The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is predictably an excellent work, enhanced by the fact that it finally brings us an official translation of the second chapter of Miles Edgeworth's adventures. It's just a shame that this translation is not (equally predictably unfortunately) in Italian, and that the structural shortcomings of the first chapter have remained almost unchanged, despite some changes to the quality of life toning them down. However, these are two games that are still very enjoyable and extremely brilliant today, which deserve to be part of the Ace Attorney series and to be played.

Akimbot is a Ratchet & Clank indie that is cheap and worth its price, but only if you are really big fans of the genre and can't wait to get back to shooting and jumping around while waiting for a new chapter to come from Insomniac Games. Of course, don't hold out hope for the quality of the source material and especially don't have high hopes for the story and characters. There are various flaws and no matter how much heart Evil Raptor put into the project we struggle to suggest Akimbot to everyone.

Quotation forthcoming.

Emio - The Smiling Man is the ideal episode to introduce a new Nintendo detective game to modern audiences, enriched by the fact that this saga had never been published outside Japan. Sakamoto reconfirms himself as an excellent writer of captivating, well-connected graphic novels, designed to flow fluidly through the player's thoughts and ideas, continually adding and removing new doubts, possibilities and seasoning a salad full of ingredients to perfection.

F1 Manager 2024 offers significant managerial improvements and better pricing, but is marred by numerous bugs.

Age of Mythology Retold is by no means a simple remastered version: sure, it is in excellent shape thanks to the modern version of the Bang Engine, the remake of the animations, as well as the implementation of the orchestral soundtrack, but it is in the gameplay layer that they hide the juiciest news. If every single element of the work, from the divinities, through the civilizations to the individual units, has been evolved and modified according to balance and dynamism, there are also several absolute innovations in the area of quality of life. Of course, you still encounter some problems in the pathing and such invasive work can generate some unexpected bugs, but it is without a shadow of a doubt the best possible way to enjoy one of the most fun RTSs ever made.

Visions of Mana is a successful return to the Seiken Densetsu form with a vibrant world to explore, an engaging tale and some neat gameplay antics. Every aspect of the game is somewhat constrained by its limited budget but we are overall happy the beloved series might have found its new footing.

Monster Jam Showdown is a title with an arcade feel, but also an extremely technical one, designed above all for fans.

Star Wars Outlaws is an excellent Star Wars game. A good adventure, with a good story and good characters, all perfectly placed within a framework that is absolutely faithful and respectful of this intellectual property. It clearly does not have the depth of a Fallen Order in terms of combat nor the facets of the best RPGs set in this fictional universe, but when it comes to gameplay and contents it is certainly rich and interesting, very solid though far from original.

Quotation forthcoming.

As it stands, however, it is a project that puts the long testing phase it desperately needs behind the payment of an entrance fee, among other things in an undergrowth in which the competition has adopted the free-to-play model for years, running the risk of generating a fall from which it seems difficult to recover.

Quotation forthcoming.

Black Myth Wukong turned out to be a game far beyond our expectations. This is a game that more than ever represents its market: it's imposing, impressive, at times exceptional, but at the same time, it focuses too much on technical impact and large-scale elements, neglecting important details and falling into oversights one wouldn't expect from a team with such technical capabilities. It remains an extremely varied and enjoyable action game, with unique qualities and some truly high moments. We are far from a masterpiece, but we don't doubt it will make waves, and if this is the beginning of Game Science's story, we can't wait to see what they will achieve in the future.

Arco is a game that doesn't exceed its premise. The story that unfolds in front of the player is gritty and uncommon to see in the video game industry, with some threads bonding it to Central and South America's actual history at the end of the 19th century. The gameplay isn't as interesting as the narrative but it is interesting to find the best way to go through the fights. Some bugs mix this nice melting pot of ideas with a fallibility that makes it seem humane and a nice ticket for the future of these valuable artists.

Dustborn is divided into three parts. The plot, the adventure, and the action. The last two are the least interesting, unstructured and often require more attention than they should, but fortunately they fail to spoil what good the team has done with the characters and the game world. In a dystopian future that is all but unimaginable, a group of outcasts rebels, grows, discovers itself and forges new bonds.

Metal Slug: Awakening brings a pleasant revisitation of the SNK classic to iOS and Android, starting from its iconic action platform formula and gradually adding new elements both in terms of gameplay and structure, so as to deliver a particularly full-bodied campaign, full of different scenarios, characters, weapons and enemies. It's a real shame that the game lacks controller support, but the touch controls work quite well (despite a few stumbles) and a good job has been done on the graphics front too.

Bleak Faith: Forsaken finally arrives on consoles, and presents itself as an accessible and fascinating variant of the soulslike genre.

Quotation forthcoming.

Volgarr the Viking 2 is a great platform arcade, with some lacklustre choices.

Deathbound is a fresh take on the soulslike genre that will keep fans happy despite having a few technical issues that may get in the way of enjoyment.

Quotation forthcoming.

Creatures of Ava is a cheerful game with a deep meaning behind it, something that we are not used to see in the action/adventure genre. Its driving force of a non-violent gameplay, though, brings the scope of its action down, torn by a simply not engaging interaction with the world and its creatures. The story seems to drag the inventive but static gameplay, making the whole experience one that touches the heart, but that you want to shrug off your shoulders really fast.

Tomba! Special Edition is a major preservation effort by Limited Run Games that successfully brings Tokuro Fujiwara's masterpiece back into the spotlight, packaging it with a series of small extras to further tickle the nostalgia strings. At its core, Tomba! remains a must-play video game for both veterans and newcomers, but the reissue presents some rough edges that could have been smoothed for the current year.

Arriving sixteen years after the first, this second chapter lands in a radically different gaming context: the creators know this, and manage to play just right with the nostalgia of the original World of Goo players, while simultaneously unfolding a game formula that spirals in surreal directions towards the end of the adventure. And it is precisely this happy spiraling that makes World of Goo 2 great and significant, a true manual for those who want to evoke great glories from the past. In its mobile and chaotic structures and in the physics of its unpredictable fluids, the virtual world of Goo Balls is a certainty for puzzle enthusiasts and, more generally, for games created with care, courage, and awareness.

CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a nice surprise, a flash of light in the darkness of a market that is all too domesticated and at the same time the passionate homage of a small Scottish team to the glorious and all-Japanese era of bullet hell-style shooters. Faithful to these prerogatives yet capable of introducing some interesting new elements, the game is completed quickly but only if you approach it in a distracted and superficial way: those who want to invest effort and energy will have it for several days.

SteamWorld Heist II reconfirms himself as an excellent successor of the first chapter, introducing lots of new content.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Sweep the Board! is a very simple party game that must be played with friends: it's the only way to really appreciate the experience and turn a blind eye to the actual quality of the minigames.

Thank Goodness You're Here! is crazy, irreverent, surreal, and funny. Unfortunately, it's all in English, sometimes a bit garbled. Take a stroll through the town of Barnsworth to meet its quirky residents and help them with their routines, which seem to be going anything but smoothly. It will make you laugh and then leave you confused. Only when you're ready to embrace the nonsense and its metaphysical oddities will you truly get in sync with it. But then, catching the bus back home might be tough.