Gareth Brading
Billed as a more stripped down and linear experience perhaps set within a Deus Ex-style hub world, Cyberpunk 2077 could have lived up to expectations. But as an “Ur-game” which would allow players to do just about anything they wanted, and which the marketing relentlessly teased, Cyberpunk 2077 is just a shadow. A pretty shadow, but a shadow nonetheless.
Kosmokrats has a funny, well-written story and a great soundtrack, but the somewhat frustrating puzzle design and control can occasionally hamper your enjoyment.
Watch Dogs: Legion is another competent Ubisoft open-world adventure with plenty to do, and while it manages to communicate its message better than anticipated, it can’t manage to fully commit to it.
Iron Harvest is a decidedly old-school RTS with some modern trappings, with a bombastic main campaign with a surprisingly well written story.
Windbound is fine for a short pleasure cruise, but you're unlikely to want to complete the full voyage.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a solid game, severely hampered by technical and control limitations on consoles. The best way to play remains the PC version, as it suffers from none of the PS4’s control problems and a lot less of the technical ones. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a game positively overflowing with content, and will keep you entertained for countless hours if you wish it. It’s not a game that necessarily does anything new to reinvent the genre, but it shows great love for the original source material which should indebt it to fans of the tabletop RPG.
Crusader Kings III is a truly great sequel; a fascinatingly deep and rewarding game with options to make it easier than ever for newcomers to get acquainted.
The Revenant Prince has a lot of interesting ideas, most notably its different approach to a battle system and a story which presents a number of difficult ethical choices.
Maid of Sker doesn't break the mold of traditional survival horror, but it executes its formula with proficient aplomb.
Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories is clunky, broken and buggy. The framerate regularly struggles to stay in the high 20s. It’s ugly, with small, bland environments and some occasionally finicky controls. And yet despite all this, Disaster Report 4 is remarkably engaging, using a variety of small scale stories and encounters put together against the backdrop of a cataclysmic earthquake. Disaster Report 4 might be technically lacking in a lot of areas, but it is stuffed full of heart.