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.

Scoring by delivering a through pass to a sprinting player is a great feeling, but with too many options for the attacking player, it can become difficult to defend against so many different attack patterns. This results in too many goals for a realistic soccer game.

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.

Astro’s Playroom is an exciting 3D platformer full of surprise and wonder. While its task of introducing the PS5 controller’s new features can sometimes be a double-edged sword, full-fledged implementation of the DualSense’s haptic feedback creates a next-gen experience only possible on the PS5. The game design of adding new ideas for each level, iterating on them, and then switching them for something completely different is reminiscent of Nintendo’s design philosophy, and Astro does it just as well as Mario. At the same time, Astro’s adventure through the history of PlayStation is a journey only Sony can deliver.

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.

While being a new entry to the series, Crash Bandicoot 4’s stages are full of references to the first two games. And while it is without a doubt the hardest game in the series, amusing animations and a great score will make you want to keep going.

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.

With a wide variety of crabs and weapons, and with each crab's claws controlled in detail with the analog sticks, Crab Fighter delivers a surprisingly deep battle experience. It’s great fun to play with friends, and the campaign mode offers plenty of satisfaction. However, the game is not balanced well enough for more serious competition, and online fights will be difficult to get into for newcomers.

Aria Chronicle makes the typical dungeon RPG gameplay loop of grinding your characters to face stronger enemies more accessible for newcomers. While heavily influenced by Darkest Dungeon, a more user-friendly design makes this a recommendable game in its own right.

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.

Rampaging your way through Carrion as a tentacle monster makes playing this violent metroidvania feel unique, and the grotesque and harsh visuals greatly contribute to that feeling. But flaws like having no map and a lack of gameplay variety cannot be overlooked.

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.

While the weak scenario and some other issues drag Necrobarista down, its 3D model animation and cleverly positioned text create a unique experience. In that sense, it’s no exaggeration to call this the beginning of a brand new era for the visual novel genre.

After many missteps, Paper Mario Origami King is a return to form for the series. It fixes many of the issues that marred previous entries, and allows the player to casually enjoy puzzles together with a wide array of beautiful locations and quirky characters, while the wonderful sound alone is reason enough to play.

In this real-time tactics adventure set in the Wild West, you will engage in various missions with your main five eccentric units. The missions offer a wide variety of situations typical of Western movies, and it’s up to you whether to use stealth or go loud. But whatever play style you choose, the gameplay always perfectly complements the Western setting.

While flaws such as repetitive side quests and an often-annoying navigation system can sometimes drag the experience down a little, epic sword fights, beautiful locations, amazing discoveries and a deep Bushido story make Ghost of Tsushima a unique open-world adventure.

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.

While it definitely has its flaws, XCOM: Chimera Squad’s problems are outweighed by the positives. The breach mode brings the player right into the action, and a timeline is available during battle. These new features make the battle system of XCOM: Chimera Squad feel like a distillation of what makes the gameplay of the series so great. Skills and dialogue both do a great job in showing the unique personalities of your squad members, and choosing from these members and weapons to create your team is a lot of fun. The publisher promised a new story and play experience, and Chimera Squad delivers.

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.

While certain parts of Trials of Mana definitely feel retro, as a whole Square Enix has crafted an extremely well renovated experience. What makes this a great remake is that both gameplay and visual revisions faithfully represent the original experience.

The battle system that allows you to turn back time and retry is well done, and once you manage to stylishly defeat enemies after a long session of trial and error, it feels great. While the game offers many different situations to keep things fresh, sadly its story is not as captivating as its gameplay.