SpongeBob once again stars in a 3D platformer that rests its gameplay on well-established stylistic features, offering few surprises but still providing a fun and enjoyable experience.

Backfirewall_ is a simple but effective idea that Naraven develops with intelligence and taste. The puzzle component is witty, well balanced and lightened by a hint system that averts the risk of frustration. The most interesting part, however, is undoubtedly the narrative.

Harry Potter fans will go mad at the chance to experience an epic adventure within a familiar setting recreated with such passion and accuracy, but those who crave it for action RPG soul should know that Hogwarts Legacy is not it features exceptionally deep mechanics. It's a game with a lot of heart, there's no doubt about it, it's simple to play and effective in catapulting you into the Wizarding World thanks to a fun combat system, a narrative component with the right attitude and an open world that may not be huge but certainly with all the curves and POIs at the right point.

Raiden IV x MIKADO remix adds nothing to the original 2007 release, but it's a perfect title to have in your library and play in your moments of relaxation. Beyond the slightly excessive price and the absence of novelties, it is an operation that, as it should be, focuses entirely on nostalgia.

A Space for the Unbound is a narrative adventure about issues as important as they are difficult to deal with, but it does so with extreme tact and elegance through a particularly apt allegory. Despite some flaws in the gameplay mechanics, rather repetitive towards the end of the game, the story of Atma and Raya is one worth experiencing.

Hi-Fi Rush is what happens when Tango Gameworks unlocks its ancestor DNA, finding ways beyond the Resident Evil-ish production and remembering about Viewtiful Joe and that early-2000 mood in video games. It's what happens when Devil May Cry finds about the iPod and the 1 dollar the track music, crafting a little game but with a great rockstar attitude.

Forspoken is a game that has great potential, expressed in a precise, fast and fun combat system. Sadly, everything else in the game lacks novelty or interest in exploration.

The remake of Dead Space follows the track of the original game, obviously (and considerably) improving it from a technical point of view and adding or modifying some gameplay elements. The result is a sci-fi horror adventure that will please series veterans and thrill-seeking newcomers alike.

Season is a phenomenal work, not just the classic little pearl, but an all-round videogame experience capable of excite, tell, immerse us in the last moments of a reality that could end, change, mutate. A memorization and movement mechanism within towns, villages and glimpses of nature of disarming beauty.

Warlander is a high-quality MOBA with a hack 'n' slash combat system that works well even in the most chaotic online situations. Regardless of the task at hand in battle, there is never a shortage of action, whether you seek for a fight to break through enemy lines or stay in the rear building defen-sive machines. Character growth and equipment provide satisfaction, and even without the Battle Pass, a lot of rewards can be unlocked. I am a bit afraid about the importance of in-game purchases, however, since the upgrades are not all merely cosmetic but directly affect player stats.

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.

Persona 3 Portable is an unconvincing conversion of a game that could have expressed more in 2009, constrained then by limitations that current platforms do not have. It remains an important chapter for the saga with a unique aesthetic that serves as a bridge to its origins, but it is a shame that the adaptation was made without the will to dare.

Between various novelties and improvements, the combat system of Fire Emblem Engage is perfectly smooth and exciting. Not all the campaign is full of twists and the shadow of socialization at all costs could make the most surly digital generals nervous, but overall Fire Emblem Engage is a recommended chapter.

One Piece Odyssey is definitely the best game dedicated to Eiichiro Oda's omnibus work, and a perfect JRPG for newcomers. Those who don't like One Piece or are looking for a more challenging and in-depth experience would do well to look elsewhere, knowing however that such successful adaptations are a very rare commodity indeed.

Lone Ruin is an action roguelike with an intense gameplay loop, the kind of game that you want to keep coming back to. A shame that, even for an indie game, it’s not particularly rich content-wise.

Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator simulates the life of a novice alchemist trying to pave his way to fame and glory discovery after discovery. As in real life, it requires dedication and perseverance, which do not always go hand in hand with casual game philosophy. The system of moving along the alchemical map will entice you to experiment for a few hours in search of the ultimate formula, but an uninspired endgame relying on grinding might turn away even the most ambitious alchemists. If you're looking for an original sandbox puzzler and aren't afraid of repetitive gameplay, it's definite-ly an interesting game.

A game written and directed by one of the creators of Rick and Morty could have been a masterpiece, instead turned out to be an interesting and hilarious product only in parts. The gameplay holds up for a few hours but in the long run becomes quite repetitive, fortunately the dark humor that characterizes the entire production manages to lift it up in no small part.

Those who love the traditional WoW modus operandi will be well rewarded by Dragonflight, but the expansion could have aspired to other goals with a little more courage in terms of creativity and design.

Swordship is a great example of contemporary arcade. It does one thing, it does it well, and it's incredibly fulfilling, challenging, and exhilarating. Smugglers of the post-climate change future against corporations, pirates at the service of the least, always ready to take risks and with a great sense of entertainment. Great management of the risk / benefit component, precise controls, audiovisual remarkable, with each game over generating more sense of revenge than frustration. A truly remarkable work in its compactness.

If I had to define Crossfire: Legion in one word, I’d use “competent”. If I could use more than one word, I’d say “competent, but overall lacking in personality.” While it’s not a bad game by any means, it also never really shines, it never surprises, and it doesn’t leave a mark. It doesn’t help that, despite a good variety of multiplayer game modes, the population has already dropped to a few dozen players. Still a decent choice if you’re itching for more RTS gameplay, but don’t expect to be blown away.

Hell is Others is a mix of genres mainly including survival horror and looter shooter, but once acquired the right equipment comes into play Free for All mode too. Skimpy inventory slots, permanent loss of loot and a quite high difficulty, especially at the beginning, make us move circumspectly, gradually becoming more swaggering as our character’s stats grow. But it's a snap to die and find yourself back at the beginning, and the feeling of perpetual vulnerability ensures constant tension. As in all PvP games, its future will also be decided by the amount of updates and events added by the developers, but for the first dozen hours the fun is assured.

The Master of Magic remake is an ambitious project which, however, has never decided whether to be just a graphic restoration or a complete makeover of the original. It’s still a decent 4X video game, but nothing more. Ultimately, if I had to choose between the remake and the original one, I would opt for the latter without hesitation.

Need for Speed: Unbound is a particular project, capable of forcefully bringing street culture back into fashion, the contemporary one of generation Z, but unable to create new spaces of playful expression. Everything that revolves around the characters in the story and our avatar works like a god, from the style chosen to describe them to the guide system, from the soundtrack to the graffiti-style special effects, in contrast with a Lakeshore which, despite its vibrant technical, remains an ordinary and almost anonymous city, a hub with a few collectibles scattered around that act as glue for a rather lazy play structure.

Togges makes no secret of his sources of inspiration: Super Mario Galaxy above all, but also Katamari Damacy and Pikmin. While Togges does not have all the qualities of its benchmarks (particularly in controls and cleanliness in design), it knows its strength points and focuses on those: smooth, colourful graphics on which rests a relaxing, carefree gameplay. All in all, Togges is an average-value game that nevertheless took on a huge challenge, confronting himself with the masterpieces of the genre, without being destroyed by the comparison. But ambition and bravery should be appreciated, and rewarded too.

A treasure hunt in the world of Dragon Quest turns out to be a pleasant RPG with simple and affordable mechanics suitable for young and old, especially aimed at those who like to have fun without bothering with overly complex plots. The collecting aspect takes over from a basic combat system, but it remains a very enjoyable game.

Crisis Core Reunion is the prequel that if you haven't played, then you absolutely have to recover and this operation is just for this, to aesthetically insert this chapter in line with the modernization work of the remake of Final Fantasy VII and add a piece for the future of the relative remake. The defects it carries with it are those of a game that - on balance - was released in 2007 on a portable console.

Darktide would have deserved a better score, because the game itself is good, real good. But poor optimization (not entirely justified by the game’s looks), far too common game crashes, and a loot economy that cannot help but raise some eyebrows end up impacting the user experience. It’s still a great 40k game, but you might want to wait for some patches if you’re on the fence.

An action horror clearly inspired by Dead Space, but also by Alien and Riddick's movies/games. The Callisto Protocol has promised a lot in recent months and after completing it we can say that it has kept almost all its words. Get ready for a thrilling experience from which it will be very difficult for you to tear yourself away.

Soccer Story is an adventure capable of entertaining those who love football thanks to many fun challenges, a light atmosphere and the constant promise of new things to come. Some technical problems, easily circumvented AI and an RPG soul only hinted are its limits, but it remains a love letter to football for football lovers.

Marvel's Midnight Suns left me dumbfounded for a few hours, unsure of what to think of this impressive work by Firaxis. Day after day, however, I realized a simple concept: I was having fun. Yes, ok, with some limitations due to design choices that I didn't appreciate on the turn-based combat, but I liked the card system, particularly how each hero's skills reflect their personality. And then there are many other delicious contents available, whose only flaw is to divert attention from the main course, a story so fascinating that we could easily find it in many beautiful softcover volumes in our favorite comic store.

The Knight Witch is a solid shoot'em up with a metroidvania progression where exploration of beau-tifully designed levels is mixed with frantic shooter action, which sometimes turns into a bullet hell. The card system for managing special abilities invites us to experiment trying to sort out the most appropriate build for each type of situation, and the character build, although quite simple, requires tactical choices that influence the gameplay. The narration is maybe too trivial, often tempting you to skip some dialogues, but the shootervania formula works and the game is challenging and a lot of fun.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet jump between future and past, like their cover monsters. A freely explorable Open World but unable to performing well and killing all the new good ideas. It’s a classic from Game Freak, a place where every step forward is followed by some steps backward. And maybe is not enough anymore, it’s time to force the best-selling franchise in the world to grow up.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet jump between future and past, like their cover monsters. A freely explorable Open World but unable to performing well and killing all the new good ideas. It’s a classic from Game Freak, a place where every step forward is followed by some steps backward. And maybe is not enough anymore, it’s time to force the best-selling franchise in the world to grow up.

Cunningly exploiting its own limitations among which the technical ones stand out, Goat Simulator 3 is perfect for single player or even better in co-op fooling around, has a lot of crazy customizations and proves that the devs have truly given their best - or the worst, it depends on the point of view - of themselves.

Somerville aims high, very high, succeeding in certain things (puzzle design, atmosphere, and scenic impact) and missing the target in others (emotional involvement, technical cleanliness, weak central part). In the end, the experience is certainly pleasant but never shocking, a short and evocative journey in the middle of an alien apocalypse with some scenes capable of remaining impressed for a long time, despite often missing that ludo-narrative amalgam to connect them. A promising debut for Jumpship, with a perfect Game Pass title that could easily be finished in an evening but would have deserved some extra refinement.

Evil West isn’t a bad game, but it’s certainly a disappointment. Jesse Rentier is a fun character to play, but unfortunately the encounter design doesn’t always let his full capabilities shine, and the boss battles are downright awful. Still worth playing if you’re looking for a decent single-player (or coop!) action with over-the-top characters, but perhaps wait for a sale.

A gothic and bloody old-style TPS with massive explosions and BIG guns. It doesn't have the charisma of Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, and its gameplay is partially flawed by some annoying issues... but you won't regret the time you'll spend with it.

The Ram From Hibernia is a quite entertaining (but short) experience for younger audience, but it feels like another missed opportunity for OSome Studio to elevate this beloved franchise to an higher level of gameplay.

The last chapter of this first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology confirms the desire to continue to produce products of thickness, balanced on the front of the gameplay, but not for this time still. Supermassive Games tries to do things right, improves some things, gives its best in storytelling and guarantees the player the entertainment necessary to continue and start again, looking for the new choice to make. Stay until the end of the credits, it will be worth it.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales brings another Sony icon to our PCs thanks to an action-adventure that is technically solid and adaptable to any hardware configuration, perhaps perfect in managing the framerate but as exciting as only playing Spider-Man can be.

The rebirth of a great classic to be enjoyed until the last drop thanks to an exceptional replayability, a script that is never banal and a thousand other reasons. Graphically more could have been done, but Square Enix's mission is still accomplished.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers is a crude and poor video game, but it is not lacking in inventiveness. What I’m wondering is if, unlike other similar multiplayer titles, it will have time to evolve and improve over time, or if Bandai Namco will put an end to its service before the game formula is refined and enriched as it needs to be.

Bravery and Greed is an enjoyable game with lots of clever ideas, but it seems almost left to its own devices. Excellent co-op, but too many useless equipment items, few bosses, and a not-so-clear overview during the combat phases. Still, it remains a wonderful experience with friends.

The Case of the Golden Idol is an excellent debut. Color Gray has learned the lesson of Return of the Obra Dinn and reinterpreted it with its own style. The cases to be solved are well thought out and to come to grips with puzzles that require deduction and intelligence rather than skill with the classic mechanics of the genre is quite satisfying. The Latvian developer duo in his first game shows they have personality, including in the graphic style that does not mind being disturbing and in the appropriate background music, all of which conveniently mystery-themed.

Floodland is a very strong strategic game with solid gameplay mechanics. The world is fascinating to explore and the narrative campaign introduces new layers of complexity. Defects are few and far between with little impact on the overall experience. Kudos to Vile Monarch.

Pentiment is a beautiful journey in a historical period (unfairly, I say) not so often addressed, focused on narration rather than gameplay, almost absent. Here, perhaps given its choice structure that encourages subsequent plays, it could have benefited from a "New Game +" mode in which the dialogues are speeded up, but generally the criticisms to be made are very few.

Lords and Villeins is a city builder which tries a different approach to the genre introducing families and dynasties, and although it does not revolutionize the gameplay, it gives it some spice of originality. Under the hood, however, it's a solid strategy game for players who love meticulous resource management, supported by excellent visuals that will make happy those who want to spend time in the creation of detailed cities and houses. An above average learning curve could lead to no that satisfying results in the first couple of runs, but nothing that will discourage players who love this kind of games.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration offers a lot, but the shadow of a legendary brand like Atari pushes to demand even more. The absence of Atari Games' historic coin-ops along with many of the more distinctive home machine games weighs heavily, but the new games created by Digital Eclipse somehow manage to save the party. As a work of preservation and divulgation, however, it plays in a league of its own that is really hard to approach.

Ghost Song is a love letter to metroidvania genre with a huge map, so big that even the portion that can be immediately visited could almost represent a complete game. The game features an excellent graphic design, albeit with improvable animations, and an interesting story to follow despite starting with a little delay. The soulslike component makes things as hard as expected, and while it might annoy players who don't like repeating the same section again and again, it's part of the game. Definitely recommended for those who love exploration, too bad for the limited support for keyboard / mouse combo.

Even without surprising like MW did in 2019, beyond the technical problems of day one and a revisable UI, MWII knows how to entertain and chain to the another-game-and-I-stop loop as only the great CoDs can do.

Branded by many as an announced disaster, Sonic Frontiers proves instead to be a chapter full of content and a lot of fun. It is not free from technical problems, however less heavy than one could imagine, but it represents the ideal bridge between the past and the future of the famous SEGA mascot.

This third entry in the survival horror series developed by Nippon Ichi doesn't add so much to the original formula, but it feels more mature and brings more content to the “explore, hide and resolve” side.

It’s not the porting of dreams, my experience shows me that it’s perfectible, but after all Uncharted is always Uncharted and seeing it running on our PCs is a real pleasure. The lack of the previous three chapters is a shame.

An engaging story and a disturbing atmosphere are the best features in this game that recalls the gameplay style of classics 90s survival horror. A repetitive combat and bland stealth elements drop its overall value.

Sports Interactive aims to bring Football Manager 2023 to all home consoles and brings a little change to the new chapter. Despite everything, FM23 is an excellent, precise and satisfying game, with the European licenses finally returning.

The Chant is a good third-person survival horror action adventure, which despite not innovating the formula in which you have to find all objects needed to unlock a new area and progress in the story, manages to thrill mainly thanks to the human and fragile nature of the protagonist, unintentionally thrown into a situation way bigger than her. The game knows how to engage and in a couple of occasions it also knows how to scare, with a well narrated plot full of twists. On a technical level, it does not reach excellence, but it is immersive enough to make us forget that a PS5 could have been asked for a little more.

Brutal, deep but above all fun: the combat system of God of War Ragnarök is worthy of the god of war himself! The exploration shows the side of a certain repetitiveness that in the long run tends to tire, but the epic nature of the plot and the sumptuous technical realization make the conclusion of the journey of Kratos and Atreus a show worth living to the full.

Sackboy comes to PC, and it’s a big adventure indeed: our knitted hero will have to travel through five worlds in his quest to stop Vex from turning the entire Craftworld into a chaotic nightmare. Overall, the game is a good 3D platformer with an excellent soundtrack and a very creative visual style. Shame that the haptic feedback doesn’t really bring anything to the table, though.

Saturnalia is an atypical horror game, but engaging and extremely funny. Solid gameplay is accompanied by a great art direction.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is yet another Tri-ace jrpg, beautiful in the combat system, while poor in the aesthetic realization of the game world.

Don’t judge a book by its cover: Vampire Survivors has a simple gameplay loop, but strong enough to keep you coming back, and wanting more. Thirty minutes is the perfect length to make you think “maybe I can squeeze in another run”, and before you’ve realized it the game has burned through the hours as if they were matchsticks.

Speaking purely in terms of content, NHL 23 feels more like a (modest) update to NHL 22 than a new chapter in the EA Games series. The changes made to the gameplay and game modes are very limited, and do not significantly affect the overall experience. On the other hand, positive steps forward in graphic/sound, which continues along the lines of last season showing further improvements. Skates on your feet and stick in hand, even with some issues in artificial intelligence, the games are quite fun, but the few innovations make it difficult to justify the purchase for those who already have NHL 22 in their collection. Or rather, they make it justifiable only for those players who focus on those modes that require extensive use of online (Ultimate Team and World of Chel above all).

Slightly better than Innocence in terms of storytelling, gameplay and world building, A Plague Tale: Requiem still needs some tuning on the technical side.

Winter's family nightmare comes to an end in this first and last DLC for Resident Evil Village, that delivers a new, short but intriguing story for Rose, the third person view option and a bunch of Mercenaries mode contents. Unmissable if you want to bite another chunk of meat from Capcom's latest horror.

Victoria 3 is a complex grand strategy game, however Paradox Development Studio went above and beyond to make it accessible to anyone with enough patience to learn the basics of how it works.

Bayonetta 3 undoubtedly ranks among the best action games out there, and is one of the most ambitious projects out of the PlatinumGames forges. Such a weight makes the technical realization creak, in turn constrained by the limits of the Switch, however the end result is a party for all fans of these games and the charismatic Cereza.

After a year off, 2K Sports is back on the golf course with a title that deserves a wide promotion. There is still room for improvement regarding the game modes, while the gameplay is perfect for both the most demanding players and those who want to hit a few balls without having to worry about spending too much time between bunker, rough, and water hazards.

The Last Hero of Nostalgaia is the Dark-Soulest of all Soulslikes. The idea of using lore as a game mechanic is interesting, but in the end maybe too easily applied on the experience. Overall Nostalgaia is a Dark Souls child with no regrets about it, but with some over-simplification and some battle-related issues.

Batora: Lost Haven is both a hack n' slash and a twin stick shooter, depending on the enemies we have to face, and very often it is both genres mixed together. The main component of the game is the fighting system forcing you to frantically switch combat modes, but there is also an exciting story to follow, with charismatic partners and some moral choices that affect both plot development and character growth. A great isometric action RPG, with awesome boss battles and multiple endings to increase its longevity.

Chaos, bullet hell and brutality. These are my three tags to describe Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef. A horizontal scrolling twin stick shooter with a gameplay reminding old arcades like Green Beret and Contra, filled with devastating weapons, avalanches of enemies armed to the teeth and die-hard bosses. The game only requires skill in aiming and shooting while dodging storms of bullets, and although it may not seem that much these days, in this case it's absolutely fine, you simply have to turn off your brain and have a blast crazily dismembering enemy orcs.

Gotham Knights is a strange beast: it's the classic example of a result greater than the sum of its parts. Taken individually, the elements that make up the latest effort by WB Games Montréal are full of many small critical issues, yet a video game is the product of the meeting and fusion of these individual parts. Yes, that's right, there are a lot of problems, almost all related to open world management and bland RPG components, but overall the game works and is capable of delivering one of the best Batman and companions stories outside the world of comics.

The Valiant is a decent enough game. It most likely won’t amaze you, especially if you’ve played other small-scale RTS games before, but its campaign is the right amount . And if you’ve liked Dawn of War 2 in the past, you’ll feel right at home.

A cool puzzle-platformer where cloning and killing ourselves is mandatory to reach our goals, with nice looking pixel art graphics and a great atmosphere.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is not only one of the best exclusives for Nintendo Switch, it is a game capable of evolving significantly compared to the previous chapter, reaching an absolute playful level. A hilarious, light-hearted, creative but also pixelated work, with an artisanal and constantly growing level design for the duration of the adventure, exactly like a combat system that is pure joy, tactically deep and at the same time hyper-dynamic , comic and totally available to the player's creativity. The exploratory phase also exponentially improves, very pleasant and full of secrets and secondary activities, immersed in colorful worlds, cared for with love, perhaps not very "galactic" but adorable and embellished with an exceptional soundtrack by the author (indeed, by authors). Sparks of Hope is proof that love for one's work always makes a difference beyond commercial ambitions (Kingdom Battle has sold 10 million copies and expectations go in that direction anyway); the result is a game that takes a lot, a lot, a lot of effort to put down to do something else.

LEGO Bricktales does only one thing, but it does it well: it allows you to play with LEGOs as you would do in your room, without placing constraints on your imagination. Its main limitation is a somewhat stubborn control system and a camera that is not easy to handle, but the final result repays the effort. The added value is a really appreciable technical compartment, which recreates small dioramas with enormous charm, based on historical LEGO sets that will lead to tears anyone who was young in the 80s/90s. It could mark the beginning of a new era for LEGO games, and that would be great news.

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.

Vertigo's main problem, probably, is its ambition. When you choose such a cumbersome source of inspiration, the risk of ending up crushed by it is real. The Pendulo game wisely chooses not to retrace the path traced by Hitchcock, but to borrow the main theme. Unfortunately, however, it manages to keep the interest high only in the initial stages, then a under-the-bar acting and questionable narrative choices prevail over originality. You could appreciate the attempt, not so much the outcome.

This sequel is not revolutionary as the first chapter: it is simply what who wanted a more up-to-date PvP structure needed. The 5 vs 5 gameplay works and is smoother, but in the new era of the franchise seems like there is less space than before for casual or not competitive players.

Developed by one man only – Jason Smith – Cultic is an excellent old school shooter. The campaign isn’t particularly long, but the second part will come as a free update in the future (hence the ‘Chapter One’), and there’s also a fun survival mode that will let you hone your skills.

I was skeptical about a Switch release of NieR Automata, a game Square Enix was unable to get run smoothly on PC. But somehow Virtuos achieved a miracle, making possible to be 2B even on the Nintendo hybrid. I was expecting a Waterloo-like disaster. The outcome instead is Austerlitz.

Maybe 16 years ago Kamiwaza was a good and engaging action-stealth game but time has not been kind with it and now this remastered version doesn't have a meaning to live in 2022.

Life is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection arrives on Switch with all the necessary optimizations. A clever operation to propose two excellent titles also to Nintendo users, while not lacking some technical flaw, with a camera that does not always work and very long uploads. For the rest, the adventures of Chloe and Max are still in good hands and shine despite the years.

Moonscars is a soulslike (although ‘lite’ would better describe it) with a very evocative visual style and well-written characters. The gameplay is also good, but it suffers from a certain lack of enemy variety and a poor balance of character options, especially egregious when it comes to special weapons. Still, it’s not a bad game by any means, but the competition is fierce in the 2D metroidvania / soulslike genre and standing out is not an easy feat.

A great game that shows what R-Type could be like, if only it was coded in 1958! Blast the freaking aliens like it there’s no tomorrow, with this stunning shoot ‘em up action in black & white, with great FMV intros in every level.

Valkyrie Elysium's combat system is sufficiently complex and entertaining, which is good, considering that what remains of the game is quite forgettable. A decent game for fans of the tri-Ace saga, but certainly not essential. Also because, if you're hungry for Norse adventures, there's a certain god of war waiting for you at the end of November.

Electronic Arts says goodbye to the FIFA brand with an edition that is not perfect, but still deserves a wide promotion. HyperMotion 2 is excellent, and the gameplay offers slightly slower matches than in the past, with less dribbling and more maneuvering. There is still room for improvement, and some aspects (for example, the goalkeepers) need an adjustment via patch, but overall the game flows in a pleasant and fun way. Good, without major upheavals, the game modes, which traditionally offers a range of variants that can satisfy anyone, starting from those who want to enjoy a quick go to those who want to manage an entire team.

In recent years, the old-school FPS genre has been undergoing a kind of rebirth; and if the results are games like Prodeus, we should be glad it has. Solid gunplay, excellent soundtrack, and graphics that might be old-school, but never feel dated: this is an excellent debut for Bounding Box Games. Granted, it’s not flawless and the checkpoint system especially raises some eyebrows, but Produes is definitely a game worth checking out if you’re into old-school FPSs. And even if you’re not, honestly.

Midnight Fight Express is a brutal beat ‘em up whose only goal, despite a story with a weird plot, is to slaughter enemy after enemy. Really enjoyable in the early levels when each new skill learned improves the way you fight, it becomes repetitive when you try to complete the secondary challeng-es, which require players to retry a lof of times the same game sequences. Those seeking for perfect completion of the game, however, will find a tough challenge, as the unlockable techniques are quite a lot and all beautifully animated. To be played at a very loud volume to get even more exalt-ed.

The DioField Chronicle is a partially successful Square enix experiment. Excellent hybrid game mechanics, but everything else is a constant repetition of the same missions, without adding anything new.

Beyond the first few hours spent groping around and a fair amount of hard work required by the progression system, Grounded is a solid survival with a good technical value, and which offers a good amount of settings that allow you to customize the game according to your needs.

A bit of JRPG with cards, a bit of a board game, the last piece of a very particular set of three is not a narrative masterpiece nor a memorable challenge, it is a melancholy JRPG in which everything is lived through the cards, it can entertain as long as you accept its merits, defects and quirks.

Visual Concepts has finally created a beautiful chapter of NBA 2K, balanced, rich in content, aesthetically true next gen.

Blind Fate: Edo no Yami in my opinion lives on lights and shadows: on the one hand it boasts fabulous ideas, honestly well recreated and described, especially in the advanced stages where the narrative also acquires a good level of maturity in the themes exposed, but to make the whole thing decay we think the stages of combat. Too bad, because Troglobytes Games has all the right cards to shine.

Biomutant on the PS5 is, for better and for worse, the same game published a year ago on other platforms. Its enhanced graphics are a nice addition, but the flaws of this action RPG still reside in its outdated gameplay formula.

A decent graphic adventure in which some good intuitions, excellent replayability and some problems of various kinds such as frustrating controls coexist.

Soulstice turned out to be a good stylish action game, with a solid combat system embellished with good ideas, able to tell its excellent protagonists, Briar and Lute, both through the battle and with the cutscenes. The story of Ilden's veil torn above the sky is intriguing, with beautiful twists and a well-studied mythology, it is therefore a pity that the setting is not able to sustain this charm, despite the very good basic technique, trapped in a artistic direction that is often too generic and redundant.

Islets is a compact, very nice metroidvania, full of ideas and adorable characters. A beautiful, hand-drawn world divided into six parts to be put together, rebuilt, setting off on an adventure that is as crazy as it is epic.

It took me a couple of days to convince myself, because at the beginning Return to Monkey Island seemed to be a victim of the hype: what should we have expected, in fact, from those who wrote the rules of the game and today it goes down again in the arena after thirty 'years? But then I became more and more immersed in the crazy archipelago invented by Ron Gilbert and I can not help but promote the work with flying colors. Only, always remember to face it in difficult mode, because with the "casual" one you would end up getting only a small percentage of the achievements and missing out on much of the more "cerebral" fun.