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Ace Attorney: Investigations Collection is undoubtedly the best way to experience both Investigations games. Given how extensive it is, the new visual style is sure to divide, but both available options are a win for any fan, no matter how you paint it. While the first game has some pacing issues, the overarching story and case-by-case narratives are all gripping from beginning to end, making it one of the many Ace Attorney collections that are well worth your time.
While it doesn't reinvent the wheel, Emio - The Smiling Man succesfully uses drama and horror to great effect, crafting a story that's equal parts gripping and shocking.
Concord gets the fundamentals right: unique characters, strong art direction and tightly designed combat make for thrilling matches with Crew Bonuses adding a welcome extra level of strategy. Uninteresting progression, unrealised storytelling potential and a lack of personality hold it back, but a commitment to the content roadmap and worldbuilding could salvage things. I am hopeful Firewalk Studios can turn things around given the chance.
Black Myth: Wukong is a game stuck between wanting to be a Souls-like and a casual action game. It's a mostly enjoyable time hindered by some frustrating elements, but the love and appreciation for the source material is what shines through the most.
Visions of Mana feels like the RPG equivalent of being young and visiting a park in the summer. It's picturesque, warm and full of hope, inviting you to set out and explore and maybe come home with a couple scratches or bruises but always rewarding the effort with a new adventure or discovery. There's a fantastic balance of old and new ideas here, enough to satisfy patient series fans and newcomers alike, a hugely-enjoyable main story, stunning environments and satisfying combat going a long way to make up for some annoying technical and mechanical foibles.
Star Wars Outlaws marks an impressive step forward for depictions of the galaxy in video games but fails to provide players with a compelling reason to explore it.
The Crush House is a clever and entertaining spin on reality television - one that has its tongue firmly in cheek, but which also speaks to deeper themes in the metanarrative I'm working hard not to spoil here. It's repetitive and a little unfair at times, but also compelling and enjoyable - and there's a real thrill to getting good footage.
Cat Quest III is a succinct, super-adorable action RPG that builds on its predecessors with even more variety, accomplished visuals, fun twists and an absurd dictionary of puns. If you're after an adventure that offers everything you'd want from a modern RPG in a bite-sized format and less than 10-hour runtime, this is fur you.
Tombi! Special Edition is a great example of how something like LRG's Carbon Engine can be used to help preserve a game accurately and respectfully while also modernising the experience enough to make it compatible and palatable for future audiences. The bonus materials could be better-presented, and the game's original blemishes remain by virtue of its preservation, but it's a great way to re-live an underappreciated classic in the genre.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was always a cult favourite but Aspyr's native port of the classic adventure comes adorned with modernised controls and polished visuals making it a must-play for fans of the original and a fun bit of history for newcomers.
Thank Goodness You're Here is a succinct, spectacularly funny adventure through an absolutely atrocious fictional Northern England town, packing an obscene number of gags into a three-hour runtime and pulling off some incredible feats of no-frills game design. It's wonderfully-presented, unabashedly weird and extremely Yorkshire.
THRASHER is hands-down one of the coolest-feeling, most entrancing and memorable VR experiences I've had in some time. With a simple enough concept backed up by gorgeous presentation and the same gleefully unnerving vibe that made Thumper so compelling, it's an absolute trip and a thoroughly impressive use of hand tracking on the Meta Quest.
I feel like more than other games of its kind, Flock rewards those with a scrupulous attention for detail. It's, of course, a joy to charm and herd these strange critters courtesy of the model, flow state brand of flying. However, a lust for discovery is essential to harvest from these uplands as much delight as a shepherd can handle.
The Star Named EOS tells a wonderful, bittersweet story through a unique gameplay lens that marries point-and-click puzzling with some light photography to great effect. If you've got a couple hours to spare getting lost in this hand-drawn and beautiful little game, you're in for an absolute treat.
Nobody Wants To Die is a strong detective thriller that does great work in immersing players in its dystopic-as-ever vision of near-future New York. While the gameplay loop is ambitious, a lacking protagonist and a gameplay concept that spreads itself too thin ultimately keeps Nobody Wants To Die from realising the full extent of it's potential. Regardless, it's an incredible-looking, amazingly atmospheric debut from a studio whom I can't wait to see more from.
Arranger takes a type of game puzzle that is often irritating and turns it into something pretty cool – even if some of that frustration remains. It's absolutely gorgeous and full of interesting mechanical ideas, and though its core premise isn't the most exciting, it makes a strong argument for its own existence.
Despite its insanely clever dungeon designs, Dungeons of Hinterberg feels kind of like a hodgepodge of ideas plucked from other games that ultimately did them better. Though there might be things I didn't enjoy as much, I'd gladly play tourist and stamp my passport on a return journey to Hinterberg any time.
Conscript is a horrifying account of the cost of Verdun, and all of its battles and its loss, framed entirely as a classical survival horror game, for all of the good and bad that implies. It's a punishing, dire take on the war and a unique approach to a genre that I'd mistaken for being creatively wrung dry.
As an approachable, bite-sized introduction to the world of speedrunning through the lens of some bonafide classics, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is a decent enough package. It lacks a little added flavour, but the way it gently teaches you to find those perfect lines, hidden quirks and cheesy hacks makes for some very rewarding moments, and it doubles as a surprisingly good party game.
Despite a dazzling art direction and one killer new hook for the Souls-adjacent combat loop, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn struggles under the weight of unnecessary RPG systems and an overarching lack of refinement to its many ideas.