A charming, rock-solid metroidvania that should appeal to every fan of the Castlevania series, even though it would have benefited greatly from a more interconnected game world and better use of its time manipulation mechanics.

An enchanting little adventure set in a beautiful world. Only the last third could have been more challenging with a little more variety.

Surprisingly enough, the newest Call of Duty delivers a grand presentation and an interesting story. Its massive scope of different modes and new tactical options compared to the predecessor make this game an excellent comeback. The only downsides are a lacking enemy AI and missing challenge on some of the difficulty settings as well as a short single player campaign.

Disciples: Liberation takes us on an epic adventure through a Dark Fantasy world that is filled with conflict and pain. The compelling narrative, characters and the tough decisions you have to make again and again to balance your standing in the four factions are what drives this game forward. The gameplay alone wouldn’t be able to motivate us for the 80 hour adventure, it is just to simple. The combat rarely presents a challenge and with the abundance of resources loses are easily replaced. We still had a lot of fun, since the roleplay aspect of the game works well enough.

The writing is dreadful and much of the game feels like it could have been released 17 years ago. But if you look past some of its shortcomings, there is a decent action game hidden underneath. We just wished the game would have made a little more out of its premise (which is still pretty rad).

It's not a problem that House of Ashes tells a different story than the one I imagined. But a good story to replace it would have been nice. In the end, however, I was left dissatisfied, and the technical flaws are not even taken into account, they are added. With Man of Medan and Little Hope, I found it easier to forgive these stumbling blocks as the plot grabbed me more.

A solid, yet forgettable fantasy strategy game with some interesting ideas, but a weak campaign and way too much repetition.

You can tell how much love and detail have gone into the game. Even if the technology fails here and there, I can recommend the experience to any fan of shallow horror.

Funny and deep, Skulls of the Shogun is a deceptively shallow take on turn-based tactics. It's has a lot to offer for new players and veterans alike.

Evil Dead The Game captures the essence of the franchise perfectly. It's funny, it's bloody and sometimes even a bit scary. Unfortunately the gameplay is very repetitive and doesn't motivate longer than for a few sessions in a row.

The waiting-mechanic restricts players and is frustrating at times, but simply changing the time of the system is an easy workaround, allowing for Cozy Grove to unfold its pleasant atmosphere and relaxing gameplay. The charming art style combined with dynamic surroundings make this game a laid-back life sim.

With the usual Dragon Quest charm, Treasures convinces with its main elements: Exploration and collecting know how to entertain despite the simple story and optics. Treasures is a fun and engaging gameplay loop.

Although The Surge has many similarities with its spiritual predecessor Lords of the Fallen, I strongly prefer this Sci-Fi-Horror-Trip. This is not only due to the strong combat system and its bloody finishers, but also due to the crafting, which is smartly interlocked with the fighting and the simplistic character development.

The motivating RPG part, the good graphics and the family revenge story make Grand Ages: Rome a real competitor to "Caesar 4."

Everyone who mourns for the recently terminated new Silent Hill game will find consolation in the Layers of Fear. Both games use similar tools in order to give you goosebumps: sudden noises, objects moving under mysterious circumstances, paranormal apparitions and an ever-changing level-structure. Personally, I’m not much of a jump scare fan but – if you choose to ignore the minimalist gameplay – Layers of Fear is almost a perfect example for a horror game. The story is thrilling and graphics as well as sound are of very high quality. My biggest issue with the game is its short playtime, which clocks in at around 3-5 hours.

After a less than awe-inspiring beginning Serious Sam 3 slowly gathers speed and delivers in its second half the fast-paced fun of shooting things the predecessors introduced. But even in its best moments the game never brings anything new to the table and the few innovations there are like the melee combat are poorly implemented. Furthermore Serious Sam 3 lacks the frivolity of the former games, often taking itself, ironically, too serious.

It’s truly the most beautiful Anno experience in the strategy series. It comes along with some major changes, concerning mostly the economic systems in the game. Many things are easier to handle. Still the game offers enough potential to optimize your cities. But it feels different, comparing it to the classic Anno games, it is now more like a Sim-Citybuilder, which isn’t bad overall. Unfortunately there’s no multiplayer, no editor, no campaign, no challenging scenarios – it has become a multi-session gameplay, combining all these gameplay modes in a persistent game world.

Atomfall is a thoroughly solid survival shooter that shines brightest between the lines. It has tons of mysteries to unravel thanks to its non-linear, hands-off mission structure and makes you feel clever when you’ve explored enough to piece it all together. The secrets at the heart of it all are far from new if you’ve played Stalker or Fallout before and the easily exploited enemy AI makes combat largely uninteresting, but this is still an entertaining and very British nuclear romp that’s well worth a playthrough or two.

Lousy graphics and bad accessibility hinder Mount & Blade’s way to a better grade. Yet, this game will make enthusiasts happy.

It is a really bumpy start for a new era in the Mass Effect series. Almost as if the developers wanted to create something reminiscent of the tough challenges the milky way species face in their new home. But in the end there is just the perception, that bigger is not always better.

Just Dance 2024 is a lot of fun as a party game. Unfortunately, the online compulsion and the pressure to take out a subscription for the full range of games hinder the enjoyment of the game. Because a subscription is almost mandatory when selecting the music for the new part.

The Invincible is a walking simulator that refuses to be seen as one. While it does show some potential in its narrative, the game simply doesn't follow through on all its foreshadowing. Factor in the seemingly pointless and boring gameplay and you're left with a rather disappointing experience.

Only a few hours into Ubisofts Winter Wonderland and I had already made up my mind: Steep is the Surprise-Hit of the year. But in the hours to follow, my evaluation changed a little bit. Steep is still a really good game, but I wouldn’t want to call it a hit anymore. The concept of the online-mode doesn’t work as intended by the developers and after about 15 hours or so, any real challenge, thus any kind of motivation, vanishes all together from the game. The game’s world is just far too huge for harboring only that little amount of content. A fact that is indeed very unfortunate, because up to a certain point, I was immensely entertained by Steep. I definitely long for a sequel though. This time maybe something summer-themed like skateboarding, BMX and wing suits.

I am glad to finally see an adventure game that uses its narrative potential to address some important ecological themes and ideas. Even though the conclusion of the sci-fi story seems a little unrewarding, I always had a good time playing the game. Puzzles are generally solid, the hand painted graphics are beautiful and most of the (German) voice acting is well done. A New Beginning may not be perfect, but it's mature, surprising and quite simply fun to play.

Lego Jurassic World is one of the best Lego games of the last few years. The humor is charming as usual and the presentation is more cinematic than in recent games of the series. The original score and the beautifully designed levels recreate the atmosphere of the movies perfectly. Unfortunately many gameplay elements repeat way too often, the controls of the dinosaurs are a little imprecise and there are a few annoying bugs. Despite those deficits Lego Jurassic World is a really good game which may entertain Jurassic Park fans more than the new movie.

A solid, satisfying metroidvania with charming retro aesthetics that is hampered by its unappealing game world, uneven balancing and overall lack of ideas. The whole concept of randomized levels seems unnecessary for a game like this, and one has to wonder how Chasm would have turned out if only it used a fixed level design instead.

TOHU shines bright through its unique and charming visual design. The puzzles are creative and overall well implemented, but somewhat easy at times. Unfortunately, the story does not hold up to the games presentation and fails to evoke interest or real emotion.

Turning an asymmetrical multiplayer horror game into a dating simulation is unique, but it is what the community wished for. Sadly the unusual dating simulation has not a lot of gameplay to offer. But the game scores with special humor and a design based on other genre representative.