On paper, Mordhau could look like any medieval brawler as we have seen for years. But in reality, it knows how to stand out with a combat system that is halfway between the arcade game and the realistic one, and a rather advanced personalization. We only regret the low number of cards and game modes, hoping that it will be completed in the near future via a few updates. However, everything is counterbalanced by a chubby humour that hits the target and will give you (at least) a few dozen hours of fun, with or without friends.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a pleasant, if not unforgettable, adventure. While we're always happy to find Majima and his gameplay, the storyline of this episode isn't up to scratch, just like its particularly empty and under-exploited maritime zones. Nonetheless, the game boasts solid side content: crew management, side quests, mini-games galore... There's plenty to do.

Solidly grounded, Borderlands 4 is a satisfying looter shooter, with a quest for the ultimate equipment that will undoubtedly appeal to many players. But the transition to an open world hasn't been entirely smooth, and despite all the nice new features in this installment, it's hard to get overly invested in the planet Kairos: generic activities, erratic difficulty, and an overall pace that's choppy due to too many dialogue sequences somewhat spoil the fun. Is this enough to prevent you from fully enjoying a 100% co-op game with very decent content? Not sure.

Some will say that the pleasure is short-lived, but Untitled Goose Game is a real laugh from start to finish. It offers fun infiltration gameplay, a very neat art style, and excellent animation — all against the backdrop of Debussy's Preludes, which adapt to the action on the screen. In short, the experience is simply divine. Few independent developers who have risked making a 3D game can boast of having achieved such an outstanding result. You will certainly not regret the few hours it takes to complete Untitled Goose Game.

Samurai Shodown is the breath of fresh air the saga has needed. The visual style immediately adds to the atmosphere, helped by an immersive soundtrack and fluid animation. The addition of the dojo and the game's accessibility make you want to dive in and master everything. In terms of gameplay, it's in these games of defence and subtle counter-attack that Samurai Shodown shines. It's not the best game out there, but we highly recommend it to fans who want a different fighting game experience.

Although many elements of Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma remain fairly classic, this spin-off is perfectly suited to players who want to discover the universe of this franchise. And it doesn't forget the fans of the early days, since they'll be able to discover village management or the changes made to make the experience more enjoyable, even if many of the codes you're already familiar with are still present. After all, it's worth mentioning that it comes at a hefty price, which may put a damper on your desire to buy it.

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is a nice curtain closing for the license on 3DS. The gameplay is solid and the production is full of personality, both visually and musically. As long as you have done the Persona, interactions that should never have and could have taken place between the characters are pleasant and fun. The story progresses without a hitch and it is not too Manichaean for once — it even ends with a hint of emotion. So, it's almost all good — a solid conclusion to Persona and a good gateway to trying out the Etrian Odyssey series.

Catherine: Full Body is a game you have to experience if you missed the original. Very few games tackle the problems of people in their thirties so fiercely and brazenly, as well as the clichés that separate the two sexes. All this comes with a layer of humour and a touch of eroticism. Otherwise, the new character and story may not be enough to justify the Full Body's high price, especially if you aren't a fan of infernal cube-based puzzles.

A solid FPS with hack-and-slash mechanics that are just as strong, Borderlands 3 is a devilishly effective game, one ideally enjoyed with friends. Its four distinct character classes and consistent content are both arguments for this third canonical episode being a highly recommendable title. However, the experience is ruined by the many bugs, glitches and other wild issues that currently plague the game, although an inevitable first patch should ease all that. Finally, the overabundance of 'fart jokes' makes the game's endless conversations even more painful, even if a few quest threads make up for it.

Skydance Interactive hits the mark with Saints & Sinners, a VR survival game featuring zombies and different factions of survivors under The Walking Dead license. In addition to the tough moral choices it poses, the title shines with its physics engine and its truly immersive and enjoyable melee combat. Even if we regretted some repetitions, the limited freedom and survivors with very low IQ, we felt deeply involved in this apocalyptic New Orleans.

Although it takes up many of the mechanics of the 3rd episode, Trails of Cold Steel IV is unfortunately unable to rise to its level. The lengths in the narration and the direction break the rhythm and we fail to find the epic nature from the previous title. Despite the fan service and the diversity are not enough to erase the lack of novelty and risk-taking. Nevertheless, the very effective conclusion and the clever gameplay will surely seduce J-RPG addicts. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has been able to offer us a great saga through these 4 episodes that deserve more attention.

Warhammer 40 000 Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters is without a doubt one of the best games of the license, it's beautiful, with a neat art direction, and a fantastic atmosphere that pays tribute to the brutality of its universe. The gameplay elements are well thought out, from managing the ship, to preparing the troops, and especially the turn-based combat. It should satisfy fans of tactical games with its myriad possible approaches to commanding its Grey Knights. Not everything is perfect, there are a few clumsinesses, and it becomes quite repetitive at some point, but it didn't spoil the experience.

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.

Even if it remains rather childish and won't blow your mind as much as the other Playstation adaptations, Sackboy also takes advantage of all the potential of these machines in terms of graphics. The challenge is not very high, but the gameplay is fascinating, and the levels are efficiently designed. The fact that you can use DualSense for even more immersion, and the charm of the game's artistic direction and its enchanting soundtrack, makes it a must-have platformer for fans of the genre.

Blue Byte beautifully manages the return to the roots of Anno. Many things are reminiscent of 1404, but it still adds significant value by adding inspiration from the last two episodes, and adapting it to the industrial revolution. The return of the sandbox mode is more than appreciated and ingeniously designed. Of course, the game is not perfect and there are a couple of small problems here and there, but Anno 1800 is a frank success on all aspects and can easily rise to the rank of best game of the series.

Frontier succeeds in doing what we all wanted with Planet Zoo: to offer Planet Coaster's freedom of expression and creation, paired with a worthwhile management game. Icing on the cake, they also bring a game full of caring messages and pro-animal activism, contrasted with a cold observation about the capitalism involved in the animal rehabilitation. Despite some problems related to the construction or the interface, it's beautiful, it's complete, and we can spend dozens of hours perfecting our park or taking care of the sad little fur balls.

Ni No Kuni 2 offers a nice addictive adventure with varied and original features. However, its simplicity and its little scenario make it a nice title without being a monumental slap in the genre. Without a doubt, the porting to the Switch is successful and offers a portable version that is pleasant to take everywhere.

With Atelier Yumia L'Alchimiste des Souvenirs and La Terre Rêvée, Gust shows us that the choice of appropriating a formula that works elsewhere can also be beneficial for a franchise like Atelier, taking it into a new era. Admittedly, not everything is perfect, as there is a lack of optimization in certain locations, but overall, the journey that awaits us is well worth the detour, whether for the trinity (combat, exploration and synthesis) or the story of our heroes, which is accompanied by a quality soundtrack.

Age of Empires 4 is a real-time strategy game of a scale we haven't seen in years. While it doesn't revolutionize the genre or the license, it does give them an excellent modern representative. The execution is almost flawless, the content is satisfying, the handling is fast, and the gameplay is satisfying. Novices and veterans alike should find something to enjoy, whether playing single or multiplayer. There is even an educational aspect, which helps to renew the interest and the look of battles and wars that we have already followed, or even fought in other games. Apart from a few minor flaws, as is often the case with very good games, we would simply have liked to have more.

Despite a certain imbalance where basic textures and other simplistic models rub shoulders with polished graphics, such as realistic VR manipulations limited to objects that have a use, Wanderer is overall a high quality title. Thanks to its concept of intertemporal puzzles, it makes us efficiently cross time periods and rack our brains to come to the end of what looks like a huge escape game. However, you'd better hang on to some of the more difficult puzzles. Wanderer will offer you an enjoyable adventure in which you will enjoy playing with time.

One of the biggest surprises of this final part of the year. Immortals: Fenyx Rising is fun, beautiful, with lots of things to do and plenty of battles to fight. It may get a bit repetitive over the hours, but still worth it. And you'll laugh a lot with Zeus and Prometheus.

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.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair has reinvented the franchise where it was needed. We are not witnessing a revolution of the platform genre, but the beginning of its transformation. Even though this title has some flaws, it also tries to introduce new things. It explores many mechanics, and seems almost irreproachable in pure gameplay terms, controller in hand. We were charmed by this title, although it can be frustrating at times. Speedrunners and collectibles fans will be served, while the others will have a cute little game to get their teeth into.

Stellar Blade is a great success, with some serious arguments to give you good reasons to play it. It's beautiful, with top-quality production on every level, and the highly satisfying combat is at the heart of the gameplay. The confrontations are as numerous as they are demanding, and players looking for a challenge should only be disappointed by the somewhat limited number of bosses. The world is also interesting to explore, and lasts a long time. In the end, it's the small hiccups, particularly in the story, that break the immersion.

The French duo Asobo Games and Focus Home Interactive confirmed all the good thoughts we have about A Plague Tale, with a truly fascinating and touching story that kept us on the edge of our seats from the beginning until the end. Despite a lifespan of about ten hours, the title remains very intense despite the absence of important moral choices and some summary game phases. A Plague Tale: Innocence remains a perfect embodiment of the past, which has succeeded in capsizing us thanks to its own history, that of the De Runes family.

By returning to the fundamentals of the series, the developers of Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince made the right choice. Frozenbyte delivers a particularly attractive game with a neat atmosphere and inspired artistic direction. Even though the story ends a little too abruptly and we would have liked more challenge in the fights, we cannot deny being pleased with the game. Environments, gameplay and puzzles know how to stay fresh in order to hold our interest and desire to go further. The possibility of having up to four players and riddles that adapt accordingly are also to be welcomed.

If Sifu is not a perfect copy, it remains a very good game. Demanding but never unfair, don't be fooled by the low number of levels because you'll have to start them several times to master the game perfectly, extending considerably its life span. Sifu remains a difficult game, a kind of beat them up die & retry, even succeed and retry. If you are looking for a game that will resist you, requiring you to master its mechanics, then your expectations will be fulfilled.

Overall and to be quite honest, Lost Ark is truly an excellent game. Very complete in most aspects, the game from Smilegate RPG doesn't skimp on details and promises many hours of play to those interested in the MMOARPG style. However, it is important to mention that Lost Ark suffers from some serious defects due to its condition as a Korean game: the exploitation of the player's irrepressible need to spend money to compensate for a possible backlog and its affiliation with gambling games, two factors that should be seriously considered, especially by those players who are serious about committing themselves. Nevertheless, aside from these defects, Lost Ark offers Western gamers a new way to approach both the MMORPG and Hack'n'Slash styles. By taking the time and enjoying the game without rushing to get the credit card out as soon as possible, the average gamer should enjoy Lost Ark without too much trouble, and that's probably the most important thing in the end.