Puzzles lack variety, and each of them is a one-shot challenge. It’s easy to arrive at a solution by simply scanning a level and launching the flock a couple of times. The execution is just a matter of careful timing.

Abyss Odyssey is akin to a raid from World of Warcraft that you have to repeat over and over again. Though there is not much incentive to do that.

For the second year in the row, Activision, like a crafty snake oil peddler, pushes ‘a next-gen Call of Duty’ by replacing developers, locations and characters. Goodbye, German cyber-shepherd, orbital kinetic missiles and a crazy Venezuelan dictator. Hello, exoskeletons, holograms and a corporate megalomaniac played by Kevin Spacey. But the glitzy CG cinematics and sweet PR songs hide the stale 10-year old gameplay formula.

Alien: Isolation's story will take you around 15-20 hours to complete. But, to spare yourself the bitter aftertaste of the second part of the campaign, do this – after completing Mission 10, quit the game and pretend that you’ve just seen a happy ending.

Age of Wonders 3 combined with this expansion is definitely worth buying now.

The game takes your breath away from the first seconds, but its paper-thin story quickly gets lost in the beautiful picture.

Stronghold Crusader 2 is hardly the worst representative of its niche sub-genre, but Firefly Studios is too stuck in the past to freshen the aging concept.

All elements of Tiestru coexist in harmony as they’re all pure, undiluted garbage.

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.

Heroes of a Broken Land is smart, hardcore enough to be fun and quite charming, and it could have become a hit if its creators did not pursue the procedural ”infinity”. Ten hand-made dungeons would have been much better than billions of generic ones. So, enjoy the first few hours of game, take a tour of all the landmarks and then leave the game mid-campaign.

This remake will hardly attain a cult status – ever.

Hack ‘n’ Slash is not an introduction to programming; if you’re a dummy, you’d better off playing the old classic Roboforge. But, if you do code, this game will make you ecstatic. Unlike Scribblenauts, where you being god removed all the challenge from the game, in Hack ‘n’ Slash you don’t have to invent your own adventures – the developers will keep you occupied.

A fresh, dynamic addition to the stale artillery genre.

A poor man’s Magicka – this is what Runers basically is.

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.

Telltale should have just removed all the filler from In Sheep’s Clothing and attached all remaining good story bits to the final episode of the season.

Right now, Endless Legend is already much more balanced and fun than its direct competitor, Age of Wonders 3.

Frontline: Road to Moscow is a decent choice for newcomers to the wargame genre. Just keep in mind that there are much better games around on both PC and mobile platforms, like Panzer Corps and Unity of Command.

Global Outbreak is a typical denizen of the mobile realm who wandered into the land of PC. Along the way, it lost microtransactions, got better graphics, new interface, a handful of minor improvements and a subtitle Doomsday Edition. Yet this weird hybrid of X-COM and Alien Shooter is still lame in both legs.

Don’t mind the uncomely look of the game; it will not let you go until, 7 hours later, you will deal with the final boss.

Among the Sleep is yet another good example of a successful game made possible thanks to Kickstarter.

For those who have somehow managed to miss the last 15 years of The Sims’ existence, the fourth entry will be a great experience – after all, Maxis did most of the basics right. But long-time fans will quickly grow bored without familiar features, objects, and situations. The Sims 4 was expected to build upon the legacy of The Sims 3, but instead, it is almost a barren platform for future DLCs.

Only when your team arrives in Los Angeles which was unavailable in the Steam Early Access version, Wasteland 2 gets a second wind and becomes *that* classic RPG.

The whole idea of Planetary Annihilation seemed *too cool* from the very beginning, so it’s no surprise that some of the promises were later forgotten. The developers made the obligatory stuff (after all, you can’t have an RTS about giant combat robots without said robots), but failed to include some of the most basic things that were present in Supreme Commander and even in Total Annihilation.

If you’ve never heard of words like “metroidvania” and “beat-‘em-up”, Guacamelee! is an excellent entry point for you.

Mount Your Friends is good only if you want to shock and stupefy your guests at a party. This game is fun for the first 15 minutes. After that, don’t even try to look for variety here. Even if it were a free Flash game, it would have been crushed by more creative (Climb), witty (Double Hitler) and absurd (Realistic Summer Sports Simulator) brethren.

Lichdom: Battlemage is a hymn to frustrated hopes. It had all the markings of something exciting: an experienced team, cool idea to use combat spells instead of traditional weapons, top-notch graphics engine, several years of development and a long gestation period in Steam Early Access… And it was all for naught.

Road Not Taken is an endless stream of puzzles and a mysterious world which you just can’t stop exploring. Every new secret you solve brings up new exciting questions.

Even if you play Dead Rising 3 together, it still quickly becomes stale and boring. New gadgets and weapons differ mostly by animation, while zombies are just an annoying obstacle on your road to the next waypoint.

The developers should stick to what they do best – make more desktop wallpapers.

I would have liked to write anything positive about this game, maybe mention untapped potential or hope for a better sequel, but Industry Empire is impossible to either love or hate. It produces zero emotions except for a hint of somewhat pleasant boredom.

Dungeon Defenders Eternity is not so much an enhanced edition but rather an amusing different take on the same concept.

A completely derivative, mouldy, boring hack job created by a once renowned studio. Looks like the hero of Risen 3 is not the only one who lost his soul.

In Unrest, the player is just a spectator. The characters you play cannot change a thing about the world, and it is incredibly disappointing.

The core concept of Epigenesis is okay, but the team did not have the resources to turn it into a decent game.

I guess Telltale wanted to show the world as seen by the child whose whole life depends on adults’ decisions. The result feels like you’re trying to play a game, but someone took your gamepad.

Amid the Ruins gave me hope that The Walking Dead: Season Two may still go out with a bang.

When describing the 3rd episode of the season, In Harm’s Way, I compared Telltale to a maniac who lives to torture his victims. No Going Back only reinforces this impression.

Res Publica is a less significant expansion than Wealth of Nations, but it is cheaper, too. Pick it up if you plan to play as Poland or The Netherlands.

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.

The combat in Vertical Drop Heroes is simplistic, but fun.

A weird, twisted take on a horror game that combines excellent gameplay ideas with truly horrendous mistakes. It’s brilliant and disgusting at the same time, but, alas, the latter prevails.

Despite the initial plan to cut The Fall into several episodes, Over the Moon decided not to tease us with a cliffhanger – it’s a self-contained, albeit short, story.

In 2013, Deconstructeam entered a Ludum Dare competition with a bare bones concept of a game. Now, a year later, this game has a price tag, but it’s bare just as it was back then.

If you try to skip the introductory vanity cards at launch by pressing any key, the game immediately crashes to Windows. As if it is trying to tell you, “Why are you in such a rush? Hey, cool it down and think. There is no fun for you here”.

Retro looks can only get you so far, and in the case of Xenonauts, the longer you play it, the more annoying things you discover. A primitive leveling up system (there are no classes or special abilities), contrived combat mechanics, a moth-eaten 2D engine that doesn’t know how to rotate or zoom. In the end, the strategic part becomes much more interesting than tactical battles.

Modern Combat 5 delivers a shocking blow right after you launch the campaign as it turns out to be a hack job. Instead of traditional levels peppered with checkpoints and scripted cinematics as in previous MC games, you’re treated to a poor man’s version of Dead Trigger.

A superb tactical simulation of a sports event that even now surpasses everything else in its cruelty. Please try to find the gameplay amongst blurry sprites and illegible fonts – it is absolutely worth it.

MouseCraft is a puzzle game “like they used to make”, without portal guns and time manipulation. Its only downside is a badly-designed UI.

Nice-looking, with bright, colorful landscapes, lots of nostalgic references to the old RPGs of yore, and a very high degree of freedom, this game wanted to grab as much audience as it could. But in reality, only somewhat masochistic power players will be able to beat it. Are you one of them? Welcome to Rivellon, then!

Touching, exciting and all-round beautiful adventure somewhat tarred by its monotonous gameplay and the ludicrous image of the Big Bad Enemy. And it is almost a perfect way to explain the concept of war to your kids.

If you’re looking for a good hex-based wargame, don’t fall for the unusual card mechanic - go look somewhere else.

Sniper Elite 3 is hardly worth it, but at least it’s nice to see that the series is changing its course.

Don’t Starve is addictive like a drug, you can’t go cold turkey on it that easily. Just when you think that Klei Entertainment is out of surprises, the next update turns everything upside down. And now Reign of Giants offers even more opportunities for crazy survival experiments.

Looks like the developers read all the reviews and comments that people had posted about Grid 2 and quickly made an improved version of that game. Their best achievement? Grid is no longer a nerve-wracking experience.

Ascendant is a colorful, original platformer that desperately needs more content.

A captivating reimagining of a classic puzzle game.

Supreme Ruler 1936 has no place in the world that already enjoys Hearts of Iron 3 and counts down months to the release of its sequel.

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.

A mildly entertainment workout for your fingers, nothing more. The music is a pleasure to listen, though.

The only thing Duels of the Planeswalkers lacks is, I think, a draft mode, because Hearthstone already has its Arena. And, naturally, they must bring back the Two-Headed Giant. Aside from that, Magic 2015 is really good, truly a second wind for the series.

Garden Warfare gives out a weird vibe. It has solid gameplay, cool look and almost no game-breaking bugs, but it doesn’t have a heart. As if even its creators did not care about their project and made it only because the higher management told them to.

A bold, fun incarnation of a very unusual concept.

Everywhere you look, Light is a sloppy, unfinished game. Next time I’ll think twice before voting for games in Steam Greenlight – who knows, maybe that short stylish trailer is actually the entire game!

It’s not tower defense. It’s just rubbish.

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.

Shorebound clearly learned from their old mistakes, but, unfortunately, they made a few new ones. The studio still has not found its style, and it is in dire need of fresh ideas.

Chronology is just asking to compare it to Braid, even though it is a mediocre game.

Despite a slew of comparisons to Myst, TRON 2.0 and Portal, Fract OSC is an incomplete game at best. Right now, it’s nothing more than an interesting way to visualize music.

25 mostly similar levels will not keep you entertained for long. Jet Car Stunts lacks thrill, and that is its biggest flaw.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 reminds of a time when ‘based on a movie’ was the quickest way to describe and berate a game in the same sentence.

Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure should have been called Tex Murphy: The Nineties Were Awesome, because there is no way to tell such a trashy story with a straight face.

The new version of Crimsonland introduces a lot of dubious changes to the old formula.

Even after release, War of the Vikings is still at the Early Access level in terms of balance, variety and net-code.

As much as CI Games wants to re-brand itself as a triple-A development studio that produces only blockbuster games, the final result is all too familiar. Enemy Front looks better, sounds better, but it’s still boring as hell.

Tropico 5 has room for improvement, but even in its current state it brings sheer joy.

The creators of QuestRun decided to get rid of all the problematic gameplay elements, leaving the very core. Unfortunately, while doing that, they removed the game’s brain and soul.

ZAMB! has a somewhat original concept, and this is pretty much its only saving grace, because even after weeks in Steam Early Access, it is ridden with bugs.

Bright, colorful, fun, but too simple.

If you crave a smart wargame based on WWII, go buy Panzer Corps with expansions instead of this one.

The biggest mystery of this colourful world is its intended audience. Adults will dismiss this otherwise decent game as too simplistic, and kids will stop paying attention halfway through.

Murdered is a one-note game bent on repeating the same formula over and over again.

“I have this strange feeling of déjà vu…”, utters Van Helsing 5 minutes into the story campaign. Don’t look at the number in the title – this is an expansion pack, not a full-fledged sequel.

Mars has never been so bland and dull.

There is so much grinding here that it overshadows cute animations, nice music and original ideas. If you want to make a PC port of a game that relies on micro transactions, you have to go back to the drawing board and rethink the concept, otherwise just don’t bother.

If you’re a fan of hardcore games, try Dark Souls 2. It is not as memorable as its predecessor, and yet it is still a phenomenal experience.

The developers split DreadOut into two parts, and the first half is frustratingly short. It will take you 2-3 hours tops, and that’s only because the game sometimes forgets to tell you when an interactive object is nearby, forcing you to run in circles looking for it.

Non-linearity is the key feature of Sir, You Are Being Hunted, but your range of clever tricks is limited, even though old buildings are crammed with things. Here, freedom is of a different kind, the one that is rarely seen in other video games – you pay for each of your mistakes.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is not as good as previous works of these ex-Starbreeze devs, and it is not as good as No One Lives Forever, which it clearly draws a lot of inspiration from. While not an instant classic, it is still a fun, almost nostalgic romp.

Fan support and unlimited creative freedom gave birth to a monster. If Moebius were a debut by some unknown studio, I would have simply sniffed at it in disdain. But the knowledge that this wretched thing was produced by a lauded veteran of the industry fills my heart with primordial horror.

Starlight Inception is a microwave pizza of space simulators.

Don’t waste your time on Bound by Flame, even if you’re craving for a new fantasy RPG.

TowerFall: Ascension is polished to almost perfection in both style and substance.

The Last Federation in its current state would have been better off in Steam Early Access. Arcen Games continues to improve it after the release, but the idea of indirect control in a space strategy game sounds more fun than it actually is.

Rogue’s Tale apparently comes to us from an old forgotten era when a simple computer mouse was a rare luxury.

Just another faceless, generic roguelike that feels as if its creator was going through a checklist. Time rounds – check. Randomized dungeons and weapons – check. Permanent death – check.

A mediocre commercial remake of 2007’s Zombie Panic: Source. Even 6 months in Steam Early Access did not make it better.

By improving the original formula with lots of cool details, Knuckle Cracker created an addictive, albeit derivative, TD game.