The Relic: First Guardian is not only one of the worst Soulslikes I have ever played, but a prime candidate for the worst game of 2026. It's a game that crumbles under the weight of its own ambition, aiming to be the next Elden Ring and missing the target wildly. Not one aspect of this game warrants praise, and in its current state, it is an affront to the Souls genre as a whole. It's time I will never get back, but hopefully through my suffering, you won't suffer the same fate.
It's one of the most predictable, uninspired, and underwhelming action RPGs you'll likely ever come across. There is a certain level of cozy comfort that comes with that, but all in all, this is not worth your time or money."
Deathbound is a game that has a lot of great ideas that seem amazing on paper, but few of them actually end up hitting the mark. The clear high points of this game pretty much all relate to the setting, the story, and the characters presented, but even this is marred by the goofy vocal performances and the frequency of the swearing in a bid to seem edgy and cool. But in the end, the game is dragged down by a wonky multi-character combat system, a messy health system, an all-round unresponsiveness, which is a death warrant in a Souls-like such as this, and the fact that the game's performance is enough to make you throw in the towel before you even have a good reason to write the game off. It feels like a game that would have benefited from pivoting to an all-out hack-and-slash format because, despite labeling itself as one, Deathbound simply doesn't have the polish or the attention to detail needed to truly call itself a Souls game.
The Mound: Omen Of Cthulhu has the bones of a Lovecraftian nightmare worth enduring. But sadly, when examined closely, there's very little meat on those bones. Some sanity system mechanics create memorable multiplayer moments, but due to a lack of substance, half-baked mechanics, and the fact that it inexplicably sets out its stall as an extraction game, The Mound: Omen Of Cthulhu will go down as a great idea executed haphazardly.
Starstruck Vagabond is an audacious attempt to provide a space-based life sim that doesn't go to the same well as many developers have done in the post-Stardew-Valley landscape. In this bid to stand out from the rest, however, this game feels like a smorgasbord of simple, repetitive and generally uninteresting mindless chores. The game has a solid foundation with understandable, intuitive mechanics and the promise of an addictive gameplay loop. And while it delivers in one way to offer a 'switch-your-brain-off' sort of feel, the game feels as vacuous as the setting. The humorous writing does help to motivate you to begrudgingly push for the finish line, but in the end, it's all just busy work, and not the fun kind.
Rivage is an ambitious groundhog day puzzler that presents a compelling mystery, and rewards those that dig deep into the finer details. However, despite some good world building, and interesting ideas. The puzzles aren't all that satisfying to engage with, the UI feels cumbersome to work with, and the timeloop format feels like an unnecessary burden at times.
Low-Budget Repairs, much like its central themes, is a rather askew, awkward, and lopsided affair. When it's at its best, it's a humorous slant on the House Flipper formula. But, at its worst, it's a broken, janky, and underdeveloped mess. Yet, despite its flaws, I still find myself glad to have endured this quirky handyman experience. Mileage may vary, but it's worth a try, provided you're not a perfectionist.
"Dosa Divas is yet another game from Outerloop Games that has a lot of charm, and a lot of heart. The narrative is goofy yet sincere, the map design, setting and art style is eye-catching and new additions to turn-based combat and exploration add a lot to the experience. But sadly, everything feels a little repetitive, clunky and half-baked in execution. It, much like it's predecessor Thirsty Suitors, is a flawed gem. So mileage may vary, but it could just be a tasty morsel worth nibbling on."
The high-octane action, the blistering speeds, and the open-world freedom all come together to offer a format that I adore. However, I can't in good conscience attribute much of this to this game, as it's about as blatant a copy I have ever seen, lifting Burnout Paradise's mechanics, UI, race types, and progression almost note for note
"Bye Sweet Carole is an ambitious game that shoots for the moon and ends up among the stars. The Disney-style presentation is damn near flawless and evokes a sense of childish nostalgia that hardly any game has managed to do before. Not to mention, it's a pretty competent puzzler that feels cut from the same cloth as LucasArts classics in many ways. However, due to a slew of technical issues and some of the most cumbersome and unsatisfying platforming, stealth, and action sequences I can recall enduring, the game undoes a lot of its fine work to ultimately end up being a unique, but rather average experience."
If you like action-adventure, and need a quick fix, this can scratch that itch. But, a game to rival the AAA goliaths, this is not.
I thought for all the world that this game would be a championship contender, but as it turns out, it's just relegation fodder.
Despite some filler Game Boy titles bulking up the collection, it's fair to say that this Nickelodeon time capsule is a joy to behold. Search for Reptar is a cult classic for a reason and carries the collection. But there are also little nuggets of excellence to be found within the other baby-fueled titles. Fair warning, the controls are clunky, the camera is cumbersome, and the gameplay is often shallow. But despite it all, these games are a lot of fun, and it's a collection I feel blessed to have access to on modern systems
Tides of Tomorrow is a bold 'choices matter' experiment that mostly pays off. The multiplayer setup that affects how your story will play out is excellently handled and intriguing, largely making up for the rather middling storyline. However, it is the thin gameplay throughout that stops Tides of Tomorrow from being a truly amazing experience.
The game doesn't have that lightning-in-a-bottle feel, and there's a genuine concern this game could be dead on arrival."
Neva is a game that builds on the platforming prowess of its predecessor GRIS, offering powerful pastel visuals, incredible use of color and flora, and sublime set-pieces to tell a powerful story where your bond is everything. The game offers a newfound dynamism, trading in the label of a puzzle platformer for a more traditional adventure platforming approach. Sadly, the game fails to hit the narrative heights of its predecessor, and also fails to truly get the most out of each mechanic presented. But despite this, Neva is a captivating, visually jaw-dropping indie that is simply too good to ignore.
SCHiM is a game that initially shows a lot of promise with a truly unique concept that is realized through expert-level design and makes the world around you feel believable and dynamic. It's a blast to hop around and enjoy the lazy afternoon tunes as you experience a quaint, if rather unremarkable, silent narrative. In the end, however, the game fails to squeeze all the juice out of this fantastic concept, offering far too much filler content to pad the experience and not enough unique puzzles, engaging platforming challenges, and environmental gimmicks to justify the number of levels present. The optional challenges and collectibles will appeal to some who are able to make their own fun, but overall, SCHiM feels like a wonderful proof of concept that fails to achieve its true potential.
There are so many games in the zeitgeist that focus on offering the most realistic or the most refined and polished experience on the market, but often this can be to the detriment of fun. Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip knows this all too well, focusing solely on bringing the fun factor. It's a love letter to successful mascot platformers of old while offering some much-needed fan service to the kid-friendly GTA-clone sub-genre that gave us The Simpsons Hit and Run and Lego City Undercover. It's not a game that's going to change your life, but it's a wonderful, action-packed romp that just might make a lazy afternoon a little more memorable.
Valor Mortis is a flawed gem, but a gem nonetheless. It presents one of the most unique and interesting Soulslike formats in recent memory, with a compelling setting and superb interconnected level design. However, balance issues, baffling design choices, and friction that comes part and parcel with the first-person format hold it back from being a Soulslike hall of famer.
Resonance: A Plague's Tale Legacy is a gorgeous game with a compelling, well-paced story. Sophia's backstory tangled in Greek mythology is handled with aplomb and the experience is akin to a Hollywood blockbuster at times. However, paint by numbers action-adventure mechanics, minor performance issues, and a lack of unique features and themes that made the mainline games great relegate this spin-off to 'good-not-great' status.