Promising and lovely, Backbone can't live up to its stellar early chapters, but there's still a worthwhile experience contained within.
What it lacks in length and innovation, it makes up for with - Hey?! What are you doing to my keyboard, you stupiHONKHONKHONKHONKHONKHONK.
An amazing game only dragged down a bit by luck or prior knowledge being required to make it through side areas earlier, plus the most unnecessary bit of artificial difficulty I've seen in recent years. It's called the Ruins of Trash and I just wanted to say that one more time. I'd write that on a brick and throw it through a window if I could.
Well-written dialogue and top-quality voice acting can make The Magnificent Trufflepigs endearing, but a dull gameplay loop and narrative missteps might leave a bad aftertaste.
Brief and more of an experience than anything else, Sludge Life is a chill way to spend a couple of hours.
Necromunda: Hired Gun has some jank and some odd qualities, but when tearing your way through hordes of cyborgs is this much fun, I don't really mind so much.
A very enjoyable EDF game that costs more than it should. But it nails all the important stuff, while adding some enjoyable new mechanics, even if some depth is sacrificed in the process.
Offensively mediocre in multiple ways, Biomutant is a waste of resources. It's not terrible, but there's no excuse for it to be this vapid and underwhelming.
I threw a grenade filled with bees at a bunch of martial artists. The bees killed two of them. You have to be wary of bees, as they are clearly quite deadly.
SMT III remains a great game, but an inflated price tag combined with some dated mechanics might make it a harder sell for some.
The visuals are strong and most of the elements are competent, but this is a middle-of-the-road game that squanders its potential with some baffling decisions.
Interesting and fun at times, The Invisible Hand pretends to be about gameplay, but it's all just an illusion.
It jumps between gameplay styles more than I expected and doesn't scratch the same itch as its predecessor, but this is a damn good game that every fan of the series needs to play.
Padded and tedious, but engrossing and enjoyable. NieR Replicant occupies a strange spot in the gaming pantheon.
Cerebral and engrossing, Insurmountable succeeds at making a tactical mountain-climbing rogue-lite. No frostbite required.
A satisfying combination of action platformer and strategy game. The former might be notably better here than the latter, but Smelter is a decently long game with great visuals and gameplay.
Imaginative mechanics and puzzle design at war with finicky, picky gameplay mechanics. Add in a borderline useless player character and you've got the recipe for a good puzzle game damaged by various annoyances.
Golden Force doesn't quite have what it takes to be as good as the classics, but it's still a fairly fun time in its own right. It has some issues that make it a bit of an annoyance in some spots, but it still mostly does what it aims to.
A colorful throwback to '80s action-arcade titles that looks and feels like the real deal. Challenging and enjoyable, it's worth a look for anyone who wants a new old game to rip through.
Unambitious, easy, and rather brief, Tasomachi still does an admirable job of succeeding at what it sets out to do. With lovely visuals, tight controls, and plenty of relaxing exploration, it's hard to walk away as anything but charmed.