Sniper Elite 4 is the best in the series, even if familiar flaws are still there, namely dumb AI, trashy story and low fidelity graphics. Yet all this is easily forgotten when on the prowl in one of the gigantic levels, looking for targets, using stealth to kill them and watching through the x-ray camera, as their balls explode in gory detail.

Oh boy, how fun it is to smack down Roman Reigns, while moving through the backstage-area. Or throwing Roman Reigns off a ladder. Or even kicking Roman Reigns off the entry-ramp. Yeah, I probably do not like Roman Reigns that much. But I definitely do like this game. The gameplay is back to feeling overall more well-rounded and some small issues have also been fixed in WWE 2K17. The outdated technology and noticeable screen tearing doesn’t bother me that much. What does bug me is the missing showcase and the blatant DLC-policy.

Thanks to its varied missions, co-op mode and solid presentation Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is a welcome addition to the PC library, despite the poorly adapted interface and heavy price tag.

There is a lot to love about Resident Evil 7, from the spooky atmosphere to the many nods to the classic formula. Yet it stops just shy of being a masterpiece, mostly due to the disappointing second half, where the enemies lack variation and the story doesn’t fulfill its early promises. Even so, Resident Evil 7 is a must-buy for fans of the horror genre. While the missing virtual reality support on PC is a big letdown, Capcom did their homework in terms of performance and mouse controls.

If you always wanted to experience boring council meetings first hand, Urban Empire got you covered. The political machinations of this so-called city ruler are presented way too dry to elicit any other response than eye-rolling. While the part about building a city and researching new technologies is way more fun, there simply isn’t enough feedback for players to penetrate the game’s intricacies. With only a few, small maps to build on and no mod support, Urban Empire makes a poor case for itself.

With all the negative ratings on Steam, I had severe doubts that there would be any fun to have with Space Hulk: Deathwing. But I was actually pleasantly surprised when I played the game. I came across none of the performance issues, bugs or crashes that so many people had lamented over. Therefore, I was able to actually enjoy myself quite a bit. The gloomy atmosphere and immense fun, that just mowing down Tyranids is, was enough to keep me entertained. Of course, this isn’t supposed to mean, Space Hulk: Deathwing has no flaws. The companion-AI only does a proper job some of the time, the multiplayer lacks motivating content and the gunplay as well as the system for building your character is in need of some refinement. Furthermore, the developers have to improve the difficulty-balancing, because even on the lowest setting I sometimes found myself stuck in very uneven situations. Still, every fan of the 40K-unviverse and linear wave-shooters will definitely have a fun time with Space Hulk: Deathwing. If you experience huge technical issues though, return the game or wait for future patches.

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.

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.

Reasonable advancement compared to the predecessor. Ships and planes deliver more variety and opportunities. The campaign alone challenges the player for a lot of hours. It still has some flaws though, especially with the track building.

Based on the successful fantasy-bestseller, written by author Markus Heitz, the homonymous videogame takes place in an action-rpg, focused on massive battles with orcs. The story is well told, but shortened in comparison to the book. The battles are fun to play for a while, but they’re lacking on AI- and pathfinding-issues. Moving the camera can be tricky too. The rpg-elements are minimalistic, there are no collectible weapons or gear and characters can be equipped with only five skills max. Your main character, the young dwarven-smith Tungdil will be accompanied with up to 14 companions, most of them well transformed from the book into the game. You’ll spend a lot of time in listening to many dialogues and to a well performing narrator, so in the end The Dwarves feels more like an interactive audio-book than an rpg.

Just call the bulldozer already: This theme park ruin is ready for demolition and is neither safe nor enjoyable to play in. Better get Planet Coaster asap.

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.

Shadow Tactics does a beautiful job of reviving the Commandos formula, with challenging missions, interesting characters and varied level design. A robust user interface and three slots for quicksaves make sure that not only the hardcore audience, but virtually every player can have a great time with Shadow Tactics. All you need is a bit of patience.

A dream come true for most any theme park fan, Planet Coaster sports terrific tools for creating choice rollercoasters and other attractions. It’s on the management side of things where Frontier takes the easy route. Once you’ve built the perfect theme park, you start to miss more complex systems like random events and difficult-to-satisfy guests. Combine that with some big hits on performance while managing larger parks and Planet Coaster just misses true legacy status, while still being the best the genre has had to offer since Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.

Thanks to its beautiful pixel art, charming characters, diverse environments and great design, Owlboy lives up to the expectations, even though it is far from perfect.

Like most other VR-games, Eagle Flight works best in small portions. Because gameplay-wise, there is not much to it. The courses might have enough variability, but the game-modes are severely lacking – especially in multiplayer. Though the beautiful landscape of Paris always entices me with either a casual flight or a high speed race through the subway-station. If flying in VR is something, you can get behind than you’ll find Eagle Fly to be a creative alternative to any action packed shooting gallery.

Call of Duty’s system requirements are way too high for what graphical prowess is on offer here. Performance-wise, Infinity Ward has done a poor job. The campaign is solid fun albeit so, so stupid, yet multiplayer hasn’t evolved at all since Black Ops 3. On PC, there are also long waiting times for matchmaking.

Dishonored 2 is a masterpiece in level design, marred by some glaring technical flaws on PC. Smooth-as-silk stealth and cool superpowers make this one a must-buy for any gamer – provided your PC can run it. If in doubt, wait for the first couple of patches.

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.

While smaller in scope than Obsidians last RPG, Tyranny astonishes with its clever way of handling choice and consequence. There are so many variables in Tyranny, you just have to play it twice.

Respawn did a remarkable job on the campaign, which is bristling with ideas and cool moments. The experience may be short, but it’s entertaining none the less. Online though is where Titanfall 2 really shines. The game offer some of the most insane, fast-paced shootouts, packed to the brim with wallrunning, explosions and mighty titans. Prepare for one hell of a ride.

Battlefield 1 offers hands down the best graphics of any shooter, nay, any game to date. While its single-player-campaign is – again – unnecessary drivel, as short as it is forgettable, the multi-player-offering is in a league of its own. If you only buy one shooter this year, make it Battlefield 1.

A spectacular arcade racing game with brilliant graphics. The driving feels terrific, the amount of content is staggering and the faux Australia is joy to explore. Need for Speed, take heed.

Hangar 13 has done a terrible job on the PC port. But even ignoring all those pesky technical issues, Mafia 3 suffers from lack of variety. The game’s open world is dead and artificial, while the great atmosphere and competent storytelling feel wasted.

An insane amount of co-op fun, but the level design is lacking. The loot-centric Shadow Warrior 2 is well worth the buy, but doesn’t quite soar as high as this year’s Doom.

With six big sandbox-locations the first season’s campaign for agent 47 is offering various challenges, how to fulfill each mission. On top, there is a lot more to do with escalation-missions, user generated contracts and elusive targets. The gameplay allows classic hitman-stealth with silent kills as well as all-guns-blazing if you’re that kind of player. Lots of disguise-possibilities, weapons and gadgets makes it fun to play various times. Some lacks with the AI and graphic-issues have to be dealt with and if you’re expecting a complete storyline, that is not happening in Season 1.

Finally there’s a reason to delete Civilization 5 from our hard drives. Firaxis has improved on many systems, while adding some clever twists like the city sectors. Civilization 6 is a blast to play and we cannot foresee a time when it won’t be installed on our hard drives. This is the definitive turn-based strategy game of the decade.

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time playing the Worms-games in my youth. Simply because they were some of the most enjoyable multiplayer-games out there. Now, after a couple of years without touching any installment of this franchise, I still think that Worms is a diverting experience, especially if you play it with some of your buddies. It didn’t really bother me that - mechanics-wise - not much has changed since my time with Worms. Being able to just jump back in there, without having to get reintroduced to the whole franchise, actually made me feel glad. But at the same time, this fact might pose a huge flaw for people, who’ve played many or maybe even every other Worms-game. So I can only unconditionally recommend Worms W.M.D to newcomers or veterans, who are returning to the franchise after taking a longer break from it.