In returning to its narrative adventure roots, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage feels like a retreat for Don't Nod. Draped in nostalgia for both the 90s and Life is Strange, Bloom & Rage struggles to find itself among uneven pacing, tonal inconsistencies, and an uninteresting cast of characters. Despite some neat visual tricks with its VHS overlays, there's little on this first tape worth a rental.
Avowed moves Obsidian Entertainment even further toward the action side of Action-RPG with a satisfying combat system and vibrant world stapled to an unengaging narrative and surface level roleplaying systems. Despite its initially promising setup, Avowed never rises above a binge and forget experience.
Civilization VII is a newcomers ideal Civ game. Packed full of streamlined systems and approachable design choices, VII gives players access to a fun, gorgeously realised sandbox in which history is (mostly) theirs to decide. While some of its smoothed edges hinder player-driven storytelling, the effort to onboard new players and refresh the game for veterans is ambitious and stacked with potential.
Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer continues to push the series' presentation and accessibility options but can't quite overcome the inherently limited range of exercises the Joy-Con can offer it. Light and fun enough for a beginner, it's more fitness toy than fitness trainer.
An initially wonderful return to Max Caufield comes entirely undone with competing narrative priorities and nonsensical attempts to build Life is Strange into a cinematic franchise. Despite the game's stunning animation work and sincere queer writing, Double Exposure is an overexposed mess.
Bokeh Game Studio's debut horror title is a game entirely out of time with its genre contemporaries and all the more wild, compelling, and beautiful for it. Satisfying combat and a generational eye for tone and design collide in the year's strangest beast.
Despite working with the same killer premise as the movies before it, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead struggles to sustain tension over the course of its fairly predictable journey. With a tighter focus its glacial pacing and deliberate systems might have made for something special but as it stands, this one is for fans of the genre only.
With Neva, Nomada Studio continues to display an unmatched level of craft as they create yet another visually striking and evocative fantasy world. But in bending it to fit new systems and more direct storytelling, Neva struggles to define itself beyond raw beauty and uneven, all too familiar thematic ground.
Unknown 9: Awakening is a thoroughly AA gaming experience. Like a lost gem from the Xbox 360 era, its charm and jank are intermingled in interesting ways, but its commitment to a unique cultural perspective and killer remixing of the stealth/combat loop elevate it above its slightly unpolished wrappings.
Caravan SandWitch crafts a gently beautiful apocalypse for players to explore but is bogged down by its decision to withhold exploration tools from the player. An otherwise compelling, humble sci-fi tale of family and the machines of progress is held back by a game torn between its open world and goals as a focused narrative experience.
Star Wars Outlaws marks an impressive step forward for depictions of the galaxy in video games but fails to provide players with a compelling reason to explore it.
From its pixel perfect art to sharply deployed writing and unique, engaging combat systems, Arco is a masterclass in refined simplicity and self-confidence. Cinematic and thrilling, it is one of 2024's best surprises.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was always a cult favourite but Aspyr's native port of the classic adventure comes adorned with modernised controls and polished visuals making it a must-play for fans of the original and a fun bit of history for newcomers.
Conscript takes its evident passion for survival horror and infuses it with purpose and grit through a harrowing depiction of war. More than just homage, Conscript comfortably sits alongside the best, and more unique, of the genre.
Despite a dazzling art direction and one killer new hook for the Souls-adjacent combat loop, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn struggles under the weight of unnecessary RPG systems and an overarching lack of refinement to its many ideas.
An intensely personal examination of how we can fail those we love and the uncomfortable truths about why, The End of You is a fascinating and strange sophomore effort from Memory of God. Through its brilliant use of analog horror aesthetics and considered writing, it's the kind of indie experience that reminds us of the power of a weird, little game.
The Rogue Prince of Persia enters its Early Access stage with a little less punch than you might expect but Evil Empire's pedigree means the foundation is rock solid. Thanks to fluid and responsive movement and an overarching commitment to vibe, this is a prince with eyes set firmly on the crown.
An unapologetically cinematic descent into the darkest parts of the human mind, Indika is a unique and crunchy little experiment that comes alive in its ideas and tone if not always its gameplay.
POOLS is an impressively immersive and harrowing trudge through waters that threaten to drown you in its high fidelity, unsettling take on the limenal space horror genre.
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is an achievement in visual fidelity but fails to define itself amid clumsy retreads and unengaging new ideas.