Ascendance is a nostalgia-filled title that is not even worthy of borrowing the titular name of the franchise, let alone be the title that the fans waited decades for: it’s an unredeemable abomination.

A promising idea ride with poor implementation and rife with AI.

OneTry is a third-person horror shooter from indie developer Domynyo that drops you into a zombie-infested world where you only get one chance to survive. The game is brutally unforgiving, with fast, relentless enemies, clunky controls, and a dark, poorly lit environment that makes every step a struggle. Despite its rough mechanics and glitches, there is a strange, arcade-like appeal in trying to push a little further each run and seeing how far you can get.

Gridz Keeper is a simple, grid-based puzzle game with classic Lights Out-style design. Its clean presentation and accessible difficulty make it a good entry point for younger players or puzzle newcomers, even if experienced fans will find it far too easy. While functional and mildly enjoyable, the lack of depth, variety, and meaningful use of its zombie theme keeps it from standing out.

It’s hard to feel nostalgic when you’re having a miserable time, and that’s what Montezuma’s Revenge – The 40th Anniversary Edition is. It’s just like its namesake. You can remember what you had to eat, and you’re sure you enjoyed it, but unfortunately, now that time has passed, your body is violently rejecting it.

If you were a fan of Paws of Fury: Legend of Hank, you should avoid this videogame sequel. The action is functional, but besides this it's an atrocious wreck and a cat-astrophy. What is dogmatic though, is Samurai Academy: Paws of Fury is an unfinished mess, the challenges are hollow and there's very little story substance here. You're better off watching the animated film with the star-studded actors than suffer through this dreck.

The game’s low price and moments of charm give it a modest appeal. Unfortunately, that isn’t enough to elevate an experience that feels thin and undercooked. In the end, it’s a diluted take on a genre already crowded with far stronger competitors.

Ultimately, Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island is an errand-laden bore despite its well-meaning and laid back gameplay experience. The island isn’t fun to explore, the characters interact with you in the same ways, and there’s generally not much to enjoy here. While there are some nice backstories and secrets to uncover, the fact Alex is nothing more than a quest monkey sours the game’s exploration appeal. The map design is tougher to navigate than you’d expect from an island paradise, and the repetitive banal objectives will make you roll your eyes. There’s a lovely good-natured temperament about Mythwrecked, but too often it encourages boredom because of how samey it all is-and that really is a shame.

Hungry Meem is a quirky and chaotic strategy sim that blends resource management, exploration, and creature care into a deeply layered, if sometimes frustrating, experience. Its unique systems feed into one another in interesting ways, creating a gameplay loop that can be both rewarding and overwhelming. While technical issues and repetitive pacing hold it back, there's a strange charm to helping your oddball Meems rebuild their world beneath the World Tree.

Death Relives is an ambitious survival horror game that blends Aztec mythology with immersive gameplay concepts, but its execution is uneven. While the atmosphere, sound design, and mythological elements stand out, the overuse of artificial intelligence, particularly in the companion app and character imagery, undermines its sincerity and immersion. Despite some clever mechanics and moments of real tension, technical issues, clunky design, and awkward storytelling keep it from fully delivering on its potential. It’s a unique experience with strong ideas, but one that ultimately falls short.

If you’re hoping that Tamagotchi Plaza has something worth playing on your new Nintendo Switch 2, you’ll be royally disappointed. All you’re subjected to here are a series of minigames that don’t offer fun, rather they’re more likely to offer disappointed sighs because there’s no challenge here, and more criminally than that there’s no juicy meat on its bones, just dissatisfying morsels. Tamagotchi Plaza would be forgiven if there was more going on and if it didn’t feel so unrewarding to play. There is some charm to the characters and the dialogue, and you might find the rap battle to be a tad cool, but everything else is so workmanlike that it seems to peel itself away from the audience it is most-likely to entertain-children. You might come into Tamagotchi Plaza feeling like you’ll be lightly entertained, but all too soon you’ll reach the conclusion that there’s barely anything here that’ll keep your attention for long.

CRPGs are a difficult genre to do well, and are often clunky. Neverwinter Nights 2 is both clunky and old, making it hard to enjoy today. This version has not made meaningful updates to the game, so it remains a pain to play for all but the most hardcore CRPG fans.

Gore Doctor is a short, atmospheric horror game with a strong environmental presence and an intriguing premise that blends medical horror with occult themes. While its exploration and mood are engaging, the experience is held back by stiff controls, repetitive audio, technical issues, and a narrative that never fully develops. It’s an uneven but occasionally compelling experience best suited for fans of low-budget horror, ideally at a discounted price.

Overall my impression is that Creature Keeper has a lot of potential, and is an impressive accomplishment for a sole developer – and needs more time. However I was left disappointed by how significantly the bugs I experienced impacted on my gameplay, which is such a pity given how much Fervir has managed to achieve already. I would not recommend this in its current state and instead suggest we all wait and see.

Captain Blood is an action adventure game that fails in its attempt of vindication after already struggling to stay above water. It doesn’t do anything new, exciting, or fun being released in this modern era of gaming and even it’s archaic style and influential takeaways can’t keep it afloat with issues such as audio inconsistencies, bland level structure, vexing enemy A.I., graphical hiccups, and pure negligible combat and upgrade systems. Captain Blood should have been a great comeback story, but has sadly been released with no substance, style, or grace.

On Your Tail hooks you with its charming seaside mystery, reeling you into a world where every clue is a breadcrumb and every suspect has something fishy to hide. An imaginative world and characters with phenomenal design are impressively expressive, but the shortcomings of the Switch's power as a system drags the gameplay and graphics through the mud and sheds a negative light on this creative whodunit.

A poor port of a lacklustre game, that fails to accurately depict the true horror of the Chernobyl disaster.

With a few adjustments and a little more time in the oven, Bloodhound could have been a fun if janky shooter, but everything feels so rote, so slapped together, so inconsistent, and ultimately bland that I can’t recommend you sniff this one out.

While none of Crown Wars’ gameplay is particularly bad, none of it’s particularly exciting, either, and other games have done it before and much better. If you’re looking to turn off and play a few rounds of generic turn-based strategy, there’s probably something for you here, but for the most part, Crown Wars: The Black Knight is a disappointing addition for a genre crying out for quality entries.

A VR survival game that tries its best to craft something special, but ultimately gets caught in its own web.

Clean the Sea! is a game filled with potential to tell an interesting story that conveys an important message that unfortunately fails to do anything with it beyond the bare minimum.

Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron: Fly Boy Edition on Switch is a lot like the Dakka Jets that the Orks pilot; a shabby contraption comprised mostly of scrap and spare parts that should be avoided in case it spontaneously combusts.

With the lack of originality or innovation both in gameplay and storytelling, in a year packed with great indies such as Dredge and Cocoon, I’m afraid Undying leaves the table empty-handed.

Flashback 2 is a slapdash sequel that trades heavily on nostalgia, while misunderstanding everything that made its predecessor a classic.

Down and Out does a superb job of showing what life as a homeless person is like. It's a miserable, depressing existence you wouldn't want to inflict on your worst enemy, much like this brawler.

Dolphin Spirit Ocean Mission is edutainment for younger gamers about saving our precious environment from rubbish and pollution that is a definitely a family friendly game.

Tenebris Pictura is a game brimming with fantastic ideas hamstrung by poor execution.

Little Friends: Puppy Island certainly has lots of adorable dogs to care for, but sadly spends way too much of its playtime having the player repetitively walk them through boring and visually unappealing areas.