Dragon Quest VII Reimagined reconstructs the original’s sprawling narrative with a far brisker, more accessible pace. That approach may well represent the optimal solution for guiding modern players through such an enormous adventure, yet it comes at a cost. In streamlining the experience, the game sacrifices some of the strategic depth expected of an RPG, as well as the literary weight of the original’s meditation on the limits of salvation. It is charming and eminently approachable, but the sharp edges that once lingered in the heart have been smoothed away—resulting in a remake that feels exemplary, yet somewhat too well-behaved for its own good.

With its new mechanics, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment offers more tactical and refined action than its predecessor, Age of Calamity. On the other hand, the slow pace of unlocking features and progressing through the story gives it an undeniably slow-starting feel. Because it centers on the theme of the Imprisoning War, it offers fewer elements that will excite fans of the original series, but the new episodes told through its original characters are compelling.

Mafia: The Old Country is an ambitious action-adventure game that portrays the Sicilian Mafia of the early 20th Century through a realistic lens. However, its excessive fixation on realism results in tedious gameplay and a story that lacks excitement, ultimately alienating a broader audience. As a consequence, the game will likely only resonate with a niche group of players who have a strong interest in the lives of the Mafia at that time.

Saeko is avant-garde video game literature. The moment the player learns that they were transformed to their diminutive form by the titular Saeko a few minutes into the game, her true intention becomes clear. While it is graceful that the story branches according to the player’s choices, some of its literary quality can get lost depending on the order in which you experience its multiple endings.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 mixes JRPG-like turn-based battles with real-time action. While I was hooked to this combat system, the story’s sudden plot twist felt forced. Although this was hard to ignore, it is undeniable that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an appealing game that delivers a strong message.

Slitterhead’s body-swapping system is unique, and its grotesque monster design is definitely appealing. However, it feels like the choices the team had to make with its limited development budget did not work in the game’s favor. Combat needed more polish, the characters lack emotional expression, and the first half of the story is weak. Things do get more interesting towards the end of the game, but not enough to forget about its shortcomings. While its ambitious ideas deserve praise, it's a shame that Slitterhead was not able to fulfill its potential.

The stellar visual experience of space combat is Homeworld 3’s only real strength. With a plot that’s easy to predict, limited strategies available and a cumbersome UI, Homeworld 3 is a game that we expected more from.

Black Myth: Wukong’s combat system doesn’t have anything that makes it truly unique. The variety in ways to tackle combat is often lacking, and it doesn’t feel all that good to play either. That said, the concept of creating openings for the enemy rather than exploiting them is interesting, and by rewarding players who take full advantage of the few chances the game gives you, it makes its boss encounters worthwhile despite its lacking combat system. Character customization and exploration is on the thin side too, and the story is hard to follow if you haven’t read Journey to the West. However, the impressive graphics make every moment of the game look like a painting. Experiencing this world based on classic Chinese literature through the game’s unique vision is still worth your time.

Visions of Mana succeeds as a new entry in the Mana series that feels faithful to its identity while bringing it into a modern context with beautiful visuals. Cute characters and a casual battle system make this an action RPG that is approachable for newcomers to the series as well. Small inconveniences and flawed UX design are not enough to hold the experience back, but a story that approves of self-sacrifice narrows its appeal as a whole.

This expansion successfully blends the fun of synergy through enhancements of the roguelite genre with the unique action of the Splatoon series. It does lack volume, and it doesn’t offer the player enough opportunities to show off the enhancements they made. The art and sound design are stellar as always, but its presentation falls short and the story is not much more than a sequel to the events of Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion.

While its name might have changed, EA SPORTS FC 24 is a new entry in the long-running FIFA series through and through, and you’ll find the series' strengths and weaknesses haven’t changed one bit.

While there are obviously some differences, Lord of the Fallen is very similar to Dark Souls. Sadly though, Lords of the Fallen is nowhere near as polished or well made as one would expect from a Dark Souls game. Its implementation of two worlds layered on top of each other is more cumbersome than interesting, there is a huge lack in enemy variety, enemy positioning can be too unforgiving, and technical issues like an unstable framerate and bad camerawork can be added to the long list of its shortcomings. On top of all that, the second playthrough is way too demanding and makes the first playthrough feel distorted.

Detective Pikachu Returns takes place in Ryme City, a place where Pokémon live alongside humans rather than being used for battles. This is a setting that every Pokémon fan has dreamed of at least once, and the Pokémon are all portrayed wonderfully. Pikachu can now collaborate with other Pokémon during the investigation, an element that was not present in the series’ first installment. However, as a detective adventure, Detective Pikachu Returns feels overly simple and lacks depth, both in its gameplay and story.

Sonic Superstars is a good classic 2D Sonic game that shines especially in its visuals. Stages have a wider array of gimmicks when compared to older 2D Sonic games and boss fights are much more complex. However, the game design can feel unpolished and often doesn’t do a good job in communicating with the player. While the addition of local co-op sounds great on paper, Sonic’s speedy gameplay proves to be a difficult match for it.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is a compact game that allows you to enjoy the series’ unique take on the slowlife genre. That said, the ending is weak and its simplicity can feel unsatisfying at times.

While Ninja or Die’s core of high-speed jump action is well realized, its 2D rogue-lite level design has many shortcomings.

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code has pacing issues and its puzzles aren’t very satisfying. That said, the deep world building and story make up for its shortcomings.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a Jet Set Radio clone made by fans of that title. It takes what was great from Sega’s classic, but lacks its own style. While definitely a fun game to play and the best clone of Jet Set Radio available, it fails to become anything beyond that.

Dread Templar is a fast paced FPS that seems like an exhilarating experience at first, but due to balance issues it doesn’t really feel all that good to play. The enemy’s heavy shots come at you from far away, while the player’s attacks don’t deal a lot of damage, which causes frustration. It can feel good to take down an enemy by throwing a katana sword or using a bow and arrows, but altogether this game is more exhausting than fun.

Wanted: Dead feels like it was released with only the game’s most basic concepts brought together. Its combat doesn’t evolve, enemy movement feels unnatural, camerawork is bad, the difficulty balance is a disaster, there is a lack of enemy variety and the story doesn’t make sense. The idea of combining sword fighting and third-person shooting in one combat system isn’t bad in itself. If the development team had focused on fleshing this out rather than adding unsatisfying minigames on the side, things might have been different.

With low quality puzzles and unpolished motion for certain objects, Somerville feels rough around the edges when compared with the games that made its creators so well regarded. Sudden twists in the game’s second half feel unnatural, and the multiple endings don’t feel different enough from one another. That being said, the studio’s potential can be felt throughout the game.

Dragon Quest Treasures is a new challenge for this long-running series. It is full of Dragon Quest’s unique charm and delivers a wonderful experience that lasts for many hours. However, altogether the experience feels a bit too shallow. Deeper character development and more monsters could have gone a long here. Still, as a more compact game, Dragon Quest Treasures is a great open world to casually have some fun in.

While promoted as a mix of RPG and agricultural simulator, in reality Harvestella heavily leans toward its RPG side. While the idea of resource management dependent on the passage of time feels fresh for an RPG, the game's cheap story and presentation, a combat system that doesn’t feel tactical enough and a lack of customization on the farm make Harvestella a game with room for improvement in both genres.

Moonscars lacks the depth you would want from an Metroidvania title in its exploration and character building, but manages to deliver as a hardcore Soulsborne game.

While the universe of Made in Abyss is recreated with class, as a game there is a lack of tension and balance. The game’s original story is faithful to its source material, but its twists feel so sudden that it is hard to advise newcomers to join the world of Made in Abyss through this game.

Valkyrie Elysium’s world and characters based on Norse mythology are fascinating, and its speedy combat is exhilarating. It’s too bad that the title feels like it could have used a little more polish, and the button mapping doesn’t match the game’s systems. The game lacks a bit in volume as well, and its world and characters could have been fleshed out even more.

While Asterigos has excellent graphics and music, basic elements like the combat system feel cheap, making the package as a whole feel like an unbalanced Soulsborne title.

Call of the Wild: The Angler is a fishing game that allows you to explore its wide map beyond just the fishing spots, which makes it fun to discover new fishing locations. That being said, for players not looking for exploration this can also result in a tedious experience. Also, the fishing float mechanics are terrible for a fishing game.

While paying attention to what it is that makes a VR experience fun, RUINSMAGUS fails to take into account the restrictions of the format. While exciting at first, once enemy attacks grow in ferocity RUINSMAGUS becomes frustrating to control. The story about the weaker among us finding a way to live through their beliefs is compelling and might appeal to some players.

Like Supermassive Games’ previous titles, The Quarry plays out like an interactive horror movie. While the improvement in playability is welcome, the game does not provide enough interesting events and twists throughout its voluminous playtime, which makes the story drag. The game’s unique Movie Mode felt like a wasted opportunity too.

Drainus is a classic shmup that allows newcomers to experience the best moments of the genre. Shooting away with your overpowered spaceship is an exhilarating experience indeed, and beautiful sprites as well as flashy effects make the journey worthwhile. Bosses and stages come with plenty of gimmicks, to the extent that newcomers may be overwhelmed by the richness of the experience. At the same time, the game is so easy that it doesn’t motivate the player enough. While a great title for players new to the genre, seasoned shmup fans will end up craving more.

TOKOYO is a unique roguelite action game in which the dungeon’s layout changes every 24 hours. While definitely an interesting system, we came across the same floors even after 24 hours had passed. The game’s social elements didn’t do enough to give the passage of time enough meaning either, which makes it hard to say that the system has reached its potential.

While easy combat and a story with uninteresting characters left us wanting more, unique boss battles and parkour-action-focused dungeons were enough to keep us entertained throughout the experience.

Wolfstride is a Brazil-developed robot battle RPG inspired by Japanese anime. A voluminous story, fun characters, rough and tough dialogue and a unique combat system make this an experience that will stay with you. However, the script is not always consistent, and combat lacks depth. While you will likely have fun for the majority of the game, don’t go in expecting an RPG with deep systems; but give this a try if lowlife punks and robot battles are your thing.

fault - StP - LIGHTKRAVTE is the prequel of a visual novel series that started in 2013, but newcomers can enjoy this title with ease. The prequel’s story does feel a bit simple when compared to the main entry titles, but the easy-to-grasp theme of a boy who aspires to become a painter and a world that revolves around fictitious technology called manakravte are more than enough to satisfy those who like sci-fi or fantasy stories with a deep setting.

By implementing too many popular elements from famous games in the wrong way, Salt and Sacrifice is a game that feels unbalanced throughout.

Taken as a spin-off ahead of the long-awaited Eiyuden Chronicle, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising offers great world-building and characters. That said, the repetitive gameplay mechanics do get in the way of making this a great action RPG that can stand by itself.

If you look at Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin as a hack-and-slash action RPG, it’s a roughly balanced game with problematic endgame content that isn’t any better in the visual department either, and even its story seems to be a huge disappointment at first. However, if you stick with it, the well crafted battle system and the job system that allows for a wide array of fighting styles should win you over, and eventually you’ll be rewarded by an extremely passionate and overwhelming finale to the story.

With high quality visuals, Bright Memory: Infinite is about as impressive as independently developed videogames get. Sadly, the controls don’t feel like a good match for the game’s complicated skill system and your character’s low endurance skills. The story offers a great deal of interesting twists and the world is visually stunning, which results in a relatively short but packed adventure.

By attempting to remain as faithful as possible to the original games, this remake has ended up with a great deal of problems. While other Pokémon games (including the remakes) have continued to evolve the franchise, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will likely only be enjoyable for players who have a nostalgia for the originals.

By attempting to remain as faithful as possible to the original games, this remake has ended up with a great deal of problems. While other Pokémon games (including the remakes) have continued to evolve the franchise, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will likely only be enjoyable for players who have a nostalgia for the originals.

Blue Reflection: Second Light is an RPG in which a group of girls with lost memories find themselves in a different dimension in which they have to work together to solve a mystery. The main scenario – in which you will learn about the girls’ difficult pasts while seeing them grow as characters – feels satisfactory due to plenty of events throughout the game. While the battle system feels good enough to do the job, it comes with too many rough edges.

Eastward’s action and puzzles play things a bit too much by the book, the plot and storytelling don’t really come together, and the dialogue lacks wit. But even with so many negative aspects, the top-notch pixel art is true craftsmanship. These wonderful graphics were enough for me to push through, and perhaps you will too.

While Paradise Killer seems like a detective adventure game, it’s not impossible to beat the game without solving the main mystery at all. The game’s climax plays out in a court session, which the player can engage in at any given point. But in order to unveil the true story, you will need to collect countless pieces of evidence and talk to many different characters. This means that you will need to work your way through an inconveniently designed open world, and I often found the game’s scenario hard to swallow. That being said, from quirky character design to Japan-inspired locales and a Vaporwave-like soundtrack and UI, the game’s surrealistic atmosphere is well worth a visit.

Due to the player character’s smooth movement, Severed Steel is an exhilarating FPS experience that will make you fall in love with your own gameplay. It gets a little repetitive, though, and the Japanese localization could be better, but players who enjoy parkour FPS games or bullet-time action should be satisfied.

While Lost Judgment’s many systems might not look like much separately, together they succeed in creating a varied experience like no other. With the new setting of a Japanese high school and a story about bullying, the game depicts modern Japanese society in an exaggerated way similar to the Yakuza series while feeling fresh at the same time. However, shallow yet frequent battles and a story that starts to drag in the second half exhaust the player way more than necessary.

Boyfriend Dungeon is not only the weirdest game in the love simulation genre, but also the most mature. While the experience is linear and doesn’t provide any real challenge, the concept of spending the summer with a human partner who can transform into a weapon works. The unique atmosphere is worth a try regardless of your gender or sexuality.

Idol Manager is a simulation management game in which you try to exploit idols for profit while protecting them from the darker side of the industry. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to be a producer in Japan’s idol industry, this is an experience for you.

Metal Unit is a treasure hunting experience that creates excitement and tension by implementing the risk of losing your items, and it also comes with a light-novel-esque story. While it’s not for everyone, Metal Unit does appeal to a certain kind of gamer. It’s too bad that there’s lots of room for improvement in the Japanese localization.

Mighty Goose might just have the cutest visuals I’ve seen in any game this year, which makes it all the more disappointing that it doesn’t do much beyond that. The simple and shallow battle system is so rough that I found myself wondering if I was playing a game that was still in development. If you go in hoping for a Metal Slug-like experience, you’re in for a shock. While there are definitely some great moments, viewed purely as an action game, the unfairness of the battle system is a critical problem, making it hard to recommend.

Sumire is an adventure game with beautiful light-colored art and an acoustic music soundtrack. You play as a young girl who experiences a slightly special day in a somewhat mysterious setting, but that’s about it. You won’t find any deep settings and themes or an intriguing story here. If you like to enjoy admiring beautiful scenery on the way through a game without thinking too much, Sumire’s world might be one for you.

From creating your own character to a wide array of vehicles and a unique world, there’s a lot to love in Biomutant – which makes its shallowness all the more disappointing. The inconsistent battle system and the amount of bugs doesn’t make things any better. While the game certainly knows how to hook you, the fun doesn’t last very long.

Bear’s Restaurant’s setting of serving food at a restaurant is an interesting concept for a videogame, and it is beautifully realized with cute Gameboy Advance-esque 2D sprites. While I wanted the story and characters to be a lot deeper, the bizarre twists in the second half of the game still make the journey worthwhile.

While the controls leave a lot of room for improvement, Pascal’s Wager: Definitive Edition is a Souls-like game that offers sufficiently high quality.

Outriders could have been a great looter-shooter, but with its unbalanced structure and current instability, it’s hard to recommend.

In its best moments, Balan Wonderworld is indeed a wondrous experience, but it becomes hard to keep dreaming with its lack of depth and attention to playability.

The game’s illustrations and background art are obviously reminiscent of other works, but together they create a visual style that feels like a good match for the unique story. While not being able to save whenever you want and limited options for text display speed could be seen as part of the presentation, it becomes frustrating when you have to play the same part again.

Phoenotopia: Awakening aspires to be a retro 2D action adventure, and it succeeds in many ways. The cute sprites and soundtrack are appealing, and there’s lots of great exploration and puzzle gameplay. That being said, some elements bring along unnecessary stress, making the experience as a whole feel like a juicy durian that can only be cracked open with your bare hands.

Sword of the Necromancer is a real-time action RPG with roguelike elements. Reviving monsters after you beat them and having them fight alongside you is an interesting concept, but it never fully reaches its potential. The story about two girls - which plays out like a visual novel - is interesting and crafted with care.

Project Wingman is an indie aerial combat game that could easily be mistaken for a AAA title. If playing a flight shooter in VR on PC is your dream, look no further. However, with repetitive gameplay and a story that’s difficult to understand, Project Wingman just doesn’t feel exhilarating enough to make it enjoyable for the casual player.

While there’s some fun to be had with the sword fighting, the stressful difficulty and lack of volume make Unto the End difficult to recommend.

This PS5 entry in the Atelier series delivers gorgeous anime-style visuals, which its alchemy mechanics make it easy to create equipment of the highest rank, making the speedy and dynamic combat a lot of fun. That being said, the game’s design can sometimes feel a bit too much on the user-friendly side, which can make the exploration feel tedious. While most of the story depicts the characters’ everyday lives, be prepared for a dramatic ending.

When The Past Was Around feels heavily inspired by Florence. While it is easy to fall in love with its gorgeous artwork and music, its puzzles fail to support to the story’s narrative. There’s definitely a sense of accomplishment when solving the game’s harder puzzles, but they are often utilized as traditional videogame obstacles rather than meaningful tools that contribute to the story.

Chronos: Before the Ashes is a Soulsborne title in which your character becomes older each time you die. With well-timed dodges being an important aspect of the gameplay, hit-and-evade style gameplay makes this an experience that is just as exhilarating as it is nerve-wracking. The balance between battles and puzzles is struck well, but while the idea of aging with every death is an interesting concept, it doesn’t work well, as the ways you can level up become more limited the older you become. Furthermore, the idea doesn’t connect to the story either, making it feel like a wasted opportunity.

Godfall combines common sword-fighting gameplay with typical hack-and-slash elements, but controls and enemy animations lack polish and don’t feel well balanced. There’s not enough of it either. Godfall also does not come optimized for PC: The UI is cumbersome to navigate through, and while in the end there’s still some good hack-and-slash fun to be had, there’s nothing unique here you won’t find elsewhere.

Remothered: Broken Porcelain has difficulty keeping a balance between its story and the game’s main gameplay feature of running. While the game’s worst bugs have been fixed since the PC release, the unique atmosphere is not enough to make the repetitive and often cumbersome gameplay worthwhile.

The Solitaire Conspiracy’s story about direction – which later transforms into a techno-horror story – is sharp and intelligent. But due to the card-based gameplay’s lack of flashiness and variety, you might get bored before it all comes to an end. While this issue was partially fixed with the Version 1.03 update, there is still work that needs to be done in order to make this a game that has not only literary quality but is also fun as entertainment.

With a repetitive quest structure, too many loading screens, and a sense of humor that might not be for everyone, Bugsnax is not a game with the universal appeal its cutesy characters might suggest. That being said, the game’s absurd world and creatures are utterly charming and unique, and the wide variety of bug-catching mechanics are exactly the kind of evolution I had been hoping Pokémon would make for at least 10 years now.

With a campaign that has an interesting story and deep interactions between characters, tons of collectibles and action gameplay that is well tailored to each hero, Marvel’s Avengers succeeds in delivering the appeal of this iconic team of characters in game format. However, access to the game’s modes feels unnecessarily inconvenient, and an often cumbersome UI makes the experience feel less smooth than it could have been. Depending on the updates and new contents planned in the future, Marvel’s Avengers could very well reach its true potential, but at this point, there’s still a lot that needs to be addressed.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a gem of the good old days, and this remaster aims to bring its former glory to the modern era by implementing crossplay and online multiplayer. The beautiful score and a visual style that stands the test of time make it feel worthwhile, and both are enhanced by this HD remaster. At the same time, this remaster also brings all the issues the original had, and doesn’t improve upon any of its flaws. Omitting a local multiplayer is the biggest mistake, as this stood central in the original experience.

While feeling a bit flat, this soccer game largely succeeds in faithfully portraying Captain Tsubasa’s world and atmosphere. The game’s slow pace can stand in the way of your enjoyment, but both the story and action are of great quality, and there’s a lot of it too. The simple controls make for an exhilarating soccer experience, but it’s hard to deny that the progression of each match largely feels the same.

While Mortal Shell’s story, volume of content and RPG elements all disappoint, it’s Dark Souls-like close-combat battle system is of great quality.

The core game design of No Straight Roads attempts to synchronize action and music, but unfortunately it misses the mark. Also, a lack of clear explanation makes this a flawed action game as a whole. That being said, visuals heavily inspired by Japanese video games, amazing sound design and lovable characters give NSR the potential to become a cult classic.

SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris has a great battle system that feels like a full-fledged fighting game. With some of the original characters being more fleshed out, there’s some good fan service here as well, but as a whole the game feels like a low-quality effort. There are just too many errors, bugs and so on that often make SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris frustrating to play. The biggest problem is the game’s original story, which has none of the appeal of the work it is based on.

After being in development for many years, Indivisible is finally here. The graphics and sound are superb, and it’s fun to play too. However, its difficulty will not be for everyone, and the otherwise high level of polish is undermined by a lot of bugs. Furthermore, it can be hard to resonate with the protagonist’s actions, which creates distance between the game and the player. That being said, the story development towards the end of the game will bring you back into the experience, resulting in a game that is worth playing.

The mysterious atmosphere that Amanita Design is known for is present in Creaks, but it never reaches the heights of the developer’s previous works. In particular, the puzzle gameplay feels old and pulls the player out of the experience. The only part where it feels like Amanita Design reaches its true potential is not the main game, but the collectable paintings.

The Last of Us Part II tries too hard to differentiate itself from its predecessor. While astonishing cityscapes and more varied combat options are great evolutions, Part II lacks the poetic serenity that made the original road-movie-like epic such a masterpiece. On top of that, uninteresting new characters burden the story, making Ellie's journey feel conventional and not nearly as captivating as the original.

Jet Lancer is a shmup with a high difficulty level that becomes a bit tedious halfway, and the storytelling is pretty weak. That said, the refined controls do create an exhilarating experience, making this an interesting new entry to the multidirectional shooter genre.

At first glance, Moving Out seems to be a fun multiplayer game like Overcooked, but in reality it doesn’t come close. Sure, it is a hectic game about moving furniture, but the multiplayer component comes off as a very shallow experience. Still, there’s some fun to be had in becoming a rogue mover and throwing around people’s furniture.

Quotation forthcoming.

As a rhythm game Soundart has little originality, and the randomly generated music lacks great rhythm or sense of excitement. That being said, if you enjoy customizing and streaming videos, it might be worth a try.

With Resident Evil 3, Capcom again succeeds in delivering a game that, as a remake, is nearly flawless. The problem is that the original game it is based on was never so great in the first place. And while there’s some fun to be had with multiplayer component, it’s not clear what Capcom’s main focus was for the package as a whole.

Different from its predecessor, Life is Strange 2 brings more political themes to the table. Protagonist Sean’s little brother Daniel has supernatural powers, but is too young to distinguish between good and evil, and it is up to the player how you want to guide him. While interesting in theory, this results in a gameplay experience based almost entirely on making decisions, and supernatural elements are not put into use as cleverly as in the original Life is Strange. This makes Life is Strange 2 feel like it lacks focus, because most of its political themes are not fleshed out enough, and the ones that do work don’t really need supernatural elements in the first place.

Good Job! is a game that allows you to complete stressful jobs or puzzles simply by completely demolishing the environment. Tearing apart everything you see in an office can be fun indeed, and some of the stages have great design. That said, ironically Good Job! reminds you that destruction can get boring when no one is trying to stop you.

Faithfully recreated hero characters and a scenario that makes it feel like you have been transported to the original manga are great for fans of the series. However, repetitive battles and a bad difficulty balance ruin what could have been a great experience otherwise.

Space Channel 5 VR is not challenging as a video game, and its exercise mode does not have enough content at launch to offer a serious workout. That being said, reuniting with Ulala in VR will be a memorable experience for fans of the series. If becoming a part of a short but atmospheric musical sounds fun and you already have a PS VR and two PlayStation Move controllers, Space Channel 5 VR is worth trying.

Mutiazone is a point-and-click game set on an island that brings in “gardening” gameplay. The story is moved on by sorting fictional plants in order to create gardens for the game’s characters. This is much more a personal story than a heroic one, and it leaves a warm impression. But while the game makes you think that you are reconnecting the island’s community, it feels like the real issue is being avoided.

It cannot be denied that Daymare: 1998 comes with many flaws, but you have to appreciate what it aims to achieve. Well-crafted locations, a unique reloading system and interesting storytelling are some of the game’s highlights, but since both the game’s story and mechanics take time to get used to, it can’t be denied that those strengths are a double-edged sword.

Bringing unique mechanics from the Shikigami no Shiro series to present day, Sisters Royale is a worthy successor of the vertically scrolling shmup series. Some players might feel reluctance towards the “moe” anime-style characters, but the bullet-hell gameplay itself will satisfy hardcore fans of the genre.

Having the player advance through environments by rearranging rooms, The Pedestrian succeeds in creating a puzzle game with simple rules that is visually interesting at the same time. The difficulty is always well balanced, and the surprising climax makes great use of the game’s features. Yet, at the same time, The Pedestrian never manages to truly stand out of the crowd, resulting in a game that feels like a role-model student who lacks real personality.

Coffee Talk’s atmosphere that incorporates the diversity of Indonesia is worth spending some time in, and the game succeeds in depicting something as mundane as people’s worries and how they learn to move on. That makes Coffee Talk the kind of game that you will actually want to enjoy while relaxing with a cup of coffee yourself. While the story has no great drama or impactful event, the message that the developer tries to deliver at the ending comes through.

While a sandbox game focused on magic spells feels like a fresh adventure at first, it gets old too quickly, and the lack of content doesn’t help. While there is a PvP mode, it doesn’t deliver anything unique to solve the problem.

With the environment changing from a factory to a city, The Surge 2 loses its appeal of heavy machinery. With a spiritual story and a confusing map, it was never really clear where The Surge 2’s gameplay or world atmosphere was heading. Luckily, changes in the game’s system are more clear. By making battles less challenging and improving the upgrade system, the game’s dismemberment-focused action has become genuinely more fun. That being said, there are just too many aspects that hold it back.

Wattam is unlike any other game when Keita Takahashi's unique sense of humor and world building come together, but don't expect everything to click all the time.

Mistover’s characters may look cute, but this is one harsh game. Influenced by Darkest Dungeon, this is a game only for players who are looking for a serious challenge.

Etherborn is a surrealistic puzzle platformer that combines gravity mechanics with fantastical art direction. The responsive platforming action comes with camerawork that enhances the experience, making Etherborn a game that is both fun to play and aesthetically pleasing. It is too bad that the number of environments is limited, and the clichéd narration makes these mesmerizing locations feel more common than they actually are.

Everywhere in the world, people have fallen in love with this adorable goose and the friendly villagers who never punish it for its pranks. However, the village the game takes place in is way too small, and the harsh challenges that are thrown at you after beating the main game don’t match the cutesy atmosphere.

Code Vein is the kind of game that makes you think it could have benefited a lot from another delay. Animations, sound effects and more are heavily inspired by Souls-like games and definitely feel cheap. The game is not well balanced either, and the level design is especially lacking. Still, it brings interesting ideas to the table, such as a buddy system and the freedom to switch between a wide variety of builds. While there’s certainly a lot of bugs and other issues, if you keep playing, it does actually become fun.