With its relatively realistic physics, Gravel is a game on the hard side. However, if you are looking for an arcade-like offroad race game, you should be able to appreciate this one.

Oninaki has an unbalanced battle system and lacks any guidance through its appealing story. Yet the unique setting and world should be interesting enough for most players to want to see it through.

Travelling through underwater relics left by mankind before they left Earth is a compelling experience, thanks to great environmental storytelling enhanced by stunning art direction. However, tedious and repetitive gameplay throughout the 5-hour journey makes this experience feel like a good story poorly written.

Unrefined controls and unclear objectives make it hard to appreciate the fantastical atmosphere, unique flora and fauna, and the language-barrier-breaking story of Fe.

While it is not bad as an action shooter, lackluster gimmicks and unnecessary characters make both Immortal Legacy’s action and story feel like an unorganized product.

In the end, fans of the series will be able to appreciate the game's story. But the game has so many flaws that it's hard to recommend it to anyone else.

Call of Cthulhu’s strange and eerie visuals somewhat succeed in recreating the atmosphere of Cthulhu mythology. However, instead of contributing to the story, stats such as Sanity feel like they deny the player’s trial-and-error. From shooting to stealth segments, the wide array of different systems needed more polish as well.

Character creation could have had a little bit more variety, but the feature does make it easier to empathize with your character, which benefits the more serious tone of the scenario. However, the balance between item prices and the amount of currency you can obtain make it hard for the player to spend money when needed, which makes the game less enjoyable as a whole. There are several other issues such as bullet-sponge enemies, resulting in an experience that can be hard to enjoy.

Trying to follow the success of The Fast and The Furious is a welcome new approach for the series, but it fails to deliver. An underdeveloped story and repetitive gameplay result in a game that could have used some more polish.

Crossing Souls makes interesting use of eighties nostaliga, but there is little to be excited about beyond that, and I found it difficult to engage with the story.

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.