The iOS version of The Lords of Midnight is a good remake. It treats the original game with love and respect, although you have to be a big retro fan in order to fully enjoy it.

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

Every previous expansion tried to change the concept of Battlefield 3’s multiplayer. Each enjoyed a different degree of success, but DICE always kept the game fresh. End Game feels like it was churned out by an Activision studio. The huge maps are a welcome addition, but there’s nothing else to write about.

It would have been more honest to call this release a “Preview” or “Early Access” while the developers listen to feedback on several controversial gameplay features, add new levels, fix bugs and deal with server outages. It is easy to get annoyed at all these problems because they spoil a good game.

The action in Metal Gear Revengeance is always spectacular, albeit it won’t be long before you notice some repetitive patterns. Unfortunately, the story that glues these battles together is weak.

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.

Tekken 7 is a great time-killer that can hold its own against the latest installments of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue.

There is something appealing about The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, despite its rough edges and run-of-the-mill gameplay mechanics. You don’t want to leave this world, but the end titles start crawling mere 15 hours into the campaign.

The aging Assassin’s Creed franchise begs to be retooled and refreshed, and the paint-by-the-numbers Syndicate is yet more proof of that.

Football, Tactics & Glory is hardly addictive, but accessible and deep enough to fill a World Cup-shaped hole in your heart. If would be perfect on the go, but, unfortunately, there is only a PC version of the game.

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.

Hard West destroys its characters in such a spectacular manner that you can’t take your eyes off this dazzling drama. If only the ending wasn’t so subdued…

As fun The Shadow Sun is, it feels like the developers had to cut a lot of corners in order to finally make it onto the market.

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.

This game is a definite downgrade from last year’s Infinite Warfare. More scripted scenes and QTE, less freedom, no side missions, but — hey! — medkits are back. Call of Duty: WWII proves yet again that World War II has run its course in video games. Let’s put it behind for good and get back to starfighters, cyborgs and laser rifles.

Brevity (just 4 hours to credits roll!), serious subject matter, good sound design, easy platforming and accessible puzzles almost balance out the many shortcomings of Inmost, like its non-interactive climax, weird controls and empty talk in lengthy dialogues. But not the mind-numbingly dull knight episodes — those are beyond redemption.

You should definitely pick up Real World Racing if you are into this kind of racing games – the single-player campaign alone is worth the price of admission. Here is hoping that the developers will eventually fix the broken multiplayer.

Little Hope is a slight improvement over Man of Medan. It’s still not scary at all, but at least it's less annoying than the first game. This time around, Supermassive wrote a better story, used decent camera angles, and purged awkward jokes (dumb "screamers" are still in there, though).

Even if its strategic gameplay pretty much boils down to figuring out a perfect combination of actions, Rebuild 3 is incredibly addictive.

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.

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

Shelter 2 is pretty much a happening like the first game, but this time around, it is a mature work of art that has a clear idea at its core.

A decent collection of racing-themed puzzles for those who prefer really hardcore arcade games.

The Vale puts binaural sounds and simple controls to good use, but the repetitive combat and copy/pasted towns quickly get old. This adventure is good for exactly one playthrough, and that’s it.

Just like in Sunless Sea, at some point, gameplay inevitably gets in the way of enjoying the story. As soon as you master all the elements, gadgets and upgrades, flying through space will become a nuisance.

This is a decent remaster. Star Wars: Dark Forces looks better, and it became more comfortable. The game is worth playing for all fans of Star Wars and the FPS genre in general. And it's not so important which version to play, old or new.

On one hand, Drive on Moscow has good enemy AI, lots of variation in just one scenario, and online multiplayer populated with players. On the other hand, it's a pity that the studio decided to milk the concept as much as it can.

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.

Jumping off Dark Souls, FromSoftware removed all the best components of its hit series in order to make Sekiro. It's a decent slasher if you like honing reflexes or breaking bricks with your forehead. More casual players will quickly get bored, though.

Fans of genre classics from Spielberg and Zemeckis should play Crossing Souls for that elusive magical feeling of a Hollywood fairytale, for its great 80s style soundtrack, for genuinely funny moments, and even for its thrilling, albeit naive drama… But be warned: this nostalgia trip will be bumpy as hell.

An easy to pick up fighting game whose creators know exactly what their audience wants. At the same time, it will hardly surprise long-time fans.

Should you read lengthy Internet discussions on what is missing now in Beyond Earth, you may think that the game is simply guilty of being not enough like Alpha Centauri, when, in fact, the problem lies elsewhere. Beyond Earth is worse than its 15-year-old predecessor in all regards, and it has nothing to make up for it. Firaxis made a decent, but shallow game that gets old after 2-3 playthroughs, which is not a good sign in a 4X genre.

A decent remaster of a great game. I just hope the devs will squash all the remaining bugs, tune-up AI, fix pathfinding and add mod support.

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.

Age of Empires 4 is based on a solid foundation created way back during the last millennium, but it suffers from a plethora of annoying little flaws and drawbacks. Some of them will be fixed with patches and maybe future DLCs, if we’re lucky, but even then, it’s a far cry from the stellar Age of Empires 2.

It is a definite step forward compared to Star Hammer Tactics, but there is so much stuff to add, like, for example, multiplayer and a global map with a strategic mode or a story campaign.

Madden NFL 20 is not a promised breakthrough, just a good enough game with some novel ideas, dumb defensive AI and the abysmally awful Face of the Franchise.

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

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

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.

The main drawback of Ninja Gaiden 4 is its repetitive level design. It’s a real shame, because the game can be vibrant and stylish, and you could watch the ninja’s dance of death forever.

Finally, a successor to Dungeon Keeper 2 that is actually fun to play.

Romeo is a Dead Man is a bloody action game full of absurd situations.

A well-rounded survival game with rich atmosphere and a solid gameplay foundation, even though it adds nothing new to the genre.

Die-hard fans of South Park will get their bang for the buck in The Fractured But Whole, with familiar characters and sometimes funny jokes. But, compared to The Stick of Truth, this game is a definite step back.

This is a one-of-a-kind saga about a space rigger, but it needs some memorable moments in order to shine.

Short and light on the puzzles, Darkestville Castle will hardly surprise point-and-click veterans. On the flipside, it has a quirky world filled with quirky, witty characters.

A decent battle royale for newcomers, and casual fun for those who play only on weekends. Necessary items are highlighted, short matches, respawn in team battles. I wish they added training grounds, though.

The Occupation, albeit at times coarse and overly eager to test your basic motor reflexes, enthralls with dozens of small details, nuanced environments, choice-based gameplay and good audio.

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.

Without much words or lengthy conversations, Last Day of June tells a compelling story about destinies, dreams and loss that surround its protagonist Carl. The game needs more work in some technical and visual aspects, but I gotta hand it to the developers from Ovosonico — they know how to work with emotions.

Book of Demons is a fun romp, though it’s not as engrossing and captivating as other, more "serious" action/RPGs.

The excitement gradually wears off as matches turn into grind. Killing Floor 2 can be extremely fun when taken in small doses.

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.

Ubisoft Montreal almost made a GTA of their own. On the second try. For those who think that "funny" public group in social networks are actually funny. If you do not subscribe to the idea that you have to entertain yourself rather than be entertained in a video game, better stay in Los Santos.

Even though Life Goes On is short and simplistic, it offers a bold, welcome break from the ‘science saves the world’ cliché permeating other puzzle games. Three ‘vikings’ will win only if two of them are dead.

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.

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.

This is a small, ingenuous and surprisingly enjoyable game.

Defense Grid 2 feels like a very conservative remake featuring new maps. No bold design ideas here – everything is almost verbatim like in Defense Grid: The Awakening which was released 6 years ago, only the gameplay is a bit simplified.

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

By shuffling off the burden of mundanities on AI, the developers created a near-perfect generator of puzzles, but made quite a few mistakes on the technical side of things.

You don’t have to invent anything new to achieve success — just take the best ideas from your competitors and wrap them in a slick package. Dekovir Entertainment did that in Craft the World, and I don’t want to criticize them for this approach, as the end result is a nice game.

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

Gothic fans will probably feel right at home. Just2D could have truly made a game of its own, but unfortunately the studio chose to resurrect ghosts of the past.

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.

A mildly boring escape from Alcatraz in deep space. It’s neither great or abysmal — an epitome of mediocrity.

A great implementation of the D&D 5th Edition ruleset, Solasta excels at turn-based combat, but falls short at everything else. Dull story, desolate locations, primitive puzzles and one-note side quests are not the hallmarks of an awesome adventure.

At first, State of Decay feels like an exciting introduction into a bleak world of zombie apocalypse, but tedious missions, dated graphics and boring characters quickly ruin all the fun.

Angry Birds Star Wars is a solid game based on a tired concept.

Dogtown without a single dog in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty looks more like a Potemkin village than an appropriate scenery for the final act of a protracted tragedy.

Bright, colorful, fun, but too simple.

Viking Conquest’s multiplayer mode pales in comparison to the expansive, highly detailed, albeit somewhat flawed single-player campaign. It’s not downright bad, it just doesn’t offer anything new, and there are too few servers online. So, if you’re going to the unforgiving Nordic lands, do it for the story.

While Heroes 7 shows promise and some good ideas, there is so much mess on the technical side of things that you should wait a few months before opening up your wallet. Although, after what happened with Heroes 6, there is no guarantee that Ubisoft will iron out the bugs.

A well-balanced adventure with a bold ending and one really weak link. Still, it is worth 6 hours of your time.

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.

The Medium deftly ties all loose story ends and shows impressive art direction, but it lacks wholeness. The game feels like an artist who has too many ideas at the same time; he would grab a brush, then a pen or a piece of coal… but still cannot finish his masterpiece.

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

The worst problem is the lack of content. Motorcycles are few in number and their stats are pretty much the same, maps are bland, and textures look like they were optimized for PS3. After 4–5 hours you will drown in monotony.

Whispers of a Machine is a huge step ahead compared to Kathy Rain and a new look for hand-drawn AGS-based adventure games. Still, there are too many brilliant ideas that remain underdeveloped.

Pathologic 2, just like its predecessor, has a ton of annoying routines which will easily scare away even the most patient players. Yet after getting through the game to the last bow I felt a sudden urge to return to this moody prairie town in the middle of nowhere.

Despite a myriad technical flaws, Swansong does have a well-crafted world (even though it pummels you with TMI at first), non-linearity, nice vibes and even an air of intrigue.

Warlock 2 is a better game than its predecessor, Warlock: Master of the Arcane, but after several playthroughs you will succumb to the familiar boredom.

For Honor is rife with annoying bugs and design shortcomings. Still, a fighting game with swords is too rare a game to ignore it. If you like memorizing combos and duking it out with other players, give Ubisoft 3-4 months to iron out bugs, fix the balance and lower the price.

At a first glance, Curse of the Dead Gods offers enough variety and exciting nuance to take a deep dive, but quickly loses steam and devolves into tedious chaos.

It is possible that Verdun will grow its own collection of free DLCs as it happened with Red Orchestra 2 and Insurgency. Blackmill Games has already promised to add flamethrowers, mortars, body armor, new maps, including the Eastern Front and more… However, right now this game is for military history buffs only.

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.

Star Wars: Battlefront is beautiful to look at, but too primitive at its core.

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

This ambitious attempt to create an MMO racing game pretty much failed thanks to horrible bugs and poor gameplay balance. And if you prefer playing alone, The Crew is not good enough for that, either.

Three or four hours into the game, and your interest in F13 will inevitably fade — this game desperately needs more variety in situations. All sessions are too similar, and, if you are lucky enough to become the first victim, you will have to remain a spectator for the rest of the session.

Frozen State can be a lot of fun at times. Where else can you plod through a heavy snowstorm in a ruined Siberian town while drinking porto to warm yourself up? Just don't expect too much fun here.

Duality is the biggest flaw of Dirt 4. Fans of colorful arcade racing games will find it too dull and unforgiving, while hardcore rally enthusiasts continue to enjoy their DiRT Rally and Richard Burns Rally.

Instead of trying to improve on the first “season”, Life Is Strange 2 starts from scratch. Unfortunately, glaring plot holes, shallow supporting characters and weak attempts at gameplay make this journey worse than it could be. Still, if you make it to the end, it is almost worth it.

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

Onrush is an acquired taste, and you will probably part ways with it after 8-9 of hours of playing. Asking 60 USD for a game in this condition is way too much.

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst brings the series back where it started - to broken dreams and still untapped potential.

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.