Gaming Professors

Fallen Tree Games has created a game that doesn’t try to be anything it’s not and knows exactly what it has to offer: fast-paced, arcade-style action, a bit of investigation, and the chance to be the force of law and order for a while in a city where law and justice often end up down the drain. If you don’t mind a certain amount of repetition and can find joy in the very act of patrolling, chasing down criminals, and making quick arrests, The Precinct can offer you a decent amount of fun. It’s not GTA, nor is it a police simulator… but something in between. It’s precisely in that “in-between” space that its charm lies.

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Gran Turismo 7 returns in grand style, though in many respects it still has a thing or two to learn from the competition. The physics engine is nearly perfect; if you turn a blind eye to a few details, the visuals can pleasantly surprise you in many places; and tuning enthusiasts will also find plenty to enjoy, as there’s a wealth of customization options here. At the same time, the game is very intuitive, and through clear explanations and recommendations, it shows you how to best combine everything. Newcomers are sure to enjoy the races to the fullest, and experienced veterans definitely won’t be disappointed.

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Sunset Hills is an impressive point-and-click adventure game featuring warm, fairy-tale-like graphics, a captivating story set in a fictional postwar world, and puzzles that range from tricky to intuitive. Overall, it’s an enjoyable game that lets you unwind. You might also find yourself reflecting on the nature of war itself and, through Nico’s memories, gain insight into what war can be like. The game will appeal to both fans of classic point-and-click adventure games and new players who love dogs, a pleasant and peaceful atmosphere, and solving obstacles to get to the heart of the matter and the meaning behind the entire game.

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Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a nostalgic platformer with RPG elements, featuring enchanting visuals and imaginative environments. Its dark steampunk world has a unique atmosphere that will draw you in. It’s just a shame that it only lasts a few short hours.

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Fabledom is a really nice, laid-back city-building strategy game that doesn’t introduce any revolutionary new mechanics, but executes classic ideas very well. You’ll often find yourself zooming in on a specific resident to see what they’re up to. It’s not overly deep or demanding, and at the same time, it’s enjoyable to watch your little town grow and prosper. The fairy-tale atmosphere with fantasy elements gives it a special charm. The game’s price matches its length, which is just right—a single playthrough can be completed in 10 to 12 hours. I never encountered any significant lulls in the fun, and new content is introduced at a pleasant pace. In short, you always have something to do, and just when you think you’ve built everything, the game somehow offers or even unlocks additional content. Despite the above, there’s a creative mode for those of you who might find even these few limitations too restrictive. If you’re looking for a relaxing game with a pleasant fairy-tale atmosphere where frustration is kept to an absolute minimum, Fabledom is perfect for you.

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Marvel's Spider-Man 2 offers flawless audiovisual presentation, a completely smooth 60 frames per second, and a dark, mature storyline that builds gradually throughout the entire campaign. Freedom to move throughout New York and its outskirts, two playable characters, a ton of upgrades, combat combos, and amazing boss battles. In my opinion, this is one of the best games ever released and one of the top titles on the PS5. You won’t find anything better.

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Once you get past the lack of a tutorial, work your way through at least the basic mechanics, and make your first progress, Astroneer transforms into a beautifully crafted open-world survival game. It’s one of those games that gives you as much as you put into it and lets you work at your own pace to achieve your goals. If you buy it with this approach in mind, you’ll have a soothing and truly enjoyable experience.

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Until Then is the second title from these authors, who return with a more varied color palette and a world that appears more vibrant at first glance—but which is, in reality, dying amid the turmoil of traumas fueled by social media. The newly chosen 2.5D perspective has its weaknesses, but when paired with a carefully crafted mystery story complemented by several interesting themes, it paints a compelling picture of today’s young generation—one that will occasionally require you to do more than just click through dialogues.

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So, to sum it up. The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is a very good DLC, but it was released at an inopportune time, so its biggest new features are often criticized unnecessarily. However, anyone who dives into the main story is in for a lot of fun, and I’d actually say that everyone will find their own reason here to return to the world of Tamriel. And who knows—maybe we’ll have to wait longer than usual for the next DLC, because Bethesda wants to change its strategy for releasing new content, and the “one DLC per year” rule will likely no longer apply.

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In conclusion, here’s what can be said about Metal Gear Solid V: it’s a perfect game that is, at the same time, enormously unfinished—even at an advanced stage of development. It’s one of the best action-spy thrillers in gaming history, with no real competition, yet it’s still up to three years away from being fully completed. A breathtaking story, interesting characters, superb audiovisual presentation, and fantastic gameplay that lets you play through the game several times in a row without it ever feeling repetitive. Kojima didn’t know how to handle his boss; he refused to make any concessions or compromises, and KONAMI released the game while it was still in an advanced stage of development—which was a huge mistake. In any case, it was absolutely necessary for them, because they didn’t know if the title would pay for itself. Kojima’s arrogance and the publisher’s hard-nosed business approach turned the game, on the one hand, into a video game hit, and on the other, into a crippled product that can’t hold its own against its competitors the way it promised—and the way it really should. Since its release in 2015, I’ve been constantly wondering how to rate it and what to make of it. The first half of V is perfect; the second half is rehashed drivel; and the third half never even materialized. Everyone expected the relationship between the developer and the publisher to calm down, for Kojima—with his (justifiably) inflated ego—to come back down to earth, and for the publisher to stop being such a cold-blooded businessman. When you create art, your heart must come first, and money second. Here, money and a wounded ego took precedence, and V suffered indescribable damage as a result. You can still see the effects of that even after these nine years.

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In 2018, it was an extreme disappointment. Six years later, on a next-gen console and running at 60 frames per second, it’s an audiovisual feast. Slowly making your way through the jungle, fleeing a flood or a mudslide—these are stunning visuals you won’t soon forget. Lush vegetation, dungeons, and an indigenous Peruvian tribe hidden from civilization in their own small town—all of this makes Shadow of the Tomb Raider worth playing. On the other hand, the reason to hesitate is the weak, ultimately half-baked story—one that wouldn’t really make you want to play the game in the first place, and wouldn’t even give you a reason to try it. The shootouts are gone, but the stealth sections are excellent. Smearing yourself with mud, hiding in the foliage, and watching the enemies from Trinity—who are already searching for Lara—is perfection in itself. As the conclusion to the trilogy reboot, it’s a major disappointment overall. After all these years with the gorgeous Lara, I was expecting a spectacular finale. If I’d thought this wasn’t the trilogy’s finale but a standalone title—say, a remake of the original third game—I’d be completely satisfied. That’s probably why I’d give it the rating I do. If I consider it the final installment of the trilogy, it gets a 5/10; if I consider it a standalone title, it gets an 8.5/10 from me, with my warmest recommendation. It has everything a gamer needs from a game like this—action, suspense, audiovisual presentation, and a ton of things to discover and explore. The developers chose Peru brilliantly—even better than Siberia in Rise of the Tomb Raider. And Siberia was incredibly beautiful!

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All in all, though, Maid of Sker is a very enjoyable gaming experience that I recommend to all fans of story-driven horror games.

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Despite all the negatives, I have to give Sand Land a positive review. It certainly pays a fitting tribute to the original creator. The main story alone is worth playing, and I can highly recommend it. However, I believe there will be many players who will enjoy all the side activities as well. Whether it’s worth the hefty price of 59.99 euros that publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment will ask you to pay is something you’ll have to decide for yourself. I had a lot of fun playing it, and Sand Land is a pleasant surprise for me.

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Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor came as a bit of a surprise to me, at least, and—given the genre—undoubtedly met with some skepticism. I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but in the end, it pleasantly surprised me. Deep Rock Galactic’s take on the roguelite genre works very well. For an early access title—essentially a beta version—it’s clear that a lot of work has gone into it. I had a blast playing it, and there isn’t much to criticize. If content continues to be added at a brisk and steady pace—and we eventually see some new modes or even multiplayer—I dare say that for the price, this is excellent, perhaps even unrivaled entertainment that will last a very long time.

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System Shock Remake is a full-fledged successor to a game that once inspired a great many titles that followed. Although it had a major impact on the gaming world, for some reason it didn’t receive as much attention as other cult classics of its era. If you’re looking for a survival horror game with stylized graphics, don’t mind searching for various cards, and love dungeon crawlers, you shouldn’t miss System Shock Remake. This game proves that video game remakes make sense as long as they preserve the original difficulty, style, and concept. Overall, fans of FPS RPGs—such as Deus Ex, BioShock, or even the long-forgotten Neurohunter—shouldn’t miss it. For me, as a fan of this genre, it’s an almost perfect game.

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There were so many twists and turns during the three-hour story that I couldn’t even keep up. The heartbreaking plot of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake draws you in right from the start, and you won’t want to take your eyes off the game. You’ll even find yourself wishing it weren’t over. However, the game’s magical atmosphere is marred by bugs, which the developers will hopefully fix over time. The game’s unique controls remain, and it’ll take you a while to get used to the chaos again. If you haven’t played the original game, the remake is a great opportunity to make up for that. And if you’ve played it before, you can enjoy a nostalgic journey accompanied by modern visuals.

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It’s hard to evaluate Hero’s Hour as a standalone title; its acknowledged inspiration from Heroes of Might and Magic is obvious from a mile away. The easy difficulty and fast pace appeal to casual gamers, while the references to the old-school classic are more likely to resonate with an older generation of players who gained their first gaming experiences around the turn of the century. If you’re feeling nostalgic, miss Heroes, but don’t have much time or strong nerves, you definitely won’t go wrong with this one.

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Immediately after its release in 2020, Hades caused quite a stir and was a hit with both critics and players. And rightly so. If you’ve fallen in love with the rogue-lite genre, there’s basically no reason to play anything else. Hades has left all its competitors far behind and leads the pack with its gameplay, strong story, likable characters, and pleasantly high difficulty—one that’s challenging without being frustrating.

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We waited three years for Farming Simulator 22, only to be greeted by a winter season that was promising but underdeveloped, along with a host of outdated systems that the developers haven’t touched in years. The game’s saving graces are its more attractive machine models and animations, a vast array of options, and—most importantly—endgame content in the form of production chains, which are the main reason fans of the genre should pick up this new installment. Despite its shortcomings, players can easily spend hundreds of blissful hours playing it. Simply put, there’s still plenty to tweak, and the developers should take into account what players actually want.

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I understand that the game is still in development, and I accept that the developers make no secret of the fact that version 1.0 is still a long way off. Nevertheless, I was disappointed. The game contains a huge number of glitches and bugs; there are issues with both the audio and the translation, and the text often doesn’t make sense. Reviews also mention problems with certain quests. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the optimization either—the game simply doesn’t run completely smoothly. In this context, I really don’t understand the high rating the game has on Steam; however, the developers are truly trying their best and releasing updates one after another. The game has enormous potential, and I’m rooting for it to one day become what players want it to be. I believe I’ll return to it someday.

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