Hotel Barcellona has a plethora of interesting concepts, but the majority of them are executed so poorly it almost ruins even the merits of the ideas. Simply, the game just isn’t enjoyable outside of some dialogue.

From diplomacy to war, there are far better games to occupy your time in this genre even if some are getting on in age.

Access Denied is a rather forgettable puzzle game that doesn’t do enough with its mechanics to justify a recommendation. While there are scant moments of brilliance, there isn’t much here to excite even the biggest puzzle fans.

At its heart, Megaton Rainfall is a solid superhero score-chaser that understands the freedom of flight, and empowers the player with a myriad of interesting abilities. Random difficulty spikes and a painfully generic design do hold this game back from being the best that the genre has to offer, though. On top of that, Megaton Rainfall, specifically on Switch, falls victim to a series of unacceptable technical issues which both mitigate Megaton Rainfall’s strengths, and aggravate its weaknesses. In its current state, it is impossible for me to recommend this game.

Angry Birds Star Wars is a shameless 50 dollar repackaging of a 99 cent iPhone game. There’s little to nothing added in the console release.

Drive Girls is a hack and slash slog where you quite literally drive girls who transform into cars to fight evil bugs. It is every bit the stupid, ridiculous, freaky fun game that it sounds like, and has some guilty pleasure elements that can endear it to players even while they recognize it is a total wreck. Battles are unique, but ultimately boring, and a bad story and lackluster look makes Drive Girls a mostly forgettable mess.

Cloudpunk started off unique and interesting; you’re new to its world and are exploring it alongside the main character, Rania. Eventually, you’ll realize it’s only a cyberpunk delivery simulator with cringey voice acting and an even worse script. By that point, the game loses any redeemable qualities and becomes a burden to play. Just like the main character, and the mechanics, the game has little to no substance to offer.

Blair Witch fails to impress at every turn. The story is interesting but unfulfilling, the environment is dull, and the creatures are boring. Worst of all, everything you do is very repetitive. I love horror games but the only thing scary about Blair Witch is how boring it is.

If you want to kill an hour with a serviceable mystery game, Doctor Dolittle could be up your alley. While it does serve up a nice pixel art style and an admittedly charming premise, it botches the execution with its terrible translation and simplistic logic.

Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition is an absolute mess. It changes and swaps around things like menus and the soundtrack for seemingly no reason, removes options from the original game, and generally makes everything at least slightly worse. This is a phenomenal game, one of my absolute favorites, and it deserved so much better than less than the bare minimum.

My First Pet Stuff adds basically a new critter, some hair and clothes items, and items that require Cats and Dogs. It is DLC for DLC and feels like this all could have been part of that expansion instead of its own stand alone product. I am disappointed in the lack of items, the reskins of the critters, but most importantly how they thought doing a pack that requires another expansion was a good idea.

Everybody 1-2-Switch! is just a very difficult game to enjoy. Most of the minigames are boring, and you have little say over how or if you can even engage with them. The game would be inoffensive if you had access to all minigames from the get go, and needing to unlock all of them individually is a baffling decision when combined with the random selection and weird preference towards UFO and Squats.

SaGa Frontier Remastered is a game for die hard fans of the original only. Veterans will appreciate the quality of life features along with the addition of Fuse, but everyone else will be put off by the sheer amount of grinding, barebones plot and characters, and tedious leveling system.

When you get right down to it, A Valley Without Wind 2 is just a bad game. I can’t think of anybody who I’d recommend play this title. The heavy use of randomization means that all the character is sucked out of the game, while the awful controls leave this a title devoid of any fun. Pass on this title, and go play AI War instead; you’ll be glad you did.

While Vroom in the Night Sky isn’t a spectacular game, there’s no denying that I had some fun with it for the short-lived time I spent with the title. I just wish it could be more over-the-top with its presentation rather than dull and unoriginal for most of the ride.

Syberia was a series built around amazing puzzles and unique storytelling. Syberia 3 was an opportunity to bring all of that to a new generation. Unfortunately, it has remained mired in the pixel-hunting past, riddled with bugs, obtuse controls, and an uninspired storyline coupled with head-scratching voice work. I wanted to enjoy Syberia 3, but too many issues may leave this series stuck in the frozen snow.

In concept, Bird Game + seems like a pleasant spin on the traditional on-rails genre. In execution, Bird Game +misses the mark in nearly every way from its surprising lack of mechanical polish to its shallow design. While its aesthetic and genuinely enjoyable boss fights are undeniable highlights, they’re nowhere near potent enough to outweigh the game’s fundamental issues.

Nothing in Varlet’s gameplay or narrative is outright terrible, with even the worst aspects being non-intrusive. Despite this, repetition is what makes the whole package less than the sum of its mediocre parts. My heart sank realizing how its promising foundation within the first few hours is all the game has to offer. Worst of all, as someone often moved by FuRyu’s flawed, but heartfelt games, Varlet commits the biggest sin of all. It made me feel next to nothing.

There are a decent amount of weapons, enemy types, and environments, but those are cold comforts in the face of frustrating issues like awkward weapon management, unpolished platforming, wonky enemy AI, and tedious combat encounters. A good first attempt, but the game suffers from poor design all around.

There just isn’t a reason to play Carrion. There is little narrative, repetitive combat, limited puzzles, and almost zero horror elements. The atmosphere is okay and it reminds me of Alien but that’s about as far as it goes with horror. Just leave this monster stuck in the vent.

The Inquisitor fumbles what could have been the premiere mystery game of 2024. Despite the strong setting and cast, the mystery rapidly unravels into nothing but noise, and the gameplay is bereft of difficulty. The never-ending stream of bugs means that whatever joy you can find in the game will most certainly be derailed.

Loop8: Summer of Gods aspires to capture the human experience through a multitude of ambitious subsystems. Unfortunately, virtually none of these ideas make a meaningful impact on the game. The end result is a shallow, disjointed, and undeveloped experience. Rather than reflecting the nuances of our everyday lives, Loop8 most closely resembles the lives of aquarium fish.

Bugs, glitches, game freezes, and other technical issues mar what would have otherwise been a passable, if unsurprising and uninspired Batman game.

An FMV interactive thriller that’s rather light on the “interactive” element. Choices are sparse and do little to promote player agency but some solid production and a stylish, campy aesthetic save the experience.

New Tales from the Borderlands is confusing, messy, and accomplishes nothing over the course of 10 hours. The game meanders from incident to incident hoping you’ll laugh at a constant barrage of bad jokes, and lacks any heart.

BONELAB is an incredibly interesting piece of tech with a terrible shooter holding it back. The physics barely work, the mechanics are cumbersome, and the puzzles are unintuitive and frustrating. There are a few moments where the combat can shine, but that’s not enough to make the game worth it.

Gun Jam fails to capitalize on a novel idea through its unpolished and at odds mechanics. There’s not much content here and what is there isn’t particularly fun.

I was a fan of the first Swords & Soldiers’ fiery and rambunctious Viking hordes and their quest for grandeur and grilled meats, and I had high hopes for the sequel, but Swords & Soldier II wound up just being a dusty old lamp with no magic to speak of.