The good news, I guess, is that Crime Boss: Rockay City isn’t a disaster. It’s competently made, and I’ve played far, far worse games. The bad news? That still doesn’t mean it’s any good.
There are few things as fun as a game where you get to destroy everything, so you’d think that Demolish & Build Classic would be a slam dunk. Instead, it’s just a total mess of a game.
Ambition: A Minuet in Power makes its historical setting come alive, and the end result is one of the better visual novels I’ve played in quite some time.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow’s lack of originality is just a minor complaint compared to the fact that it doesn’t achieve what it sets out to do from a gameplay perspective. You can’t be a worthwhile puzzle-platformer when the platforming sections feature controls and physics and a field of depth that are this finicky.
It's hard not to wish that Circus Electrique had simply tried to whittle everything down to, say, half a dozen of its best ideas. If you’re after a dense game, this will deliver exactly that – but at a certain point, you kind of wonder whether it’s all worth it, and I don’t know that it is.
It’s all enough to make you wish that you could just look at Arto instead of having to play it. It would probably have worked really well as a visual novel or a walking simulator, where you could luxuriate in its incredible visuals without having to worry too much about how it plays – but in this state, as a hack & slash action game, it’s a lot harder to recommend.
At this point, there’s not much I can say about Super Mega Baseball 4 that I didn’t already say about Super Mega Baseballs 1, 2, and 3: like its predecessors, it’s an outstanding baseball game that’s a lot more fun to play than the annualized PlayStation flagship MLB game. Any worries that a higher profile or a bigger budget would hurt the game are unfounded. In fact, four games in, this might just be the best Super Mega Baseball game yet.
Alekon is certainly about as close to a Pokémon Snap clone as you can get without breaking some copyright laws.
From the moment you boot up Death or Treat, it's clear where all the care and attention went. You're greeted with a really nice-looking animation sequence that looks far better than nearly any other game you could name. It's rare that a game that boasts of being hand-drawn or hand-painted actually looks amazing, but in this case, you could honestly say that about Death or Treat and not be exaggerating. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from that point.
While you can't always judge a game by its screenshots, in this case you can: Panic Porcupine absolutely could've been released on the Genesis, and no one would've batted an eye.
Killer Frequency is an excellent game that takes a neat approach to both horror films and walking simulators, and it’s well worth checking out if you’re a fan of either. (But seriously, how did these people all have cell phones?)
Cassette Beasts may borrow pretty heavily from Pokémon, but there are enough fun twists on the basic ideas that it manages to carve out an identity that's all its own.
Looking a little different than your usual Souls-like isn't enough to make Stray Blade worth checking out. Unless you've always been keen to explore the genre but aren't skilled enough to actually play the games -- in which case, I guess, here's your chance to try one with a much lower difficulty level -- it's hard to see who'd really enjoy it.
Still, it's a testament to Mail Time's indefatigably upbeat attitude that not even annoying issues can bring the game down too much. It's a cozy game that doesn't assume that being adorable is a substitute for being engaging. Hopefully more games of this ilk can learn from it, because all things considered, it's nice having games like Mail Time around.
Redfall feels like it should have been a no-brainer. You have the studio that's made games like Dishonored and Prey -- games renowned for their atmosphere -- making a game about vampires set in a town that's been conquered by bloodsuckers. If Redfall had basically been nothing more than Dishonored 3: Vampires, it would've been an easy recipe for a GOTY contender. Instead, we have this version of Redfall, which is decidedly not a GOTY contender.
Strayed Lights is a difficult game to love. It looks and sounds nice, and if you're really into dodging weaving rather than charging into battle I could see how it might be interesting in small doses, but as it stands, it doesn't feel like there's enough here to really make for a satisfying game.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a game that's an absolute joy to play. Exploring these worlds, slicing through enemies, customizing how Cal looks, uncovering the game's lore: it's all done perfectly here, in a way that should appeal to anyone, regardless of their familiarity with Star Wars itself (though being a fan probably helps). There are minor flaws, to be sure, but they're so minor, they feel like nitpicking. In a year that's already featured some outstanding games, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor still manages to stand out.
The game is plagued by camera controls so dire, they make it impossible to enjoy anything else. With some major tweaks to those controls, it'd be easy to imagine Molly Medusa becoming an under-the-radar hit, but for now, it's definitely one to avoid.
Spider's Thread makes a great game even better. Ghostwire: Tokyo didn't get nearly the level of attention it deserved on its initial release last year, and now that the game is free for Game Pass and PS+ subscribers (and generally inexpensive enough to buy on PC), there's even less reason why it should be slept on. Do yourself a favour and get it now.
Quite possibly the best Sherlock game that Frogwares has made in years, if not ever.