Dead Island 2 is a surprisingly good game that I had more fun with than I would have expected. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but its well-made mechanics, its simplicity and its honest intentions are enough elements to score it positively.
The Last of Us Part I is a unique quality game, worth trying on your PC. If the technical issues that have been reported are resolved, then this is a must-have.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is another remarkable Team Ninja production, which in my opinion, shouldn't be seen as a "sequel to NiOh", but as a different "fruit". Familiar, but different, just as Sekiro was different from Dark Souls. With that correlation in mind, the game is highly recommended to fans of the genre. For the rest, there's also the demo.
Atomic Heart is a game that is by no means the masterpiece we probably hoped for, but it's a worthwhile title that will provide guaranteed entertainment for the 16-17 hours or so it lasts and leaves a serious legacy for an even higher quality sequel.
The fact that it successfully revives the 2000's style of games, along with their problems, doesn't mean it deserves any kind of a pass. Wanted: Dead is aimed at a strictly specific audience and no one else. It doesn't even have impressive graphics to grab the attention of the rest of us, and the voice over is mediocre and irritatingly repetitive. The fact that, price-wise at least, it's being marketed as an AAA title can only be described as another joke by its creators.
Dead Space's remake is one of those that has a reason to exist and offers a strong action/horror experience. If you're a new player and this is your first time with the game, you'll be very much impressed, while those who played the original Dead Space will feel familiar, but the improvements are so spot on that they will push you to relive the nightmare all over again. Dare you?
Children of Silentown left us with very good impressions. If its puzzle/mini game element had been tamed and there were more "typical" adventure puzzles or even like those of the last chapter, then it would have scored even higher. However, the darkly beautiful story it tells, its immersive atmosphere and the messages it wants to convey are more than enough to make it stay etched in your memory for a long time.
Crisis Core Reunion is a very good remaster of a portable game, which, apart from intervening quite well in the audiovisual aspect, manages to successfully modernize its combat system, making it accessible in today's era. It's not perfect, its age and portable origins show (especially with the limited maps), however, it's quite enjoyable and will certainly satisfy fans of Final Fantasy, and JRPGs in general, who don't have 100 free hours to get to the finale.
Evil West is an old-school action game, conspicuously "brainless", but equally entertaining, suitable for fans of the genre.
Much shorter in length than Marvel's Spider-Μan, but more compact and immensely entertaining, Miles Morales is a must buy, regardless of whether you had experience with its predecessor.
Somerville provides an interesting attempt to create a "new", sci-fi, Inside, but it fails in its implementation and in the abstract idea of its story.
If you like action games, the two Uncharted games are an excellent proposition, even in the year 2022, and will keep you company for about 25 hours. It's not often that we see such thoughtful and well-crafted games on our monitors, and hopefully in the future Sony will add the first three Uncharted games to the bundle.
A strong love letter in the 80's, with alternate endings and plenty of puzzles, but with mediocre writing and some "moon logic".
It hardly innovates at all, but Lost Judgment is still a very fun and addictive Yakuza-style game that can keep you busy for hours.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is an adventure of a rare "harvest", which, if it had been released in the golden age of adventures, would now be remembered as a top example of the genre. With its brilliantly written plot and a thrilling finale, Cloak & Dagger's creation has already carved out a lofty place among the best indie games of the year.
Soulstice is a decent hack 'n' slash game that is not ashamed of its influences, but at the same time it attempts to deviate from them by implementing its own version of the familiar battle system. It does not have the same finesse as DMC, for example, but fans of the genre will appreciate it a little more.
Stylized, with several doses of tactics and familiar battle system, Sunday Gold is an interesting experiment that could achieve more.
Appropriately mysterious, clever, and humorous, Nine Noir Lives is another excellent adventure that deserves attention.
Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack is another great adventure for this year, which is recommended to all fans of the genre. It features good humor, a relatively long length, dozens of puzzles to solve and a clever and entertaining story that, without being overwhelming, makes it a highly enjoyable adventure experience.
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge is a beat 'em up that delivers exactly what it promises. Although its content is a bit poor, it offers great doses of pure fun, especially in multiplayer mode, and is a first-rate title for those who want to throw a few quick punches. Cowabanga dudes!