If you're looking for an experience like no other, one that can keep you engaged for a solid fifty hours—easily extendable to two hundred—Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a must-have in your collection. Its realism remains a breath of fresh air even today, positively impacting both the gameplay and the rich cast of characters. But most importantly, Warhorse has done an excellent job of making its unique gameplay formula more accessible without sacrificing depth.

Despite the major changes that will surely be met with skepticism by longtime fans, Civilization 7 is a work that is perfectly consistent with the vision of its creators. Taken individually, innovations like the transforming civilizations and the separation between eras might seem jarring, but together they fit seamlessly into the evolution pursued by Firaxis, which is now much more focused on specific moments in human history and provides an outstanding synthesys between the fourth, the fifth and the sixth installment.

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is simply an excellent game. Fun, varied, dynamic, full of things to find. The combat system picks up on the style of the first chapter, but thanks to a slightly more rigid structure, pushes us to make the most of all the moves at our disposal. The setting is beautiful, with many perfectly designed areas and a soundtrack that seems to grab your heart and squeeze it tightly. It's just a pity that the plot leaves something to be desired, with underused characters and a not very interesting plot.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is the perfect sequel to a great experience.

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black brings back the second, iconic installment of the Team Ninja-branded with redesigned graphics in Unreal Engine 5 that nonetheless were simply applied to the Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 layout, retaining the same animations and an approach to geometry that obviously does not match today's standards. Camera quirks aside, however, the gameplay remains surprisingly solid, frantic and challenging just as we remembered it.

Tails of Iron 2 Whiskers of Winter is practically a version 2 of the first game. It takes the bulk of its mechanics and structure, offers a game world that is beautiful to look at, and expands it slightly with a magic system and a management side. The two major new features, however, are not particularly impactful, for better or worse. If you liked the first chapter and want something very similar, you will be satisfied; if, on the other hand, you wanted an evolution or expansion, it seems you will have to wait for a third chapter.

Sniper Elite: Resistance reiterates the formula of the series without introducing concrete new features and presenting itself basically as a “more of the same” that also renounces developing the narrative elements of a historical scenario that would certainly have deserved some attempt at deepening.

Synduality Echo of Ada is a recipe for what not to do with a live service game: pay to win mechanics, artificial barriers and story content locked behind hours of grind.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

The PC version of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth adopts some bizarre solutions regarding the graphics settings and certain options are still missing, but in terms of performance the game already appears very well optimized and potentially scalable on different types of configurations...Of course, beyond the purely technical aspects there is the great substance of an adventure that will certainly be able to involve you for dozens and dozens of hours, thanks to an almost always brilliant narrative section, an even more exciting hybrid combat system and the charm of an open world full of things to do and see.

Quotation forthcoming.

Squid Game: Unleashed is a multiplayer-based action game enjoyable at times and certainly capable of bringing situations similar to those of the TV series to the screen of our smartphones.

Dynasty Warriors Origins may only be a small step for action games, but it's a huge leap for musou. Omega Force has finally created a title that harnesses much of the immense potential of this unique action subgenre—a game where the flow of battle influences gameplay more than ever, where a bit of strategic thinking is required, and where difficulty progression is truly satisfying (as well as incredibly scalable). Of course, to achieve this, the team had to start from scratch in many aspects, losing some important elements along the way, first and foremost the variety provided by the character roster. Even with its flaws, however, Origins remains a valuable and crucial action game, as it could serve as a solid foundation for all future titles in the genre. It was about time.

Blade Chimera is a fresh metroidvania with excellent pixel art and a great level design.

Tales of Graces f Remastered is the usual remaster we came to expect from Bandai Namco: smoother visuals and frame rate, former DLCs included, quality of life improvements and no new content whatsoever. It helps we haven't got a Tales game in years and Graces f is an underrated little jewel of a JRPG.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD offers a rigid and "old-school" experience, challenging and punishing with its checkpoints, sometimes bordering on sadism. Yet its level design remains pure and pristine, and the dynamism of its action is unchanged: if you're looking for a demanding game, if you're daring enough to seek substance in depth rather than simply completing stages, it is still one of the best platformers ever made.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Freedom Wars Remastered brings back a PS Vita gem with much needed quality of life improvements but doesn't add much in terms of content to a game that for better or for worse feels and plays exactly like 10 years ago.

Quotation forthcoming.

Skydance's Behemoth is a powerful, epic, and incredible game, just like the colossi roaming the Wastelands. At the same time, however, it is an adventure that could have benefited from more variety: not a must-have for all headset owners, but undoubtedly a recommended experience for those who love fantasy tones and are looking for a game with visceral combat. Skydance's Behemoth is therefore yet another good VR adventure released at the end of a year that had, instead, started off on the wrong foot. Hopefully, this is not just a lucky exception and that 2025 will continue on a trend where we find ourselves wearing a headset more and more often to experience memorable adventures.

Quotation forthcoming.

Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind is a serviceable scrolling beat'em up for fans of the franchise that lacks the gameplay finesse which made it a success of its latest competitors.

Antonblast is Wario under steroids: a must have for the platform fan.

The Spirit of the Samurai is a project born from an aesthetic idea: creating a stop motion action game. However, this vision failed to translate into enjoyable gameplay, plagued by control issues, a combat system that never truly shines, and forgettable platforming sections.

Quotation forthcoming.