Monolith Soft stays true to the series at its core, but simultaneously puts in more depth. Especially concerning the combat system Xenoblade Chronicles 3 feels trusted to series' lovers, but with all the new mechanics it also takes along players, who did not get warm with the fights. It's not enough for being a masterpiece, but for the best part of the series so far.

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.

Stray struggles to leave the high expectations this game has built up over the last 7 years behind. The feline adventure through the suburban jungle is enticing in a lot of ways, but stumbles occasionally with its uncanny-valley protagonist and a slightly generic story. The highlight is the atmosphere it can build as players jump between rooftops lead by neon signs towards the goal of climbing out into freedom. Stray is well-worth playing, but won’t blow anyone’s mind in the process.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak offers just more of the same at first glance. New monsters, a new difficulty, new maps and a new campaign to follow. Those who dare to sink their teeth into this behemoth of a game will quickly notice however, that there have been tweaks and changes to not only empower the players even further by reducing busywork and introducing new, flashy skills, but more critically empower the monsters. This adds some much-needed challenge to the game, even if the overall difficulty is still on the lower end of what fans of the series have come to expect. The follower quests need to be especially highlighted as a clever and fun replacements for the unpopular rampage quests.

While the puzzling might seem simplistic at first, the game introduces quite a few mechanics throughout the levels to keep you, well, hooked. Minimalistic style, well designed challenges and the introduction of three-dimensional puzzles should keep genre-fans engaged.

Straight-forward Gameplay, controller support, and a lot of retro charme in its presentation make sure that Streets of Rage 4 is much more than just a blast from the past. Factor in the additional modes and the good level design, and you have a game that beat-em-up fans should not miss.

Despite a good initial impression, Matchpoint Tennis Championships ultimately failed to capture us in the long run. The lackluster career mode, a below average shot-system and the underwhelming license package, took a good effort sadly to the graveyard.

Nice and entertaining party game with 50 different activities and many characters to unlock. Lots of fun as long as you have friends next to you because it’s couch-coop only.

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.

EA Sports F1 22 is another great outing for the series. Codemasters delivers on the track. Thanks to the changes in Formula 1, the game feels and plays different than last year. Adding Supercars and Pirelli Hotlaps fits the series well.

The 16:9 format in anniversary mode provides a much better overview when playing, the performance is great, unlimited lives in anniversary mode prevent frustration for newcomers and the numerous extras such as the 60 challenge missions, the new intro and outro cutscenes, the mirror mode that can be unlocked and the museum mode fit in well. Sadly Tails' AI isn’t very reliable, a few features known from fan-remakes are missing (like a save-state function) and the two DLC packages leave a stale aftertaste. What remains is a not error-free, but nevertheless entertaining collection of Sonic hits.

While OlliOlli World Void Riders doesn’t innovate much, it offers a heap of new challenges, outfits and a fun, new gravity-defying gameplay mechanic. Since the DLC can’t be accessed until roughly half way into the main game, it won’t entice newcomers to set foot on their boards, but fans of the main game can now add a few more entertaining hours to their journey across Radlandia.

The great strength of The Elder Scrolls Online are the stories based on often excellently written dialogues. And High Isle fully exploits this strength with a motivating main mission. But as fresh as the story may seem, the rest of the chapter feels a bit like an annual ritual.

Fire Emblem Warrior: Three Hopes turns out to be an ambitious sequel to the previous game and is ahead of it in several aspects. However, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is not free of criticism. The automatic camera, for example, sometimes behaves a bit strangely in cramped situations, the mission design seems a bit repetitive after a dozen hours and the fact that the audio synchro is again not available in German could also annoy one or the other player.

By offering a fun and well-designed core gameplay loop, Apex Legends Mobile succeeds at bringing the popular battle royale title to mobile. A good supply of features and game modes as well as the controls ensure that fans of the game can enjoy Apex Legends on the go from now on.

Voodoo Detective is a love letter to the adventure games of the late 80s and early 90s, especially the Monkey Island franchise. Of course it shines with great voice acting as well as HD graphics, but at the same time the presentation, dialogues and puzzles themselves still feel like a wonderful throwback to that golden age of adventure gaming. If you have any interest in the genre, you simply cannot miss Voodoo Detective.

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.

With The Quarry, Supermassive Games isn't reinventing the interactive story genre. Much is reminiscent of Until Dawn or The Dark Pictures Anthology. However, the developers have refined their storytelling again. So The Quarry offers more branches within the given story paths than the previous titles. With great actors and some surprises at the end, even the sometimes ugly facial animations can hardly spoil the fun of the very entertaining teen horror game.

Roller Champions delivers a high dynamic gameplay, that's easy to learn and hard to master. A great fun-sport game that's simple on the one hand and motivating skill-based on the other. It is sad Ubisoft uses a F2P system trying to fleece the gamers prone for that kind of business model. Because as a low-budget or mid-price title widely without that, it could have been close to a new Rocket League.

Your view of Sniper Elite 5 highly depends on what you expect of a good sequel. It delivers the same semi-open-world stealth shooting that its predecessor did so well. However it fails to add anything significant to the formula aside from a graphical update. In certain areas it even feels leaner than the 2017 Sniper Elite 4. It’s still an enjoyable experience and certain additions like the new invasion mode that combines PvP and PvE do offer new takes on the formula. The core gameplay however remains a little too far in the comfort zone for our taste.

Dolmen is a solid yet at times flawed Science-Fiction- Soulslike, that lacks the polish and the pure impact of Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. While it brings interesting gameplay-ideas to the tables, the overall experience is harmed by either bugs or strange design-decisions.

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.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a great mixture of mystery adventure and role-playing game. It well captures its table-top template and should fascinate its fans, but also manages to take along gamers without prior knowledge of the series.

A peaceful, minimalistic, and calming puzzle game that stands as something truly unique in the city-builder genre. You cannot fail, there’s no pressure - just enjoyment for those who want to switch off and forget about the outside world for 15 blessed minutes.

We would have loved to continue playing after the 100 levels were over. You can really feel the passion the developer put into Dungeons of dreadrock, and its puzzle design, presentation and well-delivered story make it a game that puzzle fans should not miss.

Sumire is a game that is enchanting as well as touching and one that leaves a lasting impression. Don't miss it if you appreciate a well-written story that is supported by well-executed visuals and emotional music.

Even though the original release took place almost seven years ago, Prune+ still offers a wonderful zen like experience with its relaxing gameplay, ambient sounds and minimalistic yet stylish visuals.

Kombinera is an absolute no brainer for puzzle fans. It offers more variety than the simplistic appearance initially suggests and will entertain you for many hours with its 300 levels.