The action feels satisfying, combat is fun, and there are also a few nice surprises when it comes to gameplay, both as far as boss fights are concerned and in the presence of puzzles, particularly in the levels involving Athena, making the whole package even more attractive.

In between silly remarks, turn-based combat and puzzle solving, Sunday Gold provides enough entertainment to keep you going until the end, which is probably around 12-15 hours if you figure out the puzzles and finish the boss fights faster. Sunday Gold is a hybrid of two genres, point & click adventure and turn-based RPG, that simply works. It doesn’t make everything perfect, but at least it comes up with some interesting ideas that could be refined in a future title. BKOM’s game is trying to do something different and, partly, it succeeds. I enjoyed many parts of the game and some of the mechanics, and the story, while pretty generic, it did make me feel like I’m playing in a Guy Ritchie movie. Ultimately, Sunday Gold is entertaining and that’s what I expect from a game, so I consider this a successful experiment.

Total War: PHARAOH is a very good strategy experience that explores one of the periods that the genre rarely engages with. After playing a few campaigns, I wanted to know more about the Sea Peoples, the way the Hittites organized their kingdom and the ways armies were mustered during the Bronze Age. I was also willing to spend time understanding the unique approach that each ruler brings to a campaign and how traditions and gods can enhance an advantage or cover a weakness. I’ll certainly simulate many of the battles while enjoying the crucial ones. Total War: PHARAOH is immersive and varied, a good entry in the series for both veterans and new players.

Journey To The Savage Planet would definitely use a longer story, but even so, it’s one of the few titles that make a single thing like world exploration surprisingly rewarding.

If anything, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 is on par with this year’s FIFA 18, and it even surpasses it in some aspects. The game is more than just an evolution over the previous year, it’s more of a revolution for the PES franchise. I can’t recommend it enough, and I urge everyone to give it a try because it’s the kind of title that can provide a lot of fun, even if you are a fan of other similar football sims. And you can’t get better praise than that.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers sets itself apart from other soulslike games through some unique features like the weapon upgrading system. Thanks to a very solid combat system and smooth traversal between areas, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers makes the journey more entertaining than usual. Not tying players to a single weapon for an entire playthrough and letting them choose which weapon to use when facing a specific boss is not only a bold design decision, but also one that elevates Wuchang: Fallen Feathers above some of the best games in the genre.

Planet of Lana is sure to capture players'attention with its visuals and music, which are on par with those of modern big studio animation movies. The game’s world is shrouded in mystery and players will have to work to find all the shrines to get a full picture of what’s happening. At times, finding a kidnapped friend seems too flimsy a motivation for Lana to continue her adventure. But gameplay is good enough, with limited reasons for frustration and some very clever puzzles, to keep players engaged. Planet of Lana has heart and engaging gameplay sequences, although these could have used extra variety.

Neva is a solid video game, but a true masterpiece if we look at it as an art piece. As is often the case, the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. The adventures of Alba and Neva are incredibly memorable, leaving you eager to relive them immediately after you finished a playthrough, just to bask in the beauty of its stunning scenes. While it’s not a game for those seeking adrenaline, it’s a beautifully crafted tale that forges an emotional connection with anyone patient enough to let the story unfold. For indie fans, Neva is a must-play—an experience that should not be missed.

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm is the only game in existence that can keep me awake all night. I’ve been playing games for more than two decades, and very few games managed to rob me of my sleep. Civilization is definitely one of them. While I do love the game and I enjoyed the expansion, I also must be fair and critique the fact that Civilization VI now feels more cluttered than ever. The religion aspect is way out of proportion, barbarians spawning tanks are annoying, and some of the environmental disasters seem out of place or triggered randomly. Civilization VI: Gathering Storm is not perfect, but it made Civilization VI better overall, and that’s pretty much what people want from an expansion.

Tour de France 2025 is a great way for a cycling fan to take control of their favorite riders to either replicate their achievements or rewrite history. Racing is exciting and fun and creating the right conditions for a successful attack is challenging. The game’s selection of races is a little limited, but it does allow a player to move through a season relatively quickly. The move to Unreal Engine 5 makes all the action look better. Tour de France 2025 is a good cycling sim that really needs to add both Il Giro and La Vuelta in future installments.

Creating a boss rush game can go different ways, but fortunately for UNYIELDER, it’s a very engaging and fun game with a great core loop. The fact that you focus on getting loot, improving your character, while also learning the boss’s attacks, it all feels very satisfying. And honestly, the quiet times in between boss battles are quite productive, too, since you can switch weapons, unlock/equip perks and so on. UNYIELDER removes all the clutter that comes from a lot of roguelike games. Instead, it pits you against powerful bosses, and it’s a delight to play. The game ran great during our review, and the loot we acquired after battling bosses felt rewarding and satisfying. It’s a roguelike game, so naturally you can get bored after you saw all the content. But then again, the Endless mode offers an excellent way to continue your session, with random bosses. It’s a cool boss rush experience, and it never overstays its welcome.

Do Not Feed the Monkeys 2099 is an excellent blend of ideas and watching the various cage narrative is thrilling. There’s enough of them and they are randomized at the start of a new run, to encourage replayability. The game makes mass surveillance immersive and engaging, which is icky on a conceptual level but makes playing the game very fun. The survival and interference mechanics also mesh well with the dystopian future world. I wanted more future wikis to explore, with even weirder concepts and incidents. Do Not Feed the Monkeys 2099 is weird and compelling, with cool ideas for both the cage stories and the meta-narrative.

Football Manager 2016 feels a little thin initially, but as players dig deeper into the experience, they will find that it offers the best expression of the core mechanics that has defined the series for the past few years.

For those who are into card games, Monster Train is a must-play title. It's better and more complex than Slay the Spire, although I would have liked to see more bosses throughout my several playthroughs, the RNG dictates who you fight and when. Monster Train is a fresh, new take on the deck-building card game genre that will be hard to be outmatched.

Star Dynasties is a good mix of ideas, setting, and complexity. The character-driven experience delivers unexpected thrills, weird situations, nice stories, and impressive catastrophes. Players need to invest a little of their imagination to get the best out of the game, but the overall experience is worth it.

Cartel Tycoon goes all in on the drug cartel leader fantasy and mines the setting for as many concepts as possible. The management game is good, with a mix of mechanics and with clear challenges for players to work through. I like the look of the game and most of the writing fits well with the ‘80s Latin American world it is evoking. The mix of two narrative-driven campaigns alongside a sandbox and survival modes is a solid one. But the development team at Moon Moose could have been less classic in their approach to core game concepts. There’s nothing here that the management game space has not already tried. Cartel Tycoon is well-suited for anyone who already likes the genre or the setting but it does not innovate in any meaningful way.

RuneQuest: Warlords is a good turn-based strategy experience that will mainly appeal to those who love this fantasy universe or had a great time playing Battlesector. Engagements, especially once the player controls a dozen units, are complex and require careful planning and on-the-spot improvisation to win with minimal losses. The game’s computer opponent can be a little dumb at times, but multiplayer, including using hotseat, is offered for those interested in challenging another human. I would have liked some extra story emphasis on what makes the RuneQuest setting special. Warlords’ core ideas are solid, but it needs more army variety and a few extra weird scenarios to bring in players who aren’t interested in the narrative.

This most recent expansion for Europa Universalis IV adds a lot of new options to an already complex game, and as always, I believe that it's best for newcomers to first play the base experience and decide whether they love it or not and only then start exploring the extra depth.

For the most part, Far Cry New Dawn is fun, and that’s the only thing that matters. There is more than enough content to never feel that you’re grinding (although you are), and it fulfills one of the weirdest human fascinations, and that’s the life after a world-encompassing cataclysm. And best of all, the entirety of the game can be played in co-op mode.

Minos continues the long-term video game trend of finding new mechanics that work well with a rogue-lite structure. Scanning a new labyrinth layout, evaluating enemy ingress routes, deciding which traps will work best on the enemies, and then watching as they die before reaching Asterion is satisfying. The extensive array of traps and challenges helps keep things fresh. But the game fails to find anything new and innovative to do with the rogue elements. And as the difficulty ramps up, it can take half an hour to puzzle out the best way to deal with one enemy wave. Minos’ trap and labyrinth shaping mechanics are solid, but the title sometimes struggles to keep players engaged with them.

Metro Exodus bets big on interpersonal relationships and world building, something that the other two games in the series lacked badly. Its more mundane approach on how Artyom's crew perceives the post-apocalyptic landscapes they explore in their search for the promise land is what makes Metro Exodus a great game.

The Procession to Calvary is short, does not have much gameplay, is not really a challenge but it is truly brilliant. It is a game that is fun due to the humor of Joe Richardson and it makes you laugh and entertains you without trying too hard. Most jokes are over the top and should not exist in a politically correct world. Thank God this game is light years away from that tendency and manages to walk its own path. If you have played Four Last Things, The Procession to Calvary is mandatory. But even if you have not played Richardson’s previous game, this one is worth every minute of the roughly four hours you will need to finish it. It does not care if it offends, as long as it entertains.

Death Trick: Double Blind has a solid setting and a strong premise but doesn’t shine when it comes to mechanics. Players have to read quite a bit and then be ready to re-read statements and descriptions to spot inconsistencies and develop theories about the murder. The game’s writing is mostly up to the task but there are some repetitive moments and extra flowery lines. The visual novel structure means gameplay depth and variety are limited. The world and characters are interesting, in terms of both personality and presentation. Death Trick: Double Blind is engaging and fun, as long as players are willing to suspect their disbelief at some crucial moments.

Mortal Kombat X is the best release in the series so far, not just because it respects the roots of the series, but also because it innovates through things like character variations and living towers.

Let Them Trade has quickly become a favorite of mine when it comes to city builders. It’s a lot of fun to play, and you can easily try it in sandbox mode or in excellent campaign mode. With that in mind, trading is what sets it apart from other city builders, along with its minimalist aesthetic. All of that blends together very beautifully, and it provides a compelling, enjoyable trading experience. As someone that likes city builders, I enjoyed Let Them Trade and its gameplay. It’s easy to get into and it also has plenty of depth for strategy game enjoyers. Yes, it might not be the largest and most expansive strategy game out there, but it definitely has a lot of heart, and you feel right at home in this minimalist, yet stunningly designed world.

Muse Dash is what you would describe as “crazy fun”, as it is the type of game you can pretty much play anytime in any state of mind. You can try it when you’re sad so it can cheer you up, or you can try it when you’re happy so you can get even happier. Although the game may not be resource-intensive at all and some may wonder what justified a PC release, you’ll be forgetting all about that just a few songs later. All in all, if you love good music, are quick with your fingers and are a fan of cutesy anime visuals, then Muse Dash is definitely something that will keep you busy for a long, long time.

Residual has a good main idea, but I found that there’s too little around it to make the experience compelling in the long run. I liked the world and the exploration, but I was less impressed with the crafting or the puzzle design. I wished for a stronger narrative hook to give me a clear reason to get somewhere or mine minerals or find more vines. Orange Pixel has been engaging with players in the Steam forums and patches quickly arrive to eliminate bugs and add functionality. A healthy community and more content are signs that the game is finding an audience that finds its mix of mechanics attractive. Residual is a great example of what a carefully crafted indie title can offer to fans.

Hands of Necromancy II is a great example of what a sequel needs to do to succeed. It introduces a new character, complete with a set of weapons and powers, to add variety. It offers first-person shooter mechanics with magic instead of guns that draw inspiration from classics but have their own unique flavor. Raising the dead remains a good concept. The entire experience is squarely aimed at boomer shooter fans with a particular love of Hexen or Heretic. There are moments when the difficulty ramp up is abrupt and level design isn’t always impressive. Hands of Necromancy II understands the genre it's a part of and knows how to mix modern and retro ideas to give fans the complex magic shooter they crave.