A wonderfully charming platformer than has more character in the first five minutes than some manage in their entirety. The inclusion of local co-op means you can make your way through the story with a friend and share the weirdness together.
While it has genuinely great moments, Suicide Guy has a few too many bugs as well as being incredibly short. The physics themselves don't always work as they are supposed to, a definite issue in a physics puzzle game. Not a bad game, but not a good one either despite it's high points.
With an awesome inspiration and some very cool ideas, it's an immense shame that City of Brass game ends up being as dull as it is. With lacklustre combat, enemy design, rooms and movement, City of Brass feels like a chore to play. With the smorgasbord of Rogue-lites to play these days, some of which are among the best games you can play, City of Brass is an easy pass.
While Wizard of Legend will be too difficult for some, but for those who love the Rogue-lite genre and enjoy a challenge it is definitely in the upper echelons. Consistently challenging but impossible to put down is certainly a cliche, but it's a perfect description of this game.
Membrane is an immensely enjoyable puzzle game filled an increasingly interesting use of it's simple base mechanics.
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a game about choices and epic story lines, grounding itself with the unique characters you find and the fact that your ultimate aim is to get the rest of your soul back. Having such a personal quest at the centre of such a fantastical plot really keeps you invested in both the people and the world, whether you're carrying on your adventure from the first game or starting afresh. Either way there's a genuinely likeable cast, both personal and global stories and the pleasure of mastering all its systems. A genuine joy of a game and one which is simultaneously approachable and impossibly deep, Deadfire is a fantastic sequel and one which you will be thinking even when you are away from its world.
A brutally challenging game made more accessible by both, being on a better console, and having the funkiest of Kongs as a playable character. Incredibly good fun and with an asburd amount of secrets to find, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a truly impressive platformer that is so hard you will be a more grizzled gamer for coming out of the other side of it.
Definitely a deep and enjoyable strategy game, from the way you kit your mechs out to the way you approach each fight, everything is up to you. The battles can feel a little slow paced at times and the game still has a few bugs that can cause crashes as well. An enjoyable game but one that still needs a few more patches to stop the issues.
Frostpunk is a truly harrowing game in the best possible way and one that will have you steeped in the harsh reality of eternal winter for dozens of hours to come.
Getting all three of these games is great and while the first is showing it's age, the second and third instalments are still enjoyable fighting games. It is worth playing through the games in order for the story but for multiplayer the third is definitely the best option.
A wonderfully chilled out platformer perfect for those who just want to relax, also perfect for those who want to game with a partner who doesn't normally game. The easy to master controls and cutesy visuals are peak Nintendo and, while the game isn't very challenging, sometimes that is what is needed.
Deployment is a huge amount of fun and ultimately it's just nice to sit down with a great gameplay experience and enjoy it. The matches being so short really means you can just jump on for ten minutes and get through a few games without worrying about not having enough time, and since every match is fast paced and each shoot-out is usually a clutch affair it never fails to be exciting.
Masters of Anima is a lot of fun to play. The combat and puzzles are both challenging and keep you learning as you progress through the story. The characters themselves are incredibly well written and charming with the regional accents adding a lot of charm to the feel of the game. While the controls are a little complicated at first, they feel incredible once you've mastered them, with nothing quite beating summoning a new group of units seconds after unsummoning them to dodge an attack. Despite the game's pacing feeling a little off at times, Masters of Anima takes a solid formula and adds its own twist in order to deliver something that is entirely its own, wonderful, entity.
An enjoyable collection of mechanics that are somewhat let down by the repetitive nature inherent in the game itself. If you enjoy the first couple of levels then you could play for years but if you don't find it the most riveting thing ever it will probably lose you long before the campaign is done.
An enjoyable game despite somewhat repetitive combat that gets by on it's writing for the most part. A fun level up system and some entertaining skills keep things interesting and as long as you can deal with the fetch quests you will have a good time.
Some genuinely intriguing ideas and a great looking setting are set against some control issues and poor pacing. The game has high aspirations but falls short on the execution unfortunately. Not a bad game, but not a great one either.
[Review in progress] 7 hours in and this game is addictive and rewarding in a way that suggests there will few other games this year that can compete. It is as if Level-5 have put everything they have done in a cauldron and magically created this incredible RPG.
A great turn based strategy that has the soul of Advance Wars mixed with swords and magic. Along with the entertaining campaign the multiplayer is a blast and with both online and offline modes will keep you entertained for a long time.
A game full of more than it's fair share of style unfortunately lacks any of it's fair share of substance. It may be worth a look if you are a long time fan of the series but there are much better examples of this style of game for everyone else.
A fantastic exercise in story telling and character driven gaming which could start a new wave of 'short' style gaming. A must play and high bar for other stories to hit for years to come.