At first sight, Paper Cut Mansion is a gruesome and twisted experience due to the choices made in terms of graphics and sounds as well as its twilight atmosphere with a lot of jump scares. Yet, it turns out that the title proves to be particularly addictive. In addition to the collection of various clues and objects helping our investigation going forward, they also gradually reveal the story of our anti-hero. By offering us a videogame made of many parts similarly to Frankenstein’s monster, Space Lizard Studio gives life to this hybrid theory of a rogue-lite puzzle-narrative game resolutely horrific: that is quite a mix of genres.

With his previous works, Dino Patti got us used to dark and suffocating worlds and Somerville is no exception to this rule. Through his art direction and soundtrack, he completely immerses us in the drama experienced by our character. This narrative experience skilfully alternates between action and reflection phases and does not suffer from any break in the writing rhythm. Although the title deserves the status of a gold nugget, we would have liked the development team to step out of its comfort zone and take more risks to enrich the proposal.

We commend the work of Josh Sawyer and his team for this masterful writing and atmosphere. Being one of the very few out of this year's Xbox Game Studios' sweatshop, Pentiment truly is a hit! The adventure is credible, wonderfully blends historical, religious and socio-cultural contexts while proposing an advanced writing and an absolutely sublime and singular graphic layout in the video game industry. According to its creator, Pentiment will clearly not please everyone, but the result here exudes passion, giving life to a niche work of art with an excellent replayability. It is undoubtedly very personal for Josh but this seals the deal for Obsidian: that is what a real gemstone looks like.

Sonic Frontiers leaves us rather puzzled. On the one hand, the novelty of an open world full of activities and combat zones, the diversity of the paths through the portals and the number of collectibles enchants us. On the other hand, the outdated graphics, the mediocre dubbing and the poor story is disheartening. Striking a balance, the speed phases are successful, both visually and with the controller. Sega’s title suffers from shortcomings that could have been avoided, thus categorising it as nothing more than an “average and decent game”. What a pity for the long-awaited return of our blue supersonic hedgehog.

Beholgar could have been a good game, if it had been released in 1987. But its proposals are too weak and rooted in the bad sides of Metroïdvania to really convince. Heir of a genre that came back in force these last years, it doesn't compare with almost all the other titles of the genre. Even worse, by trying to position itself on the "retro-castlevania" segment, it suffers from an inevitable comparison with Infernax, released at the beginning of the year and a true paragon of the genre, managing to sublimate the old formula while adding incredible qualities. In fact, it is difficult to recommend this Beholgar, even to the nostalgic and to the lovers of the 8-bit era.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed clearly convinced us. There are few asymmetrical games where being in one or the other team leaves us so untroubled, as they are both enjoyable to play. Everything that makes the saga a myth is present, diving us totally into the experience to the point where it becomes difficult to stop as the games follow each other with ease. The absence of paid content is a real good surprise in 2022 and the pleasure of modifying one's equipment or ghost between games pushes us to quickly return to the hunt in order to experiment with new strategies. The games are fast but intense and if we strongly advise you to assemble a solid team in order to take full advantage of it, playing alone is still quite possible thanks to the tools at our disposal. A very good point for the ghostbusters license. Let's hope that the updates will be as good as the launch.

The Witch's House MV offers an atmospheric setting that still grips us to this day. Despite the frustrating side of the die and retry formula and some repetitive aspects, we remain trapped in the story and we desire to know the conclusion. Some cutscenes can be shocking and make you feel uncomfortable, so you have to be sure to embark on such an adventure before you regret it. But is it worth doing it again if you played the original version? Not really, because apart from the graphic aspect, the whole thing is identical. Nevertheless, it is still an excellent experience for a short evening shiver, or to extend the twisted magic of Halloween a little bit longer.

The studio’s desire to propose a short but well-crafted game is a risky bet that can fully satisfy casual players. The latter will undoubtedly find a challenge to their liking, without necessarily seeking completion. On the other hand, those who are used to this type of production and who have probably worn out their pads feeding armies of zombies with Hawaiian pizzas will only make mincemeat of this Fueled Up. The title is nevertheless very fun and introduces several original, but unfortunately played down mechanics. A pleasant way to pass the time for social gatherings with friends.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is the long-awaited sequel fans have been waiting for and it offers a much better gameplay experience than its predecessor thanks to a myriad of adjustments. Still as addictive as ever, the concept is once again foolproof and gives us even more freedom of choice in the adventure and the kingdom we build. Graphically speaking, it is much more up to date than Warband and this new opus will undoubtedly seduce previous fans and win over new players.

The Canadian studio Brass Token can be proud of its first game. Indeed, despite some visual shortcomings, the Chant is rather pleasant to play and is as good as some so-called AAA titles. As long as one finds the various clues on the island, a well-crafted story unfolds before our very eyes. The game mechanics are good, the graphics decent and the combat phases well-paced. Additionally, the truly immersive soundtrack allows us to plunge wholly in a rather scary universe. The stiffness of our character and the life span of the title are the only real downsides. All in all, we indeed had a good time with Jess and the Prismic Science Spiritual Retreat.

The 2019 Modern Warfare saga reboot had given a fresh coat of paint to the Call of Duty license thanks to a convincing multiplayer and solo campaign. Three years later, Infinity Ward has come up with an even more accomplished version. The campaign is enjoyable and benefits from a great deal of work on its staging to keep us on our toes. However, some bits and pieces tend to make us sigh. As regards the multiplayer, the 2019 base remains more or less the same with some welcome new features on the camouflage system. Yet, the unlocking of attachments is questionable. All in all, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II turns out to be a great vintage and will undoubtedly be successful.

Without being 2022’s GOTY, Gas Station Simulator truly deserves a spot in your game library. We are quickly introduced to the joys of business management, and this is done quite smoothly thanks to contextual displays and a correct handling. Even if the game is punctuated by display glitches, Drago Entertainment manages to immerse us in a rather new concept. Ultimately, we expected a little more content in terms of services offered to customers. A good game to play in off-peak periods.

On the outer layer, Kamikaze Veggies tries to be a fun and ironic popcorn game; nevertheless, we have the clear feeling that all this is only a pretence allowing the creative teams to make a sharp criticism of the title’s geopolitical topic under the cover of a vast “joke”, sadly without any wit. If Red Limb Studio’s precious initially makes us want to read between the lines, we quickly shut off our brains when grasping the lack of finesse and the ease with which one can get the best scores. Even if it sometimes makes us smile, most of the puzzles are bland and tedious. Despite this, the ability to play the entire experience in split screen is quite thrilling considering how rare it is nowadays. Ultimately, the most satisfying bit is the continuous unlocking of an achievement at the end of each level. Despite not being the worst experience ever, it nonetheless falls under the umbrella of “quickly done, and quickly forgotten” games we unfortunately all know too well.

As an action-RPG, Asterigos: Curse of the Stars offers a sensational experience. Whether in terms of story and combat gameplay, this rich AA production is more than generous. Unfortunately, the level design struggles to be convincing and clearly tarnishes the general experience. As regards the technical aspect, the AA production status and the usual lack of means it implies might explain why some corners were cut. However, the gameplay experience remains pleasant and the story and gameplay largely make up for the shortcomings.

New Tales From The Borderlands is not a bad game per se, but this format feels a tad’ ancient. The formula it uses is outdated and we expected much more from it. Let us be honest: it has some good arguments, especially in terms of its narrative, but its nowhere-to-be-found gameplay might irritate many players. Except for those fond of the Borderlands license who will be able to overlook this aspect and sincerely enjoy the universe, recommending the title to the rest of the players does not feel like the right thing to do.

Falling Out is a pleasant surprise that should, of course, be played in pairs for a maximum amount of fun, laughter, and probably a lot of name calling too. As a good retro title, it is hard to truly master it, but it will replace the ""by heart"" method with one’s skilful adaptability to the system and to the ever-changing environments. Our career as tomb raiders finds here a very entertaining alternative, full of good ideas and deadly traps too. We thank PolyCrunch Games for this first title which is full of passion and we hope it will find its audience.

With Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, the young studio Owlcat Games confirms its talent in the creation of C-RPGs. This new opus expands the winning formula of Kingmaker in all areas and even allows itself to bring in new game mechanics to the table. Unfortunately, those are not as convincing as one would have hoped. The game also suffers from a dated technique and an almost unpalatable number of fights. Nevertheless, the adventure is epic, and is backed by an impressive rise in power of our hero and a remarkable writing quality. Thanks to the countless playable classes and the addition of different mythical paths that radically modify the scenario, the title’s replayability is remarkable: who said you cannot have the cake and eat it too? We are eager to put our hands on the studio’s next title set in the futuristic world of Warhammer 40K.

Despite some wishy-washy fights and a somewhat empty open world, Gotham Knights is a title that honours the licence. Perfectly blending action gameplay and RPG mechanics, fans and other players will be delighted. Even if the 20 hours necessary to complete the adventure are not enough to satisfy our thirst for more content, the presence of numerous side activities will suffice in deceiving our need for more. The arrival of a more complete multiplayer mode on November 29, 2022 should also contribute to supplementing the initial offer.

Is Persona 5 Royal the best J-RPG ever produced? Is it Atlus' ultimate masterpiece, a once-in-a-lifetime creation? Everyone has their piece to say, but for us, it certainly is and the studio's following games can hardly compete with a title that is and will be remembered for many years to come as the quintessence of the Japanese role-playing game

Even though White Day: A Labyrinth Named School might not be the scariest in the world as rumours had it, or the fact that blood is very rarely shown on screen, Sonori proves that horror can exist without the overkill of gore that is very much in fashion at the moment by proposing a creepy and oppressive atmosphere capable of surprising us in the worst moments, to the point of systematically making us turn on the lights and feel anxious during each search. The puzzles make us think under pressure and one feels torn between the need to escape as quickly as possible from this nightmarish high school and the aspiration to solve every mystery. Once the game is over, we ultimately only have one yearning: diving into this maze while impatiently waiting for the next episode.

Logically enough, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a more beautiful, bigger, and complete continuation of its predecessor. Resuming the story where it left off, this new adventure embarks us in a story as well mastered as ever, filled with some very well-designed characters. The more open confrontations make the whole gameplay more dynamic without changing its essence. All in all, it is a beautiful narrative experience sublimated with some gorgeous sceneries that does not feel very different from the first episode. Players expecting bigger changes will be disappointed, but there is no doubt that single-player fans who liked A Plague Tale: Innocence will once again fall under its spell.

LEGO Bricktales could have been a good Flash game, or having a multiplayer mode would have greatly served its cause. In an era filled to the brim with construction games on our modern machine, it unfortunately feels way too limited to be sincerely recommended to amateurs. Only LEGO enthusiasts will find it interesting… or not.

With an official Dakar licence, a bewitching and gigantic playing field, arcade and simulation modes, vast improvements as regards the driving of the various vehicles compared to Dakar 18 and a navigation feature via road-book as exhilarating and immersive as ever, Dakar Desert Rally has enough solid foundations to become a prime showcase for rally-raid and its flagship event as long they keep on working hard on it. The new Career mode even welcomes neophytes with open arms to gradually introduce them to the discipline. Unfortunately, the title suffers from a premature release that spoils the game experience due to a feeble framerate, chaotic AI and a frustrating lack of content for fans of the simulation mode. In the coming weeks, the ambitious roadmap should meet the latter’s expectations. Let us hope the studio manages to solve the technical issues as well. If this happens, Dakar Desert Rally will surely become a must-have game for all motorsports fans.

Jack Move is a pixel art retrogaming wonder that benefits from a modern treatment on all levels and whose foretold inspirations are strikingly accurate. We gladly discover a game with simple and proven mechanics, a classic but efficient scenario, what appears to be authentic dialogues and a good dose of humour and derision. Our only regret is the adventure’s length which, despite some anthological parts, could have greatly benefited from the addition of a few levels so one could enjoy a bit more time at Noa Solares’ side.

I, AI is not a bad shoot ’em up but its realisation is lazy and below the studio’s previous productions. Its re-release on Xbox Series brings no real improvement or additional content. Seeing slowdowns during boss fights on an optimised title should not be possible, and yet, here they are. The combination of a soporific sound atmosphere with a limited number of levels available all converge into one blunt statement: turn around and aim for other (better) galaxies.

Circus Electrique is a remarkable title that deserves to be appreciated for what it is and not solely be considered a “niche game” amongst others. Far superior to what Darkest Dungeon could offer in its time, it also manages with a disconcerting ease to sublimate its management part. Some features could be improved and polished, but considering the quality and passion exuding from each of its pixels, criticising it would be ludicrous.

Castle Walker is a simple, yet very slow game to play. It will hardly suit fans of old school Castlevania because of the cumbersome gameplay and its disconcerting ease. Furthermore, on Xbox One at least, the game suffers from some pretty bad framerate issues in the later levels, which tends to make the experience even harder to enjoy. The title is nevertheless offered at a very low price and can still be a nice experience if you lower your standards.

Without being the best thing since sliced bread, FIFA 23 is undoubtedly the most accomplished title of the series. The introduction of cross-play is a refreshing add, as is the change in commentators. Whether in terms of graphics or gameplay, the few small improvements made to the best-selling sports title in the world are quite satisfying. Managing the defence finally becomes interesting and one has a real chance to counter the previously overpowered strikers. The career mode, whether you are a coach or a player, is very immersive, which will delight the most demanding fans. Although there have been few changes to the FUT, its well-oiled mechanics will allow fans to indulge in creating their dream team. Lastly, the interaction between Volta and Club Pro is well thought out as it allows one to play with friends in different game modes. Ladies and gentlemen, all you have to do is put on your boots and get kickin’!