BrambleLash is a fun game, especially when playing with a friend (or a couple of friends). The Adventure mode is rather short though, offering just the three seasons with five or six stages per season. I certainly would have liked to see what Summer would have entailed. Each of the locations has a varied design though, requiring different strategies despite the lack of variation in enemy types. The boss battles are rewarding, and combined with the Battle mode, increase the replay aspect of the game. Controls are simple, with just a couple of buttons that activate power-ups and switching positions with the drone, allowing anyone to pick up and play without an issue. BrambleLash won’t create any real lasting memories, but is certainly fun to play with a group of friends.

Baja: Edge of Control HD is great fun as a casual split-screen racing title and will certainly give you hours of entertainment if you have friends or family to enjoy it with. For a more serious racer, there are other games out there, but even to them this should be a great casual title to try out.

Back in its Early Access state I recommended picking up Warhammer 40k: Space Wolf for the large amount of content available at such a low price, and there’s been more than enough added to warrant its current asking price of $18 USD. Though it is sometimes frustrating, it’s a good bit of fun that takes an interesting approach to the genre that you won’t find done any better elsewhere.

So Boss 101 is a strange beast, at the same time jam-packed with guns, costumes, and perks, while also and deeply lacking any features that make time investment seem worthwhile. There’s an argument to be made that this makes it the perfect game to pick up and play in short bursts, but there are better options out there, so I can’t really recommend it for that either.

Overall, I'm impressed with Uurnog Uurnlimited's open approach to puzzle solving and its simple yet effective graphics. Each puzzle's solution is as unique as the player can make it, allowing for some silly and rewarding puzzle solving. I appreciate that the game takes a hard penalty on death, but resetting puzzles has the same penalties as a death, which feels excessive and otherwise limiting on a puzzle game that relies on and is made stronger by its multiplicity of solutions.

Yi and the Thousand Moons is a fun experience, I just don’t know if it’s fun enough to make it’s incredibly short run time worth the cost.

It's easy to pour countless hours into Deep Sixed, but it's just as easy to rage quit after a few minutes. There is a handy tutorial mission, but it in no way covers everything there is to do in the game. I'm sure this will scare many new players away, but if you take the time to learn the way your ship and manual work, it becomes quite rewarding to fix your ship like a pro and continue on with each new mission. And when things seem too dark, the ship's AI is usually pretty good at picking up the mood. She's silly and totally programmed with the good of co-operation in mind, so the player character becomes quite sassy with her. Indeed, I found that their relationship was always spot-on and made me laugh quite a bit.

While less tiring than real world politics, Shape of America's first episode fails to capture the intrigue, tactical ambition, and most offensively the platform for in-game debate that should make you feel good about getting the upper hand on your climb to power. When I start the game out as a waiter, I want to feel good when I beat a senator at his own game. I want to feel good when I talk my way through corporate and political big wigs. I want a sense of accomplishment, not a quick payout and a pat on the back. Shape of America's biggest flaw may be that it portrays politics as a machine with barely any emotion; and while that may be true to a point, at least the real thing has the thrill of debate and discussion.

With a host of collectibles and simple addictive gameplay, Shooty Skies will have gamers playing ‘just one more turn’ as they try and top their best score. And with loads of colour and fun, upbeat audio, there is no reason why Shooty Skies shouldn’t be in your Steam Library. Especially when it’s free.

It’s like Epic Car Factory is the first half of a complete game, or even the first third. There’s really not that much game here. Putting the same four car components into a bowl and waiting for something to come out on the other end is barely a game. I guess you could roleplay a bit - design your car, start up Factorio or Production Line and pretend to manufacture the car there. As it stands, Epic Car Factory is more like... Car.

It's got a great cast of characters and some interesting elements of combat all tied together in rather pretty art. Sadly, the music is a lot less memorable than the art and didn't do much to push scenes and tension along. Moreover, much of the exploration felt lackluster in comparison to the rest of the game, and I wish more had been done to make that a bit more interesting. Overall, I think a rather enjoyable game that's good for a play through if these sorts of games are your thing.

Combat difficulty feels ever evolving due to the blighted trait systems, the environment is an interesting one to traverse, and even though I didn't care about the plot, the fact they actually tried to put some narrative into a roguelike is refreshing compared to the ones of a few years ago I got absorbed into playing. Soulblight, like the flu, may burn your time for a week or so. Unlike the flu, you'll actually likely enjoy your time spent with it.

Overall, the game offers nothing that you have not seen before. What it does, it does pretty well, but when it comes down to it, NoReload Heroes doesn’t really aim to do that much. The pretty explosions, hectic action and the variety of explosions may entertain you for a while, but – like with my daughter – 20 minutes may be enough for you to get bored with it.

It's satisfying to completely destroy each area, but only until the formulaic gameplay begins to wear itself thin. However, the little things Infectonator 3: Apocalypse does for humor's sake land nicely and I found myself laughing at some of the intentionally silly art and dialogue. Overall, it's a game that's fun in bursts and would probably appeal more to somebody who knows this sort of thing is their cup of tea.

I would recommend Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse; it’s not an expensive game and is sure to give players a fair amount of fun. But I would mainly recommend it to players for whom a funny story and dialogue can take precedence over mechanics and play.

After finishing my time with Dream Alone I didn’t really find myself satisfied with anything that it was trying to do or be. It’s got the makings of a nice little horror story, but there isn’t enough actual story to live up to its opening’s promise.

The dialogue is fairly strong and despite some bad accents, it holds its own and gives the player plenty of choice. The heists and their preparation missions are pretty varied and allow for a range of approaches. But most of all, the game is very consistent tonally; that comic art style is on point and the game just generally exudes a sense of criminal classiness. I would definitely recommend this to comic-book turned game fans or to anyone craving a spot of thievery.

Games like Imperatum, that are not necessarily horrible but are far from good will disappear beneath the fame and infamy other games bring about. Unless it has one little niche than can catch even a small following, the name Imperatum will not ring any bells even a few months from now.

Sonic Mania, as well as Sonic Mania Plus Encore, are exactly what the Sonic franchise needed to breathe some life back into it. The ball is in play, and it gives fans hope for the series to improve going forward.

While less strong than previous DLCs, Shadows Over Bogenhafen lends the base game a well-needed dose of re-playability and will be an enjoyable booster of content for most rat-killing fans.

Action Squad also supports local and online co-op so that you and a friend can party up and kick ass. This creates a unique dynamic rather than just playing solo. With a partner, you are able to create new tactics and deal more damage than a single person would. A great combo to try out is the shield and assaulter. The shield can block incoming bullet damage while the assaulter can stand behind them to let off a volley of gunfire. These options in gameplay made it feel exciting and fresh throughout. I never found a dull moment in Door Kickers regardless of the shallow customization.

It’s a successful game in its own right, super fun with a large variety of weapons, bosses, enemies and areas to experience/explore. The similar layouts and shifting structure of the tower do make it a challenge to navigate, but there is a great sense of accomplishment in the game. It may try to be a little too ‘edgy’ at times, illustrated by Death on a skateboard and 90% of the stuff that comes out of his mouth and the PvP of Tokyo Death Metro feels a poor excuse for Souls-like invasion sometimes, but it does allow you to grind coins if you need them.

Get it if you’re a huge fan of the stealth/infiltration genre and need to play everything on offer in that niche. Just be aware that there are superior games out there that will undoubtedly serve better to satisfy your assassination fantasies.

I just don't get it, how can such a promising idea fall so flat? The Works of Mercy had the potential to be something truly special. But good ideas alone amount to little, when the end result is beautiful, boring, and buggy.

Despite not particularly caring for Drowning as a complete package, I do want to stress that I think the writing paints an affecting picture of depression without slipping into cliched, manufactured drama. I did enjoy connecting with the protagonist as much as one can enjoy getting into a troubled mind, and I think it does a good job of using personification to make depression as relatable as I can imagine it is for someone like me who’s never experienced it first hand. I just don’t particularly love how it all came together as an interactive experience.

I love Surviving Mars, one of my favourite management games this year, but while this expansion adds lots of little things, it doesn’t add anything significantly new, or even successfully realize the ‘race’ it titles itself for — I’m sad to say, it feels like a pricey update.

Vermintide 2 has shown us the possibility of what could be for the series, so it’s hard to know what this remaster stands for. Is this a fond farewell to the overdone town setting, as in the new year Fatshark moves into newer and fresher regions of content, with the possibility of a third race perhaps? Or is it, as remasters so often are, a case of substituting for content that is actually ‘new’? I of course hope it’s the former. Back to Ubersreik is a good remaster, certainly a more complete piece of content than Shadows over Bogenhafen, but it still leaves me slightly nervous about the future of Vermintide 2 DLC.

While not drastic pieces of content, for their price, Celestial Worlds and Harmonic Memories add a valuable boost of replayability, the best friend of any strategy player. I would especially recommend both DLCs for any player who has yet to play one of the Endless Space 2 races, as the new quest-line, music, unique planets and improvements add a slightly richer campaign experience on the whole.