Submerged: Hidden Depths is an interesting experience that will certainly bring back those who loved the first installment in the series. The exploration is engaging, the world has plenty of secrets to discover, there are plenty of cool moments to be a part of. The lack of conflict makes the game stand out from the crowd and will certainly attract an audience. Unfortunately, I never felt that the world or the story were engaging enough to keep me moving forward. The ecology undertones and the link between the siblings are only marginally interesting. I liked seeing the ruins and guessing what they represent but I never cared about the journal entries or the collectibles the game relies on. Submerged: Hidden Depths is a good indie effort that will appeal to players looking for non-violent adventures but fails to extract everything it can from its premise and mechanics.

Broken Pieces has a decent narrative and puzzles that mostly make sense, with a camera system designed to evoke nostalgia. But the combat sections, few as they are, are mediocre and players need to quickly become invested in the story to keep moving forward, finding puzzle solutions, and returning to their home before 8 PM. The experience would have benefited from less reliance on cassette tapes. I also wanted to get more of a sense of how Elise is emotionally affected by everything that’s happening. Broken Pieces shows that a small team can deliver an engaging, tight experience but the game needs better integration between its narrative and gameplay.

Guayota is a good puzzle game, as long as players are willing to overlook some issues. The level design is great, and the title knows how to introduce gameplay ideas gradually and to gently ramp up difficulty. The concept of having two versions for all levels and having gamers move between them when their torch runs out is solid. I like that there are no threats in the dark version. But the developers should have offered a clear way to move back to the light level or give players more than one chance at solving it. The game’s narrative might not offer a strong enough hook if frustration sets in. Guayota’s world and puzzles are engaging but the game makes it hard for players to fully enjoy them.

Once Upon a Puppet is a game of contrasts. Its world is imaginative, its narrative has heart, and its characters are full of potential. Yet it’s held back by technical shortcomings, awkward design choices, and a general lack of polish. It feels like a beautiful puppet show where the strings get tangled too often, pulling you out of the illusion. If you’re a die-hard fan of narrative-driven indie platformers, or if the puppet theater aesthetic deeply appeals to you, this title may still be worth a try—especially during a sale. There’s magic here, but you’ll need patience—and a forgiving mindset—to find it.

Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile is a good addition to the modern Hercule Poirot canon and will appeal to anyone who likes the author’s approach to detective stories and the core mechanics of the adventure game. Royce's addition and other narrative elements mostly work to create a sense of escalation toward a grand finale. Unfortunately, the game struggles to deliver an engaging presentation, although the soundtrack is great. Puzzle quality varies a lot, while conversations are little more than robotic clue extractions. Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile never delivers on its potential but can conjure enjoyable deduction sequences.

Oscura: Lost Light is a very satisfying puzzle platformer, unfortunately brought down a notch by some troublesome controls and by the fact that it doesn't offer anything particularly new.

It is really hard to recommend No Longer Home as a game or even as a meaningful experience. It is way too personal for it to be largely relatable and way too shallow to hit truly hard or touch some emotional topics. Not to mention that there’s literally no gameplay at all. No Longer Home lacks puzzles or any other adventure-like elements. Judging by how the story flows, this feels more like a visual novel with dialogue choices having no influence on the final outcome.

Still Joking is an interactive novel experience with a good cast and a great protagonist. Iris is bewildered and fiery, determined to find out what happened to her real-world counterpart while also finding the best way to move past her trauma. The game’s writing works well with the theme, although there are conversations that feel much too long. The developers claim that there are more than 1,000 unique choices to make, so there’s a ton of space for multiple playthroughs. Sure, gameplay is as limited. The game has style, but immersion is negatively affected by the limited sound design. The entire experience is designed for players who already know and appreciate this genre. Still Joking does not innovate much but executes on its premise well and takes players through some wild narrative moments.

Hidden Through Time 2: Discovery may be a casual title, catering to a specific audience, but even for them it is hard to justify its existence. As a DLC pack it would have been more than fine, but as full release it fails. Overall, it does not offer enough content to be a standalone release. And it is a shame because the previous game offered a hardcore experience for the fans of the hidden objects genre without feeling like a rip-off. The value proposal of Discovery is missing completely.

Sunset might ultimately be an unsatisfying game but the only way for a player to decide how he feels about it is to play through at least 15 days as Angela and see whether he starts to fall in love with her story.

Despite all the cool features that are touted, it the end is just a soulless racing game that doesn’t excel at anything but also doesn’t really fail in any significant way.

Paradise Lost is a story worth exploring once, the alternative ending targeting those who were roped in by the story and the character development of Szymon. Sadly, there won’t be too many, because despite the strong start, the magic fades and ultimately Paradise Lost proves to be a walking simulator that could have been very interesting in theory, but actually it is just conventional and flat.

Forest Grove is not the stocking filler I have hoped for. It is a mediocre game at best, that does not offer any real challenge or satisfaction. The game mechanics are way too simple and repetitive, the hardest part being to decern what is relevant for the case and what is not. While I appreciate what the developers tried to build here, I cannot recommend the game as long as there are so many better alternatives out there. You are better off watching your favorite TV series.

As a complete package, Aphelion mostly lands, especially when it comes to the story. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you engaged, and it’s one of those games whose story cleverly combines a variety of emotions. You will be scared, happy, and also curious to see where everything goes. I enjoyed the game’s ending, but I can see some people will dislike where we leave these characters. The planet Persephone was amazing to explore, although the linearity of the story does bring the game down a little bit. It also doesn’t help that the climbing feels outdated at times, and the stealth parts don’t land, or they just get downright boring towards the end of the game. I still enjoyed my time with the game and felt satisfied with the story and overall experience. Plus, as someone who enjoyed all games from Don’t Nod, especially Vampyr and Banishers, I am excited to see them attempt new things. Yes, not everything sticks, but Aphelion is a journey worth embarking on.

VED takes risks in a way that only an indie passion project can. Not all of them pay out yet the end result is worth playing for gamers who like both turn-based combat and extensive conversations. The narrative involves the fate of two worlds and touches on big themes, although the writing quality is uneven. The game’s combat system, turn and tile-based, creates tense battles, especially once players unlock extra powers. The dice-focused encounters do not add much to the experience. VED isn’t perfect but has ideas that are worth experiencing.

Godbreakers was a great game for me, even if it’s quite short. Provided that you have a good team, it will take you 3 hours or so to do a full run as you beat the final boss. However, there’s tons of content to unlock, along with countless runs to unlock everything. That being said, if you’re ok with repetitive gameplay that’s normal for roguelites, I think Godbreakers will be right up your alley. The game worlds feel very immersive and rewarding. And the game continues to impress with the visual style and incredible attention to detail. I do wish there was more content beyond the 6 worlds, and hopefully they add more content in future updates and DLCs. But even for what’s there, Godbreakers delivers on its promise, and it’s a very rewarding experience, not to mention it feels great while playing, which is the most important thing.

Tour de France 2024 is a fun cycling experience that is hard to master. It takes patience to prepare well for a race and decide when it’s the right time to force the pace or attack. Sure, players can pick real-world teams featuring the best riders if they want to dominate competitions. But I had much more fun as the underdog, exploiting opportunities and celebrating third places. For anyone who’s not already interested in cycling, the game will take some time to learn. Play the tutorials and then ride Le Tour with a smaller team, aiming only to fully understand the mechanics and get a feel for how races develop. Tour de France 2024 walks the fine line between realism and fun and manages to create a cycling sim that feels true to the sport.

Sands of Salzaar is a big game that will provide hundreds of hours of entertainment to those who fall in love with it. And there’s a lot to like in this package, from the variety of skills and tactical approaches to the many activities that can bring treasure and fame. It does take time to understand all the core mechanics but once that’s done everything is mostly solid. The developer also has long-term plans to support it with patches and new content. Unfortunately, I need more time to fall in love with this experience. And not because it is lacking in anything but because there’s so much to see. I worry that there’s something I am missing, that I am not using all the available systems. I like that the game believes I will start over, with Legacy points and extra personal experience. That involves a major time investment in Sands of Salzaar that I’m not ready to make yet.

The basic strategy element of Battleplan: American Civil War relies on one core mechanic, that of runners who influence how orders are delivered to units, and it fails to accurately represent many other elements that determined the outcome of an engagement.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a good game for fans of World of Darkness who are willing to invest time and energy to solve its puzzles and experience the narrative. The game can be needlessly complex and the writing isn’t always as evocative as it aims to be. The three main characters offer a nice variety of personalities but they sometimes feel like novices rather than hundred years old vampires with a deep pool of abilities to draw on. The presentation is too ambitious for its own good, although there are moments when it makes this vampire-dominated universe come alive. I found that Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is more enjoyable if I abandon the idea of optimizing my character and the goal of getting the best result out of all situations. Play the game once, accept outcomes, and see where the story of these three vampires and their effort to protect the Boston Camarilla take you.

Pax Augusta is a unique take on Roman-era city building, with a focus on slow development and modularity. The effort to come as close to actual history as possible, when it comes to both buildings and citizen needs, is laudable. The fact that one developer created this entire video game is even more impressive. The cities look good, even if citizens tend to behave in relatively weird ways. But the game does need to improve performance and find better ways to deliver feedback, especially when it comes to building restrictions. Any fan of classics like Caesar or more titles like Manor Lords will have fun with Pax Augusta as long as he gives the game time and attention.

The Magnificent Trufflepigs almost instantly draws a comparison with Firewatch. But it fails to deliver in the same way and actively made me regret spending the 2 hours required to finish it. The development team wants to both tell a poignant story about growing up and making choices and to (slight spoiler) deliver a twist ending that makes almost everything that comes before feeling empty.

Concursion has a great idea but, unfortunately, it manages to waste most of its potential due to glaring issues with the controls, the difficulty curve, not to mention the awful visuals. The boss fights reward only the most patient players and, in true retro style, if you can't complete a level, you can't progress any further.

Citizens of Earth is a great role-playing experience that manages to evoke the feel of Earthbound and other JRPGs while still doing its own thing. The gameplay is fun, the environments are varied, and the crazy citizens make the whole title feel refreshing. Sure, there are a few quirks here and there, but overall, you can't lose by playing this great title.

Fortified is a solid mix of tower defense and action third-person shooting. Its design may not be all that original, but its execution is great and should entertain you, as well as your friends, via the cooperative mode.

Because of the lack of story content, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker feels like a game without soul, and that's by far its greatest weakness. Although somewhat captures the feel of the Naruto anime series when it comes to visuals and music, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is a shallow game that shouldn't have been released.

Elegy for a Dead World is a game so unique that there is no point of reference for it. Nothing like this has been done before, and it fills a niche that many gamers will appreciate.

Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is a decent effort that stays true to the original games while adding welcome minor refinements. The visual upgrades, new control options, and extra content make this a must-have for longtime fans and a great entry point for newcomers. Unfortunately, not fixing the bugs still feels lazy, even if some may say it is part of nostalgia. If you modernize the graphics, you should have made an effort to also improve the technical parts of the game to alleviate frustration. Once again, this remaster could have been great with a bit more care.

Soccer Story is a good mix of soccer matches and adventure elements, with a world packed with side activities and cute details. It takes a little while to get used to the quick, tackle-driven matches. Playing an upgraded team against a solid computer opponent is both challenging and fun. This football-powered universe might not make a ton of sense but it is interesting to explore. It would work better with a smaller number of side activities. Soccer Story offers an exotic approach to the sport and builds a ton of fun mechanics around the simple act of kicking a ball at a target.

Phantom Fury is a good first-person shooter for anyone who loved the genre during its classic period and wants the same combination of speed and violence, with a few modern concepts sprinkled on top. Shelly is a decent heroine, the B movie writing mostly works, and most combat arenas are well-balanced on Normal. The development team needs to make opponents a little smarter in patches and I really don’t understand why Bombshell can interact with so many objects in the world that aren’t useful in any way. Phantom Fury is a boomer shooter with solid mechanics that struggles to communicate a clear identity.

Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening takes a mostly forgotten fictional universe and builds a good game around it. The narrative is directly drawn from the anime based on the manga, while the mechanics competently use the action platformer template. The Psychogun’s guided attack is a unique mechanic that makes combat, especially boss engagements, more exciting. Play cooperatively, if possible, and don’t skip the cutscenes, even if they seem cheesy. The protagonist’s relatively imprecise movement could lead some players to quit playing, but Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening compensates with retro charm and a cool hand cannon that can stop time.

I had a great time playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and at first, I felt quite overwhelmed by the huge amount of content that it provided. The game’s campaign is not the best out there, but it’s worth playing for the creative story, new-to-COD elements, and the unlocks you get towards your multiplayer experience. Speaking of multiplayer, I still think that’s where Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 manages to shine the most. The new game mode Skirmish will be an acquired taste, but generally, it’s pretty immersive and enjoyable. And of course, the Zombies mode is one of the top highlights, it has a great campaign and with 4 different game modes there as well, you have lots of content just to play that side of the game. As a complete package, I think that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has a lot to offer, and everyone will certainly have its favorites. It’s a great game for casuals that want to get into an FPS, and hardcore COD players will surely enjoy unlocking weapons, attachments and mastering the weapons they like the most.

Unrest offers a gripping story about hope, failure, action and inaction, fear and security, which feels more like an interactive visual novel than an actual game. And a well-written one, at that. Sort of like A Game of Thrones without endlessly waiting for the dragons to come, the game delivers its quick shot of gripping narrative, challenges you to make a couple of life and death decisions, then leaves you boiling in the karmic print of your choices.

The only thing I'm sad about is the lack of the other two expansions included in the Complete version.

Slow Down, Bull is a delightful casual experience about dealing with stress and learning to cope with a desire for perfection. Even so, it can get quite frustrating as progress through its campaign and the controls take a bit of time to get used to, both while using a mouse and keyboard configuration or a controller. The lack of 1080p resolution support is also a bit of a disappointment.

The gimmick of using a PlayStation 1 presentation might attract an audience. But the game needs more than style to keep players engaged, even if only for the around three hours the story needs to reveal itself. Chasing Static has some good elements but it never manages to get the right mix for a truly engaging experience.

No Place for Bravery offers an interesting mix of tough combat and exotic presentation. Some players might be driven away by the pixel art (the weird legs of the characters still annoy me) or the difficulty level. But the story and the gameplay have the quality required to keep players engaged. Given the clear love that the team at Glitch Factory has for the souls-like genre, I wanted the game to innovate more, to find ways to make the 2D top-down perspective add something to it. But No Place for Bravery plays it too safe and misses a chance to deliver a truly innovative gameplay loop rather than stick close to the classics.

GRAVEN aims for an intriguing combination of exploration, combat, and puzzle solving. All are decent, neither is truly good and the game cannot seem to decide what kind of experience it wants to create. I really wanted to use the spells, especially fire, to kill enemies, without resorting to blades or arrows. It doesn’t help that the fictional world feels derivative, and it is feel a connection to our Orthogonal hero. The game really needs a map. GRAVEN could have offered an interesting update on Hexen but it’s just a sometimes enjoyable mix of combat and puzzle work.

It is a combination of gameplay elements borrowed from different genres and mashed together to form a feel-good experience. Moonglow Bay is not just a fishing adventure, a time management game or a skill-based cooking game. It is a glimpse into the life of a virtual community and a lesson of how each member plays an essential role to make it thrive. It is worth experiencing for any fans of casual games looking to get lost in an optimistic narrative.

Pro Cycling Manager 2024 creates a complex mix of team management and race action that is designed to draw in cycling fans. The title features real names and likenesses for most riders and teams, which adds to the immersion. And races feel more exciting than in previous installments, although it can be harder for smaller teams to make an impact. It takes time and failure to figure out how to run a successful team. It is fun to discover what kind of sprint setups work best or the secret to mastering hilly finishes. But there are also moments when the game gets in its own way and makes players work harder than they should. Still, Pro Cycling Manager 2024 is a great way to rewrite cycling history in fun ways.

Sanatorium is a very compelling, easy-to-play game that puts you in a very distinct role. It’s definitely unlike a lot of other games I played, but also an interesting experience that you will find yourself coming back to quite often. Granted, the gameplay can feel repetitive, but the freshness brought by each patient and their situation will make things feel more interesting as you play. It also helps that the staff and the institution as a whole have their own weirdness and quirkiness, which you will try to navigate as you reach your goal. Although Sanatorium might not be the most complex or the longest game out there, I think this is a worthwhile experience. The charming graphics, disturbing location, art deco visuals and odd staff all add up to creating a very compelling, yet exciting and beautiful game world for you to explore. Yes, the game does have a few bugs, and its core loop might feel unappealing at times, but the more you play, the more compelling the story becomes. And for me, this is a game I will gladly go back to dozens of times, just trying to help more patients and figure out how to treat them. It’s very engaging and treating people feels satisfying.

It's a mediocre game for all intents and purposes, but if Gothic and the former installments in the series floated your boat, then you're in for a pretty good time.

Trinity Trigger feels like a safest approach for a JRPG. The game certainly has its charm thanks to the cartoonish art style, but it doesn’t introduce any new mechanics in the world or JRPGs. The combat has been stripped of any complexity to make room for an in-depth weapon customization system that pretty much carries this entire aspect. It’s unfortunate that just about every location in the game is very low populated and that dungeons are almost the same, but Trinity Trigger makes up for it by providing players with a compelling narrative experience. Although it’s not really a “must play,” Trinity Trigger is definitely worth exploring.

Red Solstice 2 is a game that requires at least another friend to deliver a decent experience. The strategic and tactical layers work, from a purely mechanical point of view, but everything is too focused on repetitive actions to keep the game fun when playing solo. The limited immersion does not help. Gamers who can get together a group of four people and manages to coordinate sessions will have a very different experience. Four humans who work together to deal with the hordes of monsters, especially on the higher difficulties, can create impressive heroic moments. Red Solstice 2 shows the limits of a solid set of gameplay mechanics but also reveals the excitement that only cooperative play can generate.

Star Trek: Infinite is a fine science fiction grand strategy experience, designed to appeal to fans of the TV and movie franchise. The development team has tried hard to deliver as many familiar elements as possible and mostly succeeded. The game creates a more focused experience than the New Horizons mod for Stellaris and its mechanics are easier to understand. Some players have been complaining of game-stopping bugs, which have not impacted my campaigns, so it might be a good idea to wait for a patch or two. Some mechanics, like spies and governors, also feel under-backed. But the ability to create stories and play out scenarios makes Star Trek: Infinite a great experience for both veterans and newcomers to the grand strategy space.

Code Vein II is the best example of a game that looks amazing on paper but in reality, fails to be stellar in any aspect. This isn’t necessarily a bad game, but it’s strange to have a sequel that has a lot more mechanics, characters, and story bits than the original, and fail to surpass it. The open-world aspect should have helped Code Vein II elevate it from the typical corridor-like soulslike, but it doesn’t. It’s nice to freely roam a world like the one Bandai Namco built for Code Vein, but not if it’s completely empty. One other major issue with Code Vein II is performance, which is, once again, all over the place. When it rains outside, your frames drop considerably, so combat is a nightmare. Things look good in dungeons, but the moment you step outside, everything seems half-baked. If you’re itching for a soulslike and consider Code Vein II, I would recommend playing the first one instead. Even if that would mean playing it a second time.

Steel Seed is not a flashy game, it does have some generic moments, but it’s a lot of fun to play. The game world is very well made, the main character and her drone sidekick are great as well. And in the end, the journey that Steel Seed takes us on is amazing, very exciting and it also has its surprises.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts is fun but feels less polished than Sniper Elite 4. The missions can be fun, but somehow they are less interesting overall than the storyline of its biggest competitor. Thanks to its ideas and setting the game proves to be fun, while the level design manages to make it immersive. Although the ideas are held back by several technical difficulties, the combination of stealth and sniping makes from Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts the first solid entry of the series.

War, the Game is a title that all strategy lovers should try out at least once in order to see how smaller teams can innovate by taking the classic concepts of the genre and turning them into something new.

Redout: Space Assault is a relatively simple game that satisfies some very arcade itches. Taking out enemies while dodging waves of attacks and finding some time to take stock of the situation can be exhilarating. But in its current form, the mechanics are simply too limited to make the game engaging for more than a few hours. Its phone-based origin is clear. The big battles are, at first, fun and exciting. But the fourth or fifth time when almost the same scenarios appear it is hard to summon the energy to do it all again. More variety is needed to make this on-tails space combat experience attractive in the long term.

At first, I had no idea what to expect from Dreams of Another, as screenshots and trailers don’t make it justice. It seems like a generic, pixelated shooter, although the game is much more than that. It’s a game that focuses on creating a great, different experience, and it mostly sticks the landing in my opinion. Yes, it’s not flawless, nor does it try to be. These days, most people want to play titles like Call of Duty or Battlefield, just to blow off some steam. Dreams of Another manages to bring us an entirely different experience, where we question our meaning on this planet, and it becomes very meditative at times. I don’t think Dreams of Another is for everyone, it won’t fit the backlog of action-focused gamers. But if you like puzzles, philosophy and exploration, it’s certainly a title that you should play.

Despite some technical issues, Cloudpunk remains a memorable game with an atmosphere that almost makes you forgive the technical issues. You will thoroughly enjoy the story and some questions about human nature will remain with you even after the credits. Sadly, the traffic on the skyways and the moments when the NPCs are affected by amnesia will break the spell and yank you out of the immersion. But there is nothing a patch could not fix, restoring Cloudpunk to a hidden gem worth experiencing by everyone.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet can become boring quite fast due to its repetitive encounters and unevenly paced story, something that could have been easily avoided. The good news is SAO fans will find it a breath of fresh air, since Fatal Bullet plays and feels different than the previous games.

The Golf Club can be a good investment for purists and the editor is a great piece of work, but this is also a game that lacks attention to detail at times and suffers because of that.

Biomutant is flawed from almost every angle we look at it but still manages to be fun. Nothing is truly original or innovative, but it is melded together in a fashion that makes the game work. It is an RPG in a huge open world, with tons of action, even more freedom, and its very own personality. For a first game, it is not bad. Some things can be improved, but you can lose yourself in the game world and you will have fun with it. Despite the flat jokes and repetitive secondary quests, Biomutant is a game worth a try.

Unfortunately, the slow and unnerving pace at which you walk will leave you with ample time to wonder what could have been if the writing were more meaty, leaving one with an overall taste of unrealized potential. In any case, not bad for a first effort.

The problem is that by the time you get anywhere near something that resembles a scratch for your itch, the entire area of your body that prompted the search for it is already decaying, and just like an Alzheimer's patient without a GPS bracelet, you'll find yourself lost in the woods, confused and wondering what exactly it was that you were doing there in the first place, apart from chasing those kids off your lawn, of course.

Although it starts as a walking simulator, Maid of Sker turns quickly into a horror game that will remind you either of Silent Hills or Resident Evil or maybe of Outlast or Amnesia. No matter what your experience is with horror games, you will find their influence on Maid of Sker, which is not great, not terrible. It is a lukewarm experience, which rather frustrates than scares, and which due to its length and content can be recommended only after a serious discount.

Ancestors is not a perfect game, and I think it could have benefited from another six months in development. But the overall scope and reach of the game make playing it worthwhile. I hope the developers will let people know more about some of the mechanics used, like the weird mini-map, because players will want to know. Weirdly, I feel ready, somehow, to be left alone in a jungle.

Hammerting is a good example of how solid individual mechanics sometimes fail to offer more than the sum of their parts in terms of gameplay. The development team has put together an interesting dwarf clan simulation and management title. It has even created an engaging if derivative universe for the player to interact with. But playing Hammerting often feels like a chore. Make sure that you check all characters to remember their stats and best use in the colony. Deal with all the supply chain issues. Then maybe dig a little deeper to see what the mountain throws at you. Warpzone needs to streamline its gameplay formula a little while increasing the immersion factor to make its future titles more attractive.

Gods Will Be Watching is the sort of love it or hate it video game affair that only transformative titles that push the boundaries of their genre can present. It’s not trying to make you kick puppies, it’s not trying to make you hold hands and sing Kumbaya, it’s about finding a mixture of the two that leads to your survival and doesn’t give you too many nightmares afterward.

Aragami 2 tries to add a layer of co-op action on top of its core stealth gameplay. Funny enough the stealth and combat mechanics are anything but co-op friendly. It feels like a half-baked release, with the developers having no clear direction how to continue the first game. It has its moments in co-op, but even those are ruined by the glitches and bugs. After the first few hours it becomes a repetitive grind and there is no real motivation for anyone to finish it. Aragami 2 is a completely unworthy and unmemorable sequel.

Without a doubt, Firefighting Simulator - The Squad is the kind of game that will keep you busy even if the life of a firefighter doesn’t necessarily appeal to you. This is because, above all, Firefighting Simulator - The Squad is a co-op game that needs proper teamwork to complete the more challenging mission, no matter if we’re talking about AI or human players. However, after playing the game for nearly a week, I feel like Firefighting Simulator - The Squad leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the firefighting experience. For instance, the missions should be further expanding with more incidents that a typical firefighter would have to deal with, including here chemical spills, car accidents, and airplane crashes. This would make the game feel less repetitive, while also adding another challenging factor to the overall experience.

Kholat is a great looking game that can capture the imagination of players very quickly with its impressive environments and with the initial narrative about the real world set of events on which it is based. Unfortunately, the developers have failed to find a way to keep interest up in the long term and the inability move at will across the landscape and the limited functionality associated with the map quickly become frustrating.

Sid Meier's Starships is a good and replayable turn based strategy experience that will certainly appeal to lovers of classic science fiction franchises and to those who appreciate the way the leader of Firaxis managed to make player choices relevant.

Party Hard blends a novel concept with a great mix of gameplay mechanics. Throw in the random behavior of NPCs and the tongue-in-cheek style and shutting down parties feels quite good. Gameplay might become repetitive in some situations but, overall, you'll have a nice time with it.

FBC: Firebreak is one of those games that can be hard to describe, yet once you get into it, this game will become very addictive. And it’s easy to see why. Control’s world is amazing, mysterious, and a pleasure to explore. The multiplayer experience is quite impressive here, and they do an amazing job at making the levels feel interesting and a delight to go through. Of course, that doesn’t make FBC: Firebreak perfect. The core gameplay loop, while fun, gets very repetitive due to the lack of randomized elements, and few levels available at launch. Right now, having only 5 levels is an issue, as you have to repeat them over and over, albeit with modifiers and various difficulty levels. I think it’s well worth playing for any team-focused FPS lovers, but keep in mind this is just a foundation. I am sure that Remedy will continue adding more levels and fun stuff for us to unlock and customize our characters with. Yet that will arrive in due time.

The Crew is a decent racing game that's weighed down by its constantly online mechanics. The missions and challenges are nice, but if you don't have friends, you'll be hard pressed to find them in the game.

A good game but it might not exactly delight all of its players. Yes, it's a pity that players can't import their characters and classes but the new ones are quite varied, even if they can only reach level 30. For such a low price, Neocore's RPG is a great investment.

If Forspoken had been a tech demo, it would have been amazing. As a game it is just a collection of inexplicable decisions that ruin the entire experience. The game - just as its hero - does not have a clearly defined identity, the pace is slow while the world is huge, the controls are clumsy at best, the animations are stiff, and the AI is limited to a few patterns. The around 30 hours required to complete the main story feel painfully long, and it is hard to justify investing twice as much time to uncover everything. You can see the hard work put in some aspects of the game, which makes it even harder to explain the neglect of the rest. Forspoken is nothing more than a foot note in an essay about wasted potential.

Darksiders III brings the best from the previous games as the story is good, the world is diverse, and the design is detailed. Unfortunately, its emphasis on difficulty doesn’t match with the promise of controlling Fury, a powerful rider of the Apocalypse. If you have to avoid even the lowliest enemies because they do so much damage, how can you ever bring about the end of the world?

Moons of Madness tries to fit in a genre of experience games like Everybody’s Gone to Rapture or What happened to Edith Finch. The potential is there because of the sci-fi setting and the Lovecraftian tale. Unfortunately, Rock Pocket Games did not have the courage to let go of your hand and leave you to explore and discover the world for yourself. They wanted to control the narrative too tightly and also felt the need to introduce some superfluous gameplay elements. As a result Moons of Madness feels like it’s trying too hard and trips itself.

PositronX has a good set of first-person shooter mechanics, equal to anything that the classics have to offer. Finding a good combination of weapons and powers to clear levels is a great experience. But, despite the procedural generation, once the game progresses, runs become too similar to one another for long-term engagement. The game also lacks much in terms of story to keep one interested. The fact that PositronX also lacks multiplayer, or the suggestion that it might be added in the future, also means that a game with instant appeal cannot convert its strong opening into long-term loyalty.

Neurodeck is an engaging take on the deck-builder genre. The enemies are varied, the cards have cool synergies, the runs in their entirety integrate combat and other activities well. Some difficulty spikes feel unfair. The good news is there are no opponents that cannot be taken down with good card selection and battle strategy. The game does not have the breath or innovation of the best of its class. But the focus on phobia, mental health, and stress make it an interesting experiment. Neurodeck shows how you can create a video game that offers information about the real world without looking preachy while also offering good core mechanics.

Dust & Neon is fast, exciting, and often challenging. There are a ton of weapons to constantly compare and equip, enabling variety when it comes to the playstyle. The rogue side of the game does not offer a ton of depth but has plenty of reasons to try again when death comes for the cowboy. The game’s universe is a little too conservative and does not embrace the potential weirdness of the cowboy and robots mix. Boss battles can also sometimes feel unfair. But I like Dust & Neon combat and players who want solid twin-stick shooter action should give it a look.

A decent multiplayer mobile experience that manages to combine the domination mechanic with more traditional MOBA systems. As of right now, it still needs quite a bit of work in terms of the movement and online lag, but quite a few updates have already been rolled out, so things might get improved soon.

Skully is a platformer full of challenges. The game is heavily testing not only your agility but also your patience. While it has an interesting basic concept, it feels unfinished and does not manage to immerse you in its world. When you see the rolling skull you would expect dynamic and fluid gameplay. Instead, you are presented with jumps that require ultimate precision and obstacles with errors in collision detection which force you to adopt a slow and careful approach. With more attention to details and some more polishing Skully could have been an entertaining experience. Unfortunately, it just proves to be a modest attempt to make a cute platformer.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India is a good but still not great entry in the Chronicles trilogy. While it does manage to make a few improvements over China, the initial entry, it’s still weighed down by problems like the clunky combat, the somewhat erratic AI, or sections that require a lot of trial and error to complete in the best way possible.

I liked my time with Grand Age: Medieval, but after spending a lot of time in the Balkans in my first campaign, I want to see whether there's variety in switching to another region for the start town.

Po and the rest of the cast might be interesting initially, but those who love the genre in itself probably already have access to a Wii U and Super Smash Bros, with its larger cast and more polished core mechanics.

GreedFall: The Dying World has a strong combat system, more versatile and expansive when compared to the previous game. It feels more tactical, and you have to consider different weapon types, status conditions, team composition and so on. Granted, the enemies can feel generic, but you have an expansive skill tree to ensure that you mix things up as you go along. I also enjoyed the great world building, and bosses were a highlight for this experience. The team at Spiders surpassed themselves by creating an even better game than the first GreedFall, although this title has shortcomings. There are pacing issues with the story, the romance arcs are weak, and some areas/character arcs felt unfinished. It takes a bit to pick up and feel great, but once it does, you will find yourself spending many hours in this interesting world.

Alone in the Dark checks all the boxes when it comes to gameplay elements you would expect in a modern survival horror, but these seem to be stuck in the past. It feels like a project made with passion but enough budget to hit the AAA expectations. The archaic mechanics do not involve a pleasant nostalgia, rather make the entire game feel outdated. Overall, it is not a bad game, but it does not have enough oomph to make it compete with the best games out there, let alone reconquer the throne of the genre. With a hefty discount it can become an interesting choice for the fans of the genre, a period that should also give time to the developers to fix the bugs that are still present.

Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition for PlayStation 4 is not just a technical mess, it is an expensive technical mess. The magic of the PC version released in 2012 has vanished completely because Beamdog is trying to pull a cash grab taking advantage of our nostalgia. Instead of delivering the careful remaster of a legend we were promised, the producers are throwing at us a cheap port that will offend the D&D fans. If you feel nostalgic stick with the remastered editions of the 2D games and stay away from this one. We cannot recommend Neverwinter Edition Enhanced Edition for PlayStation 4 not even at a heavily discounted price.

Bright Memory: Infinite has its moments, but in the end, it feels like a project that could have been great if it was developed by an entire team with all the necessary resources at their disposal. Unfortunately, the moments that disappoint are amplified by the hype that was created around the game. Although it has potential, Bright Memory: Infinite does not live up to the expectations of those were waiting for this game. It is way too simple, empty and short, with only a few moments of fun.

Empire of Sin has the core of a good game that blends three genres in cool ways. I am especially fond of the man-management and the ways the various mobsters work with one another and react during combat. But the current implementation, especially that of the battles, is frustrating. Romero Games needs to make management more important and to bring the characters to the front more. Patches also should include auto-resolve and a big balance update. Empire of Sin needs all of this to begin to realize its clear potential.

The main problem with The Occupation is that it hides all the good things (i.e. great concept, strong narrative) under a layer of wrong design decision, bugs, glitches and awkward controls. I had high hopes for this one, but in this state I would not recommend The Occupation to just anyone.

Shiftlings is a fun little puzzle platformer with a novel mechanic that's pulled off pretty well. Unfortunately, some stages have confusing solutions and playing with a friend can be both laughter and rage-inducing, depending on your luck.

Call of Cthulhu does some things right for fans of Lovecraft's works, but the final result leaves the player unsatisfied. The atmosphere of dread and mystery, along with the story may be the only positives of an otherwise shallow, muddy visual and audio experience.

Top Eleven 2015 is the kind of experience that should have probably stayed on Facebook, where its limited mechanics and its money-driven elements feel more at home.

The game is deceptively fun and captivating, in spite of its seemingly basic interactions.

The game is worth playing and represents a new sign that video games have the ability to deal with serious matters, including censorship and the way even small tweaks can allow the news to shift our perception of reality and influence our actions.

Astria Ascending is a gorgeous, very ambitious and at the same time flawed experience. It has deep mechanics, but their implementation could have used some more attention. The graphics are as gorgeous as some tracks are memorable, but sometimes they are out of sync. The background story is rich, yet the game fails to use it, making you do to the very same actions in different locations. If you like old school JRPGs you will overlook the shortcomings and have a good time with the game. If you never had a soft spot for the game best represented by Final Fantasy, Astria Ascending will not make you fall in love with the genre.

Reverie Knights Tactics is a solid experience for anyone looking for a tactical battle title with a classic look and plot. There are no major innovations, but all the core systems work well, offering plenty of ways to deal with the combat puzzles at its core. Aurora is a solid protagonist, and the rest of the cast is likable. But everything moves too slowly for the full experience to be fun. During combat, I watched the same animations hundreds of times, more if I wanted to hit all the listed goals. On the world map, I had to move from one non-descript area to another. The developer at 40 Giants Entertainment had good ideas for Reverie Knights Tactics but they needed better implementation to keep me engaged in the long term.

Nevertheless, the game can be enjoyable for someone who has a passing interest in the exploration of space and in management, but it requires more tutorials, better information delivery, and more depth in order to appeal to a wider audience.

Many of the puzzles are unintuitive and the writing is all over the place. Also, playing almost the entire game without soundtrack (because there isn’t one) doesn’t really help with immersion at all. The Sundew is a rather short experience (3-4 hours), but not an enjoyable one, that’s for sure.

Sixty Four mixes idle and automation mechanics and will capture the attention of players who like the two genres with its focus on digging deep as efficiently as possible. The core design is clean and makes it easy for players to plan expansion or upgrades. Some might even be interested in the weird dialogue that anchors the limited narrative. But the game doesn’t do much with its premise and gameplay becomes repetitive pretty fast once players reach the green cubes. Alt-tabbing to wait for resources to accumulate is not fun. The entire concept is better suited for mobile phones. Sixty Four has some clever ideas but does not engage with the limitations of its genre.

God of Rock’s big idea, to mix fighting game and classic music concepts, is a very good one. I love how it manages to evoke stardom when I hit the notes at just the right time, groove to the music, and watch my favorite fighter pummeling an opponent. It’s easy to understand the mix of mechanics but it’s not easy to master them. The soundtrack is also great, both in terms of quality and variety. The game does need to improve its interface layout to accommodate more players. For anyone looking for innovation in the fighting game genre, God of Rock offers a good mix of mechanics as long as players have a few friends to battle against.

WARSAW wants to be a mashup of World War II and Darkest Dungeon but doesn't bring anything new to the table. WARSAW is a blatant Darkest Dungeon copy with no innovation or unique gameplay mechanics whatsoever. Everything that it might go as original in WARSAW exists in Darkest Dungeon in a slightly different form. Add to that the design flaws, bugs, and balancing issues and you have a subpar experience that can't be balanced by the tense atmosphere and interesting setting.