For the most part, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is an absolutely wonderful interactive fiction adventure game. It's compelling, features genuine humour and emotion, has unique and ingenious mechanics, and importantly, is beautifully animated.

I applaud the insistent focus on combat, but En Garde! deserves more; a plot, environments waiting to be explored, real progression. None of that is here, so while the game's core is well-designed and robust, it's a bit too slim an experience to get a wholehearted recommendation from me.

If you're a fan of the genre, I'd say this is the best Metroidvania 2023 will see, and I also think it's a must for fans of the first one and a redemption for those who thought it was too stiff.

As with Evil Dead: The Game, this feels, to me, like wasted potential and an iconic film licence used in the wrong way, for the wrong kind of game.

Full 4K/120Hz support, crossplay, co-op, split screen multiplayer as well as online multiplayer, N64 maps, restored midi music... Everything is included here in a package that feels polished and clean in a way that today's games very rarely do.

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.

Lisa: Definitive Edition is the best way to enjoy this tough story that engages and judges you as a player in a way that few games could offer, even among the big budget ones.

It's a story that will give you a few hours of fun, but won't be too memorable either.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand it has interesting and compelling characters and plenty of dialogue options to explore, but on the other hand, it isn't the most immersive or engaging game.

Baldur's Gate III impresses with strong stories, inviting personality, beautiful and varied environments, and an encouragement to experiment with the total freedom the game offers.

Jagged Alliance 3 pays homage to its predecessor and is one of the stronger turn-based titles of the year. It's intense, difficult and manages to enchant with its addictive gameplay. If you are completely new to the genre, it tries very hard to dissuade you to keep playing, but if you get comfortable with the set-up, everything changes.

Super Space Club is the perfect game for anyone looking to fill 30 minutes here and there. It's very easy to get into, it's entertaining and fun, and has enough variety so that it doesn't feel repetitive.

WrestleQuest is definitely the most unique game of the year for me. But I would also like to highlight it a little extra because it succeeds so well in everything it does. In true role-playing spirit, there is a lot to see and discover, and in true wrestling spirit, you take what happens in and outside the ring and make it feel like a natural part of the experience. There is certainly no shortage of well-crafted indie games, and even if WrestleQuest doesn't quite measure up to the very best, its humour, charm and above all unique concept is something that should really be rewarded.

Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara might look like a game aimed at children, but it's not - the difficulty level is simply too high. It's more a game for those who are big fans of the first Crash Bandicoot and of Pandemonium and Klonoa, in which case Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara might be some light summer entertainment for you.

Synapse has very nice game mechanics that are the basis for everything, but since everything only breathes "glorified tech demo", it is difficult for me to really spew out any real praise.

Venba is an interesting, thought-provoking, and emotional tale that is worth checking out. The cooking gameplay and the engaging narrative, matched up with the eye-catching and colourful South Indian cuisine-inspired colour palette make for an experience that is well worth the 1-2 hours it will take to complete it.

The Expanse shines as an alternative to the sleek space-age dream of franchises such as Star Trek, with its scrappy, survival sci-fi setting pairing perfectly with the gritty art-style and choice-driven narrative of Telltale Games.

This year's game is really, really good from a simulator point of view. Sure, the computer-controlled drivers can act like knuckleheads from time to time and visually the game is a bit hit or miss. But if, like me, you love F1 and dream of experiencing what it's like to pull the strings behind the scenes at one of the ten teams, then this is your best bet.

Dr. Fetus' sadistic antics still feel like a decent version of the Puyo Puyo games and it's also quite fun that they still manage to make their own version of a classic puzzle concept.

While Disney Illusion Island isn't a particularly long game, it is one that feels instantly memorable. Dlala Studios has captured the charm that Disney has been missing for years and offered it up in an interactive medium that never fails to be fun and overflowing with charisma.

I think of Remnant II as more Remnant for better or worse. It's still a very compelling series with tight and engaging gameplay, but there's no denying that it has its kinks too. It's flashier, prettier, has tons of depth, and if you loved the first game, you will have a blast with this follow-up as well.

Pikmin 4 is simply a delight to play. Its world is effortlessly charming and its core gameplay is more than enough to keep you invested for hours on end. Combine that with the extras such as the Night Expeditions, and Nintendo has crafted another big winner in what is already an incredible 2023 for the company.

If you're already hooked on this type of game and feel the need for something new and challenging to sink your teeth into, there's a lot to discover in Sea Horizon, but it won't attract any new fans to the genre.

This is a truly fantastic puzzle game, one that stands out in a saturated genre and leaves the player with a sense of wonder and amazement after every level.

Exoprimal is by no means a terrible game, but it just doesn't reach the heights that you'd expect when you hear about its premise. It's a mixed bag, but if you are looking for a new multiplayer experience and can withstand the Dino Survival mode, perhaps it's the game for you.

Only Up is a great example of the creativity that lies within the depths of Steam. This isn't a hugely ingenious title that is doing something we've never seen before. It just offers demanding and intricate platforming in such a rudimentary and well thought out manner that it stands out among the rest.

Despite the disappointment that this didn't reach higher heights, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is still okay, but doesn't reach past that except for a few points. It's mainly my personal experience with the game's story and how it's presented that is the biggest obstacle for this to reach the same kind of feeling I got from the adventure I took part in seven years ago. The predecessor simply felt much more memorable than this, which can be seen as a small failure.

After just three or four sessions with Everybody 1-2 Switch, I'd seen it all and didn't want to go back. I don't know how this happened, but I do know that there are far, far better ways to entertain friends and family on Switch than this.