Beholder 3 has a few good ideas that fail to shine through the limited and repetitive mechanics. Some conversations, especially some with family members, elicit emotion and create genuine dilemmas. But I never was interested in the tenants, their problems, or my co-workers, and always played Frank as a survivor who can’t and won’t try to make the world a better place. I like how this actually fits well into the totalitarian framework of the game’s world. But much of my detachment is also linked to the mechanics, repetitive and lacking imagination, which eliminated emotion. Beholder 3 delivers a world worth exploring but fails to give the players the means to get engaging moments from it.

Power Chord enters a very crowded genre, where simple competency is no longer enough to guarantee an audience. The title’s mechanics are good and fun and the metal theme is used well. But all its core ideas are safe and there’s no significant innovation in the card battles or the rogue structure. For players who love this type of game, the experience will be fine, as long as they are willing to put in the grinding time required to get the better cards and the extra characters. But I wanted Power Chord to be weirder and more innovative to build on the positive reaction it initially creates.

Marvel’s Avengers has buried in it an excellent story and single-player experience. But all the good it does is overshadowed by technical issues and corporate greed. In its current state is more similar to a beta, rather than a fully polished AAA game. The main campaign of the game is truly delicious and is worth experiencing by every fan of action games. The several climaxes masterfully weaved into it manage to make you feel like a part of the Avengers. But even these moments cannot make me forget about the technical issues, and the sacrifices made to turn the game into a live service.

Despite its outdated graphics and often basic visual style, Achilles: Legends Untold manages to put a spell on you with its atmosphere and well thought out combat system. But it doesn’t take long for the randomly fluctuating difficulty levels, uninspired dialogues and characters, as well as the countless errors to turn you away from the game. This could have been a great game if the developers paid more attention and had thoroughly thought out the game mechanisms. Achilles: Legends Untold ends up feeling truly unfair towards the player, replacing skill with luck and lending cheap shots due to the inability to counter the many issues.

Might & Magic Heroes VII is probably the best entry in the series since the original trilogy, an experience that understands what makes the series great and delivers slightly updated takes on the core mechanics without any revolutionary features.

Skyshine's Bedlam is a pretty good mix of turn-based strategy and rogue-like mechanics. However, the sheer difficulty at the beginning of a campaign and the randomized unit placement does make it very tough for players to survive their journey into the Wasteland.

War Hospital offers a decent management experience with nice flavor. There aren’t many games that use World War I as a setting and even less than ask fans to actually heal people rather than kill them. The game’s management aspect is well-executed, although the core gameplay loop tends to become repetitive. The development team also delivers a good recreation of the first worldwide conflict, with a focus on the frailty of humanity and the incredibly limited tools doctors and nurses had to save lives. I hope that Brave Lamb Studio takes the best ideas of War Hospital and refines them, either for DLC or a sequel.

Clue: Murder By Death will disappoint those looking for a direct adaptation of the very popular boardgame. It will also fail to deliver the level of humor and kitsch of the movie. But, with its simple mechanics and extensive storytelling, it does deliver a pretty cool murder mystery that starts off pretty slow and then delivers plenty of surprises. The presentation will be the biggest obstacle for detective game aficionados. Put on a crime-focused podcast and take breaks when the simple graphics start to grate. Clue: Murder By Death’s more than 100 rooms don’t all pack surprises, but they create a fictional universe with a ton of storytelling potential.

All in all, I think that Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr should provide more than a satisfactory experience. Just don’t look too much under the hood or try to find the reasons behind some of the developer’s decisions. It’s a decent exploration of the Warhammer universe, and it’s more than capable of gobbling up your hours, if you’re not careful.

Pro Cycling Manager 2014 is a solid experience for all fans of the sport who want to recreate history and try to win Le Tour de France with their favorite riders, but it might be a little too complex at first for newcomers who are looking to explore the simulation genre...But all should probably wait until the noticeable crashes are eliminated via patch.

The Park is an interesting attempt to offer a spin-off experience for those who love The Secret World and to deliver some Halloween appropriate content for gamers who are interested in psychological horror.

Mail Time is a lovely little indie adventure game, that tries not just to entertain, but also to gently remind us about being nicer and more accepting of each other. It is a lesson about not being afraid to fail and enjoying every moment of our lives. It is a game that can be finished in a couple of hours, and it has no replay value, yet it is one that is worth experiencing by all who are looking for a cozy adventure game set in a hidden magic world.

Frozenheim is a video game in search of an identity. It would have been better served by leaning into its city-building side, challenging players to find the best ways for their Vikings to thrive in inhospitable lands. The combat is so limited that it would have been easy to drop it entirely or just abstract it in some way. Neither the universe nor the presentation adds much to the gameplay. Given the Early Access period, Paranoid Interactive is delivering an experience that feels unpolished. The unique mix of mechanics is promising by itself, but Frozenheim fails to deliver on its potential.

Although it may seem short, the game is packed with engaging action and enough content to justify its price. Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a must-play title for fans of the cartoons, and it should be picked up by those looking for an action game too, even if they are not familiar with one of the most famous ninjas ever to grace recent pop culture.

We Are Football is an intriguing attempt to offer another take on the football management genre. The game has a very good match presentation and some solid club-focused mechanics but I am not sure that this is enough to make it a contender. The developers really need to get at least one major league full license (the Bundesliga is probably the most accessible) to draw fans in. An editor that is both faster and easier to use just to engage with names would also help. The football management space needs more options and more innovation. The developers clearly try to focus on the match and the squad interactions while also offering more club-based features for those who want it. I liked the time I spent with We Are Football but it’s unlikely that I will use it to play a ten-year-long Liverpool campaign anytime soon.

The Precinct might fashion itself as an homage to the classics of the cop movie genre but seems to struggle to calibrate its mix of action, tedium, and humor. There’s a variety of police work to tackle, with a focus on direct interaction with citizens, but all of it becomes repetitive after a few shifts, and the special big events aren’t enough to compensate. The car chases, ludicrous as they might be in terms of collateral damage, are the most engaging part of the experience. Issuing parking tickets became boring in under five minutes. The Precinct has decent ideas and some fun moments but it will only appeal to those who already like open-world top-down action with a hint of chaos.

Among the Sleep is a horror experience that’s more interested in delivering on its premise of exploring traumatic events from the perspective of a two-year old than in shocking you with gore or employing jump scares in order to get a cheap reaction out of you, which is good.

PCM 2015 is not a perfect sports sim and Cyanide lacks the resources to make it one but it does deliver solid mechanics and impressive race moments and all cycling lovers should give it a shot and try and change history with their favorite teams and riders.

As a whole, Helvetii is an uneven product. The game’s nice visuals and solid combat are way above everything else. Roguelike fans will probably get something out of it, but my advice is to try and beat it fast and move on to another title.

BlazeRush is a really fun isometric arcade racing experience that manages to deliver explosive action, imaginative weapons, and balanced speed boosts to create an addictive flow.

A welcome entry in the series. It takes things to new heights in terms of story, while adding a few impressive gameplay mechanics, such as the flight one.

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.