Sifu is a master of hand-to-hand combat, injecting its kung-fu showdowns with exhilarating fluidity, tactical depth and cinematic scale. Its structure is harder to fully embrace, though, as it demands a lot of repetitious dedication to even reach the final stages. At times that feels needlessly punishing, but the thrill of the fight should help pull you through.
There's a half-decent time to be had bashing your way around Stranger of Paradise's dungeons, but routine level design, rough edges and messy narrative delivery stop the experience evolving into a compelling adventure. Despite its efforts to create ordered systems, chaos has the final word.
There’s no escaping, however, that “Weird West” is crowded by its own ambition. No doubt, some glitches will be fixed — like mission objectives failing to update correctly — and some control issues are surely more applicable to the PlayStation 4 version rather than the PC. But other problems are more fundamental. It says something that by the end of the game, I’d killed 599 people, and as much as (almost) all of them had it coming, I had no such intention when I set out. The systems felt too brittle to warrant a more considered approach. In this Western, it doesn’t pay to be a master of the quick draw so much as the quick save, stopping to back up every inch of progress, in case your next move pulls the chair from under you.
In its visuals and audio, Trek to Yomi nails its brief to create an Akira Kurosawa-inspired samurai adventure. Its interactive elements, however, along with its story, are all too ordinary and rarely combine to heighten the atmosphere or create suspense. Worth a try for the sightseeing perhaps, but don't expect it to cut deep.
Perhaps, ultimately, you have to accept with “The Centennial Case” that you’re not so much Sherlock Holmes as Dr. Watson, offering up ideas that might be taken on board by the real star, or given short shrift. If you don’t mind playing second fiddle to its fine cast and weaving plotlines, there’s plenty here to keep you gripped. As with any good TV murder mystery, the intent is to keep audiences guessing. “The Centennial Case” should keep you guessing throughout.
A gripping horror story, but one where the interactive elements struggle to sustain the tension.
A sweet treat that recreates the old recipe with higher quality ingredients.
Simple, polished systems allow Stray's rich fiction and charismatic star to shine.
Once you get to grips with its demands, Rollerdrome’s core concept is realised immaculately. With glorious backup from its retro stylings, each run is peppered with audacious stunts that would grace any action movie. It flags towards the end, however, thanks to an inelegant pile-on of difficulty, a lack of new twists, and disregard for its character’s story and narrative themes.
Ultimately, you may have walked grimy paths like these many times, but if the Soulslike virus remains lodged in your core as it does in “Thymesia’s,” you should easily become absorbed into its diseased world, never once hoping to be cured.
"Opening and closing fields to match the thing you're trying to kill has all the fussiness of a game of Simon Says – in that nothing you do counts unless you've remembered to hit the right button first"
A simple yet nuanced roguelike packed with interesting decisions, tense fights and lots of digging.
Scorn works wonders with Giger's and Beksiński's artwork, not only in terms of aesthetic fidelity but in creating a world that's utterly strange to exist in. This is a violent, painful, but fascinating place, thick with symbolism and interlocking puzzles that hint at some terrifying grand design. While it can be overly obscure and frustrating, especially in combat, Scorn serves up one hell of a journey.
Requiem is a masterful sequel and an exceptional action adventure.
Signalis conjures a memorable retro-futuristic vibe with its art design, matched with a story that explores the terrifying extremes of sentient life. But its Resident Evil inspired systems feel overly mechanical and fail to produce tension, draining energy from a potentially chilling scenario.
"Many developments are outside of your control, yet rarely in games does the passage of time feel so intimately significant."
Somerville never hits its stride, thanks to flat direction and frustrating mechanics.
Evil West delivers on its big dumb action game premise, for better and worse.
"Life in the Abbey becomes something of a cross between XCOM 2 and Fire Emblem: Three Houses"
It's not often that the promotion campaign might be more enjoyable than the final product, but Wanted: Dead may have to grin and bear this ignominy. Despite some effort to subvert genre norms with its characters and amusing mini-games, the core action is bogged down by low production values, imbalance, and repetition. For every moment it hits its stride, there's another where it stubs its toe, and some slick execution animations are as imaginative as it gets.