Everything about Gori: Cuddly Carnage is simply amazing. It delivers absurd, over-the-top action in a package that’s tailor-made for anyone who holds a soft spot for ‘00s gaming, and as far as I’m concerned it’s one of the best games of the year so far.
Does Princess Peach: Showtime! reach the level of, say, Super Mario Bros. Wonder? Probably not. But it’s certainly on par with any of the solo Luigi or Yoshi outings we’ve had. Here’s hoping that we don’t have to wait another two decades for Peach to get another starring role, because this one is well worth your time.
Seeing as I still have fond memories of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture nearly a decade after I played it, I’ve been eager to see The Chinese Room return to this style of game – and I’m very pleased to see that with Still Wakes the Deep, their return is a huge success
Cat Quest III is simply fantastic. It’s got a vibrant world, fun action, a solid story, and, of course, pirate cats, all wrapped together in a package that should entice anyone.
A game that gives you freedom to play it as you want to is probably something more games should aspire to. That The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom gives you all that freedom without ever feeling unfocused or overwhelming is evidence that it lives up to its iconic lineage.
For the second year in a row, Jackbox Party Pack 10 delivers a set of games where everyone is bound like at least one of the games on offer – certainly a far cry from earlier editions where you knew that an entry would have at least one dud.It's an outstanding collection from top to bottom, and it shows that as the Jackbox series enters its second decade, it's as strong as ever.
Everything about Bzzzt makes it stand out from the crowd. It’s a very fun old-school platformer that manages to stand out even in a very crowded genre, and it’s definitely worth picking up.
Here are the three key things to know about Please, Touch The Artwork 2: 1. It’s gorgeous. 2. It’s trippy. 3. It’s free.
Not many games in recent years have come up with something as thrilling as taking on massive robot monsters like you find here, and it’s a mark of how well it’s done in Forbidden West that every time you see one of those familiar flashes, you’ll feel your adrenaline start pumping as you draw your bow and arrow and take aim.
Little Kitty, Big City is an adorable, delightful gem of a game.
Bang Average Football is a game that deserves having people play game after game after game. Not only does it perfectly nail the feeling of playing sports games back in their infancy, it also adds a cozy, Stardew Valley-style frame around the whole thing that you’ll want to do even if you don’t usually like those kinds of sims. It’s an excellent game all-around that does a whole lot of things right.
It’s a strange game that’s probably not going to appeal to everyone’s sensibilities – but if it appeals to your sensibilities and sense of humour, there’s a good chance it might be your game of the year.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is everything that makes the series so loved and so hated. There were times when I wanted to ragequit and throw my Switch at the wall, and there were times when I cheered at unexpected good fortune in minigames and star placements – and those times often came in quick succession. Super Mario Party Jamboree shows that Mario Party is still a blast to play nearly three decades into its lifespan, which is a pretty neat achievement however you want to look at it.
If this remastered version is what it takes to get more people playing a modern classic, then so be it – Horizon Zero Dawn is a great game, and this remaster just reinforces that every step of the way.
Rolando was a triumph of mobile gaming on its first release, and Rolando Deluxe shows that it’s every bit as great now.
It’s a cozy, wholesome game about running a café and collecting weird creatures, and it’s got to be the most chill game imaginable. There are no real timers, no pressing objectives, nothing that could cause you stress in any way. It’s wonderful.
If you go into Loddlenaut expecting anything in the way of stakes or drama or a challenge, you’ll probably be underwhelmed. But if you just want a relaxing, chill game that you can escape into for a couple of hours, it’s hard to think of a nicer, more pleasant way to pass the time.
But leaving you wanting more and making you feel good about what you just played are two hallmarks of a very good game – which Botany Manor undeniably is. It’s a relaxing puzzler that doesn’t allow being “cozy” to get in the way of challenging you just enough. If you’re tired of puzzlers that all feel like they’re chasing after a game that almost perfected the genre more than a decade ago, this will be a very pleasant change of pace.
If you go into Heading Out expecting a driving game, you’re probably going to be sorely disappointed. It’s something entirely different from that – and, improbably (given the different genres being thrown together), it works incredibly well.
Crow Country is clearly influenced by some of the scariest games of the ‘90s, but it’s good enough that it can be enjoyed today even if you never played those games the first time around (or even if you’re generally too much of a scaredy cat to play them).