Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a robust hybrid strategy game that adds a fifth X to the 4X genre.
Lenna's Inception is an enjoyable, procedurally generated ode to The Legend of Zelda.
Cloudpunk is a neon-doused celebration of cyberpunk style that occasionally obscures the story it wants to tell.
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break won't always rock your world, but eventually the good times will roll.
A meaty, engrossing strategy spin-off with an attention to detail that is both a blessing and a curse.
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is a fleeting but delicious Zelda-inspired romp.
Lost in Random tells a sweet tale with surprisingly deep combat to brighten an otherwise dreary world.
Aragami 2 is a stylish, aggressive stealth game that's a little too lean at times.
Pathway is a workmanlike XCOM-lite whose breezy tone stumbles into some tired tropes.
Mindseize is a solid metroidvania that lacks spark and memorable characters.
Corruption 2029 is a mechanically proficient but disappointingly hollow take on the XCOM genre.
Pendragon is a fascinating but flawed experiment in procedural narrative.
Humankind is a flawed but fascinating attempt to reinvent the Civilization-style 4X strategy game.
The Good Life is a charmingly silly RPG with a little too much daily grind.
Creative Assembly's Total War: Warhammer 3 is a spectacular fantasy battle simulator with a flawed campaign.
If Silt has anything to say beyond ‘You might dig this moody atmosphere’ then it was lost on me. Some of its scenes, however, will stay with me for a long time to come.
Miasma Chronicles again demonstrates The Bearded Ladies know how to design tactically interesting combat scenarios. Yet in its clumsy attempts at world-building, it does little to refute the idea that Mutant Year Zero was something of a fluke.
There’s a kind of scrappy, desperate feeling to a firefight in Jagged Alliance 3. Hits to the arms reduce accuracy, and damage to the legs impedes movement. Cover can be destroyed. Losing line-of-sight allows your merc to re-enter Sneak Mode and return to surprise the enemy. Saving a couple of AP to drop into a prone position at the end of a turn can be the difference between seeing the next turn or bleeding out. Yet, despite all this tactical granularity, the successful play is often a matter of running around the cover the enemy is hiding behind and shooting them in the back. Assuming you don’t miss, of course.
Call of Cthulhu is a mostly competent, occasionally chilling adventure ruined by unspeakable horrors.
Imperator: Rome is grand strategy on a modest scale.