Persona 3 Reload on Switch 2 is exactly the same game we played more than 1 year ago but the frame pacing took a heavy hit and it's in strong need of a patch. That being said, Persona 3 Reload is still an amazing JRPG through and through that fans of the genre should definitely play.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is exactly what we expected - nothing more, nothing less: an action game that focuses on combat and does so with great authority, showcasing all the power of an iconic franchise and the talent of a development team (actually, two) that needs no lessons from anyone.

With CloverPit, Panik Arcade has followed the contemporary trend of offering titles with a simple concept at a very affordable price (it costs €9.99, without discounts) — much like Vampire Survivors or the often-mentioned Balatro. It’s a striking game in its own way, precisely because of its limitations, and an excellent one to showcase on Twitch or YouTube — which, these days, is always a plus for ensuring strong sales.Its blend of mechanics based on both luck and skill, along with the satisfying sense of progress from match to match, does the rest — making it the kind of addictive pastime you’re always happy to come back to for one more game.

Keeper begins as a sensory experience of immense artistic value, an adventure concerned more with filling your eyes with beauty (and weirdness) than with the satisfaction of what you actually do. The walks are, indeed, just that; the puzzles are simple, but they seem to hint at something more ambitious for the future of the adventure. Unfortunately, the culmination of this build-up comes after barely an hour of play, in a highly engaging section that never returns, because Keeper is eager to transform itself. At that point, Keeper starts chasing a different goal: to become an ever-changing experience designed to surprise the player. A candy with a filling, containing many different flavors. The element of surprise is always welcome in a video game, but what follows must be more stimulating than what came before; otherwise, as in this case, you reach the end with a bittersweet taste in your mouth.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is an excellent game from a narrative standpoint, surrounded by other systems of varying quality — some justified by the pursuit of consistency with the setting, others clearly the result of production issues during development. Overall, it’s better than we expected and turned out to be an engaging and deep experience, certainly worthy of the first Bloodlines in how it portrays the vampiric world.Be aware, however, that the role-playing aspect is expressed more through dialogue than through the rest of the gameplay, and those looking for a title where combat is the most polished part have come to the wrong place.

If you’ve loved Pokémon but the latest releases have left you disappointed for various reasons, Pokémon Legends: Z-A won’t change your mind — yet it proves that Game Freak still has a ton of super-effective moves in its arsenal. Despite some rough edges in the story and balance, and a technical side hampered more by design choices than by execution, the new Pokémon Legends entry is fun, immediate, and engaging — though it could have been much, much more. The Japanese developer is still experimenting, adding and removing elements in search of the perfect formula, but continues to do so with the nonchalance of a studio that knows it can sell millions of copies with minimal effort. And that’s a shame, because Z-A is probably the best Pokémon game in years. With just a bit more effort — and the hardware potential of the Switch 2 — Game Freak could truly get back on track.

Double Dragon Revive was a real surprise — one of those games we didn’t expect much from, only to realize we had unfairly underestimated it. Yuke’s work is a smart evolution not only of the series it belongs to, but of the entire beat ’em up genre as well. It’s a genuinely satisfying title in its core elements, falling short only due to the lack of extra modes. Apart from that, it’s truly an excellent Double Dragon — one to be experienced, one punch at a time.

Beautiful to look at, powerful to listen to, highly optimized, and with gameplay that takes us back to the glories of the best games in the series, Battlefield 6 is the unexpected return we've been hoping for for years. The campaign is a concentration of explosions and uncertainty, but multiplayer is where you'll spend most of your time, and it's here that things take a turn for the better. The nine starting maps are a tasty appetizer for what's to come in the coming months; the feel of the weapon in your hand is just right, and when everything falls apart around you, you've definitely fallen in love. With the usual flaws, but also with strengths we almost forgot, this is, finally, Battlefield.

Absolum is a side-scrolling beat 'em up of exquisite craftsmanship, almost perfect, one might say, enhanced by a roguelite structure that still has some balancing issues, likely due to Guard Crush’s lack of experience with the genre. Most of the time, however, it manages to find its footing, also because in terms of scale and content it's not overwhelming, in fact, it can be completed in around fifteen hours. It must be said: when it comes to throwing punches, nothing else compares. The satisfying way power-ups synergize with one another, along with the impact and thrill of juggling enemies, makes progressing through the levels a sublime experience. Even after reaching the end, you’ll want to keep brawling, stacking upgrades just to feel increasingly powerful. A little gem to play and replay, after cracking your knuckles, of course.

Little Nightmares III is the usual small, exquisite nightmare built around the fears of two children escaping from a world of repulsive “grown-ups.” The most tangible novelty is the online co-op mode, which allows two players to work together by using each character’s unique abilities. However, in trying to find a balance between a game that can be completed solo and one where cooperation truly matters, Little Nightmares III never pushes this feature too far, it’s enjoyable, but never essential. Beyond that, it’s a repetition of moments and situations we’ve already experienced in the previous installments. We would have liked to see more of Supermassive Games’ own touch on this universe, rather than the reaffirmation of established formulas.

Quotation forthcoming.

Fire Emblem Shadows is not only a poor Fire Emblem game, but also a game that isn’t very fun. The strategic possibilities during matches are reduced to a minimum, and even the investigative component, meant to uncover the team’s traitor, fails to trigger engaging dynamics.

Quotation forthcoming.

Digimon Story Time Stranger isn’t perfect, but it’s undoubtedly the most ambitious entry in the franchise to date — both in terms of content and the depth of its gameplay mechanics. It offers an intriguing narrative, excellent longevity, and the chance to meet and collect over four hundred Digimon (some of which can even be ridden), all while exploring, in alternating moments, both the real and digital worlds. That said, it’s undeniable that this isn’t a flawless title. From a technical standpoint, despite the refinements and overall visual appeal, its origins as a last-generation project are apparent at every turn. Moreover, despite all the new ideas and innovations introduced, dungeon exploration remains rather static and repetitive, and the combat system doesn’t reach the depth that fans might have hoped for — even if it is, admittedly, more technical than in the past. In short, there’s still work to be done — but the direction is the right one. “All together,” then, “all for the Digimon,” as the old anime theme song once said.

The two Super Mario Galaxy games are so beautiful and imaginative that they transcend their own series. They are the dream of a child broken down into its basic elements, explorable through fantastical and extraordinary gravity-defying acrobatics, framed by Rosalina’s melancholic tales and those leaps toward the sublime, supported by symphonic outpourings—so rare for Super Mario and Nintendo. They are two masterpieces, and it is no coincidence that they marked the childhood and imagination of the first members of Generation Z.

With EA Sports FC 26, the Canadian development studio takes an interesting path, but the final result doesn’t fully manage to convince. The two gameplay presets are a smart addition, Career mode gains momentum with Manager Live and Unexpected Events, and Ultimate Team receives a few useful tweaks that help refine the experience. However, between a still spotty defensive AI, a midfield sacrificed on the altar of spectacle, a Realistic mode that is intriguing but far from brilliant, and a monetization system that permeates every mode, there’s still a long way to go.

Dying Light: The Beast marks a return to simplicity and straightforwardness for Techland’s series, a shift that also comes through in the comeback of the original protagonist. Angrier than ever and literally able to turn into a beast, Kyle Crane will lead us through a somewhat clichéd and predictable revenge story, fortunately enriched by a host of side missions, characters, puzzles to solve, and secrets to uncover within a map that alternates between urban settlements, forests, and mountains, all in an effort to best express the formula that made this franchise so successful.

Hotel Barcelona is unfortunately a big disappointment. Technically, it needs improvement, the plot and characters have nothing to say to us, and there is never that madness or strangeness that one would expect from Swery and Suda51. The gameplay is banal and gets in its own way with poor design choices or choices that cancel each other out, resulting in a linear roguelite that can be completed in 5 hours.

We already knew it from the announcement trailer, and playing it for forty hours only confirmed our first impressions: Ghost of Yotei is exactly what everyone expected from a sequel of this scale, backed by a Sony that needs to strongly focus on some of the trademark elements of its biggest works. Sucker Punch doesn’t try to overdo it, doesn’t attempt the path of innovation, and has no intention of straying from those defining aspects that made *Tsushima* a success far beyond the rosiest expectations. Yotei refines the mechanics, increases variety, enhances attention to detail, and better defines certain narrative dynamics. The result is simply a game that works well and does exactly what it’s supposed to: entertain all those players looking for a new open-world, free-roaming action adventure in which to invest a few dozen hours. Clearly, this isn’t the place to look for a new benchmark or that extra something that boldly sets it apart from any other title in the genre, but five years later, anyone who wants to relive the Tsushima experience will feel right at home here, before the crackling of a warm and reassuring fire.

Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac is the second chapter of a broader recovery operation, one aimed at reviving the main installments of the franchise in three dimensions and making them accessible once again, enriched with a technical sector worthy of modern times and enough additional content to spark the interest of a wide audience (or at least not to disappoint it, since the comparison with contemporary video games arises spontaneously). In this case, the developers at Now Production have done a good job, introducing into the main structure a whole series of improvements, variations, and aesthetic additions that, in most cases, have benefitted it. The game itself remains what it was back then, with its strengths and weaknesses (among the latter, mainly a not-so-exciting level design and a constant sense of déjà vu). However, thanks to a fair price and the success of the modernization itself, we can’t help but recommend giving the yellow ball a chance.

By leveraging a wonderful creative process in close contact with their community, Supergiant has created an extraordinary title, capable of soaring above all others in its genre in terms of overall quality, structural brilliance, balance of its parts, and beauty. Hades II is an impeccable work, and we've been unable to find any real flaws in it, game after game. Perfection may not be of this world, but Supergiant has come very close.

Final Fantasy Tactics aged like wine and the improvements to the story department show love and passion. Retail price might look expensive for a remaster that adds almost no content to a 1997 game except for a few QoL features but it's worth every penny if you never played it before or love tactical JRPGs.

Baby Steps is a deliberately provocative video game. Its goal is not to challenge you to master the physics that governs Nate's movements, but to speak to your gut, triggering reactions of frustration, anger, and visceral emotion. After all, that's its nature: it's a rage game. It will surely be the subject of thousands of angry reactions from those who play it with an audience behind the screen, and its most extreme moments will rack up millions of views. This is the fate it has chosen. But, outside the context of online entertainment, is it fun to play? Baby Steps is, at times, one of the most irritating gaming experiences we’ve ever had: its cringe humor is annoying, and the most extreme obstacles often give the impression that success is just a matter of luck. If you're masochistic enough, it can provoke a strange and irresistible pleasure. For everyone else, the answer to the question posed in the title is no: there’s little beyond the meme.

Silent Hill f is a bold and strikingly timely video game: a political horror with a powerful message, unafraid to be provocative as every true work of art should be. At the same time, it carries within itself the spirit of folk horror: having left behind Judeo-Christian iconography, it is the Japanese tradition that casts its long shadow over both the aesthetics and the narrative, at times through choices that bring it closer to fantasy than to the urban horror the series is known for. Tradition and modernity clash in a work that feels suspended between what Silent Hill once was and what it could become. The balance doesn’t always hold, yet its voice remains strong, with no fear of offending longtime fans or alienating purists. Many will not like it, and some will not even recognize where Silent Hill lies within this story. But those willing to listen closely to the narrative crafted by Ryukishi07 will discover that Silent Hill f knows how to take root. And how to bloom.

As beautiful to look and listen to as it is, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a very Japanese take on Hades with some clever gameplay twists but fails to capture the snappiness and and immediacy that the roguelite genre requires to be actually engaging.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds stands out as an excellent arcade racing title, arguably the finest in Sega’s mascot-driven series. Boasting a wealth of content, it delivers engaging experiences in both single-player and multiplayer modes, supported by a truly impressive track design.

Formula Legends has style and ambition, but stumbles where it matters most. The driving model feels erratic, the career mode fizzles out fast, and the complete absence of multiplayer is baffling. A nostalgic concept wasted on shallow execution.

Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra is a compact and accessible MOBA, very enjoyable once you grasp the mechanics of this specific subgenre (and especially when playing with friends!), but characterized by simplifications that at some point could limit the experience. Being a free-to-play title, and one that is thankfully free of pay-to-win dynamics or overly aggressive monetization systems, the good news is that nothing will stop you from trying it out and getting a sense of what Ganbarion is attempting with this game, which is still only at the very beginning of a potentially long journey full of new characters and content.