I do think Helebron’s campaign is far stronger than Alarielle’s, but, on the whole, the lord pack is great: with new units and interesting lore specific mechanics.

Bullet Witch hasn’t aged particularly well in an era of excellent, smooth, quick third person shooters and brawlers, but I still found myself having fun buying all-in with the simple pleasures that the game does succeed with. Don’t buy this game if you’re looking for a tight, polished, nuanced experience, but consider giving it some of your time for a nostalgic trip through some light-hearted fun.

Problems such as fairly samey missions: getting a base, building a base, building a mega army, to then overwhelm their base, and there are a fair few missions like that in this game. But, all in all, Ancestors adds enough of a twist to that classic formula to keep most RTS fans on their toes, while giving them a decent level of enjoyment.

Vandals is the type of game that offers an enjoyable challenge on mobile platforms, for which the game is also available. I could spend hours with it if I could pull it out of my pocket at the dentist office. With Vandals being on my PC, I still find it fun, but I feel I am required to sacrifice time for another game that I probably want to play more.

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.

As with its predecessor, Deadfire is a truly engaging RPG in which there is always something interesting to do, or something to stare at in wonder. So much so, that hunting down Eothas - is - almost the distraction. The archipelago has lots of problems that are in need of a Watcher’s touch and most are intriguing enough that you want to get to the bottom before you progress the main storyline. If that is not the sign of a great RPG, I don’t know what is.

This game won’t appeal to everyone. There are those that will look at only the surface and dismiss it. The blending of types of gameplay can be difficult to come to terms with, if you’re looking for a single focussed style. It did take me some time to really appreciate it and part of that was the controls required for the platformer format in which the game has been designed. Yet in the end I really enjoyed the variety and could appreciate the complexity of such a well-rounded game.

I don’t think anyone is going to call BattleTech a perfect game, but it is a fun one that brings the IP back into the spotlight with a game that does justice to the lore, atmosphere, and tactical depth that the tabletop and video games were build on. Though its pace might be a bit slow for some, and the RNG can be frustrating in the worst ways, the game has too much going right for it to let those issues hold it back.

Judgement is a pretty coherent game. Nothing about it really blew me away, but it certainly does what it sets out to do. In this sense, it will most likely be an enjoyable romp for tower defence or survival fans. But when other RTS survival games like Frostpunk are playing with environmental hostility and RTS narrative in such interesting ways, I found it hard to get excited by what feels like just another tower defence demon/zombie survival with little narrative engagement.

Thrones of Britannia is a strong installment in the Total War series, the best British based campaign I’ve seen.

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.

I’ve got a soft spot for super-low-budget titles like this, almost always the product of passion and heart, but there’s no escaping that Supposedly Wonderful Future is an inconsistent experience that, while containing some successful moments, has too many that are dull or drag. It's clear that there are a lot of interesting ideas at work, but they aren’t packaged into an experience that functions well enough or as a cohesive whole.

Frostpunk is special, it’s one of a kind in that the game is used as a vehicle to convey a message in a way that most games can’t even aspire to achieve. You’ll switch of your PC after a session and walk off filled with what if’s and that is an amazing experience. Few developers understand how to play the heart strings well, but 11 bit studios are proving themselves to be the orchestra conductor.

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.

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.

Dead in Vinland eclipses its predecessor in almost every way. If you felt Dead in Bermuda was catering too much to a more casual experience, you’ll find plenty to love here. There’s a ton more depth and the additional combat sequences really add flavour. The game would benefit from being a bit better balanced at its default difficulty settings though.

Tower of Time isn’t a massively ground-breaking game, but is a solid addition to the RPG genre, consistent with itself and impressive for a first time development. So if you’re looking for a new RPG, don’t mind reading or point and click dungeon crawling, then Artara might just be for you.

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.

I may be disappointed with how the larger-scale fights and voice acting turned out in Fear Effect Sedna, but it’s pros- namely it’s stealth gameplay, puzzles, and visual design- were strong enough that I still ended my time with the game having enjoyed myself. It’s a game that thrives in it’s smaller moments, which remain memorable through the bigger ones. The Fear Effect setting is one I found engaging, and I hope we're able to see more of it in the future.

Far Cry 5 is a great game, but it’s also very much the same game we’ve played before. When Far Cry tried to re-imagine itself with Far Cry Primal, Ubisoft took a lazy approach. With Far Cry 5, they went back to what they know works for certain, they played it safe from a gameplay perspective while adding just enough to call it new and improved.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a game that is difficult to recommend for those who prefer their games to unfold at a pace faster than plodding. While much of the game excels in drawing you in, the deliberately slow pace works against it more often than not. But for those who are looking for a truly interesting adventure game that, for better or worse, takes its time to share its stories, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine makes for a captivating experience.

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 not just the legend of my pirate, it's each and every player out there. Each with a different story, each with something that is so much more beyond the fetch-quest guilds. I'm hooked on this game already, and knowing Rare's passion for Sea of Thieves, I think we're in store for even more great things in the future. You need only answer the call of the sea; you are a pirate.

I wish Pizza Connection 3 would have matched the excitement I had for it since it was first announced, but it doesn’t even come close. I can live with the bugs, but it doesn’t capture what made the original Pizza Tycoon so fantastic, it’s just not... personal enough. It’s almost as if development of the game stopped when it became technically functional, and then they forgot to put the actual game in.

Once you've looked under the hood and see that the farm sim is only the surface of the game, you find a surprisingly addicting dark adventure title. If you're a fan of farming sims but need something to spice it up, try the grim substance matter of Gleaner Heights out. You may find exactly what you're looking for.

At the end of the day, Rad Rodgers is a fine game that does what it sets out to do fairly successfully, it’s just that what it sets out to do isn’t anything terribly unique or special. The platforming is functional, but fails to introduce anything particularly memorable or engaging. The combat is fun, but simple, and the enemies do little more than die with a satisfying pop. Not every game needs to be groundbreaking or instantly classic, and there's nothing wrong with a game like this, that you can beat in a few pleasant lazy afternoons.

It’s also a lot smarter than it had to be. Usually with space strategy it often seems like a case of build it and they will come, especially with the current trend of Mars based colonization games. But Surviving Mars is by a long-shot the smartest I’ve played. It really makes you consider the cost of human life in its current state; to me it didn’t feel like a game blindly saying that colonization was the inevitable future of humanity.

Although Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is lovely to look at, and the core game mechanics work well, it is the repetition and the stale dialogue that quickly diminished any fun I was having with the game.