At the end of the day, NBA 2K22 feels like it comes with two separate modes: offline for those who just want to have fun and aren’t necessarily NBA superstars and multiplayer for people willing to spend real money and get their high-rated players overnight.

Minutes is an innovative experience that manages to capture your heart through the clever premise. However, it’s way too challenging for its own good and becomes downright punishing as you progress through the levels.

Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown was a positive surprise for me. Few of the latest Star Trek games were great, but this one is very exciting to play, and it uses the sense of exploration to its benefit. It remains faithful to the source material, while also allowing you to nurture, level up characters and manage the ship to your liking. The gameplay doesn’t get stale, and exploring planets always feels very satisfying. It's also nice to see that the story has some great, unexpected twists and turns. Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown also encourages you to make different choices, and those will affect your gameplay. The combat is engaging, the ship management part of the game is rewarding, and you always feel that you’re progressing in some way. The developers are also committed to solving core issues like saving problems, so that’s a good sign. Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown is a hidden gem for sci-fi fans, and you will find yourself pouring a few dozen hours into this, as you explore planets, follow the story and embark on treacherous missions.

Despite its shortcomings, Heaven's Vault is a delightful experience that's meant to discover your inner archaeologist. Even though it brings forward a repetitive puzzle system that encourages you to translate as many inscriptions as you can get your hands on, the loop remains fresh until the end of the game, and quite addictive I might add.

The quality of the overall experience is impacted by the limited appeal of the presentation. Combat can also become repetitive, with the dice system somewhat restrictive later on. Curious Expedition 2 is a good run-based title that will show-off the series to a wider section of gamers than the original, allowing them to go on complex resource-constrained adventures.

If you want to bring a piece of ancient Rome into the 21st century, and live out your fantasies as a grand strategist, I find it hard to recommend any other game than this.

Despite the optimization issues, the network problems with the Shift servers that cause momentarily framerate drops, the fact that there are some unexplainable crashes and various bugs, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a truly wonderful experience for all Borderlands fans. It is different enough, so veterans won’t see it just a reskin, and familiar enough to get lost in the game world. The voice acting is the best up to date, with a tremendous performance from actors like Will Arnett. Tina’s voice is Ashly Burch, who gives a very different performance here compared to Horizon’s Alloy. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has plenty of issues and there is room for improvement, but it is a good game with plenty to keep you entertained.

The game’s narrative and presentation enhance gameplay without keeping players away from it for too long. The humor adds to the atmosphere and immersion. There are moments when too much is happening in Mr. Sun's Hatbox at once. But this is a game where even failure is entertaining while success opens up more variety and potential strategies.

Audiosurf 2 is a worthy successor to the original experience. While Mono mode is, of course, the main star, you can find quite a few other interesting modes that provide a change of pace. While on its own the game is quite good, by factoring in the user-created modes and skins, Audiosurf 2 becomes even better.

En Garde! offers a tight core idea and executes on it well, although in some predictable ways. It’s fun to constantly scan the battlefield and evaluate incoming enemies to decide how to use the environment and Adalia’s superior fencing skills to separate groups, stun some enemies, and, finally, take all of them down. The unlockable reveals even more options to spice battles up and create interesting scenarios. The title’s platforming and exploration are limited, which will limit its appeal for anyone who doesn’t quickly enjoy the combat. En Garde! is a happy adventure dedicated to fans of pulp and complex battle situations.

Stirring Abyss is a very good indie take on the modern XCOM formula that will make tactics fans happy, although it is not really a spiritual successor to Terror from the Deep. The campaign itself, on Normal difficulty, offers a solid challenge by itself and the game also has an Endless mode for even more replayability. Yes, there are difficulty spikes, especially the boss battles, that can frustrate. But the tension between preparedness and speed that the mechanics created is something that more modern tactics focused titles should try to replicate.

After seeing the Cold War the hardcore fans will keep their preferences aiming towards the episodes developed by Infinity Ward. Although a fair effort, the latest Black Ops struggles to come out from the shadow of last year’s Modern Warfare and fails. On every level, it feels like a step back compared to the previous iterations. Moreover, the visuals are outdated, and some technical issues should have been fixed before launch. We expected more from Black Ops Cold War, but I am sure that Activision will rake in enough money from the players to have another Call of Duty next year.

Simon the Sorcerer Origins is a great experience if you want to enjoy a wonderful story. There are lots of gags in there, and they don’t shy away from adding some creative gameplay ideas. Sure, there are small frustrations, like stiff animations at times or bad inventory management, but that didn’t push me away from the game. If anything, it’s a solid game that certainly earns its spot as one of the best adventure games in the past few years.

Wavetale remains a hidden indie jewel that could have benefited from more QA before being released on console, even though that would have certainly involved pouring more resources into a game that was initially launched on Google Stadia. For starters, fixing the music issues and the freezes would be mandatory in order to prevent discouraging people from trying it. For what is worth, Wavetale does a single thing well and that's the sliding mechanic, which is probably the only true selling point of the game. From the beginning to end, surfing the waves remains the main charm of Wavetale. It is a remarkable first effort, and one can only hope that it is enough to make people notice Wavetale and grant the developers the chance to make a sequel building upon the existing formula.

ANTHEM#9’s combat innovates in some interesting ways, taking some cues from match-3 and some from turn-based role-playing battles to create something new, fast, and mostly fun. I like how the two decks, their skills, the blessings, and unique character traits interact to allow players to deal huge amounts of damage and cancel out incoming attacks, if everything goes right. The world-building is limited, and there’s not much in the way of story to uncover as players push through the mission. And the presentation seems to be directly aimed at bringing in gamers who like the Persona franchise. Players who pick ANTHEM#9 looking for good tactical puzzles and strong core mechanics, will not be disappointed.

Tin Hearts has clever puzzle design, interesting ways to interact with the environment, and a good ramp-up for its difficulty level. The time manipulation system makes it easy to try out new ideas and see how they play out. There are no difficulty spikes and the level of frustration is kept to a minimum. The title’s presentation works well with the mechanics but the narrative never made an impact. The focus on toys makes the game well-suited for younger gamers, even if they might need help when it comes to figuring out solutions. Tin Hearts is a carefully calibrated puzzle experience and offers a great way to unwind.

Legend of Keepers is a good mix of ideas that could use some more variety. For the first 10 to 15 hours it has the pace and content to throw new ideas and new options out. It’s very fun to take down new groups of more powerful heroes and see what’s the best combination of monsters and traps to sap their spirit or to destroy their health points. The game also has plenty of long-term goals. But once I learned more about the monsters and the enemies I found it hard to get excited, even when I got a new powerful creature or when a powerful hero dropped in. Goblinz Studio understands the two genres it is mixing but it should have added a pinch more innovation to make Legend of Keepers into a long-term fun experience.

Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! is a fun, often funny, and sometimes touching experience. It knows how to work within both the noir and the adventure game genres. The cast of animal characters is well-chosen, and Sonny makes for a great protagonist. Play the game in short sessions, soak in the atmosphere, and don’t be dissuaded by the more frustrating mini-games. There are a few moments when conversations feel out of sequence, depending on player choices. The puzzle elements rarely feel like they belong. Some locations feel too small. But these are limitations of the adventure game genre and Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! works hard to push past them and manages to give fans a good plot, great characters, and cool interrogation scenes.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical isn’t for everyone. There’s not a lot of actual gameplay, although everything the player does is important. The premise and universe are well-executed while the presentation enhances the experience. More importantly, the songs are good, and the way gamers can shape them is unique and engaging. One has to like musical numbers that express big feelings to enjoy this deity-featuring murder mystery. Grace’s three approaches should have delivered more variety in terms of reactions, and I really wanted some extra character development for the gods. Still, Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is a unique game and features a unique blend of choices and musical moments.

I fell in love with Tomb Raider the moment I played the first episode on my PC a very long time ago. That is why the ups and downs of the series hit me on a more sensible and emotional level. I was hyped about this remaster, and I have to admit I got what I hoped for: the original three games, with new shiny graphics and controls that are closer to the standards of 2024. But after playing through the remastered trilogy, I have to admit that my memories about the game were romanticized compared to reality. The gameplay and level design that worked over two decades ago, today feel dated and clunky. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is hard to recommend for anyone but the hardcore fans of the series.

Armello shows a lot of promise and its mechanics work well in a virtual environment while still keeping their tabletop feel. However, the lengthy AI turns, not to mention the sometimes-unfair RNG and erratic AI behavior, weigh it down.

The Star Named Eos is a short adventure game with some interesting puzzles, which ultimately fails to stand out. At best, it flickers in some moments, but it does not shine. The pacing, the low-res cutscenes, the repetitive pattern of the level design, and the lack of real connection with your character make the experience a rather forgettable one. Fans of the genre will have some fun with the game, but I’d recommend to pick this one up when it’s on sale, so you avoid feeling bad for not having your expectations met.

Modern Warfare II is almost a perfect game. But the almost part is more significant than you’d be tempted to believe, and unfortunately, it sometimes makes the game a work-in-progress. If you’re buying the game specifically to play the campaign, there is both good news and bad news here. The campaign is insanely awesome, and you’ll have a lot of fun playing it, but on the other hand, it feels way too short. Each mission feels like a different game, and it can be completed in a different way every time. On the other hand, the multiplayer side of Modern Warfare II is what seems to disappoint most of the fans. The bugs, the crashes, the lack of multiplayer options, and the behavior of some players ruin the experience. In case you’re wondering if the new anti-cheating system works, it looks like it does, though you may still occasionally come across players that kill you with a single shot in the very first second they spot you.

Saviorless shines when players control Antar, evaluating a puzzle that might stretch across a few screens, then testing possibilities and contemplating how to reach a collectible. Combat isn’t as engaging as the platforming or the puzzle solving, and checkpoint placement is pretty bad. Thankfully, the world is intriguing enough to counter potential frustration. The impressive art style is another draw and it’s worth playing through the narrative, even without getting all the torn pages, simply to see how the developers bring this fantasy universe to life. Saviorless is a solid debut title from an indie developer and its mix of ideas is good enough that I look forward to seeing what Empty Head Games delivers next.

The shooting is fun, the low gravity and oxygen ideas are nice, the story still does not impress in many ways, but overall the experience is engaging and a good way to get the adrenaline flowing.

Star Control: Origins perfectly combines exceptional writing, total exploration freedom, satisfying space combat, excellent voice acting and hypnotizing music. Although I felt intimidated by the importance of the journey ahead, the well written, humorous dialogues gently transitioned me into a state of pure excitement. No words can better describe Star Control: Origins than actually playing it. It's a masterpiece.

While it’s not going to blow you away, Katanaut manages to surpass expectations, and it stands right there with some of the best in the genre. The gameplay and combat are very good, the visual style is stunning, and I am a huge fan of how you can easily customize every run. Katanaut feels very fulfilling, and there’s plenty of fun to be had, even if it’s not a long game.

Unlike the first game where multiplayer was kind of a mess, the sequel offers a pretty solid multiplayer experience. Playing Watch Dogs 2 co-op is definitely a blast, especially if you're experiencing the game with a friend.