PCGamesN's Reviews
Doom: The Dark Ages is a heavyweight shooter that, at its core, is lighter on its feet than its predecessor. However, id has at times gone too wide with its half-baked new features and open level design. Rip and tear, until it is done. But please, Slayer, get out of the damn robot.
While its predecessor's floaty, unsatisfying combat remains, and its enemy variety is lacking, Revenge of the Savage Planet's freedom of movement and exploration make this short-but-sweet, eccentric Metroidvania well worth a go.
If you enjoyed Sekiro's parry-heavy combat and Nioh's mission-based structure, The First Berserker Khazan will likely work for you. Even with few new ideas of its own and often unexciting levels, its build variety and brutal boss fights more than make this soulslike worth the effort.
Despite its occasionally confounding UI and weak level design, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an essential turn-based RPG that is both a love letter to its inspirations and a potential vision of the genre's future.
While Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy is a loving tribute to its source material, its gameplay remains trapped in the past. The world is more realized than ever before and, at points, almost feels real, but the addition of a few new puzzles doesn't quite inject the excitement that I'd hoped. Amerzone is a must-play for fans of Benoît Sokal, but is unlikely to wow the new generation of point-and-click adventurers.
A fantastic soundtrack and handful of excellent scenes aren't enough to give Karma: The Dark World an identity greater than the number of sci-fi and horror classics it bluntly references throughout its story.
Though on the surface it's a simple tribute to Command and Conquer, Tempest Rising breaks free of its influences with a visual style and mechanical flourishes all of its own. Its core ideas may work better in a smaller-scale tactics game rather than an RTS, but there are several missions where everything fits together.
Wildly inventive, tantalisingly mysterious, and ethereally beautiful, Blue Prince is easily one of the best puzzle games I've ever played.
The problems inherent to stealth games hold back Commandos Origins, but it's still a high-stakes, high-intensity RTS where even the smallest action can feel meaningful. Meticulous, difficult, and demanding, it will test your patience as much as your tactical insight, but when you finally get it right, Commandos Origins is rewarding.
Not only is there just so much to do in Promise Mascot Agency, but you’ll naturally want to do it. The art style and animations are equally hilarious and endearing, the music will get stuck in your head for months, and the mystery is genuinely intriguing. This is one of the best games I’ve played in years, and in large part that comes down to its immaculate vibes – funky, silly, heartfelt, and warm. My heart will always be in Kaso-Machi, and will long belong to the absolute freaks who call it home.
South of Midnight is an intriguing virtual tour of a gothic fairy tale American South and weaves believable stories and characters into a mostly strong narrative (those final hours notwithstanding).
With clever iterations on soulslike conventions and a sharp implementation of videogame fundamentals, AI Limit has frequent thrills. But its derivative art direction, tired level design, and uninspiring narrative make it hard to recommend over its obvious inspirations. FromSoftware's oeuvre draws on literature and visual art to feel unique and daring; AI Limits' influences are limited to other videogames, and it's all the lesser for it.
The vision of 16th-century Japan that Shadows presents is gorgeous and its ideas for how to bridge the gap between Assassin’s Creed’s distant and recent past are worthwhile, but everything that should enliven these successes is bland and disjointed, like two protagonists who never feel much like they have a reason for coming together in the first place.
Atomfall is a diamond in the rough for survival RPG fans. While it doesn't hit the emergent heights of its genre contemporaries, Rebellion's beautifully crafted quarantine zone is a joy to explore, with enough pulp and mystery to propel the player through to the end. If you're looking for a cozy throwback to classic science fiction, it's hard to go wrong with this very British sandbox.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is what happens when Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio fires on all cylinders, iterating on previous successes and failures to create its most satisfying and airtight game in years.
Metaphor ReFantazio is the culmination of everything that makes Atlus' turn-based RPGs so special. Sporting a fantastic cast of instantly lovable characters, a gripping tale that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster, and a robust evolution of its combat systems, Metaphor ReFantazio is a must-play for anyone with even a passing interest in JRPGs.
EA Sports FC 25 continues to hand in the same homework it's done for the past few years now, albeit with a new paragraph on Rush. It's a solid game that will likely enjoy plenty of additions throughout the year, but I'd like to see more ambition in the future.
Shadows of Doubt is an intricate simulation of a grim corporate world that handles player freedom on a level you rarely see. The fascination wears thin as you delve deeper into the seedy underworld, but the initial intrigue alone is worth the price of entry.
Ara: History Untold makes meaningful contributions to the well-worn grand strategy genre at every turn, even if the absurdities of its mix-and-match approach to history can be hard to swallow.
Frostpunk 2 makes clever reconsiderations of, and expansions on, the first game's design, offering a better rounded, even harsher follow-up to the original's concept.