GLHF on Sports Illustrated's Scores

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For 321 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 38% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 56% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Lowest review score: 30 Peppa Pig: World Adventures
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 171 out of 321
  2. Mixed: 141 out of 321
  3. Negative: 9 out of 321
333 game reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II
    Despite some of the innovations lacking, the hallmarks of the series are still very much here. Excellent characters, creepy visuals and sound design, a gripping story, and a hard-to-solve mystery with branching paths and multiple endings. I would recommend the other games in the series more, but Death Mark 2 is still very much worth your time.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sympathy Kiss
    The inclusion of some of otome’s more worn-out tropes made it fall a little flat. There is the bad boy who stalks and drugs you and changes his ways through the power of love. I get that it’s a fantasy, but I think these storylines should be put to bed, along with some other bombastic but less problematic ones. A lesser point is that Akari doesn’t have a face, something I always found creepy. I want sweet romantic stories in my slice of life without feeling someone’s life is at risk.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tales of Symphonia Remastered
    If you’re a JRPG fan either looking to return to Symphonia or experience the story for the first time, Tales of Symphonia Remastered is a great way to do it. It might get a couple of strikes for being an “imperfect” experience, but it’s still a quality one.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tokyo Xanadu eX+
    Tokyo Xanadu is a very competent RPG and dungeon crawler with enough systems in place to make it as easy or as challenging as you like. The characters are well-written, and while the story is a little clichéd, the secret ending more than makes up for it. Tokyo Xanadu was originally released in 2015, and I’m glad the upgraded version has finally returned to handheld consoles. Playing on the go is the best way to experience it, and now you can, even without a Vita obsession.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
    The art style is beautiful, and the gameplay is in a form I have never encountered before.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    V Rising
    V Rising has finally taken its final form on PS5, and it’s a fun survival crafting experience – if, for some reason, you’re looking for another one. And if you like the idea of V Rising, but you can’t quite get into it, there are literally dozens of other survival crafting games you can try instead.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    9 Years of Shadows
    9 Years of Shadows can be frustrating in places, but if you’re looking for a 2D Metroidvania with solid combat, enjoyable platforming, and beautiful world design, it ticks all of those boxes.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition
    Beyond Good & Evil holds up. It’s still an enjoyable adventure that will fill you with nostalgia for the 3D character platformers of the PlayStation 2 era. My only hesitation is that I wish Ubisoft had upgraded the more dated aspects rather than just including cosmetics – that I initially wasted money on believing them to be upgrades – only to create more hype for the sequel that is somehow still in development. It’s great that people will get to experience Beyond Good & Evil for the first time. They’ll just have to understand it in the context of the era it was created for.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Expanse: A Telltale Series
    I can see why the episodic structure is appealing, but the choice to release each episode two weeks apart is a huge misstep. There is a reason why people binge-watch series. They want to know the ending while they still care. Releasing The Expanse in this way only punishes the early adopters, which are the ones that are paying the most for the worst experience.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    XDefiant
    Ultimately, XDefiant is free-to-play, so there’s not going to be any buyer's remorse if it’s not for you, but I found it to be a surprisingly competent and enjoyable shooter. It straddles the line between COD’s bold, nonsense plays, and Counter-Strike’s methodical strategy, with a few typical Hero Shooter staples thrown in for good measure. When you’re playing with randoms online it’s almost always going to devolve into that nonsense gameplay, but when I’m playing a multiplayer shooter without a group, that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I’m not sure it’ll change the shooter landscape, but XDefiant is doing more things right than Hyper Scape ever did.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    CYGNI: All Guns Blazing
    Cygni: All Guns Blazing isn’t a SHMUP essential, but it’s damn good fun once you start shooting and completely forget all of the cutscenes.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Invincible Presents: Atom Eve
    The dialogue is snappy and funny, the main characters keep you invested, and it’s cool to see the story of Invincible from another perspective. The only thing it’s lacking is the rawness of the Prime Video series.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fabledom
    Fabledom doesn’t have the depth to keep you playing forever, nor has it committed to its theme and unique twist hard enough to keep you perpetually enchanted, but it’s a very solid and above all charming city-builder that’s worth checking out before pigs learn to fly.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Homeworld 3
    Homeworld 3’s campaign is a majestic space odyssey showcasing some of the innovative spirit of its predecessors and its presentation is stunning. Though its co-op elements are founded on a good idea, the War Games mode feels like it cuts away some of the best aspects of the game in the rush to be a portion-sized multiplayer experience for the modern age. It’s an enjoyable space RTS before being a strong Homeworld title.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Am Your Beast
    I don’t know if I Am Your Beast will be one that I ever come back to, maybe it was better as a one-night stand, experiencing its whirlwind of action and excitement for a little while before moving on to something else. Either way, I’m very glad I got to spend time with it – not many games get the blood pumping like this one does.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wuthering Waves
    Wuthering Waves is ultimately a would-be usurper trying too hard to be like Genshin Impact to trust in its own strengths, making it feel like an outdated copy in many aspects. Sporting truly fun combat and fresh movement mechanics, an interesting world, and plenty of content to explore, it has the core necessities for a prospering future in place. Before it can realize this future, Kuro Games must address the game’s many flaws and then define a new identity for it – one that goes beyond its inspiration.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Talos Principle 2
    If you’re just in this for the puzzles, then The Talos Principle 2 is a fantastic puzzle game that, despite its difficulty, carefully crafts itself to be accessible to everyone with innovative mechanics that all interlink in ways that will keep surprising you. Taking the game as a whole package though, the narrative greatly drags it down both in terms of the quality of the writing and how it’s implemented as part of the experience.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    War Hospital
    War Hospital falls a bit short for me as a video game – it has good ideas and scratches that management itch at least a little bit, though it’s quite repetitive and feels too punishing at times as opposed to simply challenging. It somewhat grinds down your will to play, which isn’t the best quality in a game. What it excels in – ironically, exactly because it grinds down your will to go on – is making you experience the sheer overwhelming despair and helplessness the brave people serving in these field hospitals must have felt as they fought to save as many lives as possible only to lose a countless number of them along with their own sense of humanity. War Hospital is a valuable history lesson and I’m glad I experienced it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ready or Not
    Ready or Not features levels where you break apart a child exploitation ring, assault a streamer’s house whilst they’re livestreaming, get called to an active shooter situation on a college campus, and pick through the aftermath of a shooting at a gay nightclub. There’s trying hard and then there’s this.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    EA Sports FC 25
    EA Sports FC 25 has cut the amount of innovations to the bone compared to last year, although the scope of some of them is bound to make a lasting impression on hardcore soccer aficionados. FC IQ might be the strongest new feature in years, but it's also so easy to miss it that people will probably dub it yet another more of the same - and understandably so, given the shortage of surface-level additions.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Final Fantasy XVI
    Final Fantasy 16 is an uneven game. There were moments – like the Platinum Games-tinged Eikon fight against Titan – where I was convinced that this was one of the best things I’ve ever played, but for every section as good as that, there are hours of drudgery. If you don’t think MMO-style fetch quests are the pinnacle of game design, you’re probably going to feel the same way.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Slitterhead
    Slitterhead is quite possibly the single most interesting game of 2024, but prospective players need to be aware of the journey that’s ahead of them. If seeing some genuinely bold and indulgent game design decisions is worth fighting against a bit of jank, then this game is absolutely for you. If you want to always know where to go and what to do next, maybe not. Even then, I think you should play Slitterhead, simply because you’re unlikely to see anything like it ever again.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    King Arthur: Legion IX
    King Arthur: Legion IX is a solid RPG with crunchy and satisfying turn-based combat that takes place in a setting you won’t soon forget – a bit janky and rough around the edges, but good fun.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sins of a Solar Empire II
    Putting that divide into a score is somewhat difficult because it’s going to be a compromise that won’t accurately represent either side. An old-school fan who simply wants to bask in nostalgia will rate Sins of a Solar Empire 2 very highly, while someone expecting a little more will inevitably feel disappointed by the wasted potential. I’m counting myself toward the latter group, but I have to respect Ironclad’s commitment to remaining faithful to the original.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Little To The Left: Cupboards & Drawers
    The DLC improves the whole package, and those who were left a little wanting by the base game will find that it delivers the game they were perhaps envisioning. An incredibly soothing experience, with aesthetically pleasing shapes and calming music. Don’t expect much more than this and you’ll enjoy yourself.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Car Detailing Simulator
    So is it any good? Well, it’s better than I expected at least. The basic gameplay loop is that you get a dirty car into the shop, you wash it, clean the interior, and send it back to the owner. That’s about it. It’s a brainless busywork simulator, like PowerWash Simulator but not quite as fun. For killing the time when you don’t want to think though, it gets the job done.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    SteamWorld Heist II
    Consistency and quality underline not only SteamWorld Heist 2 but the series as a whole. From a game design standpoint, everything is polished and you’ll never feel frustrated. When you lose you’ll know why, and you’ll bring this knowledge to your next attempt. Despite this, consistency comes with its downsides. SteamWorld Heist 2 doesn’t take risks and doesn’t revolutionize the genre, but it doesn’t attempt to. Instead, it offers players a quality game that doesn’t disappoint, while never reaching that ‘must-play’ status.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    NHL 24
    There’s the usual minor improvements in visuals, and EA Sports finally implemented full crossplay. Vision passing sometimes makes passing easier, though most matches move so fast that you don't benefit from the player tags and icons anyway. You can fire coaches in franchise mode, too. That’s about it for new additions, though. Franchise mode and other existing modes remain largely unchanged, and HUT Moments is the only new mode this year. NHL 24 is a solid new entry, despite some balance issues, though it feels like it’s time for a bigger, more ambitious refresh.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
    If you’re coming into Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora purely as a fan of the films, then there’s a lot for you to get out of this – it lets you explore the world like never before and take part in the culture it created for the first time. However, if you care about it more as a video game first, then it’s nothing special. Ubisoft yet again refuses to make any steps forward when it comes to open-world design, even when given free rein to make something wild and fantastical like Pandora should be.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stray
    Two years on, Stray is still a beautiful game. A point-and-click platformer with a unique concept. The Nintendo Switch is possibly the worst way to experience it, but if you value portability over performance then this is still the version you’ll want.
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These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation.

In Progress & Unscored

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    • 90 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Destiny 2: The Final Shape
    I might rag on Destiny 2’s level design (I’d probably do the same with Halo, honestly), but I can’t fault Bungie on its pedigree when it comes to making a shooter that feels great. It’s far easier said than done, and many shooters manage to be merely functional and serviceable rather than fun – looking at you, Starfield, Borderlands, Outer Worlds – but Destiny 2’s guns are genuinely great to shoot. It helps that smaller, weaker foes will usually get wiped out in a fraction of an Auto Rifle’s clip, instead of acting like perpetual bullet sponges. Having dozens of weaker foes to fight against is far more satisfying than one big bullet sponge, and Destiny 2 understands this, all the way up until you find a dungeon or raid boss. [Review in Progress]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Palworld
    By focusing on survival crafting rather than traditional Pokémon-style gameplay, Palworld has made something unique out of two genres that have been stale for a long time. It’s still missing some big features like PvP, but given that it’s only at the beginning of its time in early access, it will only get bigger and better. [Early Access Score = 80]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Age of Wonders 4: Eldritch Realms
    Age of Wonders 4: Eldritch Realms superbly serves the power fantasies of wielding evil, ancient knowledge and becoming something otherworldly as well as fighting against such abyssal horrors, finding a nice balance between fresh content and mechanical additions. [Recommended]
    • 60 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns
    A year on, and Mortal Kombat 1 is still plodding along. If you’ve felt a bit gore deprived recently, Khaos Reigns is a great way to refresh your sicko meter and have some fun with friends, but even with infinite combos and a variety of new characters, MK1 still feels stuck in the mud. Hopefully, the next MK game will take place in a timeline where the gameplay doesn’t feel stiff, though I’m not sure even the Kamidogu can help with that.
    • 75 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    MultiVersus
    This doesn’t feel like a game you can reasonably “get good” at anymore, it just feels like a mess. Win, lose, it doesn’t matter. Perhaps younger gamers can forgive the gameplay quirks in exchange for seeing characters they love duke it out, but that alone is not what made Super Smash Bros. a sensation. MultiVersus’ online net code is great, which should be a massive selling point, but why would you want to play this game? [Review in Progress]
    • 82 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Cataclismo
    Cataclismo is built on a fantastic foundation thanks to solid fortress construction mechanics that capture your imagination. Build your Helm’s Deep, build your Minas Tirith, and hold it against the tireless forces of evil – that’s the simple and yet so very seductive promise of Cataclismo, and its Early Access launch already executes the idea brilliantly. Once the developers have gotten around to adding more spice, this meal will delight any strategy fan. [Early Access Review - "Recommended"]
    • 90 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
    The best part of the new port is the potential for all the upcoming mods. All of my complaints can be fixed by the community through mods, although Square Enix should address them directly first. Overall, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth looks and runs better than its PS5 counterpart on PC. The amount of options and scalability is enough to satisfy most PC gamers with modern hardware, and certain quirks can be fixed with quick updates.
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Manor Lords
    Though not content-complete, Manor Lords feels like an incredibly fresh take on city-building, borrowing mechanics from other genres and fusing them authentically with history to create something unique and special. Its mechanical foundations could not be more solid, so all this game needs to fully unlock its immense potential is more time and meat on its bones...We aren’t scoring Early Access reviews, so all I’ll say is that I highly recommend this game even ahead of its full launch, if the developer’s vision speaks as much to you as it does to me. [Early Access Review - "Recommended"]
    • 86 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Diablo IV
    Diablo 4 treads familiar ground in its story and characters, but its combat and gameplay systems shine where prior games fell short. I wish its single-player experience was a little less hostile, and I worry for its longevity in its current state, but even at its lowest lows, it manages to match or outpace its predecessors in almost every conceivable way. [Review in Progress]
    • 87 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Crusader Kings III: Roads to Power
    For me, Roads to Power is an incredibly flavorful Crusader Kings 3 DLC – it’s a game changer in the literal meaning, because it introduces a way to truly play this title as a RPG as opposed to a strategy game, though I would recommend a healthy mix to get the best out of the experience, and it really spices up empire-level gameplay. Even if you’ve conquered the world, keeping your dynasty on the throne is now much more intense thanks to Administrative Realm politics. Now even more roads lead to Rome, and what could be better? [Recommended]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Breachway
    Edgeflow Studio has managed to create an immersive deckbuilder that really knows how to make use of its setting and connect it to the gameplay. This quality greatly enhances the heart of the game, which is the thrilling and intricate turn-based space combat that’s already fantastic in Early Access. The same can’t be said for its roguelike layer, which requires more variety and incentives to become similarly engaging. Breachway is not quite Faster Than Light, yet.
    • 81 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Songs Of Silence
    If Songs of Silence wasn’t an auto-battler, but featured either turn-based combat in the style of Age of Wonders or real-time battles a la Total War, and just a little more empire management, this would probably land on my game of the year shortlist (heck, it may very well still do so) – as things are, its genre, its resulting drawbacks, and a few technical issues ever so slightly lessen my enthusiasm, so it has to settle for being the best auto-battler and most gorgeous strategy game I’ve ever played. [Early Access Review]

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