Bad Japanese localization prevents the player from getting invested in the story, but both in gameplay and story Banner Saga 3 is a worthy conclusion to an epic trilogy.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is a casual fighting game where SNK heroines come together, and while it may succeed in serving that purpose, the game’s main modes and graphics are far from ideal.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

Stages divided into chapters and automatic health recovery make this newly released shoot 'em up for the Nintendo Switch an easy pickup for people unfamiliar with the genre. However, its level design and presentation fail to shine anywhere in particular, making this mediocre bullet hell STG a game with little excitement or sense of accomplishment.

Respect for the original game can be felt everywhere, but translating all that into 3D creates many issues. From inconsistent dialogue to UI that is rough around the edges, this is a remake that could have used a lot more polish.

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.

For a flagship adventure-game developer that has titles like Until Dawn and Hidden Agenda to its name, Supermassive Games' VR horror title The Inpatient is a big disappointment.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jump Force is fine as a sandbox fighting game. However, when you consider that this was released to celebrate 50 years of manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump, a character roster that only pays homage to a few major franchises feels unfair. Add to that a terrible storyline and clunky UI, and you have a game that’s very difficult to recommend.

Wing of Darkness is a robot action game that draws attention with its girl-meets-girl romance elements. While there’s some appeal to the controls and music, neither the gameplay nor story have any real substance. From robot action to flight shooting and romance, none of the game’s main elements are worth your time.

While Steel Rats comes with elements that sound interesting on paper, the developer lacks the ability to combine them into a compelling package. It may be a game about an unconventional biker, but I would at least have wanted the developers to keep their hands on the handlebars to prevent this terrible mess.

The unique way in which Left Alive approaches the survival theme is easily its most appealing aspect. However, from graphics to enemy AI, there are just way too many issues. And while it’s high difficulty might make sense from a survival standpoint, the lack of stealth kills and hard to utilize weapons make it so hard that for most players it will be beyond simply “challenging”.