Having a high-concept idea is all well and good, but it doesn't matter what kind of story you tell, or the world you create, if the act of playing the game is so unpleasant. While occasionally putting the pieces together, often Observation left me bored and frustrated.

Despite some witty dialogue and a few poignant moments, OXENFREE II: Lost Signals is an unexciting talkie-walkie with conversation interruptions and dull gameplay.

Maid of Sker is a competent horror adventure where the player explores a well-designed 19th-century hotel. But its clumsy stealth, forgettable puzzles, and lukewarm scares prevent it from hitting the high notes.

The Free Ones puts the grapple gameplay mechanic above all else, which manages to produce enough thrills and momentum to carry the game to its conclusion, across chasms where story and presentation should be.

Although faithful to the 1997 movie, Starship Troopers: Terran Command as an RTS is not consistently enjoyable. Despite some good defensive sequences, its path-finding issues, bland missions, and excessive micromanagement bury some of the fun.

As nice as it is to see a long-dormant retro series return, Super Bomberman R's lack of creativity and unbalance issues result in it not feeling like the proper comeback it could have been.

Greedy Guns is a relatively humdrum and uninspired - if perfectly functional - Metroidvania-style adventure that makes an admirable effort to spruce itself up with light shoot 'em up elements.

The Sojourn is an average, middle-of-the-road puzzler, that struggles to be memorable after the first few hours. There are interesting ideas here, both in terms of gameplay and aesthetic. However, they both suffer from the same problem, which is unfortunate repetition.

The Evil Within 2 doesn’t have anything new to offer the franchise. It fails to be frightening, the narrative is a mess, and it only manages to keep its head above the blood water with some decent survival-action mechanics.

Peregrin's simplistic puzzles, technical quirks, and uninteresting combat hold back an adequate tale of a hero's desolate journey into a lost and fractured land.

Weedcraft Inc is a fairly typical management game at its core, but one that feels limited in scope and yet with too many busywork mechanics. It also offers little insight on the real world issues.

If you treat Where the Water Tastes Like Wine as a visual novel with added interaction, you’ll find a unique premise surrounded with a host of interesting characters and stories. As a video game, however, it is too stripped back to feel substantial and remain engaging through its lengthy run time.

Though GRIP offers up some exciting racing and vehicular combat on a really wild and creative set of tracks, a frustrating singleplayer campaign and serious technical issues with the online multiplayer make it difficult to recommend in its current state.

Despite the alluring and violent art, Happy Game is dragged down by simple and random puzzles, annoying screen flashes, and awkward interactions.

More frustrating than it is fun, The Last Guardian wastes its original story and charming creature under clunky controls, questionable design, and poor technical performance.

Mirage: Arcane Warfare has some of the most fun and exciting melee combat around, but squanders the unique mechanics on dull game modes with low player counts in a transparent effort to ape Blizzard’s recent smash hit, and this ultimately works against the strengths of the gameplay to the point of bringing down the entire experience.

Hood: Outlaws and Legends features an engrossing setting and some good competitive play when two well-matched, coordinated teams collide. However, there are balancing and technical issues that need addressing, and despite the lower asking price, there seems to be a lack of content for long term play.

FlatOut 4: Total Insanity is a valiant effort and a modestly satisfactory sequel. Its track design and relative speeds help make it a much better destructive racer than the last effort. However, it still requires tuning when it comes to stunts, visuals, physics, and vehicle damage.

Agent Intercept offers a surprisingly thrilling action-adventure, but even with some improvements over the mobile version, the shallow and repetitive gameplay ultimately holds it back.

Next Up Hero feels a bit more like an online app or a means of promoting Mixer rather than a fully realized game. If you happen to have the Xbox Game Pass, this might be worth giving a try, just don't expect much substance or variety.

Despite great visuals and hectic combat, Space Marine 2 stumbles on its repetition and generic missions. While co-op has limited appeal, the single player is boring and the competitive action is mostly an afterthought. And even devout followers may lose faith due to the technical issues.

Torchlight 3 is a passable action RPG with decently crispy combat and satisfactory classes. But the workmanlike boss runs, unexciting gear, dull story, bizarre Fort design, and multiplayer issues all keep it below both its predecessors and competitors.

Soulstice features decent combat with a few unique tricks, but it grows repetitive. With a dull story and lackluster presentation, it might mostly be of interest to DMC fans on a budget.

While the atmosphere in Fort Solis is excellent, backed by great visuals and understated horror, the ambiguous story, poor ending, and cumbersome interaction means that this walking adventure does not always put its best foot forward.

Occasionally, Road to Eden comes to life with fun, challenging combat and a smart implementation of stealth. But even so, the feeling quickly disappears as you remember that there’s little to enjoy after you’ve won. The game often seems empty and dull, with under-utilized characters and clumsy pacing, and not enough overarching mechanics to keep you engaged in the long run.

WrestleQuest has just enough charm and personality to make up for its more distracting problems. The constant references to the world of wrestling and fun appearances by legends make the stories of Muchacho Man and Brink worth following, but the gameplay could have used some additional refinement.

Cat Cafe Manager is a very relaxing game, once you get the hang of things it’s easier to fall into a systematic routine. The addition of everyday-life sounds made me almost feel like I was in a real cafe. Although I did enjoy managing my own Cat Cafe—and adopting as many stray cats as I could—I was really disappointed that the story ended quite quickly. It would have been nice if each villager had a personal quest that somehow tied with restoring the shrine.

The Medium is a flawed horror experience with an interesting story and a visually captivating spirit world. Fixed camera angles add excess clumsiness and the terrible framerate drops make it difficult to enjoy the split-screen views. With some glacial pacing and a lack of genuine scares or challenges, it fails to create a strong bond with either of its two worlds.