Darkwood does so much with its simple top-down perspective that it matches some of the best horror games released this year. It is easy to appreciate the finer details when you methodically explore a captivating wooded area, gather resources, and fend off deadly creatures before the terrifying night arrives.
Beat The Game does not feel like a complete game. You scour a tiny area and collect a bunch of unusual sounds for limited mixing purposes. A few well animated cutscenes are not enough reason to experience this extremely brief adventure. Aspiring DJs may be able to create something pleasing to the ear, but others will prefer the sounds of silence.
Peregrin's simplistic puzzles, technical quirks, and uninteresting combat hold back an adequate tale of a hero's desolate journey into a lost and fractured land.
Observer features remarkable trips through fictional minds that unsettle and terrify without relying on excessive jump scares. The nightmares contrast wonderfully with an atmospheric and detailed cyberpunk world that is always fascinating to explore.
The story and puzzles are decent in Aporia: Beyond The Valley, so it's a shame that the world is roughly designed, there are consistency and technical issues, and the horror element is shallow.
Conarium's fascinating world is closely based on a Lovecraft story, taking players through ancient tombs abandoned for eons. The adventure puzzles are a bit too simple and its rough edges needed smoothing, but it is still a faithful adaption.
DiRT 4 is a better rally game than DiRT Rally because it has improved career progression, better multiplayer, randomized rally routes, and some casual-friendly options. The procedurally generated rally stages are a game changer and help to provide lasting value.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier lacks meaningful gameplay and its episodes needed greater distinction, but it still provides that same appealing Telltale drama about an unconventional family thrust into dangerous situations.
Prey's dynamic gameplay adapts beautifully to players as they explore an interesting space station crawling with bizarre alien life forms. Its involving action proves entertaining when combined with a solid base of resource management. Despite a few presentation problems and minor issues, Prey is one mind-altering trip that should be played by fans of the genre.
Outlast 2 puts together all of its nightmares with amazing clarity and execution. It takes the best parts of the original and adds more variety through natural hiding spots, fantastic interludes, razor-sharp jump scares, intense chases, and more horrific foes. Not many horror games get everything to work this well together.
FlatOut 4: Total Insanity is a valiant effort and a modestly satisfactory sequel. Its track design and relative speeds help make it a much better destructive racer than the last effort. However, it still requires tuning when it comes to stunts, visuals, physics, and vehicle damage.
Kona takes you on an atmospheric adventure where answers to the mysteries are always just around the corner. Although searching for items is a bit tedious, and side tasks muddle proceedings, it creates a frozen world that begs to be exposed.
Stories Untold is clever when it comes to delivering the narrative, and its brief text-adventure is interesting. Unfortunately, most of it is pushing buttons and turning dials on command, and this leaves much to be desired.
Sniper Elite 4 breathes new life into the franchise with better stealth mechanics, improved mission setups, smarter AI, and great open levels.
Phoning Home is a mediocre survival adventure through excessively large game spaces with a slow robot and his inept companion.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a great stealth experience featuring a diverse squad of deadly assassins ready to implement the perfect plan.
Lara Croft GO is a brief, intelligent, relic-hunting, snake-shooting, boulder-bypassing, turn-based puzzler.
With an amazing space campaign and a frenetic Zombies mode, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is worth the fuel needed to reach orbit.
With open maps and confronting action, Battlefield 1 is a stable, balanced and exhilarating multiplayer shooter.
Players seeking an adventure through fantastical worlds, with a slew of mechanical and spatial puzzles, will discover that Obduction is a gold mine.