Despite Black Myth: WuKong achieving world-class standards in art and presentation, with solid and engaging gameplay, rich content, and a narrative and artistic expression that is uniquely meaningful for East Asian players—especially those who grew up with Journey to the West—the game is not without its flaws. The inexperience in level design and the drawbacks of excessive resource allocation have indeed impacted the overall experience…As a Chinese player who grew up watching the Journey to the West cartoons and TV series, playing Black Myth: WuKong is an experience that deeply resonates with me. I appreciate the developers' unreserved presentation of Journey to the West culture, and I am in awe of the game's artistic presentation. This profound cultural empathy has already made up for any shortcomings.

SteamWorld Heist II is a big step up from the first game. With different classes, weapons and skills to choose from, it introduces new strategic possibilities to the gameplay. The non-linear exploration of a large open world adds depth to the experience outside of the intense turn-based strategy.

While staying true to its small-scale, casual approach, Cat Quest 3 avoids the trap of overloading content to create an open world. Instead, it offers a highly flexible exploration experience. In addition, the game further enhances the equipment system, allowing for clearer role specialisation when playing in co-op mode.

The arrival of Stormgate has reignited the RTS genre. However, as an Early Access title, the game still has some issues in terms of its art direction and pricing, which significantly impact the overall experience. [Early Access Provisional Score = 80]

Let's School has introduced several impressive updates, making investment and growth the main focus of the current version. The addition of club and activity systems also brings a lot of new content to the game. However, playing Let's School on the Switch may not be as great an experience as on the PC, as the font appears too small on the screen.

Soulmask is a game that integrates different gameplay elements within the survival crafting genre, offering a refreshing experience for someone like me who has grown tired of traditional survival crafting games. While it shares the slow and complex nature of the genre, the help of NPC tribesmen and customisable settings allow players to quickly immerse themselves in an addictive survival and exploration loop. You can experience almost all the core pleasures of survival crafting in this game. The current content is already rich enough to support long-term play for Survival Crafting enthusiasts, surpassing many similar games that have been in Early Access for years. [Early Access Provisional Score = 78]

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a unique work in its own right. Capcom has seamlessly blended action and tower defense - two seemingly unrelated genres - using an astonishing art style and the niche, mysterious theme of Shintoism, making the game look more like a piece of art emerging from a rural shrine. However, like many games that attempt to merge different gameplay styles, this fusion brings a fresh experience but also weakens the depth of both genres.

The most enjoyable aspect of Dungeons of Hinterberg is its puzzles, which consistently present a variety of appropriately challenging and innovative problems, interspersed with a series of battles to keep the gameplay engaging.

Anger Foot initially impresses with its creativity, gameplay, and stylization, but these positive impressions gradually fade due to mediocre level design. While the fast-paced combat is enjoyable and the variety of sneakers that provide abilities is a clever idea, along with multiple ways to solve optional side objectives, the game's levels lack standout features. This leads to a quick loss of novelty and interest after a short time of playing.

As another masterpiece from miHoYo, Zenless Zone Zero is definitely an action RPG worth experiencing. The distinct art style and high production quality make playing the game as enjoyable as watching a favorite anime series. Its low entry barrier and stylish, smooth controls, along with a combat system that is simple yet sophisticated, provide continuous positive feedback.

While Fate Seeker stayed on a steady course within the traditional wuxia open-world genre, Fate Seeker 2 undoubtedly takes a more unconventional approach. The smooth 4K graphics on PS5 and a more immersive gameplay atmosphere provide an opportunity to rediscover Fate Seeker 2. After all, in recent years, it might be considered one of the best wuxia games out there.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a bold overhaul and upgrade of the original. It greatly enhances the depth and playability of the core Demon Companion system, providing opportunities for up-close interaction with these "digital collectibles". While maintaining the atmosphere and quality of the original story, it nearly doubles the game's content. Although there is a lot of overlap with the original, it offers enough new experiences to keep veteran players coming back for more. If you enjoy hardcore JRPGs with deep party-building mechanics and a focus on strategic gameplay, this is undoubtedly an exceptional title for you.

Shadow of the Erdtree perfectly accomplishes everything it sets out to do. It makes the story of Elden Ring more complete and breathes new life into this addictive masterpiece. Shadow of the Erdtree can also remind Tarnished why they embarked on their journey to the Lands Between in the first place. So, even though the guidance has been shattered, please enjoy this final adventure of the Elden Lord.

F1 24 is another installment that fits the mold of an annual update, without introducing many significant changes to the series. The new features in the career mode bring minimal impact to the overall experience, and the updates to handling and physics are somewhat subjective.

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.

Accessible yet full of mystery, Isles of Sea and Sky is undoubtedly a retro gem that puzzle fans shouldn't miss. The game's puzzles allow you to fully enjoy the thrill of experimentation, while the constant introduction of new mechanics keeps the experience varied. The open-world design is full of incentives, motivating you to keep trying new puzzles. One potential drawback, however, is that the pacing of the game can be somewhat compromised when certain Metroidvania-style abilities are combined with weaker guidance elements.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II remains a maverick in the gaming world. While its gameplay has not evolved from the first game, it has expanded on the aspects that set it apart from mainstream games: more realistic graphics, more moving performances, and an even more immersive depiction of psychosis that resonates deeply with players. This interactive film style game is very niche and I don't think everyone will appreciate it. However, there must be creators who make such games, and these games must exist. They allow those who live in a different reality every day to be seen and understood by more people.

As a sequel to a classic RTS, Homeworld 3 retains the core experience while streamlining the series and introducing a new, highly satisfying and replayable co-op mode. However, the game's sparse content and poor network conditions hinder a smooth and enjoyable experience. All of these factors suggest that Homeworld 3 has a lot of room for improvement. Homeworld 3 still has a long way to go in order to win over gamers and become a worthy successor.

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.

After nearly two years of updates, V Rising has evolved into a content-rich survival builder. It not only faithfully recreates the various characteristics of vampires in its gameplay, but also creates a unique combat experience, making it a remarkably solid survival building game.

Another Crab's Treasure is an excellent souls-like game disguised as a cute game, although it still has room for optimization, the overall experience is unique. The interesting shell-switching mechanism runs throughout, and the solid combat is addictively engaging.

You can sense the real potential and exceptional quality of Manor Lords, but what's more common is the disappointment of the lack of content. It has a unique medieval atmosphere, a first-person perspective that can immerse players, and a distinctive 'backyard economy' system that combines the fun of building supply chains and managing labour in the production process. While warfare isn't at the heart of Manor Lords, it's done quite well and evokes a sense of familiarity with the Total War series. [Early Access Provisional Score = 75]

No Rest for the Wicked is a game that truly deserves the label 'promising'. There is no denying the exceptional quality of its art and the quality of its action gameplay, but the negative experience caused by errors in numerical balance and system design completely undermine the excellent impression left by its other aspects. [Early Access Provisional Score = 75]

Stellar Blade is undoubtedly one of the most compelling games of the year, and what's even more pleasing is that it excels in every way. The combat system is both exhilarating and deep enough to give players, regardless of their action game experience, a great deal of enjoyment. The game has created a world similar to Nier: Automata, striking a perfect balance between the bleakness of a post-apocalyptic setting and a sense of hope. In addition, Stellar Blade offers players a degree of freedom that allows them to fully immerse themselves in the thrill of exploration and helping others.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is sure to satisfy long-awaited fans of the series, but whether it will win over casual gamers is another story. It boasts a quality script and a large, unique ensemble cast, but its dated design and lack of side-quest guidance will detract significantly from your experience.

Children of the Son ingeniously combines sandbox levels, tactical planning, and puzzle-solving within the scope of a single sniper rifle to create a unique little gem of a game. However, it is limited to being a good concept and a short experience, struggling to sustain replayability or deeper exploration of its mechanics.

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.