Lee Mehr's Reviews
There were several different ways Midboss could've approached this sequel, likely all of which would've been better than Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER.
Between atmosphere, mechanics, and storytelling, Crow Country gets caw-fully close to bonafide classic status in the survival-horror pantheon.
Surgent Studios' debut title is a tale of two extremes: enthusiasm for this heartfelt story about grief and apathy for the Metroidvania around it.
With its closest inspirations at the forefront (Playdead & Studio Ghibil), Wishfully's debut makes great strides in honoring them both, despite also retreating back to safe design tropes too often.
While some gameplay limitations dampen its mechanical & narrative potential, Loretta remains a harrowing & surreal ride through a twisted psyche.
While it's impossible to ignore the surfeit of launch-window technical issues, Abstraction Games recaptures the mechanics & magic that places Gigantic among the best multiplayer games of the past decade.
Between its great pacing, breezy atmosphere, and more, Botany Manor shows Balloon Studios has a green thumb for game design.
No copycat should be satisfied in reproducing its inspiration without incorporating a visual, aural, story, and/or mechanical nuance alongside it. None of these four categories are met here, so what's left is a ditto platformer that's content with showing yet another hellish landscape after humans are nearly wiped out.
All of Bulwark's building blocks are here for any genre fan to appreciate, but the finished construction is still left wanting.
While certain design qualities feel anemic compared to the original's legacy, Pieces Interactive's reboot contains a special atmosphere & story that survival-horror aficionados will likely appreciate.
With catchy & enticing rhythm gameplay through pleasant dreamscapes, Half Asleep's debut title ensures you'll be anything but.
Even after correcting some of its predecessor's foibles, Coming Home reveals that the series' core gameplay & storytelling contradictions remain deeply entrenched.
Mediterranea Inferno's potent mix of enflamed sexual energy, pandemic frustrations, and tattered friendships is slightly too inconsistent in execution, but still earns some appreciation nonetheless.
For a title so reverent of history, it feels like divine justice that Obsidian's special narrative adventure earns such a high spot in the annals of its own.
Between wonderfully-addictive combat, encouraged comradery, & consistent tongue-in-cheek humor, Helldivers II is a fantastic way to spread liberty & prosperity through patriotic destruction.
Despite a few infractions in its paperwork, Border Bots VR deserves a stamp of approval for its inventive & well-paced puzzle design.
Between an insanely tedious gameplay loop, inferior writing, avaricious scheming, and more, Suicide Squad ranks among the most villainous & disreputable live-service games.
Tequila Works' latest skates by with just enough nuance & personality to keep engagement from freezing over, but its derivative qualities could tempt some into giving it the cold shoulder.
While Immortality can't consistently maintain its tempo, Sam Barlow & Co.'s avant-garde approach to FMV game design & storytelling remains a genuine achievement.
Season's Greetings' monotonous delivery-sim structure, inconsequential narrative, & rough technical audio errors are the chief reasons why anyone's enthusiasm would be frostbitten by the end.