Colin Campbell
Old Man's Journey is sweet and undemanding
Death of the Outsider offers a standard take on the Dishonored formula, tracking closely to its admirable ethos of freedom and choice in a world of subtleties and illusions. It's a decent finale with a solid central character. But it makes little attempt to try anything new, a sign that all the best ideas are likely going into whatever comes next.
Bound is an imperfect but enchanting reminder of the power of art
Knack 2 is an entertaining platform game like those of yesteryear. It's been created with due care and attention. Sure, it's old fashioned, and its story is appalling. But it's a reminder that the character-led platform combat game is still alive and well. Despite its good looks, it's more a work of engineering than it is a work of art. But, as my kid said to me after we'd mashed our way through a co-op level, it's kinda fun.
A Way Out has many faults, but a lack of heart isn't one of them. Seeing that heart translated into a cooperative play experience makes the journey worthwhile.
Harry moves through the game, cut from the same cloth as a manuscript peasant. He has that resigned look of the perpetually damned. Nothing can surprise him, and this creates a fatalistic humor in his labors.
'Dark Room' exhibits the best and worst of what Life is Strange has to offer
The Fidelio Incident makes an admirable attempt to approach a difficult subject from a unique angle. But it fails to capture the emotional subtlety or artful storytelling that games like Gone Home, Firewatch and Virginia have demonstrated within the same kind of framework.
I spent the equivalent of a working week playing Aven Colony and it was hard labor. This is a game of relentless concentration and chore-work, with only the briefest flashes of magic and relief, offering almost nothing new to the city building, or resource management genres.
Crackdown 3 is a playpen of combat and destruction that sets itself up as a liberating journey into a barbarous fantasy of wanton mayhem. But its central proposition — the freedom to do as I please — is undermined by frustrating design compromises.
We Happy Few is uncomfortable, uncanny and brilliant
It's sharper than previous games, more openly designed, bigger and more fun. One of Forza Horizon 4's strengths is that it tends toward freedom, letting us do just what we want, and liberating us from races and activities that we don't fancy. Most of all, this is a fun, even joyful experience, a thrilling racing fantasy.
Return of the Obra Dinn is a superb murder mystery game
That Dragon, Cancer is the best of games. It reveals to us what it means to be a fellow human being finding the strength to survive terrible circumstances. It shares through words, pictures, sounds and actions. The actions give us a sense of the pain of others. They show, rather than tell. This story is unique in that it tackles the most dreaded of human experiences in the form of a video game. If you play this game, it may change you.
Fe is a magical, expansive and multi-hued world that creates a sense of marvel. Like a real-life walk in the woods, it is a thing of elemental beauty that demands to be inhaled and admired.
The Red Strings Club is a fascinating journey into the problem of free will
Even though the puzzles are simple and the interactions basic, I don't think this little piece of fun would work in the same way were it a static cartoon. Chuchel is a true universe, one that comes alive in bursts. This could not be done quite so well on TV or in a movie.
Irritations don't entirely diminish the charm and ambition of the entire endeavor.
All Surviving Mars' interlocking systems make for an arresting time-sink that merges logic, forethought, psychology and experimentation. If you're the sort of person who enjoys losing yourself in high stakes strategy, building and planning, Surviving Mars is worth a look.
State of Decay 2 made me sad, but mostly bored