Gleamlight's art style is beautiful and immersive, but the combat here is slow and tedious. With no story to latch onto it all just feels shallow. Even though the game is extremely short, your time and money are better spent elsewhere on other games in this genre.
OkunoKA Madness is a great platformer that is easy to recommend for those looking for a good challenge. It only loses points for some minor annoyances like cluttered levels, occasional difficulty spikes, and disappointing boss fights.
Crysis still holds up as a fun and exciting popcorn style action game that is an excellent addition to anyone's library.
A niche on top of a niche, Star Wars Squadrons makes up for it's almost empty feeling with core gameplay that just does not stop being fun. While the story falls flat, the multiplayer shines bright enough that you can still have an incredible Star Wars experience each time you jump into the cockpit.
NHL 21 brings much-needed improvements and depth to the variety of game modes available, though does nothing to fix the same issues that make the fun arcade style gameplay feel out of place in the more sim-focused modes. There is enough content thankfully that you can just keep having fun in the arcade modes and HUT Rush will actually keep you coming back for more high intensity action.
The Signifier is an intriguing and enjoyable narrative-driven game that benefits from proper pacing and discovery mixed with a very interesting setting and environments.
Raji: An Ancient Epic is an incredible experience delivered through a short and vibrant story. You can feel the passion and the talent from the developers come through in each moment of the game. Though it may not be as polished around the edges as I'd like, the issues do not outweigh the high points.
Ghostrunner is a high-octane adrenaline rush of a game with exciting gameplay, a great soundtrack and creative level design, however performance issues and inconsistent platforming keep it from being perfect.
Lair Of The Clockwork God is an excellent game that will take you on a hilarious journey solving puzzles with Dan and Ben, even if the journey is shorter than I would like and the jokes don't really read to anyone who isn't quite steeped within games culture.
A fun and thrilling classic beat 'em up that is best enjoyed with others, though a frustrating single player experience and some network issues can interrupt your good time.
Cyber Shadow is the quintessential 2D retro-style ninja platformer. Aarne Hunziker has absolutely outdone himself with this title in every sense of the word. I genuinely don’t have anything negative to say about it, and even the one thing I did have a slight problem with I wouldn’t change (that being checkpoint frequency). The difficulty can feel frustrating at times, but it is in no way insurmountable, and honestly just gives it more of a retro vibe. Cyber Shadow excels in every way through its beautiful presentation, a soundtrack that slaps harder with each new song, a touching story, and absolutely thrilling gameplay. This is an absolute must play for any fans of 2D platformers.
As a whole, Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection is an incredible remake of the original. It does everything a remake should, in that it keeps the core feeling of what made the original click with players while updating it for a modern audience. However, I can’t stress this enough though: do not play on the Knight or Legend difficulty levels until you genuinely feel ready, whenever that is. Neither are, in my opinion, a good way to experience everything that is wonderful about Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection, and will only leave you frustrated beyond belief.
If you, like me loved Jak and Daxter on your PS2 back in the day and also loved MediEvil, I’m almost positive there will be something about Pumpkin Jack that will bring a smile to your face. It is exactly aimed at that kind of player, while also being quite accessible to new players and charming enough along the way to get you invested in exploring each level. It definitely doesn’t break any ground in the genre but it is a worthy entry in the genre even just solely based on how well it pays homage to what inspired it in the first place. It might not be everything that I want it to be now, but I’m already holding out hope to see a Pumpkin Jack 2 that answers all my prayers.
Like so many indies before it, rogeulike Scourgebringer has found its true home on the PlayStation Vita.
Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield is nothing short of an incredible vision and idea executed perfectly. It’s this that makes the reality of Never Yield’s origins a mix of upsetting and uplifting; Neil Jones has spent the last decade as a Black developer doing his best to make it in an industry that he recognized wasn’t making space for him, so he decided to do it himself. If you’d like to learn more about Neil Jones and his journey, I highly recommend reading his recent interview with GamesIndustry.Biz. More than just signing his work by putting his username in the title, Jones is fully stating to the rest of the world that he quite literally will never yield when it comes to doing what he loves to do, and releasing this game is proof of that.
Eldest Souls wears its inspiration on its sleeve, though in the end that counts for very little. The boss fights are often unbalanced and tedious, which only contributes to a frustration that deters you from wanting to pick the controller back up.
The Falconeer: Warrior Edition is largely the same game that I already enjoyed when it first launched, but experiencing it on PS5 has made all the difference. The DualSense's features are well implemented, and the gameplay flows in such a way that you never want to put the controller down. Despite issues with the UI, and how certain aspects of the game work, you can just get around them, and can avoid them altogether once you've moved into the endgame.
Hades is an absolutely stellar experience that will keep you hooked in from the beginning, with a beautiful visual design and score, not to mention an excellent narrative and intricate gameplay that will keep you coming back again and again for just one more run.
Clid The Snail is a charming indie game with characters that you can easily grow to love just by spending time with them, and a narrative that is entertaining and consistent all the way through till the end. However, its gameplay issues and the clash of two very different vibes pull you out of those fun moments constantly, and you're left reminded of all the game's shortcomings all over again.
Aragami 2 could be a good stealth game, with a good foundation of stealth gameplay and even an intriguing story, but it is plagued by constant bugs, performance issues, poor level design, pacing, rough implementation of gameplay mechanics and a visual style that only further serves to make its flaws even more evident then they already are.