I did not want to stop playing, because even if the story of The Evil Within 2 was a bit confused, I wanted to experience the end anyway. And it's worth it, believe me.

If you have any imagination at all, The Banner Saga’s terrific writing will take you on a splendid tour in one of the most interesting worlds computer game developers have created since the original Mass Effect. It’s a love letter to fantasy books and features an epic story with fascinating characters, that will sweep you away and not let you go until its end, which sadly comes all too soon.

Due to AI improvements and the players' better pathing, PES 2013 feels smoother than last year's incarnation of the series. Coupled with new features like PES Full Control or player ID you get the best PES so far on next generation consoles. Too bad though that the AI still tends to be absent in some situations and that the graphics haven't been improved since 2010.

Reanimal is the successful reboot of Tarsier Studios and offers strong horror moments with a dense atmosphere and a breathtaking world, both alone and in co-op.

A good idea finally becomes a good game. Hand of Fate 2 retains the concept of the innovative first game, but adds enough new elements, so the successor performs noticeably better.

Not all aspects in Flinthook fit together seamlessly. Above all, it’s a game for lenient genre-fans.

Shadow's section shows that the Sonic Team has learned over the years how to better transfer the blue hedgehog's speed orgies into the third dimension.

Quotation forthcoming.

Assassin's Creed 3: The historical setting is well done, the game is full of great content, you can spend weeks of playing Assassin's Creed 3, having much fun with the new hero Connor. On the other hand, the game could have been released in a more polished state, and though the PC version is much better than that of the consoles, the graphics are not state-of-the-art.

Interesting decisions and clever dialogue make up for the short length and sometimes tedious exploration. As long as they don't expect traditional puzzles from Oxenfree, fans of adventure games will find an intriguing new take on the genre.

The Definitive Edition offers Stronghold in its purest, most beautiful and best form to date. Unfortunately, the remaster is only “good” and not the ultimate gaming experience promised.

Teardown excels in combining complete destruction and plotting the perfect heist while offering a lot of tools and several different areas.

Welcome back in the 80s - Frontier Developments did its job and offers the same game experience that players of the original Elite had 30 years ago. Elite: Dangerous looks pretty and sounds awesome, same for the flight-model, if you're lucky enough, owning a HOTAS. Besides the great space-feeling the core game is simple - raise money, get better equipment. There is no campaign and no cinematic entertainment, it is pure simulation with lots of repetition, but also fascinating content for hours.

Fun, fun, fun. Pure doesn’t want to be realistic by any means, but to be a great arcade-game. Few other racing-titles this year were that easy to get into.

A satisfying conclusion to the Deponia trilogy.

Like a good wine Civilization gets better with age. Gathering Storm combines fantastic new ideas like natural catastrophes and climate change with fan favorite features like the world congress to bring Civ 6 to its high point.

Expeditions: Rome is a solid RPG with diverse tactical combat, a thrilling story and challenging decisions that can alter the fate of characters, your own family and even the roman republic.

Thanks to its improved but very similar formula, Remnant 2 will prove especially satisfying for fans of the first game. If you like tinkering with builds and being challenged while doing it, you’ll have a great time here, alone or with up to two friends. You and your team should be prepared for a bit of frustration in the chaotic bossfights, however.

They story disappoints, but the game delights with a huge variety of different levels and a well-balanced learning curve that challenges new and old players alike. Additionally, new tactical options and micromanagement keep the game interesting.

If you’re looking for challenging gameplay, this isn’t the game for you. However, what it lacks in substance, The Artful Escape more than makes up for in style.

Birdigo is a well-designed, entertaining mix of Wordle and roguelike games such as Balatro and Slay the Spire. While not mechanically extensive, it's engaging to play and comes with a charming birds' migration theme.

Valorant has the best chance of replacing CS: GO as a top dog, if the ranked mode is designed to be motivating enough. The infrastructure and experience in the world of competitive gaming is already abundant at Riot Games. Maybe the world of eSports will soon be dominated by a single company. But even if that doesn't work: Valorant is just so much fun.

It’s a great feeling to finally see all the characters from LoL you know and love being used in a fully-fledged singleplayer game. Ruined King has its shortcomings, but overall, it is a heck of a good time.

Nikoderiko: The Magical World offers an excellent Jump&Run experience. You can clearly see the influences of other platforming legends, but the game manages to offer enough personality to become a strong platformer in its own right. We can recommend it to anyone who craves a fun and lighthearted gaming adventure.

For the moment I'm just having a lot of fun.

Broken Arrow is currently a diamond in the rough with plenty of gameplay charm, but it still needs a fair bit of fine-tuning to truly sparkle. However, the developer update from June 30, 2025, gives us confidence that the developers have recognized the challenges and will address them promptly.

A very good football simulation with an embarrassing story mode.

Panzer Corps: Wehrmacht is a well done remake of the turn-based-strategy classic Panzer General. You control hundreds of units – tanks, artillery, infantry, ships, aircraft in 4 historical german campaigns. Additional 29 scenarios gives you the chance, to play tha Allies as well. Though the games' graphics isn't up to date, the gameplay is just great and offers great tactical and strategical variety.

An engaging, solid RTS with mission design near perfection! But be warned: Men of War is only for experts of the genre. Anyone else will be frustrated by the hardcore approach of the game.

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

A wonderful love letter to the 16-bit era with both style and substance.

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.

This year's F1-Game is much more than an update. With its improved gameplay and graphics and the many Formula-1-contents F1 2012 is one of the best racing games available – although the rules-system and the AI aren't perfect yet.

Even after more than 20 years, smashing monsters and looting to your hearts content is as addicting as ever. A fantastic visual overhaul and some much-needed improvements make this the best version of Diablo 2 so far. However, a lot of outdated mechanics remain untouched, from shared loot and uneven balancing to an overflowing inventory that constantly interrupts the action. Even basic stuff like stackable gems or some useful tutorial screens didn't make it into this remaster. Blizzard is clearly catering to fans of the original, even if that means the remaster may never reach its full potential.

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.

Its story and characters are definetly the Game’s forte. Scenes range from endearing and relateable to completly absurd and hilarious. All the while Gameplay is interesting at first, but becomes pretty tedious and - in parts - nigh unbeatable in later stages of the game. But at no time did we consider quitting, because the creative story and great dialogue always pulls you back in, as soon as you get annoyed by the puzzle sections. Atlu’s erotic-dating-adventure manages to deliver extremely well on various fronts, but sadly falls short of its gameplay variety and interactivity in terms of story. Nonetheless, all the other parts of the game are strong enough to elevate Catherine to a truly great experience.

Age of Wonders 3 is everything fans of the series wished it to be: a deep and complex turn-based strategy game with lots to discover, a true PC Game with beautiful graphics. Although its campaigns lack a certain something and the economic part of its gameplay never reaches the excellence of Civilization 5, Age of Wonders 3 is still a challenging game you don’t have to regret sinking many, many hours into.

With being too close to its predecessor Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed Revelations is not daring enough to forge its own path. Nevertheless, the game concludes the saga of Ezio in a satisfying manner and tells an interesting story in an even more interesting setting.

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

The Definitive Edition of Stronghold Crusader rounds out the game in many aspects. Only the outdated technology and the high difficulty level may put off newcomers. Overall, however, it's a good remaster of the classic.

It's been a long time since I had so much fun playing PES.

While the game takes a leap in graphical quality, it is more of a short step then a broad jump. Furthermore, Nier Replicant still suffers from the same dull sidequests and the redundant open world it did eleven years ago. However, once you put all this behind you, focus on the fluent combat and enjoy the amazing story, Nier Replicant is a unique experience rarely seen in videogames.

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.

Card Shark feels fascinating and fresh, the story is solid and learning the tricks is fun—but there are some annoying issues with freezes and crashes.

Affordable doesn't have to mean cheap: A rock-solid anti-gravity racer that's simply fun without reinventing the wheel. And the price is a real treat.

An atmospheric journey through a desolated world. Wonderfully calm and relaxing.

Just like most TV shows, the second installment of this emotional journey through the post-apocalypse can’t keep up with the terrific premiere. Much of the blame lies with the poor cast of uninteresting characters. Some logical errors in the last episode’s story don’t help either. Yet, with a captivating heroine and some spectacular moments of pure terror and horrifying live-and-death-choices, Season 2 is still an easy recommendation for any fan of The Walking Dead. Also, this time the ending actually changes depending on Clementine’s choices.

The cult role-playing game returns with sleek graphics and meaningful improvements – a treat for fans! The technology could be better, though.

Hitman: Absolution is Disneyland for adults: it throws you into a world that is as bizarre as it is dark. You have the option to choose between a huge number of activities all whilst the game’s atmosphere always manages to keep you invested. In comparison to prior installments of the franchise, the controls have vastly improved. Doesn’t matter if instinct-mode or cover-system – everything works very smooth. What bugs me though, are the weirdly placed checkpoints. Also: the story might feature a plethora of oddball characters but fails to really engage the player in its events.

We liked Pikmin 1+2 a lot. Especially the improved visuals and the solid port to the Nintendo Switch are positive points. However, those who expect any new content or other improvements besides better graphics might be disappointed.

While the three new levels are excellently designed and the combat is as satisfying as ever, the lack of new weapons or abilities feels like a missed opportunity. The main downside however is the uneven balancing: Some battles are littered with high level enemies (some of which require precise aiming in the midst of combat) and take easily more than 10 minutes to complete, all while you are grasping for ammo and health. Doom Eternal made you feel like a badass, while Ancient Gods almost makes you drag from one fight to next, always hoping you make it out alive somehow. This might be a real dealbreaker for some players, even for those who finished Doom Eternal without a problem on normal difficulty. Ancient Gods is still good fun, mind you, but I don't feel this is the right direction for the franchise. There is a difference between challenging and hardcore.

For a game about rallyes, there isn’t a lot of this in Art of Rally. Driving around is fun for an hour or so, but after that, you have more or less seen everything of interest that there is. Stilistically, the game is a success, but it is too easy, the story is weird (but not in a good way) and repetition takes away a lot of the fun one could have.

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

Star Wars: Squadrons is a probably unwanted but successful mixture of the classic X-Wing and Rogue Squadron series. It combines a fantastic Star Wars atmosphere with an entertaining campaign, and convinces with an arcade gameplay feel, despite surprisingly complex controls. A higher rating is only prevented by an underwhelming multiplayer mode.

An intense, gory and often disturbing horror adventure that would have benefited greatly from better puzzle design and a more elegant conclusion.

Quotation forthcoming.

Windjammers 2 is really good for what it is. If, like me, you can have fun with such small titles and don't always expect so much, you've come to the right place. There's no fuss or waiting around to get into a match. It only takes a few seconds from the start of the game to the first round. Despite this apparent simplicity, the gameplay convinces with enough depth. The nice optics including catchy character designs and the appropriate music are also to be positively emphasized. But what speaks most for Windjammers is their uniqueness. You don't see a sports game that goes in the direction of a fighting game and primarily relies on throwing Frisbees every day. I'm just hoping for a lot more content in the future.

Immortals: Fenyx Rising is very similar to Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but that's a good thing. An extensive and motivating action-adventure game with a really beautiful world.

A successful and faithful relaunch of the series. Tropico 3 delivers nice graphics, entangling music and a gameplay that makes you feel El President-ish at once! Go buy, or else…!

Quotation forthcoming.

The small innovations, the visual upgrade and the new Magolor epilogue make it more than just a nice remaster that really comes into its own in co-op mode.

Resident Evil Village for Nintendo Switch 2 is a well-made port, although it's lacking the exclusive mouse feature which we wish they included.

A fun and throughout enjoyable kick-off for Telltales new adventure series - but as an actual Monkey Island game, it does not fully satisfy. There are only a few characters to interact with, the plot is really not that interesting and the 3D graphics are a bit low on detail. Voice acting is superb, however - Dominic Armato really hits the mark in his performance of Guybrush.

Payday 2 is a great Coop-Shooter with many well designed Missions and a unique setting. The only flaw is the Team-AI – what is not a huge shortcoming for a coop-based game.

Valiant Hearts is an emotion-driven and beautifully presented game that deals with World War 1. It combines action-adventure gameplay with great storytelling and imparts knowledge of the historical background. Although the gameplay itself and the puzzles are simple and some action sequences are annoying, Valiant Heart is a clear recommendation for players above 12 years with even the slightest interest in history.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has so much potential: A very varied and exciting campaign, great gunplay and overall with story, multiplayer and soon Warzone 2.0 so much to offer. But unfortunately the multiplayer, the main part of the shooter, has a lot of bugs, technical issues and missing content. It’s still fun to play, but the release of the game came some weeks too early.

With its charming pixelated look and a great sound design, Discounty is a welcome change from the many farming sims.

Charming SpongeBob SquarePants fun with humor and nostalgia.

Assassin's Creed Shadows takes you to a Japan with an atmospheric game world, well-made gameplay and great attention to details, but also reveals significant weaknesses in the narrative and quest design.

While a fun enough shooter in its own right, Gunslinger is in almost every way inferior to the similar Bulletstorm. Yet its new and unique approach to telling a story is certainly something I would like to see in a lot of other games.

The new regions of High Isle are once again great in design, the quests are fantastically written and there is a lot to do. In detail, however, we are disappointed on a high level. The quest design has been more varied in the past, and the battles rarely offer a challenge. Furthermore, it's about time that Zenimax adds new classes oder weapon types, something that brings a breath of fresh air.

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.

Dying Light: The Beast isn't exactly brimming with innovation. Rather, it delivers a whole series of small improvements and expansions appropriate to the story. What ultimately sets this zombie adventure apart from Dying Light 2, however, is its straightforwardness and significantly stronger focus on the series' core strengths. Fast-paced parkour, brutal action, and, last but not least, the game world, both beautiful and dynamic, characterize the experience. While The Beast is a bit unwieldy and fiddly, overall the "little" Dying Light is convincing. Both newcomers and seasoned players will feel at home in The Beast. We definitely recommend it.

If you like Metal and fast paced shooter-games like Doom, Quake or Unreal Tournament, but without Multiplayer components, then this is your game. The movement is great, the rhythm based shooter gameplay feels fresh and the soundtrack is a blast! You can forget about the story, and if you search for secrets or special areas in the levels, you won´t find any. It´s all about the action and the music which is awesome. We can´t get enough of it.

A great pirate adventure that - despite some weaknesses - shows the competition how to do it right.

Look closely, Konami, for this is how a Contra game should look and play like! Blazing Chrome doesn’t win a price für originality, nor does it reinvent the action genre. It’s just a damn well-made game.

Measured against current games, SMT 3 simply cannot keep up here. I would recommend the remaster to fans of the series. Everyone else should think twice about getting the game, especially considering the high price.

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

Plenty of content and fun gameplay make RIDE 6 a solid racer, but the career mode falls short of expectations.

Quotation forthcoming.

A finely tuned third-person shooter experience that’s light on endgame content and highlights.

A bare bones port that embodies everything PC gamers hate about lazy console conversions. Capcom should have let this one rest in peace.

Runaway: A Twist of Fate is a great adventure and a dignified finale of the Runaway triology. It sure does not have the deep story of The Whispered World or A Book of Unwritten Tales but it sure feels like a monolithic system. It’s cinematic presentation with it’s stylish graphics and frequent cutscenes in cool cartoon-style along with some unexpected cliffhangers and surprises kind of forced me to play the game at a stretch. Runaway: A Twist of Fate is a thrilling adventure that entertains the player from the beginning to the end. Just great!

Sniper Elite 5 has a few weaknesses like the cliche story, the frumpy graphics and some bugs. But overall it’s a great game with a lot of gameplay variety and a great amount of content.

From Software's newest game is a surprisingly kick-ass experiment that suffers greatly from balancing issues. Nightreign delivers a brutally hard team-building exercise full of breakneck action that plays fabulously. Unfortunately, it fails to duly reward you for your efforts - be it with worthwhile permanent upgrades or final bosses where your hard-earned builds actually make a difference. It’s far from unfixable, but you should probably wait for a balancing patch or two.

Good to see that Firaxis Games is following its tradition in optimizing core-game-features, that could have been worked out in a better way. So Beyond Earth’s diplomacy is much more entertaining now, the aquatic gameplay and the hybrid-affinities now offers much more strategical depth. The new artifact-system is a lot of fun to experiment with and there are many improvements in feature-details. But still it’s not the same overall fantastic game experience, that Civilization stands for. Even with the add-on improvements, Beyond Earth appears like a little sci-fi-brother to Civ 5.

Every Adventure-Fan should definitely give The Inner World: The Last Wind Monk a chance (after you’ve played the first game), because otherwise you’ll miss out on a lot.

A successful horror game with atmospheric sound and world design. Unfortunately, the enemy AI and story can't quite keep up.

Kirby AirRiders delivers vibrant, colorful racing action fun with plenty of charm. The controls take some getting used to, but the variety of modes and the presentation are impressive.

I can’t recall any recent game that made me cuss as often as Trackmania: Turbo. I constantly managed to ram my vehicle in to walls, trees, chasms and other obstacles. Therefore, the reset-button became my closest friend during my time with Trackmania: Turbo. But in similar fashion as Trials Fusion, Trackmania: Turbo engages you fairly quickly with its concept. Pretty soon you find yourself itching to satisfy your ambitions to become the very best at the game. One of the few gripes I do have with the game, are its courses, which can be very confusing at times. Other than that, Trackmania: Turbo is a highly enjoyable and challenging arcade-racing-game.

Nobody Saves the World can be a lot of fun. Its mechanics are solid, it is visually pleasing and the music fits the game incredibly well. But the repetitive gameplay loop keeps it from becoming something special, therefore only making it something decent.

Horizon: Call of the Mountain certainly doesn't reinvent the VR wheel, but it convinces with a fantastic presentation, an unparalleled attention to detail, and great moments that literally transport the player into this impressive world. Horizon fans in particular should not miss this experience.

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.

Impresses with an emotionally staged story, strong atmosphere and varied combos, but suffers from recurring mission objectives and minor design flaws.

A dark and brutal superhero-comic come alive. Prototype offers more than enough room for criticism due to its simple mission-design, unlovely graphics and boneheaded AI. Nevertheless it also copes with creating the intensive atmosphere of a city on the brink of disaster and of the player being the ultimate superhero, therefore resulting in a gameplay experience that is by far greater than the sum of its parts.

Fun weapons, tight controls and a smart combo mechanic will keep you coming back for more, even if the whole gameplay loop starts to get repetitive pretty soon.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a really fun game, but it just squanders its potential at every turn. Things like lack of enemy variety and boring loot don't exactly help the title stand out from the crowd. Fans of the team ninja combat familiar from the Nioh series will definitely enjoy Wo Long, but at least for the PC version, you should wait until the developers get a grip on the numerous performance problems.

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.