Ubisoft once again fails to tell an engaging story, instead mixing a somewhat confused, even boring plot with bland characters. While Watch Dogs 2 is near-perfect PC port with lots of PC-specific options both for graphics as well as controls, the underlying game wastes a lot of potential. The beautiful rendition of San Francisco is a great background for some neat hacking tricks and fun missions, yet, aside from the shift in tone, Watch Dogs 2 isn’t the anticipated step forward for the series.

Killing Floor 2 is a pleasant surprise. Tripwire manages to get the fundamentals so, so right. Fighting zeds is a pleasure thanks to guns that are satisfying to use. If there is anything wrong with Killing Floor 2's dumb, yet addicting co-op fun, it's that there simply isn't enough variation, both in terms enemy types as well as game modes.

Quotation forthcoming.

Challenging and clever, Reus asks that you make the most of its rather small toolset. Gratuitous repetition and the absence of a fast forward button take some of the fun out of its demanding formula after a dozen hours or so. While there aren’t enough possibilities here to influence and care for the people of your planet as would befit a true god game, Reus certainly is an impressive effort and puts indie developer Abbey Games on the map.

Let Them Trade blends the cozy charm of board games with city-building strategy in a relaxed, visually rich experience. Inspired by classics like Catan and Anno, players create cities, manage production chains, and guide trade across a handcrafted, hex-tile world. With a lighthearted campaign, peaceful pacing, and a satisfying resource economy, the game offers an ideal entry point for newcomers and a chill break for veteran strategy fans. Despite minor weaknesses—such as lackluster combat and no multiplayer—it excels as a compact, feel-good builder that values calm over complexity.

It's really trying to be as brilliant and engaging as Sands of Time - but it does not succeed. Forgotten Sands is just a good, solid action-adventure with lots of fun moments, especially when it comes to acrobatics. But the combat feels blunt and the story is downright uninspired. Still, if you like the series, you should definitely give a try.

Sonic is the hero of my childhood! I grew up with 2D platformers and my Mega Drive with games is now well protected in a glass cabinet in the living room. Accordingly, I approached Sonic Origins with hope. Sega would have had the chance to interest younger players and offer old fans a little added value. But they missed it cleanly. For new players, 40 euros for four old games will be too much. At the same time, the collection offers almost nothing new for fans. Sure, the scans of the old manuals and developer sketches are nice, but they are nothing more than some fluff on top. The versions of the games work good on Xbox Series and still play fantastically, but they are only warmed up and nothing here is original from the Mega Drive. This is simply unworthy of these classics of gaming history.

Rebel Galaxy scratches the Freelancer itch that went untreated for over a decade.

As with its predecessor, Railway Empire 2 is a clear recommendation for railroad and business simulation fans. Thanks to its beginner-friendliness, even newcomers will find their way around, and veterans can get even more out of it thanks to the new options. In any case, you should plan for a lot of time.

Action, tower defense, tactics, rogue-lite and co-op in one package: Endless Dungeon is a stylish successor, but in the long run it lacks surprises and variety. Content updates could have a big impact here.

One can only wonder just what GSC Gameworld was thinking: Clear Sky brings nothing revolutionarily new to the original play, but adds a fair portion of game disrupting bugs and lifts the difficulty to a new level of hardness, brutally so. To sum it all up, the developers maim the few novel features with dubious design decisions, such as the annoying search for artefacts.

An overall well done tactical cyberpunk-RTS, that is bringing back the spirit of the 1993 released Syndicate by Bullfrog. The atmosphere is great, reminding us to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. You’ve got the opportunity to play various styles with your 4 agents, each of them equipped with special skills, weapons and augmentations. The world is filled with missions and gear to collect. The difficulty can be very hard sometimes, there is no way to pause the game or save during a mission. Some minor bugs have to be noticed, especially with lacking AI and pathfinding.

Apart from a few technical inconsistencies, puzzles that are a bit too simple and a fairly compact game world, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a successful sequel with a twist-filled plot, interesting characters, fantastic music and a terrific German dubbing.

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.

Being the best entry in the city-building strategy game series, Tropico 5 excites with a humorous campaign and a relaxed atmosphere, while the endless mode keeps motivated. Experienced players will miss a little depth and challenge, but its forgiving gameplay is especially attractive for newcomers.

While The Whispered World, the successful predecessor to Silence, was a classic 2D-point-and-click-adventure, the developers now are heading into a more modern way of adventure-storytelling. This ends up in a most beautiful designed world with 3D-modelled characters. Using a brilliant way of camera-zooms and –angles, the presentation is a great cinematic-experience. The gameplay itself is focused on an emotional story and filled with more casual puzzles and dialogues than before. We’ve missed some more challenging riddles and more story-depth concerning the side-characters. Depending on how many in-game tips you’re using, Silence took you just about 5 up to 7 hours to complete.

Under the Waves is one of the biggest positive surprises of the year. The developers of the indie game have crated one of the most beautiful gaming worlds in the last months. Water effects and the life under the sea looks stunning. But the adventure offers more than just beautiful graphics. The Story about our main character Stan and his sad past is so good and heartbraking at the same time. For people who are in love with slow paced adventures, Under the Waves is the perfect game between the blockbusters Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield.

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.

The roleplaying game convinces with motivating quests, an entertaining magic system, a huge game world and only a few bugs. The balancing, however, makes for deductions in the rating.

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.

LEGO Bricktales feels like a short vacation to your childhood if you grew up with games like LEGO Island. The cubicle worlds look stunning, and the gameplay offers a nice and balanced mix between exploration and building. However, the game is a bit too short and too easy and would benefit from a full sandbox mode.

New fodder for hungry Monster Hunters: Wild Hearts isn't in the same league as the original, but it offers fresh hunting fun and cool monsters... erm, kemonos.

I had a good time with The Maw. It is a first-class independent product with great production values and two adorable main characters. Of course, the level design and the overall challenge of the game are aiming primarily at casual players. But even if the game turns out to be simplistic at times, it still shines being a neat action adventure that is greatly suited for kids.

Yes, Your Grace tells an interesting tale with some intriguing twists and turns, but beneath its grim story lies a monotonous gameplay loop that combines elements of traditional adventures, RPG-style choices and management games. It's fine for one playthrough, but with the story unfolding in a surprisingly linear fashion, there is not much reason to give it another go.

Job Job makes what is an otherwise passable collection special, for it is one of the best games in the history of Jackbox Party Pack. If you are already a fan of the series and like to play it at parties, this one can’t be missed.

An economic simulation for railroad fans that does little wrong and has developed sensibly compared to its predecessor.

For the most part, Aliens: Dark Descent is a really pleasant surprise. It combines real-time tactics, solid mission design and a good amount of suspense with some interesting mechanics that fit really well with the movie. If you are a die-hard fan of James Camerons Aliens (1986), you will find a lot to love here. The story however is mostly uninspired, it has its share of bugs and some encounters can lead to some serious frustration, especially with the limited save system, which might be off-putting for newcomers. But even with all these drawbacks, there is no denying that Dark Descent is still one of the best Aliens games ever made. Just keep your expectations in check.

If you prefer to travel solo and enjoy an immersive world, you'll have a lot of fun here.