A cool story with lots of nice cinematic vibes, but the imprecise controls and stupid opponents tarnish the otherwise good impression.

Despite its gacha elements, Infinity Nikki is a delightful open-world adventure with a unique focus on fashion, charming world, and relaxing atmosphere.

A fantastic metroidvania offering one of the genre's most interesting combat systems and surprisingly human characters set in a brutal world.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a game that, in my opinion, is all too rare in this form. GSC Game World has managed to create an incredibly atmospheric combination of survival, horror and end time in a fascinating environment. Despite all the shooter weaknesses, the wooden dialogues, the incredibly annoying anomalies over time and some dubious technical problems, I fell in love with this zone. You won't find that much freedom and mystery anywhere else. Added to this is a story that takes its time to get it going, but then surprises with cool factions and robust characters. This excursion to Chernobyl requires patience and stamina, but rewards you with spectacular views, fierce battles and an expressive end time.

Empire of the Ants is a beautiful and ambitious ant adventure that illustrates the universe at our feet in fantastic quality. Beyond its insect simulator, however, the real-time strategy falls a little short. There is too little variety in the missions, the controls offer too few tactical options and are a little too confusing when building the nests. In addition, there are strange exploration missions that contribute little to the plot, but are more annoying than enriching with their game mechanics. At least there is a multiplayer mode, but this also suffers from a lack of variety in the armies.

While Metro: Awakening delivers an immersive VR experience with innovative controls and atmospheric environments, technical shortcomings in graphics and sound design prevent it from reaching its full potential, especially when it comes to the realization of the fascinating world of the novels.

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.

The high level of variety and flexibility of the missions makes Black Ops 6 the best Call of Duty campaign in many, many years. Added to that is a strong multiplayer and entertaining zombie action.

A compelling return for Max Caulfield with a gripping story and emotional depth, held back by technical issues and repetitive environments.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard clearly wants to put epic action above all and sprinkles it with deeply emotional moments. Instead of choices and slow, tactical combat, the focus is clearly on a pre-composed story and powerful, action-packed battles. But if you engage with it, BioWare delivers one of the most thrilling role-playing games of recent years.

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.

Bloober Team has succeeded in creating a good remake of a horror classic that respects the original in the most important aspects, but expands it where it makes sense and doesn't change the core ideas.

Sonic X Shadow Generations is a neat combination of remaster and brand new game that can get a little frantic at times, but always stays perfectly playable.

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.

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.

Dying is part of DeathSprint 66. If you're not careful, a race can quickly become overwhelming. And that's exactly what makes it so appealing. The laps are incredibly exciting and leave you with sweaty hands afterwards. Good reactions are necessary here, and in more than a few races, I really felt my adrenaline kick in. Added to this are the different movement options and the over-the-top items. DeathSprint's fast-paced style of play encourages you to complete the race as perfectly as possible without dying (too many times) and cross the finish line as the winner. And although the game does a lot right, you can't ignore the elephant in the room. DeathSprint 66 is struggling with its player numbers and if Sumo Newcastle doesn't do something quickly, you'll soon be sprinting alone across the deadly race tracks. At least the multiplayer mode can be filled up with bots and the pure PvE mode is entertaining, but the most fun is still racing against real players.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is an excellent combination of Persona's time management and classic Japanese fantasy RPG structure.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero revives the old Tenkaichi series and, in addition to a huge character package, offers straightforward brawler fun like in the anime.

In regards to its content, The War Within is the best expansion for WoW to date. The story is fantastic, the music incredible, and on top of the group-based content fans have come to expect, from raids to battlegrounds to arena battles and mythic dungeons, the new Delves finally offer a great opportunity for smaller teams, lone wolves and casual players to make meaningful progress, get stronger, master their class and receive powerful gear. Warbands make powering up and gearing new characters easier than ever. Granted, these are all features, which other MMOs have been offering for years in some form or another, but if your heart beats for Azeroth, you may not be interested in any alternatives. Issues such as deleted guild banks and balancing problems with the crafting system, classes, hero talents and delves are a source of frustration. Still, now is a great time to go on a(nother) trip to Azeroth, even or especially when you don't have as much time to play as you did 20 years ago.

Ara: History Untold doesn't really do anything new, but it takes good ideas from so many games and combines them in a meaningful way that fans of Civ, Millennia or Humankind will definitely have fun with. However, some of the many systems – such as diplomacy or combat – aren't really polished. The game certainly has the potential to patch itself up, but at release it's not enough.

A lovingly and carefully ported collection of classic fighting games that are still worth playing today, with new life breathed into them through online functionalities. Video game history is successfully preserved here.

Frostpunk 2 combines a city builder with complex management, politics and storytelling, giving weight to every decision. Even though we are often overwhelmed at times due to unclear communication, we want to get our end-time civilization through the winter at all costs.

I'm not normally the type for “artsyfartsy” indie games, I mainly like fast-paced, hard action. But The Plucky Spire interested me because of its innovative game mechanics and its proximity to the classic The Legend of Zelda games. Apart from the fast-paced, hard action, this is one of my only weaknesses. And I couldn't forgive myself for not taking the plunge. Sure, the challenge is different, and you could probably play through most of the game with a blindfold on. But the overall experience is just so incredibly endearing and refreshing that I simply couldn't stop playing. The only point of criticism for me as a person without any sense of rhythm: the boss battles against the giant eagle, who throws objects that you have to catch with drumsticks as Krass, almost drove me to despair. But I'm sure it's a piece of cake for more musically gifted people.

UFO 50 is an impressive achievement with a strong love for the medium while also understanding numerous genres on a deep level. A true masterpiece and resounding success on every level.

Charming and disarmingly cheerful 3D platformer with cute characters that focuses on accessibility and a gigantic grab bag of creative ideas.

Epic, detailed and brutal: Space Marine 2 is a true ode to the 40k universe! But as entertaining and technically impressive as the bloody battles against endless hordes of enemies are: Titus' campaign against the Tyranids and Thousands Sons could have used a little more variety. Nevertheless: Space Marine 2 is a new must-have for every 40k fan.

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.

Visions of Mana brings the world and creatures of the Mana games to life in ways much better and more beautiful than ever before. The world is more accessible and freely explorable, there is more to discover, the five playable characters can be upgraded and customised through many advanced classes. A weak PC port and some storytelling and gameplay lengths make the game less enjoyable than it could be.