To conclude, Riders Republic is clearly a good game that will certainly delight gamers who love thrills and extreme sports. We'll put aside the aspect of microtransactions in a game sold at a high price which darkens the picture a bit, because it remains a very good game experience. Technically, the game is not as good as Forza Horizon, even if it is strongly inspired by it in its gameplay structure, but the map is simply brilliant, large and full of surprises for the ingenious players who like exploration. A very good end of year surprise to be consumed without moderation, but while wearing a helmet.

Faithful to its ancestors, Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection is a difficult and intense game that will require you to die many times in order to progress. Hordes of traps and ruthless enemies will ask you each time to find and then apply a viable strategy to make your way to the next level.All of this combined with the character's unique, even dated, handling makes it a game for an audience who knows what they're getting into. Even though the magic system, checkpoints and cooperative mode make the title more accessible than its predecessors, it still requires a great deal of patience and perseverance.

Chorus is an excellent space combat game with ships that, although it doesn't stand out in anything, it fulfills all its aspects. And that, on many occasions, is better than being overly ambitious and that penalizes the final result. We especially highlight its combat system, which is arcade and simple for all tastes; as well as its narrative, which from the beginning gives off a special aroma, and keeps us hooked as we progress.

As a singular, contemplative experience, Hellblade 2 perfectly fulfills its contract: visually dazzling, Ninja Theory's title can only be fully experienced with a good pair of headphones screwed on your ears. As a "video game", on the other hand, it's immediately more complicated: between repetitive combat from the second encounter and poorly calibrated, uninteresting puzzles, Senua's Saga is easy to follow but never enthralling. There are a few intense scenes, but they don't make up for a conclusion that comes as a bolt from the blue.

Scorn offers us an original dreamlike universe in which we don't really want to live. The atmosphere is refined and supports beautiful images with an inspired artistic direction. It's not very long and will displease those who are looking for clear explanations, but, even if it could have done without its shooter side, it offers beautiful exploration phases. Moreover, it offers original environmental puzzles, most of the time presenting a real challenge to solve them, due to the absence of any help from the game.

Nobody Saves The World is a nice action-adventure game set in a colorful cartoon-like universe. The game knows how to pace the player's progress by alternating dialogues and funny scenes with satisfying and pleasant fights. Despite its disappointing dungeons and its overall lack of challenge, it offers many fun characters to play with and its progression system that encourages experimentation and renews the pleasure of playing.

Let's be clear: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore isn't a game for all. Its gameplay, very close to Shin Megami Tensei, is rather complete and interesting enough to catch the Japanese RPG lover in you. The nature of its scenario and the themes it explores may surprise you. Approaching J-Pop without complex, #FE goes completely wild with a sharp universe and a story so absurd that they end up generating more awkward laughs than empathy: if Japanese culture isn't your thing, move on. On the other hand, if you've always dreamed of saving humanity with your idol talents, you can go for it without hesitation.

South of Midnight is one of those little games you remember long after you've finished it, no matter how short it is. Visually, it's unique, and its music is also brimming with personality. Although it clearly lacks variety and depth, the gameplay remains effective, both for combat and for platforming. It's a pleasure to play before moving on to other things.

Scourgebringer is a rogue-lite based primarily on combat and skill. Fighting being the essence of the game, you have to be patient and diligent in the confrontations, in order to develop your skill to face the real challenges. The wide range of moves and the very satisfying fights make the runs enjoyable. However, because of the lack of depth in the mechanics, the game runs out of steam after only a few hours of play. Nevertheless, it remains a good pick for those who expect a rogue-lite to deliver smooth, frenetic and rewarding fights.

Kirby's Air Riders veers off course and never rises above the status of ‘good game’, even though it has enormous potential. Its gameplay, which is easy to play but difficult to master, is really well done, as is the track design, which lends itself to unlikely turnarounds. But despite the ton of things to unlock, you quickly get through everything it has to offer, especially since its additional modes aren't entirely convincing.

Unfortunately, the life span of Stray is limited to the number of lives the cats can have. Indeed, we finished the game at 100% in a little less than 9 hours. We estimate that 7 hours will be more than enough to finish the main plot of the game, or even 10 hours for players who will take their time to contemplate each painting offered by the game. In a way, Stray's rather affordable price is in line with its lifespan. The more skilled players may even take less time to finish the game, so it's quite a shame. Stray is a fabulous title that offers a refreshing environment, a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat and meticulous exploration that makes you want more, but our beautiful journey ends when we clearly want more.

Mafia: The Old Country suffers from the same problems as its predecessors. It's halfway between a narrative game and an open-world action-stealth game, but without the means to achieve its ambitions. We end up with uninteresting stealth sequences and implausible combat that undermines the credibility of the story. The world map serves only as a tourist attraction devoid of any activity. It's a shame, since the plot and characters are interesting, even if they don't escape the clichés typical of the genre. Nevertheless, it remains a beautiful glimpse into Sicilian society at the beginning of the last century, with high-quality production values.

Although some may be growing tired of the Ultimate Alliance formula, this edition serves up another welcome feast of comic-book action. It has an effective, current narrative with solid pacing, and demonstrates a strong desire to do right by the fans. There is content for days, the character roster is deep and well-chosen, and the voice acting is great. Overall, Ultimate Alliance 3 is a timeless beat 'em up which perfectly pays tribute to the variety of the Marvel universe.

Doom The Dark Ages is a game of contrasts. It experiments with mechanics new to the license and a new historical context, but their integration is superficial or poorly thought-out. The shield overshadows everything else in combat, while the dragon and mecha are simply disappointing. Nor does the game give us the impression of being plunged into a dark age. This new opus isn't bad, however, since it contains all the basic elements we've come to appreciate in modern Doom games. Players looking for intense combat against a backdrop of consistently excellent heavy metal should still find something to enjoy.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond marks a successful return of the license in virtual reality, but the transition to this new media still needs some work. If it clearly plays the realism card to offer us a show worthy of the biggest productions of the genre, it unfortunately does not always achieve its goals in terms of immersion. An improved optimization and some German dubbing would be more than welcome. In the meantime, the atmosphere is present, with quality graphics, many animations and an epic soundtrack. We also appreciated the classic but efficient multiplayer mode.

The space battles in Chorus are good, piloting its agile super-powered fighter through enemy fire while devastating hordes of enemies is fun. This efficient gameplay is its strength, and the special powers are well integrated into the gameplay. The fights tend to become too easy, but the boss battles compensate. The exploration is unfortunately not there as the open world is empty, it is more an excuse for dialogues and additional battles. However, it has the merit of being very pleasant to look at. The realization is quite good, whether it is through the graphics, the music, and even the cinematics and dialogues. So, we spend a good time on Chorus, during the twenty hours to finish it the first time.

Expeditions: Rome is in the line of the previous episodes. It's a tactical-RPG with hard battles, a good tactical depth and which gain in complexity as you progress. The secondary elements, such as the conquest phases or the improvement of your headquarters, which seem to be secondary in the end, still give a sense of progression and something to do between battles.

After all these years of waiting, it's hard not to consider Metroid Prime 4 a bit of a disappointment. While the core gameplay is still as good as ever and there are still some flashes of brilliance in the level design, it's impossible to ignore the scars of what we can only guess was a tortuous development process. Sumptuous on Nintendo Switch 2, Retro Studios' latest title is perfectly acceptable, but it fails to make a lasting mark on the history of the famous franchise.

If we are obviously very happy to see this spin-off episode in Europe, it's hard not to see it as a step backwards for RGG Studios. The game is very well written and the city of Kyo is exotic, but the dated gameplay brings us back to the time of Yakuza Zero, while the efforts made to flesh it out are not enough to give a boost to the whole. Moreover, the wacky side missions and mini-games are far from being at their best in this episode, which is quite correct, but far below Yakuza Kiwami 2.

Although Days Gone has hardly changed since its release in 2019, the game is still quite enjoyable, with both original and generic gameplay ideas. The intrinsic qualities of its storyline and open-world will undoubtedly push the player to explore its environment and study its world. Despite this, it's impossible to get over the major physics and texture loading issues that have not yet been corrected and that greatly harm the gameplay experience. However, the game can already boast of being more accomplished and therefore more fun than two years ago. Which earns it a slightly higher score than it did then, but we can only hope that the game will benefit from patches in order to be able to offer a better experience.

Company of Heroes 3 is the continuation of the second opus: a well-made, well-packaged and complete real-time strategy game. The active pause and the dynamic map are two novelties that refresh a formula that unfortunately has not changed deeply in ten years and does not bring any great upheaval in the small world of real-time strategy. Nevertheless, Company of Heroes 3 remains a refined strategy game, more accomplished than the previous opus, which we recommend to specialists of the genre.

Straight from a Z-series movie, Zombie Army 4: Dead War, despite an inevitable repetition, only 4 maps in Horde mode and a certain lack of variety in weapons, proves to be a good release with high quality graphics. Although we regret that it tries to capitalize on micro-transactions, we appreciate its gory aspect and the feeling of power provided by the heavy weapons that allow you to exterminate zombies by the thousand.

Compared to its first version on Wii, Zelda Skyward Sword HD is not a revolution, but it offers good improvements. The title may not convince players who have already completed it, but it has adapted perfectly to the hybrid console. This is an opportunity not to be missed if you want to discover this important opus of the Zelda saga.

Rogue Lords will not suit everyone, that's for sure. Very (too?) difficult at times and what you will get during each of your runs, this game will at least have the merit of making you feel a strong sense of accomplishment at each boss you defeat. On our side, as rogue-lite fans, we were clearly won over. The art direction is a bit of a head-turner, like Darkest Dungeon for example, and should appeal to the same type of players.

Blasphemous 2 is a successful blend of Metroidvania and design elements from From Software's games. Without reinventing the wheel on any score, The Game Kitchen delivers a clean copy with an engaging concept, satisfying progression and successful art direction.

Like A Dragon Gaiden plays out like the filler season of a good anime: we meet up with characters we love around an adventure that has no significant impact on the story, with the exception of two or three elements distilled along the way. This is a title that retains the usual qualities of the series, which is enough to make it a very good game, but it is unfortunately marred by haphazard combat collisions and a story that is too long for its own good.

While Star Wars Squadrons will delight fans by giving them the opportunity to fly the saga's iconic ships in majestic space settings, both the storyline and the characters are a little too superficial and the collision system is poorly handled. However, the pleasure experienced stick-in-hand is still there, especially in virtual reality, a pleasure that multiplayer battles manage to enhance.

With this HD version of Luigi's Mansion 2, Nintendo allows players to have the entire license on their Nintendo Switch. The least well-known episode of the trilogy, Luigi's Mansion 2 still deserves to be discovered today thanks to its quality level design, but we expected more work from the developers for this version. It's more or less the same (good) game, with the same old-fashioned "mission-based" progression that does so much harm to the rhythm of the adventure. A good pick-up, but far from indispensable, especially at full price.