Anomaly Defenders is a good final hurrah for the tower defense series from 11 Bit Studios. It has gorgeous maps, fun and hectic gameplay, and a lot of strategic opportunities via the deployable powers and the complex tech tree. What's more, the difficulty modes that affect the layout of the maps are quite impressive.

Overall, Strayed Lights is an enjoyable experience as long as you’re not expecting another challenging soulslike game. The eerie atmosphere, gorgeous visuals and outstanding soundtrack make it stand out from the plethora of action-adventure games. Its only fault is that character progression and combat are too simple, so the gameplay can quickly become repetitive. Despite having built a beautiful world, there’s really no exploration incentive and most of the landscapes are empty and devoid of life.

The clunky controls, the camera control of the alien ship, the overcomplicated UI along with the already mentioned shortcomings are the heritage of a long-gone era. Destroy All Humans! to be considered truly a remake would have needed updated gameplay, not just graphics. Despite these issues, Destroy All Humans! keeps its charm and unique appeal. If you can overlook the obsolete mechanics and level design, the adventures of Crypto are actually fun. Thanks to the budget-friendly price tag, the game can be recommended to those who finished games like Maneater and are looking to a new dose of mayhem.

Highwater could be the dictionary example of an indie game: it is based on a trending topic with social implications, it marches to its own tune without trying to fit into one specific genre, it has a distinctive visual and musical style that build a great atmosphere, and the developers cannot be bothered to fix the bugs they left in the game. It is an artistic production and a social statement that would badly need some polishing and fixing to be a completely enjoyable video game. By smoothing down the edges it can become the atmospheric trip the developers imagined, and the magic wouldn’t be broken by the hiccups.

Atomic Heart has all the premises for a great game. That is why so frustrating that Mundifsh dropped the ball by trying to do too much, and botching up some gameplay mechanics, and also by releasing a game that desperately would have needed more time for fixing the bugs that poison the experience. And while the latter can be solved through patches, some peculiar game design choices and compromises take away from the overall value. The vibes of the game are great, but when you look beyond the atmosphere you will find flaws that are much more than simple nuisances. Still, despite the disappointment, Atomic Heart is worth playing and hopefully marks the start of a new franchise, that will give the developers the chance to produce a sequel that rises to the level of expectations.

Ultimately, Gex Trilogy feels like a product designed more to honor the past than to ignite a new future for the franchise. It’s a loving archival effort that will undoubtedly please those who grew up with the sarcastic lizard, but it’s unlikely to convert new fans unfamiliar with his antics. With platforming having evolved significantly since Gex’s heyday, these titles feel more like relics — albeit entertaining ones — than evergreen classics. Gex Trilogy isn’t a reinvention; it’s a digital museum exhibit. Polished just enough to be playable by today’s standards, it offers a fun — if dated — experience for retro enthusiasts and collectors. But outside of nostalgia, its appeal is limited. A charming preservation effort, not a platforming revival.

Game of Thrones - The Ice Dragon is a good closing chapter for the first season of the video game, managing to deliver some satisfying final moments for the main protagonists and to confound the expectations of players to some extent.

The sense of exploration is the main draw, although the downtime between action sequences might be a little annoying to many.

Ultimately, Vampyr is definitely a game worth playing, even if just for the moral choices and the fine character building Dontnod managed to achieve. Don't get this one if you're expecting a combat-heavy RPG with your favorite vampire character.

It cannot be denied that Spellforce III was launched more than five years ago and the new release while not bad at all shows its age. The good news is that with the DLCs included, the countless patches have been implemented as well, so the Reforced edition offers the best experience. The new crafting system is also a welcome addition, just as the possibility to upload your own maps into Journey mode. The main issue remains the control scheme. That said, if you are curious about the result of mixing RTS and RPG, I can only recommend the console version of Spellforce III Reforced only if you don’t own a PC.

Is Architect Life a game that can be used by real-life architects? Obviously, many aspects pertaining to an architect’s job are simplified, but the framework is there, and you can build some amazing places. I like the interface and building toolkit, not to mention the visuals are delightful and fit the game’s vibe and atmosphere. I think comparing this to “The Sims” is fair, but here you just focus on the building aspect, and Architect Life excels at it. Unlike games such as House Flipper or The Sims, here you don’t focus on buying/flipping houses or simulating people’s lives inside a home. Instead, Architect Life gives us some insight into how architects work, while allowing home designers to bring their craziest home ideas to life. The building tools are awesome, and the art style is stunning, not to mention you can play the career mode to challenge yourself or just go full-on creative mode for some relaxing builds.

The Create-A-Sim and Build Mode systems are much more accessible yet offer a lot of depth for those that desire it. Sims are smart, can multitask, and interact in lots of nifty ways. However, there are still plenty of missing core items while the existing set of options are limited, to say the least, no doubt to ensure that the upcoming expansions bring lots of highly desirable things.

Unity is a good step in the series, managing to successfully overhaul most of the core mechanics. However, a lot of polishing is needed in terms of freerunning or stealth to make it all work as intended. The co-op is pretty fun, but be careful of the pretty common frame drops, errors, and annoying missions, as they can really pull you out of the experience.

The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales relies on an intriguing concept, and for the most part is quite enjoyable. The adventure sequences are immersive and motivate you to push forward and discover more. The game becomes even more remarkable if we take into account that it has been developed by a team of four people. However, I believe that instead of investing effort in building the combat system, the studio’s time could have been better used to polish the story. Nevertheless, The Boolkwaker: Thief of Tales is a solid adventure that will most certainly keep you engaged from start to finish.

Despite its shortcomings, the game remains a well put together jump and run that can be finished in a weekend if you want to find all the collectibles, or in around 10 hours if you’d rather focus only on the main story. The costumes are the best example of the game trying successfully to be a fanservice experience, and it works for the most part.

The developers of Ad Infinitum seem to have spent too much time on developing the atmosphere and the game itself. It is a completely linear experience, with plenty of bugs that often make progress impossible, if things do not happen according to the script. Because of that, it becomes increasingly frustrating to explore the levels in order to puzzle together the story. Also, once you pique behind the curtains and understand the mechanisms that break down so often, the magic is gone. The plenty of bugs and concept errors ruin what could have been a memorable experience.

I enjoyed TRON: Catalyst a lot, as it feels like a great successor to older titles like TRON: Evolution, while still being able to stand on its own. The story is clever, it has many twists and turns, and the gameplay is simplistic, accessible, with some challenges sprinkled here and there for good measure. Plus, there’s plenty of stuff for completionists to find, if you can get past the lightcycle controls and other issues. TRON: Catalyst manages to deliver on its promise, while offering an enthralling, visually striking and story-focused adventure through the Grid.

Affogato mixes two ideas that don’t normally belong together. The puzzle-style, card-driven reverse tower defense is pretty unique as an idea but suffers from a lack of variety and some difficulty spikes. The developers need to consider a sequel that focuses on this side of the game to explore its potential. Unfortunately, the coffee-making fails to deliver the same excitement level. All the character moments and conversations could have existed without the drink-making part. The game’s story doesn’t have many surprises but the relationship between Affogato and Mephista has enough charm to power the game.

Clandestine takes a great idea, the fact that spying is a two-man job, and delivers carefully balanced gameplay mechanics, both for the field operative and the hacker, that are easy to understand but hard to master.

I enjoyed my time with Star Overdrive, I think this is the best hoverboarding experience I have found in a game until now. The controls are very slick, and being able to customize the hoverboard is a lot of fun. Combat is ok, not too complex, but enough to keep you interested as you focus on finishing the game. When it comes to the story, I liked it, but I know it won’t be for everyone. However, chances are that if you play this game, you’re most likely doing it for riding a hoverboard and killing enemies. I am sure that for a lot of players, hoverboarding will take center stage, with the story being just an excuse to progress and upgrade your hoverboard. Star Overdrive has its shortcomings, but as a complete package, it’s a nice adventure for 10-12 hours, and a great excuse to peruse a beautifully designed alien world with a hoverboard.

All in all, Wolfenstein: Young Blood is by far the most disappointing of the series, and it disappoints as a game in general. More so, if you’re a fan of the series, don’t force yourself to try it for the sake of nostalgia, as it has almost nothing “Wolfenstein-ish” left in it.

A solid debut of this spinoff mini-series.

Darkestville Castle is an overdose of nostalgia and pointing and clicking. It is far from being a remarkable production, but it can be fun for the fans of the genre. It presents no challenges, but it can fill a rainy afternoon when you need a quick and easy way to improve your mood.

Crime O'Clock offers a great time-traveling detective experience and shows what skilled developers can achieve while re-inventing a classic mechanic. All its five era locations are attractive, packed with interesting characters, tons of details, and some truly weird ideas. The black and white look and the colorful case touches complement each other well. The point-and-click gameplay is simple to understand, and there’s a solid hint system that will ensure fans never get frustrated when they simply cannot locate someone or something. Some of the mini-games do get repetitive. Crime O'Clock is an excellent game, relaxing, respectful of the player’s time, and stunning in its attention to detail.

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a memorable game, maybe the best produced so far by Frogwares. It is not a classical adventure game, rather an open world Victorian tour de force in the early days of the most famous detective. As such it is not easy, mainly because the developers decided to let players figure out how a detective’s mind works. You must have patience and pay attention in order to figure out the Holmes family secret. But it is a rewarding journey, one that will make you feel invested in it. It might not be a perfect game, nor a AAA title, but it is fun and well crafted.

Overall, Cris Tales is a charming tale, a great JRPG, and a memorable experience, with plenty of replay value. The characters are endearing, while the story is based on the innocence of childhood. It is almost like a time travel experience taking you back to when your parents used to read you bedtime stories. You can feel that the team poured their heart and soul into the game making it a game that will convince everyone willing to try it, even if they usually do not like JRPGs. It has some issues and for some, the visuals might be too colorful or cheerful, but it is an adventure worth playing through.

Kingdom of the Dead is the work of a developer who understands what makes classic first-person shooters so fun and captivating. The game is unafraid to be a little unfair. It takes skill to chain headshots, it is hard to deal with big groups of mixed enemies, especially on the higher difficulties. But it feels very good when you ace a boss fight with just a bit of health left over.

Freaking Meatbags is a fun combination of the tower defense and real-time strategy genres. Throw in the witty dialog, the lovely visuals, not to mention the crazy combinations possible when it comes to DNA splicing between humans and aliens, and you'll be quite entertained with it.