Mediocre and repetitive, there are far better options for action RPGs out there.

Beneath its charming and inventive worlds, Outer Wilds hides a cleverly unfolding mystery.

A slightly messy first-person shooter lifted by some excellent weapons and a gorgeous art style.

A gruelling mystery game that smothers its big ideas with dour survival mechanics.

Visually beautiful and emotionally affecting thanks to strong characters, A Plague Tale suffers from missing gameplay variety and tonal inconsistencies.

In expanding on its predecessor, Layers of Fear 2 sinks into a state of deep confusion.

A stylish, understated, and subtly chilling psychological thriller with a compelling mystery at its core.

High skill cap melee combat is equally rewarding and daunting, though the archery and support roles could use some work.

Not the best Total War game but not the worst by a long shot.

Some of the best first-person shooting on PC, but the rest of the game struggles to keep up with it.

Beautiful style, polished interactions, but ultimately it just runs out of things to do.

In all things, World War Z takes ideas that I've already seen done better elsewhere, gives them an interesting little twist—and then makes that twist not matter. It treads familiar ground, but it's not as clever or fun as what's come before it.

A triumphant remake of Yakuza 2, full of fun diversions and featuring one of the series' best stories.

Thoughtfully-designed levels and versatile combat abilities make Katana Zero worthy of a rewind despite cookie-cutter characters.

Unique folkloric inspiration and interesting tactical considerations are let down by a slow second half.

Whispers of a Machine is like a good episode of your favorite police procedural: familiar and fun, no more and no less.

A deep, customisable fighter that just happens to include the best video game movie never made.

Huge, inventive and the reason I'm sleep deprived. It's brilliant.

Weedcraft, Inc is a tricky tycoon game that overextends itself—but almost nails it.

Heaven's Vault communicates the beauty of assigning meaning to symbols, and thus the people who wrote them.

Crisp combat let down by boring enemies, repetitive missions and a disconnected story.

Despite an annoying story mode, Anno 1800 is the biggest and best entry in the series to date.

Just what a visual novel should be—fun characters and the rush of solving mysteries make you eager to keep going.

Outward is harsh and occasionally frustrating, but it does what so few games do. It requires you to put real thought into the choices you make, and it makes those choices feel like they really matter. Most of all, it makes you approach each and every encounter as if your life depended on it—even though you never die.

An entertaining but unambitious sequel that collects up the best features of previous games and adds in some interesting new twists.

Menacing robots, a gorgeous world, and an intriguing premise, but ultimately too minimalist for its own good.

An otherwise strong season drops the ball at the death. Clementine deserved better.

A brutal, uncompromising action game with sensational sword combat. From Software has done it again.