Raccoo Venture isn’t a chore. It’s beautiful and the music is lovely. I loved the environment design and when you do find challenges, they are fun to tackle. I do think that Raccoo’s jumps get too tight later on, having the player jumping off specific angles to make jumps isn’t fun especially if they’re not part of the beaten path. The game performs amazing on a wide variety of systems, too, and that’s impressive given it’s just one man making this game. Raccoo Venture has its landings, you just need to get used to them.

TEVI is a fantastic 2D Metroidvania. One that is fun to play for just about all levels of gaming ability, but it’s also a replayable one and has plenty of content you can run through, backgrounded by beautiful visuals and fun music. An easy recommendation for the action platformer fan and then some.

As of this writing, of the 3 new modes in Fortnite’s new metaverse, LEGO Fortnite is by far the most popular, and it’s certainly not only thanks to the behemoth brand that is LEGO. This is a not excessively daring but surprisingly fun, polished and good-looking survival game – a genre often notable for quite ugly, poorly running and janky experiences. All the basics of a good survival experience are there and players have solid freedom in constructing their own LEGO creations or, alternatively, to follow the guidelines and build standard things as suggested by the game. With lots of customization and servers allowing up to 8 players to work together towards a common goal (or to troll each other, if they want to), LEGO Fortnite has the potential to become a mainstay for prior Fortnite fans, offering a new enough experience to perhaps convince newcomers to hop into this title as well. If future updates keep making the game more varied, deep and fresh, we could truly have a near unmissable gem on our hands.

It looks and runs great, plays fantastically, and has more high-quality content than most RPGs I’ve played before.

A delight for fans of Avatar, this game is so damned good that even one apathetic to the IP like myself couldn’t help but fall in love with it.

Assassin’s Creed Nexus is a success in bringing the movement and combat stylings of the ever-popular series into the VR space. While it is playable on a Quest 2 it’s downright gorgeous inside the 3. It’s the first time in a while I’ve played a VR title that felt close to a Triple-A release. There may be a hell of a lot of AC games, but after this solid entry, I hope there’s more to come in VR.

SteamWorld Build is a city-builder with heart that successfully mixes various genres. It is also accessible to players who don’t put hundreds of hours into Cities Skylines and for players who have played many games in the genre it is a cute palate cleanser that can be played through in one weekend. The game offers various maps, but the replayability is what’s going to hold this title back.

Aside from some surprisingly gory moments, in Chucky’s table in particular, there isn’t much here that Pinball FX players haven’t already seen many times before, making Pinball M a far from essential buy. Yet, it’s more of the studio’s trademark bloody brilliant (pun intended) pinball mechanics, with a couple cool additions, a better progression system and none of the controversial elements of the previous game. Sure it doesn’t have the crazy list of available tables of the other games, but it’s not meant to replicate that game, just to offer something slightly different as a side dish. And that is reason enough to recommend Pinball M to all fans of the pins and metal balls – provided they’re up for the M-rating of these violent tables!

With big boss fights, fun combat systems, and a charming story featuring justice and righteousness, ASTLIBRA Revision is a great 2D action RPG and well worth the time investment.

Gangs of Sherwood was fun for 15 minutes. Every second after that was a dreadful monotony that I cannot recommend to anyone living or dead.

The big question I asked myself when it came to writing a review was this: Is this just a low-effort cash grab, or is it worthy of the fantastic show? I’m pleased to say, I feel they’ve landed firmly in the latter camp. The usually impeccably imparted ‘lesson’ each episode of the show delivers arrives here in the game exactly where it should be, heart and warmth intact.

Though Sociable Soccer 24 offers fun arcade football action (and with a lot of teams to boot), its slower speed and poor AI makes matches feel samey very quickly. This impacts the progression more than I would have liked, making climbing the ranks very uninteresting. But there’s a solid arcade game in here and I hope to see improvements made to the core gameplay overtime.

All in all, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) is, at its best, a safe and minimal upgrade over last year’s episode and, at its worst, a visibly rushed, somewhat poorly designed, and unbalanced collection of game modes. Sure, it builds upon the excellent technical and mechanical background from last year’s game, but much more worryingly: it offers a short Frankenstein monster of a hybrid campaign with much of it being essentially repurposed Warzone content; a Zombies mode that also feels like an unbalanced and unpolished rehash of things we’ve seen in said battle royale mode and last year’s DMZ; lastly, with multiplayer limiting itself to fairly superficial (if generally positive) changes, alongside merely introducing remakes of old maps.

I’m not too big a fan of how much was stripped away in Ninja Storm’s Connections History mode, but it still does a good job of picking the right moments to sum up for Naruto-noobies while still offering fun fights alongside Boruto’s extra story. Ninja Storm fans will know what they’re coming back to, this time with a larger roster than Storm 4. Connections is ultimately a great little collection of all things Naruto.

It’s a short and sweet DLC that gets a short and sweet recommendation. If you love PowerWash Simulator then this is $8 you should go and spend right now.

The Last Faith is a mostly good game, with a few moments of brilliance, and a few more that drove me into a rage. It’s a beautiful, great-sounding game with decent combat and a world I found intriguing. In a year of stellar releases, this is one to, at the very least, add to your back catalog.

I love a good challenge every now and then, but I don’t mind being able to coast as I please and feeling powerful to destroy foes to boot. For that, Yohane’s little adventure offers a fun journey through a weird labyrinth with funky, eldritch-looking monsters. An easy recommendation for the 2D action beginner.

Teardown is really damned fun. The devs took a solid premise and built a great sandbox around it. Performance on console is better than I could have hoped for, and with proper mod and DLC support it should have tons of content for years to come.

With gorgeous visuals and strong life sim mechanics, Little Goody Two Shoes is a phenomenal adventure game with the perfect creepy backdrop of a disturbed fairy tale. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up, you won’t regret it.

Roboquest is a ton of fun, though it never feels great on a controller. It does feel good enough to recommend on Xbox, though. The devs get what it takes to make a solid run-based title, utilizing their years in early-access to craft another title worth checking out on Game Pass.

Sword Art Online: Last Recollection is one of the better games in the franchise’s history. The combat mechanics are solid and questing can be fun, plus it’s good fan service. It’s a bit of a shame every other aspect drags the game down, but that won’t stop you from enjoying Last Recollection especially if you’re looking for a simple, single-player MMO-style experience.

Ultimately, Let’s Sing 2024 revamps multiple features of the game, offering a more complete and varied experience. The Career mode functions as a great singing school of sorts, and the new online modes create a sense of community and competition not found in prior episodes. Shame then that the starting list of 20 songs is, for my tastes, not on par with last year’s title, and that the new VIP membership is a step backwards for the game’s monetization. But for fans of karaoke, it’s hard to recommend a better new game on market.

I wouldn’t recommend this at full retail price. However, it’s on Game Pass for Xbox and PC, which I would recommend if you’re interested and have about 8-10 hours to kill.

Ultimately, DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing gets the job done without excessive amount of effort. There’s more than enough content, but the quality of the racing and its general balance is just not on par with most of the better Mario Kart clones out there, let alone the last episodes of the Nintendo franchise. A handful of cool ideas such as dynamic shortcuts and the Trolls characters giving special characters give the game a little bit of identity, amid the many design and visual elements that ape Mario Kart way too closely at times. But unless you absolutely need a kart racer with the likes of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda in its roster, this is a fun but ultimately not essential game.

The Invincible is a great game, full of wonderful storytelling and choices that feel impactful. The narrative suffers a bit near the end, but it’s an easy game to recommend to any genre fan. The gameplay is enjoyable, Regis III and everything on it is gorgeously realized, and it is a dream prequel to an excellent book.

The Talos Principle 2 is Croteam’s largest and most realised project yet. It’s in every way a natural step from the first title, a beautifully written and challenging one. This game may very well be one of the best narrative puzzle titles I’ve played in quite a long time.

Jusant then – a beautiful, relaxing adventure that players can tackle at their own pace. Exploring every nook and cranny of this world, and charting your own path is something that should be savoured, and you should absolutely add it to your download queue via Xbox Game Pass.

Robocop: Rogue City is a 7, but it’s a really fun 7. It knows what it is, and it sticks to that no matter what. The writing isn’t the best, and some of the characters look straight out of a $3 steam simulator title. Still I had a ton of fun beating this one over the course of a day and a half so if you love the series it’s well worth checking out.

From the beautiful presentation to the fun coming-of-age story, Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story is easily one of Tequila Works’ best. Fans of League of Legends have had their hands full with Riot Forge’s other releases and they can have another helpful serving of a fantastic adventure game.

All in all, Headbangers: Rhythm Royale feels like the perfect online game for Game Pass, with hopefully a healthy population guaranteed by the many subscribers on the service, the presence of crossplay and even AI players to fill the gaps. The simple yet addictive gameplay loops feel like something worth revisiting from time to time, as hopefully the game’s so far limited variety will improve. Its got funny characters and hilarious competitive party game shenanigans, but it’s also a tad limited currently in terms of variety and depth for its asking price if bought separately.

UFC 5 is fun to play, looks great, has a ton of fighters, though the career mode is a glorified tutorial. If you love the sport this seems like the best one yet, and should be well worth checking out.

Alan Wake 2 is a masterpiece and you should play it, now.

Trepang2 is a title that tries to recapture the magic of the classic F.E.A.R. franchise, managing to mimic certain aspects well, even improving upon them, while also failing to do so in others. The action-packed gameplay is mighty spectacular and incredibly satisfying when fighting against other soldiers, much less so when it’s against generic zombie-like enemies, flying mobs, or bullet sponge bosses, whose mechanics very much negate the perks of the shooting mechanics themselves. Likewise, the game’s execution of a horror mystery is a bit weak, especially compared to the great original F.E.A.R. game, with a very basic execution of horror tropes and no interesting characters to speak of. Yet, with some of the most satisfying shooting on the market and a surprising amount of customization and cheat codes, Trepang2 is still worth a shot, whether you’re a fan of the franchise it’s inspired by or just a fan of exciting first-person shooters.

For my slights with the overall narrative, however, The Gap offers real problems, giving a more sci-fi glimpse to the world of genetic and neurological disorders and how it impacts dreams, ambitions, and our families. For those that love to delve into the mind and its inner workings (with a bit of stretching done to the science behind it), look no further than here.

Hellboy Web of Wyrd has good ideas and flawed execution. It’s not a looker, becomes repetitive to play after 15 minutes, and has one of the least satisfying rogue-like setups I can remember. If you love the character the story is interesting, but slogging through the title to see it is a tough thing to recommend.

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 – Turbocharged is an extremely safe, but ultimately very fun sequel. The new story mode doesn’t change the formula, but the new game modes, the tons of content and customization on top of an improved core gameplay make this an exhilarating racer for young and old.

Lords of the Fallen is a stunningly good game. Following a path set for it by Dark Souls 3 it nails every major part of what makes From’s games so damned good. Stunning visually, the art style and music are some of my favorites. While the very end does get too “big” for its gameplay this one is an easy recommendation to both the most hardcore Souls lovers and those who feel intimidated. Seamless co-op takes what is a great game and makes it a special one.

Unfortunately, for the good that Infinity Strash does for the serialised manga, it shorts itself through poor retellings of the anime episodes, simple but ultimately boring combat, and a Temple system that really doesn’t mesh well with the main campaign. But if you’re a shounen or Dragon Quest diehard, Dai’s adventures are a fun spectacle—but I think I’d rather watch the anime.

EA Sports FC 24 continues the legacy of a great football game series. It’s easy to pick up for anyone thanks to a good tutorial system and features addicting modes that you can take online and offline. The game’s gorgeous and runs really well on the Xbox Series X. EA has made sure to entrench its football series even without the FIFA license, so I think you can continue to expect only the best from this series going forward.

Despite its stingers, Super Bomberman R 2 is a solid package featuring a decent selection of characters, modes and maps, and a great level editor whose levels can be taken online and for offline play. Highly recommended for your party game line-up.

NHL 24 is a solid improvement on-ice over last year’s title, with the exhaustion engine adding technical depth that the series has lacked. Outside of that, some minor presentation and control improvements are countered by mostly the same overall package of modes. If you love the NHL then this is the best playing game in the series, but if it’s $70 worth or better over last year’s is tough to say.

Bang-On Balls: Chronicles is this simple yet ultimate combination of the right elements of sandbox platforming. It’s loads of fun, be it solo or cooperatively, and there’s plenty of unique objectives and challenges to tackle as well as solidly crafted boss fights. It’s a beautiful and large-scale sandbox that offers a banger of a time for everyone.

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is a solid entry in the release-filled series. Featuring a far shorter campaign than previous titles it sacrifices “value in hours” for “valuable hours”. Mirage is a tight package that any Assassin’s Creed fan, new or old, will enjoy.

All in all, Forza Motorsport is a fantastic racer, offering its most comprehensive, realistic and spectacular racing experience ever. It was a long wait, but it was absolutely worth it.

I had a great time with High on Knife, and I do plan on going back in to clean up some undiscovered items, which thankfully, the game allows you to do, even after completing the main questline. If you loved the off-beat humour, gross body horror and Rick and Morty style humour of the original game, you’ll hardly be making a mistake picking this mini-expansion up. It’s Knifey’s time to shine (or stab everyone)…or both.

At launch, I cannot recommend The Lamplighters League on Xbox. It runs terribly, while looking ugly, and is a broken and buggy mess. Once this game is patched up and fixed though, it’s a gem. Great gameplay, a deep meta-game, intriguing story, and one of the best videogame soundtracks I’ve ever heard will be there waiting for you (and hopefully still in Game Pass).

Completing the main story in any of the 3 available difficulties is once again a 3-4 hour affair, but the game doesn’t quite end there. If you loved the minigames from the campaign, these can also be played in local co-op up to a combination of 4 human or AI players, either picking specific activities yourself or letting it assign us a random one with combined scores across all of them at the end to declare a winner. As said, these minigames range from decent to poor, with a handful of convoluted rules, unoptimal controls, unreliable hitboxes and so on hampering the experience. It certainly ain’t no Mario Party and it won’t be a mainstay in evenings with your friends, but it can be a decent way to pass the time for an hour or two, adding a bit more meat to the package.

Cocoon is an impeccably designed game that stands as a shining example of how this medium alone can teach mechanics and intent without saying or displaying a single word. Any players who prefer to solve problems with their brain and not a gun, should without delay, go forth and discover the many beautiful worlds of Cocoon. The choice, and indeed, the world(s), is in your hands.

Ultimately, Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition is an excellent port to modern systems of a game that, however, has not aged as well as some other classics. A lot of interesting ideas clash with severely outdated level designs and game mechanics even compared to the original Doom released a whole year earlier, making it more of a Wolfenstein 3D follow-up with more verticality and variety than something modern and truly elaborate. The nostalgia factor is high, and the meme weapons and power-ups remain hilarious to this day, so I can still recommend getting this version of the oddity that is Rise of the Triad to fans of the game back in the day or just those who, like me, can’t stop revisiting boomer shooters from the 90’s; as, indeed, the controls are great on Xbox, the amount of content is stellar, and there’s plenty of options to play with too. Shame it lacks the co-op and multiplayer options present on PC. Many better shooters from the time may exist, but few are as crazy as Rise of the Triad, which is probably reason enough to visit or revisit it – though perhaps it’s better to do so on PC.

It’s great that Xbox players can now play this awesome musical adventure. Everhood is well-paced, offers a balanced difficulty, features great music, and takes players through one hell of a psychedelic trip that’s also bittersweet. You owe it to yourself to give this one a go.

Mortal Kombat 1 is one hell of a fighting game, one that I can see myself putting in as many hours as Mortal Kombat 11, if not more, and I’m really excited about its future.

Motorfest is the most exhilarating, fun and satisfying the franchise has ever been, with improved handling, graphics, less cluttered progression and even a few smart tweaks to Horizon’s ideas.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is both an excellent unofficial sequel to the classic Jet Set Radio games and a smart evolution and modernization of the formula to better fit modern sensitivities and to offer more variety. Sure, the story could have been better and maybe Team Reptile could have swayed farther from Jet Set Radio… but this is exactly the game fans of the franchise want and deserve.

Phantom Liberty caps off a miraculous comeback for the Cyberpunk franchise.

Revhead, at its best moments, is a simplified but somewhat enjoyable car management simulator, leading into basic but customizeable races against the AI. Unfortunate that the game’s graphics, presentation, polish and so on range from disappointing to severely lacking, making this 20EUR/USD buy difficult to recommend to anybody.

NBA 2K24 continues the series’ strong basketball simulation elements, but some egregious monetisation this time around and changes to progression make this entry a little more frustrating than it has to be. Still, the ‘Mamba Moments’ mode is a super cool tribute to an awesome player and for me, quickplay with family is where it’s always at.

Solar Ash is short, sweet, and a little too repetitive. The gameplay is a ton of fun the first hour or two. By the end things were carried by the gorgeous visuals, excellent music, and heartbreaking story. This one should be a no brainer to at least check out through Game Pass.

Long time fans of Punch-Out should definitely check out Thunder Ray as it provides a stunning and fun modern day fix at a welcoming price of admission.

Ultimately I’m a bit torn on Boti: Byteland Overclocked. On one hand, it’s gorgeous and charming, but it’s gameplay and the myriad of bugs I ran into really soured the experience. On the other hand, Boti is still fun to play and I wouldn’t mind going back for the collectibles and a hundred percent run in the future.

Lies of P is an incredible game, and the best Souls-like I have ever played that wasn’t made by From Software. It stands toe-to-toe with Dark Souls III, one of my favorite games of all time. They have figured out exactly what makes this genre so damned good. Thrilling combat, top-notch level design, gorgeous scenery, incredible music and more make this one a no-brainer to try out Day One on Game Pass.

Demolish & Build fails at being an enjoyable game in every single way.

The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo plays its strengths through its animators’ beautiful work and the somewhat challenging puzzles that accompany Mr. Coo’s surrealist world. For fans of traditional animation, this adventure is a no brainer.

Microsoft has done phenomenal work reviving and revitalizing the Age of Empires franchise and it is an absolutely blessed time for the strategy genre, especially if you are an Xbox Game Pass subscriber who is looking for a new experience. Microsoft has done phenomenal work reviving and revitalizing the Age of Empires franchise. I can’t put the Xbox edition of Age of Empire IV down; I am truly absorbed by the new way to play.

Starfield is a new beginning. Not only for Bethesda but for Xbox as a whole. With excellent writing, stunning graphics, and thrilling gameplay it makes the galaxy yours to explore, shape, and live in. It is a wondrous tapestry to experience your story in a way that only the best have done before.

For fans of the series and its world, I think they’ll definitely find yet another fun, physics-based adventure here.

Sea of Stars takes formulas and gives them a nice fresh coat of paint. Even though the narrative won’t hold your attention, you’ll find a game that offers stunning visuals and sound design that accompanies a fun battle system with unique mechanics. Easy to pick up and play for everyone, old and new.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is an odd return to what has been a mostly mediocre series. It fixes multiple issues, mainly control-wise from the past titles, without adding much else. It isn’t great to look at, and while it can be fun to play, its poor balance as you progress kills any joy to be found after not too long.

Immortals of Aveum is a fantastic game that I’d recommend to just about anyone, especially those hungry for a different take on some familiar formulas.

Madden NFL 24 is made for the returning fans. One title in a series that will continue to go for many years to come. You can see it in the features they’ve added, such as returning modes and iterative improvements on the presentation and gameplay mechanics. But technical issues compounded with an unintuitive user experience and unhelpful tutorials make it difficult for someone new to the sport to really sink their teeth into American Football. Still, the core gameplay is solid and fun to play—I just wish it were easier to get to.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is fantastic in every way. Excellent gameplay, nice graphics, great sound, and a ton of variety in its objectives mean this absolute gem is one you should look into no matter when you’re reading this review.

Stray is a good game, even great at times. It has some very well designed levels, it looks fantastic, it has an intriguing story, and it does a fairly decent job of making you feel like a cat exploring a new world. But while it does those things well, it has many areas that don’t keep up. The strict jumping can often be a disappointment, the puzzles are almost always too simple, and while the game doesn’t overstay its welcome, I found the second half to be significantly worse, largely due to the lack of verticality in the levels, but also for other reasons as well. With all that being said, while I don’t think Stray is great enough to compete with the very best indie games released (both this year and the last), it’s still a good game. And for 30 USD it’s not going to break the bank either. Especially for those wanting a slightly different platforming experience, one without a bipedal at the helm.

With a strong control scheme and physics alongside a solid variety of content, Marble It Up! Ultra is a fantastic addition to the arcade slash platforming-lovers library.

The highly competitive nature of Running Fable and its extremely inviting price (about 8 dollars/Euros, check your region!) make this little speedy platforming title a fun little experience that can probably last you a good night of fun or two with your gaming buddies, as long as they’re able to look beyond some lack of polish here and there.

Atlas Fallen is close to being damned good. It is let down by a lack of variety in enemy encounters, poor side quests, and dreadful writing. Still, the combat quickly becomes damned fun and with the option of co-op, it’s well worth checking out if you want some God of Crackdown-style action platforming adventures.

Ultimately, Adore offers good ideas, trying to combine ARPG with monster collection, but ultimately doesn’t play them as well as I’d hoped especially as a roguelike. Still, there are a few reasons to like this game, just not enough to ‘Adore’ it.

World of Solitaire is one of the best videogame versions on modern consoles of 5 famous solitaire games, and at an inviting price around 10 bucks, it’s definitely worth playing for fans of the genre. A lot of cool features extend its longevity, but perhaps allowing more customization of the rules, more actual gameplay variety and some extra quality-of-life changes would have made it a truly unmissable experience for card fans.

As it stands, REMEDIUM: Sentinels is a fun and cheap (only about 5 bucks) little top-down indie bullet heaven roguelike bonanza, but mainly because this formula doesn’t need anything fancy to work and be fun. But with even consoles having far better alternatives already, I can only recommend this one to hardcore fans of the genre who already grinded the hell out of Vampire Survivors, Army of Ruin and so on.

Overall I’d argue this is probably the best Double Dragon game yet. It does just enough to modernise the franchise without straying from the path well traveled and alienating fans of the franchise. Which is a particularly tough task given the age of the series and the seemingly directionless path it has taken over the journey. The omission of online co-op is a bummer, but given the state of online co-op in scrolling beat ’em ups, I feel like this complaint loses more and more steam with every game that doesn’t include it. I feel like Rise of Dragons lays a pretty good foundation should they choose to continue making more games going forward. If the next game can tighten and speed up the combat and go back to a more conventional control scheme it could be something truly great.

Cross Tails is a solid strategy title with strong mechanics and plenty of user choice when it comes to unit customisation along with pleasant visuals and music. Despite the small map sizes, the enemy units provide a good challenge that even some lifelong SRPG developers struggle to accomplish. It’s a ‘thumbs up’ from me.

Maquette is a short, impactful experience. Through clever use of its puzzle mechanics, it forces you to think in ways only the best of the genre tend to do. While the story and writing aren’t as good as the other parts of the title it is still an easy recommendation for anyone to check out for a night or two through Game Pass.

Remnant II tickles greatness but falls short due to a few design choices. It is gorgeous, plays incredibly well, and should be one of the year’s best releases. I’m not sure if my issues with the game can be easily patched out, but I hope the devs at Gunfire Games give this one the same love the first game received over time.

Solo or with friends it is a hell of a lot of fun, and an easy recommendation to at least give it a try.

Atelier Marie Remake is a fun game. The clock system keeps you on your toes, making you plan out your days, and the town of Salburg always has something to surprise you. An easy recommendation for the systems-driven or RPG player.

Rounding things off, Killer Frequency is a good use of your gaming time. It is well-written, nicely voice-acted, fairly short, and can be seriously creepy at times. Fans of slasher films will have a blast playing this. While I think it would probably be best experienced in VR, it is worth experiencing on a console.

Summing things up, Whilst looking nice, the game is overly complex and pretty boring. If you don’t care about the story, characters, mythology, or plot branches which are on display from the start of each act, this soon becomes a slog to play through. If you are a fan of the genre, this would be worth checking out if it comes to Game Pass, but I cannot recommend buying it. Coming from Don’t Nod, this is a disappointing game.

PowerWash Simulator is already a great time, and this DLC is perfect for matching the tone of the game. It’s silly, fun, and a solid value.

With beautiful visuals and expertly crafted levels alongside a dash of simple but intuitive gameplay, NeverAwake is a fantastic twin-stick shooter and one I can recommend to just about anyone. And lemme tell you, I haven’t quite liked an on-rails shooter in quite a while. This one is the real deal.

AEW: Fight Forever rekindles the flame of the classic N64 wrestling titles. Featuring a fantastic mix of nostalgia and new it is only let down on occasion by budget and scope constraints. I hope this is the start of a new, long-running series that takes this excellent foundation and adds more variety on top of it for years to come.

F.I.S.T. Forged in Shadow Torch is a well-made, beautiful action-focused Metroidvania. The combat starts off slow but when it clicks it is excellent. The traversal and platforming are top-notch, and even though I’m not too much of a furry I grew to enjoy the characters and story quickly.

Dr. Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine is an occasionally brilliant match 4 puzzler. It has great ideas mixed with middling execution. I can’t say I “enjoyed” my time playing it, but I appreciated the looks and sounds when I was sane enough to pay attention to them.

To put simply, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is an addicting and relaxing farming game with a solid gameplay loop and lots of replayability. Definitely one of the better farming games out there, so put down the sword and shield and pick up a watering can for a change—you won’t regret it.

Chronicles of 2 Heroes is a solid platformer with a few quirks. Its challenges are unevenly distributed and its physics are rough, but I like the hero switching concept and I found a lot of fun in taking on some of the game’s difficult puzzles. I can definitely recommend this game to the folks that love pixel-perfect jumps.

Layers of Fear (2023) is a solid compilation of two decent horror titles. It is a massive graphical upgrade that uses a new narrative to tie them together in a satisfying way. Releasing at $30 MSRP if you haven’t played the games before and love to get creeped out then this one is well worth checking out.

Though bittersweet, Dordogne offers a thoughtful, well-paced narrative that is accompanied by beautiful visuals and sounds. It’s a pleasant adventure title through-and-through. One that I recommend to just about anyone.

Ultimately, F1 23 remains a great racing game, more accessible than ever for newcomers, more authentic than ever, more customizeable, and most notably featuring the comeback of the excellent Braking Point story mode. It is by all means an iterative upgrade with not many standout features, but the unified F1 World experience and various smart changes make F1 23 a worthy addition to F1 fans’ libraries.

Railway Empire 2 is a great game for fans of simulators and builders. It tries to find the middle ground between being accessible and challenging, with the chance of losing the more advanced players in the process. The developers can cherish what they’ve created. But could expand upon the ideas some more for the next iteration. As I’m sure plenty of players would love to go deeper into the world of building a railway empire.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse is a solid low-budget indie horror that aims a little too high with its gameplay mechanics. They only happen in certain endings, and its short run time means any horror fan will gladly seek them all out. At a $12 MSRP it is a no brainer if you enjoy getting the shit scared out of you.

Chasm: The Rift is an old-school FPS that didn’t set the world on fire at the time and is quite far behind some of its contemporaries. Yet, a rather original level design style, good action, and a cool gibbing mechanic make it a worthy playthrough for hardcore “boomer shooter” fans, while casual fans should probably find one of the many, more iconic alternatives from the era.