It’s a vast and fascinating open world asking to be explored, populated by deadly animals who owe their existence to tasty encounters. The fighting is exciting, and the vocations are all excellent options, regardless of how you play. While there will undoubtedly be some learning curves as you gain accustomed to its brutal environment, the heady feeling that Dragon’s Dogma II provides is well worth the effort.

I do love a pixel-art platformer, but the inclusion of RPG elements (which were a little complicated in my eyes) sucked out some of the enjoyment factor from Ginsha. I can see the replayability and the many ways you could customise your character but these just didn’t do it for me. The basic exploration, traversing and shooting is very well executed and enjoyable. The story was fairly interesting however as I kept reading the text I felt myself wandering and losing interest very early on. Some voice acting would really improve the experience and would have also kept my attention for longer.

Welcome to Paradize is not going to set the world on fire graphically, but as far as zombie apocalypse games go this one is pretty fun and charming at times. The zombie hacking feature is pretty neat once you get a hang of it and the game has some length to it to keep you going for a while. I won’t lie it was a bit of a slow start but it did grow on me and is fun to play – something I plan to keep on doing.

After I played enough to write a review I hung up my apron, turned off the grill, and that was the end of Food Truck Simulator for good. It’s a great concept that I’d like to believe would’ve worked without the frustrations and complications and maybe it’s like that on a different platform from Xbox. However, the game I played was undercooked leaving me in anticipation to clock out.

King Arthur: Knights Tale is a good but not quite great medieval take on the tactical RPG genre. The Skirmish and Local PVP modes add value and longevity to a game that can feel repetitive if you stick solely to the campaign.

At the end of the day Outcast – A New Beginning did keep drawing me back to play it whether that be advancing the story (or trying to figure out how) or to get a few more trials under my belt for the limited time I had. So, it wasn’t all bad but definitely nothing I’m going to remember aside from having some fun flying around a colorful and open world. Lastly, to conclude I don’t usually bring price into the equation, but this is one of those games that has broken the barrier of our standard pricing and I think that should be considered with what you get in this game compared to others. At what today can be considered a premium price (for a normal base game mind you) I don’t think you are getting a premium product.

Open Roads is another excellently crafted experience from Fullbright and Annapurna. With a strong, emotional, and well-performed story, as well as plenty of room for fleshing out the tale via the exploration sections, it’s something that had us compelled to play from start to finish in a single sitting – and will live on in our thoughts for quite some time.

Given that STAR WARS: Battlefront Classic Collection is literally a port of the original games it’s surprising that it was botched this badly. Regardless of what price amount it came out to be, it shouldn’t be sold in this condition. It feels like a cash grab and a slap in the face to long-time fans of the series. The title needs to be hidden in a galaxy far, far away.

As a brief but well-crafted Netflix indie title, Highwater hits the mark with its sense of worldbuilding, the interesting flourishes of its combat, and the underlying themes that give it a richness that’s worth exploring. Highwater is held back by stodgy writing, character interaction and a frustrating menu system, but for a few hours of apocalyptic storytelling amidst a flooded world, where you can discover new islands and yank cigar-chomping big men to their doom, Highwater is worth a shot and is buoyant enough to stay afloat despite the threat of capsizing.

Overall, Kingdoms and Castles provides an engaging blend of city-building and strategic challenges, offering a rewarding experience for players willing to embark on the journey of building, defending, and expanding their realm.

Overall, I’ve had a decent time with Alone in the Dark. The Resident Evil reboots are a clear and massive inspiration, and while it might not be quite on their level, Alone in the Dark still manages to entertain with a weird and wonderful experience. The combat sections are definitely a weak spot, but the exploration and puzzle parts are able to balance this out nicely.

A trial by horror if there ever was one, The Outlast Trials does its best to flavour up the Outlast formula with its particular slant on co-operative gameplay. The results are decent alone or with friends, but too many times The Outlast Trials sacrifices its horror potential by implementing its newly-minted multiplayer features, consequently threatening to trip over and compromise the experience. Outlast‘s bespoke brand of horror manages to keep its head above the bloodbath thanks to brimming environments, meticulous presentational elements and its ability to unnerve, but trying to be bigger doesn’t payoff as better with The Outlast Trials, it’s merely good, but could’ve been great if it was smaller and more focused.

Slave Zero X did not grip me with the story, however, the simplistic game mechanics were a nice change of pace. You move along the area from left to right, you can hack and slash your way through the enemies, there are various enemy types each with its unique attack pattern and weapons. As you can see from the video above the graphics are very “retro” but the developers, Poppy Works have added camera shifts as you move along the levels. This gives this 2D game more visual depth. I personally found some bosses very tricky to beat, add the fact they have no health meter, some battles can be are very frustrating. I did find myself on more than one occasion stuck trying to manoeuvre to the next section. The above “issues” did not take away the fact I did have a blast playing Slave Zero X.

All in all, Stunt Paradise isn’t going to move the needle for being your new all-time favorite game, but it does deliver a few fun moments. In what could have been a quick game to get out of the door, it feels like some love went into making it. I was pretty impressed the first time the camera whooshed around as my car was making a turn but in reality, my controlling was just going straight. This is one of those palate cleanser games as I like to call them and it delivers on that promise of being short, decent, and something enjoyable enough to pass the time.

Tamarak Trail’s crime is not that it is bad, just that it is not on the same level as other roguelites in its genre, or even its very crowded subgenre.

A strong start to a potential franchise. Excellent environment art, compelling world and story, The Inquisitor just needs a little more polish in other areas.

Considering how much of challenge there can be in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, there’s no denying it is a consistently rewarding and satisfying game to play. The three areas on offer are huge but packed with interesting terrain to traverse and conquer, and there are more objectives to tackle than you could ever realistically need. The non-driving parts are a let-down but are brief enough to not sour things too much over all. A niche-but-worthwhile experience awaits those who are willing to tackle the wilds.

While there are improvements that could be made, there’s no doubt this is an excellent way for fans of the graps to get even more enjoyment out of the sports entertainment lifestyle. There’s so much to do across so many modes, such a hefty creation suite that is all but limitless, and underneath all that a fun if sometimes frustrating gameplay system that will serve perfectly well until the next time out.

I love my metroidvania games and The Mobius Machine is definitely a metroidvania game, however it fell a little short for me. The pieces are there for a decent game but the combination of the slow paced progression, combat, and mapping frustrations actively pulled me away from the game. It’s not often I don’t finish a game but with The Mobius Machine it is just something I will have to try after some time has passed.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a solid action-RPG with an intriguing world full of worthwhile stories and characters to meet. Combat is a weak point (though upgrades help somewhat) and for as well written as the Haunting cases are, they all follow a very similar template. However, it’s a testament to DONTNOD’s skill that even despite these foibles, we had nothing less than a great time with Red and Antea. It’s not as flashy or as deep as some other titles out there, but for our money Banishers is more than worthy of your time and money.

If you haven’t experienced Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, this is the time to do so. This remake rejuvenates a hidden gem with excellent visual and audio refinements that make the original seem decades old despite only being a singular decade old. If you take out the remake’s flourishes you’ll still be privy to one of the absolute best indie experiences around with one of the most emotionally arresting games you’ll ever play. The controls may not be ideal for those with co-ordination issues, and are otherwise quite finnicky at times, but their inventiveness more than makes up for any stodginess. A Tale of Two Sons‘ elegant autumnal sheen has been evolved remarkably, and now is the time for the outliers to lie inside and cozy up to one of the most striking and artistically nourishing hidden delights in modern videogames.

Quadroids is definitely not a game I could sit down with for an entire evening of play, but even though I’m pretty bad at it I’ve enjoyed my time with it as something to play for a bit before moving onto something else. Co-op play is available to split the screen real estate with too which is handy, though the need for good timing and communication will still be there as some of the levels are pretty exacting in this regard.

Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator provides a calming experience for garden enthusiasts. Thanks to Stillalive Studios and Nacon, aspiring gardeners now have a new comfort game to enjoy. While performing tasks can be rather tedious there’s much more that the game can offer both visually and creatively.

There is so much negativity surrounding this title, but I don’t care. I have had a good time with it. Does it have faults? Yes it does. But this hasn’t ruined the experience for me. I’ve had fun playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The first boss fight was bluntly rubbish however the second boss fight makes up for it in my opinion. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League feels like it was meant to be DC’s version of Marvel’s Avengers. I feel Rocksteady did a better job in keeping my attention and making missions easier to follow, even if they do have a repetitive nature to them.

Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash lacks spirit and depth and is just Hollow overall. Just because the franchise is popular doesn’t mean fans will mindlessly love the game. Its combat and mechanics are interesting, almost touching the soul, but that flame is quickly snuffed out with poor graphics resembling a mobile game, and a lazy attempt as a arena fighter. Astonishingly, this game has a price tag of up to $100.

Promenade is as charming and colourful as it is clever and challenging. It manages to keep the surprises coming throughout, offering more to the player than it has any real right to do.

Solid puzzle game, with a lovely ink style. Howl is a short, bite sized bit of fun.

Sometimes relics should be left in the past, and unfortunately the Tomb Raider Remastered Collection is one of those cases. There is some worth in preserving the base experience of these 32-bit classics for a modern generation of consoles, but calling this collection remastered is negligible, as it’s only claim to such namesakes comes from slight visual improvements and slightly modernised controls. This collection is best served as a history lesson and would do well in a videogame museum, but although it’s pleasantly priced, there are games that cost less that are longer and offer so much more substance than this. Feel free to take the history lesson, but whereas the original three games were celebrated and rightly so at the time, in 2024 it’s a case of history dooming itself in the present.