OddBallers is an odd game in every sense. Even if not a never-seen-before party game, there is still some sense of genuineness in targeting a single trigger-player or to play some chaotic revision of ultimate frisbee or soccer. A true patchwork of a videogame, intended for everyone that feels the need to sit on a couch with a bunch of people and have fun playing together, gamers and non-gamers.

Trenches had all the potential to be scary and sobering with its setting and the structure of its gameplay but its developer failed almost everywhere it was possible to fail.

NeverAwake is a curious twin-stick shooter set in a world inspired by Tim Burton's films, and with partly original gameplay.

A witty and entertaining puzzle game that's all about the tech world with beautiful dubbing, clever riddles and a story that makes you think.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is exactly the kind of game that we could expect from the Nickelodeon franchise. It's a 3D adventure with emphasis on its platforming action and some small puzzles, very old school as a tie-in and quite simplistic in its mechanics, it retains at least the enjoyable spirit of the animated series.

Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition is one of the most popular RTS games of all time. Thanks to a good adaptation that uses shortcuts and an intelligent interface to give players the power to control their empires, we can play it on consoles after almost 25 years. The mouse and keyboard are still better, but this could be the chance for the die-hard fans of the controller to play a true masterpiece.

Hi-Fi Rush excellently blends the action and rhythm game genres like few before it managed to do. It's fresh and fun, it has a lighthearted and enjoyable storyline, but yet is supported by a massively deep combat system. And lot, lot of extra-content after you finish it.

Quotation forthcoming.

Garden In! is an indoor gardening simulator that does not aim for realism at all. It offers a relaxing, time-suspended experience to indulge in for about ten minutes a day. A game definitely not for everyone, but only for those who are inclined to this type of video game that does not impose any specific goal to pursue.

From a really strange premise comes an incredibly addictive game: Game Freak has managed to combine classic solitaire with a strategically complex simulation of horse races, generating a gameplay that is fun and surprisingly deep.

Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree is a half-successful work, therefore with notable aspects, in particular the graphic style, and with others that sink it, such as the musical combat system. Not that it is denied a complete turn, but ultimately it lacks the right compactness to become an important experience, also castrated by a certain lack of direction in the writing, which offers absurdly distant negative and positive peaks.

Season: A Letter to the Future allows players to roam a valley marked by its past and populated by a handful of unforgettable characters. The humanity on the verge of abandoning Tieng Valley is full of dreams and has stories of love and loss to tell. Scavengers Studio manufactures an invite to meditation and a hymn to human bonds and nostalgia that is also a celebration of the capability to become independent and strive forth without fear, on board a bicycle that sets a new standard for the use of DualSense's features.

Raiden IV x MIKADO remix has the ability to turn your living room into a mid-2000s arcade like no other thanks to its amazing music and gameplay.

Dead Space is an excellent remake, recommended both for newcomers, who will enjoy an engaging and terrifying survival horror, and for fans of the brand, who will appreciate the many new features introduced in the plot and gameplay. This remake represents an optimal starting point for the saga.

Colossal Cave reminded us of those fathers who, having found their old toy in the attic, repair it and clean it up and then give it to their children, who don't want to play with it.

A Space for the Unbound sports an amazing narrative arc, capable of projecting itself towards an ending that will linger for a long time in the minds and the hearts of the players. This adventure deserves to be lived for its colours, for the atmosphere of the city and for its original narrative arc, under the sign of two brilliantly written female characters. We suggest you without reserve to play A Space for the Unbound if you know the English language.

Take the mechanics of League of Legends and put them into For Honor: the recipe for Warlander is that simple and yet super effective in creating a multiplayer experience that feels fresh and new.

Nexon launches a challenge to Mario Kart with its kart racing arcade in a new fashion. Kartrider: Drift has a substantial package of modes and options to please a wide public, but it's still quite far away from its paradigm.

Truly a waste of potential. Forspoken gets saved by its spectacular combat and traversal mechanics, but the value of those systems gets skewered by a disappointing story and a trite open world structure. It's still a fun experience if you love experimenting with combat and magic, but we sincerely hope to see those systems recycled for something less rushed in the future.

Bravery and Greed is a very fun beat 'em up roguelite that encapsulates in a videogame the old way of playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Another version of one the most shiny JRPG ever, but not that definitive and updated edition that this game perhaps deserves.

Persona 3 Portable is kind of a missed opportunity: Atlus should have worked harder on this new edition of the most seminal game in the franchise.

Fire Emblem Engage is hands down the best gameplay the series has ever had, but storywise is messy and poorly directed.

Mount & Blade II Bannerlord is not an easy game to get into, and several of its mechanics are not introduced very clearly. There is also a lot of repetition, at multiple levels of the game, between side quests and repeated events. At the same time, however, it gives us access to a large sandbox that immerses us in an all-too-believable medieval world and allows us to transform from a simple country mercenary to a lord, enjoying large-scale battles and watching our kingdom grow.

Rainbow Billy: Curse of the Leviathan is an interesting RPG, replacing classic battles with special moves and spells with dialogues and colors to throw. The plot is interesting, the art design distinctive, and the gameplay fun. It is lacking, however, a bit of originality and complexity, which would have made it an even more interesting game.

WW2 Rebuilder is a simulator that comes from a really original concept, but its simple and unpolished gameplay makes it a game that you should think to avoid.

Lone Ruin is a minor Hades, who in his wanting to focus only on combat proves to be really short of breath. He is not unpleasant, but superfluous, in the sense that, even if he does what he does well, we don't find a single element for which he stands out or stands out.

World War 3 failed to distinguish itself from the competition and it's plagued by dubious design choices and bugs. If you like the premises, you're better off with Battlefield 2042.

Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is the most mature fruit of a development studio that never ceases to amaze with its ability to look at classic video games, identifying their strengths so as to replicate them perfectly.

While it won't be remembered among the greatest JRPGs of all time, it will surely be among the best One Piece Games ever made, and while it's definitely not a high mountain to conquer, ILCA definitely did it with style, creating a solid game that will be liked by One Piece fans and JRPG aficionados alike.

Children of Silentown works: it tells a good story, has some great moments and is characterized by a captivating visual style.

Chained Echoes is one of the best RPGs we have played in a long time: charming, colorful and wisely designed, it's a love letter to fans of the genre.

Almost eight years later, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt manages to shine among its most direct competitors. This version takes a huge step towards the next-gen thanks to improved visuals, a ton of quality of life improvements and most importantly some of the best mods out there. There’s also a glimpse of new content, but the traditional game, the one dated back to 2015, is still the brightest diamond in the package.

Hello Neighbor 2, as for the first chapter, turns out to be a good idea but with many technical problems. The game is more than horror, but on multiple occasions it's just frustrating and repetitive. This second chapter unfortunately manages to bring improvements only in the graphics sector, remaining with a not very intelligent AI and a plot once again without a conclusion.

Sports Story follows the lead of Golf Story, keeping the same protagonist and some characters from the nice cast of its predecessor, and improving many elements of its formula. Bugs and glitches of the launch version notwithstanding, Sports Story grants a lot of fun and keeps the players’ attention high, thanks to a humour capable of hitting the mark in the context of surreal situations to be solved with a sporty approach. The art style is great, with a well designed pixel art.

A significant evolution compared to its predecessor, that unfortunately still suffers from some obtuse design choices and a slight lack of polish when it comes to fighting mechanics. Still, a very fun experience, recommended for any fan of the genre.

Fitting its role as a Netflix product, Scriptic is an interesting experiment that blurs the lines between video game and interactive drama, with a compelling story.

X-Plane 12 is a flight simulator with a lot of flaws, almost rough and hostile, but at the same time a true love letter to that niche of players that is constantly searching for the highest degree of realism.

The idea of turning Smash Bros into a 3rd person game is great and the gameplay is action packed, it's a shame that on the graphics' side the characters appear empty and uninspired.

Maskmaker is a perfect introductory title to virtual reality, able to literate the newbie gamer and entertain the more veteran one in a relaxed manner.

Front Mission 1st is a remake that renews the '95 game mainly from a graphic standpoint. Maybe that's enough for some, but we would have preferred something bigger and more exciting.

A fairy-tale adventure set in an open world: Blacktail isn't perfect, but it will captivate players.

Potion Craft has full respect for the player’s intellect, giving her all the necessary instruments to stimulate her curiosity, without holding her hand. The management of the alchemical and entrepreneurial journey is up to the player, with total freedom in deciding the adventure’s pace. Niceplay Games’ title offers complex challenges to those who want to walk the alchemical path in its full extent, but Potion Craft can also be a delightful workshop simulator for those who don’t want to delve beneath its surface: it’s understood that the creation of the Magnum Opus is not an objective everybody can achieve.

Quotation forthcoming.

High On Life is an ambitious shooter, supported by a brilliant script that manages to make you laugh from start to finish. Unfortunately, the shooting phases struggle to excel and the game clearly suffers from all the limitations typical of independent development.

Dragonflight is the best expansion Blizzard has released for its masterpiece MMO in a long time.

Papetura is an adventure that fits into those point-and-click works that have become hallmarks of Amanita Design over the years, but it does not come close to the same playful quality. The paper world of this short (but cheap) game is excellently crafted, and the soundtrack could count on a proven industry expert, but it is not enough to recommend the game to all fans of the genre.

Almost eight years later, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt manages to shine among its most direct competitors. This version takes a huge step towards the next-gen thanks to improved visuals, a ton of quality of life improvements and most importantly some of the best mods out there. There’s also a glimpse of new content, but the traditional game, the one dated back to 2015, is still the brightest diamond in the package.

Overall Master of Magic seemed like a good recovery operation of a classic. Starting the game, one perceives that there is no desire for revolution.

Melatonin is impressive for its quality on all levels, especially considering this is the first videogame by David Huynh: a brilliant and inspired art direction matches a precise and funny gameplay, animated by fitting lo-fi tunes that will immediately enter your personal playlist.

Wavetale is an adventure that blends platforming and combat, but fails markedly on the latter. The parkour and exploration turn out to be smooth and enjoyable, but overall it always lacks that extra idea that could charge the game. The plot also does not stand out, although without major flaws. Wavetale is not bad, but it is also not interesting enough to prompt us to recommend it to everyone.

Portal with RTX is the same masterpiece as Portal, accessible only by a small niche of people.

The Forest Quartet is a small production indeed, and yet this fact does not make it any less interesting. Mads Vadsholt, his family and collaborators build a path towards the recovery of the magic that is foundational to music and jazz, coping in a delicate way with the themes of pain and loss. The Forest Quartet has an interesting structure, an inspired art direction and entertaining puzzles, capable of keeping the players involved for the brief duration of the game.

Dragon Quest Treasures is a slow burn and it may take a while to find its stride, but in the end this exhilarating adventure is diminished by its own ambitions.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is exactly as we expected: a thoroughbred co-op action game, solid and very fun with friends, featuring a gameplay enriched by some new features compared to Vermintide, a structure focused on progression and stunning graphics that need some optimization to run smoothly.

Building upon the success of the first chapters, Nerial and Devolver Digital have crafted another simple but very interesting strategic card game with a Chinese historical twist.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion is an excellent revival of the beloved PSP game with outstanding visuals, music and quality of life improvements, but Square Enix could not remake the boring side missions and some of the oddest story bits.

When everything clicks, Gungrave GORE shows a bit of potential, due to the solidity and over the top coolness of the original formula. Unfortunately this happens rarely, due to some horrible level and encounter design, and unreliable game mechanics. Truly a missed occasion.

Dwarf Fortress is a very difficult, edgy game, but it is also an essential experience, a true celebration of the hidden potential of the videogame medium, which you will not find in any other game.

New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is a two-dimensional platformer that is certainly fun, but it is not a successful remake. Few new features and a not-so-convincing art design make Microids' game halfway successful, not entirely recommendable to either die-hard fans or newbies.

CarX Street is an amazing open world-based racer, with plenty of cars, upgrades, leagues and races for you to experience while exploring a very nice looking city.

Need for Speed Unbound delivers a controversial "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" style, with cel-shaded characters within a realistically rendered world, but gameplay-wise the beautiful open world of Lakeshore City is somewhat not much interesting to explore.

The Callisto Protocol is not Dead Space and it stumbles over more than one design choice: the close-quarters combat defuse the fear of enemies who have nothing to do with the gruesome Necromorphs, the direction often does not manages to build the fear and tension that one would expect and the story ends up being predictable. However, the game also delivers solid gameplay and stunning graphics.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a huge experience. Firaxis mixed a lot of good things but mastered none. The experience is still enjoyable, the story is fun, and the gameplay is magnetic, but the feeling is there's something subtle that is missing to have a masterpiece.

Soccer Story is okay when it tries to do the Japanese RPG, but bad when it turns into a soccer game. We honestly expected much better.

Ghost Song is a beautiful experience thanks to its environments and eerie ambience. There are some rough edges, but it's still a metroidvania that is worth a try, even in a market so filled with this kind of games.

Not bad per se, Train Life is a good concept with a lot of trains but also, ironically, with little life.

Just Dance 2023 implements a brand new art direction and refashioned menus, convincingly oriented towards an elegant and simple player experience. Only the users' feedback will tell if the modifications made to the live service - with Just Dance Unlimited's replacement by Just Dance + - will be accepted by long time fans of the series, but at the moment the selection of songs after the dramatic cut made by Ubisoft has not satisfied us completely.

Building on the experience of the Mad Skills series, Mad Skills Snocross succeeds in adapting the structure to a race between sleds, with the appropriate changes made to the control system. It's much more arcade than the MX series, although a little stiff with controls, resulting in a strange mix that could not appeal to everyone. Unfortunately, its microtransaction tends to affect the progression.

An enticing mix between regulated and micro-managing gameplay, all garnished with tasty fish sauce.

McPixel 3 is about kicking people in the testicles for the hell of it. It's grabbing a cup and pulling your pants down in a worldwide broadcast.

Evil West features plenty of spectacular, frantic, fun and challenging fights, in which we will be able to exploit a very wide repertoire of moves and weapons to kill hordes of monsters, vampires, werewolves and undeads in the most painful way possible. Unfortunately, everything else is disappointing.

It was a great challenge to replicate the huge success of Warzone, but with a bunch of well-placed revolutions, Warzone 2.0 almost outshone its predecessor, becoming a new benchmark for the battle royale genre.

The Walking Dead seems an unusual inspiration for an idle RPG with gacha elements, but somehow it works. It's just an AFK Arena clone in its core mechanics, but its connection with the original comics, narrative and graphic-wise, can make it a good choice for the die hard TWD fan. Although it easily gets boring over time. [Provisional Score = 64]

It's still a great fighting game, made even better by the various changes (and, obviously, the 60 fps). Unfortunately, the netcode is lacking, and it's hard to see the community thrive when the developers blatantly ignored the multiple advantages of a rollback netcode once again. Truly a pity: this fighting game deserved a long life online. As it is, it's just great fanservice for Jojo Fans.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Bloody Ties is a pretty rich DLC, considering its price. However, the story feels rushed, it's really hard to get attached to the characters since they are gone in almost 4 hours. What really pushes the quality of the DLC are the fights in the arena, and that's why you have to play Bloody Ties if you're a fan of Dying Light.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an immersive, spectacular sequel with some important gameplay improvements. A must-buy for those who enjoyed the first episode of the series, although in terms of content the game is pretty poor if compared to Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered. The PC conversion is again solid but controversial in some respects, there are tons of options but a couple of important ones are missing for scalability purposes and you'll need a really high-end rig to get the best possible visual fidelity.

Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising is a serious candidate for the worst game of the year.

The Devil in Me could have been the final pearl by Supermassive in recent years with the Dark Pictures Anthology and instead ends up collapsing on the weight of its own ambitions. It's really a shame, because a few more forethought from an authorial point of view and a shorter overall duration would have been enough to pack the icing on the cake of a project that has given interesting vibes. It would be stupid not to recommend the purchase to those who have followed the whole process and still have not got tired of the formula.

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet focus on exploring, but the technical issues are hard to ignore. The story struggles to expand its limits, so it's weak and shallow; the gameplay is solid as ever, luckily, and it introduces some new mechanics perfect for PvP. Discovering and capturing pokémon is enjoyable thanks to many new ways to explore the region of Paldea. We hope they will be the last transitional pokémon games.

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet focus on exploring, but the technical issues are hard to ignore. The story struggles to expand its limits, so it's weak and shallow; the gameplay is solid as ever, luckily, and it introduces some new mechanics perfect for PvP. Discovering and capturing pokémon is enjoyable thanks to many new ways to explore the region of Paldea. We hope they will be the last transitional pokémon games.

Smurfs Kart has courses lacking in number and quality, characters all being the same, no interesting alternative modes, and no online multiplayer. Visually it is poorly done and quickly becomes boring to play. Ignore it, for the sake of your wallet.

With Among Us VR, Innersloth and Shell Games show us how virtual reality is the right way to play this iconic deductive game.

Although without innovating so much, Football Manager 2023 Touch is, once again, the best soccer management game you can play on mobile platforms and a great addition to the Apple Arcade catalogue.

Goat Simulator 3 does everything it is supposed to do, much better than the original. The missions give a nice progression to the adventure, and the cooperative multiplayer increases the fun you can get out of the game.

Jumpship aims to create a sci-fi cinematic adventure that may surpass Limbo and Inside, but fails in its intent. The raw perfection of the camera is not enough to make an unforgettable adventure, and Somerville remains affected by technical flaws enhanced by the stark contrast with the utmost care Jumpship put in the study of the framing. Jumpship has proven it has all it takes to concoct a high value art direction: we hope that in the future the developers of Somerville may reach the intimate heart of things, letting the players discover the essence of an authentic and compelling drama.

Floodland is a survival city-builder that doesn't amaze for its main themes, the commercial façade, but for its inner and partially veiled characteristics. Technically it isn't quite the satisfying game (the situation may get better on day one, but only time will tell), but artistically and soundwise, it has some really powerful blows to throw at its audience.

Pentiment is a unique experience that will win over all gamers who still love living good stories with the rhythm of a pen, like the imaginary one that traces the letters of each dialogue in the game.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana on PlayStation 5 is basically the very same game it was on PlayStation 4 and Switch with the added benefits of a very smooth frame rate and some visual enhancements.

Once Upon a Jester is a good narrative adventure, which captures for the time that lasts and which manages to thrill with joy and lightness.

Quotation forthcoming.

Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram From Hibernia is the new chapter dedicated to the adventures of the Gauls: even if not perfectly successful, it will amuse you.

Quotation forthcoming.

A solid Rally game that shows KT Racing experience with WRC Franchise. Despite the introduction of hybrid WRC cars, the game does not offer great news and remains anchored in its past. For better or for worse.

There aren't many social deduction video games out there and, frankly, there has not to be many. Eville provides a nice change with its different tone and cast of specialized characters, but it seems to be almost overly complicated. At the end of the day, the main point is having a good crew to play with, because social interactions are fundamentals in this kind of game.

Square Enix, which usually makes discreet holes in the water with remasters, has managed to significantly improve an RPG that was already a masterpiece of its own. If only he had had more courage, and had put his hand to the slightly spartan pixelart, Tactics Ogre: Reborn would have been perfect, but all in all we also understand the desire to preserve a certain level of nostalgia. It is officially the best turn-based strategy you can play: if you love the genre, and you are not afraid of the English texts, you absolutely have to make it yours.

Skies of Chaos stands as one of the best vertical scrolling shoot em-ups for iOS and Android. The game, available for Netflix subscribers only, delivers a very well balanced, challenging but never frustrating experience packed with several maps, enemies and bosses, as well as gorgeous pixel art graphics.

Sifu is a complex game that needs complex hardware. The idea of bringing it to the dimension of portability is tempting, but it isn't enough to save it from the limitations imposed by the lack of technology. The overall experience is halved, because it does not make justice to a game so visually inspired and intricate. With hindsight, maybe this isn't the right place for a work like this.