If you're simply looking for pure shooting and explosions and don't mind the game's relatively small scale, John Carpenter's Toxic Commando can still be a decent option. Its large scale set pieces are something you rarely see elsewhere, and the satisfying gunplay makes blasting through hordes of zombies genuinely enjoyable. Beyond that, however, Toxic Commando mostly shows its flaws. Both its level design and core gameplay feel monotonous, dated, and lacking in excitement.

Romeo Is A Dead Man is unmistakably a Suda51-style production, defined by its highly distinctive visual flair, outrageous premise, unconventional storytelling, and willfully eccentric design choices. If you're drawn to that offbeat, cult sensibility—prioritizing experience over pure gameplay and willing to tolerate its many baffling decisions—this absurd take on Romeo and Juliet may offer a uniquely strange kind of enjoyment.

Code Vein II once again delivers a distinct anime-style Soulslike experience, but poor optimization and a lack of polish ultimately undermine what makes it unique.

Netherworld Covenant shows plenty of smart ideas in its combat, but for a roguelike, its build variety and environmental diversity fall short. The narrow, repetitive progression quickly leads to fatigue, even when the core loop shows promise.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord - War Sails adds surprisingly little of real substance. With the Nords in such a weak state in the current build, naval battles amount to little more than pirate-hunting, leaving the whole expansion feeling rather flavorless.

Football Manager 26 delivers the biggest overhaul the series has seen, pushing toward a more modern presentation with improved visuals and UI that clearly aim to welcome new players. But those sweeping changes come with a cost: missing features and an overwhelming number of bugs make it a frustrating experience for longtime fans.

I have no doubt that the systems introduced in Pokemon Legends: Z-A could shine brightly in the future of the series, but for now, they're just not quite there yet.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 feels more like a case of unfulfilled potential than an outright failure. While its main story offers a serviceable core, other elements like combat and quest design often feel dated.

Engaging with Dune: Awakening often feels like being in a relationship with someone deeply volatile. There's an undeniable allure, something about it can fully draw you in and make the experience almost intoxicating. But then, like clockwork, come the unpredictable explosion moments of inexplicable frustration where you're left feeling punished for things beyond your control.

Blades of Fire is an ambitious and refreshingly unconventional title. While its developers clearly lacked the resources to polish every aspect to perfection, it remains a bittersweet experience. Its creative spark and unique ideas are inseparably tied to its design flaws, making it a game that's easy to admire, but just as easy to be frustrated by.

Despite its various balance and design issues, Elden Ring Nightreign is still an intriguing experiment from FromSoftware. The fusion of roguelike elements with the Soulslike formula feels as naturally complementary as survivor-likes expanding on gear-driven systems—full of potential by design. While it's clear that the studio lacks deep experience in this particular coop genre blend, Nightreign could have gone further.

The Rewinder 2 still offers a decent amount of fun, but it may end up disappointing fans of the original. By significantly scaling back the signature "Rewind" mechanic and failing to make the new Zelda-style combat and puzzle elements truly shine, it loses much of what once made it stand out. Without a strong identity or sharp edges, it struggles to compete with more polished titles in the genre.

The Precinct is genuinely fun, but its padded progression ultimately weighs the experience down with repetition and tedium. If you're simply looking to indulge in the fantasy of being a cop, this is arguably one of the best options out there right now. But as an indie title, its limited content clearly isn't built to sustain the kind of long-term play you'd expect from something like GTA.

South of Midnight offers a unique lens into Southern Gothic culture, with strong atmosphere, engaging folklore, and compelling storytelling that successfully highlights the charm of a niche cultural space. However, as a game, even its excellent music and presentation can't fully compensate for the underwhelming gameplay experience.

Sniper Elite: Resistance may win you over with its solid level design, but beyond extending the experience of Sniper Elite 5, it struggles to offer any compelling reasons for recommendation. The game ends quicker than expected and doesn't leave much of a lasting impression—aside from some potential laughs in the invasion mode.

Where Winds Meet feels like a jack-of-all-trades in the martial arts world, dabbling in swords, spears and staffs, but never truly mastering any of them. The game's strengths are often undermined by its weaker elements, leaving it as a competent but unremarkable martial artist. There's no denying its skill, but that makes its shortcomings all the more disappointing.

Slitterhead is a unique blend of horror, action-adventure and time-loop mechanics, showcasing some intriguing concepts. However, it struggles to fully realise its potential due to various limitations. The creativity is commendable, but the execution is poor.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure impresses with its stunning visuals and exceptional soundtrack, featuring detailed environments and rich expressions that significantly enhance immersion. The game excels in world-building, suspense, and narrative pacing, offering an engaging and unpredictable experience. However, the early segments struggle with their connection to the original, and the emotional arcs feel somewhat underdeveloped, lacking the depth seen in the first installment's character relationships.

Just Dance 2025 delivers a fresh dancing experience with plenty of trending hits from today's streaming charts. However, the rest of the game feels like more of the same — a predictable outcome for a series that has fully embraced the Games as a Service.

EA Sports FC 25 has stumbled through another year in a lackluster fashion. If last year's conservative approach could be attributed to the series' rebranding, this year's lack of ambition is inexcusable. Moreover, the widespread controller bugs and various other issues at launch make it hard not to question EA's commitment to the franchise.

Enotria:The Last Song is not without creativity or design potential. However, for an inexperienced development team, creating such a large-scale Souls-like game may have been overly ambitious. Poor balance, a wildly inconsistent difficulty curve, and the overwhelmingly negative combat experience overshadow the game's more impressive features, such as elemental statuses, skill build slots, and gear-switching mechanics.

Star Wars: Outlaws is so monotonous that it fails to leave any lasting impression. In 2024, a merely mediocre game is unlikely to satisfy players, especially one with as many flaws as this. Despite focusing on stealth gameplay, the issues with the levels, combat, and mechanics make it hard to truly enjoy the experience. Ironically, the only saving grace is the strong and well-established Star Wars setting, which serves as the game's last shred of dignity.

Compared to other FPS games, XDefiant offers limited initial content and significant balance issues, and even its most distinctive skill designs aren't particularly innovative. As a result, after a few hours of exploring different factions, game modes and maps, players may find it hard to stay motivated to grind for characters and weapons once the novelty wears off, leaving only a sense of endless fatigue.

If you enjoy turn-based gameplay and get a kick out of dodging attacks and outmanoeuvring enemies, The Land Beneath Us might be worth a try. Its innovative design, with a four-weapon system mapped to directional keys and Helldiver-esque command combinations, is both creative and quite engaging. Unfortunately, the levels are rather monotonous, with few surprises throughout the game, and the overall content is relatively sparse.

For fans of detective games, Between Horizons is well worth a look. It builds a solid sci-fi world, offers a flexible story and many different endings, making it a unique and replayable detective game. However, the adventure part of Between Horizons seems to lack highlights.

A tower defence game with a mix of gameplay elements, Outpost: Infinity Siege definitely stands out. However, a deeper dive into the game reveals a disconnect. The main problems stem from a design approach that's too limited and doesn't meet the actual needs of the player.

The team behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III seemed uninspired and directionless, which probably led to the release of a game in 2023 that perhaps shouldn't have been released at all.

Immortals of Aveum has a unique magic-shooter gameplay, and many skills to go along with it that help the player fight a gorgeous and fluid battle. But other than that it's pretty mediocre in terms of both plot and level design.