While Assetto Corsa is a trimmed-down game in many ways, the authentic cars, detailed tracks and realistic physics make it a joy for every fan of the genre. A fitting presentation as well as an extensive online mode enrich the game in many ways.

An unusual combat system with profound gameplay and RPG elements make for a solid basis. Exploration is encouraged due and decisions influence the story. Unfortunately, pale characters, an outdated look and a lack of variety in missions dull the overall picture.

A lot has changed since Blackguards, much of it for the better. It’s the things that stayed the same that keep this tough as nails tactical RPG from achieving greatness.

Its style and gameplay might not be the most innovative one but that isn’t even necessary to leave a lasting impression on me. In This War of Mine, none of my actions were of no consequence. After about 8 hours, my journey was finally over but I couldn’t really feel happy about it. In my thoughts, I was still pondering about all the terrible things I had to do in the game. Therefore, I can attest that the game succeeds at the task to accurately represent all of its themes. This War of Mine isn’t “fun” to play but took me on an emotional journey, like only a select few games ever managed.

The Ascension edition of Space Hulk is better than its predecessor in every regard. The tactical gameplay opens up a lot of opportunities and the Warhammer-atmosphere is well-made. Its presentation is still a bit barren though and we miss the hot-seat-multiplayer of the first Space Hulk.

Last year’s Guardian of Light was quite the surprise hit for me: the mixture of arcade-shooting and interesting puzzle-segments was a lot of fun – especially in coop. With Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Crystal Dynamics didn’t focus on anything innovative but rather on delivering good gameplay, beautifully designed levels and cool coop-puzzles (this time you can even play in a team of four). So if you don’t expect Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris to add mind blowing new elements and are satisfied with “only” a solid sequel, I can only recommend it.

I just love games like Portal that force you to really use your brain and get creative. The Talos Principle is a prime example for this kind of game. The puzzles are splendid and always manage to excite anew. I also think, the foundation for the plot to The Talos Principle is incredibly interesting, though its presentation via a slew of different texts really dulls the initial fascination. But if you’re really in to the game’s various themes, you will most likely still find yourself enjoying the story quite a bit.

Being an emergency itself, the game suffers from a vast number of bugs, complicated controls and pesky music. Operation sites are often hard to locate and navigation is dreading. The big redeeming quality is a huge variety of mechanics and places of action.

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.

While Telltale's first foray into Westeros certainly nails the grimdark atmosphere of this fascinating world, poor story, wordy dialogue and unlikeable characters hamper the game. It really is bewildering why Telltale chose to rehash the all too familiar story of House Stark instead of actually building something new and exciting.

For quite some time now, I keep asking myself why almost no game includes some “extra material” so to speak. Except for Valiant Hearts, I can’t really think of any other game that goes the extra mile to establish connections to recent events and not only is enjoyable to play but conveys knowledge at the same time. Never Alone thoroughly succeeds at this task: the atmospheric setting, the loveable heroes and a slew of documentary-videos, that give insight into the lively culture, not only entertain but teach you a lot of interesting things. I would really like to get more games like this.

Some control issues aside, Valkyria Chronicles offers just as much fun on PC as it did six years ago on PS3.

Inquisition offers tons of rpg-gameplay-elements. The classic high-fantasy-setting combines action- and tactical combat, rich characters with lots of dialogue-options. On top you’ll find yourself as a leader of the inquisition-faction who has to build up a majestic stronghold. Graphics and sound are great, but technical issues like glitches and bugs with animations are also part of the game. Menus are not optimized for PC and the skill-system is highly focused on combat.

Clone or not, Lords of the Fallen is a good game in its own right. Powerful combat, lots of weapons and beautiful visuals will please those who are craving a challenge, despite some technical quirks, an obstructive camera and bland storytelling.

The new engine and the new foresting gameplay elements fit well into the classic farming setting of the series. The farming features are tweaked a little, but overall it feels just the same like in Farming Simulator 13, but technically enhanced. The Day-One Patch fixed some bugs, but still existing physical-problems and gameplay issues in version 1.1, especially in multiplayer mode, have to be handled with forthcoming patches.

Beyond Earth is a well done mix of Alpha Centauri and Civilization 5. The UI-design is modern an quite useful. The new designed Tech-Web offers plenty of gameplay mechanics. Though it’s not satisfying in all aspects, it has become a nice science-fiction alternative to the historic Civ Games.

A big and challenging game that surpasses its predecessor in almost every way. While some of the most difficult puzzles could be better explained, Grimrock 2 more than makes up for that with tons of smartly designed brainteasers, diverse environments, plenty of loot and lots of secrets to discover.

While the PC port features the same shallow gameplay from the console version, its visual quality is boosted to incredible heights. Ryse may not be a great game, but as a blunt spectacle with impeccable graphics, costly cut-scenes and brutal combat it still can be quite satisfying.

If you put stealth elements from the thief-, splinter cell- and MGS-series together, and mix them up with a classic fantasy setting, you’ll get an idea, of what it feels like playing the green-skinned goblin-master-thief Styx. While the plot focusing on the amber-drug, cloning, lost memories and the war between Elves and Humans is getting more and more weird through the game, you’ll get a nice stealth-experience with cool game-mechanics, mixed with some rpg-elements. Though the game is fun overall, the AI behaves insufficiently and the jump-and-climb-issue based on the imprecise controls can drive you nuts.

It’s a solid traditional point&click adventure game with a convincing presentation especially in terms of the time period of the golden twenties and historical correctness. Some of the puzzles are very creative but mostly way to easy. A Golden Wake is fun to play, but can not really compete with other titles from Wadjet Eye Games like Resonance or Gemini Rue.

Neither bad nor great, Ancient Space offers mostly solid, sufficient space strategy on a small scale. Gameplay gets a little monotonous after a while and the story is never interesting enough to keep us hooked. On the plus side, mission design is pleasantly varied and the visuals are fine, too.

Tactical combat, RPG-gameplay and a huge universe to explore are key elements of LGMs space-game. Graphics, music and sound effects are good, but the voice-acting is awful. Side-missions are repetitive and the campaign is suffering on a weak story. Bugs and balancing-problems still have to be patched. The Freeroam mode is the best part of the game and the mod-community offers nice content.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter tells an interesting story and presents the best graphics possible today on a PC. Although the presentation of the world is wonderful and drives you right into it, the game lacks NPCs, dialogue and would need a lot more puzzles to fill the open world much more properly to not bore the player at times. The game is more about exploring a detailed world with some rare quests in about 4-5 hours than enjoying any other "regular" adventure game.

Wasteland 2 invokes the spirit of its predecessor as well as the old Fallout games, yet it probably won’t have the same impact. Poor AI, bugs and annoying waiting times while using skills require a lot of patience from players. Still, there are many wondrous sights to see and interesting people to meet. In terms of atmosphere, dialogue and quest design, Wasteland 2 truly shines. Too bad there is so much grime to wipe away first.

While a good first entry in a possible series, Shadow of Mordor can’t quite compete with other big open-world action games. Light on innovation, Monolith's trip to Middle-Earth is mechanically sound and surprisingly addictive. Its 10 to 20 hour campaign offers a lot of fun, mostly thanks to the great cast of individual orcs and the slick combat system. Story and mission design could have used more work though, especially as players are bound to perform the same tasks over and over again in a world that isn’t as lively or as interesting as Los Santos or Arkham City.

The new Holmes adventure looks better than ever and plays well, too. However, while the six self-contained stories are smartly written, they also lack suspense, drama and an overall feeling of progression. The modest difficulty is making it easy for newcomers to settle in - which is fine, as long as you are not expecting a deep detective experience.

A well done train-sim that offers quite good and traditional tycoon-gameplay like in Transport-Tycoon, Sid Meiers’ Railroads or Cities in Motion. The playable time period goes from 1850 through 2020 and gives you access to 45 nicely modelled trains and vehicles. The graphics are ok, but not that great for a modern PC game. Vehicles sounds good, but the music-tracks are awful. You can spend very long time in establishing and optimizing your handmade routes and lines, so the game can be satisfying for weeks, especially for its good mod-support.

Over the years, Fifa has increased and improved in becoming an almost perfectly realistic football simulation. The focus on tactical gameplay and duels make the game feel authentic and challenging throughout the different difficulty settings. Only small issues such as poor commentators (in the German version) take from the games quality.