Nintendo has certainly done a decent job of updating two masterful adventures, but they could definitely have added more content or held back a little when it came to pricing. As it stands, it's impossible to ignore that this package feels a little greedy based on what you get in exchange for your hard-earned money. Sure, if you've never played Super Mario Galaxy or its eminent sequel, I can, without hesitation, recommend that you purchase both games. In terms of overall gaming enjoyment, you won't be disappointed, as these are two awesome platform titles that still hold up, and then some. However, if, like me, you're old school and have already rescued Princess Peach in both of Mario's galactic adventures, you can skip this new version with a clear conscience, or alternatively dig out your Wii console and experience the nostalgia that way. The games are still as phenomenally good as you remember, and the improved graphics may add some much-needed polish, but not much more than that.

If you can shrug off the many archetypes, dry dialogue and a handful of sexist character designs, then there are many, many hours of deeply engaging strategy to be had here.

Minishoot's Adventures has nothing new to say about twin-stick shooters, shmups, or the typical Zelda formula. It's the things you know, just remixed in an innovative way, and perhaps that's enough. It doesn't change your relationship with these respective genre frameworks, apart from convincing you that these frameworks are flexible enough for this sort of thing to be entirely feasible, and that's probably a victory in itself.

Botany Manor is an ideal Game Pass game. It's easy, charming, vibrant, and sweet. This is a puzzler that has just the right balance of challenge and simplicity, and the first-person setup and the wonderful presentation make for an immersive experience in a world you want to explore. It doesn't quite have the narrative depth of Call of the Sea, the ingenuity of Viewfinder, or the mechanical excellence of Maquette, but looking at the overall package, as far as immersive sim puzzlers go, this is a fine addition to the collection.

Phantom Liberty and the 2.0 update give CD Projekt RED's title a second life. And while many may already consider their time in Night City to be over, this new story may give you more than a few surprises.

Dispatch takes a great leap above Telltale's former experiences, keeping the strong writing while elevating a sense of player agency and pushing out an incredibly addictive gameplay loop. Dispatch is simply one of the best pure narrative experiences we've had in gaming in years, and it's another game among many that deserves a 2025 GOTY nomination.

Neva is an exceptionally successful example of how games can be aesthetically stunning, speak to the emotions and at the same time function as games in the traditional sense. In fact, it is perhaps Neva's greatest masterpiece, proving that you can take the experiential feeling of games of the 10s and equip them with a mechanical core that makes them also satisfying and detached from the audiovisual and emotional core that defined titles like Journey and Abzu. And satisfying, that's Neva. Simple, yes. And inventive, sharp and well-functioning. But it's the visuals that remain the star, because it's what elevates the narrative, the gameplay, indeed the whole package to excellence. In fact, to a real stronghold of emotional indie escapism.

I simply have to salute Bethesda and Microsoft, and first and foremost the developer Tango Gameworks for a blockbuster release and a game that I'd probably call one of the best platformers I've played during my almost 50 years on planet Earth.

Monolith Soft. has once again delivered for its fans, offering an expanded version that refreshes the classic and will live on alongside the rest of the series on Nintendo Switch. Let's just hope that this little gift that is Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition hasn't taken them too long to show us the next instalment of the series in the near future.

If you're looking for a puzzle game that does things differently by mixing deep puzzle gameplay with a hard-pumping soundtrack and wild visual effects, Lumines Arise is a really good direction to look in. I love the combination.

Armored Core VI is stunning and entertaining mecha action. Those familiar with FromSoftware know to expect a hard level of difficulty, but still the uneven difficulty curve becomes the worst part of the game. If you can live with it, it's hard to resist the charm of big robots.

What really sets Arco apart from the indie clutter is the resonant narrative, that the game manages to get the player invested in these ephemeral characters living in a world of infinite natural beauty that is then repeatedly ruined by greed, by revenge, and even though the dialogue exchanges are relatively short, it is believable throughout.

Diablo IV is a great, truly enjoyable game every fan should play. The core story, highlighted by the superb cinematics and excellent voice acting, leads you through a highly detailed and fascinating world.

There is some interactivity missing here and sometimes the dialogue sequences get so long that it feels like the game is standing still but if you are prepared for this and if you are looking for a story-heavy, thematically brilliant text adventure that is dripping with social criticism and naturally written dialogue, it is undoubtedly the surprise of the summer.

Overall, it's a charming adventure and a good port of a couple of years old PlayStation 5 game. It fits well into the PC market and delivers brilliant technical graphics on the format.

There is no way to explain exactly how magnificent it is no matter how many superlatives I use. It's the biggest VR game to date with 60 glorious hours of main story and at least double that if you want to do everything and you will. In fact, as soon as I was forced back into the real world, I just wanted to go back.

It's been a great pleasure for me personally to experience one of the modern classics that are considered seminal to the conventions of the genre, and I have to applaud much of Bloober Team's work here. That doesn't change the fact that there are aspects of Silent Hill 2's foundation that appear slightly shaky to me, and your immersion and enjoyment will be dictated by how forgiving you are of a story that becomes a little too thin as the game progresses.

I'm not the most dedicated Survivor player, and admittedly I've only played Deep Rock Galactic a couple of times just to hang out with friends, but with Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor I was surprised several times to find when I looked up from my PC that it was already dark, and I had to go to bed (work to do). I think there are few better compliments for a title like this.

It is with great pleasure that I dare to say that Nintendo has done it again. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is today a full potter for me, containing two DLC packs from the Wii U version and four DLC packs from Switch. Mario Kart World already matches it content-wise and feels like a perfect platform to build on, and is itself a wonderful racing game for both happy amateurs who just want to go karting with the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom and professionals who like to optimise their tracks and quickly learn to spend as much time driving on walls as on the ground. A better killer app for Switch 2 is simply hard to imagine, and the mere thought that this is a game that will get even better with more content in the future makes it a game not to be missed.

Nioh 3 is simply a good game because it's more of Nioh and Nioh 2 with a few extra dashes of different playstyles, a few new enemies, bigger environments, and some tiny gameplay tweaks. Those of you just looking for more Nioh/Rise of the Ronin/Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty are getting exactly that. Everyone else will forget this even came out by the time Game of the Year awards start in December, because I'll exaggerate a bit by saying this is what AI would have made if you asked it to develop Nioh 3.

If you're coming from Persona 5, you'll have to be prepared for Reload to take its time getting started. Otherwise, we're dealing with a sublime remake that makes an 18-year-old game feel brand new.

The game is not for everyone, but you have to take your hat off to a developer who doesn't compromise on their game design. There is a logic that you have to catch and you have to have the patience to let the game unfold. If you don't, Riven is not for you. If you have the patience, Riven is a fantastic adventure where the puzzles and the world are the star.

It requires patience and multiple runs before everything truly clicks. If you jump in solely because everyone is praising it, you might bounce off it entirely and end up wondering what all the fuss is about. Ball X Pit is best enjoyed at your own pace, by understanding and embracing its roguelite nature. Do that, and you'll eventually find yourself immersed in the addictive chaos it brings to your console or PC.

Sucker Punch may be playing it safe, but the fantastic world and effective revenge plot still give Ghost of Yotei its own identity. It's still a series with clear limitations, exemplified by the monotonous mission design and old-fashioned stealth, and it's disappointing that Sucker Punch has not done more to rectify these issues, especially since they also plagued the first game. But it certainly has its qualities: from epic duels to exploration built on curiosity, it serves up both the fantasy of being a vengeful spirit and a flesh-and-blood person with dreams of a better life in an excellent way.

This is a game, which while not particularly mechanically complex, has been crafted with such a clear creative vision that it's hard to fault. Every part of Mixtape feels as though it belongs, be it the stop-motion-like animated characters, the picturesque and colourful artistic direction, the straightforward but refined narrative premise, the incredible use of music that has been expertly curated. Mixtape is a movie brought to life in a way few can rival and while it may be over in a flash, what Beethoven & Dinosaur has presented with this game will leave a noticeable impression on you long after the credits roll. Seriously, go and play Mixtape. You won't be disappointed.

All the practicalities: the combat system, the enemies' actual attack patterns and manoeuvres, progression, and upgrades, and the game's item economy. All of this seems less polished, less precisely defined, and for that reason it is easy to recommend Silent Hill f as an experience, but somewhat more difficult as a gaming experience.

Returnal isn't for everyone and if the game's distinctive blend of psychological horror, heavy atmosphere and nerve-wracking die-and-start-again gameplay doesn't hook you during the first few hours, then the game doesn't do much during the subsequent rounds to convince you either.

This really is a success story, a story of a studio that could have gone a different route, but chose to use a different, more daring structural genre framework with unexpected sources of inspiration, giving us something that we really need in general. Respect to MachineGames for going all in, because this is a no-brainer for me to recommend.