But as I should've guessed from developer Traveller's Tales' modern Lego run, Legacy of the Dark Knight is just too darn delightful to sustain a stormy mood. It took all of five minutes for the brick-based brawler to put a smile on my face, and it didn't go away for two hours of play. [2-Hour Hands-On Impressions]

On the surface, Bond might seem a natural fit for IO: all glitz and gadgets that make it feel like barely a skip away from the world of Hitman. But what I saw had me feeling that the studio has not leaned into its strengths, trading the absurd clockwork worlds of Agent 47 for a more tightly choreographed, linear, and "cinematic" game that IO has never been all that good at. The last time it tried was Hitman: Absolution. We know how that worked out. [3-Hour Hands-On Impressions]

I haven't been too blown away by what I've seen of it so far, but if Masters of Albion could help revive the god game genre, at least a little? That'd be fine by me. [Early Access Impressions]

Titanium Court is a brilliantly singular roguelite with a surplus of style, but you're going to need to love match-three to want to stick around.

There are moments of fun, especially towards the end, but too often I just wanted to ram a garlic-flavoured stake through Vampire Crawlers repetitive, grindy heart.

A slick, accomplished shooter that’s more than just an eye-grabbing art style.

Pragmata's confidence in its punchy shootouts and old-school cool pays off, and the two leads roved their way into my heart despite a predictable plot.

While the learning curve might be steep at first, Xenonauts 2 offers incredibly rewarding tactical action for those willing to ascend it.

It's such a disappointment that I'm worried this will kill any chance of us getting a meatier Legacy of Kain game—but at the same time, given how Ascendance sets up Elaleth's further adventures, it might be better if Kain and his pals go back into their coffins.

Despite occasional stalls, this combination of tactics and talking has plush-leather depths worth sinking into.

Some of Blizzard's best work in years wrestles with bugs and design issues, but still comes out on top.

Marathon is a brilliant distillation of what makes extraction shooters great, and a glimpse at where they could go next.

Prizing immersion and effort above all, this is a demanding, but very rewarding, RPG.

An immaculately presented arcade racer with a thousand good ideas, but the twin-stick drifting wasn’t one of them.

By turns sentimental and ridiculous, Death Stranding 2 nonetheless offers best marriage of mechanics and meaning in Hideo Kojima's storied career.

Vast and obtuse in a way that is going to frustrate some and exhilarate others, Crimson Desert is a fascinating journey, even when the destination isn't all that.

Monster Hunter Stories 3 delivers deep build crafting and battle systems, but they're wasted on a war story that's barely there.

If you like RPGs, you owe it to yourself to play Esoteric Ebb.

A high-concept, fascinating strategy RPG that can start to buckle under its own ambitions.

Scott Pilgrim EX is a palatable fresh helping of retro beatdown goodness, but it's too brief and easygoing to deliver more fun than its inspirations or its best contemporaries.

A casual timewaster for people who are into the Witcher enough to get the references, but not married to the idea every Witcher game has to be a big RPG.

Resident Evil Requiem sets itself out with a hard task: wrapping all the best elements of previous Resident Evil games into one. Miraculously it succeeds, with very few moments which left me wanting more.

Nine years in the making, Cyanide has expanded Styx's scope in all the right ways without sacrificing its steadfast focus on stealth.

Squanch's FPS sequel has more creativity in its left shoe than most entire games, but High on Life 2 falls short of excellence.

Reanimal doesn't meaningfully develop Tarsier's approach to gameplay in the Little Nightmares games, but it's a grim sight to behold, and a worthwhile horror adventure.

A sprawling, ridiculous, and endlessly surprising roguelike that will drag you body and soul into its chaotic world.

Nioh 3 is everything I wanted from a sequel to Nioh 2, and yet, somehow so much more. One of the best soulslikes yet.

A mind-boggling grand strategy game that tries to do way too many things, but ends up doing some of them extremely well.