The Callisto Protocol is one of the year’s biggest letdowns. It is joyless, contrived and feels unfinished, as if the studio rushed it out prior to Dead Space Remake’s launch on January 27, 2023. Like Black Iron itself, I can’t help but feel the project was abandoned at some point. It feels so wrong for a game that looks and sounds this great to be so devoid of spark and quality control. It’s fitting that after traversing every tight nook and cranny, the only feeling left once the credits have rolled is that of having life squeezed from you.

King’s Bounty II is a game where it takes forever to do anything. I averaged maybe 2-3 short battles for every hour of gameplay – perhaps 20 minutes of fun for 40 of drudgery. All this is doubly frustrating because somewhere under all this crap is a pretty solid strategy game. I just wish that King’s Bounty II would stop jerking me around and just let me play it!

All in all, Isle of Siptah is an interesting addition to Conan Exiles, even in Early Access. A beautiful and varied map helps create a very intriguing place to explore, and the game does eventually open up from hordes of skeletons to werewolves, giant alligators, and even a dozen different bosses. Due to the large MMO-like scope of the game itself and short review time, I was able to beat most of the normal content but never got to the stage where you discover all the secrets of the maelstrom and find out if you can control the huge Kraken in the sky – but if you’re a big fan of Conan Exiles and want more than just dominating a scorching desert, give this expansion a shot and I’m sure you will be able to find out. [Early Access Provisional Score = 75]

It’s been awhile since a game repulsed me. Not in a gruesome or transgressive way, just in a way that’s unenjoyable thanks to frustrating controls and its unfunny execution. Don’t get me wrong, it’s clear in its intent and you’ll know how you feel about it early on. However, it’s very unappealing and is a reminder as to why these sorts of games are better as experiments rather than full releases. If you like overcoming frustration, maybe you’ll find something worthwhile. I don’t.

While Peaky Blinders: Mastermind has some style and a novel approach to puzzling, it's not enough to properly engage. It definitely clicks at times, and there are moments where solving a problem makes you feel like a meticulous planner. However, there aren’t the eureka moments you’d expect from better puzzles nor mechanics worth mastering in replays. It’s hard to recommend and it’s only for a niche of Peaky Blinders fans who want an average puzzler with a lot of dull micromanaging (if they even exist).

While Terrorarium comes with a delightful morbidness and some style, it’s not engaging to play. Escorting the Moguus loses its luster fast and becomes frustrating. There’s a repelling quality to the game that can’t be saved by its comedy or art. Terrarium feels more akin to a tool, something to introduce game students to puzzle design. Maybe it works fine for someone who wants to learn design, but I can’t stand playing the game itself beyond ten minutes at a time. In theory, it’s a wacky puzzle. In practice, it’s an unfun slog.

Overpass is for a certain type of sadist, and it’s been awhile since a game made me want to stop playing it as quickly as possible. It might have its polish and intent, but the mechanics they serve are frustrating. Perhaps everything I mention makes the game all the more interesting, a game that isn’t for noobs like me and something that would sit comfortably between Surgeon Simulator or Getting Over It. But this makes for a niche game that will bug anyone else. I get the appeal, but it’s simply not fun.

Bannermen’s appreciation of genre greats can be easily seen through the cracks in its shoddy construction. However, in between a single faction with a small, uninspired roster, bland story and writing, and very few options in terms of tactics and strategy, it’s tough to recommend. As rooted as it is in the genre’s past, it’s nowhere close to mastering what made RTS titles of yore great, ultimately being just a flimsy, soulless imitator.

An interesting concept is let down by some pretty glaring gameplay flaws.

I really hate tearing down games because nobody sets out to purposefully make a bad game and people put passion and effort into Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi, but not only does this game fail on its own merits, the fact that this is the 15th entry in an acclaimed series makes it even more disappointing. The way it tries to hide its lack of depth is almost insulting, and not even a decent character system can save it.

Dynasty Warriors 9 suffers from a lot of issues, most stemming from the terribly implemented open-world. Assets are reused, it’s buggy, repetitive, bloated, empty and bland. These shortcomings are made all the more painful by the obvious potential this game had, and how fun the base combat can be once players waded through all the other nonsense.

Way of Redemption is all there technically and functionally, but it’s empty and short on content. Every moment spent playing, the obviousness of it being an attempt at a forced e-sports success hangs over the experience, which is pretty dull to begin with.

Inmates had ambitious intentions and a few good ideas, but these were not executed well at all. Fear and thrills were extinguished by the questionable shaking head effect and the game’s puzzles remained overly simplistic and did not feel challenging or rewarding to complete. In addition, I encountered a number of bugs that stopped me from progressing, at points. While this game may be attractively short for some, I cannot recommend the experience.

The Long Journey Home had so much promise but Daedalic forgot to make it playable. They focused on the big picture, on the huge epic universe, without realizing that it’s the small stuff that’s important.

Level design is cramped and unfair, the controls are imprecise, the interface is from a completely different genre of game and is extremely cluttered and unhelpful, and the whole thing is just painful. 2Dark is extremely frustrating, extremely badly designed, and extremely not fun. I’m glad it wiped my saves. Avoid.

Story can’t be the thing that carries a video game and story is all Eisenhorn: XENOS has. A character as powerful as Gregor Eisenhor, with a great voice actor in Mark Strong, and an epic story deserves more than a glorified version of a mobile game. But brainless combat and mechanics, crummy audio, and unacceptable bugs keep this game to no more than a book promotion.

Combine awful PC controls, unstable framerate, uninteresting fourth grade humor, and game-breaking bugs and it becomes another indie game that should’ve only been an internal experiment.

Umbrella Corps is a big game from a major publisher in a popular franchise in that franchise’s anniversary year, and it’s both awful and dead on arrival. Now I see why Capcom didn’t tell anyone that it came out.

The Technomancer is not grossly bad, but it feels cheap and is deeply mediocre. It’s a cheap game, and worse: it’s no longer a cheap price. As I said in the first paragraph, I can’t think of a reason anyone would want to buy it over any other game in existence.

Battleborn ended up stretching itself too thin by trying to include too many modes.

As a tower defence shooter hybrid, Excubitor has the potential to be an adrenaline-charged, strategic masterpiece. However, a number of aspects have let the game down and this left me feeling disappointed.

Depicting the horrors of an asylum with animated pictures was a tender touch to sensitive imagery. Even the 3D animations conveyed moments with care. But the story is confusing and painfully disappointing and the translation errors make matters worse. So I can commend LKA’s efforts, but I can’t recommend The Town of Light.

Bombshell isn’t the worst game I’ve ever played, but it’s among the most dull and uninteresting. From its cheesy, late-90s alien blasting plot to its absolutely repetitive action, it’s tough to pull out any redeeming qualities. Even assuming its bevy of technical issues get ironed out, this one still isn’t worth your time.

Overall an immense disappointment.

Bedlam is a neat concept that has managed to result in a game that’s utterly bankrupt of creativity, polish, or fun. It’s a game that went so wrong at every turn that it makes you just feel bad for its developers. There’s nothing here but a bunch of half-hearted references and wistful nostalgia for old video games, both of which you can get plenty of for free on the internet.

Fire is a sweet, innocent adventure with a very kid-friendly style, and it hurts me to kick it in the teeth. But I will. Behind those innocent looks lies a very basic adventure, with no story, no dialogue, no characters, no personality, and no satisfaction.

If you haven’t guessed it already, Raven’s Cry is quite blatantly unfinished.

There’s an interesting blueprint here, yet the execution lacks the finesse to elevate it beyond the sum of its parts.