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F1 Manager 22 is a great way to create alternate narratives for fans. Pick your favorite team, try to find ways to push it to ever-increasing performance, despair when races don’t go according to plan, pump your fist when you create the perfect strategy, and manage to get past Leclerc and Hamilton on the final two laps of Bahrain. The game will draw in fans who simply want to see if they can do better than real managers and obsessives that aim to tinker with the setup during each practice session.
Saints Row raises mixed emotions: on the one hand it has its moments when it is fun and manages to engage you in its criminal empire building fantasy. But for each high you have at least one low, that turns the game into a technical mess and makes you feel like you are playing a not so pretty GTA clone.
Train Valley is most of the time a great game to play, especially if you’re only interested in a simple railway management system that doesn’t come with a complex approach.
Cursed to Golf is not a sports sim but it will deliver many more thrills than any careful reconstruction of real-world golf can. Getting the ball into the hole using my last shot by carefully using an Ace card and plenty of spin made me scream with joy. I almost cried when two successive shots somehow landed in the water.
Krut: The Mythic Wings is a competent game that never manages to become more than the sum of its parts. The gameplay loop is decent but fails to develop in any interesting way. The narrative is solid enough to push players forward but never impresses. The game does look good, especially during boss engagements.
Cult of the Lamb has all the elements it needs to succeed in the modern action and rogue space. All combat mechanics are tight, the premise is weird but easy to grasp, and almost every action the player engages in has a clear payoff. I like the way being a good cult leader makes it easier to deal with combat sequences, powering a cool feedback loop.
Endling - Extinction is Forever is a warning signal about humans that should pay more attention to their environment and avoid it being ruined by the pollution born out of greed. At the same time it is also a truly engaging and immersive game with well thought out mechanics. It manages to combine the social message with a fun experience.
South of the Circle is barely a video game and would have probably worked better as a movie. Players who don’t quickly become engaged with the story will have a tough time finding reasons to push on. And even for those who want to see how the narrative ends, some sequences drag on with limited payoff.
Bright Memory: Infinite has its moments, but in the end, it feels like a project that could have been great if it was developed by an entire team with all the necessary resources at their disposal.
Cartel Tycoon goes all in on the drug cartel leader fantasy and mines the setting for as many concepts as possible. The management game is good, with a mix of mechanics and with clear challenges for players to work through. I like the look of the game and most of the writing fits well with the ‘80s Latin American world it is evoking.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is not the turn-based strategy game that fans of the series are patiently waiting for, but it’s a great waiting room for a Three Houses sequel. If you just want another slice of Fire Emblem and don’t want to replay Three Houses again, there’s a high chance that either (or both) Warriors games will quench your thirst for more Fodlan action.
Considered by many a masterpiece, the original Xenoblade Chronicles is not without flaws. Thankfully, the Definitive Edition addresses many of the issues. The story remains just as amazing, and with all the improvements of this release it elevates the game to new heights.
Neon Blight has a clear gameplay loop that can become addictive. Kill enemies, explore the wilderness, make progress on some quests, find guns, take them back to the store and see who wants to pay to become the new owners. More depth would have been appreciated but the game mechanics mostly work as they should.
F1 22 is without a doubt one of the best titles of the year in the racing sim world. Excellent graphics that take full advantage of the PS5 hardware power, the updated regulations, the new Immersive feature that makes it possible for gamers to control their cars when the Safety Car is on the track, and the pit stop experience overall, all make the game provide an even more realistic Formula One experience.
Loopmancer is a good game for gamers who want a very specific experience: a mix of action and rogue ideas that tells a cyberpunk-themed detective story. The combat mechanics require time to master and there are solid challenges to engage with. The rogue aspects are a little underdeveloped and it feels like unlocking weapons requires too much money.
Strategic Command: American Civil War is a video game for fans of turn-based wargames who also have a love for the conflict that defined the XIX century for the United States of America. It requires patience, careful analysis, and knowledge of history. The core mechanics are familiar but solid and can deliver pretty interesting results both if trying to replicate history or change it.
Despite all the frustration, REDO! can be quite satisfying. In theory, you can finish the game in 5 to 6 hours. In reality, it will take you a lot longer, due to some of the flaws of the concept on which it is based.
fault – StP – Lightkravte feels more like a side story that happens before the first two fault games rather than a full-fledged prequel. Revisiting the fault universe just to tell the story of an unremarkable boy who desperately wants to be a painted feels a bit forced, but it’s probably a decent waiting room for those who can’t wait to play the sequel to fault – milestone games coming later this year (or when it's ready).
Red Solstice 2 is a game that requires at least another friend to deliver a decent experience. The strategic and tactical layers work, from a purely mechanical point of view, but everything is too focused on repetitive actions to keep the game fun when playing solo. The limited immersion does not help.
Gordian Quest is focused on mechanics to both its advantage and detriment. For a player who has not explored the card and tactics space a lot, this is a perfect experience both as an introduction and for long-term engagement. For someone who has tried out a lot of titles in the genre, this game is a little too by the book for its own good.