The Bunker does many things right, from its intricate level design to its rich atmosphere, but the overbearing adherence to horror eventually makes it wear on the senses. Being isolated in a pitch-black bunker with only a murderous beast as company can run you down quickly, and The Bunker never lets up. It is soaked in tension, worships at the altar of making you squirm, and does it with a smile. While this is appealing, it is a lot to manage, and this is a game for horror fans with a masochistic streak. Find the best pair of headphones, sit in the dark, and get your creative thinking cap on, because The Bunker is a survival horror experience to rival the best in recent memory. When it all comes together, when your back is against the wall, gun drawn with a single bullet left, and the beast is bearing at you down a dark hallway, that is when this game sings. In those moments, it reaches the heights of the genre greats and its progenitor.
While overpriced and a bit content-light, Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs is still an essential addition, adding one of the most diverse and fun factions Total War has seen in a long time. The new economy mechanics are something I would love to see translated to more factions, as it makes the campaign gameplay far more engaging, something Creative Assembly has seemingly struggled with throughout the franchise. This DLC is a step in the right direction; I just wish it didn’t have to be such a costly one.
Outside of technical issues, Jedi: Survivor is an astounding accomplishment. A tour de force of game design and passion for Star Wars with phenomenal combat, superb sound, a memorable and loveable cast of characters, all topped off with great visuals. Every element feels lovingly crafted, and every corner is stuffed with detail, from the animations to the world-building.
Wartales surprised me. It is a rare game that lets you play without getting in the way. Within minutes you will be out in the world, building your party and writing your story. That is something to be cherished in a world full of games that hold your hand to a painful degree or RPGs that take ten to twenty hours just to get to the meat of things. Wartales knows how to let players explore and have fun and doesn’t actively try to stop you from doing so, which is, unfortunately, all too rare these days. If you want a game that respects your time, look no further than Wartales.
BG3 is a highwater mark for choice-driven RPGs and the new standard to which basically every other major RPG will be compared. I feel bad for Starfield at this point and for game developers in general. Larian Studios has set the bar incredibly high. Still, I hope other publishers will see it as an example to let developers have time and creative freedom to make incredible games without all the bloated live service and microtransaction bullshit. Also, you can play this game in four-player online co-op or even split-screen locally on a single PC, and in this day and age, that may be one of the most impressive features in BG3. If you love RPGs, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
Tears of the Kingdom is the game that everyone made BOTW out to be and then some. The NES was released in 1983 in Japan, and since then, Nintendo has been a standard-setter in the gaming industry, and Tears of the Kingdom shows that even forty years later, nobody can do it better.