Alessandro Barbosa's Reviews
Astral Chain is one of Platinum Games' most complex and satisfying action games to date, with combat that's suitably fast but far more purposeful and careful in execution. Its gorgeous world and enticing premise are betrayed by an uninteresting story and characters, but there's little else to fault when you're teaming up with your legions and solving cases across different dimensions.
Although not all of its ideas mesh at times, Remnant: From the Ashes is still a satisfying action-adventure with punchy third-person shooting and fantastic bosses to overcome.
Darq is an intelligent puzzle game with a delightfully dreary setting that is over far quicker than you want it to be.
Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is an unsatisfying VR shooter that wastes the potential of piloting some of the series' most iconic enemies.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 refines its formula and cuts out many of the frustrations from the first game, delivering a more structured story and rewarding pacing that lets you see your hard work gradually blossom rather than be swept away. It's an engrossing sequel that is difficult to pull away from, and now far more welcoming to start too.
F1 2019 is another exceptional racing game that caters to all spectrums of fans, giving you many modes, exhibition events and an exciting career mode to get familiar with its gorgeous tracks. It's simply one of the best simulation racers out there, again.
Outer Wilds is a poignant space explorer with an emotionally engrossing tale set across a condensed but wildly surprising solar system.
Blood and Truth is an entertaining VR shooter with smart movement and inventive motion controls, but it does face some pitfalls.
Void Bastard is as satisfying as it is stylish thanks to its inventive weaponry and engaging first-person shooting.
Rage 2 tries to do so many things in such a small timeframe that it forgets to do anything original or inventive with its many unfocused components. Its combat alleviates these issues in short spurts, but it's not enough to weave a cohesive thread through this confused trip through a familiar wasteland.
World War Z is unrefined and rough around the edges, but it makes up for this with satisfying co-operative action that fills your screen with hundreds of enemies for you to kill.
Days Gone has moments where it reveals its brilliance, but they're buried under a litany of uninteresting and repetitive missions and numerous technical issues.
SteamWorld Quest's accessible take on card-based combat is undermined by an uneven difficulty curve that frustrates more than it encourages.
Islanders is simple and straight-forward but still manages to make each of its city-building runs engrossing with a high-score to chase and procedurally-generated spaces to explore. It's the charming visuals and meditative soundtrack that make your brief stays worth it, enrapturing you in a relaxing aesthetic as you try to survive as long as you can.
Ethereal's frustrating technical issues are alleviated by the satisfyingly challenge of its puzzles.
The Wizards: Enhanced Edition wrestles with the limitations of PSVR and never wins, deeply undercutting its enjoyable spellcasting with inaccurate motion tracking. These issues are only made worse by uninteresting missions and repetitive combat, making the initial splendour of this spellcasting adventure fade very quickly.
The Occupation's clever real-time investigations and immensely engrossing story are undone by its dedication to inducing tension by restricting saving, which is exasperated by uneven technical performance.
Trials Rising expands the engrossing and challenging gameplay from its past entries, but it also fails to address some of their issues.
Apex Legends is a surprisingly different interpretation of the Battle Royale formula that introduces new rules for engagement while also refining many of the issues the genre has grappled with for months. It's ingenious tagging system and clever character abilities make it a multiplayer shooter that's easy to pick up and play, but also deep enough to sink hundreds of hours into for months to come.
Astroneer's stunning planets play stage to a serene yet underpowered journey.