Too many of the old adventure game stumbling blocks (inconsistent progression, unclear or obfuscating clues, unmarked dead ends) prevent this homage to Murakami’s short stories ever hitting the stride its aesthetics deserve.

This is a very enjoyable game, and I'm disappointed that a bug deleted my save. But it's got most of what I look for in action-adventure titles and there's a whole lot to like here, despite how bland and familiar it can be.

Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories is not a good game. Its design is archaic, its presentation is lacking, and its story is nonsensical. But anyone who enjoys janky, weird games will very likely have a good time with it. It might not be quality, but it's often very entertaining.

It might be short and simple but that doesn't stop it from being plenty entertaining and gorgeous to look at. If the idea of blasting shadow creatures with an energy beam while standing in place sounds like a good time to you, you'll probably find enough to like here.

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint has a solid foundation, but is let down by poor design choices and braindead easy gameplay.

Although it has enjoyable movement and a solid story, Aztech Forgotten Gods feels like a shell of a game that's been stitched together.

Intuitive controls and great presentation provide some promise, but Matchpoint - Tennis Championships fails to deliver beyond that point. It's too easy to master, and there's just not enough in the game to keep players entertained beyond the first few hours of gameplay.

Tape: Unveil the Memories has compelling elements, but they're overshadowed by some truly bad mechanics and dull monster encounters.

Violent, ridiculous, and occasionally fun, Wanted: Dead misses a lot of its marks but is still worth a look for the devoted.

Stunning visuals and survival mechanics shine in Fade to Silence. Unfortunately, companion management, bugs, crashes, and uninspiring combat lead to an experience that you just want to fade away.

Arslan aims to pepper a re-telling of its anime source material with familiar Warriors-style battles, and that, for better or worse, is what it does. But this release lacks some of the absurd character flair, goofy thrash-rock soundtrack, and (dare I say) depth of the mainstream series.

Gungrave GORE is one of the worst of 2022. It's functional, but supremely awful the whole way through.

Griefhelm is a fun medieval skirmish game that fans of knights will enjoy, especially around the couch with friends. The potential of this lovingly crafted indie game is let down by some rough edges when it comes to close combat, as well as an unsatisfying single-player campaign.

When all the profanities have been said and all the odd jobs have been done, Orangeblood is a one-of-a-kind experience that’s equal parts endearing and incoherent. There’s just enough to see, hear, and do to warrant a two-day getaway to New Koza.

Environmentally diverse, and largely consistent in the quality of its conundrums, Soul Axiom is an imperfect but distinct first-person puzzler.

Choo-Choo Charles is undoubtedly an amusing concept. But it feels more like a semi-polished tech demo than a retail experience, which isn't helped by the awful enemy logic.

An uneven slab of Mars adventuring, The Technomancer carefully straddles the line between never really being good while never falling into being bad.

Bland, boring, repetitive, tedious, and totally forgettable, Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood is a game that should go back to the doghouse.

There are some positives. The missions and map environments can be repetitive, but the layout is acceptable — although I would have preferred it if the developers added more collectibles or items in nooks and crannies. These would be a lot better than just interacting with some inactive servitor or flipping a switch. A few tweaks to the skill trees, additional characters, more enemy types from Lovecraft’s universe, and perhaps even a level/map editor would be welcome inclusions to the game as well.

Unambitious, easy, and rather brief, Tasomachi still does an admirable job of succeeding at what it sets out to do. With lovely visuals, tight controls, and plenty of relaxing exploration, it's hard to walk away as anything but charmed.

Clunky combat, boring progression, threadbare plot, unrewarding exploration, and a laughably bad healing mechanic. All of these lead to a soulless Souls-like that is Dolmen.

Riot: Civil Unrest attempts to depict complex socio-political upheavals in an extremely unengaging and unintuitive manner, to the point that these events lose their impact in video game form.

Blackwind has the right incredients for an engaging and challenging game, but the lack of proper difficulty balance and camera frustrations prevent it from hitting the right marks.

Buggy, broken, and boring, Away: The Survival Series is awful all around.

Harvest Island has a great story for you to get wrapped up in, but the gameplay doesn't quite cut it and it fails on both promised themes.

With a story that's as empty and meandering as its gameplay, The Last Worker is an ugly, tedious slog that I'm glad to be done with.

While it has a strong premise and some neat ideas, Foreclosed is let down by rote, subpar third-person shooter action and unimpressive stealth sections during its short runtime.

Redfall is an initially compelling game, but once it bears its teeth the sheer lack of quality propped up by unfinished ideas is abundantly clear.