The game looks better than ever but plays the same, so newcomers to the series should not skip one of the best JRPGs of all time, I would be “brokenhearted.” On a serious note, Ni no Kuni remains the same charming game that I've played several years ago and I'm glad that Bandai Namco has decided to bring it to a larger audience.

Cataclismo isn’t very deep when it comes to mechanics or narrative. But the freedom of taking chunks of wood and blocks of stone to create defenses and a variety of other structures is very engaging and enhances everything else about the title. It helps that a player can choose between the more directed experience of the campaign and the extra freedom associated with endless mode and skirmishes. Using limited resources to plan sturdy fortifications is made easy by the copy-paste features and the fact that the entire Steam Workshop serves as a reserve of blueprints. Cataclismo’s core idea is good and extra focus on city management would make it even better.

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.

Ninja Pizza Girl is a great experience due in equal parts to its great story and its good gameplay mechanics that encourage replayability and offer enough incentives to explore the pretty big levels. Some moments might not be up to par, but for the most part, you'll have a blast blazing across the rooftops and delivering pizza to others.

Forza Motorsport 7 is a yuuge game, and by that, I mean that it’s massive, and by massive I mean gigantic. You get the picture. I can’t really picture myself playing it for less than half a year. With so many races in single player, with the multiplayer choices, and the option to build your own races, people are going to have this game installed for a long time. I can’t speak about replayability because you’re not going to uninstall it anytime soon. People are going to play it over and over again, with no end in sight. Surprisingly, the goal of Forza Motorsport 7 is not to win but to get credits to buy cars. If you don’t mind the presence of microtransactions, and you convince yourself that you can grind away for credits, you’re going to love Forza Motorsport 7.

If you’re the kind of person that enjoys story and an immersive experience over gameplay mechanics and action, you’ll surely have a blast with this game, in spite of its largely straightforward puzzles, empty world and some other issues that prevent it from being a true masterpiece.

Metro Exodus bets big on interpersonal relationships and world building, something that the other two games in the series lacked badly. Its more mundane approach on how Artyom's crew perceives the post-apocalyptic landscapes they explore in their search for the promise land is what makes Metro Exodus a great game.

Golden Realms packs everything that you would want to have added to the base game: a better late gameplay experience, quests that offer milestones as the game progresses, letting you know how everyone fares, some truly interesting spells, and a unique new faction to pilot.

Leila is a short and story-driven experience that manages to be touching and funny. I would have liked to get an extra chapter or two and see the main character interact with more people. But I very much like how it explores the complexity of modern life without veering into melodrama or fantasy. The puzzle mechanics aren’t very original, but the game wisely moves quickly from idea to idea, without giving any of them time to become annoying. The hint system isn’t sophisticated but will make it easy for players to make progress and experience the full narrative. Leila’s combination of storytelling and voice acting is very good, although its gameplay doesn’t shine.

In the end, if you fancy going for better loot, fight more powerful enemies, and unlock all kinds of cool items, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 seems like a dream come true. Even with the bugs and the slightly unbalanced system, it’s a game that still tricks me somehow into playing just one more map.

Resident Evil HD Remaster is a decent remake of the original survival horror title, retaining the challenging puzzles and combat, while adding the new control scheme or the easy mode. Unfortunately, its overhauled aspects aren't that impressive, so don't go in with high expectations, as there are still plenty of confusing sequences, annoying door opening animations, and other relics of the past.

The developers have nailed the sense of progression and the tension that the genre is built around. The presentation is very old-school, which can be a problem for players who have never interacted with MS-DOS titles. It is also integral to the spirit of this game. Loop Hero is a great game for fans of its genre and has plenty of cool mechanics and hooks for those who want to try it out for the first time.

Escape from Ever After is colorful, traditional, and provides surprisingly interesting commentary on the power of stories. Flynt isn’t the most interesting protagonist, but he has cool companions, and his story of battling a corporation is relatable. The combat system and the presentation are both heavily inspired by Paper Mario. Players unfamiliar with that series might find it hard to love the turn-based combat, mainly because of the repetition. Exploration and environmental puzzles only partially compensate for it. Escape from Ever After has a strong core narrative idea that should be paired with more innovative gameplay for wider appeal.

Citizen Sleeper creates a strong universe and gives the main character an engaging story with plenty of choices. Erlin’s Eye feels like a small part of a well-designed narrative space that can support more exploration. The visual design fits in with the wider themes of the game and the characters never become preachy. The problem is that the developer also cares about gameplay and the concept of investing for a result. The dice system is adequate enough, but everything takes so long and requires too many clicks. Citizen Sleeper would have probably worked better as a more classic visual novel, with the resources assigned to mechanics re-routed to deliver more story.

What’s even more exciting is that it gave me and most of the other players, a new reason to memorize gamepad combinations, and to find new ways to humiliate our friends. And I know that I can't ask for anything more than that.

The Thaumaturge offers a compelling mix of history, mythology, and storytelling that sets it apart from typical RPGs. Its richly detailed world, intriguing plot, and flexible mechanics create an experience that lingers in the mind long after the credits roll. But the technical flaws hold it back from perfection, and while the game’s unique vision makes it a standout title in the “eurojank” RPG category, the flaws leave quite a pronounced distracting aftertaste. With this warning in mind, for players seeking something bold and different, The Thaumaturge is a journey worth undertaking.

Lil' Guardsman is a fun game that expertly combines story and gameplay. It’s built around a loveable central character who finds herself at the core of an interesting although familiar narrative. The deduction mechanics require players to pay attention, but the game also smartly gives them a rewind ability if they want to retcon some choices. There are a few rushed moments toward the end and a few choices feel frustrating. But these are small problems given how good everything else is. I love Lil’ Guardsman because it kept me engaged, gave me space to interact with a wide cast of characters and allowed me to rewind time when my teasing didn’t lead to the expected results.

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is not a perfect game, but there aren't too many things that I would change. Its biggest flaw is the generic story, but there are some balancing issues as well. Also, some game system are thoroughly explained, so I strongly recommend reading the help page or the PDF manual that comes with the game.

Endling - Extinction is Forever is a warning signal about humans that should pay more attention to their environment and avoid it being ruined by the pollution born out of greed. At the same time it is also a truly engaging and immersive game with well thought out mechanics. It manages to combine the social message with a fun experience. It is the perfect example of games that challenge your intellect while leaving a lasting impression due to the emotional load they carry. It has both heartwarming and extremely sad moments, the atmosphere of the game accompanying you for some time after you have seen the end credits.

Wargroove 2 is one of the best smallish-scale tactics titles I have played recently, offering a wide variety of cool scenarios in its campaigns as well as extra variety with Conquest. The turn-to-turn action is compelling, and players have space to tweak the difficulty to suit their needs. The title’s presentation is charming while also informative. It might not innovate as much as fans of the original might want, but Wargroove 2 offers tens of hours of tactical fun and gives its player community the tools to create even more.

All in all, A Plague Tale: Innocence will leave you empty inside once you finish it, like any good book or movie would, and like any good game should.

Victoria 3 is a video game that existed as a hope and a meme for so long that it’s hard for any real-world product to satisfy every fan. But the game as it stands on launch, with its focus on pops, its economic model, and its diplomatic plays concept, should satisfy most newcomers and long-term fans. Some mechanics feel a little undercooked but will surely be built upon via expansions. I really want to see more depth for internal politics and diplomacy. The launch version of Victoria 3 still delivers a great grand strategy experience that allows players to engage with an exciting historical period, as long as they invest time and energy.

Bonfire Peaks tries a little too hard to make relatively simple concepts seem deep and meaningful. The narrative of the unknown man is too laconic to be engaging in the long run. The gameplay, while delivering brilliant moments of discovery and achievement, is too repetitive. The two only connect in a meaningful way because of their lack of complexity. The game does have atmosphere and it’s clear that Corey Martin has designed every element of the experience to generate and sustain it. And whether you find that effort successful will depend a lot on personal preference. Give Bonfire Peaks a try, play for a few hours and find out whether this particular mix of puzzle and atmosphere appeals.

I had a great time with Jurassic World Evolution 3, and this is certainly a big improvement over the previous game. It runs better, it looks stunning, and it also comes with a very beefy campaign. They also did a very good job when it comes to adding a ton of different dinosaur types, along with a multitude of environments. It gives you a lot more possibilities when it comes to creating the park of your dreams, and that’s incredibly rewarding when you roam through the park. It’s always a thrill to see dinos go out of the incubation center for the first time. Plus, there are tons of diverse species, from megalodons to t-rex, triceratops and so on. Plus, you have hybrid species in there as well. Jurassic World Evolution 3 streamlines the interface, adds baby dinos, and the scenario mode is quite impressive, despite not topping Chaos Theory from the previous title. But all in all, Jurassic World Evolution 3 is a lot of fun, and it’s one of the best theme park games out there.

Harebrained Schemes has managed to once again impress by adding a few, but only a few, good improvements to the recipe, while delivering a very interesting setting and some imaginative missions. However, it might not feel like a whole new experience, just "more of the same."

Strange Antiquities was a lot of fun for me, and I think it’s a great sequel to Strange Horticulture. The occult and spooky aspect fits the game very well, the item and store design are excellent, and the story is amazing, especially since you get many endings. Even if some of the puzzles feel challenging at times, you can go with trial and error to figure out the right solution. Strange Antiquities is one of those interesting puzzle games that will keep you hooked from beginning and up until the end. It’s fun to play, the mysteries are great to solve, and the music score is also fitting for this eerie experience. My favorite part: those Eureka moments where you get to solve complex puzzles. And rest assured there’s a lot of that to be had in Strange Antiquities.

Vampire Therapist manages to make the rather dry concepts of cognitive behavioral therapy interesting by linking them to interesting characters. I like how the sessions develop and how the game adds new concepts and asks players to find the best ways to use them. The voice acting is good enough to paper over some small issues with the writing. This is not an experience for players who want gameplay depth and variety. I could have done without the feeding or the meditation mechanics. Vampire Therapist tells good stories and has cool character moments but don’t take it as an actual example of how therapy works.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is definitely an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary installment in the series. Every mechanic from the previous games has been polished, refined to make more sense, but there’s really nothing new that would radically change anything for the better. I don’t think the extra year that Ubisoft used to make the game was worth it since Shadows isn’t much different than Valhalla, Origins, or Mirage. Yes, it’s much more polished and looks a lot better visually, but it doesn’t bring back the gameplay and mystery of the first games in the series. Overall, I had a great time with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but that’s because I’m a fan of the series. I have doubts that a newcomer to the series will find it equally interesting, especially since the overarching story is just serviceable.