Despite its occasionally uninspiring gameplay elements, the story, dialogue, and exciting setting make “The Thaumaturge” an enthralling and unforgettable gaming experience.
Though it may be meant more for the serious truck enthusiast, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game provides a unique and captivating off-road journey for players seeking an adrenaline-fueled adventure.
Welcome to ParadiZe has a great core concept that is just shy of fully capitalizing on. I think it could have been a serious winner if the game had leaned more heavily into its base-building and crafting identity. As it stands, it is more of an okay ARPG title that, while definitely full of some interesting mechanics, isn’t the most exciting one on the market.
WRATH: Aeon of Ruin is a great spiritual successor to Quake, using the game’s engine to deliver a modern take on the mechanics. Though the map design can feel claustrophobic, the game is fun and has interesting takes on weapons, enemies, and other core boomer-shooter mechanics with minimal bugs.
Pacific Drive offers a thrilling and unique experience that seamlessly blends the excitement of a road trip with the terror of the supernatural. The game quickly won me over, just as it’s sure to win over the imagination and thrill of players who give the game a much-deserved try.
Helldivers II provides an exciting, explosive, and tension-filled experience unlike anything else on the market right now. While the game skews any arbitrary grind or level scaling, allowing you to take the game on at any experience level and have the same enjoyable experience. Some questionable progression systems and server issues hold the experience back, but I hope to see the developers address these soon.
Bandle Tale captures the essence of the Yordles’ fantastical home and delivers a delightful and bittersweet experience. As Riot Forge’s final contribution before its closure, Bandle Tale stands as a testament to the studio’s collaborative genius, the creativity and clever game design of Lazy Bear Games, and leaves players with a fond farewell to spinoffs set in the Runeterra universe, at least for the foreseeable future.
Inkulinati presents an incredibly fresh game theme with tried and true mechanics. While the gameplay isn’t anything incredibly new or exciting, the game’s unique art, animation, and overall silliness, paired with an engaging roguelike campaign system, should keep aspiring Inkmasters from suffering from boredom.
Skull and Bones offers the promise of adventure on the high sea. While the game focuses a little hard on its naval warfare mechanics, they are nonetheless exciting and don’t grow old quickly. Though a bit grindy, Skull and Bones should offer hours of entertainment and many customization options to those looking to set sail into its waters.
Ultros is a psychedelic platformer that could easily belong in a modern art showcase. It has simple yet engaging combat mechanics, phenomenal art and music, and great characters. I urge you to check the game out if you’re even a little curious.
Banishers: Ghost of New Eden is an intriguing tale of heartbreak and hauntings set in the backdrop of colonial America. Though slow to start, it’s packed to the brim with chilling paranormal cases to solve and haunting ghost combat; you’re sure to have a spookily good time with this title.
CLeM is a brilliant little puzzle game, filled with a constantly eerie vibe that pairs well with its cute, innocent art style. This cartoon world hides a deeper darkness, and to find it, you’ll have to solve clever puzzles and learn all you can about the fate of the family that came before.
Moonbreaker is an utterly unique game, unlike anything else on the market right now. Though I didn’t find a personal connection to the game’s cast of characters, it’s impossible not to recognize the game’s fantastic conversion of tabletop wargaming to the virtual space, creating a game with tons of customization and fun, forever replayable mechanics.
Phantom Abyss is an adventure game with a heavy emphasis on movement mechanics, semi-cooperative gameplay, and a great deal of trial and error. Conquer traps, collect whips, and escape an esoteric prison in this “Indi” adventure game published by the masters of originality, Devolver Digital.
Anomaly Agent is a wonderfully weird adventure, full of strange and interesting characters and fluid mechanics that are satisfying to execute. Players should have a blast exploring the weird, humorous future world and fighting to keep things normal in this modern spin on a classic genre.
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank is a fantastic roguelike entry that’ll retrain the way you’re used to playing games in the genre. Packed with great humor, simple but fun mechanics, and a dead-eyed killer turnip, there’s not a whole lot more you could ask for from Turnip Boy Robs a Bank.
Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is near perfect in every way, with exceptional art, game design, characters, and writing. While the game is slightly held back by dated controls and poor mapping options, this complaint hardly feels like a drop in the pond of greatness that is this moonlit journey.
War Hospital takes some challenging, innovative management sim mechanics and throws them in a tense setting, where your every choice could mean life or death. Try to make the most of a bad situation in this game about running a hospital during one of the worst conflicts in history.
Sovereign Syndicate uses a super unique setting and phenomenal writing to tell a multi-faceted story with dark themes and deep introspection on human nature, despite two of the protagonists being a Minotaur and a Dwarf.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm of Ruin has great ideas. It simply fumbles in the execution. While free from any bugs (at least in my time with the game) or major unforgivable flaws, it simply fails to hold your attention, offering the idea of cool mechanics without ever really delivering.