Wild Hearts does not revolutionize the hunting game genre, but with as few competitors, that is hardly necessary. The building system both in and outside of combat adds enough variety and depth that the simpler weapons and streamlined crafting are welcome. Sadly, technical flaws, such as blurry visuals and horrendous pop-in keep this otherwise great game from making a play on Capcom's throne. It is a title, however that we're eager to see expanded upon and further developed in the already planned title updates and hopefully eventually in a sequel. As it stands, it's a fun alternative to Monster Hunter, but cannot live up to those games' polish and sheer endless depth of content.
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"SD Gundam Battle Alliance" is a nostalgia trip, even if you have nothing to do with "Gundam". Because the design of the game itself is strongly reminiscent of titles from the early 2000s
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The struggles and the slow work up in the medieval hierarchy are good enough to keep us glued to the screen until late into the night. Especially if you want to compete against other army leaders in multiplayer mode, you should definitely take a look here, because "Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord" is a gaming experience like no other despite its flaws.
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Scars Above takes some time to unfold ist true potential, both in the story and its gameplay. The exploration of this unknown planet in the role of a stranded researcher is unforgiving and refuses to compromise on the almost puzzle-like combat, even if some encounters early on can be frustrating as you get to grips with how the game wants you to play. Scars Above isn't for everyone, as it demands a lot more thought and strategy during combat than it lets on, but if you're willing to learn and be patient, this one's definitely worth your time.
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Tin Hearts is a wonderful little game of guiding toy soldiers through the remnants and memories of a toy workshop. While a little light on challenging experienced players, an excellent level progression, heartwarming story, and downright adorable visual design more than make up for it. However, the Nintendo Switch version suffers from muddy textures and occasional stutters that pull an otherwise excellent experience down.
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Ravenlok may not be particularly challenging or deep in its gameplay or narrative, but it nails the storybook atmosphere and the child-like wonder of exploring a magical world. Clearly aimed at a younger and/or less videogame-familiar audience, this game makes for a brilliant entry point into the hobby and offers a short, polished, albeit simple dive into a fairy-tale come to life.
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Exoprimal is just a few unfortunate missteps short of being a hidden gem. The base gameplay that mixes hoard-based PvE and high-stakes PvP is unique and interesting. Even the absurd story about dimension-hopping AI dye and mechanized soldiers fighting dinosaurs had us intrigued. However, the variety of gameplay on offer simply does not justify the price tag and is especially disappointing in regards to the rampant monetization through battle-pass and premium skins. On Gamepass, however, this is a must-try for sure.
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The Lamplighter’s League may look like a chance to play out your own pulp adventure fantasy, but it turns out to be an intricate combat puzzle full of synergies and silly combos. While performance can be a bit of an issue and the story fails to leave much of an impact, the core gameplay is fun enough to keep this title memorable. It won’t deliver the instant mainstream appeal something like X-COM will have, but passionate fans of turn-based tactics shouldn’t miss this hidden (albeit slightly unpolished) gem.
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While the combat isn't quite as fluid as its big siblings, and the graphic style takes some time to get used to, at its core, Soulstice is a very good action game with a solid, albeit predictable, story.
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Your spirit is the only one that is a purely positive attribute. Spirit acts as a kind of mana for your special attacks, but can alternatively be used to restore your mind through meditation. So you need a constant supply of all three values. Through accumulated experience points in the three disciplines and hidden crystals, you can also expand your supply in a skill tree or unlock passive bonuses. These abilities are quite nice, but with the exception of the extended bar for health, mind and mind, they often only have a noticeable effect in very specific situations.
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Gotham Knights should not be confused as a sequel to the excellent Batman: Arkham Knight. Instead this Spin-Off explores a new and interesting story about the death of Gotham’s protector and falls victim to some of modern gaming’s worst trends. The crafting system feels unsubstantial and while the four different playable characters are all different and interesting, it feels like substantial abilities of the prior games were taken away and locked behind different characters, rather than each member of the bat family bringing something new to the table. Despite its shortcomings and missteps, we found “Gotham Knights” to be very fun to play, when focusing on the story over the repetitive open world activities and the multiplayer is an excellent fit for both the story and style of game.
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Atomic Heart immediately draws you in with its enchantingly weird story of a retro-futuristic Soviet Union. However, an interesting and visually compelling vision is hampered by a meandering story and some truly awful combat encounters. What comes to mind is style over substance, yet there’s plenty of content to be found here, just none of it standing out as particularly well-polished. Still, the game has a fair share of interesting ideas and moments that make it worth experiencing despite its flaws.
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Nevertheless, "Asterigos: Curse of the Stars" offers a surprisingly round gaming experience, especially in its price segment and genre, which does not knock anyone's socks off, but also does not deeply disappoint anyone.
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Although we would have hoped for a lot more on the technical side thanks to current-gen exclusivity, "Need for Speed Unbound" leaves a positive overall impression. Sure, the strange mix of cel-shading and realism is not for everyone, but at least sets the game apart from other series parts and racing games. The constant threat from the police is initially entertaining, but quickly becomes annoying if you want to earn enough money to visually customize several cars. This is exactly where "Need for Speed Unbound" has its strength, which hasn't been in the series for a long time. The tuning and adaptation of the vehicles as well as the progress through the story motivate tremendously and are reminiscent of series highlights such as "Underground 2" or "Most Wanted". Sooner or later, however, the unpleasant smell of burnt rubber always remains in the nose.
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Meet Your Maker presents a fun, new take on level-builders like Mario Maker and classical shooters. Running and gunning is a quick and painful way to die here. Instead players should expect a surprisingly tactical take on post-apocalyptic grave robbery that's more than a little light on content at launch. As a live service, developer Behaviour Interactive (also responsible for Dead by Daylight) promises new content in regular intervals and if they can keep that up, this definitely has the potential for a cult classic.
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"Endless Dungeon" is first and foremost a multiplayer game. In the coordination of the defensive towers and the joint restraint of the horde, the game unfolds its full potential. Together with friends, the negative points, such as the rather minimalist progression system, the meager weapon selection and the fluctuating game balance, are much less significant. For solo players, there are far better roguelikes, making every single playthrough a new, exciting adventure.
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On the one hand, the game has a great addictive factor thanks to excellent multiplayer gameplay and short, crisp missions. The outstanding graphics and audio quality perfectly accompany the war on the dark front and make you want to explore every corner. Unfortunately, the business strategies of Sony and Arrowhead Games stand in the way of the good game. With regular crashes and connection problems, as well as a very limited scope and many promises, "Helldivers 2" seems more like a very good Early Access game. In addition, there is a strong focus on microtransactions, which does not allow us to fully enjoy the excellent gameplay.
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A very atmospheric horror game that suffers from technical issues and punishing checkpoints. The unsettling story based off welsh folklore is worth pushing through the adversities nonetheless. As far as first-person horror goes, this isn’t the best choice, but it’s also far from the worst.
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An original setting and fun, albeit hectic fights make a very good first impression. Unfortunately, "Helvetii" does not manage to maintain this freshness for a long time. The 2D brawler is by no means bad, but the roguelike genre harms the fun because the different passes lack variation. "Helvetii" can be fun for quite a while, and especially the very different playable characters help. Sooner or later, however, this rustic Swiss fairy tale runs out of steam.
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This prequel ironically feels smaller in scope and ambition than the first game in the series. Road 96 Mile 0 suffers from similar issues when it comes to relying too much on clichés of an evil regime. Some of the choices put before players are downright insulting and boil down to whether we think oppression is "okay" or not. Despite its flaws, it offers some really interesting character moments in the last third and offers some world building that was missing from the original Road 96. Newcomers find a good entry point here, while returning players will find some innovations gone, while other things like the environments have been largely improved.
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