Boltgun's boltgun earns a place in the pantheon of great video game weapons, but the rest of the game's arsenal doesn't quite live up to it.
HROT is a retro shooter that uses nineties style 3D graphics to build an oppressive late Soviet dictatorship afflicted by an unspecified disaster. It offers a masterclass in classic FPS map design, but has a weaker arsenal than other boomer shooters, and becomes less coherent as it progresses.
Despite occasional flourishes, Arkane's latest game feels fundamentally at odds with itself
Respawn Entertainment's sequel is a huge improvement over Jedi: Fallen Order, and a virtual blockbuster without compromise
This visual novel spins a passable yarn in a noirish atmosphere, but would benefit from more space to explore it
Dead Island 2 doesn't pretend to be anything other than a daft, messy romp through undead LA, and this carefree, capricious attitude is precisely what makes it fun.
Don't be fooled by its drab exterior, Wartales is a deep and richly rewarding exercise in party creation.
Set in an Amazon-like fulfilment centre, this satirical adventure has interesting ideas but fails to adequately explore them
There's merit in Ravenbound's kinetic combat, but the game's ambition is undermined by technical issues and an empty world.
The Settlers: New Allies has some degree of pedigree coming from Anno 1800's Ubisoft Blue Byte, but it's, unfortunately, a dismal strategy affair, confused, anaemic, and achingly dull.
This remake of 2008's urgent sci-fi horror from Visceral Games resists big changes in favour of some laser-focused improvements
Lacking the sharpness needed by both shooters and comedy, High on Life is a low point in the gaming calendar.
Ixion elegantly balances the dynamic play of a colony simulation with a grand, meticulously directed sci-fi narrative. Its perilous journey through a cold and dangerous universe is vivid and engrossing, although its complex routines occasionally obstruct its storytelling ambitions.
"As Darktide's levels aren't grouped into acts, it's much harder for Fatshark to tell coherent stories across them"
An extraordinarily detailed economy and range of interlinking systems make Victoria 3 a grand strategy to rival some of Paradox's best.
Asobo's medieval adventure sequel is bigger, bleaker and more battle-scarred, but suffers from uneven storytelling
There's a decent space sim buried within Dual Universe, but you'll need to do a lot of digging to find it.
Bounding Box delivers an anachronistic high-wire act, and the perhaps the best shooter outright since Doom Eternal.
The Outsiders' impressive debut combines the gunplay of Doom with the musical button-mashing of Guitar Hero
Build knight schools and wizard academies in this imaginative college life sim, an endearing follow-up to Two Point Hospital