A Plague Tale: Innocence makes a commendable effort to mask its somewhat routine gameplay, and in the end, it wins you over with captivating atmosphere, great music, likeable main characters and nice visuals. If you like cinematic games, this stroll through Dark Ages is worth it.

If you felt constrained by the chaos system in Dishonored 1 & 2, you can finally enjoy killing pretty much anyone without repercussions. But even this newfound freedom won’t fix badly written characters, ham-fisted dialogue, weak narrative, and annoying gameplay conventions.

It feels as if Frozenbyte created this colorful, riveting platformer to prove to us and themselves that this series is far from over. The fate of Trine does seem bright, but the developers should really stop reusing their past ideas.

With every new installment, Age of Wonders continues to drift away from the concept of the original game in the series by trying to blend in with the 4X crowd. So far, the result is not that impressive.

Black Myth: Wukong is a mediocre game in a shiny wrapper. Reading descriptions of enemies is much more interesting than fighting them.

Conquest of Paradise is a solid, although somewhat narrowly-focused expansion.

Even though FIFA 16 can easily fool you into thinking that you’re watching live TV, these pretty visuals are not enough to justify this expensive upgrade from FIFA 15. But if you missed last year’s game, you’re in for a treat.

You can easily spend ten hours on Trine 5. Then, unfortunately, you'll forget everything about this game except gorgeous graphics and fun co-op.

The story is short on emotions, the main characters lost their charm, the script is a messy patchwork, but the worst flaw is that the gameplay is repetitive and sluggish.

Gears Tactics proves that there is a place for an awesome turn-based strategy game in the Gears universe. Now, someone needs to develop that game.

Halo Infinite was supposed to become a flagship title for “the most powerful console in the world,” but in reality we got an interlude of a story devoid of epic set pieces, a template for something greater that may or may not arrive in the future, an empty “open world” punctuated with interior design circa early 2000s. If not for the awesome shootouts, Master Chief should have been jettisoned back into space.

Even though I wish that Endless Space 2 had fully controllable battles and smarter AI opponents, this is still an amazing game that you will be exploring for hours.

Despite truly ancient visuals, this is the best heir of Crimsonland that I've ever played.

Tyranny sometimes doesn't feel like a game in its own. I could not shake the feeling that I was playing an extended prologue to some awesome, not yet released RPG. You can play through this story in very different ways, exploring various shades of gray during your travels, but you won't be able to escape the shockingly abrupt ending.

It's easy to rule an entire genre of soccer management sims when your worst enemy is a weak indie title like Retro Football Boss. But now, Sports Interactive faces a rising threat of stagnation, and as the developers continue to go around in circles, the word "refund" will be cropping up more often in the user comments section on Steam.

SoulCalibur 6 joins Injustice 2 on the front line of modern arcade fighting games. I hope the amazing character editor will only increase its popularity over time.

Basketball fans, NBA 2K18 is your new best friend… until the next fall.

Every situation in GRID 2 feels the same, and there is a reason. Having collected more than 50 cars in my virtual garage, I can’t point out my favorite ones – they all behave the same way, without any distinctive quirks of ‘character’. And locations that repeat ad nauseum only make this feeling worse.

Fans of Silent Hill and Resident Evil should definitely try The Evil Within 2. Even with all its annoying flaws, the sequel is better than the original game. Slowly but surely, Tango Gameworks is working its way towards a perfect formula for a modern horror game.

An enthralling sci-fi thriller mixed with a touching melodrama that captures the zeitgeist. Although, unlike Penumbra, it’s not even remotely scary.

Last year, Expeditions: Conquistador and Shadowrun Returns proved that Kickstarter can help create a good RPG. But The Banner Saga is not just good – it’s amazing.

If you've been putting off getting to know Age of Wonders 3, now's the time to do it.

Battle Brothers needs more text to fully bring its world to live, but if you like turn-based battles and open worlds, this game is as good as it gets.

"It’s yet another game with huge pixels and a mouthful of a name,” I had thought upon hearing the announcement a few years ago, and I am so glad that I was proven wrong. If not for Wadjet Eye Games, I would have missed this excellent adventure with delightfully crafted suspense and brilliant dialogue.

Assassin's Creed 3 offers a spectacular way to fill in the blanks in your knowledge of the American Revolution - it never holds back on scope, drama or action.

On one side, you have linear gameplay, at times simplistic game design and plenty of clichés. On the other – an exciting opportunity to star in a very cool horror ‘movie’.

Arkane made a mistake of cutting Daud’s story into two separate DLCs because all the good stuff is in the second part.

Maybe they should have made this story into a radio play rather than a video game?..

Old Skies by Wadjet Eye Games is an inventive, very varied, and wildly entertaining classic adventure.

Goodbye Deponia is a wild rollercoaster ride - a bigger, smarter and funnier adventure than the previous Deponia games. It will earn a place in your heart even after it totally fails to deliver a proper cathartic ending.

The Gardens Between wins you over with immediacy and candor rather than original concept or atmosphere. Don’t expect metaphysical references, hidden postmodernist rhetoric, or a multi-layered narrative — there is none of that. Moreover, it is devoid of conflict, story and text. This is a journey through a child’s imagination made out of clever puzzles.

Gathering Storm brings a few notable additions to Civilization 6, but most of them are half-baked. When combined with Rise & Fall, they drastically change the original formula, yet I can’t shake the feeling that this expansion could have been so much better.

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

The worst problem is that combat, skill management and trying out tons of various swords are quite boring as a main dish, and Expeditions: Roms has nothing extra to offer.

If you still haven’t played Company of Heroes 2, The British Forces is a good reason to do it.

Don’t expect to witness the events of the original game in a new light. Daud, the new player character, has a story of his own that is spread thin over three disappointingly short missions.

If you wanted Company of Heroes 2 only for the single-player campaign, don’t waste your money – the story and mission design are atrocious. On the other hand, its multiplayer battles are lightning-fast and ferocious – easily the best in the RTS genre right now.

The remastered versions now look like interactive animated movies, with familiar levels recreated in a completely new engine with real-time lighting, new models and animations, visual effects and re-recorded sounds. But still, keep in mind that classic Crash games were a product of their era, so if you played this trilogy on PS1 back in the 90s when you were a kid, you won't get that the same feeling again.

Trudograd is not as varied and expansive as I expected, but, all in all, it’s a very decent role-playing game and a notable improvement over the original Atom RPG.

Gravity Rush 2 is a charming collection of interesting ideas and situations, marred by the infantile story, samey gameplay, some unintentionally funny animations of the main character, along with annoying bugs.

Far Cry 4 is yet another collection of stale ideas that permeate every Ubisoft title of the last few years, adorned with a ho-hum story. But, even if you realize that you played almost the same game back in 2012, Kyrat is still a good place to escape from your everyday life.

Broken Arrow is a strong debut from Steel Balalaika Studio and one of the most compelling real-time tactics in recent years, equally engaging in single-player and online modes.

A good game, but not a masterpiece, The Red Strings Club has a lot of ”Chekhov’s guns” that never fire a shot, and reveals a huge twist 5 minutes before the credits roll. I like the concept of this twist, but it appears without rhyme or reason. Still, you will feel a surge of emotions when the game will ask you to make that final, heard-shredding choice.

If you've never played "metroidvania" type of games, Ghost 1.0 is an excellent entry point.

The remastered version retains the familiar gameplay with all its quirks and problems, but looks much better than the original, especially textures. The improvements are not as drastic as in Diablo 2: Resurrected, but definitely put Mass Effect: Legendary Edition to shame.

If you believe that an RTS game is about armies of units happily shooting at each other, rather than boring base-building and management, gather your comrades and enjoy this world of endless revolution.

Legendary Heroes is yet another step forward for Stardock, If you are not familiar at all with Elemental, the studio’s previous effort, or other 4X fantasy strategy games, it may even surprise you. It’s just not a stand-out game.

Around Every Corner is a layer between the middle and the end of the story, and it's mostly filler.

The sheer scale of "cosmetic surgery" in Resurrected is mind-boggling, and that’s exactly what we’ve been promised. At the same time, 20-year old gameplay tropes raise quite a few questions, especially if you’re used to the conveniences of modern action/RPGs.

Luftrausers is one of those arcade games that feel very nice, but there is not much to do.

The concept of Stealth Bastard is ripe for a mind-bending puzzle adventure. Alas, instead of teasing our brains, Curve Studios made a tedious exercise for training finger strength.

SMB 3 pretty much cancels its two predecessors by improving even the smallest details — now that’s an evolving franchise!

Just like any other decent 4X game, Age of Wonders 3 truly shines when you play on random maps, rather than scenarios. They are much more fun to explore, and the whole diplomacy mechanic suddenly makes sense.

Despite grim subject matter, Plague Inc. is a relaxing, entrancing game.

Dragon Quest XI may delight even the staunchest opponents of JRPGs.

An open world game devoid of meaningful content will be forever remembered only as a tool for making astonishingly beautiful screenshots.

A decent reincarnation of one of the biggest console hits of 2000s.

If you're interested in Candle because of its stylish looks, just skip the game itself and enjoy the screenshots.

Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition is a worthy remaster that expands on the classic castle-building strategy game. However, most of the new features are designed for experienced players.

The RTS genre will be alive and kicking until the day they stop making games like this one.

Thanks to the extensive remaster, this extraordinary, albeit quirky game is now accessible for a wider audience. Nier: Replicant belongs to a rare breed of RPGs that grip you to the very end.

Are you ready to shell out for a pricey graphics update? Because as a simulator, Football Manager did not mature at all.

In this final installment, you’ll spend 3-4 hours watching the writers retconning the history of Columbia and Rapture, but none of these revelations are exciting.

Fly'N could have been better if it were a bit bolder and more original.

Creative Assembly needs to put extra effort into the making of the upcoming Total War: Warhammer so as not to lose the last vestiges of the studio’s credibility.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is certainly not quite the “resurrection” we would have liked to see. It's a trial balloon for Bethesda. But it still turned out pretty well.

Tales of Berseria is too archaic in its game design and visuals to be a mass-appeal JPRG. Still, if you're looking to play a modern representative of this genre, keep in mind that you can easily find a better-looking game, but you won't have as much fun playing it as this one.

Story-wise, Judgment is a compelling mix of Chinatown and the first season of True Detective. Impressive direction and believable characters in unexpected situations is the last thing that I expected from an action game based on the Yakuza engine.

The Stanley Parable was a brilliant satire on video games. The creators of The Magic Circle picked a different target — not games themselves, but people that work on them. And, unlike those “walking simulators”, there is plenty of fun stuff to do.

Spatial puzzles and meticulous optimization tasks go hand in hand with frantic escapes, intense shoot-outs and tense moments of silence. This mix is so engrossing that at first you don’t even notice all these minor annoyances that DotE is rife with. Still, even with them, the game is very enjoyable.

Art of Rally is an opposite of a hardcore rally sim; it requires very little effort and revels in its meditative approach. Drive, listen to pleasant electronic tunes, enjoy the scenery. But I wish there was something more besides career mode, because when it’s over 20 hours later, you’re done.

There aren't any major graphical improvements that would justify the $30 price tag. But Outlaws is a fantastic shooter, and I highly recommend giving it a try in any form.

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.

There’s a good concept at the core of Star Wars: Squadrons, as flying a space fighter and managing its systems can be a lot of fun, however, you have to be a very dedicated Star Wars fan to enjoy a drab campaign with just a handful of memorable moments and watered-down multiplayer modes from Battlefront 2.

Alas, the developer allowed the masterfully crafted narrative to fall apart in the end. After enjoying immensely detailed side stories, and seeing some very powerful scenes, the weird ending is the weakest point of the game.

Coming off of a string of failures, Fatshark has finally managed to release a solid game.

Yoshi’s Crafted World doesn’t bring anything new to the formula — everything is lifted from other arcade games and previous Yoshi’s adventures. Still, it never gets boring.

Super House of Dead Ninjas is too predictable compared to its predecessor. A game that uses randomly generated levels could keep you entertained for a very long time, and House of Dead Ninjas did that by combining various obstacles. But now, only the order of rooms is random, and their contents are mostly the same all the time.

Payday 2 is basically SWAT 4, only you play as criminals instead of cops. Stylish, exhilarating, and quite hardcore, this game is a treat for fans of team-based coop shooters.

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.

Until Dawn is a crash course in branching narrative, pumped with adrenaline and pure fun. Even if you replay it a couple of times from beginning to end, you will not be bored.

The title of Miss Video Games in 2017 goes to… no, not to Billy Lurk, Chloe Frazer, or Itō Ayami, but to a tomboy with no name from A Hat in Time.

Sang-Froid has its share of flaws, most of which are typical for indie games, but it is easy to overlook them – after all, not every ‘tower defense’ offers an original concept, cool gameplay mechanics, and a captivating story.

Assassin's Creed Shadows can entertain you, even despite the silly plot. But you won't lose anything without this game.

Don’t expect too much of Gunslinger – it stretches its 6 hours of running and gunning with a lot repetition. They don’t even let us ride a horse – in a western game, really?! On the other hand, this Call of Juarez is a huge improvement over the abysmal CoJ: The Cartel.

Amazingly beautiful tracks where you race, swim and fly, sometimes changing the level as you progress through it, are what makes this game great.

The Quarry is a retread of the familiar genre tropes and Supermassive's own debut game, Until Dawn, but the quality bar is somehow lower than 7 years ago. Still, it’s entertaining enough for one playthrough if you like ”QTE movies”.

Sniper Elite 5 is a mission pack disguised as a sequel, with a bunch of small, unremarkable adjustments to the tried formula.

Elden Ring Nightreign is an interesting attempt to build a “session-based” game in the Elden Ring universe. But some things just don't work together.

A hit and miss adventure that tries to pay homage to Tim Schaffer's undying classics from the 90s. It does feel like old school, and sometimes, it's even funny, but never reaches that level of brilliance.

Rising Tide only looks like a hefty expansion because it fails to breathe life into Beyond Earth.

If the developers were a bit more creative with the concept, they could have turned the game into a great puzzle in a sandbox-style environment with terraforming and freedom of exploration. Alas, Waking Mars as it is now has neither decent puzzles nor sandbox gameplay, although if you're itching to play a god-sim, this one will do nicely.

The game’s illusion of freedom is a bit disappointing. There are no paths surrounded by invisible walls as we have come to expect from other ‘endless runners’, and the first thing you do is try to take a peek at the edge of this world. But, in reality, there are only three ways: forward, just to the left, and just to the right.

That 'early access' feeling is still present in what is billed as a finished product. In fact, it is even stronger than before, with the unruly camera, horrible interface, slow-thinking AI, long loading times, and the help system presented in plain text format. And the promised career mode is even more bare-bones than in Qvadriga and Armored Core: Formula Front.

Judgment is a prequel that no one asked for. The story campaign is worth a go if you play it in co-op with friends and take declassified missions – although it adds nothing to the story of Sera. The new multiplayer modes are okay, but overall all these ‘changes’ are just a game of musical chairs.

Despite a somewhat muddled ending, this single player campaign is one of the best in recent years.

If you’re not an avid fan of shoot-‘em-ups, you’d hardly look twice at this plain-looking game and its scanty arsenal of weapons.

The official description of Road 96 promises “thousands of roads across the authoritarian nation of Petria.” One might think that this is a truly non-linear game with a highly replayable campaign, but in reality you’ll get one full playthrough, with maybe a smidge more. Still, this playthrough, despite some flaws in logic and overall simplicity of the game, will bring you joy and a dozen awesome songs for your playlist.