Anomaly Agent is a great retro-inspired side-scrolling action title. The combat system has depth and delivers some frantic engagements. Surviving a big fight with just a sliver of health feels great. The presentation is solid, with a special mention for the music, and the narrative, despite its familiar beats, is engaging. There’s one mission that involves kicking someone around that will annoy some players and the platforming has some difficult moments. But the game is inventive and imbued with a sense of coolness. Anomaly Agent is accessible to newcomers but also has plenty of challenges for hardcore fans.

Inscryption is another great experience from Daniel Mullins and his studio. Their take on the already very crowded card game and rogue combination is a unique but recognizable one. I liked the combat, the level of complexity, the challenge posed by the bosses. And I loved the way it integrates with the wider world of the game and the story it tells. I would like to see more use for the sacrifice mechanic and some extra ways to cheat the rules. But self-aware creatures, cards that immortalize failed runs, and general creepiness add a lot to the core concepts. Inscryption has all the necessary ingredients to set a new standard of quality for its genre and keep fans engaged for tens of hours.

Imperator: Rome is an example of how hard it can be to reconcile gameplay and history. On launch, the game failed to deliver the mix that players expected from Paradox. The Marius update, especially with the tweaks to warfare, is closer to the historical record while also offering gamers plenty of agency. Heirs of Alexander is a good paid expansion, even considered apart from the free update. The Diadochi wars are fascinating and complex. I played quite a bit as the Antigonids and I still have options to explore. The other successor kingdoms have the same amount of content. For anyone who exhausts the stories of the Diadochi, there's more to discover and more places to conquer when playing as Rome, Carthage, and the rest, making Imperator a joy to return to.

Solium Infernum is an exquisite gamer, with carefully honed mechanics and a lot of freedom. Dominating Hell involves both careful plans and smart reactions to unforeseen events and surprises created by adversaries. The game does ask players to invest time and energy to learn all its mechanics and how they interact with each other. The single player is fun by itself but a willingness to engage in multiplayer unlocks more of the title’s potential. Solium Infernum is a must-have for turn-based fans who want to rule Hell using deceit and strength.

Aces & Adventures has strong deck building and an inspired twist on the card-driven combat concept. There are enough abilities that players can develop strategies and perform cool moves but poker combinations are random enough that the results are never guaranteed. The heroes cater to a variety of play styles and there’s a lot of content to explore using each of them. The campaign structure is a little familiar but a lot of effort has been put into the presentation. Aces & Adventures is sharp, tense, and has a solid grasp on what makes a deck battler sing.

Everything that Capcom included in Monster Hunter Rise feels like it's been curated by a perfectionist. The soundtrack, visuals, gameplay mechanics, monster-hunting loop, and multiplayer have been thoroughly designed to offer players the ultimate Monster Hunter experience on a handheld device. With a little bit more investment in the narrative, Monster Hunter Rise could have been a perfect game. Without that it's just one of the best games in the series, a must-play title for every Nintendo Switch owner. I'm amazed that after two incredible Monster Hunter games, Capcom still finds a way to outdo itself and push out another nearly perfect monster-hunting title.

Hitman - Episode One is a great video game for fans of the series and offers the freedom that they have long requested from IO Interactive, with Agent 47 once again offered multiple ways and means to take out his targets.

Knock on the Coffin Lid is a good representative of its genre. The core deckbuilding and combat mechanics are good but not revolutionary. After a while, it’s a good idea to turn on fast animations to speed them up. Still, there are cool synergies to find and a wide array of strategies to test and choose from. It takes a little too long to unlock all three heroes and battles can become repetitive when moving through the same spots. But the game is engaging, and the lore and presentation actually enhance the core loop. Knock on the Coffin Lid is fun and will keep gamers fighting and discovering new places across multiple runs.

Planet of Lana II is designed to improve on the original’s ideas and give fans more of what they loved. The game’s core, both in terms of story and gameplay, still lies in the connection between Lana, adventurous as ever, and Mui, now capable of engaging with puzzles in new ways. The game is well-balanced, with only a few situations where it was hard to intuit how to advance. The title’s voice acting is impressive, and I appreciate the effort to offer more biome variety, even if Lana’s animations aren’t always great. Anyone who loves the protagonists and the immersive use of an alien language should play the sequel. Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is a good sequel that still impresses with its atmosphere, even as some of its new gameplay ideas don’t fully deliver.

Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power is a worthy successor to the first two games in the series. The addition of 3D environments, while a bit tricky at first, ends up enhancing the experience. There are still a few quirks, such as camera angles or some complex platforming sequences, but overall it's still a blast to play through the new title, both for veterans as well as newcomers.

Pathologic 3 is the most approachable title in the series, offering a good mix of narrative, carefully crafted atmosphere, management elements, and tense infected district sections. Players need to diagnose patients correctly to stand a chance of keeping the population alive, which in turn earns the time needed to discover all the town’s secrets. Still, individual quest chains can be confusing, and running through miasma-affected districts can become a chore. Gamers should always conserve resources and look for good trades. Pathologic 3 can frustrate at times, but it will reward players with great story moments and well-crafted interactions.

Nuclear Throne manages to walk a fine line between challenging, with options for the player who wants to succeed in the post-apocalypse, and unfairly difficult, filled with obstacles that will induce frustration for even the most hardened fans of the rogue-like genre.

MULLET MADJACK is a great first-person action gamer with a strong core idea that it executes beautifully. It plays fast, it’s violent enough, and it gives players a variety of weapons to eliminate evil robots with. There are enough difficulty levels to cater to the most hardcore FPS fans looking for a challenge while also welcoming players who simply want to enjoy the action and take in the atmosphere. The story setup is good enough for the short and adrenaline-filled runs, although some lines tend to get repetitive and slightly annoying. The game looks impressive and has a very good soundtrack. The only gameplay-related issues are the relatively uninspired bosses and the end-of-floor upgrades, which sometimes feel divorced from the player’s situation. MULLET MADJACK is fun and fast and shows how a carefully designed FPS can satisfy a large audience.

ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree is a great experience, driven by a strong story, a good mix of mechanics, and impressive atmosphere. Puzzles make sense and are satisfying to solve and combat never becomes the core mechanic. The Nordic-inspired universe is both intriguing and filled with good characters. The relatively slow pace of the experience might be an issue for some players and a more robust hint system should have been included. But these are relatively small problems when compared to the charm and immersion it creates. Play it in small chunks, don’t be afraid to walk away from a puzzle for a few hours, and allow ATONE to provide a spark of magic with its mix of story and gameplay.

When I started playing Reanimal, I was unsure where this experience would go. However, I found the game to be very surprising, not only when it comes to its story, but also the overall presentation and great sense of immersion. It retains Tarsier’s signature style, while adding some clever, new elements into the mix. Reanimal doesn’t rely on jumpscares, instead its focus is on psychological horror and a sense of uneasiness that follows you from beginning until the end. It's also nice to see that the game’s performance is outstanding, and the co-op aspect is one of the highlights. Yes, it’s not a very long game, but it tells a very refreshing story that we can easily connect with challenging moments in our lives. Plus, mechanics like scuba diving or driving break the mold, while offering yet another way to experience this troublesome, yet beautiful world they created.

The Homeworld Remastered Collection offers players access to two of the best space based strategy titles ever created and to do so on modern machines, with no worries about compatibility or other hardware problems, which means that the fan community should be grateful for the work that Gearbox has put in.

Civilization VII is a great 4X experience and every gamer interested in the genre should give it a try. The turn-based mechanics support a wide variety of playstyles and there’s a ton of diversity in leader and civ combinations. The eras system comes across as limited at first, but it basically allows players to play three potentially very different games of Civ in one campaign. A few systems, like religion and internal politics, are limited but will probably get fleshed out in expansions. The end-of-era crisis moments aren’t challenging enough, even on the higher difficulty levels, especially if players pay attention and min-max their cities. Civilization VII changes the formula of the series in interesting ways, although it needs balancing and a better user interface as quickly as possible.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain makes good on its word and delivers a great experience that's more than worthy of the saga's heritage. However, it's not exactly perfect, as the story requires a lot of pre-established knowledge, not to mention cassette-listening to make sense.

TR-49 is delightful, a game that takes an interesting core concept and builds an intriguing and complex story around it. The two parallel narratives unfold slowly, while the atmosphere remains dark and mysterious. The voice acting, both for the protagonists and the people whose writing was fed into the machine, is impressive. Sure, the core gameplay loop of inputting codes to move from page to page will become repetitive for many players. Thankfully, the players do a lot of thinking, and the game’s puzzles are constructed with care. TR-49 is one of the best mysteries of the past few years and is best enjoyed in short sessions to make it last.

Technobabylon is a must-play for every science fiction fan who enjoys point and click adventure games. Even if its low resolution façade puts you off, do yourself a favor and look beyond this impediment, as its personality will win you over in no time.

As someone that loved Platypus and its sequel, I was not sure what to expect from the Platypus Reclayed version. But now that I played and finished it, I am happy to say that this is the definitive version for all Platypus players. It has enough improvements that even the older players will play this one many times to get that high score. Yet at the same time, they also added some new weapons and updated the visuals. The new power-ups don’t appear very often, but when they do, they feel like a game-changer. Also, the music is excellent, as always, and the visuals make it feel like an entirely new game. I think the 4K update is excellent, and the game didn’t have any glitches or technical problems while I was playing, either. Platypus always had great variety when it came to levels and combining that with mod support makes Platypus Reclayed the best version of this title. I am eagerly waiting for new Platypus Reclayed content from the devs, while also looking forward to new levels, weapons and other wacky stuff that the community will come up with.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is a great game for anyone who appreciates a complex science-fiction universe, well-rounded characters, and existential musings. The new Sleeper is a great protagonist and the rest of the cast, even those with small roles, are well-written. The dice-focused gameplay has been enhanced with new mechanics, some designed to increase the challenge level, that sometimes feel unnecessary. Players annoyed by the dice rolls and the peril associated with them should play on easy and enjoy the narrative. The game, especially when players aren’t focused on one of the major drives, uniquely mixes story, tension, and a sense of discovery. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector doesn’t offer massive innovation but perfects an already effective combination of narrative and gameplay.

At the end of the day, Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires is a bit of a letdown for those who expected the same great gameplay they’ve been provided with in DW8 Empires. In many regards, the game feels like a step backward from its predecessor, and this is why so many fans are disappointed. On the other hand, it’s still an exciting release for an average player. The combat system is nice, though it takes time to get used to it, and the more time you spend on the little things, such as friendship with officers, finding a sword sibling, and things like that, the better the whole experience is getting.

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is a good historical strategy game. It gives players lots tools to affect their world and quickly produces results that bear little resemblance to the real past. Kingdoms fall in spectacular fashion and players need to carefully play their hand to gain new lands without attracting the attention of powerful neighbors. I do think the knights from the title should have more ways to interact with each other and the world around them. But the mix of interactions, classic development mechanics, and tactical battles offers a strong mix of ideas. Knights of Honor II: Sovereign will be fun both for long-term grand strategy fans and newcomers to this genre.

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.

It’s laden with tense moments and it’s a gorgeous visual journey, with a pretty good narrative and a lot of pleasant surprises for fans of the Alien franchise.

I can’t understand the point of StarCraft: Remastered. I see that it’s much prettier, and people with high-res displays will be able to run it in all its glory. The problem is that there is no real glory, and the one that’s left exists only in the minds of the people that played the original. It’s not a particularly bad remastering of a cult game, but it’s almost futile.

Doomblade has a strong hook and an engaging core gameplay loop. The idea of attack-as-movement transforms how players see environments and approach the world. All Metroidvania systems are implemented well, especially the escalating upgrades that allow Gloom Girl to basically break the rules of this universe as she searches for the Dread Lords. The game is also demanding. It takes some time to learn how to properly use the attack move and then how to master it and other abilities to deal with capable bosses. Doomblade’s universe is not as interesting as its core mechanic but mixing combat and movement into one action is special enough to keep players trying to find and end the Dread Lords.