Even though it’s not a perfect game, Total War: Warhammer 3 is indeed very close to the ultimate Total War experience. The diverse factions, the epic campaign and the vast, beautiful world are guaranteed to draw you in and keep you in for at least a few hundred hours.

Rogue Tower is a great minimalistic game combining roguelike and tower defence mechanics. This game provides you with countless hours of playtime, or at least until you develop the ultimate strategy for defence. Procedural generation helps in this regard, which is why Rogue Tower has a very high replay value.

It’s such a rare occurrence for a game to age this well when it comes to its gameplay. And being able to re-experience this jewel on modern platforms is a special kind of treat. An absolute evergreen, full of fast and fun activities and dozens of secrets that make you go „yay“ every time you discover one. A huge recommendation, if you can get past the old school graphics and level design.

Ocean’s Heart is undoubtedly inspired by titles such as The Legend of Zelda’s The Minish Cap. Yet what it successfully re-establishes in terms of visuals and basic mechanics, it painfully lacks when it comes to the story, dialogues and gameplay depth. If you are looking to scratch that Zelda itch with nothing better on the horizon, Ocean’s Heart might prove to be a perfect candidate. But surely never forget – heart may sound like a lot but is never much without a soul.

Monark brings many innovations to the table, yet ultimately feels unfinished and unpolished. Many of the traditional and obsolete aspects of the JRPG genre are present, yet if you are willing to look past them in order to reach some quality – it could truly shine up your experience. Interesting characters, mechanics and setting, may not feel enough for some, but to those that just need a long game and new ways to play, Monark is a great recommendation.

Lost Ark is a competent MMOARPG that has visceral combat and interesting side systems. The end game is what this MMO is all about, but the levelling experience is streamlined and easy with beautifully directed set pieces and action scenes. Infrastructure issues and huge queue times on the EU servers cast an ugly shadow on an otherwise great game.

If you loved the original, grab this sequel that is superior in almost every aspect. Graphics, audio, story and overall narrative as well as amazing location variety are this game’s strongest points. The presence of clunky combat, controls and a number of bugs will make it harder for newcomers to experience Horizon Forbidden West. Yet what can’t be denied is the fact it’s not an „everyday title“, and as such is not for everyone.

Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires brought some novelty to the table, but it overall ended up being a big, soulless disappointment.

Elden Ring is a masterclass in world design. It improves almost all of the bases of FromSoftware’s previous titles and adds upon them many new ones, with its verticality, astonishing world and great combat and story. It is a penultimate soulslike title, and one that will be surely played and remembered for years to come, putting a high bar for action RPGs and firmly sitting as one of the best video games ever.

At first glance, the new instalment in the Atelier series continues the trend of its predecessors but actually provides an upgraded and refined experience. The UI is very user friendly, and the world is more colourful and lively than ever. One of the main downsides is the game’s PC port optimization, which is fairly poor.

Konami managed to make the best Yu-gi-oh adaptation to this day that will bring many surprises to both old and new players because this game isn’t the same one we used to play 15-20 years ago. The learning curve is huge and it requires a lot of time to learn all the decks currently available, so be ready for a lot of grinds.

Legacy of Thieves is a minor, yet noticeable visual upgrade, that mostly ravishes itself in its unlocked 60 FPS and 120 FPS modes. These are the best ways to experience Drake's final journey, especially in 60 FPS, with its clarity, reflections and shadow resolution still being a notch above the previous version with the smoothest experience so far. It still isn’t enough for new fans to put out full price, as previous owners of only one of the two titles will profit the most, getting the two games for the price of one.

Extraction has some really great ideas, but it unfortunately just comes off as a very chaotic, unfinished and very grindy Siege spinoff.

If you are a fan of mystery, intrigue and adventure, you are going to have one hell of a time playing Sherlock Holmes Chapter One. With a beautiful setting, amazing character interactions and great puzzles, this is one of the best ‘’detective simulations’’ out there.

Sounds like escaping the Matrix, but Game Freak finally jumped out of the three decades old formula and gave it a new groove. An open world, a more dynamic catching mechanic and a more involved trainer are just some of the new flavours. Drawbacks this time around come in the shape of empty and pretty lifeless environments as well as lower graphical quality and glitches, but they don’t take away much of the overall enjoyment. Yet they surely remain something that needs more work once this amazing turn in the franchise settles in. The roots have been planted. Now, all it needs is to grow. Pardon me – evolve!

It’s a real shame Marsupilami as a video game protagonist has not been explored any further. As only the second game for the spotted mammal ever since the 1995 Sega Mega Drive title, Hoobadventure delivers a pretty basic platformer that feels like it can’t decide on its target audience. Yet if you are into cute graphics and relaxing music followed by a lot of collecting, there’s plenty to love here.

Halo Infinite is the best shooter of 2021. With much anticipation from the fans, 343 Industries brought a great multiplayer experience and a story as a love letter to the Halo series. With some bold innovations, the game pulls all the best from previous iterations and makes it into one of the best FPS games in recent history.

The PC version brings all that was great about the original, plus some additional technical problems we did not expect to see after an excellent Final Fantasy XV PC port. Even though many of these problems can be easily fixed if you know how to google and are not afraid of mods, the lack of graphical upgrades and options still disappoints those who expected something more. But all of this still can’t be enough to diminish the final verdict, and this game remains to be an amazing title no one should miss, no matter which platform you choose to play it on.

Expeditions: Rome is sure a masterclass in writing and player choice. It is a true RPG, with a great historical period, political intrigues and vast combat situations to navigate. Even though it possesses some lacklustre moments like its legion sieges and skirmishes, it is a completely polished, fun, well written and content-rich experience.

Dying Light 2 is a very interesting and specific experience. It disappoints with its “meh” story and weirdly boring characters, but where its shadow is darkest, there are also areas where it shines the brightest. Its gameplay, most notably parkour, are ridiculously fun, intuitive and open-ended, with great adrenaline segments in the form of the day-night cycle that provide almost completely different gameplay experiences that shall provide you with a lot of hours of fun for sure.

Even though the campaign is extremely predictable and the multiplayer is plagued with tones of issues, Call Of Duty: Vanguard is, after all, still a Call of Duty title, and will appeal to all hardcore Call of Duty fans.

Beyond a Steel Sky is a typical modern adventure game with old-school logic puzzles mixed into it. With great writing from some of the great names from the comic-book and video game industry, it is riddled with linearity, lack of player choice, and irritating puzzle design in the later parts of the game. Still, it poses a fun experience for all fans of the genre, and due to its great world design, it is a true cyberpunk experience.

Aeterna Noctis is one of the most beautifully created 2D games to date. Its Metroidvania nature doesn’t provide anything new to the genre, but it poses the player with enormous amounts of content, challenge and fun, even with its sometimes clunky gameplay and irritating gameplay design choices. A must-play, and the best metroidvania of 2021.

God of War was the best game of the previous generation and now it’s available on the PC with little enhancements, but none of them is needed. This is a good PC port with no issues and a wide variety of graphical choices. With the inclusion of Nvidia DLSS, you will not be sacrificing visual fidelity for the framerate and vice versa. God of War is a game that will always have my recommendation on any gaming device it’s available on.

Tunche looks great on paper, even better in motion, but under your thumbs – it hurts like hell. A game so unfairly hard, tries its best to keep you in for longer, while overstaying its welcome. There is a quality here and it looks like a game made out of passion and love. Yet a few life-saving tweaks would not just save the game from a low score, but also your nerves after playing it for more than 30 minutes.

A title worth the wait, Shin Megami Tensei V makes for one of the best JRPGs of the year. With an atmospheric world, well known and fun systems and a great story, the recognizable style now shines as bright as ever. Still, don’t expect this game to hold your hand. It requires dedication, patience and at least some knowledge about the series to truly enjoy it to the fullest.

Riders Republic is a masterclass in world design and it is a truly surprising and fun experience for any extreme sports lover. It has some common drops in quality of experience, recurrent for most Ubisoft open-world games, but it still poses as a truly entertaining and original experience that will give pleasure to fans for some time, especially in a great and fun multiplayer and innovative track design and challenges.

When a remake strives to remain faithful to the original only on the surface, yet degrades deeper systems that previously made it great, it can never be good news. Upgrades to the original may not be that “brilliant” nor “shining”, but at its core, this game still manages to remain a fun Pokémon title. Compared to what the games were back in the day, this remake may be inferior, but still has plenty to offer to old and especially new players.