Code Vein II fundamentally fails to understand that true Souls-like difficulty comes from skill testing, not stat gating. There are also minor but noticeable flaws, such as the sometimes poor readability of attacks, which could be remedied with better visual highlighting and reduced effect chaos. Overall, Code Vein II moves further away from its Souls-like roots, which I find bold and independent. This gives the game a new identity of its own, which in its flow and combat rhythm is more reminiscent of dungeon crawlers and action JRPGs than Dark Souls and the like. The only annoying thing is that many aspects seem to have not been thought through to the end. This results in the aforementioned lack of appeal of the open world, the incoherence between story and gameplay, and the unpolished technical execution. Nevertheless, there is a good game in here somewhere. If Bandai Namco makes adjustments with patches, you can still have fun despite these criticisms.

Rue Valley shows how depression, grief and mental health problems affect us and those around us. It also the various ways people deal with these issues, how one can learn to live with them and how to find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. The story looks at these issues without the use of rose-tinted glasses and creates a fascinating experience through its unusual character creation and very well-written and very-acted dialogue, if you're open to this kind of subject matter. However, a certain amount of patience for a few lengths in both gameplay and storytelling, as well some tolerance for small technical issues and limitations are a requirement for your journey to Rue Valley.

Tron: Catalyst expands the popular sci-fi universe with an exciting story. However, in many areas, the game remains nothing more than average.

Outcast: A New Beginning offers an alien open world full of small, interesting stories. Too Little innovation and a humor that takes some getting used to, are contrasted by surprisingly fun and dynamic battles, entertaining missions and a pleasant flow when it comes to exploring the captivating alien world.

Bulwark is an aesthetic and very impressive one-man project full of simple, elegant game systems. It's easy to lose yourself in the moment and simply watch the attractive settlement grow and flourish. However, there is a lack of challenge and variety for real long-term gameplay motivation.

Here comes a heavyweight of a 4X game, but at the moment it can't hold a candle to the primus Civilization 6. Compared to the last challenger Humankind, Millennia is already ahead of the game: more new ideas, more well thought-out strategies, more possibilities. Even if the balancing is still in its infancy.

Charming destruction madness with retro flair, absurdly creative missions and an anything-goes mentality that works unexpectedly well.

As a unique 3D platformer in both visual presentation and gameplay systems, Ruffy and the Riverside doesn't quite reach its full potential.

In its best moments, Killing Floor 3 delivers absolute shooter fever dreams. The rest is standard stuff that squanders any potential.

Likeable characters, a well-developed scenario and exciting mysteries - Dustborn is a very well-written and, above all, excellently voiced adventure game in which I wanted to know how the story would continue right up to the end credits. Unfortunately, the interspersed action scenes don't keep up this level.

Splitgate 2 offers solid, fast-paced gameplay and intelligently encourages team play. The portal mechanic rewards intelligent play and opens up possibilities not seen in other shooters. The large selection of game modes might spread its community a little too thin in the long run, and may dilute the game's identity too much. In order to keep players engaged for the long haul, there need to be more unlockables, upgrades, some form of measurable progress. The upcoming ranked mode is a step in the right direction, but it likely won't appeal to less-competitive users.

The shortcomings of Behemoth are numerous and sometimes frustratingly severe. Many design decisions, bugs and technical flaws make the game a test of patience. What began as an ambitious VR project with a great concept ends up as an unfinished and chaotic experience that often leaves players with more frustration than joy.

Spirit of the North 2 is a scenic open-world adventure with an incredibly dense atmosphere that transports me to a world of Nordic legends. Even if some of the game mechanics seem bloated or not fully developed, the story and the urge to explore keep me going.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a quite good mid-price title. Don't expect technical or gameplay innovations, but fans of the movie franchise should get their fix out of it.

While Post Trauma creates excellent horror through its environments, camera work and sound design, it sadly misses the survival part of the survival horror genre. Great puzzle design alone isn't enough when you still have to endure the clunky combat without real item management.

The creative platformer Schim impresses using puzzles and jumping passages with innovative shadow mechanics and a surprisingly touching story. Even with many elements becoming repetitive at some point, it remains an unusual, fun experience.

The Precinct is a police simulator that quickly runs out of steam. Too much monotony meets a world that can't tell good from evil.

Forever Skies is essentially a cozy survival game for anyone who values exploration and a dense atmosphere more than a tough and complex survival experience.

Phantom Fury refers to itself as a road movie and claims to be inspired by games like Half-Life. You should ignore these flowery descriptions, if you are hoping to get any fun out of this retro shooter. This game offers an interactive world with plenty of shootouts and a bunch of puzzles. However, technical issues, weak sound design and weaker weapon impacts, as well as uninteresting storytelling get in the way of enjoying this title. Its 12 to 15 hours of play time make this game feel too long. Elements such as pass codes hidden in terminals or blocked passages, which you need to clear up with a swivelling crane, repeat and lose their novelty, as does the small selection of enemies. It’s still entertaining in short sessions, but it doesn’t offer enough variety for anything more than that.

The campaign in Black Ops 7 changes everything, for better and for worse. You face psychological horror on your own or cooperatively with friends, fight humongous bosses and move through crazy, surreal levels using grappling hooks and super jumps. Some enemies are annoyingly spongy, some boss mechanics more frustrating than entertaining. The story is unbelievably nonsensical, even for Call of Duty. Multiplayer is chock-full of the usual competitive modes for teams of 6 or 20 players, Warzone and Zombies are present, as well, as is Endgame, a new cooperative Warzone mode against AI enemies. Multiplayer is solid, the Gunsmith feature allows for lots of exciting possibilities, but weapon-balancing could use a little more fine-tuning.

Good action platformer with charm and stylistically confident direction, which is consciously orientated towards comparable games of the PS2 era, but unfortunately stumbles over its unbalanced collection of side tasks. Sidekick Shipset is also a bit of a dick, which won't please everyone.

Even if this reinterpretation of Alone in the Dark occasionally stumbles a little in technical terms, you can feel the love for the original and the horror genre in every fibre of the game. It's a great conundrum of mysterious characters, supernatural forces and classic gothic horror.

Wreckreation is a flawed but charming arcade racer that successfully resurrects Burnout's spirit. The innovative LiveMix editor offers creative freedom rarely seen in racing games, while solid destruction physics and exhilarating speed deliver memorable moments. However, a lifeless open world, unfair AI difficulty balancing, and numerous technical bugs prevent it from reaching greatness. For players hungry for arcade racing thrills and willing to overlook its rough edges, it's a worthwhile investment. The small ten-person team deserves credit for coming this close to recapturing the magic of 2008.

Slitterhead is a divisive horror game that will either fascinate or frustrate players. Its unique blend of action, body horror, and surreal storytelling, coupled with a haunting soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka, creates an unforgettable, albeit flawed, experience.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a wonderfully straightforward and refreshingly blunt horde shooter whose biggest stars are its gigantic alien hordes. Numerous unlockables, reasonably varied classes, diverse locations and at least four game modes provide enough motivation to get that extra round in. The typical Starship Troopers tone, the iconic bug design and the brutal action are certainly convincing, even if the direct competition Helldivers 2 is the recognizably better game in all respects. Nevertheless, Starship Troopers: Extermination is fun - also because the base-building with a slight tower defense twist is a good addition to the simple but solid game principle. Extermination's biggest problems are the server-side performance and the numerous game bugs, which get on your nerves over time.

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion tells its pirate tale using very cool comic strips and offers eight to ten hours of tactical, turn-based battles fought with sabers, flintlock pistols and a bit of luck with the dice. Lacking tutorials, the absence of difficulty settings and unintuitive game mechanics make this game difficult to approach for inexperienced would-be freebooters.

Hirogami creatively uses origami folding techniques in its levels and battles, creating a unique platforming experience. Not only do we explore beautifully designed levels full of secrets, but we also have to constantly find new ways to use our powers and transformations.

Unknown 9: Awakening is not inherently bad, but it's not really good, either. The fun seems to be caught in the rift between worlds.