There's plenty of charm in Ravenlok, but its substance as an action adventure is quite thin. If you live it like an interactive fable, however, it can be really satisfying.

Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace is one of the best free games for Netflix users on iOS and Android: a solid, challenging roguelike experience that will reward you with lots of epic loot, spectacular boss fights and twenty different heroes to unlock.

Cassette Beasts is an excellent title from various points of view, with some slight stumbling blocks on the quality of life, but nothing impeding and so problematic. A truly profound monster taming title that shines for the design of the boss battles and narrative citations to the Arthurian cycle. A title that rewards strategy, thanks to a really well-implemented system of interactions between elements and which also takes full advantage of fusions between creatures and synergies with travel companions.

Darkest Dungeon II is definitely a good game, skillfully built upon the experience of the first installment. However, perhaps the comparison with the first game led the developers to go overboard, mixing in ambitions of a more traditional narrative role-playing game into the original formula. This ends up creating noticeable contrasts and lengthening the gameplay a bit too much, making it quite burdensome to start over from scratch each time.

Age of Wonders 4 is a solid 4X. More depth, variety and a smoother interface would have been nice additions to a collaudated formula.

Quotation forthcoming.

The Last Case of Benedict Fox is far from being a bearer of H.P. Lovecraft’s thematics in the gaming world: the cosmic horror of the Providence writer is replaced by a plot that at times manages to result engaging, but ultimately reveals to be anchored to more classical horror themes, linked to magic, to the occult, and to the creation of constructs that can be governed by man. Beyond these considerations, the video game produced by Plot Twist is released on the market in a technical state that is far from excellent, and with considerable limitations in terms of readability of progression in its exploratory stages, as well as with a system of enhancements that is anything but exciting. The Last Case of Benedict Fox remains a discreet metroidvania but is lost in the vast sea of productions – even with similar themes – much more refined and refined, proving to be an experience far from unforgettable.

With a terrible gunplay, a blank open world, and a forgettable story, Arkane's new open world shooter is something far distant from anything that the studio made in the past. Something must have gone irreparably wrong in the development of Redfall, nonetheless, it represents a huge defeat for anyone who expected a good reason to fire up their Xbox Series S|X after a 2022 of empty promises.

The streamlined structure and easy to pick up gameplay works flawlessly for the first levels of Summon Quest, but its short length and lack of challenge flaw the entire experience, on the long run.

Viking Rise is a solid strategy game that doesn't revolutionize the genre in any way.

Stranded: Alien Dawn is an excellent survival game and one of Haemimont Games' best titles, demonstrating great competence and skill in managing such a complex game. Of course, there could have been more in terms of character customization and graphics style, but aside from that, it is an engaging experience that does not leave you regretting the time spent playing.

Minabo - A walk through life is a simulator with very original ideas, but also with very random mechanics.

The Mageseeker is an action RPG that tells a compelling story without requiring any knowledge of the lore of League of Legends and has a solid and enjoyable combat system.

Entertaining and charming, Labyrinth of Galleria is another example on how NIS mastered its own genre and delivered another fun, well built DRPG.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an improvement through and through but the slow building storyline and the unpolished visuals keep it away from true greatness.

Teslagrad 2 is a successful game that if it was slightly more ambitious it would certainly have stood out more.

With the strength of an ant, Point Blank Games managed to create an open world full of opportunities, even though the challenge was evidently larger than the size of the studio. The game has potential, but with a rigid and clunky combat system and many technical issues, it ended up collapsing under the weight of its own ambitions.

Afterimage is a densely packed metroidvania, with numerous regions, secrets and methods for upgrading the character. Platforming is a key part of the experience, with many sections that are quite intense though never overly complex. In terms of combat expect lots of bosses, a myriad of common enemies and a difficulty level that is far from high. For at least thirty hours you will have fun exploring a world that is beautiful to look at and has a mythology with potential, too bad only that the plot is poorly laid out and fails to take advantage of various ideas from the lore.

This puzzle game in VR has an emotional story about what's big and what's small told through easy to understand puzzles and with clever use of virtual reality.

Quotation forthcoming.

Roots of Pacha was built with skill and dedication by a small team and deserves your undivided attention: far from being a Stardew Valley clone, it offers an adventure full of content and heart, in the name of collaboration and progress. Some technical issues notwithstanding and considering that it is common occurrence for rural life simulators to "grow" over time thanks to the feedback of their communities, we were amazed by the very high quality of the adventure proposed by Soda Den, even if some minigames are a bit repetitive and the "hook" for the exploration sections of the caves is not very effective at the beginning.

9 Years of Shadow is not a true metroidvania and should not be approached as such. It is a scrolling action game that is linear most of the time and does not have much content, as you can get 100% in less than ten hours. The combo system is very simple, with few moves available, and attacks from a distance are far too powerful. If you are a fan of the genre you might give it a chance, as soon as you find it in a price range you think is appropriate, but don't expect it to be your new benchmark in terms of quality.

Meet Your Maker is now the standard for sandbox experiences in terms of entertainment, ease of use and scalability. This endlessly repayable dungeon raiding and building experience has the friendliness of Minecraft and the aesthetics and gameplay of Doom and it will hook you.

Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly sports minimum innovations on the first chapter’s gameplay, while the writing is under the spotlight, managing to improve some of Coffee Talk’s asperities, but often failing in giving depth to newly introduced characters. Toge Productions’ videogame is nonetheless a must have for those who look for a laid-back, enjoyable experience, without the need of frequent inputs on the player’s part, and has a clearer narrative focus, wisely leaving behind some of the (way too many) themes addressed in the first Coffee Talk.

20 years on, Advance Wars is still a great series. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is full of content, stylish graphics and lots of battles. Wayforward is perhaps too faithful to the original games and lacks some of the quality of life features that could improve the game. And we also miss Dual Strike, to have the whole trilogy in one place. But Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a great addition to the Switch line-up and a great experience for players new and old.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a simple and short, but enjoyable visual novel that is graphically polished and, above all, completely free. The platforming minigame could have avoided the final difficulty spike, but if you are a fan of the blue hedgehog you should give it a chance.

We played Wartales for about seventy hours with the desire to play it again to try to manage the party in a completely different way. This is probably the best compliment we can pay to the Shiro Games game, which after Evoland and Northgard has created another little gem, perhaps a little rough in certain aspects and with some annoying problems, but certainly worthy of being played and in its own original way in approaching the genre of role-playing games.

Dead Island 2 is an adventure that in the end disappears without a trace. If you enjoyed the first one, you will probably enjoy this sequel as well; however, if you are looking for something more exciting and incisive you will necessarily have to look elsewhere. But it's nice to look at, somewhat relaxing in company, and despite the flaws it could be just the game you've been looking for.