The Walking Dead Michonne Episode 3: What We Deserve confirms all the issues that have emerged in the previous episodes. With very little character development for secondary characters and villains, uneven pacing, and short total play time, The Walking Dead Michonne fails to become a truly compelling experience. There are moments of brilliance, but they're overshadowed by the need to end the story as quickly as possible due to the shortened format. Entertaining, but hardly memorable.
The Deadly Tower of Monsters manages to capture B-movie aesthetics perfectly, but ends up falling short due to performance issues on PlayStation 4 and a flawed execution of its gameplay features. The hilarious commentary, however, can be more than enough to make players forget about all of the game's shortcomings.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is as straightforward as an action-adventure game can be. None of its features are broken, but the shallowness of the entire experience makes it a very hard game to recommend for those who are not into the setting to begin with. It does provide moments of fun here and there, but its linear, derivative experience does not stand out in any way.
Nights of Azure 2 had the potential of being much better than the original game, but it fails to build upon some of its best features, such as the character development and interaction. The experience offered is thus slightly worse. The game can still be enjoyable with its fast-paced battle system, humorous interactions, and plenty of fanservice, but the low challenge level, bad dungeon design, and underwhelming story make it difficult to stay engaged for a long time. A missed opportunity.
The Dwarves is a role-playing game that fails to reach its full potential. Its interesting battle concepts are marred by a mediocre execution, very limited RPG mechanics, and just too many technical issues on PlayStation 4. Despite this, the game still managed to be somewhat enjoyable thanks to the gripping yet not too original story, and charming characters. Due to gameplay and technical shortcomings, however, only die hard high fantasy fans may find some enjoyment in The Dwarves. Everyone else would do better in looking elsewhere.
Shadwen is a competent and somewhat enjoyable stealth game, but not exactly memorable. While the core experience and some of its mechanics, such as the time manipulation mechanics, are quite well done, the game suffers from a general lack of polish, an average last-gen presentation and a rather limited amount of content. When Shadwen works, however, it works well, so Frozenbyte definitely has a good starting point for a potential sequel.
The nice-looking visuals and the engaging puzzles that break the monotony of the experience and a few story beats make the experience enjoyable at times, but it could have been so much more.
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars had the potential of being one of the most exciting action role-playing games influenced by the Souls series, with its ancient Greek and Roman influences, cartoonish art style, unique approach to story choices, and a more gamey approach to combat and character customization, but it falls a little flat due to the bad level design that damages the entire experience. If one can look past this significant issue, however, one will find a decent enough game with an acceptable story and serviceable combat with some interesting twists.
With its excellent world-building and intriguing story, P.A.M.E.L.A could have been a great survival game, but it sadly fails to reach the must-have status due to a variety of issues. The game can still be an enjoyable experience, but how much really depends on the player's tolerance for mediocre combat, bad enemy AI and the many technical issues.
Sadly, the general lack of polish and low amount of content damage the experience in the end, making Warlander a game that can be recommended only to the most die-hard fans of the Souls series
With its charming characters and engaging story, Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time could have been so much more.
Nights of Azure is a game of wasted potential. The game's dark tone and setting is ultimately ruined by the excessive presence of comic relief, which takes a lot of the tension out of the terrible choice Arnice has to take to save the world. With an experience that gets stale way too quickly, Nights of Azure true saving grace are the game's two main characters and the development of their relationship, which takes some interesting turns. A shame, as the game could have been so much more.
The Surge: The Good, the Bad, and the Augmented is a decent addition to the overall experience, with some new mechanics, such as the modifiers, which work well. The gimmicky nature of the mini-stages and bosses, and the lack of a proper story, make it a worthy purchase only for die-hard fans of the game.
Transference is a competent narrative-driven game featuring some well-crafted puzzles and an amazingly eerie atmosphere. Sadly, the narrative doesn't really go anywhere, despite a very interesting premise, with no twist and no surprises at all, making it very hard to recommend to people looking for an interesting story. Coupled with its very short length, Transference is not really worth its current price.
Being the first action role-playing game set in the universe created by Games Workshop, Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr is a worthy purchase for fans, with a well-crafted campaign deeply invested in the universe's lore. Sadly, the gameplay experience, while functional, is quite derivative, and the few features setting it apart from other action role-playing games are not enough to make it an essential purchase for those who aren't familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe or aren't big action role-playing game fans.
Empires Apart is a more than competent real-time strategy game featuring solid mechanics and unique features. Sadly, the almost complete lack of single player content damages the experience a bit, making the game recommended, at the current price point, only to those who are willing to play online against other human opponents.
Lords of the Fallen boasts impressive visuals and an interesting story for a soulslike, but unfortunately, that's where the praise ends.
Hover had all the right qualities to be the true successor to the Jet Set Radio games, with solid high-speed parkour action, a stylish presentation, and an excellent soundtrack. Sadly, these do little to alleviate some of the game's biggest issues, such as unfocused narrative and bad mission design, issues that prevent the game from being nothing more than an acceptable title.
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn feels like a missed opportunity. While the story held some potential, it doesn't go beyond passable at best, its uneven pacing and the lack of meaningful gameplay additions making the whole experience feel dull at times. As such, only die hard fans of the base game will find some value in what is, essentially, an extended prologue with limited appeal.
With its unique premise and setting, Atlas Fallen could have been one of the best action games of the year, but its mediocre combat system, dull open-world areas, and lack of interesting characters drag the experience down. The full package ends up being just a decent game for those willing to look past its most critical shortcomings.