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.

Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is a worthy sequel to the first part, in which the developers addressed their previous mistakes and made the world more vibrant and diverse, while the puzzles gained the right level of complexity and depth.

Crimson Desert is unlikely to become a revolution that will redefine the genre. But it will certainly attract crowds of people and spark more than a few heated debates. It's funny that the very desert featured in the title is just one of many corners of the vast world created by Pearl Abyss — one that, presumably, far from everyone will reach.

Resident Evil Requiem is an amalgamation of different ideas, eras and creative intents. But instead of trying to harmonize them into a straightforward experience, the game does the opposite. It celebrates Resident Evil's legacy as a whole - as a horror game, an intense action, as a spy thriller, and as a science fiction. Resident Evil is all of those things simultaneously, and it has never been more apparent than now.

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.

Quotation forthcoming.

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.

I didn't expect any revelations from High on Life 2, yet it still managed to disappoint. Without Justin Roiland, Squanch Games has taken a huge step backwards. The sequel loses to the original in every way, offering a derivative story, unfunny jokes, and degraded gameplay.

Reanimal has delivered what Little Nightmares III could not. Tarsier Studios has shed the constraints imposed by the Little Nightmares universe, subjecting its audience to an emotional bombardment while simultaneously pushing them out of their comfort zone.

Unlike many developers who attempted to replicate FromSoftware’s formula, Team NINJA successfully blended those ideas with its own design solutions from previous titles, allowing Nioh to stand out from the very beginning. Nioh 3 also feels closer than ever to Ninja Gaiden, thanks to the effective integration of both “samurai” and “ninja” playstyles. This is a worthy continuation of the series, one that can be confidently recommended to both longtime fans and anyone who appreciates hardcore action games.

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.

Cairn is a tense journey to the summit that, depending on the chosen difficulty, can become either an enthralling experience or the Dark Souls of climbing games. In any case, you will be struck by its bright and slightly melancholic finale.

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.

Before its PC release, The Run was available on smartphones and even in cinemas, where audiences voted to determine the characters' next actions. I admit that in this format, watching it on the big screen might offer some enjoyment, but seasoned video game enthusiasts are unlikely to appreciate this minimally interactive story with a predictable plot twist in the finale.

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.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is an example of a safe and very player-friendly Metroidvania with medium-difficulty bosses and flexible difficulty settings.

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.