TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA is a good experience for anyone who likes tennis and really wants to control his favorite player. After learning the mechanics and how to best exploit computer-controlled opponents it is quite fun to dominate even the Grand Slams. The title’s presentation helps, with well-modeled players and animations. Individual matches can be thrilling. But there are gaps in the mechanics, like the lack of player morale, and the career mode lacks depth. Tiebreak is a good foundation and its developers need to squash bugs and improve gameplay to make it a good sports sim.

If you don't mind the simplified graphics and you just want a game that will help you relax and get annoyed at the same time, you'll find that Bridge Constructor is more than able to provide that experience.

All in all, Nocturnal remains a good indie platformer that offers enough innovations to make it worth a playthrough. Despite some uninspired mechanics, the overall gameplay experience is enjoyable and in no way frustrating.

Batora: Lost Haven is a competent and mostly enjoyable action game. It has one big idea, the two natures of both Avril and her enemies, but never uses it in any truly unique ways. After a few hours, only the boss battles manage to break up the monotony. The puzzle element of the game is mostly filler. Avril and Mira make a good pair of protagonists but the rest of the narrative is not as exciting. Batora: Lost Haven needs to be more daring with its unique idea when it comes to both combat and puzzles.

EcoGnomix is easy to learn and has a satisfying main gameplay loop. Players have to constantly think about how their gnome workers can be positioned to extract resources, preferably a lot of them while dealing with threats. It takes careful planning and a dose of luck to get deep into the caves and get a chance to tangle with the boss. The surface town development elements are simple and there’s not much in the way of a narrative hook. The biggest problem is the limited control that players have, mainly when it comes to upgrades. EcoGnomix’s mix of ideas is engaging and the title successfully delivers the “one more run” feeling but it needs a patch or two to fully deliver on its potential.

At the end of the day, Session: Skate Sim is either a brilliant release or a frustrating game to try. It all depends on where you are when it comes to a realistic skateboarding experience and your expectations towards a digital version of it. If you’re not a professional skater and just want to try out a new game, there’s absolutely no doubt Session: Skate Sim isn’t for you.

Although Destiny 2 requires quite a lot of grinding, the whole process doesn't really feel like a chore since there are so many varied activities that you'll rarely do the same thing twice in a month (unless it's a weekly activity, or you really want to). First and foremost, Destiny 2 does not frustrate players by placing parts of the end game under hard to achieve power level requirements. There's plenty of loot to gain and, more importantly, you're actually having fun while obtaining it.

SOULVARS is a complex video game dedicated to fans of classic Japanese role-playing games and, especially, to those who love their deep combat systems. Newcomers might find combat hard to comprehend but the game does offer the resources to understand the mechanics and use them in cool ways. Because exploration isn’t very engaging and the narrative can be a little hard to follow, players need to really love the combat to remain engaged. SOULVARS is clearly a labor of love but it will mainly appeal to those who appreciate the same classic titles as the developer.

Overall, One Piece: World Seeker captures the entire spirit of the franchise and compresses it into a new and unique story, on an island that you'll enjoy exploring and with characters some of you may have even grown up with.

Balatro is fast and addictive, a game that takes familiar ideas and adds enough twists and turns to keep players engaged. Take a look at the Collection to see how many potential jokers, booster packs, tags, and more can influence a run. Each run generates a sense of excitement and possibility, even if it ends quickly after a run of bad card draws. And I love it when a strategy comes together, getting just the right cards to activate the strong multiplier to defeat a boss on the last hand. The feeling of achievement, even if luck is a big element in every run, is something that many games struggle to deliver. Balatro has a great rogue-lite concept executed with care and I plan to play at least one run a day for the foreseeable future.

As a complete package, I think that Occlude is a pretty interesting game. It’s definitely a variation of Solitaire, but it has its own ideas, and the occult/ritual-like focus makes it stand out quite a bit. Those elements also enhance the gameplay quite a lot, while also offering you plenty of room to experiment and try out new stuff. On top of that, you have the great narrative and different rituals that help add plenty of depth to the gameplay itself. Yes, it might not be the most complex card game out there, but it certainly differentiates itself from deck builders and all the other similar titles in this niche. I think the occult theme suits the game very nicely, and every ritual is well-made, which further adds to the intricate story and character development.

Generation Zero could probably be best described as an unpolished gem. If a second part is going to be made (and I sincerely hope that’s happening), I’m sure that it’s going to be much better and better focused. Until then, if you're playing Generation Zero in a single player or with other people, you’re in for a treat. You’re going to experience something unique, and that in itself is valuable.

Forsaker: DingDing & Blade takes two quite different genres and mashes them together. The fact that players can experience the entire narrative in normal visual novel fashion, without fighting any card battle, is a clear sign that the mix doesn’t fully work. Combat is easy to pick up, but its systems don’t aim for innovation, and repetition sets in quickly. But I think it’s worth trying a few runs just to see how the systems work. Then switch to the classic visual novel approach and give Forsaker: DingDing & Blade time to tell a good story about corruption, power, rivalry, and what it means to be human.

The game is positively gorgeous, the music is extremely engaging, and while not everyone might like the slow pace of this game genre, those of you who do will take part in an adventure that will leave you staring into nothingness, to the point where you may experience memories you never actually thought you had. All in all, it is definitely a game that deserves a place in any adventurous gamer's digital library.

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.

Chicken Police is not the most innovative or complex adventure game, but it is one of the most atmospheric ones. It is immersive and fun, with an excellent soundtrack and stellar voice acting. The puzzles are a bit simple and limited in number, but you will not miss them so much thanks to the excellent story and well-written dialogues. The noir atmosphere is the most important element of the recipe, Chicken Police charming you from the very first minutes and guiding you gently to the end by fueling your sense of accomplishment with new discoveries. It is not perfect, but it is an experience you will not regret.

Anima Gate of Memories: I & II Remastered is the ultimate way of experiencing these 2 games, and it’s definitely a great idea to get them, especially if you enjoy anime content and RPGs. The highlight of these games is certainly their combat, but the story is also serviceable, and the RPG elements enrich the overall experience. It’s also great to see that the game doesn’t require a lot of resources on PC either, so even if you have an older computer, you should be more than ok playing it. If you’re into Nier-style games and want an excuse to spend a few dozen hours in a wonderful fantasy world with quirky bosses and enemies, this is definitely something to consider. It’s more of an indie action RPG, but one with a lot of heart, excellent combat and engaging RPG elements. I enjoyed the game world, the characters, interactions, but also enemy encounters and bosses. Yes, it has some caveats, but if you want to experience these now-classics, the remastered pack is the best way to do it.

Verses of Enchantment is a competent card-driven battler with one unique core twist, that A.I. generates verses based on the cards the two opponents use. The poetry that emerges ranges in quality from decent to very bad and has a limited impact on gameplay. The core mechanics are good, with some cool card interactions and a focus on specialized decks. Verses of Enchantment offers interesting duels and plenty of poems to read but never builds a detailed enough world around them to keep players engaged.

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.

Blades of Fire might not revolutionize the genre, but it doesn’t need to. What it offers is a polished, confident, and deeply satisfying action experience grounded in clear design principles and executed with purpose. By drawing inspiration from giants of the genre and combining those ideas into a streamlined, compelling whole, MercurySteam has crafted a surprise that deserves attention. Whether you come for the satisfying weapon crafting, the intense yet accessible combat, or the story of rebellion and divine legacy, Blades of Fire delivers a memorable journey. It’s not bloated, it's not pretentious, it’s just good game design, executed with passion.

Overall, I found the new Shadow of the Colossus a pleasant journey peppered with some frustrating moments, especially when battling the colossi. If you can get passed that, Shadow of the Colossus can offer some epic moments and a beautiful world to explore.

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.

AIPD provides a solid twin-stick shooter experience, with plenty of variety thanks to the customization elements for your ship, the gameplay, or the mode. Fun in small doses in single-player and adequately chaotic when more people are involved, you can’t go wrong with this indie title.

Layers of Fear is an excellent remake, adding quite a few hours of new content that fits the original story like a glove. It is scarry, depressing and marvelously dark, and it is a must for all the fans of the genre, no matter if they played the original game or not. The bugs are extremely annoying, and they break the immersion, but they can easily be fixed through a patch. The over 12 hours of total gameplay and the replay value granted by multiple playthroughs needed in order to figure out the multiple endings more than justify the price of the game. The new Layers of Fear is a well thought out horror game, that with the mandatory facelift manages to be more impressive and memorable than the original one.

Overall, while it’s still mostly the same as previous titles in the Lego series, Lego DC Super-Villains offers some much needed twist in terms of story, shining a light on the life of the bad guys and girls in the comic book universe. Add in the superb voice acting, the many different powers that you get to wield as the villains, as well as the huge amount of activities scattered throughout its open world and you’re bound to have a good time being bad.

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.

Gameplay is as captivating as ever, and the couple of improvements manage to fit quite well into the established recipe. However, there are some noticeable downsides relating to the voice “acting” not to mention the design of some specific stages that feel rushed or confusing.

Overall, the mind-bending puzzles, unique gameplay mechanics and the fact that it is all wrapped up in an intense and heart-warming emotional story make it the go-to game for those who love romance, puzzle solving, and romancing while puzzle solving.