Penny's Big Breakaway is a melting pot of fresh ideas and slow-cooked nostalgia that'll caress the palate of the speedrunners and score-chasers out there, while potentially cooling a little thanks to some technical flubs and awkward controls. If you've got a hunger for Saturn and Dreamcast-era 3D platformers you'll be more than satiated here.
Infinite Wealth is a stellar follow-up to Yakuza: Like a Dragon in just about every way. It's bigger, bolder and with some smart tweaks to combat it's a significantly better turn-based RPG. Series fans have a ton to look forward to in the larger-than-life story and emotional character moments, and though there are some glaring issues with its dungeons and post-game offerings, the end result is the franchise's best entry yet.
The Cub is a short but sweet little tribute to licensed Mega Drive platformers that revisits the fantastic world set up in Demagog's previous game, Golf Club Wasteland, and comes out just as striking and memorable. Crucially, the warm tones and cool tunes of Radio Nostalgia from Mars are back to have you vibing in your seat for a handful of hours as you throw a small, mutant child into mortal danger over and over again.
Kratos is here to contemplate his future purpose and learns to forgive himself for his past deeds while still acknowledging and learning from them, making for a potent mix of the Greek and Norse sides of the franchise with some returning characters, locations and other bits that I wouldn’t want to spoil. It’s a treat for longtime fans as well as a very appreciated bit of history for those who jumped on in recent entries.
Somewhat appropriately, Echoes of the Fallen feels like a vague echo of CBU III's epic RPG, faintly calling back the game's excellent combat and intriguing Fallen lore in mostly expected ways. With The Rising Tide promising a substantial new chapter with plenty of content and the final piece of the Eikonic puzzle, fans will have to wait until Autumn 2024 for a deeper return to Valisthea, though for now this serves as a brief but welcome last check-in before the year's end.
Assassin's Creed Nexus VR is a great way to experience the series' most iconic gameplay pillars from a whole new perspective. It's not without some of the awkwardness inherent to VR, but it's a visual showpiece for the Meta Quest 3 that deftly places players into the shoes of three iconic assassins while feeling incredibly authentic.
SteamWorld Build is another feather in the series' cap and another great distillation of genres into a friendly and wholly addictive package. The city building and mining halves come together effortlessly thanks to a pitch-perfect campaign, though with just a single scenario there's not a heap of longevity. The console version's awfully-small text also threatens to undo the good done by its superb controls, but in the end it remains another banger SteamWorld game.
Super Crazy Rhythm Castle makes a bold attempt at fusing basic rhythm gameplay with the kinds of asymmetrical co-operative chaos of something like Overcooked, wrapping it up in a deeply funny and genuinely inventive campaign. Sadly it undermines the fun at every turn with wild difficulty spikes, anaemic gameplay customisation and a frustrating lack of explanation of its own mechanics. There's something good here, it's just thoroughly underdeveloped.
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn is a great way to come back to the excellent 2021 RPG, giving fans the chance to revisit familiar places and faces while also taking a good look at a side of the classic world-saving hero story we don't alway see. It treads a lot of familiar ground, and it's somewhat awkwardly implemented, but it's well worth seeking out for franchise fans and anyone that enjoyed the main game.
Overall, the five games on offer in The Jackbox Party Pack 10 represent a nice variety of experiences with some genuinely interesting innovations and ideas. Crucially there's no total stinker in the mix, with only Timejinx feeling a touch bland. FixyTest holds up the stupid, pointless chaos end of the bargain while Tee K.O. makes a fantastic comeback and Dodo Re Mi proves that Jackbox can do real-time gameplay. Just give yourself time to properly figure out Hypnotorious before you write it off entirely.
This succinct and sweet little bundle of short-form adventures is just irresistibly charming and wholesome and pleasant in a way that few games are, making it a refreshing and terribly timely bit of reprieve from the onslaught of very good but very intense releases in 2023, and just this year’s whole deal in general. That each game is capped off by a dance party inclusive of everyone Frog Detective meets is an inspiring glimpse into the incredible communities we could be nourishing with just a few more folks as decent as he.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 cleverly pairs its added width and breadth with more depth and meaningful new gameplay and story opportunities. There's rarely a moment here that doesn't feel thrilling, enchanting, heartbreaking, awe-inspiring or some combination of it all. Beyond untangling the finer threads of its design or narrative ambitions though, it's genuinely just the most fun, gorgeous open world superhero game out there.
Saltsea Chronicles is unequivocal proof that Die Gute Fabrik is an unstoppable force in the industry. A team blazing brand new trails, wholly their own, with stories that are radical and thoughtful in equal measure and told in unexplored ways that only video games could deliver.
Nour: Play With Your Food is a bold, entrancing and often inspired little collection of interactive, food-based vignettes with a greater focus on exploring colour, form and sound than any real gastronomical ideas. It's occasionally awkward, and will probably disappoint anyone looking for an actual game amongst its fleeting distractions, but it's worth a look in for the vibes alone.
Goodbye Volcano High is something truly special. It takes a well-conceived gameplay idea, drops it into an immensely unique and superbly crafted world and marries it with sharp writing and wonderful tunes to produce something unmatched. More than just an experiment in adding rhythm gameplay to a narrative experience, it's an earnest, mature, queer, warm and heartbreaking invitation to the end of the world.
Fae Farm throws a ton of great ideas into its melting pot of cosy life simming and tense adventuring, and while its various ingredients don't always mix together as well as they should it's got enough unique hooks and wholesome vibes to make it worth a look in for genre fans.
Toss! is a pretty basic, sometimes frustrating arcade-like VR experience, but when it works it's quite exhilarating and immensely satisfying. In case my debilitatingly-sore arms weren't already an indication – this is the closest I'll ever come to being a high-flying gymnast and I'm perfectly happy with that. If you want a VR workout that's got old-school arcade charm and a great view, look no further.
A Fisherman's Tale is still great four years later, but if you've played it before there's not much reason to pick up this barebones port to the PS VR2. It would've been cool to see InnerspaceVR take the opportunity to flesh out its recursive puzzle concept even more, but hopefully there's more still to come from this franchise.
Fort Solis takes about an hour's worth of ideas and attempts to stretch them out to a four-hour walk through a lifeless Mars facility with little to offer outside of a top-notch presentation. With a distinct lack of thrills, this sci-fi thriller falls disappointingly flat.
Moving Out 2 is an accomplished sequel, building on what made the first game great and really honing in on its presentation and content offering. It's not a radical departure, and not all of its levels are designed equally, but overall this is another feather in SMG Studio's cap.