The arrival of this remastered version of Ni No Kuni: The Revenge of the Celestial Witch on PC, PS4 and Switch is good news. It's a joy to (re)explore the landscapes of 'The Other World', and to admire the artistic direction of Studio Ghibli. We sometimes forgot we were in front of a game, and not in front of an anime, yet the gameplay from Level-5 is as deep as it sounds. The possibility of having your pets fight offers multiple combinations. Whether you are a fan of JRPGs or Ghibli in general, you have no excuse not to dive into an adventure to help Oliver save his mother!

With its fantastic artistic direction, The Sojourn is a game to be recommended to fans of the genre. Even if the accompanying story and the texts of the scrolls remain rather vague, we nevertheless enjoyed following the epic tale that is told. The challenges are many and varied, with techniques that combine perfectly, and some present a real challenge. We would have liked to have been able to run, but peace of mind is a must in this game.

This cute remake of the excellent Link's Awakening does exactly what we expected of it, namely it allows us to relive the Game Boy adventure many of us experienced more than a quarter of a century ago. Be careful though, this is strictly a remake. The only innovation — the Chamber Dungeon customization tool — is not really worthwhile. With its diorama-style artistic direction, it is nevertheless a very good pretext for new generations to discover this classic — even despite the many framerate drops, which are difficult to justify.

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.

With an inspired art direction and a rich universe, GreedFall is a quality RPG with rich and engaging content. However, it's not free of defects, especially in its production, animation, and graphics. We also lament a freedom restricted by invisible walls and a lack of varied movement (such as jumping or swimming), as well as battles that could have been more intense. However, all this fails to dampen the pleasure we had in travelling in search of secrets, or in constantly showing diplomacy to satisfy each party.

Daemon X Machina is clearly trying to replicate the formula of Armored Core, but it suffers from an uninteresting plot and weary dialogue. On the other hand, it offers a careful artistic direction and advanced personalization of mechas. Unfortunately, as the missions progress, Daemon X Machina loses its rhythm and the interest of players, due to too many similar objectives and a blatant lack of inventiveness related to the repetition of quests. It's a shame, too, as it's a title with such a beautiful color palette and controls that are so accessible.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is a fantastic expansion for the most committed players. Almost all the flaws we found in the base game have been resolved, and the content available is now quite substantial. Even experts should find themselves putting a lot of extra hours into it. However, it is not a revolution — if you didn't like MHW, then Iceborne probably won't change your mind. If "harder, better, faster, stronger" fights were what you wanted, then this expansion is for you.

The Coalition continues to pursue its goal of maturing the Gears of War series. With more lightness in the gameplay, a slightly harder tone, and a deeper expansion of the universe, Gears 5 could well be the best in the series. It's beautiful, it's fluid, and it tries to say something than just 'another war'. There's no doubt that even the most skeptical fans will be won over by this new episode, while new players to the franchise will also find what they are looking for — as long as they like a style of gameplay so particular to the series. If the story is not enough, the game can be played with friends — whether co-op or competitive, there's plenty to do in Gears 5.

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.

For this first episode in The Dark Pictures Anthology, Supermassive Games has fulfilled its mission — to provide us with a game that effectively reproduces horror movie tropes. The quality of the graphics and sound is undeniable, even it sometimes looks more like an interactive film than a game, and it gives little freedom. It achieves its goals by effectively and intelligently managing to frighten us — it's just a shame that the QTEs sometimes make us angry.

Control is by no means a perfect game. We're disappointed that some of the ideas don't go far enough, and it may seem short and repetitive to some. However, it is an emotional game, and a statement of intent by a developer which has lacked creative freedom in the past. Cryptic, captivating, inspiring, beautiful — those are all words that could be used to summarize our experience.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey has gigantic ambitions. It proposes ten million years of evolution, condensed into a 10 GB game, and that is a feat worth highlighting. If you like stories with endearing characters, a precise goal and someone telling you what to do, Ancestors will leave you disappointed. In that case, it offers only a redundant and sometimes incomprehensible gameplay loop, with a pretty repulsive look to boot. For the more adventurous, Ancestors will awaken your most primal instincts to put you in the shoes of our great ancestors, and bridges genres in a brilliant way to serve its theme.

It's tough not to consider Astral Chain something of a small disappointment, especially when you know Platinum Games' talent for beat 'em ups. We not only highly commend the fight mechanics in this latest title from Takahashi Taura, but also its universe — original and supported by a high-class artistic direction. However, the overall game is pulled down somewhat by a structure of missions that doesn't match the studio's desire to mix the beat 'em up and investigative genres, and further by large approximations and other technical problems — all of which have a significant impact on the enjoyment of the game.

Undoubtedly the best of the four episodes, Faith emanates a lot of emotions while depicting society with a sharp critical eye. Despite imperfections in certain animations and a curious bug at the end, the title is a very refined work, both in terms of graphics and a sublime soundtrack which is full of melancholy. I can't wait to see what happens next.

We were transfixed by this adventure that is Remnant: From the Ashes. Not everything is perfect, but it is still very good. With this highly original title, Gunfire Games hits hard. We recommend strongly that you play with a friend, in order to fully enjoy this exotic adventure where death will often knock at your door.

In one sentence, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is much-improved over the first game, originally released in 2015. The essence of these two games is ship combat against a backdrop of a space western. Outlaw improves confrontations by offering a third camera axis, and by deepening ship improvements. Although the writing is disappointing, both the ease with which fights are handled and the atmosphere — which reminds us of Borderlands but without the cynicism — mean we had a great time taking down nasty space pirates.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a very curious game. The humour and tone hits the nail on the head with characters and situations that overflow with old-fashionedness, but on the other hand we are dealing with a game that dates back to 2004. The simplicity of the game design means that after only a few hours we feel like we've done everything the game has to offer — and the awful artistic direction doesn't help matters. Only the effective fight mechanics and the unique tone keeps us on our toes.

Seed of Evil adds around ten extra hours to Mutant Year Zero. The gameplay is not improved, nor do the additions have have any impact on the gameplay. We spent a good deal of time cursing at the poor tactical and infiltration mechanics — just as we did in the main game. Despite joy in finding our stylish duck and cynical boar, we can't help but look at this as a lazy DLC that will only appeal to true enthusiasts of the game.

With Youngblood, Machinegames clearly had a card to play by offering co-op alongside their excellent reboot of the Wolfenstein series. Unfortunately, this spin-off stumbles by proposing an adventure stretched to the maximum — the fault of a superficial leveling system that forces players to chain 'fetch' side quests in order to access the scripted content, which is then limited to just five missions. A few good gameplay ideas, a more open level design (thanks Arkane), and a reduced price prevent Wolfenstein: Youngblood from being a shipwreck.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is an ambitious and charming game, but in many ways it is also terribly clumsy and unbalanced in its design. It may be pleasant to choose your class and students, interact with them, train them and go to battle, but this ends up becoming heavy and repetitive. When starting FE3H, one should note that it is not just the tactical side of gameplay that is important, but that the school management, dialogue, exploration and mini-games are all crucial to the overall experience.

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.

It's difficult to talk about Outer Wilds without saying too much. It's one of those rare games where you just want to place the person you are trying to convince in front of the screen and watch them play, like you'd watch a child stack building blocks for the first time. There is something inherently fascinating and intriguing about this simulation of space archaeology, where the journey is just as important as the destination — both in the messages it delivers and the satisfaction it provides.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night could easily have been a basic attempt at replicating the Metroidvania genre, masked behind the nostalgia of a partially-retired series and a creator who belongs in the past. Fortunately, this is not the case. Just a year after fierce criticism, the finished game has landed in an unexpected state — perhaps even better than our highest expectations could have imagined.

Even if the uneasy Lovecraftian atmosphere of The Sinking City can hook us with its gloomy graphics, the game is a technical mess. It's not the senseless battles that we will remember, but rather the investigative gameplay. Above all, the narrative around madness is remarkably well transcribed, both visually and acoustically. Fans of the genre will undoubtedly ignore its shortcomings and better appreciate its universe.

Amid Evil is the logical continuation of games such as Dusk and Strafe, inspired by the classics of the genre. It achieves everything in a convincing way — complex level design, varied and original artistic direction, agreeable combat, and a minimalist narrative which sublimates the exploration of worlds. Amid Evil is a game for arcade FPS players, who have not stopped performing rocket jumps since the original Quake.

Catan for the Switch could have been a success if one major defect had not been present. Maneuverability, customization of the board, the different game modes — everything has been designed to make the game appeal to all types of players. However, you need a Switch Online subscription to even hope of playing against other players. There is no local multiplayer either, so you can forget about playing with your family or your friends.

If you experienced Crash Team Racing first time round, then this remake will surely make you dizzy. It may alter your vision or judgment of the game, given it's so rich, subtle, captivating, catchy, generous and beautiful. CTR is a fairly typical game in the genre and doesn't reinvent anything, but it does perform like a beast in everything it does offer. It's an excellent carting title with a strong personality and gameplay that is perfectly balanced, but not enough to scream 'revolution', either.

If we were fearful of a 'Version 1.5' when the announcement of Super Mario Maker 2 was made, that is certainly not the case now. After a long time spent skimming its levels and creative tools, SMM2 has fully convinced us of its potential. Fun, filled with content, and always surprising, it's easy to get lost in the superlatives that describe this true 'social network' of 2D platform games. It's a new, instant hit for the Switch and close to perfection, which should appeal to budding level designers as much as lovers of the platform game genre.