Black Myth: Wukong brings a myth to life that is bursting with fantasy and visual power. The game also has a lot to offer behind the scenes: varied boss designs and powerful battles keep you hooked throughout the surprisingly long running time. Explorers often come up against a brick wall because of the level design, which is both confusing and restrictive, but those who can deal with that will find an ideal entry point to a fascinating legend here.

The marketing for Emio suggested a much darker game than it actually is. Nevertheless, in addition to the colorful scenery and the slow-moving plot, there are also a few wonderfully spooky moments. It owes this above all to its namesake.

Somewhere between remaster and remake, Age of Mythology returns in its best version yet. The visual upgrade and quality of life improvements are fantastic additions, even though the single player campaign cannot hide its age.

This black cat brings us luck… and an excellent Metroidvania from an unusual perspective.

Visions of Mana scores with its strong presentation, quick start and charming setting. On top of that, it masters the balancing act between complexity and clarity of the game world, which invites you to explore but doesn't overwhelm you.

Star Wars Outlaws definitely doesn't reinvent the wheel of open-world games, but it does break new ground for titles from Ubisoft. Although we have now played through the game in around 45 hours, it feels like we haven't seen everything. There is an astonishing amount of content and details in the game that you can spend a lot of time with, even away from the everyday life of a scoundrel. Have we already mentioned the arcade machines or the many Sabacc tables? And even the search for Star Wars allusions, mainly on Tatooine, is a pure joy. We can get over the minor quirks in some of the design decisions and the fact that the technology is not quite up to date. The main thing for us is that we were thoroughly entertained by Kay Vess and Nix on their adventure and we are excited to see what challenges await the young outlaw in the future.

New setting, old strengths: Steamworld Heist 2 is bigger and better than its predecessor. The innovations are manageable, but they pay off: This thing is just fun!

Farewell North has moments where it drags, but once you get accustomed to its seemingly uneventful pace, you'll be rewarded with an emotional journey through a very scenic soulscape. By the end, you should probably have some tissues ready.

After 16 years, the little Goos are still indestructible. World of Goo 2 impresses with clever puzzle design and great ideas, but ultimately can't quite keep up with its brilliant predecessor.

Surprisingly solid action roguelite with a lot of Turtles atmosphere and co-op mode. Because it lacks variety and scope, it loses its momentum after about 15 hours.

Nobody Wants To Die offers a wonderfully dark crime story in an excellent cyberpunk world that makes us question our own perceptions. Despite slightly repetitive gameplay, the game is convincing across the board and captivates us until the bitter end.

Dungeons Of Hinterberg tells a surprisingly profound story about alpine tourism in Austria. Many puzzle and combat elements are already familiar from other representatives of the genre. However, the fresh setting, the pretty art style and the charming characters give the game an unmistakable touch.

Flintlock wants to pack a lot of good ideas into a fresh and exciting setting. Unfortunately, however, some of them backfire.

Flintlock wants to pack a lot of good ideas into a fresh and exciting setting. Unfortunately, for some of them, this plan backfires.

A fun retro romp that's not flawless, but downright addictive.

Cute to look at, motivating and complex: Norland may not be perfect yet, but it has enormous strategic potential. If Long Jault irons out a few weaknesses, Norland could become a real hit candidate. [Early Access Score = 70]

It's loud, fast and utterly insane: Anger Foot comes close to being a speedrunners dream, if you can stomach the flat jokes and constant background music.

Due to the performance problems on PS5 and Xbox Series, we are forced to deduct [10 points] here. Overall, The First Descendant does not fully exploit its potential. But the title has enough room for improvement and could therefore be expanded further in the coming weeks and months. Even the popular Destiny series was unable to convince players from the start.

Due to the performance problems on PS5 and Xbox Series, we are forced to deduct [10 points] here. Overall, The First Descendant does not fully exploit its potential. But the title has enough room for improvement and could therefore be expanded further in the coming weeks and months. Even the popular Destiny series was unable to convince players from the start.

The First Descendant had lots of potential, but now we know it’s just a mediocre shooter. The gunplay is fun, the descendants and their skills are nice to have, but a boring story, generic mission designs and big performance issues tarnish the reputation.

If you weren't expecting anything too new, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is as fun as ever.

Despite the small problems, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD gives you a good opportunity to catch up on the 3DS classic on the Switch. If you've already played the original, you shouldn't expect any changes from the remaster other than a graphic polish and adjusted controls.

Shadow of the Erdtree is a gigantic cherry on top of Elden Ring’s magnificent cake, and while it reuses a bit too much from the base game, the superb new world is the best From Software has ever made.

Nice roster and fun gameplay versus a lot of grinding, free-to-play weaknesses and sometimes uninspired characters: MultiVersus is currently unable to dethrone Smash Bros.

Great game, cleanly ported: The PC version of Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is the perfect opportunity to catch up on the classic in its most beautiful form.

The developers at Lavapotion deliver a first-class indie game that manages to capture the spirit of the great Heroes of Might & Magic better than any other competitor has ever been able to. If game depth and scope are more important to you than graphical opulence, Songs of Conquest is a well-made strategy game that will keep you enthralled for many hours. And who knows, maybe this is also the start of a great series. After all, the first Heroes of Might & Magic also impressed primarily with its gameplay values.

A great remake of the GameCube classic, with a few lingering flaws keeping it from being the perfect remake.

Hellblade 2 is a new reference in terms of graphics and audiovisual production, but has to make concessions in terms of gameplay.

Anyone who falls into this well won't want to leave it any time soon: Animal Well is a Metroidvania milestone.

Short, varied and sweeter than the police allow: Little Kitty, Big City simply makes you happy for a few hours.

A charming building game that would have benefited from more depth and doesn't fully exploit its fairytale theme.

All in all, the developers at Blackbird Interactive have succeeded in delivering a worthy successor that offers everything fans expect from a Homeworld. The campaign is wonderfully atmospheric and offers exactly the right Homeworld mood with its impressive set-pieces and fantastic music. The tactical challenge of the three-dimensional space and the possibilities offered by the variety of units set the title apart from other representatives of the genre. The biggest question mark remains regarding the long-term motivation of the war games, which will only become apparent with the planned content updates from the developers.

Fun tactical role-playing expansion with challenging battles, hardened heroes and an extensive upgrade system. Points are deducted for the moderate variety of opponents, weaknesses in the voice output and the rather manageable gameplay innovations.

Heading Out is a beautiful mix between racing game and visual novel. The gameplay makes a lot of fun and the story delivers a great experience. The style of the game is absolutely amazing and matches perfectly all other parts of the game.

More interactive arthouse cinema than game, but that's why it's so wonderfully different: in its short running time, Indika takes you on a crazy trip that sticks.

Oh dear, what happened there? Instead of a triumphant return for the series, Endless Ocean Luminous unfortunately is only a shadow of what made its predecessors so brilliant.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a good role-playing game that perhaps searches for its style a little more than it has already found it. Anyone who has the necessary patience and can powergame in third instead of sixth gear will spend many happy hours here.

Sand Land is a nice anime adaptation and an action JRPG for those who have difficulty with the genre or want to get started. Each character we meet has their own story to explore, and there's always something to do thanks to numerous side quests. At the same time, the tasks are not very demanding and the stories are quite flat. Stress only occurs in the boss fights.

The gameplay in Tales of Kenzera: ZAU does at solid job at keeping up with other platformers. The unique abilities which are each provided a nice background story benefit the worldbuilding in a way that other Metroidvanias are more than welcome to adapt. However, the story and dialogue want to be deeper than they ultimately succeed at being. The low enemy variety and their constant recycling is really annoying.

A lot tennis games try to follow the footsteps of the good, old Virtua Tennis. But most of them fail because of some gameplay issues . TopSpin 2K25 is fun to play and can deliver some great tennis experience. Just a few bugs and mediocre graphics tarnish the image.

A rather simple soulslike with a lot of heart, humor and a few technical difficulties.

Stellar Blade loses comparisons to the masterpieces that make up its identity, but that doesn't make it a bad choice: action fans will enjoy a fun combat system, respectable scope and nice things to do.

Unique, creative and apparently horny: Children of the Sun has a few quirks, but overall it's a lot of fun.

A short, but engaging mix of strategy and action, all wrapped in beautiful pixel art. The mechanics are fun, but lack depth and variety.

Despite the muddy graphics, an extremely ambitious port! But the weak performance prevents the medieval experience from unfolding properly. We would have preferred to see the game on the Switch 2!

A good turn-based strategy game with interesting ideas that falls short of its potential. More polish and time would have helped. Still worth a look for Civ fans.

Although Peach cannot win an Oscar with her performance, she is still convincing thanks to her loving design.

Rise of the Ronin doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does remove all the thorns that were still there in Nioh's time.

Fairly entertaining in single player. In multiplayer with nostalgic potential, but unfortunately behind in terms of play. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection disappoints even die-hard fans and plays with retro feelings.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a beautiful adventure that has its own peculiarities that you have to get used to, and in which your own stories are often more interesting than the pre-written ones. Above all, it's one that's so incredibly entertaining that we won't be able to put it down any time soon.

Alone in the Dark has a few problems like the clunky combat system and some technical issues. But overall it’s a fun horror adventure with an absolute brilliant atmosphere.

The PS5 version suffers from performance and tearing issues that can be hard to overlook. But if you do, there is a decent action adventure waiting to be explored. It looks nice and sounds even better, the story is solid and we really enjoyed many of its locations, characters and dialogues. The open world however feels bafflingly empty and combat plays like a relict from the past. Loyal fans of Outcast deserved a better game – but that doesn’t mean they won’t like it.

One of those rare games that can feel underwhelming and fun at the same time. There is a lot of good stuff in Outcast 2, like the incredible music, cool jetpack mechanics and a main character that we have really missed over the years. But Appeal bites off more than they can chew here: The world is vast and beautiful, but offers very little aside from monotonous side activities. There are no roleplaying elements to speak of, the enemies are boring and on top of that, the combat feels shallow and stuck in the past. The story however really has its moments, the villages are incredibly charming and there are plenty of fun conversations to be had. Is it a great game? Sadly, no. But we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Only for story fans: The dark role-playing game scores with its strong setting and a decent plot. However, exploration and combat wear out quickly, and a lot of potential is wasted in detective work.

Overall, Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game feels like a slight step backwards compared to its predecessor. Fewer areas, half as many vehicles, the loss of the experience system, but an overabundance of the same old tasks spoil the experience. Nevertheless, the challenging gameplay is still a lot of fun. Digging through mud, laboriously pulling ourselves up mountainsides and freeing ourselves from seemingly hopeless situations creates a wonderfully satisfying feeling. Those who already found this aspect the most important in the predecessors will also get their money's worth with Expeditions.

A small step for the wrestling series: WWE 2K24 shines with tons of detail improvements and a lot of fan service. However, the series stalls when it comes to technology and game modes.

I haven't had this much fun in a co-op game since It Takes Two.

After one year in Early Access the 1.0 version of Sons of the Forest is finally out. With a lot more gadgets and story content the survival game convinced us from the first seconds. The graphics are beautiful and the behave of the NPCs is absolutely stunning. It makes a lot of fun to explore the creepy island full of cannibals and mutants. Every survival fan should play the sequel of The Forest.

A little overpriced, but very nice new edition of a real shooter classic! Retro fans will get their money's worth, even if the limited storage system may deter some newcomers.

Short, graphically pretty, playful and narrative but completely irrelevant. Competently done as a remake, but that's just not enough.

Its mechanics can rely a little too much on luck, but even if you fail terribly, Balatro will keep you coming back for more.

A captivating rogue-like thanks to its simple, yet elegant design that will keep you hooked for days on end.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a great game and manages to go one better than its great predecessor. Due to the enormous scope of Rebirth, the first game feels more like a small prologue and now the game has really begun. Despite its scope, we never got bored for a second. The game is more versatile and varied than we have experienced for a long time. We were literally thrilled by the new gameplay elements that constantly presented us with new challenges. Then there are the great characters and the gripping story, which touched us again and again with emotional moments.

Pacific Drive has so much potential. The idea of a survival game with a car as main protagonist is great, the world looks wonderful and the story is interesting. But when we have to escape the radiation, everything becomes unnecessarily annoying. The balancing and some features should get a bit of rework, then Pacific Drive will be overall really enjoyable.

Helldivers 2 is a phenomenal spectacle and the ultimate soldier power fantasy.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered is clearly aimed at nostalgics who are not put off by the outdated game design and who want to relive the old adventures with Lara in a prettier look. In its time, Tomb Raider was a game series that set new standards. But nostalgia is a tricky thing and often good memories don't stand up to scrutiny with modern eyes.

The new edition is visually successful and offers puzzle fun, but the game structure is no longer up to date.

When a game stays in our memory for so long, even after the credits have rolled, it has done a lot right. Banishers captivates us with crisp gameplay, great stories and difficult decisions.

With its repetitive missions and shallow live-service-elements, Suicide Squad isn't nearly as good as Rocksteadys previous Arkham Games. Still, it turns out better than expected, thanks to its over-the-top combat, eccentric characters and fun traversal mechanics.

Fans of Monster Hunter can expect entertaining boss fights in a chic anime style, but the story is weak.

Thanks to its frantic combat, fun characters and cool traversal option, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League turns out better than expected. But its problems are clear: Underneath the spectacle you will find a pretty average loot shooter with repetitive missions, undercooked live-service-elements and barely enough content. Let's hope the upcoming seasons will ramp things up, because there is a solid foundation here.

Between the exciting religious setting, lousy technology and unintentionally weird gameplay, The Inquisitor commits the worst of all deadly sins: it's boring as hell.

A complex and great remake with only small weaknesses, but the age difference to the masterpiece Persona 5 can be seen in the game structure.

Emotional, varied and sometimes wonderfully crazy: Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a real action role-playing monster that offers exactly the virtues that series fans expect.

Tekken 8 takes everything that made its predecessors so popular and takes it to a whole new level.

Exciting and funny at the same time: A successful collection whose games are still entertaining today.

A game that sometimes leaves you perplexed by some bizarre decisions, but is developed with so much love that you can hardly be mad at it.

The Cub would have needed a lot more meat on its bones to leave a lasting impression. There is barely any time to immerse yourself in the game world or characters and gameplay remains rudimentary.

In addition to the graphical adaptations to the new hardware, the developers at Naughty Dog have also thought about how they can further enhance the remaster. The excursion into the game's development history alone is an exciting new experience. The roguelike mode offers many hours of additional fun for anyone who wants to push the game's combat system to the limit. The actual story campaign remains an exciting experience of a special kind anyway.

The Switch version of The Lost Crown is a quality release, with a smooth framerate and very little compromises compared to the other versions. It's easily one of the best metroidvanias on the system and a fantastic comeback for both Ubisoft Montpellier and the Prince of Persia franchise.

The new Prince of Persia is a first-class metroidvania that just keeps getting better the longer we play.

The Lost Crown is exactly what the franchise needed. An incredible comeback for both Prince of Persia and Ubisoft Montpellier.

War Hospital boasts a unique concept that suffers from mediocre execution. You will feel the pressure that its main characters are under, but the game lacks a meaningful, emotional connection to your staff and patients. This leads to you only managing them based on stats and robs the game of the moral complexity it clearly wants to portray. Add a repetitive gameplay loop and a game breaking bug fixable only by frequent saving and loading, and War Hospital becomes a game that makes you miserable in all the wrong ways.

In the second DLC you can expect unusually challenging fights and a lot of activity, but also a weak plot and the usual technical problems.

House Flipper 2 is a good simulator. How technically accurate the game is remains to be seen. But it creates an almost meditative calm when cleaning up. So if you want to really relax after a long day at work and give your head a little emptiness, you will find your personal therapy with House Flipper 2.

Bombastic fun: The Finals cannot be categorized as an online shooter. And that is really refreshing.

Challenging, extremely good and incredibly exciting: For 30 euros, Against the Storm offers more than most full-price strategy games, making it one of the indie hits of 2023.

Solid, if somewhat short, expansion. The highlight is the massive boss fight at the end.

The Day Before sets new negative standards - the gaming disaster of the year! [Early Access Score = 1/10]

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the masterpiece every RPG fan has been hoping for and so much more. The playful freedom, the great characters, the first-class narrative, the satisfying combat system are unparalleled and merge in perfect harmony to create a real work of art.

Pandora looks inviting but turns out to be nothing but nice décor with which we can barely interact in meaningful ways. The gameplay on the other hand primarily consists of missions and mechanics that do not respect the audience’s time and simply aren’t fun.

Roots of Pacha is a cozy farming and life simulation at the dawn of humanity. There are cute animals, great NPCs and a lot to explore, discover or develop. The successful Stone Age simulation, with only a few stumbling blocks, makes a Stardew Valley heart beat faster.

In the port for Nintendo Switch, Gothic 2 shows its best side and offers one of the best opportunities to catch up on the role-playing classic.

While the Switch version lacks some visual fidelity, the gameplay is every bit as fun as on the other platforms. Steamworld Build is a short, highly approachable city builder with polished mechanics and charming ideas. It might be too simple for expert players, but offers a great entry point for newcomers.

A charming city builder with polished gameplay and fun, approachable mechanics. If you are new to the genre, this would be a great entry point, even though the game is rather short and offers not much replay value.

Flashback (1993) remains untouched: Unfortunately, this sequel is also doomed to failure, although it tries to remain faithful to its predecessor.

The summarized story of previous titles, an optional, easier control scheme and lots of stuff to collect make Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections a solid entry point for beginners. Everyone else is better off waiting for Ninja Storm 5, watching the anime or reading the manga again.

There is no total catastrophe and Hogwarts Legacy has actually found its way onto the Switch. However, the world is no longer really open, the game struggles with performance and huge compromises had to be made graphically.