Cronos: The New Dawn is an unforgivingly brutal survival horror experience that harkens back to the old-school design with more modern sensibilities. And this is how it should be, with a confident approach to level and enemy design that maintains high tension from start to finish. However, it’s not perfect, and you will encounter issues throughout, but regardless of this, Cronos has become an instant surprise in my mind.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater takes an all-time classic and faithfully recreates it for modern audiences. It feels somewhat safe with its dedication to not expand on the original, recreating every single moment faithfully, but its new gameplay mechanics make it feel fresh once again. This is a must-play for long-time fans and newcomers to the franchise.
Since its announcement, Hell is Us was shaping up to be a game to keep a close eye on, and now that I’ve played it, for the most part, ended up being even better than I expected. It felt like a slight breath of fresh air that removes most of the handholding, entrusting players to progress at their own pace. It’s a wonderful and unique experience, but one that occasionally stumbles with repetitive enemy design and a story that falls short of its full potential. Regardless, these issues felt like mere setbacks, and don’t stop Hell is Us from being one of the biggest surprises of the year.
Mafia: The Old Country is a mostrly triumphant return to the long-running franchise, even if it’s very different from its previous entries. I appreciate the risks taken with the new setting, and I have to say I enjoyed the fact its scope was somewhat toned down after the mixed results brought by Mafia III. Its gameplay was indeed generic, but the game more than made up for that shortcoming with a thrilling story. It certainly won’t be a game that will resonate with everyone, but it did for me at the end of the day.
I have a soft spot for Wild Hearts. It’s a solid monster hunting game that has enough unique mechanics to stand out and deliver something a little unique. However, at the same time, it doesn’t go far enough. Wild Hearts S is an attempt to bring some attention back to the game, but it doesn’t do much to do so. I do hope we see some more from Wild Hearts, though, because there’s a lot of potential here.
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is a great new adventure that ambitiously combines the genre’s traditional elements with a bit of action, a healthy dose of puzzles, and a great presentation, reminiscent of my other favourite stealth franchises. Without a doubt, its cinematics and sound design stole the show. Even though not all of its elements stuck to the landing, with it occasionally feeling like it could have achieved more with such potential, it felt like an incredible start to a brand new world to explore, and I hope this isn’t the last we see from the town of Eriksholm.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is everything I would have wanted from a sequel. An emotionally charged story that fully leverages the franchise’s potential, whilst iterating and fixing some gameplay issues that make it a much more digestible and thrilling experience. In many ways, it finally feels like the true successor to Metal Gear Solid.
At first, I wasn’t expecting a lot from Luto. I had (wrongfully) assumed it would have been just yet another P.T. clone doing nothing more than satiating our thirst for anything vaguely resembling what Silent Hills “could have been”. Thankfully, my expectations were subverted. This is a wholly unique experience that managed to pull me intro its (very weird) world. It’s not the most terrifying or challenging of horror games, but it was a great slow burn, one I can easily recommend to horror fans out there.
System Shock 2 is an all-time great, easily one of the most important games of all time, and Nightdive’s 25th Anniversary Remaster edition makes it a touch more accessible without ever gutting its core, or anything that made it so cherished in the first place. The excellent core gameplay and stellar level design come together for an unforgettable experience. Furthermore, the fact it works shockingly well on a controller is already something worthy of a medal of honor for the studio.
Blades of Fire is a much better game than I initially anticipated. Granted, don’t expect grand innovations to the soulslike genre, but we’ve got some really novel ideas, such as directional-based combat and a weapon crafting system that add a unique flavour to the game. Even if not all of them work, I still have to admit I respect the efforts. I highly recommend fans of the classic Souls games to check this one out.
The Hitman: World of Assassination has always been a great collection. It combines IOI’s newest Hitman trilogy into one cohesive experience. With over a dozen unique locations, each with dozens of ways to complete them, it’s a complete package and an incredibly easy game to recommend. However, in its current launch state, I’d suggest waiting for a few patches. It is an impressive showcase for a new portable, don’t get me wrong, but it still needs some extra tinkering to truly become a must-have.
If you’ve never played Yakuza 0 before, then this is another fantastic version of one of the best titles in the franchise, and I would highly recommend it as one of the best titles in the Switch 2’s launch lineup. It’s a game that everyone should experience at least once, and the Switch 2 Director’s Cut might actually the best way for a new player to get into the franchise. However, not much here is worth getting the game again if you’ve got the tremendous PC or current-gen versions already.
Despite some good ideas that could have made Among The Whispers: Provocation a compelling addition to the ghost hunting horror subgenre, there are a lot of messy elements scattered throughout all of its corners. It does have a solid foundation, and being single-player does differentiate it from its sources of inspiration, but at the end of the day, the source of inspiration is still a better experience. It does lack variety and becomes tedious very quickly.
Skin Deep is a one-of-a-kind experience. It’s an immeowsive-sim game that doesn’t take itself seriously at all, leading to a unique and exciting stealth adventure. The responsive system drives the game, giving you a ton of flexibility in otherwise limiting scenarios, which leads to some hilarious shenanigans. Also, cats!
I wanted to like Post Trauma more than I did. A survival horror game that emphasises exploration and puzzle solving in a desolate world sounds like it should have been a good time. However, a weak plot and lacklustre combat make Post Trauma an uneven game that would be tough to recommend if it weren’t for its incredibly reasonable asking price. Though you could also always wait for a midyear sale if you want to…
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is truly something special, combining some fantastic turn-based combat and RPG progression with a heartfelt and well-told story about dealing with loss and paving the way for the future. It’s one of the finest RPGs in years and will likely be remembered for years to come.
Even if you aren’t a fan of roguelikes, Blue Prince feels much more like an elaborate puzzle box. There’s a satisfying feeling in making it further than you did before, finding clues to a puzzle, then stumbling onto another piece of that puzzle a few runs later. Blue Prince is certainly one of the most interesting games of this year. It takes a fairly novel concept in a roguelike puzzle game, adding elements of deckbuilding and base crafting. It all comes together for a gameplay experience unlike anything else out there today.
Steel Seed has everything that I love: explosive set pieces, stealth-focused gameplay and souls-like combat. Unfortunately, none of these elements work together here. Each part felt undercooked for an experience that I cannot recommend to anyone. Despite this, there’s a lot of potential there for something greater, and I hope we get to see a more focused game next.
The Last of Us Part II: Remastered is a beautiful mess. An ambitious title that had all the right ingredients, but didn’t always pan out the way it should. The excellent survival action gameplay that showcases humanity’s brutality is often let down by a story that is trying too much and has poor pacing. Thankfully, Part II’s debut on PC improves on the last game, making it the best place to play, even with its imperfections.
As a whole, Split Fiction does everything that you’d expect from a Hazelight game. And that’s an uncompromised focus on cooperative gameplay that is unmatched by pretty much anything else out there. The vast amount oft gameplay variety and exciting moments makes this a must-play; even if the story doesn’t quite hit the heights that we were expecting from other titles from the same company, the sum of its parts still makes it superior in every other aspect, and especially when compared to other outings from 2025 thus far.