We Were Here Forever is a good brain workout that will give you more hours of puzzle fun than all previous We Were Here games combined. The puzzles are pleasantly challenging and the flow is good for most of the game. However, due to the slightly too high degree of repetition and long-windedness, you are too often dragged out of that flow, so that the game can certainly be a bridge too far for newcomers. Get it if you're familiar with the genre, but rather play the earlier games if you've never tried a digital escape room like this before.

The gameplay of UFC 5 is rock solid and has visibly improved compared to the previous part. For example, the new damage system ensures that there is more strategy (and blood) involved in the battles and the polished ground game offers more depth. It's a shame that career mode remains the neglected child for EA Sports, because there is so much more to it.

Atomic Heart is a love letter to BioShock, but the setting is unique enough and the world crazy enough to stand on its own two feet. Great action, world building and storytelling are unfortunately interspersed with mechanics that take the flow out of the game or are completely unnecessary. Not to mention some nasty, edgy comments and the oversexed robots. Developer Mundfish could have limited the size better, because behind the multitude of disappointing elements lies a fantastic game.

Playing The Ancient Gods – Part Two is less frustrating and more enjoyable than conquering Part One, and feels like a more balanced experience besides. This is mainly due to the addition of a few interesting new enemies, which makes it all the more disappointing that fighting the Ultimate Antagonist, with whom the DLC and the game ends, isn’t really the final battle Doom Eternal deserves.

When the wind is in the sails, Mario and Luigi: Brothership is a particularly nice adventure with a wonderful holiday feeling. Unfortunately, developer Acquire regularly changes the wind, causing the pleasure trip to come to a standstill. Unnecessarily much dialogue and bad pacing prove to be heavy anchors, which meant that I could never really hang on to the holiday feeling for long.

RAGE 2 is bigger, more beautiful and more explosive than its predecessor, but at the same time more generic and monotonous. The shooting action is once again top notch, including a shotgun to die for, so it's functions as a fine appetizer before DOOM: Eternal arrives.

Not all the activities in Black Desert Online are interesting or coherent but it’s still a cut above the masses of boring MMORPGs that dominate the landscape. The gorgeous visuals are a big plus too. [april. 2016 / page 62]

Assassin's Creed Origins' believability is hindered by awful voice acting with unnatural, annoying accents and ugly, wooden animations. But to gamers who aren't too bothered about these things or are even blind and deaf to it, this will be a fascinating adventure in a beautiful, enormous Ancient Egypt that's full of nice rewards and challenging battles.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is a beautiful history lesson about a genre-defining game, which would've been a whole lot better if the AI had reached is definitive form as well. The new aesthetic makes it easy to ignore the obsolete, underlying technology for a few campaigns, but it would really be a feat to stay entertained for all 10 of them.

Is Erica the beginning of a new era of FMV games? We can only hope! Erica is an atmospheric movie/game-hybrid with minimal interaction, arriving at exactly the right time: during a hot summer when almost every exertion is too much. In a future attempt however, I would like to have more of that triple A-feeling, with an even better storyline and beautiful cinematography. And to make the game feel a bit less like a movie, meaningful choices you can easily replay wouldn't be a bad thing either.

Wild Hearts is most fun when it's fair and unfortunately that often requires multiple players. Monster Hunter players will feel right at home in the world of Azuma, but will still be surprised by the innovative and constantly evolving Karakuri system. However, the high degree of difficulty, technical flaws and the uninteresting story will mainly scare off newcomers to the genre.

Shredder's Revenge is a delightful brawler with a retro pixel style that will leave you wonderfully nostalgic. At the same time, it may also be a bit of a too short and simple experience, which gives you little reason to replay the handful of levels often.

Graphically, High on Life is perhaps the least impressive that came out this year and in terms of gameplay, it's about as original and innovative as Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, released in 2005. But this game holds its own because everything is soaked in Roiland's absurd humour, from the tutorial to the weapons and details. It's amazing how many interchangeable, goo-covered enemies you can shoot as long as an annoying space creature circles around your head and whines about its mother in a squeaky voice.

Mad Max manages to translate the vibe of the movies perfectly, but, unfortunately, that makes for a monotonous game. A bit like last year’s Shadow of Mordor.

The total package in FIFA 20 is large as usual and the game looks great. But the spectacular fast-paced gameplay that especially leans on tricks, tends to be a bit too arcade-y and therefore loses its touch with the essence of real football.

This is pretty much ALL Star Wars in digital LEGO form; nine films of fun levels plus an unprecedented amount of dolls, spaceships and other blocky collectables. Long fun for kids and people with a fiery passion for collecting, short fun for if you're looking for a challenge.

The Isle of Armor doesn't succeed in every way, but it has enough good atmosphere and nice surprises that make it worthwhile to jump back into Sword and Shield. With suncream, of course.

Battleborn drops some stitches in the campaign which can make it a tedious experience. The multiplayer has two modes with a lot of (unused) potential, which can turn out to become great if players start embracing it.

The Bright Lord pushes Shadow of Mordor to a new difficulty level and gives you cool abilities, like summoning Orcs and the power of The One Ring, to conquer the strongest evil presence we have met since the game was released. The satisfaction of claiming an enormous battlefield is big, but the story is lackluster, preventing The Bright Lord from being a crucial chapter of the Shadow of Mordor story.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a game of extremes. On the one hand, it has one of the most beautiful game worlds you've ever seen, infused with interesting lore for true Avatar fans and the casual gamer. On the other hand, it's an uninspired open-world game with crappy combat, AI and mission design, which will leave anyone tired of Far Cry blue-balled.

Immortals of Aveum is a great shooter with nice and fast gameplay, nice world building and a fairly interesting story. It doesn't do much wrong, but just lacks soul to become your new favorite FPS, unless you were really waiting for a Call of Duty with magic and dragons.

The latest installment of the Ninja Storm franchise has a truly wonderful multiplayer mode. The battles that used to be unbalanced and somewhat chaotic have improved significantly in Revolution. It's just a shame that the single player pales in comparison. Ninja's where invented to fight, not to perform menial tasks around a village... So make sure you have at least one friend to have a blast playing this game with.

Even though I can't help but feel the game has been scaled back when looking at scope and depth, what is left is a rock solid singleplayer experience for the enthusiast of the long distance kill.

Yo-Kai Watch is a gorgeous and unique Pokémon clone for everyone that loves Japanese culture and cutesie animals. We don’t expect the series to become as prolific as its big inspiration though, the gameplay is simply too shallow to allow for that to happen.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A has a clear mission and, despite some shortcomings, it absolutely succeeds in doing so.

The Pathless could have been more than it currently is. With more variation in the gameplay and a deeper story, this could just have been GOTY material or at least the indie hit of the year. Still, there's plenty to love if you settle for a minimalistic game crafted with a lot of love. Especially the flow of moving around in the atmospheric world and the brilliant music ensure that The Pathless stays with you.

Unfortunately First Light does not bring inFamous to a higher level, but it is entertaining nonetheless. The story and the characters in the game are not really great, but the gameplay in the new Battle Arena makes up for it. First Light is alright, just not fantastic.

The timeless essence of Mario vs. Donkey Kong is honored in this faithful remake, while retaining the somewhat dated gameplay. However, with a visual upgrade, multiplayer options, and a relaxed play mode, the game receives a fresh appeal, making it still worthwhile in 2024.