Rakuen is authentic and extraordinary
Civilization: Beyond Earth successfully injects new life into Sid Meier's long-running strategy series
Volume has anger to go with its beauty and wit
Virginia is powerful and original
Orwell grabs the problem of how we balance our own liberty and our safety and turns it into a thrilling adventure. It unfolds complex debate points into a dazzling satire, that neatly presents all the relevant arguments as a series of moral problems, dressed up in a frighteningly convincing world.
This is an exceptional piece of fantasy fiction, a metamorphosis machine, a toy, a game like no other. It's a work of deep imagination, humor and thoughtfulness. Everything held me captive for many hours, and will continue to do so. It's brave, bizarre, compelling and beautiful.
Subsurface Circular extracts maximum entertainment from limited resources through the admirable trick of great writing, excellent pacing, sparkling dialogue and bang-on story beats. It's a lovely little game, the fine work of a developer whose main skill differential is neither coding, art nor level design, but good old-fashioned storytelling.
This expansion is a recognition that the magic of this series is in giving players lots of choices — sometimes difficult choices — as we all strive to stamp our own personalities on what is, effectively, a simulation of personal political leadership.
At three hours long, A Case of Distrust held my attention all the way, but that's not to say it's without imperfections. The main character, I think, lacks the energy of her associates. She's rightly angry about how she was treated as a woman on the force, but her feminism falls somewhere between overly earnest and glib. Despite a strong backstory, she lacks emotional force and presence.
Firewatch is the video game equivalent of a page-turner
Civ 6 is smarter and more varied, but doesn't show much progress
Forza 3 Horizon is as beautiful as it is engaging
Blackwood Crossing's truth is unforgettable and wrenching.
Wilson's Heart is an important marker in VR storytelling's path forward
Turn 10 has become highly proficient in taking this basic mechanic and turning it into a full on fantasy, of conquest, of acquisition, of personalization.
In essence, Assassin's Creed Origins is much the same game as the original Assassin's Creed, which came out a decade ago. It's a formula that people like to play, and it's certainly been honed and improved over the years. Origins is, then, undoubtedly the best iteration of this formula yet. But I yearn for a fresh approach and new ideas, something that astounds the senses as much as the wondrous world this game inhabits.
Last Day of June is a narrative puzzle game that makes full use of a wide range of powerful emotive devices to make its point. Its fairly straightforward puzzles won't keep you up, scratching your noggin at night, but the effect of its wonderful characters and the love they have for one another will leave you feeling like you belong to something bigger than yourself.
Attila is a satisfying simulation of a world in chaos
Age of Wonders 3 is a challenging power fantasy
Dawn of War 3 isn't evolutionary, but it is ferociously competent