Axiom Verge 2 is an excellent Metroidvania that focuses heavily, gameplay-wise, on its clever exploration mechanics and strong level design. Although the idea of two parallel worlds certainly won't win an innovation prize, the implementation of the concept may indeed be understood as a unique selling point.
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Consequently, partly due to its slow pace, I find Chicory unbearably boring for long stretches of the game. To the game’s credit, the characters are likeable and the visuals are playful and beautiful, but in my view that does nothing to change the fact that Chicory is very thin on both gameplay and narrative, and stretches what it has to offer over a framework that is far too extensive.
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Epic Dumpster Bear 1.5 DX: Dumpster Fire Rebirth is an extremely entertaining, self-ironic and pretty crazy 2D jump & run that promises plenty of fun. There are indeed a handful of small bugs and the final boss fights are mechanically rather uninteresting, but the platforming is intense and enjoyable.
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Crash Bandicoot 4 is a lovingly crafted tribute to the PlayStation classics; whilst it introduces new ideas only very cautiously, it implements them with the utmost care.
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The design achievement is indeed impressive, but essential achievements of Banjo-Kazooie, especially regarding the ease of navigation and intuitive playability, are lost in a gigantism and a penchant for outright boastful design. As a result, Banjo-Tooie is still a great game, but one that gets in its own way far too often unnecessarily.
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Banjo-Kazooie is a brilliant masterpiece that, while not surpassing its predecessor Super Mario 64 in every respect—the pure game mechanics are still slightly finer in Mario—yet manages to set its own accents and standards in many areas. Banjo-Kazooie is the best collectathon and Rare's absolute crowning achievement.
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a very entertaining game that provided a lot of fun over approximately 20 hours. The return to old virtues was convincingly successful, although in my eyes Mirage places itself rather in the middle field of classic Assassin’s Creed games, rather than storming straight to the top.
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Anonymous;Code is an exciting visual novel that works brilliantly both as a standalone title and as a sequel, particularly to Steins;Gate. The weaknesses of its predecessors have been ironed out and the writing is well thought out.
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Clive ‘N’ Wrench is a solidly designed collect-’em-all platformer that’s clearly inspired by Spyro and the Muppets, but whose level design also draws on elements from Toy Story 2, resulting, in my view, in a slightly more polished design than the Spyro games offer.
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Earthen Dragon is an entertaining mix of Jump & Run and Action-RPG that captures the characteristic eccentric style of Origamihero games well. While the platforming never quite knocks your socks off and a later hookshot ability proved rather fiddly for me, overall Earthen Dragon delivers solid entertainment for genre fans.
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Bowser's Fury is an consistently entertaining and creative game, which only has a manageable number of minor flaws.
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Fire Emblem Engage is a demanding and imaginative tactical RPG packed with interesting systems and fast-paced, streamlined gameplay. The varied map and mission design, coupled with significantly improved presentation, make it the best Fire Emblem title in nearly a decade.
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The well-crafted level design and the fast, fun combat system make Death's Door, in my view, a highly motivating and entertaining game that is challenging without being unfair or cruel.
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Bayonetta 3 is, in my opinion, one of the best action games out there and can best be described as energetic, fast-paced, intense, and fresh. Anyone who can appreciate character-action games and is not particularly sensitive regarding resolution and moderate framerate instabilities will be entertained first-rate here and will likely soon find themselves unable to free themselves from the grasp of the Umbra Witch.
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Chaos;Head Noah is a well-written and varied visual novel that is likely to appeal particularly to fans of mystery stories.
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Airoheart is a decent Zelda-like clone, but it struggles significantly with navigation, suffers from technical rough edges, and unfortunately brings very few fresh ideas to the table. Anyone looking for an indie experience in the style of classic Zelda games is arguably better served by the two Ittle Dew titles, the two Blossom Tales games, or Oceanhorn. It’s a shame, because the initial impression from screenshots and videos was quite solid.
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Back Again is an entertaining, quite short, yet affordable Jump & Run with an unusual atmosphere. Although it has some mechanical flaws, it features good level design and adequately addresses the central challenges of the perspective within the genre.
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Blossom Tales 2 is a good Zelda clone that could have been very good with just a bit more polish, particularly in the design of the overworld. Compared to the original or also the two Ittle Dew games—which similarly come from a small indie team and are available on Nintendo Switch—Blossom Tales 2 is the inferior choice. Nevertheless, anyone looking for more Zelda-style gameplay can pick it up without hesitation.
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Demon Turf is a game of many highs and lows that is definitely worth a look for genre fans thanks to its fun mechanics and numerous successful jumping passages. However, one should bring strong nerves and the willingness to endure some quite poorly designed sections.
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Demon Turf: Neon Splash may be a considerably more compact game than Demon Turf, but it eliminates the original's core weaknesses and delivers consistently fun gameplay with its sharper level design.
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