Joonatan Itkonen's Reviews
I would warmly recommend Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2. They are two of the best games in the Mario franchise, and some of the best platformers ever made. They've barely aged in the past two decades, and feel just as innovative and joyous as they did on the original Nintendo Wii. For those who've never played them, they'll feel like a revelation, even when compared to newer, fancier titles. For everyone else, it's like coming back home.
Silent Hill f is a brilliantly written and intensely moody horror adventure that struggles to redefine itself as a game. Everything about the mechanics is dated, and it constantly diminishes the story's numerous literary achievements.
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Cronos scared me, it made me jumpy, and I had a blast every unnerving minute I spent with it. That's precisely why I play survivor horror titles, and to achieve that means the game has done the job right.
A superb addition to the franchise, Ragebound is both a fantastic throwback and a great entry point to the series for newcomers.
Players should really listen to Randy Pitchford on this one and leave Borderlands 4 alone for now. It's a fun game when it works, which isn't often, and it'll probably be better in a year when it's cheaper and hopefully fixed.
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It's the kind of title that I could hand over to anyone from the youngest to the oldest members of the family, and they could understand the mechanics. That kind of deeply mindful gameplay design is not easy, and it's what I love so dearly about Nintendo's titles. When they work, they work universally and without question.
This is a fun and entirely competent action game that will find both old and new fans thanks to its dedication to getting the basics right. It's a little unfocused, a little too in love with its own ideas, and many of its mechanics are so old they could have grandkids. But no other franchise out now delivers zombie thrills on this level, and certainly not with this kind of thought to making a fun experience with a lower barrier of entry.
Ghost of Yotei is a generational masterpiece, encapsulating everything great about the open world adventure genre. This is a beautifully written and directed saga that stands tall alongside its influences without ever sacrificing the joy of gameplay and discovery at the hands of spectacle. It is one of the best games on PlayStation.
Packed with smart quality of life updates and a refined script, Final Fantasy Tactics is a gorgeous revitalization of a classic that deserves celebration as art conservation done right.
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Hades II is a sequel to one of the best games ever made, and it just might be even better than its predecessor. This is a wild, imaginative, and thoroughly captivating ride that will mesmerize for years to come.
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Claws of Awaji doesn't introduce anything new to the already terrific Shadows, but it is more Assassin's Creed, and that's just enough to warrant a second look.
Passion and ambition don't always equal quality. Lost Soul Aside has plenty of ideas, but no vision to put them together. Instead, it settles for a muddled selection of borrowed mechanics, tied together by disastrously bad writing and acting.
Sword of the Sea is a gorgeous and hypnotic arthouse epic full of incredible set pieces and stunning visuals that sets another high bar for studio Giant Squid as the premiere destination for meditative gameplay.
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Expertly designed and highly addictive, Achilles: Survivor is a fantastic addition to the bullet heaven genre.
Mafia: The Old Country is an often chaotic mess of ideas and gameplay elements, each of which were dated well over a decade ago. Yet it's also a wonderfully directed and acted linear action game that, at just a little over ten hours, feels like a refreshing throwback in this era of bloat.
Patapon 1+2 Replay doesn't reinvent a thing, but it does remind us why this charming oddity became such a beloved cult classic in the first place. The whimsy is as timeless as ever, even if the rest isn't.
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Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is an ambitious and often pretty game that suffers from poorly balanced combat, terrible design choices, and some truly awful technical glitches. This one is for diehard fans of the genre, and even they should consider replaying something else first.
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With innovative gameplay and a spectacular world, Donkey Kong Bananza is a modern masterpiece and a true must-own title for the Switch 2.
It's fun, unexpected, and challenging. Everything you'd want from a title like this. Even if it doesn't look and feel exactly like we initially imagined.
Mario Kart World re-imagines the iconic franchise into something familiar and wildly new. The result is a definitive racer for the new generation, one that might be enough to sell the new system on its own.