The queen is back and she is here to impress. Bayonetta 3 is flawed, but these flaws are easy to overlook when you’re having so much fun.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is good enough to be considered a decent collection for fans of this universe or anyone who has never played as Captain Shepard before. If you wished for more substantial improvements, changes, revelations or any supplemental content, you’re in for a disappointment.

While Wolfenstein 2 lacks novelty, it’s still a fun shooter with a meticulously detailed world, a cast of colorful characters, and lots of ways to brutally murder nazis.

A bottomless chasm separating the story and the gameplay is the biggest problem of this Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics rebooted the series with an origin story. The developers wanted to show us how Lara learns to kill – first animals, then humans – in order to survive, how the hardships of the Yamatai island will make her into the tomb raider well know and love. But in reality, you can’t suspend your disbelief even for a minute. Though Lara sighs and whines a lot, her superhuman vitality would make Wolverine green with envy.

The sequel is mostly an expanded and improved Nioh, with more complex combat mechanics and new challenges for the veterans, yet it's surprisingly accessible to casual players. Yet it fails to correct past mistakes, and you would be hard pressed to see any transformative changes in the game’s formula.

Anomaly: Korea represents the lazy approach to game development. The game is still fun to play, but it is not nice to sell the same product twice.

Fans of the Desperados franchise can crank up the difficulty and bring out a stopwatch to time their actions. Newcomers will enjoy the game even if they have no idea of who John Cooper is and what he did before. Either way, you’re in for 20 glorious hours.

This is the most exciting Star Wars action game since Jedi Academy.

XCOM: Enemy Within is a good expansion. I envy those who had never gotten around to playing the game until now.

The developers chose an unusual path, but the product of their labor is neither roguelike nor a full-blown RPG. The game’s original concept is running idle.

Short, but enjoyable single-player campaign blending Shogo, Portal 2 and Mirror's Edge compliments the familiar multiplayer, which is equally fun and infuriating.

Day of the Tentacle did not age at all. It looks and plays as if they made it just yesterday. Thanks to Double Fine, we can once again enjoy a good adventure game, which, despite some flaws, is leaps and bounds better than many recent offerings in the genre.

While AC: Origins was packed with interesting stories, Odyssey is a generic ’Ubisoft sandbox’ in the worst sense, with hundreds of the same-looking places, dozens of ”kill-fetch” quests and almost zero motivation to grind further.

Cyberpunk 2077 tells a story of a dark future, while stumbling over technical problems and some weird design choices, but even with all these flaws, you‘ll want to finish this story.

The gameplay and its mechanics are incredibly simple, and there aren’t any new ideas, but boy, it can be so fun.

Inscryption does a lot of things right. At the same time, the abundance of superfluous elements upsets the internal harmony of this game.

The Talos Principle’s worst transgression is that it is absolutely predictable. The levels are all too similar, and by the end of the game you do pretty much the same routine as you do in the beginning.

Cities: Skylines has many annoyances and shortcomings, but still, it’s a fun game, and it has one huge thing going for it — its creators are passionate and enthusiastic. They’re neither corporate slaves who churned out the last SimCity, nor penny pinchers who sell the same product over and over again (hello, Cities XXL). I bet that when I launch Cities: Skylines 6 months from now, I will see a much better game, and my review will become obsolete.

An excellent follow-up to Wasteland 2. You want to finish it as soon as possible just to start the campaign all over again and take different decisions.

If Almost Human had made a strict dungeon crawler like the first Legend of Grimrock, but with a properly fleshed-out world, better UI, redesigned combat and role-playing systems, I would have recommended such a sequel in an instant. Alas.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a weird amalgamation of two different games. One is almost like those classic RPGs from BioWare’s early years; it makes you sit on the edge of your chair, waiting for shocking twists, deliberate over moral dilemmas, laugh and cry. The other is a MMO with generic quests and soulless grinding, having slithered where it should not be. And, alas, there is no way to separate them.

If you value humor and atmosphere above all else, go forth and enjoy Tales from the Borderlands. If not, you will have a hard time enjoying a cartoon without gameplay, freedom and bedazzling graphics.

The gods of fighting games love those who are strong and stylish, and that’s what CPEX is all about.

There's a lot of flaws in space in Starfield. But that does not prevent me from exploring our galaxy again and again.

Modern Storyteller did right by rewriting its popular mod for a new world. Aside from some rookie mistakes and an apparent lack of budget, the story is exciting and memorable, and I really did not want to leave this cursed city. I definitely wouldn’t mind a few additional quests.

In contrast to the previous expansion, Afterbirth is just a collection of scraps and trimmings that has nothing original to offer.

Chaos Reborn is a very accessible strategy game. It will take you just half an hour to learn all of its secrets. Thanks to simple rules, a turn lasts just a few seconds, and the entire session usually ends in 10 minutes or less. But you will be glued to this game for hours.

It’s definitely not the worst way to spend 10-12 hours, especially if you're into supernatural fiction and the new weird. Yet Remedy lacked determination (or maybe skill?) to go the distance.

Basically, it’s the second full-length movie based on South Park, now fully interactive. Even bigger, longer and uncut.

However flawed Badland is, you won’t go wrong if you buy it on sale – it’ll help you to kill some time on a trip.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun follows the gold standard of this sub-genre set by the Commandos series: big maps that feel alive, different playable characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and lots of ways to complete a level.

Graphical flaws and overly linear gameplay aside, DmC is a solid first installment in the relaunched franchise.

A new benchmark for “branching narrative” games. The Wolf Among Us turns players into viewers by almost ditching gameplay, but you will enjoy watching this show.

We've been waiting for the developers of GalCiv 3 to fix their end-game mechanics, and they finally did.

Aftermath is the best out of all Battlefield 3 DLCs. Its maps tend to favor infantry, but the experience is as tense as ever.

This game is a strong anti-war statement.

I probably should berate Battle of the Bulge for having only one map, but I can’t bring myself to do it. By focusing on just this scenario, Shenandoah Studio honed it to almost perfection. Plus, $9,99 for a game that will captivate you for 3-4 hours straight is, I think, a good deal.

Yakuza 0 is a compact slice of modern Japan with one difference that in real Tokyo and Osaka they actually have street traffic.

BattleBlock Theater is not original and it’s not ashamed of that. It’s everyone else that should be ashamed and green with envy that they couldn’t make such a fun game.

This fairytale is somewhat simplistic in its story and structure, but still charming.

Hogwarts Legacy is a great adventure, but only for those Harry Potter fans who rarely play video games.

An excellent arcade game with nice RPG elements and a massive replayability factor. You will enjoy Rogue Legacy if you’re not afraid to die – a lot.

Brave New World brings a huge tangle of exciting political nuances that you’ll have to navigate on your way to world domination.

If you're really craving a new global RTS and you're a big fan of the Victoria series, you can give Europa Universalis V a try right now. But it's better to wait: it won't reach its full potential for at least a few years.

It’s evolution, not revolution. By building upon a mass of ideas accumulated since Rome 2, Total War: Three Kingdoms creates the most compelling strategic mode in years. All that’s left to do now is fix battles…

Thronebreaker is surprisingly simple on medium difficulty, but there is no incentive to play it again on hard. Here, Gwent serves as a distraction from Queen Maeve’s adventures rather than the main course. Under different circumstances, her story could have been turned into a much more ambitious self-sufficient game to rival The Banner Saga trilogy.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a good game, but it lacks a spark.

This is an unforgettable trip into the horrifying world of bureaucracy.

You won't find a shred of originality here, but who cares! This is Doom you were looking for. Or, technically, its remake.

Toys for Bob's game is a welcome addition to the original trilogy, although you will hardly remember its levels or music. Crash Bandicoot 4 is two steps below the amazing Super Mario Odyssey and Yoshi’s Crafted World.

Dirt Rally 2.0 will not become a cult hit like Colin McRae Rally 2.0 did. Still, if you’re tired of the original Dirt Rally, don't miss this sequel — decent rally simulators are a very rare breed these days.

Only thanks to the Nemesis system stinky orcs from Peter Jackson’s movies rise above being cannon fodder and turn into actual characters. If this cool system weren’t here, no one would have looked twice at this hybrid clone of Batman: Arkham City and Assassin’s Creed.

In 25 years, System Shock 2 has hardly aged, and thanks to Nightdive's efforts, it has become much more convenient to play on modern systems.

This game will charm you as soon as you will see its loading screens and listen to first heavy metal chords of its awesome soundtrack.

Forsaken is flawed, and yet it is the best Destiny 2 expansion so far. There is nothing that elicits exuberance, but if you are a hardcore Guardian, do not miss it.

It would be a mistake to call Darkest Dungeon a roguelike game. It is, in fact, a more elaborate version of Cookie Clicker. You play with numbers instead of playing a game.

Even though Citadel, like other Mass Effect 3 expansions, plugs into the final third of the campaign, this is probably the closest thing to a happy end that Shepard & Co. will ever have. And if you think that there is no place for fan service and inside jokes in the gloomy universe of Mass Effect, you’d better stay away from this DLC.

Wealth of Nations offers even less scope than Conquest of Paradise, and the changes it introduces are hardly game-changing, yet they’re all thought-out and very appropriate. If you’re going to play as a trade empire, don’t skimp on this expansion.

Nice-looking and highly original, Frostpunk is too simplistic for a city-building sim and too shallow to grip you with emotional hooks.

Quirks of the match engine, illogical events, and a handful of old bugs stop me from praising FM 2020 to high heaven, but, after some proper patching, it may become one of the best football managers in years.

Stellar Blade is not as stylish and intriguing as Nier: Automata, but the result is still impressive — especially when compared to Shift Up's previous projects.

Even though the scope of this stand-alone adventure is smaller than usual, there‘s enough exciting, yet all-too-familiar blockbuster scenes, a daring escape from a crumbling temple, a high-octane car chase and a sequence that can only be described as the train from Uncharted 2 on steroids.

Black Flag is not a sequel, it is just a big expansion pack, and it has nothing to merit the “4” in its title. Just like Brotherhood and Revelations that fleshed out Assassin’s Creed 2, it is not a step forward, but aside.

A worthy heir to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It compensates for its narrative shortcomings with immersive atmosphere, top-notch combat system and flawless pace.

Besides the 6-player co-op mode, very little reminds us that this game debuted in 2022. Shredder’s Revenge lifts most of its ideas verbatim from the arcade classics, sprinkling some modern niceties and a handful of minor bugs. If you can recite the TMNT theme song by memory, this is definitely your game.

An unforgettable, incredibly depressing adventure, and the finest work by Frictional Games so far.

This unusual action game set in an offbeat world created by Taro Yoko is a treasure trove of pleasant surprises. It's not often that we meet such a stylish, offbeat, memorable game.

Morales’ New York is just as basic as before. There is nothing to do except complete the same missions, and the city cannot offer anything more except spectacular bird’s eye view panoramas.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is one of the most exciting detective adventure games. And the new remaster titled Reforged is a great gift for series fans and newcomers alike.

Fallout 4 is an OK game if you treat it as an open-world first-person shooter.

No matter how much content is recycled here, New Super Mario Bros. U is a gem in Wii U’s launch line-up. Problem is, there is nothing that sets it apart from a long line of its predecessors.

I was wrong about The Wolf Among Us – twice. The first time is when I hoped that, having practiced drama skills writing an on-rails zombie adventure, Telltale Games would be able to build something more complex and spectacular. The second time is when I thought that there would be some twist in the case of dead hookers. My failed prediction is not what vexes me; it’s the fact that Telltale just skipped the climax of the story altogether.

A devilishly fast, fun, exciting multiplayer platformer, SpeedRunners is an excellent party game when playing in Steam's Big Picture mode.

Gris evokes memories of Disney's Fantasia, a wordless animated movie which creates an exciting audiovisual experience by combining colors and music.

Quite a things in Origins are open to debate, but all in all, it’s a good game.

Even though Ultimate General: Gettysburg offers just one historical event, there is enough variety to make your next play-through different than the previous one.

Two Point Hospital doesn’t want and doesn’t know how to punish players for their mistakes. It only creates a feeling of hectic atmosphere and imitates problems to keep us from falling asleep while moving medicine cabinets for the umpteenth time.

Grim Dawn is a well-done game, although it doesn’t have anything new to offer. This is Diablo 3 that we were looking for back in 2012.

As a game, Ghost of Tsushima offers tried-and-true tropes of the genre with a story of a paradigm shift, decent swordplay, generic sandbox attractions (with zero towers and grind, though) and bearable monotony. But if you accept it as a series of living wallpapers, it’s a true PlayStation 4 gem.

Gunpoint is stylish, incredibly atmospheric and quite deceptive as it is actually a clever puzzle rather than stealth action. Too bad it is only 3 hours long, and there is no incentive to revisit the game when you’re done with it.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a solid game, but if you are new to the series, I suggest to start with Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. VC4 builds on its ideas and the fans will enjoy it a lot, although I am a bit worried that the developers do not know where to go next — it is painfully apparent in their approach to gameplay mechanics and evolution of their fictional universe.

Despite catering to hardcore players and limited gameplay options, CTR Nitro-Fueled successfully rides the nostalgia wave, but I’m not ready to become the drift guru just yet.

Age of Wonders 4 didn't overwhelm my expectations. But even now, without all planned DLC, you can easily spend dozens of hours on this game.

Life Is Strange is a very controversial game. On one hand, it sets a new quality standard in ‘cinematic’ adventure games — from now on, they must give freedom to players and make them emotionally invested in on-screen events. On the other hand, it’s packed with dumb gaffes and disastrous shortcomings. Still, if you managed to reach the end credits and spent the next couple of days thinking about the characters, then it was worth it.

If you like animated movies from Disney and Pixar, and you want to relieve some of the key moments, welcome to Kingdom Hearts 3.

Was it worth it to sacrifice the single-player campaign? If this was the only way to create this awesome multiplayer package, then yes, absolutely. Black Ops 4 channels the spirit of the first two Modern Warfare games, and this is an achievement by itself.

Despite the "Can't stop the progress" tagline, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is pretty much a rehash of the previous game.

The emotional side, be it notes scribbled by the characters or encounters with other survivors, is hands down the best thing in the whole game.

Don't Starve Together does little to fix the original's glaring problems, but still, conquering the wilderness together with friends is a lot of fun.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a beautiful and sometimes thrilling movie and an outdated game. It is a boring retelling of the original that has nothing to offer the player, except for modern graphics and modern controls.

If you don't play all Call of Duty games in a row, but pick the best one every few years, then Black Ops 6 is the first contender for your money and time.

The sequel is not exactly long on fresh ideas, but the multiplayer is sheer joy and it reminds me of Perfect Dark Zero and TimeSplitters 2.

Bungie dropped the ball on loot in Destiny 2, but even despite this and some other jarring drawbacks, the game is solid. It amazes you with excellent shooter mechanics and smart enemies, blinds you with colorful explosions and splashes of super abilities, enthralls you with breath-taking vistas and intricately designed weapons. Even the dumb story has a flipside — you will laugh yourself to tears playing the campaign with your fire team mates.

If you compare Dragonborn’s price on Steam to that of the original game, you’d think they’re offering you a third of Skyrim. Naturally, this isn’t the case – the island of Solstheim is not so action-packed. Yet a sandbox, even a small one, is way more enjoyable than a handful of new locations and random quests from Dawnguard.

Those who regard Skyrim as a virtual tourism app, will enjoy exploring every nook and cranny in Hitman. If I had to pick just one reason to play this game, it's because you can immerse yourself in its meticulously created mini-worlds.

Monaco fails at balancing fun and cold math; the first levels are so easy that you’ll run through them without even thinking, but by the end the awkward arcade shenanigans will become the downfall of your carefully laid plans.

Besides killing enemies, there is not much to do; the entire game is a linear path from one small arena to the next one. Yes, there is a story, but in Bastion it was seamlessly integrated into gameplay, and here it only breaks the pace.

There are tons of interesting stuff to do and see in Yakuza 5, it will entertain you for dozens… no, hundreds of hours.