"It's all very grotty, and that's meant fully as a compliment."
Bricktales gets its hooks into you in the same way that real-life Lego might
Serial Cleaners' main problem is that it's kind of a wasted opportunity. There's room for a game like this on the market, and it's stylishly presented enough that it could easily garner an audience of obsessive stealth-loving cleaners. It just doesn't achieve the necessary tension to make it a compelling stealth game and its mechanics are too open to abuse to reward careful play and smart decisions. As a result, the potential thrill that it could have been is lost.
An unsurprising RTS in every sense of the word, but solidly entertaining and well-designed for console.
All the same, there's enough here to bring you back to Galactic Civilizations III and give you enough to enjoy a good few more hours with space battles and planet cultivation, and if that sounds like it's worthwhile then the price might not put you off. Everyone else may want to wait for a sale.
As a RTS Homeworld: Deserts Of Kharak doesn't actually have much new, but it's still one of the better releases for the genre in a long time. In many ways it feels like a modern Westwood classic, but most importantly it evokes the same feelings of complex strategy that you might have had when playing the original Homeworld games.
For those looking for something unique and original, Tharsis definitely offers that up in spades. It's not a game that can be played for hours on end, but you'll certainly return to it time and again should you fall for its clever blend of roguelike and strategy board games.
Thea: The Awakening is something of a surprise, really. From an unknown indie developer comes a game that blends RPG and strategy together very well, in a fashion that means one doesn't dilute the strengths of the other. It is complex, sure, and perhaps that will be off-putting for as many as it will be endearing for, but there's an original game here - one that ought to appeal to fans of both spectrum of genres.