GAMES.CH's Scores

  • Games
For 870 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 66% higher than the average critic
  • 12% same as the average critic
  • 22% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 80
Highest review score: 95 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Lowest review score: 25 Captain Blood
Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 5 out of 870
872 game reviews
    • 86 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Silent Hill f shows some good approaches and, in some parts, even presents itself as innovative for the series, without losing sight of the essence of Silent Hill. But the unintuitive, schematic and too sluggish combat system significantly dampens gameplay and immersion. The game, particularly due to its atmospheric strengths, is far from a complete failure. Unfortunately, "Silent Hill f" hasn't become the hoped-for, more or less consistently successful series comeback.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    The basic idea of Live A Live with umpteen different characters and settings, and partially various mechanics is great. But despite its charming retro-kind graphics and music a great idea alone does not make a great game. Overall Live A Live is a solid JRPG, nothing more, nothing less.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Chivalry 2 can be an incredibly fun experience when everything runs smoothly. The refined combat may not be to everyone’s taste with its new emphasis on defense over pure hack and slash, but to those willing to learn its intricacies, it still offers a very nuanced and tactical experience. The main issue here is the amount of content that is on offer. The two game modes can’t even be queued separately and are lumped together in a clumsy and buggy main menu. The maps are wonderfully design and detailed and can offer a lot of gameplay variety, yet the game feels like an early access title that somehow made it to store shelves. The lingering promise of future microtransactions is just the final nail in the coffin here.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster enhances the graphics of the original in a proper style that is true to the nearly 30 years old classic and delivers good gamepad controls. That's fine for fans of the LucasArts classic and retro gamers who want to revisit the game. But except for them, the game is too far away from a current game production to make it a worth buy for everyone.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a game that can be easily integrated into everyday life. The game can help you to work in a more structured and productive way without forgetting to take the necessary breaks. It's cute, fun and offers a variety of different music and sounds and if that's not enough, you can even integrate YouTube.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes successfully brings the series’ signature horror atmosphere into an immersive first-person VR experience. Its chapter-based structure keeps gameplay varied with stealth, climbing, and chase sequences. However, the snap-turn camera system can break immersion during tense moments. Overall, it’s a strong VR entry for fans, though its dark visuals and controls have minor drawbacks.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Kirby Air Riders had a lot of potential as a fun racer, but it squanders much of that potential through an excessive reliance on randomness and questionable controls. Is it a totally bad game? No, it isn't. But it's not a truly great one either, and so far, it's the weakest exclusive title for the Switch 2.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 62 Critic Score
    It is no big deal that Oxenfree 2 mostly uses the same dye trivial gameplay mechanics as its predecessor. But the new characters do not reach the bunch of friends from the first part and the story itself suffers more from its partly trashy nature. As a fan of the original, you may still enjoy this short adventure. If the first part has already been an ordinary game for you, you should better steer clear of it.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    WWE 2K26 still delivers entertaining wrestling action with plenty of content and familiar strengths inside the ring. However, the game is increasingly overshadowed by aggressive monetization, a slow progression system, and only minor gameplay improvements. While fans of the series will still find moments to enjoy, the lack of meaningful innovation and the heavy focus on microtransactions make this year's entry difficult to fully recommend.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Little Kitty, Big City has a lot of problems with its controls and other technical aspects. In the end those problems did not bother me too much though. Guiding the Kitty through the city, meeting cute little animal friends and just doing what cats are known to do was very pleasant and fun. The game is never too challenging or also never puts any animals at risk, which makes it perfect for a cute little romp over one or two play sessions.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Simon the Sorcerer Origins is not a perfect adventure, but with mostly beautifully designed puzzles and typical Simon humor, it is a worthy successor that clearly breathes the spirit of Adventure Soft's originals.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 61 Critic Score
    Ufouria: The Saga 2 leaves you with mixed feelings, even if you can get something out of the cute felt graphics and nostalgic fans will certainly get their money's worth, the game does have some negative points. Unfortunately, the music is absolutely annoying and for inexperienced jump and run players, the game experience quickly becomes repetitive and frustrating. It is therefore only recommended for experienced or very patient players.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Master Detective Archives: Rain Code overall does a good job combining elements of adventure games, visual novels and mini-game-based action titles, with a minor lack of being too less demanding. The cases could be very suspenseful, but for this, the storytelling is too lengthy. In the end, not least the game lives from its exaggerated characters and its, in parts, twisted humor.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Spellforce 3: Reforced is a competent mix of strategy and RPG that even manages to tell an interesting story. With many ways different to play, from cooperative campaigns to competitive matches, this should have been an easy recommendation. Sadly, our extended test period was suffering from several progress-blocking bugs, some dating back all the way to the game’s original release. No matter how refreshing the game is when it works, the knowledge that the next broken quest and mission isn’t far away leaves a bitter taste in the end. We sincerely hope the developers can fix enough of the issues to let the game shine for the gem it can be.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    While drawing you in with an original setting, interesting art and a fun, albeit shallow combat system, Helvetii quickly deflates as the rogue-like elements harm the game more than help it stand out. The reason being that there simply isn’t enough variations to make each run feel distinct, making for an incredibly repetitive experience. The foundation is solid, but Helvetii either needed more content to make runs feel unique or ditch the rogue-like elements to deliver a more hand-crafted brawling experience and deepen the combat with new moves and abilities.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Empire of the Ants isn't your typical RTS-game. Instead it's a wonderful looking experience, that drags you into the life of insects. Despite the great presentation, the game itself suffers from lackluster controls and camera-issues.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    Fitness Circuit concentrates on the essentials and offers us an appealing number of exercises. Unfortunately, there is no resistance option for building up muscles, so that overall the game can only be recommended to fitness noobs who want to get back into shape.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Men in Black: Most Wanted is pretty much what’s on the cover. A fairly generic VR shooter with a pretty well done MIB coat of paint. It’s far from a disappointing VR cash grab, but falls short in terms of new ideas and technical prowess. For fans, it’s safe to grab, but everyone else can wait for a sale.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba The Hinokami Chronicles 2 is a true and worthy successor to the first major video game adaptation of the anime and manga series. The battles are presented in a spectacular and highly impactful way, though the remaining segments—especially exploring and interacting with NPCs—come across as a bit too static for our taste. Nevertheless, fans of the franchise can dive in without hesitation, particularly if they enjoy the arena fighter genre and want to once again experience the adventures of Tanjiro Kamado and his sister Nezuko.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Wario Ware: Get it together delivers a nice bunch of characters within fast paced and creative mini games and challenges. But especially for solo players the game will run out of air in just a few hours. Even with co-op and competitive modes included, the game does not offer long term fun like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or funracer king Mario Kart 8 do.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    With its huge amount of compact and fast mini-games WarioWare: Move it! is an entertaining party game. Solo players can also have some fun in the short story mode, but only when you have at least a second set of Joy-Cons to play together or against others, the game is able to deliver a notable long term motivation.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ghostwire: Tokyo turns out to be a huge disappointment. Despite its fascinating setting and its interesting plot, the open-world-gameplay turns out to be boring and monotone. The overall game lacks variety and depth.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    If you need an excuse to get off of your couch while still playing a game then Just Dance will get you to do that. It offers a wide array of pop music from the last decades and when it works it works almost flawlessly. Unfortunately we had issues with the Controller App every now and then where the app wouldn’t connect or just not pick up our movements. It’s easily fixed but still a bit of a drag. On top of that the menus are a sensory overload that should be able to be navigated a lot more easily.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Sniper Elite: Resistance delivers Rebellions patented action-stealth-experience. While the gameplay remains intense and enjoyable, the presentation and the handling need an overhaul for the next parts of the series.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If you have never played Yakuza 3 before and want to experience it for yourself then Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties is probably the way to go now. It feels modern and the newly added things and story beats fit perfectly fine into the game for the most part. Unfortunately the games engine starts to really show its cracks by now and the amount of reused “new” content is starting to reach a critical point.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    MotoGP 23 is a solid successor fort he racing-series, but has a lot of flaws, that prevent the game from hitting a mainstream-appeal. Presentation outside the races is bland, the career-mode lacks overall depth and the racing-gameplay is still too difficult to attract fresh players.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Princess Peach: Showtime benefits a lot from the idea of wearing different costumes, giving Peach a high variety of special abilities. Like usual for Nintendo games, the game brims over concerning loving details. The very low difficulty level and the partly inappropriate performance prevent the game from a higher score.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Even after more than 20 years Fatal Frame 2 still offers a surprisingly fresh take on combat as well as a very creepy and dense atmosphere. This is paired with a very strong and emotional story about twin sisters that are lost in a forsaken village deep in the Japanese woods. Unfortunately this remake runs at only 30FPS on every console it will be available on which gets in the way of having fun. Pair that with a lack of genuine horror moments, a lot of predictable jump scares and obnoxious film grain and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE becomes a diamond in the rough for fans of the genre only.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Unfortunately, "Cygni" didn't really convince us. Yes, the game looks incredibly good and conjures up a real fireworks display on the screen. And yes, the snappy bullet hell battles are fun. Nevertheless, we felt that the spark of genius that is necessary for a game of this genre was missing. The balance between the difficulty levels isn't really right. The pacing within the missions isn't right for our taste either: "Cygni" keeps us stuck at certain points too often, and far too often these snapshots drag on too much. Then the action game is almost boring despite all its qualities. And the upgrade system and its options could also be more intuitive. All in all, "Cygni: All Guns Blazing" turns out to be a solid action game with some clever approaches and a first-class presentation. However, it is nowhere near as good as classics like "Gradius" and the like.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 66 Critic Score
    The world design is fabulous and the creatures are lovely. The story is moving and topical and the characters have a lot of heart. Despite all of this Creatures of Ava becomes very repetitive very quickly. Puzzles and platforming aren’t especially exciting and the taming of the creatures can become frustrating due to an unwieldy camera. Very soon rescuing the cute and well made critters becomes a chore because it feels like you are just doing everything to check off a list of things you must do to progress further and unlock more areas.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    It feels overwhelming and too complex to play for a few quiet hours, and some of the features and choices are a bit odd. There are some cute animals and even dinosaurs are available with the DLC.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Life is strange 2 is a fantastic story-based 3D adventure around the brothers Sean and Danieldye, which picks up difficult topics like racism and police brutality, but also shows the wonderful side of a growing, bonding brotherhood. Sadly the Nintendo Switch Version seems not to be really tested before the release, so its full of glitches and old graphics, which destroy the gameplay a lot. Overall: great story, but better play it on another platform.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Copycat is a short, emotionally powerful game that leaves a strong impression despite its brief playtime. The storytelling is impactful, but the limited choices can feel restrictive. While the experience is memorable, some themes and emotional intensity may leave players with mixed feelings.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Caravan SandWitch definitely has its heart in the right place and impresses first and foremost with its interesting world and pleasantly relaxed atmosphere. However, uninspired missions and various technical errors hinder this charming adventure game from fully developing its undoubted potential.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 63 Critic Score
    Stalker 2 is not a complete disaster. But the game is much closer to that than it is to a good game. Especially the worse balancing and the poor, faulty AI lead to a high interference to some nice mechanics and typical elements from the predecessors. I you are a die hard fan of the Stalker series it's probably worth taking a look. But if not, there is a very high chance you might regret a purchase.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    When Metal Eden hits it hits hard. Arena fights are extremely fast paced and always require you to be on your toes. Thanks to a lot of tools of destruction it gives you ways to come out on the winning side of seemingly impossible combat situations. Unfortunately almost everything else just drags it down. A very odd game world, heavy framerate issues on PlayStation 5 as well as the use of AI for some voice over leave a very stale taste in your mouth afterwards.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    If you want to experience the two Another Code games in a more or less completely new manner, the Recollection is a great opportunity for doing that. But new puzzles, cutscenes or voiceover can't hide that Another Code Recollection does not look and feel like a high value current game production.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Short game fun for the puzzle in between, which is fun in the family, but lacks long-term motivation and new ideas.
    • GAMES.CH
    • 72 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Dragon Quest Treasures is a solid but not really exciting spin-off of the Dragon Quest series. Eric and Mida are recruiting monsters to find treasures all over Draconia. Graphic and storyline feel old and outdated but at least it's fun to play for some hours, even though the tasks get repetitive after some time.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    RoboCop: Rogue City surprises with beautiful and varied level design, fun shooter gameplay and nice detective quests. However, this is offset by wooden character animations, performance slumps in cutscenes and sound problems. The story stays too close to the movies and fails to add a memorable chapter to the RoboCop universe.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    This prequel ironically feels smaller in scope and ambition than the first game in the series. Road 96 Mile 0 suffers from similar issues when it comes to relying too much on clichés of an evil regime. Some of the choices put before players are downright insulting and boil down to whether we think oppression is "okay" or not. Despite its flaws, it offers some really interesting character moments in the last third and offers some world building that was missing from the original Road 96. Newcomers find a good entry point here, while returning players will find some innovations gone, while other things like the environments have been largely improved.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Directive 8020 delivers entertaining sci-fi horror with strong atmosphere, improved gameplay flow and impressive presentation. However, its predictable story, simplistic mechanics and weak German voice acting prevent Supermassive Games from reaching the heights of its best interactive horror experiences.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince offers a mixed gaming experience. As someone who likes to collect monsters the breeding system caught my attention and it’s fun to catch and collect all the different monsters. However, the game falls short in terms of narrative depth, sporting outdated graphics and encountering performance issues. So I only recommend it to fans of the series and hope they improve their character writing and the overall game performance for the next title.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    My Hero Academia: All's Justice offers fans of the anime series in particular an exciting gaming experience that impresses with its fantastic presentation. Unlike Deku & Co., however, the gameplay fails to transcend its limitations.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Evil Dead: The Game gets enough things right to be enjoyable for a week or two, especially if you’re nostalgic for the franchise. However, it doesn’t offer enough content and variety, especially on the survivor’s side to entertain for a long time. The meager single player challenges hide some neat unlocks but are ultimately more tedious than fun and don’t even come close to make this a viable product for those looking for a purely offline experience. As an online 4v1 asymmetric survival game it brings just enough new to the table to warrant a recommendation without really impressing in any particular area.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    While the concept of Abyssus, a rogue-like co-op shooter with a Bioshock-inspired Brinepunk setting is promising, the execution unfortunately is lacking. What is titled as a 1.0 release feels much more like an Early Access title, with balancing issues, a lot of repeated content (even among rogue-likes) and a barely functioning multiplayer at launch. Every now and then there's a glimpse of a really good game and "Abyssus" might yet come back if the developers iron out the issues.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Flintlock: Siege of Dawn is solid action-adventure-fun, but barely manages to deliver anything really special. While the combat-system and Not's quick movement is the key strength of the game, bland story, characters and enemies harm the overall impression.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Killer Klowns from outer Space - The Game is a solid asymmetrical horror shooter that lacks polish and sometimes liveliness, but not humor.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    If CI Games should solve the performance issues on PS5, Lords of the Fallen is nothing less than one of the best Soulslike games so far. The game might be very similar in some of its basics, but cleverly makes use of its dual-layered game world that makes Lords of the Fallen stand out from the often trite Dark Souls clones. When the slowdown problem is gone, Lords of the Fallen isn't just a worth buy, it is a need to buy for any fan of the genre.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 66 Critic Score
    Gods Will Fall has some interesting ideas and on first glance the dynamic story events and risk-rewarding combat system are promising, but the game fails to provide meaningful variation. The design of the world and its cruel and twisted inhabitants are noteworthy, but sadly the gameplay fails to match the promising art design. As harsh as it sounds, there are just too many better rogue-likes on the market for this one to compete.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Code Vein 2 delivers a more accessible take on the Soulslike formula, combining decent anime visuals with a forgiving combat system and a story-driven time-travel twist. While the game offers solid boss fights and deep character customization, technical issues and uneven level design hold it back from greatness. It may not redefine the genre, but it remains an enjoyable experience for Soulslike fans with a taste for anime aesthetics.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Solo Leveling: Arise is a convincing, easy-to-play action game with a slick combat system and great presentation. However, the sometimes miserably long grind, the gacha mechanics and other weaknesses prevent Jin-Woo from reaching the highest level in this version of his gripping adventure.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Being the first big box-simulation after 14 years, Undisputed certainly does a solid job to reestablish boxing in gaming. The boxing-simulation may be a bit rough and pure around the edges but delivers in the ring with great atmosphere and intense bouts.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 54 Critic Score
    When a game has a title like Squirrel with a Gun you probably know what you are in for. It is very silly and absurd. That is the game's selling point. It completely delivers on that front. It however doesn’t really deliver when it comes to playing the game. While it’s easy to come to terms with the wonky physics, subpar technical aspects and not much content to dig into, the controls are what makes the game a chore to play. Still there is certainly fun to be had just based on the incredible premise itself.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Riding a futuristic hoverboard on a desolate and alien planet while listening to atmospheric tunes feels awesome, is a ton of fun and doesn’t get old. Otherwise Star Overdrive is a mostly fine bag of different elements. Combat and platforming are not outstanding, take a while to get used to but ultimately work just fine. The puzzles and the implementation of new abilities is fun and brings a good amount of variety. Crafting and leveling up your character does feel either overcomplicated or too barren though. Overall it is a fun experience especially if you allow yourself to be taken along with the interesting and loneliness-inducing story.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    The basic idea with the time crystals is great and provides the combat system a special tactical aspect. The graphics look nice and Crisbell is a pleasant heroine. But while there is nothing that really makes Cris Tales stand out of the JRPG genre, there are also some annoying weaknesses concerning balancing and comfort that can't be justified by trying to be classic.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Deliver Us Mars proves, that its predecessor has not been just a flash in the pan. Developer KeokeN Interactive delivers a nice sequel with a twistful story, a pleasant heroine and a comparatively diversdye gameplay. At least, if you're a fan of Deliver Us the Moon, you need to get the sequel as well.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    The Daima expansion for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot ventures into fresh territory with a charmingly youthful cast, a lovingly crafted demon realm, and a more dynamic ground-based combat system reminiscent of classic brawlers. While its atmosphere and gameplay innovations shine, the DLC suffers from its two-part structure, ending just as the story gains momentum, and is occasionally frustrating due to unbalanced boss fights and frequent enemy hordes.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    While being a solid experience it is somehow stuck in between arcade and simulation. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 isn't really one nor the other and thus makes it hard to recommend to either casual and core gamers.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Miasma Chronicles could have been a great tactics game, because it has anything, it needs for that. But the game throws a wrench in the works with its bad balanced normal difficulty level, that should be too difficult for most gamers, while it's too easy below that level.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    In Deliver at All Costs the fun is more about chaos and destruction and one absurd mission following another. That's fine, especially if you get nostalgic feelings because of the isometric perspective. But as a game it's average quality at most and loses much because of its poor car controls.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is a double-edged sword, so to speak. On the one hand, it captures the fast-paced action of the anime hit excellently in the multiplayer battles. However, newcomers to SAO may have their fun spoiled by the old-fashioned elements and repetitive missions.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Arietta of Spirits is a cute, sterotypical action adventure, which tells a meaningful and emotional Story about friendship, family and death. Arietta fights together with her new spirit friend Arco for a better world and try to defeat the monsters which hunts the little island. Eventhough you can play through the story in about five hours, you can choose different difficulty levels and enjoy the game again.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    In some regards Slitterhead is fantastic. It offers an engaging story told through the perspective of several characters, a simple yet fun combat system that excels through the ability to possess different people at any moment and super cool monster design in the Slitterheads. Unfortunately a lot of the other aspects feel very underbaked. Stealth isn’t engaging at all and sometimes kills all the momentum the game had going, the controls are always snappy enough for what you want to do and some aspects of the presentation feel very oldschool. As a package the game is a lot of fun though and offers a glimpse into what the developers at Bokeh Game Studio are able to do in the future. That is certainly bright and hopefully brings more somewhat unique titles like Slitterhead certainly is.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Inayah: Life After Gods is a good looking, classical Metroidvania that combines combat and pathfinding with varied use of gadgets. But platforming is too demanding compared to the weak combat. And also beside that the game is far from the perfection of games like Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Hardcore fans might love it, but there is no obligation to play it even for genre enthusiasts.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection is a nice collection for nostalgics and fans of the early days, but it's just a classic port - many of the games can only be played today with thick nostalgic glasses. We expected more adjustments in a game that came out at full price.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    As an unique blend of role-playing game and strategy in a 1920s prohibition setting, Empire of Sin is most definitely an ambitious title. Sadly, some balancing issues, a very poor tutorial and a spreadsheet-nightmare of a user interface are holding the game back from ever being as fun as it wants to be. Empire of Sin is by no means beyond redemption, but it is also a far cry from an offer that we can’t refuse. Strategy veterans will easily exploit the poor AI, while more casual players will hit a brick wall trying to solve the obtuse economic puzzle that the game so poorly explains.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Shadow Labyrinth is a good Metroidvania with a well made, atmospheric setting, nice presentation, cool designed bossfights and appealing platforming that does not suffer, but also does not really benefit from the Pac-Man crossover. Because the fixed difficulty level is a little too high, we can mostly recommend the game to purists of the genre.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    Despite its high ambitions, the game cannot hide its presumably small budget. Instead of the infinite freedoms of space, we spend seven hours in confined spaces. We shoot at an average level and successfully apply smaller VR elements. At least the story entertains well. Finally, technical shortcomings also lead to the price-performance ratio not being right.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is great where it really counts. Building traps and setting up elaborate killboxes using a variety of traps and status effects is incredibly satisfying. The 3rd-Person Action is serviceable but does not excel. Unfortunately controlling the menus on a controller is an absolute pain and feels very slow, imprecise and often just plain bad.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Painkiller is a completely solid co-op-shooter for three players that offers fast and fluid gameplay with some generic but ultimately varied and fun guns. Unfortunately everything else falls mostly flat. The look, level design, the story and characters are boring or very repetitive. If you can convince two of your friends to also get the game you will still have some very enjoyable and action-filled hours battling almost unending hordes of demons.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    In a world where the genre of simulators is as broad as jobs are in the real world“Quarantine Zone: The Last Check manages to stand out. The core gameplay loop of checking for symptoms and getting rid of infected as well as managing your checkpoint is fun, engaging and addictive. Unfortunately the rest of the game suffers from rather weak graphics and sounds as well as hard to navigate menus that dull the general enjoyment of the game.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    The Patrick Star Game is just like its main character: chaotic, funny and sometimes a little uncouth. The many rough edges of the open-world adventure cannot be denied, but amidst the chaos there is also a game that has respect for its source material as well as something that both young and older fans can enjoy.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    AI Limit is a good debut from the young team at SenseGames with an interesting sci-fi world full of mysteries that motivate you to keep playing, as well as a tactically challenging combat system. However, various problems prevent the Soulslike from reaching its full potential.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    If you love Tron then you will probably quickly fall in love with Tron: Catalyst. Characters, missions, world and lore are oozing with love and care for everything that Tron is. Unfortunately most of the gameplay can’t hold up to that. Combat is middling, the upgrade system is boring and while the time travel via your Glitch powers are exciting they are also extremely linear and narrow. This goes for the many dialogues that you’ll have as well. While freedom is suggested it doesn’t actually exist. Still: Tron: Catalyst is Tron to the bone and if you’re into that you will find a lot to love.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    In summary, Payday 3 shows promise with its solid core mechanics, but suffers from server issues, matchmaking problems, and a lack of content at the time of the review. Character progression is slow and frustrating, and there’s a need for improvements and additional content to enhance the overall experience. Subscribers to the Xbox Gamepass may find it worth trying out, but the game falls short of its potential.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Star Overdrive is a fresh take on the action adventure genre and it combines puzzle solving, fighting with high speed hoverboard action. In the end the mix was maybe too much to handle and it would have benefited from focusing on just one gameplay element.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Not unlike Realmforges’ Dungeons series, Starbase Startopia seeks to bring back an early 2000s classic with very little in terms of new ideas. While it is at times very fun, there simply isn’t much this title offers beyond the setting and the questionable humor. Even the latter seems like someone just randomly picked pop-culture references and ran them through a GLaDOS voice generator. The actual strategy game can be fun, especially with another person to keep you company, but unless you are starved for a new strategy-sim title, you can skip this one without missing much.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Confusing for newbies, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters hooks all genre fans. While it seems dated in many ways, it touches on red-hot topics surrounding influencers and AI, as well as media addiction. For this reason, a recommendation to play at least a little while.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Sword Art Online: Last Recollection is definitely worth a look for fans of the anime series with its fresh story approach and offers a thoroughly interesting look at some of the events of the show's third season. However, the action RPG can never fully exploit its potential, be it in terms of story, gameplay or quest design. Thus, the game clearly falls short of its possibilities.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Cat Rescue Story lures you in with its cute cats and cozy atmosphere but it sadly lacks the depth and variety to keep you around.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Mother Machine unleashes the Gremlins on the world and brings a sweet change into the gray everyday life. Even if the single-player mode quickly becomes repetitive and not particularly exciting, the multiplayer mode makes the game all the more worthwhile. If you're looking for an entertaining game for a group of friends, you'll find it here.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Starship Troopers: Extermination is a one trick pony whose one trick is almost perfectly creating the feeling of being overwhelmed by an unrelenting horde of alien bugs. While the package as a whole, especially the sparse selection of maps and modes and the laughably bad singleplayer, is nothing remarkable, when Starship Troopers: Extermination fires on all cylinders, it can be immensely entertaining to the right type of player. Let’s hope they can build out on that strength more than they did during Early Access.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    While Akimbot doesn’t do much to iterate on the Ratchet and Clank formula, it does a good job at capturing the fluid movement and combat. It’s lacking a little in depth and true variety and instead focuses on a rather mundane story and surprisingly unlikable characters. With some more variety and depth in the selection of weapons as well as more intricate level designs, a sequel could fill a much needed gap in modern gaming though.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    With Atlas Fallen, Deck13 delivers a fine and highly customizable hack-and-slay-like combat system. There is generally a great gameplay-flow, too. But with its partly blank game world and weak story the game can't fulfill the highest demands for an action RPG.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    A god of war in training, still far from his later primal power and visual impact. Even limited to two dimensions, Kratos performs quite well overall. However, a certain lack of clarity, little innovation, and a difficulty level that is not always balanced could have been avoided, which would have significantly enhanced this appetizer until the next regular “God of War” release.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 54 Critic Score
    AEW Fight Forever turns out to be a huge letdown. The overall experience suffers from the lack of gameplay-polish and the amount of bugs and glitches. While the game delivers some high recognition-value, it fails to live up to the promise of delivering a nostalgic arcade-wrestling-game.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Good points that lack the overarching structure to be fully realised: Ghostbusters VR would probably have worked better as an adult-oriented game with a dedicated campaign. As it is, the game is only suitable for short play sessions, and the long-term motivation is unlikely to be there for most gamers.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    FBC: Firebreak feels like a really solid pitch. Sadly, the game at release doesn’t progress past the pitch and never feels fully complete. The lack of variety in the repetitive missions, the barebones character customization and lack of any of Remedy’s interesting stories makes this very hard to recommend. While on its own it’s far from the worst game ever, it simply cannot compare to any of its competitors, even at their launch, let alone in their current state after many updates.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Crown Wars: The Black Prince fascinates with its historical dark fantasy setting and entertains with its fast-paced and tactically demanding turn-based gameplay. However, a few minor missteps and major technical errors diminish the enjoyment of the game, leaving some of the potential unused.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    The parkour and combat systems are worth developing further. Unfortunately, the developers fail to embed this groundbreaking approach into a convincing overall concept. Great moments are repeatedly thwarted by a lack of polish, a dull game world and an incredibly sluggish story.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Build on the rocky foundation of Dynasty Warriors 9, Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires is inherently flawed, both when it comes to its technical aspects as well as its gameplay variety. With only siege battles throughout the entire campaign, you’d think that the streamlined combat and barebones graphics would be enough to break the game’s back but they didn’t. Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires manages to cleverly link battles, relationships with other officers and empire-management together into an addictive gameplay loop that works despite all its glaring flaws. The game can be a lot of fun, even if pleasure is as guilty as it's always been with the series.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Tamagotchi Plaza has refreshing minigames, some of which we haven't seen before. Unfortunately, the motivation to play quickly fades, and a touch control option would have been beneficial for some games.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    SPYxANYA: Operation Memories is a short-term very cute activity for fans of anime with children, which unfortunately mainly suffers from the repetitive gameplay and lack of story.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    While Skull & Bones is far from the worst game ever made, it completely fails in conveying its vision of becoming a legendary pirate captain. Instead, it chases every conceivable gaming trend from excessive crafting, battle passes and hands-off story telling and leaves next to no impact whatsoever. Even among Ubisoft titles, often mocked for their bland sandbox approach, “Skull & Bones” seemingly perfected the blandness with a sparse few highlights when environment, multiplayer and ship combat all click into place and reveal a wealth of untapped potential.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Chocobo GP is a charming racing game, but with a huge problem called Mario Kart 8. The Square Enix clone is far away from being a bad game and with its relation to the Final Fantasy universe probably more appealing for some gamers than Nintendo's genre top dog. But there is no other aspect, Chocobo GP is better or even close to its paragon. So the truth is, you need to be heavily bored of Mario Kart, being able to consider Chocobo GP as a strongly useful alternative.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Wildcat Gunmachine shows that nothing can replace the spark of creativity when it comes to designing a game. Despite being technically competent, this game feels completely hollow and lifeless. It’s the absolute bare minimum of a product that simply cannot with other similar games out there. It feels almost cynical in its minimalism, taking heavy inspiration from other games without understanding what made those fun to play to begin with.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fashion Dreamer is a simple game and far away from mainstream. But if you have a preference for fashion and relaxed life simulation or social game, this Switch exclusive could be exactly the right game for you.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Concord isn't a bad game. It's a solid hero-shooter with appropriate gunplay and movement. With the right squad by your side, the 5v5-matches are solid fun. Yet again, Concord plays it very safe and doesn't stand out in any department against free-to-play-competitors like Valorant or Apex Legends.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    The minigames luckily do ramp up at least a bit in terms of challenge and offer a fun little distraction if you don't go in expecting anything groundbreaking. However, we can't overlook the steep pricing when comparing price vs. amount and quality of content. So only the most ardent Pokémon fans as well as smaller kids might really enjoy this for longer than a handful of hours.

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