Despite the optimization issues, the network problems with the Shift servers that cause momentarily framerate drops, the fact that there are some unexplainable crashes and various bugs, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a truly wonderful experience for all Borderlands fans. It is different enough, so veterans won’t see it just a reskin, and familiar enough to get lost in the game world. The voice acting is the best up to date, with a tremendous performance from actors like Will Arnett. Tina’s voice is Ashly Burch, who gives a very different performance here compared to Horizon’s Alloy. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has plenty of issues and there is room for improvement, but it is a good game with plenty to keep you entertained.

Nightmare Reaper is a good retro FPS experience that will be incredibly satisfying to all gamers who liked the genre since Wolfenstein and have kept up with its recent evolution. Shooting enemies, juggling weapons, and looking for secrets, all these ideas work well. There’s enough difficulty to make progress a challenge without too much frustration and death is never the end. The biggest obstacle to a bigger audience will be the graphics. I understand why developers choose this pixelated, low-fidelity approach and I like it in small doses. But it might drive some players who are used to more modern graphics away. Nightmare Reaper might not be for everyone but fans can look forward to tens of hours of enjoyable FPS action.

Forgive Me Father is a good first-person shooter that, despite embracing the retro concept, does not rely on nostalgia to draw players in. I played it relatively cautiously, conserving ammo when I could, and I didn’t feel like the madness system worked against me. But the game is at its best in the big arena fights, with big groups of enemies, a shredding soundtrack, and no option but to take the fight to them. The limited narrative works well for it, mostly because players can focus on the combat and on how they can improve their performance. The game should deliver more combat arenas and fewer jumping puzzles, but overall Forgive Me Father is one of the best retro FPS experiences of the moment.

At the end of the day, Agent Intercept is a fun game to try on a rainy weekend day, but I don’t think too many people would play it again after completing the story mode. And unfortunately, this doesn’t take more than a few hours once you learn how to be a lethal agent.

Weird West has a great set of gameplay mechanics that don’t always deliver the best experience. The five-character stories have great moments, although the side-quests are often more engaging. You can take down an important enemy in three ways or more, but the chaotic aftermath might be impossible to handle. Using all the money obtained from a job to replace bullets and medicine is not a way to make progress. But I appreciated the interaction between systems, the way the world reacts to player actions, and the many unexpected encounters. Weird West does have frustrating elements but it offers the kind of experience that’s rare in modern games, one filled with surprises, mysteries, and consequences.

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.

Gunborg: Dark Matters is in many ways a fun game not only for those who have already fallen in love with platformers but also for those who are new to this genre. In many, it’s a fun yet extremely challenging side scroller whose only shortcoming appears to be the very short story and the weird control system that takes some time to get used to. However, Gunborg is the kind of game that more or less grows on you as you give it more time. You may not be too impressed at first if you’re already a diehard platformer gamer but the more you play it, the more you discover its exciting side.

The Ascent is far from perfect. It has so many issues that normally I would not give it a second look. Despite all the issues and the fact that the gameplay is pretty basic, the story completely forgettable and it lacks any depth, I had fun with it and once I started playing it I was lost to the rest of the world. It is more a twin stick shooter adorned tackily with superfluous RPG elements. It is raw, unrefined and basic, but the atmosphere and the overall experience recommends The Ascent as a game that is worth a shot after a few patches and a serious discount.

35mm tries hard to be more than just a walking simulator. It stumbles in this endeavor and forgets that a good walking simulator can still be a pretty entertaining experience. The game falls short of the experience offered by popular titles in the same genre like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture or What Remains of Edith Finch. If you find yourself on a rainy weekend, looking for some brooding, short and not exactly challenging experience, 35mm might be worth a try thanks to its atmosphere. Otherwise, there are much more enjoyable and memorable walking simulators out there.

The Last Cube is a solid puzzle and platforming mix, with a focus on solid planning and careful execution. I like the pure nature of moving through the levels, constantly trying to keep in mind which face of the cube can interact with what element of the environment. But this is an experience enjoyed in small doses before the drabness of the universe gets to you. The narrative is the weakest part of the game, which would have been overlooked a few years ago. But the genre is getting increasingly crowded. The Last Cube can have good ideas and implementation but it also needed an interesting universe and better presentation to stand out.

République is proof that mobile games can have depth and can be as complex as their PC or console counterparts. Despite the many improvements it brings, the Anniversary Edition cannot shed its touch screen heritage and the control on the gamepad is still cumbersome. The possibility to control Hope directly subtracts from the initial innovative experience, without offering a real added benefit. The five chapters offer around 15 hours of mixed experience, where fun will alternate with frustration. République: Anniversary Edition is a game that can thoroughly enjoyed only by the fans of older stealth games, like the classic Metal Gear Solid.

Young Souls is a solid beat-em up that intelligently adds role-playing ideas to enhance its core gameplay. The bosses are well-designed and mostly fun to fight, especially if the player wisely diversified what the pair can do. The narrative is not groundbreaking but gives players plenty of interesting moments and cool banter (again, with plenty of swearing that can be filtered out). Players should not be afraid of dropping the difficulty level if they feel the game is too hard. And experimentation, when it comes to both equipment and tactics, can solve plenty of combat puzzles. Young Souls is fast, engaging, deep enough, a good example of how a classic genre can be updated for modern sensibilities.

Normally, I’d say that Dawn of Ragnarok is just more Assassin’s Creed, but in a different environment and with different enemies. However, I do believe it’s time for Ubisoft to get rid of the Assassin’s Creed naming scheme from everything related to Eivor’s Viking saga. I think this is just piggybacking on the Assassin’s Creed franchise without bringing anything new into the mix. Despite all of that, Assassin’s Creed fans will find Dawn of Ragnarok an enjoyable experience. There are plenty of new activities and the main story is decent for the most part. The new powers look more impressive on paper rather than in-game, but props to Ubisoft for trying. My advice is to play this like a brand-new game rather than an Assassin’s Creed expansion, although it will be hard to get past the series’ dull grind mechanics, which are quite present in Dawn of Ragnarok too.

Hero’s Hour shows how compelling and fun the Heroes of Might & Magic formula can be when a developer gets the core mechanics right. It takes a little time to get used to the real-time battles and the limited direct control, but the formula works well and delivers interesting choices and solid challenges. There’s a lot of variety when it comes to both maps and setup options, while the AI knows how to play to win. The only thing I feel is missing is a core campaign that uses the mechanics and the factions. Even without it, players who love the genre will spend a lot of time exploring the variety on offer and finding the best strategic approach for each side. Hero’s Hour might seem derivative at first but it is a joy to play.

Distant Worlds 2 is a rich space-based, real-time strategy experience that can provide hundreds of hours of fun to a dedicated fan. The writing and narrative aren’t interesting enough but the mechanics more than make-up for this weakness. The automation options are deep and make it easier to focus on certain aspects of the 4X concept, delegating the rest to a decent computer algorithm. But before anyone jumps into Distant Worlds 2, they should set aside time and patience. Make extensive use of the in-game help, read forums if you need to, delegate a lot at first, and only engage with what you like. Code Force has delivered a solid strategy package, which means updates and DLC can only improve it and add accessibility and fun.

FAR: Changing Tides even when it's at its best feels like the game world itself: empty. It feels a bit that the game aspect was less important than the experience part. I believe FAR: Lone Sails offers a much more dynamic experience than the sequel. Yet, despite its shortcomings, FAR: Changing Tides is just as recommendable, especially if you liked the first game in the series. It has a kind of magic that is worth experiencing at least once, even if the replay value is quite thin. Is it for everyone? Definitely not! But those who look for their games off the beaten path, FAR: Changing Tides won't disappoint.

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.

Elden Ring is everything that I dreamed of and more. Although I did expect From Software to refine the Souls recipe, I was quite surprised by the large amount of new mechanics and how well the Souls formula has been implemented in an open-world environment. But it’s not just the exploration aspect that makes Elden Ring the best Souls game out there. The massive open-world that doesn’t feel empty at all, the huge number of bosses and dungeons, as well as the boss fights elevate it to an entirely new level. Elden Ring is From Software at its best.

What Lies in the Multiverse is a short, but intense experience. Unfortunately, the fun is overshadowed by the loose control scheme and the fact that not even the latest patch fixes the issues of the corrupt save file. It is too bad, especially since the character design and the dialogues are quite inspired. If you prefer games that focus more on reflexes than puzzles, What Lies in the Multiverse can be an interesting option after a few more patches. If you are hoping for a puzzle heavy game, not even the story will make you consider this title twice.

Quest for Infamy is an archaic game, that was not adapted well to modern consoles. It has several design and gameplay issues, yet after finishing it I had to admit that I had fun with it. It may be just the nostalgia for the games I played in my teenage years, but Quest for Infamy managed to engage me in its world and story. The humor and dialogues are just as ambivalent as the rest of the design, but the game has its moments when it can make you chuckle if not laugh. It is recommended for those who miss the games from the 90’s or for those who are curious about what fun meant back then.

At the end of the day, if you’re a big fan of ACC and want to get the best the game has to offer, this new-gen release is exactly what it’s supposed to be. It’s one of the best racing sims ever created, and the new-gen improvements are exactly what ACC needed in the first place.

Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes has a solid core gameplay loop but lacks any extra elements that can keep players engaged for a long while. The narrative is almost non-existent, characters are bland. Even the rogue elements seem like an afterthought, a good way to justify multiple runs but nothing more. But the pinball and undead mix is just good enough to justify playing Zombie Rollers for more than just an hour or so. I think players should try at least six or seven runs to see whether they like the gameplay or not. The puzzles and the boss fights are the best moments, especially once one becomes familiar with the special attacks. Zing Games knows how to mash two classic concepts together and, even if Pinball Heroes lacks polish, I really want to see what they plan to combine next.

Dealer’s Life 2 is a niche game that’s best enjoyed in short sessions over a longer time frame. The haggling mechanics balances revealed info and hunches well and the special events add some needed variety. But after around one week of in-game time, I start to get annoyed at the randomness of the objects and the very rare items I lack the money to try and get. The game makes no attempt to reflect on the predatory elements of the pawnshop culture (newspaper articles could provide a decent outlet), although it lightly satirizes the many television shows based on it. The developers at Abyte Entertainment have a solid lock on their favorite game formula but Dealer’s Life 2 needs more variety to keep players engaged for a long time.

GRID Legends is without a doubt an evolution of the 2019 installment, even though hardcore fans of the franchise expected a bigger upgrade. The overhaul is not very obvious at first, and this is why I think you should give it some time. Try the story mode, even if it’s quite short, and pay attention to the smallest details. This is what GRID Legends is all about. It’s a more refined version of its 2019 sibling, and in many ways, it feels the racing experience even more involving. But at the end of the day, it’s essential to always know what to expect. GRID Legends isn’t by any means supposed to be a racing sim. It’s still an arcade title, and as long as you have this mind, there’s absolutely no chance you’ll end up disappointed.

Martha Is Dead lives or dies by its core narrative and ability to immerse the player in it. I like the way it mixes the personal with the historical. I appreciate the care with which the developers have constructed the game world and I even like most of the photography-focused challenges. But, for me, the individual elements do not come together to form a coherent video game. Inconsistencies exist because the narrative needs to move forward. There’s frustration around the mechanics. Martha Is Dead is worth playing for its narrative but I want developers LKA to focus on a more streamlined experience for their next project.

Crusader Kings III has good mechanics and production but what sets it apart is the way it connects to the era it depicts. The experience leans into role-playing and personalities in a way that feels true to the image that most players have about the period between 867 to 1453. Without striving to be educational, the Paradox title also manages to be an excellent jumping-off point to learn more about the period, its main characters, its social dynamics. The development studio has also done well when it comes to post-launch support. There’s downloadable content, of course, but free patches have also arrived regularly, improving systems and eliminating bugs. But more work is needed both in the balance and the immersion department. Crusader Kings III is an excellent way to tell and enjoy stories and I can’t wait to experience how Paradox will add depth to its various mechanics.

Infernax uses retro elements very well, but this is not an experience that simply appeals because of nostalgia. The core mechanics are very good, the action is fun, the level of difficulty can be tweaked to suit both veterans and newcomers. This is how modern developers should approach old ideas. The game could use more info for the on-screen map and maybe a little more in the way of a narrative hook. But for anyone who has played and enjoyed its inspiration Infernax is a great experience and Berzerk should expand on it while keeping between this kind of balance between old and new.

Edge of Eternity oozes the enthusiasm and passion of its developers. The exploration is mostly rewarding, the combat system is engaging, but the lack of focus when it comes to gameplay elements and the uninspiring story make it ultimately unremarkable. It is a big achievement for a small team, but it is not a game I can whole heartedly recommend. If you are a JRPG fan you already saw everything this game has to offer in other places with a superior implementation. Edge of Eternity offers plenty of content, but it feels like it was released at least a decade too late for its own good.