Scintillatron 4096 seems to have come straight out of an elucubration by Jeff Minter, and this is perhaps the best compliment that I can make. Frantic and fun, at times frustrating, but also endowed with an unexpected strategic depth, this game seems to have come here directly from an arcade of the 80s.

Masters of Anima allows us to control an army of minions to save our princess (and the rest of the world). The most difficult thing about the game is mastering the control system, and there's a notable - and irritating - separation between exploration and fights; nonetheless, the game is a solid and fun experience.

Wanted: Dead has a very entertaining combat system based mainly on the use of white weapons, full of ultra-violence, blood, dismemberments, combos and particularly devastating final techniques, but it limps in everything else: the AI of our team and the enemies is not efficient, the minigames are sometimes a pretext to unlock some collectible, other times an interruption between one mission and another, and the story, however interesting to follow, continuously breaks the action. The final question is: is a triumph of blades enough to justify the purchase? Definitely yes, if you loved the slasher films of the early 2000s, otherwise you might find the offer a bit scarce.

The Gunk is game full of charm, thanks especially to its wonderful art direction and the colorful alien world it created. Unfortunately, despite its short duration The Gunk does not manage to carry this sense of wonder all the way to the end, due to repetitiveness of environments and a gameplay that ends up being far too simplistic. It’s still a valid title, especially for younger players; it just needed a little more to truly shine.

Surviving, nowadays, is hard. It’s DAMN hard. So it’s good to find a survival game like The Wild Eight that does not enjoy punishing the player without reason. I still don’t know if this softer approach is an attempt to offset some design issues (like the combat, or the clunky inventory) or if it was meant to be like this since the beginning. Anyway, The Wild Wight feels like a survival game approachable even by players that usually don’t like survival games so much, and at the end of the day this feels like good news.

Possessor(s) aims to combine action platforming and Metroidvania in a devastated urban world, offering great mobility and a combat system without contact damage, making battles more fair and dynamic. The original visual atmosphere, good writing by the Luca–Rhem duo, and creative level design are somewhat overshadowed by some graphical oversights and a control system that is not always precise. The lack of a grace period when taking damage can be very punishing when there are multiple enemies on screen. A solid game, but with imperfections that limit its impact in one of the most competitive markets.

With no major changes in the game modes, NHL 24 shows some interesting signs of life thanks to some new gameplay features. With convincing graphics and sounds, which manages to immerse the player in the atmosphere of an ice rink, the matches are quite enjoyable, with a good rhythm and a truly well-thought-out renewed control system. There are still some issues, but those who live on bread and hockey will find a way to have fun.

Spiritual successor of the good old Rampage, Terror of Hemasaurus delivers a funny (but short) experience of total arcade carnage and destruction, with a charming pixel-art and hilarious story.

SaGa Frontier Remastered is a 25 years old role-playing game that was never released in Europe. While this remastered doesn’t do much in terms of graphics, it adds a fair amount of content that will certainly make it intriguing for returning players. Novices, on the other hand, might have a harder time adapting to some of its more dated mechanics.

The RPG side of SpellForce 3 works better than the RTS one. Some important bugs and a bunch of balance problems prevent the game from reaching a higher score.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a work of great courage and respect for the platform genre. It is not revolutionary but manages to be a simple, but refined pastime made with all the trappings of the genre.

Fast and furious fights in a cyberpunk world, this time also on a futuristic bike exploring post-apocalyptic lands – who wouldn’t love that? Too bad a few too many puzzle keep the adrenaline rush at bay and distract from the most exciting parts of the game.

While the series is still far from perfection and the direct competitor is always fierce, NBA Live 19 is another step in the right direction.

Yet another top-view roguelite action-shooter with a sci-fi theme, a genre enjoyed by a large audience who will find in Replikator everything they have loved in dozens of similar games. Originality is not its strong suit, but variety is not lacking and three levels of difficulty make it suitable for a very wide audience. If you can turn a blind eye to a less-than-stellar aesthetic compartment (but the soundtrack deserves applause), we assure you that you will have fun.

A strange mix between a JRPG and a strategic game. Despite the first aspect has not been developed in a proper way, the second one represents the very point of interest of this strange and original product.

Absolver offers a truly unique take on the combat genre, with a peculiar mix between single and multiplayer. Technically solid and visually inspired, it suffers from a sometimes confused level design and the absence of a real, high-level endgame.

Lust from Beyond is a more-than-average first person adventure dealing with difficult topics, such as psychiatric diseases, sexuality and the very idea of a cult based exclusively on physical pleasure. It does so by building an almost convincing narrative structure, without skimping on the crude representation of sex and violence, managing to maintain a difficult balance with all the other components of the game. The technical quality, however, is fluctuating, with 3D models that seem to come out of some game 20 years ago, animations at the limit of decency and sudden "coughs" of the script.

Where the Water Tastes like Wine is an amazing piece of storytelling caged in an unwieldy game structure. The journey through the States is a charming trip about the importance of the stories we share everyday and a great portrait of America form many point of views. On the long run, unfortunately, the lacklustre gameplay simply fails to sustain the sense of wandering and discovery of such an amazing journey.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise recreates the feeling of fighting and the charisma of the characters of Hokuto no Ken quite faithfully. The authors have conceded some creative freedom compared to the original material and this could annoy the fans, but the game developed by the authors of Yakuza manages to entertain the players despite its many flaws.

Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny follows closely in the steps of the excellent Disgaea 5 – perhaps too closely, considering it shows a distinct lack of interest into innovating its formula. The new stylistic approach also fails to convince.

Wizardry Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is yet another masterstroke from Digital Eclipse, a developer capable of breathing new life into classics with incredible talent. Apart from its fundamental historical value, however, Wizardry is a game that is now rather limited in its mechanics and cadence, classifying itself as an artefact suitable mainly for digital archaeologists eager to rediscover it. It would have been great if it had been accompanied by the wealth of historical notions to which Digital Eclipse has now accustomed us.

Sword Art Online: Last Recollection, has a good track record and an interesting, little communicated and evocative context in game design. In the end I ended up with a single player and a multiplayer, with a non-recurring effect in the Alcun mode of living with one another, presenting a mess that is not particularly effective. The bottom line is that it is only possible to distinguish between the two, but it is only subtle.

The Rise of the Necromancer is a good offering, dedicated to real, hardcore fans of Diablo III: if after five years you still love slaying demons in Tristram, for a fair price you'll find hours of fun and some new stuff.

Jump Force’s gameplay is spectacular and amazing, but too many technical issues get in the way, ruining part of the fun.

The Spirit of the Samurai is a decidedly particular game: it is full of very good ideas which, however, are never fully developed. The stop-motion style is still worth a try.

The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut defines a further step forward for InXile Entertainment. The flaws are there, but it's worth playing as long as you like this genre.

Scorn is the classic case of a brilliant idea, diligently implemented which then lacks much of the content to be savored and enjoyed. The settings are excellent and cause great anguish, and the adventure around the exploration of these carnal and biomechanical tunnels is fantastic, but the shooting phases are faulty, the puzzles are repetitive and in some cases fillers, for a project with little longevity. Having put the nearly eight years of development on the table, it was reasonable to expect something more.

Guayota is a nice and colorful puzzle game with extremely well constructed gameplay sessions. Too bad about the too much repetitiveness of some puzzles.