Richard Banks
For the most part, Crown Wars: The Black Knight is a disappointing addition for a genre crying out for quality entries.
Pioneers of Olive Town offers familiar beats but none of the conviction of its contemporaries
Despite its limited appeal, there's plenty packed into Nintendo's speedrunning challenger - if you've got the patience for it.
Difficulty spikes, no matter how steep, are fine in games of this ilk, but it's harder to forgive Have A Nice Death's approach to rewarding players. There is, however, so much joy in Have A Nice Death's gloriously grim setting that it's absolutely easy to recommend, but for roguelike players that prefer their rinse-and-repeat gaming a little more forgiving and, most importantly, rewarding, there are plenty of better options out there.
A fast-paced Doom-lite that doesn't overstay its welcome.
SkateBIRD is ultimately, incredibly charming, but incredibly flawed. It's fun, when it doesn't punish you for its own shortcomings, and the that doesn't mean it's a faultless experience
I'm not done with Starbase Spacetopia (or whatever it's called, I give up), I still want to nail the perfect base, especially now I've fully understood all the games systems, and for the most part, I'm having fun. On top of the campaign and free play mode there's a perfectly serviceable multiplayer mode too, albeit the current small player base means it takes a while to locate a game. Is it the pinnacle of base management strategy games? No, far from it in fact, but it's a more than serviceable space station sim that satisfies the itch for galactic domination.
Still, just like the Metal Slug franchise in general, Tactics is ultimately stacked with a silly joy that's hard to deny. Getting to see fan favourites together again will give long-term fans plenty of reason to pick this up, and fans of difficult tactical titles will have enough to get their teeth stuck into. Some things may work better than others, but there's always room for a good strategy game, and Metal Slug Tactics is easily up there with the best in recent memory.
Kazimir's journey handles topics like loss, and the frailty of humankind and nature, with such sincerity that makes Selfloss a journey worth shedding a tear or two for.
Frontier brings their most in-depth building sim to consoles, wart(hog)s and all.
It might not reinvent the wheel, but as a successor to an already near-perfect Advance Wars-like, did it ever really need to?
Homeseek is a punishingly bleak post-apocalyptic city builder where every action feels consequential.
Company of Heroes 3 may not always hit the right notes, but as far as RTS console ports go, it doesn't get much better than this.
Stranded: Alien Dawn makes one small step for man and one giant leap for survivor sims-kind.
Starship Troopers - Terran Command Terran Command is impressively faithful to its classic '90s sci-fi source material and a solid space adventure in its own right.
A welcome return for one of Nintendo's best forgotten IPs.
There's still some way to go to make the JWE franchise a viable management sim, but this sequel goes a long way to right a lot of its predecessor's wrongs.
Layers of Fear 2 may not be the quintessential horror-puzzle spookathon, but it's certainly a thrilling, claustrophobic ghost story that easily holds its own. It's at times uneven, and the puzzling isn't as interesting as the backdrop, but for sheer storytelling prowess alone, it's definitely worth setting sail on this ghost ship.
The Colonists is a charming sim with plenty of content to satisfy your pioneering dreams
If you pick up Empire of Ants for any reason, it shouldn't be the obvious one. Of course, it's gorgeous, and perhaps one of the most visually stunning games I've ever played, but there's a simple charm to its gameplay and overall worldbuilding that deserves to be experienced by as wide an audience as possible. Whether leading a charge of warriors into battle or simply standing on an abandoned bottle and watching your colony do its thing, there's something so special about Empire of Ants that makes it an absolute joy to experience.