Unfortunately, Rennsport feels like a beta sold at full price. On PC, at least, there’s a free-to-play base version, but on consoles there’s no demo—you can only buy the Standard or Deluxe editions.The graphics are underwhelming, the AI often falls short, the content is limited, and the interface can be confusing. These issues weigh down a game whose main appeal lies in an interesting driving model—though some cars behave inconsistently—with physics that are generally believable and satisfying, aside from occasional collisions with opponents.There are bugs here and there, and the multiplayer experience isn’t always reliable. While there are some good elements, they get lost in the overall lackluster execution, especially when compared to the competition. In short, the balance between quality, content, and price leaves Rennsport struggling to impress.

Despite the 'Enhanced Edition' label, The Shore's console release fails to salvage a fundamentally flawed experience. While the creature design is genuinely unsettling and the opening moments build a solid, oppressive atmosphere, the game quickly devolves into a disjointed theme park of Lovecraftian tropes. Bogged down by clunky exploration, uninspired puzzles, and a narrative that loses all focus and logical progression, it ultimately fails to stand out in a heavily saturated genre. A missed opportunity that sinks just below a passing grade.

Are you a Hardcore Macross or a shoot’ em up fan? Then you might find something to enjoy in Macross: Shooting Insight, especially if you can access the Japan-exclusive content. However, the high price tag feels steep given the limited scope and overall quality of the experience. Kaminari Games doesn’t do much to make the title stand out, either as a celebration of the Macross franchise or as a compelling shmup. Keeping expectations in check is key. For everyone else, it’s hard to find a compelling reason to pick this up, aside from the potential spark of interest in exploring the iconic mecha series. It’s not much, but it’s something. Here’s hoping Macross gets the global recognition it deserves once again.

The DreadOut Remastered Collection has the sole merit of making the original game and its expansion available on consoles. Beyond that, it does little to enhance two titles that, even in 2014, felt rough around the edges, offering the player a disappointing experience.

Quarantine Zone: The Last Check offers a handful of interesting ideas compared to traditional simulation games, but its strengths never extend beyond the initial premise. Brigada Games’ title plays all its cards early on, only to struggle in later sessions with repetitive and shallow mechanics. A more solid framework and more demanding challenges could have alleviated the gameplay’s tedious nature, but in its current state it is hard to recommend, especially at its asking price.

"Buying this album comes with a free game" is a line I’ve seen applied to many titles before, and usually when the foundation was solid to begin with. That’s not quite the case with Antro. Its platforming and rhythm mechanics still need fine-tuning, and while there are glimpses of potential, there simply isn't enough substance to truly assess its quality. Best suited for genre enthusiasts or those looking to support a small indie team.

Project Songbird is a title that collapses under the weight of its own ambitions. While it bravely tackles mature themes like creative block and depression, the narrative is ultimately derailed by intrusive authorial narcissism. The gameplay fares no better, suffering from a disjointed mix of superfluous combat, poorly executed stealth mechanics, and frustrating inventory bugs. Despite an excellent soundtrack and stellar voice acting that perfectly capture the protagonist's musical soul, these technical merits aren't enough to save an overall derivative experience. It is a bitter disappointment for a game with such sadly wasted potential.

Dark Atlas: Infernum struggles with a frustrating, flawed core gameplay that suffocates its potential. Only dedicated horror fans with saintly patience should consider this technically deficient title.

Dustwind: Resistance is, unfortunately, a collection of issues and flaws that have seriously impacted the entire gaming experience. The lack of depth in the characters and, above all, the extremely wooden gameplay, compounded by unconvincing AI, failed to win us over. If you particularly love the genre and would like to try it, you may still enjoy it, but we would suggest opting for other, more valid alternatives.

By abandoning its iconic diorama perspective for a generic and clunky first-person view, Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes completely loses the soul of the franchise. Plagued by frustrating climbing mechanics, snap-turning issues, and an empty fan-service narrative, this short two-hour hide-and-seek experience fails to capture the tragic melancholy of the original games. Despite decent sound design and the inherent immersion of VR, it remains a deeply disappointing transition.

Sleep Awake is an ambitious stylistic exercise with an impactful aesthetic but a hollow core. Its strong narrative premise is undermined by confusing writing and trivial gameplay, proving that visual flair alone cannot save a structurally weak walking simulator.

At the time of writing we don't know in what form or for how much The Little Brave will be sold, but our hope is that Dmitrii Batov will place it in early access and at a budget price to gain experience and in the meantime fix its issues thanks to user feedback, because at the moment I really don't feel like recommending his work; it's broken, uninteresting and even less refined. Even if I didn't have to constantly argue with the controls, the combat system was working properly and the game didn't implode following the mere act of restarting from a random checkpoint, I still would hardly be able to find a niche for it in the midst of metroidvanias that clog Steam's library, however we would be playing something at least functional. Ironically the game lends itself well to speedruns, given the fact that it only seems possible to be completed in one go and without dying along the way.

Ufophilia's premise of blending Phasmophobia-style investigations with alien hunting is undeniably fascinating. However, the game struggles to take flight due to a complete lack of narrative, tedious inventory backtracking, and artificially punishing mechanics. The baffling absence of a co-op mode turns what could have been a fun, terrifying experience into a frustratingly solitary trial-and-error loop. The only notable elements are its excellent sound design and a genuinely creepy initial atmosphere.

Death Relives offers an excellent core concept, an interesting yet underexplored context - Aztec mythology - and an antagonist whose presence is deeply felt throughout the short adventure. However, the mechanics as implemented lean too heavily on stealth, depriving the experience of a true balance between aggression and caution, and the occasional bugs don't help matters. This is without considering the heavy reliance on artificial intelligence, which, while adequate for communicating with Adrian's father (despite its overly simple nature), is intolerable for the rest of the supporting application - even more so given the lack of oversight over the results. The ambition to offer something different is there, but the actual execution of these intentions falters considerably.

Narin: The Orange Room is a faltering experience in several respects that, despite having some decent foundations and a fairly interesting story, pays a very high price: it fails to actually scare the player. Even if we were willing to overlook the dated gameplay and the technical issues scattered here and there, we cannot ignore the pronounced repetitiveness that envelops the entire experience. Let’s be frank: the overall formula didn’t convince us, especially considering that the protagonist seems more inclined to deliver monologues rather than feel the tension of survival in a context that is completely hostile to her. If you’re a fan of the genre (and considering the low price), you might still want to give it a chance, though you’ll have to accept a few too many flaws. And if you’ll allow us one piece of advice: set the dialogue language to Thai—at least the protagonist will gain a lot more personality.

As a calling card, Ed & Edda: Grand Prix – Racing Champions pretty much guarantees I won’t be heading to the cinema in September. As a kart racer, it’s the kind of game your aunt buys by mistake when you asked for Mario Kart. Park visitors might enjoy seeing the mascots at home, but the overall experience is mediocre, and there are far better alternatives. If you really need a new entry in the genre, wait a few months and go for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, or even Garfield Kart 2.

Apartment no 129 is a frustrating example of wasted potential. The unique premise based on Turkish urban legends is completely buried under lazy execution and amateurish design choices. The game suffers from severe "asset flip" syndrome, with repetitive environments and illogical level layout. The gameplay is equally flawed: broken hitboxes, zero feedback on weapons, and an abundance of resources that kills any survival tension. To make matters worse, the console port is terrible, retaining PC interface icons and offering sluggish controls. A skipped opportunity that isn't worth your time.

BrokenLore: Low is a prelude that goes out of its way to undermine any possible curiosity towards the following chapters. The story, or perhaps it would be better to say the idea of a story that they wanted to tell, is absolutely mismanaged in terms of pacing, quality, and characters; it goes from an excessive overexposure of the few elements that make it up to an absolute crypticness that would like to convey mystery but, at most, only passes confusion. The gameplay comes out just as badly broken, as it is characterized by a constant running in circles and by a setting that would like to be disorienting but completely fails, resulting in monotonous and repetitive due to its circular structure. The low-poly section is not clear why it was inserted, although it has at least the merit of tearing us away from the constant spinning around mentioned above. Even from an aesthetic point of view, nothing of the game is saved, both for the scarcity of models and for the quality of the same when human characters come on the scene.

Dreams of Another is a game that tries to bring several interesting ideas to the table. The most notable being the reversal of the concepts of destruction and creation, and the conceptual animism of the various objects inhabiting its world. Unfortunately, Baiyon and Q-Games’ work fails to make good use of these ideas and ends up feeling dull, both in its gameplay dynamics and in its storytelling. To top it all off, the game’s underlying philosophy feels forced and overly simplistic, making it hard to engage more mature players. Baiyon has described Dreams of Another as his latest art installment, and if we’re to judge it as such, it’s worth remembering that one doesn’t always have to understand art; it just has to make you feel something. In my case, it made me feel nothing but boredom.

Overall, The Familiar Stranger is a game without rhyme or reason, cobbled together, confusing in what little there is to do, and I wouldn't recommend it at all, even if the bugs were fixed. With a world like that of The Mandela Catalogue, whether you like the series or not, something undoubtedly more captivating could have been created.