A well-designed level that forces you out of your comfort zone and fills in some of Adam Jensen’s backstory.

An atmospheric collection of clever, surprising interactive short stories with a gorgeous retro aesthetic.

A beautiful, heartfelt coming of age story that says something about life, and cracks a few jokes in the process.

A slow start gives way to a thought-provoking adventure in a remarkable setting. A fitting follow-up to a beloved RPG.

Quality racing with lots of challenge. But it misses out on some of what makes Forza Horizon so audacious and fun. [March 2017, p.86]

Halo Wars 2's cutscenes are pretty, but the controls remains too console-focused for PC and the strategy is a little thin.

A varied, atmospheric space simulator with beautiful Martian sunsets, challenging survival, and frustrating controls.

Outside of the fighting, however, For Honor is a needlessly bloated game. There’s a lot of tediously granular customisation, a tacky free-to-play-style storefront selling in-game currency for real-world money, and a tangle of ugly, confusing menus to wrestle through before you can get into a battle. And as time goes on, and those stalwart, hardcore players continue to hone their skills, it’ll be even more unwelcoming to newcomers. Stick with it, though, and you’ll find a rich, tactical fighting game with wonderfully weighty combat and hidden depths to uncover. But if you want something accessible you can easily dip in and out of, you may want to swear fealty to another lord.

A hearty improvement on Sniper Elite 3 that embraces freeform play, gets better in co-op, and most importantly lets us shoot things from very far away.

The basic combat is fine, but WWE 2K17 botches everything, from performance to presentation.

An interesting setting let down by frustrating checkpoints and rough UI.

Fun and frantic, with plenty of challenge. GoNNER is weird and beautiful, despite its lack of depth.

Not the dramatic reinvention I expected, but this is tense and refined survival horror with a brilliantly bleak, grimy atmosphere.

Shadow Tactics’ impressive missions, laden toy box and likeable cast make it one of the greatest stealth games of the last decade.

Problematic in some areas, but overall a really good, thoughtful move towards better sex games.

Ties That Bind makes a surprisingly convincing argument for it to keep shuffling onward.

A promising, assured start, and a welcome return to form for Telltale.

An unsatisfying, forced march through the source material.

An accomplished piece of fan service, but the excitement fades fast and performance problems spoil it for some.

A novel perspective on totalitarian surveillance. Orwell may not make you think, but it should keep you entertained.

If you want to make Total War: Warhammer harder, the Wood Elves are here to ruin your peace of mind.

Though much too easy, Dead Rising 4 is sandboxy zombie-killing adventure that recaptures the series' fun.

Steep’s freedom is exhilarating and it looks stunning, but clunky, imprecise controls tarnish the experience.

A great PC port and lovely open world don’t give depth to Watch Dogs 2’s shallow combat and stealth design.

Hitman is back. Confident design and a willingness to experiment produces some of the best missions of 47's long career.

Repetitive but fun, a hellish challenge or a relaxing, spectacular gore bath depending on how you approach it.

Better than RollerCoaster Tycoon World, but doesn't do much to innovate on the formula.

It's easily as good as its predecessor, and frequently better. As much as I've delved into the specifics of each individual system, what makes Dishonored 2 so exceptional is how it's all connected. The writing sheds light on the world, which sheds light on the systems, which sheds light on the environments and characters. For everything that works in isolation, the real trick is that Dishonored 2 feels unified—a powerful piece of world building where everything happens for a reason.