The Sims Legacy Collections is exactly as you remember the games, chaos, bugs, glitches and all. The Sims 1 and 2 are iconic for a reason and are still just as entertaining 25 years later as the day they came out. For the true Sims lover who can accept a few crashes, they are definitely worth playing for the nostalgic feeling, even though the technical state of both games is not optimal.

The Sims Legacy Collections is exactly as you remember the games, chaos, bugs, glitches and all. The Sims 1 and 2 are iconic for a reason and are still just as entertaining 25 years later as the day they came out. For the true Sims lover who can accept a few crashes, they are definitely worth playing for the nostalgic feeling, even though the technical state of both games is not optimal.

Sniper Elite: Resistance seems very much like its predecessor. There are no innovations. There are missions and modes in abundance, but it is all mainly more of the same.

Although the flight model and therefore the simulation is better than ever, there are too many small irritations in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 that affect the experience. The career mode is a valuable addition and the game is almost endlessly replayable for both casual and hardcore simmers. With a lot of love and dedication from developer Asobo and support from publisher Microsoft, it could well be that this is the absolute top in the field of flight simulations in a few months. The game does not reach those heights at the moment.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a melancholic and compelling shooter made in the most extraordinary circumstances. The beautiful and filled to the brim game world is accompanied by frustrating AI and graphical errors. In addition, the experience is not much different from the previous parts. Despite that, Stalker 2 is a game that you can spend hours in. The more effort you put into exploring the Zone, the more it will yield.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure won't make any friends with its decision to leave Chloe behind. The ten year older Max is portrayed extremely well, and the supernatural story is delightful. Still, the writing varies in quality a lot due to an inconsistent tone and characters that make illogical decisions.

The Plucky Squire has some weird crashes, but it stands out mainly because of the playful and clever design of the game world and the variety of boss fights. The childish story is also well written, which is especially noticeable in the dialogues of the colorful characters. However, more could have been done with the creative mechanism with which the game initially draws attention.

Concord feels like a game that was made when Overwatch was just getting popular, but never kept up with any development in the industry. The action is decent, but a lack of good content, personality, and unique ideas do the game in.

ExoCross is an arcade racing game as they are rarely made, with an emphasis on physics and sensitive driving behavior, mainly on unpaved tracks. We would have liked to see a more extensive online multiplayer to complete the party.

Schim is a brilliant idea in a special work of art with a unique, typically Dutch style. As a game, it is unfortunately too repetitive in terms of gameplay and environments to last long.

F1 24 is again an 'in-between game' in which new content is scarce. The career mode is fun, but not enough to pull the cart in a year without Braking Point. Dynamic Handling has potential, but the first version misses the mark in most areas.

Paper Trail is a fairytale game with a unique and intriguing concept. Folding the world around you creates special puzzles that we have not seen before. Unfortunately, the game wavers from too easy to too difficult, but when it does manage to find that balance, Paper Trail is unapproachable.

TopSpin 2K25 is a striking return of a decades-old series. The tennis action is exciting and balanced, but all the peripheral issues ruin a significant part of the gaming experience.

There's not that much wrong with Stellar Blade, but there's not that much that's great either. The predictable story and empty characters are offset by exciting and fluid combat. Hopefully our imagination will be stimulated a little more in a possible sequel.

Pepper Grinder trades its unique concept just too often for generic mechanics that are a lot less interesting. This leaves a platformer that is only partially brilliant and consists of a lot of unused potential.

Princess Peach Showtime does not reach the heights of the average Mario game. Although the cool princess steals the show with a range of unique power-ups, many levels perform poorly due to the superficial gameplay. Combined with the dated graphics, we are left with the feeling that there could have been more to this.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden does not seem to be able to support the developer's ambitions. The combat system is fun, but not exploited enough. Exploring the game world is incredibly limited and keeps you on your toes too much. On top of that there are technical imperfections, such as long loading times. Graphically it's all okay, but not brilliant. Characters look nice standing still, but when they start talking it's as if actors are wearing thick rubber masks and the animations are awkward. But the biggest problem is that the game doesn't actually do anything new. Everything you encounter you have seen before and better. Ironically, this game about a ghost and a ghost hunter is a bit soulless.

Games are often more than the sum of their parts. The reverse is the case with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The positives are overshadowed by the negative elements, and the result is as messy as it is boring.

The world of Pandora offers enormous potential for a video game, and Massive Entertainment has fully exploited that potential with an open game world characterized by fantastic natural environments and stunning details. Unfortunately, the hackneyed missions and shallow combat get in the way of a truly compelling open-world adventure, making the game feel like a mediocre copy of Far Cry in terms of gameplay.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is not a full-fledged Call of Duty, but it is marketed as such. This has major consequences for quality. Whether that quality is relevant to you depends on the mode you buy the game for. The single player is boring, short and bad. The multiplayer is nostalgic, but is also too safe an update of the predecessor with old maps. The Zombies mode is different, big and exciting. So have fun, maybe?

If you are stripped far enough, you will eventually be in your shirt. Assassin's Creed Mirage also experiences this. Everything that does not have to do with assassinations is omitted, but nothing new is added either. The result is at times nostalgic and entertaining, but ultimately as fleeting as a mirage.

EA Sports FC 24 is in everything but the name 'just' another new Fifa, but a Fifa that we finally enjoy playing again. The smoother animations are the ultimate lubricant that finally addresses the biggest pain point of recent years.

Redfall does not meet the standards we're used to from Arkane Studios. The game is not thought through and is a technical blunder. The game is okay when it comes to shooting and has a few cool guns, but that's it.

A good expansion exists out of the best features of the main game with a slight twist. The Horizon Forbidden West-expansion is made with that exact recipe. Whilst Burning Shores is resting heavily on the strong features of it's predecessor, it adds new locations, missions, enemies and weapons. Burning Shores has everything it needs to entertain people for 10+ hours.

Dead Island 2 feels hopelessly dated and simplistic. But that doesn't mean it isn't fun.

Atomic Heart is a lot like Bioshock. Despite the unique look, however, the empty, open game world of Atomic Heart ensures that the game is not on the same level. Keep in mind some frustrations and sometimes poor controls, but behind that is a nice, well-shooting puzzle game.

You sometimes notice that this is an old PS3 game, but on most points Like a Dragon: Ishin! stands up fine. Although you have to keep Wikipedia open next to it to find out what some historical dialogues actually mean.

People who missed Kirby's Return to Dream Land in 2011 would do well to get this revised version. Creative level design and new content such as an extensive post-game are more than enough reasons to put a smile on the face of you and your companions.

Forspoken would like to share the personal story of a woman who was abandoned as a baby and how it shaped her as an adult. Unfortunately, that only half works. The other half tells a worn-out fantasy story in a (cliché) moderate way. Although there is more than enough to do and experience in Forspoken, the actual fun is sometimes hard to find.

The Callisto Protocol is a decent spiritual successor to Dead Space that's often too careful. The intense action and visual beauty isn't bad at all. But the lack of originality in both story and gameplay are obvious.

Evil West is not very good, but that doesn't mean it's not fun. There is enough amusement and it's refreshingly free from finery and unnecessary gameplay mechanics.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet contain high highs and low lows. The open world feels very liberating, but technical problems wear it down.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet contain high highs and low lows. The open world feels very liberating, but technical problems wear it down.

Sonic Frontiers really doesn't impress in any way. Behind the technical drama, the simple puzzles and boring combat is something of a blueprint for a good three-dimensional Sonic game, but then you have to search very well.

Somerville's biggest strengths are the atmosphere and story, which both give room for thought. But the puzzles are very easy and lack variation. Despite all that, Somerville is just like Limbo and Inside worth the effort.

New Tales from the Borderlands is completely overshadowed by Tales from the Borderlands. It's less fun, the gameplay is full of gimmicks, the characters are frustrating, the story is slim and you have few things to choose from. What remains is an adventure with some creative moments and cute friendships.

Gotham Knights strings together weird design choices. Whether it be the open world, the combat system or even the co-op: it's all just not fleshed out enough. The potential is there for those willing to dig deeper into this batsoup. But it shouldn't be necessary to dig this deep for highlights. Gotham Knights is the superhero game we deserve yet need.

Overwatch 2 does a lot of good, but at the same time almost everything went wrong before, around and after launch. It's hard to see the wood for all those trees of mistakes, when somewhere in that mess is still hiding one of the best shooters of the moment. Part two makes some much-needed improvements that make it play better in theory than ever before. Unfortunately, in practice, the many bugs and server problems predominated last week. It is therefore 'better' that part two is free-to-play, because you can't really ask for money for this.

Isonzo is already the third World War 1 shooter from the Dutch Blackmill Games studios. It's pretty clear that Isonzo refines the renowned formula.

Fifa 23 will go down in history as the last Fifa, but definitely not the best. The culmination of 30 years of soccer history doesn't lead to a satisfying climax in the franchise, mainly due to modern improvements are held back by a dilapitaded foundation. However, there is no shortage of content but with such a high goal inflation, you could wonder what that's worth anymore.

F1 Manager 2022 is a nice attempt to translate the premier class of motorsport into a management game. However, the lack of draft means that you will be happy to leave the pitlane after a season or two.

Thymesia has copied a little too much from 'big brother' Bloodborne. The game has more than enough due to the phenomenal combat system. In this respect it is perhaps better than its two biggest sources of inspiration and such an achievement cannot but be rewarded. Even if it involves unabashed stealing.

Rollerdrome plays as fluidly as the action looks. Like a murderous ballerina on roller skates, methodologically blast your enemies into the afterlife. The high difficulty level keeps the action challenging, while never having to compromise on style. Rollerdrome makes killing graceful, but would have benefited from a little more variety, and not just in the arenas themselves. Apart from the popping, the game is actually just a bit too bare.

The Warriors series can be considered the king of satisfying hack-and-slash action. Three Hopes now tests your patience more than ever with a long-drawn-out story and few developments during combat it is the perfect game to pick up and play whenever.

Mario Strikers: Battle League Football requires more skill than its predecessors to get the ball and the game your way (or foot), but unfortunately that diminishes the party game potential. If there had been more characters, game modes and playing fields, Battle League would still have been a fantastic football game, but it falls terribly short in those areas.

Evil Dead: The Game is somewhat sparse and frustrating for players going through it alone, but the game offers a lot of gory fun for those who play with others, although there are some bugs that throw a spanner in the works. And of course Bruce Campbell returns as Ash!

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is not for everyone. Players who like strategic detective games will know how to make the most out of this game, but the lack of action or clear hints can quickly make the game feel long-winded or boring.

Although the sometimes controversial themes of Best Month Ever! give the game more emotional depth and question the players' morals, it might have been better if that energy was spent on optimizing the flawed gameplay. Lovers of point and click games have little to complain about, but players looking for a challenge should look further.

Cat Cafe Manager keeps it simple, allowing everyone to enjoy the cute cats and light management tasks. Still, the game slowly becomes more complex and satisfying, but it also gets a bit more out of balance.

Chinatown Detective Agency embraces its tough puzzles and encourages you to figure out the answers yourself through search engines. This is a unique approach that also presents unique problems.

Don't be fooled by the imaginative jacket: Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is simply more Borderlands. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, but we had hoped for a little more surprise. The game is hilarious at times, but repetitive battles sometimes ruin the fun.

With its familiar, deep gameplay and recognizable characters, The King of Fighters 15 is an obvious success for fans of the franchise. However, in terms of accessibility and presentation, this new part is not convincing enough to stand out from the competition. The game will therefore not gain many new souls.

The story of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is so bad it almost gets good again. Almost, but not quite. Underneath that ugly fever dream is an interesting and deep combat system, which pulls the game from doom.

Collisions! Drama! Firework! And in between also some races in which your car rarely steers really well. That summary does indicate that Grid Legends is not for real motorsport enthusiasts, but can be fun for the more casual racing fan.

If you still want more Assassin's Creed Valhalla after a year and a half, you will not go wrong with this Dawn of Ragnarök. With a story of about ten hours and a big world to explore and stretch the game time to at least double that, Dawn of Ragnarök offers just that. Nothing more, nothing less. However, if you are more ready for a new chapter in the Assassin's Creed series, then you can let this expansion pass you by without missing anything.

Triangle Strategy tells a deep political story on a grand scale, packed with unique characters, betrayals and twists and turns. Unfortunately, there is no real interesting tactical gameplay.

Rainbow Six Extraction combines good ideas with bad ideas. The action is very entertaining and the jars are manageable. On the other hand, the design of the game is very erratic and everything starts very slowly in the first hours. If you're looking for a fun co-op shooter there are better alternatives.

The Gunk has to rely mainly on its beautiful game world and nicely written dialogues. Those are unfortunately just not good enough to compensate for the faltering story and lack of challenging battles or puzzles.

Somewhere in Chorus is a very cool game full of spectacular dogfights in space. To get there, the player has to sit through a lot of long-winded and sci-fi jargon-laden dialogues. Whoever gets through this will be presented with a fantastically playing space combat simulator that remains fun throughout the game with a load of special powers. But if the story had gone down a notch, the rest of the game would have come into its own.

Solar Ash is one of the most beautiful games of the year and plays incredibly fluid at times. Unfortunately, frustrating boss battles and erratic controls throw a spanner in the works, because this beautiful game world deserves to be explored and the platforming puzzles are fun to do.

Jett: The Far Shore depends on the illogical design choices. Unfortunately, that sucks all the fun out of an otherwise unique space adventure.

Jett: The Far Shore depends on its illogical design choices. Unfortunately, that sucks all the fun out of an otherwise unique space adventure.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl does little new, but therefore also little wrong. The atmospheric remakes offer a faithful Pokémon experience with some subtle (and less subtle) changes to the formula. You should not expect more from it.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl does little new, but therefore also little wrong. The atmospheric remakes offer a faithful Pokémon experience with some subtle (and less subtle) changes to the formula. You should not expect more from it.

When Battlefield 2042 hits, it sparkles in explosive mayhem. The three different pillars of the multiplayer shooter each have their own potential, but are each plagued by feelings of 'just not' — or rather: 'not yet'. Be it the many technical defects or the sometimes ill-considered game elements: Battlefield 2042 leaves a lot to the service component to further polish things up.

New World is an mmo that could be straight out of 2010. It hardly adds any new ideas to the genre and therefore feels dated in content. The faction system offers interesting possibilities for wars between players, but is not yet balanced. New World demands a lot of time from its players, but does not actually give anything in return that we have not seen before. Graphically, everything is fine, and although the game has microtransactions, they are only of a cosmetic nature. There is no subscription: for the entrance fee, the entire base game is open to you.

Riders Republic, like Steep, is at its best when the game forces you to try harder. Mastering certain challenges takes practice and patience. That's what makes the game. Like Steep, Riders Republic doesn't have a storyline, fancy style, important dialogue, or great music. Riders Republic is just a beautiful game world where you take on breakneck challenges. That turns out to be enough.

Eastward gets away with a lot because of its blindingly beautiful pixel-graphics. Yet with each hour this especially slow game drags on, it has become increasingly clear that this beauty is solely external. Regardless of the bunches of dialogues and a memorable cast, the game simply can't get its feet off the ground.

Fifa 22 struggles with a massive identity-crisis. Does it want to be a realistic football simulation or as spectacular as possible? The result is rather disappointing. A soulless football game in which every game feels like a match for the Johan Cruijff cup: you can win it, but it really isn't about anything at all.

Though clearly inspired by Sid Meier’s Civilization, Humankind is a very unique experience. Especially the first phase of gameplay, spent discovering and claiming land is refreshing. The game gradually loses some steam, but remains fascinating because of it’s many intricate mechanics. We hope that those mechanics will come into their own with the upcoming patches. Development wise, Humankind is still one or two turns away from being a thoroughly engaging game.

Twelve Minutes is an indie game that has been eagerly anticipated for years, mainly due to its unique concept. A man is stuck in a twelve-minute time loop and it's up to you to adjust little things and steer events in a different direction. In practice, that idea appears to lend itself less well to a game than hoped.

Road 96 tells a political story through short but intense adventures with fascinating characters. Your choices shape the story and that ambitious set-up works surprisingly well.

The dates are the culmination of this strange, yet endearing and fresh combination between a dating sim and dungeon crawler. The battles and dungeons leave a lot to be desired, but the cheerfulness and fine characters stick with it the most.

Neo The World Ends With You is so similar to its predecessor that fans of the original game will be catered for this time as well. Unfortunately, the attempt to expand the original formula mainly leads to an elongated adventure with too little variation. The cool, characteristic graphic style and rousing soundtrack make up for a lot, but cannot prevent the game from becoming monotonous in the long run.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a unique multiplayer game with a nice dark atmosphere. While the game can be very exciting and tactical through the use of stealth, players are not motivated enough to use it. As a result, chaotic brawls predominate. In addition, the lack of more modes, maps and characters means that the game doesn't feel finished yet.

Despite a few minor technical glitches and a simple story, Operation: Tango plays fluently for the most part. A big advantage is that only one player has to purchase the game – the other can join with the Friend Pass. The puzzles are fun and quite intuitive to solve as long as players ask each other the right questions. This makes the game very suitable for remote gaming.

With an impressive proprietary programming language, Gamestudio brings games development to the masses. Inventing and making your own games is explained with the help of seven extensive lessons, but sharing your own creations remains limited. It hardly spoils the fun, because the greatest fun lies in tinkering and experimenting. That part also has its limitations, but this is an extremely accessible entry point for the real handymen.

Thanks to a combination of deep golf mechanics and chaotic gameplay, Mario Golf: Super Rush is especially good as a multiplayer game. It lacks creative solo content and jobs that exploit the possibilities of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Biomutant is erratic in design. The mission design is too traditional and the game relies on a messy story with bad dialogue and meaningless characters, while the action and some RPG systems are better than those of peers.

When Doom 3 originally came out, we could only dream of playing it in VR. Now that's a reality, we feel that Doom 3 is simply too old. Thankfully Archiact made it very intuitive.

Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection is just as mean as it used to be. Thankfully you've got option now to change the difficulty level a bit.

Maquette starts off strong, but halfway through the story we forgot why the gameplay and the story were such a great match. Maquette offers a fun way to play with scale and is therefor still worth the try.

Super Meat Boy Forever feels completely overtaken by time. The game is inferior to its predecessor in every way. The biggest problem is the fact that an autorunner like Forever leaves much less control to the player. The levels and bosses in Super Meat Boy Forever are therefore more annoying and frustrating than fun and challenging.

Olija's main mechanism works great, but then fails in performance. Levels rarely excite the player with interesting variations and complex level design, which makes the game disappointing as a platformer.

Cyber Shadow is a solid ninja game that offers an old-fashioned challenge with clever checkpoints. By the end of the game, the shine is a bit off and due to several minor flaws it ends up being just a little too often frustrating.

Super Meat Boy Forever is dated. It has not stood the test of time and offers less than its predecessor in every aspect. An autorunner offers so much less control and the bosses seem annoying rather than fun.

With a new face and tone, Battletoads manages to reinvent itself a little bit. It produces a beat 'em up that makes all kinds of forays into other genres with a sense of humor. Just like the jokes in the story, that is not always successful. The Battletoads shine as animated stars, but the lack of co-op, the very simple gameplay, and the sometimes very stretched areas do not make them look that great as video game heroes.

Haven may have been too ambitious for The Game Bakers. While the idea behind the game is nice, mediocre writing and half-baked game systems make this game anything but loving feelings.

Twin Mirror is not Dontnod's most daring project. Even the most innovative gameplay elements deviate little from the beaten track or only partially succeed. As a shorter, more streamlined adventure with a grim atmosphere, it's also a great snack.

Beyond Light is especially worthwhile if you're not demanding that many substantial changes from Destiny 2 and you're over-invested in the franchise's lore. If you're more interested in Beyond Light because you're hoping for a new era of Destiny 2, you'll come home from a rude awakening.

The Pathless is not the most original game and actually has too little to do. Despite its charms, the game is very often repeated in the six-hour story. The Pathless should therefore not really be mentioned in the same breath as its obvious source of inspiration. Fortunately, the beautiful presentation and soundtrack still manage to save the game.

Due to an unclear staff and unreliable timing, Melody of Memory does not work well as a rhythm game. That's a shame, because this gigantic pile of memorable music deserved better.

Within the entire franchise, Dirt 5 is a somewhat odd man out with even more focus on arcade. One that lets you race nicely uncomplicated, but at the same time is quite limited. The audiovisual potential should mainly be exploited on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S.

The single player is entertaining and the Zombies mode is one of the best of its kind. Precisely the all-important multiplayer falls short. The mode is not yet complete and surprisingly unbalanced. There is work to be done for the developers.

If you don't take the clichés and rattling writing too seriously, Little Hope is a fun-filled adventure game with lots of scary moments. Choices are meaningful, characters really behave differently based on your decisions, and there are multiple disconnects to discover.

Quotation forthcoming.

Age Of Empires 3: Definitive Edition has been polished up considerably graphically. There is also a lot of content available. Unfortunately, the original design flaws have not or hardly been addressed. This is a game that generally wants to do too much, makes it too complex and doesn't give enough in return. This is a nice remaster of a game that we would rather not play.

Watch Dogs Legion has a great starting point with a legion of randomly generated characters, but the monotonous mission structure makes switching between characters rarely feel crucial. As a result, the other shortcomings - such as the very dead London - stand out more. That's painful, because somewhere in Legion hides a daring open-world game that now mainly sticks to well-known clichés.