Powerwash Simulator 2 is literally like a high-end pressure washer: sleek, powerful, and equipped with all sorts of attachments. But if you don't get that relaxing feeling of cleaning, it's still a mandatory cleanup. This is why I still wanted to check my phone every ten minutes while playing. With the right partner by your side in co-op, it suddenly becomes fun. So, co-op? Absolutely! Solo? Meh.

Ninja Gaiden 4 relies on the phenomenal action you expect from PlatinumGames but falls into repetition far too often. Environments, enemies and even bosses are recycled endlessly in a game world that feels constantly empty and clinical. That makes it hard to enjoy the combat because you almost always know what's coming.

Keeper looks stunning and tells a sweet story. Unfortunately, that's about it. It's certainly not a treat to explore the beautiful game world, but ultimately, you get what you'd expect from lighthouse gameplay, which is very limited.

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

Because the atmosphere and presentation hold up, Little Nightmares 3 is a game you can comfortably play if you already love the series. Temper your expectations about the co-op though. It’s nothing more than a half-baked step… and moreover in the wrong direction.

Ghost of Yōtei certainly has its beautiful moments when everything does click: when the moonlight falls just right, when the battles reach their climax, and admittedly—even the predictable story contains a few moving moments. But on the other hand, there’s a long list of elements that aren’t necessarily bad, but mostly outdated, old-fashioned, or at best far from groundbreaking.

Lost Soul Aside is the definition of "what you see is what you get." No mind-blowing plot twists, graphical masterpieces, or revolutionary control systems, just a super-linear action game with tons of bosses, interspersed with simple platforming and puzzle challenges. While the story, lack of challenge, recycled level design, and sloppy pacing are disappointing, Lost Soul Aside is a straightforward, action-packed game for the enthusiast.

It's a nice touch for the annals that long-time system seller Gears of War is now also available on PlayStation, but of course, anyone who ever really wanted to play Gears could have bought an Xbox at some point in all those years. Gears of War has been well past its sell-by date for quite some time now.

Mafia: The Old Country is narrative-driven, short, and linear. That was exactly what I needed at the time, and it’s nice that the atmosphere, setting, and story are up to the standard you expect from a Mafia game. Unfortunately, the shooting mechanics are mediocre and become very repetitive in the end. Fighting, racing, and sneaking are rarely genuinely enjoyable either. At times, I really enjoyed this game, but I was just as often bored.

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is a beautiful-looking, but ultimately uninspiring stealth game that falls back on predictable gameplay. It's perfectly fine to sneak through in a weekend if you're really into stealth, as it's never unbearably bad or distracting. Perhaps Eriksholm is simply a little too good at what's expected of you as a stealth player: remaining inconspicuous.

Despite my admiration for this ambitious project, I can't give The Spirit of the Samurai a higher score. The unique stop-motion animation, atmospheric music and genuinely scary monster designs are very impressive, as is the ability to play as a cute kitten and Kodama. But as a full-fledged game, it falls short. Platforming issues, bosses that are too easy and rigid control systems, in my opinion, too often trade fun for unnecessary, time-consuming frustration.

On the one hand, 2: Heart of Chornobyl offers exactly what I was hoping for: delicious Eurojank. Newcomers will find an old-fashioned RPG with a beautiful world and a nice survival gameplay loop, and unfortunately also stupid AI, a lot of graphical problems and extremely frustrating bugs. It is impressive that the developer is able to release the game under these circumstances, but it will not become more than a cult hit in this form.

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.

EA is playing a better game than last year. That’s not to say that EA Sports FC 25 is suddenly a classic footie or anything – far from it; this is no Fifa 17, let alone PES 5 or Sensible Soccer. But hey, the bar is just not set very high in 2024.

Kay Vess is a perfect starting point for a unique story in the Star Wars universe. Unfortunately, after the starting shot, originality is hard to find and the game stumbles over its many contradictions and a large dose of repetition. Ironically, what makes Star Wars Outlaws fun is shamelessly but well stolen from other games. Together with a few bright spots, this keeps Kay and Nix's spaceship in the air, but it will never become a real high flyer.

Schim has a fantastic concept that immediately appeals to your inner child, and wraps it in a beautiful, clearly Dutch world with a wonderfully simplistic art style. It just doesn't surprise at all as a game, and after an hour it starts to feel like a repetitive exercise.

TopSpin 2K25 is not the return of the old games in a new guise. Instead, the developer has tried to make the game more realistic by adding a new gameplay mechanic, which unfortunately is not perfectly developed. It takes the arcade fun out of the game.

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.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden will undoubtedly hold players with its emotional and diverse stories, but the game unfortunately falls short when it comes to combat and RPG elements. On the one hand, you want to learn more about New Eden's lore and about Red and Antea themselves. At the same time, this is somewhat hindered by the boring combat, fairly monotonous game world and the lack of valuable upgrades. Maybe an action RPG wasn't the best genre for Banishers, but this narrative adventure certainly deserves a place of honor in Don't Nod's portfolio.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has so many different faces, which makes me ready for a personality test. One moment I'm enjoying Rocksteady's art design, the next I want to hurt myself because of the excruciating gameplay. Then laugh at the voice acting, and then get angry about the boring boss fights. The open ending of the story makes me a little curious about the upcoming seasonal content, but I'm pretty sure: I'm already dropping out.

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.

Gangs of Sherwood is hardly recommended in its current state. It's a fun co-op action game that doesn't take itself too seriously and provides (online) players with fast, fluid and simple battles. At the same time, the game is currently plagued by crashes, bugs, illogical upgrades, random side missions and a lack of varied enemies.

Modern Warfare 3 does not offer much more than extremely smooth multiplayer and a dose of nostalgia. The game feels incomplete, is often boring and disappoints in many areas.

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.

Lords of the Fallen lacks refinement in every respect, but is nevertheless a nice addition to the soulslike genre. The choice for Unreal Engine 5 is unfortunate, the difficulty level is anything but balanced and the number of excruciatingly bad bosses cannot be counted on one hand, and yet everything together forms an entertaining whole packed with content and also a nice stepping stone to a really good soulslike.

In the end Mirage was mainly one thing: boring. It is not a game with embarrassing bugs or crashes, but one that fails to fascinate. It took hours to get going, after which it told a lame story and didn't introduce any cool new ideas. I worked my way through it reluctantly. It's great that the game handles its setting a little better than the first part, but that one bright spot does little to make the game worthwhile.

EA Sports FC 24 is secretly just Fifa 23.5. With the same advantages and the same problems. It all looks a bit more dignified and mature, but the new, chic costume cannot disguise the fact that EA Sports FC 24 is a shady players' agent who wants to get as much money out of your pocket as possible with as little effort as possible.

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.