Scorn is an atmospheric masterpiece that wants you to be smart, logical, and mindful. If you are not, then it will feel more like a frustrating tease than a disturbing journey of discovery.

Lost Ark is a beautiful and engaging MMORPG, which is surprising considering the game has been on the market for over three years already. Fans of the genre will enjoy all the staples that the genre has become known for, but for others, the repetitive combat and linear quests can bog down the experience somewhat. But overall, while it may not exceed any expectations, Lost Ark does set a standard for what modern MMORPGs should strive for.

I’m going to watch closely what happens with GT7 after the release, and I’ll be happy to hop back in once Polyphony Digital figures out the fans’ complaints and addresses them properly. Gran Turismo 7 has potential to become a truly great game one day, but it’ll require hard work from the devs.

As someone who is not entrenched in one of the many live-service shooter games on the market right now, FBC: Firebreak felt like the multiplayer experience built for me. It has all the weird quirkiness that Remedy has been known for, with clever character classes that synergize well and the kinds of missions you would never see anywhere else. But somehow, when I jump into the game, it doesn’t feel right. The Oldest House is swarming with enemies, but somehow still feels somewhat empty. The missions feel repetitive and even tedious at times. Hopefully, Remedy can learn from this and turn this game into something great, or use the feedback for the next attempt at multiplayer.

Vampire: Swansong starts off by thrusting you right into a mystery that involves deceit, politics, and betrayal, and continues to unfurl through the course of levels that incorporate conversations, puzzles, and lots of exploration. Fans of Telltale and Hitman games will appreciate Swansong’s approach to discovery, but its lore-heavy storyline and questionable design choices can alienate others.

This is good but it could have been great. Fans who wanted more story and more Ash Williams will be disappointed. Though the PvP can be engaging at times there’s a few broken elements to the gameplay that need fixing so players and demons go head to head on an even battlefield. The rest is your standard loot, fight, complete objectives multiplayer game. In its current state I was left wanting more: more story, more gameplay scenarios, and way more Bruce Campbell.

Sand Land definitely has moments that are fun and worth the price of admission, but it will also leave you scratching your head wondering if this is the best it could do. It may be leagues away from being a Dragon Ball epic, but it does its best to introduce you to a series that you may want to watch or read first.

By the time the credits had rolled I didn’t feel much beyond “that was a video game”. Which is fine, SW3’s combat has been finely tuned, but it takes so many pages from Doom Eternal’s playbook it begs the question of why people shouldn’t just go play that game instead. SW3 doesn’t offer a riveting story, it plods forward without any surprises or a real hook, and ends as generically as it begins.

LEGO 2K Drive checks off all the right boxes for what a fun cart racing game should be—and its quintessential LEGO charm is there—but it feels like a missed opportunity to really build a world teeming with excitement.

I’d recommend Hard West 2 to just about anyone, even if you’ve never played the genre before. Some early growing pains are easily overcome and there’s just the right amount of tactics, exploration, story, and atmosphere. While not a revolutionary take on the mechanics, it’s a solid offering on all fronts.

As it is, Immortals of Aveum is fun but short-lived and doesn’t offer anything that hasn’t been done before. It’s not perfect nor is it bad, but like its protagonist, the game is more of a jack of all trades than a master of one.

The Lunar: Remastered Collection is a victim of its own faithfulness. While its upgraded visuals—the retro pixel art character sprites and environments and the hand-drawn cutscenes—are stunning, they only barely distract from an otherwise outdated RPG experience. Lunar’s stories and character might have felt fresh and original in the 1990s, but today, they come across as cliché and uninspired. There is fun to be had here, but there are plenty of other great modern RPGs, too. I have a hard time imagining anyone choosing to jump into the world of Lunar today if they don’t have pre-existing nostalgia for the series.

Overall, it’s a calm and relaxing journey through a strange fantasy world that will be exactly what some players are looking for.

It feels sometimes like Deathloop couldn’t decide what it really wanted to be. Stealth game? Bullet opera? Retro-cool ‘60s spy romp? Mind-melting time travel story? When it tries to be all of these things at once, it ends up not being very much of anything. I liked the core concept but after twenty hours I didn’t feel like I knew more about how an island could get stuck living the same day over and over than I did at the outset.

Visually, Elex 2 is uninspiring and lacks a competent UI to make its plethora of quests enjoyable to keep track of and complete. Its visuals are also severely lacking for a game where its whole world is filled with interesting people to meet and various locations to explore. Once you get past this initial shock, however, you will realize Elex 2 is a solid RPG with a unique story that grows on you over time.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure brings back Max for another instance in her life where her powers grant her the means of righting a wrong, but instead she discovers an alternate timeline and events that remind her of her past. Instead of fully diving into it, the game ultimately shoves her past and present aside and tries to make you forget it leaving you with unanswered questions. It has some strong points and features thought-provoking storytelling the series is known for, but it ultimately feels like a roll of film needing some development.

While some things work beautifully for the game considering its inspirations, Scars Above fails to catch up them due to its limitations in design and gameplay. It’s an ambitious game, for sure, and while its combat is fun and story strings you along, you will wish that it was more polished and more of a challenge.

Assassin's Creed: Shadows is a game full of contrasts. On one hand, it offers solid stealth mechanics and a great combat system, but on the other, it features a lackluster storyline and generic exploration. If you're a fan of the series, you'll likely find something to enjoy here, but if you weren't convinced from the start, the combat and stealth may not be enough to win you over.

Star Wars Outlaws is a smuggler with flaws that are easy to turn a blind eye to and be charmed by despite them. The cinematic story told keeps you intrigued until the end, the worlds are pleasing to the eye, and the gameplay offers a variety of attractions. Yes, there are problems, but they are not very painful, you can get used to them, sometimes you just need to grit your teeth and curse at the screen. The Force in this game turned out to be stronger than I assumed.

Overall, my experience with Lords of the Fallen was average. The game has its pros and is an improvement over the original from 2014. The combat is better, although in terms of bosses, you can see that sometimes the developers had to resort to controversial choices. In addition, there are numerous technical issues and a somewhat limited world, which is quite pleasant nonetheless.

Saints Row left me wanting more. Even the radio stations you can listen to and the track selection felt small in comparison to how bombastic of a soundtrack its past games had. While its side missions checked the open-world box of giving you something to do to keep you busy during or after you finish the story, most of them felt repetitive and only some truly captured the fun the games are known for thanks to some clever writing and line delivery.

I will say the amount of art, voice overs, and unique environments is really impressive. You’ll still have to do plenty of reading but they do a good job of making the world look, feel, and sound unique. Everything feels handmade and it almost makes me think if this developer team remade Fallout I just might make time for that trip back to the wasteland.

If you can forgive a pretty forgettable combat system you’ll have a pretty decent fantasy romp with King’s Bounty II.

While Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree reads well on paper and boasts an intriguing premise, it stumbles in execution, delivering a game that needs more polish to truly shine as the next great Soulslike Metroidvania.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is built like a rollercoaster so you have your highs, your lows, and moments that flatline. There’s no question its three modes are fun to play and offer fans enough content to keep them busy for some time, but this is Call of Duty, after all. Until Activision does something completely different with the series, don’t expect it to feel too different each year.

Stressful yet relaxing, realistic yet laughably stiff at times – Bus Simulator 21 is full of contradictions some will appreciate and others won’t understand. It succeeds in giving you a faithful recreation of what it’s like to drive around a bus all day and all the ups and downs that come with the job. It also keeps things as safe as possible causing it to be as mundane as, well, driving a bus all day.

B4B has so much potential and if it does end up getting the classic versus mode so many L4D fans want so badly then it will end up being a near-perfect game. For the time being, it’s a solid bit of zombie slaying fun that’s a cut above some of the other undead shooting gallery games out there. I just hope Turtle Rock gets the message and brings classic versus mode back from the grave, because the current incarnation of PvP is dead on arrival.

We get the same, great framework, lots of bugs, and a promise for a better tomorrow. But that's probably not enough to give Modern Warfare 2 a higher score. During the 80 hours that I have already spent with the game, I did have a great time, and the developers still promise mountains of gold. I don't believe in these promises. Although I am happy and I can't stop playing, I also have the impression that I am participating in an it-was-supposed-to-be-so-great type of event. And I realize that in a month, six months, even a year, this game will probably look completely different (it will, Activision, right?!) – but today? It is what it is. Just a good game. Still addictive, but I was hoping for more.