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.

Humankind is a solid strategy game, which doesn’t change the underlying formula of building and management games. The visuals are pretty and the systems deep enough to sink some time into it. Where it shines is the possibilities to design your own culture, society and religion - with all the implications this has for diplomacy, trade and war. Genre fans should have a look at this interpretation, but if you don’t like these kind of games, there won’t be anything for you here regardless.

The Sims 4 - Landhaus-Leben lets you become self-sufficient and cuddle a lot with cute animals. Despite the lack of breeding possibilities, a successful add-on with many innovations.

The Siege of Paris rounds up a great Season Pass offer for Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Especially the expanded optional stealth approaches within the main quest make the DLC feel more like a classic Assassin's Creed game. There are some minor technical issues on PS5, but they don't ruin a great experience at all.

Samurai Warriors 5 doesn’t do much to change up the Warriors-formula, but instead distills the pure, casual fun of slicing your way through thousands of enemies to its core. Thanks to a new graphic style and an excellent technical performance, this series has never run or looked better than on the Series X. It is a bit disappointing that the roster of 37 heroes is limited by the 16 weapons they all share, but when standing on its own, without the knowledge of past titles, this game absolutely offers enough content to justify its price and is an absolute blast to play for fans of this particular niche.

Cool, stylish and with an action-packed combat system: NEO is refreshingly different and, despite small weaknesses, convinces with a (reaper) game of life and death.

Sky: Children of light is a fantastic looking adventure, where you can fly and explore a magical world. Communication happens over emotes and you can find friends by taking their hands. It's a free to play game with the options to purchase style items for real money.

The new hero is likeable immediately. With exciting cases, enormous length and witty dialogue we have little to object here. The investigation with Herlock Sholmes falls flat compared to the trial scenes though.

When Pokémon GO meets the strong storytelling of The Witcher, a very entertaining role-playing-AR-smartphone-game comes out in which you cover a few (kilo-) meters.

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.

Death’s Door fails to live up to its intriguing premise. The quirky, wonderful world to explore full of unique characters is held back by uninspired gameplay and repetitive combat. In a world where games like Hollow Knight and Hyperlight Drifter attempt a similar mix of Zelda and Souls-like elements, Death’s Door simply doesn’t offer anything new aside from its interesting personalities. The game is still a fun experience for fans of this style of game, especially at the low price, yet the journey won’t be nearly as memorable as others.

Skyward Sword has never been one of the top games of the Zelda series, but with it's unique setting and sword fighting mechanic it's still a great action adventure. Essentially the HD version on Switch doesn't change anything about that. There is more comfort as on Wii, but also Nintendo could have done more for bringing the graphics in the year 2021. Nevertheless the game is a must play for Zelda fans, at least for those, who did not play the original so far.

Despite some flaws, Codemasters delivers the total package with F1 2021. A huge amount of options and licensed content are only topped by the superb handling and the great graphics – especially on PS5. F1 2021 sets its own bar a bit higher than before, without being a revolutionary on its own right.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is an excellent J-RPG in the Monster Hunter universe. The game maintains the fundamental game mechanics from its predecessor but delivers more depth and demanding elements at the same time. Said that, Wings of Ruin is still beginner-friendly, never sacrificing the fun for just being a challenge to pro gamers, and that's a good thing.

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.

Disgaea 6 combines its typical SRPG charm with numerous simplifications for newcomers, which may make the game a little too fast.

Mario isn't just the king of Jump And Run, but also the master of fun sport games. Seven years after the last part of the series Nintendo delivers a worthy sequel on Switch, that might not displace Mario Kart 8 from it's pole position, but that's still a joy to play, on your own as well as online.

Scarlet Nexus convinces with a great story, which is meaningfully interwoven with the abilities of the characters and the unique opponent design.

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.

Legend of Mana is a game with a lot of heart that genre fans will enjoy. Great locations, co-op, replayability, as well as memorable quests and characters are just a few of the reasons that more than justify the asking price.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance isn't a bad game, but it is also far away from being a good one. Probably it's a little bit better, if you play it in co-op mode with your friends, what we couldn't check yet. But we are sure also then nothing will change something about the middle-rate quality in almost any aspect.

Be a superhero girl and save Metropolis. DC Superhero Girls: Teen Power is a typical action adventure, which was surprisingly fun to play. Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl and her friends need to face a new threat: Robots and evil toys. The storyline is quite close to the original series on Netflix, same as the artstyle of the characters. The music of the the game is neither bad, nor good, quite average background music. The cutscenes in comparison are really lovely, all voiced over and with cute animations. The biggest surprise was, how different it feels to play each superhero or supervillain. Each character really has her own playstyle. Sadly we also have some critics: since mostly younger kids will play this game, why do we need an ingame social media called “Supersta”, where you need a certain amount of followers and likes to unluck some of the sidequests? The game would have had enough content without it. Instead they could have programmed a local multiplayer, so the parents could help on difficult missions, some of them are quite tricky. Especially the fly ability feels a bit clunky and hard to steer. Overall DC Superhero Girls: Teen Power can be recommended to all DC fans and fans of the Netflix series. If your kid wants to play it and your kid is still quite young, we recommend to play the game with him or her, since some missions are quite hard and it could be frustrating otherwise.

Optically completely convincing 2D fighting game, which especially wants to give beginners a platform to get into the franchise.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is nothing less than the best part of the series so far. And that means a great deal after several great predecessors on PlayStation consoles. It is not just concerning the next-gen dignified technical implementation on PS5 or Rift Apart's humorous story with its likeable heroes. Just every aspect of the game, including gunplay and riddles, works well and neat together.

It saddens us to see a game with such potential, fall so far from grace. The gunplay and weapon variety kept us coming back for more, but every time we played one of the mind-numbingly boring side missions to grind for the expensive upgrades, we regretted our decision to turn on the console. Some aspects are fixable, no doubt and eventually Necromunda: Hired Gun might be worth your time. Reviewing the product at hand though,we cannot recommend Necromunda: Hired Gun above pretty much any other shooter that came out in recent memory. It sadly seems the Warhammer curse has claimed another victim.

Miitopia on Switch remains a charming RPG adventure with felicitous Mii integration, but also with unchallenging gameplay for everyone. There are some new or revised elements like the mount and better graphics, even so the game stays mostly the same. If you are a newcomer to Miitopia, it's a worth buy on Switch, if a flowing and relaxed experience is more important for you than demanding aspects. But if you played the original game, there is not much that could convince you purchasing Miitopia again.

Biomutant finally became the indie pearl, many gamers had hoped for. The game might not be as polished as a triple-a blockbuster, but with much blood, sweat and tears Experiment 101 delivers an adorable mixtur of open-world action, faeri tale and wonderful art style that outshines most of its minor weaknesses. Caution: Don't play it on Xbox One S or the older version of the console because of the game's poor performance on these devices.

Despite a few now-outdated design decisions, we were positively surprised how well these games hold up after over 3 decades. The effort that was put into the updated presentation together with the well-written stories and characters make this a package well worth your time.

Despite a few now-outdated design decisions, we were positively surprised how well these games hold up after over 3 decades. The effort that was put into the updated presentation together with the well-written stories and characters make this a package well worth your time.

Knockout City is the fun version of a dodgeball game that you can only play online. Despite the easy-to-learn gameplay, beginners may quickly lose interest thanks to difficult balancing.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition might not be a remaster like the brilliant PS4 version of Shadow of the Colossus. But the first part of the trilogy, in particular, benefits from the visual update, higher resolution, better textures, new effects and also from its improvements in gameplay and interface. Including the fact that the Mass Effect trilogy itself remains one of the richest RPG scenarios of all time, it's easy to recommend the Legendary Edition to fans and genre connoisseurs in general as well.

Subnautica: Below Zero is an excellent game, held back mostly by the inevitable comparison to its groundbreaking predecessor. This sequel doesn’t change much but deepens the focus on storytelling combined with above-water exploration. This is no doubt one of the best survival games I’ve ever played, which is why I would have loved to see more of it, more vehicles, an even more ambitious story with actual NPCs and a world that didn’t feel so familiar after playing the previous game. Either way, this is an absolute must-play for any fan of the original and a good starting point for anyone who found Subnautica’s pacing too slow.

The PvP duels in Lost Centuria offer a lot of depth and reward players who grapple with the different monster abilities and spells, the counter mechanic, the upgrade system, the element dependencies and the setup of formations. Matchmaking also worked pretty well and the game - at least for now - allowed good progress without investing real money. It’s just a shame that story elements take a back seat here.

Resident Evil Village maintains some of the basic mechanics of its predecessor, but simultaneously refines and modernizes the gameplay with a new, improved progress system and stronger open world components. The direct sequel to Ethan Winter's adventure also has some strong links to Resident Evil 4 and combines established elements of the classic with a new inventory and crafting system, that leads to more comfort, without reducing the survival horror atmosphere or the so important lack of resources of the genre. Resident Evil Village is also the best-looking part of the series, with the best stage quality and perhaps with the most thrilling story yet. It's not a perfect game, but still one of the best Resident Evil games yet and absolutely a must- buy for every fan of the series and this type of game.

Dead Nation developer Housemarque doesn't fail with Returnal, but also can't thrill the gaming world with its ambitious Roguelike shooter. Aside from its promising start, the game increasingly disqualifies itself for a more general audience by walking a fine line between being mercilessly tough and frustrating. Nevertheless for hardcore gamers Returnal is still worth playing.

Concerning its gameplay mechanics, New Pokémon Snap is nearly as thin as the N64 original. But that does not reduce the captured fascination of the well-animated and diverse pocket monsters and especially not the fun while playing the game. Developer Bandai Namco did a good job and delivers a non-action focused Pokémon adventure on switch, that at least every fan of the franchise needs to play.

The tactical elements still seem a bit unfinished. On the race track, however, MotoGP 21 delivers and meets our expectations. The best edition so far.

Judgment aims to show a different side of the “Yakuza” universe but falls short of innovating in really meaningful ways. The new detective elements are superficially fun, but quickly devolve into tediousness. The true strength lies with its story and characters and the lively world full of side quests and mini games. While Judgment is an impressive game both technically and mechanically, it falls short of really pushing the limits of the established Yakuza formula.

Story, setting and main characters are still engaging. The fighting system is faster and more handy than in the original. And there are also some new quests and enemies that insert seamlessly into the game. Concurrently the weak points basically remain the same including too much there and back together with much better, but still behind the times, graphics. But overall, there are more good reasons to (re-)visit NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... than against.

Innerspace VR proves once again how a game concept works in VR. It's fun to always find new larvae fragments, because of course you absolutely want to penetrate into large temples of majestic splendor. We give Maskmaker a clear must-play recommendation.

Battle Brothers is a dense and realistic tactical roleplaying game that offers almost endless replay value with randomly generated campaigns. Leading your band of mercenaries into battle may not be visually impressive, but the depth of combat and the degree of customization makes this an incredibly addictive game to play on the go. The switch may just be the perfect platform for a title like this that always lures players with the next reward around the corner.

On Playstation 5, Tony Hawk continues where we left him last autumn. Thanks to improved loading times, we can now also enjoy the fluid frame rate, grippy controls and great music faster than ever.

With its high dynamic fighting system and various combat combos Outriders creates a unique and stylish look and feel within the 3rd person action genre. Above that the game provides an entertaining and extensive loot shooter experience for solo players and co-op fans as well. But the weak story and some minor balance issues prevent Outriders from an absolute recommendation.

Revised for VR with stunning ghost train effects this slightly aged classic pumps some fresh blood through its steel veins. Doom 3 VR makes a good party game with splatter and jump scare galore although a halfway convincing story or witty ideas are still missing. On your trip to hell and back again you won't need them anyway.

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.

It Takes Two takes a lot of inspiration from Disney Pixar and transports story and emotion into a 3D-puzzle-platformer. The level designs work perfectly with co-op-gameplay, which also is reflected in the story of May and Cody. It Takes Two comes at a perfect time and is an adventure that will warm your heart.

Even after its fantastic predecessor Monster Hunter Rise is far away from disappointing. The Palamute feature proves itself as an enrichment, making things faster and more comfortable. The wirebug enhances the variety of brute monster combat and exploration. There is just one weakness preventing the game from reaching outstanding Monster Hunter World on eye level: Overall, it's a little bit too easy for experienced gamers, especially related to the dual buddy system.

The game doesn't dare to make any groundbreaking innovations, but maybe that's why it can pull the player into its farming-loop. However, the loading times and the pocket UI could be improved a bit.

Mundaun especially knows how to convince with its artistic look, which is completely hand-painted. A folkloric horror fairy tale from Switzerland that you may not forget that quickly because of its calm nature.

Harvest Moon One World lives up to its name and lets players travel through a world with different climate zones and challenges. There are countless plants to grow, which creates the typical farming pull very well. It would be a good game if quest givers didn't just fade away and someone would put more effort into the graphics.

Pacer is a glorious return to the F-Zero-style arcade racer. Mixing both familiar and new ideas, this racing game offers new tracks, events and upgrades constantly and keeps us coming back for more. While the menus could have used a bit more polish, the racing itself is stellar. Rarely ever has racing felt this intuitive and fun.

Supercross 4 is another solid entry in the popular racing genre. Its lackluster career and the fairly steep learning curve however is stopping the racing game from accelerating further.

While Mortal Shell cannot completely fill the big shoes of "Dark Souls", it is an impressive debut by Cold Symmetry. We especially liked the unique art design and the motivating battle system and are looking forward to a successor.

Measured against the extreme expectations, Cyberpunk 2077 can't fulfill any of them. But all in all, despite the countless small weaknesses and inconsistences, with interesting characters, great story and dialogues or the freedom concerning gameplay, CD Projekt delivers a unique and great RPG that every fan of the genre needs to play.

Chronos: Before the Ashes is the console re-release of the Oculus Rift title Chronos set a couple of years before “Remnant: From the Ashes”, this game sets players on a perilous journey across foreign world. In this, the game manages to capture the spirit of old adventure games such as “Tomb Raider” with its many intricate, yet intuitive puzzles. It’s by no means perfect and the “souls”-inspired combat can be tedious at times. Yet this little gem knows how to balance action and exploration and just as players have seen it all, it ends. This was an incredibly satisfying journey to take and leaves us excited to see what developer Gunfire Games is working on in the future.

FIFA 21 for Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S is definitely best and most beautiful version of this years FIFA-outing. It gives a glimpse on things, that can become a big thing in the next couple of years, but also fails to make changes on certain lackluster gameplay-features of the game.

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.

Whether it’s the great scenario design packed with routes and opportunities, the well written story missions, the many funny surprises, the attractive presentation or the motivating reward system - Hitman 3 combines familiar strengths with some new ideas like the shortcut system and the sadly PlayStation exclusive VR mode. Still, Hitman 3 is not free from criticism. This mainly concerns AI quirks, smaller logical errors and missing PlayStation Move controls in VR.

The characters in Atelier Ryza 2 have grown up, but haven't lost any of their charm. The basic principles of the typical Atelier formula have been retained and the developers added new gameplay elements. Unfortunately, they are not all 100% suitable.

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.

Are you ready for a séance? The "Paranormale Phänomene" accessories pack offers all The Sims 4 players the opportunity to connect with the deceased. In addition to necromancy, you can even take a new job (paranormal developer) and hunt ghosts professionally.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood might not be the best adaption of the franchise possible, but Cyanide still proves having notion of the pen & paper rpg. The core competence of the game is the spectacular and bloody beast action. Although there are some balance issues, poor AI and undistinguished graphics, the game is worth playing not only for Werewolf fans.

Despite some rather annoying trial-&-error sections and puzzles which feel a bit too easy, Little Nightmares 2 managed to excite us from start to finish. Visuals are great, sound design is awesome, gameplay offers a fair amount of variety and the environmental story-telling again works excellent. Sadly this scary adventure is already over after roughly seven hours.

Fast paced Musou battles combined with the typical Persona 5 elements take you on a wild, stylish ride. Perfect for everyone who found P5 too lengthy. Strikers is cool, fast, and a little shambolic.

Bowser's Fury is much more than just a bonus. Despite the fact that it is relatively short, it still feels like a fully fleshed Mario jump and run. Packed with the great main game including the long missed online co-op mode Super Mario 3D World + Bowers's Fury is a must have for every Switch user.