The fascinating and addicting core mechanic of arranging a backpack as efficient as possible to fight in turn based combat is marvelous. It carries a lot of the weight because most other aspects of Backpack Hero are mediocre at best. Navigating the menus is slow and unintuitive, the city building is mostly boring and the font for dialogue almost hurts our eyes. Skipping the story mode and just doing quick runs might be the way to go to get as much enjoyment out of the game as possible.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has been a great game on 3DS with highly varied gameplay with action, exploring, puzzles and humorous staging. With the HD version on Switch all these strengths remain, while Nintendo ensures contemporary graphics including the visual update.

If somebody had an inkling to return to Destiny 2 then The Final Shape is the perfect opportunity to get back in there. Maybe too obtuse for newcomers it still offers smooth and fantastic feeling gameplay paired with a satisfying end to the first saga of Destiny. It starts to feel a bit too long in the tooth but thanks to the amazing work of the artists in all the departments it doesn’t shine through too much. Even if one might not be interested in the upcoming ongoing seasonal content The Final Shape is still an absolute joy to play.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree inspires above all with its memorable boss battles, which are as relentless as they are graceful, and its superb art direction. Those who already loved FromSoftware's open-world epic will fall in love with the action RPG all over again with this DLC.

Still Wakes the Deep is just the best game from The Chinese Room so far. The gameplay is not very demanding and strictly linear, but delivers a high variety for this kind of games. The main thing is, that the horror-trip on a Scottish oil platform provides a compelling experience with mostly perfect sound delivering a strong atmosphere from the start till the end.

Retropolis 2 is a very successful indie game. It pleases with good puzzles, a coherent game world and an exciting story. If the whole thing gets bigger in scope, we might even have a system seller with part 3.

There is no doubt that Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is the superior version. The improvements to player comfort alone transform the game already. If you include the new, reworked story that stands alongside the original for two separate playthroughs, as well as a ton of new content to add depth to an already very well-rounded and tactical combat system, you have one of the most impressive outings of Atlus to date. Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is an absolute treat for any JRPG fan and offers an amazing package for those looking to get into the genre, if they are willing to dive deep into the complex gameplay mechanics.

The Monster Hunter Stories Collection for PlayStation delivers around 70 to 80 hours of pleasant gameplay with fine round-based combat and a motivating character system. The remastered version of part 1 increases the experience by some nice visual improvements and benefits a lot from the totally new voiceover. It’s not on eye level with current productions, but that does not affect the atmosphere too much. The second part Wings of Ruin is still the better game with a richer world and a more complex combat system. But if you already played it on a PC or Switch, you do not experience much new. In total, the Monster Hunter Stories Collection is a rich compilation of two games, you should play if you like the Monster Hunter series and round based combat.

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.

Although Dicey Dungeons+ is not a new game, its core gameplay loop and the lighthearted and colorful presentation hold up very well and make this a game absolutely worth experiencing in 2024.

Braid Anniversary Edition is the best version of a game that was already great. Engrossing and genius puzzles, amazing soundtrack, inventive game mechanics and a story that is deeper than one might at first think, Braid has it all.

xDefiant presents itself as a very strong foundation of a game that is supposed to last for all the content to come and hopefully many years. It is currently plagued by some technical issues that can cause severe frustration but the developers are already aware of those problems so they will hopefully be fixed in time. The gunplay is more than solid and the base experience is fun and thrilling.

Not perfect, but still a great racing game: Codemasters delivers on the track and give players tons of amazing looking racing-action. The revamped career-mode brings in fresh ideas, but feels flooded with side-quests and numbers. Nonetheless, "F1 24" is a treat for every racing-fan.

Killer Klowns from outer Space - The Game is a solid asymmetrical horror shooter that lacks polish and sometimes liveliness, but not humor.

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.

System Shock is a masterful remake of an absolute classic. While much of the old essence is left largely unchanged, such as the intricate level design and the chilling atmosphere, the game has been enhanced subtly to highlight its strengths and adapt to a modern audience. System Shock shows that old and new can sometimes go hand in hand and blend together to a timeless masterpiece.

Sending your own superhero into the race is a brave move and, at least in terms of play, it really works here. There's plenty of scope to come up with your own solutions, and figuring out the best strategy makes the hours fly by. The fact that the ambitious story is not supported by a corresponding character design is regrettable, but in view of the undeniable gameplay qualities it is easy to get over.

Hauntii is certainly stunningly gorgeous and can make you feel incredibly smart whenever you find and solve one of its many puzzles. Unfortunately the game demands you to find and solve almost all of those puzzles which isn’t always easy to do. The map doesn’t offer a lot of help and it can lead to pointless and frustrating roaming around. The slower Twinstick-Shooter gameplay on the other hand is not too challenging but offers somewhat relaxing action moments.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is still a great mixture of RPG and platformer with fine papercraft graphics and humorous story. But in terms of content, the visually advanced Switch version delivers nothing new for dye connoisseurs of the GameCube original, which makes it less interesting for them as for players who experience the remastered version for the first time.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is a special game: While the gameplay is far from perfect, the presentation and the story are keys to success here. Ninja Theory dye creates an immersive and equally emotional rollercoaster that sticks with you – even days after finishing the game.

INDIKA is a wild ride through an alternate Russia in the 19th century. The often philosophical story and the three fascinating main characters carry the game even in the moments where it’s getting dragged down by dull gameplay. Paired with an excellent soundtrack and extremely dark humor the developers show that they are capable of making incredible interactive entertainment.

More than just an expansion with interesting mechanics and wonderful additions to the sprawling lore of Total War: Warhammer 3, the newly released Thrones of Decay shows a willingness from Creative Assembly to listen to fans and learn from past mistakes. Both paid and free additions and changes show the vast potential of this game and that we still haven’t seen all the franchise has to offer.

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.

The Night of the Rabbit is classic in two senses: a classic adventure game that is clearly modeled on Alice in Wonderland. The result is graphically outstanding, narratively convincing, but not very innovative in terms of gameplay.

Another Crab’s Treasure proves to be a creative and playful entry in to the Soulslike genre. The colourful look makes it a stand out between all its dark and gloomy counterparts. Although it could do with a bit of honing, its core gameplay provides the (sometimes punishing) learn and repeat mechanic us Souls fans are after.

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.

Ghost Trick has been somewhat of a cult classic for well over a decade at this point, and for good reason. Just like with the Ace Attorney series by the same creator, Ghost Trick is a prime example of why point and click mystery adventures are such a timeless genre.

Wildfrost manages to be one of those "easy to learn, hard to master" type of games, as the core mechanics are simple enough, yet the game ramps up the difficulty substantially, so a lot of runs will take a bad turn quickly. It is a testament to the games gameplay loop that you always want to come back for one more round.