with pixel-art graphics, than Capcom Fighting Collection is something you definitely don't want to miss.

Bright Memory: Infinite for Nintendo Switch is a perfect example of so called "impossible port" that really isn't worth it.

Stray is a very cute adventure game where you can relax and engage in solving various puzzles using feline methods. It is worth mentioning that there is a couple of creepy moments in the game that can scare a child.

Card Shark is a fun little game with plenty of shortcomings and some ways teach you several neat card tricks for loud parties.

Soda Crisis is an accessible and enthralling action platformer reminiscent of great arcade games from the past.

Perhaps the game should have stayed in the early access format as long as possible, rather than rushing to release in the Xbox Game Pass collection. Probably, after a year of patches it will be a completely different game.

Neon White is a rare example of a game that is basically almost impossible to put down.

Is Shadowrun Trilogy worth your time? Definitely yes, especially if you can appreciate old-school text-based role-playing games.

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge is an impressive retro-style action title with great combat system and strong focus on team work. If you're looking for some couch co-op action then look no further than this.

Sniper Elite 5 is yet another conveyor belt product. The whole concept of a sniper sandbox-game still very fun, but after how great the fourth game was, this one feels like a step back.

Saber Interactive, to the surprise of many, has released a very good game for Evil Dead fans.

Salt and Sacrifice is a good game that takes some ideas from FromSoftware games, as well as other popular projects, but does it very neatly, while offering an interesting visual design.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong offers a fascinating story and great characters, but pixel hunting and insipid puzzles are really disappointing.

It would be better if instead of this Team Ninja made another Dark Souls clone, which they do great.

If you are at least a little sympathetic to the aesthetics of the samurai cinema, Track to Yomi certainly deserves to be tried. Preferably on a big screen with good sound.

Overlord DLC turned out to be very fascinating. It changes and complements some of the basics of Stellaris and allows you to take a different look at the usual formula of space empire' development.

Deck of Ashes: Complete Edition offers beautiful art design and some fascinating card battles with bosses. Animations during combat are pretty simple, and world exploration is a bit monotonous.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga turned out to be an exciting, though not an ideal game for the whole family. It offers a large amount of content, but it is obvious that the developers did not cope with the scale of their creation.

Given the low number of new releases and the genre' stagnation, you can play Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo, only via small sessions.

Tunic effectively does almost everything you could expect from a game inspired by the pair of green tunic and Master Sword. But don't go in expecting something more than a pale imitation of those things.

The unique setting really helps to lift Ghostwire: Tokyo from myriad of problems such as a plain open-world design and lackluster combat. If you love Japan and mystical powers, then Ghostwire can be just the game you're looking for.

If you don't feel threatened by huge amounts of text and menu-based systems, then Crusader Kings 3 can turn into huge and epic journey, with hundreds of hours of gameplay, and a full world of unique medieval intrigues.

When everything works, Weird West feels great to play. Sadly, sometimes you can see how budget and time constraints hindered the game as a whole. Still we believe Raphael Colantonio can make necessary updates and fixes to their project, because it sure has a lot of potential.

Syberia: The World Before is a comfy game that aims for the hearts of long-time fans of the whole franchise, and tells a great story of self-discovery in a unique setting.

It's impossible to recommend Edge of Eternity for purchase, even given the relatively cheap price the title has. But if you really want to play this game, just try it on through Game Pass subscription.

Monark can be seen as a good opportunity to try something new in an ocean of stale JRPG tropes, especially for the players who enjoy tactical thinking and resource management gameplay.

Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes is a typical game you'll be playing on your way to the workplace or study. Or something you may enjoy to take your mind of from time to time.

Shadow Warrior 3 feels like an expansion to the second game that was artificially dragged on eight hours of playtime. The monsters are cool and the humor is witty, but arena-style gameplay gets really boring and same goes for parkour sections.

Sometimes between big and bombastic games like Horizon Forbiden West and Elden Ring you just want to experience something with a smaller scale, and Far: Changing Tides is a perfect game for this exact purpose. You can finish it in around 3 hours, but the melancholic feels the game provides won't leave you for quite a while.

Every new Gran Turismo game always feels like a truly important event. There is no other game series that treats its subject matter with such care and respect. Gran Turismo 7 is a must buy for every person who can appreciate racing as a sport.

There are lots of problems, and yet Elex II will hold your attention with a tight grip, even after 60 hours of playtime. All thanks to the crazy setting, worldbuilding, and exploration gameplay.

Total War: Warhammer III is a true gift to any fans of Total War series and Warhammer franchise. It's not a revolutionary game, but the one with many unique features and deep interconnected lore. Sadly, optimization is far from the best, and if you look at Rome II it can definitely sour the whole experience.

In the end Martha is Dead feels like an arthouse movie, when you have to decipher the game yourself, while having all kind of emotions. Whether you'll like it or not is very hard to tell.

Elden Ring is the true triumph that FromSoftware was striving for all those years. Complete and utter triumph.

Bright Memory: Infinite is appealing and technically impressive shooter, that sadly a bit too short and lacks interesting plot or boss fights.

Even if you love this series with your whole heart, we still recommend you to skip Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. The game simply doesn't worth it, even with a price cut.

Horizon Forbidden West is one of the best open world games from the last couple of years. Whether you a fan of the original title or just love yourself a grand adventure — Forbidden West is something you would really enjoy.

People, who love creature-collecting gameplay can easily spend tens of hours in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. And if you ever felt tired of "classic" Pokemon formula, don't sleep on Arceus too.

If don't mind some challenge, and if you enjoy combat-oriented gameplay with martial arts theme, then Sifu is something you should try on. It's a nice mix of Fighting Force and Sekiro.

OlliOlli World is a cozy little game, where everyone will find something for themselves. Despite some rough moments, this creation from Roll 7 studio turned out to be a great follow-up to the original OlliOlli.

As with the original game, Dying Light 2 Stay Human will find its share of audience, while the teams at Techland will continue to expand their vision. The solid base is already there, and it would be interesting to see how the game will turn out in 5 years time.

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is worth its price-tag, offering a gorgeous games with high resolution and nice performance boost.

If you loved the time you spend with original Serious Sam 4, this new expansion can be right up your alley.

Blue Reflection: Second Light is a pretty comfy game about friendship, that tells its story through the lens of well written female characters. You can also count on a fun battle system with many different tactics and party members.

Rainbow Six Extraction can offer you a solid gameplay foundation, and many hours of fun tactical action. But beware that you won't get this experience solo - you'll need a group of friends. Another matter is the question of Extraction continued support, because the starting pack of 12 maps can get old really fast.

Solar Ash feels like a middle ground between something like Jet Set Radio and Shadow of the Colossus. Sadly, the new game by Heart Machine lacks any meaningful ambitions or novelty, and yet if you love the genre, Solar Ash is worth a try.

Console version of Iron Harvest feels like a lazy adaptation of a rather good RTS game. Perhaps the developers should have took a few ideas from something like Halo Wars 2, to avoid some small, but infuriating control issues.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a comfy little game with a nostalgic vibes for an old era of jRPG-genre, unique visuals and great music. Not revolutionary or thought-provoking, but good enough to spend a couple of evenings with, in between other gaming releases.

Controls are great, battle system is impressive, and story is nice to follow. Chorus - is a little love letter to space shooters' fans.