New gameplay elements are constantly being introduced in It Takes Two, each requiring you to develop your own skills. And although the story of impending divorce sounds quite sad - and for many undoubtedly recognizable - the 3D platform game uses a lot of humor. You end up in a very original and imaginative world, which continues to surprise even after hours.

The action is not the only point in which Death Stranding 2 surpasses its predecessor. For one, the story is a lot easier to follow (thanks to the new Corpus feature where you can easily catch up on reading), and the world looks much more diverse. Last time you wandered for hours through a barren moonscape, but now you encounter forests, snowy mountain peaks, beaches and other environments. Originality and good stories seem quietly in danger of extinction in the gaming world, which seems to be more and more about profits and shareholders. But as long as the occasional game like Death Stranding 2 passes, stubbornly doing its own thing, there is hope.

What initially appear to be subtle nods to previous games quickly descend into unnecessary fan service. It doesn't help that every trick in the book is pulled out, and you can often see the jump scares coming a mile away. The game rarely surprises, except in its shift from camp to deadly seriousness. Resident Evil Requiem is a commendable game, but not as memorable as some other installments in the series. The ambitious game was supposed to be the culmination of thirty years of Resident Evil. But it plays it too safe and, unfortunately, rarely manages to truly surprise.

Naughty Dog is by no means a one trick pony. With ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘Uncharted’, it is responsible for two of the best game series of recent years. It is also far from being the only developer to spread the same game at full price over three console generations. Consider, for example, Rockstar, which also wants to market ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ to as many gamers as it can in the same way. For a game of this exceptionally high level, that's not even a bad thing, although we'd rather see their focus shift to ‘GTA VI’ or, who knows, ‘The Last of Us: Part III’.

Neon White immediately puts you in a flow from which it is difficult to escape, in the quest to be just a tenth of a second faster and thus achieve the highest medal. The attractive graphic style finishes it off, making Neon White one of the sleeper hits of this summer and perhaps all year.

Tetris effect: Connected reaches its true potential in the extensive multiplayer modes. You can join games hosted all over the world, each with its own theme and according graphical and sound effects. Whether you want to unwind with a relaxing puzzle, or are looking for an intense and nerve-racking challenge, the choices are nearly infinite.

What really makes this game innovative is undoubtedly the graphical aspect. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart had to show what the PS5 is capable of and it succeeds wonderfully. The planets, the characters, the use of color, it all looks breathtaking. As if you've landed in an interactive animated film. If we have to mention one drawback, it's that the creators perhaps want to show a little too much of what's possible, which makes the game a bit chaotic at times.

They know their classics at Square Enix, that much is clear. Final Fantasy Tactics shines like never before. But whether this polished gem will reach a new audience beyond diehard RPG fans is something we dare to doubt.

Do you know that indefinable feeling that you have to like something? That everyone in the amusement park is having a great time, but your mind is elsewhere? That's what we experienced when we played Horizon: Forbidden West, the long-awaited new hit for Playstation. Yes, it's very well put together. Yes, it looks stunning. And yes, the battles are wildly exciting. Yet we feel something niggling. Is it the magic of that first encounter that has disappeared?

Is Deathloop perfect? For that, the story is a bit too slow to start, at times you are led by the hand just a little too much, and there were still too many bugs in our review copy. But that can be solved with patches and updates, and the pace does not detract from this intelligent and well-crafted murder puzzle. Let's hope it's the first of its kind.

19 years. That's how long fans had to wait for a real sequel to the 2D adventures of intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran. And as it turns out: it’s worth the wait. Dread is excellent, hardcore and a beautiful love letter to the genre. The terrifying Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers (E.M.M.I's) are refreshing and make the title chillingly true. The somewhat retro visual flair pops, but mostly on the new (and more expensive) OLED Switch.

Monster Hunter Rise is the latest Switch crown jewel. It is a great rendition of the longstanding JRPG-series even though the Switch’s screen is smaller, has a lower resolution and scarce computing power. As complex and hard to master as ever, it will take more than a few YouTube-tutorials to really get going. But once past that point of no return players gets sucked in the franchise’s signature gameplay-loop that is deliciously addictive.

The mini-games deserve a special mention. These are probably the most in-depth and complex we have encountered in our career. And it is precisely these that make the game so controversial. What is usually just an interlude becomes almost a craft that you have to learn and perfect. It is incredibly immersive and exemplary of the level of detail in the game. But the general public usually doesn't have the patience to immerse themselves endlessly in, say, medieval crafts. That excellent immersion slows down the pace of the outstanding game, making it seem reserved only for history buffs as passionate as the creators themselves.

Exploring the brand new Iki island is good for about ten hours of extra game time, taking beautiful and serene pictures with the built-in photo mode easily adds several hours more. Those who already own Ghost of Tsushima can upgrade to the director's cut for a low price. For those who want to take the step now, the director's cut is simply the best version you can get.

Don't expect profound dialogues or a layered story. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance relies on its challenging mix of fighting game and platformer. It is a successful homage to the series and to the 80s and 90s, when ninjas, just like today's superheroes, were omnipresent in popular culture.

Pikmin has secretly belonged to the pantheon of Nintendo series for more than two decades. Secretly, because it never managed to reach the general public like Mario, Zelda and Pokémon. Volume four proves once again what a shame that is. The great level design, the colorful world, refined gameplay and the many innovations are the epitome of Dandori: the quickest and most efficient way to fun.

No, you don't have to have played the previous fifteen games to understand this story. And yes, FFXVI is an excellent entry point to get to know this long-running series of Japanese role-playing games. Purists denounce how "Final Fantasy" has become less and less "role-playing game" and more and more "action game," but they err. This is a winner.

GT7 is a stunning racing game that hardly has its match. But what starts as a paean to praise, we want to nuance. Despite the many positive elements, it is far from a perfect game. Perhaps its biggest flaw - and it's very bizarre to have to say this about a racing game - is its lack of pace. Don't get us wrong, the track feel while racing is fantastic. But once off the track, the game does everything it can to slow things down.

The developer didn’t turn a blind eye to the shortcomings of its predecessor, Returnal. Saros has kept the best parts—the controls are wonderfully responsive, your character runs and jumps at a brisk pace, and the atmosphere is delightfully dark—and made adjustments where necessary. Still, you’ll inevitably die while playing; that’s just part of the genre. But with every session, you get better and stronger, and you’re better equipped for your next run. The dopamine rush this creates makes the game—at least for us—incredibly addictive. Saros plays it safe and, while challenging, is perhaps less daring and revolutionary than Returnal, but that makes the game more accessible to a wider audience.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is not a so-called nextgen gaming experience that completely blows your socks off and adds plenty of innovative features. No, it's a tribute to Indiana Jones, brimming with details that ooze love for the original trilogy, in a medium that allows for so much more interaction and immersion. Once the adventure gets going, there is so much to do and experience that it's hard to put the controller down.

Every once in a while a game comes along that is so special that you can't help but admire it. And when it turns out to be a solo project, the appreciation only increases. In an hour this artful game is finished, but for something that is completely free, that is no shame at all.

Agent 47 adds some more amazing hits in this fantastic ending of an incredible trilogy. Although there’s not much new mechanically in Hitman 3, you’ll come across some great new experiences along your travels from Dubai through the Carpathian mountains, that may rival the ones in Hitman 2016’s Sapienza.

Diablo IV stays mostly true to its roots. Think isometric perspective, bleak environments and wave after wave of hordes of demons. But at the same time, the game has received a much-needed update in the form of stunning graphics, fluent gameplay and an impressive opening scene that immediately takes the you to your macabre playing field for the next twenty to fifty hours - or more.

Whereas in previous Mario Kart games - as befits the genre - you raced around tracks, in Mario Kart World you can drive so-called Knockout Tours. These are rallies through the open world with checkpoints where a few racers drop out each time. This game mode is not a reinvention of the wheel, but it is a welcome twist. It proves that in its genre - the arcade racer - Mario Kart remains in a league of its own. And this is the best Mario Kart Nintendo ever made.

Bayonetta 3 excels in over-the-top madness. In the best possible way. But the story with wacky characters across parallel universes, is just the canvas for the real highlight of Bayonetta 3: the action. The titular witch's lightning-fast attacks are complemented her own magical powers, but you can now also temporarily take control of several enormous creatures, the "Demon Slaves”.

Five years ago, Ghost of Tsushima pushed the PS4 to its limits and left a lasting impression with its historically inspired open-world epic. Visually, narratively, and in terms of gameplay, this interactive love letter to the work of director Akira Kurosawa, the grand master of the samurai genre, was so good that it rightly earned the status of “classic.” There were some flaws—perhaps inherent to the open-world genre—but the result was an open-world game that you'll happily lose yourself in for 100 hours. For Ghost of Yotei, all of the above still holds true, but you'll want to put 200 hours into it. It sounds disrespectful, but Ghost of Yotei is a sequel by the book and therefore, in essence, more Ghost of Tsushima, but ‘better’: with more weapons, more variety of enemies, and even more beautiful grass – because what an incredibly beautiful game this is.

The good news first: the games received a graphical update, making them look visually up to date. Oddly enough, this improvement also has a downside: the unique atmosphere that characterized the first part of the series is gone. The dark menace is completely gone, and gloomy surroundings suddenly look like sunny vacation resorts - if you think away the skewered inhabitants. So are we disappointed with this Remastered Edition? Not at all. The battles remain fantastic: is a sniper hiding behind a wall? Let one of your (computer-controlled) allies throw him into the air and then practice the better clay-pigeon shooting. All this action is embedded in an epic story that can compete with the better Star Trek movie, where the painful choices are made by you.

Genre remixes often get lost in good intentions, but Disco Elysium pulls it off just fine. The dialogues fit perfectly with the visual style that portrays a world as captivating as it is gloomy. All top notch, but still we'll stick with three stars. Why? Because the console version we tested was plagued by bugs that sometimes even made it impossible to progress further.