Its story is creepy and unpredictable, with the variety in gameplay keeping you engaged, even if it drags towards the end.

We got kind of a simplified version of a pirate game, with limited options on what to do outside your ship. Maybe some of these things will be fixed and improved in future updates, but for now, all that remains is to explore the vast map and strengthen your ship as much as possible.

It has a whimsy to it all the same that makes it worth trying, at least for a while. You may get hooked, you may not. It’s no bigger a gamble than a park full of carnivores, and in the worst case scenario, far less messy.

The interior of the tenement building is a fantastic nest of voyeurism, and the game injects the awful things you’re doing with a sense of tongue-in-cheek wickedness. It may not be beauty that lives in the eye of this one, but Beholder does have some intelligent moral conundrums to levy at you. Unfortunately, the repetition and dull play leave a big hole in the middle where the game’s heart should beat.

Given the amount of detail that lies under Sword and Sorcery’s remarkably basic look and feel, nostalgic fans of that period in gaming history are sure to be pleased. It may be an acquired taste, but if you’re willing to look beyond the presentation and into the real meat of it, there’s plenty of time to be spent exploring, fighting, and thinking your way through the Underworld.

Though I spent a lot of this review highlighting what wasn’t all that good about the game, I will still say I had some fun with it, but just not enough for me to really call it much more than average when considering all its issues. I can recommend Coffee Crisis to people looking for a cheap game to have fun with, as well as rabid beat-em-up enthusiasts and dedicated retro collectors, but not too many people outside of those niches.

Digimon World: Next Order is definitely a game for fans who are looking for a challenge. If you’ve always felt you had it in you to take your own Digimon partner and save the digital world, this is certainly a game you should check out. But, if you’re just looking for a new RPG that lets you fight with trained monsters, there are other options available that don’t require long hours before the payoff.

Shovel Knight Showdown is a rare misstep from a developer known for pixel-perfection. It’s a fun diversion for a few dozen minutes but falls short of the base game, and the brilliant single-player expansions that came afterward.

Gryphon Knight Epic doesn’t bring a lot of innovation to the table. That said, with its relatively free movement and exploration, secrets to uncover, and several weapons to upgrade and master, it delivers well on what it does offer.

At the end of the day, I’d still recommend Dislyte to anyone looking for a truly unique gacha game with striking character designs and a cool aesthetic. The team-building aspect is on point, and the entire vibe of the game just oozes charm and style. Just keep your wallets closed until we see some tangible improvements in those pull rates.

These points make playing Cities: Skylines 2 much more challenging than anticipated. On the one hand, there is much to admire about the simulation work and building options available to players from the start, but the many issues mean having to wait and see if things get better down the line. The original game benefited from years of community mods and prolonged support, but the sequel simply cannot wait for the same situation to develop, especially not with an experienced team at the helm. At this point, jumping into the game feels like knowingly driving towards a holiday destination, knowing there’s a pile-up somewhere in the distance. The end goal might be attractive, but getting there will be a pain.

Days Gone is an alright first step for Bend Studio. It's a competent open world game with massive, diverse environments for you to explore, even if there aren't actually a lot of interesting things to do. It's also very vanilla, and there just isn't much substance beneath its glossy surface.

I would recommend Wildfrost to anyone who enjoys deck-building battle games like it, but it’s probably not a great introduction for newer players to the genre.

This journey takes you across the beautiful steampunk city of Watchtower, which is a joy to behold. Sadly, the annoying gibberish voice acting does damage the emotional experience to some degree, but you’ll be far too busy scratching your head solving one of Clockwork’s enjoyable puzzles with the use of its largely functional time-bending puzzle mechanics.

The story kept me interested, and as mentioned before, the art direction and characters, as well as their voice actors, made cut-scenes and just generally exploration a treat. As for the mechanics and meat of the game, I felt like there was a lot to be desired. I wanted more of everything presented here, and I felt like almost everything outside of the story, and art really needed an extra layer of pizazz.

Exist Archive may test your time and patience, but if you’re willing to make that commitment, you should find a worthwhile experience.

Far Cry New Dawn is a standalone sequel to Far Cry 5, but it adds nothing of meaning or value to the original story. If you just want more Far Cry, this is worth checking out. Otherwise, you're not really missing much here.

If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings and survival games, then you should definitely pick up Return to Moria. It offers a new side to the franchise that establishes a cozier take to these combat-heavy games using its entertaining building mechanics. I look forward to seeing how this unique aspect evolves the series, especially with the upcoming Tales of the Shire.

Long-time fans of the series might be disappointed, but it is at least check the same boxes that all of the other titles in this niche genre do. More casual players will probably just want to pass on this entirely, as the pros won’t outweigh the cons.

With its touching story and surreal qualities, Bliss creates a calming change of pace from more action-oriented gaming. While it’s certainly not for those who like their games fast and loud, it has a particular charm that makes it worthwhile.

Even with some questionable combat choices and the odd spikes in difficulty, Deadlight is a game that breathes new life into the zombie genre.

Redfall feels like a victim of the great, Game Pass machine. A game with heaps of style and potential that ultimately falls short in core areas like story, mission variety and technical performance. I can’t help shake the feeling development may have been rushed in order to fill a gap in the subscription service’s exclusives release schedule. It’s fun in parts and its wider potential occasionally manages to shine through, but it ultimately serves as another reminder that Microsoft’s first-party offerings still lag behind the best the industry has to offer.

By the time the game is asking to take a fifth lap around its gameplay loop, we weren’t looking forward to the boss fights or the rudimentary puzzle solving. Jotun had become a slog — a very beautiful, heavily flawed, hand-drawn slog.

Ultimately, Instant Dungeon! feels like a game that would benefit from more gameplay variation. I was disappointed as it became apparent that the characters were essentially just ‘skins’, but there’s so little to the overall mechanics of the game that I’m not even sure what could be made unique about them. The good news is, though, that what’s there is pretty enjoyable for what it is.

If you picked up the expansion pass hoping for a lengthy and interesting story, or some new gameplay then you’ll probably find Isle of Armor a little lacking as I did. That said, the price of $15 isn’t overwhelmingly prohibitive so if you’re a fan of Sword and Shield, you’ll probably be OK with another similar helping.

Like Deadly Premonition before it D4 suffers from awkward controls, and some frustrating nonsensical mechanics. Fortunately D4’s strange and hilarious story and characters more than make up for what it lacks, while its soundtrack is a joy to listen to.

Not a bad game. It clearly has ideas it wants to bring to the table, and with some patience, players can find those ideas and have a blast seeing how they can be applied to a fighter. Overall though, its flaws make it hard for those ideas to shine, and hold the game back from being anything other than an offering for die-hard “One Punch Man” fans to dig their teeth into.

The Weaponographist delivers pretty well on the pitched idea: a frantic arena battler that keeps things in constant motion. While it’s far from perfect, the interesting mechanics and decent all-around design make it fun, if a bit repetitive.