An improvement over its predecessor in nearly every way. Still a colorful, vulgar, and talkative sci-fi hallucination, but now built around a genuinely strong shooter with good pacing, ideas, and fun movement enhanced by a skateboard. Despite overly long dialogue sequences and humor that may not appeal to everyone, it remains an entertaining experience throughout its roughly fourteen-hour runtime.

The definition of mediocrity. An inoffensive but overly cautious spin-off that sticks rigidly to metroidvania conventions without stepping out of the shadow of its iconic name. In strong competition, it feels interchangeable and lacks the courage to innovate. Competent but unremarkable.

A fun and highly accessible tennis arcade game that works best as a chaotic party experience. Its well-balanced mix of classic tennis and over-the-top abilities creates exciting matches full of tense moments. However, a weaker single-player mode and lack of long-term motivation mean the fun quickly fades without other players.

A short medieval tale that aims high but falls short. This debut from Sedleo Games attempts to evoke the simpler, linear experiences of seventh-generation titles, but lacks both the budget and ideas to succeed. Combat is unremarkable, puzzles uninspired, the story fragmented, and the technical state poor. What remains are sympathetic performances from the leads.

A conflicted return of a cult horror classic that excels in atmosphere, story, and audiovisual presentation, but falters significantly in gameplay. While the eerie Japanese village and its gradually uncovered dark past rank among the genre’s highlights, frustrating and unbalanced combat, confusing navigation, and technical issues heavily undermine the experience. A game with immense potential and a strong core, but one that can only be recommended to the most dedicated horror fans.

Styx returns in his biggest adventure yet. At its core, it remains the same game, but it is more enjoyable thanks to three large, brilliantly designed maps that encourage exploration and reward revisits with metroidvania-inspired elements. The series’ trademark B-movie charm is still present, but should not deter stealth fans from what works well.

A light, playful spin-off on The Witcher universe that works best in short sessions. Its catchy concept is undermined by repetition and a strange decision-making system. An ideal bite-sized mobile experience. Nothing more, nothing less.

A successful sci-fi take on the classic Heroes of Might and Magic formula, firmly rooted in familiar foundations while introducing enough new ideas to feel fresh and relevant. It excels in unit variety and interesting mechanics, but is held back by weaker balance, lengthy AI turns, limited faction diversity, and an unremarkable campaign. Still, it is an easy recommendation for fans of a genre with few modern entries.

Starfield feels like a game that has come a long way but never quite reached its intended destination. The Free Lanes update significantly improves pacing, the technical state on PS5 is excellent, and some systems rank among Bethesda’s best work. Yet it never shakes the feeling that beneath layers of unnecessary activities lies a game that could (and should) have been something more.

In the end, Greedfall 2 is just another Spiders‘ game. With its great concept that struggles to deliver on many fronts. An average combat system is paired with equally average RPG mechanics, while the attractive world feels lifeless despite its limited number of locations and frequent revisits. The only element lifting it above mediocrity is a well-crafted story driven by companions and intriguing factions. Visual glitches further reinforce the sense of a game whose ambitions exceed its budget, which lacks the self-awareness to realize it.

A massive game with a beautiful, engaging, and highly interactive world that is a joy to explore. It impresses with sheer content, compelling puzzles, numerous systems, and dynamic combat. However, weak boss fights, a bland story, uninspired quests, and clunky controls and UI leave noticeable blemishes on the overall experience.

If crude humor appeals, and a road trip with friends full of situational comedy, swearing, and bizarre physics antics sounds enticing, this title delivers all of that, plus a charming visual style. Technically it could use some polish, but otherwise it is a more entertaining cooperative romp than expected. There’s no chance of boredom on this journey.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader remains an exceptional, superbly written RPG capable of captivating both long-time fans and newcomers, drawing them into the grim darkness of the 41st millennium for hundreds of hours. However, the Switch 2 port severely undermines the experience with poor performance, frequent technical issues, awkward control implementation, a noticeable graphical downgrade, and the absence of key DLC. Until substantial patches and the full content lineup arrive, this is a version best avoided.

Of Ash and Steel is a conflicted RPG that stands out thanks to its grounded exploration of a distinctly European-flavored fantasy world and a functional character progression system. At its best, it feels like a return to older-school RPG design, though this impression is repeatedly undermined by frequent technical issues, broken quests, and illogical quality-of-life decisions. The game’s ambitions clearly exceed its execution.

Tormented Souls 2 builds on nostalgia for classic survival horror with tank controls. It succeeds in creating a strong atmosphere despite overwrought dialogue and poorly executed animations in the story cutscenes. It will primarily satisfy fans of B-movie horror, as well as those who once trembled through the early Resident Evil games. Some may even forgive the missteps in combat difficulty tuning, as high-quality puzzles and well-designed levels ultimately reward those who persevere.

Wreckreation is a hybrid of Burnout and Trackmania, but it falls well short of the qualities of either. The driving model is initially punishing in an unengaging way, and once it finally begins to make sense, it becomes clear that the game itself is largely empty and expects players to create their own fun. And that simply is not fun. The dream of a true Burnout successor therefore remains unfulfilled even 17 years after the last entry, as Wreckreation fails to deliver it.

Syberia returns after 23 years and shines only in part. The world of automatons looks wonderful in its new visuals, and the story remains faithful to the original. If nothing else had been changed, this would have been a dream come true. Unfortunately, the developers could not resist altering certain systems in illogical ways, seemingly neglected proper testing, and outright undermined their own work by leaving several sections in the original visuals, which completely breaks the carefully built immersion. The result is a game that is ultimately neither for newcomers nor for veterans, although the latter may manage to enjoy it through nostalgia, squinting past the flaws, and gritting their teeth.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 delivers a finely tuned multiplayer and a solid Zombies mode, but is dragged down by one of the weakest campaigns in the history of the series. The evolution of movement, perks, and shared progression is welcome, yet the futuristic setting diminishes the cinematic atmosphere, and the cooperative campaign fails both narratively and in terms of design. The result is a highly uneven entry that excels in PvP but disappoints everywhere else.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a meticulously crafted sequel with a fantastic soundtrack, excellent boss fights, and impressive enclosed locations that prove Retro Studios has not lost its craftsmanship. However, just as strongly as the game can amaze, it can also disappoint: the open desert with the motorcycle stretches the pacing in an unwelcome way, backtracking feels more exhausting than it used to, and after a seventeen-year wait, the amount of new ideas is noticeably smaller than the series deserves. Beyond therefore remains most appealing to long-time fans.

Escape from Duckov isn’t just a funny parody, nor is it a true hardcore extraction shooter, as it sits somewhere in between. It’s fun, but also a bit repetitive, sometimes overly random, and could use deeper mechanics. In the end, though, it remains an entertaining game that even those who dislike being shot at by real players can thoroughly enjoy.

The Outer Worlds 2 is a textbook example of a sequel that loses what once made the original compelling. Obsidian drowns in its own satire, trading sharp wit for an endless barrage of shallow quips about evil capitalism and bad fascism. The story feels dull, the world lifeless, and the technical side lags behind by at least two generations. What remains enjoyable is the brisk action, satisfying gunplay, solid soundtrack, and creative character progression.

Jotunnslayer is, first and foremost, perhaps the most visually striking Vampire Survivors clone, set against an appealing Nordic backdrop. Unfortunately, the game as a whole lacks the polish it deserves. Individual abilities are so powerful that they rarely demand strategic thought. Still, the title guides players through worlds that differ mechanically and feature engaging boss encounters. Once these worlds are completed, however, the experience loses momentum, as the endless mode barely functions.

The fact that EA Sports FC 26 remains the best football game on the market says more about the state of the competition than about the game itself. Nothing substantial has changed this year: old issues persist, and the systems that worked before still work reasonably well. In the end, it feels less like a triumph and more like a quiet acceptance of whatever the hegemon chooses to serve.

An unexpected blend of modern vampire drama and noir detective fiction. The combat is serviceable, but any excitement it offers gets buried under repetitive city wandering and dull quest design. Bloodlines 2 isn’t the catastrophic failure some feared, yet it falls far short of the legend many had been waiting for.

Kyle Crane is back – and so is his darker self. What started as a planned expansion has grown into a full-fledged game, offering more brutal action and a more appealing setting. Unfortunately, it’s once again packed with recycled activities and an utterly unnecessary story. Fans of the first game will find plenty to enjoy, with dozens of hours of content to sink into, but it still feels like something essential is missing – and something unnecessary is weighing it down.

Thrilling combat, captivating sound, and a breathtaking art style—these alone make Ghost of Yōtei well worth experiencing. The rest of the game, however, is harder to praise without reservations, and next time the developers would do well to embrace more experiments, rework the climbing segments, and bring in new writers.

Originally a solo project by Yang Bing, this game has grown over the years into something far larger. So large, in fact, that it now buckles under its own weight. While the combat system is often fun and brings a few neat ideas, it can’t make up for the muddled story, dull setting, uneven pacing, and generic execution. The result is a title that doesn’t warrant outright dismissal, but still falls well short of true satisfaction.

The debut from Iceland doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel of the action-adventure genre. Instead, it looks back, stripping away modern hybridizations and leaning on the classic pillars of platforming, puzzles, and combat. None of these elements stand out as exceptional, but none fall flat either. Its true strength lies in a heartfelt story, a likable duo of protagonists who grow over the course of their journey, and the stunning Icelandic landscapes that bring flavor to an otherwise grounded fantasy. With a runtime of around ten hours, it never outstays its welcome, even if it’s a game you’ll likely forget soon after finishing.