“Promise Mascot Agency” is a ‘love it or hate it’ game. The strange gameplay mix completely captivated me. The constant switching between driving around the cursed city of Kaso-Machi, managing the mascot agency and the thrilling crime background story kept me glued to the controller. I am also fascinated by the unique atmosphere, which impresses with its surreal charm, quirky characters and a superb soundtrack.
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The playable fairy tale “South of Midnight” impresses above all with its audiovisual presentation. The southern atmosphere is perfectly captured with a detailed art style and interactive soundtrack. Narratively, the game works particularly well in the small story vignettes about the various mythical creatures from southern folklore. In terms of gameplay, however, the game disappoints with its conservative level design and monotonous battles. These stand in stark contrast to the otherwise loving and creative execution.
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Despite its streamlined gameplay mechanics, the “Definitive Edition” of “Xenoblade Chronicles X” is still a very complex and sometimes exhausting game. But if you invest the necessary time and energy in the title, you will be rewarded with countless magical goosebump moments. The fantastically beautiful sci-fi game world is full of dangers and surprises. The addictive combat system offers an incredible amount of flexibility and variety. And the massive mechs are one of the coolest things I've ever had the pleasure of controlling in a game. In short: “Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition” is one of the best role-playing games and one of the best Switch games of all time.
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The real star of “Assassin's Creed: Shadows” is the visually stunning game world. It impresses with its many details, beautiful weather effects and changing seasons. It is perhaps the most beautiful open game world I have ever experienced. Unfortunately, this spectacular backdrop offers little substance despite the solid gameplay basis. Repetitive missions, boring side activities and a half-baked story leave me unsatisfied overall.
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“Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii” is an absolutely crazy pirate game that impresses with a varied mix of gameplay-elements. The ship battles are fast and wonderfully chaotic. The familiar combat system is even faster and wackier with new weapons and magic attacks. The uneven pacing and fluctuating graphical quality do not prevent me from recommending the game to all pirate and Yakuza fans.
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“Avowed” feels like a cozy blanket under which I warm up on a cold day and think of the good old times. If you like classic Bethesda RPGs or if you like Obsidian's past works, you will also enjoy “Avowed”. However, you shouldn't expect a completely new gaming experience that will knock you off your feet. The fast and wonderfully chaotic battles are a lot of fun thanks to the numerous upgrade options. The compact open game worlds are also well-designed, offering little idle time and a lot of content in small areas. The occasionally bumpy storytelling and some smaller technical problems didn't bother me too much.
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Dynasty Warriors Origins offers by far the most epic battles I have ever seen in a video game. The scale of the clashes with thousands of warriors fighting each other is breathtaking. My actions as a one-man army feel immensely satisfying thanks to well-designed controls and a fun selection of weapons. The strategic elements spice up the colossal battles with a welcome dash of strategy. However, the audiovisual presentation outside of the battles is somewhat disappointing. The monotonous mission design can also become somewhat tiring later on in the game - despite the seeming variety provided by the large number of unlockable items and skills. Overall, however, these are minor points of criticism. If you are even vaguely interested in action strategy games, you should not miss out on “Dynasty Warriors Origins”.
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Unfortunately, “Behemoth” disappointed me a lot. The simple level design is boring with little interactivity and dull puzzles. The fights and climbing passages are marred by tedious controls. The game also suffers from numerous technical problems, ranging from amusing glitches to serious bugs. The only bright spot is the spectacularly staged battles against the titular Behemoths – even if there isn't much gameplay substance behind the spectacle.
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“Lego Horizon Adventures” is by far the most beautiful Lego game. The world is made entirely of Lego bricks and impresses with its attention to detail and beautiful lighting. A dream come true for Lego fans. Unfortunately, the fun but overly simple combat system and the boring level design cannot keep up with the high level of graphics.
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“Mario & Luigi: Brothership” takes a while to get going and sometimes suffers from mediocre side missions and unnecessary backtracking. But if you show patience and stick with it, you will be rewarded with one of the best and most beautiful “Mario & Luigi” games to date.
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Rarely have I been so surprised by a game as I was by “Black Ops 6”. The single-player campaign impresses with varied locations and missions that constantly surprise me with new ideas and gameplay mechanics. By alternating between linear levels and open game areas with lots of freedom, the game offers almost perfect pacing. The quieter espionage and puzzle moments, which are atypical for a “Call of Duty” game, are particularly commendable. After the bombastic single-player campaign, I can hardly wait to get into the multiplayer modes.
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The remake of “Silent Hill 2” does everything right and leaves me impressed — even without knowing the original game. The game creates a surreal nightmare atmosphere with its storytelling, excellent graphics and unsettling soundscape. The battles against the grotesque creatures are incredibly satisfying, as is solving the tricky puzzles. The fact that the game progresses a little too slowly in places can't dampen my fantastic overall impression.
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Overall, the expansion doesn't do much new, on the contrary. Instead, it gives me the opportunity to immerse myself in the good old days of Bethesda. I finally get a hand-crafted and cohesive game world again, full of activities to lose myself in. If you've missed that Bethesda feeling too, you should definitely give “Shattered Space” a chance - despite annoying performance problems and few exciting new features overall.
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The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom turns the tried and tested Zelda-formula on its head with its magic wand and 'Echo' clones. The daring gameplay experiment works for the most part. It's fun to find new monsters and items and experiment with them — both in combat and when solving puzzles. Every now and then I wish I could take a more active part in the battles. The limited “swordfighter mode” only partially satisfies my appetite. Unfortunately, the otherwise expertly crafted game is somewhat marred by a cumbersome menu navigation and annoying stutters. Despite these shortcomings, fans of the series can look forward to an excellent 2D-spin-off that does a lot of things differently and yet still feels familiar.
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Astro Bot impresses with its ingenious level design, detailed visual presentation and flawless controls. The game lets me feel every step, every jump and every attack with haptic feedback, visual feedback and sound effects. No other game feels so damn satisfying to control. The game is bursting with original ideas in its level design and creative power-ups that deserve their own games. This perfect platformer package is rounded off by a host of guest appearances from well-known gaming legends and levels inspired by iconic PlayStation games. Astro Bot is a love letter to PlayStation history and a must-play for anyone who owns a PS5.
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“Emio – The Smiling Man” is a suspenseful and at times disturbing crime thriller. The last third of the game in particular completely blew my mind and left me sitting in front of the screen with my mouth open. The uneven pacing of the narrative and the somewhat outdated gameplay formula with its trial-and-error approach spoil the excellent overall impression. In terms of audio-visuals, “Emio” is convincing across the board. Beautifully drawn game characters and backgrounds bring the interactive story to life, while the catchy soundtrack provides the ideal background music. I hope we don't have to wait another 30 years for a new detective adventure from Nintendo.
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I love Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. The game feels like a cult classic from the PS2 era. The exciting mixture of tower defense and hack'n'slash is a hell of a lot of fun and gets better and better as the game progresses. At times, the combat becomes too chaotic. Graphically, the game makes a solid, if unspectacular, impression. In a world full of huge, highly polished and generic AAA games, “Kunitsu-Gami” feels like a breath of fresh air from a simpler gaming past. I want to see more small, experimental and crazy games like this from big publishers.
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The concept of “Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition” is simple and ingenious. The little speedrun challenges are nerve-wracking and addictive — both in single player and in local multiplayer or online mode. Overall, I would have liked a few more NES classics and more game modes. But for the relatively low price of the game, you still get an extremely entertaining retro package that lets you experience NES classics in a completely new way.
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Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is a fun game that particularly impresses with its extensive adventure mode. The majority of the 200 levels are challenging and creatively designed. In some levels, the game suffers from frustrating controls, an annoying camera and performance problems. However, I can almost entirely avoid these frustrating moments with numerous help functions and cheats. The competitive mini-games are disappointing, though. They struggle with frame rate stutters in both offline and online multiplayer. For the budget price, however, you still get a decent package with plenty of replay value.
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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a classic Mario role-playing game that every fan of the chubby plumber should play. If you've already played the original, it's worth taking another trip into this paper world thanks to the completely revamped graphics and soundtrack. The simplified role-playing mechanics and the interactivity of the turn-based battles make the game accessible even to beginners and players who don't usually like RPGs. The numerous environments impress with their quirky humor, excellently written characters and a beautiful paper look. What I didn't like were the annoying backtracking passages and some tedious mechanics. They unnecessarily slow down the pace as the game progresses.
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