The adventure game genre has been revived in the last couple of years, so it has become harder for such a game to stand out. Rendezvous is trying to offer its own take on the genre by adding action elements, but more often than not it’s these moments that make the game worse. Even though it’s set in a futurist Indonesia and adopts a cyberpunk aesthetic, the generic story and some frustrating puzzles doesn’t help Rendezvous make it above the mediocre line. I think Rendezvous would have been a much better game without the stealth and combat mechanics. If you’re a cyberpunk fan and can put up with a few frustrating moments, Rendezvous can be enjoyable for just a few hours, but don’t get your hopes too high.

Murderous Muses is a rare full-motion video-driven video game that uses the concept in interesting ways. The central mystery is compelling and it’s worth exploring the weirdness of the island where everything takes place. There are plenty of videos to unlock and investigate and some decent extra puzzles to solve. The gameplay is relatively limited, especially when it comes to hunting down that last keyword required to unlock a police interview. The presentation, the acting, and the plot are strong enough to keep players moving and thinking. Murderous Muse's quality should attract new players to the FMV genre while satisfying long-term fans.

Without reinventing the recipe, Sherlock Holmes The Awakened offers a compelling gameplay experience even if you’re not a good detective. The wide variety of environments in each location that you can explore and the many characters that you meet along the way make this a very enjoyable ride.

YOLKED – The Egg Game is quite a challenging experience that manages to keep frustration relatively low via the solid placing of checkpoints. It is extremely easy to understand the dual-hand movement mechanics but very hard to master them. And the world is interesting enough to keep players engaged when playing the same sequence again and again. Endless mode adds even more difficulty and is well-suited for competitive players. Experimentation is rewarded but the game could have used a few extra narrative beats. YOLKED is extra fun with an audience that’s ready to cheer on daring leaps and fast reflexes. But it can also be a relaxing way to end a gaming session when ingested in small doses.

Wall World offers a competent mix of ideas. Mining is pretty boring but combat sequences are exciting and tense, with a big ramp-up when the boss shows up. The rogue-lite structure works but the prices on most things are high enough that pure grinding is required. The narrative has an interesting premise but it’s too slow to build on it. The entire experience works best in short sessions, one or two runs at a time, to limit the impact of its repetitive elements. Wall World’s core is good and it would benefit from some tweaked values and expanded variety.

Shardpunk: Verminfall feels like an indie gem crafted for those who love turn-based combat, resource management and steampunk settings. The survivors are varied enough to offer players multiple choices when creating their crews, although many of the characters can only be unlocked by using team-based skill points. This means that you won’t be able to unlock them all in one playthrough, which is an ingenious way to increase replayability. Although I wasn’t particularly in love with the stress mechanic, at least the developer added many ways to remove it during or after a mission, so few of my characters ended up with negative perks. All in all, I think Shardpunk: Verminfall is a well-crafted tactical turn-based game with a charming, pixelated art style and a pretty decent soundtrack that makes fights a bit more exhilarating.

Pirates Outlaws is very well put together game that relies too much on luck. It can be just as satisfying as it can be frustrating. You never really feel in control and even the best laid plans can be brought hurling down by the randomness that governs every game mechanic. If you are not discouraged by the unpredictable odds, you will discover plenty of content for an indie title that can keep you entertained for long hours. On the other hand, if you feel the need to be in control all the time, Pirates Outlaws will not be your cup of tea.

Curse of the Sea Rats has a familiar approach to gameplay, with platforming pushing exploration and combat that can be tricky but satisfying in victory. Players will die a lot but even boss fights are mostly fair as long as players are willing to observe and learn. The narrative offers a decent if not impressive scaffolding for the action. Metroidvania has become a very popular genre. Curse of the Sea Rats understands that and executes on its ideas well but with limited innovation.

Despite the relative lack of graphical imagery, I can understand why some players might be turned off by the premise and the way it is implemented. The humor helps, as does that its mechanics are not focused on actual dismemberment but on choices and optimization. I like the weird mix of premise and gameplay of Organs Please and the feeling of accomplishment mixed with slight terror it can deliver.

The Last Worker could have created some complex problems and interesting situations using its gravity gun and extensive player mobility options. And there are a few game sections that are both immersive and tense. But most of the experience involves following other characters in tight spaces, with more focus on their conversations than on gameplay. The constant attempt to create real-world parallels feels forced. The experience has little space for the companions to have a relationship with the protagonist and there’s very little sense that this adventure has massive stakes. Maybe the narrative and gameplay mix works better in virtual reality. But The Last Worker has an intriguing premise and some decent mechanics and never makes either actually interesting to interact with.

Escape From The Red Planet isn’t the most complex tower defense hybrid experience. The story is thin and the gameplay is easy to learn. Mastering might take more time but failure is linked to limitations like the slow aim rather than the tactical complexity. The Martians themselves are a failure of design. The entire experience mostly works as a streamlined introduction to the tower defense genre. The first-person combat moments add some extra excitement but don’t feel like a big innovation. Escape From The Red Planet is a decent game for someone who wants to see what the genre can offer but there are plenty of better alternatives for more experienced players.

Crime Boss: Rockay City doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but I would have expected the content to be a bit more varied. Just about every piece of dialog is cringe, but so are many of the 80s and 90s B-movies these actors are known for, so I guess it fits them perfectly. The mix of resource management and first-person shooter mechanics is interesting but doesn’t save the game from mediocrity. Everything about Crime Boss: Rockay City screams “obsolete,” but the co-op mode might offer players some fun, even if it’s just for a limited time. This isn’t a bad game, just one that feels like it traveled forward in time from the 90s.

Nine Years of Shadows is a good Metroidvania with an impressive presentation and intriguing world. Gameplay mechanics will be instantly familiar to any genre fans and easy to understand for newcomers. There aren’t too many surprises in the narrative but it is imbued with a sense of optimism that kept me engaged. I wanted more variety for combat encounters and a smoother difficulty curve for the bosses. The game also has a weird tendency to put its save rooms just outside of the way enough that it’s easy to forget about them and lose progress. But otherwise, Nine Years of Shadows execute a good idea well and its look allows it to distinguish itself from competitors.

I think Ravenbound has a solid foundation as a roguelite, but it’s buried underneath some mechanics that aren’t enjoyable enough to keep you engaged. Also, if you’re one those people who don’t like “always online” games, skip this one because you won’t be able to play Ravenbound otherwise.

Anyaroth: The Queen's Tyranny is part of a big wave of action-oriented experiences that seek to evoke the titles that define childhood or early adolescence for many now-mature gamers. It succeeds in doing that while introducing a few modern ideas and refining the core gameplay. The story is nothing special but there are some fun character moments. I like the free aim system and appreciate that the game never aims to punish the player with difficulty spikes. I am disappointed that there’s no attempt to integrate at least one big innovation with the nostalgia. Anyaroth: The Queen's Tyranny is a fun action platformer that acknowledges the limits of its nostalgic approach but never pushes past them.

Total Tank Generals is more than just a modern Panzer General, it’s the best way to immerse yourself in the history of World War II and learn how some of the greatest military leaders have become famous.

The Great War: Western Front is a good strategy game that tackles a historical period most titles in the genre overlook. Both the strategic and the tactical sides feature interesting mechanics and plenty of choices that affect the course of the war. The computer mostly puts up a good enough fight while the multiplayer side has plenty of options to create varied situations. But the game sits at a weird crossroads in terms of abstraction. It has plenty of realist elements but also allows corps to instantly move across the map. It rewards deep preparation but some battles can be won by simply carefully avoiding some enemy defenses. The Great War: Western Front captures the frustration and tension of World War I trench warfare well but struggles to make it a great video game experience.

Terra Nil is an optimistic and well-designed reverse city builder. Its gameplay ideas are easy to understand and each scenario poses specific challenges that take attention and care to solve. Gamers will love the feeling of hope that infuses the painstaking process of taking a barren landscape and getting it to a point where flora and fauna are in harmony and no human presence remains. The mix of levels that are procedurally generated with a variety of biomes also keeps the challenge fresh. Greening the levels seems relatively easy at first but there’s a lot of mechanical depth to explore. Terra Nil never reaches the complexity of some of its city builder competitors but has a unique angle and innovative gameplay.

DREDGE is both atmospheric and mechanically engaging. The story threads are very personal and, at times, heartbreaking. Even though I didn’t catch all the species featured in the encyclopedia, I had plenty of fun moving around the world, trying to identify the best spots for certain species and mastering mini-games. Narrative progression can sometimes feel slow, especially if players only approach fishing as a means to an end. Catching some fish feels needlessly complicated. But these are minor issues with a game that has a big dark heart and makes exploration and fishing very fun. DREDGE is a great experience that mixes genres and ideas while keeping the experience accessible to everyone.

Tiny Troopers: Global Ops has easy-to-understand mechanics and delivers some solid combat moments, especially when playing with other humans. But there’s little depth to the core experience and the campaigns themselves are uninspired and filled with attempts at humor that rarely work. I wanted the tiny troopers to go on weirder adventures, not on some warmed-over ideas taken from action movies. There’s also a big disconnect between the tone of the game and the actual gameplay. These seem like children engaged in war, which is weird and not in a good way. Tiny Troopers: Global Ops has a few good ideas but is unable to create an interesting universe or deliver varied encounters.

Despite some shortcomings, Octopath Traveler II is one of the best JRPGs of the year. It’s nice to know that developers have took all feedback to heart and addressed the main issues with the original game, while adding new mechanics and improvements across the board. The semi-open world is alive as long as you spend most of the time in cities, whereas the wilderness and dungeons feel rather empty. Also, even though the pacing is better than in the first game, Octopath Traveler II is still a little too slow by today’s standards. I wholeheartedly recommend Octopath Traveler II to anyone who is even just mildly interested in JRPGs. It’s very close to the masterpiece status and you don’t even have to play the original. In fact, I would strongly suggest you skip the first game and play this one instead.

Tchia has heart, a beautiful world, and some cool gameplay concepts. The story is filled with emotion but also grounded. Exploration is easy and rewarding, with a lot of great sights to see and interesting characters to interact with. Even the ukulele mini-game associated with musical numbers works. I liked this New Caledonia-inspired universe enough that I actually wanted more of it, a few extra islands, a few chests hidden for me to discover. The developers' commitment to making it all as accessible as possible is also worth praising. Get Tchia and then spent time seeing the world and make sure to pet then take over all the animals you encounter.

The Forest Cathedral is an interesting experience but does not fully work as a video game. The narrative it is telling is based on a real-world person but introduces many elements that are anachronistic to the period and to her life. Maybe the main character should have been named something else and her story should have only hinted at the real-world scandal surrounding DDT and other pesticides.

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.

Some minor nuisances aside, I definitely enjoyed saving the president’s daughter once again, and the new elements made the experience feel much more than just a trip down memory lane with improved graphics.

Rogue Spirit’s unique idea is great, enhancing the action game with its fun implementation. It’s a pleasure to move from body to body, discover their capabilities and then create a deadly chain of attacks, shits, and abilities. Bosses pose a clear challenge but are not unfair. The rogue layer doesn’t tweak the familiar formula in any way and requires some grinding to get the big permanent upgrades. The world looks good and the narrative is decent. Rogue Spirit is a great example of how a well targeted new idea can make some classic genre ideas feel fresh again.

Have a Nice Death is a good combination of action and rogue-lite, with a good balance between the difficulty of the combat, especially the boss fights, and the pace of the unlocks. It pays to focus on one weapon and really learn how to use it and when to complement it with a spell or secondary attack. Boss engagements are all about patience and pattern recognition. The game’s presentation complements the mechanics and themes well, although some more variety when it comes to the procedurally generated floors is needed. Have a Nice Death knows what fans of its genre want and offers an interesting universe to explore and great mechanics.

I am pretty sure that the developers had the best intentions, but the end result cannot be even recommended as educational neither for the animal care part, nor for the business simulation. Ultimately, Animal Shelter Simulator is just a bad game that you should not waste your time playing. There are dozens of similar titles that are much more worthy of your attention if you’re a fan of animal simulator games.