With Asterigos: Curse of the Stars it can often feel like you’re doing one step forward and two steps back. The game has its moments of brilliance, both in gameplay and presentation, but often stumbles along the way. The combat feels satisfying, but the flexibility offered through the six different fighting styles is quickly limited through expensive upgrades and weapon-specific skill trees. Similarly while the game offers some cinematic and downright impressive views, especially during some of the bossfights, the vast majority of the Roman and Greek inspired city feels empty and repetitive, making exploration more of a chore than a highlight. Overall the lows and highs hold each other in balance, offering an enjoyable but mostly forgettable experience that, thanks to its solid combat, still counts among the better re-interpretations of the Dark Souls formula.

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.

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.

Rollerdrome is a celebration of the mantra “easy to learn, hard to master”, except even the beginning stages require advanced levels of hand-eye-coordination that may challenge a more casual audience. Despite having various, commendable options for difficulty and accessibility, at the core, Rollerdome is aimed at a niche of hardcore players that love chasing highscore and chasing the elusive “perfect run”. While certainly not to everyone’s taste, Rollerdrome is absolutely stellar at what it does and lands its killer combo with a stylish presentation and a banging soundtrack.

In Life Is Strange, Maxine Caulfield makes a successful return in another exciting crime adventure with supernatural elements. Despite the timeline mechanics, the gameplay remains shallow. However, the game effortlessly makes up for this shortcoming in terms of narrative and atmosphere.

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.

Resident Evil 7 was a return to form for the franchise, and while one could argue that a horror game is best experienced on a big screen, being able to carry this horror masterpiece around in your pocket has a charm of its own.

Rise of the Rōnin is a great action RPG with an intense combat mechanic, a strong and captivating story line and a huge and diverse open world. The weak spot is the balancing. Because despite there being three difficulty levels, some missions and especially some boss fights are too hard, even on the mid and the lowest difficulty setting.

Knockout Home Fitness is what it says on the box: A martial arts move training game. It is, in my opinion, not a full-fledged fitness program. Yes, there are daily sessions composed by an AI, but these mainly target the arm and torso muscles. But if you use Knockout Home Fitness as a daily reminder to stretch in your home office and improve circulation, it is perfect.

Raccoin adds a delightfully physical element to the booming gambling rogue-like genre. Where games like Balatro are mostly cerebral, Raccoin finds a new and addictive mix between strategy, skill and luck. With a treasure trove of special coins, all interacting with each other in unique ways, we can't help but lose all of our hard earned money to the charming virtual raccoon.

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.

With their open world concept of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Game Freak does a great job! Nearly from the start on, the players are free to explore the diverse region of Paldea and in the way, in which order they want to deal with the main story mission branches. There is some room for having an imbalanced gaming experience in that. But thanks to a clever world design with some natural boundaries the game is as good (or worse) as its predecessors on that point. The biggest weak spot consists of the technical flaws mainly based on the limited hardware power of Switch. Still these imperfections can't ruin an overall great experience Pokémon fans will love.

Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a charming little adventure that brings back childhood memories of carefree summer holidays. The beautifully drawn landscapes paired with the classic Shin chan humour is bound to put a smile on your face no matter what.

What began as an indie demo more than a decade ago has evolved into a well-crafted piece of art that is anything but ordinary. If you have never played The Stanley Parable before, this Ultra Deluxe release now gives you one less excuse.

Planet of Lana 2 succeeds exactly where it matters most. It keeps building of a solid foundation laid by the first game, but expands the scope of both the puzzles and the story without leaving behind the uniquely meditative atmosphere. It’s an absolute must for fans of the first game and those who are looking for a more positive spin on genre favourites like Inside or Reanimal.

While the discussion on which Final Fantasy game is the best of all time usually centers around parts 6 and 7, Final Fantasy IV is a great game in its own right. A great throwback to a time when JRPGs were a lot different than today.

Civilization VII is a great 4X-Game and a fresh start for the series. It however is far from perfect, which harms the overall experience at first. Civilization VII needs time, but gets better with every hour and eventually turns out to be a motivating, complex and enjoyable part of the series.

Borderlands 4 doesn’t reinvent the wheel but expands the chaotic loot-shooter formula with faster gameplay, creative weapons, and a larger, more varied world. While the story and enemy variety still leave room for improvement, the dynamic combat, hilarious tone, and strong co-op potential keep the experience fun and addictive. Fans of the series will feel right at home, and newcomers willing to embrace the madness will find plenty to enjoy.

The offered amount of playable characters, arenas and unique game modes could be better. But each match in Mario Strikers: Battle League Football plays differently, even against the AI. The game is easy to learn but difficult to master, why there is a natural long-term motivation, especially when you play it online. In addition to that, the equipment system gives you the chance to individualize your team heroes. A great fun-sport game for anyone, if you like soccer or not.

Ghostrunner II is an adrenaline-pumping tour de force full of brutal sword fights, challenging platformer passages and high-speed motorbike races. Apart from minor weaknesses, you can expect one of the best (and most difficult) action games of the year.

With their open world concept of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Game Freak does a great job! Nearly from the start on, the players are free to explore the diverse region of Paldea and in the way, in which order they want to deal with the main story mission branches. There is some room for having an imbalanced gaming experience in that. But thanks to a clever world design with some natural boundaries the game is as good (or worse) as its predecessors on that point. The biggest weak spot consists of the technical flaws mainly based on the limited hardware power of Switch. Still these imperfections can't ruin an overall great experience Pokémon fans will love.

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.

Both the jokes and puns as well as most of the puzzles can be enjoyed by people of almost all ages. Duck Detective: The Secret Salami offers a short narrative that doesn’t overstay its welcome and is for the most part very engaging for two to three hours. The English voicecast is fantastic but with the text only being available in English as well it’s unfortunately not accessible all around the world.

The simple yet addictive roguelike-gameplay predictably works as good as ever in the Apple Arcade version of this indie hit. If you have yet to play the game, Vampire Survivors+ is a great place to do so with the lack of any in-game monetization and the inclusion of 2 DLCs.

A successfully pimped up classic with a speed boost that may appear a little too modern for retro fans and a little too old-fashioned for contemporary players. Nevertheless, the short story structure, fantastic soundtrack, and meaningful gameplay innovations are sure to impress.

Jagged Alliance 3 is a masterful blend of different genres. At the surface level it’s a tactical shooter with some heavy simulation elements, but it expands during the lengthy campaign into deep strategic elements, managing multiple troops of soldiers and deepening your bond to those colorful and satirized mercenaries with surprisingly well-crafted and deep roleplay elements as well. The lack of hand-holding or in-depth tutorials may add to the struggle for survival for some, but also adds a steep learning curve and hefty barrier of entry to an otherwise extraordinary game.

Fans will feel right at home. The Walking Dead Saint and Sinners: Chapter 2:Retribution takes the successful formula and enriches the gameplay with neat additions like night missions and new weapons. Hoewever the shift towards a more action-oriented gameplay and the bad story might be enough to break the deal for you.

Mario Kart World is a great launch title and a good iteration of the Mario Kart series. But beside the much better graphics and the fantastic new knock out mode the game cannot fully reach its predecessor on eye level.